John Solomon reports troops outraged over Afghan withdrawal
'Just the News' CEO discusses military leaders' reactions over Afghanistan on 'Hannity'
This is a rush transcript of "Hannity" on September 1, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Thank you. I'll take it. I appreciate it.
Thank you, Tucker.
And welcome to HANNITY.
And tonight, coming up, a phone call transcript Joe Biden does not want you to see. He's been lying about Afghanistan from the very beginning. And it appears his top priority, a victory lap on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
That's how sick this is. We have a full report straight ahead.
Also, leaked texts. Members in the military shocked. It shows that sheer desperation on the ground in Kabul. They could not believe what was happening leaving Americans behind. John Solomon was here with the very latest and those texts.
But first, hundreds of Americans abandoned -- yes, abandoned -- in Afghanistan, thousands of our vulnerable Afghan allies -- probably well over 10,000 -- 13 dead American heroes, our national treasure gone forever, murdered by terrorists.
As the cover of "The New York Post" put it earlier today, "Every life is on his hands." In other words, blood on his hands -- all because Joe Biden for no reason gave up Kabul to the Taliban, he could have stopped us in April, May, June, July, he didn't, and now we know he knew.
Joe Biden allowed a terrorist organization to secure the perimeter of the airport, that prevented Americans from getting out of -- well, behind enemy lines.
He abandoned Bagram Air Force Base, in the middle of the night. And sat by, did nothing, he stayed on vacation as the Taliban crossed one redline after another, seizing one province, more territory, more geography in Afghanistan day after day. Now, they got our weapons and momentum all along the way.
All of this could have been prevented easily. Everyone saw this coming form miles away.
To the credit of our intelligence agencies like the CIA and the Department of Defense, the Afghan government, literally everybody, we now know warned Joe Biden, what was happening, how bad it was, and it didn't stop him.
But the pathetic shriveling, frankly a stuttering fool at this point, in the White House lacked the courage and resolve needed to make the right decision. And now, here we are, day 18. Americans held hostage, abandoned behind and enemy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our relationship with the Taliban will be guided by what they do, not by what they say.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: That does not mean we think the Taliban are good actors. We don't. But we needed to work with them in coordination to get this done.
LEON PANETTA, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: The reality is that the Taliban has provided safe haven for terrorists in the past, and they will continue to provide a safe haven for terrorists.
GEN. MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS: This is a ruthless group from the past and whether or not they change remains to be seen.
SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): We're going to live with the reality of the Taliban and the humiliating abandonment of Afghanistan by Joe Biden for years to come.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Americans Held Hostage Abandoned Behind Enemy Lines, Day 18.
HANNITY: Day 18. Tonight, there is an ongoing mass hostage situation in the -- I guess Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan. Thirteen American soldiers dead, more than 20 injured, more than 100 innocent civilians also killed, many others injured.
But yesterday, Joe Biden, he decided to take a victory lap. He congratulated himself on a job well done. Joe Biden's "mission accomplished" moment.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The extraordinary success of this mission was due to the incredible skill, bravely and selfless courage of the United States military and our diplomats and intelligence professionals.
Now, some say we should have started mass evacuation sooner and couldn't this have been done -- have been done in a more orderly manner. I respectfully disagree.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: And Joe's chief of staff, Ron Klain, the great puppeteer, he took it a step further, announced that the withdrawal could not have gone any smoother. Yes, it could have. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON KLAIN, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: It's easy to second guess. But let's just be clear, America was in this war for 20 years, and I think any effort to unwind that, any effort to bring our troops out, any effort to end our military presence in Afghanistan was going to be filled with heartbreaking scenes and difficulties. And I think the Biden administration has managed that, as well as it could be managed under the circumstances we were placed in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Like Biden, Ron Klain really that delusional, is he really -- this much of an idiot? It appears so. Nothing about that withdrawal being managed well -- nothing, Ron, not a single thing. If you're watching you might want to pass on to your boss I'm sure is in dreamland about this time.
