'Hannity' on Biden's Ukraine war response, domestic woes

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Hannity: Ukraine ‘shocking the world’

The ‘Hannity’ host criticizes Biden’s response to the Russia-Ukraine war and his domestic woes in Thursday's opening monologue.

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," March 24, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Welcome to HANNITY this busy Thursday night.

We begin with a FOX News alert tonight. Tonight, we are more than one month into Putin's bloody invasion into Ukraine and yet Russia's murdering thug has almost nothing to show for his efforts, except a lot of dead soldiers, faltering economy, blood all over his hands because of the brutal, indiscriminate bombings that have destroyed hospitals, and schools, entire cities and neighborhoods, almost the entire city of Mariupol.

But look at your screen, early this morning, a port city occupied by Russia in southern Ukraine was rocked by explosions. Now, in a major blow to Putin's navy, one Russian warship was obliterated. Look at that! And other two -- the other two were visibly damaged.

Now, this was during a Ukrainian strike. Now, the vessels in the process of -- were in the process of unloading important supplies. They were meant for Russian soldiers fighting on the front lines.

Make no mistake: Ukraine is shocking the world. Very few people, including myself, thought that they would be able to hold out for more than a few days and now there is a distinct possibility if they get the proper support, they could actually win this war against Russia and Putin.

But, a big but, they need Joe Biden, they need NATO allies to provide the weaponry to actually win this war of aggression. Let's stop Russia right here in Ukraine right now.

Now, again, I want to be very clear. I'm not talking about one American foot on the ground. No boots on the ground. That cannot happen.

Biden needs to adopt the Reagan and Trump doctrines as we've been discussing and NATO and Joe Biden need to do to go very important things and they need to do it immediately.

One, they've got to get President Zelenskyy and Ukraine all the weapons they need as fast as possible. That means the drones, middle and long range air defense systems, the Javelins, Stinger missiles.

Joe, next time if Poland wants the MiGs, don't veto that. Let the MiGs go to Ukraine, so they can fight the war themselves.

Two, Europe needs to stop importing Russian energy, oil and gas, right now. Any country that continues to buy any of Vladimir Putin's oil or gas is funding his war and, yes, it especially includes Germany which is still very reliant on Russian oil and gas.

Now, if only Germany had some warning about the dangers of their dependency on Russian energy -- oh, wait. They were warned by President Trump. A few years back. You might remember.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: Energy is a much different sort of normal trade and you have a country like Poland that won't accept the gas. You take a look at some of the countries, they won't accept it because they don't want to be captive to Russia. But Germany as far as I'm concerned is captive to Russia because they are getting so much energy from Russia. So, we are supposed to protect Germany, but they are protecting getting their energy from Russia. Explain that.

It can't be explained. You know that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Trump is right again. Germany did not heed that warning and now, they are funding the bloodiest, most destructive war in modern European history.

Never underestimate Germany's ability to screw up their own backyard.

But today, during a press conference in Brussels, one German reporter wasn't interested in asking a question about the war in his own continent. Instead, he offered Biden an opportunity to bash Donald Trump and his supporters on the world stage which, of course, Joe happily obliged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I had no intention of running for president again and until I saw those folks coming out of the fields in Virginia carrying torches and carrying Nazi banners and literally singing the same vile rhyme that they used in Germany in the early `20s or `30s I should say.

I say to people at home imagine, if we sat and watched the doors of the bundestag broken down and police officers killed and hundreds of people storming in, or imagine if we saw that happening in the British parliament or whatever, how would we feel?

And one of the things that I take some solace from is I don't think you'll find any European leader who thinks that I am not up to the job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: You're not up to the job. He's the weakest and worst president we've had in the modern era.

And Joe, while he's in Europe, he's more than happy to wax and wane about a 2017 riot in Charlottesville, Virginia, but somehow he can't seem to answer a simple question about deterring Vladimir Putin. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You know, yeah one final question, right. Hey, hold on a second please, I was supposed to be an hour ago at the European Union meeting and to speak. Now, I'm thanking you.

So someone I haven't called on before. You? Who are you?

REPORTER: I'm Christina Ruffini from CBS. Thank you, sir.

BIDEN: Okay.

REPORTER: Sir, deterrence didn't work. What makes you think Vladimir Putin will alter course based on the action you've taken today?

