'Hannity' on Biden's presidency imploding, Ukraine-Russia war

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Hannity: Biden’s presidency is imploding

Sean Hannity discusses the woke narrative on Florida’s parental rights bill and Joe Biden’s failing presidency on ‘Hannity.’

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," April 1, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: And welcome to HANNITY this busy news Friday night.

By the way, Joe Biden, he's already off to Delaware for his weekend of ice cream and sleep and, oh, I don't know, maybe a couple of medical checks.

But back at the White House, his presidency is imploding his approval numbers are crashing, and you, we, the American people were all suffering, and it's getting so bad that it sounds like -- well, circle back Jen Psaki is jumping ship. We'll have the very latest coming up tonight.

But, first, with the worsening crisis both at home and abroad, Democrats and their media mob allies, they're desperate to distract you in any way they possibly can and desperate to gin up more phony outrage and more lies to push their far left extremist agenda, because tonight, the left-wing rage mob along with the Disney Corporation, they're now continuing to spew lies about Florida's new parental rights law.

So, we will do what the mob and the media won't do. We'll tell you the truth. We'll break it down. We'll tell you, what's in the law and what's not in the law.

Now, the law's real name is the Parental Rights and Education Act. Now, it's not the don't say gay bill as the media claims. It bans school employees or third parties from giving classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in pre-K, kindergarten, through third grade. That's it.

The law also bolsters the ability of parents to know what is being taught in their children's class. It gives parents a course of action when teachers cross that line and that's pretty much it. But for whatever reason, Democrats, they are enraged over protection for parents and continue to falsely claim that this law bans the use of the word gay, which it certainly does not.

But apparently eager to jump on the far left bandwagon -- well, the Disney Corporation, their woke employees, they're in a complete meltdown. Disney released a statement outright lying about the law, calling it the "don't say gay" law. Employees recently staged the walkout and now, Disney says that they're going to ban "boys and girls" and greetings at the park like, for example, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, we can't say that anymore?

And, of course, like clockwork the whole saga is exposing it more rampant hypocrisy inside of woke corporate America, because get this, we are now learning tonight that Disney, to their credit, they're capitalist, you know, company, they're expanding their streaming operation into 10 countries, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and many others.

What do those countries and others have in common, they criminalize homosexuality and have very strict anti-gay laws. And by the way, Disney has a problem with Florida keeping sex ed out of kindergarten, but is apparently unbothered by anti-gay persecution abroad? They're going to have to answer for that.

And now, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, he is rightly standing up against all of the far left lunacy, all of the lies being told, and floating a repeal of Disney's so-called self-governing status under Florida law. It dates back to 1967

And here's Governor DeSantis explaining it early today. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: Well, over many decades, Brian, they've gotten incredible treatment from the Florida legislature and they are treated on a pedestal, this one corporation is treated differently than everybody else. And so, that's not something I've ever supported. But now, in the legislature, you see a movement to reevaluate those special privileges.

And so, at the end of the day, I think Disney has gotten over its skis on this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: As it stands now, Disney enjoys white autonomy in running their Disney Park with little to no government oversight over a 2,500-acre area in Florida. Who else in Florida has that deal? For example, Disney has full control over their entire infrastructure. They can levy their own taxes and tolls and fees on users with complete authority.

They don't need the permission of the state. They also have eminent domain power. They have the power to issue bonds the power to build nuclear power plants. Really? And Disney is exempt from state and local zoning laws and so much more.

Now, why does Disney enjoy these massive benefits and if this is how they're going to act, why should they keep them? Especially if they're going to lie about a law that doesn't exist the way they say it exists.

Now, while Republicans and common sense Americans all across the country are committed to standing up for students and parents, you have these far left corporations, extreme Democrats they're all hell-bent on undermining the dignity of education no matter what it is. Far-left activism is now at the center of our major corporations as they now work to turn their business models into left-wing propaganda centers.

