Gingrich opens up on 'candid conversation' with Trump; Eric Trump talks VP process

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Newt Gingrich discusses his 'candid conversation' with Trump

Former House speaker says on 'Hannity' that he and the candidate talked about everything from VP choices to dealing with Congress

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," July 13, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to "Hannity." And tonight, Donald Trump's search for his running mate is now in the final stages.  Now, in just a few minutes, we'll check in with Newt Gingrich and Eric Trump. They'll join us.

But first, the presumptive Republican nominee -- he spent most of the day today in Indiana. He met with Hoosier state governor Mike Pence and former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. And yesterday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie met with members of the Trump family.

And earlier tonight, Trump told our very own Bret Baier about where he is in this process. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Indiana's been special to me, and I think, you know, the level of receptivity that I've had here is incredible. And the governor's been -- he's been amazing. So we'll see what happens. Newt Gingrich is coming in today to see me here, who, by the way...

BRET BAIER, HOST, "SPECIAL REPORT": So basically, you're down to two.

TRUMP: No. I tell you, Chris Christie is somebody I've liked a long time.  He's a total professional. He's a good guy, by the way. A lot of people don't understand that.

But I'm narrowing it down. I mean, I'm at three, potentially four, but in my own mind, I probably am thinking about two.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right, joining us now probably one of those two, former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Mr. Speaker, good to see you again.

NEWT GINGRICH, R-FMR. HOUSE SPEAKER: It's good to be with you.

HANNITY: How long did you meet with Mr. Trump today?

GINGRICH: Oh, about two-and-a-half hours.

HANNITY: Wow. That's a long time.

GINGRICH: We had a great conversation, covered a lot of territory. And you know, I think he has very big plans for America and really does want to make America great again for all Americans. And we were kicking around everything from the role of the vice president to how you would manage the relationship with the Congress to get things done.

You know, and it was a very complete conversation, and I thought one that was totally candid on both sides.

HANNITY: Were there other people in the room or was it just the two of you?

GINGRICH: Oh, sure. You're about to have one of them in just a minute.  Eric was right there, so was Don, so was Ivanka and Jared, and so was Paul Manafort, who is doing a terrific job holding together this whole campaign and leaning into the convention next week.

So that was the core group. And I thought it was, frankly, an honor to be part of that conversation and part of that group.

HANNITY: Was it what you expected? Do you walk out of that kind of meeting with a different impression than maybe you had going in? Do you have any sense or any feel where maybe Mr. Trump is leaning in terms of selecting a person? Did you feel, like, confident that, Oh, I think it might be me?

GINGRICH: Well, first of all, it was a very refreshing meeting to be in a practical, roll-up-your sleeves, let's talk about getting it done, you know, from a guy who used to build buildings for a living. So he understands being very practical. And it was the most practical talk I've ever had with him. So I'd start there. I felt very good about it.

Second, I would say that he clearly, I think, is down to two, as he hinted in talking to Bret Baier. And Mike Pence is a great personal friend.  We've worked together on many projects over the years. He had a fine career in the U.S. House, ended up as the fourth-ranking Republican in the House, really had done a fine job, been a very good governor of Indiana.

And so you know, and at the same time, I think Mike would say he's a good friend of mine and he'd probably be similarly glowing if he was on the show talking about me.

So I think Trump has a tough call because he's got two really good but really different choices. And I think it'll be interesting to see -- certainly, I'm one of the people who's sitting by the phone waiting tomorrow to see what he decides.

HANNITY: What do you think the differences are?

GINGRICH: Well, I think that Pence has a terrific ability to bring together the regular party and to reach out to many, many people he served with in the House and that he's known through the Republican Governors Association, and I think he would be a very stabilizing force.

I think a lot of people who are a little jittery about Donald Trump would feel reassured talking with Pence, and that he could spend a good bit of July and August bringing back the party regulars and getting them inside, in a sense doing for Trump what George H.W. Bush did for Ronald Reagan in 1980.

I think my strength is totally different. I'm an outsider. I'm oriented towards moving the great base of the party, communicating big ideas, doing -- being on television. So

I think Trump's got to decide, does he want a second person who's really as effective on television, or does he want somebody who's really good at reaching out on a personal basis to a lot of people, who, frankly, Trump may not be able to reach on his own. I think that's a very big decision for him.

HANNITY: Did you get the sense that he really hasn't made up his mind?  Did you get the sense he was leaning one way or the other? And then maybe that sounds -- I would assume if he's meeting Mike Pence and you on the same day, he hasn't made up his mind.

