Dr. Fauci tells Hannity that Trump administration's coronavirus travel ban saved US concern and suffering

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Dr. Fauci tells Hannity that Trump administration's coronavirus travel ban saved US concern and suffering

Coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci joins Sean Hannity to discuss White House response to the coronavirus outbreak.

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," March 10, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Welcome to "Hannity."

We begin tonight with a Fox News alert -- three, two, one, it is 9:00 in the East. It is 6:00 out in the West Coast, 352 delegates are up for grabs in six states tonight in the Democratic primary.

Fox News is projecting Joe Biden will win Missouri and Mississippi. Polls have just now finally closed in Michigan. And Fox News can make a call in that race. My opening monologue in just a minute.

But, first, we head to our decision desk. Bret and Martha standing by with the big news.

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Hey, Sean, it is 9:00 in New York. And Fox News decision can now project that vice president, former Vice President Joe Biden, will beat Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the crucial state of Michigan, which Sanders won, of course, four years ago.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: It is the biggest victory of the night for Biden who earlier, as you said, Sean, won Mississippi and also Missouri. The Fox projection is based on our polling of both early voters and those who cast their ballots today, as well as data from sample precincts.

We're going to be back with updates throughout the evening and we will have an 11:00 p.m. roundup of all of the election news tonight, Sean, as we send it back to you.

HANNITY: All right. Bret and Martha, thank you.

We now bring in our own Bill Hemmer now for who is going to -- who is going to be impacted delegate-wise in terms of the delegate count. You get to 15 percent, it's proportionate distribution of delegates.

Bill, what do you got? Bill Hemmer is somewhere.

BILL HEMMER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Sean, I can hear you. You want to hang with me a moment here?

HANNITY: Of course, I do.

HEMMER: I'm going to tell you a story. OK? Tell you a story that I'm seeing here that is very significant for people to understand.

I'll take you to Michigan. I want you to focus on two things, Sean. This is right now, your 41 percent of the vote, Biden, we've already called for him over Bernie Sanders. But this is where Sanders is underperforming and Biden is over-performing.

Very significant, too, this is Washtenaw County, university of Michigan. Bernie Sanders was there Saturday night, 15,000 people. The congresswoman, AOC, was there as well. Bernie is 49 percent over Joe Biden. But four years ago, this is where Sanders was in the same county. He was at 55 percent. He's 5 percent underperforming at the moment, four years later.

This is Detroit, Wayne County. Oakland County is just north other, suburbs, critical in the fall, right? We talk about the suburbs in Virginia, the suburbs out of Detroit. Joe Biden is almost at 50 percent of the vote there in Oakland County. Four years ago, Hillary Clinton was doing 51 percent.

Again, Biden is overperforming in some of these critical areas in Michigan. Now, hang with me a moment, Sean, OK? Because here is your calendar in March. In two weeks, you have the Georgia primary, 105 delegates in two weeks.

Next week, we have some big ones, too. You got Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Ohio. Florida is the biggest one of all next Tuesday at 219 delegates. Here's what we find in terms of polling in Florida. As of today, Sean, in the state of Florida, Joe Biden is clocking 61 percent. Even if it's not accurate, if it's close to being accurate, you can make a fair argument for the following way the race is -- the race is shaping up today.

All of this area in the Southeast, we called Mississippi for Joe Biden. Look what he did in Alabama, 63 percent of the vote there. Ten days ago, remember, Sean, it was only ten days ago, South Carolina. Ten days ago he was almost 50 percent of the vote in South Carolina.

My point is you can now start to make an argument for Georgia in two weeks, maybe Florida next week and the whole part of this country goes Joe Biden's way. It's starting to shape up a race in favor of the former vice president in a significant way.

He's outperforming Bernie Sanders in places where he should not if Sanders wants to catch up -- Sean.

HANNITY: All right. Great analysis. Bill Hemmer at our big board. We'll be checking in throughout the evening.

That tells the story tonight. We'll bring you those live updates throughout the hour as this critical primary night does unfold. As it stands now, quid pro quo Joe has pretty much cemented his frontrunner status over Bolshevik Bernie Sanders.

But Joe Biden is struggling. There's no doubt in anybody's mind. Everybody sees it. The media mob and Democratic Party may try to ignore it. It is now official and it is beyond alarming if we're going to be honest and truthful as a country.

Frankly, it's even hard to watch. The confusion, the inability to finish thoughts, the never-ending daily gaffes, the bursts of outrage and anger should concern every American tonight, as it looks like he will be the Democratic nominee. And this should be regardless of any political view.

We now on multiple occasions, he's now forgotten Barack Obama's name. He confused his wife for his sister. He called Super Tuesday "Super Thursday". He mixed up Chris Wallace for Chuck Todd, which was an insult to Chris Wallace.

He said that 150 million Americans died from gun violence. Not true. He told a crowd in South Carolina he was running for the Senate. And I can go on and on.

As a matter of fact, well, we have examples just from the past few weeks. We have our list. It's ongoing. You can read it at the side of your screen.

