Sarah Palin blasts the media's double standard for Duggars
Former Alaska governor sounds off about the controversy on 'Hannity'
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," June 8, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Welcome to "Hannity." An investigation is under way tonight after a cellphone video captured a dramatic scene in McKinney, Texas, on Friday night. Now, the officer in this video has been placed on administrative leave after police responded to a disturbance call about several fights happening outside of a poll party.
Now, the officer is seen restraining a teenage girl because she refused to leave the area after being told to do so several times. And as you can see, she is resisting, and the officer is quickly surrounded. He then draws his weapon to move the crowd back.
And predictably, the video was posted on social media, and the officer is being accused of everything from using excessive force to being racist. Now, the McKinney Police Department is now looking into exactly what happened.
Here now with much more is a neighbor who lives in the area and says this has nothing to do with race. And he witnessed the arrest. Benet Embry is with us. Benet, thank you for being with us. Appreciate it.
BENET EMBRY, MCKINNEY, TEXAS, RESIDENT: Hey, how're you doing?
HANNITY: All right, why don't you -- you were there. You saw it. I think people are too quick to make judgments about 30-second videos, seven- minute videos. Why don't you tell us what happened.
EMBRY: Well, first off, let me make this disclaimer, is that my -- the community that I live in, the Cray (ph) Branch (ph) area, which is where I've been living for the past eight years, is not a racist community. It is a diverse subdivision, black, white, Hispanic, east Indian, American Indian all living together, and you know, in friendship, basically.
HANNITY: Yes, sir.
EMBRY: Now, going back to the incident of the pool is that, basically, what the situation is, is a pool party gone out of control. There may have been 130 kids there. Only seven of those 130 kids, only seven, caused a whole bunch of confusion and ruined it for everybody.
Basically, with our homeowner association, you can only have two people go to the pool with you, two guests per household. So when this party was going on, the people that were in the pool and doing the -- and things of that nature, they were the ones that were supposed to be there.
But when the flyer went viral, everybody from outside of our community start coming in and coming over there and everything like that. So of course, the security guard there is telling people, No, you can't come in. You can't come in.
That's when the people started jumping over the fences and arguing, cursing with the security guards and other residents there. You know, you have teenagers going toe to toe with adults and trying to get them out of the pool and trying to get some type of order.
HANNITY: But Did you see...
EMBRY: That is when...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Benet, but here's what I heard, is that I hear on a couple of the videos that the cops were saying, You've got to leave. You've got to leave. You've got to leave. And the kids weren't listening at all. Did you see that?
EMBRY: Well, yes I saw that. So let me get back to -- so the story that came out on this social media Web site that they don't want black kids in that pool, that's totally preposterous. No neighbor called the cops because there were -- that was a black pool party. Why the cops were called, because after the people started jumping in, the fights started breaking out. So then it became a disturbance.
So of course, when the cops get there, yes, they did tell people to leave. Some of the people ran. And those that -- I think you see on the video he's telling them to sit down, sit down, or whatever situation. And even at the end of the video, you see the same police officer go up there and say, Hey, don't run from the police. You guys are free to go. Don't do that. You're not in trouble. You didn't do anything, and everything of that nature.
So the whole thing with this racial stigma -- I don't believe that that police officer came out there with the intent of throwing a 14-year- old girl down and starting this. This is not Ferguson. This is not Baltimore. This is not Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown or Eric Gardner or anything like that.
HANNITY: Let me...
EMBRY: What this is, is an out of control pool party. That's it.
HANNITY: Let me ask you this. Sean Toon (ph) is a resident like you, and he was quoted as saying that he was one of the people that called the police, saw the whole thing. He said that watching 30 seconds or seven minutes of a clip does not tell the whole story.
EMBRY: Exactly.
HANNITY: And he said that the officers -- officers -- even the one that drew his gun, acted appropriately. What is your thoughts?
EMBRY: Well, first off, I do agree with you. A seven-minute clip does not properly capture the entire incident that happened over 30 minutes.
As far as the officer's actions, what I will say is, is that I don't know his mindset, but it did disturb me that a 14-year-old, you know -- you know, African-American woman, me being an African-American male, is on the ground and basically when guns were drawn. Now, I did -- now, the threatening pose with the gentleman coming in behind the police officer...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: ... show it again to our audience here because seeing that the officer, when he reaches for his gun, Benet, he actually...
EMBRY: Right.
HANNITY: We go back to the video, he -- he -- he -- somebody is addressing the officer, and if you watch closely here, it's that -- at that moment, if you look right there in the video -- no, that's the wrong spot. There's a moment where these -- right there, that guy comes up behind him. And he's, like -- that's when the cop -- it was not in relation to the girl, but it was the guys coming in behind them that drew the weapon, not the young girl on the ground.
