This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," June 20, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: All right, Tucker. Great show as always.

Welcome to “Hannity.”

Buckle up. All eyes are on the Middle East. Early this morning, a U.S. surveillance drone flying above the Straits of Hormuz over international waters shot out of the sky by an Iranian missile, this act of aggression is not going to stand. The president is putting the mullahs of Iran on notice. Tonight, they should be very, very worried. This was a bad idea.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: Iran made a big mistake. This drone was in international waters. Clearly, we have it all documented. It's documented scientifically, not just words. And they made a very bad mistake.

REPORTER: How will you respond?

TRUMP: You'll find out.

REPORTER: Are you willing to have a war with Iran?

TRUMP: You'll find out. You'll find out.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Obviously, obviously, you know, we're not going to be talking too much about it. You're going to find out. They made a very big mistake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Yes, Iran made a very big mistake. They will pay.

But, tonight, the president is clearly giving the mullahs an opening to pick up the phone and come clean in their hostile behavior. I like that patience. What about all the liberals who said Donald Trump is rogue and we can't trust him? OK, he's being very patient.

Now, after meeting at the White House, Congressional Republicans, they released a statement. Quote: Iran directly attacked a United States asset over international waters, this provocation comes after they attacked and destroyed two commercial tankers in international waters. This provocation comes a week after they attacked and destroyed two commercial tankers in international waters. There must be a measured response to these actions.

Hmm, how do we define measured?

President Trump does not want war. He's said so clearly during the campaign. He's not interested in another, you know, years and years-long international entanglement, I don't expect one.

But in coming days, we will know if the mullahs are smart enough to take the opportunity which is a small window -- it may not even exist within five minutes. Because if they don't, the president will have no choice, he will bomb the hell out of them.

No need for a long protracted boots on the ground kind of war. We have the greatest military, thank God, on the face of this earth. We have the most advanced weapon system, and a strong message needs to be sent that a huge price will be paid if you take on the United States of America.

Simple peace through strength and it works. My strong opinion, it is imperative that we as a country develop what I call the next generation of military weaponry. We have learned from Vietnam. We have learned from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sadly, wars we get involved in quickly become politicized. They do not end as they should with complete victory. We don't want our kids going door- to-door like they did in Iraq and having Democrats say come home and then being told, never mind, we didn't mean it.

America needs the single most advanced weaponry for all future conflicts. I'd prefer we devastate our enemies from Tampa, Florida. That generation of weaponry is something we need to advance as a country quickly and expeditiously.

Thankfully, tonight, we are in a new era. The weak, feckless Biden-Obama foreign policy is long dead and gone. There will be no more shipments of $150 million in cash and other currency, and cargo planes headed for the mullahs in Tehran.

There will be no more bribes. There will be no European frolics for John Kerry. There will be no United Nations.

This is now a different time. There will be hell to pay, and the world is watching. China tonight is watching. Russia tonight is watching.

What happens in Iran will have ramifications all over the world. The North Koreans are watching.

This brings us now to a quick “Hannity” history lesson. It is no mystery why Iran is acting out. Why? In 2015, how this happened I cannot explain, it is inexplicable.

The single dumbest foreign policy deal ever made in the history of this country, Biden-Obama literally loosened economic sanctions on Iran after they had a chance to support young freedom fighters, the younger generation that wanted help that were quoting Jefferson and Washington and our framers and founders -- and, yes, Biden-Obama gifted the radical Islamic mullahs of Iran $150 billion in cash and other currency. In exchange, the Iranian government, they made an unverifiable promise not to build a nuclear weapon for years, but they can do it in 10 years.

And, of course, the radical Islamic extremist government of Iran continued to fund terrorism as they always have all over the world, proxy wars. They continue to chant "death to Israel", "death to America". They continue to burn the American flag, the Israeli flag.

They are a hostile actor in the region. And thanks to Biden-Obama, well, they have a boatload of cash to spend, funding, fomenting terror around the world. All of this changed to January 20th 2017.

President Trump was inaugurated. He pulled the United States out of this horrific Iranian nuclear deal. He reimposed devastating sanctions and they are working.

Today, tonight, Iran feeling the effects of the president's policies, they are feeling it in a big way because of the reimposed sanctions. They are now facing years-long recession. 2018, their economy retracted by a whopping 4 percent. This year, the International Monetary Fund is predicting Iran will lose another 6 percent. Inflation also a massive issue in Iran, 2019 alone, inflation likely to top 40 percent.

