VP Mike Pence on obstruction from Dems, extreme vetting
Vice President Pence says on 'Hannity' that he is proud to see President Trump keeping his campaign promises
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," February 2, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to "Hannity." And tonight, Vice President Pence, Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham will join us. But first, we are just 14 days into the Trump administration, and the left is completely unhinged. And now they're turning violent. And that is tonight's "Opening Monologue."
Last night, out-of-control protesters, they were rocking the campus of U.C. Berkeley out in California, capping off a chaotic two-week stretch of disruptive demonstrations.
Now, U.C. Berkeley was forced to cancel a speech by Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos after anti-free speech rioters, well, they started smashing windows, launching Molotov cocktails at police, and even setting part of the campus on fire, as you see there.
Now, earlier this morning, President Trump responded to the violence. He tweeted out, quote, "If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view, no federal funds?"
Now, the shocking public disorder at U.C. Berkeley comes after a week of protests all across the nation, some of which featured agitators calling for violence against President Trump and the White House, including this person, wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt at a protest that allegedly took place in Seattle. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) money, your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) house, your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) property. We need it (EXPLETIVE DELETED) all. Reparate (ph) black and indigenous people right now.
We're all operating under white supremacy, just so you know. And we need to start killing people. First off, we need to start killing the White House. The White House must die. The White House, your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) White House, your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) president, they must go!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: White House die? Why has that person not been arrested?
Now, sadly, these protesters were just following the lead of many prominent public figures on the left who have been having a complete meltdown since Donald Trump's victory in November.
Now, this includes celebrity snowflakes like Madonna, Ashley Judd, who delivered these very disturbing remarks at a protest. This was one day after the president was sworn into office. We've got to warn you this language is very graphic and very vulgar. Look for yourself.
(END VIDEO CLIPS, JAN. 21)
MADONNA, SINGER: To our detractors that insist that this march will never add up to anything, (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you.
Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.
ASHLEY JUDD, ACTOR: I am a nasty woman! I'm not as nasty as a man who looks like he's bathes in Cheeto dust.
I am not as nasty as your own daughter being your favorite sex symbol!
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: Now, this type of language from the left is not going away. In fact, I predict this is only going to get worse.
Now, Democrats in the U.S. Senate as we speak, they are preparing a stiff resistance to the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. And if history repeats itself, well, this obstruction can be just as nasty and divisive, if not worse.
For example, you might remember when President Reagan, his Supreme Court nominee, Judge Robert Bork, back in 1987, he was not confirmed by the U.S. Senate after Democrats, they painted Bork as a sexist and racist, which he was not. And Senator Ted Kennedy said this about Bork on the U.S. Senate floor. Watch this disgrace.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1987)
SEN. TED KENNEDY, D-MASS.: Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, and school children could not be taught about evolution. Writers and artists would be censored at the whim of government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, after those lies and scare tactics were used by the left, Democrats, they were able to block Bork's nomination, and that's how we ended up with the term being "Borked."
And that's not all. In 1991, George Herbert Walker Bush, he nominated Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, and Democrats, they used similar dirty tactics. In fact, they had his former colleague, Anita Hill, testify and make unfounded sexual harassment claims against him.
Now, Justice Thomas referred to this as a, quote, "high-tech lynching." Watch this powerful moment from Clarence Thomas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, OCT. 11, 1991)
CLARENCE THOMAS, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: And from my standpoint as a black American, as far as I'm concerned, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas. And it is a message that unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you. You will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the U.S. Senate, rather than hung from a tree.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Sad, but extremely powerful.
So as Democrats now gear up to smear Judge Gorsuch, and as protests continue to disrupt the law and order all across the country, here's the question: Will the leaders of the Democratic Party call for an end to this violence, an end to the lies and the smearing and besmirchment and obstruction?
Now, sadly, we probably won't get a call of unity from former President Obama. He had this to say about the widespread protests after this election. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, NOV. 17, 2016)
THEN-PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I would not advise people who feel strongly or are concerned about some of the issues that have been raised during the course of the campaign. I wouldn't advise them to be silent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: No, don't be silent, and he encouraged the protesters.
