This is a rush transcript from “Hannity" October 8, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
HANNITY: All right. Welcome to "Hannity".
We start tonight, a FOX News alert -- the president of the United States,
Donald Trump, will join us live. We will talk about the debates, COVID-19,
Joe Biden, and so much more, only moments away.
Tonight, there are 26 days until Election Day. You will be the ultimate
jury, buckle up, brace yourself. This will be a rollercoaster ride the next
26 days.
Now, during last night's debate, Vice President Mike Pence was unflappable,
and he not only eviscerated, frankly, Senator Kamala Harris, but he exposed
just how radical and frankly dangerous her and Joe Biden's positions truly
are to this country.
She also got caught in one lie after another. Her rambling, her
disorganized answers at times were even hard to watch. Frankly, it's hard
to believe she was ever a prosecutor given her utter lack of preparation
and terrible execution.
More importantly, by the way, today, Senator Harris and her frail, weak
running mate, the ever-forgetful Joe Biden, they still are flat-out
refusing to answer significant, serious questions, dozens of them,
including whether or not they plan to neuter the United States Supreme
Court with a corrupt practice known as court packing. Frankly, it is
unconscionable that they refused to tell you, the American people, the
truth.
I guess they must think that we the American people are really that stupid.
They really think that they can just coast to the finish line without being
honest, without being transparent, without being forthright. Now, of
course, the media mob, state-run TV news, state run newspapers, so far,
they've allowed them to get away with all of this, which would be the
biggest power grab in history and, by the way, that is exactly what will
happen.
Their non-answers as Vice President Pence said, that's their answer.
Now, coming up, we have full reaction, Dan Bongino, Karl Rove, Congressman
Matt Gaetz, the great one, Mark Levin, will be here with their full
reaction and analysis.
And don't forget, the president will join us straight ahead.
But first, we do need to talk about the Commission on Presidential Debates.
Now, it's supposedly nonprofit -- well, supposedly nonpartisan, an
organization responsible for carrying out the presidential and vice
presidential debates.
But today, the commission, unilaterally, without consulting either
campaign, decided to upend the next matchup between President Trump and
former Vice President Biden. Now, they were citing the president's COVID-19
diagnosis and the commission announced that the debate would be held out
virtually out of, quote, "safety concerns."
The problem is that was a unilateral decision. They did not consult with
the president's doctors. They didn't consult with any doctor that we know
of or the Trump campaign or the president himself.
And, by the way, by October the 15th, the president will be more than 14
days away from when he first contracted COVID-19, which means he will no
longer, according to our own CDC, be shedding the virus, and will likely
have immunity, and I'm sure our doctors will be checking that out in the
first place.
So, what's really going on here? Isn't really about COVID-19, or is this
debate commission trying to basically harness President Trump and help Joe
Biden?
Earlier today, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted the following: Does anyone else
find it awfully coincidental that the morning after Pence destroys Kamala
Harris in a debate that the debate commission unilaterally changes the
format to obviously benefit basement Biden?
Now, keep in mind, during a virtual format, the moderators, well, they
would have access to a mute button and sleepy Joe would have easy access to
his trusty teleprompter.
So, today, during an interview with our colleague and friend Maria
Bartiromo, the president announced that he will not participate in this
virtual debate and this last-minute rule change. And the president is
right.
It's time that we now ask the important question here: Is the Commission on
Presidential Debates in the tank for Joe Biden? Has this turned into an
anti-Trump organization?
I think the evidence and the answer is sadly all too obvious. The moderator
of the second presidential debate, if it happens, is a guy by the name of
Steven Scully. Actually, know him, met him, actually like him.
He interned for Joe Biden. He worked for Senator Ted Kennedy. Was that a
factor in the debate commission's decision?
And, meanwhile, last night's vice presidential moderator, Susan Page, well,
currently is writing a seemingly glowing biography of Nancy Pelosi
entitled, quote, "Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power."
I guess it's no surprise that she failed to ask Senator Harris dozens of
important questions. Why? I don't know.
She didn't ask about law and order and safety and security, and the unrest
that we've been watching for the entire summer. She didn't ask about
Senator Harris' support for that bail fund in Minneapolis that put violent
riders and anarchists back on the streets. She didn't ask, well, Senator
Harris about, you know, all about calling Joe Biden pretty much a racist on
a Democratic debate stage.
She didn't ask about the time that Harris said she believed Biden's sexual
harassment and assault the accusers. She didn't ask Kamala Harris about her
smear of Justice Kavanaugh. She didn't ask about zero experience Hunter and
the millions of dollars that he made from foreign countries while his
father was the vice president.
She didn't even ask about packing the courts. In fact, it was Vice
President Mike Pence who brought up any of these issues and when he did,
Senator Harris just flat-out refused to answer the question, and all-
important power grab, a constitutional issue, something that has not been
touched in over 150 years and he asked her over and over again and still
didn't get an answer. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Judge Amy Coney Barrett
is confirmed to the Supreme Court of the United States, are you in Joe
Biden, if somehow you win back the selection, going to pack the Supreme
Court to get your way?
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Joe and I are very
clear. The American people are voting right now and it should be there
decision about who will serve on this most important body for a lifetime.
SUSAN PAGE, DEBATE MODERATOR: Thank you, Senator Harris.
PENCE: People, Susan, are voting right now, they would like to know if you
and Joe Biden are going to pack the Supreme Court if you don't get your way
in this nomination.
HARRIS: Let's talk about packing. Come on.
PENCE: You once again give a non-answer. Joe Biden gave a non-answer.
HARRIS: I'm trying to answer you now.
PENCE: The American people deserves a straight answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: The non-answer is an answer.
Now, by the way, this just breaking, the "A.P." is reporting the chair of
commission on presidential debates says it is not going to reconsider
shifting the second debate from virtual back to in person, despite a
request from the president and his team.