Now, everyday Americans they're standing strong they'd like to have a say in their kids education many are now calling out Disney for this far left lunacy. As one mother writes in a piece for FOXNews.com, quote, for those who love the magic of Disney as children and have seen the wonder in our children's eyes, Disneyworld, it is disconcerting to see the company that animated our childhoods and now our children's childhood slowly becoming more progressive.

And Floridians, they appear to be siding with the governor, with a brand new poll showing DeSantis at nearly 60 percent approval rating. But Joey Biden, far left Democrats, they're siding with the radical activists, the woke corporations, over the legitimate concerns of parents and students and they're spewing lies and stoking more division and fueling rage all while the destructive Democratic agenda fails on pretty much every single front.

Here with reaction, she is the co-host of the top hit show "The Five", Judge Jeanine Pirro is with us, along with FOX News contributor Tammy Bruce.

Judge, let's start with you. Only from the legal aspect of this, like I would not doubt -- I can't give specifics, but I'm pretty confident that New York state, the only reason that Wall Street companies remain is because they probably get benefits, tax benefits, let's say favors that people like we would never get.

For Disney to have these special -- you know, rights of since 1967, I say, okay, time to go. Why shouldn't they be treated equally?

JEANINE PIRRO, "THE FIVE" CO-HOST: Well, they should be treated equally and the truth is this permit that has existed since 1967 can be revoked by the governor, and you know, then Disney will not have all of those rights you articulated. But you know, you have to ask yourself the fundamental question here, who the heck are these corporate executives from Disney to criticize a law that was -- that was voted on by the legislature in Florida, signed by the governor and, you know, supported by more than 50 percent of the Democrats in Florida and the majority of Floridians? Who is this small majority of woke people who decide that they're going to dictate what we're going to do?

And I love that Ron DeSantis doesn't buckle down to their nonsense and I love that what he's saying is he's standing there at that podium and he's saying, don't mess with us because we can mess with you, and we can mess with you legitimately. We don't have to make up a narrative.

Now, let me tell you something, Sean, I have two kids and if anybody, anybody tried to talk to my five-year-old or six-year-old about whether or not they really wanted to be a boy or a girl or sexual orientation, the first thing I would do is I would call the police. There should be no teacher talking to my kid about sex, and I would then call Child Protective Services to talk about teachers and wear influence over our children.

None of them should be discussing this with our kids. Now we've got parents who have the right to protect and know what's going on in school. And, finally, Joe Biden's got a -- his administration is imploding as you said at the beginning of your opening. He now wants to make sure he stays on top of the Florida law to make sure that they're monitoring it so children's civil rights are not being violated. That guy there.

And he supports funding surgery for minors so that they can change sexes and he's talking about the bottom surgeries.

And bottom line here is this, nobody says you can't say gay and Wanda Sykes and the rest of them ought to read the bill before they open their traps and go gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, and that's it.

HANNITY: And, Tammy -- you sounded like Levin, I'm done. That's it. Very funny.

So we watched Glenn Youngkin in commonwealth of Virginia, these education issues and parental involvement in schools was a very key issue that I believe factored into him winning the state a purple state like the commonwealth of Virginia. When you look at this law and you look at the reaction to all of this, and it's only for K through third grade, and I would like schools to focus on reading, writing, math, science and computers because we pay more per capita than any other country, and we have the worst results.

Is that unreasonable to have parental involvement and maybe those are issues they can deal with and after school programs and parents are uncomfortable talking to their kids about these kinds of issues and they can opt in rather than opt out?

TAMMY BRUCE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you crazy wild guy, Sean Hannity, that parents should have control over their children, be their moral arbiters that they're -- they're the natural and legal moral arbiters of their children. They -- they are the people who obviously have a legal right to control the lives of those -- of toddlers, their little children of their family.

The reality is you're right. These are marginal extremists. The judge is right as well regarding this is a small minority of people. They are extremists, and they've been placed in particularly influential positions. They are the loudest voices in the room.

