Unmasking probe expands to Rhodes; Mueller scrutiny grows; Sanders: Stephen Miller put Jim Acosta in his place

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," August 2, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: This is a Fox News Alert. Welcome to 'Hannity.' Two major breaking stories tonight. The special counsel, Robert Mueller -- he adds yet another Democratic donor to his investigative team. Tonight, we will be exposing how the special counsel is are now carrying out what is a political witch hunt. And we will explain why it needs to be shut down.

It's a 'Hannity' special investigation.

Also, former Obama aides in Congress now, in the crosshairs over unmasking and intel leaks. Sara Carter has all the details, her brand-new explosive report about the former Obama national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, being now a person of interest in a Congressional probe. Plus, Gregg Jarrett, Jay Sekulow, Herman Cain, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Lou Dobbs all here with reaction.

But first, we have a really, really important "Opening Monologue."

All right, for months, the establishment, destroy Trump media and Democrats -- they have been hysterical, breathless, and pushing all kinds of conspiracy theories. They are hoping and praying that there would be the smoking gun on Trump and Russia and collusion. So far, they haven't found anything solid. It's mostly been wild accusations, a lot of innuendo.

While they are obsessing over Russia every single second of the day, the establishment media, the left, have been completely ignoring what we're telling you on this program. And that is the construction of one of the biggest political witch hunts in the history of this country.

I'm now talking about the special counsel, Robert Mueller, and his massive conflicts of interest and frankly inexcusable mission creep or investigative creep. It is time tonight for Mueller's political crusade to be shut down once and for all. It's time for Congress, Republicans in particular -- they're in power -- that they must reassert their authority and start investigating actual crimes and actual collusion.

This is why it's important. As we have been telling you, Robert Mueller -- he has several huge, massive conflicts of interest. And as my friend and colleague Gregg Jarrett has been pointing out, Mueller's relationship with the former FBI director, James Comey, who is the star witness in the case, could be a violation of not one but two laws! Earlier this week, the House Judiciary Committee member Congressman Trent Franks called for Mueller to resign because of these conflicts and because of these laws.

Then there's the fact that the day before Mueller was appointed a special counsel, remember? He interviewed with President Trump. He wanted to be the FBI director. Mueller should have never taken that interview if he knew he was being considered to be a special counsel.

And from there, it only gets worse and worse. Mueller has now assembled what is shaping up to be a Democratic hit squad that has donated thousands and thousands of dollars to Democrats, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

This is pretty stunning. Eight of the 16 members that Mueller has hired, a massive team, have made political donations to Democrats. Does that sound fair, impartial to you? Now, the other eight, according to public records that we've seen -- they haven't donated at all.

Are we really to believe tonight that Mueller couldn't find nonpartisan people who have not openly supported Democrats? Let's name some names. We're going to show you exactly who these investigators are, how much they've donated.

James Quarles, former Watergate prosecutor -- he's donated over $30,000 to Democrats over the past 30 years. That includes giving money to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Then there's Jeannie Rhee. She's dished out over 9 grand to the Democrats, including Clinton and Obama. And get this. This is the biggest conflict. She has even done legal work for the Clinton Foundation! How does that not immediately disqualify her from working for the special counsel?

Then there's Andrew Weissman. His donations top $4,000 and include giving money to both Clinton and Obama again. And former attorney general Michael Mukasey has argued that Weissman -- and we'll go over this another night -- has serious ethical concerns. Greg Andres, who was hired Mueller -- he's donated $3,700 to the Democrats. Andrew Goldstein -- now, we checked the records and he gave the Democrats 3,300 bucks. Now, Elizabeth Prelogar -- well, $500, including to Clinton and Obama. They're all Clinton and Obama fans! Brandon Van Grack, well, $486 to, you know, change to the Democrats, including Obama again. And Rush Atkinson, $200 to Hillary Clinton.

OK, here's the big picture. How is any of this acceptable? Now, think about this. If the tables were turned and these Republicans were investigating a Democrat, there would be a national outrage. And that's why it's time to end the political witch hunt.

The deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein -- he has an obligation now to shut this down! Congress -- they need to make sure it stays that way. Otherwise, they are endorsing a two-tiered justice system, one that is unfair, unethical and clearly has political motivations and political factors.

Also tonight, our other massive breaking news story, and that is the depth of the Obama administration unmasking, and their scandal is now coming into focus tonight. It should concern deeply every single one of you watching.

Circa.com's Sara Carter -- she'll be with us in just a minute. She has all the details. She is now reporting that former Obama administration national security adviser Ben Rhodes is now a person of interest in the House Intelligence Committee's investigation!

Ben Rhodes is just the latest former Obama aide that is now facing scrutiny. Congress is also looking for more information about unmasking.

Remember? Susan Rice, John Brennan, Samantha Power -- The Hill's John Solomon reported that former Obama director of national intelligence, James Clapper, made it easier for officials in the executive branch to unmask members of Congress and their staffers! Now, by the way, big surprise, James Clapper is now a contributor for the fake news Clinton news network.

And new news today. Earlier today, James Comey -- guess what? He's writing a book that will be released in the spring! I told you this was going to happen months ago! Let's go, as Warner Wolf would say, to the videotape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: What did I say the day after he got fired? Comey will get a multi-million-dollar book deal, a movie, a miniseries, primetime special, Diane Sawyer -- well, maybe even George Stephanopoulos, why not go totally in for the Clintons -- and probably an MSNBC contributorship.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: Well, I was kind of kidding about the MSNBC part, but I guess you never know. Now you got Clapper over at the fake news network.

He's apparently trying to take down the president, and this now -- if you do that, this has become a lucrative profession. If you make it easier to unmask Americans, I guess you get hired by fake news CNN. And if you have that you leak to The New York Times, government information, classified information, potentially break the law, you get a huge book deal! And we've been calling for real crimes, real collusion to be investigated. The House Republicans -- you need to do your job.

Finally, the House Judiciary Committee -- they're now calling for the second special counsel to be appointed to investigate Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, things we've been asking for. But as we've said, Congress should not stop there. It's time to use their subpoena powers and have people now testify under oath. And that should include top Clinton campaign officials. You see John Podesta and Robby Mook? Put them under oath. Did they know about Ukrainian collusion? Were they given any information from the DNC operative?

Also, Debbie Wasserman Shultz -- really? Is she ever going to explain why she kept paying her IT staffer while under federal investigation for double billing and much more? And James Comey and Loretta Lynch -- remember? Comey testified that Lynch pressured him and he listened to call the Clinton email investigation a matter. And Lynch, of course, met with Bill Clinton on a tarmac, totally inappropriate. Did the former attorney general obstruct justice? Put her under oath.

Finally, least -- last but not least, Hillary Clinton. It's time to put her under oath. She needs to answer questions on the record, real questions about her email server scandal, Uranium One. Why did she delete 33,000 e-mails? Why did she acid wash and BleachBit hard drives?

Why did she, in fact, apparently, according to reports, smash devices with hammers, or have her staff do it, and send the FBI devices, BlackBerrys, that didn't have SIM cards in it? And what about all the pay-to-play in the Clinton Foundation, $145 million, you sign off, you give Vladimir up to 20 percent of our uranium, the foundational material for nuclear weapons?

This is important for this reason. If we care about justice and the rule of law in this country, this all needs to happen. I know the mainstream media is ignoring it. We will not. You deserve to have answers because you have been lied to! Real crimes, real evidence is now being ignored, and as you know, we are not. I am not going to stop asking questions. I will not stop demanding answers until we get the truth!

You know, if the media and the Department of Justice and Congress don't want to act, we'll continue to do their job until they do their job.

Finally, since the mainstream media won't talk about it, take a look at the side of your screen. They'll never mention the success. Look at the economy. It's been roaring under President Trump. Dow Jones closed over above 22,000 the first time ever. That's six days in a row records. Unemployment, all-time lows in the modern era. Obama regulations gutted! Gone, goodbye. GDP, nobody predicted even 3 percent growth. We've very close, 2.6 percent for the second quarter. Foxconn -- they've now pledged, what, up to $30 billion to create jobs that will move towards energy independence? That's what we need to focus on. You'll never hear it from the, well, establishment fake news media.

