Oliver North: $400 million transfer to Iran was ransom; Ben Carson slams media as being 'in the tank' for Hillary

close

Video

Oliver North: $400 million transfer to Iran was ransom

Fox News military analyst accuses the Obama administration of a 7-year history of deception on 'Hannity'

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," August 4, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to "Hannity." And tonight, President Obama addresses the ongoing fight against the Islamic State, which he says, of course, is the JV team and they're not Islamic. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: ISIL still has the ability to threat and inspire attacks. So we've seen terrible bombings in Iraq and in Jordan and Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Afghanistan, attacks on an Istanbul airport, a restaurant in Bangladesh, Bastille Day celebrations and a church in France and a music festival in Germany.

I do want to step back and note the broader progress that has been made in this campaign so far. Two years ago, ISIL was racing across Iraq, to the outskirts of Baghdad itself, and to many observers, ISIL looked invincible.  ISIL has not had a major successful offensive operation in either Syria or Iraq in a full year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Now, the president also talked about his administration's latest scandal, sending $400 million in cold, hard cash in the dark of night to Iran while Tehran was releasing American hostages. Look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: It's been interesting to watch this story surface. Some of you may recall we announced these payments in January, many months ago. It wasn't a secret. We announced them to all of you. Josh did a briefing on them.  This wasn't some nefarious deal.

The only bit of news that is relevant on this is the fact that we paid cash, which brings me to my last point. The reason that we had to give them cash is precisely because we are so strict in maintaining sanctions, and we do not have a banking relationship with Iran, that we couldn't send them a check.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Now, meanwhile, the president and John Kerry and Susan Rice -- they all admitted some of this money could, in fact, be used for terrorism, the cash that he gave them!

Joining us now with reaction, the host of "War Stories," Colonel Oliver North. Colonel North, I can't think of a better person to comment on this story than you, sir.

OLIVER NORTH, "WAR STORIES" HOST: Well, Sean, I watched that press conference -- absolutely astounded. Why didn't somebody get up and ask the question, Well, why did you ship it in the middle of the night in foreign currency on a chartered aircraft? Why not take it on that transport airplane, which is parked right behind the shipment of money? Why did they do it in the middle of the night this way?

Lookit, the $400 million transfer to Tehran is just the latest in a seven- year history of Obama regime lies, deceits and dissembling! Think about it, Fast and Furious, the IRS enemies list, the "Obama care," keep your health care, Benghazi, before, during and after, the e-mail cover-up by State and Clinton about what happened in Benghazi, and of course, the ISIS is now on the ropes again.

Lookit, the responsibility to protect people in Libya by killing Gadhafi has left a terrible caricature of American's foreign policy. And the whopper of all, and he touched on it in his press conference, the existential threat of Iran's nuke deal and the nuclear ICBM research and development with North Korea really isn't what it is.

HANNITY: OK, but...

NORTH: It's loony!

HANNITY: You know, and of course, by the way, we need jobs for jihadis and John Kerry equates global warming as as big a danger to the world and the United States as ISIS.

I guess the thing that stands out to me is, imagine a Republican president -- imagine that on the same day that hostages are released, they have an unmarked cargo plane, that they went to Switzerland and other countries to pour in euros and francs, and I assume dollars and other currencies, $400 million, and in the dark of night, fly this unmarked cargo plane into Tehran!

Now, Josh Earnest said today that they've been completely transparent about the whole issue. Well, they never mentioned the $400 million that was transferred at the time they were getting the hostages released! So did they pay a ransom here, is the big question?

NORTH: Yes, this was a ransom. Lookit, the very first demand by the Iranians when I met with them in 1985 was a refund of the $400 million from the shah, a down payment on weapons he'd wanted to buy. That's what they wanted from Jimmy Carter. That's what they wanted from me.

You know, it turns out I was actually a better negotiator than John Kerry.  We didn't send money to the Iranians! They paid us! I know. I was the one who had to sit down on the other side of the table with the likes of Ahmadinejad and Rouhani. What they wanted first of all was that $400 million. They got it from this administration. The Israelis shipped Tows, and we got hostages and Iranian money. Tows weren't -- Tows were doctored so they wouldn't work, and we had an interpreter, thank God, who was there and can confirm that.

We used the money from the ayatollahs to support a pro-democracy movement in Central America. Is that the right thing to do? Apparently, a lot of people decided otherwise. But we didn't have to do things like they did it.