This new ad from Senate Republicans and it might help jog his ever failing memory about what really happened in Afghanistan. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, POLITICAL AD)
REPORTER: Is a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan now inevitable?
BIDEN: No. It is not.
The likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: This is not just about the overall idea of leaving Afghanistan. This is about leaving hastily and ineptly. Secretary Blinken, how did President Biden get this so wrong?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With an emboldened and stronger Taliban that has greater access to weapons and technology that we supplied.
REPORTER: Despite the president's promise that the withdrawal of American troops would be responsible, deliberate and safe, the Biden administration is now trying to explain why the U.S. was so caught off guard.
TV ANCHOR: Breaking news and it's difficult, can confirm that a number of U.S. service members were killed at the Kabul.
REPORTER: Do you bear any responsibility for the way that things have unfolded in the last two weeks?
BIDEN: I bear responsibility for fundamentally all that's happened.
(END VIDDEO CLIP
HANNITY: I think that ad is devastating.
Take a look at this new ad from President Trump's Save America Political Action Committee. Watch this one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, POLITICAL AD)
BIDEN: Afghanistan cannot be used as a terrorist base.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That Afghanistan has become a Disneyland for terrorists.
BIDEN: We plan for every contingency.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Total chaos. It is heartbreaking. It is depressing.
It's a failure and he needs to own that failure.
BIDEN: I bear responsibility for all that's happened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did not admit any mistakes, he did not offer any change of course. He says we're going to continue forward.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He really isn't taking responsibility.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Biden, you did this. You made the deal with the Taliban. This is the consequences of it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tens of thousands of people being left behind.
BIDEN: If there's American citizens left, we're going to get them all out.
GEN. KENNETH MCKENZIE, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: We did not get everybody out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dozens and dozens of U.S. citizens went to the airport, and the gates never opened.
BIDEN: Our mission hasn't failed yet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If this isn't failure, what does failure look like exactly?
BIDEN: But there's -- you know, there to be --
(INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: This is Joe Biden calls an extraordinary success. He says it was the right decision, the wise decision, the best decision, unparalleled results. Wow.
And then he went on to say, what a magnificent display of public policy. I ask again, if that's success, how do we define failure?
Because today, Joe Biden took again zero questions. He was exhausted from yesterday. He's yelling at us and lecturing of us, and he apparently wants to move past his Afghan debacle. This crisis is not over.
And by the way, the war is not over either. Americans are held hostage, right now, behind enemy lines.
And even today, "The Washington Post" reported that a hundred U.S.
government-sponsored journalists and their families all left behind by Joe Biden in Afghanistan. There are now hundreds and hundreds maybe more than a thousand Americans with no way out and, of course, we have no update on the exact number or their whereabouts. No concrete plan at all to rescue them.
We have no diplomats on the ground. We have no military on the ground. No accurate accounting even of how many Americans are behind enemy lines. This is unforgivable.
These Americans have been left behind and abandoned by their president. I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime.
You know, I thought you didn't leave people behind, Joe. You said it over and over and over again. We don't leave people behind you said it two weeks ago, Joe. You promised over and over again, in case you forgot, which is probably highly likely.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: If there's American citizens left, we're going to stay and we get them all out.
This town, this state, this country takes care of our own, leaves nobody behind.
Giving anyone a fair shot, leaving nobody behind.
That we do take care of our own, that we leave nobody behind.
To help everyone in need, look out for one another. Leave nobody behind.
But we will leave no one behind.
It's what America is all about. It's about pulling together, leaving nobody behind.
Giving hate no safe harbor, leaving no one behind.
Weaving that social fabric that holds a society together -- honesty, decency, hope, leaving nobody behind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Joe, you left them behind. They're behind enemy lines. What are you going to do about it? Just leave them there?
Also breaking, late last night, a whistleblower providing a transcript of a phone call between Joe Biden and Afghan President Ghani -- you know, the guy that fled with millions of dollars. This phone call from July from "Reuters", quote, in much of the call, Biden focused on what he called the Afghan government's perception problem.