They are bullies. They're bullying everyone else. Chapek and everybody else who's at that top are afraid, they have a knee-jerk reaction. Nobody read the bill and they don't think about -- they're in a bubble, Sean. They don't think about not just Virginia but my goodness, San Francisco and the recall of three school board members for exactly the same reason, woke policies, changing school names, critical race theory, you know, sexual instruction, wokism, and for young ages when it comes to homosexuality, sexual identity.

Little kids, I've said it before, I'll say it again, there are no straight children, there are no gay children. There's just children. They are beyond that.

And ultimately -- and this is well-put by someone on Twitter -- that this is about -- this is a horrible dynamic and a heartbreaking dynamic of adults destroying the innocence of childhood to validate themselves. This is why every parent, every American must stand up against it.

HANNITY: It's like keep politics out of football. Keep politics out of Disney. Let kids enjoy their childhood.

BRUCE: Let kids --

(CROSSTALK)

BRUCE: Yeah. All right. Good to see you both. Thank you on this Friday night.

Now, turning back to our focus in Washington where a new report from "Axios" is now saying circle back Jen Psaki, chief propagandist in the White House, she's expected to leave the Biden White House for a starring role at MSDNC.

And, of course, it comes as the Biden presidency is completely collapsing. Sounds like Psaki wants to jump ship before it gets any worse. And here she is at the press briefing earlier today. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Is it true that you are leaving the White House to work for MSNBC?

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, you can't get rid of me yet, Ed. I have nothing to confirm about my length of public service or plan service or anything about consideration about next plans.

REPORTER: Is it ethical for you to continue conducting this job while negotiating with the media?

PSAKI: Well, I have always gone over and above the stringent ethical and legal requirements of the Biden administration, and I take that very seriously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Now, assuming she does depart, Biden's chief propagandist will be sorely missed here on this program for her never-ending stream of ducking and dodging and deflection and misdirection and outright lies.

So we thought we would take a trip down memory lane and show some of -- well, some of the most notable low lights of lying. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: You may have noticed this week that your gas prices have gone up. I want to talk to you a little bit about why. A lot of it has to do with Vladimir Putin.

It's broadly known and widely known, Peter, that there was a broad range of Russian disinformation back in 2020.

Ask whether the president has made a decision on keeping or keeping the scope of Space Force.

PSAKI: Wow, Space Force. It's the plane of today.

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Why is the administration flying thousands of migrants from the border to Florida and New York in the middle of the night?

PSAKI: Well, I'm not sure that's in the middle of the night.

I often note I'm going to circle back. I hate to disappoint conservative Twitter, but I'm going to circle back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: That could be a resume reel for MSDNC when you think about it. One of my favorites is, oh, illegal immigrants, they don't need to get COVID tested, they're not going to be here very long. Why? Because they're getting a private jet and dropped in the middle of the night or if it's 2:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m., Jen calls it an early morning flight, another favorite of mine.

Anyway, now with Psaki, reportedly joining her friends over at MSDNC, it sounds like she'll fit in perfectly. They all lie there. Will she ever admit to any of these lies like calling the Hunter Biden laptop Russian disinformation? Because as Biden's presidency is imploding, some in the media mob are actually starting to cover the cloud of corruption surrounding zero experience Hunter and the Biden family foreign syndicate, and admitting that Hunter Biden's laptop was actually real that they claimed was Russian disinformation, it was authentic the whole time. It was all part of a plot designed to bolster Joe Biden in what was the single biggest election cover-up, in kind donation in modern American presidential election history. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Federal authorities are now investigating whether recently published emails that purport to detail the business dealings of Joe Biden's son are tied to an ongoing Russian disinformation effort.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Recently published emails that purport to detail the business dealings of Joe Biden's son are actually part of an ongoing Russian disinformation campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hunter Biden, this laptop, the intelligence officials is likely Russian disinformation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hunter Biden, there's no evidence that there's anything wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all know that Hunter Biden, there's no evidence of any wrongdoing with him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no evidence that Hunter Biden did anything illegal may have been unseemly influence peddling.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no evidence to support the claims about Joe Biden's son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: They never looked into it. You were lied to. The country was lied to by the media mob. The country was lied to by big tech. The country was lied to by the Democratic Party.

