Trump: 'Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama gave us ISIS'
On 'Hannity,' presidential candidate on protecting the Second Amendment, ISIS threat
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," January 5, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to "Hannity." And tonight, the Iowa caucuses are fast approaching, and the GOP front-runner, Donald Trump, continues to dominate in the polls. Now, according to the RealClearPolitics average, the national average, Donald Trump is maintaining a double-digit lead over his closest opponent, garnering 35 percent of the vote.
And looking to cement that lead, the Trump campaign just released yesterday their first television ad. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The politicians can pretend it's something else, but Donald Trump calls it radical Islamic terrorism. That's why he's calling for a temporary shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until we can figure out what's going on. He'll quickly cut the head off ISIS and take their oil. And he'll stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for.
DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will make America great again!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: And meanwhile, 2016 Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton took a shot at Donald Trump when she revealed her New Year's resolution. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm interested in your response to the Donald's comment that you and President Obama created ISIS.
(LAUGHTER)
HILLARY CLINTON, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've adopted a New Year's resolution.
(LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: I'm going to let him live in his alternative reality, and I'm not going to respond.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, here to respond is the man himself, 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Mr. Trump, good to see you.
TRUMP: Hello, Sean.
HANNITY: Happy New Year. All right, number one...
TRUMP: You, too, happy New Year.
HANNITY: How long do you think that New Year's resolution is going to last? And how would you describe your reality versus Hillary Clinton's reality?
TRUMP: Well, her resolution may last for a long time. I don't think she wants to take me on. I know for a fact I'm the last person she wants to run against because I speak the truth.
And what I said about ISIS is true. I mean, with her horrible policies and President Obama's horrible policies, essentially, ISIS was formed and ISIS was created, and now we have to knock the hell out of them and get rid of them. And we'll do that if the right person comes to office. It's not going to be done until then.
So you know, she made that statement, and she -- look, I was mentioned nine times in their debate when they had their Democrat debate. And I will tell you that the nine times, every time -- now, all of a sudden, she doesn't want to mention. So they don't want to take me on.
And a recent poll came out where I'm leading her head to head. I think I'm the only one that's going to beat her. And frankly, she should be easy to beat and I think we're going to beat her, and I think we're going to beat her soundly. But right now, as you know, I'm more focused on these other candidates, Republican side, that I'm running against.
HANNITY: Let me stay on Hillary for just a second, then we'll talk about the primary that's ongoing. The whole issue -- Hillary was very offended at words you used, and you fought right back and you called her an enabler. And you said that she abused those women.
And I want you to expand into this because it seems to be every election campaign, Democrats always claim that Republicans are racist and sexist and they even said that about Mitt Romney for having resumes of women that he wanted to hire.
TRUMP: Well, as you know, and it's been well documented, she went after the women very, very strongly and very viciously, according to the women and according to other sources. A major Book's been written about it, and it's a book that's a very well respected book. And it was not a pretty picture, what she did.
And also, as you know, he was impeached, the president was impeached, and was lying and he was -- you know, he was impeached for lying. His law license was taken away from him and lots of other things. He paid a massive fine, you know, many hundreds of thousands of dollars. They paid, I guess, a fee to one of the women. So look, there's a whole thing.
When she talks about me being sexist, I mean, she can't be speaking about that subject, and I don't think she will be anymore. I would hope she doesn't. And I'd rather not speak about it also. But she can't bring it up.
HANNITY: What about the Clinton Foundation? They've taken tons of money from countries like Saudi Arabia. I've Googled and I've checked this everywhere I can. I've not seen a lot of criticism by Hillary of these countries that have atrocious human rights records, women's rights records, but the Clinton Foundation took a lot of money from them. Should that be an issue in this campaign?
TRUMP: Well, it would really depend. I mean, I've given money to the Clinton Foundation. You know, I was a very, very, very big business person. And I get along with everybody, including the Clintons, and I've given money over the years to the Clinton Foundation, never asked for anything.
I will say this, speeches were made by the president. I think he got, like, $8 million for speeches made with -- you know, and paid for by people that were doing work with the State Department when she was the head of the State Department. It was just in one of the papers that he was paid about $8 million for various groups and companies, and they were doing business directly with the State Department at that time, and paid very, very substantially.