GINGRICH: I think it's fair to say that sometime tomorrow -- a point he made at the very end of our meeting to all of us was only one person knows who is going to be the vice president, and that person doesn't know yet.

(LAUGHTER)

GINGRICH: I thought that was a good way to put it.

HANNITY: OK.

GINGRICH: That was him. He's on the way to California. I suspect some time tomorrow that Mike and I will both get phone calls, and one of us will be packing our bags to go to New York and the other one will be going to watch it on TV. And we'll find out tomorrow afternoon at some point which one is which. But I think...

HANNITY: You think the announcement's tomorrow?

GINGRICH: No, I think the announcement's Friday, but in order to get the candidate to New York, the candidate has to know on Thursday.

HANNITY: Yes, they've got to know on Thursday. I would agree with that.

You mentioned something that's really important, I think, because I think it's such an important decision -- it's almost like a marriage in a lot of ways. What do you see as the role of the VP because if I were to name a few things -- one, he has to be able to debate, two, prosecute the case against Hillary and her vice president, also I think make the case for Donald Trump forcefully and effectively, somebody that you need by your side if, God forbid, a 9/11, a Pearl Harbor, or some financial crisis hits.

I think those are all very important, and can they be -- can they fill that job if, God forbid, anything ever happened to the president.

GINGRICH: Right.

HANNITY: What did you tell him you thought the role would be?

GINGRICH: Well, I mean, first of all, you and I have talked about it before, the first thing is, could this person be president? I mean, it'd be totally irresponsible to put a person in the vice presidential nomination who couldn't be president because that, after all, is the number one reason they exist in the Constitution.

Second, I think, is the chemistry thing. Candidates need to have somebody with them that makes them feel better about themselves, somebody where they're enjoying it and they're having a lot of fun doing things.

Third, I think it depends on how you want to define the way you're going to operate. Some vice presidents have very big roles. Joe Biden, because he'd been in the Senate so long, has been very helpful. The only times Obama gets anything brokered in the Senate, Joe Biden did it. Obama has no reach in the Senate.

And so, you know, Trump's got to decide in part not just, What do I want from now to election day, but what do I want over the next four and maybe eight years...

HANNITY: Well, that's the important part.

GINGRICH: ... as a working partner?

HANNITY: Because look, if he's going to build a wall, balance a budget, if he's going to send education back to the states, if he's going to put in health care savings accounts, if he's going to fix the VA, build up our military, defeat ISIS, have better relations with our allies and adversaries and deal with all this -- you know, all of this- we have big challenges -- become energy-independent. These are not small issues, they're transformative.

You used the word chemistry. How is your chemistry?

GINGRICH: Donald and I get along very, very well. Callista and I have known him a long time and we get along very, very well with the whole family.

I think also, he's got very good chemistry with the Pence family. I think he's been very taken with getting to know Mike and his family better. I think that's a fact you'll hear.

But also, remember when they brought in A.B. Culvahouse, who's an old pro, and he went to vetting everybody -- I mean, to be really fair to Trump, he had a very wide range of people. And I would have to say -- this is little self-serving since I'm probably one of the two finalists, but I think, on balance, he got down to a circle, reach out a little further beyond Christie and include Sessions and a few others -- Jeff Sessions, the senator -- these were all first-rate people. This was not a trivial exercise.

HANNITY: I agree. You know, you mention vetting, and I would probably imagine -- I mean, look, it was a pretty contentious time, but you got a lot of things done, and I don't think you get things done easily in Washington without stepping on some toes. I would assume probably on paper, Pence maybe vetted a little more clean than you did. I'm just guessing.

And then I'm thinking, Well, if we were vetting Donald Trump, how would he vet if somebody else was vetting him? And that becomes an interesting question, right?

GINGRICH: Well, but the nice thing -- and A.B. Culvahouse says it very well -- for the presidential nominee, the vetters are called the American people.

HANNITY: That's right.

GINGRICH: And if they vet you, you're fine. But for the vice president, you have to have a different standard because the vice president is not going through the primaries, is not getting that kind of rugged scrutiny.  And so it's actually more intense vetting vice presidential candidates than it is vetting the president.

Now, the fact is -- and I don't know if I should say this, but it's so much fun, I'm going to. Look, in many ways, Donald Trump is like a pirate.  He's outside the normal system. He gets things done. He's bold. He's actually like a figure out of a movie.

In a lot of ways, my entire career has been a little bit like a pirate.  I've taken on the establishment in both parties. I've been very prepared to fight in the media. One of the really hard questions he's got to weigh on the way to California is, I mean, do you really want a two-pirate ticket, or do you want to take a very solid guy...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: ... do you want a really bold, transformative team that is going to fight hard?

