Sen. John Kennedy says Nancy Pelosi overplayed her hand with $3 trillion coronavirus bill

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Sen. John Kennedy says Nancy Pelosi overplayed her hand with $3 trillion coronavirus bill

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," May 22, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Welcome to this special edition of "Hannity."

Now, for the full hour, we will highlight the best moments of my interviews with President Trump, and we start in April when we spoke about the WHO, China, and Joe Biden.

Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: I'm going to scroll a timeline of the White House, federal government, what they have done, just -- this is just information for our audience at home.

And I want to go back to 10 days after the first known coronavirus case. It was -- it was given a name on January 7th. The first known case in the U.S. was January 21. Your travel ban, which Joe Biden called xenophobic, hysterical and -- and fearmongering, was 10 days after the first known case in America.

What drew your attention immediately towards that, when I don't think many people like the idea at the time? Tell us -- tell us why you moved that quickly. Because that really has not been done before.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (via telephone): Well, all you had to do was really look at what was happening in China. You took a look at what was happening in Wuhan province, and it was terrible. It was -- you know, I don't know if they were shielding it or not, but they didn't do much in terms of shielding it, because you saw the -- the death. There was a lot of death, and people coming into our country from China.

And I was -- I was excoriated by the fake news and by the press, by these people that are bad people. They're just bad people. They don't -- they cannot love our country. I can tell you. They just excoriated.

And they weren't doing it for any reason other than it was me. If it was somebody else that did it, I think you probably would have had a much different reaction.

But I closed it and a lot of people didn't think -- a lot of very good people didn't think I should have closed it. A lot of people in the administration felt I shouldn't close it -- many people, most people. And it was a very early move and it turned out to save a lot of lives, fortunately.

And then I closed also to Europe and then I closed to U.K.

HANNITY: Let me ask you, on a personal level, I saw -- I mean, I have known you for, you know, 25 years, and I remember the question about how what are you telling Barron, your youngest son, and you said, "It's bad."

Tell us how you feel about it now, many -- any subsequent conversations with him or the rest of your family?

TRUMP: Once you get it -- I mean, if you're in the wrong group; if you're - - if you have a medical condition; if you're older -- it seems that older is certainly prime time for this -- this plague, this horrible virus. But if you're in a certain condition, which is not necessarily a good condition, it's vicious, what it does. It rips your lungs apart.

HANNITY: Yes.

TRUMP: It's a very, very -- it's a very tough thing to have, very tough thing.

You see that. I mean, you look at what's going on with the hospitals in New York and New Jersey. I was -- I was watching a little while ago, and it's - - it's terrible, a terrible thing.

HANNITY: You said in your press conference today you're looking to put a hold on money sent and -- to the World Health Organization. We are the number one contributor -- no shock there.

Also, this study out of Great Britain, 95 percent of this could have been prevented, had China opened themselves up to the help, the assistance that I know you and Secretary Pompeo said would have been forthcoming immediately.

Where are you at with the World Health Organization -- where are you at with China, because their lying played a detrimental role not only for the U.S. but for the world?

TRUMP: So we just signed a great trade deal with China. They're supposed to be spending close to $250 billion. We never had a trade deal, where they ripped us left and right for years and years and decades.

And you have the World Trade Organization; you have World Health and you have the World Trade. The World Trade Organization was a horror for us. Because China got in and, from the day they got in, they took advantage of world trade and especially with the United States. We never had a president that did anything about it or an administration or anybody.

We had no trade deal. You know, a lot of people think we had a bad deal with China. We had no deal with China. They just did whatever they wanted.

And what I've done is we have a very strong deal. They're supposed to buy $250 billion -- with a B -- dollars' worth of our product. That's phase one. Phase two will come. And we're getting tariffs, 25 percent on $250 billion. We never had anything from China.

Look, China has done a great job. But we've rebuilt China because we gave them so much money for so many decades. We -- we poured money into China. And it's absolutely ridiculous what we did. And as far as -- and that was world trade.