Now, he cannot control his agitation. And this became apparent again earlier today. Totally enraged Joe Biden when a construction worker at an auto plant dared to ask him about this clip. We're going to show you the clip first because it turns out, the construction worker at the auto plant was right about Biden talking about taking assault rifles.

Here's the clip that proves the guy is right which we'll play in a second.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So to gun owners out there that say a Biden administration means they're coming for my guns.

JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Bingo, you're right if you have an assault weapon. The fact of the matter is, they should be illegal, period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Illegal, period, he said it. So, maybe Biden again just doesn't remember saying that. He only said it in August of 2019.

Maybe he doesn't remember that he recently anointed Bozo Beto O'Rourke to lead his gun confiscation policy. Remember, Bozo is the same guy who said hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15s, or in Joe's case, 14s.

And yes, maybe Biden doesn't remember or maybe just can't control his temper, whatever the case may be, what I'm about to show you should be concerning to every American. This is one incident of many incidents that have been taking place. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WORKER: You are actively trying to end our Second Amendment right and take away our guns.

BIDEN: You're full of (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

Shush! Shush!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: You're full of -- the only problem is, the construction worker at an auto plant was 1,000 percent right. His point is valid. And Joe says he's full of beep and he wants his vote. And then aggressively he shushed his staffer.

Now, watch this part. And that's not all. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I support the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment -- just like right now, if you yelled "fire", that's not free speech.

From the very beginning -- I have a shotgun, I have a 20-gauge, a 12-gauge. My sons hunt.

Guess what? You're not allowed to own any weapon. I'm not taking your gun away at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Joe Biden comparing the Second Amendment to yelling "fire" in a crowded room, uses an absurd liberal talking point. Oh, my sons love hunting and then says he's not trying to take away any guns when he was on tape saying that exact same thing, which then he immediately contradicts. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Take your AR-14s away.

WORKER: OK. This is no OK, all right.

BIDEN: Don't tell me that -- go outside with me.

WORKER: You're working for me, man.

BIDEN: I'm not working for you. Give me a break, man. Don't be such a horse's (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Your a horse's ass.

In all my life, I thought that I owned AR-15s. I didn't know they were 14s.

What you just saw was the frontrunner of the Democratic Party, their likely presidential candidate, shushing a woman that appears to be on his staff. By the way, who kind of seems to be trying to help him get out of another troubling situation.

Great way to treat people, trying to save you from yourself, Joe.

And then sticking his finger in the face of a construction worker at an auto plant calling him a horse's ass saying that he's full of bleep.

And according to one CBC reporter on the scene, Biden even threatened to slap the man. On top of it all, you just heard it, he can't distinguish between an AR-15 and 14. I don't have 14s. I have 15s.

Staff tried to rush him out of the room. Shush, get out of the way.

Normally, maybe not a big deal. But with Joe, it is now cumulatively a huge deal. This type of agitated behavior is part of an increasing, disturbing pattern.

In the past few months, he's called, let's see, one voter fat, a damn liar. Called a young woman a dog faced pony soldier. That's the tip of the iceberg. We have tape of all of it.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Iowa is a Democratic caucus. You ever been to a caucus?

No, you haven't. You're a lying dog faced pony soldier. You said you are, but -- now you got to be honest. I'm going to be honest with you.

You're a damn liar, man. That's not true. Nobody has ever said that. You want to check my shape? Let's do pushups together, man. Let's do whatever you want to do.

You said I set up my son to work in an oil company. Isn't that what you said? Get your words straight, Jack.

Look, fat, look, here's the deal -- here's the deal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to stop building and replacing pipelines.

BIDEN: You have to go vote for someone else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Go vote for someone else. New campaign slogan. Now, does that seem like the behavior of a grounded, balanced, lucid individual? Because Joe 30330 or on other occasions, Joe 233 -- better get it right, 30330, is running for the hardest, the most demanding, the most powerful job in the world. There's no harder job than being the president of the United States of America.

So I'll ask again, does this 77-year-old guy we're watching every day now, does he have the stamina, does he have the strength, does he have the focus, does he have the alertness, does he have the mental focus, mental toughness and even the mental stability to be president? It's a fair question.

Is this how he's going to treat world leaders? Quid pro Joe kind of looks frail to me. Is he going to invite Putin to a fight or pushup context or even little rocket man? Because I think, frankly, anyone will be able to kick his ass.

Now, it's so bad that the Biden campaign, they are trying to cover for quid pro quo Joe. They're trying to keep him out of the public spotlight. In other words, they're hiding him from the world.

A great campaign strategy. Hide your candidate. We can't trust what he's going to do or say. This is a disaster.

According to "The Washington Post", during his rally in St. Louis this weekend, Biden spoke for a whopping seven minutes. Seven minutes. I can see people waiting in line for hours to hear that in Kansas City. He spoke for, wow, 12 minutes.

And his longest speech of the weekend, it didn't hit the 15-minute mark. His big rally tonight in Ohio was cancelled after the campaign cited coronavirus concerns, although he will speak at a separate event in Philadelphia.

