Biden jokes about hugging during first public appearance since allegations surfaced

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Biden jokes about hugging during first public appearance since allegations surfaced

Is this proof of a double standard? Reaction and analysis from Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce and America First action senior adviser Sean Spicer.

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," April 5, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: All right. Welcome to this busy news breaking Friday night.

Tonight, the disparity between President Trump and the Democrats vying to take his job could not be more clear. The president spent the day today in California working to fix a serious significant crisis going on right now on the southern border.

Now, meanwhile, several 2020 Democrats, they spent the day in beautiful New York City, pandering to so-called Reverend Al Sharpton. Coming up, we'll show you how pathetic, how absolutely extreme and out of touch this party has become. It's actually serious and dangerous.

First, we turn to our “Hannity” watch on the very real crisis going on tonight at our southern border. Just a few hours ago, President Trump wrapped up an important visit to California where he attended a round table discussion with security officials toward a section of the U.S./Mexico border where the wall is now under construction.

And today, the president emphasized the importance of border security in light of what is a mounting illegal immigration crisis -- a real crisis every day. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: It's a colossal surge and it is overwhelming our immigration system, and we can't let that happen. So as I say, this is our new statement, the system is full. We can't take you anymore. Whether it's asylum, whether it's anything you want. It's illegal immigration, can't take you anymore. We can't take you.

Our country is full. Our area is full. The sector is full. Can't take you anymore -- I'm sorry, can't happen. So turn around. That's the way it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: What is happening at the border is not a manufactured crisis. Democrats, the media have been lying to you again. Obama's former Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan just testified that, quote, we are experiencing a crisis to the magnitude never experienced in modern times. He worked for Obama.

Morgan also told a Senate committee that 650,000 illegal immigrants will likely be freed into the United States this year alone. Morgan also noting violent gang members, apprehensions, they have gone up 50 percent. This year, security officials are on pace to apprehend over a million illegal immigrants for reference -- Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, Wyoming, all have under a million residents.

This is the major crisis we have been telling you about. Others have been lying about. Look at your screen. Just last night, our friend, investigative reporter, contributor Lawrence Jones witnessed border patrol agents again apprehending eight illegal immigrants walking across the Rio Grande, like he did the night before. This is new video.

We'll have that exclusive coverage with Lawrence at the border coming up.

Make no mistake: President Trump is fighting to secure the border with miles and miles of new wall, additional agents, and all the new technologies available. And importantly, the president is holding Mexico accountable.

Now, today, he doubled down on his threat to close the border tweeting, quote: If for any reason Mexico stops apprehending and bringing the illegals back to where they came from, the U.S. will be forced to tariff at 25 percent all cars made in Mexico and shipped over the border to the U.S. If that doesn't work, which it will, I will close the border.

Meanwhile, Democrats are taking a much different approach. Ahead of the president's visit to California today, the state's Democratic attorney general said all illegal immigration should be decriminalized because, quote, they haven't committed a crime against someone -- well, except those who disregard our laws and cut in front of the line ahead of hard working legal immigrants from all backgrounds. Legal immigrants who respect our sovereignty, our rule of law, Constitution, our borders, people that in some cases spend years of their lives navigating what is a complex immigration system -- doctors, scientists, teachers, translators, loved ones who want to follow our laws and yes, become part of our family, and make America even greater.

But you rarely hear Democrats, the so-called party of compassion, advocating for legal immigrants. In fact, they weren't interested in passing a solution to DACA or helping dreamers because the bill included what they supported in the second term of Obama, a border wall and funding, and they were worried it would look like a political victory for the president. They cared about more about raging and hating Donald Trump than they did about immigrants, Dreamers, DACA.

Democrats interested in playing identity scoring cheap political points.

Look at Senator Kamala Harris when she compared ICE to the Ku Klux Klan, or more recently when Robert Francis Beto Bozo O'Rourke comparing President Trump's immigration rhetoric to, oh, Nazi Germany. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETO O'ROURKE, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president of the United States has called Mexicans racist and criminals. He then went on to call asylum seekers animals and infestation. Now, we're not surprised, even the Third Reich, other human beings were described as an infestation, as a cockroach or pests you would want to kill. But to do that in 2017 or 2018 in the United States of America doesn't make sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: The identity politics party, they know no bounds. Every two, four years, you know the drill. We tell you all the time, all their opponents, they're racist, sexist, misogynist, they're homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, want dirty air, water, throw granny over the cliff and they hate children. They want them to die.