I need not tell you the perception around the world and in parts of Afghanistan I believe is that things are not going well in terms of the fight against the Taliban, Biden said, and there is a need, whether it's true or not -- we all knew was true -- there is a need to project a different picture.
Everybody knew it was true. That great, well-trained Afghan army that Biden was bragging about the same month was, yeah, disintegrating right before the eyes of the world. Not -- not lies, Joe. Perceptions. You cared about the lying part. Perceptions don't matter. Lives matter.
And, anyway, he asked Ghani to lie for him and pretend all is well. You got to tell people everything's going great, so then Joe Biden could take his victory lap after ending America's, quote, longest war.
But as President Trump once said, the truth is a force of nature. So here we are 13 dead American heroes and untold hundreds and hundreds of our fellow Americans, hostages behind enemy lines.
A new report from John Solomon at justthenews.com, U.S. soldiers involved with the evacuation, they could not believe what was happening. They didn't want to leave a single American behind. Quote: We are bleeping abandoning American citizens, an army colonel assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division wrote Sunday in frustration.
One former special forces soldier working with private networks because Biden wasn't going to do it and the military to rescue stranded Americans texted, quote: You guys left American citizens at the gate of Kabul airport, three empty jets paid for by volunteers were waiting for them. You and I talked on the phone, I told you where they were, gave you their passport images and my email and my phone number. You left them behind.
Americans stranded at the gate as empty planes took off, and nobody's there to help them.
Biden has no plan whatsoever to get any of them out. He says he's got leverage. No, that would be the Taliban and probably ISIS-K, that of all the leverage. The leverage, our fellow citizens.
Here with more, editor-in-chief justthenews.com, John Solomon.
John, tell us about your report.
JOHN SOLOMON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, JUSTTHENEWS.COM: Yeah, listen, there's this scene unfolding Saturday and Sunday while the spinsters at the Pentagon, the State Department, the White House are saying any American who wants to come home is going to be able to come home.
And meanwhile, there are Americans waving their passports. They got through the Taliban checkpoints. They're at the gate that the U.S. military controls. They're waiving their passports, we are Americans, let us in and they were turned away.
And a colonel who was witnessing this afar in a commander says, we're bleeping leaving Americans citizens behind. He could not believe it.
I have talked to soldiers, have talked to their friends on the front lines, the soldiers wanted to turn the key on the gate and let Americans in. The State Department and their command chains would not allow them in. And everything that was going on they are debunked what the Biden administration is telling the American people on television.
HANNITY: So the military has to take orders from the commander in chief.
We already had one guy that got in trouble for speaking out about this failure. We have retired 90-plus admirals, generals that find this whole thing abhorrent. They've spoken out. Nobody is being held accountable. Joe is patting himself and everybody else on the back.
But we are now in a situation -- you tell me if this is wrong -- we have Americans at Karzai International Airport, at the gate, in contact with our military and they didn't go to the gate and get them on the planes that were mostly empty, that left -- the final planes that left.
SOLOMON: Yes, that is -- that's accurate from the document. It's accurate from the private citizens who ran the rescue mission. And it's accurate from the military officials who confirm that is what happened at the gate Saturday and Sunday.
HANNITY: If I was in the military, I would resign. I cannot work for this guy. I couldn't -- I couldn't live with myself having to leave Americans behind.
Great reporting, John Solomon. We appreciate it.
SOLOMON: Thanks, Sean.
HANNITY: Clearly, Afghanistan is a gut-wrenching example of what happens when you let a spineless career politician, what did Defense Secretary Gates one say? Yes, he's been wrong on every foreign policy matter for over
40 years, somebody so out of it, only caring about himself.
True to form, over the years, as though polls shifted, even Biden's opinion on Afghanistan changed drastically. How do we know? Watch this video put together by http://FOXnews.com.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Remember why we went to Afghanistan in the first place? Because we were attacked by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda on September 11th, 2001.
We had no vital interest in Afghanistan other than to prevent an attack on America's homeland and our friends.
