Ted Cruz discusses Ketanji Brown Jackson's 'disturbing' rulings
Senate Judiciary Committee member Ted Cruz joins 'Hannity' with reaction.
This is a rush transcript of "Hannity" on March 22, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: And welcome to HANNITY.
Tonight, we begin again with a FOX News alert.
Tonight, Russian forces, they have been repelled from Ukraine's capital city once again after an important suburb outside of Kyiv was retaken by Ukrainian soldiers during a counterattack.
Meanwhile, the besieged city, we've been telling you about Mariupol, continues to hold out tonight. Despite horrific conditions on the ground, there are reports and President Zelenskyy is out there saying this entire city has been decimated. The rest of Ukraine remains in a virtual standstill, and this as reports emerged that Russian soldiers are now running short on food and gas and other basic supplies. We could always hope, as thousands sadly of casualties mount.
Vladimir Putin's invasion is not going as planned and now, many Western officials fear the worst including potential biological and chemical weapons attacks.
Now, we got to stop right here, because Vladimir Putin keeps making nuclear threats, chemical weapons threats, bio weapon threats, Joe Biden and all of our NATO allies need to stop cowering at the words of Vladimir Putin. He makes a threat and you bubble and fizz like Alka-Seltzer in water. In other words you're being intimidated. You're allowing yourself to be intimidated and you're acting and looking kind of gutless.
Lead all of our allies, Joey, and strongly tell Putin that you're all united and if he does cross that line, and it's a chemical, biological or God forbid nuclear attack, God forbid any of these attacks, he will be met with a response ten times worse for him. Do we want that? Of course, we don't want that. His troops and Russia will then be in the crosshairs if he crosses that line where NATO nations are impacted.
Whatever you say, you need to do. So know that fact too. Now because Putin's spokesperson won't rule out even the news use of nuclear weapons, well, take a look for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: President Putin has laid that card on the table. President Putin said that if anybody tries to stop him, very bad things will happen. And I want to know whether you are convinced or confident that your boss will not use that option?
DMITRY PESKOV, PUTIN SPOKESMAN: Well, we have a concept of uh domestic security and -- well, it's public. You can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used. So if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be used in accordance with our concept.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, obviously, it has to be taken very seriously. Vladimir Putin is backed into a corner. He's been embarrassed on the world stage. He's anxious, clearly paranoid, angry, God only knows what he'll do next. He's had no problem killing innocent men women and children.
And by the way, NATO, not only the U.S., not the us alone, they need to spell out what the immediate consequences would be because those weapons of war would trigger article of the NATO alliance. Now, Putin's soldiers have already leveled entire towns. They've blown up women and children's hospitals. They've bombed playgrounds. They've bombed schools. They've shot peaceful protesters in the light of day, shot Ukrainians waiting in a breadline and used cluster bombs and, of course, their hypersonic weapon to show off to the world as well.
Now, the U.S. embassy in Kyiv is accusing Russia of kidnapping over 2,000 Ukrainian children and shipping them across the border into Russia. So ask yourself what is stopping Putin from escalating this war even further with chemical or biological weapons. I hope he doesn't, but the question is, is the West, is NATO, is Joe ready to respond if he does? Do you have confidence in Joe Biden's ability to respond appropriately? Because I don't.
Now, yesterday, after another long weekend in Delaware, riding his little bicycle around town, Joe was babbling about something he referred to as the new world order. Take very close note of this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, we are at an inflection point I believe in the world economy, not just the world economy, in the world. It occurs every three or four generations.
As one of them as the one of the top military people said to me in a secure meeting the other day, 60 million people died between 1900 and 1946, and since then, we established a liberal world order and that hadn't happened in a long while, a lot of people died but nowhere near the chaos.
And now is a time when things are shifting. We're going to -- they're going to be a new world order out there and we've got to lead it, and we've got to unite the rest of the free world and doing it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Allow me to translate. This is a tip of the hat to Biden's climate alarmist religious cult New Green Deal social space instead of putting America first and making America great again, we will be all asked to sacrifice more and more and live more simple communal lives together in order to somehow save mother earth. This is not some kind of vast right wing conspiracy.