Now, World Health, you have a World Health -- very China-centric, as I say, very -- very basically everything was very positive for China. Don't close your borders. They told me that -- I mean, they strongly recommend -- they're not telling me -- but they strongly recommended that we not close our borders. That would have been a disaster. That would have been a total disaster.

And literally, they called every shot wrong. They didn't want to say where it came from.

Look, we spend -- for many years, we've been funding the World -- as we say, WHO, the World Health Organization. And for -- for years, we've funded them. And it's probably spending at least $58 million a year, but it's much more than that because then we fund some of the work they do -- which is some good work.

But we're going to look at it now because every -- I think every step that they made, everything that they said was wrong, and always in favor of China: keep it open, don't close the borders.

Now, I didn't listen to ‘em. And I did what I wanted to do, and it was a good move. But there were other things, too, where it came from, the extent of it, how serious it was. They never viewed it as that serious. So, you know, it's one of those things that we're the one that is the primary funder, and so we're going to take a very strong look at that.

HANNITY: I've been more critical, I guess, of -- of Governor Cuomo. And I had had him on my radio show, and, you know, as somebody that was raised in Long Island, New York, I live in New York; I live in Long Island, and I want to help the people of this state. And at different times, he was extraordinary critical.

And you seem to be willing to give him a little bit more of a pass, meaning the governor of New York.

I mean, you sent -- sent the Navy Hospital Ship the Comfort. The Army Corps of Engineers not only built the largest hospital in the country. The Javits Center wasn't originally designed for COVID-19 patients. Now, both the ship and that center will in fact take COVID-19 patients on.

You're building hospitals in New York and New Jersey and Westchester and elsewhere, Louisiana and other hot spots around the country. You sent over 5,000 ventilators, all of the hydroxychloroquine that he could want, you know?

But yet, he was given a very strong recommendation by his task force to purchase 15,783 ventilators and was clear this is a predictable event. When an influenza pandemic occurs, this is your shortfall, and he didn't buy any, and he was at one point kind of yelling at the federal government to provide it.

You've done a lot for New York. I'm scrolling it on the screen. Why you -- you know, usually, you're a little more political than that. I was a little surprised.

TRUMP: Well, I'm a diplomat too. You know, since I've become president, I have to view things a little bit differently.

Look, Andrew, I've known him a long time. He has a hard time getting the words out, "Thank you, you did a great job". But he's been, you know, pretty good over the last week or so.

It's turning out I'm right because they wanted 40,000 ventilators, 40,000, and they're not going to need anywhere near that and we said that. And now, they have plenty and if they needed some more, we can bring them some more because we have a stockpile we built up and that we have for emergencies.

So -- but, you know, we built the largest hospital in the country in four days. We just converted the ship because they were very few other accidents, because people aren't driving cars. You don't have car accidents, motorcycle accidents, nothing. So, I just agreed and we're doing this for New Jersey and for New York.

Governor Murphy of New Jersey has been very generous. He's been terrific and he's doing a great job.

Look, they're all doing a good job, most of the governors. I can tell you a few that aren't doing a good job. There are a few that are doing a poor job, and we'll back the people where you have a bad governor. And you have some governors that are not doing a good job. But, you see, this is where age and experience come in.

Rather than naming them tonight on your show, I won't bother. But there are some --

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: But they're all -- and they are all happy with the job that we are doing now. We turned out to be right.

You don't need as many beds as they thought. You certainly didn't need as many ventilators. And now, you see where the state of Washington and others -- California, by the way, is also doing a very good job, Governor Newsom, Gavin.

So, you know, we've had a lot of -- we've had a lot of coordination. I have gotten along very well with Andrew. We're sending them I think far more than they ever thought.

I didn't know Mayor de Blasio. I got to know him a little bit. We've got a very good relationship.

He's working very hard. He is. He is trying very hard. It's a tough thing, New York City hospitals.

And we've sent him a lot of troops and what he wanted more than anything, he wanted the ventilators, we got them (ph), but he wanted some -- he needed troops. He needed medical troops and we got him a lot, doctors, nurses, and -- you know, it's very tough to get obviously.

