Gorka: The US will no longer appease North Korea; Bolton: Trump's 'fire and fury' comments were appropriate

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," August 9, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: This is a Fox News Alert. Welcome to 'Hannity.'

Tonight, we are following three major, huge breaking news stories. Liberals, the destroy Trump media -- they are hyperventilating over news that Paul Manafort's home was raided in the early morning hours by the FBI.

That's back in July. We will expose their massive double standard. We're also going to tell you tonight what Paul Manafort's huge mistake was.

Also, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell -- he's whining to constituents, blaming President Trump and his, quote, 'excessive expectations' for his repeated failures. Tonight, I have a message for the weak, spineless Senate majority leader Senator Mitch McConnell.

Plus, President Trump and his administration -- they refuse to back down in this nuclear standoff that continues tonight with North Korea as the rogue regime issues yet a brand-new threat ma top general saying Pyongyang is considering firing four missiles at Guam, and he's calling President Trump's 'fire and fury' comments a load of nonsense. Really? Good luck betting on that.

Tonight's very important breaking news monologue starts right here, right now.

The destroy Trump media, the Democrats -- they are so over the moon, the special counsel, the conflicted Robert Mueller is going after Paul Manafort after earlier today, we learned that the FBI conducted this pre-dawn raid at Manafort's home back in July. Of course, the left- wing partisan press -- they're foaming at the mouth, hyperventilating, jumping to conclusions, running with wild innuendoes.

As it turns out, Paul Manafort -- he did make a major, major error, major mistakes. Instead of cooperating like Paul Manafort has been doing, well, why didn't he just delete 33,000 emails? You know, the emails that probably dealt with a wedding, a funeral, yoga, emails to his wife who maybe did not have an email? Why didn't he delete them all? And why didn't he acid wash them with BleachBit? Why didn't he have somebody smash his mobile devices with a hammer? Why didn't he just turn over all of his cell phones and Blackberrys to the FBI except just remove the SIM cards in them? After all, that worked for Hillary Clinton. She did that.

Or maybe Paul Manafort -- maybe he should have threatened a federal official at a public hearing on tape for daring to gather evidence. That worked for Debbie Wasserman Schultz. And why didn't he follow her example? After all, The Daily Caller is reporting that her aide smashed a hard drive, something he denies, and put the -- of course, the broken up government property hard drive inside of his garage.

Or what about this? Maybe Manafort should have simply refused to hand over any documents at all. Why? Because that worked for Eric Holder during Fast and Furious in that scandal. Or maybe Manafort -- maybe he should have met with the attorney general on the tarmac for 40 minutes and just have a little private discussion about their grandchildren because that worked for Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch?

The destroy Trump media, the Democrats -- they're such massive hypocrites when it comes to law and justice in this country. All of those examples clearly prove it.

Paul Manafort -- he did make a huge mistake. Paul Manafort should have followed the examples of Hillary Clinton, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch.

Paul Manafort -- he gets a pre-dawn raid? What did they think he was going to do, what the Democrats did in 5 minutes at 5:00 A.M., you know, BleachBit? It probably takes a little bit longer than that. Smashing devices -- that's hard work. That takes a long time.

They’ve completely ignored this massive Democratic scandal, scandal after scandal that we've been reporting on this program night after night that the media ignores. They don't want to tell you these things. And as we have seen, the media is ready to literally jump to every conclusion and put Paul Manafort behind bars.

The problem is, this Russia collusion witch hunt -- it's now gone on for 11 months. So far, it hasn't produced much of anything. Where's the smoking gun? Where's the mountain of evidence that you have been promised day after day, the hysteria, conspiracy theories? So now what we have is the media cheering on Robert Mueller, who's conflicted, and hoping he finds something -- literally anything.

Also tonight, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell -- he's actually blaming President Trump and his excessive expectations as the reason why he hasn't enacted the agenda you voted for. Now, take a look at Mitch McConnell making this ridiculous excuse to his constituents. It's pretty laughable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, R-K.Y., MAJORITY LEADER: Part of the reason I think that the story line is that we haven't done much is because, in part, the president and others have set these early timelines about things need to be done by a certain point.

