This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," March 12, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Have a great rest of vacation that you were supposed to have.

All right. Welcome to "Hannity."

We are covering multiple important breaking news stories tonight. Buckle up. A fast paced breaking news opening monologue.

And we begin with this breaking news. CNN is officially being sued for $275 million for their destructive, malicious reporting of Covington High School student 16-year-old Nicholas Sandmann.

Attorney Lin Wood, I told you. This guy is great. He is now representing the Sandmann family, has a great, long track records of successfully holding these media outlets for their irresponsible -- accountable for their irresponsible reporting. Smears, slanders, lies, rush to judgment. This is going to be a slam dunk.

But we first turn our attention to the arrest tonight. "Desperate Housewives" actress Felicity Huffman, "Full House" actress, you may remember, Lori Loughlin and dozens others accused of participating in what is an elaborate bribery scheme, the biggest ever according to our Justice Department, which has fast tracked their children's admissions into some of the schools -- the America's top schools and universities.

Now, this game was coordinated by a man by the named of William Rick Singer. He set up a fake charity in order to bribe college coaches and others and pay high IQ individuals to frequently take SAT tests on behalf of his clients and even have some of the proctors putting in the answers. In one instance, Loughlin and her husband agreed to pay half a million dollars in bribes so their two daughters to gain admission to USC, as recruits of the crew team. Crew -- you got to work at that for years and year to get on the crew team, even though neither daughter ever participated in the sport.

In another instance, Felicity Huffman is accused of paying $15,000 to rig her daughter's SAT scores. Now, both actresses are now charged with felonies and are just two of 50 people arrested including 33 other parents, two SAT/ACT administrators, nine college coaches, and one college administrator. As Joe Lieberman said on this program last night, America is a ladder. You climb and climb. When you get to the top, you help others behind you.

What has happened here is they are being accused of doing the exact opposite of that -- very serious charges. In other words, trying to use great wealth, power, to hinder those below them, those that worked hard, those that now are trying to rig a system in favor of themselves at the expense of others. They should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Look at this. If convicted, it could be up to 20 years in a federal prison.

And meanwhile, fellow actor Jussie Smollett, we have an update on him today. He appeared in court and he is still professing his innocence despite what is now an overwhelming amount of evidence against him. Smollett is charged with 16 felony counts related to allegedly staging a hate crime hoax. We believe in due process, presumption of innocence. Not looking good for him. Now, we're going to have more of these two big breaking stories later in the show.

But first, tonight, big breaking news Capitol Hill, Nancy Pelosi's speakership is literally tonight on life support. Remember, in January, she took the gavel, a very narrow majority with just four votes over the necessary 216 needed to win the speakership. And now, she is walking on pins and needles to maintain support of some of the most radical elements right inside her own party. As if she's not radical enough. She's speaker in name only.

And tonight, Pelosi is facing a huge backlash, daring to say impeaching President Trump is, quote, "not worth it." Well, Congresswoman Ocasio- Cortez, Congresswoman Tlaib and others are now lining up to refute the speaker.

Now, Tlaib had this to say earlier. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Quick question, though. Do you think that President Trump should be impeached?

REP. RASHIDA TLAIB, D-MICH.: I'm so sorry. I have to go.

REPORTER: Do you think --

TLAIB: I think I've already made that very clear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And just in case you forgot, this was Tlaib's position from her very first day in Congress. You can't forget this. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TLAIB: When your son looks at you and says, mama, look, you won. Bullies don't win. And I said, baby, they don't because we're going to go in there and we're going to impeach the mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Those are liberals that kumbaya together.

All right. Of course, Ocasio-Cortez also disagrees with the speaker which now puts her very speakership in jeopardy. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D-N.Y.: I think this is a conversation in the caucus. And I know a lot of members in the caucus have a different opinion, but that's why we caucus.

REPORTER: Do you have a different opinion?

OCASIO-CORTEZ: I -- I happen to, yes.

REPORTER: Do you think President Trump should be impeached?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Also tonight, Congressman Al Green is now planning to force a House vote on Donald Trump's impeachment. For what? Who knows?

And Pelosi seems to have a real, real thin grasp on her own party. Let not your hearts be troubled, though. Democrats have attempted to impeach every single Republican president since Ronald Reagan. It has never been successful, but it's never also been this bad.

So, let's recap. On the one hand, you have the radical extreme far left Democratic socialists demanding Donald Trump's impeachment for no reason whatsoever. And on the other, Nancy Pelosi, why the divide?