And so, we've gotten along very well with Mayor de Blasio. I think we've gotten along very well with Andrew, and most of the governors -- I mean, a couple I could tell you where it wouldn't matter what you did, you could give them ten times more than they asked, if the -- if the newspapers called and wanted a quote, they give you a bad quote because that's the way they are. You know, they're political animals and it's -- you know, this is beyond politics what we've been going through here.

But the federal government, the Army Corps of Engineers and the -- and FEMA, they -- what they've done, I don't think there's anybody in the world could have done. The hospitals that we built in Chicago, the hospitals that we built all over the country -- we built the beauty in Louisiana in four days and worked very well with John Bel.

You know, John Bel Edwards is the governor there. We worked very well with him in Louisiana. That was a surprise because it sprung up from nowhere. It just came from nowhere.

So I don't know. I think we've gotten really along. I got along very well with Andrew Cuomo, really.

HANNITY: All right. Let me -- let me move on. You know, it was really just slightly a little over a month ago that all the coverage on news was Super Tuesday.

TRUMP: Right.

HANNITY: I mean, what a difference, boy, a month can make. Now, we are 200 -- and what -- 10 days away from a general election, and Joe Biden, by the way, as of last Friday has now come on board, I would argue two months in three days a little late, in terms of the travel ban.

And he's been running these little podcasts of his on his podcast network thing, whatever he's doing. But he did say at the time that you were xenophobic, that you were hysteria, that you were spreading hysteria and fearmongering.

And you had a phone call with him this week.

What do you think of his sudden change of heart on this xenophobic travel ban, and how did the call with him go?

TRUMP: Well, the call went really well. He called me and we had a talk. It lasted 15 minutes but it was really a nice talk. It was very friendly talk, and he gave me some things that he believes.

And I was -- you know, I thought the call was very nice. We agreed we wouldn't talk about what we discussed, but I thought it was nice.

He did call me separately from the call, he didn't say on the call, but xenophobic. And somebody called me racist, one of the shows, one of those morning shows that do bad ratings and they called me racist, called me a lot of things. It turned out that I'm right.

One thing with Joe Biden that I respect on a Friday, he issued a statement that he thought I was right on closing the border to China. So I respect the fact that he was able to do that. You know, he took the opposite view and then he was able to do that, so I thought that was -- actually, I thought that was very nice.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: Up next, we will play more highlights for my exclusive interview, my Super Bowl interview with the president, that is straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

HANNITY: And welcome back to the special edition of "Hannity."

So, in February, I had an opportunity to sit down with President Trump before the Super Bowl. Now, at the time, the president was on the verge of being exonerated from the Democrats' latest impeachment witch hunt.

Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: Obvious question, impeachment, third time in history. Acquittal pretty much now a formality. Been through a lot. Your reaction to all of it?

TRUMP: Well, it's been very unfair. From the day I won -- and I really say, from far before the day I won, from the day I came down the escalator with our future first lady, who is doing such a good job.

To be honest with you, I think it's -- it's probably -- it probably started from there. It's been a very, very unfair process.

The Mueller report, Russia, Russia, Russia, as you say, which was total nonsense. It was all nonsense, the whole thing, was nonsense.

But it was a very unfair -- and mostly it was unfair to my family. I mean, my family suffered because of all of this. And many other families suffered also.

It was a very, very -- it's a very serious thing. It should never happen to another president.

HANNITY: Two hundred and seventy-five days from now, I guess the ultimate jury, the American people go to the polls, my question is, is this a campaign issue for you? Do you let it go? Do you see a path that you could work with Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and the Democrats?

TRUMP: Well, I'd like to, but it's pretty hard when you think about it, because it's been such a -- I use the word witch hunt, use the word hoax. I see the hatred.

I see the -- and they don't care about fairness, they don't care about lying -- you look at the lies, you look at the -- you look at the reports that were done that were so false, the -- the level of hypocrisy.