Whatever we do in Afghanistan, whether it involves the commitment of military political or humanitarian assets must be geared toward a long-term solution. We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past. If we think only in the short term, only of getting bin Laden and the Taliban, which we must do, we just are begging for a greater trouble down the line.
We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build and it's the right and the responsibility of Afghan people alone to decide their future.
As every military expert testified before our committee has noted, the battle against Taliban is not going to be won with bullets and bombs alone.
It's going to be runs with -- one with roads, clinics and schools.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Just a quick observation. Does the Joe Biden of today look anything like the Joe Biden in the past? Now, does everyone understand when I say he's weak, he's frail, he's a cognitive mess? Why do I say it?
Because it's true.
The world sees it, our allies see it, and worse -- hostile regimes, our enemies see it. And while the chaos in Afghanistan continues, Biden is now facing a growing crisis of confidence right here at home. One unnamed White House official recently telling political that they were absolutely appalled and literally horrified that Biden stranded fellow Americans in Afghanistan. And now, multiple retired generals and admirals are demanding a mass resignation of Milley, Austin, Blinken and Sullivan, but ultimately, it's really Biden that needs to go more than all them put together.
Here with reaction, former acting director of national intelligence, Ric Grenell, FOX News contributor Miranda Devine.
The one thing I will say and I always made as I did the unpeeling of the onion every night on the deep state, I always went out of my way, Ric Grenell, to applaud the 99 percent of people in the FBI and our intelligence committee because they're the best of what they do in the entire world. This is not an intelligence failure. This is a failure of leadership in the White House.
I got to be clear here. The CIA pulled out of there seven weeks ago. I have quadruply confirmed this, high ranking sources, they pulled out. They were not shy in their daily assessments in telling Biden.
Then the question is, if Biden knew, why did he do this?
RIC GRENELL, FORMER ACTING DNI: Sean, you're exactly right. I'm flooded with former intel officials, current intel officials, State Department foreign service officers, career foreign service officers who are contacting me, just complaining about the chaos. I'm looking into one issue involving how we're vetting refugees.
I'm not able to go forward and make some claims yet but there are quite a few claims going on in Germany where we have a lot of refugees trying to rush through the process, and I want to get this more firmed up and maybe we'll have more for you. But, you know, everybody outside of Washington, D.C. really understands what's at stake here. We've got chaos going on.
Joe Biden himself said 90 percent of the Americans were rescued. The rest of us in America say, why did you leave 10 percent? Only in Washington, D.C. does work. You've left Americans.
I met with President Trump yesterday for almost two hours, and he brought up some great points and he was very concerned about the equipment that is being left behind. There are now reports that some of that equipment is on its way into Iran. And so, what we're going to see over the next several weeks and months is the implications of this failure. It's not over, and only those in Washington, D.C. at the White House are trying to convince the American people that it was a success. The rest of us see this is a failure that will continue to go on and on, and we are going to be less safe because of this.
They have equipment, big equipment. You have rifles. You have guns. You have helicopters, all in the hands of the Taliban.
HANNITY: C-17s, we have Black Hawk helicopters.
Miranda, let me go to you here. You know, for the last 18 months, not a single American died. Over a year, the last year the Donald Trump's presidency, not a single American died in Afghanistan. Not one.
And as I said, this is not an intelligence failure. I've confirmed this with the former president. I've confirmed it with Mark Meadows. I've confirmed it with former Secretary of State Pompeo. They've all been very clear.
Donald Trump before he discussed any deal with the Taliban warned them I will obliterate you like I did Baghdadi and associates, Soleimani, the caliphate and the al Qaeda leader in Yemen, I'll obliterate you before you have any discussion. Do you understand? It was predicated on that, number one.
Number two, keeping Bagram Air Force Base. Number three, it was predicated on conditions on the ground if they warranted.
Now, as the Taliban made their march and started securing larger and larger geographical areas in Afghanistan, why didn't Joe brush them back? It would have taken a few drone strikes. He would have been successful. Just follow the Trump model. Why didn't he do that and why did he not withdraw everybody while we had control of Kabul?
Can you answer that question?