By the way, back to Harris, she never answered the vice president's
question. The moderator never held her accountable, didn't even follow up,
so it should be no surprise that earlier today, Joe Biden once again, he
refused to answer the question. He did say he will give us an answer after
the election. Take a look.
(BEGION VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You will know my opinion on court
packing when the election is over. Now, look, I know it's a great question
and I don't blame you for asking, but you know the moment I answer that
question the headline and everyone of your papers will be about that, other
than -- other than focusing on what's happening now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: This is a question of constitutional magnitude. You're supposed to
tell us where you stand on the positions to garner support of the American
people. Him not answering should scare every American.
And let me let you in on a little secret -- and Vice President Pence was
right last night -- Joe and Kamala Harris have decided they're going to
pack the U.S. Supreme Court. As Chuck Schumer said, everything is on the
table.
Now, if they get their way and they increase the number of justices on the
Supreme Court and they fill it with new activist jurists that believe they
can legislate from the bench, people like Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor
and Justice Breyer, well, that would be corrupt, it would be illicit, it
would be authoritarian, it would be a maneuver to give the Democrats total
control over the courts and that which they couldn't win at the ballot box
or legislatively, it would destroy coequal branches of government. That
would cease to exist.
Our American systems of checks and balances would be completely
eviscerated. The media mob, by the way, is enabling them to get away with
not answering this question. What else do they have in mind? Do they want
to end the Electoral College? They want to end the legislative filibuster?
Do they want to make this place or that place or D.C. a state? How many
states do they want to have in the Union?
This would be the single biggest power grab in this country in a hundred 50
years and it would transform this country to its core in a way that would
not be good for every American and could very well destroy this
constitutional republic. It is a clear and present danger and that's why
Joe and Kamala Harris are keeping it a secret.
But guess what? They're not stopping at court packing. They likely want to
end the legislative filibuster.
Again, Chuck Schumer, everything's on the table. They want to ditch the
Electoral College. Are they ready and willing to give Washington, D.C.,
Puerto Rico, statehood in order to add four more guaranteed in their minds
Democratic senators, in their view a guaranteed Democratic majority in the
U.S. Senate in perpetuity? Do they want one state party rule, zero rights,
zero input for the minority party? Because that's what it looks like.
And the media mob, the so-called unpartisan debate moderators can't even be
bothered to ask a single question about such a heavy constitutional issue
and the impact it will have on this country and future generations, and
meanwhile the truly unhinged Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, she's busy
fantasizing still about getting rid of President Trump. She still has not
accepted the results of the 2016 election and now says we are going to talk
about the 25th Amendment, which lays out a plan of succession should the
president become incapacitated. This is where her head is at.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): What are we talking about here? Tomorrow, by the
way, tomorrow, come here tomorrow. We are going to be talking about the
25th Amendment. But not to take attention away from the subject we have
now.
REPORTER: Do you think it's time to invoke the 25th Amendment?
PELOSI: I will talk to about that tomorrow. I will talk to about it
tomorrow. I'm not talking about it today because after tell you -- if you
want to talk about that, I will see you tomorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Court packing today, the 25th Amendment tomorrow. What else is on
the list?
Pretty much a typical Pelosi day, just like the last four years.
This radical extreme Democratic Party, they care about one thing above all
else, and that is power -- power now over all branches of government, power
over religion, power over your health care. Remember kamala Harris won't
even allow you to get private insurance if she has her way. Power over your
businesses, power over schools, power over your rights -- power over every
aspect of our lives.
And in order to get this power, they are willing to lie, deceive, not be
transparent and do everything and anything they can do to cover up the
truth about what their real radical agenda is.
For example, here is Senator Harris blatantly lying about Joe Biden's plan
to raise your taxes. Remember what he said, I'm going to repeal the Bush --
I'm sorry, the Trump tax cuts. That means all of our taxes will be raised.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Him -- he says he's smart because he can take advantage of the tax
code. And he does take advantage of the tax code. That's why I'm going to a
limit the Trump tax cuts and I'm going to eliminate those tax cuts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
HARRIS: The truth and the fact is Joe Biden has been very clear, he will
not raise taxes on anybody who makes less than $400,000 a year.
PENCE: He said he's going to repeal the Trump tax cuts.
HARRIS: Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking. I'm speaking.
PENCE: The important issue is the truth. Joe Biden has said twice in the
debate last week that he's going to repeal the Trump tax cuts. That was tax
cuts that gave the average working family $2,000 in a tax break every
single year.
Senator --
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: That is absolutely --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Every American that got a tax cut on the Donald Trump will lose
it. That means the taxes will go up.
Senator Harris also flat out lying about fracking and we've got the video
evidence. Take a look for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I am not banning fracking. Let me say that again. I am not banning
fracking.
No more, no new fracking.
DEBATE MODERATOR: Would there be any place for fossil fuels including coal
and fracking in the Biden administration?
BIDEN: No. We would work it out. We would make sure it's eliminated and no
more subsidies for either one of those.
HARRIS: So, first of all, I will repeat, and the American people know that
Joe Biden will not ban fracking. That is a fact.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you commit to implementing a federal ban on
fracking, your first an office, adding the United States to the list of
countries who have banned this devastating practice?
HARRIS: There's no question I'm in favor of banning fracking. So, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: No more fracking, no more fracking, we'll eliminate fracking, but
we are not eliminating fracking.
And when all else fails, Democrats, well, they always turn to more lies
about race. That happened last night with Senator Harris once again
accusing the president of never condemning white supremacists, following
the lead of Joe Biden, who's been making this same false allegation.
Now, this, by the way, is easily documented as a lie also, that Joe and
Kamala repeat over and over and over again, and they don't care that the
evidence is proving otherwise. But to help educate them both, well, we have
the videotape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Have you ever heard this president say one negative thing about
white supremacists? Have you ever heard it?
DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I totally disavow the Ku Klux
Klan. I totally disavow David Duke.
BIDEN: I got back in his race because of what happened in Charlottesville.
