Trump explains how he made his Supreme Court picks
Presidential candidate outlines his judicial philosophy on 'Hannity'
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," May 18, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to this special edition of "Hannity." Tonight, we're coming to you from Trump Tower. Tonight, we'll be talking about Supreme Court justices, judicial philosophy, energy independence. We'll talk about building a wall and how do you defeat Hillary Clinton, among other things, as Donald Trump joins us the entire hour tonight.
Congratulations. Last night you -- now you're -- is it -- is it sinking in? Is it getting real?
DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Very, very close. Well, we're very, very close. We're -- we're very close with the delegates. And the thing that makes me most happy, in the history of the Republican Party, nobody has ever gotten this many votes. So...
HANNITY: You still have a lot of states to go.
TRUMP: And we have a lot to go. So it's been such an honor. It's been a lot of fun. And it must be because I do your show. I think that might be it.
HANNITY: I think that's a big part of it. That's what I...
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: I agree with you on that part.
TRUMP: I have a feeling.
HANNITY: Today was a very big day. You have a list of names.
TRUMP: I do.
HANNITY: And you had talked to me for a while now about releasing these names, your judicial philosophy. You said you wanted originalists. You said you wanted people like Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court.
TRUMP: It's true.
HANNITY: Tell us about this list of names.
TRUMP: Well, I've been having a lot of feedback from a lot of different people. And I've had, as you know, tremendous endorsements. And I'm a conservative. And I may have different views on different things, and I think I'm extremely conservative, as an example, on trade. But a conservative would say I'm not because I don't necessarily believe only in free trade.
You know what I believe on trade is good deals for the United States.
HANNITY: Fair trade.
TRUMP: Well, somebody said to me, what do you -- what is your view on trade? I said my view is good deals for the United States. It's a very simple view.
And if you can call it conservative, call it whatever you want -- but so with the judges, they were saying, Well, what happens if he appoints the wrong judges? And what we did -- and I -- I just have it -- we just took a list of judges...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: ... and I thought what I would do is put this forward, and this would be the list that I would either choose from or pick people very close in terms of the spirit and the meaning of what they represent. And of course, Justice Scalia is mentioned in here as -- right up front as being just one of our great judges and one of our great justices.
And I came up with a list. The Federalist Society was very much involved. Various people were involved. As you know, Jeff Sessions is, to me, somebody that I have great respect for.
HANNITY: It's gotten...
TRUMP: He endorsed me.
HANNITY: It's gotten very good reviews.
TRUMP: He's gotten great reviews.
HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE) immediate release and...
TRUMP: It's gotten great reviews, the people that have seen it have given it. So if you want, I will...
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: I will do it now, if you'd like me to read them.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: I don't -- I hope your people aren't going to fall asleep as I read them...
HANNITY: No, it'll take a second.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Highly respected conservative people, again, Federalist -- Federalist Society and others -- and others with the input.
Steven Colloton of Iowa, a man who is really an amazing person. Allison Eid of Colorado, Raymond Gruender. And Raymond is from Missouri. Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania. Raymond Kethledge -- Raymond Kethledge of Michigan. Joan Larsen, also of Michigan, where I think I'm going to do very well, by the way, in the general election. I think we're going to do very well. Thomas Lee of Utah. William Pryor...
HANNITY: By the way, Thomas Lee of Utah is related to Mike Lee.
TRUMP: Brother.
HANNITY: Brother.
TRUMP: Right. And Mike Lee is a -- a great guy. And his brother is highly respected. William H. Pryor of Alabama, David Stras of -- and somebody that a -- a friend of mine who is a -- a great lawyer, said is -- this is a fantastic man. David Stras of Minnesota. Diane Sykes of Wisconsin. Don Willett of Texas.
And that's your list. And we're going to either choose from this list or people very close to it in terms of their...
HANNITY: So this is your judicial philosophy.
TRUMP: Yes.
HANNITY: You...
TRUMP: That's right.
HANNITY: ... you know, one of the things I think people have questioned - - I have interviewed you a lot during this process, and you gave me very specific things. And one of the top things I would ask you often is your judicial philosophy. You mentioned, as I said, Scalia and Thomas. They are what we call originalists.
TRUMP: Right.
HANNITY: Constitutionalists.
TRUMP: Correct.
HANNITY: You are a constitutionalist.
TRUMP: Correct. Correct. And I'm also -- I want high intellect. I want great intellect. These people are all of very high, high intellect. They're pro-life. And -- so that's my list.
And we are going to choose from, most likely, from this list. But at a minimum, we will keep people within this general realm. And again, I have a lot of people that are conservative that really like me, love everything I stand for, but they really would like to know my view because perhaps outside of the defense of our country, perhaps the single most important thing the next president is going to have to do is pick Supreme Court justices.
HANNITY: This will have an impact for generations to come.
TRUMP: Oh, generations. And I will say, if Hillary Clinton, who's doing very poorly in this whole rigged system that...
HANNITY: We'll get into that.
TRUMP: ... that Sanders happens to be in...
