Devin Nunes: Staff have felt threatened by Rod Rosenstein

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Devin Nunes: Staff have felt threatened by Rod Rosenstein

Did Rod Rosenstein threaten to subpoena members of Congress and their staff? Rep. Devin Nunes speaks out on 'Hannity.'

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," June 13, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Welcome to "Hannity."

And yes, we are broadcasting live. We're still in Singapore. Only days ago, President Trump ushered in a new era of diplomacy, meeting one-on-one with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong un. And President Trump and Kim Jong Un have now departed, but we'll be in Singapore for the rest of the week. One off the reasons is, I have a three hour radio show, this TV show, and a 22-hour flight to New York.

I can't miss a single minute of coverage. Why? Because the all-important inspector general's report is coming out tomorrow. Now, in moments, we're going to preview the hugely consequential report.

If it's done right and fairly and without prejudice or DOJ obstruction, this report will shed a critical light on how Hillary Clinton's 2016 criminal investigation was grossly mishandled by a group of high-ranking partisan deep state bureaucrats under the coercive thumb, of course, of the Obama administration.

And also tonight, huge controversy emerging, the Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, he's in hot water, facing stiff criticism from legal scholars, lawmakers alike, over his attempt to bully, threaten, intimidate the House Intel Committee.

Now, we'll bring you a full report. And House Intel Committee Chair Devin Nunes in just a second, it will make your blood boil.

Now, naturally, this all surrounds the mainstream media. Of course, they are blinded by the hatred for President Trump. But literally, this coverage now, this pathology has gotten so out of control and we're asking the question tonight, are they rooting for America to fail? A less prosperous America? A less peaceful world? What is wrong with these people?

Now, we are going to show you the worst of the worst. Sit tight, buckle up, it's time for tonight's very important breaking news Singapore opening monologue.

(MUSIC)

HANNITY: All right. It's 9:00 a.m. here in Singapore and it is 9:00 p.m. in our nation's capital. And in less than 24 hours, the DOJ's watchdog is scheduled now to release this all-important IG report -- 18 months we've all been waiting.

And as we speak, we have a team of experts lined up that will be analyzing the 500-plus pages in the report line by line, and we will break it all down, I promise, as soon as we get it.

And also tonight, with standing pressure from Rod Rosenstein and other obstructionist bureaucrats in the DOJ, this impending report should shed a critical light on what were the crimes of Hillary Clinton and how the FBI, the DOJ, high-ranking members of the Obama administration, completely and intentionally fixed, botched the criminal investigation.

And, of course, the contents of the report could be totally ruined by Rod Rosenstein and his bureaucratic friends at the Department of Justice. Remember, this report could be very embarrassing for all of them.

So, tonight, we're asking the questions. Will the report include massive redactions? Was the report altered by the upper echelon of the DOJ? Were Michael Horowitz's findings twisted and parsed or altered in any way? We're going to have a full report tomorrow you don't want to miss.

Now of course the facts, they're not even in dispute. Look at the side of the screen. Hillary Clinton, we know, fact, it is irrefutable, violated 18 USC 793, the Espionage Act. She mishandled, she destroyed classified top-secret special access programming information. It's a fact. She deleted 33,000 subpoenaed emails, 18 USC 2071. That's a fact. She acid washed her hard drive with Bleach Bit. And that's a fact, too. And she destroyed -- literally had aides destroyed her mobile devices with a hammer. That's a fact.

And, of course, remember Kristian Saucier, he spent a year in prison for six pictures of -- on his cell phone of the submarine he was proud to work on -- far less severe than anything Hillary Rodham Clinton did. That, too, is a fact.

And we also know that Comey and Trump hater Peter Strzok, they started writing the exoneration of Hillary in early May of 2016, but they didn't interview her and 17 other witnesses until early July and three days later, oh, magically, they exonerated her. And we know they pulled out the legal definition of gross negligence and they pulled out the foreign intel agencies likely hacked into that server in that bathroom closet. That is a fact.

Now, we have a very important developing story we've got to tell you about tonight and that is the deputy AG, there you see on your screen that we just mentioned, Rod Rosenstein. Now, according to reporting from our very own Catherine Herridge, the deputy AG of the United States of America actually threatened to subpoena the emails and other records of several Republican members of Congress and their staffs. And, of course, after losing his temper, which, according to multiple sources I know he frequently does, he launched into what was described as a personal attack against a congressional staffer.

Now, this all came after the House Intel Committee ramped up its oversight efforts surrounding multiple DOJ-led investigations back in January.

