'Hannity' on Jen Psaki, inflation

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Hannity has message for Jen Psaki: This is 'absolutely not true'

Sean Hannity blasts Jen Psaki for claims on inflation under Biden.

This is a rush transcript of "Hannity" on March 9, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: All right. And, Tucker, thank you.

And welcome to HANNITY. We begin tonight with another Fox News alert.

Tonight, as Russia's forces become stalled across Ukraine, Putin's tactics are becoming more and more barbaric. Vladimir is embarrassed on the world stage. He feels like he's losing and now, it is clear he is attempting to unleash hell on the Ukrainian people. Things will likely get dramatically worse for the people of Ukraine very quickly.

Now, today, he reportedly targeted -- you got it -- a maternity and children's hospital with an airstrike. Only a soulless, psychotic, power- hungry megalomaniac would be capable of this.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

HANNITY: We have a lot to get to tonight. We'll start with the very latest on the ground in Ukraine. Our very own Trey Yingst is standing by tonight - - Trey.

TREY YINGST, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Sean, good evening. We've got a lot of updates for you about southern Ukraine, but I want to start giving you a picture of what the capital of Kyiv is like tonight. Just a few moments ago, large explosions in the distance and just last hour, air raid sirens were sounding throughout this city. Russian forces continue to try to move in on this capital from both the air and the ground.

We saw air defense systems active today in Kyiv as the Ukrainians try to shoot planes out of the sky that are targeting their capital.

Now, to the city of Mariupol, in the southern part of this country, it's got a population of about 400,000 people. And today, a maternity hospital there was targeted with a massive Russian strike, 17,000 people were injured, according to local officials. But you see these images here, women and children injured, expectant women just really devastated in this strike. The destruction widespread, and it really just gives you a taste of how brutal these Russian forces have been both from the air and the ground as they try to close off these cities across Ukraine.

Mariupol in particular has been hit hard. The deputy mayor there giving some details today about what's been taking place. He says there are mass graves in the city right now. They're having to bury people very quickly, as more than a thousand people have died there, according to the deputy mayor since this Russian invasion began two weeks ago.

All across the country, there are evacuations underway, but the Russians continue to shell those roots despite the fact they claim they'll keep them safe for civilians. And today, some concerning news out of the northern part of this country at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that's currently disconnected from the power grid. That according to officials who say there's a backup generator running but it only can run for about 48 hours. So, a big disaster waiting there. The International Atomic Energy Agency weighing in today, basically saying that they can confirm the plant is no longer transmitting data but they say they see no critical impact on safety at this point. Still, the Ukrainian people this evening bracing for what could be very bloody urban battle in the days ahead as those Russian forces target the capital city -- Sean.

HANNITY: Now, we can add a maternity hospital to nuclear sites to indiscriminate bombing of men, women and children, innocent people involved in all this. The brutality is getting worse as Putin gets more desperate.

Trey, thank you.

Now, according to the Kremlin spokesperson, Russia -- they say they will halt their invasion immediately if Ukraine meets these four conditions. One, agreed to never ever enter NATO. Two, recognize Crimea as Russian territory. Three, recognize the so-called separatist regions in the east as independent nations. And four, cease all military action.

Now, a word of warning, these are probably not real conditions. Like always, Vladimir Putin is lying. He almost never tells the truth. He lied about the war in Crimea.

He lied about liberating the Donbas region. He lied about his reasons for entering Ukraine. He lied when he said his troops were there for peacekeeping purposes. He lied when he said he agreed to a ceasefire.

And now, according to American intelligence, Vladimir Putin is potentially plotting a chemical or biological weapons attack under the guise of what's called a false flag operation to say, see, they did this. This is why we have to fight.

And here to break it all down from the Pentagon, our own Jennifer Griffin is back with us.

Jennifer, a lot to talk about tonight.

JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Sean.

Russia's foreign minister will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart in Turkey Thursday, the highest level meeting since Russia's invasion began. The director of the IAEA will join them as well to discuss nuclear safety. This comes as Trey mentioned, as Russian forces occupy the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which as he mentioned has had a power outage which concerns Ukrainian officials.

But the IAEA cautions there's no need for a media alarm and there has been no release of radiation.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon explained why it does not want Poland to transfer its MiG-29 warplanes to a U.S. air base in Germany. U.S. intelligence assesses if the planes are moved from that U.S. air base to Ukraine, Putin could view it as an attack by NATO, drawing NATO into a direct conflict with Russia.

U.S. officials say Ukraine does not need these MiGs from a military perspective because they still have most of their air force intact and the anti-tank and anti-aircraft shoulder-fired weapons are having more impact.

And, Sean, in terms of Ukraine's bio labs which have come under scrutiny tonight, those are Soviet era bio labs that the U.S. has been engaged since 2005 and trying to help Ukraine convert the research facilities safely. In Uzbekistan for instance, the United States eliminated nearly 12 tons of weaponized anthrax from an island in the Aral sea in 2001.