If you recall, last year, Biden vowed to fundamentally change our economy. On the campaign trail, he told voters, he told you that he would end fossil fuels. Well, he's following up on that promise.
He promised to kill the Keystone pipeline, he did. He banned drilling on federal lands, auctions on federal lands, he ended exploration in ANWR. He praised the Green New Deal, incorporated all of it into his Bernie-Biden manifesto, and now you the American people are paying four or five bucks a gallon for gasoline and, by the way, congratulations to Los Angeles tonight because the average cost for a gallon of gasoline is officially, average cost, over six bucks, all while America's enemies, they're getting rich.
Now, instead of generating our own energy with our vast natural resources here at home, well, new world order Joe is making deals with countries that we know hate us, including sending emissaries to Venezuela to talk to the murdering dictator thug there Maduro. He's talking with Iranian mullahs in a deal brokered by Russia. Does that make any sense to you? The result is a compromise national security.
And what do we have? A 40-year inflation high, great job, Joe.
Now, if you're not on board, then you're likely probably one of those evil capitalists that believe in the word "profit" and you probably want dirty air and dirty water, and you want children to die, and you want some Republican to throw your grandmother or grandfather in a wheelchair over the cliff. That's Biden's new world order.
If you're an enemy of America, let's sit down make a deal that's horrible for America. We sacrifice for the Planet Earth while China, India, Iran, OPEC, Russia, and all the other countries that hate our guts, they carry on with business as usual. Joe drives up the cost of a barrel of oil and they're making billions. This is what America last policies look like, and by the way, in addition to making us less safe, less secure, less prosperous, it's also a huge scam.
Clean energy, great idea. But at this point in time, windmills, solar plants, solar panels, they are not capable of powering this country. The lifeblood of the world's economy is oil gas and coal. The less oil, the less gas we produce at home, the more we have to import from overseas. They get rich, we pay more.
At the end of the day, when it comes to mother earth, is it really better for the environment that we drill a barrel of oil in Russia or the Middle East or Venezuela or Iran than in the U.S. and Canada? Can anyone in the climate alarmist religious cult can you give me an honest answer, does it really matter where the oil comes from? Does it make that big a difference?
Because it's in our best national security interest to drill here, drill now, because every American will save money. It's good for our national security. It'll create great jobs, high-paying career jobs in the energy sector.
Also, when you look at all the other benefits, it would drop inflation dramatically in this country and on the other end of it, if we can even produce more and be a net exporter of energy like we were under Donald Trump, we could help out our Western European and NATO allies.
At the end of the day, Biden's war on fossil fuels impacts more than just the price at the pump. Think about this, the high cost of crude oil, natural gas is now funding Vladimir Putin's war, because without that revenue, an attack on Ukraine would not have been possible.
Now much of Ukraine has been completely destroyed, thousands of innocent people have died, millions of lives have been upended likely forever and sadly the situation in Ukraine will get worse before it does get ever has a chance of getting better.
Here with the latest on the ground in Ukraine tonight, our very own Greg Palkot. He's with us.
Greg, what's going on today?
GREG PALKOT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Sean. Yeah, we had more air raid sirens overnight here in Lviv, and a lot of trouble across the country. But as you noted, some gains by the Ukrainian forces in their brave fight against the big Russian foe. That key suburb west of the capital Kyiv, taken in a counteroffensive by the Ukrainian forces.
Russian troops are said now to be demoralized, weakens, deaths are high, injuries are high, loss of equipment is high. This, however, again, as you noted, that key port city of Mariupol continues to get bombarded by the Russians. It's now said there's a hundred thousand people still trapped inside there, a hundred bombs and missiles here, they're hitting every day, including from ships off of the coast.
And while the soldiers aren't looting stores and other positions around Kyiv and elsewhere, they appear to be digging in. That seems to be the new strategy, Sean, depending on long-range artillery missiles and airstrikes to do their dirty work. That they can't do on the ground.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, brave guy, this time via video link to Italy's parliament saying that he needs more help, that his country needs more help, that they are on the brink of survival. He also by the way, Sean, spoke to Pope Francis.
Russian President Putin, yes, he was talking day two on the phone with French President Macron at Macron's request. Peace talks were said to be on the agenda, no reported results, as you can imagine.
