'Hannity' on Biden's struggles, Virginia school mask controversy

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Hannity: Will the Biden administration ever recover?

Sean Hannity enumerates the woes of an ailing Biden administration in the opening monologue of ‘Hannity.’

This is a rush transcript of "Hannity" on January 26, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST:  Breaking tonight, in just a moment, we are going to bring you the very latest from the Commonwealth of Virginia where young kids are now being segregated, harassed, and in some cases blocked from attending school by vindictive local Democrats who are using masks and your children as a political weapon. We'll tell you all about it.

Also tonight, big news from the U.S. Supreme Court, liberal justice Stephen Breyer is apparently being shown the door earlier today. Well, he didn't make the announcement. Someone else leaked his retirement plan. Then, a short time later, the White House proudly confirmed Joe Biden's strategy to fill Breyer's spot.

Now, Biden said he will make his pick based purely on race and gender and promised only an African-American woman will be selected. Jonathan Turley, a Democrat, questions the constitutionality of this criteria. He wrote this: precisely what the Supreme Court already declared to be unconstitutional, discrimination. We'll have more of his article coming up, and we'll break Biden's potentially -- break it all down, his unlawful, potential unconstitutional strategy.

But, first, another groundbreaking morning at the White House. Get this -- Joe Biden actually had a public event that did not involve ice cream. Unfortunately for Joe, It didn't go particularly well. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNTIED STATES: I'm always talking about Corvettes. I don't want to make Ford or anybody else upset, but -- I might point out you're -- when I went to Dearborn driving that -- you know, was up there -- I don't know man, it -- I think the press thought I was crazy I enjoyed it so much going up and -- your new EV factory and -- and that -- that Hummer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: I don't know, man. I don't know. Last week, Biden said he had no idea why Americans doubt his mental fitness. He believes his first year in office was a tremendous success and that he has exceeded all expectations.

The American people, they strongly disagree. Look at this new Monmouth Poll that has Biden's approval at another all-time low, in their case, 39 percent. The same polls showing Republicans up by eight points on the generic ballot. Remember, last year, they were down nine.

And today, one former Clinton adviser told "America's Newsroom" that he has rarely ever seen poll numbers this bad. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK PENN, FORMER CLINTON ADVISER: The president has the double-barreled problem of people are upset that the that the virus is continuing but I think even more importantly now, that inflation has raged and therefore, so few people think the economy is going in the right direction. As you know, when things are going badly, the ins get voted out, and that can be a very powerful force here. And I rarely have seen numbers this bad in recent times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And Mark Penn is a well-respected pollster. Will the Biden administration ever recover?

Now, forget his cognitive struggles for just a second. Analysts now predict that the price of oil could now soon surge to a hundred and fifty dollars a barrel. That's a hundred percent increase.

Make no mistake: Joe Biden and his green new socialist bosses in the Democratic Party, the cult of climate change, they want this to happen. It's all part of the plan they want oil and gas to be expensive and limited. Obama even once himself admitted he wanted gas prices to go up but just not -- just not this quickly.

Now, Americans will suffer. Inflation will soar. But according to them, it will all be worth it as America is fundamentally transformed into a greener and progressive society. We'll have more of my monologue in a moment.

First, joining us with reaction, former senior counselor to the president, that would be Kellyanne Conway, along with former Massachusetts senator, the bionic man himself, Senator Scott Brown is with us back from knee surgery and he did very well. We're happy you're in full recovery.

SCOTT BROWN (R), FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Thank you, Sean.

HANNITY: Senator, let's start with you and let's get your analysis of all this. I've been -- I've been hitting this very hard because it's really bad in terms of the cognitive issues, but then you look at the polling issues, then you look at what do they point to that they can say they've done.

BROWN: Well, first of all, the Democrats in Joe Biden have it's like the never-ending a pileup of cars in the highway. There's just so much going wrong, you don't even know where to start. You can start with Afghanistan in my book and then you can go to the border, and then you can go to the virus, the fact that he hasn't controlled it and eliminated like you said he was going to do.

And then you go on inflation. And now, you see Russia, Ukraine, the supply chain -- supply chain issues. I mean, you can go on and on and on. And then you have a vice president who's -- I don't know if she's trying out for the show "Veep". Are they bringing it back? Because she's been completely out of touch and not helping the administration.