Our new president has, of course, not been in this line of work before and I think had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: He hasn't been in this line of work, in the swamp, in the sewer, doesn't understand the legislative process. OK, this is beyond unbelievable. And the president, to his credit -- he responded on Twitter.

He wrote, quote, 'Senator Mitch McConnell said I had excessive expectations, but I don't think do. After seven years of hearing repeal, replace, why is it not done?'

Mitch McConnell, you have lived in this D.C. sewer and swamp obviously for way too long. And here's the thing that Mitch McConnell doesn't seem to understand. President Trump -- he didn't set those excessive expectations. Senator McConnell, you did. Republicans did in the House and the Senate. You promised over and over and over again over seven years that you were going to repeal and replace ObamaCare. You couldn't even get the skinny repeal done.

And Speaker Paul Ryan -- he sat down with me in February. He promised that Republicans had a 200-day plan to get all kinds of the Trump agenda and all these items done for the American people. Well, Guess what? It hasn't happened.

So Senator McConnell, my message to you -- if all you're going to do is whine like a 10-year-old and complain and make excuses and blame the president for your failure after eight months of him now being in office and you have in the House and Senate -- guess what? It really is time to drain the sewer and swamp.

You know, Mitch McConnell, have you ever had in all your years in politics an enthusiastic crowd like President Trump? I doubt it. The American people voted for this president's agenda. He has an identity. He has a plan. He's fighting every day. What do you even stand for at this point? He wants it enacted. He has a pen in hand. Senator, if you can't get it done, get out of the way! Retire. Leave Washington. Go play golf. Go fishing.

And then, of course, you have people like Senator John McCain. Now, after casting the deciding vote to kill the effort, even the skinny repeal and replace ObamaCare, well, McCain is back to criticizing President Trump for his tough words against North Korea.

He lives to criticize President Trump. Now, he's saying that he's not sure how President Trump's tough rhetoric is going to help. Well, Senator McCain, you know, perhaps would you like to explain your comments and jokes supposedly about 'Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran' back in 2007? Did that help that situation? You might remember Senator McCain doing this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZONA: ... that old Beach Boys song, bomb Iran? You know?

(LAUGHTER)

MCCAIN: Bomb, bomb, bomb -- anyway...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Senator McCain, you've also in the course of your career -- you've called for military intervention, let's see, in Libya, Syria, Ukraine, North Korea and Iraq. And there's these comments from Senator McCain just a couple of weeks ago on the Senate floor. Senator, look at your own remarks!

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCAIN: I hope we can again rely on humility and our need to cooperate, on our dependence on each other, to learn how to trust each other again, and by so doing, better serve the people who elected us. Stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio and television and the Internet. To hell with them! They don't want anything done for the public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: No, your inaction, your incapacity here -- that's your problem. You made the promises and your inaction is, frankly, embarrassing. And you made these promises. And Americans are suffering.

Here's the thing. If senators like McCain, McConnell, Collins, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska -- you guys want to obstruct the entire Republican Party's agenda, the president's agenda just like the Democrats and then make excuses and cast blame here, there and everywhere about why you can't do your job and fulfill your promises -- well, I say it's now time to clean house.

Let's put in new leaders in Washington who will keep their word, keep their promises, serve the American people! You know what? All of you senators, you should lose your chairmanships. We should put leaders in those positions in Washington who care about the American people; that have a sense of urgency about the 50 million in poverty, on food stamps, and then millions and millions out of the labor force.

Finally tonight, President Trump -- this is a crisis. His administration -- they're not backing down amid the growing tensions with North Korea.

Earlier today, President Trump took to Twitter. He said, 'My first order as president was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It's now far stronger and more powerful than ever before. Hopefully, we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world.'

And his secretary of defense, 'Mad Dog' James Mattis, followed that up with a strongly worded statement that reads in part, 'The DPRK must choose to stop isolating itself and stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons. The DPRK should cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people.'

And he continued with this. Quote, 'The DPRK regime's actions will continue to be grossly overmatched by ours and would lose any arms race or conflict it initiates.'

This situation with North Korea is extraordinarily dangerous for the entire world. And as I said last night, there are no good solutions. And what the Trump administration is now facing is the direct result of the policies of appeasement, the policies of capitulation to North Korean dictators.