In other words, let me make this clear, Rod Rosenstein was trying to bully, intimidate, threaten House Republican, House Intel Committee chairmen and their members from following and doing their constitutional duty of oversight. We have in the system, in our country, checks and balances, separation of powers. It's actually called the U.S. Constitution.

And, by the way, you should, and I will call it reprehensible that anybody in the Department of Justice would ever use their power or threaten to use their power as, in this case, America's de facto top law enforcement official to literally intimidate members of Congress, to prevent them from doing their job.

Now, former Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy, he summed it up this way, caught the whole lessons of this: Rod Rosenstein's subpoena threat, he's conflicted and he's acting like it.

And meanwhile, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, he's also rightly speaking out. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN DERSHOWITZ, PROFESSOR, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: This is a classic dispute between separation of powers. The legislature has the power obviously to oversee and investigate the executive branch. And a member of the executive branch, which Rod Rosenstein is, shouldn't be able to bully the legislative branch. He should be transparent. He should turn over the documents. He should be cooperative and Congress should be cooperative of the executive branch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Professor Dershowitz is 1,000 percent right. Listen to legal expert, Attorney Jonathan Turley, professor. He's also slamming Rod Rosenstein. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN TURLEY, LEGAL EXPERT/ATTORNEY: I think the threat for a civil subpoena was reckless. He shouldn't have done it. He is subject to the oversight of the House and Senate committees.

These committees have a history of rather poor oversight. This is -- for those of us who have argued for years that these committees need to exercise real oversight, demand documents and not back down, this is actually a refreshing trend.

The allegation that one party used the FBI to investigate the opposing party, it's one of the most serious matters for oversight in our system. It goes to the very heart of our electoral system and our governmental system. So, there is every reason for the members to want to see these documents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And now, some members of Congress, they are also firing back. Congressman Gowdy and Meadows just revealed a resolution calling out Rod Rosenstein for his threats to subpoena.

Now, of course, it all comes in c the shadow of the rampant obstruction of justice that we know has been going on with the DOJ not willing to hand over documents, including specific requests from the House Intel Committee Chairman Devin Nunes over documents surrounding the FBI's use of informants in the Trump campaign. And Nunes set a deadline for yesterday, and the DOJ completely ignored that deadline. That is really problematic.

Rod Rosenstein, I have a question; what are you hiding? Why are you obstructing? Why are you intimidating, threatening, harassing congressional members and their staffs?

Now, it's time for Rod Rosenstein to step aside or be fired in this case, because if this is an attempt of obstruction of justice, Mr. Rosenstein, why won't you let Congress do their job?

Now, according to new Politico poll numbers, look at this, Mueller's public image, Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller, is at an all-time low. People are beginning to understand. The AP now reporting that Mueller's team is, quote, "worried that Russian intelligence services will use a criminal case in Washington to gather information about its investigation and U.S. intelligence gathering methods. We're going to have a lot more on that.

They never should've filed those indictments. And tonight, by the way, I hope you can stomach this. Your mainstream, corrupt media, the destroy- Trump media has now reached a new low. And as you know, despite so much success at home on the economy and abroad, not including this week here in Singapore -- well, the president has been overwhelmingly portrayed negatively in the press.

Earlier today, the president -- well, he's fighting back. He tweeted out, quote: So funny to watch the fake news, especially NBC, fake news CNN. They are fighting hard to downplay the deal with North Korea. Five hundred days ago they would have begged for this deal. Looked like war would break out. Our country's biggest enemy, well, it's the fake news so easily promulgated by fools.

Now, the president is right, and here's all the proof you'll ever need. You can't make this up. They call themselves news people. It's pathetic. A bunch of lazy, overpaid so-called colleagues, and they have a radical left-wing agenda. It's obvious.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE"/ABC: Usually when Trump signs an agreement with a foreigner, it's a prenup.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Very -- almost caveman-like. It really is. Fred Flintstone running the country, writing things on a stone, actually not even able to do that.

CONAN O'BRIEN, "CONAN"/TBS: President Trump said Kim Jong Un is absolutely invited to the White House. Yes. Unless, of course, Kim Jong Un wins the Super Bowl or the NBA championship.

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC: Why the praises? I can see -- we got along OK, and we all talk about political communique like that, one constructive talk, you know, the language. He's coming on to kiss butt. It's outrageous the way he talks. This guy is a killer.

MAX BOOT, CNN ANALYST: A lot of the reason we were on the brink of nuclear war, I mean, part of it to be sure was because of the North Korean nuclear tests and their missile tests but also because of the reckless and irresponsible rhetoric from Donald Trump ratcheting up tensions. And so, now, this is kind of the arsonist getting credit for putting out the fire.