Meanwhile, our economy is booming, and because of the president's efforts to unleash American energy, we are in the best position we have ever been in as it relates to any conflict in the Middle East. We are now shielded from the crisis because of course the lifeblood of every economy is oil and gas, not the New Green Deal. And the Iranian economy has lost the value as we have become energy independent.

We are now the number one producer of oil and natural gas. For the first time in 75 years, America is energy independent. We are a net exporter of energy.

In other words, we have their leverage. If we don't need the Straits of Hormuz as we once did and Iran is suffering economically. The Iranian people are growing more and more angry and frustrated with their radical government. Iran's armed forces cannot match the might of our military.

Now, the mullahs must see the riding is on the wall. They either stop funding terror, proxy wars, stop attacking ships in the Gulf of Oman, stop plotting the annihilation of Israel, our closest ally in the Middle East, and the United States.

If they do not end this hostility, if they do not stop, the mullahs of Iran will feel pain I predict like never before. And they will earn it. They will make it happen.

We'll have more of my monologue in a minute. First, joining us now, someone who just met with today Iran's chief spokesperson in the United Nations, our friend, Fox news correspondent Geraldo Rivera, and retired CIA senior intelligence officer, Fox News contributor, Dan Hoffman.

I'm assuming, Geraldo, this was a preplanned meeting. You didn't know this was going to happen.

GERALDO RIVERA, CORRESPONDENT-AT-LARGE: Well, we have met before. He has hooked me up with the foreign minister of Iran on a couple of occasions. Next month, we hope to bring some FOX News key personalities, yourself included, to meet the foreign minister of Iran.

I think what they are struggling with now is -- you know, they really believe, Sean, and I heard your monologue and your -- you know, as strong as you ever are on this topic -- they see it totally differently. They think they have absolute, graphic, undeniable proof that the drone was over their territorial waters. They have offered documentation on that, Sean. They say that this was an act of aggression --

HANNITY: Geraldo, they shot an American drone out of the air. They are not getting away with it.

RIVERA: Well, Sean, if indeed the drone was over Iranian airspace, then it's not a question of getting away with it. It's a question of self-defense.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Geraldo, wait a minute. The president was very clear, we pinpointed the exact location, it was international waters, and we had a right to be there just like those tankers had a right to be there.

And the radical Islamic mullahs of Iran that chant "death to Israel" and say they want to wipe Israel off the map and wipe the United States off the map are back to who they are -- fomenting terror.

RIVERA: They see it completely differently. They see it completely differently.

HANNITY: I don't care what they see. The truth is the truth.

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: Let's see their proof. Let's see their proof.

HANNITY: See their proof? OK, let them see our response.

RIVERA: Truth matters here. Facts matter. We shouldn't rush into another disastrous military conflict.

How many times do we have to go down this road? How many American lives have to be lost?

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: -- nearby in Iraq, 12 others in Afghanistan. I've seen the suffering of our G.I.s in combat. At least let's prove that they are in the wrong.

HANNITY: Geraldo, I never said boots on the ground. I said just the opposite.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: And this president was clear. He doesn't want this foreign entanglements where young Americans like 58,000 dead in Vietnam and all these kids that died didn't even have armored Humvees in Iraq in the early days, door to door. Those days are over because Washington can't fight a war without politicizing it.

But if you shoot an American missile or a drone out of the air and you attack tankers in the Straits of Hormuz, you're going to get the living crap bombed out of you.

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: The president was much more measured than you are being right now, Sean. The president was discreet in his comments.

HANNITY: I agree.

RIVERA: He was measured in his comments.

HANNITY: I'm measured too.

RIVERA: He is trying to give them a way to save their dignity and get up this crisis. I think he's standing up to John Bolton and the other hawks in the White House who want to drag us into a conflict.

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.

HANNITY: Did you not hear me? I did not say boots on the ground. I said there will be a price to pay and I want the next generation of weaponry -- and I will bring Dan in here -- where we never have to put boots on the ground because I don't trust the politicians in Washington to send these kids to war and have no intention of following through and winning the war anymore.

RIVERA: This is the perfect time to negotiate -- renegotiate the nuke deal the president doesn't like.

HANNITY: With radical terrorists really? The mullahs that want us dead? Mullah that kills our boys in Iraq, mullahs that foment terror, mullahs you want to drop another $150 billion on their tarmac?

RIVERA: Are you talking about Saudi Arabia?

HANNITY: I don't stand with Saudi Arabia either.

RIVERA: Every one of these madrassas, radical madrassas funded by the Saudis?

HANNITY: Geraldo, I am the most critical of Sharia on television in this country. The most critical.

