'Hannity' on Biden's COVID 'disaster,' latest on Afghanistan

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What was the benefit of the booster? Medical contributor asks

Fox News medical contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier and Dr. Marc Siegel join ‘Hannity’ to share their thoughts on booster shots as omicron looms across the nation.

This is a rush transcript of "Hannity" on January 5, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: That teacher was impressive. Very impressive.

Tucker, thank you.

And welcome to HANNITY.

Tonight, an important milestone. All right. Six months ago, your President Joe Biden stated that under his brave leadership the United States would gain the upper hand against COVID-19 and that we're closer than ever to declaring our independence from the virus. Here we are half a year later and we're now in the throes of Biden's second dark winter of death and disease. Fully masked and vaccinated people, people with boosters and even with immunity are all getting sick.

People with all of these varying conditions are all getting sick. Even "The View's" Whoopi Goldberg, been a friend of mine for a while, we always got along. She has contracted COVID-19 and in her own word, she did everything they told her to do. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, "THE VIEW" CO-HOST: It was like wait, what? It was a shock. I am triple vaxxed. I have not been anywhere. I haven't done anything. But that's the thing about omicron. You just don't know where it is.

You don't know where it is, who's got it, who's passing it. So, you know, It's one of those things, you think I have done everything I am supposed to do. It doesn't stop omicron.

And that's the problem with a variant because it gets stronger and does different stuff to you. So, you know, unless everybody gets vaccinated, this is what we're going to be facing for the next little while.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: By the way, Whoopi Goldberg, we're praying for a speedy recovery for you.

But remember, they told us, if you got vaccinated, you're never going to get COVID. That's how they tried to sell that to you the American people. We played that tape over and over.

Now, yesterday, Joe Biden again is telling us that we are experiencing a pandemic of the unvaccinated. What happened? Joe, you're either lying or you just don't know, you're so cognitively weak. Now in the span of one year, we went from promising, you went from promising to shut down the virus, now telling us it's not your problem there's no federal solution to this problem.

And meanwhile, Biden's right-hand man, Chief of Staff Ron Klain, probably one of the dumbest people in Washington -- and that's saying a lot -- in 2020, let's check out his tweet.

Testing still isn't fixed. Testing still isn't fixed. Testing still isn't fixed. We're the richest country on earth and don't have enough swabs. Testing still isn't fixed. Enough.

Anyway, guess what, Ron? Testing still isn't fixed. Most people couldn't find them over Christmas and we're still waiting for them and your big announcement -- oh, we've ordered more tests. A little too little, a little too late, Ron.

Now, we're a year into the Biden administration, testing still isn't fixed. Now, why did you reject ordering the recommended 732 million tests every month -- this was offered to you starting in October, reported in "Vanity Fair". It was to raise supplies for what was the predictable holiday surge when people get together for Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Joe said under Donald Trump, it's a travesty -- travesty not to have enough tests. Under Joe, it's complete incompetence and a complete dereliction of duty. In fact, tonight, Americans are still waiting in line for hours and hours and hours just to get the chance to get one of the few remaining tests on the market.

Care to explain that, Ron? Care to explain that, Joe? How are you such a failure? How did you not see this coming? Why did you regret the recommendation of the science experts to get them in October 732 million a month? We wouldn't have run out of tests over Christmas.

Now, hopefully, President Biden and Ron Klain will get back to this because Joe doesn't really answer any questions anymore or he's not capable of answering questions anymore. He just stares silently. Joe, when are we going to have the test? That's what he did this week to the media, literally, as reporters are shouting from across the room.

And poor Joey, he doesn't even know what year it is. Yesterday, remember he told us there are a lot of reasons to be hopeful in 2020. He said 2020. It's 2022, in case you're not counting.

And today, White House propagandist Jen Psaki telling reporters Joe just doesn't have enough time to think. The guy just got back from vacation. What are you talking about? Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I know the president doesn't have public events today. He does have a number of meetings with policy teams and that's often what he's doing behind the scenes. If you -- if he were standing here today which I know he's always invited is what you guys will say, but he would say we never give him any free time or any time to think, and that's probably true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: The average is like less than one event a day.

