This is a rush transcript of "Hannity" on October 25, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: All right, Tucker. And as always, thank you.

And welcome tonight to HANNITY.

Tonight, as inflation rises, the economy stalls, the border spiraling way out of control in the middle of a pandemic and COVID-19 mandates -- now there's talk tonight, oh, we may have to push that back, the recognition that there are tens and tens of thousands of crucial workers that have decided they're not going to agree with it. Regulations having no end in sight, Biden's poll numbers plummeting to the mid-30s, and now yet another all-time low.

According to Gallup, since taking office in January, Biden's approval rating has now plummeted a whopping 27 percent with independents. Other polls have his approval rating in the mid 30s. There's not a single thing that Joe Biden and his administration can claim as successful for you the American people.

And now, we have a frail and a weak and a cognitive mess, and a deeply unpopular president desperately trying to sell his insane Build Back Better/New Green Deal socialism that he claims falsely that won't cost a single penny. Needless to say, it's not going particularly well. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, that old expression: time is money. As one computer (ph) said, if you're on the train and they say "portal bridge", you know you better make other plans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right. There you have it. According to Biden, we have to pass Build Back Better socialism because, quote, "as one computer said", computer not commuter, if you're on the train and they say portal bridge, you know you better make other plans.

Now, after stumbling and mumbling and bumbling through his prepared remarks, Biden once again told the same long rambling debunked story about Amtrak now for the fifth time and he just keeps lying. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: And Ang walks up to me and goes, "Joey, baby!" Grabs my cheek. And I thought the Secret Service was going to blow his head off.

(LAUGHTER)

I swear to God. True story.

He said, "Joey, I read in the paper -- I read in the paper you traveled 1,000 -- 1,200,000 miles on Air Force planes" -- because they keep meticulous tabs of it.

"The boys and I figured it out at the retirement dinner." He says, "You travel 2 million" -- I think it was 180, but -- "2,200,000 miles."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: The only problem is that never happened. According to multiple fact checkers Joe's story is not true at all. And yet, here we are listening to the same long B.S. for the fifth time here and, of course, the Biden administration they have no problem lying about anything and everything. Remember, Mayorkas, yeah, the DHS secretary lying about the border crisis calling the mass migration. This is only a seasonal problem.

Jen Psaki circling back with the lie about the border crisis. Migrants don't need to be tested for COVID, they're not planning on staying here very long and then she lied about, oh, well, yeah, we're dispersing people all over the country at 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. in the middle of the night. That's not the middle of the night. That would be called an early morning flight. I've flown a lot. That's actually not true.

And Biden lying about COVID-19, declaring that he could beat the virus as president, told that lie a lot, also lying about leaving Americans behind in Afghanistan, 13 days before he did it, lying again about the number of Americans he abandoned. We have a full report tonight coming up on that.

But, of course, Biden is also lying about his Build Back Better/New Green Deal social spending proposal by saying the $3.5 trillion price tag actually cost zero dollars. I'm not sure what calculator he's using. That's about the biggest lie of all, also promising not to raise taxes on anyone making under $400,000 a year. Well, that's actually a couple, so it's $200,000.

And according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the original Build Back Better/New Green Deal socialism would hit Americans making under $50,000 a year the hardest, with a sneaky provision targeting those who deposit small sums of money into their own bank accounts, so they can spy on you.

Now, Democrats have come up with a new idiotic tax scheme, a levy on unrealized gains. In other words, phantom money -- money that you might make in the future after you finally -- you get money, your money is taxed, you invest your money, you buy stocks or some type of other asset. But don't worry, the Biden administration is promising that only the super wealthy will be affected. This is another lie. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET YELLEN, TREASURY SECRETARY: I think what's under consideration is a proposal that Senator Wyden in the Senate Finance Committee have been looking at that would impose a tax on unrealized capital gains on liquid assets held by extremely wealthy individuals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right. You really believe her? Because according to Democrats, this would only raise $30 billion of the $3.5 trillion that they want in new spending. So, will they extend this new tax to institutional investors? Meaning all of us? In other words, will they include pension funds, 401ks?

And, by the way, what would happen if an asset that they say is a capital gain eventually depreciates or your stocks go down -- I mean, the market could have an adjustment at any point, right? Will the government hand out billion dollar checks to billionaires during a recession? Even "The Washington Post" is trashing the plans, saying, quote, Biden's latest Tax the Rich scheme would be an unworkable and possibly unconstitutional mess. That's to say the least.