I mean, think about this. There's an American transport plane right behind the shipment of money, and they're telling me this isn't ransom? It defies reality. Why didn't somebody ask that at the press conference today?

HANNITY: Yes, well, you know, and that's the thing. And the president's got this big smile on their (sic) face, but the idea that they acknowledged that money will be used for terror, the idea that the $150 billion on top of it, that they can spin their centrifuges, that they can build up conventional arms, that they can follow up on ballistic missiles, which would allow them to launch the weapon -- two weeks ago, it came out that they -- we now have cut their time in half that they can build this nuclear weapon...

NORTH: Right.

HANNITY: ... and create missile defense and join in a partnership with Vladimir Putin. Now, that...

NORTH: Sean...

HANNITY: And the president's smiling! To me, this is the single greatest mistake ever made by any president in history!

NORTH: We have an existential threat against the American homeland and the American people because of what this administration has done. And that money is not only going to support terrorism, that money is also going to support the research and development that's going on right now between the North Koreans and the Iranians on nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them!

And this president blows it off. They just got more than 1,000 brand-new centrifuges to expedite the time it takes them to refine nuclear material for weapons grade.

HANNITY: It certainly puts into perspective, doesn't it, the criticisms that the media has been obsessed with Donald Trump, considering now we have clearly given money and weaponry and an opportunity for the world's biggest state sponsor of terror to do more terror...

NORTH: Yes.

HANNITY: ... and to fight more proxy wars, as they have been doing.

NORTH: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

NORTH: ... other cash that we gave them. Absolutely right.

HANNITY: All right, Colonel...

NORTH: And Walid knows that just as well as I do. I mean, it's just -- it's pitiful to see the president of the United States getting up and lying like that.

HANNITY: Colonel, thank you. Safe home.

NORTH: Pleasure.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Joining us now with reaction, Fox News Middle East analyst, Donald Trump's foreign policy adviser, Dr. Walid Phares. Dr. Phares, your reaction to all this.

WALID PHARES, FOX NEWS TERRORISM AND MIDDLE EAST ANALYST, TRUMP ADVISER: Well, what the president said in the first part with regard to ISIS misses a lot of things. What he did not share with the American public is why it took us - - it took the coalition three years to make that progress, and it will going to take another three years. He won't be in the White House.

Well, simply because the Iranians told the administration they don't want American forces on the ground. They don't want Arab forces on the ground.  They don't want Sunni moderates on the ground. Why? Because they want to seize those places of ISIS into their hands, and they want to protect (INAUDIBLE)

HANNITY: Let me ask you this. Walid, because the Iranians say this was ransom. Obama smiles, as we just played. He denies it's ransom. Who's right? Who's telling the truth? Is Obama telling the truth, or are the Iranian mullahs telling the truth?

PHARES: The Iranian leadership has a history of saying -- of telling what has really happened, why the administration never shared with the American people.

HANNITY: Here's another point. If they're such good friends with the president, who gave them the $150 billion and the right to spin their centrifuges and 25 days' notice before an inspection and the right to missile defense and conventional weapons and all this -- I thought they were Obama's friend. They got everything in that deal, and they still take shots at him and try and embarrass him on the world stage! And I'm thinking, What part of this does Obama not understand?

PHARES: It's not just a bad deal. It's a very bad deal, and the Iranians are showing this. Not only we give them, as you said, Sean, $150 billion to improve their dome, their weapon, they're actually still kidnapping and have Americans in their custody, and we are paying, you know, money to get them out! This is the absolute worst deal ever signed in the history of deals!

HANNITY: You know, I thought Fast and Furious was bad. The Obama gave guns to, let's see, gangsters, drug dealers, kidnappers. They gave them guns. They didn't even put a GPS on it.

Now they're giving them the opportunity to spread and foment terror in the entire region, fight their proxy wars, which they have been doing, and build a nuclear weapon and not have the inspections anyplace, anytime, anywhere, as we were originally promised. And they got ransom, which means what, more Americans will be taken hostage?

PHARES: That is very, very ironic because at the same time we have Americans negotiating with them, with the Iranians and companies and people linked to the administration, we have American individuals who are captured and detained.

And at the same time also, we have abandoned our allies when we negotiated that deal with Iran. We have not included Israel. We have not included the gulf. We have not included Jordan. I don't know what (INAUDIBLE)

HANNITY: It's funny. If you look at the economy and you look at the world post-Obama, if there's any one human being, the community organizer, the Alinsky disciple, the church of GD America, the friend of unrepentant domestic terrorists -- there's never been anybody this unfit to hold office! And he's criticizing Donald Trump? I'll take Trump any day.  Thank you, Walid.