So these are real problems for them, ultimately, when it comes to the general election, maybe even now, but certainly, when it comes to the general election, Sean.
HANNITY: I think certainly, and you know, the question would be whether or not they were able to buy her silence with these donations as it relates to the atrocious human rights records.
Bill Clinton is now out on the campaign trail campaigning for his wife. And he sort of sidestepped a question as it relates to you, and I want to play it for you and get your response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump says your past is fair game. I've got to ask you (INAUDIBLE) it is fair game?
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: (INAUDIBLE) I'm trying to (INAUDIBLE) Democrats (INAUDIBLE). And I think there's always (INAUDIBLE) election (INAUDIBLE) so I'm just going to (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: I never saw him at a loss for words like that, but what's your reaction?
TRUMP: Well, he doesn't want to get involved with the subject, and I understand that. He doesn't want to talk about it. He doesn't want to get involved.
But this is why I'm going to win the election if I run against her. And you know, I think it was CNBC did a big report or study, and a couple of them did, where if I run against Hillary, it's going to be the largest voter turnout in the history of our country. And many of those extra people, people that never voted before, are going to be voting for Trump.
And you know, it's always been amazing to me that not that many people vote as a percentage of the people that can vote in our country, where you look at other countries, they're much higher turnouts. They say this turnout, just like your debate -- I mean, the FOX debate was the biggest in the history of cable television, like, show. And CNN had a debate, you know, right after yours, where 23 million people -- you had 24 million people, they had 23, the largest show in the history of CNN.
So I would think that if I ran against Hillary -- and I don't think they were there for the other people, by the way, because the debates used to get very poor ratings. Not to brag or anything, but that's the way it is.
If I ran against Hillary, I think it would be the largest voter turnout, great thing for the country -- the largest voter turnout. And I think a lot of people that feel disenfranchised, including Democrats, by the way, will come out and vote for Trump. And a lot of people are saying that.
So it will be a very exciting period of time, that I can tell you. And I think I will beat her pretty easily, I hope.
HANNITY: All right, let's go to the polls. You're winning by a pretty substantial margin nationally against your Republican opponents. A recent poll has you ahead in South Carolina, Nevada. You're winning in two polls in New Hampshire. In Iowa, where the caucus is about a month away, that's been a little tighter, where you're either tied with Ted Cruz -- Ted Cruz has a lead on you in one poll.
How important is Iowa to you in terms of going forward and the strategy? How important is winning Iowa to you?
TRUMP: Well, the politically correct answer, I should say, Oh, well, I really don't...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: ... politically correct answers.
TRUMP: But I don't want to be politically correct. I want to win Iowa. I have a great relationship with the people of Iowa. I'm doing fantastically with evangelicals. I'm going there on Saturday. I'm going there many, many times over the next few weeks. I mean, I know the people really well. They're incredible people. The relationship is amazing.
The Tea Party people, the evangelicals, of which I really feel -- you know, we have a very warm love with each other. I mean, a poll just came out today that I'm winning with evangelicals. And you know, I think -- I hope to win Iowa.
Now, you talk about the polls. But CNN did the big poll of Iowa, and it's 33 to 20 that I'm leading. So I don't know. I mean, you know, something could happen, but I would love to be able to win Iowa, and the most recent poll or the big poll, at least, which is the CNN poll, I'm leading by 13 points. I would love to win Iowa.
I should say to you that -- well, if I do well there, I'm very happy. But I really would like to win it, to be honest with you.
HANNITY: Let me ask about some reports -- as a matter of fact, I have comments by Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, John Kasich all attacking you. Not -- pretty predictable, considering you're in the lead.
On top of that, you have a Politico report that says top establishment players say you might inflict lasting damage to the Republican brand, and they are planning to launch an anti-Trump vehicle to pummel you.
So in the closing days of this campaign leading into the Iowa caucuses, obviously, rhetoric is getting ratcheted up. A lot of money is being spent. Tell us your strategy to combat that.
TRUMP: Well, look, there's a lot of people that, you know, this has never happened before. I don't want any money. I'm self-funding my own campaign. I'm putting up my own money. We're taking ads now and we're putting a lot of money into them. And you know, I don't need people's money.