Let's go back to 1994. The Clinton administration -- they struck a deal with Kim Jong Un's father, Kim Jong-il, whereas The New York Times reported, the U.S. agreed to give North Korea' -- get this -- $4 billion in energy aid over a 10-year period. Oh, with the promise in exchange that North Korea will freeze and eventually end their nuclear weapons program.

North Korea agreed, and guess what? They allowed inspectors into their nuclear sites, but they also were allowed to keep their nuclear fuel rods, which of course, can be used to make weapons. Despite these concerns, Bill Clinton patted himself on the back and said this is a good deal for the American people. Turned out not to be such a good deal. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a good deal for the United States. North Korea will freeze and then dismantle its nuclear program. South Korea and our other allies will be better protected. The entire world will be safer as we slow the spread of nuclear weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Well, as we now know, well, the world is not a safer place, wasn't a good deal for the American people. Bill Clinton was dead wrong. And at the end of the 1990s, North Korea test-fired a long-range missile, and that's why back in 1999, on 'Meet the Press' -- let's see if the mainstream media shows you this -- then private citizen Donald Trump with Tim Russert, criticized Bill Clinton's horrible deal. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Do you know that this country went out and gave them nuclear reactors, free fuel for 10 years? We virtually tried to bribe them into stopping, and they're continuing to do what they're doing. And they're laughing at us. They think we're a bunch of dummies.

I'm saying that we have to do something to stop them.

TIM RUSSERT, HOST: But if the military told you, Mr. Trump, we can't do this...

TRUMP: You're giving me two names. You're giving me two names. I don't know. Do you want to do it in five years when they have warheads all over the place, every one of them pointing to New York City, to Washington and every one of our -- is that when you want to do it, or do you want to do something now? You better do it now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: You better do it now. Then in 2006, the rogue regime conducted its first nuclear test. And under the Obama administration, what do we see? An acceleration of dangerous activity from North Korea, which leads us to this very dangerous, precarious situation we're at today. Now, earlier today, I had an opportunity to speak with the deputy assistant to the president, Dr. Sebastian Gorka.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Dr. Gorka, welcome to 'Hannity.' Thanks for being with us.

SEBASTIAN GORKA, DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Sean.

HANNITY: OK, am I outlining this right? There are no good answers, and this is a far more dire, difficult situation than a lot of people are really realizing here.

GORKA: You showed the clip with Tim Russert from almost 20 years ago with the president. He had it right back then. He had it right today. The fact is, when good men do nothing, evil triumphs. It's not the people of Korea that are the problem, it is the regime. That is an evil, evil regime, as bad as anything we know from the Soviet Union.

That nation is a pariah. That nation is in flagrant breach of international laws with regard to nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, but this is when the appeasement ends, Sean. This nation, this White House, this president will no longer put up with appeasement.

HANNITY: You know, Dr. Gorka, I've analyzed this as closely as I can under a best-case scenario. We had a very important vote over the weekend and -- the U.N. Security Council, 15 to zero. Let's say all of those nations come together, our allies in Israel, even China, even Russia, even all our Western European allies. And we have to take these sites out because they're a clear and present danger to the entire world.

OK. Militarily, what do we have? We will incinerate North Korea. We run the risk of nuclear fallout. And then what if he fires -- if we don't get it done fast enough, into South Korea, Guam or Japan or even China? What do we do then?

GORKA: There are numerous scenarios that do not involve the use of force or some kind of conflagration on the Korean peninsula. There are covert means. There are means that we don't discuss on television that can incapacitate a regime's capacity to use its military.

Secondly, there's the diplomatic and political option. Look at what China just did, Sean. Thanks to the president, thanks to Rex Tillerson, thanks to Ambassador Haley, China -- China, the biggest supporter of North Korea -- and Russia said on Saturday enough is enough. They agreed with us to create the largest sanctions package against North Korea in the last 30 years.

China has realized that a buffer state is no longer a buffer state when it is threatening nuclear war. China is in a position to exert pressure, massive economic pressure, as well as political and diplomatic to denuclearize North Korea.