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: ... but if Hillary Clinton, for some reason, wins, your country will never be the same because she's going to put disasters on the Supreme Court. So these are -- these are the names.
HANNITY: This is interesting because I think there might have been some people -- I -- I've talked to people on the radio show. And some people said, well, Donald Trump's a recent covert to conservatism. And I asked you very specific question. For example, you know, you say -- do you want a balanced budget?
TRUMP: I do.
HANNITY: You actually told me once it's immoral to steal from our kids.
TRUMP: Well, I do want a balanced budget. We could do it a lot quicker. I mean, I've heard people say we'll balance the budget within 20 years. I'm saying, 20 years, what are you talking about?
I do want a balanced budget. And you have to understand, I was born in New York, and I really started my business -- you know, I was in Brooklyn and Queens with my father, but I moved to Manhattan and I started doing very, very well in Manhattan.
And if you look at the statistics on Manhattan, whether you, you know, like them or don't like them, it's very liberal. It's very Democrat. And I think that, you know, probably a lot of people feel because I come from essentially Manhattan, I would be that way.
And I wanted to put this list out because I wanted to quell any fears that people may have. I mean this is a list of people that I got them from people I most respect, very conservative people.
HANNITY: And you vetted each one. You -- you almost did it like a job interview.
TRUMP: Well, I really -- I vetted, but to a much greater extent, the Federalist Society vetted and -- and has tremendous respect. Heritage has looked at it, who I have great, great respect for. And I know Senator Sessions has brought the names around to different people in the Senate.
And people have seen the list. I mean, people have seen the list. But you're the first one that's seen it publicly.
HANNITY: Yes. You know, this is, I think, the most important thing, as you now transition to the general election. You talked about very specific things. And I think when you look at all the exit polls and 65 percent of Republicans feel betrayed by the Republican Party that they haven't kept their promises...
TRUMP: I felt betrayed.
HANNITY: I felt betrayed, too.
TRUMP: One of the reasons I'm doing this.
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: I mean, I had a very nice life. I had a very simple life. I have this great company. I have a wonderful family. I complicated my life, that I can tell you, although I'm having a good time doing it. But no, I'm having a good time...
HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE) bottom line. I noticed your financial statement. You're still doing OK financially.
TRUMP: We're doing well. We -- we put in our financials two days ago, and people are seeing you -- I've built a great company. That's why -- so people say, Why are you doing this? You know, you're at a point where you can just take it nice and easy and go to Turnberry in Scotland and go to Doral and do all these things that you want to do.
But I'm doing it by -- you know, I'm putting back -- I want to put back.
HANNITY: You want to give back?
TRUMP: I -- I want to give back, put back. I want to -- I want to -- what I want to do is make America great again. You know, the theme is such a great theme. And I didn't even realize it was that good until I started really getting out there. And I add to it. And it's called America first.
We're going to put America first. On trade deals, it's like we make deals, they're so bad. They're so inconceivably bad. And I said, No, no, we want you all to do well. This is America first.
When China is ripping us to -- you know, you look at trade deficits of $500 billion a year, who's negotiating this deal?
HANNITY: You want fair trade. You're not a protectionist. You want better deals.
TRUMP: I want fair trade.
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: The problem with fair trade -- the people we have now are incompetent. Our president is -- you know, he -- he used a word the other day, not a nice word, but he's an ignorant president. He's an ignorant president. He doesn't know what's going on, in my opinion, OK, and the opinion of plenty of other people.
HANNITY: Well, statistics also speak. Millions more in poverty, millions more on food stamps, median income down thousands of dollars. He has taken on more debt than every other president (INAUDIBLE)...
TRUMP: You're right, but it's not only that.
HANNITY: By the way...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: One in five American families don't have a single member of the family working today.
TRUMP: OK. And so much more. Look, so much more. And you say that and - - and I hear you say that, but so much more. We're losing...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: ... our jobs. They're moving to Mexico. Listen, our jobs -- you look at Carrier, you look at Ford, you look at all these companies, Nabisco. They're moving plants to Mexico. We're losing our jobs. We're losing our money. We have -- we're not making things. Pretty soon, we're not going to make anything anymore.
I just felt I had an obligation to do this. You look at our trade deals, I will make those deals so good so fast. And you know what? We'll have great relationships with these countries. We don't have a good relationship with China. China's building a massive fortress in the middle of the South China Sea, OK?
And yet they're ripping money from us left and right. We rebuilt China single-handedly. What they've taken out of our country -- we have rebuilt China.
They have -- they have railroads and trains that go 250 miles an hour. We have the Long Island Railroad that chugs out to Long Island, Chug, chug, chug.
HANNITY: I've been on it many times.
TRUMP: We don't have anything. We're like -- we've become a third World country. I'll tell you what...
HANNITY: We're becoming one.
TRUMP: ... a lot of the technology is our technology. I mean, we're selling technology to the world, and we don't have it ourselves because we've spent $4 trillion plus in the Middle East. We're in worse shape now than we were 15 years ago.