So, I'm not sure that they can do it, to be honest. I think they just want to win, and it doesn't matter how they win.

In the meantime, I really believe this administration, me and this administration, we've done more than any administration in the history of our country. We've rebuilt our military. We've cut taxes at the highest amount ever in the history of our country.

I mean, you see what's going on. There's a revolution going in this country, I mean, a positive resolution.

So, African American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American, we have the best numbers we've ever had. African American -- the poverty numbers are now reversed, and they're the best that they've ever had. So I don't know how anybody could possibly beat me with that vote. So, we'll see how it does.

HANNITY: Will any of this -- now, as I said, it's pretty much a fait accompli, looks like Wednesday at 4:00 p.m., there will be in acquittal. You then move on from there, but the state -- Iowa caucuses is Monday, State of the Union Tuesday, this happens on Wednesday, any thought to delay the State of the Union?

TRUMP: No, I'm going to have it. It's going to be done. We're going to talk about the achievements that we've made. Nobody has made achievements like we've made, so many different things.

I'm so proud of what we've done for our vets with Choice, we got them Choice. We got Accountability where we can take care of our vets, where we can get rid of people that aren't taking care of vets.

HANNITY: I've known you for a couple of decades. This is going to be hard for you. This is called our lightning round here.

TRUMP: All right.

HANNITY: I'm just going to throw out a name -- whatever comes to your mind.

TRUMP: OK.

HANNITY: We'll start with Joe Biden.

TRUMP: I just think of sleepy. I just watch him, he's sleepy. Sleepy Joe.

HANNITY: Hunter, Hunter Biden?

TRUMP: Where is Hunter? Where is he?

He made millions of dollars. He went from having no job, no income, he had nothing. As you know, he had a very sad experience in the military. He has nothing -- to making millions and millions of dollars a year, not just from Ukraine, from China and from other countries.

How can you do this? This is crooked as hell. What they did is very dishonest.

HANNITY: Bernie Sanders?

TRUMP: Well, I think he's a communist. I mean, you know, look, I think of communism when you think of Bernie. Now, you could say socialist, but -- didn't he get married in Moscow? And that's wonderful. Moscow is wonderful --

HANNITY: Honeymooning --

TRUMP: But you don't think necessarily -- well, whatever. But you don't necessarily think in terms of marriage, Moscow, and it's wonderful. I'm not knocking it, but I think of Bernie sort of as a socialist, but far beyond a socialist --

HANNITY: Elizabeth Warren?

TRUMP: At least he is true to what he believes, that's one thing, because you mention now Elizabeth Warren.

She's not true -- I called her a fairy tale, because everything is a fairy tale. That's how Pocahontas got started. Everything is a fairy tale. This woman can't tell the true.

HANNITY: Michael Bloomberg?

TRUMP: Very little. I just think of little.

You know, now, he wants a box for the debates to stand on. OK, it's OK, there's nothing wrong -- you could be short. Why should he get a box to stand on? OK?

He wants a box for the debates. Why should he -- really, does that mean everyone else gets a box?

HANNITY: I guess, if they want one.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: It's interesting. Cory Booker and all these people couldn't get any of the things that Bloomberg is getting now. I think it's very unfair for the Democrats, but I would love to run against Bloomberg. I would love it.

HANNITY: Hillary?

TRUMP: I think of emails -- I think of the email scandal. How she got away with that is a disgrace. I think it's a disgrace.

HANNITY: Pelosi?

TRUMP: I think she's a very confused, very nervous woman. I don't think she wanted to do this. I think she really knew what was going to happen and it's her worst nightmares happened.

I don't think she's going to be there too long either. I think that the radical left -- and she's sort of radical left, too, by the way. But I think the radical left is going to take over.

HANNITY: You got have the Democrats. They're vying to go up against you in 278 days. Is it one candidate running more than another? Do you take lightly anyone (ph)?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I had to sit back and watch.

HANNITY: Doesn't matter to you?

