Conway on Iran deal, White House Correspondents' Dinner

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Conway on Iran deal, White House Correspondents' Dinner

Counselor to President Trump Kellyanne Conway weighs in on 'Hannity.'

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," April 30, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Lying pomposity, smugness, groupthink, got it. I think I have it memorized.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Yes.

HANNITY: You even have Mark Steyn saying it. Great job, sir.

CARLSON: Yes, we do.

HANNITY: Great show tonight.

All right. We have an incredible show tonight. That's all I can say. Buckle up.

This has been a truly historic day in America, and around the world, literally starting with shocking revelations out of Israel. The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just gave an unmitigated warning to the international community as it relates to Iran. The mullahs of Iran are secretly advancing their illicit nuclear programs, and Israel, the United States, all of our allies now face extreme danger.

And "The Washington Free Beacon" reporting tonight that even our own intel community has now confirmed this. Coming up, we're going to show you all the evidence. We will explain why Obama's Iranian appeasement plant did nothing to slow the threat of nuclear proliferation in the world.

And also tonight, more significant progress on the peninsula. The summit between North and South Korea and the United States is moving forward as planned. And now, Kim Jong-un is allegedly prepared to end his nuclear weapons program if the United States promises not to invade.

And the South Korean president is even suggesting that President Trump should get the Nobel Peace Prize for his important work in the region. That's going to make liberals heads explode.

Plus, another day, another damning revelation surrounding the deep statewide. Former director of national intelligence turned anti-Trump fake news CNN pundit, James Clapper, caught lying directly to Congress yet again. As Congress ever going to face -- will he face the General Flynn standard or does he get the Hillary, oh, we don't have equal justice under the law standard?

Also, John Brennan's comments, is this a deep state threat against the president of United States?

And later, we'll address Michelle Wolf's petty, cheap, lame performance at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

And, finally tonight, the caravan of Central American migrants is at our southern border scaling the fence. Where is the Mexican government?

All of that plus, Candace Owens is fresh off her meeting with Kanye West. She will give us the details later in the program.

Buckle up, we have a busy opening news monologue.

(MUSIC)
HANNITY: Appeasement never works. And tonight, we have yet another damning reminder. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now sounding the alarm and as per usual, the prime minister has pure moral clarity. I've been saying this for years.

The prime minister is revealing, according to thousands of pages of official documents obtained by intelligence sources, Iran's nuclear weapons program is alive and well. The Iranians call it Project Amad. It is secret. It is illicit. It is an ongoing scheme to construct nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them, including a very specific plan to develop five warheads, each containing a 10-kiloton yield.

And here's what the Prime Minister Netanyahu said about this program in an incredible press conference, incredible bit of intelligence earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: This was Iran's chance to fully come clean to IAEA. They could tell the truth. They could say, we have this program, this secret program, it's over, we shelved, it doesn't exist, we destroyed them, too.

Here's what Iran actually told the IAEA. It said, Iran denied the existence of a coordinated program aimed at the development of the nuclear explosive device and specifically denied the existence of the Amad Plan. The material proves otherwise, that Iran authorized, initiated, and funded project Amad, a coordinated program aimed at the development of a nuclear explosive device.

Here's another document from the archive. This is a master plan of Project Amad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: I'm told the prime minister did all that, that entire presentation, PowerPoint, without any notes. Remember, this just comes three years after President Obama signed off on what is the worst to deal in the history of the United States, frankly, the world. That was the multilateral agreement where the United States agreed to unlock $150 billion of frozen Iranian assets and send another $1.7 billion in cash, including an initial $400 million down payment, literally shipped in cargo planes and cash and other currencies.

Some critical U.S. sanctions against Iran were lifted at the time. What did we get in return? A promise from radical Islamic mullahs of Iran that they temporarily halt their nuclear weapons program? The same mullahs that actively plan for the destruction of Israel? The same muscles that chant "death to America, death to Israel," that fund terrorism all over the world, that are fighting proxy war after proxy wars in Iraq and Syria and elsewhere? The same mullahs that are responsible for killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq, holding other Americans hostage?

Remember, Obama told us, well, this was good for the world? Well, we warned you. This agreement was always a sham.

No different than when Neville Chamberlain declared peace in his time and signed off on a deal trying to appease Adolf Hitler. No different than when Bill Clinton appeased Kim Jong Un's father, Kim Jong Il, in the agreement Clinton promised this was a good deal for the American people. It will halt North Korea's nuclear weapons program and ambition once and for all.