Here's a statement from the Pentagon. Quote: On a daily basis, Russia propagates either directly through state-run media outlets or through the use of surrogates, disinformation aimed at BTRP's (The U.S. Biothreat Reduction Programs) laboratory and capacity building efforts in former Soviet Union countries. The Lugar Center in Georgia and the central reference laboratory in Kazakhstan are the primary targets. But more recent disinformation efforts have targeted laboratories in Ukraine.

Through these different disinformation campaigns, Russia falsely claims the United States is developing biological weapons in laboratories in these countries as well as killing local populations with purposeful release of biological agents.

That is why White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Moscow's talk today about these bio labs has led to concern by U.S. intelligence that Russia could use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine to create a false flag operation using them -- Sean.

HANNITY: Jennifer, but we do know Victoria Nuland admitted that that labs existed, what exactly they're for, we never got clarity on, correct?

GRIFFIN: Well, we do have clarity. I have a fact sheet. That's what I was just reading from here at the Pentagon, and it is a long program that has existed where the Pentagon has partnered with these -- these bio labs, these were Soviet era labs that remember the Nunn-Lugar bill and trying to deal with proliferation when the Soviet Union ended. That is part of this effort to try and clean up those Soviet era labs and make sure that nothing escapes from those labs.

And so the U.S. has been very open about its involvement there with that. But what Russia does is they take that information, distort it, turn it around and turn it into disinformation and that is what has U.S. government officials concerned because often, they will do that. They lay the groundwork for that. You heard the foreign ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova speak about that today from the Kremlin and then what the Pentagon is concerned about is that that may be a pretext for a false flag operation involving bio or chemical weapons.

HANNITY: One more questions. Yesterday, the Secretary of State Blinken seemed enthusiastic about the MiGs being transferred from Poland. Poland is also a sovereign nation, on top of being a member of NATO. What they do independently, why would the U.S. at first support it and then pull back from it?

GRIFFIN: Well, it's a tricky situation. Originally, what Secretary Blinken said was that if the Poles want to directly transfer those MiG-29s to Ukraine, the U.S. is not going to stop them that is a sovereign nation's decision.

But then the Poles surprised the U.S. government and said, actually, we are going to transfer them to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, a U.S. air base, and then you take them. You deliver them to Ukraine, and the U.S., A, was caught off guard by that, and, B, said that's not a good idea. We don't want to be in the middle of this.

They're not going to stop the Poles from delivering those MiGs. But I just came out of a briefing tonight. Those MiG-29s unfortunately are not going to do much good right now. The Ukrainian air force is still largely intact, they're still flying.

The problem is the type of weapons that the Russians are using right now. It's on the ground the fight is on the ground, and that's where those shoulder-fired javelins and other missiles come into play. And they are being very effective despite that horrific attack and airstrike on the maternity hospital today in Mariupol -- Sean.

HANNITY: All right. Thanks for clearing that up. We appreciate it. Jennifer Griffin from the Pentagon tonight.

Now, I know many Americans are asking tonight, what is America's interest here? Now, a troubling story from Ukraine, according to "The New York Times," a father and husband discovered that his family died after seeing their lifeless bodies and photographs that were put online. They were reportedly killed by a Russian mortar attack. Our prayers are with that father, his entire family, all the people of Ukraine, the innocent men, women and children that are under fire tonight.

And I think it's clear, Americans are asking, what is our role here? Let me be clear what I think America's role should be it needs to be. No matter what happens in Ukraine, we cannot have American boots on the ground. That cannot be an option.

World War III, we got to do our very best to try and prevent that from happening because that's not going to end well. And frankly, there have been far too many occasions -- and this is the most important point, when politicians in Washington, both sides of the aisle, in the U.S. are eager to start wars but then they don't have the resolve to actually win the wars they start.

Then as time passes and the wars become less popular and become politicized and these very same politicians that sent our national treasure, our men and women to go fight these wars, they decide -- never mind, abort the mission, oops, sorry we made a mistake let's get out as quickly as possible and what about the precious loss of life in the meantime.

Now, what happened in Afghanistan and Iraq can never happen again, and thank God we have new military modern technology that can prevent that from happening again. And don't forget, it's day today, 207, since Joe Biden abandoned Americans behind enemy line lines in the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan.

Now, many other people are asking do we as a country have any moral obligation to do something when we see war criminals like Vladimir Putin bombing, eviscerating, entire neighborhoods. You saw the report just now about literally attacking a maternity ward, killing women and children indiscriminately. Does America have a moral obligation? My answer is yes, we do.

We have an obligation to help innocent human beings, especially women and children.

And in this case, the Ukrainian people, they have now demonstrated, their willingness to fight for their country and protect their fellow countrymen. Now, this is where we can and we should help them.

We can help the Ukrainians by providing the arms that they need to protect their people. That's how we help them. Are we choosing sides? Yeah, we are. We're choosing the side of the sovereign and albeit I've been critical of Ukraine's government at times, political corruption has run up until Zelenskyy pretty rampant. But this is a sovereign country that was invaded and as Americans, we're really -- if we're on anybody's side -- we're on the side of innocent civilians brutally murdered by Vladimir Putin and his minions doing his bidding.