GINGRICH: Well, but -- no, but in all fairness, you look at what Mike Pence did in the Congress and then you look at what Mike Pence has done in Indianapolis as governor, building on the extraordinary record of Mitch Daniel, Indiana has a great story to tell. But his style is different than mine. You could make a pretty good argument that with somebody as big and as noisy as Donald Trump, having someone who's a little bit quieter and a little bit more...

HANNITY: I think you're a little quieter.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: You're making me laugh.

GINGRICH: That's true. I am a little quieter than Donald Trump.

HANNITY: Does it matter that this is an outsider insurgency year? And look at what happened in Great Britain, for example, and leaving the EU.  Does that...

GINGRICH: Well, remember...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: ... appetite for that level of boldness?

GINGRICH: Look, I'm not trying to make the case for Mike, although if I think he came on, he would try to make an equally good case for me. But I will tell you this. Mike was the only member of the senior leadership who spoke at the Tea Party rally in Washington in 2010.

HANNITY: Yes.

GINGRICH: Now, that was a pretty good commitment towards being an outsider. My only point is this. I think Trump's got -- and this is a little self-serving because one of them is me -- but I think Trump has two very good people he's looking at in a serious way. I think that he's also looked at Chris Christie and Jeff Sessions and others. But my hunch is he's flying to California thinking about, you know, Gingrich, Pence, Pence, Gingrich.

(LAUGHTER)

GINGRICH: And he's doing it right. This is the most serious decision he will make during the campaign, and he has been very methodical, very open to advice from a lot of people, but he knows in the end, this is Donald Trump's decision.

HANNITY: Mr. Speaker, it's historic. It's interesting to get inside a meeting like that. Thank you for sharing that with us.

GINGRICH: Thank you.

HANNITY: We appreciate it.

And when we come back, we'll have more on Donald Trump's VP search. Eric Trump has been in most of these closed-door meetings with potential contenders. He'll tell us. He'll join us in studio next.

Plus, brand-new poll numbers show Donald Trump surging in very important key swing states, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio. "FOX & Friends" Heather Nauert has a full report on that.

And much more tonight on "Hannity."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." And joining us now with more on Donald Trump's VP search, from the Trump Organization -- he's known well to his father -- Eric Trump. How are you sir?

ERIC TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S SON: (INAUDIBLE)

HANNITY: Thank you. So you've been in a lot of these meetings now. We just talked to Newt. Look, I'm not going to ask you who he's picking.  You're not going to answer it. Just tell us about the process, you being there, your brother and your sister being there. Tell us about it.

TRUMP: Well, listen, my whole life, I've sat across the business table with him, right, and I kind of almost view this, you know, whole process as the same thing. He wants to find somebody who's immensely capable. He wants to find somebody who will be immensely loyal to him, somebody who would do a phenomenal job for this the country, somebody who would be a worker, right? I mean, how often do you watch Washington, D.C., where they work from 10:00 to 2:00, you know, Tuesday through Thursday.

I mean, he wants to find a guy who will work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, who will be able to keep up with him. And again, he wants to have somebody who has a tremendous track record. And that's what he's always picked in business and that why he's been able to, you know, build an organization the way he has. And he's certainly going to want that person by his side in politics...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: We're down to the finale of "The Apprentice," one is going to get fired. Are we down to two, do you think?

TRUMP: Oh, I think there's a couple. Listen, there's a lot of names. I mean, I never realized this about politics, but he literally had people calling in -- these are all people that we know, right, these famous names.  He'd have them calling -- I'd like to be considered for, you know, the vice presidency of the United States. I thought, Wow, you can actually call and ask to be considered for vice president!

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: And so it was an amazing process. But the amount of people who were interested, the amount of people reached out to him were incredible.  And he narrowed that list down pretty quickly to ten, and then it went to kind of five, and you know, now he's down to a couple.

And the decision hasn't been made, but I mean, he's really considering a couple people, and I think they're exceptional.

HANNITY: Do you -- is this something now that -- I mean, you know your dad. I'm talking only about the thought process that he -- that you think he would go through. Is he at the point -- this is now -- everybody in the family is waiting. All the people I assume he respects have waited.

TRUMP: Sure.

HANNITY: And now it's him.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: ... and at the end of the day, it's his decision. We're family.  We're incredibly close. We always weigh in. We give our opinions on everything, whether he likes it or not, right?

HANNITY: Yes.