HANNITY: We saw a little movement in that direction after the president met with the president of China. So there's I guess there's a little bit of hope there. Both Ambassador Bolton, who'll join us tonight, and Newt Gingrich last night, talked about the capacity of great redundancy with missile defense. Newt talked about 20, 30, 40 attempts to be able to take a missile out of the air.

Well, we know what an electric pulse would do if even it exploded over the United States, killing our power grid, all electronics. That is a very scary scenario where potentially millions could die.

GORKA: But the correlation of forces, that phrase from the cold war -- if you compare our capabilities versus North Korea, General Mattis, Secretary Mattis is absolutely right. You don't go to war with America, whoever you are, unless you wish to commit suicide. We aren't just a superpower, Sean.

We are a hyperpower. World history has never seen a nation as powerful as our great nation.

Therefore, North Korea needs to understand the blackmail stops. And if you get into an arms race, as Secretary Mattis said, with United States of America, you will lose, whoever you are, whether you're a Potemkin village in Asia or Potemkin estate or whether you are any other nation in the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: Dr. Gorka, thank you.

When we come back, we will have more on what he was just discussing, and that is the blackmail, the appeasement. Some Democrats still want to follow that stupidity as we have these escalating tensions with North Korea. John Bolton, Lieutenant Colonel Ollie North are here. They're next, and much more tonight straight ahead on...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REX TILLERSON, SECRETARY OF STATE: I think, publicly, we've been pretty clear in our statements directed at North Korea as to what we would like to see happen and to make clear to them that we do not seek to be a threat to them, but we have to respond to the serious threat that they make towards us. What the president was just reaffirming is the United States has the capability to fully defend itself from any attack and defend our allies, and we will do so. So the American people should sleep well tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: That was the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, earlier today reassuring the American people that the U.S. is capable of defending itself amid the latest North Korea threats.

Here with reaction, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., FOX News contributor John Bolton. Ambassador, there are those that actually -- John McCain actually suggested today, Oh, Donald Trump may set this guy off.

And then Dianne Feinstein said the president's remarks were bombastic and may further isolate them. And they were bilateral negotiations with the people that have never kept an agreement in their life, which is why we're at this point.

What are your thoughts?

JOHN BOLTON, FMR. U.S. AMB. TO U.N., FOX CONTRIBUTOR: Look, we've had 25 years of efforts at negotiation, carrots and sticks with the North Koreans to change their behavior, to get them to give up the nuclear program.

We've failed for 25 years. There's zero evidence that today, in year 26, it's going to be any different.

I think we're past that point, tragically. Trump has inherited a very dangerous situation. That's what he's coping with.

Could I just say word on his comments about fire and fury? You know, I don't know what went on in the White House to get him to say that, but I thought they were entirely appropriate remarks. For too long, we've heard American political leaders say all options are on the table. They say it in a deep voice very slowly. Nobody cares about that anymore.

I think what Trump did was say to principal audience, which is North Korea and China, this is a qualitatively different situation for the United States and we're putting you on notice that we're looking really seriously at a military option. I think that's the one thing that may get China's attention in particular.

HANNITY: Is there a good solution that I'm not seeing? Dr. Gorka said there probably are other things. Are there ones that you're confident, Ambassador, that wood work without taking out those nuclear sites?

BOLTON: Well, I think there are certainly a huge range of options that the U.S. could use militarily. But I think what worries everybody -- properly so -- is that any use of military force, any effort to decapitate the regime with special operators -- really, anything that shows what we're really interested in doing would provoke a North Korean response. That's the hard question here.

But the real question for American citizens is whether we're prepared to take that risk today, before North Korea has dozens and dozens of nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles that can hit the United States. This situation...

HANNITY: What if we don't...

BOLTON: ... does get any better in the coming days. It gets worse.

HANNITY: And if we don't do that now, sooner than later?

BOLTON: Well, that's the choice we have to face, the United States facing from now until infinity the risk that the regime in North Korea, which is not rational in our terms, will have a deliverable nuclear weapons capability to hit the United States. I'm not prepared to live with that.

I think there's one diplomatic option left, persuading China to allow us to reunite the peninsula. But if that fails and it's a hard argument to make, I think the choice is between using military force to take out North Korea's nuclear program or living with the threat to innocent American civilians as far as the eye can see.

HANNITY: Not a good option. As I've been saying, Ambassador, pretty chilling. Thank you, sir, for being with us.