Now, it raises a ton of questions but don't expect any coherent answers from Joe, because today, he bragged to a group of preschoolers about his strategy -- always avoid answering the press's questions, which he probably is the one thing you could say he's successful at. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: You know, when you're president, you see all these people here? They're with you all the time. They get to ask you all kinds of questions and you try to figure out how you can avoid answering them sometimes.

(LAUGHTER)

Anyway --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: I'm sure the kids got that joke, Joey.

According to the RNC, Joe Biden has not held an official press conference in over a hundred days. Well, we all know the answer why. He's not mentally or physically capable of conducting a lengthy presser. Forget about late afternoon, if you ever tried it at night, it would be an unmitigated disaster.

You don't need a medical degree from Harvard to figure this all out. Biden is also desperately trying to avoid being held accountable for all of these many self-inflicted crises that he caused.

Remember the economy is a disaster, because of him. Gas prices are spiking dramatically because of him. Energy dependence is back because of Joe. Not good for national security, not good for the economy. There's a massive worker shortage all because of Joe Biden. There are nationwide supply chain disruptions because of Joe Biden.

The Afghanistan withdrawal was a disaster one that could easily have been preventable same with the southern border in chaos because of him.

Every single one of these crises easily preventable, but Joe Biden and his minders on the radical left are either unwilling or unable to do the right thing. And coming up, a new report on the latest migrant caravan yep, they're -- they're making their way right to our border just to be processed in and dispersed in an early morning 4:00 a.m. flight as Jen Psaki says and we have a shocking new development tonight out of Afghanistan. Pay attention to this, we'll have it in a minute.

But first, joining us now with reaction to our top stories, Arkansas gubernatorial candidate Sarah Sanders, the author of the new bestseller "For Such a Time as This", "Outnumbered" co-host Kayleigh McEnany.

Sarah, we start with you. You know, I just go back to the time that all -- you and Sean Spicer and Kayleigh, boy, if one little I was not dotted or T not crossed, boy, the media was there to rip your head off. You know, $3.5 trillion won't cost a penny, oh, a 4:00 a.m. flight is an early morning flight when they're dispersing illegal immigrants, you know, how many more lies can they tell and the media just keeps going along with?

SARAH SANDERS (R), ARKANSAS GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: You know, I don't think that the media cares at all. But certainly, the American public does and you can see that reflected in Joe Biden's absolutely dismal approval numbers. People are sick and tired of his weak and incompetent leadership and they are completely rejecting his socialist agenda.

Americans want secure borders, not open borders. Americans want safety and security, they want lower taxes, not higher taxes. Americans want more freedom, not more government control, and you can see this day in and day out by their absolute rejection of what is coming down the pipeline from the Biden administration and in these numbers that we are seeing come out that show his just pathetic poll numbers day after day.

And it's because even though the American media isn't covering it, the American people are paying attention to it and they don't want it and they are tired of what this administration is delivering.

HANNITY: You know, Kayleigh, if I was to ever advise Donald Trump, I would say you need to say little to nothing at all at this point because every day, on every one of these major policies, Afghanistan wouldn't have happened. We'd still be energy independent. We wouldn't have soaring prices for energy. We wouldn't have chain supply issues. We wouldn't have a crisis at the border. He certainly did a much better job on COVID.

I would say, if the president would just lead -- just let Joe continue to make the case for him and probably lead election integrity reform efforts like signature verification, illegals can't vote like I guess in counties in Vermont, signature verification, voter ID, chain of custody, updated voter rolls, partisan observers get to observe, if those -- if those changes were put into the system, I'd say probably Joe's handing them the keys to the White House every day if he wanted to run again.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, FOX NEWS ANALYST: No doubt about it. I'll never forget, Sean, I was sitting on a CNN set you remember. It was eight on one Democrats, and I was the lone conservative supporting President Trump and I recall a CNN commentator, a leftist say, look, wages are going up on Obama's watch, if only we could get that message out there -- you know, Hillary would sail into the White House.

Well, the difference now is you don't need to tell people that wages are going down. You don't need to tell people that prices at the grocery store are going up, that gas prices are going up, that Afghanistan was a failure. That was a moral scar on the country that will never be forgotten.

You don't have to tell people, you don't even have to make a case. You simply have to let Joe Biden be the absolute incompetent buffoon that he is admitting he won't take questions because he can't answer them, he can't cover the govern the country, he's not a successful commander-in-chief.