TRUMP: He always ask for our opinions. But this is his decision. And you know, you're going to live with this person for four or eight years.  You're going to be in the most stressful situations with this person. And then this is a person who, you know -- and they have to carry so much weight in an administration. This person has to be your right-hand, you know, man or woman.

I mean, it's -- it's -- it's an amazing person, and you have to get it right. I mean, you just have to get this person right. So he's put so, so much thought into this.

HANNITY: That's what Newt Gingrich said, he felt that he had a very sober approach to it and a very deliberative approach.

TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE) people don't realize, Sean, is there's sometimes not a perfect right answer, right?

HANNITY: That's a good point.

TRUMP: And so there's so many pros and cons, you know, to so many people, and so you find the best one. But I mean, you really have all stars, right? I mean, what's the best basketball player, right? There's so many different ways to define a person. What's the best quarterback? There's so many different ways to define the person's, you know, different qualities, and I think it's the same thing...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: ... the NFL draft, drafting (ph), right? It's crazy. Should I pick this person or that quarterback, you know, and -- I think Newt was right in saying number one criteria, if, God forbid, anything ever happened to your father, could somebody fill that position? That's number one.

TRUMP: That's (INAUDIBLE)

HANNITY: But I also think for the campaign part of it -- and there are two parts of it, the campaign and then the governing part -- I think you need somebody that can prosecute fiercely...

TRUMP: No question.

HANNITY: ... the case against Hillary-...

TRUMP: No question.

HANNITY: ... build up your dad's agenda...

TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE) prosecuting the case against Hillary isn't all that hard, but...

HANNITY: Actually, that's a good point.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: I think I do that every night, too, so that's part of it. Build up your dad, sell his agenda.

TRUMP: Sure.

HANNITY: And I think loyalty is a big part. Also, I do believe there's another challenge your dad may have. And I'm getting a little annoyed at some of these guys in Washington, including some of his former competitors, is that you might be going up against a hostile Paul Ryan on issues about trade and immigration and people coming from countries that practice sharia. It's going to be a tough sell to some of these guys.

TRUMP: The party's come around a lot, but at the same time, my father -- I mean, his whole platform is the fact that he's not a politician. I mean, he's running not to become a politician, right? I mean, he's running to fix the problems that politicians created, right?

So as a non-politician, he also doesn't know the hallways of Washington, you know, so I think you need somebody whole fills that role and somebody who knows so many of those people. And I think, really, all the finalists, you know, know those people very, very well. I mean, they've been ingrained (ph) for a very long time and they're incredibly well respected, and so I think that's a person who will fill those buckets the best, and you know, that's the decision he has to make over the next couple days.

HANNITY: Let me ask this question -- and I don't want to know the answer of who, but was there a moment where maybe your dad turned to all of you and said, Who do you like? If you had to pick, if you had to pick -- did that happen?

TRUMP: Yes, I think so. In fact, I think there's many of those moments.  In fact, last night, we had an unbelievable rally, right? We had...

HANNITY: In Indiana.

TRUMP: ... in Indiana and...

HANNITY: Why were you in Indiana, by the way, just to meet Pence, or...

TRUMP: Yes, we were there with Pence, and we had -- I mean, my father had a rally, it must have been 10,000 people. I mean, it was in this unbelievable stadium.

And you know, Pence went up and gave this great introduction to my father (INAUDIBLE) tremendous chemistry and he has great chemistry, obviously, with Newt and so many others.

But I mean, it was just kind of amazing -- you know, an amazing night, and you really see these people, you know, in action. We've, you know, seen Christie in action. We've seen, you know, Newt, obviously, in action.  We've seen so many of the other people that are on that list in action.

But it's great to kind of see these people and have it be contextual, right, have it be in kind of their setting and up on the stump like that and to kind of see two people together. It's really fascinating.

HANNITY: Has it dawned on you how profound this next week of your life is going to be?

TRUMP: Sure. Sure. Absolutely.

HANNITY: Pretty amazing, right?

TRUMP: It's history in the making and...

HANNITY: It's history.

TRUMP: Listen, what my father's doing is incredible, right? I don't have the polls right in front of me, but...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: ... up in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania.

TRUMP: He's 5 points up in Florida, 2 points up in Pennsylvania, Ohio, he's up. You know, he's tight in Connecticut. I mean, it's incredible!

HANNITY: Iowa he's up.

TRUMP: I mean, it's absolutely incredible. I can tell you Hillary is not happy right now. I mean, I can absolutely tell you Hillary is not happy and...