By the way, like father like son, Hunter Biden, he is using the coronavirus as an excuse. Remember, he denied paternity in a case down in Arkansas. Now, he's skipping out of child support hearing in Arkansas because of the coronavirus.

I would argue it's probably because he doesn't want to turn over his finances. That would expose him in the Burisma case and the China case, and whatever other countries was paying him millions with zero experience. And, by the way, Arkansas currently has zero cases of corona.

We get back to quid pro quo Joe. Right now, he cannot be trusted to speak more than seven minutes by his own campaign. And that seven minutes with a teleprompter. He wants to lead the free world.

Let's pause. Let's take that in. Let's think about that. Now, of course, when quid pro quo Joe actually does hold an event more than seven minutes, it's a struggle. Every time a struggle is guaranteed to ensue.

For example, Monday's rally in Detroit became totally derailed after an interruption from a few anti-NAFTA protesters. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I didn't -- are you a Donald Trump?

That's all right. Let him go. It's not a Trump rally. It's not a Trump rally. Let him go. Let him go. Let him go.

The Bernie bros are here. Let him go. Folks, folks, let him go. That's OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Herein lies another serious problem for quid pro quo Joe. He can't hide from what is a real horrific track record.

Look at your screen. Here's a few of Joe's top accomplishments. Let's see. NAFTA, disastrous trade deal. Oh, giving mullahs that chant "death to America", yes, let's give them $150 billion in cash and other currencies.

Remember Obamacare? He brags about Obamacare. Millions lost their doctors, millions lost their plans. We have 37 percent of the country that only has one exchange -- Obama exchange care option. That's it.

And our premiums, average family, did you save $2,500 on average? No. We're all paying almost 200 percent more.

And let's not forget the horrific economic track record. I tell it often, 13 million more Americans food stamps, eight million more in poverty, lowest labor participation rate since the 70s. Then, of course, we have the lowest homeownership rate in 50 years, we have the worst recovery since the ‘40s, more debt than the four previous administrations combined.

Not a good record compared to eight million new jobs under Trump. All new trade deals, we got the wall being built, we got promises made and kept on all those trade deals and guess what? America is doing better than ever, record low unemployment for every demographic in this country.

Now, by the way, an attack against the administration over a virus, apparently, that's fair game. And don't forget that around 17,000 Americans, yes, they died from H1N1. That was the swine flu virus. That was handled, you got it, under Biden-Obama.

Now, Biden also voted in favor of the Iraq war, but he did an interview and he told Lawrence O'Donnell over at MSDNC, state-run conspiracy television, he did vote for a war to prevent a war from happening. He voted for a war to make a war from happening. Excuse me? Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: The reason I voted the way I did was to try to prevent a war from happening because remember, the threat was the go to war. The argument was because Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. So he said that I need to be able to get the security council to agree to send in inspectors to put pressure on Saddam to find out whether or not he's using -- he's producing nuclear weapons.

At the time, I said, that's your reason? All right. I get it. That was the -- the rationale was, that's the way not to go to war, because I didn't believe he had those nuclear weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: I voted for a war so we wouldn't have a war. OK.

Now, it doesn't matter how short Biden's speeches get. He can't hide from his horrific track record. He can't hide from the fact that you're not getting a billion unless you fire the prosecutor investigating my zero experience son Hunter who, by the way, was paid millions. He can't hide the investigation ongoing that is happening in Ukraine. Donald Trump had nothing to do with it.

It's also happening with Senator Ron Johnson in the U.S. Senate. And, by the way, how many other millions of dollars did zero experience Hunter make there? That will be fair game in the next 238 days.

And he sure as hell can't hide the increasing amount of -- let's be charitable -- senior moments on the campaign trail.

In potential head-to-head matchup with President Trump, no stone will be left unturned. You the American people will be the ultimate jury. In 238 days, you have the opportunity to shock the world again.

Here now with reaction, FOX News contributor, Ari Fleischer, former White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus.

Good to see you both.

Ari, let's start with you tonight. Things he can't hide from. This is getting alarming, his behavior. The Democratic Party wants to admit it or not or the media mob wants to admit it, these moments are now troubling. A, he can't hide from the fact that he did leverage a billion dollars and bragged about it and his son was paid millions with no experience, and that's one with the tip of the iceberg. China is next, the countries after that.

He can't hide from the track record that I just mentioned as it relates to Iran and as it relates to the economy after eight years. So, he's probably the likely nominee tonight.

How does it shape out?

ARI FLEISCHER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it shapes up -- it shapes as a good donnybrook I think between Biden and Trump if that's what it comes down to.

First of all, I don't think it's over. I think it's in the late innings this year. It's late for Bernie to come back but it's not over.

But here is what is dogging Joe Biden going forward with his five-minute, seven-minute and 12-minute speeches. Is Joe Biden OK? Nobody gives five and seven, 12-minute running for speeches when they're running for president unless the staff gets you off the stage. That raises that question.