Here with reaction, from Circa.com, Sara Carter, President Trump's attorney, from the American Center for Law and Justice, Jay Sekulow, Fox News anchor, attorney Gregg Jarrett.

Sara, let's start with your big breaking story, Ben Rhodes. And on top of all the other Obama officials, this keeps getting worse and worse.

SARA CARTER, CIRCA.COM: Well, it keeps expanding, Sean. So what we've seen is, first it was Susan Rice, National Security Adviser Susan Rice.

Then we saw it was U.N. ambassador, you know, Samantha Power. Then it became CIA director John Brennan. And now it's expanded to deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, who worked very closely with Obama and Susan Rice.

So this is really important because what they are asking for is the full year, from January 2016 up until January 20th, 2017. They want to know how many times Ben Rhodes unmasked Americans. What was he looking at, and for what purpose and why because if it wasn't dealing with specific national security issues, that becomes a very serious problem. And it also shows what they have been discovering, apparently and allegedly, that they weren't just looking at national security issues but...

HANNITY: What was the increase in unmasking in -- in -- since 2011 and Clapper eased those rules and Obama eased those rules?

CARTER: So yes, so since 2011, what we've seen is over a 320 percent increase in unmasking. In the last year, and specifically after the election, Sean -- after the election, that increased exponentially, that increased exponentially without explanation. And remember, when those rules were relaxed, they could basically just sign off. They didn't have to file 80 pages, like an analyst would at the CIA. It was just a need to know.

HANNITY: I got to ask you about Robert Mueller. You have pointed out -- we'll put them on the screen -- the laws -- Trent Franks is the only Congressman now who's picked up on all you said, and he's picked up on real laws that he's breaking if he stays in that position. Are these felonies?

Are they misdemeanors? What are they?

GREGG JARRETT, FOX ANCHOR: Well, no, but you basically get fired if you violate this law because it's a special counsel law that says if you have a conflict of interest, you shall not serve. And there it is.

HANNITY: Oh, shall not.

JARRETT: It's mandatory language. It's not optional. It's not discretionary. And you know, in my columns, as I pointed out the conflict of interest, I haven't argued that there should be no special prosecutor.

Instead, it's Robert Mueller who is the wrong special prosecutor because of his close relationship, as you point out in your monologue, with Comey.

And -- and it's even worse than that. Mueller's boss, Rod Rosenstein, also has a disqualifying conflict of interest because he, too, is a witness in the case, having authored the memo for the firing of James Comey. And yet neither of these individuals will have any respect for the law. They're ignoring it deliberately. And finally now, you know, members of the House Judiciary Committee saying, Wait a minute. This man should resign. And I think it's gaining strength.

HANNITY: Let me ask big picture stuff, if I can, Jay Sekulow. And I know your position. You probably don't want to talk about specifics. But if I mention Ukraine and Uranium One and deleting e-mails and BleachBit and hammer smashing and destroying, in the case of Debbie Wasserman Shultz, hard drives, and then I mention unmasking and leaking intelligence and Comey and the general counsel of the FBI -- wow!

How is this is not being discussed in many places besides here?

JAY SEKULOW, TRUMP LEGAL TEAM: Hopefully, it's not being discussed because it's being thoroughly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice (INAUDIBLE) empanel a grand jury to investigate this and we would know. So that -- you can be hopeful on that.

I can't say that that's happening. I have no knowledge of that.

But if you look at the whole scenario you just laid out, and especially now with the unmasking situation, I mean, what is the justification that is going to be put forward by, for instance, the previous administration for having Samantha Power, the U.N. ambassador, having access to unmasking?

HANNITY: How is that -- exactly!

SEKULOW: I mean, what is the -- there's no possible justification for this. And what is the justification for a 360 percent increase in the number of American citizens who are unmasked? What's the justification for the change in the rules that were in existence for decades? What was the justification for the change of the rules of sharing information to other agencies, going from three to 17 days before the Obama administration leaves office?

