'Hannity' on Biden message during town hall

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Hannity: Biden a cognitive mess during town hall building wall around DE beach house

'Hannity' host Sean Hannity sounds off in his Opening Monologue

This is a rush transcript of "Hannity" on October 22, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

ANNOUNCER: Americans Held Hostage, Abandoned Behind Enemy Lines, Day 69.

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

Sixty-nine days, Americans held behind enemy lines, thousands of green cardholders, SIV applicants, their families -- we have no idea the exact number -- all suffering in silence under Taliban rule. I know the rest of the media and Joe Biden have, quote, turned the page. We won't do that. Many are already dead.

But during last night's town hall, on fake news, CNN Joe Biden didn't make a single mention of Afghanistan or the men or the women and children and Americans and green cardholders and allies he abandoned after 13 days prior saying he wouldn't do it. Not a mention, not a question, not a word nothing -- wow.

Now, it's possible Joe doesn't even fully remember what happened in Afghanistan that's way back in august and for him, that's -- you know, 400 lifetimes ago. It was a whole three months ago and let's face it, Joe Biden's not particularly doing well and that was on display last night that he is everything we've been telling you -- a cognitive mess. Every day, it seems to get worse and worse. It's scary. It's not funny anymore.

Predictably last night -- well, the town hall became a train wreck. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Fifty-five corporations for example in the United States of America making over $40 billion don't pay a cent, not a single little red cent.

You know if you're in real estate, major real estate, ask them, they know they should be paying a little more than 21 percent. We can pay for this whole thing, I haven't written in a card here, but I won't bore you with the detail.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: The question was on the on community colleges, which was a big campaign promise that you made. You talked about that on the campaign trail.

BIDEN: Yeah, and I'm going to get it done. And if I don't, I'll be sleeping alone for a long time.

I'm going off to COP-26 in Scotland and -- and I don't know, I guess it's two weeks or a week, I'm losing track of time of all.

Forty percent of products coming into the United States of America and the West Coast go through Los Angeles and -- what am I doing here?

COOPER: Is it Long Beach?

BIDEN: Long Beach, thank you.

So what I have said, you're shaking your head no, but let me tell you something, Jack, it's the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Well, what am I doing here, Long Beach? Yeah, yeah, yeah, thanks for the save, Long Beach.

At one point, Biden seemingly forgot about his own hands and just stood there like this for an extended period of time. Does anybody know what he was doing like that? What was that all about?

And, of course, throughout the night, Biden offered zero solutions for all of the crisis that he himself had caused. I have solutions, bring back the Trump policies on the border, on energy, on Afghanistan, peace through strength, on the economy, lower regulation, lower taxes. That all work, you know?

But according to Joe, spiking gas prices -- they're not going to be getting better anytime soon and he blamed OPEC. It's not OPEC's fault, it's your fault, Joe. Why don't you call Texas? Why don't you call Oklahoma, North Dakota, Alaska? Why don't you hire back the Keystone XL pipeline workers you fired and maybe take back that waiver you gave your friend Vladimir, who pays you -- whose country pays your son millions with no experience? You know, saying there's nothing I can do about high gas prices. Wow, that -- that's so reassuring.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: What about gas prices because something is interesting --

BIDEN: Gas prices relate to a foreign policy initiative that is about something goes beyond the cost of gas, and that's because of the supply being withheld by OPEC and so there's a lot of negotiation that is -- there's a lot of Middle Eastern folks want to talk to me. I'm not sure I'm going to talk to them.

COOPER: Do you have a timeline for gas prices when you think they may start coming down?

BIDEN: My guess is you'll start to see gas prices come down as we get by and going into the winter -- I mean, excuse me, and the next year in 2022. I don't see anything that's going to happen in the meantime it's going to significantly reduce gas prices.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: The supply is not withheld by OPEC. You Joe Biden you artificially reduced the supply of energy in the world because you are married to the Biden-Bernie New Green Deal Socialist Green New Deal manifesto.

Joe Biden, you killed the Keystone XL pipeline. You're making the hostile actor Putin rich again. You're the one that banned oil and gas exploration on all federal lands.

You artificially reduced America's and the world's oil and gas supply. And now, the United States once again -- now, you're begging OPEC, countries that hate us, for the lifeblood of our economy. And we're paying a buck more a gallon and paying more for every single thing we buy, and paying more to heat and cool our homes.

