'Hannity' on arming Ukraine, Kamala Harris' speech

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Hannity: Arm our allies to fight for their own freedom

WARNING—Graphic footage: 'Hannity' host calls on the Biden administration to arm Ukraine.

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," March 21, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: And welcome to HANNITY.

And we begin this Monday night with a FOX News alert tonight. Russian forces are still very much stalled in the north around Kyiv and in the south, the city of Mariupol continues to face a barrage of indiscriminate shelling. Now, its residents are completely cut off from water, power, supplies, one "AP" reporter inside the city described it this way, quote: Time was measured from one shell to the next, with bombed out apartment buildings and an endless line of dead people and dead children.

On the radio, the only thing that could be heard was the following, constantly repeated message: Mariupol is surrounded, surrender your weapons. And yet the city refuses to surrender. If Russia wants to take Ukraine, it looks like they're going to have to fight for every single inch, but the situation is dire on the ground tonight.

In Kherson, Russian soldiers opened fire, this is terrible to watch, on many peaceful protesters, hitting innocent civilians yet again. Scores of men women and children murdered every single day by Putin's soldiers and estimates of as many as 10 million refugees or more have fled the country.

Now there are new reports of mercenaries being sent to Ukraine by Putin with orders to assassinate President Zelenskyy and his entire family. So make no mistake, Vladimir Putin is waging a baseless war of aggression against a sovereign nation. My position on this has been very clear, although there are people that are so stupid in the mob in the media. They have no clue.

There's no ambiguity where I stand. As I have said over and over and over again, no matter how bad this situation becomes in Ukraine, there can never be any us boots on the ground, and I'd also add there can't be a no-fly zone where we are in direct combat with Russian -- with Russia in the air. We are not the world's police force.

We can no longer send our national treasure, your sons and daughters, our sons and daughters, to fight and die in a conventional war pushed by politicians frankly on both sides. They all start out gung-ho. They start the war. They never fight to win the war. Then the war gets politicized after whatever period of time. Then the politicians say, oh, never mind the soldiers get pulled out like the Islamic emirates of Afghanistan, we end up back at square one after so much sacrifice and bloodshed and so many dead Americans and so many injured Americans.

Never again and we do need to learn the lessons from history. No more Vietnams, no more Afghanistans, but we can and we should learn from history what does work and I'll explain that in a minute. And in short, you get weapons and supplies to our allies, in this case, in Ukraine, so they can fight and win this war by themselves. They have shown great courage. They have shown the will to fight and the will to defeat Vladimir Putin's invasion.

Now, my position is based on two very specific foreign policy successes. We should learn from them. The first is what's called the Reagan doctrine. Here's how Ronald Reagan, then president, described it in 1985. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT: And tonight, we declare anew to our fellow citizens of the world, freedom is not the sole prerogative of a chosen few. It is the universal right of all God's children. We must stand by all our Democratic allies and we must not break faith with those who are risking their lives on every continent from Afghanistan to Nicaragua to defy Soviet-supported aggression and secure rights which have been hours from birth. Support for freedom fighters is self-defense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: We as conservatives we believe in natural rights, God-given rights, that were endowed by our Creator, that rights don't come from our government. Instead of sending him waves of U.S. ground forces to foreign lands to fight long bloody conventional wars -- well, Ronald Reagan armed our allies so they could fight for their own freedom in their own countries.

He did this with Nicaragua, with the Contras, against the Sandinistas and Daniel Ortega. They were fighting the Soviet-backed, you know, communists there.

And he also did it with the mujahidin -- albeit imperfect people -- in Afghanistan. And by the way, Reagan never put a single American boot on the ground to fight there, none. But instead of cowering in fear or attempting to appease the Soviets, he stood up to them at every turn, without starting a long conventional war, and guess what? It worked.

The Soviets were defeated in Afghanistan, thanks to the Stinger missiles that Ronald Reagan provided them. Reagan knew that evil, especially in the form of an -ism, communism, fascism, Nazism, would spread like a cancer if left unchecked and Reagan called the former Soviet Union the evil empire. That's why Reagan said, quote, support for freedom fighters is self- defense.

President Reagan was right. His policy succeeded. Peace through strength worked.