And even members, 51 of them in the intelligence community, they lied to the American people all to protect Joe Biden and hurt Donald Trump.

And the Delaware repair shop owner John Paul Mack Isaac, he suffered a wave of abuse and death threats and harassment and even had to close his business, flee the state after being smeared and slandered by the mob in the media. Later in the program, he'll join us for an exclusive interview.

And remember this isn't just a story about Hunter Biden. Hunter's dad, that would be Joey, the big guy, is also implicated in his son's shady international business deals and now both "The Washington Post" and "New York Times" have suddenly verified the information.

Here with reaction former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, along with FOX News contributor Joe Concha.

The lie was deep. It's two weeks before the 2020 election, Mark, and this is -- this is an October surprise of all surprises, they never care to even ask a question about whether it's true. They immediately donated to the Biden presidential campaign and covered it up for him.

I mean, somehow -- this has got to be against the law. Big tech did it, the media did it, everybody did it.

MARK MEADOWS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, they all did it, Sean. Probably the biggest concern that you have is the only thing not surprising about the October surprise that wasn't covered is that it's the way that many in the in the media now cover anything that is newsworthy as it relates to Joe Biden. And certainly at that particular point, and I'm sure -- I'm sure Joe can weigh in on this because he was -- he was sounding the alarm bells at that very time.

But we were surprised. You know, here is all this plethora of at least newsworthy information that was not being covered and when you look at it, you can't -- you know, you can't ignore the fact that it was a negative story that would have had an implication. Paul said 70 percent of those who voted would have voted a different way and yet it was covered up.

And even now, there's not a whole lot of, you know, apologies going out missing the story.

HANNITY: Hey, Mark, I think maybe the worst aspect of this is you had our top intel people in this country, they all sign that letter. It looks like Russian disinformation. They said all of it without a shred of evidence whatsoever to that back that up, the same people.

MEADOWS: Without a doubt. Yeah, and when -- when you look at that, I mean, it's -- it's not just a coincidence that everybody had their talking point, that it was Russian disinformation and what they do is they take one clip from somebody and then multiply it across uh several different platforms and yet what we do know is that when you politicize the intelligence community, you're -- you're not doing anyone a service.

HANNITY: Joe Concha, this is what you do. You deserve your own media show here on FOX. You're so good at what you do you you're an island unto yourself.

But the media ran with this, it was the big lie. I said in 2007, right on this network, journalism is dead and I did not know how right I was. They're dead, gone and buried. Your reaction on the media side of this?

JOE CONCHA, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: And when we say media, Sean, we're not just talking traditional media but social media. And we heard a lot about collusion, but think about the collusion that happened here. Traditional media either dismissed the story or they pointed to it as Russian disinformation. How could they do that? They did that because 51, as you said, intelligence officers, former ones, came out and said it was Russian disinformation. And in the letter they signed, they admitted they had no evidence whatsoever that it was Russian disinformation, it was just something that they felt could be it.

So that gave traditional media the go-ahead to say, okay, either we're not going to discuss this or we're just going to say it's Russian disinformation. Then the collusion with social media and big tech in terms of Facebook and Twitter, not only suppressing the story, censoring the story, and locking people out of their Twitter accounts if they merely shared the story.

So look where we are now all these months later, after Joe Biden's over the finish line. Now to quote Bruce Willis, the great Bruce Willis welcome to the party pal. Seventeen months later, we're going to start covering this? Give me a break and once indictments start coming if they start coming, then boy the embarrassment will be complete and total, Sean.

HANNITY: Amazing.

And who's going to be held accountable for the dirty Russian dossier? When are we going to get the Durham report? It's un -- these are unbelievable times we live in. Where's the -- where's the committee looking into the riots in the summer of that killed dozens, that caused billions of property damage and injured thousands of police officers.