And that's why it would be nice and good for the world if the Russian military or his own advisors or the people of Russia step up and do the right thing and take that guy out by any means necessary. When you invade a sovereign country, this should be a new rule, and you kill innocent men women and children which he has done, you forfeit your right to lead a country and frankly, you also forfeit your right to live. The world would be better and safer without Putin in it, period.

Now, if we've learned anything from the last century where well over 100 million people, human souls died because of isms, communism, Nazism, fascism, the sooner you cut off the head of a maniacal killer and the -- you cut off the head of a snake, then you start saving innocent lives.

Now, we're going to have a lot more Putin's bloody invasion of Ukraine coming up. But first, we turn to an important issue right here at home and that is now for the third straight day gas prices at the pump just hit another all-time record high. Joe Biden says it's all Putin's fault. Nothing he can do about it, he said those very words.

Now Joe Biden is lying, we didn't get here overnight. In fact, prices at the pump as you all know have been rising ever since Joe Biden took office. Now, why have they been rising? Because Biden did everything he possibly could with the stroke of a pen to limit all oil and gas production and exploration right here in the U.S., just like he promised, he'd do.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we don't stop using fuels --

JOE BIDEN, THEN-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're all dead. Doing away with any subsidies for fossil fuels, number one. Number two, holding them liable for what they have done, particularly in those cases where your underserved neighborhoods and you know the deal, okay? And by the way, when they don't, when they're deliberate put them in jail.

Kiddo, I want you to just take a look, okay? You don't have to agree, but I want you to look in my eyes, I guarantee you, I guarantee you, we're going to end fossil fuel and I am not going to cooperate, okay?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would there be any place for fossil fuels including coal and fracking in the Biden administration?

BIDEN: No, we would -- we would work it out. We would make sure it's eliminated.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

HANNITY: So it's going just as planned. So, Joe killed the Keystone XL pipeline, prices went up. Joe banned drilling in ANWR, prices went up. Joe blocked new permits on federal lands and auctions on federal lands, and guess what? Prices went up.

Joe rejoined the Paris climate accords. We're paying a fortune, and China and India viewed as developing countries and pay next to nothing. He reinstated caps on American production. He added environmental regulations that are almost impossible for energy companies to work and prices went up.

And Biden's radical agenda left America and our allies vulnerable. But there is some good news. Despite everything that he did to stymie oil and gas production, his administration can still take steps to increase production, lower the cost at the pump, lower the cost of every item, we buy at every store we go to, lower the cost of heating and cooling our homes. He can restart the Keystone XL pipeline.

And in spite of the lies that he and Jen Psaki have been selling and telling, according to the premier of Alberta, Canada, this pipeline can be turned around in less than one year. Once completed, it would increase crude oil capacity in the United States by almost 900,000 barrels a day, which would make up and then some all the oil that Joe has been importing from Russia and he wouldn't have to beg Venezuela and Iran.

And this isn't the only pipeline in play. Most people don't know that in Europe, the Biden administration is opposing the Eastern Mediterranean pipeline which would supply western Europe with natural gas from Israel. A long discussion with Dory Gold on my radio show today.

Joe needs to immediately support this. He once did, he doesn't anymore because he's controlled by the climate alarmist cult.

Now, if the administration reverses course now and gives the green light to all of these projects, much needed natural gas would begin to flow into Europe. It is desperately needed and we can wean our allies off of Russian oil and energy and stop making Putin rich again. And that would bankrupt Russia and Putin's reign of terror because Russia would be poor again.

Now, this new supply would obviously be a factor in the global energy market and, of course, the Biden administration could also reinstate drilling in ANWR, and lift the ban on new domestic and offshore exploration here. All of this would lower costs. It would increase supply, supply and demand crisscross and equal the price. Increase of supply, demand remains constant, price goes down.

It would also create high-paying American jobs and we wouldn't have to worry about Russia. We wouldn't have to worry about the Straits of Hormuz, or any energy issues involved in the Middle East. We would be energy self- sufficient. In other words, energy independent.

Anyway, that would require a little courage from Joey. He would need to stand up to his New Green Deal climate alarmists and his own party. But he's clearly not willing to do that. Joe would rather is now to beg the dictators and the despots to produce more oil and why he would ever negotiate with the mullahs of Iran that have threatened to wipe Israel and the U.S. off the map, that chant "death to America, death to Israel", Iran that is the number one state sponsor of terrorism worldwide, and this is where it gets really crazy.

Russia right now in Vienna is brokering the new nuclear deal that Joey wants with Iran and the United States. Iran won't talk to us directly. So Russia's in the middle negotiating. I'm sure they're doing a great job for Iran.

And according to justthenews.com, that's John Solomon's site, a top Russian negotiator brag, quote, Iran got much more than they ever expected. We're talking about some $900 billion in unfrozen cash and other assets, oil export guarantees, very little oversight surrounding Iran's uranium enrichment program. Also that Joe Biden doesn't stand up to the climate alarmists in his own party? So what's happening here?