SUNNY HOSTIN, "THE VIEW"/ABC: To believe that Kim Jong Un is going to give away his nuclear arsenal, which really gives him the power, I think we went too far and I -- perhaps giving him validity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, MSNBC: Just because something hasn't happened before doesn't mean it's historic. That's one thing. I think when you call something historic, it means it has a good chance of having lasting implications. I think it's very unclear, at least to my layman's eye, that this does that.

BOOT: Any previous president could have easily had a summit with any previous leader with North Korea because they've been very eager to be legitimated by the president of the United States. And Donald Trump is the first one to agree to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

HANNITY: And meanwhile, over at MSNBC, the conspiracy theorists' choice in cable news, you got liberal morning host Joe and Mika, Joe Scarborough trashing Republicans who support the Republican commander-in-chief. Shocking. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC: The primary voters in the Republican Party have devolved into a Trumpist cult.

JOHN HEILEMANN, MSNBC ANALYST: It's clear that conservatism, liberalism, voting records, none of those things matter. It is a cult of personality. And the president has an extraordinary hold over his base. And cult of personality is I think one good description for it.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

HANNITY: The only cults are the people that watch that ridiculous morning show of yours.

Now, see, doesn't matter what President Trump does. It doesn't matter how successful his agenda becomes or how much the quality of life for you, the American people, forgotten men and women, becomes. The media in this country is blinded by pathological hatred of this president, so much so that it's now outweighing their desire even for a robust economy and even peace in the world. This is sick.

Now, the press is actively, clearly rooting for this president to fail. If he fails, the country fails, the world fails, at all costs, even if it means a better quality of life.

All right. Joining us now, we have a lot of news to get to tonight, the House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes.

Mr. Chairman, good to see you.

The first thing I want is your reaction to Rod Rosenstein, a two-part question. Did he threaten to subpoena the emails of you, other members of Congress, your staffs, and other documents? Because he had one of his temper tantrums and got angry?

REP. DEVIN NUNES, R-CALIF., CHAIRMAN, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Well, Sean, it's great to see you live in Singapore. I think you should come home eventually but I enjoy seeing you there.

Listen, this has been going on for -- since last August. We subpoenaed them last August. As you know, you've covered it every night on your show. We continue to try to get documents. We can't get documents.

We've had many, what I would say, altercations with the deputy attorney general and his staff. What I think is inappropriate -- I am fine. I can take the heat. You can attack me all you want. I'm used to it. I enjoy it.

However, when it comes to attacking staff and when the staff feel uncomfortable, that's when you've gone too far. The staff are citizens of the United States who work hard for their country, they are patriots. They don't have the ability to come on television like I do and plead my case.

So, look, the staff definitely have felt threatened. Just recently, the staff were all kicked out of the room. What people should be concerned about the most right now is obstruction of a valid congressional investigation by the Department of Justice.

And let me explain to you just one point, and I'll go back to you, Sean. Just one simple point. We've been investigating this for a year and a half -- FISA abuse and other matters. We now are at the end, we need documents to actually get to the bottom of what actually happened in this situation. They now, just in the last weeks, have kicked out the staff, the lead investigators on this.

Now they have kicked out all the House Intelligence Committee members, so the only ones that are going to provide documents to, in the whole entire House of Representatives, only two Republicans. Paul Ryan, the speaker, and myself. This is totally acceptable. It's a classic case of obstruction of a congressional investigation.

The problem we have here is who's going to investigate the investigators?

HANNITY: Let me ask you about one particular staffer by the name of Kash Patel. Is he the one or one of the people that got kicked out of the room, Congressman?

And I really want to know, when you threaten and intimidate, to use the power of that office, being the deputy attorney general, isn't that itself a form of obstruction, and does that raised the question of impeaching Rod Rosenstein?

NUNES: Well, I will tell you, I'd rather not get into the names of the staff, OK? We have -- and it's more than one. For the particular incident, there were three staff in the room but there's been many other staff I think that had felt threatened at different levels by the Department of Justice.

And, look, they have not been intimidated, OK? And our members have not been intimidated. But what they have done now, you know, how do you get to obstruction, how do you get to misleading Congress? By taking this information we've been legally asking for, a legal subpoena that we are trying to enforce, and you now move it upstairs and you say, oh, no, no, this is now going to be super top secret information that we're only going to give to the Gang of Eight. OK? That's what's happening here.

People in America should be alarmed. This is a way to hide information, not only from the American people, but to their congressmen. And to the staff that work for them.

HANNITY: How do you possibly get it? And is it true that Rod Rosenstein blew up at you a number of times and that he has a horrible temper? And do you view his threat as a form of obstruction in and of itself? That's an important question, whether or not he should remain in that role.