Today, Biden had zero public events the White House called the lid meaning you won't hear from the president or us for the rest of the day, at 1:00 p.m., give him time to think.

Yesterday, Biden stopped working around 4:00 after only one public event. On Monday, he didn't even get to the White House until noon, after that lengthy vacation at the beach while the rest of America was waiting online trying to find a test someplace somewhere. Joe, of course, recommending you go to Google to find your test. A lot of help that is.

And Joe Biden has all the time in the world, yet you know what? It's still more than he can handle. But really with COVID cases now reaching historic levels, who needs to hear from the president? A million new cases announced on Monday, especially when Biden's trusted messengers, you know, the Jonas Brothers, big berg -- Big Bird, Benny Drama are on the job. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Is there going to be any change in strategy in terms of messaging? You know, you guys have had like the Jonas Brothers and others. But like, what do we you know Joe --

PSAKI: Or Jonas brothers. You know, I would say, Daniel, that our approach to date has been that we have looked for trusted messengers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right, Jen. Good. It's always good to have experts that we, the American, people can trust with our health and our safety. Maybe you should try rolling them out, you know, and try and sell build back broke again which is now dead in the water.

According to the Jen Psaki, it's important that we pass the socialist spending spree first then we can find out what's in it, and then you'll like it once you know what's in it. But that has to be passed first. Sound familiar?

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: I will tell you that Bill Build Better as you know hasn't passed yet and we are working to get it passed. And what we see in a lot of polling is that people like the components of the bill, but they don't know exactly what's in built back better and what it means, and it's always easier to sell a package to the public once it's passed. So we're hoping we're going to get to that point that is our objective.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Remember, Nancy Pelosi said the identical thing about Obamacare and now all of your health care premiums are through the roof, millions of people lost doctors, millions lost plans.

Luckily, Biden's build back broke plan appears to be stalled and the midterm elections are right around the corner, God help us all.

And here's a little unsolicited advice for the Democratic Party: for you to have any shot of not getting blown out in November, it probably would be time to swallow your pride, hold Joe Biden accountable for his failures, demand answers while on why we have a COVID testing shortage. We've had monoclonal antibodies for 18 months, demand answers why we have a shortage of them, demand answers on the constant flipping and flopping of the CDC and the NIH, and the origins of the COVID virus, demand answers on the bizarre mandates and guidelines for children when the science doesn't back it up and get this country back to normal. You might want to warp speed the antivirals that so many doctors seem to like, or get out of the way maybe just let somebody else run the country. By the way, or you could just adopt Donald Trump's policies and get out of the way because they work.

Now, of course, there's always another variant or new scary development to worry about. By the way, there's already a new variant in France that we're watching. It's called flurona and that's been detected now in the U.S. It's a rare illness where the flu and COVID impact and infect somebody at the same time.

I encourage everybody to stay safe and as always, I'm not a doctor. I'm not going to play one on television or radio. Consult your own doctor or doctors. Look at your unique medical history, your current condition.

But anyway, the hysteria has gone on long enough.

FOX News medical A team, contributor Dr. Marc Siegel is with us. Also, fellow FOX News medical contributor, Dr. Nicole Saphier.

All right. So they told us in the beginning when they were selling vaccines, Dr. Nicole, they said that if you got the vaccine, you're protected from getting COVID. But false, that's not true.

I know people now and I know you're seeing the same thing, people fully vaccinated are getting omicron. People fully vaccinated with a booster, they're getting omicron. People fully vaccinated with a booster and natural immunity, they're all getting omicron.

So what was the point of all of the boosters and all the demands and all the mandates?

DR. NICOLE SAPHIER, FOX NEWS MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Sean, the good news is at this point, it has turned -- the COVID vaccine has turned into what we've come to accept when it comes to the flu shot. We know that the flu shot doesn't necessarily prevent someone from getting the flu, but those are good chances if you got the flu shot and you get the flu, you have a less likely chance of having severe illness being out of work or school longer being hospitalized and requiring oxygen.

Same thing is holding true with COVID vaccines. Now, the big news out this week is the fact that the FDA has expanded their EUA to recommending boosters in young adolescents. Interestingly, they didn't convene their independent advisory board on this and at the same day, they actually put out a YouTube video by Dr. Peter Marks, which, first of all, when did the FDA start putting out infomercials? It's embarrassing and they should stop, and they should stay in their role.

