This is a rush transcript from “Hannity," August 14, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
TREY GOWDY, FOX NEWS HOST: Welcome to the special edition of "Hannity": Countdown to the Election. I'm Trey Gowdy, in tonight for Sean.
We begin with a FOX News alert: the first charges in the Durham probe have been filed and it is the FBI under indictment. We will have much more just ahead, including exclusive reaction from Senator Lindsey Graham.
But first, with just 81 days until the most consequential election of our lifetime, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are pandering to the far left, seizing the most out of touch ideas the extreme left has to offer and hope progressives will forget about Bernie and AOC and turn out for them in November.
Keep in mind, Kamala Harris was firmly rejected by Democratic primary voters when she wanted to be the president and Joe Biden was never the first or second or third choice of progressives. It's why you see Kamala Harris flip-flopping on such major issues like health care, but even though Joe Biden himself. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESUMPTIVE VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: On the Hyde Amendment, Vice President, where you made a decision for years to withhold resources to poor women to have access to reproductive health care, and including women who were the victims of rape and incest, do you now say you have a bald and regret that? You have only since you've been running president this time --
I believe him and I respect them being able to tell their stories and I'm encouraged to do it.
REPORTER: Do you believe that the vice president should enter this race?
HARRIS: He's going to have to make that decision for himself, I wouldn't tell him what to do.
The issue of lynching is part of the stain on America's history.
REPORTER: He apologized this morning on Twitter, saying, I should not have used those words. Do you accept that apology?
HARRIS: I think that's right for him to apologize, yes.
You also worked with them to oppose busing. And, you know, there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOWDY: What does all of this mean? It means Kamala Harris most firmly held conviction is her own personal ambition.
Six months ago, Harris was traveling the country telling voters she would make a much better president than Joe Biden, touting her liberal record in the Senate and questioning Biden's comments on race and even expressing belief in the women who accused him of impropriety.
The media won't tell you that and the media won't make Harris and Biden answer questions because Biden and Harris are making it clear -- they are not planning on meeting with voters and they're not interested in taking any questions from their adoring fans in the press.
For the second day in a row, Biden and Harris talked but would not take questions -- take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(REPORTER ASKING QUESTION)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, guys. Come on, guys. Thank you. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you can see that there was one question from reporters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOWDY: And while the Democratic establishment wants you to believe there is unity ahead of the virtual DNC, the infighting is already begun. For example, progressives are now blasting the party for only giving Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez a mere minute, 60 seconds to speak of the convention next week, but they are giving more time to John Kasich and Michael Bloomberg.
And according to new reports, tensions are even lingering between the Obama and Biden camps.
Joining me now for reaction, former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, along with FOX News contributor Tammy Bruce, and American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp.
Welcome to each of you.
Reince, let me start with you.
How did Kamala Harris go from underperforming and the race for president to being the most exciting choice for vice president, how does that happen politically?
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I'm sorry, Tammy. Go ahead.
TAMMY BRUCE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: No, no, you're there, go forth, Reince. All yours.
PRIEBUS: All right. I was just going to say, you know, they are running a race where they are going to do everything they can to not talk about what they believe. They're not answering questions. They're not being seen. Biden is hidden in the basement because they are only running on one thing, which is anti-Trump.
And Kamala Harris will be defined, she needs to be defined and the reason is that 60 percent of Americans actually don't think that Joe Biden will finish his first term. So, everything you said is true, Congressman, whether it's a Green New Deal, socialized medicine, D.C. statehood, liberal courts, but the most disturbing position that Kamala Harris has taken, is the fact that she wants to expand the Supreme Court, add liberal justices to accomplish the things that you just talked about.
And probably the most underappreciated Trump accomplishment is his work on the judiciary, more judges than both of his predecessors combined at this point, two Supreme Court justices and Kamala Harris and Joe Biden are going to undo all of it.
GOWDY: Tammy, let me bring you in.
AOC may be the most charismatic and best public speaker the Democrats have. Why is she being limited to 60 seconds -- she would get more time if she came on with Sean than the Democrats are giving at her convention. Why just 60 seconds for her?
BRUCE: You know, maybe that's what she should do, maybe she should come under this program and actually be able to talk to people. But it's not just 60 seconds, it's taped. They don't even trust her to go live.