I totally agree with you, Sean. At this point, he's essentially handed President Trump the keys to the White House.

HANNITY: Sarah, if Donald Trump were president, I argue Afghanistan never would have happened, based on he would obliterate them if they -- once the Taliban went on the move and take started taking over every province. We'd also have Bagram and it was conditions-based anyway.

The chaos at the border we know wouldn't have occurred. The president got us energy independence, he wouldn't have given that up, and that means inflation would be down considerably because everything we now buy costs more, buck more a gallon just to fill up our tank, heat and cool our homes, every product we buy. That adds to the massive spike in inflation.

I don't think you'd see the hostilities of China, North Korea, Iran and Russia either that we're now seeing.

So all of it's preventable and Joe seems checked out. The American people see that, do you think?

SANDERS: Absolutely, they see it. Under President Trump, our country was winning. Our allies actually respected us and our enemies actually feared us. And right now, they're all laughing at us because Joe Biden has continued to fail and every single thing he touches he screws up.

We were doing incredible under President Trump. Our economy was booming. Our border was secure. We were actually being tough and pushing back against China and other countries who had been taking advantage of the United States for far too long.

And under Joe Biden, they know not only is he not capable of running this country, but he's not capable of standing up to any other country either. And so, they're walking all over him and it's the reason everything he touches he ruins. And not only do I agree that if he continues down this path, he's handing over the keys to President Trump, but he's also giving Republicans back the House, the Senate, and I sure hope that we take a number of governor's offices as well because we're going to need strong conservative governors across this country, pushing back against this president for a long time.

HANNITY: Last word, Kayleigh McEnany.

MCENANY: Yeah, watch next Tuesday, Sean. I have a very strong feeling that Terry McAuliffe's fatal mistake, Sean, is inviting the unpopular president of the United States to his state, there to Virginia where he has a 43 approval rating. He welcomed Joe Biden and very well might have lost to Glenn Youngkin in doing so.

HANNITY: It's going to be fascinating. It should not -- this is a blue state. I wouldn't think the commonwealth is in play.

Kayleigh, thank you, and Sarah Sanders, thank you.

Now, let's turn our attention to Mexico where another massive migrant caravan is on the move, headed right to our border.

Griff Jenkins embedded with the caravan, joins us now with the full report -- Griff.

GRIFF JENKINS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Sean, it's day three of this new migrant caravan. They've made it just miles north of where they started in Tapachula, Mexico.

Take a look here at this open air basketball court. You can see a lot of women and children packed in. This is where they'll spend the night.

They had a rough day. They had to stop for three hours in the shade because the heat was so bad. We saw a pregnant woman faint, then they got hit by a tropical storm.

But as you look at this video, let me show you some video we shot from a bridge that really speaks to the magnitude of this caravan, three thousand strong. They were chanting "libertad" or liberty and, "si se puede", which is yes, we can, once the Barack Obama presidential slogan of 2008.

Now, this caravan is being organized by the same organizer of the 2019 caravan. His name is Ireneo Mujica. He wants the Mexican government to do more for these migrants, but he's also blasting President Biden for his handling of this crisis. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IRENEO MUJICA, ORGANIZER: All the Biden administration is doing is throwing money at it, you know? It's not -- it's not really fixing anything they don't even I don't even think they care about this issue. So when I see this, it hurts me because I voted for Biden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JENKINS: Mujica says that the migrants will start marching again before dawn tomorrow, but the Mexican officials won't tell us whether or not they will attempt to stop them although we've seen them monitoring them all along the routes which if it's the same route as 2019. They've got another 2,400 miles to the U.S. border -- Sean.

HANNITY: All right. Griff Jenkins, thank you.

Now, let's focus on another major ongoing Biden cause crisis. This one in the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan.

ANNOUNCER: Americans Held Hostage, Abandoned Behind Enemy Lines, Day 72.

HANNITY: Day 72, yes, our fellow Americans, their families, thousands of green cardholders, SIV applicants that we promised if this day ever came, we would not abandon them, they were all abandoned by Joe Biden. Day 85 since Biden promised that he would not leave any American behind. It's 56 days since your president even mentioned all the men women and children that he deserted and completely abandoned to Taliban terrorists.

In September, according to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, he said fewer than a hundred Americans remain trapped. And, apparently, Lloyd Austin was either lying or was being lied to. In fact, the Biden administration just told Congress that, in fact, hundreds of U.S. citizens today remain in Afghanistan, 72 days later.