HANNITY: Hillary should be happy she's not in jail (INAUDIBLE)

TRUMP: Fair enough, but -- on the spectrum, but -- you know, and then next week with the convention -- we have an amazing, amazing convention. I think it's going to blow a lot of people away, some of the speakers we have. I mean, everybody in the world wanted to speak at the convention and...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: I would like to, but I'm not allowed.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: Well, listen, thanks for sharing everything that happened, and we'll be watching. You think we'll know by Friday?

TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE) You know, he's got a decision to make in the next couple days. So he's going to -- he's going to announce it when he announces it, but we'll see. And believe me, he's putting a lot of thought into this. He's taking it immensely seriously. And he's got some awesome people. And by the way, that's really been validated in the last couple days. He's got some awesome, awesome people.

HANNITY: All right, Eric Trump, thanks for being with us.

TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE)

HANNITY: Appreciate it.

And coming up, Hillary Clinton should be very worried tonight about those polls we were just talking about. She is now behind Donald Trump in key swing states, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and others. Heather Nauert is at the "Hannity" big board tonight.

That and more as we continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: And welcome to "Hannity." Tonight, Donald Trump is surging in the polls, overtaking Hillary Clinton in some very key swing states. And tonight at the "Hannity" big board with more is our friend, Heather Nauert from "Fox & Friends." How are you?

HEATHER NAUERT, "FOX & FRIENDS": Hi, Sean. Great to see you.

Well, Hillary Clinton's controversies -- that was what we're talking about tonight -- they appear to be catching up with her. In critical 2016 swing states, Quinnipiac University is out with brand-new poll numbers and they appear to be very good for Donald Trump.

In Florida, Trump is leading Clinton 42 to 39 percent. And then on Pennsylvania, Trump is up by 2, 43 to 41 percent. And in Ohio, it is a dead heat now with Trump and Clinton tied at 41 percent.

Sean, this Quinnipiac poll also revealed some really interesting information about the mood of the voters in some of these states. When posed (ph) with the statement the old way of doing things no longer works and we need radical change, more than 70 percent of those polled in all of those states say that they agree with that statement.

Now, we also have some brand-new Fox News poll numbers that were just out tonight in some key battleground states. In Colorado, Clinton has 44 percent and Trump has 34 percent, but 22 percent of voters surveyed are either unsure who they will support or are not voting or are getting behind another candidate, they say. So there's still plenty of time to win over voters in that state.

And then in Virginia, it's Clinton with 44 percent and Trump with 37 percent, but again, 19 percent of voters who aren't supporting either of those candidate right now.

As always, Sean, we'll continue to keep a close watch on these polls for 2016. Back to you.

HANNITY: Heather Nauert, as always, thank you so much.

And joining us now here with reaction, Washington Examiner contributor Lisa Boothe, Fox News -- former Clinton pollster and Fox News contributor Doug Schoen, and from the Polling Company, our friend, Kellyanne Conway. She also works for the Trump campaign.

If you actually -- he wins all three big states, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, if you put in Gary Johnson and the so-called Green Party candidate, so he would take all those three -- what do you make of these new polls?

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN POLLSTER: It's remarkable that Gary Johnson the Libertarian, Sean, is taking more from Hillary Clinton than Donald Trump. That went against conventional wisdom, but many of those Bernie Sanders voters are now moving over to Gary Johnson. They don't trust her. They don't think that she's going to be the progressive liberal that they want.

The other thing is, if you dig into the crosstabs, there's even better news for Donald Trump in these state polls. He's winning independents by double digits. He's beating her in Florida among men by 29 points. She's only winning women by 12 points. So she has a worse gender gap than him, something you don't hear anywhere else.

The other thing I'd just like to point out is that he seems to be beating her in most of the age categories. She's doing slightly better among young people, but it's remarkable that with the exception of women, older women, who really do want to see the first female president, nobody else really feels compelled to make that clarion call right now.

So this is great news for Donald Trump, who spent zero dollars on ads last month. She spent $30 million. She has the endorsement of Barack Obama...

HANNITY: It's a great point.

CONWAY: She should have gotten a lift, and boom, she's nowhere near 50 percent.

HANNITY: Certainly a downturn for her, Doug. I know you're still predicting that she's going to win, but these are -- Pennsylvania being in play -- this is not the first poll that has shown that. Ohio is neck and neck, same thing Florida. Now Trump is actually pulling away. He's up by 6 in another poll.

DOUG SCHOEN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Sure. Let me give you an objective sense of where we stand. We are in a very, very close race now. There are some national polls...

HANNITY: (INAUDIBLE) jump ball? Jump ball?