Now, meanwhile, the "Stronger Together" candidate, Hillary Clinton, has praised some of the recent protests on Twitter. And let me be clear here, this is important. President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Senate House Democratic leaders, if you continue to coddle this outrage, this behavior from your side of the aisle, then the repercussions of the violence and the anarchy, it will be on your hands! You're responsible. You're supposed to be leaders.
Joining us now, the host of the show "Malkin Investigates" on CRTV.com, Michelle Malkin. I don't think it's going to end. I would say with every item on Trump's agenda, what he promised the American people, if it's energy, if it's borders, if it's vetting, if it's a judge, if it's lower taxes, there's going to be the same reaction. I don't see this getting better. I see it getting worse. Your thoughts.
MICHELLE MALKIN, CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST: I think you're right, Sean. And I think the montage that you showed of how this dates back decades and decades emphasizes that there's nothing new about this anarchy and that obstructionism is the middle name of the democrat party. And the middle name of the far left is by any means necessary. That has been their operational motto for three or four decades now.
What happened at Berkeley has happened many, many times before. It's just more inflamed than it ever has been. I spoke in Berkeley at an event I was invited by the College Republicans in 2004. And my lecture hall had to be chained shut because there were hundreds and hundreds, throngs of students who, of course, were encouraged by faculty members to try and shut me down!
This is what the left does. And Clarence Thomas said it more powerfully than anyone has in modern life about the uppity blacks and browns and yellows and reds who have been suppressed by the left because their ideas their expressions are so dangerous that you've got these leftists on campuses from Berkeley to the East Coast to everywhere in between threatening conservative speakers.
Liberals -- they call themselves the protectors of safe spaces. Not if you're a conservative student, professor or visiting speaker who needs to dress in riot gear to express yourself!
HANNITY: You know, the free speech movement in America started in 1964 and '65 in Berkeley! But free speech only for liberals, not for conservatives? If they didn't want to hear from the guy that works for Breitbart, they didn't have to go, did they?
MALKIN: No, of course they didn't. But this climate of intolerance and this suppression of ideas with which they disagree is at the heart of what academia has been teaching! That's why you have these generations of crybabies and snowflakes who cannot cope in a world where they lose politically, ideologically and culturally!
HANNITY: Well, we've moved from the -- we need aromatherapy and puppy therapy and crayons and coloring books and Legos.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: I guess this is the next stage of their reaction, which is anger. One of the reasons every four years, in an election year, I will play ever election year Republicans are racist and sexist and misogynists and xenophobic and homophobic and Islamophobic and I don't even know what else, but they do the same thing every year. This party seems to have no ideas, meaning the Democratic Party, but they're the party of character assassination! Last word for you.
MALKIN: Yes, they're not only ideologically bankrupt, they're morally bankrupt! How dare these people wag their fingers at their political opponents from the center to the right to the libertarian wing of America and tell us that we don't know what civility is, that we need to preach more tolerance! They need to look in the mirrors because they are absolutely responsible for it! Their noses are not clean and their hands are not clean! Where's Janet Napolitano, the former Homeland Security secretary...
HANNITY: Great point.
MALKIN: ... who's in charge of the U.C. system? Where are you? It's really up to the donors who have been floating the endowments of so many of these private universities and colleges. Shame on you for funding and subsidizing this kind of anarchy across America!
HANNITY: Yes. Michelle Malkin, thank you for being with us, CRTV.com. We appreciate it, "Michelle Malkin Investigates."
When we come back, this is up next here on "Hannity."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PENCE: What President Trump has done is essentially impose a pause on countries that have been compromised by terrorism, so that we can evaluate the screening process and establish an extreme vetting so that people coming into this country don't represent a threat to our families and to our communities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Earlier today, I interviewed Vice President Mike Pence in Washington. I asked him about President Trump's temporary travel ban and much more. That's coming up next. Also tonight, Laura Ingraham, Lou Dobbs are here as we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." So the Trump administration -- they're working hard to fulfill all the campaign promises that the president made to you, the American people. They seem to be checking them off the list. It's been a very busy week for the White House. And earlier today, I traveled to D.C. to speak with the Vice President, Mike Pence. And here's the first part of that interview. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY: Mr. Vice President, how are you, sir?
PENCE: I'm great, Sean. Welcome to the vice president's office. And welcome to the White House.