BIDEN: Let's get something straight. You remember if you covered me from the very beginning, I did not say that in fact the sanctions would deter him. That's not what I said. You're playing the game with me. I know. The answer is no.

I think what happens is we have to demonstrate the purpose, the single most important thing is for us to stay unified.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: That's what you suggested to what Kamala Harris said, that Joe's answer on the use of chemical weapons also failed to inspire any confidence. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: So you've warned about the real threat of chemical weapons being used. Have you gathered specific intelligence that suggests that President Putin is deploying these weapons, moving into position or considering their use, and would the U.S. or NATO respond with military action if he did use chemical weapons?

BIDEN: You know, on the first question, I can't answer that. I'm not going to give you intelligence data number one. Number two, we would respond. We would respond if he uses it the nature of the response would depend on the nature of the use.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Allow me to translate. Joe Biden has no idea how he would respond to a chemical attack. Now, he and NATO better figure that out fast considering they're the ones that keep telling us, ah, this can happen. The world needs strong decisive clear-minded strength and leadership, especially from the United States. But it's not going to come from that guy, because Biden is sadly unwilling, mentally unable to provide that kind of leadership. Sad but true.

Instead, according to General Jack Keane who will join us in a moment, Biden is now pressuring according to high-ranking sources of his, President Zelenskyy to make a deal with Putin, to surrender, to give in? What, give half your country away, Joe? Is that what you would do, surrender?

You know, oh, okay, you invaded us. I'll give you -- I'll give you California, Idaho and Oregon. We'll even throw in New York. Appease a murdering thug, dictator that invades a foreign country, is that your idea of appeasement. Boy, you make Neville Chamberlain look like Winston Churchill.

Now, back here at home, Biden has no plan at all for our 40-year high record inflation or the all-time high gas prices, all of us are suffering under, and now, a looming food shortage, which according to 2020 Joe Biden, a food shortage is a sign of failed leadership. That's what Joe said in 2020. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: With regard to food shortage, yes, we did -- we still talk about food shortages and -- and it's going to be real.

We don't have a food shortage problem, we have a leadership problem. We have plenty of food.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Leadership problem is you, Joe. Ask yourself, could Biden's presidency, could it get any worse? The economy in this country is awful. We are absolutely headed towards inflation, a recession inflation is at a 40-year high Joe gas prices are at record high prices. It's killing the poor, the middle class and every American pays more for every item they buy in every store.

Thanks a lot. It's costing everybody a hundred bucks plus to fill up their gas tank. It's costing more to heat and cool our homes. A nationwide food shortage now in the looming -- of course, the border in a state of chaos all created by Joe, all preventable if you would have kept Donald Trump's policies in place.

Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal and unmitigated disaster, he turned the page. And people are trapped behind enemy lines. That's right.

By the way, the Taliban announced that girls can't go to high school, Joe. Going to do anything about that? There is a massive new war in Europe. China is threatening to invade and take over Taiwan. Iran has never been closer to getting nuclear members.

Even worse, Biden is sucking up to that, how humiliating to this country, the mullahs in Iran, he sucking up to the murdering thug dictator of Venezuela. He's begging over and over even though he keeps getting rejected, OPEC to produce more oil. But according to Joe, America is back and better than ever. Joe Biden is delusional. I'll have a lot more on that coming up.

First, joining us now at the very latest with the war in Ukraine is FOX News strategist and strategic analyst, General Jack Keane.

General Keane, you cited sources -- you were with Martha McCallum earlier today -- that I found very disturbing. That, in fact, the Biden administration is pressuring Zelenskyy to surrender part of their country to Russia?

GEN. JACK KEANE (RET), FOX NEWS SENIOR STRATEGIC ANALYST: Yeah. Well, high reliable sources indicate for more than a week, the Biden administration has been pressuring Zelenskyy to make a deal. And in that deal, certainly, would be given up an awful lot.

And it's stunning to me. I mean, here we are, the -- our intel agencies reported, Sean, early on that this war wouldn't last three to five days. Russia is going to take the capital and topple the government. But it's been a month now, and as you've been saying here in your monologues and many of us have been saying also on FOX, there is a real opportunity to win here.

And the focus should be on helping Zelenskyy win, not to end the war, to win the war. That's where we should be.

And I'm also really disappointed by NATO. We had the 30 members there. It's supposedly, quote, an emergency session. And I'm assuming the reason why we're getting together after a month we got together at the beginning of the war is because of what has happened in the month.