MIRANDA DEVINE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think, Sean, that the answer we can see in the phone call that "Reuters" reported on July 23 between President Ghani from Afghanistan and president Biden and in that phone call, Joe Biden emphasized the fact that his only priority was perceptions he wanted Ghani to stage an event with some important Afghans and with a military figurehead to convince the international community that things were going well in Afghanistan even though Joe Biden knew and Ghani told him specifically on that phone call that the Taliban was making rapid incursions.
Ghani could not have been more urgent in his request for air support. And the Afghan army needs air cover. It's modeled on the American model. It needs air cover for strikes against the enemy, and for bringing the wounded and so on.
And when we left Bagram, we -- also the contractors that service the Afghan planes, they left as well. So the Afghan army was vulnerable and Ghani was asking Joe Biden for help.
Joe Biden tells him in that phone call, we may give it to you if you stage this fake event for me, and -- but it will only last until August 31 when he was his self-imposed deadline to withdraw. After that, he said who knows?
All Joe Biden wanted and the reason this has happened is because he wanted a big event for himself to big note himself on September 11, on the 20th anniversary to pose as the president who pulled us out of the endless war.
After that, he didn't care what happened, he didn't care if we brought out every American. It was all about deception, but I think the American people are seeing through him at last.
HANNITY: The saddest part, Miranda and Ric, is we don't have any options now. They're trapped behind enemy lines, hostage to the whims of a terrorist organization. God help every one of them. They're in our prayers.
That's all we got left. This is what Joe did to them.
DEVINE: Sure.
HANNITY: Thank you both.
All right. When we come back, the great one Mark Levin, he has a message for Joe Biden after his reckless and unnecessary withdrawal from Afghanistan. I don't think you're going to want to miss Mark's message.
That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Here with more reaction to Joe Biden's failures, his reckless abandonment of Americans, he's never-ending blame game. He's the author of massive bestseller now, a million sold, "American Marxism", now the seventh straight week in a row number one, Mark just told me. He's the host of "Life, Liberty and Levin", and nationally syndicated radio host, and also one of my best friends.
Great one, you know, I say at the end of this show, Mark, I say "let not your heart be troubled". My heart is aching and I have like a five alarm fire all these alarms going off of my head about how dangerous this is for hundreds and hundreds of our fellow Americans, the exact number of which nobody knows, where they are, nobody knows, and all of it completely preventable and unnecessary.
This president abandoned them, Mark. He abandoned our fellow Americans.
MARK LEVIN, FOX NEWS HOST: First, I want to talk to General Milley.
General Milley, I have this hanging on my office hall. You know who this is? This is George S. Patton. You are no George S. Patton, General Milley.
How many Anne Franks are there tonight in Afghanistan? How many Anne Franks are hiding in cellars all across that country today?
I want to talk about the people left behind, not the 124,000 who've been evacuated to safety. I want to talk about the millions who now have had genocide unleashed upon them and before Joe Biden became president the United States were living mostly in peace and mostly in safety in what was a neutralized Afghanistan with a minimal American military footprint.
I want to read something. I never do this. I went back to Dwight Eisenhower's book, "Crusade in Europe", when he went to the death camps. He
said: The same day April 12, 1945, I saw my first horror camp. It was near the town of Gotha. I've never felt able to describe my emotional reactions when I first came face to face with the indisputable evidence of Nazi brutality against the Jews and ruthless disregard of every shred of decency. Up to that time, I had known about it only generally or through secondary sources. I am certain however that I have never at any other time experienced an equal sense of shock.
I visited every nook and cranny of the camp because I felt it my duty to be in a position from then on to testify at first hand about these things in case these ever grew up at home the belief or assumption that the stories of Nazi brutality were just propaganda. Some members of the visiting party were unable to go through with the ordeal. I not only did so but as soon as I returned to Patton's headquarters that evening, I sent communications to both Washington and London, urging the two governments to send instantly to Germany a random group of newspaper editors and representative groups from the national legislatures. I felt the evidence should be immediately placed before the American and British publics in a fashion that would leave no room, no room for cynical doubt.