Under Donald Trump, we were the world's number one producer of oil and gas for the first time in 75 years, guess what, we were energy independent.

Donald Trump, at the end of his presidency, wasn't importing one single barrel from Saudi Arabia. Now anymore instead of begging Texas, why don't we make them? I'd rather ask -- you can ask Texas, you don't even have to beg. Oklahoma, Alaska, North Dakota, they'll help you.

Biden, you're blaming OPEC. That is a cop-out and frankly it's an all-out lie like most everything else that comes out of your mouth.

And according to the former CEO of McDonald's, Biden's oil and gas policies are the cause core of inflation in the country and the current supply chain fiasco. The labor shortage also is playing a huge role, but Joe Biden, he is now vowing to make that shortage even far worse.

If he does what we're about to play and it happens with nurses and teachers and first responders and our military -- you think the economy is bad now, it will go down precipitously right into the sewer. Listen to Joe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Should police officers, emergency responders be mandated to get vaccines? And if not, should they be stay at home or let go?

BIDEN: Yes and yes..

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Oh, fire them. Okay, at this point, I'll take "let's go, Brandon". I'll take Brandon in the NASCAR driver over Biden.

Biden went on to mock Americans obsession with freedom? Wow.

Now, is he going to do -- you're going to do that, Joe? Is that going to do it, just spit in the faces of millions of Americans? They're not going to listen to you, Joe. They're not going to listen to flip-flop Fauci. They're not going to listen to the ever-changing you know rules of the CDC or the NIH. You caused this vaccine hesitancy, all of you.

And by the way, because of that and because of the mixed messaging and because of the shifting and changing standards, they've made up their own mind. Now, you can try to convince them, but you've been trying, and it's not working. And you -- now, you're going to fire them.

I thought you said you'd never implement a mandate, Joe. Fauci said it. Pelosi said it. Psaki said it. You all said it wouldn't happen.

Now, Americans are being mandated. What happened to the choice of at least getting tested? Do you still offer them that option, or are you going to take away their pay, their benefits, their pensions?

Now, of course, the debate frankly in my mind is over. It's not -- no longer in this country about vax or not vax, because millions of Americans, they have made up their mind and they don't agree with Joe Biden for whatever reason. We've had that debate.

That's their choice. We live in a free society, and their decision. Now, there's got to be a way to thread the needle because if you have all these people willing to sacrifice their jobs, their pay, their benefits, their pensions, their careers, their salaries over mandates they must believe pretty strongly in their position.

Now, make no mistake, thousands of cops, firefighters, nurses, first responders, soldiers walking off the job? If that happens, this country will not be more safe and secure and it'll have a devastating impact on our economy.

Joe Biden and his radical advisors do not care about safety and security. They only care about politics. Just look at the border. In order to appease the radical left, Joe Biden not only is not enforcing the laws of the land, Donald Trump's plans work, and he can implement them once again, and they'll work once again.

Instead, he's decided to go out on his own and Joe Biden -- now, where are we? We're now at a record high, 40-year record high of illegal immigrants coming into the country, ironically the same time Biden started construction of a giant wall around his beach house. By the way, it's going to cost you almost 500 grand.

Now, the southeastern border is a disaster. Apprehensions are at an all- time high. We're on track for nearly 2-million-plus illegal immigrants this year. And by the way, that's where percent of heroin crosses into this country through our southern border. Fentanyl is killing hundreds of Americans a week. That's crossing across the southern border.

Joe, he's just too busy to visit, so he lies about visiting and says the drive-through is a visit. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Do you have plans to visit the southern border?

BIDEN: I've been there before and I haven't -- I mean, I know it well, I guess I should go down but the -- but the whole point of it is I haven't had a whole hell of a lot of time to get down. I've been spending time going around looking at the $900 billion dollars worth of damage done by hurricanes and floods and weather and traveling around the world.

But I plan on -- now, my wife Jill has been down. She's been on both sides of the river. She's seen the circumstances there. She's looked into those places.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: This guy is a cognitive mess. He's your president.

Wow, I sent my wife down to look at it and he never went there? Not too busy to spend nearly every weekend in Delaware, at your beach house, right, Joey?