In 2014, we witnessed the rise of ISIS in the Middle East and it happened on -- that's right -- Joe Biden and Barack Obama's watch because they did nothing. Not only did these terrorists take over huge and large portions of Iran and Syria, but they also ripped through Europe and the United States with a wave of terrorist attacks.

That is until Donald J. Trump was sworn into office, in January of 2017. And that now brings us to the second foreign policy success, another doctrine we should learn from and that's the Trump doctrine .Shortly after taking office, President Trump bombed the ISIS caliphate into oblivion and by the way the one that Joe and Obama allowed to grow and President Trump used new American sophisticated weaponry technology and air power in the form of drones without a traditional ground force. Trump repelled ISIS fighters in a short amount of time, defeated the entire caliphate. He fought that fight to win and when he did and even took out the leader of ISIS, al-Baghdadi, and his associates.

And President Trump also used air strikes to counter Syria and Iran, including a drone strike that successfully killed Iranian terrorists Soleimani, remember on the tarmac, and you can listen to President Trump describe this in 2019. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: Baghdadi's demise demonstrates America's relentless pursuit of terrorist leaders and our commitment to the enduring and total defeat of ISIS and other terrorist organizations.

Last night, at my direction, the United States military successfully executed a flawless precision strike that killed the number one terrorist anywhere in the world, Qasem Soleimani. Under my leadership, America's policy is unambiguous to terrorists who harm or intend to harm any American.

We will find you. We will eliminate you. We will always protect our diplomats, service members, all Americans and our allies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: No boots on the ground and American victory and Donald -- and President Trump's doctrine was very, very strategic and very effective, and it worked and it sent a message of strength to the rest of the world and all the other despots and all the other dictators and all of those that had territorial ambitions of their own.

Now, the U.S. cannot use its air power in Ukraine. Putin is a much different enemy than say Baghdadi or Soleimani. But one thing does remain constant. Aggression from hostile actors will only get worse and worse until they're stopped.

And right now, thus far, the Ukrainian people are quite bravely upending Vladimir's territorial expansion if Ukraine prevails, Putin's ability to attack other countries, especially NATO members is greatly diminished and peace can once again return to the continent of Europe without a catastrophic world war. That's why it's very important that the U.S. supply Ukraine with the weapons and the supplies they need to fight their war and bring Vladimir to his knees the way Reagan supplied the mujahidin.

This is something I have said many, many times. But oddly enough, over there "Rolling Stone" magazine, the great -- let's see, journalistic integrity that they have and other liars in the media mob are actually accusing me they're saying HANNITY is parroting Russian propaganda and supporting Vladimir Putin. Well, not really because I went out on the limb and I told the truth and I've been saying it since before the election in 2020.

Joe Biden is weak. He is frail and a cognitive wreck and everybody knows it every poll now shows majority of the American people see it. And by the way, our friends see it and unfortunately the world's hostile actors and hostile regimes see it also.

For the last two years, I've pointed this out well before Putin's invasion of Ukraine. I warned that Biden's mental weakness will have serious significant ramifications across the globe. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Joe, let's be honest and never particularly a smart or a bright guy, but what we're now seeing sadly for him is a hollow shell of his former self, a total, complete, cognitive mess. What's really sad is the reality that if we can all see it, so can America's enemies and we have real enemies in Iran, in China, North Korea, Russia. Vladimir Putin doesn't respect or fear Joe Biden.

Now, America's enemies all over the world, they are smelling blood in the water. We see Russia fully emboldened. They're threatening to invade Ukraine.

We have a president and vice president, they are not up to this job. But I know this, and you know this, America's enemies -- they're also seeing everything we're seeing. And sadly, tonight, as a result, the world and our country is less safe and it is less secure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Unfortunately, I was right. Russia invaded Ukraine in part because Putin did not fear, did not respect Joe Biden, especially after his debacle in the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan, if you're keeping track like we are, it is day 219 since Joe Biden abandoned our fellow Americans behind enemy lines.

And by the way, Joe Biden is so clearly not up to the job with each passing day. It just gets worse and worse and worse, and I wish I was wrong but I'm not. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The first lady's husband contracting COVID but, look at this room and what you see -- pardon? That's right. She's fine. It's me. That's not together. The second lady -- the first gentleman.