NUNES: Well, let me answer the first part. First of all, I can't do psychoanalysis on Rod Rosenstein. What I can tell you is, is that the behavior is unacceptable. His unwillingness to provide documents -- I said this a couple weeks ago on Maria's Sunday morning show on Fox.

I said, look, all you have to do, if you didn't -- if there's no FISA abuse here, if there are no problems with the FISA application, if there were no problems, if informants or spies or whatever were run into the Trump campaign, all you have to do is show the House Intelligence Committee all of the documents. I let the investigators comb through the documents.

Look, we are not getting that. What does that tell you? We would exonerate them in a second.

So, you know, where does this lead? Tomorrow, we have this IG report coming out. I think this is going to be the first step for America and the Department of Justice and the FBI to begin the healing process.

The healing process would be made much easier if we could complete that by then delivering all of the documents to us. Tomorrow, they are supposed to deliver documents to the speaker and myself. We informed every Republican member on our committee, signed a letter today to the Department of Justice to say it is totally unacceptable and investigation that we started --

HANNITY: How do you stop it?

NUNES: The only way we're ultimately going to stop is --

HANNITY: Mr. Chairman, how --

NUNES: There's two ways. There's two ways. One, we can hold Mr. Rosenstein and others at the Department of Justice in contempt and impeach. The other way would be for the president of the United States to demand them, to order them to give us all the documents. Those are really the only two ways.

HANNITY: Well, the president needs to hear this message. The president needs to hear this message. But are you willing to go, sir, as far as impeaching?

NUNES: Well, I am already past -- I wanted to move to contempt months ago. The speaker of the House believes that he can work with DOJ and we're going to continue to try to work that path tomorrow.

But I can tell you that my patience has run out. I have none left. Now it's really up to the leadership of the House and the president of the United States in order to make sure that our subpoena gets complied with.

HANNITY: Well, we cannot have a deputy attorney general of the United States that is preventing Congress from doing their constitutional job and threatening people using the power of that office, which is so powerful, to intimidate, harass, and basically stifle the job your Constitution requires you to do.

Mr. Chairman, thank you.

NUNES: Thank you, Sean.

HANNITY: We appreciate all you're doing. I hope you get to the bottom of it.

Joining us now, the author of the soon-to-be released book, in July, it's coming, "The Russian Hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump", FOX News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett, and FOX News investigative reporter and contributor Sara Carter.

You heard the conversation with Devin Nunes. You know Kash Patel.

SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes.

HANNITY: Catherine Herridge named him herself.

CARTER: Yes, absolutely, because Kash Patel has been working with the House Intelligence Committee on this for some time. These threats, these direct threats by Rod Rosenstein to Kash Patel and to other members of the committee are unacceptable. He is trying to weaponize his office to keep these people quiet, to keep the American people from hearing the truth, Sean.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: How does he -- are your sources confirming what I have heard from people?

CARTER: Yes, he absolutely does have this temper. I've talked to a number of people who have dealt with Rod Rosenstein. They say his temper is out of control. He's actually obstructing, it's the word you used.

HANNITY: That's what it is.

CARTER: He's obstructing the American people from understanding the truth about what's happening here.

HANNITY: But this is a form of obstructing, by intimidating, by threatening.

CARTER: Intimidating, these are people who work on the staff -- remember - -

HANNITY: You want a threat by the Department of Justice, the second in charge, that he's going to -- if you keep doing your reporting, we're going to subpoena your emails.

CARTER: Absolutely. This is what's happening in our country. Reporters are afraid of going to the truth, of seeking the truth out because they are terrified that the Department of Justice is going to come after them. Look what happened to James Rosen who was here wither FOX News.

HANNITY: So, well-said.

CARTER: Look at what happened to the "Associated Press" under the Obama administration, and now under the DOJ, under the Trump administration. Sean, this is why the president of the United States has to order it.

HANNITY: He should do it.

CARTER: He needs to order it.

HANNITY: The president needs to order it. I agree.

CARTER: So that we can wrap up this investigation.

HANNITY: And he can order every one of those documents released unredacted immediately?

CARTER: Absolutely. He can order that at this very moment.

HANNITY: Let me go to Gregg Jarrett.

Gregg, let's talk about the actions and the threats here that have been confirmed now by multiple sources of Rod Rosenstein. First of all, I see that, on top of the obstruction we've already had. I see that as obstruction.

And number two, you know, what do you do in a case like this besides impeachment or the president getting the information out to people?

GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: It's a crime for a public official like Rod Rosenstein to use his office to threaten anyone, including Congress, for exercising their constitutional duties. We are the ones who actually first broke this story on February 2nd, on your program.