This is like leaving a nickel for a tip, which is worse than leaving no tip at all. She should be absolutely enraged, it's a statement.
And when you're giving a Republican, Kasich, and a someone like Buttigieg big time, it's also a message they are trying to gaslight the base itself. In one hand, they are placating the far left when it comes to who they are hanging out with and who they're, you know, giving -- who they're pandering to internally, and then to the American people, they are trying to show this kind of milquetoast-y non-position kind of placement, they are placing the DNC as a whole in the basement with Joe where it really means nothing and it will collapse the moment it is looked at seriously or if there are questions that are asked.
So, they're played it very, very carefully. If you want to run the United States, if you want to take this country back to the past, you better have the courage to stand up and explain to the American people exactly why they should do that. Instead, they continue to lie and they have to do this because they cannot compete with Donald Trump. Whether you like the president or not, the accomplishments over the last three and a half years have been extraordinary, we are only surviving now this pandemic from China because of the president's ability to keep the nation on her feet and make her strong.
They can't compete with that. They have to come up with stunts about masks for everybody, you know, around the country, forever, until right November 4th. This is their problem. I think they're going to have Billy Eilish singing. But, you know, Billy Eilish is a great singer but she's not going to be president and neither is Joe Biden, and neither is Ms. Harris either.
GOWDY: Matt, my math may be off but I think you and I got the same number of delegates for president that Kamala Harris got. So, if you're not exciting 12 months ago, what makes you exciting now?
How is the media talking about her excitement when her campaign was such a dud?
MATT SCHLAPP, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION CHAIRMAN: Well, the Democratic Party, this new socialist Democratic Party selects people on the boxes they can check and she does check a lot of boxes that are important to them, including the fact that she's a woman of color, that she's from California -- but you're right. What Republicans believe in is a market, Trey. She failed miserably in the markets.
The only thing she actually did well was eviscerate and shred Joe Biden on the questions of race, the question of busing, his treatment of women in many of his past positions, including a position that is so radical to the Democrats, the idea that priests and nuns and people of faith shouldn't pay for other people's abortions.
This question about how Kamala Harris has treated Catholic nominees picked by Donald Trump to be on the nation's highest court, Reince talked about the federal judiciary, what Kamala Harris did to people of faith, Christians and Catholics -- Catholics -- Catholic men who have the gall to join the Knights of Columbus which is a fraternal organization for Catholic men to make sure they are good husbands and good fathers into charitable work, she calls it basically a hate group.
Any person that would stand up against a decent charitable organization like the Knights of Columbus should not be qualified to serve for national office. Joe Biden didn't just fail to call out Kamala Harris, he's now picked her to be on his team.
This anti-Catholic bigotry is disgraceful and I think it's one of the reasons why Kamala Harris just is not likable to Republicans, to Democrats -- I think the more we see of her, the more people aren't going to like her.
GOWDY: We shall see in 81 days.
Reince Priebus, Tammy Bruce, Matt Schlapp, thank you each very much for joining us.
Coming up, breaking news, the first charges in the Durham probe have been filed. We are starting to see real consequences for the embedded and systemic hostility shown in 2016 by some in the FBI. Is this just the beginning? We'll asked chairman of the judiciary committee, Senator Lindsey Graham, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOWDY: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity".
Tonight, we have huge breaking developments in our quest for equal justice. Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith is expected to plead guilty for falsifying evidence in the FISA warrant against Carter Page. This is the first criminal case arising from John Durham's investigation into the origins of the Russia probe.
Remember, we first learned of Clinesmith's corruption in inspector General Michael Horowitz's findings last December where it was revealed he had actually altered an email and an apparent effort to falsely accuse Carter Page of being an agent of Russia. The I.G. report found that Comey's FBI lawyers omitted Page's prior relationship with another U.S. government agency prior to the filing of the final FISA warrant renewal application.
The report goes on to explain that Clinesmith altered an email from the other agency believed to be the CIA which the FBI relied on to get a FISA warrant to unlawfully surveilled Carter Page.