From mom to get her kid on the Internet to be able to do their homework has to pull into McDonald's parking lot, I mean for real. That's what's happening. This law is going to put an end to all that, going to put people in much different position to be able to determine their own -- their own judgments about when to sell their cattle.

And a pound of Ukrainian people -- the proud, proud people, pound for pound ready to fight with every inch of earnings they have.

It's becoming much more informed on the -- the motives of some of the political players.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: I don't show you this to mock or laugh at Joe Biden. It is set -- I used to laugh at it, but it's so serious. It just isn't funny anymore.

Instead, this should serve as a daily reminder that our country and the world is less safe with that guy as president and now a majority of you the American people see what I was talking about during the campaign and that is Joe's declining cognitive state and every hostile actor and every hostile regime that studies the U.S. -- guess what? -- on the world stage, they see it also. And with that said, no one has been more anti-Putin than yours truly.

Vladimir, clear and simple, he invaded a sovereign country, he's killing innocent men, women and children. He's an evil war criminal. He's responsible for the bloodshed of all of these people in Ukraine. He has blood on his hands and as I've said many times I hope somebody in his inner circle maybe a general -- I don't know -- maybe an advisor, could take him out by any means necessary and put an end to this senseless war and death.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Now, Putin, I've been saying it all week, it's interesting the media finally picked it up. Putin has got to be stopped by whatever means necessary, one way or another. It's a simple rule in life. If you invade an innocent country and you kill women and children and men, you forfeit your right to lead a country and you forfeit your right to live.

And I hope that people around Vladimir Putin -- well, I hope they take action sooner than later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: I hope and pray this war comes to an end one way or another, but sadly, I doubt Biden's big trip to Europe this week is going to tip the scales. Earlier tonight, he gave a very -- well, another bizarre speech about a new world order. Pay attention to this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Now is a time when things are shifting. We're going to -- they're going to be a new world order out there, and we've got to lead it, and we've got to unite the rest of the free world in doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: New world order, I guess -- what, what the hell does it even mean? Oh, that's right, Joe wants to do a new deal, give tens of billions of dollars to Iran, let Russia broker the deal, along with China, maybe even allow a billion dollar Iranian-Russia nuclear facility to be built, and then let Iran get rich selling us oil, or sending emissaries over to Venezuela and trying to work out a deal with them to buy their oil, and begging OPEC that keeps rejecting him to produce more oil that we could produce right here in the USA.

That's not exactly projection of leadership or freedom but I digress. Tonight, there are a lot of opinions about Putin's invasion on Ukraine and what our role should be. Make no mistake, we are at a very, very critical juncture. Whether we like to admit it or not, we're just one border away from what would be a world war based on our alliance and Article 5 with other NATO countries, an attack against one is an attack against all.

But the so-called leader of the free world just cannot bring himself to put in a full week of work because before his big trip to Europe -- well, Joe took the weekend off in Delaware relaxing at the beach, enjoying nice leisurely rides on his bicycle.

Here with reaction, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.

Lindsey, I know you and I have both been viewed as hawks, but if we don't learn right from our mistakes and our successes, then we're doomed to repeat failure. Now, what happened in Afghanistan ended up being an unmitigated failure and a disaster. We can't be engaged in these foreign conflicts in perpetuity.

Reagan showed us the way with the mujahidin and with the freedom-fighting Contras. And I would argue Trump showed us with ISIS, Soleimani and Baghdadi. Do you agree with that?

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Yeah, 100 percent. President Trump said something today that I think is going to -- was really smart. He said a hundred years from now, they're going to look back at this time in history and wondering what the hell were these people doing?

What did you suggest? You suggest that the war criminal Putin who is murdering Ukrainian men, women and children, by the thousands now, should go and that created controversy.

I really don't care how he goes. I don't care if they turn him over The Hague, to be a war crimes trial, where he should be. They give him an early buyout or somebody takes him out otherwise. You're right to want him to go.

And to those who can't say that, what the hell is wrong with you? Why can't you say openly to the Russian people, you need to take care of this problem, Putin, for your own good? Your country will never go anywhere as long as he's your leader, and look what he's doing in Ukraine and throughout the world.

So, President Trump gave a 20-minute interview today that I wish every American could hear. It was the way to handle this problem. He says you can't let a guy with nuclear weapons dictate the world because he has nuclear weapons. We have a military, too.