HANNITY: What a beautiful office, number on. I saw a lot of signatures insider your desk going back to Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower. Even Al Gore and Joe Biden signed it, so I assume -- this has been a fast- moving administration. You seem to be involved in every aspect of what has been happening. How close is the relationship now?
PENCE: Well, I'm -- I'm just very humbled to be a small part of an administration and a president who from the first hours of this administration have been keeping their promises to the American people.
I have to tell you, right -- right after the inaugural ceremonies, right after the parade was over, I walked with the president and other members of our team into the Oval Office. And he sat down and started taking immediate action. It's been a great encouragement to people all across the country to see that President Donald Trump is doing everything he said he would do throughout the campaign. And we're just getting started.
HANNITY: Let's talk about Democratic opposition. You had a hard time getting some of your cabinet members through. I think a lot of Democrats are pretty dedicated to a filibuster to prevent Neil Gorsuch from getting on the Supreme Court. What is your reaction to that?
PENCE: Well, I got to tell you it's been very disappointing to me to see the level of obstruction that Senator Chuck Schumer and Democrats in the Senate have put forward with regard to our cabinet officials. We're pleased to see Secretary of state Tillerson...
HANNITY: That was last night.
PENCE: ... approved and sworn in in the Oval Office. But look, if you compare to prior administrations, the pace at which Democrats and the Senate are forcing this process I think is a real disservice to the country.
And we're going to continue to drive forward. We're going to get the president's cabinet approved, and we're going to get that nominee to the Supreme Court approved.
The American people want to see this country moving forward. They want to see this new president have the cabinet around him and have the appointments that he's determined and been elected to make approved by the Senate.
They have a role to play, but that's not about obstruction. It's about advice and consent as appropriate. We respect that process, but we're -- we're -- we continue to drive this effort in every way possible because President Trump deserves his cabinet, and he deserves it in the near term. And the American people deserve a new justice on the Supreme Court of the caliber of Neil Gorsuch.
HANNITY: One of the big issues that has created a lot of controversies, the executive action on extreme vetting in seven particular countries. It's been misreported as a Muslim ban. Chuck Schumer's said it was mean- spirited and un-American. Now, there are some 40 other Muslim-majority nations that are not impacted. As a matter of fact 90 percent of Muslims worldwide are not impacted by that. Yet the news media continues to say it's a Muslim ban. Is that fake news to you?
PENCE: It really is. And any fair-minded person looking at the president's action knows that what President Trump has done is essentially imposes a pause on countries that have been compromised by terrorism, so that we can evaluate the screening process and establish an extreme vetting so that people coming into this country don't represent a threat to our families and to our communities.
It's an indefinite pause with regard to Syria, but with regard to the other countries, we're going to be calling on the Department of Homeland Security, all of our team to work together to evaluate how we can continue to go forward with immigration from those countries but not compromise the safety and security of the American people.
But it -- clearly, it's not -- it's not a Muslim ban. It's not in any way associated with religion. This -- the president made it clear in this executive order that we are not going to compromise the safety and security of the American people with regard to these seven countries that the Obama administration identified as compromised by terror, that the Congress has identified. We're take a pause. We're going to step back and we're going to put safety and security of the American people first.
HANNITY: Don't we -- shouldn't other countries with their history, maybe Saudi Arabia, for example, be included in that list?
PENCE: Well, as -- as -- as our Homeland Security secretary said this week in his briefing, this has really -- this list has really garnered around whether the countries that we're looking at have the internal systems that we can be certain that people are who they say they are. And with regard to other countries, Saudi Arabia being among them, we -- we have confidence that they have the kind of safeguards, the kind of law enforcement, the kind of screening in their country that when a person presents a visa or attempts to come into the United States, that we know they are who they present as.
These other countries -- again, the Obama administration and the Congress have identified these seven countries as having systems that have been compromised through strife, through the advent of terrorism, in the case of Syria through civil war, so that we need to step back to make sure that we have the additional safeguards.
And I got to tell you, President Trump has a lot of priorities, but his number one priority is the safety and security of the American people. And that's why this decisive action took place.
HANNITY: Doesn't it come down to really a simple choice between whether or not we will accept that some people are inconvenienced -- and by the way, every American traveler, unless, of course, you have Air Force 2 or Air Force 1 -- but every American traveler is inconvenienced for the safety and security of everyone else.