Here is the president reacting to the news earlier today. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Kevin Clinesmith, a corrupt FBI attorney who falsified FISA warrants in James Comey's very corrupt FBI is expected to plead guilty, you probably heard that. It just came out. So, that was just the beginning, I would imagine because what happened should never happen again. In fact, they spied on my campaign and they got caught.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOWDY: Now, Clinesmith wasn't shy about proclaiming his disdain for the president while inside Comey's FBI, texting a fellow FBI lawyer after the 2016 election, Clinesmith aid, I'm just devastated, adding that his name was all over the legal documents investigating his staff, if it could get worse, manufacturing evidence and allowing your personal beliefs to impact your work for the FBI, Clinesmith even declared himself part of the anti- Trump movement texting, viva la resistance.
Now, of course, the biggest defenders and apologists for the FBI does misconduct were already out doing damage control following the charges. For example, Andrew Weissmann is lashing out, claiming that Barr has two systems of justice at play, that is the same Andrew Weissmann who said Roger Stone needs to go back in front of the grand jury to talk about Trump, not about election interference, not about Russia, not about protecting our democracy from outside influences, nope -- he wants Stone to testify against Trump.
So, tonight, we are inching closer to finding out how pervasive FBI misconduct was in this sad chapter in American history. This did not originate with low-level rogue cops and lawyers. These were the highest levels of the FBI and DOJ. Comey, McCabe, Strzok, and others abuse the FISA court process, presented unverified and unfettered information to a court, promised to stop the Trump campaign and develop an insurance policy in case Trump won.
Law enforcement and prosecutors are given special powers and authorities in our system. The power to arrest, to search, to seize, to impact reputations and freedom, they are not given the power to influence elections. The time for accountability is upon us.
Joining me now for reaction, senator from the great state of South Carolina, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Lindsey Graham.
Welcome to you, Senator. How are you?
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): You're doing great. It's not as easy as it looks. It's that you're doing really good.
I'm doing good. Trey, it's a good day for the rule of law.
GOWDY: Yeah. You know, Senator, I was thinking on the way over here. Over the past four years, there have been more FBI employees indicted than there have been Trump family members. What does that say about what this country has been through over the last four years?
GRAHAM: Well, there's a couple story lines today. An FBI lawyer in charge of reviewing warrants is going to plead guilty to falsifying documents to the FISA court against a Trump advisor, and if you are lucky, you'll find this in the mainstream media for 30 seconds.
Can you imagine if the shoe were on the other foot and the FBI lawyer pled guilty today to falsifying documents against Hillary Clinton's advisors, it would be front page news. So, that's the world in which we live in.
But I want to applaud Mr. Horowitz, the inspector general -- without him, we wouldn't have known this.
And what this lawyer did is a really big deal. We have to trust the system. There's got to be a certain amount of trust. This is a lawyer, a man of the law, a member of the bar, who took it upon himself to falsify documents and to keep an investigation going that should have been stopped.
Now, the media can't figure out why. Why? They hated Trump's guts.
So this is a big day for the rule of law. And something tells me that Mr. Clinesmith knows where the bodies are buried, and if I were in the FBI working on Crossfire Hurricane, I'd be very worried right now.
GOWDY: Speaking of working for the FBI and being worried, you were concerned that the FBI maybe had misled the Senate Intelligence Committee. Can you update us on that? What you have learned and what you're working on?
GRAHAM: This is a big day for transparency and the rule of law. So, Mr. Horowitz -- it's not in his report, Trey, but he found a briefing document dated sometime in February 2018 that was prepared by the FBI because the Senate Intel Committee -- used to be on the House Intel Committee, had real concerns about the Russian sub-source. So, they asked the FBI to come in and brief them.
So, I asked Director Wray, who did the briefing? Well, it's Bill Priestap. Who's this guy? He's one of the leaders of Crossfire Hurricane.
A year after the sub-source told the FBI in 2017, there's no -- there is zero corroboration for the dossier, I wouldn't trust it with, you know, a solid grain of salt, hearsay, bar talk. They knew for over a year.
And now, you've got Bill Priestap on February 15th, 2018, with four other people from the FBI, briefing this Senate Intel Committee, completely whitewashing the truth about the reliability of the dossier.
Now, Director Wray has been really good. He's given me the information. More is going to follow.