RIVERA: I'm not blaming you, brother. I love you.

HANNITY: I love you, too.

RIVERA: But I'm telling you. Iran has a story to tell.

HANNITY: I don't really give a -- listen, they've been fomenting terror.

RIVERA: Careful.

HANITY: They have been fomenting terror, they killed Americans in Iraq.

RIVERA: When was the last time Iran killed an American? When was the last time?

HANNITY: Excuse me, in Iraq, they literally killed Americans, the evidence was incontrovertible and overwhelming.

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: In 1988, our guided missile cruiser Vincennes shot down an Iranian civil airline, 300 civilians were killed.

HANNITY: I want the next generation of military weaponry, Dan Hoffman, so we can't let these idiots in Washington decide to send them and back down. We've got to be able to blow them out of the water and they must pay if they take out a -- in this case -- a drone in international waters. And I'm not believing a word that these lying mullahs say.

DAN HOFFMAN, CONTRIBUTOR: OK. So, first, Sean, Geraldo, let's take the word of the United States government over the malign actor Iran --

HANNITY: Thank you.

HOFFMAN: -- as far as where our drone was located.

RIVERA: The way we took the word of the United States government in 2003, Dan?

HANNITY: Dan talks.

HOFFMAN: Yes. Well, in this case, I think, again, you have to remember Iran is the malign actor and they have a history of launching increasingly escalatory kinetic action in the gulf.

This is all about leverage. They do want us to return to the Iran nuclear deal but on their terms. And we have driven their economy into freefall, their currency is worth nothing, and that's why they have threatened us with nuclear blackmail.

Back on May 8th, they said they would begin enriching uranium to weapons grade levels if they didn't receive relief from sanctions, we are crushing them. And that's what this is all about.

And the key date for me is going to be, as we head towards July 8th, does Iran start to weaponize their uranium? That's another point.

I think, Sean, the one thing I would highlight for this is my best guess on what we are doing in this administration, we are looking at a proportional response. They hit a drone.

HANNITY: Agree.

HOFFMAN: It wasn't one of our manned ships, where our servicemen and women --

HANNITY: I'll tell you this, though. I'm going to tell you this -- these mullahs that threatened to wipe Israel off the map, those that would think that when they drop bombs on their own kids and they send them to murder and kill and that they are going to be rewarded in heaven. You married that nuclear weapons, you are looking at a potential in our lifetime holocaust, Geraldo Rivera, that can never happen, ever happen.

RIVERA: Who, Sean, who, Sean, who pulled out of the nuclear deal? Who pulled out? It wasn't Iran that pulled out, it was the United States of America.

HANNITY: OK, Iran can't shoot down an American drone and if they do, there's going to be hell to pay. I don't want boots on the ground, period.

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: The difference between the Iranian story and the U.S. story, they say it was nine miles off the coast, we say it was 20 miles off the coast.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Yes, I believe Pompeo, I believe Haspel, and I believe President Trump over radical Islamic mullahs that chant "death to America, death to Israel".

RIVERA: John Bolton is a radical U.S. non-mullah.

HANNITY: All right.

HOFFMAN: Let's make one thing clear, Sean, on a treaty, on the nuclear deal. It didn't become a treaty because it didn't have enough support in the Senate, including among Democrats. It is extraordinary flawed and puts us at greater risk because it doesn't deal with Iran's ballistic missile threat or the terrorism that they support, as well as the sunset clauses.

So, we need to get them back to negotiations. That's what the president just said. It's the point of the sanctions.

RIVERA: That's a great idea. Let's get -- now, use this occasion to do the same thing.

HANNITY: After they paid a price.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: China is watching, Russia is watching, North Korea is watching.

RIVERA: We renegotiated NAFTA.

HANNITY: They'll not be able to get away with that.

I don't want one boot on the ground. I want the next generation of weaponry so our kids don't have to go to a war that Washington bureaucrats, you know, will politicize and pull out of, that's what I don't want.

All right. Thank you both.

The mullahs of Iran, they've never good people. Given the opportunity, yes, I believe they would wipe Israel and the United States off the map and think they are doing the will of God. Their radical form of Islamic extremism, it is dangerous, it is a real clear and present danger, it is scary, they have a history of fomenting war and terror and fighting proxy wars. They are never -- must never be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons.

But, today, sleepy creepy, the guy who helped give them $150 billion to bribe them, oh, well, he blamed President Trump for the hostility, a self- inflicted disaster. Yes, because you trained the mullahs to, if they act out, we'll give you money. You're an appeaser, Joe Biden. You and Obama gave $150 billion to radical mullahs who want to destroy us -- brilliant.