And in 2015, Obama wanted you to believe once again, if only we kissed the rings of despots and radicals and dictators, somehow, they're going to be nice to us. Faulty, failed logic. Appeasement never works.

President Trump now faces a very important decision, whether or not to hold Iran accountable and pull the U.S. out of this deeply flawed agreement. Here is how President Trump reacted to this incredible, breaking developments today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Seven years, that deal will have expired and Iran is free to go ahead and create nuclear weapons. That's not acceptable. Seven years is tomorrow. That's not acceptable.

It's a horrible agreement for the United States, including the fact, Mr. President, that we gave Iran $150 billion and $1.8 billion in cash. Nigeria would like some of that. $1.8 billion in cash, $150 billion.

You know what we got? We got nothing. We got nothing.

So, that doesn't mean I would not negotiate a new idea. We'll see what happens. But I think if anything, what's happening today and what's happened over the last little while and what we've learned has really shown that I've been 100 percent right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: There are moments in history you have to learn from and the devastating failures of appeasement, Neville Chamberlain, Bill Clinton in his day, President Obama in his way, it all has taught us, appeasement never works. Peace through strength does work.

This brings us to our next topic: President Trump's historic diplomatic progress on the Korean peninsula. Instead of trying to appease Kim Jong Un or bribe him with boatloads of cash, president Trump took some very tough measures. In the early months of the administration, remember the president increased sanctions on the North Korean regime. He sent multiple carrier strike groups to the region. He squeezed North Korea's most important strategic partner, China, all the while calling Kim Jong Un little rocket man and saying our button works.

The media freaked out, proclaimed Trump is going to lead us to a nuclear war. They said the same thing when Reagan called the former Soviet Union an evil empire.

We knew better and now, the president's strategy is now seeing significant progress that is great for the world, because for the first time ever, this is historic, look at this. Kim Jong Un crossing into South Korea for this historic them a positive meeting with South Korean President Moon. And a meeting between President Trump, President Moon, and Kim Jong Un is moving forward as planned. Not done yet. Certainly good progress.

And also breaking today, according to the South Korean sources, the North Korean dictator is willing to give up his nuclear weapons program completely as long as the United States agrees to officially end the the Korean War and promised not to launch an attack. Over the weekend, during a rally in Michigan, oh, the crowd reacted, this is when the president was going to be at the White House Correspondents Dinner, and I proudly, 30 years in radio, 20 years on TV, have never been to a single one. I'm proud of that.

This is the crowd reacted to the developments on the Korean peninsula. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I remember, you know, it was very rough, three, four months ago.

(CROWD CHANTING)

TRUMP: Nobel.

(CHEERS)

(CROWD CHANTING)

TRUMP: That's very nice. Thank you. That's very nice. Nobel. I just want to get the job done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: I just want to get the job done. Everyone on the fake news media, their heads exploded.

Get this, the South Korean president agrees Moon is now echoing these calls for president Trump to in fact, yes, receive the Nobel peace prize. Let's hope we can pull this off.

These historic and now for rapidly evolving developments from the Korean peninsula should give everyone around the world a sense of cautious optimism and some are even calling president Trump a transformational president. Three words: peace through strength.

We'll bring you more on this later in the show, but first, the deep state is crumbling right before our eyes. Nearly five years ago, then-National Intelligence Director James Clapper, remember, he blatantly perjured himself in front of Congress? You may remember this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RON WYDEN, D-ORE.: Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?

JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DIRECTOR: No, sir.

WYDNE: It does not?

CLAPPER: Not wittingly. There are cases where they could inadvertently, perhaps collect, but not wittingly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And, of course, a short time later, what did we learn? The NSA was collecting data. Clapper knew it and he lied. He was never charged like General Flynn with lying, this case, perjury.

Clapper has been caught in yet another bold-face lie. And according to a report from the House Intel Committee during a closed-door hearing, Clapper flatly denied ever discussing that phony Clinton bought and paid for Steele Russian dossier with a member of the media.

He also repeated this claim in March during an interview with Don Lemon over at CNN. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAPPER: I did not have any contact with media until after I left the government on the 20th of January. So I don't quite understand what I read that somehow I leaked about the dossier.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: So, let me get into -- you didn't like anything about the dossier to any media?

CLAPPER: No, not -- I mean, I talked about it after I left the government. But not during that period and certainly not between the sixth of January and the 10th when the president-elect himself talked about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: It's an incredible development. The Intel Committee's report found that Clapper, quote, admitted to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in private testimony that he briefed CNN's Jake Tapper in early January of 2017. This was shortly before Trump's inauguration. Tapper along with two other journalists, so-called journalist from CNN, published a report detailing how Trump was briefed about the Steele dossier.