PENCE: Right.
HANNITY: Is it a choice between the inconvenience of some that want to come to our country, versus gambling with the lives of the American people?
PENCE: I think it's exactly that choice. And at the end of the day, you know, on the very date the executive order was implemented, within the next 24 hours, there were hundreds of thousands of people that came in from countries all over the world into the United States. And I think more than 100 were detained for additional questioning. That is a small price to pay for the security of the American people.
I mean, look, we live in very dangerous times. There are people all across the world who are engaged in unthinkable violence. The president spoke again about that this week at the National Prayer Breakfast. And I think what people welcome in this administration and they welcome in our new president is a clear-eyed look at the world, a recognition of the threat of radical Islamic terrorism to the United States and that we've just got to do things differently to make sure that our families and our communities and our nation is save.
HANNITY: At the prayer breakfast today, the president addressed that in the coming days, those admitted will fully embrace our values, religious liberty values, et cetera, and respect, of course, and reject discrimination and other things.
Was he addressing it in that sense, that there is a cultural divide? If you grew up in a country and as a man you feel you have the right to tell a woman how to dress, that a woman can't drive a car, you decide as a man if a woman goes to work or school, if gays and lesbians are killed, Christians and Jews are persecuted -- those values are so distinctly different and contradictory to our constitutional values -- do we have a right to know whether or not they're -- want to come here and adapt our values? And how do you ever ascertain what's in somebody's heart?
PENCE: My grandfather emigrated to this country when he was about my son's age. And he came here because he wanted to be an American. He wanted his children to be Americans and his grandchildren to be Americans. I can't imagine what that Irishman is thinking now as he looks down from glory, other than he was right about America. Anybody can be anybody.
But when my grandfather came here, it was because he loved and admired this country. And he loved the ideals enshrined in our Declaration and our Constitution. That's what President Trump is talking about is we want people who come to this country because they love...
HANNITY: Our values.
PENCE: ... they love the ideals of America. They love our commitment to freedom, our rejection of intolerance and oppression. And that's -- that's been true throughout our history.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY: And up next tonight, right here on "Hannity"...
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PENCE: The American people said, We want to repeal ObamaCare, and we're working -- we're working with leadership in the Congress to do just that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY: More of our sitdown interview with Vice President Mike Pence.
And also later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MALKIN: I am a man of my word. I will do as I say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: President Trump keeping his promises and shaking up Washington, D.C., with a little shock and awe. Laura Ingraham is here with reaction, and much more on this busy news night tonight here on "Hannity."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." And here is part two of my interview with Vice President Mike Pence from Washington earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY: Let me ask you about ObamaCare. There is a report in The Hill this morning that said Republicans are leaning towards repairing ObamaCare, rather than replacing ObamaCare. Now, from my understanding is, if Congressman Price becomes the Health and Human Services secretary, which I assume will happen -- apparently, there's a lot of discretion within the law. Is there going to be a pair, or are you still on replacement?
PENCE: We are absolutely committed to follow through on President Trump's directive to repeal and replace "Obama care" and to have the Congress do it at the same time.
HANNITY: So the media got it wrong again.
PENCE: Once again!
(LAUGHTER)
PENCE: The president's made it very clear. We are having ongoing discussions with leadership of the House and Senate. But this is the president's leadership, Sean, I got to tell you. I mean, ObamaCare was very much on the ballot when we saw the hardship that it was placing on families across this country, on businesses across this country, premiums going up in some cases more than 100 percent this year.
HANNITY: 117 percent in Arizona.
PENCE: The American people said, We want to repeal Obama care, and we're working -- we're working with leadership in the Congress to do just that. But what President Trump said, at the same time that we repeal it, we're going to bring forward through legislation and, to your point, through executive action the kind of replacement that'll harness the power of the free market, give Americans more choices that'll drive down the cost of health insurance and make it affordable for everyone. And we're going to do it all at the same time.
HANNITY: I noticed that you're with the president every day. You've been obviously an active part of the administration in what has been a very slow first two weeks.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: I'm kidding! A very busy two weeks. You've been with him side by side. He's also had many conversations with world leaders, including Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Netanyahu, the prime minister of Great Britain, the prime minister of Australia, Angela Merkel, and it goes on and one. You've been privy to these conversations.