What is the justification for any of this? So if you look at it rationally, you look at it legally and you look at what's happening here, there was a major play within the national security apparatus that was exposing Americans to surveillance, is what it appears to be here. And the justification for this -- I think they're going to be hard pressed to put one forward.

HANNITY: All right. Stay right there. We're going to more with Sara, Gregg, Jay after the break.

Also, Herman Cain and the woman that has the toughest job in America will join us. We'll tell you who straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity" as we continue now, more with Sara Carter, Jay Sekulow and Gregg Jarrett. All right, Sara, we talked about Samantha Power. We talked about Susan Rice. We talked about Clapper. Now we're talking about Ben Rhodes. Is there more to come? Because this is slowly been coming out. We've got unmasking. We've got real crimes being committed, 125 leaks -- intelligence leaks in 126 days. That is an abuse of the powers that we give the intelligence community. It puts everybody's freedom, 4th Amendment constitutional rights in jeopardy.

How much further is this going to go? Is this going to -- are we going to discover a systematic effort to violate the constitutional rights of Americans so they can spy on political opponents in a political season? Is that where I think this is headed?

CARTER: I certainly hope that the committee makes this public, as much of it as they can, Sean, because I think one of the things that they're looking for -- was there a correlation between what was unmasked and what was leaked. And I think when that is discovered and that's revealed, if that proves to be true, it's going to answer a lot of questions. It's going to answer a lot of questions as to whether our intelligence community and our intelligence apparatus was being used for political espionage, and that's really the question that people want answered.

HANNITY: The 99 percent of our intelligence community that risks their lives for us -- they're great. But if we use those tools against Americans, that is -- that's -- that is a foundation for a police state because then they are spying on you and you don't have a constitutional 4th Amendment right.

Jay, let me ask -- more and more people are coming up to me and they're saying, Sean, you talk about all these other issues. How is it possible that we don't know if they're being investigated? And if I turn on another channel or read a newspaper, all I hear about is Russia. How did we get to this place?

SEKULOW: Well, I think what's happened is, you know, if you look at what has taken place and transpired within the intelligence community, you're right, 99 percent of the people do a fantastic job, but it doesn't take even 1 percent. It takes a couple of bad actors to put the national security apparatus at risk.

And as you look at renewals of various laws that impact surveillance and the concerns that now members of Congress are raising on whether there are safeguards in place, I think the constitutional republic gets put at risk when you take this kind of laissez-faire attitude of just ignoring the normal procedures you had in place in order to do that kind of surveillance.

And that's the irony here. Mentioned earlier -- 80 pages of documents you used to have to fill out to get justification to do this. Then it became basically the stroke of a pen. That is not the way the system is set up to operate. That's not the way the Constitution operates...

HANNITY: All right...

SEKULOW: ... certainly not the 4th Amendment. So it puts us in a very serious situation.

HANNITY: Gregg, I went through a list of names and the various scandals -- Ukraine, Uranium One, deleting e-mails, obstruction of justice, unmasking, leaking intelligence, Debbie Wasserman Shultz -- and I want all of them put under oath. They should be.

JARRETT: Absolutely.

HANNITY: Where are the Republicans?

JARRETT: Well, the Republicans are finally making a move. The House Judiciary Committee sent a very stern letter to the Department of Justice demanding a second special counsel be appointed to investigate Clinton, Comey, Lynch, Samantha Power, the list goes on and on. And today, we learned...

HANNITY: How about Hillary Clinton? Does she get away with Uranium One? Does she get away with deleting e-mails, smashing hard drives...

JARRETT: The 1,600 documents...

HANNITY: ... acid watch...

JARRETT: ... we discovered today...

(CROSSTALK)

JARRETT: More classified documents that were apparently hidden by Hillary Clinton and not turned over pursuant to a subpoena. And the content of some of these documents -- my goodness! She is -- in one of them, she gets a million bucks from a telecom executive who wants something in return. He wants to be able to influence...

HANNITY: Selling...

JARRETT: ... the selection of an ambassador!

HANNITY: I saw that.