The poll numbers, yes, they're dramatically low. The key here, though, I mean, we've seen poll numbers -- I was down 41 points with like six or eight weeks to go, and I had it winning by eight.

Poll numbers are okay, it's a good barometer. But you know, we can't -- we have to let the American people what Republicans actually stand for and I'm concerned that that message is not crystal clear because we can be crystal clear as Governor Youngkin did in Virginia.

What do you stand for? What do we as Republicans stand for and why and how we're going to convince not our base that are going to come out regardless, but those independents are former Republicans who want to get back to the winning team and want to basically be a check and balance to this out-of- control administration?

HANNTY: I will -- when I went to Dearborn driving that -- you know -- was up there -- I don't know, man.

Kellyanne, you know, we've both been doing this a pretty long time. I've never seen anything like this in my life. You've been doing polling now for decades. I don't think you've ever seen polling this bad ever. I haven't. Not that I can remember.

What are your thoughts? Where is this headed?

KELLYANNE CONWAY, FORMER SENIOR COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, the American people are saying that Biden and Harris actually don't do anything well. They're upside down in their approval/disapproval ratings on every core issue. And it happened so propitiously quickly.

It's true that Afghanistan was the inflection point, but now, people are very upset that every day, the nexus between bad policy-making and their struggles around the kitchen table have come to bear. The woman in the focus group is saying, gee, I've never known a president who had so much control over my everyday decisions into my life and that's really bad not just for Joe Biden and the Kamala Harris, Sean, but for the Democratic Party.

You have more people calling themselves Republicans now than since 1994 when you had a much more popular president in Bill Clinton and they still lost 54 seats and control of all three chambers. So they they've got a problem all the way around.

All this nonsense about putting Kamala Harris in the Supreme Court, she's terribly unqualified for that job. She was rated the most liberal senator, above Bernie and Elizabeth Warren for goodness, sake and she also disqualified herself just by politicizing the vaccine, being so extreme on abortion.

You know, when Trump was running for president, he put out a list of 21 people, men and women, with names and backgrounds and you can research them if you wanted to, telling you I'm going to choose from this list if there's a Supreme Court vacancy and he did exactly that.

Whereas Joe Biden is coming up with demographic attributes. Of course, there are qualified people of both genders of all races and backgrounds to serve the United States Supreme Court. He doesn't have to say it and commit it.

And he does that to over-politicize something as sacrosanct and that should be free from politics as a Supreme Court. But right now, I've never seen polling numbers like this so quickly in the first term. But people have turned on Joe Biden. Particularly, the center has cratered. Independents are done with him, over 70 percent say don't run again. They think the country's going off on the wrong track and they don't have faith in his personal attributes.

The NBC poll is particularly damning for Joe Biden in that on these personal attributes like is easy going and friendly, Peter Doocy found out that's not true, has a plan for the country, inspires people in his own party. None of that is true and people see it.

And if I -- you know, I never thought I'd say this, Sean, but two years after it started, they really should put him back in the basement for a while. I think his polling numbers will go up the less we see of him.

And finally, the Democrats don't have a messaging problem or even a messenger problem. They have a fact problem. Their ideology their ideas their policies are just out of step and out of sync with the rest of the country. You can't fix that through a focus group or an ice cream stop. They have a fact problem, out of touch.

HANNITY: All right. Kellyanne Conway, as always, good to see you. Scott Brown, thank you.

Now, to the U.S. Supreme Court, Joe Biden will soon have a chance to nominate a new justice. Stephen Breyer is now allegedly being pushed out by Democrats. They wanted to make the announcement before he did. Anyway, they want to fill his seat with an even more progressive judicial activist, one that kind of doesn't believe in co-equal branches of government.

Now, keep in mind, in years past, previous administrations, they have considered a lot of factors when they select a judge. Their education, their background, experience, intellect, adherence to the Constitution to name a few.

Joe Biden is doing something very different. Right off the bat, he is excluding all potential candidates who are not African-American women. So if you're a man, if you happen to be white, an Asian-American, Hispanic- American, Joe Biden will not even look at your resume.

Without a doubt, there are qualified, intelligent experienced people of all races who are more than capable of serving on the highest court but to exclude certain candidates based solely on race and gender is beyond extremely divisive. It may even be illegal.

Now, here is more from Democratic attorney Jonathan Turley in his column. He said the president will only consider a black woman for the next nomination a threshold gender and race condition that the court itself has found unconstitutional for schools and unlawful for private businesses.