Guys, these are -- we have an information crisis in this country anyway. Mark Meadows, Joe Concha, thank you both.

Coming up, the criminal probe aspect of Hunter Biden and his laptop is heating up. Lawmakers are now demanding answers. The man that turned over this laptop, John Paul Mac Isaac and Jason Chaffetz react, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Now, as the criminal investigation into zero experience Hunter and his dad is heating up, Republican lawmakers, they're now looking for answers on his foreign business dealings with the family syndicate. They're now demanding that he turn over communications with the Obama White House.

Now writing in letters to the White House and National Archives, quote: Hunter Biden's connections throughout the Russia Russian sphere of influence have now become especially relevant in the fast-moving and developing Russian war in Ukraine.

And today, former federal prosecutor Brett Tolman claimed that if the investigation revolved around anyone other than Hunter Biden, they would have already been indicted now but Hunter's corrupt business transactions extend far beyond Russia as we have chronicled on this show and made well - - apparently made over a million dollars sitting on the board of Burisma -- well, over a million, him and his company took in, and he took money from let's see a Kazakhstan oligarch for a brand new sports car and a Russian oligarch, the former first lady of Moscow. That's three and a half million and a hundred thousand dollar shopping spree with a Chinese national, and then, of course, millions and millions of dollars in other business deals with connections to the CCP, and also Chinese intelligence and the $1.5 billion deal with the Bank of China.

Now, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, Biden lied about all of this repeatedly, claiming again and again and again that he and his son never at one point ever discussed his foreign business dealings and he never profited from his business dealings in China. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My son has not made money in terms of this thing about what are you talking about China. I have not had -- the only guy made money from China is this guy, he's the only one. Nobody else has made money from China.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Joey was lying.

And when pushed on the issue during yesterday's White House briefings -- well, the communications director Kate Bedingfield doubled down on Biden's lies. Wow. What a shocker. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATE BEDINGFIELD, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: We absolutely stand by the president's comment and I would point you to the reporting on this which referenced statements that we made at the time that we gave to "The Washington Post" who worked on this story. And -- but as you know, I don't speak for Hunter Biden. So there's not more I can say on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Here with reaction, the man that turned Hunter's laptop over to the FBI law enforcement, John Paul Mac Isaac is with us, and FOX News contributor Jason Chaffetz.

John Paul, you'd put everything on the line here. You were given a laptop. You see information in the course of recovering what's on the laptop that is concerning to you in terms of the legal aspect of it?

All of a sudden, the laptops never picked up. You hand it over to the FBI and your life's been nothing but a living hell as a result of it. Tell us what your life has been like since you did.

JOHN PAUL MAC ISAAC, FORMER OWNERE OF "THE MAC SHOP" IN DELAWARE: This well once the story was out and my name was leaked to the public, it -- it's been a matter of at first running and hiding. And now, it's trying to just rebuild my life and do it in a manner that's not restricted by public opinion of me being involved in a Russian disinformation campaign.

HANNITY: Yeah. And but why did you have to close down your shop? This was your business.

ISAAC: Well, initially, the media did a good job of blocking the story. So customers were still coming in but they didn't understand the police presence or why there was feces and rotten vegetables thrown at the shop. So, eventually, it got out and people stopped coming in for service, people started coming in without computers and I can only imagine that they were there to do me harm.

So, by the end of November, by the end of October, I made a decision and by November 2nd, I closed the shop.

HANNITY: You know, there's now Miranda Devine's book, "The Laptop from Hell," what specifically alarmed you that there might be something illegal on that laptop specifically. I don't know that you've ever answered that question.

ISAAC: Well, I saw a lot of things that were embarrassing that somebody would definitely not want to make to the tabloids because -- I saw a lot of financial records that showed a lot of foreign money and a lot of money, like a lot of money. And then there was uh some other documents that I thought were kind of strange, blue star strategies sending White House briefings about Ukraine, and the vice president's travel schedule to a private Ukrainian citizen, and the national security ramifications alone were disturbing and I felt that this was definitely something that had to be taken to the FBI.