And what has happened during this month, two major things have happened. One is the Russians have been waving around the use of weapons of mass destruction. You would think that NATO, all 30 nations would have come out with a positive statement dealing with this issue and not leave it up to questions that the press may or may not ask at a press conference and make an unequivocal statement from the NATO leadership, obviously, that they all agree to. They can find the words, but the sentiment should be: it's unacceptable, it's not going to stand, we'll take decisive consequential action, all options are on the table. And they were silent on this issue.

The second thing is, is what we've been talking about. There's an opportunity to win, therefore, a statement should have been made, we're going to double down on everything that President Zelenskyy needs, and we're going to speed up -- speed it up and put it on fast forward. We've got to take advantage of the opportunity that Zelenskyy's army has provided.

They have fought the Russians to a standstill, but they can't keep that up without a steady supply of all the tools that they need. Zelenskyy would not be going and talking to every parliament in -- in NATO and also outside of it if he wasn't desperate for more equipment, and he doubts --

(CROSSTALK)

KEANE: He doubts their determination. That's what it's about.

HANNITY: They need to triple down on drones, Javelins, Stinger missiles, we need air defense systems, missile defense systems. If they're given that, they can do the job. They've proven they're willing to be brave, courageous, valiant and fight. They want to fight for their country.

Now, if Putin has other territorial ambitions, this is the place to stop them. It's right on Europe's backyard. They need to step up. They need to go three times deeper than they are now. And Joe Biden needs to go three times deeper.

If you give Zelenskyy and his army and the people of Ukraine the things they need, they will win this war. I really believe that. Do you agree?

KEANE: Yes. Think of this: If you are a NATO member outside the conflict and you are concerned that Russia at some point someday will expand and move into your country, the Baltics and Poland fear this the most. But look what the Ukrainian army is now doing, they are crushing this Russian army and absolutely preventing it from any thought of conducting a follow on operation into a NATO country.

The Ukrainian army is that the deterrence. That's the fact and we should invest in it as much as we possibly can.

HANNITY: All right. General, thank you. We appreciate you being with us.

Joining us now with another perspective is Hawaii congresswoman, current lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, Tulsi Gabbard, is with us.

Tulsi, let me play a quote of you on Jesse's show and I want to ask you about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TULSI GABBARD, FORMER U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN: Central to that humility, Jesse, is first and foremost recognizing you're not god. You are not in control and if you try to pretend that you are, what will result -- even with good intentions -- what will result unfortunately is more suffering, more hardship for the people in the world that supposedly he's trying to save.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: So I am a supporter, Tulsi, of the Reagan doctrine and the Trump doctrine. Reagan doctrine is providing Stinger missiles to the mujahidin when the Soviets invaded in the `80s. They were successful. They pushed the Soviets out. Supporting the Nicaraguan freedom-fighting Contras over the Sandinistas and Daniel Ortega.

I'm also a supporter of the Trump doctrine which is bomb the living hell out of people, don't put an American boot on the ground, maybe some intel boots there, but that's about it, and with pinpoint accuracy. Push buttons from all over the United States and we'll hit any target we want, we'll blow the caliphate out of existence.

Trump did it. Soleimani off a tarmac. Al Baghdadi and associates, and the al Qaeda leader in Yemen.

It sounds to me like you don't believe in that. We're not putting one American boot on the ground and my argument would be, if we don't -- if Putin is successful here, God only knows where his territorial ambitions will take him next.

GABBARD: Yeah, Sean, you know all the things that you just talked about and explained there frankly are tactics. Those are tactics to accomplish what. And the "what" is really the central question here that needs to be answered is, what is our objective? What is the objective of the United States? What actions and objective best serves the interest of the American people? That's the question -- that's the thing that that President Biden and his administration has failed to detail, outline or even identify. And it's frankly why we're seeing how he's at NATO right now trying to clean up the mess that he made with these food shortages and all these things coming around as a result of the sanctions policies that that he put in -- that he put in place.

So, any time you look at so many of our foreign policy disasters in the past, we see they have come about because our leaders have failed to outline what is it exactly we are trying to achieve and how does it best serve the interest of the American people.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Let me ask the question differently.

GABBARD: Will it improve them or will it actually make it worse? And I think that's really the central question --

HANNITY: Let me ask the question a different way.