JARRETT: That's called pay-to-play. That's a crime if proven.

HANNITY: Here's -- I want -- my last question, and we never have enough time -- do you think I'm going to be proven right on these scandals versus the phony Russia story?

JARRETT: Yes, I do think so. I mean, look, there's been a year's worth of FBI investigation into the Russia story -- zero.

HANNITY: Sara, am I going to be proven right?

CARTER: Well, if the FBI -- and we don't know -- we don't know this. We can't say this definitively. But if the FBI still has the Clinton Foundation under investigation, allegedly, if all of the things that are coming to pass are true, then you may just be right, Sean.

HANNITY: Uranium One to me is the biggest issue, but they're all big. Jay, you think I'll be proven right?

SEKULOW: Yes, I think you will. And you know, I think there's going to be -- it sounds like, in the next coming days, that there's going to be some announcement from the attorney general...

HANNITY: Wow!

SEKULOW: ... regarding leaks. That's been reported in the press. That could be a big issue. We have speculation on who may be involved, but if that proves to be true, it'll be the biggest situation I think that the country has faced on a national security breach in our lifetime.

HANNITY: All right, thank you, all. You're all helping to dig deep and this is important to serve the country.

Herman Cain coming up next, and the woman who has the toughest job in the country straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICK MULVANEY, OMB DIRECTOR: Seven months ago, I was an elected member of Congress. I don't know how you run saying something for seven years, that we'll repeal and replace ObamaCare if you give us the House, if you give us the Senate, if you give us the White House, and then when the voters give that to you, you don't follow through on that promise. That's the type of mistake that follows through to haunt you in the future if you don't fix it. So I do think it's important they continue to work on health care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: That was the Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney suggesting that Republican lawmakers will be hurt politically if they fail to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

Here with reaction, former presidential candidate, Fox News contributor Herman Cain. I'm sure you can now rant and rave how pathetic they are, how weak they are, how they are a party without identity. But I'll -- I'll forego that for a second. Do they have to get this done? Mulvaney is talking about to do their economic plan, they were counting on a trillion dollars in savings. How important is  -- they go back to the drawing board and do their job?

HERMAN CAIN, FOX CONTRIBUTOR: Critical. They can walk and chew gum at the same time. They can work on two critical issues at the same time. Mulvaney is exactly right. They have to get this done.

Now, it was John McCain that stabbed America in the back, but all of the Republicans are going to take the fall for it. That is simply not fair. So they need to go back and retool and try this again. Relative to tax replacement, simplification, and reform, that is the other critical one.

They pull those two off, the American people will forget about their failure to hit a grand slam the first time around, but they will not forget the Republicans couldn't even get to first base.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: So here's my next question. So Lindsey Graham is proposing this idea. I guess on the surface people like yourself and I would say, what a great idea, federalism. Send it back to the states. Send it back, let them decide it. If Vermont want to have a single-payer, Vermont has a single-payer. California, who cares what they do, I will never live there, ever. I am not paying their state income tax.

I barely want to pay New York's, but I do pay it, Herman. I don't want to get arrested.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: But here's the point, the problem is from I understand they are not going to repeal all of the Obama era regulations. And why do I suspect, Herman, I don't know why I am so suspicious, that they are going to overspend like they always do and pork it up, and we are still going to end up paying more?

CAIN: Yes. And the reason, Sean, is that when the Democrats say they want to work with Republicans, they now say they want to work with Republicans to fix Obamacare. Obamacare can't be fixed. When the Democrats talk about they want to work with Republicans, even if it does go back to the states, that is not the issue. They are saying, if you do it our way and if you keep a lot of the controls in that we put on the American people, we might vote with you.

So I would say as to the Republicans, don't be fooled by another Trojan Horse that the Democrats are trying to push on you because you couldn't get it across the finish line for that first time around. They say they want to work with Republicans, but if you look at the history the only way they ever work with Republicans is when they are able to get some of their control over the people and some of their taxes.

HANNITY: When they get their way, that's the only they work with Republicans.

CAIN: Exactly.