Trump said if he threatened a nuclear exchange on his watch, he'd have submarines all around Russia saying you should not do that. Trump says we should give the MiGs and then some.

Here's what I would say, that if Putin gets away with this, China will take Taiwan -- and you worry about a new world order President Biden? If we let the Ukrainian people down and Putin wins here, China will take Taiwan and Iran will get a nuclear weapon.

But during this debacle called Ukraine, we're negotiating with the Iranians to give them a pathway to a bomb.

So I miss President Trump. If you could listen to him today, please have him on your show, he would reassure you, it does not have to be this way.

HANNITY: Well, he proved that it didn't have to be this way, and we had him on the show recently and he said as much. There's a reason that the Taliban didn't kill an American around the last months that he was president, and then they went on the March when Joe Biden was sworn in. That's called peace through strength.

In terms of America's role, why would Joe Biden veto Poland giving MiGs to the Ukrainians so they can fight their own war? That seems like a mistake, too.

GRAHAM: Because Putin owns Biden. Biden is afraid of escalation. He's afraid of making Putin mad.

As the troops were building up around the Ukraine, Republicans and Democrats said put sanctions on Putin for the provocation of a military buildup, don't wait to the invasion.

So here's two questions the world needs to ask and answer. There's going to be a NATO summit.

Here's what I would say on your show to NATO: If there's a chemical weapons attack by the Russian military against the Ukrainian people, we should impose a no-fly zone immediately because that's breaking all the rules that we've established since World War II. If Putin explodes a nuclear weapon inside a Ukraine, the radiation will affect most of Europe. We should consider that attack on NATO itself.

So, the one thing I've learned with bullies like Putin, if you're not clear, then they will assume you're weak. So nobody assumed Trump was weak. You know why Putin didn't invade Ukraine on Trump's watch? Because he didn't think he'd get away with it.

Taiwan is looking at Ukraine as a dress rehearsal. This is the most dangerous time in world history since the 1930s. So I'm begging NATO to let Putin know what would happen if he used chemical weapons on the poor suffering people the Ukraine. We were to control the skies through NATO.

If he launches a nuclear weapon, if he explodes a nuclear weapon in the Ukraine to scare us all away, we should say the radiation coming to NATO countries is an attack on NATO itself and you're picking a fight with NATO.

HANNITY: Well, let's see what happens. This is what happens when you have a weak American president that projects nothing but weakness.

GRAHAM: Yeah.

HANNITY: Senator Graham of South Carolina, thank you.

Here with more is the head of the Trump Organization, Eric Trump himself.

Why do you think that under Obama and Biden, Crimea was annexed in 2014? Why do you think during the four years your dad's president, there was no aggressive territorial ambition fulfilled by Putin or any other hostile actor? And then why do you think under Joe Biden, here we go all over again?

ERIC TRUMP, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Well, Sean, look at the signals that this guy sends. You know, it's so blatant when you actually watch the show. You know, look at that picture of him on the bike, right? I mean, here you have Biden riding this speech cruiser.

He's got this big, kind of, you know, ridiculous reflector on the front of it. I mean, it might as well have had a little horn on there and he's riding slowly, he's probably going to go get ice cream, right, literally in a -- you know, in a world where you know, you almost have World War III, everything that you guys have been talking about on the show up to this point but all the problems you know here domestically and the guys literally riding a beach cruiser around the place, right?

I mean, my father would be giving speeches in front of F-35s talking about how he's building the greatest military the world has ever seen. He'd be out there lobbying for, you know, defense funding so he could rebuild the military. He'd be talking about rebuilding the nuclear arsenals. He'd be taking out, you know, Soleimani and all these, you know, bad guys around the world.

Believe me that was sending a true message of strength and by the way, he was doing it with conviction and he was doing it with energy and he was doing it with passion, and he was doing it with strengthens, which is what you would expect from American president.

When you see a guy riding a beach cruiser, in the middle of the day, this is the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. I mean, what message that does send the world that is literally in the middle of, you know, just so -

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: When your father was on the show, I had confirmed to other sources that your dad before he ever talked about a deal with the Taliban, he said to them in no uncertain terms, if you don't follow every dotted I, crossed T, comma and period, I will obliterate you, and then message the head of the Taliban that he knew exactly where he was during that conversation. I asked him, did you say something similar to Vladimir Putin? He said I absolutely did.