So the lobbyists don't want me because they want to give a lot of money so they control the candidate. The special interests don't want me because they want to put up a lot of money, and they are. You look at what's going to be -- what's being put in Hillary's, you know, coffers and Jeb Bush and Marco and all of them. I mean, they're all getting all of this money from these special interest groups and the lobbyists, and they're totally controlled. If they win, they're totally 100 percent controlled, and they're not working for the country, they're working for the person that gave them the money.
So this has been happening, and I mean, I understand why people are not happy that I'm winning because I'm not a part of the establishment. Now, interestingly, prior to June 16th, when I announced I was running for president, I was a big part of the establishment. I gave $350,000 to the Republican governor -- you know, the RGA, Republican Governors Association. I gave a lot of money to a lot of different people. And I mean, like -- and I'm talking about a lot of money. I guess I did 350 for the governors, but I did a lot more than that for others. And I was, like, part of the establishment.
Now, since I ran, I'm sort of, like, not part of the establishment because they're sort of saying, Gee, he's not supposed to do that.
HANNITY: I think...
TRUMP: I'm doing that to straighten out the country. And I'm doing it to make America great again, as per my team, but make America great again. I understand how they feel. I'm not part of the establishment.
HANNITY: I think they like your money.
We got to take a break. We'll come back. We'll have more with Donald Trump right after the break.
And coming up tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Contrary to claims of some presidential candidates apparently before this meeting...
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: ... this is not a plot to take away everybody's guns.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Donald Trump will weigh in on the president's anti-gun control measures. That's next.
Plus, the House is getting ready to vote on a bill that will repeal "Obama care." The new speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, is here to explain that and more in a "Hannity" exclusive.
And also, later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. ambassador at risk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to send us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not the first responders.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You will wait.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go! We got to roll!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have no jurisdiction. We're not even supposed to be here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand down!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Tonight, you'll meet the real-life heroes behind the Hollywood blockbuster about the terrorist attack in Benghazi. That and more on this busy news night tonight on "Hannity."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." So earlier today, the president laid out executive actions that he intends to push through his anti-gun agenda. Take a look at what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Contrary to the claims of what some gun rights proponents have suggested, this hasn't been the first step in some slippery slope to mass confiscation. Contrary to claims of some presidential candidates apparently before this meeting...
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: ... this is not a plot to take away everybody's guns. So the gun lobby may be holding Congress hostage right now, but they cannot hold America hostage.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: We do not have to accept this carnage as the price of freedom! And we need voters who want safer gun laws and who are disappointed in leaders who stand in their way to remember come election time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: And we continue with 2016 Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump. All right, so the president gets very emotional today. For the -- I think for the third time, he finally talked about all the violence that's going on in Chicago. This is a guy that didn't miss his tee time after James Foley was decapitated, you may recall.
You have been weighing in heavily. You would repeal these executive actions, and you said to Hillary, If guns don't keep you safe, disarm your bodyguards. What's your reaction to today and to Hillary supporting the president?
TRUMP: Well, a few things. First of all, you talk about missing tee times. He went to Hawaii in a very old 747 called Air Force One with engines that spew -- you know, he talks about the carbon footprint. Well, he traveled all the way to Hawaii in this massive plane with old engines that are not very environmentally sensitive, And then came back a couple of weeks later, and he talks about the footprint, the carbon footprint. So you know, that's one thing.
As far as the executive order that he really is doing, number one, before you even get into the guns, I'm totally 2nd Amendment, and we can't be messing with it. And frankly, if we had situations in California or on our military bases and even in Paris, if they had a couple of guns in the room, you wouldn't have had 130 people killed and many, many people very, very gravely injured, and that includes California. You would have had a much different situation.
But as far as the executive order, you're not supposed to be doing it with executive order. You're supposed to get the Congressman, get Congress in, negotiate a deal. Everybody raises their hand. They approve the deal. And you have something.
He doesn't do that. He just signs executive orders all over the place. Then he'll be sued on that. He'll be out on a golf course in about three years when it comes up, and probably, it won't be upheld. Who knows what's going to happen?
HANNITY: What should the Republicans...
TRUMP: But in the meantime things are -- what's happening is the government is being run much differently than what our founders had in mind. I mean, he's signing executive orders on things that -- this is the 2nd Amendment. This is a very important thing to people. And you're not supposed to just say we're making changes without having it go through a process of having other people agree with you...