People coming out of the woods carrying torches, their veins bulging. Close
your eyes and remember what you saw. And the young woman gets killed
resisting the hate and violence and the president gets asked to comment on
it, what does he say? He says there are a very fine people on both sides.
TRUMP: And you have some very bad people in that group, but you also have
people that were very fine people on both sides, and I'm not talking about
the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned
totally.
BIDEN: He wouldn't condemn David Duke for god sake.
TRUMP: I reject David Duke, rejected David Duke. I've rejected the KKK, the
Ku Klux Klan. From the time I'm five years old, I rejected them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Twenty-six days of these liars in the Democratic party, if they do
well in the election and are able to carry out their stated radical agenda,
America, the country you know and love, it will never be the same.
Here with reaction, FOX News contributor, Dan Bongino, Florida Congressman
Matt Gaetz.
By the way, Dan Bongino, I know you've been public. You had a recent
medical procedure, everybody, you are in our thoughts and players, we wish
you a speedy recovery.
DAN BONGINO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you.
HANNITY: Let's start with the lies. They won't tell America the truth about
packing the courts. They're lying about race. They're lying about fracking.
They're lying about a lot of issues.
BONGINO: Yeah. Well, there's a reason that they won't answer the question
about packing the court. It relates to an appearance I did with you after
the Trump-Biden debate a couple weeks ago, Sean.
What President Trump managed to do a lot of people missed. What he did in
the debate, is he managed to get Joe Biden to divorce the left. That's a
big problem, Sean, because this is the base election. There are very few
independents left.
This is an election where we're trying to get every Trump order to turn out
and Biden is trying to get every Biden voter. But what Trump did in the
debate as he got Biden to renounce Biden voters.
Now, think about it -- again, a lot of people are missing this. Mike Pence
did the same thing last night with Kamala Harris saying, no, no, no, we're
not going to ban fracking. Well, that may sound great to people in the
middle, but the radical left, including AOC, are losing their minds and
they're the ones who are going to vote.
Trump is doing this on purpose. This is a strategy and he's got them
playing their game, and that's why they will not admit that they won't pack
the court, because if they do, it will be the final straw with the radical
left and the surgical operation separating Biden from the radical left will
be complete.
HANNITY: Matt Gaetz?
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): I think Dan's analysis is right and it's borne out
by the fact that more and more Republican candidates are fused to Donald
Trump in polling and to see more and more of the down ballot Democrats
taking positions that, as Dan pointed out, might be different from those
who are hearing from kamala Harris and Joe Biden.
You reported on the Commission of Presidential Debates, Sean, and have to
say the Commission on Presidential Debates looks more like a boring
Washington, D.C., dinner party than it does like real America. I would
almost rather left the cast of "Love Island" to set the rules for the next
debate, and, of course, the commission which represents the elite wants to
give Joe Biden the home-field advantage of a Zoom call from his own
basement.
But when the jobs of Americans are on the line, when our national security
is on the line, you don't get to Zoom into those meetings, you have to show
up. And whether people like or dislike the president, they can see from the
debates, he is a person in command and he will fight with everything he has
for the great people of this country, for our success and our enduring
prosperity.
HANNITY: Matt Gaetz, congrats.
Dan, congrats on your health. We're glad you're doing well.
Thank you both.
President Trump will join us in a moment. First joining us with 26 days
out, his take, the architect, Karl Rove. Well, that's the great one, Mark
Levin. Now, he'll join us in a minute.
But first, Karl Rove.
Karl, listen, they lied about fracking. They lied on taxes. They lied on
the issue of race. They're now talking about packing the courts.
Joe -- Schumer says everything's on the table, ending the filibuster is on
the table, ending the Electoral College is on the table, D.C., Puerto Rico
statehood is on the table.
Karl Rove, they're not -- how are they getting away with not answering
fundamental questions and lying into such a high level?
KARL ROVE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, they're getting away with it because
they're not being held to account by the media and because when they say
things like Joe Biden said today that he doesn't want to become an issue
and he will tell you after the election, their signaling to us exactly what
they're going to do.
And here's what they're going to do. They're going to change the Senate
rules to no longer require 60 votes to take up a bill. Virtually every --
not every piece of legislation but virtually all major bills in the Senate
require 60 votes to begin the debate, and that's what we call the
filibuster. If you don't get 60 votes, you can't take it out.
Ironically, it will take only 50 votes, plus the vice president of the
United States to break the tie to get rid of the 60 vote requirement, and
that's what they're hiding. They don't want to say that they're not going
to do that, because that's exactly what they're going to do.
And what does that mean? What does that mean? Here's what it means.
They will need only 50 votes plus the vice president, or 51 votes if they
don't have the vice president to pass court packing, expand the number of
judges so that the majority of liberals on the bench. Repeal the Trump tax
cuts.
Raise the new taxes that are called for in their platform. Taxes on
business, taxes on wealth, tax on savings, even taxes on retirement. They
say they want to do something but the tax advantage of like 401(k)s and
IRAs.
The public option, which is a government takeover of health care, done with
-- not like Medicare for All, that does it immediately, this takes a couple
of years to have the government take it over entirely. The college,
taxpayer-funded abortion, abolish ICE, free health care for illegals, all
of those things could be done with only 50 votes or 51 votes if you have 51
senators or 50 senators plus the vice president.
Now, you want to get a list of what they want to do? They want to get rid
of right to work, they want the federal unit -- FDR said we should never
allow federal unions to negotiate for wages. They want to do that.
They want to, quote, reimagine the police department. They want to get rid
of natural gas power plants and oil-fueled power plant by 2035. They want
to have -- they want to take 2 million houses out of 139 million houses in
America and retrograde, up fit those places.
Who's going to be 29 the 200 out of 139? They want what they call net zero
agriculture. Go tell some farmer that he can't use a tractor because that's
putting out -- that's putting out carbon.
They want D.C. statehood and Puerto Rico, and if you think I'm making up
this list, Google "Biden Sanders unity task force recommendations" and read
that document, 80 pages, 2020 Democratic Party platform, you will find it
all in their and their object is to pass all of those items with 50 votes
in the United States Senate and vote of the vice president to break the
tie.