Fifteen years ago, if we wouldn't have done anything, we would have been much better. You wouldn't have had the migration. You would have had a couple of dictators, killers. They call them strongmen. They can call them whatever they want. And they were good at one thing, killing terrorists.
And right now, you look at Iraq, that's like Harvard for terrorism.
HANNITY: I want to stay on this focus, though, because you made a promise to release the names so people would know your judicial philosophy.
TRUMP: Right.
HANNITY: You're making a promise to balance the budget. You're making a promise to build the wall. You made a promise you're going to repeal "Obama care'...
TRUMP: A hundred percent.
HANNITY: ... and replace it with...
TRUMP: We have no choice.
HANNITY: Replace it with?
TRUMP: By the way, you don't even have to repeal it. We're going to do it before it happens.
HANNITY: It's falling (INAUDIBLE)
TRUMP: In '17, it's going to implode. And in fact, on November 1st, new numbers are coming out, right before the election. They're trying to change the date. They want to make it after the election. And it's going to show the increase necessary to sustain "Obama care." And it's going to be massive. Everyone's talking about it.
HANNITY: Are these promises...
TRUMP: Don't let anybody change that date.
HANNITY: And you want to replace it with health savings?
TRUMP: Oh...
HANNITY: Accounts maybe?
TRUMP: Yes. But there's so many other things. Just so you understand, once we get competition going with free enterprise, where the insurance companies actually have to go and compete instead of having states as a monopoly, you get rid of the borders, you get rid of the lines, right, where they can't go outside.
Once we get rid of that -- and they almost had it this time. They could have had it this time. And you would have seen such competition. There will be plans -- health care plans -- that you never even heard about that haven't even been thought about right now. There will be such competition, it will be a beautiful thing.
The numbers will go way down. First of all, "Obama care" is no good. The -- the premiums are through the roof. But have you looked at deductibles lately?
HANNITY: It's huge.
TRUMP: Unless you're dead...
HANNITY: Five thousand...
TRUMP: Unless you're dead or in the process of almost death, you can't use it.
HANNITY: What I'm trying to get to is, is with the release of this -- these names -- that was a big promise. Balancing the budget is a big promise. Building a wall is a big promise. Repealing "Obama Care" is a big promise. I understand you're giving a speech next week on energy independence.
TRUMP: Right.
HANNITY: That's a big promise.
TRUMP: In North Dakota.
HANNITY: Building our military, taking care of our vets, those are big promises. Ending Common Core.
So my question is, on those agenda items that you have told me about in our interviews, how rock solid are -- are those promises for the people that may be on the fence that want to know you're going to do those things?
TRUMP: I want to get it all done.
HANNITY: You want to get it all done.
TRUMP: Look, our military -- I saw a show the other day, perhaps not even on your -- on the great FOX -- but I saw a show the other day where our fighter planes are so old that they go to junkyards to get parts. They call them graveyard, airplane graveyards -- to take parts off old planes that haven't been flown in 25 years. They're taking parts off these planes and trying to put them on and fix them on our fighter jets.
We are really in trouble. Our military is so depleted.
HANNITY: We got to take a break. We'll come back. We're with Donald Trump. We'll talk about Hillary Clinton, The New York Times and all the other issues that are now facing the country as we continue with Donald Trump for the hour from what I guess is the Trump war room, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity" as we continue from what is now the Trump war room with inside of Trump Tower. Donald Trump is with us for the hour.
I watched your daughter, Ivanka, this morning, and she had to say, My dad is not a groper. Now, this is referring to a New York Times hit piece.
I have, in the last three days, interviewed three people that know you well, two that were featured prominently in that piece. We have Rowanne Brewer Lane...
TRUMP: Right.
HANNITY: ... Carrie Prejean and a woman that actually came from war-torn Bosnia that worked for you and ran a lot of -- was a vice president...
TRUMP: Right.
HANNITY: ... for you, Sunnata Adsam (ph).
TRUMP: Right.
HANNITY: Three women. They were absolutely livid at The New York Times piece. We now discover that this particular writer had been tweeting negative things about you. This is supposed to be the paper of record. Twenty pages, and it's now been completely debunked!
Does that anger you?
TRUMP: Well, first of all, I have to thank those women, Rowanne and Carrie and all of them...
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: ... because they were written about and they were furious...
HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE) girl from Utah, too.
TRUMP: And, you know, usually -- and the girl from Utah who's just -- she's -- they made -- they said I kissed her on the lips, I guess in front of her parents with thousands of people. And now she's come out and said this is crazy.
By the way, you know, it's not like the worst thing because, OK, you look at what Clinton's has gone through with all of the problems and all of the things that he's done.
But the -- it was so -- to -- to read this piece on the front page of The New York Times, which was, I think, their most read story in the last year, according to what they say, and to read it -- and to have these young women come out and say, That didn't happen, that's not what we said, that's not what we -- it was the intent.
And I was so furious at that story because there's nobody that respects women more than I do, Sean. You know that. And I treat women with respect. And I have -- we all have fun. We all have good times. We say - - but -- and I'm also in the entertainment business and certain things -- as an example, they have me making a statement about we're going to essentially stop them or we're going to say something very nasty. I was talking about either China or Mexico. I was talking about one of the countries because they've been ripping us off.