PENCE: I have.
HANNITY: There have been...
PENCE: Many of them.
HANNITY: ... reports that there -- some of these conversations were contentious. Is that accurate? Or did you find them friendly, straightforward? How would you -- how would you describe them?
PENCE: Well, I think the American people have a president that is candid with them and candid with the world. And his conversations with world leaders reflect a respectfulness but a seriousness and directness that the people of this country are already used to coming from President Donald Trump. And the rest of the world is discovering that.
Look, we've got a lot of challenges in the world. And in many respects, the last eight years, the United States abdicated leadership on the world stage in one region after another and one relationship after another. And what President Trump has been about, engaging with these world leaders, is opening the door to conversations, to look for ways that we can work together with the focus on the American people first and America's interests first.
But he's speaking as the way he always does, respectfully, firmly, directly. And frankly, I think the world loves it.
HANNITY: I think a lot of people view part of your role as vice president, having been a Congress member for 12 years, you know a lot of the members of Congress -- is to be a bit of a liaison between the White House and the Congress as it moves forward with legislation.
Before you were sworn in and the president was sworn in, Congress raised the debt ceiling $9.7 trillion. There is talk about a $1 trillion infrastructure spending Bill. I know Americans, especially after Barack Obama accumulated more debt than all other presidents before him combined are worried about the debt, pay as you go, where does the money come from, how do you think Congress is going to work with this president? Do they believe in his agenda? Many didn't support him during the campaign. How is that relationship going, and how do you see them working together?
PENCE: I think the relationship that the president has forged with not only leadership but rank and file on Capitol Hill is going to serve the American people well. And with regard to all of these issues, President Trump said in the campaign that he has a three-part agenda, jobs, jobs, jobs. And we're focusing right now, whether it be repealing and replacing Obamacare, passing tax relief for working families and businesses, lowering the corporate tax rate in America.
HANNITY: Is 15 percent what the president wants or 20 percent?
PENCE: Well, we're talking about all of that, having the kind of trade deals that put the American worker first, all of these things, Sean, are going to move forward in a way, I am confident, that is going to get this economy moving again. Not at the paltry rate under two percent that it has been for far too long but really getting the economy standing tall again.
All these debates over spending and tackling the national debt, meeting the needs of infrastructure at home, rebuilding our military, the president is committed to. It all gets a lot easier with a growing economy. And that's why the president and our whole team are working with leaders in Congress to jumpstart this economy. The executive orders that he signed, rolling back the avalanche of red tape and regulation is just a start on the kind of policies that I am confident are going to make America safe again, make America prosperous again, and make America great again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY: And coming up next tonight, right here in "Hannity."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I am a man of my word. I will do as I say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: President Trump shaking up Washington with a little shock and awe by keeping his promises to you, the American people. Laura Ingraham is here with reaction. That is next.
And also later tonight --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The secretary of homeland security will be with myself and my staff will begin immediate construction of a border wall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: President Trump following up on his promise to build a wall on the southern border, and now his administration, they have announced the timeline in which to do it. Lou Dobbs will join us later with reaction, that and more on this busy news night tonight here on "Hannity."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I am a man of my word. I will do as I say. Something that the American people have been asking for, from Washington, for a very, very long time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: That was President Trump keeping yet another promise to you, the American people, by nominating judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. Now, Donald Trump is keeping his word, and as a result, lawmakers and bureaucrats in Washington are now feeling the heat. A new article by the A.P. sums this up pretty well. It reads, quote, "Amid Trump's shakeup, many wondering what is coming next."
Joining us now with reaction, FOX News contributor Laura Ingraham. Considering he is starting on the wall and he's starting on Obamacare, he has gone forward with the regulation, ethics reform, vetting refugees, and an originalist, I would say the rest of the list is probably what's coming next, right?
LAURA INGRAHAM, EDITOR IN CHIEF, LIFEZETTE.COM: I think people are so stunned that a politician acts in a very un-politician-like manner. And he is a politician out. He surprised everyone in the election. And he is doing what he campaigned up. And for the most part, I think his proposals and his ideas are fairly popular. I know there is this or that pole of disapproval rating. But we know on his immigration pause, the refugee pause, it is actually quite popular. It seems very common sense to most people. So these various media figures and these protesters, they are going to act out and have their temper tantrums because that's what they do. The rest of us have to work. They are going to shout and wail.