And don't worry, your border czar, Kamala Harris, oh yeah, she swung by El Paso once on her way to California, while she was spewing carbon emissions left and right. And, of course, she has no plans to go back.

And by the way, we -- you know, we've been looking at this for months. We can't find any record of Joe Biden ever, one time, visiting the border. Jen Psaki got into it again with our own Peter Doocy and Joe Biden was definitely not lying she says. Oh really? What he did, a drive-by? That counts as a visit to the border?

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Why did President Biden say he has been to the border?

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, Peter, as you may have seen, there's been a reporting that he did drive through the border when he was on the campaign trail in 2008.

DOOCY: Does that count as a visit? He said I've been there before. You're saying he drove by for a few minutes, does that count?

PSAKI: What do you -- what is the root cause? Where are people coming from who are coming to the border, Peter?

DOOCY: The president said --

PSAKI: I'm asking you -- I'm asking you a question because I think people should understand the context. Where do people -- where do people come --

(CROSSTALK)

DOOCY: I'm asking you --

PSAKI: Okay, I'll answer it for you -- people come from Central America and Mexico to go to the border. There is a focus right now on a photo-op. The president does not believe a photo-op is the same as solutions. That may be a difference he has with Republicans.

DOOCY: But that's not what he said here. He said, I guess I should go down. So, does he think that he needs a photo-up? Is that what he's saying?

PSAKI: He doesn't and that's a fundamental disagreement he has.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right. If the White House has any evidence that Biden actually stopped and visited the southern border, we'd love to see it. They're lying, and if Joe Biden had a solution to the southern border crisis, we'd like to hear about that.

Here's the thing they don't have, and that is a solution. I have one. Follow the Trump plan. They're not working on a solution. They don't care what happens at the border.

And tonight, they're focused on one thing above all else -- New Green Deal radical socialism packaged in this Build Back Better propaganda talking points and bumper stickers. This bill is a massive step of America, the greatest wealth creating system in the entire history of mankind, now becoming a socialist hell hole, you know, like the former Soviet Union, Venezuela, Cuba.

Okay, simply put -- it takes money from everybody that works and gives it to everyone else. That is confiscation of pretty much all of the economy, in the form of fairness and government entitlements. The bill raises taxes on everyone, especially those making under grand a year. Joe's lying on that too.

It will increase both the debt and deficit on a massive scale, even though they lie and say it won't cost a single penny. Inflation, which is already really bad, is going to get worse. The bill will replace reliable forms of energy, you know, like oil and gas and coal, with unreliable costly forms of energies, you know, oh, windmills and solar panels that are not proven reliable.

If, Joe Manchin, if you really care about the people of West Virginia and I believe you do, you will vote no on any form of this bill.

Here now with more from the White House, our own Peter Doocy.

You know, the idea that Jen Psaki wants to flip roles and she wants to be the questioner and get you to answer her questions, it's not a matter. You made a good point. Did he ever visit the border?

Now, Peter I've been down there on horseback. I've been down there on helicopters. I've been on all-terrain vehicles, and there's even film of me in tunnels out there when people are getting arrested in drug warehouses and me nearly falling off a horse. So, I've been down firsthand and seen the border times. He has to go down and see it. He never did, did he? She lied to you?

DOOCY: No, and what they are referring to, this new reporting that today, several weeks after I asked if he had ever been and they said they would check just mysteriously appeared in "The Washington Post" is of 2008 -- before the 2008 election. So it was still Obama and McCain at the tops of the ticket. Joe Biden went out to an event in Las Cruces, New Mexico but he landed in El Paso.

So what the White House is saying counts as a trip down to the border is the drive in a motorcade from El Paso's airport to a rally in Las Cruces. This -- and you've been in some of these motorcades, so have I, you're going very fast and the cars are moving around kind of side to side within the lanes and you can't roll down the window, you can't stop.

And so, it sounds like somebody -- yeah, and so what they are saying and the president went on last night in that clip he says, I know it well. Well, he knows it as well as somebody who was able to see some of that fence in El Paso, and that's it.

HANNITY: Your question had nothing to do with the photo-op. Your question was fundamental. Did Joe Biden lie to the American people when he said that he went down and he's -- and he visited the border? You didn't ask about a photo op, and you asked and you've asked this question before, Peter.

Now, if Donald Trump were president, everybody else in that room would follow up and say what do you mean you drove by it in a motorcade? That's not going to the border.