PHARES: Thank you.

HANNITY: Coming up next tonight right here on "Hannity"...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hillary Clinton, furthermore, can never be trusted with national security. Can't!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Trump continues to eviscerate Clinton on the campaign trail.  Laura Ingraham and Trump attorney Michael Cohen will weigh in.

Also tonight...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, D-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm telling you right now, we're going to write fairer rules for the middle class, and we are going to raise taxes on the middle class!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Raise taxes on the middle class. All right. Well, did she mean it? It seems like it. We'll check in with Monica Crowley, Charlie Hurt, Doug Schoen.

And then later, Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood opens up about the 2016 race while bashing the out-of-control political correctness atmosphere we live in as "Hannity" continues straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You'll have four more years of Obama if you elect Hillary Clinton.

(BOOS)

TRUMP: Four more years. Remember this! Hillary Clinton essentially wants to take away your rights under the 2nd Amendment! She wants to take away your guns. She wants to take away those bullets. She wants to take away your rights! Hillary Clinton, furthermore, can never be trusted with national security. Can't!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: That was Donald Trump hammering Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail earlier today at a town hall in Maine. Now, Trump has been going after his Democratic rival very hard in recent days. Here with reaction, editor-in-chief of Lifezette.com, FOX News contributor, nationally syndicated radio host Laura Ingraham, and from the Trump organization, special counsel to Donald Trump Michael Cohen is with us.

All right, so here's the left-wing media doing the bidding of Hillary, sort of like an extension of her press office, and trying to say, Oh, Donald Trump, an intervention is needed. I've talked to every single person I know in that campaign, and you can affirm that I know many and if not all.

MICHAEL COHEN, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Yes, but you didn't speak to me.

HANNITY: I did so. Stop it!

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: None of this is true!

COHEN: None of it.

HANNITY: None of it!

COHEN: There's not a single word that's coming out of this liberal media's mouth that has any accuracy at all. There is no infighting. There is no concern. There is no anything. And whoever these people are that they claim that they're talking to, it's an absolute lie.

HANNITY: You know, and Laura, as I watched Mr. Trump the last few days, he seems very focused. He's no longer fighting Paul Ryan, John McCain, or Ted Cruz or Mr. Han.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Right.

HANNITY: He seems back on issues, focused, as a lot of people that were critical said he should be focused on. Thoughts.

INGRAHAM: Yes, I mean, you have to stay on offense. If anyone needs an intervention, it's the former secretary of state, given the fact that she can see a tape of what Jim Comey said and just do a bald-faced lie on national television when asked twice by Chris Wallace. So an intervention for truth-telling would be necessary.

But I agree with you, Sean, that Trump in the last couple of days -- I think -- I think he's pushed the peripheral issues for the most part to the side. He has to keep doing that, though. You can't -- you can't expect that the Clintons are going to be like all these Republican junior varsity players who couldn't beat him. They are among the best political players on the scene. They're going to be helped by Obama, who's one of the best campaigners on the scene. And he's got to bring his A-game.

And I think -- I think as long as he stays on the offense, talks about getting more money in the pockets of the regular working families -- they're going to be able to earn more money, find better jobs, their life is going to get better if the status quo changes -- he's got to stay on that message, stop -- you know, I would stop talking about the other Republicans and just start talking about Hillary's disaster record and the plans that he has for the future. And that is a winner I a lot of these key states.

HANNITY: You know...

INGRAHAM: It is a winner message.

HANNITY: And Mike, what I said last night on the program, and I stand by this today, is that the only two people he really should mention with 95 days left are Obama's disastrous economic and foreign policy and Hillary's horrible record.

And the other thing that I think he should do is, you know, focus on the things that he said to me in interview after interview, I've put up on the screen, you know, the differences between these two campaigns.

He's going to appoint originalists to the Supreme Court, those that have fidelity to the Constitution, believe in separation of powers, co-equal branches of government. He's going to talk about protecting the homeland and securing the border for both the economy and our safety, implementing a safe refugee program, fixing America's broken economy, balancing budgets, creating jobs, energy independence, education to the states, he's negotiating better trade deals, the VA, put America first. That's his message right there.