HANNITY: Well, if I was the Republicans, I'd flood the zone in Ohio and
Pennsylvania on the fracking lie and I flood the zone unpacking the court,
ending the filibuster, raising taxes on the lies told. Karl Rove, thank
you.
When we come back, the president of the United States and Mark Levin,
straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: In just a few moments, the president of the United States Donald
Trump will join us.
First, joining us now, best selling author, "Unfreedom of the Press", host
of "Life, Liberty, Levin". I call him the great one, also nationally
syndicated radio host, Mark Levin.
Mark, let me go right to your wheelhouse, which is our Constitution. Joe
Biden literally said that he'll tell us after the election where he stands
on court packing. I want your position on that. Pelosi's comments on the
25th Amendment, the threat of Schumer to end the legislative filibuster,
the biggest power grab that I have seen in 150 years.
And tell us the constitutional significance of this.
MARK LEVIN, "UNFREEDOM OF THE PRESS" AUTHOR: This is our Constitution. Men
and women have gone to war to defend this document. Men and women have died
to defend this document. It is the finest governing document ever created
and established by mankind.
You want to know why? Because it protects the individual from centralized
government. It protects us from the mob and it protects us from the
monarchy. Right now, the mob has a voice in the Democrat Party. The
Democrat Party wants to destroy this country. That's why it intends to
attack the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court is one of our three branches. The Democrat Party is
saying we don't give a damn, if that branch doesn't out to our will, we're
going to destroy it. They want to destroy half of Congress by loading up of
Democrats, so there's Democrats in Congress that control that body for a
generation.
Then they want to destroy the legislative process, so nothing can be done,
nothing, to stop them. All the checks and balances will be killed. All the
checks and balances will be destroyed. Why? Because Nancy Pelosi and Chuck
Schumer have an agenda that they want to ram down the throats of the
American people.
This election is about this, the Constitution of the United States. When
you vote, when you vote, you're voting now, you're voting on your liberty.
You're voting on your country. You're voting for the men and women in
uniform overseas who are fighting for this document.
The Democrat Party is not this country. It doesn't get to rule over us. It
doesn't get to have monopoly power over our government yet that's what it
seeks.
And we have a coward, a coward, in Joe Biden, a man who has been a racist
for much of his life, a segregationist for much of his life, a bigot for
much of his life, hiding behind a virus, hiding behind a virus. And he
won't tell us if he will defend the Constitution of the United States.
We have a candidate for president of the United States who will not tell us
if you will defend separation of powers. One of the branches of the federal
government because he's concerned that will be a headline? It will be a
headline God forbid if he is sworn in and puts his hand in this document
and says he's going to uphold the Constitution.
I don't know who the hell Chuck Schumer thinks he is, he's a passing
footnote in history or Nancy Pelosi, a passing foot in history, they don't
get to decide in New York City and San Francisco how the rest of us live.
Now, let me tell you how ignorant Nancy Pelosi is. How bombastic and
buffoonish Nancy Pelosi is. The 25th Amendment, I didn't even know she
could count to 25. Does she know what's in the 24th or 23rd Amendment? She
knows nothing.
The 25th Amendment provides, in part, that the vice president in a majority
of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such
other body as Congress may by law provide determines that the president is
no longer able to carry out his duties. Well, the vice president and the
majority of the principal offices aren't going to do this, so they need
another body.
The problem is, there is no other body, because there's no law that's
created another body. So she gets up there on stage with her stupid-looking
mask that looks like it was somebody's old sofa, and she gets up there, and
you know what? Come back tomorrow. We are going to talk about the 25th
Amendment.
What are you going to tell us, Nancy?
Let me tell you what she's going to do in the media are going to run with
it because they are as ignorant as anybody else. We're going to set up a
commission. We're going to pass a bill in the house to set up a commission
with experts to look at this president, the medicines that he's taking.
But it's not the law, because the Senate is not going to pass in the
president is not going to sign it. She's setting up nothing. She's doing a
fan dance.
This is another phony Nancy Pelosi drama act three and a half weeks before
the election. Let me tell you about this woman. This woman has told our
airlines, our pilots, she is told our ticket agents, she's told people who
work in the airline industry go to hell and drop dead because I can't get
the money to bail out Cuomo, I can't get the money to bail out Newsom and
all these other fools that run these states into the ground, and because I
can't get that money, people are unemployed are getting nothing, people who
run those stores are getting nothing.
The airlines are going to go upside down because Nancy Pelosi has decided -
- she is blackmailing America. Nancy Pelosi has decided you either give
into her, you either destroy the Constitution, or -- or what? Or she's
going to destroy the country.
HANNITY: Mark Levin, "Life, Liberty and Levin", number one show, weekends,
and he's nationally syndicated radio host. Thank you, Mark.
Joining us now live from the White House, President Donald Trump.
Mr. President, thank you for being with us.
First, an obvious question, how are you feeling? How is the first lady
feeling? And I want to get into your comments that you would make Regeneron
and therapeutics free for the American people.
But first, how are you doing?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Really good, and the first
lady is doing really good.
And I thought Mark was fantastic. And I love your show.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: OK. I'll take it.
Have you been tested since -- your campaign and your doctor, Sean Conley,
put out that you will be medically safe and cleared for safe return to
public engagements by Saturday, five full days?
TRUMP: Yes.
HANNITY: Have you been tested recently?
TRUMP: Fortunately, the -- yes, I just saw the doctors today. They think
I'm in great shape. I'm in great shape.
HANNITY: Did you test negative?
TRUMP: I know when I'm in good shape or not.
And I will tell you, I took this Regeneron. It's phenomenal. And Eli Lilly
has something very comparable. It's phenomenal. And it's a whole new day.
It's a whole -- and if you go back a few months, nobody ever even thought
about this stuff.