They in turn use the money we know to fund terrorism around the world and fight proxy wars. And, by the way, for a bunch of known liars that want to build a nuclear weapon and you got a ten-year promise but you don't even get real inspections, Iran vowed to quadruple the rate of Iranian enrichment, Obama and Biden failed this country and failed the entire world.

Thankfully, those days are over. Come November 2020, let's keep it that way. I will have a mini monologue on sleepy, creepy crazy Uncle Joe. That's coming up.

Joining us now, first, "Fox & Friends" co-host, Pete Hegseth, Salem nationally syndicated radio talk show host, Sebastian Gorka.

Pete, we'll start with you.

I know your time, your service to your country. You heard me and Geraldo. Your reaction?

PETE HEGSETH, "FOX & FRIENDS" WEEKEND CO-HOST: Yes. Listen, I know Geraldo, I love him but it sounded like he was spewing --

HANNITY: So do I.

HEGSETH: It sounded like he was spewing Iranian talking points, I mean, the Iranian perspective. The reality is the only reason we have international waters is the United States Navy. There is no U.N. navy. No one else is going to make sure that oil flows, that our ships are able to trade around the world -- it is us.

So, if we are confronted in that place, as this administration has been, we have to respond. It doesn't mean you start a war. We don't need boots on the ground but this Islamic Republic of Iran is not a republic at all. It is completely Islamist and they seek to control as much as they can.

And they want -- you know, the Obama administration, they knew they were dealing with weakness. So, these provocations bring us to the table on their terms.

In this case, you know this White House. And guess what? I think John Bolton is a patriot. I don't think John Bolton wants boots on the ground and some massive war in the Middle East.

I think he wants America to stand strong and respond proportionally to put Iranians on their heels and say these sanctions are going to work. They're going to make you hurt. We want you to hurt, so much that you have to come to the table on our terms, because you'll never have a nuclear weapon. We'll never allow it.

HANNITY: And, Dr. Gorka, I'm serious about this. We now have been involved in conflicts and it gets politicized after thousands of American kids, our treasure take up the task and go fight, bleed, and die and others disfigured and others lose limbs, lives changed forever and then Washington says never mind. I'm sick of that.

If we're not -- they don't have the will. We must develop the next generation of weaponry, we will fight the war from Tampa, and we will destroy the living crap out of anybody.

Now, it can be proportional. I have a rule in my own life. If you hit me, I'm going to hit you back ten times harder. Let's start there.

SEBASTIAN GORKA, SALEM RADIO'S "AMERICA FIRST" HOST: Yes, that's how it works.

First things first, can I congratulate you on the sleepy creepy? That's excellent. And we need to get that to the White House. That's Crooked Hillary level of branding. That's very good level of branding.

Can I just cut through all of this? Because there's so much garbage being spewed here, even by some people who are appearing on Fox shows. I actually had the title of strategist to the president, let me tell you about this president. He will never, ever deploy the 82nd Airborne onto the streets of Tehran. That is not Donald -- that is not Donald Trump.

And the idea that there is some malevolent conspiracy of dark neocons in the White House including John Bolton, Pete is absolutely right. It's garbage.

This is being spun by the people in the Ben Rhodes echo chamber. This is spun by Obama era holdovers in the State Department. John Bolton is a patriot and he will never, ever give a device that he doesn't think is sound to the president but the president makes the decision.

He built his campaign on two things, Sean. Build the wall, reform immigration, and stop the stupid wars. The idea that suddenly he is going to be suckered into something that his whole campaign was the antithesis of is just ridiculous.

HANNITY: Well, the problem is, I supported President Bush. I had actually -- for those that would like to know, I had a lot of loud debates and arguments with then-private citizen Donald Trump over it. But I felt it was necessary post-9/11, but I never thought Washington would do it again, and that's politicized the war.

But I don't have any faith or hope in any of these people, to be frank. So I think the only deterrent we now have is the next generation of weaponry.

Last word, Pete Hegseth.

HEGSETH: Yes, you can't let Iran get a nuke. That's it. You don't need the 82nd Airborne to stop that.

There is no debate, this White House is serious about it. Obama let them a slow roll path, this White House will not. So, it doesn't mean starting a ground war, it means preventing the mullahs from getting the weapon they want. That will happen.

HANNITY: A squared, B squared equals C squared.

GORKA: Trust the president.

HANNITY: Radical Islamic mullahs married to weapons of mass destruction, nukes, equals a potential holocaust.