SCHOEN: I think it probably is. I think there's a slight advantage for Secretary Clinton, largely because of the electoral map. I could cite polls contrary to the ones you and Kellyanne cited. But the larger point is this is a very close election. It was a very, very bad week for the secretary of state, but she's got Bernie on board...

HANNITY: How does this...

SCHOEN: ... Elizabeth Warren...

HANNITY: How does this impact her choice for VP? Her choice?

SCHOEN: Well, look, if I was making a decision tonight -- most assuredly am not -- I would go to Sherrod Brown because you need to win Ohio.  Republicans...

HANNITY: By the way, Kellyanne and I both yawned at the same time.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

SCHOEN: ... that you both yawned because it's very, very clear that this is a state that is must win, and if you're dismissing it...

HANNITY: I'm not...

SCHOEN: I know you guys are not advocating for the Democrats.

CONWAY: She should already be winning Ohio, though, Doug, in all fairness.

SCHOEN: You know what? Life is what it is. You deal with what is.

(CROSSTALK)

CONWAY: They don't like her coal comments in Ohio.

HANNITY: Great point.

LISA BOOTHE, HIGH NOON STRATEGIES: And Sean --

CONWAY: (INAUDIBLE) she made the comments in West Virginia.

HANNITY: That's going to be played again...

CONWAY: That travels right across Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan.

HANNITY: So important. Go ahead, Lisa, if you want to weigh in.

BOOTHE: Yes, and Sean, it's not just the fact that he's either winning or tied in these three critical swing states. Another important issue is the fact that his message, the message -- messages that he is driving -- they resonate with voters because if you look at some of the three biggest points -- majority of voters feel that the system is broken. They want radical change.

They feel like foreign trade agreements have hurt them personally. And they also believe that public officials don't care about people like them.  And what are the messages we keep hearing Donald Trump talking about? He keeps talking about the people that feel left behind by this economy. He keeps talking about how the system is rigged against the working class voter.

And I think that those messages that he is driving are going to be impactful, particularly in these rustbelt states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.

HANNITY: I got to run, thank you.

BOOTHE: Thanks, Sean.

HANNITY: Coming up, Chicago seeing a surge in violence. Thousands now have been shot and hundreds have been murdered so far this year. And the president and liberals, guess what, they remain silent. We'll check in with Dr. Ben Carson, the Reverend Darrell Scott, and Bo Dietl will be here to weigh in on that.

And then later, plans for Donald Trump's border wall are now included in the draft of the Republican Party platform. Wow, we'll talk about it with A.J. Delgado straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." Tonight, nearly eight years after President Obama was elected on the mantle of hope and change, his hometown of Chicago is facing a hopeless epidemic of violent shootings. This story is not getting the attention it deserves from the mainstream media. And as the death toll in Chicago continues to climb, the president himself has been noticeably quiet.

Now, for example, look at some of the recent headlines from the windy city.  According to "The Chicago Tribune" just yesterday three people killed, seven others wounded. But that's not all. Chicago's children are all too often becoming victims of this violent crime epidemic. Could you imagine waking up and reading these headlines? For example, June 20th, "Three- year-old boy critically injured in wood lawn shooting. June 29th, "Four- year-old child shot in the face in Parkway Gardens." July 2nd "Father, two children killed in Hazel Crest shooting." July 5th, "Cousins five and eight shot while playing with sparklers." July 6th, "Four-year-old shot in the back in drive-by on south side." And sadly, we could go on and on.

Since the president took office, there have been at least 3,470 murders in Chicago, and, by the way, many others shot. So why doesn't our commander in chief speak out about this when he rushes to judgment in Ferguson, with Trayvon Martin, the Cambridge police?

During this segment tonight on the right side of your screen we're going to be scrolling through the names of people murdered in the windy city only going through January, 2015. And 3,470 killed in Chicago since Obama has been president. And I bet you have not heard of any of these names.

Here now with reaction is former 2016 presidential candidate Ben Carson.  Dr. Carson, why does the president only weigh in on high profile racial shootings and ignore 3,470 dead Chicago residents, his hometown? We don't know these names, we haven't heard these names. Why does he only weigh in on other incidents?

BEN CARSON, R-FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, it's not just him.  It's also the mainstream media. Why are they not concerned about the carnage that is going on, innocent children being killed? It represents such an incredible hypocrisy and double standard. Those lives matter also.  And if you think about how those people get injured, they were injured by people who have a blatant disregard for the sanctity of life of the people who are around them. Those lives matter nothing to them. Why are we not going after those people?