But what I want to do with this is turn it over to Durham because I think the briefing in 2018, a year after the sub-source told the FBI the dossier was a bunch of garbage, whitewashing that report at the Senate Intel Committee is potentially another crime. So, I'm going to send all this to Durham when I get it.
GOWDY: Senator, the American people are watching Democrats and mayors of liberal and progressive cities complain about state and local police misconduct. Where is the outrage among Democrats when you have police misconduct over an entity they actually have power over, control over, which is the FBI?
Why is there not more bipartisan outrage over the last four years?
GRAHAM: To my Judiciary Committee Democrats -- this is about the rule of law. Many of you have been U.S. attorneys.
What we have here is an FBI lawyer falsifying documents to the FISA court to keep an investigation going that should have stopped, falsifying documents to get a warrant against an American citizen, part of a presidential campaign.
We now have in 2018, a year after sub-source told the FBI it was a bunch of garbage, the dossier, an effort by the FBI to lie to Congress and the reason Priestap lied to the Congress is if he told the Congress the truth about what the sub-source told the FBI, he would expose the lie to the court. So, Mr. Horowitz deserves a lot of credit here.
Where is this thing going? The next thing I'm going to do, Trey, is I'm going to call to the committee and interview the case agent and the intel analyst who interviewed the Russian sub-source in January and March of 2017 and they got memos showing that it was a bunch of garbage, the guide denied the reliability of the dossier, it's bar talk, it was hearsay, it's zero corroboration.
And here's a simple question: the most high-profile case may be ever in the history of the FBI, the document needed to get a warrant against Carter Page, completely fell apart in terms of reliability. Who did you tell? What's the likelihood that the people who interviewed the Russian sub- source did not tell McCabe, who's riding herd on the investigation, eventually Comey, oh, by the way, our case fell apart?
That's where I'm headed. If they knew about this interview, if they got a warrant in April or June, months after the interview, they should go to jail.
GOWDY: Senator, let me ask you quickly, we got about 20 seconds, what is the future, if any, of FISA?
GRAHAM: It's hanging in the balance because people abuse power and God knows we need it because the terrorists are coming after us, and we've got to rehabilitate the system. The only way people are going to trust the FBI and FISA in the future is for people who lied, cheated, and manipulated to be fired and go to jail.
Stay tuned.
GOWDY: Well, thank you for staying up late with us tonight. I know it's past your bedtime. Thank you, Senator Graham.
(LAUGHTER)
GOWDY: Up next, President Trump traveled to New York City to visit his brother who is said to be seriously ill in a hospital. We'll have a live report.
Plus, the Empire State is so out of control, Trump says New York may be in play on Election Day. We'll explain after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOWDY: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity".
Today, President Trump traveled to New York City to visit his brother Robert who was hospitalized with a serious illness.
FOX News's Alex Hogan is live with the very latest on this -- Alex.
ALEX HOGAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Trey, right now, the president is in New Jersey but earlier today, he stopped here at Real Cornell Medicine, here on the upper east side of Manhattan where his brother Robert was hospitalized.
The president making that stop for about an hour, the White House not elaborating on his condition but saying that he is seriously ill. Robert is the youngest of five siblings.
And at his press briefing, the president commenting on their close brotherly bond.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I have a wonderful brother. We have a great relationship for a long time, from day one. It's a long time ago and he's in the hospital right now. Hopefully, he'll be all right. But he's pretty -- he's having a hard time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOGAN: The 72-year-old served as a former top executive within the Trump Organization. He married his longtime partner in March and two months ago, Robert Trump filed temporary restraining order trying to block a tell-all book by his niece Mary. Earlier this year, Robert was hospitalized for about a week, there is still no word on his condition -- Trey.
GOWDY: Alex Hogan, thank you.
Also, tonight, one of the biggest campaign issues is the disastrous state of America's liberal-run cities, one of the worst is New York City, under the leadership of Mayor Bill de Blasio. President Trump tweeted today his intention to bring New York City back if we elected. But he will have his work cut out for him because the state's economic outlook was recently ranked worst in the nation.
New York City residents are making a mad dash for the exits as reported by "The New York Post" and the tragic spike in violence in the city is also fueling this mass exodus, as the number of shootings in 2020 has come close to reaching the total for the same period in the last two years combined.