HEGSETH: That's it.

HANNITY: We can't let that happen. That's it. It's mathematical.

Thank you both.

Coming up, Judicial Watch uncovering more damning emails, a lot of them, between Strzok and Page. Tom Fitton will explain.

Also, Congressman Mark Meadows, Congressman Devin Nunes, the Great One Mark Levin on the situation with Iran, and much more, as we continue tonight.

Please stay with us. A lot of breaking news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Judicial Watch is out with a new report tonight, quote: New Strzok-Page emails reveal FBI efforts to muddle Comey testimony and Clinton emails; FBI-media collusion.

Wow.

Joining us now with the latest, big developments investigating the investigators, great work once again by Judicial Watch and its president, Tom Fitton.

You've got a lot of information here. I will let you condense it and explain it to the audience.

TOM FITTON, PRESIDENT, JUDICIAL WATCH: Well, we are getting Strzok-Page communications. We're getting the emails. They've been playing games with the text messages.

But the emails show that James Comey testified about hundreds of thousands of emails on Anthony Weiner's laptop from the Clinton server and the FBI kind of went crazy because, evidently, they didn't like the number. They thought it might wrong. They weren't sure.

As you know, there's a debate about how many emails were there. So, they tried to muddy the record with Congress by sending them a letter that tried to walk it back but didn't. It shows again that the FBI was concerned about protecting Hillary Clinton.

And then you have emails concerning "The New York Times". There's a heads up from a "New York Times" reporter, Michael Schmidt, about an anti-Trump Russia story concerning Jared Kushner that he sent over to the FBI as a heads up, but not looking for a comment but just as a friendly, hey, you might want to pay attention to this.

It shows, again, collusion between the media and the Comey FBI, and then quite funnily in some ways or sadly, there is email traffic between Strzok and Page where they get into a spat over who sent what emails to whom about the grand jury that was looking into Hillary Clinton.

It shows you that the FBI under Comey was unethical mess, unprofessional, and their handling of these investigations deserved -- deserves another look-see.

HANNITY: Definitely we've got to get to it, we are getting more every single day and every single night. This Freedom of Information Act requests are yielding great revelations. Tom, thank you.

FITTON: You're welcome.

HANNITY: And as we reported on the show last night, according to "The Hill's" John Solomon, the FBI was warned early and often that a document relating to Paul Manafort known as the Black Cash Ledger could be fake. They're warned again and again and again, but just like the dossier of Christopher Steele, it was used anyway, like the dirty dossier, the Hillary bought and paid for Russian lies. Why? To justify investigating the Trump campaign.

Joining us now with reaction, House Intelligence Committee ranking member, Congressman Devin Nunes, House Freedom Caucus chairman, Congressman Mark Meadows.

By the way, without these two men, we never would've discovered this because abuse of power scandal in history and corruption scandal. Thank you both for your hard work.

REP. MARK MEADOWS, R-N.C.: Thank you.

HANNITY: Let's start first, Congressman Nunes. Let's start with your reaction to this new revelation, and more importantly, so they were warned again not to use information and they did it again. Why? How did they get away with that?

REP. DEVIN NUNES, R-CALIF.: I mean, this is obviously a new revelation. We did not know about this. There were rumors about this Black Ledger, that it wasn't true.

But, now, from what Solomon has learned, that people within the FBI clearly knew that this was just another dossier. I mean, if you look back at the last two and a half years, this is like dossier fever. Everybody has got a dossier that they were paying for, they were getting from Russians. And, you know, dossier, it's going to go down as fake news. That all of this was just planted into the FBI and used.

Now, look, I think Paul Manafort still has a lot of explaining to do, but the question is look -- if this investigation was poison from the beginning, it raises real questions the American people need answers to.

HANNITY: Well, I think we do. By the way, you mentioned that pervy Democrats were grilling Hope Hicks about her love life and the president said Democrats wanted pictures of Hope Hicks that they could post online? What -- what's that all about?

NUNES: Well, during the day yesterday, members of Congress, Republicans were coming out, and they just were shocked at the questions that were being asked to Ms. Hicks.

HANNITY: How bad?

NUNES: Well, they were asking about her love life. I don't have the specifics, but I just think asking about someone's love life in Congress, I mean come on. I mean just that it really does--

HANNITY: How is that relevant to any investigation as it relates to election interference? Congressman Meadows, you have gone and done a very deep dive. I think the best work that you and Congressman Jim Jordan and Matt Gates and others have done is these closed-door interviews that - thanks to Congressman Doug Collins, we now have access to.