And knowing your dad as long as I've known him, he's never not told me the truth on issues like this or any other issue. I would argue that probably the message was sent to Putin, I'm not going to take your crap.

E. TRUMP: Because, Sean, you know what the head of the Taliban respects, strength, toughness. You know what, the head of North Korea, you know, respects? Toughness.

What do you think Vladimir Putin who ran the KGB respects? A guy on a beach cruiser, you know, on a Saturday in Delaware? That's not what he respects. He respected a president who stood in front of the greatest warplanes ever created which he was ordering by the hundreds.

He respects a guy who's sending Javelin missiles to the Ukraine by the thousands. He respects a guy who has strength and energy, and again, we're not seeing that from this administration. I mean, they're never present, Sean. We've talked about this a hundred times you and I, right?

Pete Buttigieg is on paternity leave, and Kamala Harris is, you know, she's a joke when she goes overseas. There's a little country called the Ukraine and it happens to be next to a big country called Russia.

HANNITY: Oh my God. That was humiliating.

E. TRUMP: Give me a break. This isn't American leadership. This isn't what we need.

You need a president who works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and actually embodies the toughness of this country. That's what the job is.

HANNITY: All right. Eric Trump, always great to have you. Thank you.

When we come back, we'll go to Ukraine. Greg Palkot will join us live with the very latest as air raid sirens are blaring at this hour.

Also, Kamala Harris made some head scratching remarks earlier today. We'll let you see if you can decipher them. This as more of her staffers keep quitting. Newt Gingrich weighs in on this and more as we continue, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: It's a FOX News alert. Air raid sires blaring tonight, in Ukraine once again. Now for more breaking developments on the ground, we go live to FOX's own Greg Palkot.

Greg, what's the latest tonight?

GREG PALKOT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Hi, Sean.

We have -- we have heard air raid sirens here overnight in Lviv. Earlier, the Russians struck a Ukrainian military base northeast of here, and the fighting continues across the country. The focus remains on the city of Mariupol.

Russian defense ministry told Ukraine to surrender by early Monday morning. Guess what? They said no, but fighting continues. Ninety percent of that city is destroyed or damaged. Hundreds of thousands with little food, electricity, water, medicine. Absolutely horrible.

Meanwhile, in the capital of Kyiv, more artillery blasts were heard on Monday, and a round-the-clock curfew is in place, as rescue workers dig through the rubble of another Russian missile strike this time hitting a shopping mall and a high-rise building killing eight. The Russians said it was a military target.

And, finally, Sean, another show of bravery from the Ukrainians in Kherson. That's the only major city the Russians have actually captured. Residents were out on the streets protesting the takeover. Russian troops were present, they fired shots, they fired stun grenades. One resident report was reported injured.

Yeah, it's just one of many signs of bravery and solidarity that we witness here and across the country just about every day. It's remarkable stuff, Sean.

Back to you.

HANNITY: All right. Greg Palkot, stay safe. Great reporting as always. Thank you.

Now, earlier today, another batch of rambling remarks from Vice President Harris, talking about the, quote, passage of time during a speech in Louisiana. Sure, this will keep you riveted. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The governor and I, and we were all doing a tour of the library here and talking about the significance of the passage of time, right? The significance of the passage of time. So when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time in terms of what we need to do to lay these wires, what we need to do to create these jobs. And there is such great significance to the passage of time when we think about a day in the life of our children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: The passage of time. Ukraine is a country in Europe, and it's next to a bigger country called Russia, and Russia invaded Ukraine, the smaller country.

Meanwhile, we are also learning, the vice president's office just took their tenth staffer that they lost since June, this time the national security adviser, fueling much more speculation about internal strife and the inability of staff to work with her.

Also today on Capitol Hill, confirmation hearings kicked off from Biden's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson where she testified in front of the Senate saying her judicial role will be constrained by careful adherence to precedent despite her record suggesting otherwise.

Now, Republicans appear poised to focus on Judge Jackson's record and her judicial Philosophy instead of the smear tactics and the circus that Democrats orchestrated against Justice Kavanaugh back in 2018.

Here with reaction to all this, FOX News -- speaker of the House, FOX News contributor Newt Gingrich.