HANNITY: You know, and Reince, you've been out with President Trump. I mean, he has endless abundance of energy. He has more energy than 40 40- year-olds, for crying out loud. His rallies go on, ad-libs half way through, most of them. Well, that's the truth. I think the hardest job is being my teleprompter guy or being Trump's teleprompter guy, because I ad lib all over the place.

And the problem is, if you can't give more than a seven-minute speech, that means you're not up to run the job as president. Doesn't it mean if you're blunt and truthful and honest tonight?

REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, and one other tough job is being chief of staff, because I -- you know, the secret to my life has been -- people ask me, it's always outworking everyone around me. He truly is a person that I have not -- I had not been able to outwork. And I don't think John Kelly could, I don't think Mick could, I don think Mark Meadows can. It is really difficult.

But here's the thing, like to your point, it's not really a weekend at Bernie's type campaign, but it's something like that, where if you're the Biden campaign -- and this is real. It's not satire, they're going to hide Biden, they're going to have hit totally scripted. We have a very simple campaign.

They talk a little bit about gun violence, a little bit about healthcare, but it's all going to be about Donald Trump. A referendum up or down on Donald Trump. So, they're going to give the ball to the Trump campaign.

And what the Trump campaign is going to do and hopefully what they're going to do is what you just said, which is talk about all the great things that have happened, the economy, jobs, wages, ISIS, the world is safer, America is safer, stronger. And they're going to give us all the time on the clock. So, we're going to have to remind the American people the truth because they're going to sit back and wait and put the referendum on the ballot and say, hey, do you like Donald Trump? You want Donald Trump, yes or no? That's the election right there.

HANNITY: All right. So, now, these moments, issues of corruption. His record is now front and center. Whatever is going on with Biden and I think the American people can see it all in spite of the media basically having a blackout on these moments, Ari, it doesn't look good. They're not starting from a position of strength by any stretch of the imagination.

So, if you're running the Biden campaign, what are you advising him tonight?

FLEISCHER: Give five-minute speeches. I really think there's something about Joe Biden when you see all these gaffes, the question is the old Joe Biden that use put together a relatively coherent sentence or the new Joe Biden who really is stumbling and bumbling every day that he's on the stump. If it's the latter, which it seems to be, you have to hide him. Everything is a canned, staged event.

The Biden advantage is going to be the mainstream media, Sean. This is where there will be a segment of the left that is barely ever going to want to see these gaffes and stumbles. They don't have reason to wonder about his capacity because they won't see it. That's the real problem. It means the Trump campaign has to tell everybody.

HANNITY: All right. Last word, Reince?

PRIEBUS: Yes, and I think Ari is right. Biden is surviving because he's surviving on the 2012, 20 -- you know, 2008 Joe Biden. Not the 2016, 2020 Joe Biden. So, that's his survival. So, you limit his exposure and you keep the 2012 Joe Biden in the minds of the American people. That's what they're going to try to do.

HANNITY: All right. Ari Fleischer, Reince Priebus, thank you both.

Now, let's turn to an important update surrounding coronavirus. Without a doubt, this is a critical issue. We care about every American life. Wouldn't it be great if our scientists, our medical researchers, the best in the world, those that advance our lives, cure our diseases, advance treatments, you know what, wouldn't it be great if we could cure everything one day?

They're in the process of doing all of that. We have the best people working on behalf of the American people to keep us all healthy. Great people. Thank you if you're in that industry.

But the weaponization, politicizing, the hysteria surrounding in this particular case, coronavirus, it is reckless, it is responsible, it is dangerous.

Here's just one example, courtesy of "New York Times." remember them? Yes, that would be the newspaper that said it's the Trump virus and if you're feeling terrible, you know who to blame.

Here's Bret Stephens. He's a little later than his colleagues. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRET STEPHENS, NEW YORK TIMES: When coronavirus broke out in China, people said, this is China's Chernobyl. Actually, it's Donald Trump's Chernobyl because there's some things you can't lie and spin your way through, above all, something like a virus which is out of control, just as the Soviet government couldn't lie its way through atomic particles going through the air in Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Now, here's what we discovered on this show based on the investigation. We've been right for three years and the things we've told the American people. Those people are lying and peddling conspiracy theories and hoaxes. But the exact same people who pushed Russia, Russia, Russia, Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine, impeach, impeach, impeach -- those exact same people, we've identified them as the leaders in politicizing a virus, and scaring Americans and, of course, blaming Donald Trump.

If the dog bites, bee stings, you're feeling sad, blame Trump. We're going to show you all the worst examples coming up tonight. But, first, let's lay out some key facts because truth matters, context matters, especially when you talk about a disease that puts fear in the hearts of people.

Now, that's what we do on the show because we want truth. We're not the media mob. You think working together to keep Americans safe, this is not - - you know, we might agree on this. Apparently not with Trump rage psychosis unfortunately.

So far in the United States, there's been around 30 deaths, most of which came from one nursing home in the state of Washington. The average age of mortality is 80 in this country. And the most at risk, and this is very important, are older people with underlying medical issues, the elderly. And, people, by the way, you know, that have compromised immune systems.