HANNITY: And you also saw illegal activity. The -- you -- for example, the picture of Hunter Biden with the crack pipe. That's illegal activity. Pictures of a sexual nature were you concerned about the age of the people in the pictures?

ISAAC: No, I did I didn't really focus my attention on what was salacious on the laptop. My bigger concern was the security of the nation, the criminality that had potentially taken place and that could happen again if not investigated properly.

HANNITY: You know, Jason, it was authenticated because apparently Hunter's lawyers came back months later asking for Hunter's laptop back. You would think that would have been the -- the defining moment where the media would have realized this thing is real. What's your take on all of it?

JASON CHAFFETZ, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, first of all to John, I hope he understands there are millions of people who are appreciative and I hope he's buoyed up despite all the stuff that he's taken in his personal life. There are those of us that care about law and order and justice, and it takes people like you stepping up. So thank you for doing that.

I wish the criminal justice system though in this country would take it seriously. It's one thing -- we know that "The Washington Post" and "The New York Times" and MSNBC, we know they're in the pocket of the Democrats and that they'll do anything and everything to get their people elected. But we don't have the U.S. attorneys moving the way they should. Where's the IRS in a lot of this? Where's the Foreign Intelligence Services?

How come Adam Schiff still has a security clearance? How come Eric Swalwell still has a security clearance and sits on the Intel Committee? That I could go on and on and on.

We didn't even mention Romania and the hundred thousand dollars that went into Joe Biden's grandkids from the former director of the FBI, Louis Freeh. That they're all -- in Mexico and providing access. There's so much.

But John was right, he saw something was wrong. He provided it to the authorities but the authorities are letting him down and letting the rest of the country down by not pursuing and putting this guy in handcuffs.

HANNITY: Yeah. I mean, it really is unbelievable. John Paul Mack Isaac, I want to echo Jason's comments -- I'm so sorry that this has impacted your life regularly. It's amazing that Democrats supposedly praise whistleblowers, even hearsay non-whistleblower whistleblowers and yet you did the right thing and you've been harmed because of it.

Thank you for all you've done for your country and we wish you the very best. And thanks for being with us tonight.

Jason, thank you.

All right. Straight ahead tonight, we'll bring you the very latest on Ukraine as Russia's invasion continues. Trey Yingst is back and Dan Hoffman will break it all down. Trey was there for quite a while, that's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. As the war in Ukraine continues to rage on, Russia is now claiming that Ukraine launched a helicopter attack on an oil depot inside a Russian territory, smoke and flames were seen pouring out of the facility, which is near the Russia-Ukraine border. Ukraine's military says it cannot confirm or deny whether or not they are responsible for that incident.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has announced that he has fired two of his own generals, calling them traitors. Our own Bret Baier spoke exclusively to President Zelenskyy tonight. Here's what he had to say about America's role in a possible peace settlement. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Short of NATO, short of Article 5 protection, you're saying a group of nations provide security guarantees. Has President Biden offered the U.S. as one of those countries?

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: We talked with President Biden. We talked with him quite often, often enough. We had a conversation yesterday. We are saying that Ukraine would like to see among the leaders of those guarantors, those who are joining this important peace settlement process.

We would like to see the United States led by the president among those leaders and on our part, we received a message that the United States are considering this proposition. They're considering it in a positive way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Meanwhile, some good news to report, former White House adviser Ivanka Trump -- Trump is leading an effort to send medical equipment supplies to Ukraine and it was a huge success, collecting enough material to fill five C-130 cargo planes. Wow.

And by the way, tonight we are joined by a special guest, FOX News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst, who as you saw night after night on this program, he spent weeks in Ukraine covering this war for FOX. And FOX News contributor Dan Hoffman is also with us.