Now, we have propagandists in this country from the Defense Department, to the State Department to the White House, highly paid Admiral Kirby, Nick Price, Jen Psaki and others, and now, generals who are part of the propaganda. Do you think George Patton or Omar Bradley or the top general, George Marshall, would leave American citizens in enemy territory under any circumstances or conditions, including at the order the commander-in-chief?
No commander-in-chief has ever ordered any general to leave citizens behind. What about these children and these women? What about the Afghan allies? The men who fought next to us, firefight after firefight? What about the 80,000 to 100,000 SIV visas granted, special visas granted to patriots who fought side by side with Americans?
Instead, we hear that the American citizens didn't act fast enough, instead we hear this was a massive success, instead we hear we will use diplomacy to deal with these Nazis, instead we hear we may in the future work with them against ISIS as if they're different.
It's the Taliban that allowed al Qaeda to attack us on 9/11, the Taliban.
They have our equipment. They have our people. They have our allies. They are going to threaten us. They're working with the communist Chinese.
They're working with Putin. They're working with the Iranians.
And listen to me, America, can you hear the screams of the people of Afghanistan tonight? Because they're screaming. Can you hear the women being brutalized? Can you hear the bullets and the execution? Because it's occurring under the cover of dark, because our media is unable to be there.
While they're celebrating at the State Department and the Defense Department, and at the White House, and while they want to turn the corner and change the politics, the human infrastructure of all things and to COVID-19.
By God, I've never been more disgusted with my government and the top brass of the United States military than I am right now.
Listen, they're screaming. Do you hear them? They're begging for help. Do you hear them? American citizens they say waited too long. Waited too long?
While Joe Biden lied to us over and over and over again.
This is a humiliation for our country. It is part of our history that could never be wiped away, and I feel so horrible for our American troops, our real soldiers, who would not have tolerated this but for General Austin and General Milley and all the rest of them and most of all, Joe Biden, you have blood on the hands for the rest of your life. That's it. I'm done.
HANNITY: The great one, Mark Levin.
Don't forget Mark's show, "LIFE, LIBERTY AND LEVIN", Sunday night, right here on FOX.
Up next, Dan Rather actually compared pro-lifers to the Taliban. Well, I hope he heard Mark.
Plus, looting rampant in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.
Residents trying to deal with the storm's destruction. Senator John Kennedy weighs in on all of it, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Now, the left is spewing even more hate and rage tonight after Texas became the first state to enact their heartbeat abortion law, prohibiting abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected which occurs around six weeks. In response, discredited newsman Dan Rather is comparing pro-life Americans to the Taliban. Tweeting, quote: It's worth noting many of the same people attacking the Biden administration for leaving women's rights behind in Afghanistan are eager to control women's bodies and choices in the U.S.
Of course, that's just more evidence of another reason to never take that disgraced former CBS anchor seriously and to remember he was one of the original purveyors of fake news.
But also tonight, Louisiana is moving ahead on the recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. Residents are facing weeks without power, even water. Unfortunately, some criminals exploiting the human suffering. New video, multiple reports, detail of looting in New Orleans, prompting anti- looting teams now that have to be deployed across the city.
Here with the very latest updates and his thoughts on Afghanistan, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy.
Senator Kennedy, I love our friends in your state of Louisiana, our thoughts and prayers are with them. I know people just had their lives upended and then we have looting to deal with on top of it, in the middle of rescue recovery.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): Well, Sean, we -- we took it full in the face, except for New Orleans where the levees held, thank the Lord. This was worse than Katrina. The wind, the rain, the storm surge, it was kind of like being in a blender for 12 hours, the destruction is breathtaking.
But there's always something to be thankful for and we're thankful that the loss of life was minimal.
We'll be back. My people are tough as a boot. I know -- I know one or two Louisianans who once died but they got up and walked it off. We'll be back.
But I'm not going to bubble wrap it. This is -- this one's -- this one's bad.