There's a speaker think, for example, it's a bad move politically? Will it hurt them in 2020 because of the fallout surrounding former President Clinton's impeachment? Is Pelosi trying to obfuscate so that she can later claim the evidence is forcing her to carry out impeachment proceedings that you never wanted to do? Or does she have some insight perhaps into the Mueller investigation that there actually is no Trump-Russia collusion, no evidence, as we have been telling you.

We also know the answer to all those questions. Make no mistake. Speaker Pelosi is speaker in name only. Ultimately, she will do anything and everything to placate this radical base inside her party and their numbers are growing.

Those radicals also are about to face a major disappointment. Spoiler alert. Mueller's come up empty. There was no Trump/Russia collusion.

Instead, a corrupt, abusively biased, politically motivated two to your justice system has been uncovered. And tonight, we have huge breaking news in our "Hannity Watch" on the deep state.

I'm going to go slowly. Lot of information.

Everything we thought we knew about these deep state actors has now been confirmed, and we have brand-new developments tonight that are about to blow the lid off our entire two-plus year investigation. I have been saying, hang in there. Things are going to happen that will impact many of the lives of these deep state actors that we have exposed night after night on this program.

Earlier today, Georgia congressman, courageously, Doug Collins, released the full transcript of the Lisa Page testimony. Last week, he released the Bruce Ohr testimony. And we have now more proof that those working at the highest levels of the DOJ and FBI -- not rank and file, unfortunately, they are tarred and feathered unfairly over this -- they sought, they gave special treatment during the investigation into Hillary Clinton all while persecuting her opponent, Donald Trump.

Now, for background, it is important to remember, Lisa Page was the FBI deputy director to Andrew McCabe's general counsel. That was until he was fired for lying. And she was forced to resign because of her blatant, anti-Trump biased, which of course was uncovered in a series of text messages with her then FBI boyfriend, Peter Strzok.

And according to Paige's testimony, just released earlier today, well, Obama's Department of Justice was unusually intrusive into FBI's criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton. In other words, they managed it from the top. They orchestrated it. They orchestrated her rigged and phony investigation as we have been telling you about.

And they made sure Hillary Clinton never, ever had a chance to be charged as she should have been, as even Comey's top lawyer in the FBI, James Baker, wanted to charge her with a violation of the Espionage Act, for felony. They tried to tamper with their interviews. Look at this quote from the testimony.

As soon as the planning started to interview some of the more high-profile witness, not just Mrs. Clinton, but also Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills, Jake Sullivan, and her sort of core team, the Department of Justice wanted to change the sort of structure and the number of people who were involved.

Now, keep in mind, this is the DOJ of Barack Obama headed by Loretta Lynch. It was Lynch just days prior to this decision, just happen to me to Bill Clinton secretly on a tarmac in Phoenix, Arizona, talked 45 minutes about their grandkids, just before his wife was cleared of all charges. It was Loretta Lynch who asked James Comey to call Hillary's criminal investigation, which is what it was, "a matter." It was James Comey who agreed to go along with Loretta Lynch and call it a matter.

And don't forget, it was Lisa Page's then FBI boyfriend, Peter Strzok, he and Comey changed the language in Clinton's exoneration letter that was written in May before they ever interviewed any of the main people involved from the legal standard of grossly negligent, which would be a crime, to extreme carelessness, which it is not, and it was done on purpose.

And according to Page also, by the way, we have the entire thing. This is the transcript, right here. This is 300 and whatever, 70 some odd pages. I've been digging through this thing all day. The FBI knew the DOJ was trying to rig the investigation, forcing them to break protocol.

Listen to this quote. We all felt we were more credible than the Justice Department into closing was investigation out. The whole team really felt the Justice Department, led by Lynch, of course, headed by Barack Obama, were being led by Democrats who would be to essentially absolve the Democratic candidate. She's admitting it was rigged and now she's implicating Loretta Lynch's and Barack Obama's Department of Justice.

Absolve the Democratic candidate at all costs, change all the rules, all protocol. Now, just think about that. The DOJ, Loretta Lynch, under Barack Obama, when it came to Hillary Clinton, again, the upper echelon, the top people of our justice system, or working hand-in-hand to make sure that she never got charged with what every other American would be charged.