HANNITY: The rest of us have to work.
(LAUGHTER)
INGRAHAM: They get to moan. This is what they do. This is how they get their fulfillment, Sean.
HANNITY: How do you have time to protest? I would never protest. I have better things to do.
All right, I want to ask you about what I call an information crisis in the country. Before today, Neil Gorsuch, the president's nominee for the Supreme Court, apparently in high school he had started a fascist forever club. Fake news. The MLK bust -- fake news. The Muslim ban, there are 40 plus Muslim majority countries that weren't on the list, fake news by all of them. And it just keeps coming, or that he threatened to invade Mexico when speaking with President Nieto. This is getting worse by the day. Why do you think this is happening?
INGRAHAM: I think the mainstream media is very frustrated because they thought they had Trump in this box during the campaign, and they thought, OK, we have done him in this time, or he made a misstep and we are going to be able to capitalize it, or the Democrats are going to trounce him, Hillary is going to win. Then they have all this egg on their face.
So I think for a lot of media types on the left, they feel like now they have to prove themselves all over again. So they have to demonstrate whether it is through misreporting or improper emphasis or sometimes just downright making up facts, they have to show the country that they were right.
So I think it is a wish fulfillment on their part, sloppy reporting, and just a lack of professionalism. And he is a different cat. Trump is not like all these other people they've dealt with who are cowed and suck their thumbs and sit on the floor and cry when the media or someone on the left goes after them. He goes after them right back. And that is very uncomfortable for them. They don't know how to deal with it.
HANNITY: So he is getting rid of 75 percent plus of regulations in the country, started the process of replacing and replacing Obamacare in his executive order to ease the burden of Obamacare on people. Then he took action to freeze new and pending regulations he said. Then he withdrew the U.S. from TPP. Then he instituted a government hiring freeze. Then he banned money from going to abortions or countries that pay for abortions. Then he went for Keystone, then he went for Dakota, then he issued his executive actions on constructing the wall, extreme vetting, rebuilding the military, a plan to defeat ISIS, instituted a five year lobbying ban to get rid of the swamp, drain the swamp, and then Neil Gorsuch. I don't know anybody in the history of my lifetime in politics that has actually checked off their list every day and probably is wondering why he can't finish it in three more weeks.
INGRAHAM: I know. He is just like OK, let's get this done. What else can we do next? I think, again, he is not as deliberative, some of the critics are saying in how things are rolled out. And maybe there is something to maybe some of what would happen on the pause on the refugees, but for the most part, I think this is fairly routine stuff.
But you are right to point out, he has hit the holy grail of left-wing politics. He hit the abortion issue. He hit the environmental issue. He hit the regulatory state. Of course he had the refugee issue. The Islamophobia charges flying. So he has hit all these hot button issues but they are actually really important issues of the country. And the left, there is so much incoming, I think they are going a little crazy on the other side. I think they are getting a little nutty on the other side. They can't handle it.
HANNITY: A little nutty? Now they are burning in Berkeley, the home of freedom of speech, or where the freedom of speech movement on campuses began.
All right, Trump urges McConnell to go nuclear if it comes to that. I agree with Donald Trump. I'm wondering about Mitch McConnell, and in fairness to him, he did hold off on the president's nominee in the final year of his term, which is known as the Biden rule that Chuck Schumer supported.
INGRAHAM: Merrick Garland didn't get a hearing and the Democrats are really mad about that.
HANNITY: But that's the Biden rule.
INGRAHAM: The last 70 years of Supreme Court justice has not been confirmed in the final year of a president's term. That wasn't really out of the ordinary, but it doesn't matter. They wanted that seat. Now they are calling it a stolen seat.
So they are going to keep branding actions by Donald Trump as misogynist, racist, sexist. He's is operating like a dictator, autocrat. Again, there's very little substance coming from the Democrats. It is just a personal attack or pejorative, unfair hits. There is no substance. And I think they need to win those middle-class voters, Sean. They need to win the old rust belt back. They have to win those voters. I don't see that this kind of stuff combined with the Berkeley craziness -- Tim Kaine the other day fight in the streets, fight in the courts. I think that stuff doesn't go over well with regular folks.