BOLTON: Thank you.

HANNITY: Here now with more reaction, the host of 'War Stories,'

Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North. Colonel, here's the bottom line. North Korea is now a nuclear power. Not a lot of good options.

OLIVER NORTH, HOST, 'WAR STORIES': And imposes an immediate serious threat, existential threat to the United States. Let me just take a step further from what Ambassador Bolton just said. Our only thing that we can do right now short of military action is to convince Chinese president Xi that it's in Chinese interests to act now against Kim Jong-un.

Look, unless -- unless Xi intervenes, the United States is going to have to take preemptive military action, and that's going to have catastrophic consequences for North Korea and the People's Republic of China.

Up to 20 percent of the North Korean population of 25 million is likely to flee on foot across the Yalu and Tumen Rivers and take to the sea like the boat people from Vietnam.

Here are 10 things our president should do to convince Xi that we are deadly serious because Kim Jong-un is not listening. It won't matter. But Xi can make the difference.

One, press for President Moon and the Republic of Korean to bring in as many THAAD systems as we can deliver.

Number two, ask Israel to provide Iron Dome or even David's Sling systems to the Republic of Korea to deal with the North Korean artillery on the DMZ.

Number three, we turn the tactical nukes to the Republic of Korean that we withdrew back in the 1990s. Thank you, Mr. Clinton. Deploy another carrier strike group to the region and more long-range strike aircraft and air tankers to Guam and Okinawa. Deploy search and rescue assets. Here, try this. Ask Xi if we can base some of our SAR assets in China to recover the air crews. It's unlikely he's going to agree, but it may wake up the Politburo in Beijing.

Number six, deploy the hospital ships Mercy and the Comfort from Norfolk and San Diego, send them out there, very clear signal America's getting ready to act.

Number seven, deploy another U.S. Marine and Navy expeditionary unit to the region.

Number eight deploy more ISR, Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance satellite (INAUDIBLE) and update our target list. That will leak in Washington, believe me.

Number nine, deliver biological and chemical weapons protection equipment to the Republic of Korea and pray that Xi sees the light.

All those things are necessary before military action can be taken. Doing these steps right now may help convince President Xi and the People's Republic of China Politburo that the U.S. is deadly serious, and it could preclude the necessity of using our own military assets.

HANNITY: Colonel, as usual -- we've been friends long time -- I'm very impressed. I know how well thought out that is. And on the American side, we better continue strategic defense with massive redundancy because we don't know. The proliferation now is way out of control. And Iran is probably just a few years, maybe even sooner, away from putting us in this position, as well. Colonel, thank you. Appreciate it. Safe home, and...

(CROSSTALK)

NORTH: ... for the North Koreans. Semper fi, buddy.

HANNITY: Yes, sir. Yes, sir, Semper fi.

A quick programming note. You can catch 'War Stories,' Colonel North on the FOX Business Network, our sister network.

And coming up, Geraldo Rivera, Judge Jeanine Pirro. They weigh in on Paul Manafort's big mistake. We'll tell you about that.

And what do you do about Mitch McConnell? It's time for him to leave the swamp, the sewer, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARIANNE RAFFERTY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Live from America's news headquarters, I am Marianne Rafferty.

New information tonight about that failed plot to blow up a commercial jet out of Sydney last month. The Wall Street Journal reports that the explosive device was shipped from Turkey to Australia by air cargo, evading security along the way. The plotters in Sydney then received the package, assembled the bomb, put it in their luggage, and went to the airport. But for reasons unknown they abandoned the plan before going through security.

The plot has prompted concern about shipping security as well as the ability of jihadist networks to work together on a global scale.

And the Russian spy plane flying over Bedminster, New Jersey, where President Trump is staying on vacation, the jet was permitted to fly through the temporary flight restriction airspace established around Trump National Golf Club. It's part of the Open Skies treaty with Russia.