Now, of course, Joe Biden probably doesn't realize all this. After all, it's been a few hundred years since he actually practiced law. And let's be clear, Biden is not doing this because he deeply values racial justice and equality. He once tried to slow down integration of schools and busing.

Remember, he was worried that kids would grow up in integrated schools that were in his words "racial jungles" and he partnered with a former Klansman by the name of Robert KKK Byrd. And guess what? They tried to stop the integration of public schools.

And like almost everything else the Democrats do, Biden is now using the Supreme Court nomination as a political stunt, doesn't seem to care about the constitution the bill of rights, equal justice under the law, coequal branches of the government. Nope, politics, identity politics come first.

And the politics of race and gender is the Democratic Party's favorite tool to win elections. Tonight, the woke Democratic base is already excited. Look at this insane thread from far left hack Bill Kristol. Anyway, I don't know what ever happened to him.

Now, straight forward from here, June 30th, court overturns Roe v. Wade. July 1st, Breyer resigns, says court needs aggressive progressive justices. July 4th, Biden picks Harris, meaning Kamala Harris for the court. Harris resigns as VP. July 5th, Biden picks Mitt Romney as VP says national unity needed for the world crisis. Fall: progressives are energized by the bitter Senate fight to confirm Harris and fierce state legislative battles over choice. Centrists are reassured by the competent Biden-Romney national unity government, November 8th, Democrats have the best midterm for a party in power since 1934.

Okay, you can live in that fantasy land. I don't quite buy it. But anyway, I think Kristol and Bill -- Chris Matthews and Bill Kristol have a thrill running up their legs, all excited that that can all happen. On the other hand, it is clear that Biden is desperate to dump his vice president. They clearly don't get along.

But to put it nicely, Kamala who once failed the California bar exam is not the most qualified person to serve on the highest court or any court for that matter.

Here with legal analysis is the author of "The Case for Vaccine Mandates", Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, along with FOX News legal analyst Greg Jarrett.

Gregg, we'll start with you.

Let's start with Jonathan Turley's premise. I mean, he's very clear here and what he's saying. You know, even with identity politics, the Supreme Court nominee, this will be troubling for them, when he says that they're not going to consider anybody -- in the case of the vice president, gender discrimination would be allowed. Is that constitutional?

GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it's not just Supreme Court decisions as Professor Turley pointed out. You can go all the way back to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, later, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. All of that says you may not use race and gender as a condition of employment.

Of course, Joe Biden graduated near the bottom of his class, he actually got kicked out of law school for a while. So I'm not sure he understands or even comprehends the law.

But, you know, I wrote a column today and I said, look, Republicans need to remember that if a liberal replaces a liberal it does not change the ideological balance of the court the current composition remains the same and I would resist the temptation to demonize a qualified liberal judicial nominee because Democrats will use this in an election year with the midterms coming up as a political cudgel to tarnish and denigrate Republicans as racists and sexists.

And, you know, regardless of whether it's true and smears work in an election year at the ballot box. So, you know, I think they should keep all of this in perspective. Don't do to the Democratic nominee what Democrats did to Kavanaugh and other Republican nominees.

HANNITY: Professor, let's get your take.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ, HARVARD LAW PROFESSOR: Well, first of all, if a president ever to announce, I want to have a Jewish justice on the Supreme Court, that would clearly be unconstitutional. The Constitution explicitly says no religious test shall ever be permitted for any office under the United States. I think the same thing is true with race and gender, I don't think the president should ever, ever insult the person he's going to nominate by saying you're not the most qualified person. You're just the most qualified black woman person.

There are enormous numbers of qualified black women, black men, white men, Asian men. Pick the most qualified.

Look, I've known Steve Breyer for almost six years. We clerked for the same justice. We served on the same faculty. I helped him get his nomination to the Supreme Court.

I pressured, I cajoled President Clinton, told him please appoint my friend Steve Breyer. Steve has been a moderate liberal. I fear that he may be replaced by a knee-jerk, not liberal but hard left person. And that will be difficult to get confirmed, because if you get even one or two Democrats not confirming, voting not to confirm, it won't go through.

So I hope the president picks the most qualified person somebody as qualified as Stephen Breyer, and I hope that that person serves for a long time. Look, Steven Breyer was going to resign. He didn't need the pressure. He comes out of politics.