Joe Biden is literally putting his party's radical agenda over your wallets. He's willing to give you a 40-year high with inflation. He's putting his radical agenda over the safety and security of the American people and, frankly, the safety and security of people around the world. He's going to make the number one state sponsor of terror rich again.

Sending money to a socialist dictator like Maduro in Venezuela? Sending an emissary over to Caracas over the weekend? That doesn't make the world a safer place. Giving OPEC all the leverage they want over the U.S., that doesn't make the world a safer place.

And make no mistake: restricting oil and gas production here in the U.S. -- well, that will continue to spur massive inflation. Obviously, Joe doesn't care. He'd rather deal with the dictators than stand up to the radicals in his own party.

Everything you buy is produced and shipped and guess what they use oil gas diesel to get it there. That's why month over month inflation right here in the U.S. continues to rise unless, of course, you're living in this alternate universe like circle back propagandist Jen Psaki.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: What specifically can you point to that has worked to bring down inflation?

JEN PSAKE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, there are a number of steps we've taken. If you've seen -- if you compare month to month, we've seen inflationary pressure or inflationary numbers go down month to month, even as we looked at the year to year numbers go up, which we entirely predicted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: No, that is absolutely not true. Just another Jen Psaki, Joe Biden lie. We are at a 40-year high for inflation and that's month after month. But it wasn't Psaki's only lie of the day. Jen still wants you to believe that gas prices are only going up because of Vladimir Putin and greedy oil companies that are not taking advantage of the leases that they have generously given.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Why did you guys decide to rebrand the rising gas prices as the #PutinPriceHike?

PSAKI: If you want to use that on FOX, I welcome that.

DOOCY: Does President Biden think that each of these 9,000 leases that are available have oil or glass in them? Because industry experts are saying that that accusation is a complete red herring, some permits are viable and some are not. You say that, this represents a fundamental misunderstanding into how this process works.

PSAKI: Well, first of all, the nearly 60 percent of leased acres remain non-producing. That's a lot, in the range of 20 million acres. So there are 9,000 unused approved permits to drill in they should not require -- that should not require us inviting them to do that. They should do that themselves.

DOOCY: The additional permits. So would the president --

PSAKI: What additional permits do they need? There's no -- they have -- the leases are there. The permits are there. I don't think they need an embroidered invitation to drill. That is their oil companies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: I guess Jen Psaki probably gets of her information from MSDNC and fake news CNN and her cognitively struggling boss that doesn't know what day it is. But in case you're watching tonight, Jen, here's an important fact you need to know and you probably do.

Despite your claim, oil and gas companies are not just sitting on 9,000 unused approved oil drilling permits. These leases are issued prior to exploration. So, not all of those leases actually have oil and gas in the ground that can be extracted. In other words, energy companies are not going to drill for oil on a piece of land that ends up not having oil, even if they have the permit to do so. You might want to factor that in.

Does any of that make sense?

Here with more from the White House is our very own White House correspondent Peter Doocy.

Now, Peter, you just -- I just quoted the premier from Canada saying that within a year, we can have barrels of oil coming through the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, not Caracas, Venezuela, not from Iran, but from Canada every single day. They put a pause on oil and gas leases on federal lands. They're not -- they're not rescinding that.

All these new environmental restrictions make it hard for energy companies, and we're at a two decades high in terms of the percentage of leases in production, the 9,000 she talks about, and I thought today, you hit her with every point that the that the oil industry and the energy industry is making. Is it she doesn't want to hear it or doesn't care to understand it?

DOOCY: Well, it is complicated and you mentioned it, Sean. The premiere in Alberta, Canada, says they could have the production back but or at least in the Keystone, whatever they can make up the difference within about a year.

But now, TC Energy is out, the company that was in charge of that project, saying that for now, the project is not going to happen. He told "The Washington Examiner" just straightforward. The project is done and the piece explains that basically the Biden administration would have to cut red tape.

Plus, they created these towns basically in the middle of nowhere for all of these workers who had decades of experience to go and live and work on this pipeline in places where there were not restaurants or hotels or schools for their families. And once the project was done all those towns have been basically abandoned. So it's a huge many, many different step process to get this thing back together, and they're not saying no, which is -- Jen Psaki is not saying no, it's never going to happen.

But they're in a tricky situation because if they say that the construction can resume then they are going back on a day one pledge, which was basically we determined that pipelines are worse for the environment --

(CROSSTALK)

DOOCY: Right, 100 percent.

HANNITY: We have three days in a row with all-time record-setting highs for the cost of a gallon of gasoline, if the choice is, Peter, then cut the red tape and get the pipeline back on track if we wanted to we could get it done, we're the United States of America. Alberta's premier is willing to work with us.

If the choice has cut the red tape or deal with the murdering thug dictator in Venezuela or the Iranian mullahs that want us dead, I think I choose to cut the red tape. Easy decision for me.

DOOCY: And it's going to be really interesting. The Vice President Kamala Harris landed in Europe a couple hours ago. She is going to be the point person trying to untangle some of this mess that the world is in because of what Russia is doing.