Quote, "That matter was swept under the rug." But the witch hunt against Donald Trump, that is much different story. According to this same transcript we have here, Lisa Page is admitting after nine months of the FBI's investigation that began right after the exoneration of Hillary and in July of 2016, after nine months, they had no evidence of collusion, whatsoever, nine steady months of investigation. This is before the appointment of Mueller.

Quote: it still existed in the scope of possibility that there would be literally nothing, and that their findings could result in not ultimately touching any senior people in the administration or on the campaign.

Now, still, despite absolutely no evidence that anybody has ever seen of Trump-Russia collusion, in spite of media hysteria, nonstop, hyperventilating coverage for two years, Democrats hoping and praying that somehow the special counsel Mueller is going to find at all. Well, so far, we haven't heard of anything. Mueller is now on day 664 of his additional intensive investigation after nine months before him. Still zero evidence of Trump-Russia collusion.

Everyone around the president has been subjected now to literally three years of harassment. People having to pay more for lawyers and they are getting paid working for the government, predawn raids, process crimes, lengthy prison sentences for offenses totally, completely unrelated to Donald Trump, the campaign, or anything Russia for that matter. Oh, but they did indict Russian intelligence agents. They will never be extradited.

Did the FBI show up at Huma Abedin's door in the middle of the night? What about Cheryl Mills? Now, they did not. We have been living -- we now have the proof -- this is on top of the Ohr testimony -- and they are so much more of this to come, in a two to your justice system.

That is all about to change. Justice, I can tell you, reporting for my sources tonight, is on the horizon. Stay tuned with us.

One lawmaker on Capitol Hill, well, not interested in anything truthful or any justice, yep, Adam Schiff, who is using my name to raise a lot of money. Please, help Schiff take on Hannity.

Come on the show. We've invited you.

He's a known liar, leaker, only interested in bogging the Trump administration down with, what, six to eight congressional investigations into every single aspect of Donald Trump's life? Probably going back to nursery school.

Take, for example, the committee's questioning of Michael Cohen. We now know prior to Cohen's testimony, Schiff's staffers briefed and potentially coached Cohen for over ten hours. Today when Schiff was asked about this blatant witness tampering, oh, he did his very best to lie and dodge the question.

Come on the show, Adam. We are prepared. We have everything you have set for two years.

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF, D-CALIF.: I had a brief phone call with my staff, Mr. Cohen, and his attorneys to encourage them to come and testify voluntarily. That was the extent of my communication with him, which was on the phone.

Now, several Republicans, Mr. Meadows, Jordan, the president and others have pushed out this false narrative that I spent ten hours with Mr. Cohen. That's simply not true. And they know it's not true but it makes for good FOX pundit commentary. And so, they have pushed out this falsehood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Adam, we never said you spent ten hours alone in a room with Michael Cohen. We are saying our staff spent ten hours alone with him. Why?

And also, breaking tonight, guess what? Judicial watch has filed an official ethics complaint against Schiff over this improper contact with Cohen along with a secret meeting Schiff had with Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson, they just happen to run into each other, while Simpson was a key witness in his ongoing committee probe. He needs to not only be recused. He needs to be investigated fully.

My advice, by the way, Congressman Schiff, you do have the right to remain silent. But I think we both know that's not going to happen since he is in love -- it is rage, compulsive, Trump-bashing every hour, every day, every week.

All right. We have a busy night tonight. We have a lot more to get to.

Joining us now with reaction to this huge -- and I bet he read twice all pages because he's a maniac when it comes to this, the author of the number one best seller, "The Russian Hoax," Gregg Jarrett. FOX News investigative reporter, contributor, Sara Carter, and the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, Doug Collins from Georgia.

First of all, Congressman, I want to say thank you. All of us and so many others that have been a part of our team that had broken a lot of stories on this program, and I give all credit to their hard work. We have been saying, release this, release this, and there is so much more to come -- 302s, FISA applications, Gang of Eight.

What can you -- what now can we expect, now that you have broken the dam and we are beginning to get more insight than we have had?

REP. DOUG COLLINS, R-GA: Well, you can expect to continue. We're going to continue, as I promised the American people, as we went through these, we're going through it in a very methodical pattern. We're putting this out there so we can -- people can begin to see what is actually going on.

You made a great statement at the beginning of the show. It is a two- tiered justice system. We've been -- the president has been unfairly attacked from the moment he was elected in November of 2016 on many fronts. And now we are beginning to see the vast scope of what most of us knew, that Ms. Clinton was treated completely differently than what we ended up seeing Mr. Trump being treated, and that's just wrong.