And then a short time later, James Clapper, oh, he's hired by fake news CNN as an analyst. You connect the dots.

President Trump reacted on Twitter, writing, quote: 'Clapper lied about fraudulent dossier leaks to CNN. He's a lying machine who now works for fake news CNN.'

If Clapper does not face legal jeopardy over this blatant perjury to Congress, it will be yet one more example of what I say is our two-tiered system of justice. He'll go with the Hillary Clinton system of justice.

Let's turn to the mainstream media. If you thought they couldn't get any more anti-Trump or downright vulgar, think again. They outdid themselves over the weekend. The White House correspondents association held their annual dinner. I am so proud I have never been, where they take some time to honor the media, pat themselves on the back, just like their Hollywood buddies, for their courageous work of echoing each other.

President Trump, who did not attend, previewed the dinner at his rally in Michigan. He decided to stay with the people, just like he did last year. Good choice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: By the way, by the way, by the way, is this better than that phony Washington White House Correspondents Dinner? Is this more fun?

(CHEERS)

I could be up there tonight smiling like I love when they are hitting you shot after shot, these people, they hate your guts, shot. And I am supposed to. And, you know, you got to smile. And if you don't smile, they will say, he was terrible, he couldn't take a hit.

And if you do smile, they'll say, what was he smiling about? You know, there is no winning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: President Trump's description, all too accurate. This year's show featured such so-called comedian, former "Daily Show" contributor, I never heard of her before this weekend, Michelle Wolf, delivering a performance that is so cringe-worthy, vile, and so, one-sided, well, you might want to cover your ears of if you had kids in the living room tonight. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE WOLF, COMEDIAN: Mike Pence is also very anti-choice. He thinks abortion is murder. Which, first of all, don't knock it till you try it. And when you do try it, really knock it. You know it, you got to get that baby out of there.

You guys got to stop putting Kellyanne on your shows. All she does is lie. If you don't give her a platform, she has nowhere to lie. It's like that old saying, if a tree falls in the woods, how do we get Kellyanne under that tree? I'm not suggesting she gets hurt, just stuck.

Ivanka claims cleans up nice. She's the diaper genie of the administration. On the outside, she looks sweet but on the inside, it's still (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Not even funny. If you think that's bad, by the way, Wolf saved her worst remarks for Sarah Sanders, who was sitting just feet away, just a few feet away.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF: And, of course, we have Sarah Huckabee Sanders, we are graced with Sarah's presence tonight. I have to say, I am a little starstruck. I love you as Aunt Lydia and "The Handmaid's Tale."

I actually really like Sarah. I think she's very resourceful. Like, she burns facts and then she uses the ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like, maybe she's born with it, maybe its allies.

And I've never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders. You know? Is that Sarah Sanders, is it Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is it cousin Huckabee, is Auntie Huckabee Sanders? But what is Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: By the way, Sarah, Kellyanne, they took it with incredible grace, especially Sarah Sanders right there.

This performance, a so-called performance was so bad, so mean-spirited, that even the association's president expressed regret over Wolf's remark and some of the mainstream media, even they called out this so-called comedian. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN KARL, ABC: I think the comedian crossed a line. This went from poking fun to being mean-spirited. It was very uncomfortable. I think that Sarah Sanders handled herself very well.

JOSH DAWSEY, CNN: The dinner is supposed to be a journalism and not the red carpet, not the mean-spirited joke that we saw last night, some of those I really thought were inappropriate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This dinner has had a lot of bad moments. Thinking back last evening as I was watching this cringe-worthy performance in some respects going after the appearance of Sarah Sanders, which I thought was inappropriate.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI, MSNBC: I really thought the pain of the people on stage, when Sarah Huckabee Sanders was being made fun of, I -- everybody felt pain for her. She felt pain. And it really bothered me. I know there's a big controversy about whether or not her appearance was being made fun of or not, come on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Fox News alert, Hannity agrees with Mika.

Anyway, just as the president tweeted, this event is now dead. The president is incredibly smart, not dignify this dinner with his presence. Sarah Sanders, other Trump officials attended in order to show their appreciation for the press, and the vital function that they serve in this country, and they were promptly mocked and degraded, the press deserves no such consideration going forward.

I've said it before, I'll say it again -- journalism in this country is absolutely dead. They are not journalists. They are opinion advocacy hosts. They don't admit it.