People getting chemotherapy, that are in need of -- have some type of immune deficiencies. Healthy people, generally, 99 percent recover very fast, even if they contract it.

And, by the way, still any deaths are tragic. We want everybody to live. Put it in perspective. 26 people were shot in Chicago alone over the weekend. I doubt you heard about it. You notice there's no widespread hysteria about violence in Chicago. And this has gone on for years and years and years.

By the way, Democratic-run cities, we see a lot of that. Meanwhile, senior director --senior director of infection prevention, Johns Hopkins University, just wrote "as of yesterday, the flu is showing much more of an impact on Americans than coronavirus." The flu.

Now, again, perspective. The standard flu every single year kills tens of thousands of Americans. Now, does truth matter? Does perspective matter?

Well, I wish nobody died from the flu. I hope nobody else dies from coronavirus. We don't want any people dying. I lost my parents. It sucks.

At the very epicenter of coronavirus in China, new cases are now in a dramatic decline. About the 80,000 hospitalizations in China, 56,000 released, 19,000 are on their way to getting well. They lost 3,000 people. Three thousand is a lot.

In this country, H1N1, we lost over 14,000 people. This is the China coronavirus.

By the way, not enough has been said about this. China has not been forthcoming. They've not been helpful. We could have been there from the very beginning. They weren't telling us the truth. They've not helped the world.

And according to multiple reports, China has muzzled their own scientists, suppressed information. Finally, I talked to my sources. They're now accepting some American expertise in health that they denied in the beginning.

They're even spreading conspiracy theories. The United States and Donald Trump is to blame for the creation of coronavirus. I told you that was going to come and I was kind of making it up last night. I said you watch. Next thing you'll say, Donald Trump created it with Putin in a laboratory with Ukrainians and Russians.

Let's be clear. The disease started in the Wuhan area, province area of China. The totalitarian government there grossly mishandled the situation. Now, the entire world is paying for China's widespread negligence this needs to be dealt with, but later.

Meanwhile here at home, look what the Trump administration has done. They've taken unprecedented aggressive action to slow the disease and to save lives and prevent Americans from contracting the disease. By far end of sentence, the single best decision that was made for the safety of the American people so they wouldn't contract this disease was made by the president.

We identified corona January 7th. Three short weeks later after we identified it, the president unprecedented, he issued in record time a travel ban from China. Oh, he also implemented mandatory quarantines which hasn't happened in a long time, decades, almost from day one.

Now, OK. Where were the Democrats on this? Biden was calling the president and his decision for a travel ban, he's xenophobic.

These are two key actions, the most important decisions from the get-go that likely prevented thousands of Americans from contracting this virus. By the way, no Democrat would do it. Bernie said he wouldn't have done it. Joe excoriated the president from doing it.

Then fake news CNN says we're going to stigmatize the people from other countries. Probably would be worse in the president did not act that quickly. By the way, it was the fastest ever implementation in history.

More recently, the president signed off, let's see, $8 billion response package. We need it. Good. Let's help Americans. Now the president has said he will help, offer tax relief, financial aid for those industries.

For example, if you work in the cruise industry, you're doing to be impacted by this. We're going to help you.

By the way, maybe you're an hourly wage worker. We're going to help you too. If you're not feeling well, we'll make sure that your job will be safe and that you will get the money you deserve so you're not put in a crisis.

Now, some might say, well, we didn't have enough test kits. OK, that has been rectified in just the last week. We now have the test kits. They're all going out.

The overwhelming response to this disease has been aggressive and thorough from day one. And recently, even the liberal governor, I have to give a shout out, I never thought I'd do this on this program, that guy, Gavin Newsom, praising President Trump and his current response. He told reporters, the administration said and did everything I could have hoped for and they followed through on all of their promises.

Now, the coronavirus pose as lot of serious risks and a lot of serious challenges. This is not, though, the end of days. It's not the end of the world. Sadly, these viruses pop up time to time. Pandemics happen, time to time.

Here with reaction, Fox News correspondent at large, Geraldo Rivera, Fox News contributor Dan Bongino.

OK, H1N1 is a good indicator. OK. By the time, we lost a thousand Americans and 20,000 contracted the disease, Geraldo, now, the health and human services secretary of Obama-Biden said -- say it's an emergency to get funds. But the official emergency by the president was six months later, 1,000 dead Americans.

I don't remember this hysteria, do you?

GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT-AT-LARGE: No, there was not the same hysteria. There was some. I mean, swine flu, Ebola, West Nile virus. In each case, there was an initial, real apprehension, real anxiety. And then things calmed down when people realized that the federal government had control of the situation.

When you look at the panel the president has put together led by Vice President Pence, you have Anthony Fauci coming up from the National Institutes of Health. He's on the panel. The CDC on the panel. The surgeon general is on the panel.

They're doing everything possible, they're extremely competent and they are doing an excellent job. I think that they will calm people as the -- you know, we're going to go up before we go down in terms of the number of cases. The more we soothe people now but we want people to use precautions. Wash your happened. Stop shaking hands.