Now, everyone who disagrees with them on anything is now a Nazi. Remember, Robert Francis, he wants to take down any barriers. That's why Democratic mayor hopeful Pete Buttigieg is now apologizing for a statement he made in 2015 when he dared to say the following: All lives matter.

Well, I think we're all created by the same God, every human being on earth. I guess I'll apologize one day for believing God created every human soul on this earth. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG, D-SOUTH BEND, INDIANA: What I did not understand at this time was that phrase early into mid 2015 was coming to be viewed as a sort of counter slogan to Black Lives Matter and so this statement that seems very -- something that nobody could be against actually wound up being used to devalue what the Black Lives Matter movement was telling us, which is what we needed to hear, because unfortunately, it was not obvious to everybody that black lives were being valued the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right. The mayor obviously forgot that in the radical extreme new Democratic socialist party, I guess some lives matter more than other lives.

This week, well, he joined 11 other Democratic 20 hopefuls at Al Sharpton's National Action Network Convention where I proudly once debated him and brought tapes of Al Sharpton with me. It was the most, well, popular event of the year.

Democratic primary now runs through a man, OK, inciting violence in New York City, yes, and perpetrating a race-based hoax in the ‘80s and someone who, by the way, could forget some of these moments from let's say the greatest hits of Al Sharpton. This is who they want approval from, who they must get the endorsement of? Wow. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AL SHARPTON, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: You ain't nothing. You're a punk. Come and do something.

White folks was in the cave when we had built empires. We learned to admire them, but they knew to admire us. We built pyramids before Donald Trump ever knew what architecture was.

David Dinkins, you want to be the only (AUDIO DELETED) on television, only (AUDIO DELETED) in the newspaper, only (AUDIO DELETED) that can talk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Imagine if a Republican or conservative had said that. You think that any Republican would seek the endorsement of somebody like that? No.

And that's nothing compared to the racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic Democrat ally Louis Farrakhan. Here he is with former President Obama. They hid this picture, oh, for his entire run and his entire eight years as president. They concealed the picture from public view.

And here he is last night on stage with former President Bill Clinton -- well, it was a while back -- and Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Despite the fact that Farrakhan has routinely called Jews termites and the white people the devil and the skunk of the planet earth, and Judaism a gutter religion.

Still top Democrats have been cozying up to Farrakhan for decades. Recently, Screwy Louie told his Nation of Islam followers that he is Jesus. This is even -- right up there when he says he was transported to a mother ship that hovers above the earth. He said that, too. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOUIS FARRAKHAN, NATION OF ISLAM: To the honorable minister, Louis Farrakhan, you are the messiah of the world.

(APPLAUSE)

And you are the messiah to every human who wants to be civilized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: That man is considered a leader within the Democratic Party. Why did Obama hide that picture through the whole eight years he was president and before?

So, 2020 contenders, are they going to condemn Farrakhan or will the party of compassion continue to make excuses for his vile racism and virulent anti-Semitism and bigotry?

Sean Spicer and Tammy Bruce will be here to discuss that in just a moment. First, we turn our HANNITY watch, more updates on creepy, crazy Uncle Joe Biden. Today, he made his first public appearance since multiple women, now at least seven, have accused him of inappropriate conduct.

And well, it seems like crazy Uncle Joe Biden is doing his best to laugh the whole thing off. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: I just want you to know, I had permission to hug Lonnie.

(LAUGHTER)

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

By the way, he gave me permission to touch him.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Oh, where was the sorry? Where are all the "I believe" people? What happened to the women must be respected? Where is that group that was attacking Justice Kavanaugh and so many other Republicans, the ones not speaking out about the lieutenant governor accused of rape and violent sexual assault against two separate women in Virginia? The lieutenant governor there.

Is that the Democratic Party motto? If you're on the left, don't worry, no allegations, no accusations of misconduct matter. Nothing is disqualifying. If you're a Republican, if you're a conservative, if your name is Donald Trump or you know Donald Trump, if you say one nice thing about Donald Trump, then it's guilt by accusation. No due process, no presumption of innocence.