When you have the correct triumvirate of Strzok, McCabe, and Page, when they been to been involved from day one from the email controversy, to the original Russia investigation, to the appointment of Mueller, this just shows there is a two tier system and we are going to say, we're going to get this out, and we're going to put it in ways that people can understand. Not a large -- but we're going to take it methodically as we go, as we get them cleared, and we're going to get them out of the American people.

HANNITY: I want to thank you for doing this. There have been many other courageous -- Jordan, Meadows, Devin Nunes, I can't name everybody, Matt Gaetz, all these guys. Sara, I know you read this today, and the interesting thing is, a lot of your early reporting is corroborated, but there's also all this new information.

We now got closer to John Brennan, we now get closer to Loretta Lynch, which gets is closest to Barack Obama. What did he know, when did he know it?

SARA CARTER, CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think that -- you're absolutely right here, Sean. One of the things that I think I found most fascinating in the testimony, and it was -- if you actually go back to Bruce Ohr's testimony and compare it to Lisa Page, they both have different statements as to when Lisa Page actually knew about Christopher Steele. This is something I haven't seen out there.

But Lisa Page basically says that she didn't know anything about the dossier in August 2016. But Bruce Ohr specifically states in his testimony that he went to visit Andrew McCabe at his office with information that had just been given to him by Christopher Steele on July 30th. So, he goes to the office to meet with Andrew McCabe, and lo and behold, who's there to meet with him is Lisa Page.

So, actually, he met with Lisa Page in August 2016. It was information that was actually given to him by Christopher Steele. And they're in the office.

Now, Lisa Page obviously right now -- we're looking at the testimony, I would say we're seeing a lot of finger pointing. She's pointing at the Justice Department. It was -- you know, they were in charge. They didn't want us to move forward.

And I believe that's honestly -- I think she's being honest there. But the FBI was also heavily involved and as we have noted in past stories, you know, from the top down and the people that were involved in this in covering up as well for Hillary Clinton. And we see that with James Baker's testimony.

HANNITY: Right, exactly.

CARTER: Yes.

HANNITY: And Bruce Ohr -- Gregg, one thing that I picked up here in the Ohr transcripts last week, now these -- this -- by the way, how many times did you read it? I want to know.

GREGG JARRETT, LEGAL ANALYST: You were right, twice.

HANNITY: Gregg -- he can't help himself. I watch him in his office. He's like this.

JARRETT: It's great stuff!

HANNITY: It's true. I mean, you're a maniac. It's okay. Nobody said I was sane.

Here's what I sensed in both the Ohr testimony and the Page testimony. I sense they're telling a lot of truth here.

JARRETT: Oh, yes.

HANNITY: They're revealing things -- they understand the stakes are so high.

JARRETT: I mean, just begin with page 20, quote: Every person on the team knew no charges would be brought against Hillary Clinton. I mean, that's an amazing statement. She hadn't even been interviewed.

Chairman Gowdy then says, well, how could you -- how could you know no charges would be brought if you haven't even talked to her yet? She said, well, I'm not an expert on the law -- even though she's a lawyer. But it was our impression she didn't intend or have knowledge to have classified information on her server, which is, of course, total bonk --

(CROSSTALK)

JARRETT: Not to mention the fact that the law doesn't require intent or knowledge.

HANNITY: Thank you. It doesn't require intent.

JARRETT: Right.

HANNITY: And they had the right words in there, gross negligence. And every -- it seems like the FBI knew it and they were pissed because they were being controlled by Loretta Lynch and her Justice Department in ways that never happened in any usual case. Just like the -- the field agents were ripped out of the equation by the FBI.

All right. Quick -- my observation, Congressman, and I applaud you again, as you continue to release things, as other things, 302s and Gang of Eight and the FISA warrants come out, these people are in deep trouble and there will be accountability. Right or wrong?

COLLINS: There will be. I think this is what we're finding. I think the attorney general and his -- the new attorney general has understood this. He heard it and spoke about it at his confirmation hearings.

But let me go back to something and I think what you -- the other spoke the truths. We got to get a lot of this --

HANNITY: Don't stop.

COLLINS: -- because it can't be two-tiered.

HANNITY: All right. Sarah, my sources are very clear. There are things now -- these people are in trouble. A lot of them.