Secondly, when you actually look at this science that was talked about in that video objectively, it really falls flat. First of all, no data was really presented to show that a booster in younger populations, younger healthy adolescents, younger healthy adults actually decrease their very low risk of severe illness. And that being said, yes, they said that there's low risk of mild pericarditis.

But again, it's not just about the risk. What's the benefit there and they have not been able to prove the benefit. Sure, maybe it will transiently decrease their risk of any sort of symptomatic illness, but again, that's going to be short-lived.

We need to start focusing on the high risk people. We need to make sure that our high risk population have quality high quality masks. They have access to vaccines and boosters, and that we are doing everything they can to make sure that they have access to the rapid testing. We need to stop our focus on the younger healthier populations because at this point, we know that they are very low risk and they are not contributing as much to the transmission as you think.

And as you just mentioned, Sean, vaccinated boosted unvaccinated, everyone's transmitting the virus. It's about saving lives at this point. Zero COVID is not a realistic goal.

HANNITY: You know, Joe Biden doesn't have to reinvent the wheel, Dr. Siegel. The other night, I was doing the show and I said why isn't he using warp speed tactics to make tests as fast -- as quickly as possible, and use warp speed tactics to build out all the monoclonals that we never had a shortage of until the federal government got involved? Why not warp speed these antivirals that a lot of doctors, I assume you feel good about as well, are raving about from Pfizer and Merck? Why aren't we doing that?

DR. MARC SIEGEL, FOX NEWS MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, because we got operation snail speed, which is what I wrote to you the other night and what I've written about and I -- and I think that President Trump --

HANNITY: You know what? I wish I thought of it to be honest. I regret not thinking about it myself.

SIEGEL: You would have thought of it five seconds later.

But you know, the other word I could use is incompetent here. I mean, look, Nicole is right, that the vaccines are imperfect and they're useful to bolster your immunity. But he's a one-trick pony on these vaccines. That's all he talks about. And then again, again, this week he's shaming the unvaccinated.

To Nicole's point, you know what the vaccines do? They decrease severity. It means it can keep you out of the hospital if you're boosted. It can keep you from getting a severe case. That's the way it should be sold because that's the way it is scientifically.

And you know what your point about no rapid tests around, he had every reason -- it's not just that he was warned in October, he was warned a year ago by a major scientist at Harvard. Get us those home tests.

And I can't prescribe the monoclonal antibodies. I need them. I need the Regeneron. I need the Lilly. I need the GSK one that's specific for omicron.

And you just said what about Paxlovid, what about the Pfizer drug? I have people that are high risk that broke through the amazing vaccines. Big fan of the vaccines, but they broke through them, and they broke through natural immunity too, which by the way this administration still won't talk about natural immunity, still won't do with Israel and the and the European Union is doing say, look, you had COVID, it gives you some immunity.

They lose a lot of credibility not saying that you get immunity from getting over COVID and I'm -- and I'm sure Dr. Saphier agrees with that.

We have to have all the tools in the tool shed here to fight this. He's got one tool. It's not doing it, and he's using it to bludgeon people with, incompetent.

HANNITY: Perfect words, operations snail speed, and you know what? It's a disservice and a repulsive failure for the American people. They need not at this late date now and the going into our third year with this be looking and searching for tests and being told you might want to look on Google, which is what Joe said.

All right. Dr Siegel, Dr. Saphier, thank you.

ANNOUNCER: Americans Held Hostage Behind Enemy Lines, Day 144.

HANNITY: The corrupt media mob and Joe Biden, they may have turned the page, we will not, 144 days since Joe Biden stabbed Americans in the back, our friends, our allies, even military families left behind that he abandoned.

Now, today, I couldn't believe it. I got to give a tip of the hat to "The New Yorker Magazine" because they describe what life is now like in the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan. Now a lot of this, we've reported, but they had other news that we had not reported.

The Taliban have established a repressive autocratic state that has carried out more than a hundred targeted killings and abductions of former Afghan officials. We know that's been happening in broad daylight. Now, that severely limited girls education, they're banning women from many workplaces. They're silencing local journalists. They have beaten female protesters in the streets with whips.