EMBRY: Right. No, no, no. Not the young girl on the ground.
HANNITY: I got to run, but last word, your last thoughts on this. You want everybody to know this is a good community and that this is...
EMBRY: This is a great community. This is a great community. Nobody's walking around with hooded sheets or burning crosses. We are just a normal, average, everyday suburb in America.
HANNITY: OK. You're in our thoughts and prayers. Thanks for telling the story and setting the record straight. I think that's important. Thank you.
EMBRY: Thank you.
HANNITY: And that's not the only dramatic video we have to show you. Last night at Met Life stadium in New Jersey, things got way out of hand as the radio station Hot 97 had their annual Summer Jam concert, when people that didn't have tickets tried to force their way into the sold-out venue. Chaos erupted. Riot police were called in to secure the entrance. Concert goers then started pelting officers with bottles, leading to the arrest of over 60 people.
Here now is Nimi Hendrix. Now, he who had tickets to go to the concert. He was not able to get in. Nimi, thank you for being with us. How many...
NIMI HENDRIX, SUMMER JAM CONCERT TICKET HOLDER: How're you doing, Sean?
HANNITY: All right, so kids -- so people without tickets -- you had a ticket, you didn't get in -- were pelting rock and bottles at the cops. Did you see that?
HENDRIX: I saw that. But the presumption that people did not have tickets is incorrect. What happened was, we were there waiting in line for over an hour after the concert started. And they were being extremely slow to let people in. The concert was already going on. And people -- they started getting agitated. We were wondering why can't we get in the concert.
And what really antagonized everything was after the initial scuffle, they closed the gates. They gave us no answers as to whether we were going to get into the concert. So everybody was just -- everybody was sitting there, wondering what's going on. Are we getting our money back? Are we going to get let in the concert?
And once -- once -- once the police came out and barricaded everything and started tear-gassing people, that's when everybody started being really antagonized because it was -- there was no information...
HANNITY: All right, but every report contradicts what you're saying. All the reports...
HENDRIX: What reports?
HANNITY: ... were that there were people without tickets that were making it more difficult for people like you to get into the show. And then when things began to escalate, the cops were -- I mean, there's video of it -- were hit, having bottles and so on thrown at them.
HENDRIX: Well, I'm not sure where these reports are coming from. Who said that these people didn't have tickets?
HANNITY: It's all over the -- it's all over the media today. And we can show you some of the...
HENDRIX: But who's making the reports?
HANNITY: We can show you -- well, just open up any newspaper. They're all saying the same thing pretty much.
HENDRIX: Yes, but who are the sources...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: ... people that were there, and that's what they're reporting and there are eyewitnesses that are saying it. So my question to you is this. Are you unhappy with how the police -- did you see the cops being hit with bottles and rocks? That's what I'm asking.
HENDRIX: What I was unhappy with wasn't necessarily the police reaction, but the fact that the security for the venue took so long in letting people into the concert.
HANNITY: That's a fair complaint. That's a valid complaint. And you had a ticket. You deserved to get in.
HENDRIX: I deserved to get in. And you know what? What happened -- I stuck around for another two to three hours, expecting once everything calmed down and died down, that they'll let us in.
And we approached the gate where they were letting people exit. And we asked the police officers, Hey, I mean, we've been waiting. There's nobody here. The chaos has died down. Why are we not allowed to get into the concert that we spent hundreds of dollars for?
HANNITY: Yes. By the way...
HENDRIX: People came from Los Angeles, Atlanta.
HANNITY: The station is giving back money. But I've got to move on. Thanks for telling us your side of the story. Appreciate it, Nimi. And I hope next time, you get in. That's...
HENDRIX: Thanks for having me, Sean.
HANNITY: Appreciate it.
All right, joining us now with more reaction to both these stories, former NYPD detectives Bo Dietl and Gil Alba are with us.
All right, I want to go back to Texas first. This is an important issue. This cop has been put on administrative leave. Let's go back to the videotape, and I want to show the moment where the cop actually pulls out his gun.
Now, if you look right in the background, upper right-hand corner, now getting focused in on here, you see the cop. He's struggling with that young girl.
The narrative -- now, watch these two guys coming in right there. Now, you see the one guy getting near the cop. He draws the gun because they're coming in behind him, not on the girl, as has been reported.
In that moment, I'm trying to understand why he's suspended, considering he had no idea what these people behind him were doing. They were obviously a threat to him.
BO DIETL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: And you don't know what they said to him. They may have said, I'm going to pop a cap (ph). And that's when his reaction -- there's got to be an investigation. You got to find what made that reaction. Did he think he was going to be jumped on from the back?