CARTER: They're in big trouble, Sean. And the attorney general is an honest, decent man. He's going to do the right thing. He's going to investigate this. The evidence is all here before the public. All they need to do is follow up with questioning these people and holding people accountable. And they will be.

HANNITY: Last 15 seconds. What's going to happen, Gregg?

CARTER: Collusion was a political ploy according to Lisa Page, and they were using it as an insurance policy.

HANNITY: It was all in your book. Perfect title. Thank you all.

All right. Yet another shocking statement made by Congresswoman Omar. We're going to tell you what she said and get reaction. Geraldo, Dan Bongino.

And breaking news out of Hollywood about SATs, ACTs and colleges.

(COMMERICAL BR

HANNITY: All right. Another day, another shocking statement from Congresswoman Omar. Now, she recently was highly critical of President Obama in an interview with "Politico", suggesting that Obama's policies aren't much different than Trump's. Well, that's a joke.

But on Monday, Fox News asked Omar about her Obama/Trump comparison. This was her pretty despicable reaction. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Do you think (INAUDIBLE)

REP. ILHAN OMAR, D-MINN: Absolutely not. That is silly to even think and equate the two. One is human, the other is really not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Here with reaction, Fox News contributor Dan Bongino, Fox News correspondent t large Geraldo Rivera. You know, Geraldo, there's certain things that I don't want the Republican Party dealing with.

We've got a world with nuclear weapons. We want to make sure every American has opportunity. And I have no patience for any conservative or Republican, racism or any bigotry or any anti-Semite -- I have no patience for this. The Democrats couldn't get the votes to even mention the woman's name, and they give the watered down -- we'll just blame everybody for everything, or condemn them --

GERALDO RIVERA, CORRESPONDENT-AT-LARGE: You know, if -- if what you're saying, Sean, is that their activism and their idealism sometimes leads them to intemperance, I totally agree. I mean, that was a classic example. We only get one president at a time. You need decorum.

There's a reason you call the president Mr. President. There's only one of them. There's only been 45 of them in the entire history of the American republic.

For her to be so insulting, that's more than scornful. That is insulting. It is beneath any representative. I applaud the fact that this incoming freshmen class in Congress more accurately in terms of diversity reflects the constituency that they seek to serve. When you hear someone say that, that sounds like an amateur insulting the President of the United States and losing votes. Rahm Emanuel is right. She's pushing the party too far to the left. It will lose.

SEAN HANNITY- HOST: And Dan, you put it all together--

DAN BONGINO, CONTRIBUTOR, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Yes.

HANNITY: --even during labor, even if the baby is born, as long as it's made comfortable after being delivered, the mother can decide whether it lives or dies. A lot of Democrats supporting - a lot of them supporting the New Green Deal. Almost all of them in unison just hate Trump--

BONGINO: Yes.

HANNITY: --more than even doing good things for the country.

BONGINO: Yes. Sean, that - this is who the Democrats have always been. I can't say this enough. The gift of Donald Trump has been to get to Democrats--

HANNITY: It's not--

(CROSSTALK)

BONGINO: --do--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: --raise your (inaudible). He was on the show last night.

BONGINO: No, no, no. Sean, Sean, everything that is old is new again. What did FDR talk about, Sean? Packing the Supreme Court. What came up this week with Eric Holder and a bunch of - packing the supreme - no, no. Sean, absolutely none of this is new. Hillary-care, all of this stuff. And let me say one more thing just in response to Representative Omar who's become a real embarrassment for the Democrat Party with her anti-semitic nonsense. What she said was really disgusting.

I'm a conservative. I proudly served as a secret service agent under Barack Obama and looking for everybody's pat on the back. But he was the President of the United States. And the problem is, liberals - well, we as conservatives think liberals are people with bad ideas. They think - liberals think conservatives are bad people with ideas.

HANNITY: Yes.

BONGINO: There's a big difference there.

HANNITY: Now, wait - no. conservatives are evil, inherently.

Geraldo, we learned in this - I have this big pile of Page testimony today on top of Bruce Ohr's release and so much more coming. And I'm looking at this and I'm thinking, wow, nine months since July before the appointment of Mueller? All they did was investigate Trump-Russia collusion and had nothing except the Clinton phony bought and paid-for dossier with Russian lies by a guy that won't even stand by the dossier. But all these big people in the DOJ and FBI bought it. Hook, line, and sinker because they wanted Hillary to win after they helped exonerate her.