Our last story tonight comes from a southern border. For weeks, we have been tracking this large caravan of migrants from Central America as they marched through Mexico headed to the U.S. border. Mexico does nothing and now dozens of migrants have arrived at the border and they are demanding entry into the U.S. with some attempting to scale a border fence in California.

President Trump weighed in also earlier today. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are a nation of laws. We have to have borders. We don't have borders, we don't have a country. And I've been watching for weeks as the caravan came up.

And you know, the Mexican laws are very tough on immigration, extremely tough. And it started out with way over 1,000 people. I guess now it's down to about a hundred. You got to have a wall.

And we need a border security. And we will have border security. As you know, we are sending many, many national guardsmen down to the border. Most of them are already there. And that's having a big impact. But we need a change in the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Where's the Mexican government? They went all through Mexico. And, by the way, they usually imprison people from Central America, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and -- or they just return them and deport them immediately.
For decades, they've turned in all too obvious blind eye as millions of their citizens, as well as citizens from other countries, showed no respect to our laws, our sovereignty, our borders, our citizens. This is an issue of national security, an issue of U.S. sovereignty. Mexico needs to be held accountable.

And most importantly, it is time for the wall to be built on our southern border.
Joining us now, counselor to President Trump, Kellyanne Conway.

I'd be negligent, I really don't want to dignify this ridiculous dinner, but I think I would be negligent if I didn't ask your thoughts. I really, truly -- it's so insulting and crude and I try and always split the tables, if this was a conservative comedian saying this about any liberal woman, what will the results be?

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: Sean, in some ways, it was very little that was surprising on Saturday night, though. The faux outrage from some people who looked down at Twitter all day long and see the likes of Sarah and Ivanka, me, insulted. This just happened right in front of them where they were all gussied up so they couldn't deny it. In some ways, it was just another day at the office.

They knew they were insulted handily, but it doesn't make some people and be miserable or us any less powerful, and dutiful to the jobs that we have on behalf of the country that we love. I actually think both events Saturday night really helped President Trump.

HANNITY: Yes.

CONWAY: First, he got to go to Michigan and tell -- he was in Washington, Michigan, touting --

HANNITY: So smart. Yes.

CONWAY: -- the economic progress, the historic nature of what's going on in Korea, and then the event here in Washington, it helped them as well, because it fed right into all of the cynicism, the skepticism that a lot of Americans have about the mainstream media writ large. They have a 14 percent approval.

HANNITY: Let me ask you something --

CONWAY: Let me say something.

HANNITY: Yes.

CONWAY: I spent -- I spent tonight trying to find out how much Michelle Wolf was paid. Nobody will give me a straight answer. And I called three people who were on the dais, who actually picked up the phone, and no one would give me an answer. They said that they had no idea. There aren't kinds of meetings like that --

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: I would like to know about the anchors and reporters financial holdings, too, considering everyone cares about mine.

CONWAY: Well, now, hold on, but hold on. The reason I am said this, we are told this is a scholarship dinner, and, yes, you should pay for your entertainment, but I feel really badly for those students. The president, the vice president met them at the White House, they took pictures with them the other day, I had occasion to see me scholarship winners, I feel sorry for them, because they were almost an afterthought that night.

I don't want anybody to say this was about them, this was the First Amendment when the president of the White House correspondents association stood up and said, an attack on one journalist is an attack on all journalists, well, folks, think about this. Is an attack on one woman or two women an attack on all women?

HANNITY: I'm glad I didn't interrupt you. That's a powerful line.

North Korea, history in the making. Nobody saw it coming.

CONWAY: Yes, it is.

HANNITY: Iran's intelligence, President Trump was right. The unprecedented alliance, Israel, United States, the Saudis, Jordanians, Egyptians, the Emirates. It's unbelievable what peace through strength can do.

CONWAY: It's incredible.

That's right. It's incredible, Sean, and it is urgently owing to President Trump's leadership and his vision, and also his patients. The relationships that he's been able to build with leaders across the world in the first 15 months of his administration, really the first year and a half since he was elected, has led us to this moment and folks don't underestimate the power of North Korea and South Korea really coming together holding hands and saying that decades of war will -- could just be swept away, could end, also, North Korea has agreed to stop doing its nuclear tests to allow inspectors in, which is key, to go back to the same time zone as South Korea, a lot of progress there, and its Donald Trump leadership. Many critics of this administration are giving him the credit for that.

HANNITY: Kellyanne, these are amazing times. Are they ever going to give the president credit? I doubt it.

All the best to you and Sarah Sanders tonight and Ivanka, as a matter of fact.