Today, during an impromptu press conference, Biden refused again to even offer a direct apology. Wow. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I'm sorry I didn't understand it. I'm not sorry for any of my intentions or not sorry for everything I've ever done. I've never been disrespectful intentionally to a man or a woman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Sorry for not understanding? How about sorry for what you did, the nose-rubbing, the hair smelling, the grabbing, massaging, kissing on the lips, grabbing close, uncomfortable?

Anyway, before his important trip to the border, the president was asked if creepy Uncle Joe posed a political threat. And here is how the president responded to this. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't see Joe Biden as a threat, no. I don't see him as a threat. I think he is only a threat to himself. I just don't see him as a threat.

He has been there a long time. His record is not good. He would have to run on the Obama failed record. You look at what happened with so many different things, North Korea, the Middle East, the economy never got going.

No, I don't think Joe is a threat. I love him to be -- I mean, look, I'd be happy with any of them, to be honest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: As we approach the 2020 election, you'll notice a stark contrast between the president and the Democrats. This will be the biggest choice election of 2020 in our lifetime. One side, you're going to hear real solutions the real problems and real progress.

You're going to hear about the economy, how it is booming, record low unemployment, the lowest in 50 years. You also hear about America's successful military campaign against ISIS, our successful policy of peace through strength.

The greatest alliance with the state of Israel we've ever had, recognizing Jerusalem as its rightful capital, and that the Golan Heights are Israel's. There has never been a greater bond, two people with moral clarity, Churchillian figures, Netanyahu leading the way and now he has a partner in President Trump.

You're going to hear about trade deals, new NATO agreements, historic tax cuts, the end of burdensome regulation and for the first time in 70 years, we are energy independent and we now a net exporter of energy. As it stands, the United States of America, thanks to this president, is now the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world. Oh, those people that hate us, we don't need their oil anymore. By the way, we might be able to go against the hostile regime of Putin and the hostile actors in Russia and actually help out our western European allies all because of energy.

Oh, they don't want to get rid of gas and oil in 10 years. The Democrats. That's what you get from them. Very different. No solutions, no successes. Gloom, doom, endless investigation, a heavy, heavy non-stop dose of identity politics, and division in this country to denigrate American greatness, grab power, false promises of a socialist utopia that will never be met.

Here with us now, Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce and America First Action senior adviser Sean Spicer.

You know, it's really hard to understand the double standard -- you know, if I look at the lieutenant governor of Virginia and the serious accusations of rape and violent sexual assault, two women. They say nothing. Then you compare it to Kavanaugh, and everything else. And then this case, you know, Joe Biden won't apologize. Why is this allowed to exist?

Tammy?

TAMMY BRUCE, CONTRIBUTOR: Well, obviously, this is politics obviously. For a very long time and I've argued for 15, 20 years that the left's arguments aren't about the principles or policies at all, that they're convenient, that the Democrats have been drifters for a very long time. They take an issue they know is important to the American people and ride it to death and use it to simply gain more power while doing nothing, if not even making the issue more of a problem.

So, this is one of my points with Kavanaugh, is that when you are using something as a political cudgel, you are harming the issue itself, you're taking seriousness away from it. And then lo and behold, look at this, we've worked -- separate from -- you know, this is not a zero gain here where it is all Harvey Weinstein accusations versus nothing. That we have worked for decades to educate people about sexual harassment.

And now, look, you've got Joe Biden going up in his speech joking about it, just dismissing the nature of behavior that if it was done in a workplace would have serious repercussions and importantly so, because it is -- this is about the sense of women's ability to be taken seriously, to not be touched without being asked, if at all in the workplace. And yet, now, it's almost like we've lost a decade of work because of the Democrats' concerns about politics.

So this should show the American people. But Democrats as well, grassroots Democrats that their leadership has been misleading them, the leadership is not serious, it is the leadership using them -- and I would encourage all independents and Democrats, it's not about changing your point of view of where you stand on the issues. Realize the people who asked you to vote for them have been frauds for a very long time and look around you. African-American, gays and lesbians and women, that your lives, in fact, are not getting better based on the Democrat narrative but, in fact, are getting better because of the conservative ideal being implemented by the current president.

HANNITY: Let me go to the crisis at the border with you, Sean, and ask you, as the president was down there today, story out of Louisiana. A guy previously convicted sex offender, illegal immigrant back in the country, headline, 100-plus child sex crime charges in Louisiana.

