Hannity on Florida building collapse, media not holding Biden accountable

close

Video

Hannity slams media for not holding Biden accountable

'Hannity' host says journalists have a 'new green deal, socialist' agenda

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity" June 24, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. 

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: It's a big show tonight. It's not a surprise
for once. I'm here at 9:00 p.m. All is good, life is good. Tucker, thank
you.

Welcome to "Hannity".

Tonight, coming up my latest message to the mob and the media. New polling
numbers tonight show America's media is one of the least trusted in the
entire world, and for good reason.

And also, tonight, the very latest from president sippy cup -- yeah, really
bizarre behavior again today at the White House. It is getting worse than
ever, more obvious than ever, we've got the tape to prove it.

But, first, we turn our attention to the heartbreaking scene that is
Surfside and the great state of Florida where many of our fellow Americans
are feared dead tonight after shocking building collapse took place.

Joining us now on the ground with the very latest, our own Jonathan Serrie.

Jonathan, last night -- were not sure about 99 people around the number,
it's frightening.

JONATHAN SERRIE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, 99 people unaccounted for.
It doesn't mean that all of them were in the building and there may have
been some seasonal residents, snowbirds. They're that that was the case,
and that it won't be 99 victims, they're hoping the numbers will be
considerably less.

But until they account for everyone, firefighters continue searching
through the rubble around the clock, not letting up. They have shifted
operations away from the portion of the building that is still standing.
Everyone there is now accounted for, about 102 people accounted for, and
now shifting through the rubble, much harder to search the rubble. They're
actually accessing it through a basement parking garage. They're wading
through water from burst pipes and working with a structural engineer to
prevent the rubble from collapsing on the firefighters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY JADALLAH, MIAMI-DADE FIRE RESCUE: We make a cut and there is a shift
with additional holders, but we find that what we just encountered a small
fire. We had a small fire and the result of some shifting of the building.
We were able to extinguish it and then within 20 minutes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERRIE: The first rescuers on the scene pulled 35 occupants from the
building, 11 were treated for injuries, and four were taken to the
hospital. So far, authorities have only confirmed one fatality. We do
however expect that number to go up. Again, at least 99 people are
unaccounted for. Electronic listening devices have detected no voices
inside the rubble, but have picked up some banging noises. Authorities
can't say yet whether it is humans causing the banging or just all of the
debris rattling, but those are areas that the firefighters are trying to
access is their best chance of rescuing any survivors.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio says about one-third of those reported missing
are foreign nationals and so his office and others are working with the
various consulates to arrange visas for their family members and loved ones
to come to the U.S. as needed.

Sean, back to you.

HANNITY: All right, Jonathan. We're following closely. Our prayers with
these families and these people tonight.

Joining us with more is the governor of the great state of Florida, Ron
DeSantis.

You know, Governor, you said something that I remember saying after being
down at ground zero after the Twin Towers on 9/11. You said TV doesn't
capture the magnitude of how enormous this is. It's eerily similar in terms
of your observations.

What specifically did you mean -- it's that much bigger when you're up
close?

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Yeah, I think, Sean, when you're there, you see,
for example, they all -- there is balconies, right, on all these units. The
balconies were like stacked one right on top of one another. I mean, it
just had -- it just went straight down, and it was almost like a pancake.
And you look at that and you think, that is an unbelievable type of
collapse for that to happen.

And then as you get closer, you see how some of the units were ripped off
the side. There were still some rooms you can actually see in and if you
look up near the top, there is actually a bunk bed right on the edge in the
open air. And you think to yourself, you know, you may have had two kids in
bed that night, then all of a sudden, one in the morning, the earth moves
from under them.

So, it was -- I think it's a traumatic experience obviously for the folks
who escaped and there's a lot of families. You know, when people are
unaccounted for, sometimes that's the hardest thing because they just don't
know. And they're obviously bracing for the worst but they're still hoping
for the best, and the search and rescue does go on.

So, it's a really difficult situation and a real tragedy for our state.

HANNITY: You have to -- explain the process of looking for these people
because you have to be careful, because there could be further collapse and
more people injured and hurt in this thing. So, it's hard work but from
what I understand, all of Florida's resources have been made available in
terms of the rescue efforts that are going on.

DESANTIS: Oh, for sure. And Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, they were there within
minutes. And all the people that were escorted out, they didn't know
whether the building was going to collapse even more at that point, but
they went in and they escorted dozens of people to safety. And then what
they have been doing since probably late morning, early afternoon, is they
are going underneath in these tunnels. They're obviously trying to find any
type of human life and saving lives.