Breaking news, Sara Carter, a new report, Ed Henry, Sean Spicer, Joe Concha, we got a lot of ground to cover. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: "The Washington Post" is out with an explosive new report tonight, Trump allied House conservatives draft articles of impeachment against Rosenstein as a last resort.

Joining us now with what she knows, Fox News investigative reporter Sara Carter. Also, "The New York Times" breaking, Trump allied House conservative, the other one is about -- I had the wrong article in front of me, Mueller has dozens of inquiries for Trump on broad quest on Russian ties.

I am told by my sources tonight that "The New York Times" is full of crap that those are not -- a lot of those questions are not the questions that the special counsel is asking.

Clearly, a leak by the special counsel's office again with anonymous sources. Your reaction to it?

SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, this is certainly a disinformation campaign once again, Sean. I mean, we see stories like this over and over again alleging collusion, saying that Mueller is going to ask about collusion, trying to keep this story line alive, even though we know there is no evidence of any such collision between President Trump, his campaign, and Russia, at least not as of yet.

We haven't seen anything. But we keep seeing these stories. And this is why we have to be concerned, because this is a disinformation campaign that we keep hearing from senior Obama administration --

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: It is a disinformation campaign. How stupid is it?

CARTER: It really is.

HANNITY: Wait a minute. How stupid is it? They want to get in the president's mind? Did you ever think of firing Mueller when he never fired Mueller and he has every right to fire Mueller constitutionally? This is how bad the press in this country is and you're right, they are being fed lies, disinformation, to manipulate the American people.

CARTER: That's it. They are being fed this information and its spread like wildfire.

And, you know, once it's out there, Sean, there is no way to reel it back in. It actually put the other people, the president, his staff, his former campaign members on the defensive. It's like they are guilty before -- I mean, they don't even have any evidence and they are saying they are guilty of something, and then they have to go out on the defensive and tried to prove themselves innocent.

This is completely wrong. These are things that happen in other countries. I like it when people say banana republic, right, when they are going after an administration.

HANNITY: No, this is America -- if this is successful, this is America becoming Venezuela. What did you know about the phone call Flynn made with a soon-to-be counterpart, which would be doing his job coming into a job?

Did you see John Brennan but said actually stay tuned, Mr. President?

CARTER: Yes.

HANNITY: That sounded like a deep state threat to me. And similarly, you know, look at Rod Rosenstein. Articles of impeachment drafted and the media is ignoring it? Did Rod Rosenstein have anything to do with signing off on the FISA warrants and lying to FISA courts with information that was unverified, uncorroborated and paid for by Hillary Clinton and they didn't tell the Judge that part?

CARTER: Absolutely. And this is the reason why, you know the House Freedom Caucus has this last resort drafted, this one-page memo, and they want to get it out there. Their frustration with trying to get information from the Department of Justice, from the FBI, the failure to turn over this information and time, they are being stonewalled, they are being slow walk.

So this is an enormous frustration for congressional committees, who have oversight over these departments. They know that there are failures here, they know that some of these investigations, now that they have looked into this, I mean, we would have never known anything, Sean, had it not been these committees investigating this.

HANNITY: Is this what -- is this what Brenan is saying? "Stay tuned, Mr. President -- all this -- what was your opinion of Mr. Comey during the transition?" It doesn't matter what his opinion was of Mr. Comey during the transition.

CARTER: No.

HANNITY: He had every right to fire him. Rod Rosenstein said the FBI would never be cleaned out with James Comey in office. These "New York Times" questions, you could use it to burn in your fireplace tonight!

CARTER: He absolutely had a right to fire Comey. Absolutely. That was his privilege to fire Comey. And it wasn't just the President who wanted to fire Comey. Let's go back a little bit further into the past. The Democrats -- the Democrats wanted to Comey fired as well. So everybody wanted Comey fired until Comey was actually fired. And that is what is interesting here.

And look at what Clapper has been saying to the media. This is also very interesting. I mean, Clapper has been espousing the same type of disinformation, alluding to things that are happening, now we know that Clapper was more than likely the leak to CNN on the dossier, which got everything started, and then later on --

HANNITY: Where do you think these questions came from? Where do you think this New York Times which half of them are asinine, putting that aside, you don't have to be a lawyer to figure it out. Where do you think they came from?

CARTER: Well, they were actually leaked --

HANNITY: By?

CARTER: -- by people I believe from the Special Counsel. I believe that they were leaked --

HANNITY: Or somebody at the Special Counsel talking to Brennan and Clapper?

CARTER: Correct.