And so, as of right now, the most direct impact to many Americans watching right now is energy cost and inflation. And so, she -- as of right now -- is probably this country's best bet at coming up with an international solution.

HANNITY: Peter, thank God, you're in that room every day. It's must-see TV. I think there's a -- there's a future TV show in the making between you and Jen Psaki and you'd win every night. Anyway, thank you.

And now with more on all of that and on what Biden can do right now to secure America's energy independence and lower the price at the pump is the senior vice president of the American Petroleum Institute, and that's Frank Macchiarola is with us.

Frank, good to see you. Thank you for being with us.

Tell us why Jen Paki's wrong.

FRANK MACCHIAROLA, API SVP OF POLICY, ECONOMICS AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS: Sure. Thanks for having me on, Sean.

Either the White House is showing a fundamental misunderstanding of how oil and natural gas development works, or they're intentionally creating a misdirection here to distract the American people. Either way, they're not providing relief at the pump. Let's break down what the White House is talking about with respect to leases. First of all, according to the Department of the Interior, the percentage of productive leases is at a 20- year high in the United States right now.

With respect to this permit claim, there are currently nearly 100,000 wells in production on federal lands. So the number that they're throwing out is a real misdirection. It's a red herring, and it doesn't get at the real problem which is the policies that they've put in place.

HANNITY: If we -- if they we opened up ANWR again, if we finish the Keystone pipeline, if we open up new leases on federal lands and upended all these restrictions on the environment that they put in place, would America be energy independent in a year?

MACCHIAROLA: Look, we're at a critical moment right now, similar to this - -

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: That's not my question. I asked you a specific question. If they -- if they would undo what they've done, the policy they put in place, would we be energy independent probably within a year?

MACCHIAROLA: We'd be more energy secure, Sean. We'd be producing more of what we have here at home, relying less on countries like Russia --

HANNITY: Dramatically --

(CROSSTALK)

MACCHIAROLA: And we'll be in a better place than we are right now. No question, no question. They need to reverse course on a number of issues whether it's energy infrastructure like keystone whether it's the leasing ban on federal oil and gas leases. Whether it's the proposals that they had in the build back better plan to increase taxes on domestic producers who are competing globally in -- as you know, oil is a global commodity. It's traded globally and so we're competing every day around the world.

The Biden administration needs to be promoting American oil and natural gas. We've had --

HANNITY: They're misleading.

(CROSSTALK)

MACCHIAROLA: Shell revolution for more than a decade. We've increased our security and now we're going backwards.

HANNITY: It's a sleight of hand because we've had more production coming out of the leases that are there. We're at a two-decade high. So they're not telling the truth.

Frank, thank you for being with us.

Also tonight, fear not just because Vice President Harris is now in Poland trying to save the day, God help us. Meanwhile, back at home, Nancy Pelosi had her own thoughts about the war in Ukraine. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I start with something that we had been looking forward to that we savored at the time and take great pride in. In fact, when I spoke to President Zelenskyy, I said Billie Jean King sends you her regards and wants to know how she can help in an event.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: I like Billie Jean King. I've met Billie Jean King. She's a lovely woman, but I'm not sure Zelenskyy feels better right now.

Tonight, unfortunately, the radical socialist far-left agenda from the climate alarmist cult and the Democratic, New Green Deal, socialist party, they never rest. This week, John Kerry claiming climate change will make the Ukrainian refugee crisis look insignificant. He may be the dumbest human being on the planet. At least Joe Biden has an excuse because he doesn't know what day of the week it is.

Now, meanwhile, take a look at your screen. Several New York Democrats, look at what they're posed with earlier today, pretty disgusting poster, featuring the Twin Towers and a plane with the words climate change written on the side of the plane. That's how sick their mindset is.

Here with reaction, former governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, along with FOX News contributor Brian Brenberg is with us.

Thank you both.

Governor, let me ask you. Your reaction to that, more importantly, your reaction to the policies that would lead us to energy independence that are off the table and the preference now is Venezuela, Iran and OPEC?

MIKE HUCKABEE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: When you're begging your enemies to give you the fuel that you need to run your country, you're not free. You're being held hostage by your enemies. This is a dumb thing.

Three things that a country has to have to be free has to fuel itself, feed itself and fight for itself by manufacturing its own weapons. We are now at risk of both fueling ourselves and feeding ourselves because of what's happening between Russia and Ukraine. We've throttled the American farmer, we've throttled the energy industry, the oil and gas people who work really hard to bring it out of the ground and give it to us at a decent price, and all we've got is John Kerry running around whining about climate change.

If you could buy him for what he's worth and sell him for what he thinks he's worth, we could make a really good living off John Kerry.

HANNITY: Yeah, we could and by the way, he has a pretty good carbon footprint. I don't deny him his private jet, but most Americans don't need a lecture on their SUVs as he's flying the skies in his own home big plane.

Brian, let me ask you. I'm having a hard time understanding this dilemma because I don't think it should be a dilemma. Venezuela, OPEC, Iran and begging them to produce energy we could produce at home, or lifting the restrictions Joe Biden put on the energy sector. That's not a hard one for me.