But it is still -- it's not a secure scene. Things are moving around, there
was a fire, there was some additional collapse.

So, they're doing this, it is a risk to them, but they are cognizant of. I
mean, if you find someone, the last thing you'd want to do is have more
collapse. And so, it's definitely a balance that they're trying to strike.
But I'll tell you, they've been working around the clock since the very wee
hours of the morning and there's no question that they've saved lives.

HANNITY: Governor, I know from experience because I have friends of mine
that are in the building industry down in Florida, and there are very, very
high standards in the state of Florida for building any building. How did
something like this happen?

DESANTIS: Well, I think that that's going to be determined. Obviously, the
first order was the search and rescue, save lives. We also are caring for
the displaced folks, the folks who survived, but they're never going to
have a place to go back to in that condo complex again. So, we're working
hard to get them assistance.

But then kind of the third thing is, okay, why did this happen? They don't
have the answers right now, but I think they will in relatively short
order. And we'll have to see -- I mean, obviously, there's a lot of tough
buildings down in south Florida. This building was built in the early 1980s
-- that's not necessarily like burial, we have much older buildings, of
course.

But -- so, that's all going to be looked at, and then we will try to
determine what was the reason for it.

HANNITY: Governor, if there's any -- any help that's put together -- I know
Samaritans Purse, Red Cross, they usually help in situations like this. Is
there any information at any point you and your staff want to pass on to us
to pass on to the public, we'd be glad to help anyway we can.

DESANTIS: We will do that for you, Sean. I know there's going to be two.
So, we will put that out for you.

I'm going to donate myself to it and your audience would be a huge help
because people are hurting right now.

HANNITY: I'll match your donation, there you go. We're in.

Governor, we're praying for the people of Florida tonight.

DESANTIS: Okay.

HANNITY: And hopefully, we can rescue some of these people, if not all of
them. Thank you.

All right. We now turn our attention to the other news tonight, in the
media mob. We start with a blatant fact. If you are a self-proclaimed
journalist at "The New York Times," "Washington Post," fake new CNN, MSDNC,
ABC, NBC, CBS, you actually have two jobs. One, protect Democrats,
especially Joe Biden at all costs. Number two, stalk, harass, smear,
slander Donald Trump and his family and anybody who supports him.

Obviously, even though you call yourselves journalists, you're not, that's
not journalism. And, by in large, the employees that the so-called news
outlets, they're not journalists. We -- as I said in 2007, journalism is
dead in America.

Now, this week, in two open letters, I asked Maggie Haberman, Ben Smith, at
"The New York Times", other self-proclaimed journalists there about their
beloved Russia hoax. Three years of never-ending lives, conspiracy theories
that they peddled to each and every day to the American people. And the
differences in coverage, by the way, the way they treat Joe Biden versus
the way they treated Donald Trump, it is staggering.

Instead of answering my questions, Mr. Prestigious holier-than-thou "New
York Times" calls himself a journalist, Ben Smith, you know, that's the
same guy that not only released Hillary Clinton's bought and paid for dirty
rushing disinformation dossier, but said he believed, that he said the
broad outline of the dossier is unquestionably true. Ben, do stand by that
tonight?

Anyway, he decided to try to change the topic on social media and then
attack yours truly. And this "New York Times" reporter used -- now, this is
pretty funny. "The New York Times", with all the prestige that they like to
think that they have, they are now tweeting out from an account and using
an account on Twitter that's called -- their words not mine -- @PopBitch. A
Twitter account with 34,000 followers.

Let me repeat, "The New York Times" is now getting information and passing
on information from a Twitter account called @PopBitch, you can't make this
Adam Schiff up.

Now, the big news is that some people at FOX apparently don't like me and
said bad things about me gutlessly behind my back, according to Ben Smith,
to the members of the media mob.

Ben, if that's true, that's called a normal day in the world that I live
in. And here's a little secret for you, Ben, and all the liberals that hate
watch this program every night, I don't care. I don't give a Adam Schiff
about what anybody says about me. I've been doing the show 25 years, 33
years of radio.

I do this show, I do my radio show, I do it for my audience, the people
that have been so loyal to me and give me this camera every night and give
me the microphone every day. And I do it loudly, I do it proudly, and I do
it apologetically, and I'm not going to change just because some of you
don't like me. I'm open and honest about my conservative beliefs. And who I
support, it's hardly a breaking news alert, Ben.