He was Ted Kennedy's legislative chief, head of the chief council of the judiciary committee. He understands politics. He was not going to let a Republican appoint his successor. He was not going to do a Ginsburg.

But people unseemly pressure putting on him, actually probably made him postpone it for a while. But he was great justice. As a friend, I'm glad to see him retire and live out his life with his wonderful children and wife and I congratulate him for so many years of great service to the United States.

HANNITY: Well, it's going to be interesting to see what happens. Thank you both. Professor Dershowitz, Greg Jarrett, thank you.

Now, the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has been in Congress for 17 terms and during her roughly three decades in office, Pelosi's salary has ranged from just 60 grand to over $200,000. And yet somehow during that time, Pelosi has become one of the wealthiest women in America with a net worth of around $200 million. Apparently, the returns on her stock portfolio are very impressive.

Now, Senator Josh Hawley has introduced a bill in the Senate to ban insider trading among members of Congress. Needless to say, Pelosi is not exactly lining up to support the bill.

Joining us now with more, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley.

Senator, good to have you back.

You've introduced your bill. I've taken a look at it. I agree with it wholeheartedly.

Shouldn't it be a standard practice among elected officials that they recuse themselves or put their money in a blind trust, knowing that it's part of the job that they are likely to get insider information?

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Yeah, absolutely, Sean. It is a hundred percent. And listen, when people get sent to Washington, they ought to be focused on what the voters sent them there to do and not distracted by trying to put a buck in their pocket.

And the truth of the matter is Nancy Pelosi, who I think this last year alone traded over $5 million worth of stock -- I mean, she's making a heck of a lot of money, she and her family are, off of their position.

Here's what I would say: if members want to invest? Fine, invest the way most Americans do. Put it in broad-based diversified mutual funds or put it in a blind trust. But owning individual stock, trading stock is just something that members of Congress shouldn't do. And this ought to be an easy issue.

But Nancy Pelosi, she wants to be able to keep making money.

HANNITY: All right. So the question is, what if the -- what of a spouse of an elected official, should they be allowed to invest? Because I would assume that I won't call it pillow talk exactly, but I would assume that there might be conversations and spouses can be privy to insider information as well, right?

HAWLEY: Yeah, I agree. No, and my legislation, Sean, would not allow spouses to own individual stock either, same rules. You know, for the spouse and for the member of Congress, it's the same rule that you've got - - you've got to sell the stock. And if you don't want to sell the stock, then you got to put in a blind trust, where you have no control over it whatsoever.

What people should not be doing is what Pelosi and her family has been doing day after day, year after year, which is making millions of dollars in stock trades as she sits there as speaker of the House.

HANNITY: Yeah. Well, I mean for most people, I think that's just basic common sense. Do you think there are enough senators, Republican, Democrat and enough congressmen, Republican, Democrat, that will support what is to me just a basic fundamental fiduciary responsibility to avoid even the appearance of impropriety?

HAWLEY: Well, I sure hope so, Sean. You know, the Democrats right now, many of them don't want to touch this because of Pelosi and because, you know, it's just toe the party line, and let's let her protect her privileges.

But I would hope every Republican in Congress and every Republican in the Senate would say, listen, this is just basic responsibility to your constituents. We ought to be out there saying that we are the party who are focused on doing what voters want us to do, not focused on lining our own pockets.

And that's why I've introduced my legislation. I hope every member of the Senate will co-sponsor it.

HANNITY: I don't know if you heard the earlier segment with Alan Dershowitz and Greg Jarrett, and Joe Biden has said he will only choose an African-American woman. Do you believe that to be constitutional?

HAWLEY: Well, I believe it to be typical of this administration which has been the most race-obsessed, gender-obsessed in terms of for trying to deconstruct genders actually. I mean, this is a hard woke left administration. And so, I wasn't surprised at all when the president said that this is what he's going to do.

Here's what I think, Sean, it's a real moment of truth for Joe Biden. He's deeply unpopular. He's been the most divisive president of my lifetime.

Now, he's got a choice -- is he going to nominate a pro-America, pro- Constitution justice, or is he going to keep doing what he's been doing and divide this country with a hard work-left activist? We're about to find out. I hope Republicans are ready to stand up for the Constitution.

HANNITY: Yeah. All right. Senator, we're going to watch very closely. Appreciate you being with us.