Also, there's another video that I saw prior to this of the violence of the girls pulling each other's hair, punching each other.
HANNITY: It was violent, yes.
DIETL: There was a lot of violence going on. This cop is trying to take charge. Why did he pull his gun? Let the cop explain. Make an investigation. Was something said? Did he fear that these kids were -- what if those kids jumped on his back, pulled his gun out and shot him? Nobody would care!
HANNITY: Listen, Bo, you know my commitment to gun safety because I have shown you some of my guns at times. And if you watch the officer -- if we go back, he pulled it out and kept it right down here by his side in the safest manner that a trained officer would use, correct? He's not pointing it at anybody. He has it...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Watch. There are the two guys. They're making some move kind of threatening him. He pulls it, and he pulled it right down on his side. Look where he holds it. He's holding it down by his side, which is appropriate training?
GIL ALBA, FMR. NYPD DETECTIVE: Look at the other two officers coming right in.
HANNITY: Right.
ALBA: I think they're saying, Listen, hold on...
HANNITY: Right.
ALBA: ... to this guy, this cop.
HANNITY: But he didn't -- he didn't know who was behind him. Did the guy have a shank? Did he have a knife? Did he have a gun?
ALBA: They're at a pool party. The guy's got shorts on. You pull a gun at him, and he could shoot anybody at any time.
HANNITY: You don't see that that was threatening?
DIETL: Well, you know, Gil -- Gil...
ALBA: No. There's no threat at all.
DIETL: We didn't hear what these guys said, so we cannot judge this from what we just saw!
ALBA: I'm not judging that. I'm saying that was -- to me, he should have never drawn that gun under those conditions.
HANNITY: Do you think that's a fireable offense?
ALBA: No, not fireable. That's just excessive force maybe and...
(CROSSTALK)
ALBA: ... just by taking the gun out is, you know, more than...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Again, right here. Watch this guy's, like, mocking the cop!
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: ... and it's to his back! Because -- the other cops are supposed to...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Then he holsters his weapon.
DIETL: Sean, Gil was a cop and a detective in the 1970s. When I did a car stop, I used to have my gun at my side at all times. Whenever I was in some sort of reaction or action, I had it down, pointing down because you don't know what these kids would have came out. One of these kids could have came out with something and popped that cop.
HANNITY: You don't know.
DIETL: Gil, you don't know!
HANNITY: All right, guys, thank you.
ALBA: No, I'm not in (INAUDIBLE)
HANNITY: I appreciate you both on this.
All right, we're going to have more on both of these stories coming up later tonight.
But first, coming up...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL MAHER, COMEDIAN: Conservatives who constantly whine that Christianity is under attack from liberals have to explain why there are over 300,000 churches in the U.S. but only 400 Whole Foods.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, Bill Maher goes after Christians. We'll check in with Pastor Jeffress and Dr. Keith Ablow. They'll go head to head about the HBO host's comments.
And also later tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FATHER MICHAEL PFLEGER, CATHOLIC PRIEST: I'm white! I'm entitled! There's a black man stealing my show!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: He's back. Remember him? The controversial Chicago priest Father Michael Pfleger, Obama's best friend -- he's at it again. This time, he's telling the NRA they have blood of children on their hands. Really? We're going to going to examine this when we get back, and we'll talk about who really may have blood on their hands, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." HBO host Bill Maher -- he went on a tirade against those who think that Christians are being persecuted for their beliefs. Now, Maher is a committed atheist. He even took a shot at yours truly. What a shocker. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL MAYER, COMEDIAN: Finally, new rule. Conservatives who constantly whine that Christianity is under attack from liberals have to explain why there are over 300,00 churches in the U.S. but only 400 Whole Foods.
Sean Hannity says the liberal media's war against religion is alive and well. OK. So it's more of the media thing, like my friend Arianna from the liberal HuffingtonPost because she's written three books about faith.
I really want to know. Where is religion belittled in the liberal world?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, joining us now with reaction, FOX News contributor Dr. Keith Ablow, as well as Pastor, FOX News contributor Dr. Robert Jeffress.
(INAUDIBLE) answer Maher's question because there are a lot of examples. And it's interesting that Christians are often attacked, but you don't see as much said about other religions.
PASTOR ROBERT JEFFRESS, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: That's right. Look, Christians losing their business because they believe in traditional marriage, or as we heard a couple of weeks ago, a Marine being court- martialed because she has a Bible verse on her desk? This isn't imaginary, it's real. And sure, it doesn't rise to the level of having your head chopped off by ISIS in the Middle East, but it's all the same attitude that allows for those attacks, Sean.