DOOCY: And, Sean, it goes to the point though, if that is going to count as a visit, then really why get out of the car for anything. And when he flies back and forth from -- directly from the South Lawn to Wilmington near his house there, and he can see Maryland out the window, does that count as a visit to Maryland? Because that's basically what they're saying his length of stay was at the border.

HANNITY: Well, if I guess if I'm flying in an airplane into Reagan airport and I see the White House and I see the Pentagon, I can say I've been there based on their definition.

All right. Peter Doocy, great job. You're killing it every day in there.

I don't think they like Peter as much as they pretend to.

Anyway, here with more, he's a columnist for "The Hill", FOX News contributor, I think he'd be a great media host on a media show here on FOX, Joe Concha. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is with us.

All right. This is your wheelhouse, Joe. I'll throw it up to you -- he lied. Yes, flat-out lied.

JOE CONCHA, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: That's the word here, right? And where to begin, by the way, with that town hall last night?

I mean, the president claiming that he's been to the border was bad enough, right? But now, you have this press secretary, as you just talked about with Peter Doocy, where she has gone full Baghdad Bb at this point, Sean. She somehow makes the argument that driving through El Paso 13years ago counts as going to the border? So if you're packing all this at home because Biden drove through El Paso 13 years ago -- remember, El Paso is a three-hour walk from the U.S. Mexico border.

Because he did that in 2008, that means he's been to the border. Meanwhile, the president says he's been too busy to visit the border, that's incredible because he has spent 70 days in Delaware since taking office and we're barely 10 months in.

Psaki then goes on to say, Biden does not need to visit and does not need a visit to the border to know what a mess was left by the last administration, unquote. This is enough to make someone's hair hurt, because the numbers are the numbers and to your point the press secretary is outright lying.

Now as for CNN, for that town hall last night, they finished dead last in a three-horse race. Ratings were horrific, just 1.2 million people tuned in. And those few who did tune in didn't hear one question from Anderson Cooper who was a former war correspondent in Afghanistan asking about that particular horrific situation. And Cooper, to your point also before, played wingman, more than moderator, and helping the president remember places like the port of Long Beach where there's a supply chain crisis.

So there's a reason, Sean, why Jen Psaki and this president, the handlers chose CNN because not reaching a big audience -- certainly that wasn't one of the reasons, that's for sure. And at this point, CNN losing 80 percent of its audience since the beginning of the year, this network may soon need to start addressing viewers by name.

HANNITY: They barely got a million viewers last night. Donald Trump calls this program on a telephone and we get four million viewers. He's on a phone. We're not even seeing him.

Let me go to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, he said a lot of other things last night. He supports firing -- firing first responders, police if they don't get the shot. He's not offering them the option of testing. He is open to eliminating the filibuster.

He also said, at one point, he can -- so confused, what am I doing here? And then Anderson Cooper had to bail him out, ,so he's a cognitive mess, admitting inflation is going to last for quite a while, blaming OPEC for gas prices when he artificially reduced the world supply, admitting has no near-term solution for reducing gas prices. And governor, this is a prescription for economic disaster.

MIKE HUCKABEE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, first of all, it wasn't a town hall. Let's be real clear. This was a game show. It was called who wants to be president and Joe kind of thinks he might like to try the job sometime.

Anderson Cooper was his lifeline last night. But instead of a millionaire - - who wants to be a millionaire, this was who wants to be a trillionaire president giving away free stuff.

But I'm really disappointed in both you and Joe for criticizing him for not going to the border. He has been repeatedly to Taco Bell in Wilmington, Delaware, so he has already made a run for the border and you guys just are not appreciating just totally clued in he is on the border.

HANNITY: Listen, I plead guilty. I am a smelly Walmart shopper. I cling to God above, I believe in God, and I -- the Bible I take is the sacred word of God and I believe in my Second Amendment rights, that I cling to my religion. I'm guilty on all fronts and I like Taco Bell, yes, sir, you're right. But is that is --

(CROSSTALK)

HUCKABEE: Well, let me just mention this, Sean.

HANNITY: Yeah?