And, unfortunately, honesty and truth, that's not a priority to people at
"The New York Times" like Ben, and Maggie, and, well, the rest of them
media mob.

Over the past five years, they got dozens and dozens and dozens of stories
dead wrong. Sharyl Atkinson, she has a running list on her website. She's
up to 156 fake news stories and counting. In 2020, multiple outlets --
remember they claimed President Trump forcefully cleared a peaceful
protester out of Lafayette Park because he wanted a photo op? Well, the
inspector general said that's fake news. "The Washington Post," others
claiming the COVID lab leak hypothesis was nothing but a debunked
conspiracy theory. More fake news.

"The New York Times," implying that President Trump had paid no income
taxes for 18 years -- well, that was proven to be fake news. It was fake
news about the first lady's immigration status, fake news about the
president's children, fake news about Russian bounties on U.S. soldiers,
fake news about, oh, Nicholas Sandmann. I can't wait until you pay and fork
over millions to that kid appeared. He deserves every penny.

And, of course, years of fake news surrounding something that never
happened, and that was Trump, Russia collusion, and the conspiracy theory
that they peddled almost every single day, which was derived from an actual
Russian disinformation campaign bought and paid for by Hillary Clinton and
published, publicly released and publicly believed by "New York Times"
writer, whatever it is, columnist, because he's not a journalist, Ben Smith
himself.

So, Ben, Maggie, "The New York Times" and the other Russia collusion
truthers in the media mob, let me ask you one more time, do you still
believe in the Russia hoax that you peddled to your audiences? Do you still
think the Clinton-Steele dossier is unquestionably true?

Do you care about premeditated fraud that was perpetrated numerous times
against the FISA court? Do you care -- will you now admit that candidates
and later President Trump was illegally spied on because of Hillary's dirty
Russian information dossier and the lies told to the FISA court?

It says at the top of the FISA application, verified to. None of it was
verifiable. Do you care about government abuse of power because up to now,
you've shown no interest in what would have been the stories of your
career? When you try ever -- ever holding Biden accountable for anything?
Will you investigate his corrupt international babbling business?

Will you try and find out why sketchy foreign nationals -- let's see, from
Kazakhstan, Russia, China, Ukraine, why were they paying Joe Biden's crack
addicted son Hunter, with zero experience millions and millions of dollars?
Are you going to lift a finger in investigating Hunter's laptop from hell?
Will you hold Biden accountable for his racist rhetoric prior, support for
segregation?

Will you ever do any of these things? Will you conduct any investigation
surrounding the Biden administration?

Now, look at this, according to a new "Reuters" poll, the U.S. now ranks
dead last in media trust. By the way, that's because of the media mob, "The
New York Times," "The Washington Post," ABC, CBS, NBC, fake news CNN and
MSDNC, and pretty much the rest of the media.

And, by the way, because you're all New Green Deal socialists, you have an
agenda. You're not the journalists you claim to be. Stop at pretending.
It's time to own who you are. Own it, own your truths.

"The Times" propagated an actual hoax. They did it for years as did these
other outlets. In the case of "The New York Times", they have Pulitzer
Prizes for their efforts. So, the other question we have for you, Maggie
Haberman, Ben Smith, Dean Baquet, if you had any decency, any honor, you
and your colleagues would give back what is a phony Pulitzer Prize. Will
you do it now?

One last question, will you do the right thing at "The New York Times"?
Will you give the Pulitzer Prizes back? We're not holding our breath.

Now, of course, CNN's Humpty Dumpty, whose real job is to be Mr. Potato
Head, Jeff Zucker's stenographer, well, he won't be holding his colleagues
in the media mob accountable. It's like a blue checklist cult. You know,
they live in their isolated fake news media bubble, and I'll tweet your
article that's fake if you tweet my fake article.

He has more important things like stalking yours truly and watching FOX
News 24/7.

Now, recently, poor Humpty, he had to take time away from watching FOX. He
went on his nationwide book tour for his re-released anti-Trump, anti-FOX
diatribe. I'm told a whopping 13 brand-new chapters. Wow. A lot of work.

Now, unfortunately, sad news for Humpty tonight, because despite numerous
TV appearances, tons of hype, poor Humpty Dumpty only managed to sell,
yeah, a meager 1,300 -- 1,738 copies in the first week of sales. And he's
actually 4,007th on https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__amazon.com&d=DwICAg&c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&r=tgDLkJy54PfJyWJwul3dKe54qGxqO7b7d5vjo7RcZds&m=b7psnVKMrO-8JxBbaeJbwb0foC-saal0midMG-Eq04I&s=po7t7GbSv3i5d8ZPQvgH0q2nS5pTE3kHUqlxUDKA3a8&e= , well behind every other book ever written.