HANNITY: May be the corrupt Andrew Weissmann and company?

CARTER: Possibly. We don't know exactly he was doing this.

HANNITY: Let me ask you a last question. You have an article out tonight that I wish we had more time on and that is the V.A. appointee of the president. You discovered four sources, unbelievable story.

CARTER: Yes, so what I was told, and I had it confirmed with four sources, and it's definitely true, that the vice president's position -- now this is not a handpicked position by the vice president, it is a selected position through the military, Dr. Jennifer Pena was the one that led this, I guess, this backlash against Dr. Ronny Jackson to the Hill and it's very concerning. One, because it looks like it's been a long time dispute between both of them. It looks like it's an internal problem for both of them. I know I talked to people at the White House that want to stress this is not a problem between the vice president and the president.

HANNITY: There are a chance this person gets fired?

CARTER: I think there is a chance that this person gets fired, but it has to follow a protocol. So it would have to go through the military office.

HANNITY: All right. Unbelievable reporting, Sara Carter. These "New York Times" thing, put it in your fireplace and burn it, because we have sources that say -- half of these questions are dumb anyway. You know, what was in your mind at the time? You don't punish people or charge people, not that you can charge a sitting President, and the President has every right to fire anybody he wants, for the thoughts they have in their head.

Joining us now, former White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, "The Hill's," Joe Concha, former President of the National Correspondents Association, Fox News chief national correspondent, Ed Henry. Let's start with you, Sean Spicer. You know, it is fascinating if anybody ever leaked any of this from any Special Counsel, and to "The New York Times," another anonymous source think, it would be against a Democrat, you and I both know, there would be such an outcry in the country about that.

SEAN SPICER, FOREMR WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Absolutely. I think that what you are seeing now is definitely concerning. And I understand why the President wants to get this wrapped up. We've seen this go over and over again for the better part of the year, no evidence has come forward, everything gets leaked out, this favorable to the president and it's about time that they fish or cut bait. The President and the White House have been very forthcoming with individual's information and it's about time that we either wrap this thing up or we allow the President, because this President is doing great things and has to move on the agenda in this country.

HANNITY: What was your opinions of Mr. Comey? What is a matter? You can fire him for any reason, Joe Concha.

JOE CONCHA, THE HILL NEWSPAPER: Well, I think we see, Sean, with the behavior of James Comey on the book towards, getting personal about the President, if you look at Brennan's Twitter account and just scroll down, you see a highly partisan vitriolic person on there, and it is hard to believe that when he was running the CIA, that he actually was able to separate all of those feelings and do his job without that sort of partisan thinking.

And obviously, Clapper, who is now a CNN contributor, same thing. So, I think this is very disturbing that you have all of these top officials engaging in partisan behavior and as for the leaks, I mean, we keep hearing that Mueller is running a straightforward, clean investigation, then how does that get into the pages of "The New York Times." I would love to know.

HANNITY: Baloney. Ed, when you appoint Andrew Weissmann, who withheld exculpatory evidence twice, was overturn 9-0 in the Supreme Court, put four Merrill Executives in jail for a year, overturned by the Fifth Circuit, and put tens of thousands of Anderson accounting workers out of work and blow everything and get appointed by Mueller, Ed, ought to tell you everything you need to know.

Ed Henry, quick question on the Correspondents Dinner.

ED HENRY, SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

HANNITY: Why would President Trump ever go? I think he is right. I think this whole thing is dead. Goodbye. It's buried now.

HENRY: I used to think he might go next year ahead of his reelection battle, try to have an olive branch, but I think you are right now that he will never go. That was destroyed on Saturday night. Sarah Sanders was treated horribly. The Correspondence Association invited her basically in to their home for dinner and she was personally, viciously attacked. I think it is unlikely the President will go -- pardon of me -- and I think, I've spoken to a lot of reporters who say that the association played right into the President's hands and that he is why he was outside the beltway, talking to people and inside the beltway, you have these elites, you know, sort of, you know, beating up on Sarah Sanders. And I think it was a big, big mistake.

SPICER: Sean, if I can, Ed is absolutely right. I mean, if this was a celebration of what the media thinks it's a celebration of the first amendment, I hate to see how they celebrate the fourth of July. There was no invocation, they gave CNN an award right off the bat on debunked information, and they attacked the comedian -- made derogatory comments about the tragedy in the Southwest Airlines. The vile and disgusting language they used about abortion victims was just so out of hand.

HANNITY: Was so horrible.