The report continues, quote: Ongoing evacuations of the more than thousand Afghan interpreters and others who worked alongside the U.S. forces, those are people by the way we promised we would never leave behind. They were left behind during the chaotic American withdrawal. That is now slowed to a crawl.

In other words, we failed Americans. We failed thousands of military families and people with green cards, and our Afghan allies. And you know what? It's an embarrassment.

Here with more, former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, along with former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus.

Reince, we start with you tonight.

You know, I'm having a hard time understanding why especially when you look at a show like "Nightline", Americans held hostage day, you know, 120, and the world watched. The media, it's a virtual blackout on this topic. Washington, D.C., the swamp, virtual blackout.

I in good conscience cannot forget our fellow Americans that he abandoned. Why is everyone else ignoring it?

REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, you can never and should never forget your fellow Americans. It's the trust that people have here in the United States that their government would never forget them and what happened and the policy decisions made, the intentional policy decisions made, there are creating a spiraling crisis across the world.

When Joe Biden ran for office, he said he was going to restore dignified and respected leadership across the world. And where are we? I mean, you just outlined what's going on in Afghanistan. You just outlined the humanitarian crisis that's going on.

What's happening in Ukraine? We're being challenged by Russia. We're being challenged by China in Taiwan.

And you look at other silos of decisions made by the president that have now spiraled out of control. You just outlined COVID. He said he was going to stop COVID in its tracks. He initially made the intentional decision on the vaccines. He stumbled out of the blocks.

He then stumbled on the test kits. He then said the other day that he wished he would have ordered million test kits two months ago. Oops, and it took Kamala Harris to tell the world that in fact, no, it's true. We missed omicron virus, and we also missed the delta virus.

You look at the economy -- he was warned, just like it was you just said, he was warned that that if you poured more money into the economy, we were going to have, what? We were going to have inflation because you've got more money chasing fewer goods and we were going to have a supply chain crisis.

And then on the border, he said he was going to put up guard rails, double immigration judges and he was going to keep security at the border. Well, then, what did he do? He intentionally signed six executive orders, he invited a swarm of illegal immigrants on the border, two million across the border and what did he invite into our country? COVID and fentanyl, which also kills thousands of Americans.

These are intentional decisions that that were a result of bad leadership that have now spiraled out of control in four different important categories, Sean.

HANNITY: Unbelievable. Morgan, I know you work closely with Mike Pompeo. And you know, unfortunately, I know there have been many, many private groups that have been willing to charter very expensive airplanes to evacuate Americans, with very little to no help actually obstruction from our own State Department. The question is, that now seems to have ended. It's -- there seems like now there's no way out, and nobody seems to care.

What does that mean for the people left behind, thousands of green card holders, military family members, Americans in the hundreds, Afghan allies? What does that mean for all them?

MORGAN ORTAGUS, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: Yeah, there is no coordinated U.S. effort to get American citizen green card holders out, at least not that I'm aware of. I'm happy to be proven wrong if this administration could show some way in which they're actually trying to get the Americans green card holders and family members out.

My Twitter DMs are always open for people out there who are looking for ways. There are some private sector ways and I'm happy to help people. But isn't it crazy and a little unfortunate that former administration officials and people former career military officials are using private sector means to get people out?

Joe Biden has left Americans behind enemy lines. It's shameful. It's a disgrace.

You know, one thing that Reince just said a minute ago, he talked about what a candidate Joe Biden promised to do. Well, here's also one of the things that candidate Joe Biden promised in February 2020 to Margaret Brennan. She quizzed him on Afghanistan. Everybody forgets this interview, and he said that he would bear zero responsibility. He said this back in February of 2020, he would bear zero responsibility what happened to the fate of women and children in Afghanistan.

So he's shown a callousness as it relates to America's responsibility in Afghanistan for a long time. It's just that the media was desperate to get rid of President Trump and they weren't paying attention. So the media and so many people act so surprised at these decisions that Biden made.

Well, you shouldn't have been. If anyone had been paying attention to the campaigning and the basement, they would have shown that he was actually remarkably consistent in his callousness towards Afghan women and children.