TRUMP: I mean, I look, I'm watching and, you know, I have little nicknames for all of them, but you just sort of --

HANNITY: I'm sure they love your nicknames.

TRUMP: No, but they're very accurate. You know, I mean, they're very accurate.

You look at sleepy Joe. What's going on with him? He's having a hard time.

HANNITY: I love sports. I think sports mirror life. (INAUDIBLE) you learn to win, sometimes you don't always win. I know you're not sick of winning, my guess.

But also the harder you work, the better you do. That's very Americana.

What do you love about sports?

TRUMP: Well, it is, it is sort of a little bit of a microcosm of life. You know, you have winners, you have champions. You have people that you expect to see that final play.

You have great coaches like Belichick. You have people that you expect more out of, and oftentimes, they produce. And then you have people that you just don't expect they're going to do it, and oftentimes they don't.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: And up next, President Trump gives his take on the scandals that are swirling around quid pro quo Joe and zero experience Hunter Biden, as this special edition of "Hannity" continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity."

Now, during my most recent sit-down interview with President Trump at the White House, I asked him about the mob and the media and the left-wing Democratic socialists, their rampant hypocrisy, and their -- well, obscene double standards. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: So, but I want to go to the double standard again. Whether it's the dossier, whether it's Ukraine helping and interfering in our elections, whether there is no quid pro quo.

Then you can add Hunter Biden and Joe Biden on tape bragging about using taxpayer dollars to demand the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor. Hunter Biden admits no experience, Ukraine, China, no experience in oil, gas, energy or private equity, millions of dollars.

TRUMP: Thrown out of the Navy, thrown out of the Navy.

HANNITY: Yes.

TRUMP: OK? Hunter Biden was thrown out of the Navy.

HANNITY: Why was he given that money? Would anyone else get that money?

TRUMP: It's a payoff, in my opinion. It's a payoff. Why else would it be?

Look, Hunter Biden with no experience. Now, I hear the numbers are $168,000 a month. And I heard they got a $3 million payment.

HANNITY: Split between him and another guy.

TRUMP: They get a $3 million payment and all of those, OK? And that's corruption. That's something that has to be investigated. That's what you have to look.

But I watched this crazy Anderson Cooper the other day during the debate apologize for having to ask the question to them. Apologize. If that were me --

HANNITY: He declared his innocence.

TRUMP: Or if that were my sons that took $168,000 from this very questionable company, an energy company, and they knew nothing about energy. Or he knew nothing about energy and he has a bad record, bad track record, including getting thrown out of the Navy, and even the way he got into the Navy is an interesting in his position. If that were a Don Jr., if that were Eric Trump, who are very outstanding young men, it would be the biggest story of the century.

HANNITY: What does it say about the media? I agree with you.

TRUMP: The media is -- the media is corrupt. Not all the media. Look, I know some great people, including you, but I know some great journalists.

Look, they give Pulitzer Prizes to people that got it wrong, OK? All these people for doing it from "The New York Times" which is the fake newspaper, we don't even want them in the White House anymore. We're going to probably terminate that and "The Washington Post", they're fake.

But you take a look at "The New York Times," and you take a look at the kind of reporting they do, it was all -- it turned out to be all wrong. And after the election, "The New York Times" apologized for their coverage because they were covering me in such a way. So, when I won, they actually apologized to their subscribers because they were losing thousands and thousands of subscribers.

"The New York Times" wrote an apology. Nothing else. You know, they say, well, it wasn't really an apology. It was, because they covered me so badly.

And then when I said, sort of interesting, I think, I hope, I said -- you know, the good news is now we'll be covered fairly again. And you know what happened? I got covered worse. I got covered worse.

But that's OK.

HANNITY: They bragged on focusing on one story.

TRUMP: You know, you know who's got covered worse than me, they say?

HANNITY: Who?

TRUMP: Abraham Lincoln.

HANNITY: Uh-huh.