HANNITY: Well, I know one thing about this the people of this great country, they rise to the occasion. They'll be helping our friends in Louisiana.
I know Samaritan's Purse, the Red Cross, so many others are doing some magnificent work to help people.
You know, Senator, we left Americans behind. You heard Mark Levin. I don't know if you heard my opening monologue. I'd like your thoughts.
KENNEDY: I did.
The last soldier left Afghanistan on August 30. It was an ignominious day.
Whether you think we should have been in Afghanistan or not, the withdrawal was a circus parade of bad decisions.
Some of my colleagues in Washington are trying to spin it otherwise, Sean, but this one's unspinnable. You can -- you can put perfume on a pig, but it still stinks.
The 13 servicemen and women who lost their lives in the withdrawal were and are lions. If nothing else, they're the reason you ought to stand up for the national anthem.
Now, we're out, but it's not over. We -- we left Americans behind. We don't know how many. That's unconscionable and we've got to get them out.
And the message that the Biden administration needs to be sending to the Taliban today is this, until we get all our people out, if you the Taliban hurt a hair on their head, we will chase the killers down like a hound for hell -- from hell and we will kill you and hurt you the entire time you are dying, period, end of discussion.
We also need to get our Afghan friends out. We got many of them behind.
It's unconscionable. I hope I'm wrong, but the Taliban is to gut them like a fish.
This is not a -- this is not a good day for America.
HANNITY: The president's called this an extraordinary success. He said it was the right decision, a wise decision, the best decision. Unparalleled results, he said a magnificent display of public policy, the biggest airlift ever, 120,000 people brought to safety.
When we break down those numbers, he breaks them down -- only 5,500 were American. Now, two weeks ago, he was saying we had anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 Americans that were behind enemy lines.
Tonight, they're behind enemy lines, with no lifeline. There's no military.
There's no diplomatic presence, and Joe Biden claims for some bizarre reason that we have all the leverage.
I would argue, Senator, we don't have any leverage. The Taliban has the leverage and if ISIS gets a hold of our fellow Americans, they will have the leverage.
And I would bet if they're now -- we now know they're going house to house, and they now -- Joe Biden has signed the death certificates of all of our Afghan allies and leaving the database behind so they'll be able to identify them. They will die, Senator.
KENNEDY: Yeah. Well, we had leverage, Sean, we did give it up. That's just a fact and any fair-minded person --
HANNITY: We had leverage.
KENNEDY: -- I think understands that.
But there's an old expression, you can't -- you can't talk yourself out of something you behaved yourself into and the administration behaved itself into this. It ought to just say, look, we screwed up here, but by God, we're not leaving anybody behind. That includes Americans and that includes the Afghans who supported us through the years.
And the president needs to follow through, if not for his own credibility, but for America's credibility throughout the world. For the first time in a long time, our allies have started to doubt us. And that makes the world a more dangerous place.
HANNITY: By far.
Senator, our prayers are with your great state and people in New Orleans and elsewhere and we'll be there for them. That's one thing I believe in the American people.
KENNEDY: Thanks, Sean.
HANNITY: All right. Thank you for being with us.
When we come back, this is lunacy. San Francisco, they're actually going to pay people, give them money so they don't shoot each other. You're probably thinking at home, Hannity, you're making that crap up. No, I'm not.
We're less than two weeks away from that recall race in California, Larry Elder's leading the field, he'll join us live, next live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: And now, tonight, there may be a political earthquake out in California. Mail-in voting is already underway in California in that recall race, ahead of election day. That's September the 14th. Gavin Newsom -- well, he's on the verge of collapse with California's about evenly split on whether to recall their disgrace leader.
Now, this will be a story about voter turnout on the end, it always is. And if there's integrity in elections, and the energy and enthusiasm, that appears to be on the side of those in favor of a recall. Remember, Newsom has failed on every front -- energy policy, rolling brownouts, forest management, no science involved, combating crime, the economy, being caught breaking his own covert rules, like dining at the ritzy French laundry restaurant when he was telling everyone else to do the opposite, oh, and allowing his kids to have in-person learning at a ritzy private school while every other California student did not have that luxury or exemption.