So we got Joe, the cognitive mess as president. We got Kamala Harris, it's kind of a disaster unfolding every day, and not far behind them is the -- her own struggling cognitive mess that is Nancy Pelosi.

So I don't really have a lot of confidence in the government right now, Mr. Speaker, but maybe I'm wrong. You helped me out.

NEWT GINGRICH, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, first of all, if you want a strong reason to pray for the health of the president of the United States, you are reminded again today that that reason is the vice president. She's not only totally incoherent. You know, he may or may not have cognitive decline problems at his age, but at her age, she's just dumb. I mean, let's be clear, Kamala Harris may be the dumbest person ever elected vice president in American history, and that's why people keep resigning.

I mean if you were her national security advisor and you were competent and you'd worked hard and you knew what you were doing and you watched her in Poland break up laughing when she's asked about Ukrainian refugees, you had to feel a sense of total humiliation. So I'm not surprised that that particular advisor resigned because it's very clear that Kamala Harris should never ever be allowed to leave the country. She probably shouldn't be allowed to leave the naval observatory which is the residence of the vice president.

She is constant --

HANNITY: I don't know --

(CROSSTALK)

GINGRICH: -- danger to herself and to the rest of us.

HANNITY: I don't have confidence in either of them.

Looking at the situation as it's unfolding in Ukraine.

Now, I talked about the Reagan doctrine. I talked about the Trump doctrine, and I've talked about politicians that get us into endless wars. They start out gung-ho. They don't fight him to win the wars.

They politicize the wars and then they pull out our troops like in Afghanistan after how many, you know, thousands of Americans are dead and how many thousands of other Americans have incredible injuries. We can't do this anymore, Mr. Speaker, can we?

GINGRICH: Well, look, I think there are things we can do exactly as you described earlier with Reagan, who as you know I worked with all throughout his eight years as president.

One, we could give the Ukrainians ship-killing missiles which would drive the Russian fleet away from the Ukrainian coast.

Two, we could give the Ukrainians cruise missiles and surface-to-surface missiles and make a clear statement. If the Russians are going to bomb civilians, we have every right to bomb -- have the Ukrainians have the equipment to bomb airfields, missile sites, missile storages. That would change the game almost overnight.

I think, third, we ought to recognize that we need to state very clearly, this is the number one job Joe Biden has when he goes to Europe this week, we need to state very clearly that if you start using chemical weapons, we will respond within hours, the response will be overwhelming and you will be decisively defeated sometime in the next 48 hours after you use them.

We cannot relax and allow Putin to continue to be a war criminal who thinks he can get away with anything because the American president is too timid and too cautious to do anything.

And I'll say also, I'm told by people who are pretty well-informed, that the national security adviser is a major problem because he keeps slowing down all the things that need to be going to Ukraine. He ought to be fired and replaced by somebody who'd actually like to defeat Putin in Ukraine, not help him win.

HANNITY: All right. Mr. Speaker, thank you for being with us. Appreciate it. Smart, maybe you can be president. We need somebody -- job's wide open, nobody's really paying attention there or knows what they're doing.

When we come back, the mob, the media facing widespread backlash after being forced to admit Hunter Biden's laptop was not a hoax. Unfortunately, most of them still are hiding and won't admit their error or apologize or make a correction.

But all the Sunday shows, they all ignored it yesterday. Clay Travis, Joe Concha, they weigh in as we continue.

Thanks for being with FOX.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Now, the mob and the media is being exposed one more time, this time for claiming that Hunter Biden's laptop story was Russian disinformation and covering up for Joe Biden in the weeks leading up to the election in 2020. Look at this cover from "The New York Post" with the headline, "Spies Who Lies," slamming all those so-called intel officials who all signed a letter claiming the laptop was Russian disinformation despite no evidence whatsoever to back it up.

And it wasn't just intel officials. Media mob, of course, the biggest supporters and defenders of all things Joe Biden. Joe Biden and the candidate protection program, they parroted these false claims and they did it over and over and over again in the run-up to the 2020 election, and I would argue it was the single biggest in-kind campaign donation in the history of any political election.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Listen, there's nothing to any of that. Nothing to any of that. It's all smear.