And, tonight, by the way, more venues for Humpty Dumpty, "New York
Magazine" is actually reporting -- I didn't know that he had family members
in the news business, but apparently his wife is an anchor on some channel
somewhere, and she's being accused of bullying and creating a toxic
environment in her workplace. Now, here's the question, Humpty Dumpty hosts
a show about the media. I wonder if he will cover this big media story on
his low-rated media show. I wouldn't hold my breath.

Now, ultimately, the Brian, Humpty Dumpty's of the world, the Maggie
Habermans, the Ben Smiths of the world, everyone else in the media mob,
they can cover whatever they want. It's a free country, freedom of the
press, freedom of speech -- I believe in all of it. I never support
boycotts. I never call for cancellations.

But if they are decent and ethical, and if they were true journalists as
they claim that they are, they would at least be honest about their own
political agenda. They could at least be honest about that little part.
They have an opinion. They offer their opinion. They have an agenda. They
follow it every day.

I'm honest with their audience. I am a talk show host. Yes, I'm a member of
the press. I do straight news, I can produce thousands of hours of
coverage, Radio and TV. We do investigative reporting -- actually, this
show got the, quote, "Trump Russia collusion" story right. We were proven
right. You were proven wrong.

I gave opinion. I openly say I am a proud conservative. I'm like the entire
newspaper. I'm honest. You do claim to be something you're not. You claimed
to be journalist and that is just straight up not true. You have an
abusively biased socialist agenda.

Here with reaction, this guy is probably the only honest media critic in
the entire country. His name is Joe Concha.

I wish you had your own show on FOX because I think you certainly deserve
one. What is your take on all this?

JOE CONCHA, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Wow, that's a lot to unpack, Sean. Let's
start with Russia collusion and the impact that it ultimately had when it
was reported for three years in "The New York Times", "The Washington
Post," CNN, ABC, CBS.

According to YouGov, two-thirds of Democratic voters believe Russia
tampered with vote tallies in 2016 to push the election to Donald Trump.
Think about that, two-thirds of Democratic voters, millions of people think
that the Russians not only interfered but actually changed the vote totals
and that's because of the relentless reporting around this, that's
ultimately proven wrong. So, that's one part of this.

As for the media critic that you're mentioning from CNN, the host of
"Reliable Sources" who probably should consider a name change for obvious
reasons. The show morphed into Media Matters with a microphone since the
current critic took over.

It's like if you gave Wendy's a show about fast food industry. And then
Wendy's, the show, goes on to talk about how much McDonald's sucks. It's
like that with CNN, and this show "Reliable Sources". All it does is talk
about how FOX is horrible.

And that's going to become boring as it is predictable. And they say the
definition of insanity is to do the same things over and over again and
expect a different result. And these ratings, if it keeps going down this
path of doing the same show every week, it's only going to get worse. It
won't be a happy ending for CNN which speaking of happy endings, is still
the home of Jeffrey Toobin.

So, the network is now getting beat quite easily by Home and Garden TV.
That CNN is getting beat by HDTV or TLC, or the History Channel, which is
about news from 80 or 100 years ago primarily, or the Discovery Channel
which my 5-year-old future NASA star loves.

So, that's where we are at this point. CNN is nearly down 75 percent in
terms of its viewership from the beginning of the year. Three on four
people that were watching the show at the beginning of 2021 are now gone,
Sean.

HANNITY: All right. So, the bottom line is the -- we have an information
crisis in the country, but people need to know it.

Honestly, I'm a talk show host. I admit who I am. You know, being a talk
show host, I do take on many roles, straight news, investigative reporting,
opinion, culture, sports, we do it all. It's like a whole newspaper.

But they specifically -- even opinion shows that we all know our opinion
shows, they claim to be journalists. Why do they cling to that when
everybody knows it's total Adam Schiff?

CONCHA: That's interesting. A, I never see when you do sports in the show,
I used to be a sports columnist for FOX sports, and NBC Sports. So, that
would be nice if we do it once in a while. But neither here or there.

Don Lemon, for example, he went on PBS just recently and he literally said
that he doesn't give opinions. He's an anchor. And he says this, I don't
give an opinion, I give my point of view on things, which is literally the
same thing. As opinion when you give your perspective on something.