TRUMP: I've heard that one person, used to be five or six, now it's down to one, Honest Abe Lincoln. They say he got the worst press of anybody. I say I disputed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: Just ahead, a look back at the president's reaction to quid pro quo Joe Biden's bizarre moments in the campaign trail, as the special edition of "Hannity" continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWBREAK)

HANNITY: Now, back in March, I did ask President Trump about Joe Biden's nonstop, never ending, well, let's call them brain lapses or blunders, and of course, the failure of the Biden/Obama record.

Let's get his reaction. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My name is Joe Biden. I'm a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate.

A hundred and fifty million people have been killed since 2007.

All right, Chuck, thank you very much.

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR, "FNS": All right, it's Chris, but anyway.

BIDEN: Oh, Chris. I just said Chris.

Look, tomorrow is Super Thur -- Tuesday, and I want to thank you all -- I tell you what, I'm rushing ahead, aren't I?

All men and women created by -- you know the -- you know thing. You know how we talk about it. We, the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: Joe Biden is beyond a gaffe machine. I would argue that the toughest job in the world is your job, to be the president of the United States of America, leading the world.  You need strength. You need stamina. You need focus. You need the ability to react in real-time.

What do you make of these numerous gaffes of Joe Biden?  TRUMP: Well, look, I don't want to be too critical. I just -- you know, I've never seen anything like it to be honest. And I'm sure that the Democrats are saying the same thing. But they'd rather have him than Bernie. And Bernie just doesn't make too many gaffes but Bernie's got his own difficulties.

HANNITY: Mr. President, Joe Biden has a record. He served as vice president for eight years. That record would include the Iranian deal. That record would include how they reacted and responded with the H1N1 virus. See -- I'll get to that in more detail in a minute.

That record would include 13 million more Americans after eight years on food stamps, eight million more in poverty. The lowest labor participation rates since the ‘70s. The worst recovery since the '40s. The lowest homeownership rate in 51 years.  And that would also include the accumulation of more debt than all 43 presidents before Obama/Biden combined.  TRUMP: True.  (CROSSTALK)  HANNITY: Your record, how do you compare?  TRUMP: Well, I think what we've done is unprecedented. The largest tax cuts in history. Trade deals all over the place. I mean, they're -- they're going to start kicking in fairly soon. Unfortunately, by the time we get to the election, they'll just be partially kicked in.  But the deal with China, $250 billion a year. The deal with Japan -- and it's a partial deal, I'll go back, and we're going to make it much bigger even -- but it's $40 billion a year. The deal with South Korea, the U.S./Mexico deal, the U.S./Canada deal -- the USMCA combined -- one of the biggest trade deals ever made.  The deal with China is actually, you know, right in that same category. It's -- it's an incredible thing what -- what we've done. We've rebuilt the military. We've taken care of our vets.  We got Choice. Nobody thought we were going to get Choice. They’ve been trying to get Choice for over 40 years. That's Veteran's Choice, where the veteran, if they can't see a doctor quickly, they go out to a private doctor, we pay the bill.

And it's a great thing for our country. It's a great thing for our veterans. We got Accountability so that if our veterans are treated badly, if they're treated horribly, we have -- we had (inaudible) in the VA, we had all sorts of problems -- thieves (ph). You couldn't do a thing, you couldn't fire anybody.  I got Accountability passed, which was not easy because of Unions, and because of civil service, and you know, all of the reasons that everybody would understand very easily. And we got that passed. They've been trying to get that for many, many decades.  Now, what we've done is very unprecedented. Nobody has done more in three years, the first three years, than we have.  Now, environmentally, we're -- we're -- we have the cleanest air. We have the cleanest water. Our -- our air is as clean or cleaner than it's ever been.

And yet, we're not spending trillions of dollars, giving it to foreign countries under the Paris Accord, where you see what's happening with France, and you see the problems they have because of it. And you know, they're just trying to take our wealth, that whole group.

So a lot of things are happening.