And finally, I just say the one thing that every American needs to remember when they go to the polls this November is seven months. Seven months is how long it took for President Biden to be in office for Afghanistan to fall and for the Taliban to take over. It is one of the worst foreign policy decisions in my lifetime, and the consequences will reverberate for generations.

HANNITY: And he had all those months to get everybody out safely and the billions of dollars in military -- sophisticated military equipment and technology that are left behind.

Thank you both. Reince Priebus, Morgan, thank you.

Straight ahead, Democrats in Congress obsessed with the riot that took place at their house. They don't give a lick about the ones that took place in your city, near your town, where you live.

Mark Meadows, he's next, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Democrats, tonight, they're still obsessing over their sham January 6th investigation. We've been telling you that this has a predetermined outcome, just another reckless attempt to attack Donald Trump, his allies. Their goal, to purge Donald Trump from ever running for office again.

And I'll ask, where's the investigation into the approximately 574 riots in the summer of 2020 that many Democrats either never talked about or call peaceful protests? Or the dozens of Americans that were killed in the summer of 2020? Like former police officer David Dohrn or the nearly billion dollars in property damage due to the looting and the arson that took place during those peaceful protests.

What about the thousands of police officers that were injured, many severely? Where's that committee? What? Does it advance the agenda to purge Trump from ever running again? I get it.

What about the cities that defunded the police and invited in more crime and eliminated all bail laws, how's that working out around the country?

What about an investigation into Kamala Harris, you know, the vice president, for promoting a fund to actually bail out violent criminals and her comments she might recall she said that they won't stop, they shouldn't stop and we won't stop? Where's the Liz Cheney investigation into that now that Liz is siding with the Democrats who called her father who I defended for eight years a war criminal, a murderer, a crook and even worse? Darth Cheney I think is what they said.

Now, tomorrow, you can expect never-ending lies and smears and political attacks from Joe Biden, the Democrats and, of course, Liz Cheney and Liz Cheney's of the world as the entire sham probe is only another reason for them to obsess over all things Donald Trump, you know, the guy that said many of you will now peacefully and patriotically march to the Capitol so your voices may be heard. I know, truth hurts a little bit.

We do have a programming note: don't miss tomorrow night's show.

Here for reaction, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is with us.

One thing on this -- I want to go to January 6 first and ask this, did Donald Trump and did you ask -- knowing so many people were coming to town, knowing that tensions were high post-2020 election, did you both ask for the National Guard to be called up?

MARK MEADOWS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Without a doubt, Sean. We've made that very clear, not just once but on numerous occasions. We wanted to make sure that there was plenty of National Guard on the ready in case there was some kind of violence.

But you know, you're right to point out that tomorrow is going to be spent on January 6, a focus there because the January 6 Commission is more about a political operation than it is about securing the Capitol. It's more about securing the White House in 2024 than it is about providing security at the Capitol.

And sadly, what we we're seeing play out each and every day, Sean, is the fact that they're willing to do whatever it takes to spend their narrative because the left has another agenda. You saw they want to increase the Supreme Court to 13 members on the Supreme Court so they can get rulings their way. They want to break the filibuster.

You name it, they want to make sure that the socialist takeover of Washington, D.C. is complete.

HANNITY: I forgot to mention Mark Meadows' book is out. I've read it completely. It's a great book, "The Chief's Chief".

So, okay, so you asked numerous times. Donald Trump asked for the National Guard, knowing again you're going to have massive crowds there, political tensions had been high, which is a common sense thing to do. I've all -- you've condemned what happened on January 6th. I condemned it in real time on radio and on this program that night. And I condemn all rioting.

The question is -- we also had the Capitol police chief request the National Guard. My question is, who is in charge of making that decision about calling up the National Guard? Does Nancy Pelosi have a role in that and is she being subpoenaed? Is she going to testify to this January 6 Committee with a predetermined outcome?

MEADOWS: Well, not to my -- not to my knowledge. She hasn't been subpoenaed. She certainly has not been asked to give testimony.

Listen, there are two people who need to be providing some answers and neither of them worked in the West Wing. One is Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington, D.C. The other is Speaker Pelosi.