BRIAN BRENBERG, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: No, let's be clear, you can bring down energy prices today if the president of the United States, instead of going to Texas, and saying, hey, your gas prices are going up. If he goes to Texas, and he says, what can I do to get behind oil and gas production in this country, energy prices would drop immediately.

We have a president who listens to John Kerry. That's the problem. It's not what John Kerry says. It's the fact that this president listens to John Kerry instead of looking at the alarm bells in the economy which are clear. Prices are out of control. They're getting worse. Oil is driving it.

Mr. President, stop listening to your climate envoy. Start listening to the folks who fill up their trucks every day at the pump and can't afford the diesel because they're going to move the products that gets us out of this inflation mess. He's listening to the wrong people and he's missing the opportunity right under his nose, right in this country, to take care of the problems that we face for our good and the good of our partners around the globe.

HANNITY: All right. Predictions, what will gas prices be six months from now? Brian, we'll give you the first crack.

BRENBERG: I think they're going to be close to $4.50, Sean, because I don't think this president is going to get it. Russia supply is going to come off the market. U.S. supply is not going to come on, and that is going to be very bad for the U.S. consumer.

We've been talking about inflation. You can add the stagnation in front of that if we get in that situation.

HANNITY: Governor, your prediction?

HUCKABEE: I think it'll be closer to $5. But don't worry, just do what Stephen Colbert says. Go out and buy yourself an electric car.

And if you're a single mom that barely can afford gas for your gas guzzling old beat up jalopy, no problem. It's only sixty thousand dollars for that electric car. Just get you one.

I'm sure Joe Biden will tell you that the next big government giveaway will be electric cars.

HANNITY: And don't forget, you got to pay for the charging station. Although I do admire Elon Musk, it's a great -- and he's a great innovator.

HUCKABEE: Sure.

HANNITY: And I think he's done a great job and even he says we need to drill for more oil and extract more gas.

Thank you both.

Earlier today, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, he slammed the Pentagon for rejecting Poland's jet offer to support Ukraine. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Listen, we have a war. We do not have time for all these signals. This is not ping pong. This is about human lives. We ask once again, solve it faster. Do not shift the responsibility. Send us planes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And tonight, Russian forces, they're continuing to inch closer to the capital Kyiv, as the city now braces for another Russian onslaught.

Here with the very latest from our own big board is our very own Bill Hemmer.

Bill, nobody explains it as well as you do. There is now movement towards the capital.

BILL HEMMER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDETN: There is. Sean, good evening to you.

Two significant stories to talk about. You see the theater, a battle here.

Let me go into the northern part first and we'll talk about the south in a moment. Here's your capital city. You see all the red and white stripe lines here, Sean, every day this week. I mean, that those lines just keep creeping closer and closer to the capital city.

I think what's notable not necessarily in the West side so much, but on the east side. Largely countryside here, and Putin's army has been able to move across that land, really unimpeded basically with all the tanks moving through.

Now, I want to take you into Kyiv, okay, Sean. I talked about this the other night with you. I just explained a little bit about the capital city. It's 2,000 years old.

I think what's significant is the Dnieper River that cuts the city really between the west and the east. And if you see this town here, Brovary, there was some there was some video outside of a home where Russian tank after tank after tank was rolling by in a residential area.

Sean, this is about miles from the center of the town here. You remember that bridge Irpin that we talked about the other day where those two adults and kids were killed by that Russian bomb. That's on this area here northwest of the city again, about 16 miles from the city center. The airport just beyond that about another four miles.

It gives you a sense of how close Putin's army is now to Kyiv and trying to potentially surround the city. I've got these bridges marked on the map and the reason for, Sean, this is a very wide river. These bridges are substantial.

Can you cross it with a tank, you might be able to but what would the Ukrainian army do before you get there. This is really a wide open question as to what happens in the city of Kyiv.

Let me move from the north, come down to the south. Many people know today what happened in Mariupol, this town that's just been hammered here on the Sea of Azov. Putin's air force put a bomb into a maternity hospital and the explosion is just something that many of us have never seen.

There was a hole in the ground sean, 20 feet deep everything around has been annihilated. Miraculously, no one died, only people were injured. But Mariupol has really been surrounded and they're really taking a tough fight here many, many days into this war.

On the other side, Mykolaiv here is about as far as Putin's army has been able to advance. They've been met with resistance here thus far. Perhaps, you know, you see the line move to the north and to the west. There's a nuclear plant up in this area too. This is about 75 miles to the north of this city. Odesa is about miles to the southwest here, interestingly on the map has not been touched by Putin's army and I'll come back to that in a moment here.

But we found this image, Sean. This is from June of last year, okay? This is in Mariupol, and this is a supermarket with a big parking lot. It looks like something you find in your town, all over America.

This is a shopping mall, all right? That was June of last year. Today, the 9th of March, this place has been devastated. All these buildings just destroyed.