I reported it, I received a torrent of denunciations that I was lying and making it up. It turns out it was true. This is not only obstruction of justice but it's a statute called abuse of power.

And so, I think Devin Nunes is correct. It's not only obstruction of Congress and should move as such, but Rod Rosenstein should be impeached over this.

HANNITY: Real quick, we only have a few seconds. The IG report tomorrow, the facts are not in dispute. Will -- prediction -- will the IG do his job?

CARTER: I believe the IG will do his job. Michael Horowitz will do his job tomorrow.

HANNITY: I have my doubts.

Gregg, last word. Will he do his job?

JARRETT: Well, I think he'll do his job but he won't go as far as he should. That's my prediction.

HANNITY: All right, thank you both for being with us.

A lot of breaking news. Ed Henry here with new details, two big stories rattling Washington tonight. Congressman Jim Jordan, Ron DeSantis, Matt Gaetz, they're furious, livid. They'll join us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. There are two big stories consuming Washington right now, the long-awaited DOJ inspector general's report on the FBI and Justice Department's mishandling of the Clinton probe is coming out tomorrow. This has been 18 months in the works.

Also, major controversy surrounding the deputy attorney general tonight, Rod Rosenstein, and his alleged threats back in January to actually subpoena House Intelligence Committee members and their staffs over records because they don't want to hand any over.

Here now with more on these stories, Fox News, he's our chief national correspondent. He is still with us in Singapore tonight, Ed Henry.

Ed, a lot going on back home where it's nighttime, 9:27. It is 9:27 a.m. here and we'll be eating breakfast after this.

ED HENRY, FOX NEWS CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Can't wait to see you, Sean.

The bottom line is, after all the waiting for the explosive inspector general report, we are told that key lawmakers will finally get their hands on it tomorrow about 12:00 noon Eastern Time. And then our viewers, the public at large expected to see it online mid-afternoon, maybe 2:00, 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Members of Congress I've spoken to who have been briefed on this have gotten some detail suggesting it's going to blister top former FBI officials like James Comey, Andrew McCabe, for their mishandling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, the classified information on that email server. That, of course, will potentially raise more questions about whether officials at not just the FBI but the Justice Department as well were more zealous in probing the president over allegations of Russian collusion than they were in terms of getting to the bottom of the Clinton probe.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department tonight is pushing back and denying what you just reported on about deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein threatening Republican Devin Nunes. You heard him a moment ago, and his aides with a subpoena of their emails and phone records during that contentious January meeting. Democrats are also defending Rosenstein, as did the Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tucker's program last night.

But Republicans are insisting this happened and it's a problem. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BOB GOODLATTE , R-VA.: It is deeply concerning that instead of having a cooperative relationship with this agency, respectful of the importance of the Congress, having access to documents regarding matters that they are investigating, that they have oversight responsibility for, and this is not the way to conduct that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: More evidence Republican from Matt Gaetz tweeting tonight, Matt Gaetz, quote, the DOJ's intimidation and stonewalling tactics have gone too far. I have heard firsthand from congressional staff following threats delivered by Deputy AG Rosenstein. Staff has literally been scared to the point of physically shaking in my office out of concern for their family.

Now our colleague Gregg Jarrett who you just heard from, he reported back in early February that Rosenstein had made this threat to Nunes and his staff. At the time, Huffington Post said the reporting from Gregg was, quote, unquote, "dubious." Well, given the reporting of our other colleague Catherine Herridge now, e-mails suggesting these threats may have happened. It sounds like Gregg was right all along, Sean.

HANNITY: He was right. I talked to one person that was a victim of this, Sara has multiple people that were witness to this. So we have even more confirmation.

Ed Henry, I know you're going to be headed home tomorrow. Thank you so much for all your hard work. I know you've been working long hours.

(CROSSTALK)

HENRY: Thanks for--

HANNITY: Great job as always. All right. Joining us now from Washington, Republican Congressmen Jim Jordan, Ron DeSantis and the man we just quoted, Matt Gaetz.

Congressman Jordan, let me begin with you. Do you know, as I have heard directly from people, Sara has heard, Catherine Herridge has heard others and Gregg Jarrett, that in fact, we have Rod Rosenstein threatening, intimidating to use the power of that office to go after people in Congress and their staffs, trying to do their job.

REP. JIM JORDAN, R-OHIO: I believe it happened, Sean. I talk to folks who say it happened, who were there. So, if, in fact, this did take place which I think it did, this is the executive branch threatening staffers of a standing House committee trying to do their job and get answers for the American people. This is as wrong as it gets.