Joe's turned the page. His press secretaries in the media mob also have abandoned any mention of their fellow Americans. And that's not all.

According to the secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, there are still, quote, thousands of U.S. green card holders, yup, trapped behind enemy lines in Afghanistan, people that have a legal right to live in this country, thousands along with their families.

And meanwhile, U.S. soldiers stationed in Syria were recently attacked by Iranian drones, carrying explosive charges. Thankfully, no American casualties. Tonight, it is unclear whether the Biden administration plans to respond in any way.

Here now with more, former secretary of state, FOX News contributor Mike Pompeo.

Let's skip around the globe a little bit. Let's start in Afghanistan. They told us it was under a hundred. Now, we know it's hundreds. Now, we know it's thousands of green cardholders.

Day 72, Mr. Secretary, I don't see a lot of hope for those people getting out alive and my fear is a Mogadishu or an ISIS capture of Americans and then we know what's going to play out publicly.

MIKE POMPEO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Sean, this is tragic. They clearly misled the American people, not only the president, but the secretary of defense, as you talked about. For the longest time, they talked about barely triple digits.

We now know that there are tens of thousands of people that have a right to return back to the United States of America. Our government has done almost nothing to bring them back. That this is worse than just incompetence. This is an absence of caring about Americans and those who have a right to come to the United States of America.

We've completely abandoned them. The president won't even talk about these things. We are not serious. We -- on our State Department Twitter feed today, we're talking about intersectionality and pronouns when we've got Americans behind enemy lines in Afghanistan.

This is -- this is a deeply troubling. It is disconcerting. It is horrific to the family members of these people who are here in the United States, and we have a responsibility to get them back. I am now counting on private sector efforts to do this, and I hope that the government --

HANNITY: But they're not helping.

POMPEO: -- at least not get in the way of these brave -- yes, Sean, exactly, I hope the government will at least not get in the way of these private groups who are trying to get folks home.

HANNITY: Well, wait a minute, the State Department set out a memo saying, oh, if you have a chartered flight, you're not allowed to land in the U.S., even with U.S. citizens aboard. And if you get a country that will accept your charter, you're not -- our permission will not be forthcoming if necessary.

Let me move on though to Iran. We see there now hostile military actions against Americans, on top of our envoy to Iran basically acknowledging that it looks like Iran's going to be a nuclear power, and they seem to be willing to accept that. I'm not willing to accept that.

POMPEO: President Trump and I weren't willing to accept it either. We made clear this wasn't going to happen on our watch.

Now, countries in the region -- certainly Israel -- that the Iranians continue to threaten to wipe off the base of the map, but Arab states as well can see that America is not serious about defending them from the risk of proliferation in the region -- nuclear weapons in the hands of perhaps multiple countries there. If the Iranians get a nuke, others are going to want one too, Sean.

This is serious business, again, and that it all comes back to an absence of strength. President Biden has demonstrated weakness.

Remember, with respect to Iran, the Iranians launched missiles into Israel within days of them taking office. They would have they would not have done that when we were there. They launched missiles from Gaza Strip into Israel. The United States took days to say that the Israelis had the simple right to defend themselves.

HANNITY: What about China? The flying of their fighter jets over Taiwan air space, talk about endless talk of reunification. And then Russia gets a waiver to build their pipeline, it seems like preferential treatment for Russia and China. And then my imagination takes me to the fact that the Biden family has made a lot of money from both those countries. Fair question?

POMPEO: Fair question, common theme. We had America first. These folks have a woke idea of national security, whether it's climate change or whatever it may be, and they don't understand that American power matters in the world.

We don't need to send tens of thousands of our soldiers to demonstrate that power. We simply need to allow our energy companies to produce our commercial providers to have the economic power and demonstrate the economic power and unleash our military in a way that's not political but forceful.

These are things that the Biden administration simply refuses to accept. They've adopted essentially the Obama policy of apologize for America wherever they go. It puts not only the United States at risk, but our friends and allies, not only in Taiwan, but in Japan and South Korea and Israel.

This is -- this is serious stuff, Sean, and this administration better get a handle on how to re-establish deterrence and credibility. We're in for an awfully long next three years.

HANNITY: All right. Secretary Pompeo, great to have you as always. Thank you.

All right. When we come back, the polls are dead even, three polls dead even for the Virginia's gubernatorial race. It's tightening. And Terry McAuliffe is getting nervous. Sara Carter was at Glenn Younkin's rally earlier tonight. She will join us with a live report.