We came up with it. And I'm going to have it delivered to every hospital
where you have sick people with the COVID, or the China virus, as we call
it. And we are going to make people better.
It actually made me better. I went in. I could have left a day later. I'm
telling you, Sean, it was incredible. So, that's Regeneron.
But, again, Eli Lilly has something similar. The kind of things we're
coming up with now are incredible, remdesivir, but that's a little bit
different, works much differently, actually. But these things are
absolutely incredible.
I think I'm going to try doing a rally on Saturday night, if we can -- if
we have enough time to put it together. But we want to do a rally in
Florida -- probably in Florida on Saturday night. Might come back and do
one in Pennsylvania in the following night.
And it's incredible, what's going on. I feel so good.
HANNITY: Have you had a test since your diagnosis a week ago?
TRUMP: Well, what we're doing is probably the test will be tomorrow, the
actual test, because there's no reason to test all the time.
But they found very little infection or virus, if any. I don't know that
they found any. I didn't go into it greatly with the doctors. We have these
great doctors at Walter Reed. And you do rely on them. They're really
fantastic talents.
And they came in from Johns Hopkins also and other places.
You know, when you're president -- I never saw so many doctors looking over
me. I think I'm the most analyzed human being in the world right now.
HANNITY: Let me...
TRUMP: But we have the head people at, not only Walter Reed, which is
incredible, with the job they do, but also Johns Hopkins and others --
other hospitals.
And I think they're -- I think they're amazed at how quickly this went,
frankly.
HANNITY: Let me ask you.
The Debate Commission said earlier tonight that their decision is not going
to be reversed, even if you get a full healthy go-ahead from all of your
doctors and follow the CDC guidelines.
How do they get to unilaterally decide that, without consulting with you or
former Vice President Biden's campaign even?
TRUMP: Well, I didn't even want to use them.
Last time, I had a big problem. They oscillated my mics when I had the one
debate. We had three debates with Hillary. And on, I think, the first
debate, they...
HANNITY: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Excuse me.
On the first debate, they oscillated the mic. And they oscillated it very,
very seriously. And they actually apologized to me.
HANNITY: In 2016.
TRUMP: I said, what is this all about? They were Clinton people.
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: And I said, we ought to just do the debates ourselves, Sean. We
ought to just -- just do it ourselves.
And I pick -- I'm the president. So, if we want to have debates, I'd rather
just do it ourselves. Pick some good anchor. So, I end up with Chris
Wallace, who's essentially -- look, his father did me once or twice, twice,
I guess, on "60 Minutes." He was great, Mike. Chris is not Mike. That, I
can tell you. He's not even close.
But Chris was terrible. He was protecting Biden the whole night. I asked
Biden about, why did he get all of that money from the mayor of Russia,
from the wife of the mayor of Russia? And Chris wouldn't let that be
answered.
When I said, why did he do the billion dollars, you're not getting a
billion dollars to Ukraine unless you get rid of the prosecutor? Chris
wouldn't let that. He protected him. The guy was choking like a dog. He
couldn't answer the questions, and he was choking like a dog. And Chris
kept saying it.
So, now we have another one. I didn't know this. But the other one is from
C-SPAN. And he's a never-Trumper. And I think somebody said he worked for
Biden at one point.
This is -- these are the people we get. And that's OK, because I have had
some bad ones over the years, and I have got an unblemished record, I
think, in the debating world, according to the polls, if you look at -- and
you got 15 debates last time, and they say I won them all, against very
talented people in some cases.
But I will say this, that it is -- it's a very sad thing. Now you have this
Debate Commission is a joke. The commission's a joke. Take a look at the
letter they wrote me four years ago, when they apologized. They were
oscillating my mic. They were turning it up and down when I was speaking to
Hillary, crooked Hillary, who turns out to be very crooked.
Look at all the stuff we found out on Obama and Biden and her.
So, we will see what happens.
But, no, I'm not interested in doing a virtual. I'm not Joe Biden. I'm not
going to do a virtual debate, sit behind a computer screen. And that gives
him the answers, because they will be handing him the answers, just like he
gets when he asks -- I mean, he does news conferences. He does them, and
they give him the answer, and they give him the question.
And they give him -- what kind of a news conference? He does them all the
time. And he was choking like a dog the other night. But Chris Wallace
bailed him in. He just bailed him in or bailed or not.
HANNITY: Let me ask you this, because I think this is -- you have an
opportunity to challenge Joe Biden directly.
His campaign could make the decision to go forward with a debate, get any
health check that they want, and follow through, and have two debates. And
you could agree upon the rules. You don't need a Debate Commission to do
that.
So, I guess you have the ability to challenge Joe Biden to such a debate.
Are you doing that tonight?
TRUMP: Well, I might. I will do it right through your show.
Let's go, Joe. Let's have a fair -- let's get a fair anchor, somebody like
the great Sean Hannity. We will get Rush.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: Oh, yes.
TRUMP: We will get Mark.
HANNITY: That will happen.
TRUMP: We will get Laura.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: We will get Judge Jeanine.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: That's going to happen.
TRUMP: We will get right -- we got a lot of them out there, right? We got a
lot.
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: We will get Jesse or Pete. We got a lot of them.
HANNITY: Let me...
TRUMP: Tucker is doing good.
Look...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: This is a disgrace.
HANNITY: You're going to me killed on all the FOX talk.
Let me -- let me ask you...
TRUMP: This is -- no, no, no.
But this is a disgrace, what's going on.
So, now I find out the guy that's doing it from C-SPAN is a never-Trumper.
But I don't mind that. Look at the people I have had in the past. And I
have always won the debates. I had Martha Raddatz. Her hatred was so
incredible, I couldn't believe it. But I beat Hillary in that debate
easily.
So, you know, it's one...
HANNITY: Let me...
TRUMP: I don't mind that. It's not even that.
But I'm not going to sit behind a computer, and have somebody feed him
answers, because he has no idea, because he -- he won't be president for
three months before the wonderful Kamala takes over, with her -- she's the
most liberal person in the Senate.