That was their punch line for this commercial, this phony commercial, paid for by Wall Street, by the way, I have to tell you, paid for out of a super-PAC. And they put a commercial on about the women...
HANNITY: I think they spent $130 million.
TRUMP: Oh, yes. But just so you understand, the main punch line wasn't about women. So they put it in, like it was about women, you know, with a blank. They put it in like it was about women. Now I guess they have to do a retraction.
These are dishonest people. These are really dishonest people. Nobody respects women...
HANNITY: Are you demanding a retraction...
TRUMP: ... more than I do.
HANNITY: ... from The New York Times?
TRUMP: We are already talking to The New York Times. The New York Times is very upset because it turned out to be a total con job. The piece was a con job. And you know, it's one thing, it's inside the paper, because that happens to me all the time, especially with The Times, and frankly, I could mention plenty of others.
But you know, if you're a Republican conservative, it's very, very hard to get good press, that I can tell you.
HANNITY: I speak from experience.
TRUMP: You are -- you are shunned. No, no, I'm telling you...
HANNITY: I know!
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: It's really -- it's really unfair. But this was a con job. And -- but just think of it. These women, instead of just saying, Oh, that's too bad, who cares, they were incensed that they were portrayed the way they were portrayed.
And all of them got up and said, We respect Donald Trump. We really like Donald Trump.
HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE) what they said, though?
TRUMP: He did absolutely nothing wrong. And they're writing -- now, here's the thing. Anybody reading that story, Sean, they make me look back.
HANNITY: But Carrie and -- and particularly Rowanne both said they purposefully manipulated what they were saying and that they did it on purpose because they had said just the opposite.
TRUMP: I thought it was so amazing because I saw -- I saw Carrie on your show and Rowanne has been all over. And she -- and I didn't speak to her specifically, OK, because I didn't think it would be good if I called her to thank her. I didn't want to do that and let this go by and -- I will absolutely.
But I will tell you, to -- to think what they did -- they put themselves out on the line to do this for me. For me. And I haven't spoken to them...
HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: -- in many years. So I -- I just have such respect for them. But it just shows you -- I'll tell you, it's been a disaster for The New York Times because The New York Times is a whole big con job.
HANNITY: But this is going to be the campaign. This will -- the Clintons...
TRUMP: Oh, I know.
HANNITY: ... are known for being very dirty.
TRUMP: But the good thing about this, this sets the table. You know, this sort of sets the stage. People have seen this. People have seen Carrie. They've seen Rowanne. They've seen others now that are coming forward that were mentioned in that story, which, frankly, wasn't even that bad, if you want to know the truth. It's not like I -- I hope that people that haven't read it...
HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE) 20 pages printed!
TRUMP: No, no, but I mean -- in one case -- I don't know -- it's, like, minor stuff. I said to one of the women, I said, don't eat -- you shouldn't have a piece of candy, OK?
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: That was...
HANNITY: I tell my kid that all the time.
TRUMP: How do you compare that against Clinton, OK, what Clinton has done?
HANNITY: What about what Clinton's done? How big an issue should that be in the campaign? For example, I looked at The New York Times. Are they going to interview Juanita Broderick? Are they going to interview Paula Jones? Are they going to interview Kathleen Willey?
In one case, it's about exposure. In another case, it's about groping and fondling and touching against a woman's will.
TRUMP: And rape.
HANNITY: And rape.
TRUMP: And big settlements, massive settlements.
HANNITY: Eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars for Paula Jones.
TRUMP: And lots of other things. And impeachment for lying.
HANNITY: Smearing, besmirchment of women.
TRUMP: And losing your law license. And he lost his law license, OK, couldn't practice law. And (INAUDIBLE) read about this on Clinton.
HANNITY: Let me ask you...
TRUMP: Now -- now The New York Times, and if you look at Stephanopoulos, these are like the pipe organs for Hillary Clinton. Stephanopoulos, I get on his show the other day. It started -- I -- I couldn't believe it. And I actually said to him, Look, obviously, you're representing -- you're, you know, privy -- he gave a lot of money to the foundation, he did a lot of -- he never told anybody. Never told anybody.
But you look at some of the people, the dishonesty. I'll tell you what. I'm in a pretty tough business, real estate. I meet some tough people. But I have never seen lies and deception like I see in not only with the people and not only with the politicians, but when you're in politics, it is a deceiving -- it's really a pretty rough profession. And I will say this, the political press -- worse than anything else is the political press...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: ... dishonest.
HANNITY: Well, they're talking to us right now, so we'll see what happens.
HANNITY: All right, we'll take...
TRUMP: But they know. They -- the -- I think The Times actually -- look, they got caught in a very bad situation.
HANNITY: When we come back, we'll continue from Trump Tower and the Trump war room, political war room. It's "Hannity" on the road with Donald Trump for the full hour.