And I want to remind people that, you know, the Nazis weren't able to take the Jews to the crematoriums immediately. The German people wouldn't have allowed for it. Instead, the Nazis had to change public opinion. They marginalized the Jewish people...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: ... Christians are being marginalized the way Jews in Germany were?
JEFFRESS: Absolutely! Absolutely! They are being marginalized right now, treated as objects of contempt by the media. And once that happens, then the taking away of further rights will be very easy!
HANNITY: You know, Marco Rubio, Dr. Ablow, did talk about a conflict that potentially is coming. And that is that those that practice their faith may be finding themselves at odds with the law of the land, gay marriage being one of those big issues.
Where do you come down on this?
DR. KEITH ABLOW, FOX NEWS MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: I think anybody of faith is under assault in these times because if you take your truth, your sense of self from real values, from Jesus or from whatever your faith is, you are going to incur the wrath of those who want the state to have all authority, who don't want you to think for yourself. And when we talk about yourself, I see that as connected to ultimate truths and to God.
HANNITY: All right, both of you were on last week talking about Megyn Kelly's interview with the Duggars. Let me go back to the portion of the interview with two of the sisters that were victims in this case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JILL (DUGGAR) DILLARD: I was one of the victims, so I can speak out and I can say this and set the record straight here. Like, in Josh's case, he was a boy, young boy in puberty, and a little too curious about girls, and that got him into some trouble and he made some bad choices.
Whatever things they might say, you know, legally, we can do this and we can do that. It's, like -- it's obviously not -- like, they're not protecting us. I see it as a revictimization a thousand times worse!
MEGYN KELLY, "THE KELLY FILE": Why?
DILLARD: Because this is something that was already dealt with. We've already forgiven Josh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Do you think so many people are commenting on this because they were a Christian family?
JEFFRESS: Sean, I believe that's an element of it, piling on of them because of their beliefs.
HANNITY: And you know the family.
JEFFRESS: I know the family. They attend my church when they come to Dallas.
HANNITY: Have you known about this for a long time?
JEFFRESS: No, no, no, no. I learned about it on television just like everybody else. But here's where I think Dr. Keith and I would agree, and that is that persecution of Christian beliefs is not the basis of this story.
HANNITY: But again...
(CROSSTALK)
JEFFRESS: ... sexual abuse of children.
HANNITY: But -- but there's a feeling that because they were a religious family, that that is an element in this case.
JEFFRESS: It's certainly an element in this case, and there is a double standard, which I know you're talking about tonight, looking to the left. Look at Bernie Sanders. I mean, Bernie Sanders as an adult can write this terrible thing about women fantasizing about gang right and out there talking about women's rights? He should be disqualified! The Duggars -- I mean, are they going to be disqualified forever because of what happened in their home? I don't think so.
HANNITY: Keith, where do you stand?
ABLOW: Yes, look, it's always a sign of trouble when one group under assault says, Well, they're being treated better than we are for perceived infractions. The Duggars may worship in a real church, as they do, but they also seem to subscribe to the church of just being silly folks because the story they tell is one that's completely incredible, of five young women, five girls who are touched under their clothing or over their clothing and they never awaken.
They wait 16 months to talk to police about their son, who is at that point an adolescent, sexually developed, about his behavior. Sixteen months? Why would you go then? And who do they go to? They go to a guy who then does time for child pornography. Is that really a coincidence, or do we need an investigative reporter on this?
JEFFRESS: You know, let me just say, we don't know all of the details yet. They are unfolding and they are still yet to be revealed.
But Sean, back to this idea of persecuting Christians. I think it is absolutely imperative that Christians get involved in the political process and choose a president who will appoint justices and judges who will support the very real...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Obama has attacked Christianity a lot, the guy that can't mention radical Islam. Remember, he said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. Slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Wasn't the Islamic -- the Crusades a response to Islamic army aggression of Christian sites that they were trying to recover?
JEFFRESS: Of course it was. And look, it is true Christians have done terrible things throughout history. But they've always been acting in opposition to their Christian faith. There are no New Testament verses that say, Kill unbelievers. But when these radical Islamists go out killing Christians, they are doing exactly what Mohammed and the Quran commanded them to do!
HANNITY: Last word, Keith Ablow.
ABLOW: Look, the last word is this. The pastor couldn't be more correct. The bottom line is that if you take the teachings of Jesus, whether you consider them -- whether you consider yourself saved or you don't, those teachings are pristine. They're wonderful guides for life. And there's nothing in them that says hurt other people.
HANNITY: All right, after Friday, I thought you guys would never get along again, but...
(LAUGHTER)
JEFFRESS: We do. We like each other.
HANNITY: Thank you both for being here.