I'm Marianne Rafferty. Now back to HANNITY.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Welcome back to HANNITY. So earlier today after it was discovered that the FBI carried out a search warrant in the Virginia home of Paul Manafort back in July, mainstream media foaming at the mouth, hysteria. Literally so excited, and by the way, the same were already predicting doom and gloom for Manafort. Don't we believe that you are innocent until proven guilty? He should have followed Hillary's example. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTIC CORRESPONDENT: It does raise the question why this raid if he has in fact been cooperating?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a suspicion of criminality. It may be by Manafort, may be by somebody else, and a fear by the FBI that there was information in that house that would be destroyed unless produced forcibly.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN: Generally speaking is this a good thing for Paul Manafort?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a bad thing for Paul Manafort. It puts him dead center of the Mueller investigation.

MSNBC HOST: This clearly is not a case where we hear from Paul Manafort's spokesperson, attorney. He says we are fully cooperating. Mueller and his team obviously felt something different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Now, what happened to innocent until proven guilty? I know it's so outdated and I still believe in it.

Joining us now with reaction, Fox News correspondent-at-large, Geraldo Rivera and the host of 'Justice' Judge Jeanine Pirro. First of all, the predawn raid makes me laugh. Geraldo, what did they think, that the guy was going to BleachBit everything, smash everything if they didn't go in in the early hours that morning after he had testified the day before? And didn't he make a mistake not following Hillary and Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Loretta Lynch's and Eric Holder's lead? He could have deleted everything, he could have BleachBit everything, hammered everything? Why didn't he do that?

GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: All I know, Sean, is that the two scariest words in Washington are 'predawn' and 'raid.' A predawn raid is something you don't want in your house. And the fact that it happened less than 24 hours after he was cooperating presumably with the Senate Intelligence Committee staffers is a clear indication, legally speaking, that they were worried that he was either going to destroy evidence or that a crime had been committed.

The good news for President Trump is that Manafort is now forced to turn over, or they seized his tax and banking records, which is an indication, Sean, that Manafort is the target, not Russia-gate or President Trump. He got millions from the Russian oriented Ukraine government over the years before he was the campaign manager. It looks like they are wondering or they inquiring or they are probing whether he hid millions of dollars in foreign bank accounts. It's not about Trump. It's about Manafort.

HANNITY: But he's still innocent until proven guilty, one. And obviously I am messing around that he made a mistake. But in a very real sense, judge, if he would have done what Hillary and all these other people did, why wouldn't he get away with it? Obviously they set a precedent.

JUDGE JEANINE PIRRO, HOST, 'JUSTICE WITH JUDGE JEANINE': I'll tell you why he wouldn't get away with it. First of all, I'm a former D.A. and a judge and I can't go along with destroying and concealing evidence. But what I do agree with you on, Sean --

HANNITY: I'm being sarcastic.

PIRRO: I know you are. But this is what I agree with you on. The Democrats do whatever they can to destroy up Republican when they've got a Republican in their sites. The problem with the Republicans is they don't follow the idea of law and order and put the Democrats in their sites, such as Hillary Clinton, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and the rest of them.

But Sean, let me explain one thing. I used to sign these orders, I used to seek these orders. You go before a federal judge and you convince the judge that there is evidence of a crime. You convince the judge that there is probable cause and the judge signs it.

Now the feds play at not just a legal game but a psychological game. And the game that's been played here right now is this -- you've got Paul Manafort, I believe, by the short hairs because they are looking at things that involve foreign banking acts and foreign agents and all this stuff he did before. But that doesn't put the president on a free ride right now.

What is happening is they are going to squeeze Manafort irrespective of what the underlying crime is to get to the president or anything. The fact that they are outside of the Russia charge is certainly outside of their investigative powers, but they don't care. They will get Manafort to flip.

RIVERA: That's the danger, Sean.

HANNITY: Yes, to get him to flip.

RIVERA: As Manafort feels the pressure, and now he's facing felonies, let's say about hidden millions, let's say, in foreign bank accounts, let's say. They say to Manafort, OK, we will go easy on you. We'll give you one felony, a year in jail, if you tell us everything you know, if he knows anything about Russia-gate and Trump and about the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant, and so forth and so on. I think that's a danger to the president that Manafort will turn snitch.

HANNITY: Stay right there. More with Judge Jeanine, more with Geraldo after the break.