I'll go back and show it one more time. These are complete intact buildings. And today, the supermarket and the grocery store are destroyed. I'm not quite sure how much of a military target that is, Sean. But on day 14, it is slow and it is steady on behalf of Putin's military.

HANNITY: All right. Bill Hemmer, great job as always, at the big board tonight. We appreciate you as always.

Turning to a big breaking news stories from FOXNews.com as we're learning this just two weeks before Putin's invasion, major U.S. energy companies including Chevron, they were hit by hackers. And according to the report, it appears to be an attempt by Russia to destabilize the U.S. oil and gas sector.

And remember, there's no bigger fan of Green New Deal socialism than Vladimir Putin. He would love to see the U.S. oil and gas sector crippled. Unfortunately, Biden and the far left Democrats that he acquiesces to constantly appear all too keen on giving him exactly what he wants.

Here with reaction, former director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, is with us.

Okay, assuming that's true, in all likelihood it is. That would mean that coupled with Joe's stated position that he'd rather I guess negotiate with Iran, Venezuela and OPEC -- and OPEC, and beg them, this seems very likely that Putin has calculated all of this into his planning from day one. How do you read it?

JOHN RATCLIFFE, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Well, I think, you know, your viewers are probably surprised, Sean, they watched last June as you and I did, Joe Biden told us that he gave Vladimir Putin a list if you recall of things that were off limits from cyber attacks, including critical infrastructure.

So -- you know, fortunately, apparently, Joe didn't give a long enough list to Vladimir Putin. But fortunately in this case, this particular cyber attack, you know, there are seven stages in the in the kill chain as they as they call it of a cyber attack, and this one was fairly immature, it was not nearly so far along as the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack that actually did shut down that pipeline. But this was about two weeks in when it was discovered.

But I'm afraid, Sean, that this is like a game of whack-a-mole. This is an area. This is not the last time we'll be talking about cyber attacks. This has been part of Vladimir Putin's plan and it's frankly an area of vulnerability for the United States.

So, you know, I think we'll have to continue to be vigilant for this. But I don't think it'll be the last time that we'll be we'll be talking about Putin attacking critical infrastructure during the pendency of this invasion.

HANNITY: Given the choice of rescinding all of the onerous regulations that Joe Biden put on the energy sector, given that choice, including the Keystone XL pipeline and the premiere of Alberta saying, we can get we can have 900,000 barrels of oil flowing from Canada in a year, if we start now, we could have had it done by now if he didn't stop it.

And assuming that's the choice or importing oil from the mullahs in Iran, the killing dictator in Venezuela, Maduro, and begging OPEC, why are we making the wrong decision? Because that's an obvious decision.

RATCLIFFE: Well, it's because Joe Biden doesn't want to face the progressive left that won't let him go back on you know the policies that have taken away American energy independence have strengthened Russia have helped create this and he's going so far, Sean, as to you know part of this Iranian nuclear deal is partly about oil. It's about getting a deal so that sanctions can be lifted and 1 million to 1.2 million uh barrels of Iranian oil can get on the market to relieve worldwide prices.

He'd rather sell out American national security deal with as you said, you know, a terrorist regime that, you know, our own intelligence community has acknowledged was targeting Trump officials with assassination plans. But he's more than willing to sit down with them to negotiate to get a deal. You know, it's just simply about not putting America first and, you know, that's unfortunately what we continue to see from this Biden administration.

HANNITY: I wish people like you are in office right now and in these positions, it would be a different world. John Ratcliffe, always loved having you. Thank you, sir.

Now, Joe Biden tonight continues to say no to American energy as we've been discussing, continues to say no to restoring energy independence.

Here with reaction, former Keystone XL pipeline worker Neal Crabtree is with us, along with Ohio Republican Congressman Jim Jordan.

Neil, let me start with you. You heard the premier of Alberta say, within a year, we can -- we can have 900,000 barrels of oil pumped through that pipeline a day. How close were we to finishing that pipeline?

NEAL CRABTREE, FORMER KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE WORKER: Well, we've got to remember, just because President Biden gives his okay that we're still dealing with an energy company that lost billions of dollars the first time around. So they're going to be very hesitant to come back to the United States without some kind of concessions. You know, if I was that energy company, I would say, hey, you're going to have to give me some of my money back that I lost the first time around and you're going to have to give me some concrete proof that we're not going to end up in U.S. courts again.

But as far as building the pipeline, hey, we got the workforce that can do it. In about eight months time, we'll have that pipeline up and running. And I'm tired of hearing that this is going to take three years -- no, sir.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: I interviewed, though, the pipeline workers, and you all were making pretty good money. These were high-paying, skill specific career jobs, right? Because, the reason --

(CROSSTALK)

CRABTREE: Yes, sir. I took a lot of pride in it. It is a career.

HANNITY: And you guys were working hard. How did you feel when you heard that not only was your project cancelled but almost simultaneously a waiver was given to Vladimir Putin for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, how'd that make you feel?

CRABTREE: Well, I mean, we take a lot of pride in what we do, and I'm not trying to be sounding like a wimp here, but it broke our hearts, you know? We take a lot of pride in producing American energy. We want to do it here at home.