Coming up next tonight here on "Hannity"...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FATHER MICHAEL PFLEGER, CATHOLIC PRIEST: I'm white! I'm entitled! There's a black man stealing my show!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, remember him? Controversial Chicago priest, friends of the Obamas, Father Michael Pfleger -- he's back. Now he's openly attacking the NRA, claiming children's blood is on their hands. We'll debate that next.
Later, also the brazen prison break that reminds us of a Hollywood movie, two convicted murderers escape a maximum security prison. How did they ever get power tools? We'll get that and more reaction from Geraldo. He'll also weigh in on video showing a Texas police officer apprehending this teenage girl, which has created a stir, and more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." Father Michael Pfleger -- he's back. And this time, the controversial Chicago priest and far-left zealot wants you to know that the NRA has blood on its hands. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FATHER MICHAEL PFLEGER, CATHOLIC PRIEST: I'm just tired, tired of the NRA, tired of them prostituting themselves and buying politicians in this country!
At the end of the day, you can argue with us, you can call us names. But you've got to deal with God. And the blood of our children is on your hands. You will pay for the murder of our children!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, we invited Father Pfleger onto this program to explain those remarks, but he declined to come on. Joining us now with reaction is the president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Dan Gross (sic) is with us. How are you?
DAN GROSS, BRADY CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE: Good, Sean. How are you?
HANNITY: You and I actually have a friendship off air, and we talk a lot about this subject. And I feel -- you've experienced gun violence in your own family...
GROSS: Yes.
HANNITY: ... which is personal to you with your brother, right?
GROSS: Yes. Yes.
HANNITY: I've explained to you my position, which is I want anybody that owns a gun to be really safe about it.
GROSS: Yes.
HANNITY: People ask me on my radio show, Oh, Hannity, I know you have a -- have carried a gun your whole life. What do you recommend I get? And I said, Get trained in the use of any gun you want.
GROSS: Yes. Yes.
HANNITY: Where do we disagree?
GROSS: You know, I think it's more important to focus on where we agree because I think there's a lot of overlap on our points of view. And you know, I enjoy having those conversations with you because there really is common ground, a common ground where we can achieve our common goal of making this a safer country.
I think being trained in firearms, if you're going to own them, is important, appreciating the risk to your family. I know you store, with your beautiful family, your firearms safely. And we completely agree on that.
And I think the other area that we agree on is just keeping guns out of dangerous hands. Nobody, at least involved with my organization, wants to take guns away or wants to prevent a law-abiding citizen from buying a gun. We just want to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, of dangerous people...
HANNITY: But we have those laws, though. Right?
GROSS: Yes, well, we don't have them everywhere. So if you go into a federally licensed firearm dealer, you're required to get a Brady background check. The problem is, you're not at gun shows and you're not on line. And every day, thousands of guns are sold to Lord knows who.
And I think we all want to agree that a convicted felon, a domestic abuser or a rapist shouldn't be able to go into one of those venues and buy a gun.
HANNITY: We keep hearing -- everybody watching this show knows the name Trayvon Martin. Everybody knows the name Michael Brown. Everybody knows the name Freddie Gray.
And I'm not trying to set you up with a question here. I bet you can't name five kids who were killed in Chicago in the last year.
GROSS: Right.
HANNITY: You know what I mean? We don't follow these names. We have an epidemic of black-on-black crime. And this is where it becomes political for me because the president will speak out about Cambridge police, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, but he never talks about Chicago.
I have some numbers. The percentage of back people killed by other black people -- look at this -- 90.1 percent. The number and percentage of white people killed by other white people -- it's 83 percent. The number of Chicago homicides in 2015, 161 this year alone! The number of Chicago shootings, 820 this year alone!
GROSS: Yes.
HANNITY: And to me, none of those people care about your laws. They're not going to obey your laws. And it's the law-abiding person that I'm worried about that has to deal with that violence.
GROSS: Yes, see, so the part where we might disagree is that there isn't an opportunity to do something about it to keep those guns off the street that's creating that violence. I actually can name a number of those kids because I was just with a number of the parents this weekend...
HANNITY: Right.
GROSS: ... protesting what we call a bad apple gun dealer. Do you know 5 percent of gun dealers in our country are responsible for selling 90 percent of the crime guns. They know exactly what they're doing. There's one guy in Chicago, Chuck's Gun Shop and Pistol Range...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Is he obeying the law?
GROSS: No!
HANNITY: OK, then I would support you.
GROSS: And so that's the opportunity. So this guy alone has sold 1,500 guns that have been recovered in crimes. So this isn't about keeping guns away from law-abiding citizens. This is about preventing guns from getting into the hands of criminals and getting onto the streets of Chicago.