And the fundamental question it raises is will the speaker of the house stand up and defend House intelligence committee staffers? And the best way to do that in my judgment is to bring up the resolution that the three of us introduced, and Mr. Meadows and others introduced come earlier today on the House floor.

HANNITY: I agree with you. Where is the speaker on that, Congressman Ron DeSantis.

REP. RON DESANTIS, R-FLA.: Sean, this conduct if true to me, is disqualified. He cannot be the deputy attorney general if he's threatening people who work in Congress simply because we're doing our job to try to get answers for the American people.

And the arrogance of Rosenstein, for months and months, to stonewall and stonewall, nonstop. Even basic answers to redact information, it's just gotten to the boiling point, we in Congress need to act. I think his position there is untenable.

HANNITY: What I am hearing, Congressman Gaetz, is that one of the reasons Rod Rosenstein is doing a lot of this is because there are specific documents with specific days and specific dates that may implicate him. Have you heard the same thing?

REP. MATT GAETZ, R-FLA.: We have, Sean. Rod Rosenstein is interactively conflicted in this investigation. And as brave patriots like Kash Patel work hard for the Congress to expose the corruption and the bias, then they are threatened by Rod Rosenstein? This is outrageous.

Kash Patel was in my office, concerned for the fact that he, as a staff member, was doing his job and then somehow had a different branch of government bringing these threats upon him.

So, look, I'm sick and tired of Rod Rosenstein's games. I think we need to impeach Rosenstein. He won't turn over documents. He signed a FISA renewal against the president of the United States, and frankly if we don't step up and defend our institution, then what good is the Congress anyway?

HANNITY: OK. And he has his temper, which I don't know if all -- have all of you heard about it? Because you're all -- can you shake your head? Because I've heard about it. And even, you know, I think Chairman Nunes is being pretty nice because, you know, I just assume he didn't want to go on the record.

But to use that power that way we are talking about here, here is what I'm hearing, Congressman Jordan. It's either going to be the president demands these documents or Congress has the option of impeaching him. And that would require the speaker to step up here.

But more importantly, when do we get the documents and how does Congress do its job if they are being intimidated that they are going to be the subject of harassment and investigation as retaliation for Congress doing their constitutional duty?

JORDAN: Sean, you are right. There are certain tools we have in the toolbox. They should all be at our disposal to get the information we constitutionally are entitled to get to get answers for the American people. It's really that basic.

I think this week there are kind of two fundamental questions. The first one is, the report comes out tomorrow from the inspector general. It will have people in there that will be cited for wrongdoing. Will Rod Rosenstein fire people who are cited in the inspector general's report for wrongdoing in the Clinton investigation?

And then the second fundamental question is the one I have raised before. Will the speaker of the house stand up and defend people on House standing committees who were threatened by the Department of Justice? And the best way to do that is to bring up our resolution. And if they don't comply with the document request and the resolution, then look for exactly what Matt Gaetz talked about, contempt and impeachment are tools in the toolbox that we may have to go to.

And finally, there is what Devin Nunes said, which is the president can say release the information so they can get answers.

HANNITY: Last question. Exit question. Congressman DeSantis and Gaetz, we'll start with you, Congressman DeSantis. Is it, would it be weaker, better for the country that the president, that he demand the documents that Congress has been obstructed from getting, should he demand, that wouldn't that be the faster path?

DESANTIS: I think so. Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows and I sent him a letter a couple weeks ago urging him to do that. He had the power and I think he should do it. The American people deserve the truth on this. Heck, Donald Trump has been treated as poorly as anybody by some of these jokers. So he should definitely pull the trigger on that.

HANNITY: Do you agree. Last word.

GAETZ: Totally agree, Sean. Totally agree. Absolutely. You know, look, the president has the power to bring this thing home. He can do it, and we're going to stand behind him.

HANNITY: All right, thank you all for being with us.

JORDAN: Thank you.

HANNITY: When we come back, Rush Limbaugh taking on President Trump's North Korea critics in a major way. Joe Concha, Dan Bongino. So much more as we continue tonight from Singapore. We're glad you're with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSH LIMBAUGH, TALK SHOW HOST: Expert after expert condemning it, ridiculing it. No chance, no way. Trump doesn't know what he's doing. We are on the verge of a potential disaster. I think they were totally caught off guard. What was really going on was they were hoping it was going to blow up. They wanted to blow up. They wanted Kim Jong Un to humiliate and embarrass Trump.

So when that didn't happen, I think that they were caught completely flat- footed with the success of this meeting. And especially the signing of the declaration which reiterated the pledge to get rid of nukes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right. Great points by Rush Limbaugh, pointing out just how completely, absolutely blindsided your corrupt media was by the great success here in Singapore as it relates to the North Korean summits.