HANNITY: I think that's a great point. You know, it's very frustrating, even today this guy DeRay Mckesson from Black Lives Matter, a group that has chanted "pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon," "What do we want?  Dead cops. When do we want them? Now." this guy that's a member of that group, some of those members have chanted these things, and one Black Lives Dallas chapter said, oh, this Texas shooting of five officers is justified.  These killer cops have been killing our black men and women every day and getting away with it. I have no sympathy whatsoever for the cops or their families. They didn't give a damn when it's our black men and women.  What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Why is this guy at the White House today on a day they are burying these police officers?

CARSON: It's pretty amazing. And I suspect if all is said to the police, OK, we get your point. We're leaving. You guys are on your own. Then they would be saying, you're racist, you're prejudice against us, you don't want to protect us. I mean, the hypocrisy is unbelievable.

But the problem is the carnage. All of those children, all of those young men, they have families, they have mothers, they have people who love them.  When are we as a nation going to wake up and recognize that this is a severe internal problem that we have to deal with? It's the family structure that has deteriorated to the point where people no longer have values. We're divorcing ourselves from morality. The church is no longer relevant. And what are we substituting for it? Alinsky type philosophy, Saul Alinsky, Hillary Clinton's hero that she wrote her thesis about, whose book "Rules for Radicals" is dedicated to Lucifer. This is where we're going. We have got to wake up.

HANNITY: All right, Dr. Carson, always good to see you. And I suspect you'll be in that administration, too, I'm pretty confident.

And joining us now is former NYPD detective, Fox News contributor Bo Dietl, and the senior pastor for the New Spirit Revival Center, CEO of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump, the Reverend Darrell Scott.  Reverend, I know you care about this. Bo, I know you care about it.  Reverend, look at those names. You don't know any of those names. I'm betting if you do maybe you know one or two cases. And 3,470, we don't hear a peep out of Obama. He has spoken out in eight years nine times, but if it's a high profile case, he's front and center. If it advances a narrative he'll rush to judgment, no facts, no due process, no assumption of innocence. What are we to make of that?

REV. DARRELL SCOTT, NEW SPIRIT REVIVAL CENTER: Well, I believe it's because their deaths do not reflect negatively on his presidency. Their deaths are not political. Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray, Michael Brown, Alton Sterling, these guys, their deaths became political and reflected negatively on his presidency and the Democratic Party. So there had to be a statement made, especially during this election time.

But you know what we lack right now, and Dr. Ben Carson alluded to it, what we don't have right now is that one singular unifying black leader who commands both respect and obedience. Martin Luther King commanded respect and obedience by his followers. Even Malcolm X commanded respect and obedience by his followers. They said of Malcolm X that he was the only man that could start or stop a race war. But President Obama does not have that type of obedience, nor does he have that type of respect. And the reason is because he's a reactionary rather than proactionary, so he'll come when something happens. He'll be sympathetic.

HANNITY: He was wrong in Cambridge. He was wrong with Trayvon and George Zimmerman. He was wrong in Ferguson. Bo Dietl, you know something, and then this narrative becomes very anti-cop. Look at all these people. We don't know those people's names.

BO DIETL, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: I was a homicide detective. Today I did a lot of homework. I got pages and pages and pages. People don't realize, since January this year, 2,110 people were shot. Last year the total was 2,900. I have a little map over here where I show all the shootings since January. And you can see the clusters here. I have never seen anything like this even as a homicide detective in New York. We're talking about 1970s here.

But the population of Chicago is so small. When you get a three year old and a 10 year old who is shot with their dad, sitting in their apartment, Sean, I mean it's outrageous. And you're looking at all these kids getting shot in the back, in the face. Where is the outrage?

HANNITY: If there was a racial narrative or if it was a cop versus a black suspect of some kind or an unarmed person of some kind, the president would jump all over it. We're losing our children. These kids, we're losing our kids, we're getting people shot and killed. And then he only jumps in when he gets a political narrative.

DIETL: I get really angry, the best is all a sudden Jesse Jackson comes out of his cage and starts sucking up to Hillary, and hugging and kissing, because, you know what, it's his turn in the White House. Al Sharpton is out, Jesse is in with whatever her name is.

HANNITY: I got to break, but I appreciate you guys being with us.

And up next tonight right here on "Hannity" --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP:  Build a wall. Don't worry, we're going to build a wall. Don't worry about it. We're going to build a wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: The Republican Party is following Donald Trump's lead on border security. Now the draft of the GOP platform now includes plans to build that border wall with Mexico. Platform committee member Chris Kobach and A.J. Delgado will have reaction. That and more tonight right here on HANNITY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going to have strong borders folks, we're going to have the wall. And we're going to let people come into our country that should come into our country, and they're going to come into our country legally.