She's not a socialist. She's a step beyond socialism, as you know.
HANNITY: What did you think of the vice -- what did you think of last
night's debate, sir?
TRUMP: I thought Mike was great, legitimately. I don't mean because he's
with me, and he's my friend, and he's done a great job as vice president. I
thought he was great.
He's a calm person. We're really a good combination. A lot of people have
said that for a long time. I mean, he's a calm person. He's a good person.
And he was just -- he couldn't believe some of the things she was saying.
And he really didn't. He couldn't believe it, what she was saying.
They lie. They lie so much, like fracking. Him and her for a year, whenever
the Democrat debates, said, we are against fracking. We will -- Biden says,
we will never, ever see fracking, and et cetera, et cetera.
As soon as he gets the nomination, he has to center over a little bit. No,
we want to go fracking. We will be fracking, and her too, even her. I mean,
she's a super lib.
Then they get beat up by AOC plus three, because they said, you never said
that before.
Now, the press gives them a pass. The reason they give them a pass is
because they're fake. The news is fake, the enemy of the people. And the
press gives them a pass.
If I ever did that, I would be excoriated.
HANNITY: Let me ask you about the issue that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris
refuse to answer. That is about packing the United States Supreme Court,
which would be a change, and that hasn't happened in 150 years.
TRUMP: Yes. Terrible thing.
HANNITY: And Joe Biden literally said today -- and I was -- I -- I honestly
thought, last night, Kamala Harris would have a different answer. I
thought, when Mike Pence challenged her, that she was going to say, no,
that they would not support it.
That is -- their non-answer is revealing. Joe Biden went further today and
said, you will know my position on court packing the day after the
election.
What's your reaction to that?
TRUMP: I think it was a terrible thing to say. I think it's so
disrespectful to the people.
And he should have said something and say, look, to the best of my
knowledge, this is probably what I would do. I think it's a -- I think what
he said was so disrespectful to the process and to the people. What he said
then was just disgraceful.
But what that means, really, is that they're going to do it, OK, because,
obviously, that means 100 percent that's what they're going to do. No,
they're going to end the filibuster. And they're going to do things that
you wouldn't have thought.
I have been fighting the filibuster with Mitch for a long time, because I
said, Mitch, they're going to do it. If they ever got in, Schumer would do
that on day one.
I agree that what they did was right, the -- you take a look at what Mitch
and some very good Republican senators did, because it's good for the
country. But I said, here's the problem. If they ever got in, day one, this
would be the first move they make, end the filibuster, the nuclear option,
as they call it.
And they will do that in -- not a week will go by. Probably not a day will
go by. But, again, Harry Reid did it. That's why we have so many judges. I
want to thank you very much, Harry Reid, because Harry Reid, he ended the
filibuster. And we have -- I'm going to have 300 judges by the time I
finish, 300. It's a record, by the -- by the end of the first term.
Think of that. It's a record to the term. By the end of the first term, I
will have 300 judges, just about, give or take a few, couple.
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: Mr. President...
TRUMP: And it's all because of -- think of it, Sean. It's all because of
Harry Reid...
HANNITY: 2013.
TRUMP: ... and a lot of good work by a lot of good Republicans, including
Mitch.
HANNITY: Don't you think -- or do you think that the people of this country
need to know whether or not Joe Biden, if he were elected president, would
pack the courts...
TRUMP: Yes.
HANNITY: ... whether or not he would support statehood for places like
D.C., whether or not he would support ending the filibuster, whether or not
even maybe pursue a constitutional issue amendment to abolish the Electoral
College?
To me, these are fundamental questions that he is refusing to answer.
What is your -- what is your answer to his non-answer? And the media, I
think he's answered less than 100 questions since this whole campaign has
started, which I think makes these two debates that are forthcoming even
more important than -- than any average presidential election year.
TRUMP: Well, he's got a lot of non-answers.
I mean, look, look at Second Amendment. You never talk about Second
Amendment. He wants to take away your guns 100 percent. He put Beto, who is
a -- he turned out to be -- he was exposed by Ted Cruz and me. I think I
helped a lot too. But he was exposed as a clown, as much worse than that,
but I want to be nice, because it's a nice evening show.
But he was exposed as a clown. He wants to take away your guns. He's going
to take away your Second Amendment. Nobody ever -- nobody asks him about
the Second Amendment anymore. Do you notice that? The Second Amendment is
very important. It's a big thing.
We campaigned on it. I protected this. If I weren't president, you wouldn't
have a Second Amendment right now. And Biden does that.
Nobody -- nobody talks about life anymore, pro-life. Is he pro-life? No,
he's not pro-life. What is he? Why don't you ask him that question? He
doesn't want to talk about it.
But he endorsed a governor of Virginia who not only executed a baby, late-
term abortion, but executed a baby, because said, the baby can be born, and
then you can kill the baby. And he's totally in favor of that. And I can
tell you, your pro-life groups are -- they're en masse. They're en masse.
This is -- this is their one shot, because what's going on is so -- is so
bad, is so evil. The governor of Virginia said, we will execute the baby
after the baby's born. That's when -- you talk about late-term abortion.
This is early-term execution.
And it's a very, very bad thing. But you don't ever hear anybody talking
about pro-life/pro-choice with Biden. You never -- did you ever hear it? I
haven't heard it. Very rarely do you hear it.
I don't think he would know how to discuss it. But, very importantly, the
Second Amendment, though, they just don't discuss the Second Amendment.
He's going to take your guns away. So, everybody with a gun, you can't vote
for him, because you're not going to have your gun.
At the same time, they wanted to defund the police. So, you're not going to
have police protection, and you -- by the way, you can't have a gun. So,
when one of these maniacs breaks into your house at night because there are
no cops around, you don't have a gun to protect yourself. That's a great
combination. And the suburbs are going to fall.