HANNITY: Well, I...
TRUMP: ... and, you know, through a negotiation. It's unbelievable what's happening!
HANNITY: You're talking about co-equal branches of government, separation of powers. Now, the president himself said 25 times before he issued his immigration executive action that he didn't have the authority or the power to do it, but he did it anyway. The Republicans didn't stop him.
TRUMP: That's right.
HANNITY: Did that embolden him now to pretty much decide -- write laws on his own through executive action, violating the Constitution and the rule of law? Is that how you see it?
TRUMP: The Republicans did not stop him. He's getting away with murder. This recent budget situation, which is -- basically gave Obama every single thing he wanted having to do with the Syrian refugees coming into our country, having to do with borders and weak borders and all of the things that he wanted, he just got in this new budget. I've never seen a budget pass so fast. It looks like it got done in a day.
And I'm just saying, where is Ryan and where are all these people to -- you know, to do something, to negotiate or to do something? He got everything he wanted. We got nothing. I mean, we got nothing.
And all we're doing is increasing our budget now, our deficit. You know, if you look, we're at $19 trillion. Now we're going to be at about $21 trillion very soon. Who's there to negotiate these budgets? I've never seen anything get passed so quickly, and the Democrats got everything they wanted!
HANNITY: Let me ask you this. You, in your ad, defended your positions about a temporary ban on people coming from Muslim countries. I'm assuming you're citing James Clapper and James Comey and their comments of what they said we can't vet the people coming in. You also defended your position on immigration. But you went further. You said Clinton and Obama created ISIS. Is that by pulling out too early before the job was done? Is that what you meant by that comment?
TRUMP: Largely, that was one of the reasons. That's one of the ways that ISIS happened. I mean, they all just got together. We were gone. And you know, I was against the war in Iraq and I've been against it from day one and a long time ago, 2004 I was against it. I have headlines that Trump was against the war. People came from the White House to see me about it because I felt you were going to destabilize the Middle East, and I was right.
But the way he pulled out was absolutely -- number one, he announced a date so that the enemy just withdrew, waited, and then they go back in. ISIS was formed. And you can say very nicely that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama gave us ISIS.
Now we're trying to get rid of ISIS, and they're finding it not so easy because they're not going about it in the right way. If you remember, on your show three years ago, I said take the oil. Keep the oil. Take it. Keep it. Give some of the money to all of these wonderful young people that were killed. Give it to their families. Give it to the wounded warriors, some of it...
HANNITY: I agreed with you.
TRUMP: ... and have plenty left over for other things.
HANNITY: Let me ask you...
TRUMP: I said, Keep it.
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: Now, you heard me say that for three years. All of a sudden, they start (INAUDIBLE) they're not going to keep it, they're just bombing it. They're not going to keep it. They're not smart enough to keep it.
HANNITY: Can Donald Trump alter the electoral map? In other words, there was a recent study that came out that after West Virginia, the state that you're running the strongest, that it's New York, that you have more support from Reagan Democrats in New York than any other place in the country.
Do you think if you got this nomination that you could flip a state like New York, deeply blue, to red? Would that be possible?
TRUMP: I do. I think I'd do very well in New York. I think I'm going to do fantastically in Pennsylvania. I think I'm going to do Fantastically in Ohio. I think I'm going to win Florida. I think I'm going to win a lot of states...
HANNITY: New Jersey?
TRUMP: ... that nobody else is. Take a look at Jeb Bush. I think I'll win New Jersey. I mean, you look at New Jersey, I'm way at the top. And Chris Christie, who's the governor, as you know, is not doing so well there. He's way, way, way behind. I think I'll win New Jersey.
But look at Florida. I'm at 32. The sitting senator is at, like, 12 or 14. And Jeb Bush is at 4.
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: And I'm a 32 in Florida. I'm going to win Florida.
So I just think we're going to win a lot of states that nobody ever thought of winning. You know, the Republicans never think of these states in terms of winning. And we're going to win a lot of states that the Republicans, frankly, are not used to winning. And we're going to have a great election. We're going to have a very, very big and pleasant surprise to make our country great again.
HANNITY: Less than a month to go. We need to get great again. That's for sure. All right, good to see you Mr. Trump.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Appreciate it.
TRUMP: Thank you very much.