You look at the statistics, in two years, 4,000 homicides, 30-plus thousand sexual assaults, 100,000 violent assaults by illegal immigrant criminals, sometimes protected, aided and abetted by sanctuary city state policies.

When do -- when do we start caring about the American family, the moms and dads that lost their kids, the women in this country that have been violently assaulted and others? When does the 90 percent of heroin leading to 300 deaths a week, 90 percent of it coming across that border, when does that become the priority instead of this lie about a manufactured crisis?

SEAN SPICER, AMERICA FIRST: Well, it should be the priority at all times. I mean, that's why countries have borders is that you can protect your people. The number one job of any form of government whether it's local, state or federal to protect the people that they serve and live within that jurisdiction. The president going down to the border today really highlights and illuminates the issue at hand.

And for all those people who have said we didn't have a crisis and it was manufactured, seeing the border first-hand and seeing what's going on down there I think really brings to light a focus and an image that would otherwise be absent from this discussion. So good on the president for going down there and really drawing attention to what is happening down there because it is only through the president going down and highlighting these visits, bringing angel moms to the White House, allowing them to talk about their stories and their tragedies and the loved ones they've lost has this issue been brought into the center.

One anchor on a competing network the other night reported from the border saying it is now a crisis here. It takes, sadly, going down there.

HANNITY: Oh.

SPICER: And it shouldn't. We shouldn't have to. If we know there is a problem. You know, if this was a crime spree in a local city or a town, we wouldn't have to say, well, show us the problem. We would have police out there, neighborhood watches. We know this is a problem and this shouldn't be a political debate.

One more thing. Tammy brought up great points on Biden. There's three things I'd say. She was absolutely right. The idea that he is joking about it is wrong.

Number two, he blamed the right wing, which I think is unbelievable that he got a pass on that.

HANNITY: Yes, my fault that he's rubbing noses.

SPICER: And third, he said times have changed. No, no, Mr. Vice President, times have not changed. Being creepy and inappropriately touching another person was never acceptable.

BRUCE: Correct.

SPICER: I think that's what he has missed in this.

HANNITY: All right. Thank you both.

BRUCE: Thanks, guys.

HANNITY: When we come back, exclusive “Hannity” footage you won't see anywhere else about the real crisis on the border in Texas. Look at this, our Lawrence Jones is next with the Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. You'll see more arrests from last night different from the night before we got on tape.

And later, the left hyperventilating over Robert Mueller's report. How wrong do they want to be? How long will they hang on to their tin foil conspiracy theories? Rudy Giuliani is with us tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Earlier this week, the Texas Senate adopted a resolution declaring the border crisis an emergency. I've been down there for years. I've been down there, 12 or 14 times, literally showing you it's an emergency.

Lawrence Jones, he has been at the U.S./Mexico border in Laredo Texas, now all week for us. Last night, he joined the Border Patrol, like the night before, again, watching the arrests of several groups of, yes, illegal immigrants. Take a look.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

HANNITY: Joining us now, Fox News contributor, investigative reporter Lawrence Jones who, by the way, is now back home. We're glad you're home.

And also, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is with us.

Lieutenant Governor, good to see you, too.

You know, Lawrence, I spoke to you -- because the media unfairly saying why is he wearing this on TV because law enforcement, that was also wearing it insisted he wear it or he couldn't do his job.

Great work this week. I've been down there all these times. I've seen the drug warehouses. I've been out on helicopter, boat, all-terrain vehicle, horseback, on foot. I've seen arrests.

I have seen -- the biggest warehouse of drugs with the worst stench you've ever smelled in your life. You told me you have learned a lot and you were even surprised it is worse than we thought.

LAWRENCE JONES, CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, Sean, and this was heartbreaking for me, because I'm actually from the State of Texas. And so, this is home for me. And these guys on the front lines of this battle.

You know, the media has said we manufactured the breaking news story the other day when the guys were actually crossing the border with the footage of it. You can see the guys in their underwear -- put it up on the screen for you. Right during the hit, they tried to cross the border and we later found them and the border agents pushed them back.

But last night, we saw something different. This is something that I always heard stories about. There were calls in the neighborhood surrounding illegals running through the backyards. A young lady called it in.

The border agents came. We were with them. And they caught the guys that were there. They were hiding.

And this is disrupting families, Sean. These people don't know who is going through their backyard. The border agents captured them and put them in custody.