You know, Trey, I always knew it was dangerous where you are. You were in Kyiv and it was almost every night, you know, sirens blaring bombs bursting in air. You stayed there.

We saw what happened to our dear friend and colleague Benjamin Hall, who's recovering from severe injuries and the death of his cameraman Pierre and this Ukrainian reporter.

When you're in that situation you know that you're in a war zone, it's got to weigh on you. How do you deal with that?

TREY YINGST, FOX NEWS FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Sean, look, we have a responsibility as journalists to get the truth out to the world and when we lost our own colleagues, it was just another reminder of how dangerous this work really is.

And you find that the people who are committed to staying in cities that could be targeted or are currently being targeted among the journalism community, they are some of the very best, because they understand that responsibility. And that's exactly who Pierre was. That's exactly who Sasha was. And it's exactly who Benjamin Hall is.

HANNITY: He is, and he and his family are in our prayers as he recovers.

Dan, if the report is true that the Ukrainians have hit back inside of Russia, that wouldn't concern me at all. Actually, I think that would be a strong message to send to Putin. As -- you're 30 years in the intel community, you know more about Putin than anyone that I know, and we're looking at this unfold here. There are many people suggesting that maybe Putin is losing and he's going to pull back.

I don't find -- I've not seen any indication that convinces me that that's true. What do you see?

DAN HOFFMAN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: No, I agree with you. But, first, I just want to welcome Trey back. Were it not for Trey and his intrepid fellow journalists in Ukraine, we simply wouldn't know the extent of Russia's barbaric invasion of Ukraine and the toll it's taken on Ukraine's innocent civilian. So kudos to you Trey and the team, it's such an honor to work with you.

As far as Vladimir Putin is concerned, this is his war, and I think he's gone so far that he's got to have to do everything he can not to lose it. He's going to keep fighting until he runs out of bullets or the guys who are shooting those bullets decide they just don't want to take his orders anymore. That's kind of where we're at this point, and it presents an extraordinary challenge for -- for Ukraine and for us to ensure that we continue to provide them with the humanitarian assistance and the military equipment that they need to stay in the fight.

HANNITY: Well, I agree and I got to tell you, the only two things that they need is they need weaponry from NATO and the U.S. and Western Europe and NATO allies have got to stop importing energy from Russia because that is financing Putin's ability to fight this war. Two things -- we shouldn't have a task force, we should be doing it.

I want to thank you both and I want to echo the comments of Dan.

Trey, you did a phenomenal job for all of us working really long hours. I'd see you in the morning and then I'd see on my show at night and very dangerous work and we appreciate it.

And, Dan, we appreciate all your expertise as well.

All right. When we come back, Lawrence Jones, LJ, joins us with the latest on spiraling crime in New York City. It's bad.

Plus, Biden's border crisis -- oh, yeah, round two. Stephen Miller will react, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. With crime soaring back out of control levels in New York and so many other cities, some Democrats, they have finally realized it might be time to revisit the state's so-called bail reform law, which sets most, if not almost all criminals lose on the streets before their trial. In other words, they commit a crime, they just let them go. No bail at all.

Anyway apparently, that time has not yet come because state Democrats in New York just left Albany for a long weekend without making any changes at all. So what does this mean for the future and the safety of New York New York city in particular?

Our own Lawrence Jones is back with us. He just spoke to a former NYPD officer to get his reaction.

LJ, what are you hearing?

LAWRENCE JONES, HOST OF "LAWRENCE JONES CROSS COUNTRY": Hey, Sean, we've been covering from the very beginning the rise in crime that's happening not just in New York City but all across the country. So what is driving all this crime happening in America?

Well, one former NYPD officer says it is the anti-cop sentiment. Where is it coming from?

Here's what he had to say. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: The people that I talk to all the time they say, they want someone, they want the police to come put these people behind bars. So who are the people that say, you guys got to get out of here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's -- it's hard to say. I mean, I'm trying to think of proper way to phrase this. The public for the most part I think is behind us. I think in the last couple of years, there's been more people turning against the police because the media has turned against the police.