Back to you.
HANNITY: Why is the response seemingly to be with NATO and our own president, Greg, I just keep noticing every time Putin ratchets up the rhetoric and talks about biological or chemical weapons or nuclear weapons, that everyone gets -- you know, they bubble and fizz and fear seems to take place, and Vladimir Putin seems to be winning that psychological war when they should be saying directly back to him what the consequences would be if such an escalation took place?
PALKOT: That's a good question. We could hear more of that strong message. We have President Biden arriving in Brussels on Wednesday night. There will be a NATO heads of state meeting, as well as G7, as well as the E.U. Biden will be here in the region in Poland on Friday, and he'll at least talk up more of what the game is.
He will call for more sanctions. He will call for more troop deployment, but direct action inside of Ukraine, outside of more military aid to these brave Ukrainian forces, that doesn't seem to be in the cars right now, Sean.
HANNITY: All right. Greg Palkot, stay safe. Thank you for that report.
Now, just a moment, we'll have more coverage on the conflict in Ukraine. Plus, we'll bring a reaction from Judge Jackson's hearing today with Senator Ted Cruz.
But, first, here with more on Biden's, quote, new world order, former senior counselor to President Trump, Kellyanne Conway, along with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
Governor, I'll start with you tonight and I'll start with this question, is the new world order that we give into the climate alarmist religious cult and we beg Iran, Venezuela and OPEC to produce the lifeblood of our economy and ignore the natural resources that are abundant here? Is that -- is that the new world order?
MIKE HUCKABEE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: It certainly would appear so, Sean. I think people ought to go back and read Huxley's "Brave New World" because it's as if we are reading something that was written a hundred years ago. A prediction that was considered so dystopian and so absolutely far-fetched that it was considered fantasy.
But we're seeing it played out before our eyes. This move toward one world government where everybody melts into one mind, one sense of uniformity, but doing it all in the name of diversity, and that's what we see from the far left. Joe Biden has fallen right in with it and instead of leading America to be unique, powerful, to elevate and celebrate the power of the individual, which is the hallmark of America, it's to basically destroy that sense of individualism and turn us all into minions of a government that itself has surrendered to globalism. It's a disaster, a total disaster waiting to happen.
How do you see this new world order Joey's talking about, Kellyanne Conway?
KELLYANNE CONWAY, FORMER SENIOR COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, he rightfully got a lot of backlash the moment the words escaped his lips, and there's a reason for that. Look, look at what Putin's doing, Sean, the fact is that strength is a deterrent and weakness is an invitation to a bully and bullies only get away with what they think they can get away with.
Sixty-three percent of respondents in a Harvard Center for American Politics survey said Putin would not have invaded Ukraine when Donald Trump was president. You know how they know that? Because Putin did not invade Ukraine when Donald Trump was president. He annexed Crimea when Joe Biden was the vice president.
And he is threatening NATO by saying we hear these, quote, aggressive comments from NATO leaders at leaders, and I put my Russian aggressive defense force on notice. It seems like his existential threat if you're Vladimir Putin is having his feelings hurt.
You saw in that CNN interview today, very disturbing to have his chief spokesperson or defense minister not discount the possibility of nuclear war. And you know, if you look at Americans right now, they're fearful of Putin because they know nobody fears Biden including Putin. And they see a feckless, reckless foreign policy.
There was one -- if there was one logical, rational reason for going backwards and having a guy with all this Washington experience, you know, Joe Biden five decades in Washington, it would be for moments like this and it's the opposite impact.
"Reuters" put out a poll just a couple of hours ago, the lowest approval rating for Joe Biden since they've been measuring it. Forty percent, 54 percent disapproval. But here's the key: 27 percent of independents said they approve of the job Joe Biden is doing.
Vladimir Putin's watching that like the rest of us are doing that. So, new world order -- nobody even knows what that means, and they're going to fill in the blanks with stuff that really scares them because they have no confidence in the way Joe Biden is leading this country and the way that we are not feared or respected on the world stage.
HANNITY: You know, Governor, I explained in great detail last night I'll give you a shortened version tonight, of the two modern examples of presidents following the philosophy that I believe in, which is peace through strength, and I talked about Ronald Reagan, the Reagan doctrine. We haven't played the Reagan doctrine in his own words and he never put a boot on the ground.