And you won't believe Dr. Fauci's latest scandal, this time it involves funding for reportedly inhumane testing on dogs, as well as an update on what he did and did not really know about the virology lab and gain a function coronavirus testing, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: And tonight, big breaking political news out of the commonwealth of Virginia. With just one week to go until the gubernatorial election, Emerson has now released their final poll. The race like two other polls is dead even, between Republican Glenn Youngkin and Democrat Terry McAuliffe, 48 to 48.

Now, three dead even polls in a row, although one poll has Youngkin up by a whopping 0.8 percent.

Sara Carter on the ground in Virginia.

Sara, you've been there with the Youngkin campaign today. What's going on?

SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you could feel the energy, Sean. It was just surging here in Suffolk County. About an hour ago, Glenn Youngkin wrapped up his rally, but there were hundreds of supporters, Republicans, independents and I bet you even some Democrats. And they said they're here as a referendum of what they say is a dangerous leftist agenda that is not only growing here in Virginia but across America.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: What are you hoping to hear tonight from Youngkin?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm hoping to hear how he's going to turn everything around in the state of Virginia.

CARTER: Why it's so important as a parent that you elect a new governor? And is it based because on what you heard McAuliffe said, staying out, you should stay out of your child's education?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly, like for right now, we're not even allowed to walk in the schools to pick our children off. We have to speak through an intercom outside to even ask them to come out.

CARTER: Do you feel this is a referendum for the whole nation, Virginians are speaking out against critical race theory, against mandates, and telling the Democrats what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's everybody. It's everywhere right now. But Virginia is somewhere we can do something about it right now. People are charged up, all eyes are on us, and we're ready to go swinging.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They continue with the CRT and telling parents that they don't have the right to, you know, know what's going on with the education of their children. I think it's just going to go across the country.

CARTER: And what are you hoping that message resonates across the country for 2022?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't want it in Suffolk. We don't want it in Virginia. Nobody else wants it in the rest of the country. We want our country back, our state and our city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: Sean, they say this is a red wave, a wave that's going to sweep from Virginia across the country and come 2022, there wasn't a person that I didn't talk to that didn't say the Republicans were going to take back the House and the Senate -- Sean.

HANNITY: But, you know, it's funny because Obama went down there and said, oh, it's a phony cultural issue about parents not being involved in the kids' education which Terry McAuliffe said. And then Obama throwing out the lie that oh Republicans want to make it harder for you to vote.

And meanwhile, Obama I think only got 2,000 people to show up at his rally in Richmond, not exactly a Trump style rally by any definition.

CARTER: Right, Sean, and I can tell you this -- talking to teachers and talking to parents, and I can't even begin to tell you, I think almost everybody in there was singing the same exact song. They were saying, look, we want the government out of our kids education. We want to be in charge. We don't want to be called domestic terrorists.

I heard that over and over again. We want to be able to talk to our school boards and we're tired of mandates. Give us a voice that's what everybody has said, is give us a voice. Give the American people a voice, and I think that's the message that they're sending across the country.

HANNITY: All right. Sara Carter, on the ground, investigative reporter, thank you.

Now, Terry McAuliffe, he's losing ground and in desperation mode, and is bringing out all the big party Titan, Barack Obama to smear Republicans and flame tensions and cover up his failed record. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT: All across the country, Democrats are trying to make it easier to vote, not make it harder to vote and push back on Republicans who are trying to systematically prevent ordinary citizens from making their voices heard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: That's an old typical Democratic phony lying talking point. Of course, there's no evidence the GOP is trying to prevent anyone from voting, signature verification, voter ID. Yeah, those are all things Joe Biden has in his state, with no early voting like Georgia and no drop boxes like Georgia.

Just like there's no evidence at all that Stacey Abrams won the Georgia's governor's race, the big lie that the Democrats always like to talk about. That's not stopping McAuliffe from spewing more bizarre election conspiracies himself. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRY MCAULIFFE (D), VIRGINIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: So let me now bring out, she would be the governor of Georgia today had the governor of Georgia not disenfranchise 1.4 million Georgia voters before the election. That's what happened to Stacey Abrams. They took the votes away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: So can deep blue Virginia really go red a week from tomorrow? The race is dead even. Democrats are on the defense.

And Biden will campaign with McAuliffe tomorrow with a whopping approval rating in the mid 30s.

Here with reaction, FOX News contributors Ari Fleischer, Leo 2.0 Terrell.