And I think that's what really angers people so much about CNN, because
they continue to say they're a facts fir, non-opinion network and it's
insulting to any sane person's intelligence when you say something like,
no, we're just here presenting facts, I'm not giving opinion, I'm giving my
point of view. Just own who you are, just like you're owning who you are in
terms of being an opinion host and advocate for X, Y, Z because --

HANNITY: Don't people love to tell us and lectures, on your truths. My
advice, they should own their truths. I got to roll.

CONCHA: Just be transparent.

HANNITY: You deserve your own show, Mr. Joe Concha, you do a great job.
Thank you.

CONCHA: You said that.

HANNITY: I mean it. I'm openly advocating for it in case you haven't
noticed.

All right. Anyways, straight ahead, some of the most outrageous Joe Biden
gaffes yet. I mean, it's been a disaster today for him. Dan Bongino reacts.

And later, yeah, the great Dr. Fauci may want to hire an attorney. We'll
tell you why as we continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Now, president sippy cup Joe Biden today, yeah, had one
of his most bizarre moments he had to after he devolved into a creepy
whispering voice when asked about COVID release spending. Honestly, you
can't make this stuff up, this actually happen. Yeah, this is the president
of the United States of America. You decide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Employers can't find workers and
I said, yeah, pay them more. This is employees -- employees' bargaining
chip now. I got them $1.9 trillion relief so far. It will be getting checks
in the mail that are consequential this week for job care. The bill on the
environment, why would I not before it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: I have a question. Do you think it's moments like this that may
forces staff to yell at him and he gets in trouble if he ever answers a
question?

Well, get this, somehow Biden managed to even top that, claiming that
quote, Latinx people, you know, don't want to get vaccinated because they
are scared of being deported. You figure it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: It's all hard as well to get Latinx vaccinated as well. Why? They
are worried that they'll be vaccinated and deported.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: I assume you mean Latino, Joe, but why do you assume that people
who happen to be Hispanic or Latino are illegal immigrants are to have any
idea what message you're trying to send to the rest of the world with that
bizarre behavior? Like, you know, we have seen from you day after day. I
thought it was bad enough at the G7.

Here's a small sampling. Let's just look at your president, oh, this is
only the last two weeks. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: It's because there's a lot of people here, I apologize I'm going to
get in trouble. But will get back to that. But we -- we, you know, there's
a lot that -- that is happening.

Police Chief Murray of the Baltimore -- excuse me, Police Chief Merritt
(ph) -- Police Chief Murphy Paul of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

We hold these truths self-evident, that all men and women, we haven't lived
up to it completely, but we've always why didn't the ark of commitment and
included more and more people.

Those who say the blood of patriots, you know, and all the stuff about how
we're going to have to move against the government. Well, the tree of
liberty is not watered with the blood of patriots. What's happened is that
there have never been -- if you wanted or if you think you need to have
weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear
weapons.

REPORTER: Vladimir Putin laughed at the suggestion you had called him a
killer. Is that still your belief, sir, that he is a killer?

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: To answer the first question? I'm laughing too.

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava of Miami-Dade.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And the crickets, one 1,000, two 1,000.

All right. Here with reaction, the host of "Unfiltered", I couldn't imagine
a show called filtered with Dan -- could you imagine filtered Dan Bongino?
Anyway, right here on the FOX News Channel.

DAN BONGINO, FOX NEWS HOST, THE DAN BONGINO SHOW: No.

HANNITY: A great hit right out of the box, our friend, Dan Bongino.

You know, some of this, sometimes I'll admit, I laugh, it's funny. You
know, I watch them over at the G7. He said, well, asked the question you
called Putin a killer, do you still call him that?

BONGINO: Yeah.

HANNITY: I don't think it's funny anymore, Dan. It's actually scary.

BONGINO: Yeah, I mean, can you really believe this guy is the president of
the United States? We have Reverend Kane from Poltergeist 2 who is the
president. Remember that guy? He's your mommy, I mean, that's what we have
as -- what's with the creepy whispering, by the way? Is this like one of
those ASMR things or something? Like, what is he doing?

He said, I paid them the checks. It's so creepy like you watch it and it's
like you want to cringe. You don't know if you should turn it off or turn
it up.

And here's another thing, he lies -- like he lies all the time and he lies
about everything. I mean, he said during the meeting, common sense is just
kind of stuff. He says like, I told them pay more. Oh, thanks, Joe, now we
all figured it out. So restaurants who can't find workers, nobody thought
of that before Joe Biden said, if we just would have paid them more.