We'll continue. We'll talk about Hillary Clinton when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity" as we continue from Trump Tower inside the Trump political war room, Donald Trump with us for the hour.
You are getting very close. These polls are neck and neck with Hillary Clinton. Now, Hillary Clinton lost West Virginia 51-36. You have talked about the system on the Democratic side being rigged.
OK, so Bernie Sanders wins 18 delegates, she wins 11. But then you have the superdelegates. He won 51-36. He got 19 delegates, Hillary got 18.
TRUMP: It's a rigged system.
HANNITY: That's corrupt!
TRUMP: I have to say, it was rigged on the Republican side. The only way I could win was winning in landslides. And I had so many landslides that, you know, I ended up winning. But if I didn't, if I was winning close races, there was no way I could have won.
Now, the Republican actually was more sophisticated because they don't do the superdelegates. With the Democrats, they do superdelegates. It's so obvious.
West Virginia is very interesting because Hillary Clinton -- no miner or no steelworker could ever vote for Hillary Clinton. She said she's going to put the mines out of business and she's going to put the miners out of business. She's going to put them out. She's going to get rid of the -- and then -- that was a week before. I know -- I don't know what happened to her, how she says a thing like that.
But she said we're going to put the miners and the mines out of business. And then she goes into West Virginia and she gets killed. She gets actually...
HANNITY: And she got half the delegates.
TRUMP: And she got half the delegates. I saw that. She got, like, almost half the delegates or maybe half the delegates. And if you add the supers on, it's more than that.
So it's a rigged system. And I'm no fan of Bernie, but I will tell you he is not being treated fairly.
HANNITY: You're going to give this speech on energy. I think energy independence is a key to jobs, and I don't want to be dependent on countries that hate our guts for oil.
TRUMP: A hundred percent.
HANNITY: Is it going to be coal, fracking?
TRUMP: It's going to be coal. It's going to be fracking.
HANNITY: Drilling, nuclear?
TRUMP: It's going to be everything.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: It's going to be everything. It's going to be everything.
HANNITY: All right, let me ask you this question. Obama has been taking shots at you. He took a shot at a commencement speech this weekend.
What do you say back to him in terms of the job that he's done, in your opinion?
TRUMP: You know, it's interesting. I have somebody that knows him very well. And four years ago, I was thinking about running. And my friend said he was obsessed with Donald Trump running, that he thought it was going to be -- he just was obsessed with the fact that Trump -- and I -- ultimately, I decided not to do it and I decided to do it this time. I don't know if that was a good decision or a bad decision. I think it was actually -- I think we're going to do great this time. I think I would have beaten him last time, frankly, had I decided to run.
But he is now, I'm -- I'm definitely on his mind. I mean every time he speaks, he mentions my name...
HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: -- which is an honor. I think it's probably not a bad thing.
HANNITY: Let me go to Hillary. She keeps saying -- I know you released your financial statements again.
TRUMP: Right.
HANNITY: She wants your tax returns.
TRUMP: Yes.
HANNITY: You have talked about her connection to Wall Street and big banks. She has given speeches where she has made, in one hour, more than what Americans -- the average American will make in five years...
TRUMP: Right.
HANNITY: ... economically. She won't release her speeches.
TRUMP: Well, they've just announced they made, like. $7 million just now...
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: -- just from making some speeches. Look, first, my tax return. I'm under a very routine audit, and it's a -- and you saw my tax returns. They're -- I mean, they're -- I mean they're -- if you put them on the floor, they're up to here -- a very complicated, but a routine audit.
And I have -- for 15 years, I have been audited. It's very unfair. I mean, I'll -- I'll be honest because I have very rich friends that never get audited. So it's just -- and I hope it's going to be before the election. I hope. I won't do it. But no lawyer -- in fact, I was interviewed by Greta, who you know very well. She's a lawyer.
HANNITY: She's a friend.
TRUMP: Supposed to be a very good lawyer. She said, Well, I happen to agree, there's no way anybody that's under audit -- routine audit's a standard -- and you know, with the IRS, but there's no way that anybody under audit could release them until the audit is finished. Greta said that.
Here's the thing. Hillary, now I understand, they're missing 30,000 e- mails -- 30,000! She said they had to do with the wedding, OK.
HANNITY: And she said yoga, a wedding, a funeral and e-mails to Bill, but Bill doesn't e-mail.
TRUMP: So for her to be talking about tax returns, where, by the way, you learn nothing.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: ... should release them?
TRUMP: I think the speeches should be released, but I don't know, you know, what she's doing. I -- I know what you're probably going to see is really, really negative statements having to do with who's she's running against right now, Bernie, because I would imagine she made very positive statements toward Goldman Sachs and all the people that paid her all this money.
HANNITY: She wanted their money.
TRUMP: She wants their money. I mean, she wants this money. And she doesn't want people to see those speeches because if you listen to her, you know, she's going to protect everybody from the big bad banks and the investment bankers. And then if you see the speeches, they'll say, Wow, she's not protecting us at all.