I want you to tell the president, when you talk too him tonight, that Geraldo said, Mr. President, for the good of the nation, stop shaking hands. It's a bad example. We don't need it. I know you're brave and all the rest of it.

You want to be engaged. Fine. We get it. You're doing a terrific job. Now, everybody follow the same simple steps.

HANNITY: I don't want to shake your hand, Geraldo. I mean, I'm kidding. We'll do the elbow. The Hannity elbows.

Dan knows about it because he's a martial arts guy like I am. Just basic common sense. Listen, if there's any good news here, it is the 99 percent, if God forbid you contract it, you'll be fine. We have to worry about mostly the elderly, those with underlying medical conditions, compromised immune systems.

But what they're doing, you know, Dan, is unconscionable, what we're saying. The same people that did Russia, lies for three years. Ukraine. Impeach. Same cast of characters.

DAN BONGINO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: No, it's been abhorrent, Sean. I mean, think about this, the media's primary focus, a lot of them, not all, but their primary focus among some of them, some over at MSNBC, has been to call you racist if you refer to it as the Wuhan virus.

This isn't a joke, this is -- I'm not talking about B teamers. I'm talking about prominent personalities on other networks that are concerned about calling people racist that refer to a virus that originated in Wuhan like the Ebola virus originated near the Ebola River, and Ebola Zaire, one of the sub-species, near Zaire. I mean, this is phenomenal. This is like a new low.

But what is the important take-away from this, Sean, why focusing on that, there's an opportunity cost. Think about what they're not focusing on. Telling the public what the Trump administration is doing to clear up regulations to allow these tests to get out there.

Ambassador Birx mentioned it today, lightning speed, getting regulations clear. Multiple tests overseas, on foreign soil for people before you get on a plane and come to this country. Are you hearing about that in the mainstream media? Probably not.

I'll give you one more. What about the nursing homes? Where a lot of the problems in nursing homes can be severe, but they told regulators, primary thing now, infection control. We're going to do this and we're going to stop this.

You're not hearing about that because they're calling it the Wuhan, the Wuhan virus is racist. This is what they're wasting their time on.

HANNITY: Last word, Geraldo.

It is the Wuhan virus. What are they going to say in West Nile?

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: West Nile, the West Nile River is near Uganda. That's you know, that's why they call it the West Nile virus.

Legionnaire's disease, the American Legion Convention in Philadelphia. Lime disease, Lime, Connecticut.

You know, come on, China. Get over it.

But one thing this has revealed, Sean, and this is very important, this epidemic has revealed that we are dependent on China for many of our vital pharmaceuticals. How can that be? How come we rely on our strategic enemy for our -- something as vital as antiviral medication?

HANNITY: Who is stopping that?

RIVERA: Anti -- we need a strategic reserve in pharmaceuticals like we have a strategic reserve in oil.

HANNITY: All right, guys. Thank you both, Dan, Geraldo.

Now, the Trump administration has taken unprecedented, bold action to combat the coronavirus. The mob and the media can't help but they echo their colleagues in the Democratic Party, using what is a serious health threat to bludgeon President Trump.

Of course, if he cured cancer, they would impeach him for that. How many times have I warned you about that?

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC HOST: This is the worst case scenario that you get from a government that doesn't know what they're doing and is willing to lie to the people about things that will keep them alive.

JOHN BRENNAN, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Donald Trump who throughout his life he looked at the world through a prism of how things affect his personal and financial political fortunes. I wonder if he's capable to put the country's well-being first.

JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": The government is there to protect you from terrorism, health -- just exactly this thing. This is the function of government and how government is screwing up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This may be Donald Trump's Katrina. This is an event that could take down a president.

CHUCK TODD, MEET THE PRESS: The Iran hostage crisis was the final year of Carter's presidency. Not his fault but it's a test in real time.

JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC HOST: The president is doing nothing but playing in his political sandbox while this virus continues to spread silently across America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Same people lied to you for three years, claiming the president colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election, the same people. We've got the evidence. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MADDOW: We're about to find out if the new president of country is going to do what Russia wants when he's commander-in-chief of the U.S. military.

BRENNAN: I think he's afraid of the president of Russia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?

BRENNAN: Well, I think one can speculate as to why. The Russians may have something on him personally.

BEHAR: Do we have to wait until the hammer and sickle is on the American flag before we stand up to this guy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it turns out that Donald Trump stole the election that he conspired with the Russians to undermine our democracy.

TODD: I'm obsessed with how many fingers the hand of Russia had in Donald Trump's world.

SCARBOROUGH: Donald Trump is either an agent of Russia or he's a useful idiot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Joining us now, senior adviser to Donald J. Trump for President, Lara Trump, is with us.

Lara, good to see you. Thank you for coming back.

The exact same people --

LARA TRUMP, SENIOR ADVISER, DONALD J. TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT: Yes.

HANNITY: -- the exact thing.

And yet, your father-in-law, nobody ever acted faster and he got crushed for the travel ban and quarantine.