Joining us now for reaction is Trump 2020 director of press communications, Erin Perrine and civil rights attorney Leo Terrell.
Welcome to you both.
LEO TERRELL, CIVIL RIGHT ATTORNEY: Hi, Trey. How are you?
GOWDY: I'm doing great. Thank you all.
Mr. Terrell, I want to start with you. On a -- on a similar issue, but not all four squares. 2008, 2010, the Democrats had control of the House, the Senate, and the White House. If we in fact have systemic racism in our justice system, why not deal with it when you had all the gears of government?
TERRELL: Trey, very good question. And 30 years of being a lawyer and a civil rights attorney, I can answer that, because there is no systemic discrimination in Democratic cities. If there was and you're right, the Democrats have the ability to control it.
Look at all these cities burning up right now, Chicago, L.A., Portland, Seattle, New York, they are run by Democrats. And I'll tell you right now, the term systemic discrimination is Democrat talking point Kool-Aid.
What's happening right now is that cities are burning. People don't want to live in New York, it's not safe, it's dangerous. People don't want to go there to pay taxes and more importantly, Trey, which I think is very important, that New York state is being run by the worst mayor in the country, an egomaniac governor, and Black Lives Matter and Antifa.
And you heard what the Black Lives Matter spokesperson said in Chicago, it's okay to rob, it's okay to steal, people are hungry. Who would want to live in a state like New York? What they should do is follow the Trump economic plan and allowed Trump to bring in the National Guard.
GOWDY: Erin, are there aspects of our current justice system that the president believes could be improved, should be improved if he were reelected? Does he have an agenda for how to make our justice system worthy of respect by all communities and the American family?
ERIN PERRINE, TRUMP 2020 DIRECTOR OF PRESS COMMUNICATIONS: Well, there certainly is and President Trump has taken steps to reform the justice system in the United States. Criminal justice reform was done by President Trump, to make sure that first-time nonviolent offenders don't end up with ridiculously long prison sentences in the United States. Under the First Step Act, about 90 percent of those released from prison under President Trump, criminal justice reforms were black Americans.
This is a president who is willing to take justice in the United States and make it blind the way it is supposed to be, but the scales of justice work how they are supposed to for Americans, you can trust the justice system. President Trump stepped up to be able to do that. And given a second term, he will again fight to be able to bring the levels of justice fairly for the American people.
GOWDY: Mr. Terrell, I know you are an outstanding lawyer, I can't compete with you on legal issues so let me ask you a political one. I actually think Kamala Harris is historically significant, but I felt the same way about Mia Love. I feel the same way about Jaime Herrera Beutler from Washington state, and I have, of course, feel the same way about Tim Scott.
But that has not kept the Democrats were trying to beat them at the election box.
How do you acknowledge the historical significance of someone while at the same time disagreeing with them about the issues and try to defeat them on the issues?
TERRELL: Well, first of all, before I answer the question, let me get my background setup because Erin got hers background setup.
All right. Now, let me ask you the question. The problem is very simple: Kamala Harris was picked for the wrong reason. Kamala Harris was picked as a way to insulate Joe Biden from racism. Joe Biden, Trey, has been a person who said, wait, hey, if you don't vote for me, you ain't black. Black people think the same way.
My point is simply this, Mia Love, Tim Scott, they were picked on merit. This country is about merit. Kamala Harris is an affirmative action selection to insulate Joe Biden about the racist attitudes he's had for the last 45 years.
But the one thing Kamala Harris did say that is true is that Joe Biden is a racist at the debate.
One final point, when you look at what Donald Trump has done the last three years as far as what Erin said, First Step, funding black historical colleges, trying to get justice reform and police reform through the Senate, but for Cory Booker and Kamala Harris.
Donald Trump has done more for black Americans than Obama and Biden and Kamala Harris.
GOWDY: Well, you're both right, we would've had a police reform but for Kamala Harris.
Erin Perrine and Leo Terrell, thank you both for joining us. Hope you have a great weekend.
When we come back, what is China doing and is there in a focus on it leading into the November elections? Senator Marco Rubio will join us after the break as this special edition of "Hannity" continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOWDY: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity."
Yesterday, President Trump announced a historic peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. This was a huge foreign policy win for the Trump administration, but some Democrats and members of the media are downplaying it.