Also, is it time for Mitch McConnell to step aside? Absolutely. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITCH MCCONNELL, R-K.Y., SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Our new president of course has not been in this line of work before, and I think had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: That was the weak Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell actually blaming the president, saying he had, quote, 'excessive expectations.' Senator, no, he doesn't. You guys have been promising this verse seven- and-a-half years. Really, excuses? Can you not do your job with some sense of urgency?

As we continue with Geraldo Rivera and Judge Jeanine Pirro. I don't know how to react to this, Geraldo, except to say Americans don't get vacations like these guys. How do you do nothing for eight months and say, oh, the expectations are too high? Give us another two years? It's really, really pathetic.

RIVERA: I hold you in the highest regard. If you say someone is in trouble, you can take that to the bank. I think you are the second most powerful person in this country.

HANNITY: Oh, God, no.

RIVERA: I'm just saying.

HANNITY: The judge is laughing.

PIRRO: No, I'm not. I'm with you, Sean.

RIVERA: McConnell is a ruthless, effective politician. You have to give him credit. The Gorsuch seat on the Supreme Court of the United States is largely the creation of Mitch McConnell. He is a great politician. He is a lousy lawmaker. He is a great opposition leader, but when he has the power, repeal and replace -- how many times -- you can gag on how many times this guy said that. And he never even formulated a committee to draft a substitute for what they were repealing and replacing.

Replacing with what, McConnell? What have you done? And for him to insult the president, I think that he is now in peril of being a pariah and an exile in Washington, D.C.

HANNITY: I am so frustrated, judge. And so are so many others. He couldn't even get the skinny repeal done. And I give him all the praise on Gorsuch. This is pathetic.

PIRRO: This is pathetic, and I will tell you why. They guy goes back to his home district and he goes to a rotary club and he makes -- it's all the president's fault, it's not my fault. This is why Congress is held in such low esteem.

HANNITY: Sixteen percent.

PIRRO: The American people understand -- I've heard it as low as 10. But the American people understand that these guys are a bunch of pokes where one hand washes the other, and they are not interested in draining the swamp. That's why we elected Donald Trump to be president, to get rid of these people who come out and blame other people for their failures.

They've had seven years to achieve this.

HANNITY: I want to tell you both something. I've had sources tell me in Washington, especially in the Senate, Geraldo, this really bothers me, that behind closed doors, and I could name names here, that some of these senators openly have nothing but hatred and contempt for the president.

And meanwhile I'm thinking, do you care about the American people at least? Do you care about your own promise?

RIVERA: I totally agree. And that is I think when you talk about the deep state, you have to talk about not only the civil servants who are double- dealing but you have to talk about the actual, the Senate, the congress, they have their own constituency.

HANNITY: Republicans and Democrats are on my list.

RIVERA: They are bathing themselves in rhetoric. Specifically on health care, just to stay on that, this is the biggest most colossal fraud ever perpetrated by the legislative branch of the government of the United States. To talk about repeal and replace -- how many times have we heard that expression? How many candidates at the house and Senate level have campaigned on that issue, on the issue of health care? And to think that all they had was the three words, repeal and replace, with no policy to back it, no consensus within the GOP, no philosophical or ideological solution to the problem of health care in the country. And then to blame the president, who is a newbie, six months on the job to blame him for their abject and identifiable failure is really pathetic.

HANNITY: Thank you, both. And when we come back it, does an investigation need to be opened into Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch and the tarmac meeting? A HANNITY one-on-one debate you don't want to miss, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Welcome back to HANNITY. So as we've been repeating all week thanks to the FOIA request by the ACLJ, we now know through emails that the Obama White House, they were actually looped in on the infamous Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting spin. Remember that's the one where they allegedly spent 40 minutes on a plane talking about golf and grandkids. So with all that we know now, should an investigation be open into this? Joining us now attorney, political analyst Danielle McLaughlin. I let you beat me up on radio and now I'm bringing you on TV. I really --

DANIELLE MCLAUGHLIN, ATTORNEY AND POLITICAL ANALYST: It's a bad move, Sean, bad move.

HANNITY: Bad news. Very simple question. You should be able to acknowledge it was inappropriate, right?

MCLAUGHLIN: The tarmac meeting was a disaster. It was a terrible, terrible decision.

HANNITY: And when Loretta Lynch told James Comey that it's a matter, not an investigation, and Comey was like, well, it is an investigation but I'll follow your talking points, that was inappropriate too, right?