HANNITY: And coming up -- the House is getting ready to vote on a bill that will repeal "Obama care." Speaker of the House Paul Ryan joins us next in a "Hannity" exclusive.
Then later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we expecting any friendlies?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am not aware of any friendlies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let 'em come Let 'em come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: We meet the real-life heroes behind the blockbuster movie "13 Hours." All of that and more tonight on "Hannity."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." Now, tomorrow, the Republican- controlled House of Representatives is set to vote on a bill that would repeal "Obama care." Now, just how significant a vote is this?
Joining us now in a "Hannity" exclusive, the brand-new speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, is with us, congressman from Wisconsin. Welcome back, sir.
REP. PAUL RYAN, R-WIS., SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Happy New Year, Sean. How're you doing?
HANNITY: Happy New Year to you. OK, tell us about this vote. There has been a lot of angst about not being able to repeal or replace "Obama care."
RYAN: Right.
HANNITY: And a lot of people have wanted, including myself, the power of the purse used to stop it. Tell us what this is going to do.
RYAN: Yes, so we've been at this, what, for five years now. We finally found what I think is the smart strategy to be able to get a bill on his desk. We've never been able to get around a filibuster in the Senate to get a bill to repeal "Obama care."
By the way, this also defunds Planned Parenthood, which is a very high priority of ours. We could never get through the Senate filibuster. So we used the one rule, the one tool we have a year -- we call this reconciliation -- so we can get around the Senate filibuster to get a bill on his desk defunding "Obama care" and Planned Parenthood.
We're passing that tomorrow. I fully anticipate the president will veto this, but I mean, how many times have we been saying we want to put bills on his desk that say who we are, what we believe versus what he believes, and that he will veto. Then we'll have a veto override vote on that later in the month. But this is the first time we've been able to get on his desk a bill going after "Obama care" and Planned Parenthood.
HANNITY: Let me give you a chance -- because you're new in this position and I actually know that you were fairly reluctant. And I don't think this is a job that you really wanted, but you did take it. And I don't blame you for not wanting it. It's not exactly the most loved position in Washington.
But let me give you an outline of where I think conservatives are frustrated. And I asked you about this the last time. But it's "Obama care." It's executive action on immigration, now on gun control. You mentioned Planned Parenthood, which I'm glad you brought into this, the Iranian deal, the Syrian refugees, controlling the borders.
Tell us -- expand on your vision. Where are you going to take things? What's going to be different?
RYAN: Hey, tell me about it. I've been a frustrated conservative, as well. So number one, I'm hitting the reset button. We're going to do things differently around here in the House. Number two, I'm decentralizing power so every conservative, every member of Congress has a greater ability to participate in the process, so that we can really have this place work the way the founders intended it to work.
But number three, we have to use every tool at our disposal to keep this executive branch honest, to keep oversight over them. So let's take the executive amnesty. We went the court route, and we've been successful. We're going after the president in court on "Obama care" issues, as well. And we're succeeding in court there.
We've used the power of the purse with riders on a whole host of things, pro-life riders, Internal Revenue Service riders, EPA riders.
And at the end of the day, Sean, what really matters, though, is winning an election. We have to have a conservative in the White House. We have to have a conservative in the White House that isn't trashing the Constitution, that isn't going with the phone and the pen routine.
And that is why and the reason I took this job, the reason I took this job, and my colleagues know this, is we have to go on offense in 2016 and we have to offer a bold agenda to the country so that the people of this country, who do not like the direction America is heading, which we don't - - that we owe them an alternative. We have to give them a bold conservative agenda so that the men and women in this country can decide which way the nation goes in 2016.
HANNITY: I like that argument.
RYAN: We want a mandate election. If we win that election, then we have the mandate, then we have the wherewithal, then we have the Republican president and the Republican Congress with a conservative agenda to put in place in 2017. That's why I'm doing this job in the first place.
HANNITY: Tell me how you go about that, because I've been advocating this very thing for a long time myself. Put it down on paper. Have the caucus, have your conference sign on to it and say this is what we do. But people still, you know, we're a trust and verify. People are still angry over 2010 Obamacare, as you pointed out, five years, and they're also mad about executive amnesty, which I would argue emboldened the president to move forward on the gun issue this week.