Another time, we were going through -- the cameras picked it up, because again, this is -- they're responsible for the entire Laredo sector. But they can only cover 30 percent of them. They don't have -- 70 percent of the border is wide open because they don't have the resources.

Because of the technology that they have that was older, they got a hit in the field that was further off 30 minutes from where we were with the patrol unit, we were able to see them. It was eight illegals there as well. Sean, we don't know who is coming across this border.

HANNITY: All right. Lieutenant governor, I've been down there. One of the more shocking briefings t sat through Obama had been invited to and I asked Governor Perry at the time if I can go and see a briefing.

And they -- put up on the screen all numbers, 684,000 crimes committed against Texans in a seven-year period, and I'm like -- 642,000, I'm sorry. And I'm like, that's Texas alone. Some of them really serious crimes, including murder.

DAN PATRICK, R-TX, LT. GOVERNOR: Sean, let me give you a macro number down to micro. You hear the number of 11 million illegals in this country. It's closer to 30 million. It is closing in on 10 percent of the population.

By my own calculation, if you look at the numbers, back in 2004, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said we had 10.5 million then. We've seen about 400,000 apprehended every year up until this year. We may apprehend a million this year. And for every person we apprehend, Sean, three, four or five more get in. So if we take that math, we have somewhere between 28 million and 34 million people here illegally.

In Texas, it's busting our bank. We're spending $2.4 billion in the last three years, since I've been Lieutenant Governor the last three sessions, just on border security. One out of every five students in our public schools, Sean, about 1 million out of our 5.5 million are not proficient or don't speak English. We cannot educate, medicate and incarcerate the whole world who wants to come here.

You're right on the crime statistics. And Sean, right now, we're looking at 100,000 people coming over the border this month. About 60 percent of those between Brownsville and Laredo in the country. And Sean, as Lawrence said, what is happening is even though we paid for in the State of Texas 5,000 cameras along the border, we see them, but we can't - we don't have enough manpower to get there in time and neither does the federal government. So they get through.

So if we get 100,000 this month, Sean, I'm going to estimate 300,000 or 400,000 have come through that we did not apprehend. And these could be the worst of the worst because the drug cartels have the families going here, and they run the drugs and their criminals up the middle.

HANNITY: All right. Thank you, Lieutenant Governor, for what you're doing. My best to the Governor - Governor Abbott. And--

PATRICK: You bet.

HANNITY: --Lawrence, I know you worked hard for us all week long. Thank you for all of your hard work. We appreciate you sharing that with our audience.

All right. When we come back, Democrats, members of the rage hate-Trump media mob, they're now spinning new conspiracies about the Mueller report again. They're lying. Ed Henry will be here and Rudy Giuliani will explain the actual law and what it means. And later, well, we'll tell you what City of Chicago, what they're doing - they're getting ready to do to Jussie Smollett. Trace Gallagher has those details on this busy breaking news Friday. Glad you are with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Now, as Democrats' collusion narrative has absolutely collapsed and crumbled along with their credibility, they're now shifting to pushing new hysteria about the Mueller report, including claims about a cover-up. Again, no evidence and anonymous sourcing. Here with the very latest is our own Ed Henry, and you have Paul Krugman (ph) tweeting out--

ED HENRY, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

HANNITY: Well, unless we're proven wrong, you have to believe us.

HENRY: Yes.

HANNITY: They've been wrong how many times?

HENRY: Sean, what's interesting is some Democrats do not seem to have learned the lesson from their collusion narrative falling apart. They still run the danger now of getting ahead of the facts.

In fact, Congressman Hank Johnson, among many Democrats tonight who's charging without evidence that Attorney General Bill Barr and his words may have been part of a cover-up, actually saying that Barr could have obstructed justice with his four-page summary of the findings to help President Trump, in the words of this Democrat, push a false narrative of exoneration, when Barr, of course, declared that Special Counsel Robert Mueller did not find Russian collusion or conspiracy and there was not enough evidence to back up obstruction.

Justice Department officials are pushing back hard tonight by noting Barr is dealing with the fact that about every one of the 400 pages in Mueller's report has a notation that each page could contain secret grand jury info, could be criminal to release it out. So there are necessary redactions being done. Plus, Democrats are not mentioning that Barr worked with his deputy, perceived Trump critic Rod Rosenstein on the collusion and obstruction decisions. And right now, Barr is working with Mueller himself on redactions to Mueller's own report.