SPICER: I don't think, I think what yesterday was the exposure of what really is the problem that exists right now and I hope that going forward, not only do we re-examine the need for this dinner, but a lot of folks in the media understand the concerns that especially conservatives have with things like this.

HANNITY: let me say this, if this doesn't end the White House Correspondent's Dinner for this President, I don't know what would, but I will tell you another thing. This garbage from "The New York Times" tonight, absolute garbage, no attorney will ever let this president sit down with Robert Mueller. Now it's going to go on for a year. It's all executive privilege and Mueller drove this, as I predicted he would, when he hired his hit team of partisans. Joe?

CONCHA: I think that sums it up, Sean, in terms of Mueller, in terms of again, all of these top officials now being exposed, especially James Clapper, being shown to have lied about leaking information to the media and I think he has some answers -- has to answer some question on Capitol Hill about this. Peter King mentioned on this network earlier, that that may not very well happen.

HANNITY: What is in your mind, Ed Henry, this is not going to hold it?

HENRY: I think it's unlikely, if the president will ever sit-down. There was a time that I thought he would, but this list of questions suggests, they are still pursuing collusion, even though there is no evidence.

HANNITY: Collusion is not a crime.

HENRY: And dozens of questions, it's unlikely he ought to sit down.

HANNITY: Ever. All right. Guys, good to see you. When we come back, Daniel Hoffman, Sebastian Gorka break down the massive developments tonight, concerning the information on Iran in the history and the makings with North Korea straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: And joining us now with more reaction to all the huge, breaking developments on the Korean peninsula and out of Iran, we have Fox News National Security Strategy, Sebastian Gorka, retired CIA Senior Intelligence Officer and Sonoran, Policy Groups Vice President, Daniel Hoffman. Let's start with the presentation by BB. Benjamin Netanyahu. It was, I think the -- first of all I think he did it without notes. The single biggest intel breakthrough that I can think of in our lifetime. Your thoughts?

SEBASTIAN GORKA, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGIST: Yes, I think if we are old enough, we think back to those pictures during the Cuban missile crisis when our ambassador stood up at the United Nations and said to the Soviets, you are lying, here are the U2 photographs of the missiles that you smuggled into Cuba to attack us. It was like that, but on steroids, Sean.

We are talking about tens of thousands of documents, half a ton of information, intelligence that our government has confirmed that proves everything that president has been saying. The Iran deal is a sham and the Iranians want and are developing nuclear weapons to use against the west and to use against Israel. It's a slam-dunk and as far as I'm concerned, as of today, thanks to BiBi. Netanyahu, the JCPOA Iran deal, Obama's wonderful legacy is dead.

HANNITY: Mr. Hoffman, beyond that, now the world has clarity to get out of this ridiculous Iranian deal and even more historic, you see North Korean dictator, who not that long ago was firing missiles over Japan and threatening Guam and the world in the United States, crossing over the DMZ, meeting with the South Korean President, and I would say Donald Trump played a big part in all of that.

DANIEL HOFFMAN, RETIRED CIA SENIOR INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: He did. Let me just make a quick comment on the Iran deal. They were three elements of that that were really a problem for us. The first was the sunset clause. The second, that they didn't address Iran's development of ICBM's. And third, it provided an influx of cash for Iran's state sponsored terrorism.

One of the really interesting parts of Prime Minister Netanyahu's briefing today related to Iran's plan to integrate ICBM's with nuclear weapons. That has to be cause for great concern for us and I think what we are waiting for right now is the U.S. Intelligence community assessment of the veracity of the intelligence reports. I expect this story to carry on in the days ahead, Sean.

HANNITY: What is your take on North Korea? I mean, did anyone, this is the typical liberal thought process, though, Dr. Gorka. We got to kiss the ring, oh, we got to bribe them. If we are nicer to them, they will be nicer to us. It never works.

GORKA: The left-wing has dictatorial propensities themselves. That is what political correctness is. Political correctness is in fact a form of censorship. They like to control other people. So, they are sympathetic to dictatorships, whether it is all going over the propaganda minister of North Korea during the Olympics or whether it is worshiping the Iranian mullahs and giving them $150 billion, they are simpatico with these people.

So, this is when it stops. No more appeasement. This is not Berlin in 1938. This is not the Cuban missile crisis. It stops on January 20th, 2016, Sean.

HANNITY: It worked for Reagan. It worked for Churchill. It worked for -- it works. Appeasement fails. Mr. Hoffman.

HOFFMAN: Yes. Just one comment about North Korea that I think it's really important for us to highlight, is the President has steadfastly said, that this is not going the right way, he is going to walk out. And he is not giving any sanctions relief until North Korea fully denuclearizes.