Like, clearly, he hasn't thought through that restaurants can't pay workers
more because they don't have any money to pay them more because they don't
have workers in the first place to make any more to pay workers more,
because workers are being paid to sit at home by Joe Biden.

But again, Reverend Kane, he really didn't think of that, he hasn't thought
that through.

And he said another thing, too. He said it's a lie that the top cities for
crime are run by Democrats. What is he saying? The FBI's lying? Just look
at the FBI statistics, that's kind of obvious.

HANNITY: You know, the question is and what worries me the most about this
is, you know, first of all, there's a reason he was hiding in his basement
bunker, okay? I called it the media mob, big tech candidate protection
program. Now it's the presidential protection program, same people.

Obviously, he's really struggling with public appearances. Obviously, they
are minimizing his schedule is much as possible, averaging less than one
event a day, Dan.

The question is, you know, Vladimir Putin sees it. They're not influenced
by the media in this country. They make their own assessments. President Xi
is making his own assessment. Iranian mullahs, Kim Jong Un, radical Islamic
terrorist groups are making their own assessments. That is the really scary
part.

Where does this end?

BONGINO: Yeah, I mean, Sean, think about it. China right now is making a
move on Hong Kong. They are implicitly and explicitly threatening Taiwan as
well.

You know, like you said, part of this you kind of laugh at but it's really
not funny. I mean, it really isn't. We have a guy in the White House right
now who by any objective measures, it's not -- listen, I'm a conservative I
don't like Joe Biden's policies but I'm not trying to make this personal
here, by any objective measure, the man is clearly compromised.

I mean, again, I'm not diagnosing him, I did my graduate work in
psychology, but I'm not pretending -- I didn't stay in holiday express last
night. You don't have to be a trained psychologist or psychiatrist to see
something's wrong.

And it really makes you wonder, right, Sean? Why isn't anybody else on the
left side of the mainstream media -- why are they concerned about it? As
you said, this is the man who controls the nuclear codes. We have two
nuclear powered enemies right now led by tyrant killers Xi Jinping and
Vladimir Putin, and no one seems concerned about this but FOX News?

I mean, listen, this is a serious issue. Again, the man has his finger on
the tip of the nuclear codes of the United States with two hostile enemies.
You'd think there'd be a greater level of concern, but there isn't. They
don't care.

HANNITY: All right. Dan Bongino, thank you. Appreciate it. And your show on
weekend right here on the FOX News Cannel.

Straight ahead, Congressman Devin Nunes and Gregg Jarrett here to weigh in
on more problems with flip-flopping Fauci. We've got the report.

And, well, you got counties that want to leave Oregon and join Idaho. Then
you've got a town in Atlanta, Buckhead, that wants to leave Atlanta. Where
is this going? Straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Now, yet another explosive revelation surrounding Dr.
Doom and Gloom failure flip-flopping Fauci as a new book that's called
"Nightmare Scenario" reports that Fauci resisted a White House directive in
April last year to cancel a research grant for the nonprofit link to the
Wuhan Institute of Virology's gain of function research.

But Fauci then reluctantly agreed after learning that the cancellation was
explicitly ordered rightfully now in retrospective by President Trump.

Now, the grant was for the infamous group EcoHealth Alliance which
reportedly subcontracted with the Wuhan Virology Lab, a lab that was
engaged in gain of function research, well-known for working on
coronavirus.

So, ask yourself, why was Fauci so oppose to scrapping describing the grant
and why was Fauci out downplaying the lab leak theory when, privately,
yeah, he was being warned personally through email as early as January of
2020? That it wasn't a conspiracy theory at all, that the genome looked to
be altered with.

Now, meanwhile, congressional Republicans, they are demanding an
investigation into the Wuhan military games in October of 2019 where
athletes from several countries reportedly got sick, they had COVID
symptoms, that's two months before China reported their first case.

Here with reaction, Republican Congressman Devin Nunes, along with FOX News
legal analyst, Gregg Jarrett.

Congressman, I'll begin with you.

We knew they studied coronaviruses. We knew they were involved in gain of
function. We now know that Fauci knew early on and Fauci was very worried
about NIH money going to that lab.

So, why should we conclude anything else?

REP. DEVIN NUNES (R-CA): Well, also, don't forget, Sean, you had the fact
that you have the Fauci emails that were just came out a week ago where
he's backtracking there, too, and flip-flopping. And then you also have
this new revelation that China had originally submitted some COVID blood
samples to the NIH, and then they were allowed to withdraw those out. Now,
that's still -- that's still developing but that also seems very odd that
that happened and we're just now finding that out.