Straight ahead tonight, a -- following a historic win in November, Virginia's new leadership, they are standing up against liberal lunacy. And predictably, the left, they're having a meltdown. The brand new Virginia attorney general joins us with the latest, that's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: The media mob is melting down tonight after Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and the state's new leadership, they're actually following through on their campaign promises, like ending -- you know, draconian mask mandates and standing up to indoctrination in schools, actually giving parents a say in their kids education and standing up against one size fits all medicine, with the failed fake news fraud that Jimmy Acosta, fake news Acosta -- well, this is somehow similar to the former Soviet Union.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: In office in less than two weeks, and Governor Glenn Youngkin has already set up an email tip line for parents to report teachers for teaching, quote, divisive subjects. You know, I seem to remember Glenn Youngkin campaigning in a fleece vest in Virginia. He was running as a different kind of Republican. I was told there was going to be a vest, not a Soviet-style police state across the Potomac from Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: That's fake news Acosta's Soviet-style police state, giving students and parents freedom whether to mask is actually, Jimmy, the opposite of a Soviet police state. Embracing freedom of thought, standing up to left-wing propaganda indoctrination is literally the opposite of a Soviet police state. Imagine living in a far-left bubble that you actually think individual freedom is something that is evil.

But, of course, it didn't stop there. As extreme far left singer John Legend, he's now calling on his followers to flood a new Virginia tip line for parents to blow the whistle on CRT taught in schools.

The leadership in Virginia, they're standing strong. They're doing what they said they would do.

Here with reaction, the Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares is back with us.

I remember a moment in the campaign against Terry McAuliffe, where Glenn Youngkin actually said, no, parents should have a say in their kids education, and I remember probably the biggest blunder of the campaign and Terry McAuliffe said they shouldn't have a say in their kids' education.

Mr. Attorney General, am I right on that recollection?

JASON MIYARES (R), VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, thanks, Sean.

You're exactly right. I mean, what the entire campaign, a lot of what it was, is saying parents matter and voters responded to that.

And I think what Jim Acosta said -- I mean, listen, my family fled communist Cuba, the Miyares family. You want to talk about what Soviet- style looks like, it's the opposite of freedom. I mean, my mother has distinct memories of being forced to take classes in Marxist-Leninism, of seeing her brother, my uncle Angel Miyares getting arrested in the middle of the night by Castro's secret police with no due process, no sense of bill of rights, of seeing their family home nationalized, all in the name of fairness and equity.

So, clearly, Jim Acosta maybe needs to take some history classes of what Soviet-style communism actually looks like and that's the opposite. What we have said is parents matter.

Listen, if you're a parent, Sean, and you want to mask your child for six seven eight hours a day, you absolutely have that right. That's your individual decision. But if you're also a parent with a child that has asthma or a child who has glasses that are constantly fogging up, you also have that right. And that's what a pluralistic society looks like.

Recognize other people are going to come to different conclusions and by the way when you reference Terry McAuliffe, the code of Virginia says parents have a fundamental right to the upbringing and well-bringing of their children. And the great irony of all this, Sean, is in Soviet-style communist estates like Cuba, the state diminishes parents. They say your loyalty is to the state and parents have less control.

This is about parental empowerment. This is exactly what you just said. This is what freedom looks like.

Let parents make these decisions, not a one size fits all for everybody in every school. And that's exactly what we're doing, and that's what we're seeing with parents against these far left school boards that are ignoring the voices of the parents.

HANNITY: And the governor made a promise he would end critical race theory being taught in school. Now, maybe I'm old-fashioned. I went to 12 years of Catholic schools and I had a uniform every one of those years.

And I don't know, we pay more per capita per student than any other country in the industrialized world to educate our kids. We come in anywhere between 37 and 42nd worldwide. We're not getting any bang for our buck.

Maybe being old-fashioned, I would think, reading, writing, math, science, computers, maybe that ought to be the first priority of educating our kids, and make sure that our standardized testing goes up and that every kid is proficient in all of those subjects. Wouldn't that be a better plan?

MIYARES: A much better plan.

Listen, what Governor Youngkin and I heard throughout the campaign talking to Virginia parents is they were concerned. Nobody we met said do not teach the dark chapters of American history, don't teach slavery, and don't teach Jim Crow. They said teach all of -- all of history.