I can tell you, when the phone calls came to the West Wing, the answer was yes, an immediate yes. And so, there was no actionable intelligence, there was no request that was ever denied and yet that's the narrative that January 6 Commission continues to put out there.

And it's just not accurate as it relates to President Trump or anybody else in the West Wing.

HANNITY: By the way, once they kicked Jim Jordan and Jim Banks off the committee and replaced him with the two biggest Republican Trump haters, I think the deck was stacked. You got seven Democrats and two never Trumpers, all right. That sounds fair to me.

Let's go to the 574 riots, dozens of our fellow Americans were murdered in the course of that rioting. We had thousands of police officers injured, billions in property damage, and where's that committee, Mark Meadows? I've not heard of it. I'm sure they're probably forming it right now the very same people.

Or do they only care about the one riot that impacts them but not the riots that impact, what, other Americans?

MEADOWS: Well, there's two different committees that need to take place, one that looked at all of that that happened over the summer of 2020, that quite frankly was applauded by many on the left. You remember the defund the police effort that was a slogan that was echoed over and over and over again until they figured out that it didn't poll very well.

But there's another commission that needs to take place. How about the 13 service members that lost their lives in Afghanistan? How about the withdrawal that didn't have to happen that way? Why are we not looking into that? Don't those service members deserve justice as well?

I can tell you, it is -- it is very troubling to see and that's what the American people are seeing. They see the hypocrisy of all of this, where it is a political narrative that's being driven by this commission instead of actually one that gets to the bottom and solves a problem and upholds the rule of the law, whether it's on Main Street or on Capitol Hill.

HANNITY: You know, sometimes, I understand maybe people don't like Donald Trump's style. I'm from New York, it doesn't bother me very much. Where I grew up, that was kind of the way things were.

But let me see, he did accomplish a lot. I doubt he would have abandoned Americans in Afghanistan. He kept his promises on cutting taxes. He kept his promises on ending the bureaucracy, kept his promises on judges, free and fair trade deals all over Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan, China, you can include them in all of that.

He worked hard to begin the -- getting us out of the endless wars. He built the wall, gave us energy independence and a record economy, especially for minorities in America. I don't see that happening with Joe. What happened?

MEADOWS: Well, it's not happening with Joe and that's why his poll numbers are going so far down. But it's also something that the American people, whether you're Republican independent or even some Democrats, they see it as well. All of that long list that they saw President Trump that he was able to accomplish during his four years, they see it and they see that it's not getting done now.

That's what the Democrats are so fearful of. They don't have a record to run on and so what they're wanting to do is try to run on a narrative instead of Joe Biden's record. And so, you'll see more of that tomorrow sadly. We'll take a solemn day and actually politicize it.

There is one other group that's rejoicing with us focusing on this one day and that's our foreign adversaries. They love to do harm to America and they love to go ahead and focus on the difficulties that we've had.

But I've got a news flash for our foreign adversaries -- don't underestimate the resolve of the American people. We enjoy freedoms 365 days a year, while you're celebrating January 6th.

HANNITY: You know something, you've condemned January 6, I have, and I also condemn the 574 other riots with all the damage that I've chronicled on this program, and will have a program that's quite different from the rest of the country tomorrow night, considering all the coverage is basically going to be an echo chamber.

Mark Meadows, by the way, thank you for being with us. Now, Mark's new book is called "The Chief's Chief". Amazon.com, bookstores everywhere, and on hannity.com.

Thank you, sir, for being with us.

All right. Coming up, you won't believe what the New York's new radical D.A is planning for the city of New York. It's pretty radical. Gregg Jarrett has the latest.

And as usual, Democrats continue to put your students, your kids' education last. Larry Elder, he'll weigh in when we return, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Now, apparently you are on follow the failures of the far left D.A.s on the West Coast. The New York D.A., Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg is his name, he wants to bring even more far-left lawlessness to New York City, unveiling a destructive Democratic crime policy that will let violent criminals go free, unprosecuted, unaccountable.

Now, the memo authored by Bragg reveals updated guidelines that will, for example, allow armed robbers using deadly weapons to be prosecuted only for petty larceny. Convicted criminals caught with weapons other than guns will have those felony charges, downgrade it to misdemeanors. Drug dealers believed to be acting as a low-level agent of a seller will be prosecuted only for misdemeanor possession.