But listen, how can she be asking for anything when they're missing right now 30,000 e-mails, when she's under FBI investigation for being essentially a very dishonest person? I don't even know how she can run.
Honestly, people have been destroyed, their lives have been destroyed for doing a tiny fraction, Sean, of what she's done.
HANNITY: You know, look at David Petraeus.
TRUMP: Look at Petraeus. Look at many others. And it looks -- by the way, it looks like she's being protected by the Democrats. I mean, it looks like she's being totally protected.
HANNITY: Well, I don't know when this is ever going to end. This is the longest investigation ever.
TRUMP: It looks like it will never end.
HANNITY: Let me ask you about Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse, Bill Kristol, and then to a lesser extent Jeb Bush and -- and Lindsey Graham, who didn't keep their promise to -- to support the nominee. But those three in particular, Romney and Sasse and Kristol, keep talking about a third party. Wouldn't that elect Hillary?
TRUMP: Well, the judges that I just went over with you will never be on the Supreme Court, that I can tell you. And with me, they will be on the Supreme Court. And, you know, we could get three to five. It could even be five. Somebody said probably three, it could be four. It could be, actually, five. You will never see judges like I just got, the Federalist Society, great, everybody respects it. The list has gotten rave reviews. I don't know if you've seen that, but it's gotten rave reviews. Those judges, you can forget that. They'll never be on the Supreme Court or judges like them, never be on the Supreme Court.
Now, Sasse, I don't know. But I had a huge victory in Nebraska recently. You saw that.
HANNITY: He was --
TRUMP: I won everything. And he was just condemned by the party --
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: -- in Nebraska. But I had a huge victory in Nebraska. I don't know him. I never met him. He might be a very nice guy. But I watched him on television. The level of hatred was incredible. I never met the guy.
But very important, Mitt Romney, look, he lost last time and he should have won. When he was going to run, I was very tough on him. I said, look, he choked. He's a choker. He choked. And I said very loud and clear, you can't let him run again, he should have beaten Obama. That was an easier race, in my opinion, than this race, OK.
HANNITY: It's all about electoral votes now. You need to get to 270. You've been through all of these states now. What states will Donald Trump put in play that maybe somebody else wouldn't?
TRUMP: So if I run, we're going to have a lot of additional states. If let's say Ted Cruz. I say it with respect, but let's say Ted Cruz or somebody else got the nomination, they had a little tiny group of states --
HANNITY: Thread the needle.
TRUMP: And if they lose one of those states, it's over, right? They have to win Florida. They have to win Pennsylvania. They have to win Iowa. And any little movement, any -- you lose, you have two votes go the wrong direction, it's over.
The fact is, and a lot of people don't understand this, but the people that are in the world of politics fully understand it. It's a much tougher road for a Republican to win the presidency. Now, you can run for the Senate, you can run for governor, fine. Everything is -- but for -- to -- for a Republican to win, it is a very tough road, the presidency. OK, Michigan is in play. I think New York might be in play. Can you imagine if I won New York?
HANNITY: New York and New Jersey.
TRUMP: I think New York might be in play. New Jersey, I think I'm going to do great in New Jersey. These are states that other Republicans wouldn't even go to.
HANNITY: You said something last night. You said if I didn't fight as hard as I fight, I wouldn't be here today.
TRUMP: Well, I think that's true.
HANNITY: Is that the same for the general?
TRUMP: No, I think that's true.
HANNITY: You'll fight that hard.
TRUMP: It's the same. Look --
HANNITY: It has to be.
TRUMP: You have to be true to yourself. I mean you're -- I was a good student. I'm like a smart person. And, you know, you listen to things, it's so tough. If you're a Republican, especially if you're a conservative Republican, what you go through is incredible. I even talk about my uncle was a professor at MIT, just a highly, highly respected intellect. I mean, I come from a very smart family.
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: I like to talk about it because conservatives are abused. They're abused by the media, falsely abused, but really abused by the media. But I put so many states into play, Michigan being one, Illinois. States -- I'll tell you what, the state of Washington, I was in Washington last week, the state of Washington. We had crowds that were the biggest they've ever had. They've never had crowds like that. They said it was like an Elton John came and we broke that record. Oregon, nobody would even think about Oregon. I'm going to campaign there. These are states that are locks for the Democrats.
HANNITY: It almost reminds me a little bit, the crowd size, enthusiasm of Obama in 08. Do you -- do you feel --
TRUMP: I do. I went to California. Everyone said California, give it up. I'm not going to give it up. I'm going to play California. Now, maybe I won't win and I know the odds are against me and all that. We went to Costa Mesa last -- two weeks ago. We had 31,000 people. It was a record for this incredible amphitheater. We had 31,000 people. Nobody has ever seen anything like that.
HANNITY: We've got to take a break, though.
TRUMP: Good.
HANNITY: I'm going to hold you right there. We'll come back. We're with Donald Trump as we continue from Trump Tower. It's "Hannity" on the road in the Trump war room. And when we come back, we'll talk about potential cabinet members, VP, and much more straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity" as we continue from Trump Tower. This is sort of in the bowels of the building, inside the war room that they have set up for the election. And Donald Trump is with us for the hour. All right, everyone is wondering who's -- who's on Donald -- Donald Trump's short list for VP You've got to give us a hint. Give us something.