MCLAUGHLIN: I think it was troubling and Comey obviously said that was something that made him feel I believe it was nauseous. I wonder whether that was in context of the fact that there was an ongoing investigation.

HANNITY: Remember what Comey said, though. There was a long pause. He was suggesting way over the line inappropriate, but he still went along with it.

MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, he didn't push back. He didn't push back.

HANNITY: OK, so my next question is, then James Comey admitted she had top-secret special access program classified information on an email server in a mom and pop shop bathroom closet. Isn't that by definition, when you look at the statute and the law, mishandling classified information in the way that Comey described it, isn't that Comey saying she committed a crime?

MCLAUGHLIN: He called her reckless. He said that based on the investigation of a number of career prosecutors it didn't reach the threshold that would require an indictment or a prosecution. So that was James Comey.

HANNITY: OK, the threshold is mishandling. It's also a crime if you destroy classified, top secret, and special access program information.

MCLAUGHLIN: That's correct. Under federal records act it is a crime actually punishable by --

HANNITY: And James Comey admitted that Hillary did that, right, so Hillary committed a crime?

MCLAUGHLIN: He didn't admit that. It was his decision.

HANNITY: In his long press conference, he did say there was special access program, top-secret classified information on the deleted emails that she had.

MCLAUGHLIN: I'm going to quibble with the details there. I don't recall that from his press conference from well over a year ago. He did say she was reckless but it didn't meet the threshold for a criminal indictment or a prosecution.

HANNITY: OK, so my question is between that and unmasking and leaking intelligence, and then you've got Samantha Power -- really, do we need the U.N. ambassador unmasking hundreds of Trump people in an election year? Do we really need a DNC operative at the Ukrainian embassy with the Ukrainian ambassador? Do we really not need to look into quid pro quo, Uranium One,

20 percent of uranium, Russia, and all this money, kickback, $145 million to the Clintons -- my question is this. Doesn't this sound like the type of thing that we should have special counsels for?

MCLAUGHLIN: I'm not clear that it does. I can speak to a couple of those points. The Wasserman Schultz investigation I understand is ongoing. I think that's really important that there were contacts between her and folks she shouldn't be speaking with. As for Attorney General Lynch, look, she used a pseudonym, an alias in these emails that you've been breaking over this week. I think that's a problem --

HANNITY: By the way, she testified under oath that she only used one email account, didn't she? It kind of sounds familiar.

MCLAUGHLIN: It sounds like she conducted official business under the pseudonym because she didn't want to have spam and other things. There are problems with federal records and with FOIA requests, so I think that any American would be upset at the idea that using some kind of a different email address would cause problems when you want to get information from the government. I would quibble with you with the idea that transparency is vital.

HANNITY: Last question. And I know I am putting you on defense, but you are doing a good job.

MCLAUGHLIN: You are doing a great cross-examination. You should give up your day job.

HANNITY: If I deleted 33,000 subpoenaed emails and then I acid washed it with BleachBit, which I never heard of before until Hillary, and then I destroyed devices, BlackBerrys and iPhones with a hammer, and then I handed over to FBI devices without SIM cards, and then like Debbie Wasserman Schultz's case, a government hard drive smashed up in an IT.

guys garage, doesn't that sound like obstruction of justice to you? Put politics aside. If I did all that, wouldn't I go to jail? Wouldn't you say I'm going to be likely indicted?

MCLAUGHLIN: I would say it's really problematic behavior. I will say that the 30,000 emails were deleted by a contractor, not anyone associated with the Clinton campaign. Yes, absolutely, we want the same rules to apply to politicians that apply to us. So I can understand there's a real perception problem out there.

HANNITY: Danielle, you're a good sport. I don't know why you come on my radio and TV show.

MCLAUGHLIN: Glutton for punishment.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: Thank you. When we come back, more HANNITY after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Welcome back to HANNITY. Sadly, that of all the time we have left this evening. As always, we thank you for being with us and making us the last two nights the number one show on cable. We hope you will set your DVR so you never miss an episode. We always promise we're not the establishment media. We'll always promise to be fair and balanced. We'll see you back here tomorrow night.

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