And we are indeed that last best hope on Earth. It's the same last bit hope that gave a second chance to my family and I've said before, America has given more second chances to more people for more backgrounds, more faiths, more races and more creed than any country in the history of the world.

That also is what we should be teaching our kids, that we're that last best hope on Earth. There is no other country like us, and if you don't believe me, Sean, go to your local courthouse and sit in the back of the room and watch the naturalization ceremonies. The people in those rooms, they understand, this is a unique special place. They cherish freedom. That's exactly what we should be teaching our kids.

And you're right. Our numbers right now with the shutdown of our schools, our math scores, our reading scores, it has been devastating for so many children in Virginia and across this country.

It's time we get back our kids back in school. We let parents decide what's happening with the mask. Teach them the basic.

As Governor Youngkin loves to say, we want to teach them what to think, not how to think. That's what we're talking about in Virginia and we're ready to get started.

HANNITY: Explain the tip line really quickly. If parents have a problem in their school system, who will go through that tip line and look into matters that might be serious?

MIYARES: Listen, all this is saying is parents have a right if they find out there's something that's really concerning them, and we're seeing school board after school board, in Loudon, and all over that, candidly, are just ignoring parents' voices. They're not allowing them to speak. In some cases, parents are getting arrested.

We're saying, listen, we believe in accountability and transparency in government. That's all we believe in. And the idea is allowing parents to have a voice, one more voice where they can actually express their concerns. And so, that obviously go to the Youngkin administration.

But the whole idea of this is parental empowerment. And if school boards are ignoring their parents, we're going to try to give them as many avenues whatsoever. And this is no different than when school boards accept email solicitation of what's going on from the general public.

We're just saying, listen, we just want to know what's going on, give us the information. If you're concerned, hey, just let us know. This is about parental involvement and parental empowerment, and that's our goal here.

HANNITY: All right. We appreciate it, Mr. Attorney General. You've been back with us.

When we come back, proof the left is more concerned with Ukraine's border than our own. Plus, exclusive reporting from Sara Carter and Julio Rosas exposing the Biden administration. What they really think about the crisis on our southern border. We've got an update you won't get anywhere else, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Now, tonight, ask yourself why is Joe Biden playing phony tough guy with Putin, and the border of Russia and Ukraine, but couldn't care less about our own border? Because as we have exposed on this show night after night, Biden and his own open borders minions have no interest in border security. They have no interest in the safety and security of this country. They're not respecting our law, our sovereignty, our borders.

As a matter of fact, they're aiding and abetting in the law-breaking and giving preferential treatment to illegal immigrants.

Just listen to Biden's deputy national security adviser saying Americans should care about Ukraine because sovereignty should be respected, okay. But I guess that doesn't apply to our own country. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why should Americans care about what's happening in Ukraine?

JONATHAN FINER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: Because it goes to a very fundamental principle of all nations, which is that our borders should be inviolate, that our sovereignty should be respected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: That our sovereignty should be respected in Ukraine. What about here?

And get this, tonight, we have now obtained exclusive audio by Townhall's Julio Rosas of DHS secretary -- this is Mayorkas -- in a recent meeting with border patrol in the Yuma sector. It didn't go particularly well. Now, Julio's reporting that one agent even turned his back on the secretary amid his total disregard for the rule of law.

Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

AGENT: Every time someone important comes here, we rush out. Fifty more buses come in and they take as many people out here as they can. You guys keep saying you want to see how it really is down here. Why do we keep sending as many people as out of here as we can before they get here?

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, DHS SECRETARY: I'm not exactly sure I follow, sorry.

(LAUGHTER)

AGENT: That whole area back here. Before you come down, before anybody comes down a senator, it doesn't matter. They bus as many people out here as they can to whatever other sector.

AGENT: It may appear that everything's hunky dory. We know better. I know better.

MAYORKAS: The commitment remains that we'll keep fighting. And let me -- let me just say, you can turn your back on me, but I'll never turn your back on my back on you.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HANNITY: Secretary Mayorkas's office told us in a statement in part, quote: Secretary Mayorkas welcomes candor during these conversations, appreciates and respects the opinions of each member of the CBP workforce.

What about our sovereignty and is it really that bad, the worst in 20 years?

Also tonight, we should continue to -- we do continue to bring you exclusive reporting from our very own Sara Carter who now interviewed a recently retired Border Patrol agent who says Biden's open borders disaster is not an accident, By the way, he's undercover. He's protecting his pension and I don't blame him. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: How do you verify who the people are when they come through if they have no identifiers or no license or no passport?