RYAN: That's right. But we've been successful on executive amnesty. Notice it hasn't happened. Why? Because we've been succeeding in courts. We've had three good court rulings on this.
HANNITY: That's true.
RYAN: So we've succeeded on that one and beating that one back. And so yes, here's what he's going to do, just by the way. I'm going to digress for a second. He's going to give us a distraction every single week. This gun issue, it's clear he's hostile to the Second Amendment. There's no loophole here. He's just frustrating the Second Amendment rights of law- abiding citizens. And he wants to distract us also so that we are not looking at his failures, like a failure to confront radical Islamic terror, a failure to defeat ISIS. And he wants to get us off our game to offer a bold conservative agenda to the country.
We're not going to take these distractions. We're going to deal with these issues in the smartest way we can think of dealing with them. But we need to win the election, and the best way to win the election is give people a choice.
And so to your point, spent this entire break going through how do we come up with an agenda that is bottom up, that is organic, that's listening to Americans and members of Congress to assemble an agenda to, as you say, put on paper and give that to the country, show that to the country, run on that in 2016 so that people can really choose an agenda. If we win, then we have a mandate election. We have a retreat in 10 days where we're going to go start working on this and then rolling this out as the year goes on.
HANNITY: I think what you're saying here is really new and profound. And I want to get into more detail. So stay right there. We'll have more with Speaker Ryan. We'll pick it up there when we get back.
And then later tonight --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. ambassador at risk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to send us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are not the first responders.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You will wait.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have no jurisdiction in that country. We're not even supposed to be here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand down!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: When we come back, also you'll meet the real life heroes whose story is now told in the brand new blockbuster movie called "13 Hours. They will be here to explain what really happened during the Benghazi terrorist attack, that and more tonight on "Hannity."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity" as we continue with the new speaker of the House Paul Ryan. You said a lot of things here that I think are very newsworthy and very I also think important as somebody that is conservative, that believes the country is headed in the wrong direction, that feels the Republicans have not been as focused getting things done that they've promised. You say, number one, you want to hit the reset button. And number two, you are going to have a conference with your fellow Republicans coming up in 10 days. Then you say you're going to put out an agenda on paper signed by the conference. Can you explain what you think this is going to be?
RYAN: Yes, Sean, this is why I took the job. And I said it to my colleagues when being asked to consider this job. I will do this if we go on offense and if we offer the country a very clear, bold conservative agenda, an alternative to the ObamaCare era. Look, either we have another four years like these years with Hillary Clinton or we as a conservative party offer the country a very clear and compelling agenda on the big issues that are confronting us, that are facing us to get the country on the right track.
But I, Paul Ryan, am not going to be the one who assembles this singlehandedly. We're going to do this together as a team. We're going to do this organically. Every conservative in Congress is going to have a hand in putting this together while we also listen to our constituents, while we also listen to the concerned citizens out there who are really worried about the direction America is headed.
So we're going to take these concerns, apply our founding principles to the problems of the day to offer an agenda of solutions that gets America back on the right track. If you don't think the country is headed in the right direction, which we don't, we have an obligation, we have a mandate to give people of this nation a choice for a better way forward, and that's exactly what we intend on doing.
HANNITY: Off the top of my head, I would say balancing a budget, saving Social Security, securing America's borders, no amnesty is part of that.
RYAN: Rebuilding our military, rebuilding our military, reforming the tax code so we can get economic growth, moving people from welfare to work so that people are working in this country. We have tens of millions of able- bodied adults that aren't working. So these are a lot of issues that we need to tackle to get our country back in the right place.
HANNITY: You heard some of the anger over the bill and you made a statement publically that even the Freedom Caucus understood you needed to clear the deck. That I know frustrated conservatives further, even had some compare you to John Boehner. I'm not sure that is something you wanted when you are starting a new job. What is your reaction to those people and why this is now going forward going to be different?
RYAN: Look, I think the reason I'm not being criticized by my colleagues is they understood the hand that I was dealt coming into this job just a couple of months ago. I'm Paul Ryan. I'm a conservative. They know that. That's point one.
Point two, the way the spending bills work here, there's 12 bills that you break up government discretionary spending in 12 pieces and pass them separately to fund the government. Earlier in the summer, well before I got this job, that entire process broke down and not a single bill passed. And so you come to the end of the year here and you had to pass the government all in one bill. That was very ugly. But we had to get that done so we can get on our offense for 2016, point one.