But when the Soviet Union in the `80s invaded Afghanistan, he did provide the mujahidin Stinger missiles. They won that war because of Ronald Reagan. He helped the freedom fighters, the Nicaraguan Contras against the Sandinistas and Ortega, they did well too, not an American boot on the ground.
Same thing with Donald Trump, except he did it a little differently. The caliphate that grew onto Biden-Obama, he bombed the living hell out of him and beat the caliphate. He took out Soleimani, killed Baghdadi and associates and killed the al Qaeda leader in Yemen, and he didn't put boots on the ground either, and he didn't get us into a long protracted war.
And I stand by that, we shouldn't put one boot on the ground. But when it comes to the cause of freedom, and as a Christian frankly, you know, there's a certain right and wrong when you see mass graves, entire neighborhoods bombed out and dead children and women in the streets, I think it's the morally right thing to do to provide them the weaponry if they're willing to fight for their own freedom which we are doing and I think we should do more of.
Your thoughts?
HUCKABEE: And that's exactly what I think people need to realize. Zelenskyy has not asked us to put troops on the ground. That's not what he's asking for.
I love it. I think it's the maybe the phrase of the century. I don't need a ride. I need ammo.
He didn't want to evacuate and leave his people. He wants to stay and lead them, but he wants to lead them and let them do their own fighting. But he needs the weapons to do it.
And you're quite right in pointing out how Ronald Reagan handled dealing with the then Soviets back in the `80s against Afghanistan, it was successful, and how President Trump dealt with dealing with terror in not escalating the number of Americans who were in harm's way, but escalating the people that were taken out and no longer able to put Americans in harm way by very thoughtful ways.
Leadership through strength is a very important part and frankly leadership by the other side not knowing what you're doing and being scared to death of what you may do. One reason nobody wanted to mess with President Trump, they just weren't sure what he might do. They were scared to death of him.
I don't think anybody's afraid of Joe Biden, because he tells everybody what he won't do.
HANNITY: Yeah, exactly. I'm -- we're not going to do this, we're not going to do that.
Kellyanne, I'm a little tired of the president and NATO and Western countries, they cower in fear that if, oh my gosh, what if Vladimir does this? Every time Vladimir makes a threat, now should we take the threat seriously? Absolutely. You got to take every threat seriously.
But Putin needs to be sent a message also that we have weapons too and that if he will escalate and I pray to God, he doesn't I hope this is it. But if he escalates this and it impacts NATO allied countries, and we'll have no choice but to engage Vladimir Putin in some type of military conflict. I hope and pray that doesn't happen. There's no need for that to happen.
But the only person that will make that happen is Vladimir, not us.
CONWAY: You're right. And President Trump said this last week in an interview basically that we have nuclear power as well a stronger power and Vladimir Putin knows that. But again, this is what bullies do. We're neither feared nor respected, because of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
One other thing that, you know, we're all seeing this humanitarian crisis. We're seeing war. We, people in this country starting to feel it. In the latest polls including my own, foreign engagements has just catapulted up. It wasn't even an issue a couple of months ago and it's right up there with a lot of distress at home.
People are paying attention to this. They see what's happening. And make no mistake: on this whole question of nuclear and how to respond, it's Vladimir Putin who has said in his -- his defense minister today, his spokesperson said, oh, this is a military operation. We're only hitting military targets.
Maternity hospitals, places of worship, places of work, people's homes where civilians are sheltering in place -- those are not military targets. Everybody sees what this is 10 million refugees and counting had escaped their home, and Vladimir Putin is making -- he is making demands that should not be met and America has to stand as we always have with our allies. And we just hear the president focus on another thing.
You know, John Vladimir Putin, Sean, Governor Huckabee, is threatening nuclear war and John Kerry's talking about climate change.
HANNITY: Unbelievable. Yeah, he needs to enter the real world like the rest of us. He spent too many hours in his private jet, spewing too many carbon emissions. I probably inhaled --
CONWAY: And wind surfing.
HANNITY: Yeah. I got to go. Thank you both.