HANNITY: It seems beyond that. What would like you and where would you
begin this investigation? Is it possible that American tax dollars were
used to produce this pandemic in this lab?

NUNES: Look, we had our report. We've been running an investigation, House
Intelligence Committee Republicans, with no help from our Democrats, no
surprise there I'm sure.

But, look, this is continuing and investigations ongoing. Fauci needs to
answer these questions. Look, U.S. senators have asked him, U.S.
congressmen have asked him and he won't answer the question.

Look, my prediction here is -- and I'm willing to bet you a dinner over
this, Sean -- that Fauci probably won't be around come next election cycle
because he's going to become a liability for the Democrats next fall.

HANNITY: I don't think that's a bad prediction.

Is there legal liability, Gregg Jarrett, that you see?

GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Oh, the tangled web of deceit
continues to grow around Anthony Fauci. You know, it's bad enough that
there is compelling evidence that he may have lied to the Senate committee
last month when he testified under oath. But now, it appears he may have
lied to a House committee a year ago when he said, gosh, I have no idea why
President Trump ordered the funding to the Wuhan lab be halted.

This new book by two "Washington Post" reporters reveals specific
conversations, verbatim conversations, in which Fauci absolutely knew the
reason why.

Trump was alarmed. He couldn't believe the fact that American taxpayer
dollars are being given to a dangerous laboratory with shoddy safety
protocols in China doing work on COVID viruses, supercharging them, and may
have leaked from the laboratory, and that's why Trump ordered a halt to it.
Fauci resisted.

But when he appeared before the House committee a year ago, he had a sudden
case of amnesia and said, gosh, I have not idea why I got that order. Well,
this new book and the conversations in it show he did know.

Now, lying under oath is a crime called perjury. Even if you're not under
oath, it's a comparable crime called making a false or misleading statement
to Congress. There needs to be a criminal investigation of Fauci.

HANNITY: If I recall, there's a guy the name of Roger Stone that I believe
was charged with the exact same thing. In his case, it resulted with about
30 guys in tactical gear, guns drawn, pre-dawn raid, frogmen, and fake new
CNN cameras. That's if my memory serves well.

Congressman, let's go to the next step. What will Congress do and how
quickly will you be able to get that done?

NUNES: Well, the good news is that House Republicans today under the
leadership of Brad Wenstrup from Ohio, we introduced a bill that says no
more money for gain of function research, especially to our adversaries.
So, that's legislation you would hope that the Democrats would move this
legislation.

But I think the American people -- we've seen enough. China's not answering
questions. I think all roads are leading back to China that they are
responsible for this. At a minimum, the responsible for leading this run
all over the globe in a critical time frame that didn't give the globe soon
enough time to react.

So, look, there's legislation and investigations that are ongoing and we'll
continue to do our work. You know, obviously, we have to get Democrats to
vote with us.

HANNITY: All right. Thank you, Congressman, for what you're doing. Greg, I
appreciate your analysis as always.

Now, when we come back, the far left agenda continues to wreak havoc on
America's great cities. Now, cities, communities, they want out. There are
counties in Oregon that want to join the state of Idaho. They want to
separate, irreconcilable differences.

Two men involved in these efforts will tell their stories straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Now, we've been telling you about these issues that are
popping up across the country where local communities are standing up to
the failed, far left agenda. They feel like things are so different,
they're so apart on issues that these differences now are irreconcilable.
Now, some cities are flat out saying they just don't want to be a part of
this group anymore.

For example, there is a neighborhood in Atlanta. As a matter of fact, they
had a radio show in Buckhead. It's a neighborhood part of general Atlanta
and they want to form their own city amid Atlanta's failure to protect
basic public safety.

And in Oregon, multiple counties, they're now backing a plan to try and
join the state of Idaho.

Now, we'll see -- are we going to see more and more of this as the country
is more divided, people become more disconnected? Are the differences f
that irreconcilable? Anyway, cities and states now, towns are hitting to
the point where these differences are resulting in permanent division. Free
enterprise versus socialism, energy independence, green new deal, how do
you reconcile that? Law and order versus dismantling and defunding the
police, how do you reconcile those differences?

Sovereignty, security versus open borders and amnesty, the united sanctuary
states of America, how do you reconcile these issues?

Here with reaction, two men involved in the efforts: Mike McCarter, he's
the president of Citizens for Greater Idaho, along with CEO and chair of
the Buckhead City Committee, Chair Bill White.