HANNITY: I've never asked you this question in all the time I've known you. Do you have a gun?
GROSS: I don't, but I've fired guns a number of times. I'm trained in gun safety.
HANNITY: I know and love your family. You're good people. What, God forbid, would you do if somebody breaks into your house?
GROSS: Well, the odds -- what I know is the odds of a gun in my home...
HANNITY: No, I'm not talking about odds. What will you -- what will you, Dan Gross, do if somebody breaks into your home?
GROSS: No, but to me, it is a calculation of the risks. And I choose not to have a gun. If I did choose to own a gun -- and that's something that I would be open to and I would consider. I know I would keep it locked in a gun safe separate, with the ammunition locked separately. And I probably wouldn't worry terribly about my family. So I just -- you know, I don't think it's very likely that somebody's going to break into my house. I think it's much more likely that a child would be...
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: I understand your concern. And I would urge anybody -- I have a fingerprint safe.
GROSS: I know. We talked about it.
HANNITY: And I have gun locks.
GROSS: I love it.
HANNITY: I could bring you to my house, tell you where my guns are, and you can't get them.
GROSS: Perfect.
HANNITY: You could spend days, unless you have some type of bomb, you wouldn't be able to blow it open.
But the reality is if somebody does, God forbid, break in, you don't have many options. And that's why I believe law-abiding, responsible gun owners -- I'm worried about their freedoms being chipped away out in the slippery slope.
GROSS: That's not going to happen. All I want to do -- I will commit to you on air. All we went to prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands, convicted felons, the people who already are not allowed to have guns that we all agree shouldn't have them, and make sure everyone who does choose to own a gun does it safely like you do, Mr. Hannity.
HANNITY: It's a refreshing day if you can have a civil conversation about this.
GROSS: We always do. We might as well do it on air.
HANNITY: We've done this many times. All right, thank you.
All right, coming up, two convicted murderers escape from a maximum security prison in upstate New York this past weekend. You won't believe how they pulled this off. We'll check in with Geraldo Rivera. He has reaction. Also, he'll react to this video out of Texas.
And then later, the Duggar family is being attacked by the media while another celebrity family, they're sexual abuse story goes largely unnoticed. We'll check in with Governor Sarah Palin. We'll talk about the double standard and more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY WRIGHT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Live from America's news headquarters I'm Kelly Wright. Good evening. Here now, the very latest on the manhunt for those two escapes killers in upstate New York. Nightfall in Broome County, New York, and still no sign of David Sweat and Richard Matt, the two convicts who have triggered a massive search since their escape three days ago. The prison is not far from the Canadian border. It's possible they've made their way across the border by now, but police say Sweat is a local person so the threat level is highest in Broome County.
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CAPT. FRED AKSHAR, BROOME COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: But everything is on the table at this point. So, again, we're working very diligently with our colleagues and partners in the New York state police running down local leads to ensure that both of these gentlemen return to prison where they belong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WRIGHT: The search for Sweat and Matt extends all the way down to the Mexican border as well. And $100,000 reward is being offered for their capture.
I'll Kelly Wright. We return now to "Hannity" after this break.
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." It is a scenario you would normally see inside a Hollywood blockbuster. Two convicted murders use power tools to escape a maximum security prison in New York state. Here with much more is Fox News senior correspondent Geraldo Rivera. "Shawshank Redemption," right?
GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: "Shawshank Redemption," "The Escape from Alcatraz," an elaborate, bold plot, two career criminals. But before people begin romanticizing these people and rooting for their exploits to succeed, they are two of the grossest, lowdown, and dirty scum you'd ever find.
David Sweat, the guy on your left the 34-year-old, is the killer of a sheriff's deputy. Richard Matt on your right killed a 76 year old, this man he had a beef with. Then he cut him apart, dismembered him. Then he killed another American in Mexico, did 10 years there before he was expedited. These are the worst of the worst.
What is interesting and almost humorous to me, Sean, is the fact that the New York papers are surmising, our colleagues at the "New York Post," that Richard Matt is a Lothario, exceptionally well-endowed and somehow seduced a female jail employee who we have identified as someone who worked in the tailor shop. You know, in prison, however gross yoru crime, generally speaking, your life in prison is a function of how well you get along with everybody else. So if you are a charmer that everybody likes, even if you've got this trail of dismembered bodies --
HANNITY: How do you know so much about prison?
(LAUGHTER)
RIVERA: You know --
HANNITY: Have you ever been in prison?
RIVERA: I've been arrested, but let's not get into that. A long and colorful story dating back to the civil rights movement and the antiwar movement.
HANNITY: Right.