All right. Straight ahead tonight, we got a busy news night. Another contentious Judiciary Committee hearing for Biden's SCOTUS nominee. We'll tell you about it. We'll play the highlights. Senator Ted Cruz had a contentious back-and-forth. We'll show that to you. He will join us as we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Now, Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, faced questions from the Senate today during the second day of her confirmation hearings. But unlike Democrats, Republicans stay focused on Judge Jackson's record, her judicial philosophy and exposed the Democratic double standards when it comes to Republican nominees. That dates back decades.
Here's Senators Graham and Cruz from earlier today. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Do you know Janice Rogers Brown?
KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: Yes, I do know her.
GRAHAM: Did you know that Joe Biden actively filibustered Janice Rogers Brown?
JACKSON: I did not know that.
GRAHAM: There are two standards going on here. If you're an African- American conservative woman, you're fair game to have your life turned upside down, to be filibustered no matter how qualified you are, and if you express your faith as a conservative, all of a sudden, you're an effing nut.
Look at the freaking government, it's made up of former detainees and Gitmo. This whole thing by the left about this war ain't working.
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): Let me also note that Larry Thompson who served as deputy attorney general under --
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): So, Judge Jackson, all of us will agree that that no one should be discriminated against because of race. When you just testified a minute ago that you didn't know if critical race theory was taught in K through 12, I will confess, I find that statement a little hard to reconcile with the public record.
JACKSON: I do not believe that any child should be made to feel as though they are racist or though they are not valued or though they are less than, that they are victims, that they are oppressors. I don't believe in any of that.
CRUZ: And I'll confess, Judge Jackson, as -- look, as I listen to your testimony I believe you are someone who is compassionate. I believe you care for children, obviously your children and other children. But I also see a record of activism and advocacy as it concerns sexual predators that stems back decades and that is concerning.
You say requirements that sex offenders register may or may not be unconstitutional depending upon whether, quote, sex -- in which sex offenders have no privacy right and registration information or blood samples. So you suggest that may or may not be constitutional, although you raise doubts about it. Do you still agree with the sentiments you expressed in your law school note?
JACKSON: Respectfully, Senator, those are not the sentiments that I expressed in my law school note.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now, the hearings will continue tomorrow and are scheduled to conclude on Thursday.
Here now with more is Texas Senator Ted Cruz is with us.
Senator, I want to start with this. She wrote once that every judge has a personal hidden agenda. And when I heard that, I'm thinking -- what is -- what is her -- what is her hidden agenda? We ever get an answer on that?
CRUZ: Well, no, and when it came to critical race theory, she didn't want to answer the question. She claimed she didn't really know what it was or what it contained. Of course, she had previously given a speech at a law school where she said that sentencing, what judges do, involves critical race theory.
And I got to say there was a lot of discussion about her record when it concerns sexual offenders and in particular sexual predators targeted at kids. As you just played, I asked her about what she wrote in law school that suggested that the laws that many states have passed providing for civil commitment for violent sexual predators, that those laws are unconstitutional.
And, you know, we went through every single case that she's presided over as a district judge where the defendant was convicted of possession of child pornography, every case that she had discretion in, she consistently sentenced the defendant to substantially below the sentencing guidelines and substantially below what the prosecutor asked for over and over and over again. She averaged sentencing them 48 percent less than the prosecutor asked for, and that was in 100 percent of the cases where she had discretion, where there wasn't a plea agreement or a mandatory minimum sentence. It really is a disturbing pattern.
And when she was asked, for example, one case involved an 18-year-old man who had multiple videos, explicit videos of young children, 12-year-olds, 11, 10, as young as 8 years old engaged in explicit sexual activity, in one instance being the victim of a violent rape, and she sentenced the 18-year- old man who had these videos on his computer to just three months in jail. The federal sentencing guidelines said ten years, she gave him three months.
And I got to say when she was asked about it, she couldn't give a good explanation about why repeatedly she gave light sentences, lenient sentences to sex offenders when the law didn't support that.
HANNITY: I watched the exchange, I couldn't believe it myself, Senator.
I want to go back to critical race theory. More specifically, I believe the speech you were referring to was at Michigan's law school, and she had praised the 1619 Project which argues fundamentally that the U.S. is a racist country and in that speech -- correct me if my wrong -- did she not make clear that judges that she believes should consider CRT in sentencing?