All right. So you have to bring in Obama, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden -- not very popular -- Jill Biden maybe a little more popular, and Stacey Abrams. Is that going to work?

You know this state as well as any, Ari Fleischer.

ARI FLEISCHER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: No, it's not going to work. I think Glenn Youngkin on the strength of his individual record, his common sense as a businessman, and he's just a smart sharp reasonable guy. I think the odds are very strongly moving in his favor, Sean. It's going to be a massive upset.

But let me let me talk about what Barack Obama just said because it's so upsetting. This is the typical stuff that Democrats throw at the end of every election. This is the heir to voter ID is racist.

They say now that the Republicans are trying to suppress the vote. Let me remind Barack Obama that under Donald Trump in 2020, 159 million Americans voted. When Barack Obama ran in 2012, only 129 million Americans voted. So turnout surged under Donald Trump because of the interest on both sides in that election.

So don't give me this Republicans are suppressing. It's the typical things that Democrats say at the end, just to rev up their base on the basis of fear.

HANNITY: That's like Al Gore. That's how long this playbook goes back, Leo. Republicans got the wrong agenda for African-Americans. They don't even want to count you in the census.

You know, but if you want to go to the DNC convention, you need a picture ID. If you want to go to the White House and visit Joe, you need a picture ID. If you want to go to the Capitol, you need a picture ID. And now, we've got these vaccine passport mandates everywhere.

Joe Biden never lifted a finger to make voting more accessible in Delaware. So we know it's one big talking point lie here.

My question is, you know, is this -- if this is real, and we find out either a week from tomorrow or early on a week from Wednesday that that in fact, Youngkin pulls this off, what does that mean?

LEO TERRELL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I'll tell you exactly what I mean first of all as already said these talking points are old-fashioned Democratic talking points. They're a Jim Crow talking point, and that's not the issue in Virginia.

The issue in Virginia are based on American issues -- education. These parents are fighting for their kids and the Democrats won't touch this because they're on the wrong side. Critical race theory is evil, it's wrong. Parents across the country don't want this.

Virginia is the bellwether state. On critical race theory, they reject. On the fact that they conceal a sexual assault, this goes to the heart and soul of Americans, children, and parents who are fighting back.

That sound piece that you played at the outset is a reflection of parents fighting for their kids and that's why you're going to see a red wave starting in Virginia because what's happening on the Republican side is they're putting children first. Not these Democratic talking points.

HANNITY: You know, Ari, as I watch this. You know, this is not a state that's purple anymore. This is a blue state. When you look at the early voting numbers, what are you glean?

FLEISCHER: Well, anytime you have a race where Terry McAuliffe is basically the incumbent, a previous sitting governor, and the challenger is dead even a week before the election and he used to be down, it's obvious to see which way the momentum is. So Terry's task is to turn the momentum around. I hardly see how bringing Joe Biden and turns anything around.

So this race has been following a pattern that's been moving in the Youngkin direction for a while. The implications, Sean, aren't going to be as deep as when Scott Brown took Massachusetts under Barack Obama, but will almost be as deep. And that's because Virginia is just not as blue as Massachusetts, but the shock to the Democratic system particularly after bringing in all those heavyweights is going to be serious. It's a real canary in the coal mine for the trouble the Democrats are likely in in 2022.

HANNITY: Is it just as effective if it's close and Youngkin fell a little short?

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Leo?

TERRELL: You have to win. You have to win. I mean, look, Biden carry this state by 10 percentage points. Youngkin has to win the election, I don't care how close he has to win it because that sends the message that Virginia's in play in 2022 and 2024. That sends a resounding message.

HANNITY: All right. Ari Fleischer, Leo 2.0, thank you.

Also breaking tonight, yet another scandal surrounding Dr. Doom and Gloom, flip-flop Fauci. A new bipartisan letter from two dozen lawmakers pressing Fauci for answers following new evidence that his NIH-funded sick and cruel dog torture experiments in Tunisia. Now, according to the claims from the group White Coat Waste Project, Fauci's NIH funded a whopping $375,800 grant to, quote, drug beagles lock their heads in mesh cages filled with hungry sand flies so that the insects could eat them alive. Okay? True, that would be sick, repulsive, disgusting and just one of the many failures that Fauci needs to be held accountable for.

We've reached out to the NIH for comment. They responded in a statement in part that said: The goal of the research was to determine if the experimental vaccine prevented dogs from becoming infected in a natural setting. Developing a vaccine to prevent a serious parasitic disease is an important research goal. In this case, the researchers are supported through multiple different funding sources. The NIAID grant ended in July of 2021.