TRUMP: Look, I have five or six people I really like, I respect. I've gotten along with them. I think it's very important that we get along. But I don't want to mention any names. It's too soon. I'm going to announce, in terms of vice president, we'll announce at the convention. I really hope to be able to keep it secret. I know you'll be calling every day trying to find out.
HANNITY: That's my job.
TRUMP: But that's your job. But -- and you do it well. But I really have a group of great people.
HANNITY: Is there one or two that really are in your mind --
TRUMP: Or three maybe.
HANNITY: Maybe three --
TRUMP: Yes, yes, three that I really think a lot of.
HANNITY: And you want somebody that's, you said, connected to Washington.
TRUMP: I want probably -- and we have a couple of other alternatives. But I want somebody ideally who's very political, who's very strong with getting legislation passed. I'll be -- I'll do great with our trade deals and with our business and with a lot of that. And we're going to make our country rich again. We're going to make our country strong again. But I want somebody that can deal with Congress, can deal with the Senate, can deal with our Congress people so that we can get something passed. You know, Obama signs his executive orders all day long because he can't get along with anybody. It's not the way it's supposed to work, as you understand.
HANNITY: You're not a conventional candidate. This has not been a conventional campaign in any way. I asked you the last time you were on about potential key rivals. Look at the people that are supporting you -- Rudy Giuliani, Chris Christie, Newt Gingrich, Ben Carson, Rick Perry endorsed you on my show.
TRUMP: Right.
HANNITY: Bobby Jindal, Jan Brewer. What about announcing some other positions, secretary of state, secretary of defense?
TRUMP: We may do that and --
HANNITY: Homeland Security.
TRUMP: Some of the people on that list, not all of the people, but some of the people on that list I really like and I think will be fantastic when given the right. I mean I've seen Rudy. Rudy has been a fan for a long time. I think Newt has been incredible. I just spoke to Newt, actually, about something, and he has great ideas. I'll tell you what, there's no -- there's no lack of ideas coming out of Newt Gingrich.
HANNITY: Funny, they come 24-7.
TRUMP: He's a great guy.
HANNITY: All right, let me go through the scandals, because you said about Hillary, she's totally controlled by Wall Street. You got the Clinton Global Initiative literally that they're funneling money to a friend. That broke. You obviously have the email server scandal. You've got the Benghazi scandal. You have the abuse of women scandal. She said that she is going to appoint Bill Clinton to --
TRUMP: Yes.
HANNITY: -- run the economy. Isn't that the job of the president.
TRUMP: Well, first of all, Bill Clinton is the one that signed NAFTA. In the history of our country, that's been the worst trade deal ever.
HANNITY: Isn't that her job?
TRUMP: What that has done to this country -- that has cleaned out our factories. I mean I go -- hey, look, I've just gone through New York. We won in landslides, New York and Maryland and Pennsylvania and Connecticut and all of these places. And I've toured them because, you know, I wanted their votes and they were all great. They have been cleaned out, 50 percent down with manufacturing, almost every one of them, 45 to 50 percent down. These -- these companies have moved to Mexico, they've moved to different places. NAFTA is a disaster. It was Bill Clinton's deal. He's the one that signed it. And for him to be involved with the economy is -- is a joke, OK. It's a joke.
Now, people didn't see the effects until later, because NAFTA took effect a little bit later, after he was gone. NAFTA is probably the worst -- one of the worst deals we've ever signed in this country from the standpoint of economic development or jobs.
HANNITY: It seems like she almost wants to run with him.
But let me ask a more important question. The Clinton Foundation, beyond funneling money to a friend labeled by the Secret Service "Energizer," a special friend of Bill's, but a more important issue. You talk about abuse of women. You talked about their personal lives. You talked about the smears, slander, besmirchment.
Here's a bigger question. The Clinton Foundation took all this money from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia doesn't let women drive. They can't vote. They can't go out in public without a male relative. They have to get permission to go to school or work, and women are told what to wear. Now, I've never been able to find a quote of Hillary -- the Clinton Foundation took millions from the Saudis -- of her criticizing the mistreatment of women there.
TRUMP: But you have other cases and you have many other cases in there. And, you know, they talk about women and the abuse of women and forget about abuse by him directly. Look at what's going on and look at who gave them a lot of their money. So -- and what did all of these --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: What did all of these places where they give millions of dollars for speeches, what did they get? And they got a lot. And you know that and everybody knows that.
HANNITY: So in other words, they're buying influence.
TRUMP: Well, the press isn't covering it. I mean, to me, that's possibly, I don't know, the email to me, this -- you know, when you talk about national security, that's about as clear as it can get.
HANNITY: Well, it certainly bought their silence.
TRUMP: What did all of these countries and others get in return for paying millions of dollars for speeches? They got a lot.