Point two, we also got some pretty good conservative wins here. We kept our prolife riders. We cut the EPA to a level we haven't seen since before Obama. We put strings on the IRS so that they can't meddle in our elections. We repealed the 40-year ban on the oil export ban. So we got some really big conservative wins and we also got the tax bill that I've been fighting for when I was chairman of the ways and means for years.
HANNITY: Can I ask you --
RYAN: We got good tax policy. So we got some good conservative wins. This is no way to run government. That's why I want to clear the decks in 15 so we don't do that in 16. So 16 we go back to regular order, we go back to doing business the way the founders intended to be done.
HANNITY: You're describing for 2016 nationalizing elections almost like a contract with America, it sounds like to me.
RYAN: Yes.
HANNITY: Am I right in characterizing that?
RYAN: Yes, I believe this is -- just think of the stakes for this country in 2016. They couldn't be higher. This is the most important election in our lifetimes. And so we should respect it for what it is, and we should give the country the choice they deserve. And that's how I see things.
HANNITY: All right, congressman. That sounds like a call that many people have been waiting for. I've been saying it myself, and I really look forward to hearing what this plan is. And I agree with you. We're at a tipping point for the country, so it's really important. I wish you all the best with it. Thank you.
RYAN: Thank you, Sean. Take care.
HANNITY: All right, coming up, the new blockbuster movie "13 Hours" tells the story of what really happened during the Benghazi terror attacks. The heroes who lived it will join us in studio. You don't want to miss it tonight as "Hannity" continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." It has been more than three years since the Benghazi terrorist attack that left four Americans dead. A new Hollywood blockbuster movie "13 Hours" shows what happened on that harrowing night and how some Americans were standing by ready to act but they were told to stand down. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. ambassador at risk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to send us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are not the first responders. You will wait.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go. We got to move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have no jurisdiction in that country. We're not even supposed to be here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand down!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you do nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are all going to die.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None of you have to go. But we are the only help they have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Joining us now the real life heroes behind the new movie, the authors of the new book "13 Hours" Kris "Tanto" Paronto, John "Tig" Tiegen, and Mark, not Mike, "Oz" Geist.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: That's an inside joke. Good to see you all again. You're all friends of the program, friends of mine. I consider you friends. You really were heroes. The first question I have, and I'll ask you, Kris, you prefer to be called "Tanto," right?
KRIS "TANTO" PARONTO, "13 HOURS": Of course, let's just go with Tanto. It's cooler than Kris.
HANNITY: How accurate is the movie to what really happened in Benghazi?
PARONTO: It's very accurate. We were involved with it from the get-go, from the script writing up to the actual being on set to getting all the actors. It captures -- and I've seen the movie. It captures the brotherhood. It captures the emotion. It captures the courageous acts. As best it can it captures the fire fight. In fact, you can even have more explosions and more things going on there, because war is -- it's a terrible thing. So I do think it captures it very well and it gets the truth down, and also the brotherhood of what we want to get done. It shows the motion.
HANNITY: And Tig and Oz, you guys agree with that?
MARK "OZ" GEIST, "13 HOURS": Yes, I think it does. Somebody asked me the question a couple days ago, is there anything that if you wanted to add to it that you could to make it better? And I thought about it for two day, and I can't think of really anything I'd add to it to get everything else in there. It seems like everything's there.
HANNITY: All right, so then my next question is this. And Tig, I'll start with you. There are three issues here, before, during and after. Before security was requested we know dozens of times, but yet it was denied. You know that and hear that. What does that make you feel?
JOHN "TIG" TIEGEN, "13 HOURS": That was my third trip down to Benghazi. And, you know, I was there when the consulate got attacked and the wall got blown open. At the time there were only two security guys there when that happened that night.
HANNITY: But Great Britain had left. The United Nations have left. Others had left.
TIEGEN: Just listening to those guys aggravation, you know, we'd been requesting more security, you know. And they just don't know why it keeps getting denied.
HANNITY: They knew it was a hotbed for terrorism. Everybody knew.
PARONTO: That's where the movie does a great job is it shows the State Department guys were on the ground. They were trying. The guys were doing everything in their power. Eric Nordstrom, they were doing what they could to get security there.