(CROSSTALK)

GABBARD: -- this country needs to answer.

HANNITY: You know, does the world -- we can't be the world's policeman, you and I agree on that part. We can't.

GABBARD: Yes.

HANNITY: However, we are a nation that has a conscience and a soul and a belief in natural law that that rights come from God, not from government. So, I think you agree with that part.

GABBARD: Yes.

HANNITY: And when you see entire cities like Mariupol decimated, hospitals bombed out, maternity hospitals, schools bombed out, indiscriminate bombing of innocent men, women and children, and you see women and children shot dead, bombed out in the streets, and the cities of Ukraine, does America at least have a moral obligation to assist a country that's willing to fight for itself to defend their natural rights? Because that's what Reagan called the Reagan doctrine.

GABBARD: The role that we have and that frankly President Biden should have carried out from the get-go in this and you've -- I've talked about this with you before is doing all that we can to try to prevent this tragic war from happening in the first place, try to prevent --

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: I agree with that, but I'm looking at where we are now.

GABBARD: So am I, so am I.

HANNITY: But what you see with your own eyes -- what you see with your own eyes, and what we're showing every night, is there a moral obligation and is it wise and strategically beneficial to the world and including the United States to stop this, this megalomaniac, murdering thug right here right now with the Ukrainians willing to fight if they only have the weapons?

GABBARD: We have to look at the world as it exists in reality, not the world that we wish existed.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: You're ducking. Tulsi, I'm asking a real question here.

GABBARD: Now, I'm trying to answer your question. The cruelty is to try to pretend to the Ukrainian people that they are going to win in a war against a nuclear-armed country that is out equipped, out -- that has stronger equipment, more tanks, more bombs, more planes, more people, more everything in Russia. It's just not realistic.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: So, let me clear, your position is, give them nothing --

GABBARD: -- which is a negotiated outcome.

HANNITY: Wait a minute, give me nothing, because Russia has nukes and they might use them? That's your -- that's your answer?

GABBARD: We've provided -- we've provided a tremendous amount of support to Ukraine, not only now, but over the years so that they have the ability to defend themselves, and the Ukrainians --

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Should we give them the weapons to win the war? If they're doing a great job, everybody acknowledges that, should we give them --

GABBARD: Yes.

HANNITY: -- all and in Europe, too, give them the weapons if they're willing to fight for their country?

GABBARD: They can't win this war, Sean. This is the real world that we live in. It is not -- it's not strategically possible to think that Ukraine is going to beat Russia.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: So, what you're saying is you fear Vladimir Putin -- you're saying you fear Vladimir Putin would use a nuke. If he uses a nuke, the radiation -- the radiation fallout will impact NATO countries. That triggers Article 5. Do you believe in Article 5 of the NATO agreement?

GABBARD: I think that -- I think the most responsible thing that our leaders, the United States, leaders of NATO, Ukraine and Russia need to do right now is look at what the reality is, that we are facing on the ground and the reality the world is facing and competitive being able to negotiate an outcome to this.

HANNITY: Okay, Putin doesn't want to negotiate. Clearly, doesn't want to negotiate. There's been many attempts at negotiation.

So when you see images of dead women and children and when you see neighborhoods blown out --

GABBARD: I'm not aware of Zelenskyy sitting down with Putin yet.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Hang on, you do not think we should provide them the weapons to defend themselves? That's -- I just want to know, yes or no?

GABBARD: My -- you're missing my point here, Sean --

HANNITY: I don't think so.

GABBARD: -- which is we've got to know what we're trying to accomplish which is an end to this war. It is cruel to make the Ukrainian people believe that somehow they are going to win this war by prolonging it and that's what you're talking about here. It would prolong this war, prolong the suffering --

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: But your argument is predicated --

GABBARD: -- and end up causing more lives lost in the end.

HANNITY: -- that if Vladimir Putin wanted to negotiate, it would have done it a long time ago. He's not willing to. And if -- and if he wants to use chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, he's got to know that his entire country is going to be blown off the face of the earth.

I pray to God we never get to that point, but that's always been a threat and it remains a threat here and we can't cower in fear based on the fact that we've had mutually assured destruction, pretty much for all lifetime.

But I appreciate you being on. Good to see you. Thank you.