Every time they fight us on that wall it gets 10 feet higher, folks.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Who is going to pay for the wall?

CROWD: Mexico!

TRUMP: I don't hear you. Who is going to pay for the wall?

CROWD: Mexico!

TRUMP: And they will, very much. They will, 100 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And by the way, it just got 10 feet higher. That was Donald Trump talking about his plans to build a border wall. And Fox News has learned that the Republican platform committee included language calling for a wall, saying, quote, "That the border wall must cover the entirety of the southern and also must be sufficient to stop both vehicular and pedestrian traffic."

Joining us now with reaction, conservative columnist, Trump surrogate, A.J. Delgado, and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is with us. Now, Kris is on the GOP platform committee and pushed for the language about the wall to be included. Good job, sir. So it's in there?

KRIS KOBACH, KANSAS CITY SECRETARY OF STATE: Yes. It's in there. And it's subject to final approval on Monday, but I'm sure it will remain in there. The reason I chose that language and the committee approved it, Sean, is this has to be a real wall. We have had acts of Congress in the past that have been disregarded by the executive and they put things in the ground like sensors and they put things overhead like drones. But we're talking about a real physical barrier here from sea to shining sea. And the American people want it and the Republican Party is steadfastly in favor of it, now.

HANNITY: You know, A.J. Delgado, you have been such a strong, articulate, passionate Trump supporter from the very beginning. And you have been saying, and the polls bear this out to be true. Donald Trump is going to do better than other Republicans with Hispanic voters. Recent polls show that, in fact, yes, he is doing better with Hispanic voters than, say, Mitt Romney or John McCain. Why do you think that is?

A.J. DELGADO, CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST: Absolutely. And that's because Latinos, Sean, we are law-abiding, orderly, law loving people. And we do just want the immigration enforcement. We don't want to have to compete with illegal immigrants for our jobs. We want to be safe. We want our children to be safe, especially those Latinos the many Latinos that live along the border. We also want to make sure, it's a big problem in our community, that something is done about the drug problem in the U.S. You have heroin, cocaine, this poison that comes across the border by the truckload. And so what Donald Trump is doing with this wall and thanks to patriots like Mr. Kobach, we're finally pushing back and doing something about that problem that nobody wants to address.

HANNITY: A.J., did you see the interview or read any of the comments of Jeb Bush that he made this week? "Trump is never going to build that wall." I'm like, yes, I think he's going to build the wall. I believe it.

DELGADO: It absolutely will happen. As Mr. Kobach has laid out in his plans, it could easily happen by limiting the remittances that illegal immigrants who are here from Mexico can send back to Mexico. We told Mexico that's either going to stop or you're going to have to pay $5 billion or $10 billion or whatever amount we determine is appropriate towards that wall. It's their choice. It could be done very easily and it will be done.

HANNITY: Kris, I'll give you the last word.

KOBACH: I think if you look at the platform now, Sean, it's not just the wall but the party is now standing firmly in favor of enforcing our laws, rejecting the Obama amnesty, and bringing back the rule of law. And now you have on the other the Democrats who are doubling down on the executive amnesty. They want more amnesty. They stand for lawlessness and open borders. The American public now has a choice like no other choice. The Republican Party is standing firmly for the rule of law. The Democrats are for the opposite. I think Trump is going to win in part because of that.

HANNITY: Kris, thank you for helping to get that done. And A.J. Delgado, you have been a strong, passionate advocate for Mr. Trump on behalf of Hispanic Americans. Thank you for being with us.

DELGADO: Thank you, Sean.

HANNITY: And coming up, we need your help. A very important "Question of the Day" is straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right, time for our "Question of the Day." So Donald Trump seems to have narrowed down his V.P. list. So it seems to be it's either going to be Newt or it's going to be Mike Pence. So who do you think he's going to pick to be his running mate? Who do you want him to pick? Just go to Facebook.com/SeanHannity, @SeanHannity on Twitter, let us know what you think.

By the way, before we go, a quick programming note. Starting tomorrow we will be broadcasting live from Cleveland ahead of the RNC. That's tomorrow night. And, by the way, my good friends at "The Five," they have kicked off their road trip to the convention this Friday, and they are going to be stopping by cities all along the way. So make sure you follow their bus tour on social media, and I'll be meeting up with them in Cleveland as well.

But that's all the time we have left this evening. As always, thank you for being with us. We'll see you from Ohio, from Cleveland, tomorrow night.

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