HANNITY: I agree with you.

HOFFMAN: And that is, I think the key elements here, we've made errors in the past, we gave them a lot of aid and then --

HANNITY: Agreed.

HOFFMAN: -- it broke down over verification.

HANNITY: Totally verify and they get nothing until --

HOFFMAN: Mistrust but verify I would even say in this case.

HANNITY: Agreed. Yes. Amazing times we are living in and I will tell you that. Thank you both. When we come back, Candace Owens is back. She met with Kanye West over the weekend. We'll find out what happened straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. So last week, Kanye West praised Turning Point USA Communication Director, Candace Owens on Twitter, saying that he likes the way she thinks. This past weekend, Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk went to California to meet with Kanye face-to-face. She joins us with more details. All right. I never got to hang out with Kanye. I did meet Kim Kardashian, though. What can you tell us about him?

CANDACE OWENS, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: You know, I can tell you that Kanye has a wonderful, beautiful vision for the future of America. It's a unifying message. And this is really just the beginning of it. I'm incredibly honored to not only be on his journey, but for him to on mine. He understands something and he sees something on both sides. And I really think he is going to be significant in bridging the gap.

HANNITY: You know, I think -- friends of mine have told me, maybe you agree with this, I think this has the potential -- maybe I'm over analyzing this, to perhaps start a cultural shift here. It has bothered me to no end as a conservative, the lies told every election here, Republicans are racist, misogynist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic. Because, that is not who I am or the people that I know are. And I don't hear solutions for the country for the forgotten men and women. All I hear is the same narrative every election cycle. And it frustrates me and I do believe it is to some extent sadly it is effective.

OWENS: Look, you're exactly right. And listen, it was Andrew Breitbart that said that politics is downstream from culture. And this is why this is so significant with Kanye West, because he defines culture. He is pretty much at the top of it. And he is willing to have these conversations, he is willing to go against the grain, he is willing put on a MAGA hat, and he understands, you know how symbolic that was. How excited people were, because, exactly what you said they were able to say, look, I wear that night the hat and I am not an awful person. So, when Kanye West, wears them, he says, I love Donald Trump, he is my brother, it means so much more and it reverberates around the world. And I'm telling you, he is got a great mind, he is in an incredible space right now.

HANNITY: I look at, for example, I just love iconic class, the people. As much as I hate Bill Maher, and I mean, he hates me and I hate him, just a fact. But it's always been people like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, the great one Mark Levin, conservatives that defended him, and in cult, just conservatives defend him. Not liberals. Why? Why would that be, considering they claim to be the champions of free and open exchange of ideas, ideals and opinions?

OWENS: Well, I think a lot of times it's hard for them to step out of their own reality and a lot of the things that they say are not rooted in very many facts. And I have to say, Kanye offered me a very different perspective, you know on the right, we tend to say, this came from Ben Shapiro, that facts don't care about your feelings, but on the latter, you know, the feelings do become facts that at some point, we do have to acknowledge that.

You know, their feelings have become facts. And the only way we will combat that is to hear them out and understand where they are coming from and to come up with a different solution. I'm telling you, culture is that solution. They place a lot of emphasis on culture, and you know, who is wearing what hat and who says what they can and cannot think.

HANNITY: Well, you know, Candace, since I've gotten to know you, I told you, I am loving this trajectory, it's like a rocket ship, your career is taking off, and it's -- you should be very proud. It's fun to watch. Thanks for being with us.

OWENS: Thank you so much, Sean.

HANNITY: All right. When we come back, Kathy Griffin taking back her apology, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Well, it's been almost a year since comedian Kathy Griffin apologized to the President for appearing in a shocking photo holding a mock severed head of the President. But today, on "The View," Kathy Griffin, took back her apology. Some apology. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA HAINES, ABC: A year this month this picture was released. We already described --

KATHY GRIFFIN, AMERICAN COMEDIAN AND ACTRESS: What a year it's been.

HAINES: Yes.

GRIFFIN: By the way, I take the apology back.

I was under a two month federal investigation for conspiracy to assassinate the President of the United States. By the way, I like to say, I wasn't Dixie Chicks, I was (BEEP). I mean, I lost left and right, middle, I lost everybody.

GRIFFIN: No, not now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right. Well, there is your apology. OK, severed heads are OK. They're on the table. We are always fair and balanced, never the destroy Trump media, the news you won't get anywhere else. Thank you for being with us. Let not your heart be troubled.

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