COHEN: Jobs, economy and national security. He stays on those three topics, he's the next president of the United States of America. And where he should be hammering Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is on this disastrous $400 million cash, you know, and carry on this airplane. You know, I remember as a kid, there used to be a saying...

HANNITY: You mean -- wait a minute. The Trump Organization doesn't fly cargo planes that are unmarked into Tehran with $400 million in cash?

COHEN: By the way, first of all, they weren't even U.S. dollars.  Everyone's saying, Well, that's because they can't. Where did they get this money from?

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: What did they go, into CitiBank and turn around and say...

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: ... million dollars' worth of francs and euros? But here's another question. There's an old statement that where there's cash, there's corruption, and when you have a lot of cash, you have a lot of corruption.

And I don't care what anybody says, this whole thing smells wrong. It looks wrong. It is wrong. It's a pay-for-play. Who knows whether there was really even $400 million there. Maybe it was more.

INGRAHAM: Hey, Sean...

COHEN: Maybe it was less.

HANNITY: Well, Laura, you know what the funny thing is, is Josh Earnest said with a straight face today, We were so transparent about this. I'm like, Transparent? You forgot to mention the $400 million you paid for the hostages!

INGRAHAM: No, Sean -- Sean, the best is Hillary Clinton. Oh, that's old news!

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: She has, like, a couple of -- that's old news, and Mook on -- with Chuck Todd over the weekend said, Oh, we've already moved beyond that.  But (INAUDIBLE)

But I got to say, in the FOX News poll which came out late yesterday, couple of key metrics which is I think good news for Trump, even if, you know, some of these polls aren't looking great for him on the overall level.

But the great news is that the independents -- he's getting a huge surge among independents, 20 percent up for jobs and the economy, which is the number one issue facing Americans today. It's always what they say is number one. And also in handling the deficit, which I believe is number three or four.

And also, Sean, the poll question on how you're doing financially, when you add up the people who are barely able to pay their bills and the people who are falling behind, that's 63 percent of Americans are obviously really unhappy with the status quo! Only 35 percent are getting ahead.

HANNITY: You know, Laura...

INGRAHAM: That's -- that is a beautiful place where Donald Trump should stay and preach the gospel of the free market and -- and -- and...

HANNITY: I agree totally.

INGRAHAM: ... putting money in the pockets of the -- of the American people! It's got to stay there.

HANNITY: I want to add one little piece to what you're saying -- because I think your analysis is dead-on accurate -- but think about this. He only had, what, 75 percent or 78 percent Republicans. Those Republicans are not going to Hillary. They'll come back to him, I would say the vast majority, by the time election day comes. So I would rather have the independents now and then get the base later, no?

INGRAHAM: Yes. Yes, 74 percent, 77 percent of Republicans are with him.  But 88 percent of self-described conservatives are with Trump. So the slice of the Republicans not with Trump is quite small. I think he needs to bring more of them on, though. I think taking swipes at all these Republicans -- there's no benefit to that at all. There's no benefit. I wouldn't do it.

HANNITY: Yes, but you know what? I'm sick of some of them, too, like Paul Ryan and...

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: The bottom line is that he's sick and tired of the establishment, as is 70 percent...

INGRAHAM: Does he want to win?

COHEN: ... of the United States population.

INGRAHAM: But does he want to win?

COHEN: We're sick and tired of being abused. We're sick and tired to being lied to...

HANNITY: I agree with you, but answer Laura's question.

INGRAHAM: Mike, Mike...

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: Yes, we have to win. Once you win, then it's your Republican Party. But unless you win, if you lose in November, then they're going to try to turn you and your issues into a laughingstock. I won't let that happen, but that's what they're going to try to do.

So until he wins, I think, you know, you put all your focus on the corruption that is the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Clinton Foundation, their record, all of it...

HANNITY: All right, hang on, Laura, because...

INGRAHAM: ... and talk about American renewal.

HANNITY: ... I'm running out of time. I agree with Laura. Why do you -- I think he shouldn't let himself be distracted with Paul Ryan.

COHEN: And he's not going to let himself be distracted any longer. Again, he's going to stick to jobs, economy and national security.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: We all agree.

COHEN: 70 percent of the United States population right now want to see change. They know about the change. But just one last thing. You know, the last time I saw that amount of money shrink-wrapped was in "Scarface," right?

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: I got to go. Thank you both.

All right, coming up next tonight right here on "Hannity"...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The Obama/Clinton economic disaster -- it's an economic disaster -- has brought suffering across the nation!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Donald Trump back on the campaign trail, slamming Hillary Clinton.