CRUZ: That's explicitly what she said is that sentencing -- she was talking about how interesting sentencing is and she says it involves lots of things, including critical race theory. And when I asked her about it, she initially contended she had no idea what it was and that it had nothing to do with her job.
And then I confronted her with her own quote saying that sentencing involves critical race theory, and she didn't have an answer to that and it -- look, it's a little bit of the game unfortunately that we've seen from Biden judicial nominees where they claim to have no philosophy, they claim not to know anything about whatever they believe, and then they get on the bench and they vote hard, hard left.
And I think there's real reasons to have concerns that if Judge Jackson becomes Justice Jackson, that that we will see a vote on the far left, very possibly the furthest left of any of the nine justices, particularly on criminal justice issues. It's an odd thing but for 30 years, she has been advocating lighter sentences, more lenient treatment for sexual offenders, both sexual offenders who target kids and just in general sex offenders.
And I got to say that -- that doesn't make any sense to me and I think to most Americans.
HANNITY: What about the issue of court packing? She refuses to answer that question. I'm a little surprised why she refuses to answer that question, simple question. She says it's a policy issue. Do you see a constitutional question involved?
CRUZ: Well, it -- there's not a constitutional barrier to packing the court. Congress has the authority to alter the number of justices and over the years, Congress has. But for over a hundred years, it's been set at nine.
The person who she's been nominated to replace Steve Breyer has said we should stay at nine. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away just over a year ago, she said it should stay at nine.
And so, Judge Jackson just doesn't want to answer it. And I think part of the reason she doesn't want to answer it is the people who are actively supporting her nomination, the people who lobbied the Biden White House for a nomination, the people who have devoted and pledged over a million dollars to a campaign in support of her nomination, they're the radical extreme left. They've described the Constitution as, quote, trash and they're the ones pushing the campaign to pack the Supreme Court.
And so, Justice -- Judge Jackson did not want to address a view one way or the other on the question.
HANNITY: I notice there is a great difference between, say, the way Democrats treat Republican nominees to the court. I'll name a few names, Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, Justice Kavanaugh more recently.
Do you see any of your Republican colleagues like Lisa Murkowski, I assume Mitt Romney and the usuals supporting her nomination?
CRUZ: Look, I think it's certainly possible. I think the names you suggest would not shock me to see them vote in favor of this confirmation. I hope that they don't do that, but on any close, contested political issue, you can see them casting a vote with the Democrats.
What I hope every Republican doesn't -- for that matter, what Democrats ought to do is look to her record and ask, is this a justice that would defend the Constitution? As you know, the book I wrote two years ago, "One Vote Away: How a Single Supreme Court Seat Can Change History", that outlines how free speech, religious liberty, the Second Amendment, they all hang in the balance and we ought to ask would this justice protect our constitutional rights?
HANNITY: Well, do they believe in co-equal branches of government or that do they believe they can legislate from the bench? Do they believe in the Constitution or not? Pretty simple questions, important principles and you all we get are prepared talking points and many hearings. That's what I felt like we were getting today.
Senator, thank you. Good to see you.
Coming up, new explosive book detailing the tension the disconnect between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. We've got the most shocking revelations. Lara Trump, Miranda Devine are next, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Brand new book from apparent "New York Times" reporters is revealing deep tensions between the Biden and Harris camp, chronicling a White House consumed by total distrust and total dysfunction now for example according to the book Biden's communications director became increasingly frustrated by Vice President Harris's performance, even suggesting that the problems may not be with the staff but the vice president herself, a claim Biden's communication director disputes.
The authors described the Biden-Harris relationship is, quote, friendly but not close, and even First Lady Jill Biden apparently expressed concerns with Harris being chosen as VP in the first place, telling a close advisor that there are millions of people in the U.S. -- do we have to choose the one that attacked Joe?
She had a few disastrous moments of late. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And talking about the significance of the passage of time, right? The significance of the passage of time. So when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time in terms of what we need to do to lay these wires, what we need to do to create these jobs and there is such great significance to the passage of time when we think about a day in the life of our children.
Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine. So, basically, that's wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: It sounds like she's teaching a first grade class.