All right. We shift gears for a moment, turn our attention to the Supreme Court nominee and that's Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Tonight, Republicans are raising concerns about her leniency for child sex predators, including one case where an 18-year-old man was convicted of child pornography charges. Federal guidelines called for a sentence of eight to 10 years. Prosecutors, they set a minimum of two years. Judge Jackson gave him only three months behind bars.

Senator Tom Cotton is with us.

Senator, I read that, my blood boiled. And you've been highlighting it as others have. Tell us about it.

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): Yeah, Sean, in this case of U.S. v. Hawkins, as you said, the guidelines called for eight to ten years. The prosecutors asked for two years since he pleaded guilty. She only gave him three months. That's got a lot of attention.

We just discovered this week though that he was back in front of her six years later in 2019, and I asked her about this yesterday. Why she on the recommendation of the probation office gave him six more months in a halfway house, twice what he got for his original crime, plus more monitoring of his computer usage?

She claimed that she didn't know, but we learned today through a leak from the probation office that six years on, he was still seeking out sexual images of young boys, which just goes to show how dangerous her lenient sentences are in these cases. Which are really just a case of her soft-on- crime approach, always giving the shortest sentence possible.

If she had given him eight to ten years, he would have been in prison then. If you'd give him at least two years, maybe he would have appreciated the gravity of his crime, but she didn't. And now, we need to dig in carefully into every case in which she gave these short sentences to sexual predators and other serious felons to see if they also went back and committed further crimes.

HANNITY: Let me ask you between the 1619 Project, the speech he gave at Michigan law school, CRT, these lenient sentences. Do you know many Republicans that will support her nomination, will all Democrats support it?

COTTON: Sean, at this point, I'm not sure. I do think Republicans will be united in opposition. I would imagine, there are some Democrats who are very concerned about her giving a three-month sentence to a convicted child sex predator who had dozens of graphic images on his computer and then six years later, he comes back in front of her again and she gives him six months in a halfway house.

And there's also the fact that she says she can't define what a woman is or she blatantly disregarded immigration law to try to stop President Trump from enforcing our border. She's a far less left activist, she always has been.

HANNITY: All right. Great job by you and a lot of the Republicans on that committee. Thank you, sir.

When we come back, we'll go live on the ground in Ukraine. Also, Trump is now suing Hillary Clinton and others over the fake Russia collusion hoax. Does this lawsuit now open up Pandora's box? Will we finally get to the truth we've been waiting for? Straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: It's a FOX News alert. More on the breaking developments on the ground in Ukraine, we go to FOX's own Greg Palkot.

Greg, what's the latest tonight?

GREG PALKOT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sean, while President Biden talks with allied leaders in Brussels, the Ukrainian forces are putting up one heck of a fight. Very dramatic today in Berdyansk as a port in the southern part of the city, one Russian landing ship destroyed, another damaged. These ships are crucial to bring troops arms and supplies to the Russians. Their destruction is an important gain for the Ukrainians.

Meanwhile, in the suburbs of Kyiv, intense fighting going on. Ukrainians claiming gains in what they call a counter-offensive. It can't be independently verified, but at the very least, it is certainly keeping the Russian troops occupied.

So, it's continuing, Sean, to look very grim in the devastated city of Mariupol, 100,000 trapped, 90 percent of the buildings destroyed. We have new reports, the last couple hours of Russians actually entering the center of the city and reports that Russians are abducting thousands of civilians.

And Ukrainian President Zelenskyy got to have a word in via video linked to the summit of leaders of NATO. He had one major pitch: give us weapons. First, he said unrestricted give us weapons, and then he got a little bit more realistic, he said just give or we will buy one percent of your tanks, your planes, your missiles. Very desperate indeed.

Sean, back to you.

HANNITY: Well, I hope the world answers, because you said 90 percent of Mariupol is now rubble. Do we have any idea the death toll?

PALKOT: The death toll is in the thousands claimed by officials. It's still not verified. Three hundred thousand have escaped from there, but again, it's street to street, house to house right now. And it looks like it's going to go to where the Russians but you know what are they left with it, and what have they done.

HANNITY: Greg, thank you. Please be safe.

Now, former President Trump filed an explosive lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, Christopher Steele and others for their role in pushing their years-long Russian conspiracy hoax and lies, laying out evidence of racketeering, a conspiracy to commit injurious falsehood among other claims.