They also added viral images of caged beagles in an academic manuscript were not part of a federally funded experiment.

We are continuing to follow the story and remember Fauci is still under fire for appearing to lie about whether or not the NIH funded gain of function research, including to Congress, because look at this, the group EcoHealth Alliance which received U.S. taxpayer dollars from the NIH and subcontracted with the Wuhan virology lab on coronavirus gain of function studies is calling out Fauci. Quote: these data were reported as soon as we were made aware in our four -- in our year four report in April of 2018.

Undercutting the NIH's claims that the disclosures were sent two years late and undercutting suggestions that Fauci knew nothing about any of this.

Here with reaction, the author of "Do What You Said You Would Do," Republican Congressman Jim Jordan, along with FOX News contributor, Lara Trump.

Lara, I know this issue about the dogs in particular has got you quite angry between that and gain a function that they lied about that also has me worked up.

LARA TRUMP, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah, well, this one is personal for me, Sean, because for as long as I can remember, I've been an animal rescue advocate and animal welfare advocate, by and large. And I also have a beagle named Charlie.

What a horrific thing to see happen to any living creature. And as though we needed any more reasons to dislike Dr. Fauci, as though we needed another reason that he probably shouldn't have his job. I mean, this guy has flip-flopped on everything COVID from the very beginning.

Remember, the very beginning of COVID, he told us no masks were required and then he went to two masks, three masks, masked mandates, vaccine mandates. There's a lot of question as to whether or not taxpayer-funding went to gain of function research, as you were just referencing at the Wuhan Institute of Virology where likely the COVID pandemic originated.

He has tried to cancel football games, has told us we can't have parties, has tried to cancel holidays. Now, he's telling us he doesn't even know if we can have Christmas again this year.

And then you look at this experimentation on the beagles and they use beagles, by the way, because of their temperament, because they don't generally fight back as much as other dogs, whenever they're put through this torturous process. These dogs were first debarked which means, they cut their vocal cords so that they couldn't cry out in pain when they were being tortured to death. And then as you just describe, horrifically put in a box with sand flies to eat them alive.

Now, I don't know anywhere else other than Washington, D.C. full of a bunch of swampy people, where you cannot perform well in your job and keep your job as Dr. Fauci has for so long, but if there was any reason we need to get rid of this guy, it has Republicans, Democrats and everybody in between outraged as rightly so.

This is despicable. Dr. Fauci has got to go.

HANNITY: Jim Jordan, do you have any doubt NIH money now funded through Eco Alliance went to fund the money for gain of function coronavirus research at the Wuhan Virology Lab between Dr. Fauci's emails, "The Intercept" leaks, and Eco Alliance's statement. Do you have any doubt at all that Dr. Fauci lied about know what he knew and when?

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): No, I don't, Sean. It's a pattern of deception with this guy and Lara's exactly right, he's got to go. Why he's still employed by the American taxpayer I do not know.

Remember, 22 months ago, a virologist sends Dr. Fauci an email that says virus looks engineered, virus not consistent with evolutionary theory, that's a nice way of saying this thing came from the lab. Dr. Fauci misled us on that for the past year and a half.

Then we have what happened last week that you point out. He misled us about the NIH funding gain of function research through EcoHealth at the Wuhan lab. And, of course, now, we have this terrible disgusting story where our tax dollars were used to fund research that tortured animals.

So, again, this is a -- this guy has got to go. He's been wrong on everything and why he is the highest paid official in our government I will never know.

HANNITY: All right. So what do we do -- now, if he's lying about it, you're basically saying they knew that we were funding this virology lab where we knew coronavirus work was being done and gain of function research was being done, and the emails support it. "The Intercept" papers support it and the Eco Alliance is saying it.

How is it possible at that point that he still works anywhere?

JORDAN: Well, you're right. We were funding it. The -- it most likely came from the lab, all the evidence points to that, and it was in fact gain of function research.

And worse yet, the EcoHealth who was doing this failed to report it, as you said your comments, failed to report it for two years. But during that two- year time, guess how much money they were getting from the American taxpayers? Twenty-one million dollars.

So, this guy has got to go. But now, he won't come in front of us anymore. He couldn't -- you couldn't keep him off TV, couldn't keep him from testifying. Now, he refuses to come answer our questions.

HANNITY: Last word, Lara?