HANNITY: I don't think that's going over well. I don't think Madonna, Ashley Judd, Meryl Streep, or Ashton Kutcher or whatever his name is either. Laura, good to see you. Thank you.
And up next tonight right here on "Hannity."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The secretary of homeland security working with myself and my staff will begin immediate construction of a border wall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: That wall could be built in two years. President Trump promising to build that border wall. And today we found out how long it is going to take. We will have the details. Also, Lou Dobbs will join to react to that and more as "Hannity" continues straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We are in the middle of a crisis on our southern border. The unprecedented surge of illegal migrants from Central America is harming both Mexico and the United States.
The secretary of homeland security, working with myself and my staff, will begin immediate construction of a border wall.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We are going to get the bad ones out. The criminals and the drug deals and gangs and gang members and cartel leaders, the day is over where they can stay in our country and wreak havoc.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: That was President Trump talking about the necessity of a border wall between U.S. and Mexico. And now homeland security secretary retired general John Kelly spoke to our own Catherine Herridge about when it would be completed. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KELLY, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: My desire would be right away. But in reality, I have to have engineers look at it. And there's people doing that right now. So I can't say how long it will take.
CATHERINE HERRIDGE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: But before the end of this four year administration?
KELLY: Yes.
HERRIDGE: Within the next two years?
KELLY: I really hope to have it done within the next two years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Here now with reaction, from the FOX Business Network, our sister network, which means we are family, is our own Lou Dobbs. Some of us are family, anyway. How are you?
LOU DOBBS, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK: Absolutely, Sean, great to be with you.
HANNITY: Great to be with you.
Are you as amazed, as I am, at the speed of which so many -- this is not a small list -- so many of the promises he made are being checked off?
DOBBS: Absolutely. He is fulfilling promises which, first of all, if you have done it with two or three issues, it would have shocked most people. But here we are not even two weeks into his presidency, he is mounting an offensive in which he's fulfilling those promises. He is meeting new challenges. He's taking on continually, and it looks like it will be a constant throughout his presidency, the opposition party that is the left wing media. I think he is doing an incredible job.
HANNITY: He is vetting refugees, he's building on the wall, he's going forward with that, an originalist on the Supreme Court, a ban on lobbying for people that work for him. They are building a plan now to defeat ISIS. Repealing and replacing Obamacare, got out of TPP immediately, instituted a government hiring freeze. Extreme vetting, building the military, all of those things have been done in 13 days.
DOBBS: In 13 days. And look at who is opposing it. Most of the people opposing him, what he is doing, the way his administration is doing it, these are the very same people who created the mess that he is trying to fix. It is incredible. And there is this closed feedback with the national left-wing media. They keep repeating what the Feinsteins and the Pelosis and the Schumers keep regurgitating in trying to attack Trump.
HANNITY: Do you trust the Republicans are going to stick with him on these issues? Because I don't have a lot of faith in the Republican congress.
DOBBS: I don't either. But I do have a lot of faith in Donald Trump and what he has done. He has shown them how to win. Some of their leaders are suspect, both intellectually and --
HANNITY: I would say weak, spineless, lacking conviction, different adjectives.
DOBBS: But they also know that this is a man who is winning, charting a new course, and has visualized a future for the American people for which they are now counting on him, and they are counting on the Congress. And whether it is Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell, they are not going to disappoint.
HANNITY: Lou Dobbs, congrats on the success of your show. You're doing really well as usual.
DOBBS: Great to see you.
HANNITY: All right, coming up, we need your help. A very important "Question of the Day" is straight head. We really need your help, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Time for our "Question of the Day." Do you think President Obama and Hillary Clinton should step up and condemn these violent left-wing radical protesters? It should be a simple answer, right. Apparently not for them.
Just go to Facebook.com/SeanHannity, @SeanHannity on Twitter, let us know what you think, let us know what you think.
Unfortunately that's all the time with have left this evening. Quick programming note, tomorrow night we will be in Houston, Texas, ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl between the Patriots and the Falcons. Tim Tebow, Robert Kraft, Tiki Barber, Joe Namath, Stephen A. Smith, what a great lineup. They will all join us. We'll have some football fun and much more tomorrow night from Houston. I hope you can join us. Have a great night.
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