HANNITY: So now the question is, the stand down order was given. This is an important question. You were told -- you knew the consulate was under attack, that people's lives were in jeopardy. You're hearing it on the radio, some of you, and you're saying we're going, and you're told not to go. Explain.
TIEGEN: I mean, the stand down order came from the chief of ace at the annex. And you know to me it was just him. I don't believe it went anywhere else.
HANNITY: You don't think it came from above at all?
TIEGEN: I honestly don't, because working with him, there is a lot of security situations when he would tell us to stand down and we couldn't go.
HANNITY: What do you -- when you're told to stand down, that is not what you're told to do.
PARONTO: It's hard to stomach that. And we were told to wait five minutes in to the words "stand down" were used. There's no confusion. They were used 15 minutes in. And then 25 minutes we're told to wait again, and we finally buck orders. It's hard to maintain composure, which you do because you have civilians on the base and you don't want --
HANNITY: And Ty Woods died and others died. You risked your careers to save other people.
PARONTO: We don't work anymore. We had all resigned to tell the truth. And I would say even risk our careers. We don't have them anymore.
HANNITY: The next question is, Hillary Clinton goes out there. Now we know from testimony that Hillary Clinton told the Libyan president, her daughter, and the Egyptian prime minister that was this was a terrorist attack at the same time she's lying to the American people saying this wasn't a terrorist attack. It was related to a YouTube video. And she wants to be next president. What is your reaction to that?
GEIST: I've baffled. What I have focused on is the positives of what happened that night, because I can't --
HANNITY: Could you vote for her? You know she lied.
GEIST: Well, I think if you're going to vote for anybody, the first thing you should vote for them on is based on their ethics, their honor, and their courage.
HANNITY: And does she have that?
GEIST: I don't know if she has it. But, I mean --
HANNITY: You're punting. Are you going to punt?
(LAUGHTER)
PARONTO: This is what we're -- with all that have going on we're telling the truth on what took place that night.
HANNITY: Did she lie? Did she lie? She's telling these three people it's a terrorist attack and telling the American people something else. She knows what the truth is.
PARONTO: And you've had family members come on. You've seen Pat Smith, you've seen Katie Quigley. You've seen Charles Woods. Why would they lie? What reason would they have to not tell the truth?
HANNITY: We also know what she told the American people, what Obama told the American people. Do you think she lied?
TIEGEN: Well, talking with Ty's mom, I mean, she, you know, she watched the hearing and everything else. And then when that came out, I talked to her quite a bit. And she said why is she saying that when she told me to my face that they're going to get the guy who made the video?
HANNITY: Unbelievable.
PARONTO: The full truths weren't made full. That's why we did and why we are telling the truth right now with the movie.
HANNITY: You guys were heroes. Your careers are over in large extent because of it. You're the most fun guys to hang out with. I want to tell you, of all the guests that I've had here, and I've hung out with you. I warn everybody at home, very dangerous to do.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: But congratulations on the movie. I hope everyone goes to see it, "13 hours." And we really appreciate what you didyou're your country. Thank you.
PARONTO: Thank you.
TIEGEN: Thank you.
GEIST: Thank you very much.
HANNITY: When we come back, our "Ask Sean" segment is next. Then we need your help. A big "Question of the Day" is straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." Time for our "Question of the Day." What do you think about the president's executive, illegal, unconstitutional action on guns? Just go to Facebook.com/SeanHannity, on Twitter @SeanHannity and let us know what you think.
Now it's time for our "Ask Sean" segment. And you've been sending in questions via Facebook and Twitter that you'd like me to answer. Tonight's question comes from a Twitter follower, Julius, who wrote, quote, "We have three branches of government. What happened to separations of powers? Congress writes laws, not Obama. When will this end?"
That is a great point, and that's a point I've been making si that when Republicans swore when they were running, promised in 2014 they'd stop the president's illegal, unconstitutional actions on executive amnesty and they didn't do it. They have now emboldened this president. And that is a very dangerous situation because Congress is ceding their power more and more to the executive branch. They need to take it back. Our founders had it right. Our constitution is very clear. It's coequal branches of government, separation of powers.
All right, but that is all the time we have left this evening. Thanks for sending in your questions. We'll see you back here tomorrow night.
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