You know, a lot of people talk about the women of the suburbs, right, women
of the suburbs. They do or don't like Trump. I don't know. But what I have
done is incredible for the suburbs. The suburbs are over, as you know. The
suburbs will become more unsafe than the cities, run by the Democrats.
And so, I think I should do very well with suburban women, because I'm the
one that's protecting them, both in terms of law and order and in terms of
zoning. They want to build low-income housing right next to your house, as
you destroy -- as the American dream is destroyed, destroyed.
HANNITY: Mr. President...
TRUMP: But they don't talk to Biden about this. They don't talk to him
about law and order.
I said to him the other night, mention the words law and order. He wouldn't
do it. He wouldn't do it. I said, no, mention the word law and order. Go
ahead. He wouldn't do it.
And then, of course, Chris Wallace came in to protect him.
HANNITY: Let me ask you this, Mr. President, if I may.
I played at the beginning of the show -- we don't have a lot of time left.
I won't -- I won't play it again. Joe Biden twice in the debate that he had
with you said he will eliminate the Trump tax cuts.
TRUMP: Yes.
HANNITY: Now he's -- he's saying only on people $400,000 or more, but
that's -- I will let you explain it. He says he's not against fracking, but
I have him saying he will eliminate fracking twice.
TRUMP: Yes.
HANNITY: And we played that tape.
TRUMP: Very famous.
HANNITY: He has repeatedly said, and Kamala Harris last night falsely have
claimed that you do have yet to once condemn white supremacy. Yet I showed
multiple instances when you have done just that.
TRUMP: Right.
HANNITY: The neo-Nazis, David Duke, white supremacy, white nationalism,
disavowing David Duke. And yet they continue to spread that falsehood.
Your reaction, because they don't seem to get called out by the media on
the fact that what they are saying is false?
TRUMP: And I condemned the people on the left, like Antifa, that are
burning down your cities all summer long, OK, and without any control
whatsoever.
They're all Biden people, meaning -- not Biden. Biden's not smart enough to
know what the hell it even is. But they're of that philosophy.
And I condemn them very strongly, very, very strongly. It's not just the
right. It's the right. It's the left.
But the left has been the problem for a long time. Antifa is a big, big
problem.
And I see Whitmer today. She's complaining, but it was our Justice
Department that arrested the people that she was complaining about. It was
my Justice Department that arrested them.
But, instead, she goes and does her little political act. And she keeps her
state closed, although we just won the big case, as you know, to open up
Michigan, because what she's doing is a horrible thing to the people. The
churches are closed. The schools are closed, and the whole state is closed.
And people are being hurt very badly by it, in the form of drinking and
suicides and depression. It's a very sad thing.
But, no, Joe Biden wants to raise taxes, and, very sadly, if you take a
look. He wants to raise taxes, but he says he's going to end our tax cut.
Well, people are getting actually much more. Mike handled it great. He said
$2,000. It was actually much more than $2,000 in child tax credits, which
is $1,000 a child.
But he wants to take all that away. So, therefore, if you do nothing else,
you're raising taxes by the largest percentage in the history of our
country. If you -- if he terminated my tax cuts, which is one of the
reasons that our economy has done so great, even now in this pandemic,
which hopefully, we're rounding the turn.
And we have incredible cures and a lot of therapeutics, and the vaccines
are going to be coming very soon. But I will tell you, what I took is
incredible. To me, I viewed it as a cure. It's incredible. And we're going
to get it to everybody, free of charge.
It's going to hospitals. It's starting very soon. The military is going to
be delivering it. But he's looking to do big, big tax cuts - big, big tax
increases, like at a level that's never been seen. Nobody's ever gotten the
cuts that I got.
I got the biggest tax cuts ever given, as you know, Sean, better than
probably most. But he's going to end those tax cuts and reverse them. And
now people are going to pay $2,000, plus child tax credits, all that. It's
going to be a disaster for our country. It's going to -- it's going to put
our country into a depression.
And your 401(k)s are going to go down the tubes. And your jobs are going to
go away. And you're going to have a depression, the likes of which our
country has never seen before, and that possibly includes 1929.
HANNITY: Mr. President, there has been articles out -- and I would assume
that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris not giving their position on court packing
would be a national ad. I assume them both on record saying they would ban
fracking -- fracking would be an ad that would run in a lot of cycles in
Ohio and Pennsylvania.
TRUMP: And Texas.
HANNITY: Their Web site that endorses the Green New Deal, and Joe Biden
saying he would spend trillions of dollars on it and pledging that.
What would the New Green Deal look like, in your view, if implemented, as
promised by both Joe Biden and, as a co-sponsor, with Kamala Harris in the
U.S. Senate?
TRUMP: Well, it's a deal that was conceived of by not smart people, AOC
plus three and others. I don't even think they had any experience in the
environment.
But this was a deal conceived of. And the real price is $100 trillion.
That's more money than this country could make in 100 years, if things went
well, OK? I mean, they literally want to take buildings down and rebuild
them with tiny little windows, OK, little windows, so you can't see out,
you can't see the light.
And the whole thing is so crazy. It's such a crazy thing.
And take a look. And Biden agreed to this with crazy Bernie, because, you
know, they have the manifesto. They have agreed to most of these things.
And it's going to cost more money. Our country will be a ninth world
country, not a third world country, a ninth world country.
We won't have energies. Look at what's happening with the rolling blackouts
in California. Look at where California is going to have to ration water.
You know why? Because they send millions of gallons of water out to sea,
out to the Pacific, because they want to take care of certain little tiny
fish that aren't doing very well without water, to be honest with you.
But it's a very sad thing that's happening. It's no common sense. Even the
fires in California, I -- I talk about, you need -- I was with Governor
Newsom. I get along with him very well. We disagree on a lot of things, but
I get along with him.
Number one, you should let water come down from the north and accept it,
instead of throwing it out to the Pacific. But you also have to have forest
management. We send them so much money. I don't have to, but I want to help
California.