HUCKABEE: Let me just mention this, there were 12 questions asked and only two of them were asked by people who pretended to be Republican. And so, that gives you some idea of the fact that CNN thinks that a town hall is only a town hall if the town contains 90 percent Democrats to make it as easy as possible on poor Joe, and even then, he couldn't figure out where he was and where Long Beach was. It was a pretty bad night, the White House had to do a fact check on their own guy last night and start correcting everything he was saying, as it was coming out of his mouth.

HANNITY: You missed one other thing, he said he's been vice president for 36 years, did you know that, Joe Concha?

CONCHA: Wow, that's going to be a record, right?

(CROSSTALK)

CONCHA: By the way, yeah, Sean, when we're covering this administration and this president, don't judge them by their words, judge them by their actions, as it pertains to the supply chain crisis, because just the border and the president not visiting there, wait how long it'll take and we're talking months, maybe never, will Joe Biden, Kamala Harris or secretary -- Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visit any of the ports in California or Georgia or New Jersey in terms of addressing that problem and talking to those people working there on the ground or trucking executives meeting them in person saying how do we solve this problem?

So, judge them by their actions and not their words because we have an absentee president, vice president and Pete Buttigieg as transportation secretary, after he ran South Bend, Indiana. Now, he has a job that has a $100 billion budget and 58,000 employees, and he has been out to lunch for two months on paternity leave.

HANNITY: And he's planning on running for president, according to a report out tonight.

All right, I'm going to make a run to the border right after this show, if that's that -- they're open.

Governor Huckabee, thank you. Thanks for the idea, brilliant.

Anyway, Joe Concha, Mike Huckabee.

Coming up, Joe Biden blatantly mocking -- you know, we've had the lectures, we've had the scolding, now, he's mocking Americans that have a different view on the vaccine. Leo 2.0 Terrell, former Senator Scott Brown will react.

And new questions tonight, Dr. Fauci lied to Congress, we now know for a fact the NIH money did go for gain of function and coronavirus research at the Wuhan virology lab. He lied to us, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

HANNITY: And tonight, we have even more disturbing moments from Biden's fake news CNN town hall from last night. He actually mocked, remember, he has scolded in the past. He's lectured in the past. He's demanded in the past. Now, he's mocking Americans that have a different point of view than him.

And for whatever reason, they made the choice not to get vaccinated, for reasons I guess some of them have underlying rare medical conditions. There are rare conditions. Some have natural immunity and they're following that science. You may not agree with them, but that's what they're doing.

They've decided to stand on their principles. That will be their choice. We live in a free society.

Here's how Joe Biden after he has lectured them and scolded them and yelled at them, here's what he's saying now. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: The two things that concern me: one, are those who just try to make this a political issue, freedom. I have the freedom to kill you with my COVID. No, I mean, come on, freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Here now with reaction, FOX News contributor Leo 2.0 Terrell, former Republican congressman from the state of Massachusetts -- by the way, his wife is running from on a very winnable seat for a very winnable seat in New Hampshire. I might have to start asking her instead of you on the program, just saying, Scott.

Anyway, welcome back.

Let me just start -- let's just focus a little bit on what we just heard there. They said they would never do this. Just like they've been wrong all throughout, the pandemic that's point number one.

I have a hard time and I've been very clear, Senator, I believe in science, vaccination science, I'm begging people to take it seriously. I've seen the worst of it under -- you know, you have a unique medical history and condition, please talk to your doctors. If you get a breakthrough case or you didn't get vaccinated, call your doctor immediately ask them if it's right to get for you monoclonal antibodies. I've taken it seriously, I do now.

For whatever reason, I don't think these people's minds are going to be changed. I have a problem firing nurses and military and first responders that dove on COVID bombs every day to save our lives in the worst moments here.

There see -- there has to be a better way to thread that needle. Why not allow them to have a test every day or once a week or whatever?

SCOTT BROWN, FORMER SENATOR FOR MASSACHUSETTS: Well, because they don't want to. The federal government is obviously playing more and more of a role in our lives, interfering with our personal liberties and freedoms.

I live in the Live Free or Die state. We take these rights and freedoms very, very seriously, and with all due respect to the president, mocking people because in the name of freedom, yeah, we still are a free country. But you wouldn't know it.

And what they're doing as you referenced earlier, they are lying. They said you don't have to do it now. They're making everybody do it and they're making them choose between their jobs and their security, not only our national security but their own personal and family security, Sean. It's completely unacceptable.