Remember, in January, Mueller's team put out a statement debunking a BuzzFeed story that mischaracterized what Michael Cohen had testified about. So it's also reasonable to expect now that Mueller would speak out if he felt Barr was mischaracterizing the facts. Interesting.

Even James Comey is now telling Democrats, calm down. He told CNN, regardless of party, it should be good news to all Americans that Mueller appears to have concluded no Americans worked with Russia. Remember, though, Comey may be tweaking his approach now, Sean, because you've got Republicans like Lindsey Graham that are planning to call him in to testify to investigate Comey's own conduct. That might be why he is speaking out like this, Sean.

HANNITY: All right. Ed Henry, thanks for that report tonight. Unbelievable. Now, also remember, as Democrats fuel even more baseless tin foil hat conspiracy theories, this time a cover-up by the Attorney General Barr.

Look at this law. It's the obstruction law, 18 U.S.C. 1505. Look at the language. It requires intent, any obstruction case hinges on whether someone was corruptly trying to influence the investigation. I think that's like if you have subpoenaed emails, the intent to delete them, clean out your hard drive with BleachBit, bust up your devices with hammers, and take out SIM cards, that might show intent.

And we have (ph) now to explain all of this is the Attorney for the President, former Mayor, New York City, Rudy Giuliani.

Mr. Mayor, a nine-month FBI, they concluded no there there. We had a House Intel Committee, no collusion. Bipartisan Senate Committee, no collusion. Attorney General Barr quoted Robert Mueller, no collusion. Now they've moved on to this. Let's talk about the law that I just mentioned.

RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: Well, it's absolutely disgraceful, Sean. I mean, the reality is that to obstruct justice, you have to threaten, you have to impede, you have to get in the way of somebody.

Let's go back to the one that Weinstein and all of his angry Democrats used to push, which is when the President allegedly said. The president said this conversation never took place. He said to Flynn, you know, I hope you can see fit to drop this or not pursue this.

First of all, you don't have obstruction by hope. You have obstruction by coercion, threat, I'll break your legs, I'll take your food away or I'll kidnap your children. I prosecuted a lot of obstruction cases. Nobody ever started an obstruction sentence with "I hope." And nobody ever did obstruction by putting out a legal memo for the whole world to see. And we're going to find out in a week or two how accurate Bill Barr's summary was. And I'm going to tell you, it's going to be 100 percent accurate.

Bill Barr is a great lawyer, and he is an extraordinarily honorable man. I can't say that for the congressmen who are making all of these wild, crazy, insane threats. Their claim of obstruction against the Attorney General of the United States is no better than the two-year claim of obstruction by the angry Democrats that tried to claim the President was obstructed. President didn't obstruct anything. And the best evidence of that is they completed their darn investigation. How the heck did it get obstructed? Nothing was obstructed.

HANNITY: And by the way, it was very clear in the Attorney General's letter that both he and Rod Rosenstein, who appointed the special counsel, decided very quickly without any consideration of the Justice Department rule about whether or whether or not you can indict a sitting President. But more importantly, it was being discussed the whole time. And there's also beyond intent, there is no crime. So the President is saying I hope Flynn doesn't go to jail after serving his country or firing Comey, which he had a right to do, or saying it's a witch-hunt is not - nobody - nobody was obstructed.

GIULIANI: This would be the obstruction case to end all obstruction cases. In other words, somebody obstructed to obstruct an investigation of a non- crime that he didn't commit, that he was innocent of, and then it turned out he didn't obstruct, that they interviewed 500 witnesses, got 1.4 million documents, got every wish fulfilled, and engaged in some practices that are truly horrendous like raids in the middle of the night, bringing CNN in to photograph raiding Stone's house, for example. Leaking now. I mean, everybody misses the real point here. The real wrongdoing are the prosecutors who just leaked. I thought Mueller didn't leak. Huh.

HANNITY: Yes. Good point.

GIULIANI: You believe that one and I'll sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.

HANNITY: Let me change topics for a second. In a few days, there's an election in Israel. Both of us have been friends with Prime Minister Netanyahu for a long time. You now have this crazy opponent, Benny Gantz is his name, who actually is pushing - he's saying to the people of Israel, oh, Putin is trying to help Bibi, Trump is trying to help Bibi, and without any evidence whatsoever. And I'm thinking, if there's one guy that has had moral clarity and been a Churchillian figure, understanding the moral imperatives of our time, it's Prime Minister Netanyahu on Golan, on Jerusalem, et cetera.