And get this, you know, burglars that steal from home storage sheds, for example, they will be charged with a lower class D felony. Furthermore, Bragg will no longer prosecute the illegal subway turnstile hopping, trespassing, resisting arrest without an underlying charge.

Here with reaction, FOX News legal analyst, Gregg Jarrett.

So, defund, dismantle, no bail laws and now this. Tell me, how's that going to end?

GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Yet not well as any reasonably intelligent person would recognize.

But the answer to surging crime is not less law and order. It's more of it. No reasonable person believes that only murderers should be incarcerated. But essentially, that's the new order of Alvin Bragg, the elected district attorney, a far left progressive in Manhattan.

So, as you point out, for example, if you use a deadly weapon you walk into a business or a store and you threaten to kill the clerk or the owner, unless they hand over their merchandises, yeah, no armed robbery 25 years behind bars, no, it's a petty theft, just a misdemeanor, you will walk free.

And Bragg says this will make us safer, which is utterly absurd. His rationale, Sean, for all this is that, you know, putting somebody behind bars has a negative impact on his or her life. Seriously, he actually said that. That's his reasoning.

He claims that the real victims, the real casualties of crime are not the innocent victims. No, it's the criminals. They're mistreated, they're misunderstood, they're the victims of racism and housing problems and poverty and mental illness and drug abuse. So, we need to help them, to hell with their innocent victims.

He doesn't care about crime and punishment. He cares about crime and no punishment. Instead of embracing law and order, he is advocating for lawlessness and disorder. So, he's creating an incentive for criminals to commit more crimes, but there's no disincentive. They now they have free rain.

But, you know, Sean, as you and I talked before, this is the growing trend in major blue states and cities run by Democrats that have elected these progressive mayors in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, Waukesha, Wisconsin, where a man who should have been behind bars used his SUV to mow down and murder six innocent people and injuring dozens more.

Who is to blame for all these? The voters in those cities who put these naive and stupid people into office supported by George Soros. And so, sadly, you know, they're going to get what they deserve.

HANNITY: All right. Gregg Jarrett, thank you for that report.

Now, we turn to another failing far left city as teachers in Chicago tonight are finding new excuses not to show up for work, as the teachers unions voted to resume remote learning after the state of Illinois received $5 billion in taxpayer aid to keep schools open, as part of the COVID relief packages. Tonight, by the way, breaking, we're now learning there will be no in person or remote instruction tomorrow for Chicago public schools.

And, of course, the mayor of Chicago, Lori lightweight, is now threatening to withhold pay from teachers that refuse to show up to the classroom.

Here to break it all down, radio talk show host, former California gubernatorial candidate, Larry Elder.

Larry, Education is key to the ladder of success and we are failing our kids spectacularly.

LARRY ELDER, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, we absolutely is.

Think tanks on the left and right, they don't agree about a whole lot, but they agree that the first step towards leaving poverty and getting to the middle class is to finish high school where you can read and write and compute at great level.

And, Sean, some years ago, there was a study on where public school teachers with school aged kids sent their own kids, nationwide families have their kids in private schools, roughly 6 percent of black families do. Thirty-nine percent of Chicago school teachers put their own kids in private schools. It's equivalent of opening up a restaurant, putting up a sign saying, come in and eat the food, but we sure as hell won't do it.

It is absolutely outrageous. And before the last -- before the pandemic shut down schools in Chicago in 2020, only 34 percent of third graders in Chicago public schools could read at standard levels of proficiency.

HANNITY: Unbelievable.

ELDER: They just release the test scores for last year. Only 18 percent in 2021 could. So, they are already behind. They got further behind. And now, I think it was 72 percent if I'm not mistaken, of Chicago public school teachers voted to disband in person education for the coming school year.

It is absolutely outrageous. And the science is. Greater depression, greater isolation, greater suicides, all because they are abandoning in school education. Absolutely outrageous.

HANNITY: All right. Great report. Larry Elder, thank you.