Plus, tonight...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I'm telling you right now we're going to write fairer rules for the middle class, and we are going to raise taxes on the middle class!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Going to raise taxes on the middle class. Well, is it a slip-up, or is she serious? We'll get to all of that and more. Monica Crowley, Charles Hurt, Doug Schoen react to that. And Dr. Ben Carson in the house with reaction and much more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The Obama/Clinton economic disaster -- it's an economic disaster -- has brought suffering across the nation! Nearly 4 in 10 African-American youth are living in poverty.  Another two million Latinos have joined the ranks of those in poverty.  Nearly one in four people in their prime working years are now not working.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Donald Trump at his rally earlier today, once again slamming Hillary Clinton and President Obama for their failed economic policies.  And while Trump is on the offensive, Hillary Clinton is dealing with a major gaffe about, yes, raising taxes on the middle class that have already been hammered for eight years under Obama. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Trump wants to cut taxes for the super-rich.

(BOOS)

CLINTON: Well, we're not going there, my friends. I'm telling you right now we're going to write fairer rules for the middle class, and we are going to raise taxes on the middle class!

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Raise taxes on the middle class. Joining me now with analysis, FOX News contributor Monica Crowley, from The Washington Times, Charles Hurt, FOX News contributor and former Clinton pollster Doug Schoen.

Doug, let me put up on the screen here -- all right, average employer- sponsored benefits, health care premium increase from 2009 to '16 -- remember, the promise was that if you like your doctor, you keep your doctor, keep your plan, and you're going to save on average $2,500 per year per family. Whoops. It's up dramatically. Single family coverage -- family coverage is up $4,170. Now, if you look at inflation-adjusted median household income, it's down in real dollars!

DOUG SCHOEN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Right.

HANNITY: People are making less, and they're paying more for health care.  And if you look at the national debt per person, it is now -- look at this.  For every man, woman and child in America, this man has accumulated more debt than every other president before him combined, $59,783!

SCHOEN: Right. And Sean, if Donald Trump listens to you and listens to Monica Crowley, who have all fed -- talk about economic issues, talk about economic distress, he can win this election. But if he's off attacking Mr. and Mrs. Khan, if he's refusing to endorse mainstream Republicans, he will lose. This is very, very good and important advice for Donald Trump. He needs to heed it.

HANNITY: You know, Monica, 20 percent of the black community -- and historically, they seem to vote Democratic, as a demographic group -- 20 percent increase (sic) in the labor force participation. They're out of work! If you look at, you know, 55 percent of teenagers from the black community can't get a job, a 58 percent increase since Obama has been president of black Americans on food stamps!

Now, I think Doug is right in the sense that's the message, the economy, jobs and protecting the homeland.

MONICA CROWLEY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. That's exactly right. I mean, Donald Trump can pull this whole thing off in November if he focuses on two main messages. One is a strong pro-growth economic message. Doug is absolutely right about that. And a strong national security platform centered on rebuilding the military and smashing Islamic fundamentalism in the form of ISIS, other terrorists groups, and the overall ideology.

Now, he can pepper those messages, Sean, with other things, like taking on illegal immigration, building the wall, the necessity of having conservative Supreme Court justices. But those two main core themes are the things that he needs to be hitting over and over again.

Mrs. Clinton cannot address those things in an effective way because her record and the president's record are absolutely catastrophic on both of those fronts.

HANNITY: So -- and Doug is -- will say this openly, Charles. Hillary can't run on the economy. She can't run on national security because what she did is a mess. The only thing she's got is what the media is trying to help advance, a narrative about Donald Trump and temperament.

So to me, maybe Doug is right here. Maybe he should forget Ted Cruz and all these other people and just focus in on the economy, jobs and national security and protecting the homeland.

CHARLES HURT, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, I think Doug is exactly right and Monica is exactly right, as well, that, you know -- and you know, illegal immigration, of course, is part of national security, and he needs to stick with that, stick with it every day, no matter what the question is. If you're asked about the Khan -- Captain Khan, you just come back with, My condolences, and talk about the economy, talk about terrorism, talk about illegal immigration.