Bill, let's start with you. That's my -- Pharr Road, 550 Pharr Road is
where my old radio studio was for a time. I love Buckhead. I love Atlanta.
I hate the idea that you want to separate. It's that bad?

BILL WHITE, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, BUCKHEAD CITY GEORGIA COMMITTEE: Well, Sean,
we had the idea, too. But the city of Atlanta has exploited the people of
Buckhead for way too long. The murder rate in Buckhead set aside in Atlanta
is up 133 percent since 2019. Shootings are up 164 percent.

A great guy Andrew Worrell got shot out on the Saturday jog. The other
gentleman who this maniac ran over with his car had both of his legs
amputated.

And we believe that there is a vacuum of leadership and a lack of respect
for our great police department who we know you love, Sean. You helped us
with those five African-American police officers were summarily fired by
this mayor, and we help to them their jobs back because of you and Bernie
Kerik.

And now, we are fighting to take our city back because we've had enough.
And we are going to make it happen, Sean. We have two bills in the
assembly, the courageous legislature I believe is going to give us the
right to vote on the ballot in November of 2022. We've raised the requisite
amount of money and we have supporters by the thousands and thousands
coming to us every day, Sean.

People are sad about this. We don't want to leave Atlanta but we say we
filed for divorce, the divorce is final, and we'll see what we do with our
new police department in Buckhead City. I bet you we put the smackdown on
this crime once and for all, Sean.

HANNITY: Well, that's the one thing, you want to do to keep the people and
your town, Buckhead, is beautiful. It's a beautiful part of Atlanta.

All right. Mike, let's go to you. So, you've got -- we're up to five
counties now in Oregon. You want to join the state of Idaho. Tell us the
story of that effort and what are you doing? And why?

MIKE MCCARTER, PRESIDENT OF CITIZENS FOR GREATER IDAHO: Well, thanks, Sean.
This is a grassroots movement by the people. This is a way that the
representative government should work. If you have a problem, you speak out
about it. You take it to your local officials, you take it up the line.

We are going county by county, 21 counties in rural Oregon asking the
citizens, do you want to work so might look into changing the governance
from Oregon to Idaho? This is a values issue just like you're talking about
in Atlanta. We're faith, family, freedom, liberty, down the blue line and
protecting and enforcing laws and we are just watching it go down the
tubes.

And this is not just recently. This has happened over the last 20 years in
Oregon. And now, there is a huge cultural divide between northwest Oregon
and rural Oregon.

Folks, you know, if you don't want to take care of the people in rural
Oregon, if you don't want to listen to them, then let us go. Let us go and
come alongside with folks in Idaho and support their conservative values
right down on the line.

HANNITY: Let me ask you both --

MCCARTER: And we're talking bringing 870,000 people in Idaho.

HANNITY: Let me ask you both and I've less than 30 seconds. It let me ask
you both this question.

Bill, I'll ask you first. What are the odds you think you'll be successful
in this effort?

WHITE: I think our odds, Sean, or 100 percent because I know that --

HANNITY: Wow.

WHITE: -- the courageous legislatures will give us the right to vote. It
could go up or down but I think if we have the vote today, there would be
80 percent, Sean -- by the way I want to send Mike a check, I love what
he's doing.

HANNITY: Mike, what you think your odds are?

MCCARTER: Our odds are good. Right now, the last five counties that voted
in favor of this were 62 percent in favor across the board.

HANNITY: By the way, did Idaho say they'd take you? Would they adopt you? I
don't know.

MCCARTER: You know, I tell you what, bottom line is, if you don't try, then
how do you find out whether it's going to work? And we're in it for the
long haul.

HANNITY: All right. Thank you both for being with us, telling us your
story.

When we come back, Meghan McCain weighed in on Britney Spears controversy
tonight. Our video of the day you don't want to miss it. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Britney Spears broke her silence in court, demanded an end to her
conservatorship that is taking place. This morning on "The View," Meghan
McCain spoke out on the matter. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGHAN MCCAIN, HOST, "THE VIEW": I actually believe this has reached a
level that the FBI needs to be involved and extradite her from her home
away from these people this very moment because they could continue the
abuse in real time. I think it's that extreme.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: The girl -- the woman is an adult. She can run her own life.

All right. That's all the time we have left. Please set your DVR.

In the meantime, let not your hearts be troubled. Why? Laura is here.

Hello, Laura. Big show tonight.

Content and Programming Copyright 2021 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2021 VIQ Media Transcription, Inc. All
materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not
be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast
without the prior written permission of VIQ Media Transcription, Inc. You
may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from
copies of the content.