RETIRED BORDER PATROL AGENT: We have to, you know, pretty much, you -- we bring him in. We take the fingerprints but, you know, when you take fingerprints, you're checking if they've done something here in the U.S. We don't know what they did outside. They may have a hit from the -- you know the joint terrorist task force or whatever, but I don't think that's enough. That's not enough vetting.

We are in -- I mean, this is a -- it's pretty much a like a factory. We're just moving people -- we're moving people through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANITY: All right. Here with reaction, author of "Fiery But Mostly Peaceful", "Townhall's" Julio Rosas, along with FOX News contributor Sara Carter.

Julio, let's start with you. So Mayorkas is admitting it's the worst it's ever been. Now, they're the ones that eliminated the stay in Mexico policy, stop building the wall, and they're the ones that brought back -- not catch and release but process and release, and they're offering free transportation, no COVID tests, no vaccine mandates to illegal immigrants to go anywhere they want in the country. Isn't that right?

JULIO ROSAS, SENIOR WRITER FOR TOWNHALL: Exactly and look, everything that the agents told Mayorkas, he all knows this. I mean, he said that -- he knows that the policies that the administration has implemented is not particularly popular with Customs and Border Protection. But he said, but we have to work within that framework.

It's like -- well, they built that framework. It doesn't have to be this way, and it's really frustrating and we're now over a year into this crisis, into this massive influx, and things have only gotten worse. And so, that's why it's not surprising that this is now the second time Mayorkas has been secretly recorded and that audio has been leaked, because the agents know.

They saw what happened under the Trump administration. They saw things were working.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: But, Julio, correct me if wrong, they built the framework, but the framework is aiding and abetting in law breaking, and not enforcing the laws of the land. Now, they have every prerogative if they want to change the law, they have the House and the Senate. They have the ability to try and do that. But instead, they ignore the law.

Why do I believe that if I did this, or you did this, or Sara did this, we probably would be charged with human trafficking? Would that be too far stretch?

ROSAS: No, I think -- I think you're absolutely right. And again, this is -- this is all self-inflicted and I have yet to meet a single frontline agent and I've been all across the border, mind you. I've yet to meet a single frontline agent that has anything positive to say about Biden, Mayorkas or Border Patrol chief Ruiz, and I think that's very telling.

HANNITY: You know, Sara, we didn't get into this last night. Here you have a retired --

CARTER: Right.

HANNITY: -- Border Patrol officer that wants to speak out, says this is all on purpose and by design but can't go public with this. Why?

CARTER: Well, obviously, they're very concerned about their pension. They're concerned about their future. They're concerned about being canceled by people on the outside, if they attempt to get another job. This is a very dangerous time.

I was in communication with them over the last few days and, you know, they concur with everything that Julio is saying, but they go even further, to the point where they say exactly what you said, Sean, that they are part of the human trafficking experience, that President Biden is basically allowing the United States government to open the borders wide to basically inflict damage and harm national security, our own national security here in the United States, on the American people, and they said something even more important to me, and this is something that we didn't have a chance to get to with our reporting yesterday.

But the fact that when you open these borders wide and we've seen terrorists attempt to enter the country but we also know that there are apprehensions out there that maybe got-aways, people that enter the country, sleeper cells. What is the United States government going to say if somebody got into this nation and actually attempted to conduct a terrorist attack in this country because our president decided to leave the borders wide open and did not let his federal law enforcement officers do their job?

They couldn't just do another September 11th commission because it wouldn't be like they could say they didn't know about it. These border patrol agents, these officers, these ICE officers, as well DEA, CIA, FBI, everybody who's been speaking out has made it perfectly clear that the United States government under Joe Biden, President Joe Biden is putting the nation at risk.

And it isn't stopping. They're continuing to do it, Sean, and it's getting worse, even to the point the last few days, they've been releasing people in Phoenix, they've been releasing people in Yuma. They're releasing people in Texas.

So it hasn't stopped and I don't know what it's going to take to get them to stop.

HANNITY: All right. Sara, Julio, thank you both. Great reporting from both of you.