GIULIANI: Well, maybe there's a consistency here. What the President did was to help Israel twice, with the embassy and then with Golan, and many other things. President had to reverse the betrayal of Israel by Obama. And--

HANNITY: Right.

GIULIANI: --so - I mean, the President has been a great president for Israel. But then also, he comes after Obama, who was the worst president for Israel.

HANNITY: It's the best relationship we've ever had.

GIULIANI: So he's helping Israel. It just so happens that in helping Israel, he helps the Prime Minister. But--

HANNITY: Yes.

GIULIANI: But what are you supposed to do? Not help Israel?

HANNITY: It was - this has been the best relationship between Jerusalem, now being the recognized capital, Golan Heights for protection. I hope the people of Israel understand this is the best--

GIULIANI: I hope they understand how--

HANNITY: --it's ever been.

GIULIANI: They've also developed a real good alliance with the Arab countries around them--

HANNITY: Yes.

GIULIANI: --so that they pose now a real substantial defense to Iran.

HANNITY: All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

GIULIANI: Thank you.

HANNITY: Good to see you.

All right. Coming up, the City of Chicago gearing up to sue Jussie Smollett. Trace Gallagher has the full report. Also, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, she is back. She's going to tell us what she's been up to since leaving the Fox News Channel. And by the way, did Barbara Walters chase her away from The View?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. As the Jussie Smollett hate-crime hoax saga continues, the actor is remaining defiant amid the ongoing fallout. Fox News Correspondent, Trace Gallagher, he joins us tonight from our West Coast newsroom. He has the very latest. Trace.

TRACE GALLAGHER, CORRESPONDENT: Sean, not only did Jussie Smollett miss the deadline to pay a $130,000 fine to cover the cost of investigating his alleged hate-crime hoax, but now the actor is indicating he has no intention of paying the fine. So the City of Chicago will now sue him, quoting, "As part of this legal action, the Law Department will pursue the full measure of damages allowed under the ordinance. The City of Chicago and Chicago Law Department will not have any further comment at this time."

Smollett's lawyers say he won't be intimidated, and vow that if the city follows through with the lawsuit, they would insist on deposing former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, and other key players. There was no mention of deposing Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx, who is under fire for dropping the charges against Smollett.

All three Chicago police chiefs associations have voted no confidence in Foxx and have demanded she resign. Foxx is refusing. But even the new Mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, herself a former federal prosecutor, says Foxx owes the public a better explanation for dropping those charges.

Sean.

HANNITY: All right. Trace Gallagher on our West Coast newsroom tonight. Thank you.

Recently, I sat down with our old friend, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, to talk about her time here at Fox and The View, including a pretty fierce exchange that she had had with Barbara Walters, plus her brand new book, Point of View: A Fresh Look at Work, Faith, and Freedom - something we can all learn from.

It's so great to have you back. How are you? It's been so long.

ELISABETH HASSELBECK, AUTHOR, POINT OF VIEW: I'm so glad to be back. Thanks.

HANNITY: You, like, disappeared. Am I - we're going to - you've been, like - I heard, oh, she moved to Nashville. I'm like, OK, we'll hear from her one day. How has your life been? You have been one of the great colleagues of all time here for everybody. Everyone has the nicest things to say about you. How is everything going?

HASSELBECK: Well, I'm the thankful one. This is - it feels like a home team here filled with hard working, intelligent hearts.

HANNITY: Did you feel like that on The View earlier?

HASSELBECK: It is my home team right here. And I'm - I'm really thankful because I think the experience that I had here working was so extraordinary. And coming back was great. Stepping out was hard. This was the hardest thing to leave because it was a great team, and I'm not used to leaving when I love something.

HANNITY: So, as I read your book and you talk about - you're looking at your faith and work and your life and your family, and you've had a lot of time to reflect and you're sharing that in this book. And I still remember, how did you sit next to Rosie O'Donnell and joyless Behar? I sat there one day. I think you were there. And me and Rosie O'Donnell are having a war. And Barbara Walters cannot stop it. And I'm like - I left and I - I'm so done doing that with her. I would have quit that day if I worked on that show, but they wouldn't hire me anyway. So--

HASSELBECK: It's like been years.