Now watch just how despicable the mainstream media has been in covering what is a historic event that would result in, a safer world for your children, your grandchildren perhaps. Wow. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: You know, some of the talk about how close Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un were during this entire experience, it seems like almost a bromance to me.

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, D-MD.: I should say that one of the consequences of the summit meeting, and again, we are hoping good things will come from it, but one of the consequences is China and others are already talking about relaxing.

NICHOLAS KRISTOF, COLUMNIST, NEW YORK TIMES: President Trump has diffused a crisis but I must say that I don't think he should get as much credit for diffusing a crisis that he largely made himself.

ACOSTA: President Trump somehow stumbled into some kind of historic moment here where he does bring North Korea in from the cold. I think it will be unquestionably a big success for him.

But at this point, you know, we are talking about a White House where not only they struggled with the details. They have struggled with reality. They struggle in dealing with reality.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

HANNITY: All right. Here with reaction, he is The Hill media reporter, Joe Concha, and NRA TV contributor, former Secret Service agent, Dan Bongino. I just don't think it can get any worse. I don't think we can call them news people anymore, Joe.

Look, you've been on the show. We've talked about, I don't hide that I am a conservative. And they try to say they are fair. There's nothing fair. It's like 24/7 conspiracy, hate-fest, and even on important issues like let's see, possible nuclear war, they can't be cheering for the president to do well here?

JOE CONCHA, REPORTER, THE HILL MEDIA: You know, I read Nate Silver's Twitter feed. Nate Silver is a very good analyst to polls and he actually probably did not vote for President Trump. He's no fan. I think he had the best take on this. So I'm going to steal it from Nate.

He said, quote, "There's a lot of esoteric takes about the Trump-Kim summit that sidestepped rather point question of whether the talks reduce the likelihood of nuclear war." He adds that, "90 percent of the pundit class commentary in the summit seems to be constructed with the goal of convincing people that Trump shouldn't get any credit for it."

And Nate Silver couldn't be any more right here. And again, not a fan of the president. And I saw a recurring theme here, Sean, and that's that most of the punditry that we heard over the last 48 hours, there was a lot of complaining about the generality of the agreement, about Trump not denouncing human right abuses in North Korea when we never heard anything about that with the Iran deal in Tehran and the way they treat their people in that country.

But what I did not hear were solutions offered up by the very expert punditry class that are products of the Obama administration, the Bush administration, who have no leg to stand on here as far as what we should be doing and what should have been done during the summit with North Korea because both of those administrations along with the Clinton administration failed miserably.

And the final point here is that there's a disconnect with the American people. Because, while 90 percent of the coverage was probably negative in terms of criticizing the resident about the summit, Reuters has a poll out today. Fifty one percent approve of the president's handling of North Korea which is remarkable considering how polarized this country is pretty can't get over 50 percent agreement on anything.

So, that shows you the disconnect between what people are feeling on the ground, what they saw at the summit, and what the punditry class to saying out of Washington and New York.

HANNITY: Look, I've have always argued and I think I'll stand by this that in fact the president under polls and a lot of ways -- Dan Bongino, let me bring you in to get your observations about all of this. So much at stake. It ends up better than anybody anticipated.

But all of that happened in the lead up missiles not being fired, crossing the DMZ, hostages released, talking about denuclearization, breaking down one of the nuclear test sites in North Korea. You would think good thing. It's worth the conversation at this point.

DAN BONGINO, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Yes. Sean, these people discussed me. Everyone is being nice and gentlemanly. I'm not interested. I can't stand them. They are a disgrace to journalism, to the country, to the planet, to any other planets that may exist that have life on it.

Did you contrast the coverage of this with the coverage of Bill Clinton in the '90s dealing with North Koreans where it was very fair, journalistic, fact-based and even laudatory? These people are disgusting. Sean, what's their plan?

You know, Joe just said something that everybody should take note of. What's their plan, wise guys, smart asses out there, what's your plan? You know, months ago, Sean, we had Hawaii setting off missile alarms in Hawaii because the North Koreans were on a hair trigger.

What's your plan to stop that? You think nuclear war is a joke? These media clowns who've never spent a minute in a real job outside of journalism school, what's your plan, you jokers. I'm tired of these people. They really, they've become almost anti-American in their rhetoric towards this president.

HANNITY: These are fair question. What is their plan? We know what the answer is. They want an American president apologizing for the country because they love that. And a Nobel Peace Prize for nothing. They want, you know, literally cargo planes of cash and other currency and if you bribe the dictator, that's right. It didn't work for Clinton or Obama. Last word, Joe.