HANNITY: We'll take a break. We'll come back. More with Donald Trump, when we come back. Believe it or not, the president threatening to veto a bill that would allow the victims of 9/11 to sue Saudi Arabia. We'll get Donald Trump's position on that when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity" as we continue from Trump Tower. Donald Trump with us for the hour. All right, so there's a bill that passed unanimously because we have these 28 redacted pages from the Commission report on 9/11. And it appears that the Saudis had connections to and may have financially assisted those people that attacked our country. Now, they said they passed a vote unanimously. The president won't sign it. Shouldn't America have the right to see those pages, and should those families have the right to sue? And what would you do if you were president?
TRUMP: The answer is yes, they should. And, you know, we got into a war in Iraq that I was totally opposed to. But Iraq did not knock down the World Trade Center, Sean. So we fought -- and they didn't have weapons of mass destruction either, by the way. And you look at what's happened since then and it's been a disaster. And the way Obama got out was a total catastrophe. And just look at what's happening.
But the answer is yes, we have to get to the bottom of it. And everybody wants to keep it quiet. Everybody wants to keep it secret. I don't -- I think most people know pretty much what's on those papers, but people do have the right to sue and they should have the right to sue. They lost their loved ones --
HANNITY: Why do they protect the Saudis. The Saudis have been duplicitous -- I understand they're Sunni and we've got to battle them against the Iranian Shia. I understand that. But don't we need to hold them accountable a little more than they've been held accountable?
TRUMP: Well, I look at it also differently. We protect the Saudis, we protect many countries. We are -- we're the military for many countries, and they don't pay us. And they don't pay us what they should be paying us. Do you know what the difference they -- of our -- of our country, if somebody like me can go in and very nicely say folks, you've got to pay up, because the Saudis wouldn't be there for two weeks if we weren't there protecting them.
HANNITY: And they're tear driving the prices of our energy down to drive our fracking business out of business.
TRUMP: Or whatever. Maybe they are. I really don't know that for a fact. A lot of people think that. I will say this. We are spending billions and billions and billions of dollars protecting nations all over the world, and many of them aren't paying up. If I get them to pay up, just fair, fair, if I get them to pay up, our country is already a different place.
HANNITY: Republicans have said that Ben Rhodes who now has admitted he manipulated, he lied, he used propaganda to sell that bad Iranian deal and manipulating people in the media in particular, he also, by the way, if you go back to the Wall Street Journal, the whole you tube video narrative as it relates to Benghazi, he started that lie. Should he be fired?
TRUMP: He should be fired, maybe more than fired. First of all, the Iranian deal is one of the worst deals I've ever seen negotiated. I'm not talking about countries. I'm talking about one of the worst deals I've ever seen negotiated.
But think back. How about ObamaCare? How about the architect of ObamaCare? He had a meeting with some of his friends, and I guess they got him on tape or something and he's talking about what a con job Obamacare was. People forgot about that. It's totally forgotten about. Well, Ben Rhodes is the same kind of a thing. Obama has been truly, you could say one of, but I think you could almost say I think he has now superseded Jimmy Carter as the worst president in the history of this country.
HANNITY: Here's I think, and I'm going to give you all the latitude you want. You understand the Clintons. You know their tactics. You know they set up a war room. You know that they will say anything and they've got the media. How does Donald Trump strategize the tactics that you are going to use? How do you defeat her?
TRUMP: I think the public is very smart. And I have beaten a lot of people over the last year, you know. Many of them are friends of yours. And 66,000 negative ads, and the public got it. They understood. They knew a lot of them were false. Most of them were false. Some not so bad. But many of them were false, and I won Florida in a landslide. You've never seen so many ads. I won Florida, I won so many places, landslides, all of them landslides. Indiana, landslide. If you went to Indiana there was nothing but negative ads on Donald Trump.
They're going to go after me, I'm going to go after them. If she gets in, I think our country will never recover. I'm not only talking about Supreme Court justices. I'm talking about the whole -- and honestly, she can't negotiate with the Chinese. She can't negotiate with Japan, she can't negotiate with Vietnam. It's not her thing. It's not her thing. Number one, she won't want to do it. And number two, I don't know if she knows it's a real problem. And it will basically be four more years of Obama and maybe worse. I think that is why I think I should win.
HANNITY: Has it sunk in, you can now be the president of the United States? Are you ready for that?
TRUMP: It's such a responsibility. Somebody just left my office, actually, and said do you have any idea what going on here where it's such an incredible responsibility. And it is. I have a great responsibility and I'm doing this with the people. We have a movement going on. I go and make a speech in California or wherever I go, Illinois.
HANNITY: Who is going to build the wall?
TRUMP: Who is going to build the wall? We're going to build, believe, and Mexico is going to pay for the wall. But it is a movement and a beautiful thing to see. These people, the people love this country.
HANNITY: Mr. Trump, thank you very much. Good to see you.
TRUMP: Thank you very much.
HANNITY: Thank you, appreciate it.
TRUMP: Thanks.
HANNITY: That is all the time we have left from Trump Tower tonight. Thank you for being with us. We'll see you back here tomorrow night.
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