My son is an honorable man and all these investigations were done around the issue of what was going on in Ukraine, if you noticed, every one of the major people who works for Trump during impeachment went under oath, and under oath said Biden did his job. No law was broke -- Biden -- this Biden did his job. Hunter Biden broke no laws.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: So, with "The New York Times" admission, ask yourself what is it going to take for the media mob not to admit that they got it wrong again. When will they retract, when will they apologize, when will they make corrections? Because they got it wrong again and again, not only did they get it wrong, they made up the entire Russian disinformation lie.

We know why they did it. They did it to protect Biden. They wouldn't have done this to Donald Trump. None of these people cared one bit about the Clinton bought and paid for Russian disinformation dirty dossier, used to illegally obtain warrants and spy on Carter Page, and candidate and president-elect, President Trump, it's just more selective outrage, what, with a political agenda on the part of the media?

How many more times will they fail and then act like it never happened?

Here with the reaction, Outkick founder, Clay Travis, along with FOX News contributor Joe Concha, who I think would be great and having his own media channel -- show right here on the channel. I'm just saying, but nobody listens to me.

JOE CONCHA, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Channel, wow. Really?

HANNITY: I think you'd be great at it. I really believe that.

CONCHA: Thank you!

HANNITY: Question, so they lied for three years about the Russia hoax, that's been proven to be a lie. They lied to the FISA court. Nobody is held accountable. They lie -- this is weeks leading up to the election. If it was Trump, it would be a huge story. They lie about it. They all get away with it, that's it?

CONCHA: That's it. That appears to be the case here, Sean. Look. I wish I could've read those letters from the former heads of intelligence and they admit in it that they have no evidence that the Russians were involved, that this was Russian disinformation. They just had a bad feeling, in the pit of their stomachs, all 51 of them, that it could be, therefore they all signed up on it.

And as for those former heads of intelligence, how can someone like John Brennan say he did his job completely and totally objective without favoring any party or working against a particular person like Donald Trump, and then he leaves government, he signs a lucrative contract with NBC News and MSNBC and basically morphs into the next Keith Olbermann. And trust me, if you want to morph into anybody, Keith Olbermann is not that person.

Same goes with James Clapper, right? He's now a talking head on CNN, as is Andrew McCabe, former number two of the FBI, got fired for lying and leaking to the press. James Comey got a Showtime movie and two book deals. Lisa Page got signed by MSNBC. Peter Strzok got a book deal, I could go on.

And we're supposed to believe these folks -- these people were apolitical? Yeah, that dog don't hunt!

HANNITY: Clay, let's get -- let's get your take.

CLAY TRAVIS, OUTKICK FOUNDER: Look, here's the crazy thing, Sean. Let's just realize that the Biden family is everything that the Democrats told us the Trump family was for five years.

Look at what happened in 2016. Russia bought a few thousand dollars of Facebook ads -- by the way, Facebook is selling billions of dollars of ads. We were sold the idea that these were the most effective ads of all time, that they swung the election?

And yet look what happened in 2020. This is the biggest rig job in the history of American presidency. I really do believe this, when you look at the way that "The New York Times," "The Wall Street Journal," they all chose not to cover this. CNN, MSNBC. The reason why we need the Republicans in many ways to win and dominate in 2022, Sean, is that we need to have an investigation into the actual collusion that occurred with big tech and all these media companies and the fact that they are still not even covering it.

Even "The New York Times" buried in the 24th paragraph the revelation they have now confirmed 17 months later that the Hunter Biden laptop was real, this cries out for a congressional investigation. The House, the Senate, they all need to look into this.

And here's a big prediction for you, Sean. I think what's going to end up happening, Biden is not going to run in 2024 as Hunter Biden prepares to get indicted -- watch for this, he's going to pardon his own son, ride off in the sunset and try to pretend that none of this happened. The same thing is going to happen with the Democrats and their allies and big tech and left-wing media. It is a scandal of the utmost importance and we can't let it disappear.

HANNITY: I got to agree. I think the possibility of that is probably pretty strong, more than people are thinking tonight.

Thank you both, Joe, Clay. Appreciate it.