RIVERA: One quick note that will anger my friend and colleague Dan Bongino. I deplored when Joe Wilson, the Republican of South Carolina, called President Obama a liar during his Obamacare address to Congress. I think that the President deserves-- (CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: What did Sam Alito whispered that night? Not true. But go ahead.

RIVERA: That - yep. Not true. I didn't like that either. I don't like - but I - in terms of Russia collusion, this has been the biggest canard. This is a phony. This is a fake. There is no Russia collusion. It is Russia delusion. Bill Maur (ph) owes me $1,000. All these liberals are going to run and scurry when they bring up this fake story, Russia collusion. I can't wait for that report.

HANNITY: And how does it end, as Terry Moran said, for the media and all these Democrats that have been feeding up a conspiracy theory a day and by every hour for two years.

Dan, last word.

BONGINO: Sean, the big bombshell in Page's testimony, as of May of 2017, she said it--

HANNITY: Nothing.

BONGINO: --still could have been literally nothing, the case against Trump, but they'd already sworn that they verified the information on the FISA. Those two things can't possibly be true.

HANNITY: No, no. Dan, you can't verify something that the author says I don't think it's true."

(LAUGHTER)

BONGINO: It happened.

HANNITY: Nobody can verify it.

BONGINO: You can't verify three plus three equals 27.

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: (Inaudible) You're right.

HANNITY: All right. You're both great. Thank you both.

All right. We have an important Hannity monologue coming up. The real dangers of socialism and Victor Davis Hanson away. And later, you won't believe who our Villain of the Day is. And wow! The biggest single scandal related to school applications and cheating to get into colleges. Mind blowing! Straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. In tonight's important Hannity Watch on the rise of socialism in America, let's begin with some good news. The American dream is now alive and well under President Trump and his agenda. Look at this new economic data that Americans are seeing the single best wage growth in a decade. The highest growth among the poorest Americans. The Democrats want to roll it all back with their far left socialist vision for America's future, which brings us to a short Hannity history lesson.

China, estimated 65 million people died as part of Mao's "great leap forward," his vision for a socialist China. Lenin promised bread, land prosperity to the people of the former Soviet Union that resulted in a famine that killed 5 million people.

Remember, India's first socialist prime minister vowed to end poverty. Today's India's inequality, wealth disparity, class divide is as stark as anywhere in the world. Hugo Chavez promising universal health care in Venezuela. The country is now collapsing without even the most basic medical supplies. People are eating out of garbage trucks, as Jorge Ramos reported.

Mass power outages, millions fleeing the country. Of course, we know in Cuba, the Castro regime stealing private property, killing their own people, suppressing all descent, still committing vast human rights abuses to this day. Bernie Sanders, by the way, didn't seem too worried about it. He was singing the praises of Cuba and the USSR, oh, since the 1980s. Unfortunately, the new Democratic socialist extremists, they can't stop with their wide, big promises and platitudes and bumper stickers, hoping that we'll forget about the past.

How did keep your doctor, your plan and save money work out? Think of that a thousand times bigger. Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez claims she's got it all figured out. Genius! Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When people hear the word socialism, they think Soviet Union, Cuba, Venezuela. Is that what you have in mind?

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D-N.Y.: Of course not. What we have in mind - and what - and my policies most closely resemble what we see in the U.K., in Norway, in Finland, in Sweden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Huge problem with the Congresswoman's analysis. Those policies don't match these countries. For example, according to the tax foundation, look at Sweden, Norway, United Kingdom, they have a lower effective corporate tax rate than the U.S. She wants that rate at 90 percent. Democrats want to raise it after historic tax cuts, the personal side 70 percent. That's what they want to increase all of this to.

And by the way, no business in America can survive in that type of environment. She also says don't worry about robots taking your jobs because it will give you more time for creating art. Socialism has been a failure every time it's been tried and, by the way, resulted in some of the biggest atrocities, human suffering in history. So don't fall for the false promises, scare tactics about the world ending in 12 years. It's all part of their plan. Gain more control of your life. You give up freedom for dependency and false promises.

And by the way, joining us now with reaction, the author of the best- selling book "The Case for Trump," Hoover Institution Senior Fellow, Victor Davis Hanson.

You're a great scholar. That's what - I love your writing so much because of it. You could say so much more. And what I gave is just a tiny slice. I want you to just expand on the dangers of what's being proposed here.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, HOOVER INSTITUTION SENIOR FELLOW: Well, I mean, we've always had socialist, Sean. Eugene Debs or Norman Thomas or Upton Sinclair, and they've never succeeded because it - we know from history that taking from somebody through government coercion destroys initiative and then it creates a laxity for the recipient.