And you guys were asking the right questions. Now that we know that they used more false information that they were warned about. To what level can we say this was a premeditated. You know conspiracy even to commit a fraud on a court and to influence an election with phony information and to undo the will of the American people?

REP MARK MEADOWS, R-N.C.: Well, it was all about undoing the will of the people. But it's interesting tonight, you led in with Tom Fenton and some of the e-mails he's talking about, of course, Chairman Nunes and Jim Jordan have both been all over this and that is the use of the media.

What we found is, even with this John Solomon reporting, it's not only that they knew that it was false, then they actually worked with the media to make sure it gets reported so they can use the same media reports to justify their surveillance. And so, here's the real problem that I have with all of it. The deeper we dive, the more we see that protocols were broken. And candidly, when you start to look for the real there-there, it is there, but it's on the part of the FBI actually planning false narratives in the public domain.

HANNITY: Well, the question is now, we've got the investigations ongoing. Congressman Nunes, Americans I think they want to know more than anything else or the people that helped bring the investigation into Hillary that were warned about lies that they were using to obtain FISA at warrants and applications that were also spreading misinformation in The Washington Post and David Corn Clinton sycophants and then using it to bludgeon a sitting President, four separate conclusions now, including your Intel Committee say no collusion. Could you please explain those people that did these things that they're going to be held accountable?

NUNES: Well, we're not going to stop until we get the entire truth out. And I want to follow-on with what Mr. Meadows said. I think it's important. What we learned today from the Judicial Watch papers and e-mails is that you actually not only had the circular reporting where you have FBI leaking to a reporter, reporter running a story, FBI using the story. We now have something new in the chain and that is, you have reporters basically spying on people and then taking it to the FBI, probably in exchange for favors.

HANNITY: Yes. Well, and your thoughts, Mark.

MEADOWS: You know I think the big thing that we've got to understand is that there were a number of players at the top levels of the FBI. They continued to work with the media in an inappropriate manner in order to spin a narrative that we're still dealing with two years later. It's time the American people judge for themselves. Let's declassify everything and make sure that the truth comes out. The President will be exonerated when that happens.

HANNITY: All right. Quick answer. Should the President have a response against Iran?

NUNES: Yes, I think he does need to have a response against Iran. It's been a bad regime for 40 years.

MEADOWS: I think that it has to be measured and certainly calibrated appropriately, but I believe that this President will act accordingly, and we'll support him in that decision.

HANNITY: Thank you, both. When we come back, the Great One Mark Levin, he has the number one book in the country. He'll share his thoughts on Iranian aggression. Joe Biden stumbles in the 2020 primary and we'll talk a little bit about books when we get back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: More on our top story regarding escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Author of the number one book, four weeks in a row, The New York Times bestseller list. It's called Unfreedom of the Press. I call him the Great One for a reason. He hosts the number one rated cable show, Sunday nights at 10 Eastern and he's the host of LevinTV and Nationally Syndicated Radio Host.

You know Mark, this is now your fifth week and I noticed four weeks in a row, number one on The New York Times bestseller list, which doesn't surprise me. All your books have been number one. Now, Jimmy Acosta has some book, I don't even know what it's called. You sold in your fifth week at least according to Book Scan over 35,000 books That's your fifth week. You've sold hundreds of thousands of books. I looked at the numbers. Jimmy Acosta barely sold over 6500. Is that a failure on his part? Because I'd say that's a disaster.

MARK LEVIN, AUTHOR, UNFREEDOM OF THE PRESS: No, it is a disaster. And he wrote a book about himself. He wrote a book about himself. He's always been about himself and the fact of the matter is, he has disrupted the Presidential press conferences. His book isn't about the media.

Let me be honest, Jim Acosta is a clown. He's not a reporter. He's an advocate. He's a partisan. He is a Democrat, if not in fact in name and the American people are onto him. His book is rejected, despite the fact that he was promoted by The New York Times, promoted on the Sunday shows, promoted on CNN and so forth. But you know Sean, I want to raise a point with you as I sit here and listen for my segment coming up on this Iranian matter.