RIVERA: So he had access to the tailor shop. We believe it was a female employee, not a correctional officer, a female employee in the tailor shop who somehow aided and abetted him. But he also had help on the outside. That is very clear. You don't get this through this elaborate plan and then leave the --
HANNITY: How does a prisoner get a power tool?
RIVERA: It was the tailor shop. We're talking about endowment. Maybe he stuck it in his pants. Who knows?
HANNITY: Oh, my gosh. Too much information, Geraldo.
But he had a power tool. Obviously he had help on both sides of this. In this day and age you don't think this can happen. You think this is "Shawshank Redemption." You think this is a movie, but it can happen. Now you got two murderers on the loose and really dangerous people.
RIVERA: There's a million questions. It's not only how did they get the power tools. It's, how did they pull off this operation? You've got to go through a steel wall. If you're cutting through a steel wall, it's not a silent movie for goodness' sake. Then you go through the bricks and mortar of the wall. Then you've got to cut through the sewer pipe to get into the sewer pipe. Then you've got to cut the chain and the lock that holds down the manhole cover to get out. I mean, this is -- it makes noise. There are prison snitches. How could this thing happen so elaborately without --
HANNITY: And where were the guards who work at night that should have heard that type of noise that would be -- when you're engaged in that?
All right, let me go back to what we started the program with tonight. We have two incidents involving the police. And I think that there is an emboldenment out there, that people are emboldened. They feel like they can do anything with police. Let's go to this pool party in Texas one more time. And here you have -- it gets out of control. Police are ordering people to leave. They're not leaving. One cop pulled his gun. He's on administrative leave.
And I know people are quick to judge, but I want to go to one of the eyewitnesses here. He said "Watching 30 seconds or seven minutes of a clip does not tell the whole story." He says "I was the one who called the police. I saw the whole thing." He's standing behind the police officer and his actions. Notice the police officer, even though he had the gun out, he never pointed it at anybody. He had it in a protective cover mode, which is -- I'm trained to use a gun. But he doesn't know what's coming up behind him.
RIVERA: As we have discussed many times before, Sean, everything cops do now is on videotape. Everything they do is on those cell phone videos. It is affecting the way police conduct themselves. This guy, obviously, didn't get the memo. When you are dealing with teenagers, you don't pull out the piece, not the 9 millimeter. Maybe the Taser, even if you're not going to use it. The instinct to draw is what has upset people. This was a racial incident, by the way. There was a pool party, as I heard it --
HANNITY: They said it's not a racial incident.
RIVERA: Well, it had to do with black and white kids fighting each other in that sense, I mean, not in the police response to these particular kids. I don't think that the act of drawing that nine, that's a --
HANNITY: He doesn't know what is behind him. And I think there is no understanding --
RIVERA: She's got a bikini on.
HANNITY: But I don't think it was about her. I think it had more to do with what was coming up maybe behind him.
RIVERA: That may be. But he is on leave I think for a good reason. Let's get the tempers calming down. Let's get everybody taking a deep breath.
HANNITY: You don't want this guy to lose his job?
RIVERA: I absolutely do not. But I want that police chief to send a memo. You don't take your piece out unless you think there's a real threat of deadly force.
HANNITY: Let me go to New Jersey. You have a place in New Jersey or used to.
RIVERA: I do, I still do.
HANNITY: All right, so now you got cops being pelted with bottles and bricks. And then the tear gas comes out. All these kids going to concert, didn't have tickets. They rush in the door. Why do people now feel emboldened that they can throw rocks and bottles at cops?
RIVERA: First of all, I think that when you have Chris Brown performing and some of these other hip-hop rapper types, they encourage an attitude of anti-social, even confrontational behavior. I think that it clearly was something, the catalyst to those young people not having tickets. Some had tickets. There was frustration. They went to the wall. They were definitely the kind of people that the cops would be -- and by that I mean, rough guys, hats, you know, pants down and all the rest of it. The cops might be more susceptible to jumping into the fray. The New Jersey state cops tried their best, I think, to use reasonable force. But, you know, it's an unfortunate situation. The cops were there, I think, in anticipation of trouble, and indeed trouble followed.
HANNITY: All right, Geraldo, thanks for your insight. Appreciate it. Good to see you.
Coming up, the mainstream media has been attacking the Duggar family. But they didn't bat an eye at a similar sexual abuse story involving a liberal Hollywood celebrity. We'll tell you about the glaring double standard, that's coming up next.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM BOB DUGGAR: He went in and said he had done this. And so, we, first off, of course, really talked to him, and then we went and talked to all the girls.
MICHELLE DUGGAR: There was so much grief in our hearts. I think as parents we felt we're failures. You know, here we tried to raise our kids to do what's right, to know what's right. And yet one of our children made some really bad choices. And I think as a parent, we were just devastated.