L. TRUMP: Yes, absolutely.

Well, the good news, Sean, is none of these people have any credibility left because what you just heard there is it's so obvious to the American people. They've been lying to you for years about everything to do with Donald Trump.

The truth for anybody that has been paying any attention is that while the Democrats were busy still trying to impeach Donald Trump, he took decisive action. He made sure that people were not coming into this country on flights from infected areas of China. He, of course, got called racist for that because that's the default for Donald Trump whenever these people don't know what to say about him because he's actually doing the job that the people elected him to do.

But you have to look at other things, Sean. You know, the president constantly gets hit by the left and by the mainstream media for having strong borders on our southern border. This is a perfect example of why you want strong borders. You got to know whenever you have a pandemic situation going around the world that it's not going to come here to the United States.

These people have no credibility. It's absolutely ridiculous. You heard none of them -- I heard you talk about this earlier. H1N1, it took six months for the Obama administration and 1,000-plus deaths before anything really happened in this country. Yet, it was crickets from the mainstream media.

It's so obvious what's going on to people. Donald Trump and the administration have done an amazing job here.

HANNITY: OK, fastest travel ban quarantine implemented in history, billions of dollars already done. Billions now going to industries impacted record time. Money for workers impacted. Our scientists, we know coronavirus dangerous to one group of people.

Does this backfire again?

L. TRUMP: Oh, they look so stupid. When this is all over and the economy rebounds and everything is back to normal, these people have completely lost any support that they had out there. Their ratings are going to go even lower if that's possible, Sean. So, too bad for them.

HANNITY: All right. All right. It's about the truth, especially when it's our health. We've got -- we've got to give people the truthful information.

L. TRUMP: That's right.

HANNITY: Lara, thank you.

All right. When we come back, New York has created a, quote, containment area in one part of the state because of coronavirus and the outbreak. We'll have a full report.

Also, Dr. Anthony Fauci, he's the adult in the room. Well, we know everyone is worried. Well, we'll ask him the things you need to know for your family to protect your family. The truth, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: FOX News alert. Today, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the state would establish a containment area in a New York suburbs in order to combat the virus.

Joining us now is the member of the White House's Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Dr. Fauci, I have a lot of respect for you. You've been around many administrations and done a lot of work.

I want to do a quick lightning round and then I want you to expand out so people fully understand.

The travel ban and --

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: Yes.

HANNITY: -- the quarantine that the president did within three weeks. Do you believe --was the fastest ever, do you believe it likely prevented thousands of Americans from contracting the virus and was a smart thing to do? And the president --

FAUCI: Yes, I think there's no question. Yes, there's no question that if we had not done that in a timely way, there would have been many more travel-related cases from China. And as you know, the outbreak that we're having here in the country, these cases originated from travel-related cases that came from China and the then we had the issue in Washington state and what we're seeing now in other states.

So, coming from outside within was the thing that started it. So, I think doing that saved us a lot of -- a lot of concern and a lot of suffering, I think.

HANNITY: And that was fairly unprecedented. You've been around for a lot of these pandemics, a lot of these viruses.

You do this for a living. You're a professional guy, professional virus guy.

FAUCI: Right.

HANNITY: But it was unprecedented. You've never seen anything like it. I've never seen anything like it, right?

FAUCI: Well, no, I have not. The reason is that there's a lot of skepticism about whether when you do a travel ban, whether or not you're really going to interfere with any aspect of an outbreak, because you might delay it, but what's going to happen is that you'll wind up having a big outbreak anyway. That's true. When you have multiple different countries at the same time who have outbreaks and you can't exclude the entire world.

But the unique situation with China back at the end of December, the beginning of January, was that they were the sole source of that at first. And to block them from coming in was unquestionable the right move. Even though it was a controversial move, it was the right move.

HANNITY: Well, the president was called xenophobic. We're in a political season, so everything has to be seen through that prism of politics. In 238 days, there's an election.

But now, we have approved billions of dollars for every aspect of this. The president and his economic team have put aside -- putting aside money specifically for industries directly impacted, for hourly workers that are impacted. So, if they're not feeling, they're not going to lose their job. There are no co-pays to get a test.

That's fairly unprecedented, too. Did the president do the right thing in a timely manner on these issues?

FAUCI: Well, the reason for that, it was an important decision. You know, we discussed that about the kinds of things that would happen if you say the way that you mitigate an outbreak is that if a person is infected or exposed, they need to stay home. And when they stay home for the incubation period, if you have an hour by hour job, it becomes untenable for you.

So, in order to make it that you give an even playing field to someone, to give them the opportunity that if they want to abide by the recommendations that we make the public health recommendations, they have to have some sort of safety net. Otherwise, it wouldn't work.

HANNITY: Yes.

FAUCI: So the decision was made, we're going to give those people backup and that's what we did.

HANNITY: Let me -- I have one more very important question. So, is it -- so the average age mortality for corona is 80. So, it -- this virus is --

FAUCI: Right.