We're starting to get now propaganda; it sounds like Iranian propaganda coming out of the mouths of Americans. Americans who should know better. They ask you; can you point to one example where Iran committed a terrorist act. I can point to many. But let me start with 1983, Beirut Lebanon Hezbollah, which has the terrorist militia wing of Iran blew up our Marine barracks with two truck bombs killed over 250 Americans, most of whom were Marines. That was Iran. Iran was behind that. Stop apologizing for Iran. What I hear tonight and what I'm hearing throughout the day is a bunch of people who are embracing Jimmy Carter's foreign policy of appeasement, of distraction, of excuses, of spin. You can embrace Jimmy Carter's foreign policy, a wild failure or you can embrace Ronald Reagan's foreign policy, a wild success. I'm also hearing maybe it's coming from Iran or China or Russia or North Korea, a concerted now clear campaign against John Bolton. John Bolton hasn't done anything. He is a National Security Adviser; he advises the President of the United States. I'm sure China and Russia and North Korea and Iran love it, when they hear hosts and others trashing John Bolton, part of a massive propaganda effort.

The President of the United States is a strong leader. He's Commander-in- Chief. He listened to advice from many people. He'll make the decision. But these attacks on both including leaks coming out of the White House on Bolton are a disgrace, absolute disgrace.

HANNITY: You know it's not about that. Mark, you and I have discussed this at length, and you were Chief of Staff under a great Attorney General. You worked in the Reagan administration, a man by the name of Ed Meese. And the point here that I'm making is peace through strength is our only option. But you and I have both watched now, wars started then politicized and then we say, never mind. I personally would like to see the next generation of sophisticated technology and weaponry, where we don't have to send kids there to fight and to do what's necessary from here.

LEVIN: Let me tell everybody a little secret. It's a very big world and there are very many evil genocidal maniacs out there.

HANNITY: Right.

LEVIN: From the head of Red China, to the head of Russia, to the head of North Korea, to the head of Iran and I just got started. We're not the problem. We're not the ones who instigate wars and I'm sick and tired of hearing people on cable TV in other words suggest that the President of the United States is provoking anything. We're not provoking a damn thing. In fact, we never provoke anything. You know why we went into Afghanistan, because that's where 9/11 was hatched. That's where we were attacked. And don't tell me, Iraq is a reason not to deal with Iran. One has nothing to do with the other. And the world's always going to be evil. Sometimes there will be war, sometimes there won't. Sometimes there will be military action, sometimes there won't that. The word here to keep in mind is prudence, not ideology from the Code Pink Republicans in the hard left to sound alike, not the radical interventionists, prudence.

The Iranians attacked us. The Iranians attacked oil rigs in commercial waterways. The Iranians have captured American sailors in the past. The Iranians have killed American soldiers in Iraq and the Iranians have killed American Marines in Lebanon. Now, I don't know, what do you think Red China would do about this? What do you think Russia would do about this? What do you think any self-respecting nation would do about this?

So, to turn over and pretend that if we do something, we're provoking, for God sakes quote the Foreign Minister of Iran is a disgrace.

HANNITY: All right, Mark Levin. Don't forget, Life, Liberty and Levin. That book right there, the number one book in the country, it sold hundreds of thousands. Fake news CNN's guy only sold well a little over 6500. Yikes. That was called an epic fail. Coming up, crazy, creepy, sleepy Uncle Joe Biden feeling the heat from his own party in a mini monologue. We will address what is a long history of his comments on race, pretty despicable. We've got the truth coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right, tonight Amtrak Joe is driving even further off the tracks because following his outrageous comments about working with Democratic segregationists in the 1970's while sleepy, creepy, crazy Uncle Joe is doubling down on stupid. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How does it feel that your Democratic rivals are implicitly. saying that you have issues talking about race.

JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They know better.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to apologize--

BIDEN: Apologize for what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Called for it.

BIDEN: Cory should apologize. He knows better. There is not a racist bone in my body, I've been involved in civil rights my whole career.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right, let's look at his career. Remember, we told you this would happen. We told you that Biden would be doing non-stop damage control that it would be blunder after blunder, gaffe after gaffe because Biden can't escape the ghosts of his past and other candidates is smelling blood in the water. Take a look at what his fellow Democrats are saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CORY BOOKER, D-N.J., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And Vice President Biden shouldn't need this lesson. And so, this is deeply disappointing. We waited for him to apologize. He didn't till the next day. And whether I'm running for President or not, as many people today have been on June 10th no less calling out for the Vice President to acknowledge that his words were harmful and hurtful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So why is it that you believe he has to apologize.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, I-VT, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the media makes a big deal of it than it is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, he doesn't have to apologize?

SANDERS: I do. I don't think you have to be touting personal relations with people who were very brutal segregationist.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But Senator, he wasn't touting relations.