When we come back, straight ahead, Dr. Flip Flop Fauci addresses those retirement rumors and warns that more restrictions might be coming. I bet in time for the election, as he tries to desperately stay relevant. Kayleigh McEnany, Leo 2.0 Terrell, they join us, straight ahead.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Now, flip flop Fauci was back on TV over the weekend, telling ABC News' Georgie Stephanopoulos that he doesn't see the U.S. going back to strike COVID rules that we need to leave the door open, especially the week before election day.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If we do see a significant surge, particularly one that might result in increased hospitalizations, we have to be prepared to pivot and perhaps reinstitute some of those restrictions. But right now at this point, George, I don't see that.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: You said you're going to stay in this job until we get out of the pandemic phase. Of course, you've been serving your country now for decades. Are we approaching the point where we are past the pandemic phase and you are like, go get some rest?

FAUCI: I'm not so sure, George. I want to make sure we are really out of this before I really seriously consider doing anything different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: No, take some time, go play golf. We're sick and tired of you getting everything wrong.

Anyway, we continue to see a surge in cases in Europe and in the past, it has hit their first and it usually comes here. If the pattern holds, the report tonight shows the uptick in cases in the northeast of U.S. as of now. So, we need to be prepared.

For Democrats, to once again use COVID as a pretext, for example, not to impose not just more restrictions but also to overhaul our elections. Republicans in every state need to be prepared, be ready to make sure that partisan observers as almost every state calls for are allowed to observe the vote count from start to finish.

Here with reaction, we have "Outnumbered" co-host Kayleigh McEnany, along with Leo 2.0 Terrell.

Kayleigh, start with you. Now, in the 2020 election, we know that, like for example, they bypass the Constitution and the great state of Pennsylvania.

We knew that in Wisconsin they didn't follow the laws of the Constitution there either. We also know that every state has some version of a law that says partisan observers get to watch the vote count, Kayleigh. That didn't happen in 2020. You can't watch from a 1,000 feet, 20 feet, 6 feet, you need to be able to see it up close.

Assuming, let's say, we do have a resurgence of COVID, shouldn't every state have prepared some type of accommodation, if that's the case?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, "OUTNUMBERED" CO-HOST: No doubt about it, because Democrats use COVID-19 to change the election laws. What you saw where Democratic secretaries of state, Sean, throughout the country abrogate the Constitution, wipe away with a state legislatures put in place, signature match, voter identification, the safeguards that many hold dear, things that 80 percent plus support, they wiped it away.

Can't let it happen again. I'm very confident because more than a dozen Republican legislators have put in place voter integrity measures, but we must be on guard because, Sean, why do you think the first piece of legislation Nancy Pelosi try to put forward in Congress when she took the gavel in 2018 wasn't about climate change, wasn't about the economy, wasn't about the better of your life, it is about wiping away voter integrity measures, H.R.1., federalizing elections, a Democrat power grab.

They tried to pass it ever since. Joe Biden called it Jim Crow 2.0. He got fact-checked. He got Pinocchios for that.

We've got to be on guard.

HANNITY: Yeah.

MCENANY: And I'm thankful the Republican legislatures are.

HANNITY: And, Leo, there is still the mysterious reluctance towards even voter ID. Why do you think that is?

LEO TERRELL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I'll tell you why, Democrats want everybody to vote. They want the million-plus people they allow through the border to vote. I tell you right now, Kayleigh is spot, and what we've learned in the election, John -- Sean, is the fact we have to file lawsuits before the election to challenge any change in the law. This 2.0 situation was a game they tried to play. It didn't work because this country does not have systemic racism.

I've said that, day one I've been on FOX as a contributor. But we have to do a preemptive strike. Any change in the voting laws have to be met with a lawsuit prior, prior to the election.

As far as Dr. Fauci, no one listens to him. He has no credibility. He was an agent of the Democratic Party, he never talks about the southern border and COVID coming across the border. So, he has no credibility.

And I've got news for you, if he doesn't retire now, he'll be retired in 2024 when Trump wins.

HANNITY: We can hope.

Everybody needs to get in touch with the state legislatures. Make sure that commendations are in place if, in fact, they played the 2020 COVID game again.

More HANNITY next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have this evening. As always, thank you for being with us. You, of course, make the show possible. We can never thank you enough.

Please set your DVR so you never miss an episode of HANNITY.

And in the meantime, the Ingraham angle is up next. Let not your heart be troubled. Judge Jeanine, our friend, filling in for Laura tonight. We'll see you back here tomorrow night.

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