HANNITY: Herman, it's time for them to get there you know what together. Get their act together. Do your job. This is pathetic. Grow up, and don't go on vacation until you do your job.

CAIN: I agree.

HANNITY: And by the way, subject yourself to the same laws that you're subjecting Americans to. It's unbelievable.

CAIN: I believe that America would applaud, the American people would applaud if President Trump does not allow them to get special subsidies relative to health care until they fix it for everybody. That would be a hip-hip hooray for and by the American people.

HANNITY: I wish he would go to the White House. Herman Cain, always great to see you. That is a man that has ideas, he thinks out-of-the-box, that represents conservative views. Health savings account, the penny plan, building a wall, energy independence, where is that Republicans Party? You're like nonexistent.

All right, when we come back, she has the toughest job in America. We will tell you what it is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: If you want to talk further about a relationship with Russia, look no further than the Clintons. As we've said time and time again, I think the distinctions are very clear. And you guys want to create a narrative that just doesn't exist.

First of all, I think if anything has been inflamed, it's the dishonesty that often takes place by the news media.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Wow, those were a few highlights from a day in the life of White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who has the toughest job in Washington, probably America. Earlier today she was joined at the podium by White House senior policy advisor Stephen Miller. He faced off against fake news CNN's Jim Acosta over President Trump's merit based immigration reform proposal. This is awesome. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR POLICE ADVISER: Jim, I appreciate your speech, so let's about this. Jim, let's talk about this. In 1970, when we let in 300,000 people a year, was that violating or not violating the Statue of Liberty law of the land? In the 1990s, when it was half a million a year, was it violating or not violating the Statue of Liberty law of the land?

Tell me what years meet Jim Acosta's definition of the Statue of Liberty home off the land? Do you at CNN really not know the difference between green card policy and illegal immigration? You really don't know that?

I am shocked at your statement, that you think the only people from Great Britain and Australia would know English. It actually, it reveals your cosmopolitan bias to a shocking degree.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN: You're trying to engineer racial and ethnic flow of people into this country.

MILLER: That is one of the most outrageous, insulting, ignorant, and foolish things you have ever said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Wow. Finally, fighting back. So what's it like to take on members of an abusively biased press, fake news, every single day? Earlier tonight we spoke with House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: Sarah, great to see you, I really do believe, and we do I think a pretty good job of calling out the lies, misinformation, lack of priorities, absolute bias and ideology of the media. You are with them every single day. I don't know how you do this job. You've got to help us out.

(LAUGHTER)

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: You think I have one of the toughest jobs in America, I think I also have one of the most fun jobs in America. I get to work for the president of the United States. He has had an incredible first six months in office. He is going to have an incredible seven and a half years. And it is an honor and a privilege to get to come out and share his message with the American people every day. And I am excited to be here and be part of his team.

HANNITY: I want to ask you this, because lately, the White House, yourself, Stephen Miller, Sebastian Gorka, Kellyanne Conway, you guys seem more willing now to go out there and say, OK, we are going to start calling you out on air to your face. I doubt CNN is going to run that exchange with Stephen Miller today.

SANDERS: They may run an edited version, but my guess it isn't the one where Stephen Miller puts him in his place.

HANNITY: He really does. At any point do you get frustrated? I know myself and I have been in talk radio for 30 years, and there are times some people are trying to get under your skin. I have built up immunities. Do you ever find yourself getting frustrated up there?

SANDERS: Every once in a while, of course, there is a certain level of frustration. Look, I know the American people, they did a poll not too long ago, they care about health care, they care about jobs, they care about the economy, they care about immigration. They don't care about Russia. They don't care about who has a job in the White House. They care about who has a job at their house. Those are the issues they were like for us to be able to talk about.

Unfortunately, we have a roomful of people that refuses to ask questions that America cares about. It is more about TV star moments, more about sound bites for evening news, and I think that is a sad disservice that some in the media are doing for the American people.

But hopefully we get to come out and be on shows like yours, and we get to respond. And I think that is one of the reasons you have seen us sometimes fight back a little bit stronger, because it is important for us to get the message out there, but it is also important for us to push back on some of the ridiculous bias that we get from the media.