And let me just say something -- I take no pride in saying what I'm about to say right now -- but the president of the United States is lying to you when he says that his policies have nothing to do with the prices of energy. They have everything to do with the prices going up, and I'm glad you had Congressman Jim Jordan on with me tonight, and he can back me up on this. I've sit in congressional hearings where they called every CEO from the major companies in this country and they told them they're going to stop producing energy and he's the only one who stood up and said no this is wrong.

So, yes, Joe Biden, your policies have everything to do with what's going on in this country right now.

HANNITY: Let me -- Jim Jordan, you know, if we would open up the gas potential of Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, that'd be huge. You're listening to Neal's story here and I just frankly -- it makes no sense to me, maybe it'll make sense to you or you can make sense of it.

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): No, this is the great divide in America today, Sean, you got the, quote, elite and the crazy left who think that there's no problem having four and five dollar gas. And then you got Middle America, you got the working and middle class American families who understand what this means.

So this is the great -- you had Colbert say, oh, just get a -- go buy a Tesla and Buttigieg said, you know, buy an electric vehicle. The disdain they have for the people in manufacturing and the people in agriculture, the people who make things and grow things is what just bugs me to death.

I mean, remember when Peter Strzok said, I'm in the Walmart and I can smell the Trump supporters, or when Anderson Cooper said, you know, Trump supporters, they eat at the olive garden and stay at the Marriott, I mean, the disdain the, quote, elite, the left have for the people in this country who make it happen is what drives me crazy.

And we're seeing that play out, people like Mr. Crabtree are what make this country such a special place and they're getting a raw deal from the Biden administration.

HANNITY: Jim Jordan, you'll stay with us. Mr. Crabtree, I agree with Jim. Tell -- I thank you and your fellow workers for all the great work you've done.

When we come back, Jim Jordan stays. We'll be joined also by Mark Meadows, Kayleigh McEnany as we continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. As we continue, more reaction from Jim Jordan, along with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and "Outnumbered" co- host Kayleigh McEnany.

All right. The trillion dollar question remains the same, Mark Meadows. Why would Joe Biden prefer to import oil from the mullahs in Iran, the murdering thought dictator in Venezuela, begging OPEC, rather than returning to the energy policies, energy independence policies he inherited from Donald Trump?

MARK MEADOWS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, he is trapped. He can't do that, Sean, because the progressive on the left have done away with moderate Joe Biden. I will applaud the House. It looks like tonight they will be voting. I know Jim Jordan can probably speak to this better than I can, but they will be voting against actually bringing in Russian oil.

But we need to also put a caveat but that shouldn't come from other Russia friendly countries like Iran or Venezuela, as a workaround. And so, it is the only way that we do it and we need to be unified in condemning what is going on with Vladimir Putin against the Ukrainian people.

HANNITY: And, Kayleigh, let's get your take on the same question.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, "OUTNUMBERED" CO-HOST: Yeah. Look, Democrats are operating under this marching banner, this facade of addressing climate change, which purportedly, if you ask them, is a global issue. It's why, Sean, we had global treaties like the disastrous Paris climate accord which President Trump got out of.

But purportedly, in the mind of a liberal, you have that treaty because it is a global issue and which every country house to reduce their CO2, including China. So, if that's the framework of liberal delusion operates under, well, getting oil from China, oil and gas from China or Venezuela or any of these bad actors -- Saudi Arabia, you're doing nothing to address this issue by shutting down domestic energy production.

It makes no sense at all other than finding the number one state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, by getting oil from Iran. You're not addressing the issue. You're just funding terrorism.

HANNITY: Jim, if it wasn't so serious, it would be comical on a "Saturday Night Live" bit.

JORDAN: Yeah.

HANNITY: But this is deadly serious. Can Republicans force a vote on a bill that we can't import oil from hostile nations with hostile murdering dictators?

JORDAN: Well, we probably can't force it, but we can offer a motion to recommit. It's a kind of a procedural thing we can do, so we could try that. But Kayleigh and Mark are right, the left controls the Democrat Party. The left -- you know, their religion is climate change.

And they don't feel -- as I said before, they are the, quote, elite who live on the coast and they forget about all the Middle America, all the families across our great country who has I said before make things and grow things. That hearing that Mr. Crabtree talked about -- remember, Ro Khanna, Democrat from California, with currently $6 gas, went to every CEO and said, will you pledge to decrease production? Badgered everyone to decrease production at a time when gas is going through the roof. That is a problem.

HANNITY: All right. I owe all of you more time. Sorry. As a host I should manage my time better. But it's great to see all of you. Thank you for understanding.

More HANNITY coming straight ahead right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Unfortunately, that is all the time we have left this evening. Thank you for being with us, thank you for making the show possible.

And don't forget -- we hope you set your DVR so you never miss an episode of HANNITY. Amazing times where living in, where the choices -- domestic production of energy, or Venezuela, Iran, and OPEC. I never thought I'd say those words. That troubles my heart.

Let not your heart be troubled. Laura is next. See you tomorrow.


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