HANNITY: I want to go to your decision of January 31st.  And that was a travel ban that Joe Biden said was xenophobic on your part. And it might -- CNN said it might stigmatize people from countries.  But you took an added step that hadn't been done in decades, and that was quarantining Americans coming back from the region. This was about three weeks after we just first identified the virus.  You're saying that people recommended you not do this? And why? And why did you go with that so quickly? And what was the -- what was your rationale at the time?  TRUMP: Well, I would say everybody said, it's too early, it's too soon, and good people, you know, brilliant people, in many ways, doctors and lawyers and, frankly, a lot of people that work on this stuff almost exclusively. And they said, don't do it.  And my theory was that we take a lot of people in. And China was being hit hard at that time, by that time. We started reading a little bit more about it. It wasn't something that was going to affect us.  You don't think of it in terms -- when you first heard it in China, you don't think our country is going to be affected. And I thought it was a wise thing to do. And, again, we stepped tremendous numbers of people coming in from China.  And then we worked on a whole quarantine system, which worked out very well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: And coming up, we will look back at the president's response to the Mueller testimony is this special edition of "Hannity" rolls on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: And welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity."

Let's revisit my interview with the president. This is in July of 2019, the day after the Mueller hoax crumbled on Capitol Hill. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: Mr. President, just -- I'm just going to open it up to you to go wherever you want with this. This has been something you've had to deal with your entire presidency almost. You have and were loud and saying it was not true. It was a witch hunt. And we had four separate investigations backing up your claim and culminating in what you saw yesterday, sir.

Your reaction to all that.

TRUMP: Well, I think people learned a lot yesterday, watching a very poor performance and watching things that they couldn't believe when they saw what was going on. And hopefully, we are going to be able to find out how a thing like this started.

It was a disgrace to our country, it was a disgrace from every standpoint and I would say that most people have never seen anything like it. And then on top of it, you watch that performance, it was -- it was shocking and very sad.

HANNITY: How much -- how much of that did you watch, sir?

TRUMP: Say it, Sean?

HANNITY: How much of the Mueller testimony did you actually watch?

TRUMP: So, I wasn't going to watch it all, and then I started thinking about it, and then I watched a little bit at the very beginning and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. So, I ended up watching more than I wanted to.

HANNITY: Well --

TRUMP: And then I watched the afternoon because, you know, it was such a big crater at the beginning, and I said, now, I have to watch -- I have to watch shifty Schiff because he just went through three hours and now we have to go through Schiff. And I said, this is going to be interesting.

And I've never seen anything like it, actually. It was sort of good television. So, I couldn't watch it all. I had meetings, I had economic development meetings, and I was saying, fellows, maybe we could move it to another time but I didn't want to do that.

But I got to watch enough and it was shocking. I thought the Republicans represented themselves brilliantly, actually. John Ratcliffe and Jim Jordan and -- I mean, all of them, Louie Gohmert, I can mention 15 names or however many they have that spoke. It got fairly close to that number, I guess, maybe it was a little bit less than that.

But I will tell you that everybody representing the Republicans I thought was really good and I thought the other side was typically biased, but they were stuck with the situation that they couldn't believe.

HANNITY: Mr. President, I just mentioned, "The New York Times," not long ago, actually said that they believed that -- well, the dossier, which I was stunned Mueller didn't know about Fusion GPS -- the things he didn't know shocked me, didn't know Jeannie Rhee, Clinton's attorney, worked for him. But we'll put that aside.

But they suggested that "The New York Times" that the dirty dossier that Hillary paid for that was used to spy on your campaign, your transition, and even your presidency, sir, was likely Russian disinformation from the beginning.

Now, if that's the case, that would mean that the Russians knew that Hillary was paying for those lies, which would mean that the narrative that the American people have been fed by the media and the Democrats, that, well, they were trying to help you, the Russians, that would mean that "The New York Times" is right for once and I suspect they may very well be, that they were trying to hurt you more than Hillary.

TRUMP: Well, based on the fact that we just become -- and, you know, fairly recently, a little while ago, the number one oil and gas producer and energy producer in the world, by far, Russia, Saudi Arabia, now second and third, based on the fact that we now have the best -- we will soon have the most modern military we have ever had with the best equipment, the best -- newest planes and all of the things that we have done, and so many other things, Sean, based on all of that, the last person they should want is me.