As the lawsuit reads: The defendants maliciously conspired to weave a false narrative that their Republican opponent Donald J. Trump was colluding with a hostile foreign sovereignty -- which, of course, we expose right here on this program.

We're also learning that the Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg has reportedly suspended the probe into Donald Trump's business practices, an investigation not backed up by any solid evidence and an investigation that appeared to just be another excuse to go after President Trump and his entire family.

Here with reaction, President Trump's attorney, Alina Habba is with us, along with FOX News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett.

I like this lawsuit, Alina. I think this can -- this holds people accountable because we've not gotten the answers as to how a dirty Russian disinformation dossier purchased by Hillary Clinton and money she used with the DNC as well, was used -- it is a document that can never be verified, four phony FISA applications approved, Christopher Steele and the sub- source admitting it was all bunk and yet they continued to spy on the president through Carter Page. I think this is a very valid suit and I'd like to get to the bottom of it.

ALINA HABBA, ATTORNEY FOR FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP: Thank you, Sean. I agree with you.

It's wonderful when you can actually file a suit that is in the most part proven which is the situation that I find myself in first with Mueller, which debunked it, you know, Horowitz's IG report, and then now Durham who's been instrumental as well. You can't make this up. You literally cannot make a story like this up.

And, Sean, you have been calling it out from the beginning. You are right, and president Trump is just not going to take it anymore. If you are going to make up lies, if you are going to try and take him down, he is going to fight you back, and that is what this is. This is the beginning of all that.

HANNITY: Gregg, you wrote two number one best-selling books on this topic. You laid out the case better than anybody. I see this lawsuit has great merit. I guess it'll depend obviously on the judge that first sees it, but where do you see it going?

GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I think the most damning information is contained on page 30 of this 108 page lawsuit which is very well-crafted legally, and that is that on a very specific date, July 26, 2016, Hillary Clinton approved a plan presented to her by one of her foreign policy advisers to falsely accuse Donald Trump and frame him of conspiring or colluding with the Russians to influence the election, all the while knowing that it was a lie. It was a lie that they invented.

So I was happy to see Alina and her co-counsel file a racketeering case against Hillary Clinton and her cronies and more than a dozen other people who were involved, including government officials like James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page because this was and she presents all the necessary predicates for a racketeering case. This was a criminal enterprise run by Hillary Clinton, approved by Hillary Clinton, the false information disseminated by Hillary Clinton and her cronies.

And it's got everything in it, that is necessary to prove the case. Obstruction of justice, fraud, conspiracy, theft of trade secrets, the list goes on and on.

And again, you know, I do hope that this lawsuit does proceed down in Florida in federal court. Of course,, there'll be challenges to it, attempts to dismiss it. People like Comey will say, oh, I have governmental immunity. No, take a look at the recent Supreme Court decision a year and a half ago that says no, if you violate somebody's individual rights and violate the law in the process, no immunity.

HANNITY: You know what, Alina? I can't wait for discovery and depositions. I hope we get to that point. You think we'll get there?

HABBA: We're going to get there. We're going to get there.

Don't forget, Comey knew he was lying and then he still continued. He had information from the CIA. He proceeded, and they were all on the Hillary Clinton-Clinton campaign payroll. Perkins Coie was the DNC, and Hillary Clinton's lawyer, the amount of corruption going on. We will get to the bottom of it.

HANNITY: It says at the top of a FISA warrant that you, in fact, know the information being that document is true, and all of it was debunked and Comey signed three of the four FISA applications. How come he's not been held accountable? We now know the dossier was a lie the entire time. By the way, when's the media going to apologize, too?

Alina, thank you. Gregg, thank you.

Coming up, after announcing their Senate runs, Biden is now demanding that Dr. Oz and Herschel Walker step down from the president's council on sports, fitness and nutrition. Dr. Oz joins us to explain why he is refusing to resign. Good for him. He's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Tonight, we have more misplaced priorities from team Biden as the White House is moving to kick Senate candidate Dr. Oz and Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker off the president's council on sports, fitness, nutrition.

Here is how Dr. Oz responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MEHMET OZ (R-PA), SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I just received the letter on your screen. Somebody on behalf of President Biden from the White House, requesting that I resigned from the president's council of sports, fitness and nutrition. It's beyond sad that Joe Biden would politicize an important issue like health. In fact, let me offer a suggestion, the doctor he should ask to resign is Dr. Anthony Fauci for a multitude of obvious reasons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Herschel Walker, he tweeted in response. Quote, President Biden is so scared about us beating Raphael Warnock that he's asked me to resign from my unpaid position on the president's council on sports, fitness, nutrition.