JONES: You think it's the media?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, social media is a big part of it.

JONES: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the media plays off what's on social media.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And, Sean, as you know that the media is driving this, but in many times, they don't have to live in these communities that are being impacted by these violence. You have these Soros-backed DAs that are allowing these criminals back on the street and they continue to commit crime. Many of us are for criminal justice reform, Sean, but these criminals aren't reforming their lives.

Back to you, Sean.

HANNITY: The direct result: defund, dismantle and, of course, no bail.

LJ, great report as always. And, by the way, congrats again. You can catch LJ's show "Lawrence Jones Cross Country". It's Saturday nights, 10:00 p.m., right here on FOX, and you got to see it. It's a great show.

All right over million illegal immigrants have crossed the border since Joe Biden took office. Historic highs and this historic surge is even going to get bigger, because the Biden administration is about to remove the final Trump-era border policy left in place. That's called Title 42, and that allows for the instant deportation of migrants at the border due to COVID.

We are in the middle of a pandemic. Former senior adviser to President Trump, Stephen Miller, joins us now.

Stephen, this is a no-brainer. I mean, I remember we had the cages with all the kids in it overcrowded in the middle of the pandemic and Jen Psaki saying we don't need to test illegal immigrants because they're not going to stay here very long. That was a big lie.

Why would they rescind this, the pandemic continues, omicron 2.0 is already here in New York City, and it's about to hit the whole country. Your reaction?

STEPHEN MILLER, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: The southern border is the perfect place for new viruses and new variants and new evolutions of this disease to spread. People arrive at that border crammed into trucks, crammed into cars and tractor trailers, piled on top of each other, sharing the same air. It's as dangerous as it can get from a public health standpoint.

That's why President Trump put in place Title 42, not only saving thousands of lives but in the process fully sealing the United States southern border.

As we speak at this moment, we already have 7,000 apprehensions a day, most of them released into the country, at least 2,000 so-called gotaways that we know of. Plus many more that we don't know of. That's over 10,000 at least a day crossing into this country.

The decision to end what's left of Title 42 will turn our border from the peace, calm and total security of the Trump era into an utter nightmare and illegal immigration apocalypse. It will be that bad, Sean.

HANNITY: You know, for example, getting rid of the Trump policy, Joe Biden -- he not only brought back uh the policies of the Obama administration catch-and-release, but now it's on steroids because it's basically catch, process and I'll give a free ride to the state of your choice.

Now, if I did that or you did that, I'm pretty confident that we would get arrested for violating the immigration laws but more importantly we probably would be accused of human trafficking. Am I -- am I wrong on that?

MILLER: Correct. We would be -- no, you're 100 percent right. Sean, if you or I were to transport people across state lines, let alone international boundaries in the back of a truck or a car, we'd be in jail for years for smuggling, trafficking or kidnapping. If a U.S. citizen just transports say a minor across state lines in the back of a truck, I mean rightly so, that's a severe, severe criminal offense.

Just on child smuggling alone in the first year of the Biden administration, 150,000 children were smuggled across our borders by criminals because of this administration's policy of everybody gets in and everybody gets resettled.

When you eliminate Title 42, the last remaining shred of immigration enforcement, it will be a truly -- an utter open border with no limits at all.

HANNITY: All right. Stephen Miller, by the way, congratulations are in order for you and your wife Katie on the birth of your new baby.

MILLER: Thank you so much, Sean. We're truly blessed.

HANNITY: We couldn't be happier for you.

All right. We'll have more HANNITY coming up, right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Unfortunately, that is all the time we have left this Friday night. As always, we thank you for joining us. You make this show possible. Thank you so much.

Now, please set your DVR so you never miss an episode and we'll keep bringing you news the media mob never wants you to hear and never reports on. Hope you have a great weekend. We'll see you back here on Monday.

And let not your heart be troubled, Laura Ingraham, "THE INGRAHAM ANGLE" is next this Friday night.

END

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