But I think this is a little bit even scarier than just socialism because this is more French revolution, Maoist revolution, because what Ocasio- Cortez and her supporters are talking about is not just a 90 percent income tax in the top rates or a wealth tax or abolition of student debt. It's more inclusive.

I mean, they don't want to just not build the wall. They want to tear the wall down and open the border. They don't just want abortion. They want abortion as permissible infanticide. They want a 16-year-old vote. In California, they want felons to vote. In Florida, they want to abolish ICE, they want to abolish Electoral College.

And it's - they're warring against the very traditions of America. It's not just take down confederate statutes but tear down Christopher Columbus's image. And where I work at Stanford, Father Serra, they removed his name from the mall. And when she -- Ocasio-Cortez was starting to trash Roosevelt and Reagan, my God--

HANNITY: Oh, they (ph) say that's evil.

HANSON: --if it wasn't for FDR, we wouldn't have had a country for her to come to. Exactly.

HANNITY: Yes.

HANSON: He defeated Hitler. He was a great leader.

HANNITY: My father grew up in the depression.

HANSON: So was Reagan in the Cold War.

HANNITY: My father - I mean, as my--

HANSON: So did mine.

HANNITY: --mom and grandfather said, these were desperate times. Most people - and I lived this way for a big part of my life. I never thought I'd have any - I followed radio because it was my heart. But I - 10 years of my life in restaurants, 10 years--

HANSON: Yes.

HANNITY: --labor, construction. And - and I was very blessed and fortunate. Most people live in fear. They live - they have maybe two months' salary they can survive. And this promise of everything free and all your worries taken away, it's appealing. But it's a false promise. And I think - I don't think people see that this is totally unattainable or possible what they're saying.

HANSON: It is. And it's also scary because the people who engineer these revolutions always believe that they're so morally pure that the ramifications of their own ideology don't apply to themselves. So that's why Ocasio-Cortez has a chief of staff who's a multi-millionaire, or Mark Zuckerberg doesn't want a wall and a border, but he wants one around his estate. The same thing with the Green Deal. It won't be applicable.

I think she's thinks, Sean, that she's going to replay 1972 and go the full McGovern, and this time Woodstock Nation is going to beat the silent majority because she thinks it's changing demography and we've gone hard left. And I just don't think that's true. I think people when they see the totality of this revolutionary movement, they're going to say I don't want to give up my lawn mower, I don't want to give up jet travel, I really do honor ICE. I think they protect this. And so I don't think she's going to pull it off.

HANNITY: I want to bring you back--

HANSON: I don't think there's a chance to--

HANNITY: --because I just--

HANSON: --blank if you can (ph).

HANNITY: I think we need really - so many people will want to - those promises are so appealing. You'll never have any fear again. But it won't work, and the danger and the history of it.

Victor Davis Hanson, we always love having you. Thank you, sir.

All right. When we come back, big updates. Jussie Smollett, a massive, the biggest ever college admission bribery cases. Alan Dershowitz, Judge Alex Ferrer join us. And our Villain of the Day, by the way, is going to combat climate change. It's interesting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Back to our other breaking news tonight. Joining us live from our West Coast newsroom with the very latest on the scandal unfolding the largest in history of this alleged college admission scam as well as news from the ongoing Jussie Smollett case. Fox News Correspondent Trace Gallagher, wow! That shocked a lot of people.

TRACE GALLAGHER, CORRESPONDENT: It - yes. Operation Varsity Blues apparently began back in 2011 and ended last month, where 33 parents so far paid anywhere from $200,000 to $6.5 million to get their kids into elite colleges. Court records say the parents paid a college and career adviser named William Singer who in turn would bribe coaches, administrators, even testing centers. The goal was to either cheat to inflate SAT and ACT scores or make non-athletes into star athletes.

For example, the Feds say actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli paid $500,000 to have their two daughters recruited to the University of South Carolina's crew team even though the girls had never rode.

Actress Felicity Huffman - Huffman allegedly paid $15,000 to boost her daughter's SAT score, and lo and behold, by cheating, it went up 400 points. Huffman is out on $250,000 bond. It's unclear if Loughlin has bought it out yet. But both face felony mail fraud charges that could get them 20 years.