CONCHA: I can't believe when you played that montage that Nicholas Kristof, New York Times, the guy has been writing for long time, I think is a very intelligent person, actually have the audacity to say that the North Korean problem was a problem that was created by President Trump?

This has been going on for decades over three prior administrations that didn't do anything to deter North Korea advancing their nuclear capabilities. And for Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times who has won many awards to say something like that is reckless, irresponsible and quite frankly shocking given that he's a very intelligent and usually a pretty sober headed guy.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: You know what, Joe, I'll tell you why it's not shocking. And I said it in 2007 and 2008 and ever since. Journalism in the country is dead. The New York Times is not about reporting. They are about advocates. They are an extension literally of the Democratic Party establishment. They're basically their press office.

All right, great job, both of you. Good rant tonight, Dan Bongino. When we come back, President Trump making more news on North Korea and a lot of it good. We'll also be joined by Sebastian Gorka, Daniel Hoffman. They're here straight ahead, next, from Singapore.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Here with more reaction to all the news out of Singapore, we have former deputy assistant to President Trump, Fox News national security strategist, Dr. Sebastian Gorka. Retired CIA senior intelligence officer, Fox News contributor, Daniel Hoffman.

Let me ask both of you. I will start with Dr. Gorka tonight. You know, I listen to the press and you would literally think they don't want any success. From my perspective, I don't think it could have been a better especially the lead up to this which made it worthwhile to take a shot.

SEBASTIAN GORKA, NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGIST, FOX NEWS: Take the politics out of it, whoever you voted for. It's just the fact. Donald Trump could not have achieved more than in the 24 hours, he 25 hours he was awake, right. What more could he achieved? And at the end of the day, he is solving the problems other people left for him.

And this isn't just about the Obama administration. This is about the last 25 years, from Bill Clinton onwards, the situation in this part of the world on the peninsula was getting worse and worse by the year. They acquired nuclear capability, they detonated nuclear warheads, they launched ballistic missiles over the Sea of Japan with a range of more than 2,000 miles. Those are not problems created by the Trump administration. But guess who's trying to solve it? Donald Trump. It's just facts.

HANNITY: You were, as I said yesterday, you were somebody that wanted the president to manage expectations. Did he exceed them?

DANIEL HOFFMAN, CONTRIBUTOR, FOX NEWS: I think he has. And I also think he has effectively managed the summit. It sparked a flurry of diplomatic engagement. And the follow-on meetings, we're already seeing Secretary Pompeo's engaging in shuttle diplomacy. This reinforces the tough stance--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: North Korean media said they are coming to the White House -- coming to the States.

HOFFMAN: And there will be a lot of meetings in preparation for that. It reinforces the ban on testing of nuclear missiles and also the ICBMs. I think that's extraordinarily important. I'd like to see us consider follow- on agreements, may be enter at sections in Pyongyang and in Washington, D.C., so we can more effectively support the engagement.

HANNITY: And the president said no deal unless it's complete, verifiable and irreversible.

GORKA: And in the meantime, we have other issues that are also being resolved with our 7,000 MIAs. So it doesn't matter what issue you choose, he's actually created --

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: That's a big issue to me.

GORKA: Seven thousand. I mean, I don't think--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: (Inaudible) was trying to get, you know, there might have been people left behind in Vietnam. It's a big issue.

GORKA: From these very important issues for the average American to this strategic one, we have a lower possibility of nuclear war as of yesterday.

HANNITY: Real quick.

HOFFMAN: I think we're looking at some real challenges going forward but I think the president has done a great job leading the way.

HANNITY: All right, guys, great to see you. You guys have been great here in Singapore. When we come back, wait till you see the president going after Claire McCaskill. This is priceless. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. You'll love this. President Trump calling out Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill in Missouri, she's up for reelection. She admitted to flying on a private jet, OK, that's fine. But it was during her RV tour of the state.

Earlier today, the president tweeted, quote, "Senator Claire McCaskill of the great State of Missouri flew around on a luxurious private jet during her RV tour of the state. The RV's are not for her. People are really upset. So phony. Josh Hawley should win big, and has my full endorsement."

Claire, advice. If you say you are going on an RV tour, you may want to stay in the RV. But that might have been a little too tough for you. I hope the people of Missouri are paying attention.

All right. That's all the time we have left, we will be covering from right here from Singapore tomorrow. All the I.G. report information that comes up. We're always fair and balanced. We're not the destroy-Trump media. Let not your heart -- we have Mark Levin, Rudy Giuliani, and Jeanine Pirro tomorrow. Here's Laura.

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