But I have heard the same thing about the fake dossier. I've heard it came out of Russia. I think a lot of it also is made up. It was just made up like you would write a novel but it was a fake and it was paid for by the Democrats and paid for by Hillary Clinton and the DNC and it's incredible. These are incredible stories.

Nobody would write a novel like this because people wouldn't believe it. It wouldn't be believable.

HANNITY: You know, Mr. President, I famously have asked Lindsey Graham, he really -- when Attorney General Barr was before his committee, he went through a list of things, do you feel that Mueller did his job? Do you think he had the resources? Do you believe that his had every opportunity?

You turned over 1.5 million documents, I can't believe -- you encouraged everybody to testify before Congress, before the special counsel, I was shocked. McGahn did, but we'll put that aside here.

And you keep saying that you think we can't let this happen again. And, I guess the -- we've learned from the attorney general that he is going to look into whether the investigation into Hillary's server was rigged, he's going to look into potential FISA abuse, he's going to look into the origins of this probe, we know that Durham has now interviewed Steele for nearly 16 hours, and we know the I.G. is very close to a FISA report.

What do you -- why is it important to get to the bottom of this from your perspective?

TRUMP: Because this should never happen to another president of the United States again. This is an absolute catastrophe for our country. This was a fake witch hunt and it should never be allowed to happen to another president again.

This was treason. This was high crimes. This was everything as bad a definition as you want to come up with. This should never be allowed to happen to our country again.

HANNITY: Your thoughts -- you've often said fake news. I called them out also on this program. It turns out there's been, you know, I give a list, starting with Richard Jewell and Ferguson, Missouri, and Cambridge police, and Baltimore, Maryland, and UVA and Duke lacrosse, and Nicholas Sandmann.

But they went with every single lie, every conspiracy theory. I don't see the media very often talking about the things you have accomplished. I mention the employment situation is the best since 1969.

What do you say to the press in this country? The press that is supposed to be fair, balanced, objective, down the middle? I'm a talk show host. I -- I'm like the whole newspaper, we do everything.

TRUMP: Well, I think the press has lost all credibility, much of it. But it's lost a big part of it, though. I mean, a very substantial part of it, lost all credibility.

And I watch as people scream at these poor Democrats, the congressmen, scream like I've never seen. You must do this, you must do that -- I mean, these are supposed to be journalists, talk show host, of all sorts of people, I could not believe it. And they are actually trying to force them to do what they want to be done.

I've never seen anything like it. And I've seen it -- you know, they use the word unhinged, they are unhinged. The media has become totally unhinged. They are very dishonest.

And when I say enemy of the people, when people give purposely false stories and when they tried to get politicians to do things that are wrong and they are no they are wrong, that really is the enemy of the people. It's fake news but it's the enemy of the people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: And more of this special edition of "Hannity" right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. As we wrap up this special edition of "Hannity," before we go, we want to wish you and your family a happy Memorial Day. We always give honor to those that fought and serve this great country, our many freedoms because of their great sacrifice. We've got to remember them this weekend.

Also, well, we have an election in just 165 days. My book, "Live Free or Die: America and the World on the Brink," we put it up on https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__hannity.com&d=DwICAg&c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&r=tgDLkJy54PfJyWJwul3dKe54qGxqO7b7d5vjo7RcZds&m=dBRQ1oI1xHJPtsq-nasQCz5znCB2PDHVUm-l9IpWElU&s=G155R_zA_6xEWqQexhqDZFHoomDlruV7c7S3FMIdNZI&e= . It will be coming out soon, putting the final touches on it. If you want to take a look, it will be the definitive case of what is at stake for this great republic, in just 165 days, you will be the ultimate jury.

All right. But that is all the time we have left this evening. As always, thank you for being with us. We hope you'll set your DVR so you never miss an episode of "Hannity."

Have a great night. Have a great Memorial Day weekend.

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