It's really an extension of the defund the police -- dividing people, pushing people away. You see the amount of applause from all those people in there, applauding all those first-line responders and police officers who come and could put their life and limb at jeopardy, they're applauding them because they're going to be fired or stay home.

First time, Sean, I'm 62 years old, first time in my life I'm getting -- I'm getting a little bit scared and, you know, I'm not quite sure what to do.

HANNITY: You know, I'm telling everybody, Leo, to take it seriously. You've been on this program enough, you know what I'm saying. I've -- I have friends that died.

Now, I believe -- but on top -- but with that, I believe in freedom. I believe in medical privacy. I believe in doctor-patient confidentiality.

And, you know, I don't believe in one-size-fits-all medicine either and what I don't understand is there's got to be a way that people are feeling so strong, they're going to give up their pay, they're going to give up their benefits, they're going to give up their careers, their pensions, and nobody is willing to think out of the box and find a way to have a safe working environment.

We have packed football stadiums every Saturday and Sunday, Leo.

LEO TERRELL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Every week, we have packed football stadiums throughout the entire country, playoff baseball game.

But let me tell you right now, this is all about power and control. I find it insulting for Joe Biden who should be fired to insinuate that police officers and first responders want to kill their fellow police officers, responders, by not having -- by not taking the vaccine, that's insulting, it's stupid. It's outright stupid.

These individuals -- these first responders who gave their life up sacrificed 24/7, putting their own family in harm's way to protect us 24/7.

And Joe Biden cavalierly wants to say, oh, freedom to kill, are you serious? It's insulting. And his bottom line is, it's just a part of the Democratic playbook. They want power and control over every aspect of our lives.

There's no mandates in Florida. It's not required in Florida, but yet, Biden looks at this as a power grab, and the Democrats don't understand it, that freedom and liberty is something worth dying for and something worth fighting for.

HANNITY: Leo 2.0 Terrell, Scott Brown, thank you.

And coming up, a bombshell new report claiming that the NIH in fact did fund gain of function research at the virology lab in Wuhan. What does this mean for flip flop Fauci? Did he lie to Congress?

And later, Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed a cinematographer on the set of his new movie, injuring also the director. We'll tell you what happened, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: And now, more big breaking news this Friday night surrounding Dr. doom and gloom, flip-flop Fauci because we have perhaps the most important piece of evidence yet supporting claims that Fauci did in fact lie to Congress when he told Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky multiple times that the NIH never funded gain a function research at the Wuhan lab. Because get this, in a new letter to Republican Congressman James Comer, an NIH official admitted the truth that was -- that an experiment was conducted at the Wuhan lab backed by U.S. funding, quote, to test if spike proteins from naturally occurring bat coronaviruses circulating in China were capable of binding to the human receptor in a mouse model. That would be by its very definition gain of function research.

Now, the NIH is trying to do damage control claiming that the Eco Health Alliance, which they gave the grant to and received your tax dollars, then subcontracted with the Wuhan lab, and wasn't being transparent about the research.

That prompted Senator Rand Paul to respond on Twitter saying, I told you so, doesn't even begin to cover it here.

So, Dr. Paul was right. Flip flop Fauci was wrong, and appears to have lied repeatedly including to Congress. You might remember this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Dr. Fauci, knowing that it is a crime to lie to Congress, do you wish to retract your statement of May 11th where you claimed that the NIH never funded gain of function research in Wuhan?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NIAID: Senator Paul, I have never lied --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Microphone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your microphone.

FAUCI: Senator Paul, I have never lied before the Congress and I do not retract that statement.

PAUL: An animal virus and you increase this transmissibility to humans, you're saying that's not gain a function?

FAUCIJ: Yeah, that is correct. And, Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about quite frankly and I want to say that officially.

(END VIDEOI CLIP)

HANNITY: Okay, officially, I'm saying I don't believe Fauci.

Now, what's it going to take to have some real accountability for Fauci, who has flip-flopped on mask, on ventilators, projections, herd immunity, vaccine passports, holiday gatherings, on the virus origins, we'll never have a vaccine mandate and much more.

And worst of all, it looks like he lied potentially to Congress. That would be against the law.

Here now, former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, FOX News contributor Jason Chaffetz.