SANDERS: That's my view.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His point was--

SANDERS: OK, ma'am, I'm sorry, if you disagree with me, that's fine. That's my view.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Remember, you can't work in a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. Obama, wow this is storybook. Wow, you have for the first time an African American that's clean and articulate. What? Now, there is a pattern here because Crazy Uncle Joe came out hard against busing. In other words, integration in public schools in the 1970's. He made inflammatory comments when pushing the 94 Clinton crime bill. He used the phrase, predators on our streets talking about urban crime, even made excuses for segregationist Strom Thurmond calling him "a product of his time" and remarks at his funeral.

And don't forget just a few decades ago, racist, bigots, they ruled the day. The Democratic Party. In fact, a significant number of congressional Democrats, they opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Yeah people like Robert KKK Byrd, Al Gore's father, nowhere to be found. The 65 Voting Rights bill largely opposed by Democrats, a whopping 70 Democratic lawmakers opposing landmark historic legislation. One of the longest serving Democratic stars in the U.S. Senate was none other than former Klansman himself, Robert KKK Byrd. And Biden spoke at his funeral saying nice things about him. The funeral of a former Klansman.

Hillary called the former Klansman her mentor. Let's think for a second, what if Donald Trump did that. Now this is all getting so bad that Biden's advisors are actually now even publicly begging him to stop talking about your political past, because it's a massive liability. Biden has no core values, we see that, no core ideas, no solutions. Eight years of failure, willing to say and do anything and everything to try and appease the new extreme radical democratic socialist party. But is anyone buying it?

Remember, his Anita Hill apology tour, the flip flopping on the Hyde Amendment. He held that position for 40 years and having to pander to, yes, the real Speaker of the House, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and by the way, I'm not saying she's the real speaker for you idiots in the media, it's not a conspiracy theory, but. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez scares the living daylights out of the Presidential candidates and Pelosi, and he adopted, yes, the crazy new Green Deal climate change nonsense.

Now, he's averaging about a flip flop a week, making the campaign spend and spin in a million different directions. Now, we are here to do the vetting to expose Biden for who he really is. Like most of the Democrats. He's a complete creature of the swamp, the sewer, a fraud, someone with no plan for our future and he has to run on the Biden Obama record. 150 billion to mullahs in Iran, 30 million more Americans on food stamps, 8 million more on poverty, you know my list.

Here now, Secret Service Agent, former Secret Service Agent, Fox News Contributor Dan Bongino, you know it's interesting. I mean he's trying. But the problem is, he's made a lot of incendiary statements and decisions on racial issues and rightly, he should defend it, but he says, I did nothing wrong.

DAN BONGINO, CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. Floppy Joe has had a bad couple of weeks, Sean. First, we had the Hyde Amendment. Flip flop, flip flop, where he did a 540. And now we have this. I don't know why he's surprised though, Sean, his campaign. You know the Democrats for what 30, 40 years have managed to use racism charges as a political tactical weapon on the ideological field of ideas. Now, why is he surprised that it was going to be used on him. They did it too. Sean, remember the - they're going to put you all back in chains. Nonsense talking about Mitt Romney of all people.

HANNITY: Put you all back in chains. Yes.

BONGINO: Remember that. I mean Biden weaponized race too. So, why is he surprised now that it's being turned on him and as these other Democrats--

HANNITY: It's like he is missing his chip. I mean who goes in and says, you can't work at a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin Donuts slightly in an Indian accent, and I'm serious. And wow storybook. The first African American that's articulate and clean. Who says this?

BONGINO: I don't know, Sean. I don't even know. Listen brother, I don't even know what that means. What does that mean? He takes a shower. That's the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life.

HANNITY: My states are slaves, he said.

BONGINO: I can't translate Biden, floppy Joe.

HANNITY: All right. By the way, I want to compliment you. We watch you on Fox and Friends hosting this week, you did a great job. I am declaring as the oldest original member of Fox News. No tie, you are no tie guy.

BONGINO: I love you, my man.

HANNITY: Doesn't work.

BONGINO: You just made my night. Thank you so much.

HANNITY: I know I did; I owe you that one. Coming up, more “Hannity” right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: You know, it's sad that Washington will ever politicize war. What they did in Vietnam was wrong and I would even argue the fact that they allowed Iraq and Afghanistan post 9/11 to be politicized. That's wrong. I want to see this new generation of weaponry built by the best engineers, the smartest military, and we must protect freedom. This cannot stand what happened with Iran. We'll always be fair and balanced. We're not the media mob. Let not your heart be troubled. There she is, Laura Ingraham.

Great show last night, by the way.

Content and Programming Copyright 2019 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2019 ASC Services II Media, LLC. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.