But you know, the problem for Donald Trump right now is he's not only running against Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, he's running against the media! I mean, what we saw at that press conference earlier today with President Obama at the Pentagon -- where you had the questions that the press was asking him -- asking the president were, you know, Gee, you've already said that Donald Trump is unfit to be president. How unfit is he?  Do you trust him to take national security briefings? Do you trust him with nuclear codes? I mean, it was astonishing. Never in --

HANNITY: By the way, the guy that was friends with unrepentant terrorists that bombed the Pentagon, the capital, and New York City police headquarters, the least fit person to ever hold that office.

SCHOEN: Let me go back to what Donald Trump needs to do precisely on your point. The president said, oh, everybody knew about the transfer of $400 million. It was no secret. Where is Donald Trump now out there with a rapid response effort, attacking in the way that I, as an American, and you, as an American with a different view, we both know that this is outrageous. We know that this is fomenting and supporting terrorism directly and paying ransom.

HANNITY: They paid ransom, and --

SCHOEN: So where is Donald Trump?

HANNITY: He hit it hard today. He hit it hard.

SCHOEN: But he's got to be responding to the president, Sean.

HANNITY: I agree with that too. Monica, reaction?

CROWLEY: Yes. You know, Donald Trump I think has made some mistakes in punching down. In other words, when he went after the Khans, and I know he was attack the first and so on. But it became controversial because he's the Republican nominee and he is hitting down. When the president of the United States hits him, Doug is absolutely right. He should be hitting him back because that will put Trump on par with the president of the United States, which is where he wants to be.

HANNITY: I think that's really well said. Charles?

HURT: Yes, and let us also not forget that as bad as things look today for Donald Trump, he still has --

HANNITY: I don't think they look that bad. A poll just came out earlier tonight --

SCHOEN: Plus one --

HURT: I agree, Sean

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: You think he can win?

SCHOEN: Of course he can win.

(CROSSTALK)

HURT: The press coverage is just astonishingly negative. I've never seen anything like it. And he has so much going for him right now. He's starting to raise more money. And he's still the outsider and Hillary Clinton is still the insider. And this year is a year for outsiders. And he has incredible enthusiasm at these events that he's having. And Hillary Clinton has trouble filling high school gymnasiums. So, you know, Donald Trump is not --

HANNITY: That's actually really true. I mean, they were both in Pennsylvania. There was an "American Spectator" article on that, and it was really funny because it showed Trump's crowd as massive, and Hillary's is --

SCHOEN: She has one thing he doesn't have -- $2 billion that she'll be able to deploy.

HANNITY: He's got a lot of money.

SCHOEN: He does. He can raise more.

HANNITY: He can raise a lot.

SCHOEN: If he sticks to his message.

HANNITY: All right, I've got to break.

SCHOEN: Sure.

HANNITY: Good to see you guys, thank you all.

And coming up next on this busy news night right here on HANNITY.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CARSON, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is really the key. He has to begin to educate the American people and stay on the issues and not allow himself to be dragged off into the hinterlands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Dr. Carson weighing in on what he thinks the Trump campaign should do to focus on to defeat Hillary Clinton in November. He's here next.

And later, Hollywood star Clint Eastwood slams political correctness in a brand-new interview and praises Donald Trump. We'll tell you what he said coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton works only for her donors, special interests, and lobbyists. You have lobbyists that have stamped on their forehead "I can produce Hillary." And they're very good.  And they raise millions of dollars. Did you see yesterday it was announced that Hillary Clinton got $48 million or so from hedge funds, and Donald Trump got $18,000 from hedge funds, or $19,000. I'm trying to figure out who they were. I want to give it back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Donald Trump earlier today at a rally in Maine. Many of Trumps supporters in recent days have been encouraging him to just stay on message and only talk about Hillary Clinton and Obama.

Here now with reaction, former 2016 GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson. I love how the media blows this out of proportion, and here's a woman that devotes an entire night at her convention to Black Lives Matter, a group that is on tape saying we want dead cops now and white people get to the back and "f the police." I've got all the tapes of that. And here's a woman that was called out by the FBI director as lying five separate times on her e-mail scandal. But the big issue with the media is that Donald Trump said that Mr. Khan's son is a hero, and his refugee program would never have impacted this family. What do you make of this double standard? You lived it.

CARSON: It's truly amazing, and I hope that the American people can see that most of the mainstream media is completely in the tank for Hillary, and they are not helpful at all. Remember, press was given a special place in our constitution because they were supposed to be honorable people and they were supposed to be somebody that the populous to depend upon to bring objective information so that they could make good decisions. They have completely distorted the original intent by what they're doing.