L. TRUMP: Well, I have a great idea as to how to get him out. Let's get Donald Trump to run again in 2024 --

JORDAN: There you go.

L. TRUMP: -- get him back in the White House. I think he'll take care of this problem.

HANNITY: Okay, I think we got three votes for that, but we're going to -- we will -- we will give you that assignment to talk him into it, how's that? Because I think he tried to talk you into running.

L. TRUMP: I'll work on it.

HANNITY: You'll work on it. All right. We'll count on it.

All right. Thank you.

When we come back, we're learning a lot more about what happened on the set of "Rust" the movie that left one crew member dead, another injured. Is there a possibility of negligence in -- a charge in Alec Baldwin's future? We examine the law, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: More troubling developments tonight surrounding Alec Baldwin the fatal shooting of the cinematographer on the set of the film "Rust" being shot in New Mexico, as we are now learning according to one report, Baldwin was given the sets gun by a crew member who had a previous safety complaint lodged against him on a production back in 2019 for allegedly disregarding safety protocols on the set.

According to court records, Baldwin did not know that the weapon contained a live round. Hutchins was killed while Baldwin was rehearsing a scene that involved him pointing the weapon at a camera lens.

And here to explain more, FOX News legal analyst Greg Jarrett, along with weapons master, Bryan Carpenter, is with us.

Brian, guys -- I want to go -- I just want to go through some of what we got here. We got a chief electrician laying blame on the accident on the armorer and producers. Then we've got reports of at least two accidental gun discharges on the set of this movie and the days leading up to this fatal shooting of the cinematographer, and the discharges on October 16th, you know, prompted a complaint to a supervisor about safety practices, crew members asked you know not to be named.

And you had union members walk off the job as a result of a lack of safety on the set, and then you've got you know other information that we're finding out too that there is a possibility of an involuntary manslaughter charge.

You know, Bryan, let me ask you what is the proper handling of a firearm on a set like this and how did a live round get in that gun?

BRYAN CARPENTER, WEAPONS MASTER: You know, there's so many levels of safety protocols before it even gets to an actor. You start off with the weapon has been cleared before it's even put into the safe, which is usually on the props truck. It's moved from the safe to the armorer's cart or bag, depending on how many guns are being used that day. It's cleared then.

It's then moved on to the set, generally locked in a cart on set waiting for the scene to be filmed. At that point in time, it's checked a third time, and this is just all within, you know, the time of you're getting ready for that morning shoot.

And then prior to handing off to an actor or an actress before the scene starts, you're going to get a double verification at that point. In other words, you're going to take the weapon, you're going to call for the AD, first AD, DP, director, key grip sometimes, definitely all the actors. They're going to all check this weapon make sure it's safe.

Depending on your relationship you have with the crew, it could be one, it could be all, but at least two. And that's just before even things standing off.

HANNITY: And, Greg, it seems like just too many incidents on this set. We don't have a lot of time but what are the legal -- what are the legal challenges that everybody there might face? And Alec Baldwin himself, if any, I don't think he purposely set out to kill this woman, and I don't even like the guy but I'm just being honest. And I believe in the presumption of innocence and due process and I'd have a hard time believing he would -- that that's something he's capable of as nutty as he is.

GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I agree. And look, he can't be charged with murder, which is the intentional killing of another because there's no evidence of that. But he could be charged with criminally negligent homicide involuntary manslaughter, which is grossly negligent and reckless conduct. The failure to exercise due care to protect the crew, and you point out --

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: But even if somebody says here's a cold -- but even if somebody says this is a cold gun, it's safe?

JARRETT: Yeah, that that doesn't matter, because as Bryan points out, the safety protocols were violated here the fact that there were two discharges earlier of a weapon put the production crew as well as importantly the on location producer which is Alec Baldwin on notice that there was a safety problem, he is duty-bound to take measures to correct it. Failure to do so can result in a criminal charge against him.

You've got an inexperienced armorer --

HANNITY: Wow.

JARRETT: -- who should not have been on the set. You've got an assistant director who was fired from a different film for a accidental discharge --

HANNITY: There's a lot of issues, Gregg, but --

JARRETT: -- that injured a crew member. So you've got a myriad of negligence that could rise to criminal charges here.

HANNITY: Thank you both.

More "Hannity" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have left for this evening. We always thank you for being with us. Please set your DVR, never miss an episode.

In the meantime, let not your heart be troubled. Laura Ingraham takes it from here.

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