When we come back, Sara Carter of give us part 2 of her exclusive reporting on Biden's border crisis. She will take you inside a Texas TPS drug warehouse. You don't want to miss it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: And now, part 2 of Sara Carter's exclusive reporting on the fentanyl crisis in this country, now taking us inside a Texas DPS drug warehouse. You don't want -- you do not want to miss this. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LT. CHRIS OLIVAREZ, TEXAS DPS: We're in our DPS crime lab where the drugs are seized from our personnel, brought to this location, where we didn't have our crime lab scientists, they do these drug analysis on these drugs.

And approximately, just -- we're talking about various drugs -- marijuana, cocaine, heroine, methamphetamine and some fentanyl, approximately well or maybe over 20,000 pounds of different drugs that are here at this facility.

SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: In this facility alone? So, how much would that be worth possibly on the street? Do we have an idea?

OLIVAREZ: You're talking tens of million of dollars as far as the value of these drugs that are in this facility right now.

CARTER: And some of the biggest issues I think facing our nation right now and that's a crisis of fentanyl.

OLIVAREZ: You are right on point. We are seeing counterfeit pills that are being manufactured by drug traffickers. They manufacture that drug and move it across into our states. That's what we are seeing with counterfeit pills.

And again, it's affecting everyone. It's killing thousands of Americans because a lot of these individuals don't know what kind of drugs they are ingesting when it comes to these pills.

CARTER: No. I've had the opportunity to talk to parents whose children have taken a pill at a party. They were not known drug addicts. Their kids did not use drugs regularly. Maybe it was a recreational one time use and they tied.

OLIVAREZ: Yes, it's one that's very important as a father, and of course, those that have family. We need to educate and spread this awareness to our children, to our family, to our friends, about these lethal drugs that's coming across, because it's killing thousands of Americans. And those young adults that are in colleges right now that are being presented with these pills, that they may think this is a pain medication or some type of stimulate to keep them awake.

For other cases, the fact of the matter is that these counterfeit pills are killing thousands of Americans. And they're not aware of what they're ingesting. But again, it's all falling back into the lack border policies. The federal government is not taking any action at all whatsoever, and they're allowing these drug trafficking organizations to profit off of this current legal immigrants that come across, but also the drugs that are coming across, and they're not taking any action whatsoever to safeguard Americans and safeguard our border.

That's why we continue to step in and take action so we can safeguard our Texans and also the rest of the country.

(END VIDEOI CLIP)

HANNITY: Sara Carter joins us now, investigative reporter.

You know, I had -- I went into a drug warehouse years ago when I have been down to the border like you have been many times, about 14 times. And when I saw this warehouse, if you can get through the stench of it, it's floor to ceiling drugs. The difference with fentanyl is, you pointed it out last night, if you got a grain of salt -- two grains of salt maximum, you know, it will kill a 250-pound man.

CARTER: Correct, correct. That's what the law enforcement officials here in Texas and across the country, as well as those that worked in the crime labs last night were trying to send out the warning. Parents are also sending out that warning, Sean.

So many parents that lost their children over 93,000 overdoses and deaths last year, and I heard, according to the coroner in Franklin County, Ohio, those numbers are far exceeded this year in 2021. So, they are very, very concerned.

China and the Mexican cartels remain the major players. They are the primary distributors of illicit fentanyl in the United States. The pills, Sean, look identical to the pills that are prescribed by a regular doctor. So, you would see an OxyContin or fentanyl that would look like the pills prescribed. No one can tell the difference.

This is what parents and law enforcement officials want people to know across the country. Talk to your children. Talk to your friends. Talk to your family. Let them know if you take a pill that is not prescribed by your doctor, you are literally playing Russian roulette with your life. These are poison and people are dying.

HANNITY: And, you know what, it's happening. It's the number one killer of people, what, 18 to 34 in this country right now. Sara --

CARTER: It's a tragedy.

HANNITY: It's a tragedy and it's also preventable. Anyway, great reporting. We'll have part 3 tomorrow night.

More HANNITY coming up right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Unfortunately, that's all the time I've left this evening. As always, we thank you for being with us. You make this show possible.

Please don't forget to set your DVR. Pretty easy to do. Not that hard so you never miss an episode.

And in the meantime, let not your hearts be troubled -- well, Laura Ingraham is next with an extra 12 seconds. Hi.


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