And the funny thing is they don't even realize that if we put somebody like Hillary in and we get more radical Supreme Court justices and federal judges, they too will be affected. They just don't know it yet. They haven't thought that far ahead.

HANNITY: I think a lot of people haven't. Doesn't this really come down to comparing and contrasting? Here's Trump's justices here. Here's Hillary's. Compare. Here's Hillary's plan to raise taxes on the middle class. Here's Trump's tax cuts. He's going to allow multinational corporations to repatriate the trillions offshore so we can build jobs.  Hillary is going to put coal miners out of work, coal mining companies out of work. Trump is all of the above. We could have millions of new jobs, high-paying jobs, and become energy independent. We'll build the border wall or we won't build the border wall. We'll get rid of Obamacare. We won't get rid of ObamaCare. We'll send education back to the states. We won't send education back to the states. To me it's a quintessential choice election.

CARSON: You have just articulated the reason that they are so determined to make this about individuals, to make this about Donald Trump. As long as they can keep him in the forefront, they don't have to talk about all the things that you just enumerated.

HANNITY: Knowing the media is that biased, knowing that they're out to get him, knowing the narrative Hillary wants to advance, even though she's got a vicious temper -- how do I know? George Stephanopoulos told us as did Dee Dee Myers. Knowing all of that, is it in Donald Trump's best interest to just stick to Hillary, to stick to Obama, let his surrogates fight these other fights for him, and just stay on message and say this is what I'm going to do. This is your chance to fix America.

CARSON: Absolutely. And I wish he would carry around a little thing in his pocket that he could always bring out when they try to push him into the mud and say, no mud. We're going to talk about the issues, because, you know, it really boils down to one candidate who is of the people and one who is the epitome of the established ruling class. You couldn't have a more clear-cut distinction than this.

HANNITY: You know, Hillary can't run on Libya. She can't run on her vote in Iraq and then politicizing it and creating a vacuum for is in Iraq. And she can't run on what she did in Syria and she can't run on what she did with Mohamed Morsi in Egypt. She can't run on not saying "radical Islamic terrorism," and she can't run on Obama's economy where we have a 51-year low in homeownership rates, where we have literally the worst recovery since the 1940s, the worst labor participation rate since the '70s. What does she run on?

CARSON: I hope he will explain that. I hope he will explain the labor force participation rate, get one of those Ross Perot-type charts and show people and educate them on this so they will know exactly what's going on.

And also talk about Hillary and her opposition to the Second Amendment, which she tries to act like she is for, but she and so many others, they sit there and talk about deer hunting and that, you know, the constitution doesn't say anything about deer hunting. The constitution --

HANNITY: I never shot Bambi.

CARSON: The constitution is about people being able to protect themselves.

HANNITY: I've been a marksman since I'm 11 or 12 years old. I've been a pistol marksman. I never shot Bambi, and I've got a gun collection that's the envy of a lot of people, trust me. All right, Dr. Carson, we love you.  Thanks for being with us, appreciate your time.

CARSON: Thank you, Sean.

And coming up, Clint Eastwood went off about political correctness in the 2016 race. Lisa Boothe, Jessica Tarlov, there' here next to weigh in on that and more tonight as "Hannity" continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINT EASTWOOD, ACTOR: Good ahead, make my day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Hollywood icon Clint Eastwood in one of his most memorable scenes of his career. Now the acting legend is in the news tonight for comments that he made about Donald Trump and political correctness. He made the comments to "Esquire" magazine in an interview, saying, quote, "but he's on to something because secretly everybody is getting tire offed political correctness and kissing up. It's the kiss-ass generation we're in right now. We're in a "p" word generation. Everybody is walking on egg shells.  We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those kinds of thing weren't called racist."

Here with reaction, Washington Examiner contributor Lisa Boothe, and Democratic strategist Jessica Tarlov." He also said the following. He says "I have to go for Trump you know because she declared she is going to follow in Obama's footsteps. There's been just too much funny business on both sides of the aisle. She's made a lot of dough being a politician. I gave up a lot of dough to be a politician and I'm sure Reagan gave up a lot of dough to be a politician."

HANNITY: Lisa, in many ways he's right in the sense that everybody is so sensitive, but they're only sensitive when it's the other side that does it. You know, there's selective moral outrage and indignation.