And the left-wing lunacy in California keeps getting worse. Get this -- great city of San Francisco is now rolling out a cash-for-criminals pilot program that will -- get this -- pay violent criminals not to shoot people.
You can't make that up.
And the man with all the momentum in this recall race is Larry Elder. He joins us.
I think the biggest challenge has always been and remains, you know, does Gavin Newsom get below 50? And it looks like there is a very good shot that this political earthquake is real.
LARRY ELDER, CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think you're right, Sean. It's right in the margin of error. The people that want him recalled are pretty much equal to the people who do not want to recall, and the recall side has picked up several points of the last couple of weeks.
The momentum is, as you pointed out, all on our side.
As of this business about paying criminals not to shoot each other, why didn't we think of that before? Why don't we pay shoplifters not to shoplift? I mean, this is just madness. This is California and this is the kind of stuff that Gavin Newsom has been doing.
And you're quite right about him shutting down the state and denying kids in school education while his own kids were enjoying in-person, private education, and as I mentioned to you before the last time I think I was on, Sean, nearly 80 percent of the kids educated in government schools are black and brown. These are the ones that the left prides itself on caring about, and 50 percent of third graders before the pandemic could not read at state levels of efficiency and the math scores are even worse, even though we're spending about 15 grand per student per year. I'm going to be championing choice in education, which is why the left and Gavin Newsom have absolutely gone ballistic.
HANNITY: Okay. So -- but the real question is, first, the recall part.
There are two questions. Question one, do you want to recall, Gavin Newsom?
ELDER: Right.
HANNITY: Okay, if he gets below, then you in one poll, I saw you had a 15- point lead, okay. Where's the momentum? It's always about voter turnout and I worry about the integrity of elections. I think every state needs to have election reform, voter ID, signature verification, chain of custody controlled, we should have partisan observers being allowed to observe vote counts, start to finish, as the law requires in most states and then we should update voter rolls every year, every voting year. I don't think there's anything complicated about that. That's what Democrats don't want.
My question is, do you have integrity in the system in California? Because as I understand it, 20-plus million ballots have already been mailed out.
ELDER: Well, not only that, Sean, you can even print your own ballot under certain circumstances by contacting the secretary of state. We're quite concerned about that. We have a voter integrity project all set up on my website, ElectElder.com, with a bunch of lawyers. And if anybody spots anything suspicious, go to ElectElder.com.
One of the reasons that the 2020 election was not overturned in certain states, Sean, is because the lawsuits were filed too late. We're going to follow them on a timely fashion, and I'm urging everybody to vote, vote now. Make sure you sign your ballot, make sure you turn it in or mail it in and get it in as soon as possible and again go to ElectElder.com because my opponent has already raised around $50 million, Sean.
HANNITY: Yeah, he's getting a lot of money from Hollywood.
ELDER: -- the public sector union, Hollywood, right, and big tech. And they're going to outspend us, but we still believe that so many people are angry about the crime, about the homelessness, about the outrageous cost of living, about the way he ignored science while his own kids were enjoying in-person education. And the fact that for the very first time in the state's 170-year history, people are leaving and they're taking their taxpayer dollars with them.
HANNITY: So if I move to California and I promise not to shoot anybody, I'm going to get paid?
ELDER: You can make a living not shooting people. Who'da thunk it?
HANNITY: Okay, only in California. Larry --
ELDER: What do you do -- what do you do -- what do you do for a living?
Oh, I don't shoot people.
HANNITY: I don't shoot people.
ELDER: Honestly.
HANNITY: I'm a professional non-shooter.
ELDER: Yeah.
HANNITY: All right. Larry Elder, thank you.
We have more HANNITY right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have left this evening. Please set your DVR so you never miss an episode.
You know, it's day 18. Americans held hostage behind enemy lines and we're not going to stop until every American is safe and secure and home, back with our American family. Until then, we will not give up.
Not your hearts be troubled -- Laura Ingraham, how are you? Big show tonight.
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