Here with reaction, FOX News contributors Lara Trump and Miranda Devine.
Lara, I'll start with you. Harris allies complained that she was handed an impossible portfolio. Now, her portfolio was border czar, voting rights, chairing the National Space Council, leading an effort to expand extend broadband. Not exactly the toughest assignment and then Joe's comms directors saying that, yeah, the problem is her, not really her staff.
Your reaction to this?
LARA TRUMP, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I mean, you know, you have to kind of laugh at this, Sean, but it's really actually very upsetting to see. This is the vice president of the United States. Yeah, you just laid out a couple of the jobs, the very few jobs that she actually had. She has done none of them. She has failed miserably at everything she's been handed.
These are not hard jobs by the way. Go back to what Donald Trump did. He had all of this stuff in line and working very well. I can't help but think back to all of the critics the people that when my father-in-law was elected said, wait a minute, we have a guy, a businessman that has no political experience an outsider coming in this is going to be a disaster. We're going to have chaos in America, he's going to destroy this country, there will be wars breaking out across the world.
Yet, of course, none of that happened when Donald Trump was in the White House. It's happening right now under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and this disastrous White House and administration. It's just such a shame that in the name of getting rid of mean tweets, Sean, we also got rid of low gas prices, affordable groceries, a secure southern border relative peace around the world, strength and respect on the world stage, jobs and opportunities abounding here in America, obviously, the list goes on and on.
But the most important thing was competency coming out of the White House. And obviously, that is totally extinct.
One of the pieces of information that we recently learned out of the vice president's office is that she's been worried about her staffers embarrassing her, Sean. Well, you just played two recent clips of her there clearly she doesn't need to worry about the staffers embarrassing her, she's doing a great job of embarrassing herself.
But this is what you get whenever choose somebody not based on merit, not based on the best person for the job, but solely based on identity politics, which is exactly what Joe Biden told us was the only requirement for his vice president.
It's such a shame. It's so said. And the worst part, Sean, we had three more years of this left. What a mess.
HANNITY: Well, very well said.
Miranda, I don't know what's worse the passage of time lecture we got yesterday or Ukraine is a country in Europe, Russia is a country nearby and Russia did a bad thing and they invaded Ukraine. I felt like I was being talked to like I'm in first grade. And I'm like this is the vice president? That scares me.
MIRANDA DEVINE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, and what about when she went over to Poland, she said, I'm standing here, right here. I mean, the list of Kamala's greatest hits just goes on and on.
And the funny thing is that this book shows that she's blaming uh the White House she's blaming Biden's staff she says that they're not giving her enough respect that she's crossed because they don't stand up when she enters a room. But there's no one that she can blame for herself standing up every time she gets onto a stage and making a fool of herself. She looks like an extra out of an old "Cheech and Chong" movie. You know, some sort of a stoner waving her arms around and speaking in complete nonsense.
So, she is amazingly is not learning from her mistakes. She has not improved. I mean, it's one thing to be a neophyte and not very good at your job, you know, a year ago. But she's had a long time to learn on the job.
And I think the White House has given her a lot of different jobs. She's had pretty much any job she wanted, and maybe this is the way they like it, because Joe Biden's doing such an appalling job. But the idea of getting rid of him and replacing him with the vice president just is not on because Kamala Harris looks like she would be even worse, and certainly, the American people judging by the polls think that she would be worse.
The sad news is that number three in line is, of course, Nancy Pelosi. So we are in dire straits.
HANNITY: Add to that, the awkward giggling at inappropriate times which we didn't have time for.
But anyway, Miranda, thank you. Lara, thank you. Always good to see you both.
Jen Psaki, Hillary Clinton both announced today they have COVID.
Plus, Biden is facing more miserable poll numbers. We've got them all as his endless crises continue. We'll explain, straight ahead.
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HANNITY: All right. Joe Biden jetting overseas for this first trip to Europe since Russia invaded Ukraine. But Press Secretary Jen Psaki will not be making the trip after once again testing positive for COVID. This is her second time.
Hillary Clinton also announcing she tested positive today. Says she's feeling fine. Bill as of now is negative. Of course, we consider a safe and speedy recovery.