Reince, start with you. Okay, we've got the emails that we've gone over January 31st, the day of the Trump travel ban, 10 days after the first case of corona in the U.S., Fauci was told it looked like one of the genomes was manipulated in a lab. Then the flurry of emails about, did we fund this, it seem like, that was my interpretation. Then, "The Intercept" and now, this.

Are you convinced that Dr. Fauci is not being honest with the American people?

REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Absolutely. You know what they're going to try to do now, the next phase is going to be, they're going to say that we didn't give the money to the Wuhan lab, we gave the money to another entity that we get a gave a grant to that gave the money to the Wuhan lab.

But the grant-writing process is so detailed. so wildly cumbersome that it's impossible for the NIH not to know what they're doing. It's like forensic accounting times 10. The tracking, the monitoring, the reporting. The NIH lost control over this. They're lying, this Eco Health Company is lying. But you hit it too though, Sean, this is what happens when the media doesn't hold any of these folks accountable, Fauci, the NIH, and anyone that says anything different they're just labeled as a kook.

Bill Maher, I don't know if you saw this, but Bill Maher actually, believe it or not, we're using him as an example, but he pointed out something important. He said that "The New York Times" did a call and "The New York Times" found that when you asked people what are the odds of someone going to the hospital if they get COVID, and 40 percent of Democrats said 50 percent or more is likely to go to the hospital if you get COVID, which means that these people are being fed through liberal media a bunch of garbage.

And no one's holding either the NIH accountable, no one's holding Fauci accountable, but no one's holding the media accountable either. That's how we get to this point.

Jason, we now have Fauci's emails. We have the documents from the intercept that they made public. And now we have this new evidence. In your mind, does it -- is this case overwhelming, is it incontrovertible that Dr. Fauci knew a lot more about the origins of this virus and gain of function and where the money came from and that he was being deceptive to be kind before Congress and Rand Paul?

JASON CHAFFETZ, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah, Senator Paul was clearly right. Now, what should happen here is Dr. Fauci should be fired or he should be dismissed or he should he should retire. But none of that's going to happen.

And so what should happen is the Republicans in the United States Senate, I am sick and tired of them issuing press releases. Every single Republican in the United States Senate should sign a letter starting with Mitch McConnell and make a criminal referral to the district that has the jurisdiction there in Washington, D.C., to the U.S. attorney and demand that they do an investigation.

And they should also ask that Dr. Fauci take a leave of absence while that is happening. He should be put on administrative leave because he would be -- he is there and incentivized, if there is something wrong to cover up evidence. You would do this if there was a shooting involving a police officer, you would do this if there was an allegation of sexual harassment. In this case, there's an allegation that millions of people died.

And so why take the chance of having Dr. Fauci continue to stay in that position. Get rid of the guy. We don't believe him. America needs a second opinion. Get rid of Dr. Fauci. That's what has to happen. But Republicans must be united. None of these individual press releases.

HANNITY: All right. Jason, thank you. Reince Priebus, thank you.

When we come back, wow, Alec Baldwin accidentally shot, killed a crew member, injured another after a firing of what is known as a prop gun on the set of his new movie. Greg Jarrett, Geraldo Rivera are all here with the details, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Now we're learning even more details tonight following a shocking tragedy on the set of a movie that's being filmed that's called "Rust". Actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot the film's cinematographer, wounded the director after an apparent what they call a prop gun mishap on the set in New Mexico. Now, the victims have been identified as Halyna Hutchins years old the mother died on Thursday, and Joel Souza, 48, reportedly has now been released thankfully from the hospital. He is expected to make a full recovery.

According to the union that covers prop masters, the prop gun contained a live round. According to a new report, the bullet Alec Baldwin fired struck Hutchins then exited her body and then hit the director's clavicle. Here's a short clip of the 911 call.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CALLER: Two people have been shot accidentally.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HANNITY: Now, earlier today, Baldwin broke his silence. He posted on Twitter, there are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchinson, a wife, mother, deeply admired colleague of ours, and added that he is fully cooperating with the police investigation.

But a story breaking from "The L.A. Times" tonight finds that just hours before this tragedy, at least a half dozen crew members walked off the set in protest of working conditions. Detectives are currently investigating how and what type of projectile was discharged. No charges have been filed at this time.

Here with reaction, FOX News correspondent at large Geraldo Rivera, and FOX News legal analyst Greg Jarrett.