Former Obama advisor Ben Rhodes tweeted: The agreement is dressed up as an election eve achievement between two leaders who want Trump to win. While Biden tried to take some credit for it, the media also minimize the achievement as "NBC Nightly News" refused to give President Trump any credit for his role in the deal and "CBS Evening News" suggested the president was actually stealing credit.
Meanwhile, national security advisor Robert O'Brien warned that China is working to elect Biden and they have the most powerful and sophisticated tools to do so.
Joining us now with the reaction is the acting Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, Senator Marco Rubio from Florida.
Welcome, Senator Rubio. Thank you for joining us.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): Good to be with you. This is the first time you're doing a show?
(LAUGHTER)
GOWDY: It is and I requested you specifically because you are -- I need you to explain to me the historical significance of this agreement between Israel and the UAE.
RUBIO: Well, first of all, it's the first time that Israel makes a deal with an Arab country since (INAUDIBLE) of Egypt and Jordan thereafter. And it's important.
You know, it's -- one of the things that makes Israel's life difficult is it's surrounded by countries that don't recognize it diplomatically. Now, it has different levels of engagement with these countries privately and so forth, but this is a major achievement.
And I think as you highlight all of those media entities that refused to give the president any credit, the American people see it, right? I mean, the American people noticed that stuff, they don't just believe what they hear on the air. They start to pick up on the fact that in the eyes of most of the people now that run media companies, the president can do no right. Nothing he does -- if it's a big deal, they downplay it, if it is not a big deal, they play it up.
It's a very significant achievement and one that I know has been in the works for a long time and took a lot of work.
GOWDY: Well, Senator, ever since I met you in 2010, you have always had an interest and an expertise in foreign policy. I notice today that Turkey is unhappy with this agreement. I think they are NATO member. What if anything should we make of that? Or assign any importance to it?
RUBIO: Well, Turkey has a deteriorating relationship with Israel, and it's had one for a while, but I think also Turkey under Erdogan, there's two things happening there. One is that they want to be sort of the dominant power in the region, sort of some of this Ottoman revisionism.
At the same time, that helps Erdogan at home and domestically, they make him long strong. So, you know, obviously, Israel is not very popular in Turkey among many in the domestic audience there. So, but they don't like deals being done that they aren't a linchpin of. I think they are also crosswise a couple of regional conflicts as well.
And Turkey is an interesting situation. They've gotten deeply involved now in Libya. They're in northern Syria, in one way they work with the Russians and in different ways, they are literally taking the Russians and/or their proxies on head on. So, and they've got conflicts now with Greece as well.
So, it is -- it's a -- it's a messy situation right now unfortunately with the Turkish government.
GOWDY: Let's pivot to China. What is the current state of our relationship with China?
RUBIO: It's being rebalanced appropriately. You know, we went about 25 years in this country where everybody was sort of saying, don't worry, you let China cheat, when they get rich, they will become democratic and they'll follow the rules.
Joe Biden was one of the leaders of that. When China went to the World Trade Organization, he said, don't worry, they're going to take our job. This is great for the world.
Well, obviously, it hasn't worked out that way. If it feels like a lot of that is happening, it's because this president and this administration, the first president and administration in modern story to take on this challenge, is trying to make up for literally two decades of mistakes when it comes to China.
We paid a tremendous price for what we have allowed them to do. They have stolen millions of American jobs, closed American factories and in the process gutted, you know, dozens of American communities, and the families that live here have been destroyed as a result of it.
So, it's an important recalibration commercially. Geopolitically, it needed to happen. I'm glad it's finally started to happen. But it will be the work of a generation.
GOWDY: Well, you touched on the electoral consequences if the White House switches or if the Senate switches, how would our relationship with China change? If there's a President Joe Biden or if there's a Chuck Schumer, what happens?
RUBIO: Well, I think it goes back to the way it used to be. You know, certainly, when it comes to Joe Biden, he has a 30, 40-year, whatever story of being an orthodox politician on these topics. And all of these smart heads that go around talking about it -- some of them have come to that position, but many continue to, you know, criticize anything that the president does in terms of confronting China.