But Biden-Fauci, we also need to warp speed monoclonal antibodies. Joe, you might want to pay really close attention now on antivirals so that every American that gets COVID and cases have risen dramatically in Europe, that means they are probably going to rise dramatically here. It's already happening in New York, and people can get therapeutics as quickly as possible.
Now, you said, Joe, that you didn't see omicron 1 coming on the heels of delta. Okay, let me give you a headline, omicron 2 is coming and you need to prepare.
And we have now is a very different situation than we had to go years ago. Fully vaccinated people, fully vaccinated people with boosters, people who are fully vaccinated with boosters that even had COVID before are getting reinfected. So, your one-size-fits-all vaccine, vaccine, vaccine mantra is not preventing transmission.
So, it's well pastime, Joey, to pivot to therapeutics to save American lives, kind of what Ron DeSantis did, what, a year, a year and a half ago when he set up monoclonal antibody centers in Florida.
Now, Biden's trip aboard comes as his poll numbers are cratering. Look at this, "Reuters" poll has Biden's approval rating at near lowest, lowest at 40 percent. Emerson, a whopping 83 percent of voters say they are experiencing hardship due to rising costs, a 40 year high of inflation.
Donald Trump pulls 12-point favorability lead over Joe Biden, including a nine-point advantage over suburban voters. And in a hypothetical matchup, Trump is ahead 45-42.
And his numbers continue to crater with independents. Joe only has 24 percent, according to Reuters.
Here with reaction, "Insider Advantage" pollster Matt Towery, along with Trafalgar Group chief pollster, Robert Cahaly.
Matt, we start with you. If I was looking at these numbers and I'm a Democrat, I think I'd say I'm retiring with 30-plus other House members that have had enough.
MATT TOWERY, CHAIRMAN OF INSIDERADVANTAGE: Yeah, I'm surprised actually the White House hasn't asked Robert and I to try to give them some advice, because I think we have better ideas to get them out of this terrible funk.
It is a disaster. I mean, we've seen this. It started with Afghanistan. The numbers started to drop. And since that time period, there's been very little good news to bring Joe Biden back up.
And he did get a slight bounce, and I think you and I talked about it, I thought he would get a quick bounce when the war began because Americans are behind their president at wartime. But Jimmy Carter situation when Russia -- then the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, same thing. You got a bounce, he went to 50 which is really high for Carter, he went back down.
What we are seeing right now is Biden going off the slight bounds and beginning to go to the new low level in terms of his overall approval rating. I don't know where it stops.
HANNITY: Yeah. Just get your take, Robert, when you see -- your numbers I think had Joe Biden lower. I think Matt's numbers had Joe Biden lower as well. Where do you see this? And how does it impact the election which is not far off as we are now heading into April? This election comes pretty quickly in November.
ROBERT CAHALY, CHIEF POLLSTER AT THE TRAFALGAR GROUP: Absolutely. People look back and, you know, there are things about Trump that made them uncomfortable. But Biden's policies are making their families' lives unbearable.
It's showing in his poll numbers. There is a lot of buyer's remorse out there and, you know, his party is going to take a nice little lake in the midterms. There ought to be great concern because nothing seems to be going well and everything that they are doing seems to be out of whack.
You know, all the things that people are to say that this couldn't be true, you know, Hunter's laptop was real, they were spying on Trump's campaign, the virus did come from Asia, and on and on -- I mean, did come from China, they're beginning to realize everything they were told isn't right and they are reacting.
HANNITY: Yeah. And, by the way, I'll say this and I think you both agree, every state needs to realize because almost every state has laws for elections that partisan observers get to watch the vote count from start to finish. Not 1,000 feet away, not 100 feet away, not 20 feet away. They need measures and they need some type of clarification and accommodation that every partisan observer watch the vote count so we have integrity in the election and confidence in the results.
Thank you, both.
More HANNITY next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: This just in. FOX News alert, massive tornado just captured on video, touching down in the lower Ninth Ward neighborhood in New Orleans in Louisiana. We pray that everyone there is okay. We will bring you more information as it becomes available.
Please stay with the FOX News Channel for continuing coverage. In the meantime, let not your heart be troubled. "THE INGRAHAM ANGLE" is next.
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