HANNITY: -- impacting people with compromised immune systems, underlying other medical conditions are the most vulnerable. What about the other 99 percent? If people got the virus, worst case scenario, how dangerous is it to them --

FAUCI: Well, you know --

HANNITY: -- compared maybe to the regular virus -- regular flu?

FAUCI: OK. So that's a good question. About 80 percent of the people that get infected will do well. They'll get sick. They're going to be uncomfortable. They're not going to feel well. But they're going to spontaneously recover.

About 15 percent of them, according to the data from China, Korea, et cetera, that those are individuals that are going to get into trouble and the mortality in that group is very high.

But, Sean, to make sure your viewers get an accurate idea about what goes on, you mentioned seasonal flu. The mortality for seasonal flu is 0.1. The mortality for this is about 2, 2.5 percent. It's probably lower than that. It's probably closer to 1.

But even if it's 1, it's ten times more lethal than the seasonal flu. You got to make sure that people understand that.

HANNITY: No, no, no. I think -- now, are we doing everything possible that you would do up to this point?

FAUCI: You know, I believe so. I mean, always, when you have an outbreak, there's a little bit of the fog of war associated with that. You're trying to do the right thing, you're trying to keep up with an evolving situation.

But I think in the context --

HANNITY: All right.

FAUCI: -- of what we're being challenged with, I think everybody is doing really well.

HANNITY: All right. Dr. Fauci, you're a voice of reason. Thank you for being with us.

The architect, Karl Rove. Can Bolshevik Bernie come back? Straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Now, more election results moments away. Breaking moments ago, James Clyburn of South Carolina told NPR, the DNC should step in and cancel the rest of the debates so, oh, Biden doesn't do anything risky. Karl Rove joins us on that in the whiteboard.

It's all yours, Karl.

(MUSIC)

KARL ROVE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Good evening.

HANNITY: They're afraid he will make a mistake. Cancel those debates quick.

ROVE: Yes, that would just inflame Sandernistas even more, and it'd be -- it'd make them even -- more difficult enough to unite the party. It's already going to be difficult enough because Bernie is not a conventional Democrat and he's not going to act like a conventional politician in all this.

HANNITY: All right. What do you got tonight, Karl? Can Bolshevik come back?

ROVE: Yes. Well, it's going to be hard for Bernie, and this is why. This is coming in tonight. Biden has 670 delegates. He needs 1,321 for the nomination, which means that going into tonight, he only needed to win 51.4 percent of all the delegates who remain, about 60 percent of the delegates remain to be chosen tonight and in subsequent weeks.

But he's running ahead of that in Missouri. He's like 63 percent. In Michigan, he's 57 percent.

He's on the verge of taking all the delegates in Mississippi unless Sanders who's at 14.9 percent can inch above the 15 inch mark, in which case he'll take a larger chunk of the delegates.

But right now, Biden is on the verge of taking virtually all, if not all of Mississippi's delegates.

Now, Sanders on the other hand, he got 574. He needs 1,417. That means he's got to win 55.1 percent of all the delegates starting tonight and to the rest.

He's not going to win -- he ain't going to win it tonight. We don't know what Washington state and Idaho and North Dakota look like. But the three contests that are in -- he's not going to -- he is well below that 55 percent number.

And next week is not going to be any better. He lost all four states last time around who are going to vote next week.

HANNITY: Karl, real quick --

ROVE: Arizona, Illinois, Florida -- and yes, sir?

HANNITY: What about Joe Biden? It's obvious. He's got problems here. Seven- minute speeches, 12-minute speeches, nothing more than 15. And now, well, shush him away.

ROVE: Yes, no, they're trying to find the right way to handle all this, but it's clear he's got difficulties stringing together two sentences. And, you know, frankly, this all -- the coronavirus may give him a respite he needs. They need to get his act together or he's going to have big problems by the time the fall rolls around.

HANNITY: All right. Karl Rove's whiteboard is brought to you by -- we should get a sponsor for this. That's a great idea.

ROVE: Yes, we should. Yes, it'd be nice of you to say sponsor, but it's my white board. It's not your whiteboard. You keep claiming you're going to send them to me and they've never shown up.

HANNITY: I ordered you a whiteboard, wait until you see it.

ROVE: Oh, yes, right, right. Well, I brought two of my own from Texas.

HANNITY: Oh, no, no, you have to use mine. You have to use mine.

ROVE: No, no, forget it. Not happening, because you had your chance, my friend. These are sponsored by the Texas Cowboys and the Houston Texans.

HANNITY: All right. Karl Rove, thank you.

When we come back, oh, Hunter is using the coronavirus to not be deposed or give over financial information on the paternity case, ah, in a state where they have no known cases of coronavirus. Trace Gallagher, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Hunter Biden's attorneys -- they are saying he cannot appear for his deposition for financial information about the paternity case in Arkansas because of the coronavirus. His wife is due to give birth.

Unfortunately, no coronavirus outbreaks thankfully in Arkansas. Sounds like an excuse.

All right. We'll always tell you the truth, fair and balanced. No hysteria here.

Let not your heart be troubled. Laura Ingraham is live right now.

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