Those are the same charges that actor Jussie Smollett could face. Today, Smollett accused of orchestrating a hate crime hoax was back in court on 16 felony counts of lying to authorities, but Smollett is sticking to his story, saying he was attacked by two men who yelled racist and homophobic slurs and shouted "This is MAGA country."

Today a judge rules that during his next court appearance, cameras will be allowed, to which his attorney said, "Good, that way the public can see the evidence and lack thereof."

Sean.

HANNITY: All right, Trace, thank you.

Here with reaction, former Florida Circuit Court Judge, host of the Whistleblower, Judge Alex Ferrer. Also with us, Harvard Law School Professor, Alan Dershowitz. He wrote an introduction to the Constitution, will also write an introduction to the Mueller report right after its release.

Professor, let me begin with you. I - both of my kids are athletes, and they started when they were seven. They traveled the country. They and every one of their friends, they all got recruited to college for their sport. And they all worked very hard. It is a grind. The kids that study that get 1,500, 1,600s on the SATs or 35 or 36 on the ACTs, I hear this, they can face 20 years in jail?

ALAN DERSHOWITZ, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL EMERITUS PROFESSOR: Well, look, I think the colleges have some responsibility here. They allowed coaches, unchecked, to decide who comes in, and it was an invitation to scandal. If you have one person who can make the decision to admit somebody, it's very easy to bribe one person.

I think one of the reasons that Harvard was not involved - I'm proud of having been at that institution - is because admissions are made by a committee. And even if you bribe one or two people, no evidence anybody at Harvard was ever bribed, you'd have to bribe seven or eight people, and that would never happen.

HANNITY: And by the way, they don't give out athletics scholarships--

DERSHOWITZ: So I think the colleges do have some responsibility.

HANNITY: I'm pretty sure they don't give athletes--

DERSHOWITZ: They're not supposed to.

HANNITY: Right. So they get--

DERSHOWITZ: They don't, but they still do admit students. Look, the Harvard basketball team has been doing very well, and not only athletically, but also academically. But they - they don't give scholarships, but they give preferences to athletes. They give preferences to cello players. They give preferences to a great many people. They give preferences based on race. One of the problems is that no one flunks out of college anymore, no one gets a D, no one gets a C, and therefore there's no check. So you could get students who are unqualified, and they'll still sail through college with their B or B-pluses.

HANNITY: And I'm sure as a professor, you see the difference. I mean, it's got to be very transparent.

Judge, I want to get your thoughts on this. And do you think the penalty could be that severe?

ALEX FERRER, FORMER FLORIDA CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE, WHISTLEBLOWER HOST: No. I think you're always going to hear the maximum because that's a number that gets people's attention. No judge is going to give the moms or the dads 20 years in prison for this. But is it a serious crime? It absolutely is.

And let's make a distinction here for the people who are saying, "Oh, come on, what parent wouldn't go out of their way to try to get their son or daughter a job or into a university?" We're not talking about moms who called a sorority sister and said, hey, could you write a letter of recommendation for my daughter, or could you get her an interview with the college or with a firm.

We're talking about parents who, if the allegations are true, committed serious felony, bribed people to get their children a spot in the school, which kicked out somebody who really deserved that spot, and in order to get the tax break for that, actually paid the money through this front that's supposedly a charity so they could then take a tax deduction for the fraudulent payments that they made, the bribery payments they made, which is absolutely outrageous.

DERSHOWITZ: But there's--

HANNITY: You're going to find out immediately that the academic--

DERSHOWITZ: Still there's no justification.

HANNITY: --chops for that. You got to know if they played the sport before in two seconds.

DERSHOWITZ: But there's no justification--

FERRER: If you're really looking--

DERSHOWITZ: --for Felicity Huffman at gunpoint. With people with their guns drawn, it's like the stone thing.

HANNITY: All right. I'm just running out of time. I hate to kick off.

DERSHOWITZ: Come on. A little bit of common sense.

FERRER: I agree with that.

HANNITY: All right. Thank you both. When we come back, our Villain of the Day doesn't want you to eat beef. We'll tell you why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Our Villain of the Day, New York City's Mayor Comrade Bill de Blasio. Well, he's proposing a meatless Monday in public schools to fight global warming, saying New York City that doesn't let you get a big off (ph). How did he get in charge of that? You can't make this up - you can't even get salt on a table at a restaurant in New York unless you ask for it. All right. We will never be the destroy-Trump media mob.

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