But they have the biggest forest fires because they don't manage their
land. They don't have separators. They have trees that have been laying on
the ground that are stone-cold, dead dry, like a matchstick. And you throw
a cigarette butt on it. Between the leaves and the trees, everything
catches on fire, and you lose 200,000 acres in a short period of time.
They got to manage their forests.
HANNITY: Mr...
TRUMP: And if they manage their forests, you're not -- you're going to not
see the forest fires.
HANNITY: Mr. President, the Heritage Foundation identified nearly 1,000
convictions on voting fraud. There have been -- you have expressed many
times your concern about some of the changing laws and rules and have
spoken negatively about these changes.
But, with that said, a lot of states have now begun early voting. Some will
be starting in a week or two. Are you -- will you encourage your supporters
to get out and vote early?
TRUMP: Well, I want them to vote, but I will say this. Absentee is OK,
because absentee ballots -- excuse me -- absentee ballots are fine, because
absentee ballots, you request, you ask for a ballot, and you request, and
that's it.
Absentee ballots are absolutely fine. You request them. You fill them in,
you send them back in. But these unsolicited ballots, universal,
unsolicited ballots, Sean, is a -- it's going to be a disaster the likes of
which we have never seen. We will never have seen an election like what's
going to take place.
Thousands of ballots all over the country are being reported, some thrown
in garbage cans with my name on them, some thrown in trays in a river.
What's going on is absolutely crazy.
We have people watching. We have U.S. attorneys watching. We have sheriffs
watching. We have U.S. Marshals watching.
HANNITY: With that said, then, is...
TRUMP: So, with all of that, you're talking about millions of ballots are
being sent out.
HANNITY: With that said, would...
TRUMP: And they're being...
HANNITY: If there's in-person early voting...
TRUMP: It's a fraud. It's going to be a big and tremendous fraud.
Excuse me?
HANNITY: Would you prefer -- would you prefer that your -- your supporters,
if that's the system, and that's what the law is, would you prefer that
they get out early also, so that there's not a big deficit heading into
Election Day?
TRUMP: Yes, well, my supporters are going to be mostly people that vote.
They go to the vote, you know, the old-fashioned way. It's like, go to the
voting booth and vote.
We -- first of all, we should have voter I.D. all over the country. We
don't. You know, when you buy something, you have voter I.D.
To get into the Democrat National Convention, you had to have voter I.D.
HANNITY: That's true.
TRUMP: You had to have voter I.D., OK?
HANNITY: I had to have it four years ago.
TRUMP: But to get into vote -- right.
HANNITY: Yes.
TRUMP: But to get into vote, you don't need voter I.D. many places. Many
places, you do. Indiana has a great system. I mean, you have many places
where you do have it.
But we should have voter I.D., universal voter I.D. When you go to vote,
they should see who you are, make sure that it's not fraudulent.
But this will be one of the greatest fraudulent, most fraudulent elections
ever because of this whole thing with the ballots. They're sending out
millions and millions and millions of ballots.
Where are they sending them? Who's sending them? Where are they going?
Where are they coming back from? How many are fraudulent? Are they being
thrown away? Are they being sold? Are they being harvested?
It's a terrible thing, Sean. Despite that, I think we're going to have a
tremendous victory. I saw some polls just now, some real polls, not the
fake news polls, where they put out fake numbers like at CNN and ABC,
Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, NBC.
It's the same stuff as I had. It's not nearly as bad as it used to be. It
used to be much worse, believe it or not, hard to believe, when you think
of it.
But I'm looking at polls that are doing great. We're doing great in Ohio.
We're doing great in Iowa. We're doing great in many, many places, many
places.
HANNITY: Let me...
TRUMP: Then you come home, you turn on the television, you say, gee, I'm
four down. I can't believe it.
But it's -- they're fake polls.
HANNITY: Last question.
And I only have about a minute for you to answer. And that is the -- we now
discover that the CIA had briefed then President Obama...
TRUMP: Yes.
HANNITY: ... on a plan that Hillary Clinton concocted to distract from her
e-mail server scandal...
TRUMP: Right.
HANNITY: ... and concoct this Russia hoax.
We also learned that she paid -- we already knew she paid for the dirty
Russian misinformation dossier, and that the source for Steele's dossier
was a known Russian operative for over 10 years. And they still went
forward with it.
In the 40 seconds we have left, your reaction to this new news.
TRUMP: We caught them spying on our campaign.
This is treason. We caught them trying to take down a duly elected
administration/president. And we have all the evidence now. Now we have to
see what the law enforcement going to do with it. But we caught them
spying.
As sure as you're sitting there -- I assume you're sitting.
HANNITY: I'm sitting, yes.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: But, as sure as you're sitting there, we caught them spying on our
campaign. You know that almost better than anybody.
HANNITY: You were right.
TRUMP: And it's something. When you see The New York Times, Washington Post
get Pulitzer Prizes, they got everything wrong, right? They got everything
wrong.
We caught them spying on our campaign. We caught them trying to take down a
duly elected president. And then they talk about, we want a peaceful
transition to power.
HANNITY: Mr...
TRUMP: Peaceful tran...
HANNITY: Well, we know what Hillary Clinton said.
TRUMP: Mike Pence's best answer was that answer last night.
Peaceful transition?
HANNITY: Mr. President, we...
TRUMP: Look what they did. They spent three-and-a-half years trying to
terminate a presidency.
HANNITY: Mr. President, we wish you and the first lady and every American
that contracted COVID a very speedy recovery.
Very, very positive news on Regeneron, and Eli Whitney (sic), and the
therapeutics. And Operation Warp Speed seems to be moving along nicely. And
we pray that that gets finished quickly.
TRUMP: Doing really well.
HANNITY: All right, sir, thank you.
TRUMP: Thank you very much.
HANNITY: Twenty-six days.
TRUMP: Thank you, Sean.
HANNITY: Let not your heart be troubled, Laura Ingraham is standing by.
I owe you 20 seconds. Every time I interview the president, I end up owing
you something.
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