All right. Geraldo, let me start with you -- the wars between me and Alec Baldwin don't factor into my opinion here. I want to be straightforward. I would be shocked -- I would be shocked if the evidence shows that in fact he did this on purpose. I don't believe that. I don't think that -- I don't think we're going to come to that conclusion.

Now, I believe in due process, the presumption of innocent and I believe we need a full forensic investigation. But I -- in my heart, it seems like, looks like a tragic accident. How did a live round get in to that weapon? Because it's really a gun, except it's supposed to fire blanks?

GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT AT LARGE: Right, Sean, but we're not clear whether the live round, the union, local 44, later clarified that by live round, they were not saying that it was a bullet. That it could have been a blank. But, you know, when you fire a blank, it leaves residue in the barrel of the gun. We know guns very well. If you -- if you don't clean the barrel out, you put another blank behind it and you fire that blank it can eject that that projectile what the remnants of what was in the barrel at sufficient velocity that it is bullet like.

But you mentioned charges, Sean, let me just say let's assume that this was just a tragic accident with the background of this labor turmoil and chaos on the set. Listen to the this definition of involuntary manslaughter. It involves a killing that occurs when the defendant is engaging in a lawful but dangerous act without exercising due caution and circumspection. The example they give is the driver who is texting and accidentally kills somebody. Involuntary manslaughter is a fourth degree felony in New Mexico punishable by up to 18 months in prison.

So this is very serious this is at the minimum okay this felony in the fourth degree. This is -- this is what Alec Baldwin or the props guy or girl may be facing, Sean.

HANNITY: All right, I listen very carefully, lawful but dangerous act without you know using due caution. I'm listening to those words carefully, Geraldo,

Gregg, I'll pick your legal mind here. Would it be the actor's role to take a prop gun and say, excuse me, can you assure me that that this is a blank and not a bullet?

GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: No, it's not his role, and if there's no evidence that he knew that there was a real bullet in the gun, then he would not be criminally charged. Unless it could be shown, Sean, that he was mishandling the gun in a grossly negligent or reckless way. The preliminary information we have doesn't indicate that, but law enforcement continues to investigate. There will certainly be a civil lawsuit for money damages alleging negligence. That's almost a given.

But, look, this sort of thing shouldn't happen because there are standard safety protocols in place on film sets involving licensed armorers who are there to provide, handle, maintain, check and double check and secure the weapon so nobody else has access to it before it is ever used.

So, the Baldwin might not be criminally charged. It is altogether possible based on gross negligence and recklessness as Geraldo has defined it under the New Mexico statute that somebody else in the film production could happen.

But this should never happen at all. It happened back in 1993 famously with the actor Brandon Lee. There was a fragment of a projectile lodged in the barrel and then when the blank was fired, it evicted it, killing him. That barrel should have been checked.

Now, if the D.A. say there's negligence here, but we -- it doesn't rise the level of criminal negligence, no charges were filed. But, of course --

(CROSSTALK)

JARRETT: There were criminal charges filed.

HANNITY: We only have a minute, I would be hard-pressed even though, Alec Baldwin hates me and I don't really like him, but I'd be hard-pressed to believe that he knew that this would happen. I want to see -- I want to see incontrovertible evidence. I don't -- this seems like a tragic accident, our prayers to the families here. It's so tragic.

RIVERA: But what if they fired the armorer, what if they fired the guy, the union guy, and didn't replace him? Baldwin is a producer on this movie. He's not only the star of the movie, he's also a producer. So if they -- if the union guys weren't there to take care of the weapons, as Greg defines taking care of the weapons, and they don't replace -- I mean, someone should have checked that barrel.

HANNITY: In this case, I look at the -- my initial thought, but we have to follow the forensics and the evidence. I don't see Alec doing something like this and I'm saying that as somebody that doesn't like the guy and he doesn't like me. I would be shocked beyond any imagination if he did.

I hope nobody -- I hope this was not intentional on anybody's part. Either way, we -- you know, we lost a mom, and apparently a wonderful woman.

Thank you both.

More HANNITY after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Unfortunately, that is all the time we have left this evening. In the meantime, let not your heart be troubled. Stay tuned, the news continues this Friday night. Laura Ingraham is up next and we hope you have a great weekend.


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