HANNITY: How did you do it? Was that the most challenging in--

HASSELBECK: It was a decade.

HANNITY: I know. It was a long time ago.

HASSELBECK: I think it was a great opportunity for me. I mean, a decade, if you think about it. It's like going from the age of 8 to 18. So long time. It's a long time of growth for me. I was privileged to work under Barbara Walters. I write a ton about what it was like to work under Barbara Walters here for 10 years. I mean, it was remarkable experience learning from the best of the best. It was the equivalent of what I think is a PhD in broadcasting. And I didn't even know it. I was just studying her.

When you're at the table there, I think one of the things that I - I don't regret the fact that women had passion about these topics. I love the fact that we were able to engage. But I think, now, as I look at it and have taken a step back, the opportunity to reflect is there. Right? So you're moving really fast. I felt like I had to defend every position on one side because I believed in the right to life. I was a conservative woman at a table that was--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: You talk about a fight you had with Barbara Walters on that issue.

HASSELBECK: Yes. I mean, we had - we had--

HANNITY: When life -you believe life begins at conception.

HASSELBECK: Yes. And we - there were hot moments in that. Now, would I have that fire right now? I still believe the same thing, but what I've come to in Point of View is that we can be holding on to our freedoms of religion, our constitutional right to have my politics be mine in one hand and hold another's hand at the same time. I don't have to forfeit my beliefs for someone else to--

HANNITY: Did you ever think--

HASSELBECK: --get along with me. And I'm not going to expect them to do the same either.

HANNITY: Yes. I have many - I live in New York. So I have a lot of friends that would describe themselves as pro-choice. When I heard the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia say, "Well, first we'll deliver the baby and then we'll make sure the baby is comfortable, and then we'll let the baby's mother decide if we resuscitate or give aid to the baby, and then we'll have a discussion later," that's infanticide or the - the - the local woman that introduced that bill literally saying, "Oh, yes, I would support a woman's right to have an abortion even during dilation and labor."

That's not abortion at that point. I can understand the first three months. I don't agree with it. I can't understand infanticide. That is a fully formed child that you are saying you're keeping comfortable but won't give medical assistance to. That is a big difference. I mean, I'm sure you're following that.

HASSELBECK: Listen, I still believe that life begins at conception. And I don't believe it because I came up with that idea. I believe that God came up with that idea, and I'm not going to mess with my maker. I'm just not. So when it comes to--

HANNITY: I was so incorrigible I did. I wouldn't have - I don't highly recommend it.

HASSELBECK: Yes.

HANNITY: It puts you right back in your place.

HASSELBECK: Yes, it sure does. I learned (inaudible) in there. But I do--

HANNITY: I think I was more incorrigible than you are though. I'm just betting.

HASSELBECK: I do think this, though. I think part of it was - I think there were times, and even in that moment with Barbara, I was hot about it, wouldn't have chosen the language now that I chose then, but I was passionate about it. But I think now--

HANNITY: I think you even said I don't even curse--

(CROSSTALK)

HASSELBECK: Yes. I don't even curse, and I'm cursing about it. And I - I don't love that part because I think you can approach these conversations with grace. But I think what it takes is, I don't have to go and save the world myself. I don't - it's not even my job to do that. I believe that God has the power to do that, but I also believe that we can have these conversations and also not turn women who are in that situation towards shame because I think it perpetuates the culture of abortion. I don't think we have to choose one or the other. I think both of those lives have value, that woman's and her child's. And I don't think the location of a baby changes its value either.

HANNITY: And coming up, crazy new details about a man who claimed to be a missing child. This will blow you away.

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HANNITY: All right. Our Villain of the Day really earns it. Brian Michael Rini. Now, he and a sick hoax told authorities in Kentucky on Wednesday this week that he was Timmothy Pitzen, the young boy who disappeared outside Chicago at the age of six, back in 2011. The 23-year-old is charged with making false statements to the FBI after a DNA test showed he was lying. And he is being held without bond.

I don't get it. Why would you want to bring so much pain to people that have suffered so much already? That's the Villain of the Day.

All right. That's unfortunately all the time we have left this evening. As always, we thank you for being with us. This show will never be the rage, hate, destroy-Trump media mob. We hope you have a great weekend. We'll see you on Monday.

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