Straight ahead tonight, an actor in New York City films an alleged shoplifter raiding a store in New York City and walking right out right in front of the security guard. No ramifications. Wait until you see this tape, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: More evidence tonight of out-of-control crime in New York City. But it's really all across the country. A video shot by actor Michael Rappaport reportedly shows a brazen theft at a New York City Rite-Aid where a shoplifter casually walks into the store, fills bags with products, strolls right out past the security guard, didn't pay for anything.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This dude is -- I can't believe I'm seeing this (EXPLETIVE DELETED). This (EXPLETIVE DELETED). This (EXPLETIVE DELETED) guy just filled two bags up with everything right here on 80th and First Avenue walking down the street like (EXPLETIVE DELETED)is Gucci. Looking at me and my face like, what? I was watching him the whole time. My man just went Christmas shopping in January.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Up in a Bronx hospital, New York, a gunman fired on a patient inside the emergency room, firing four shots and hitting the victim in the arm and just the latest act of disturbing gun violence plaguing the city.

And out on the West Coast, new photos from "The Daily Mail" show San Francisco's open-air drug market, not far from where Nancy Pelosi is. A user shoot up, pass out in plain sight as the city crumbles on their far left rule.

Notice the theme here? Democratic-run cities, they're less safe, less secure. How do you find -- let's see, the pursuit of happiness on law and order and safety and security? And, by the way, these cities are more dangerous as -- by the day as leaders fail to take issue of violent crime seriously.

I will ask it again tonight, how many more of these stories are we going to have to cover before these far left failures start taking, you know, issues kind of seriously?

Here with reaction, former governor of the great state of Arkansas, one of the best, but ethic is about to be displaced by another woman by the name of Sarah Huckabee Sanders. But anyway, at least I'm hoping.

Governor, good to see you.

What's to stop people? In states and cities, you can steal as long as it's under $1,000. You are only going to get a ticket. Why not do it? How do you -- you are encouraging it.

MIKE HUCKABEE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Sean, you really are. And the fact is, what this is, is a total collapse of civil order.

The one purpose for government, the reason it was created is to maintain civil order, so that people can live their lives freely. What I wish of a lot of Americans understood is that this may happen in New York, but it's affecting them if they are living somewhere in Mississippi, for the simple reason that everyone's insurance rates go up. The cost of the judiciary goes up, the cost of prisons, and police goes up, and the cost of the goods.

When things get stolen from a store, the story doesn't eat it. They raise the prices for all the suckers like you and me who would actually go and pay for the stuff we got.

The other side of this that I hope people will recognize, those scenes we saw of San Francisco, the people who are addicted to drugs, they have been empowered by the politicians to continue in their addiction rather than being empowered to get out of their addiction. This is crazy. They are creating these drug use zones.

But these are people who are desperate, they are addicted, they don't need to be on the streets and they don't necessarily need to be in prison, they need to be in rehab. But they've got to be taken off the streets for that to happen. But these are people with a family, a hometown, and it's a human tragedy that government lets this happen and instead of trying to deal with the root problem, they do nothing but accommodate addiction, and ultimately, death and destruction for these communities.

HANNITY: How big a part did the defund the police, dismantle the police, no bail laws, how big a part of that play in this?

HUCKABEE: Sean, it's huge. It's a big part of it, because if you tell people there are no consequences to crime, they're going to commit more crime. And if you told the cops that there is no point in arresting somebody, because by the time they filled out the paperwork, that guy's going to be back on the street doing things even worse than you arrested him for. There is no point.

And so, it's a complete collapse of the whole idea of law and order. I would say to every American who was registered to vote, elections have consequences. You elect to these left-wing loons to create these policies, this is what you get. And it's why it's happening in deep blue states. That's not necessarily happening like this in states run by conservatives.

And I'm not trying to be overtly political, it's just a fact. It's just the way it's running because there's a different ideology about what's right and what's wrong.

HANNITY: It's like we have two different Americas. We have Arkansas, where you're from, and then New York and California. And you have Texas, you have Florida, then you have New Jersey and Chicago. I mean, amazing that people would allow this to happen.

Governor, great to see you. Thank you.

All right. When we come back, more HANNITY straight ahead right this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: That's all the time we have for tonight. Man, this hour flies by. Anyways, thank you so much for being with us. You make the show possible.

We hope you remember, don't forget, set your DVR so you never miss an episode of HANNITY.

And I have good news in the meantime, the news never ends. Let not your hearts be troubled because Laura Ingraham is right there ready to take over. It's a takeover.


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