LISA BOOTHE, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: It only seems to be specific to the left who applies this selective outrage. But Clint Eastwood is absolutely right. We've seen political correctness run amuck in this country. You know you're in a really bad place as a society when saying something like "all lives matter" which is about as inclusive as you can possibly get is somehow now racist statement. And I think that sort of mentality and ideology only seeks to divide us. That doesn't seek to unite us. It only seeks to further divide us.

HANNITY: And that brings up a double standard, Jessica, because, you know, here is Black Lives Matter, "What do we want? Dead cops. When do we want them? Now." "Pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon."

JESSICA TARLOV, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: That's a fringe of the Black Lives Matter.

HANNITY: I'll give you more instances. You know, "F the police." Black Lives Matter, "You white people, you get in the back. Front for black and brown people." And then the entire arena during the DNC is chanting "Black Lives Matter." Hillary Clinton is seeking advice from them. Obama invites these people to the Oval Office to meet with him.

TARLOV: This is a nationwide movement. The top levels of Black Lives Matter --

HANNITY: Would you be part of that organization?

TARLOV: What do you mean?

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: -- that says "White people get in the back?" "F the police." "We want dead cops"?

TARLOV: I don't know what you mean by be a part of them. Do I support what they're trying to do in terms of violence against black people by the police? Yes. I understand their cause. They have a 10-point plan.

HANNITY: I am talking about a group that has been on tape chanting "We want dead cops."

TARLOV: Of course no one is for that. And the leadership of the Black Lives Matter movement has decried that as well. They do not want to be violence organization. I'm not saying that they're aren't some outliers here, but I don't think that is what Clint Eastwood is talking about. That is not just a PC culture problem, which I believe the left does have. I think Mike Bloomberg put it perfectly when he said a micro aggression is just that, micro.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Lisa Boothe, if a Donald Trump group, there's a group that supported Donald Trump and they had a few bad apples that talked about dead cops or talking about putting black or Hispanics on the back and not white people, why do I think that the whole group would be condemned?

BOOTHE: The irony here, Sean is the fact that actually in the wake of the Dallas shooting the Black Lives Matter movement issued a statement saying that one person's actions should not paint the entire movement with a broad brush. I'm stating that a little bit differently than the precise terms that they use, but that was the overall sentiment in this statement.  However, they don't apply that same logic when speaking about police officers. And that is the double standard of the left. What we've really seen from President Obama and the left as well is this sort of creation of a hierarchy of whose constitutional rights matter in this country. If you're not with the president or the left than your rights do not matter.

HANNITY: The DNC e-mails released, Jessica, showed they had racist emails, they had racial slurs, they had gay slurs. They had a whole anti-Semitic strategy appealing to Democratic anti-Semites in Kentucky in West Virginia, by the way.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Now, wait a minute. If that was Donald Trump or the RNC, wouldn't you be outraged?

TARLOV: I was outraged at the DNC emails. I thought that Debbie Wasserman Schultz should have lost her job --

HANNITY: There was misogyny in there, too, by the way. I forgot that.

TARLOV: I think it's offensive and it's terrible, but I think that we're moving towards these specific instances --

HANNITY: The head of the Democratic Party, the DNC has anti-Semitic, misogynistic, racial slurs, gay slurs.

TARLOV: And they've all been fired. Look at the leadership change. Do you think Donna Brazile is going to be running that ship in the same way that Debbie Wasserman Schultz did?

HANNITY: I have a lot more faith in Donna Brazile, to be honest.

TARLOV: We all should. Thought to go back to the original question about what Clint Eastwood is talking about, while there is a PC problem, the answer to that is not just Donald Trump's rhetoric. It's not to slander gold star. It's not to mock disabled reporters.

HANNITY: You know what the answer is I guess Hillary and Obama giving a nuclear deal and billions of dollars to Iran.

TARLOV: That's a PC issue?

HANNITY: Sure it is. They can give it there even though they say they're going to give the money to terrorist groups and foment terrorism.

TARLOV: John Kerry said it was possible that some money would get to terrorists.

HANNITY: So did Susan Rice and so did Obama. I got to roll.

TARLOV: OK.

HANNITY: All right, thank you. Good to see you both.

Coming up, we need your help, a really-important question of the day has to do with Clint. That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right, time for our "Question of the Day." So you just heard about Clint Eastwood's comments. What do you think? We want to hear from you. Go to Facebook.com/SeanHannity, @SeanHannity on Twitter, let us know what you think.

Unfortunately, that is all the time we have left this evening. Thank you for being with us, and we'll see you back here tomorrow night.

Content and Programming Copyright 2016 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2016 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.