Here with reaction, Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate, Dr. Oz is with us.

I love your response. I love the dig at Fauci. He deserved it. My question to you is really simple. You're not going to resign?

OZ: Well, I'm not resigning. They haven't said anything to me, although they threatened to fire me if I did not resign by the end of the day yesterday.

It -- listen, the whole episode was bizarre. I actually for a while I thought President Biden made a mistake. Did he mean to fire Fauci? But he's playing political games here.

I mean, the shocking priority by the way, to talk about me being moved off the president's council when we got inflation at a 40-year high, gas prices at 15-year-high, the Ukraine catastrophe which you've been talking about.

And President Trump appointed Herschel and me and others to the council initially early in his administration. He reappointed us in December 2020.

And, you know, President Trump knows a thing or two of firing people. He thinks is whole thing as preposterous as well, but Herschel and I have been talking, just texted me (INAUDIBLE) now, when we are senators, we will both be senators, one day I believe, we're going to investigate politically motivated firings. We want to introduce legislation to block politically driven malice.

I mean, it makes no legal sense that you would take us off the panel. They are making up excuses like the Hatch Act. But we are both unpaid volunteers but maybe you can limit what we do while we are serving but not otherwise.

HANNITY: Let me tell you, you nailed it. We have a 40-year inflation high, the highest gas prices we've ever had, a chaos at our border, a disaster in Afghanistan, he ran out of COVID tests in -- over Christmas and he ran out of monoclonal antibodies. By the way, omicron 2.0 is coming, Joe. You said you didn't see omicron coming, I'm giving you fair warning, it's already in New York City.

You're on my radio show this week and -- it happens, I am proudly supporting you and Herschel. I've known you for years. You know, when I went out on a limb and told my audience, I always tell them the truth, that Donald Trump would govern conservatively. I had a lot of people attacking me, but I stuck to my guns because I knew it was true, and I know you're the same way. You're an America first conservative.

You answered a question on my radio show and I want you to go through this again. Why we need energy independence and your -- what is your conservative philosophy?

OZ: I'll put it simple: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Life, I'm pro-life. I also believe we need to protect life when people walk through the city streets. We need to protect Americans against the porous border, which is a covenant governor (ph) has with us, not a -- you know, a cartel-run human trafficking operation running drugs across the border, which leads to opiate deaths, again putting our lives in danger.

We need our international affairs in order, in the Ukraine and China, so America is not in a dire potential risk from foreign influences either.

We need liberty. And liberty to me is the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, which enforces the other amendments. We need to be respectful of what liberty really means in America and you got to be brave to fight for your liberty.

And we need the pursuit of happiness which to me is capitalism, energy independence and it -- in fact, energy dominance. And here in Pennsylvania, these are issues that everyone understands, our values are not reflected in Washington.

I have a bold loud voice, Sean, as you know. I fought on the biggest play field there is, which is on television and I fought big pharma, big tech, big agrichemical companies, the U.S. government. I know how to win in this setting.

We need to fight these wars -- these culture wars, not bringing, you know, index cards into knife fights but actually talking about why our values are the right ones and why they need to be respected.

HANNITY: Conservatism works. Donald Trump's policies -- maybe he didn't like his tweets -- but his policies of peace through strength, free and fair trade deals, lower taxes, less bureaucracy, secure borders, energy independence -- boy, we could use a lot of that right now. Dr. Oz, wishing you well in your Senate campaign. I'm a big supporter of it and thank you for being with us.

All right. Straight ahead, more bad polls for Biden as the energy crisis is waging on. We'll bring you the latest.

Sarah Palin, she'll join us. Is she making a political comeback? She's next as we continue.

HANNITY: Now, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin indicated this week that she is considering a run for the vacant seat of a long time Congressman Don Young. He passed away at the age of 88.

Now, of course, the former vice presidential nominee would be a valuable voice in Congress, especially as it relates to energy policy and the potential of the great state of Alaska to boost U.S. energy production. Democrats -- they doubled down on the stupid, their failed policies. They refuse to offer a real solution and ease the growing pain at the pump.