Now, fortunately, this is a 75 to 80 percent issue in this country. That's why you see Democrats are actually supportive of it, but I anticipate -- to begin with, Biden doesn't have the strength to take on challenges that come with China, and doing so requires you to get in a fight with editorial boards and, you know, people at these fancy think tanks who all think that no matter what Donald Trump did, it was a mistake and we need to reverse everything he did even if it was in the best interest of our country -- because they cannot admit that anything this administration has done exactly the right thing to do.
GOWDY: Well, Senator Rubio, thank you for joining us tonight and for your stewardship of the Intelligence Committee.
Up next, Democrats continue to play politics with the COVID relief bill. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy will join us live with the reaction next.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOWDY: Welcome back to the "Hannity" special.
President Obama is not shying away from the spotlight this election cycle. Today, he blasted President Trump who has valid concerns about an election disaster tied to mass mail-in voting.
Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is scheduling a month-long recess because her coronavirus relief demands aren't being met. The price tag for her demands, which include things completely unrelated to COVID, $2 trillion. No wonder negotiators are miles apart on COVID-19 funding with little hope for a deal until September.
Joining us now for reaction, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Welcome to you, Leader McCarthy.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Thank you, Trey. I'm excited for your show tonight.
GOWDY: Thank you.
If you were the speaker of the House and you may be one day, how would you handle these negotiations?
MCCARTHY: Well, the first thing, why do we think Nancy Pelosi would do anything different? From the very first bill any time we dealt with COVID, she has always tried to stop it. From our first bill, when we tried to get liability protection for 3M to sell its masks, she said no and gave us shortage when it came to personal equipment.
Then when we try to make the COVID bill go through, she held it up for a CARES Acts so the Kennedy Center could have more money. Then when the small businesses were starving for money for PPP that was so successful to pay their employees, she proudly stood in front of her refrigerator and ate ice cream and told America, no, she wouldn't do it.
The first thing I would do is take the trillion dollars that's already been appropriated but is sitting there with $100 billion more for the states, with more than $100 billion for small business, and I would use that instead of hurting, the hardworking taxpayers to borrow more money, because it's already appropriated and could be used.
Luckily, we have a president that cares about people's paychecks and he's getting them out but he's also able to do a peace plan at the same time.
GOWDY: Kevin, what's it going to take for the Republicans to retake the House and do you judge success as retaking the House or just picking up seats?
MCCARTHY: I take success by retiring Nancy Pelosi. It only takes 17 seats. And, Trey, you know, just a short time ago when we were sworn in, it was 19 seats. We got a Democrat to flip and we just won a seat in California that Hillary carried by a majority in the Democrats won by nine points. We just won it by ten.
But we really need to challenge. Democrats have more money than we do, but we've got better candidates.
So, if you want to make a difference, we'll make it all the difference.
GOWDY: Well, Kevin, my memory may be suspect, but when you were the majority leader, we would pass bills and the media narrative, even though we pass bills was, well, you can't do that because the Senate isn't going to take it up.
I don't hear the same criticism when the Democrats pass a bill that has no chance of passing the Senate, it just seems like a lot of duplicity or is it just me with the media in D.C.?
MCCARTHY: Well, no, I don't think it's just in D.C. But think about it -- Nancy Pelosi's version of solving the coronavirus was $3 trillion. But you know what it did? It mentioned pot more than it mentioned research or jobs.
How does that do anything for anyone? What she has done, just think, what has she been able to do with San Francisco? She made it a sanctuary city. She has high taxes. She has sidewalks nobody wants to walk on.
This is what she wants to do for the rest of America and now, Joe Biden, just picked the other person that's dealing with San Francisco -- Kamala Harris. That's a recipe for failure.
GOWDY: OK, man, thank you for putting on a tie for us. Good weekend to you and Judy. Thank you for joining us.
More of this special edition of "Hannity" coming up right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOWDY: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity."
Before we go, I want to tell you about my new book "Doesn't Hurt to Ask: Using the Power of Questions to Communicate, Connect and Persuade." It's not about what I believe. It's about helping you prove what you believe. It's out next week and it will help you make your case and move others closer to your way of thinking.
Thank you for joining us tonight. Sean will be back on Monday.
"The Ingraham Angle" is up next. Have a great weekend.
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