We definitely put faith cards in our home.
JIM BOB DUGGAR: Yes, and we also talked to our daughters and reminded them about wrong and right touch and about if anybody ever touched you in a wrong way, for you to come and tell your mom.
MICHELLE DUGGAR: Immediately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: That was a clip from Megyn Kelly's exclusive interview with the Duggar family. My next guest is taking the mainstream media to task for their coverage of the story. Here now to explain, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Governor, good to see you. How are you?
SARAH PALIN, R-FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: Thank you. I'm doing great.
HANNITY: All right, there is a double standard. Why don't you explain your point, because I know a lot of people have commented on it?
PALIN: Yes, I wrote a post after Bristol had pointed out that issues like, say, that liberal actress Lena Dunham have been admitted and gleefully wrote about, offered up, and had been rewarded with fame and fortune for admitting to her sexual predatation (ph) with her own little sister, that she used her sister for sexual experiments and for her sexual outlet. And Lena Dunham has been, as I say, praised, rewarded, and the media just has this great big yawn when it comes to covering she or others we have heard about on the liberal side of issues. And yet they try to crucify an entire family for a 14-year-old boy's issue that he had, which was a bad, bad, bad issue, 12 years ago. And it was an example I used with this double standard, the hypocrisy, that it's so absolutely blatant in this case.
HANNITY: Let me go to two of the sisters and their very emotional reaction on the fact they found out the police report had been released, which was not supposed to happen. They said they felt re-victimized. Let me play this for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DILLARD: They told us, our parents told us to be completely open and honest.
JESSA (DUGGAR) SEEWALD: We're here to help you.
We were pretty furious. We were not happy.
DILLARD: I was in tears. I couldn't believe what was going on.
(CRYING)
Whenever I heard the police report had been released, when I said -- what? They don't have a right to do this. They can't do this to us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: That, to me, is, you know what, people do have a right to privacy. And that hurt a lot that family. I wanted to get your reaction to this, because your family has been through of personal issues.
PALIN: They do have a right to privacy.
HANNITY: Go ahead.
PALIN: Well, yes. The difference with our family, too, like the Duggars is that people actually make their living by digging and poking and prodding, trying to find something on conservative families and trying to destroy them and their reputations, but that's another story.
Yes, these girls are being re-victimized. For shame on the media for under the guise of, hey, you've got to let them have their say, anyway. Let's interview them and put them there back into the fire and let them explain they're innocent. And these girls, yes, so humiliated.
The release of these confidential records is -- it's tragic. It's illegal. It's unethical. Why isn't the dialogue going right now towards, hey, let's get that law enforcement official he or her who released this file that's confidential. Who had been a victim, is a victim, would ever want to speak out and still be able to trust law enforcement that they're being told with counselors and amongst themselves that their files are going to be held confidential, and then they're exploited. Why isn't the press going after that police chief, she or he or whomever it was who released this. And you know it was for political reasons, Sean.
HANNITY: Yes. And you and your family have been through that a lot. One political question -- you see the unfolding slate of candidates. What are your thoughts?
PALIN: I'm glad of course that the GOP has a deep bench because competition is good. It makes everyone so much better, worker harder produce more. This is as opposed to the Democrats bench, which is obviously quite shallow. I mean, who the heck do they have? That's why it is going to be Hillary, and I'll bet you anything that it will be Hillary as their nominee despite kind of the games that the media is playing right now, sort of giving a couple of other guys the shot, you know, the old college try. Let them at least be seen as being covered fairly so when it time comes for Hillary Clinton to be knighted as their nominee, they'll be able to say, well, hey, we covered everybody.
But no, Democrats, liberal for the most part, they are sheeple, and they do want to follow one, quote-unquote, leader. And in this case, it will be Hillary. Look at what is going on with Bernie Sanders right now. He almost beat Hillary in the Wisconsin straw poll, so people are saying, wow, this is some kind of shakeup. Hillary should be scared. No. What Bernie is doing is right. He's wrong on approaches. He's a socialist. However, he approach is right. He's taking his message to the people, not to orchestrated, staged events that Hillary is so used to and the media allows her to get away with.
HANNITY: All right, thank you, governor. Good to see you again, and we appreciate your time.
And coming up next, we need your help. "Question of the Day" straight ahead.
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HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." Time for tonight's big "Question of the Day." Do you agree or disagree with Bill Maher? That's simple. Just go to Facebook.com/SeanHannity, on Twitter @SeanHannity and let us know what you.
That's all the time we have left, though, this evening. Thank you for being with us. We hope you'll set your DVR and never miss an episode because we miss you if you're not here.
Thanks for being with. We'll see you back here tomorrow night.
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