Out in California, Governor Newsom's plan for a free gas cards is now being panned by energy experts who argue it's only going to make inflation worse, and voters are placing the blame on Biden for the surging oil prices. This new FOX News poll shows 68 percent of Americans rightly blamed Biden. It should be a hundred percent.

Anyway, joining us now, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

I love the fact that you might get back in the game and it's not a game, but back in the business of politics. The filing deadline I think is a week away, so you're going to have to make up your mind fast. Where are you in this process?

SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: Well, you know, I never went anywhere. I feel like I still am in the arena and I've been one to say that you don't need an office, you don't need a title to get out there and fight for what's right.

HANNITY: Well, I didn't mean that part. I meant --

PALIN: However, there is a time and a season for everything and if this season is one where I need a more official platform to have, then, yeah, I'm going to throw my hat in the ring because we need people who have cojones. We need people like Donald Trump who has enough nothing to lose like me. We got nothing to lose, and no more of this vanilla milk toast, namby-pamby, wussy-pussy stuff that's been going on.

That's why our country is in the mess that we're in because people who run for office, they look at it as a job or as a business, instead of as a calling, as something that they know that they are wired to do, they're passionate about and they're willing to do whatever it takes to get in there and do the right thing.

HANNITY: If you look at what's going on with Ukraine right now and look at the fact that that Joe Biden inherited energy independence, and we were a net exporter of energy, Donald Trump accomplished that for the first time in 75 years, Alaska could be the biggest part of the equation. But instead Joe Biden is negotiating with the mullahs in Iran, letting Russia broker those negotiations, kissing the ass of Maduro, the thug murdering dictator in Venezuela and OPEC keeps saying no but Joe keeps begging.

You don't have to beg the people of Alaska for oil, do we, Governor?

PALIN: No, absolutely not. It's sinful what it is that Biden's doing. You know, at Alaska's peak, we produced 18 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy. We could be there again.

Do people realize the U.S., we're giving Russia -- we're paying $37 million a day for fuel when we have these untapped reserves under foot? God created it for responsible use of mankind, and here, we're allowing a president who has everything backwards.

He hasn't gotten anything right yet, to dictate to us where our energy is going to come from. Yeah, why doesn't he ask the people of New Mexico, Wyoming, Alaska, Texas, all these places that are resource rich? Why doesn't he ask all of us what we think about tapping our reserves? We'll do it responsibly. We've been doing that for decades.

HANNITY: You know, you mentioned earlier, people need to have a calling about something. Every teacher that I know, every doctor, firefighter, nurse, they wanted to do these things since they were young. I got behind a radio microphone, believe it or not, 34 years ago and I'm more passionate today than I was then about doing that job.

The deadline is coming. Do you feel the calling? Is this real? Are you going to do this?

PALIN: I do feel a calling to be involved in the political arena. I don't know if this specific office. So, yeah, I have about a week to think about that, but -- yeah, you know, speaking of calling growing up, I wanted to be a sports reporter. I was all into healthy competition then, I'm into healthy competition now.

And I want America to be able to get back on a level playing field. I want us to compete and I want us to win. Again, we need people like me with that kind of thinking where we'll do whatever it takes to win for the American people.

HANNITY: Is this your district that is open now where you live in Wasilla?

PALIN: It's the entire state of Alaska and Don Young has been for nearly 50 years pretty much our only representative in the -- in Congress. So, huge, huge shoes to fill.

He was a friend of mine, though, love him, respect him. Huge warrior for Alaska. He was a fighter and, yep, we need another fighter in there.

HANNITY: You know what? I think you're right about one thing. After the hell the media put you through when you're running for vice president, they didn't like you right out of the box, I don't think there's anything they could say or do anymore that would bother you a bit. I know this point in my life, I don't give a flying Adam Schiff what people say and I think you're in the same spot.

So I wish you well, Governor. Look forward to your announcement.

Anyway, we'll have more HANNITY coming up straight ahead, right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have left for this evening. As always, we thank you for being with us. You make this show possible every night. We hope you set your DVR. It's not hard to do. I can't do it, so I can't tell you how, so I think you can figure it out. Anyway, so you never miss an episode of HANNITY.

And in the meantime, let not your hearts be troubled, even though these are troubling times.

"THE INGRAHAM ANGLE" is next. Laura takes it from here. Thank you for being with us. Have a great night.

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