HANNITY: It seems like the issue for the media is they are obsessed, either palace intrigue, or they want to talk about Russia, Russia. What do you want the American people, after 11 months nonstop covered, no evidence of collusion, but there is real evidence with Ukraine, you pointed that out yesterday, what do you want the American people to know about what their media is telling them?

SANDERS: I think one of the biggest things that you see is that you have a media that is incredibly obsessed with the idea of Russia. I think that is in large part because they are trying to justify the last 11 months that they have wasted talking about it. They know that there is nothing there.

I think they see that day after day after day. But they are looking for a way to justify their time and effort that they have spent wasting away on this topic.

They ought to be focused on the things that they administration is actually doing. The Dow hit 22,000 today. That's huge. Unemployment is at the lowest it has been in 16 years. The economy is on the right track. They should be talking about that. They should be celebrating that. They should be talking about the successes of this president, and they refused to do so because they were wrong in November, and they have been wrong every day since.

HANNITY: I was very glad, because one of the things I pointed out on this program, we did put up some of the president successes on air, only a small list. But we also put the full list on the air. I don't see anybody else in the media doing that. With all of the issue, they only want to talk about Russia, but here we have a DNC operative inside the Ukrainian embassy with the Ukrainian ambassador, "Politico" says reporting to the DNC Clinton campaign, a real Russia of conspiracy, Uranium One, sign off on a deal, $145 million in kickbacks.

Then we've got emails. Then we've got acid washing BleachBit, destroying hard drives, destroying devices, sending the FBI devices without SIM cards.

And Debbie Wasserman Shultz and her IT guy smashing hard drives. Then you have got on top of that Comey leaking information, you've got the general counsel of the FBI investigated, you've got Debbie Wasserman Shultz, you've got Loretta Lynch, unmasking, intel leaks, I can't even list them all. Do you think all of those issues the media is ignoring, should they be investigating them equally, and should the Republicans be doing more on those?

SANDERS: Absolutely they should. We've got a situation where we have got a president who is focused on trying to accomplish the things he campaigned on. And instead the media constantly wants to detract from that, take away from that.

If they want a real story about collusion and if they want a real story about illegal activity and inappropriate activity, there is plenty of material you just listed all off. If that is what they're looking for, there are a lot of things that they can go after and that they can investigate and they can do stories on. They are not going to find them here, but they certainly should be looking at the list you just rattled off.

HANNITY: Am I correct, is the president correct, there is a lot of fake news today?

SANDERS: Absolutely.

HANNITY: There really is. And some of the fake news in that room every day with the people you have to do with?

SANDERS: You bet it is. I'm not going to name names, but I think most Americans are certainly smart enough to figure it out. And I think that is the reason that Donald Trump is sitting in the White House, they were wrong then and they are wrong again every single today. And, you know, I think America is much smarter than the media gives them credit for. I think it is certainly working to our advantage.

HANNITY: Sarah, I think you have the patience of the job.

SANDERS: I have three preschoolers.

HANNITY: That's true, and you said that at the podium the other day, which I thought was great. All right, Sarah, I think it's the toughest job in America. You're doing great. Appreciate you being with us and sharing what it is like up there every day. Thank you.

SANDERS: Absolutely, thanks so much, Sean.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: Coming up, earlier today the president announced his support for a merit-based immigration system. We will check in with Fox Business anchor Lou Dobbs. He has reaction as we continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As a candidate, I campaigned on creating a merit-based immigration system that protects U.S. workers and taxpayers, and that is why we are here today.

The RAISE Act ends chain migration and replaces our low skilled system with a new points-based system for receiving a green card. This competitive application process will favor applicants who can speak English, financially support themselves and their families, and demonstrate skills that will contribute to our economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: That was a president earlier today pushing for an immigration reform plan that promotes a merit-based system. Here with reaction, author of the book "Putin's Gambit," from the Fox Business Network -- how many months now in a row, number one in all of business news, like a year?

LOU DOBBS, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK: It's 49 months.

HANNITY: Congratulations, you deserve that. And we've become friends. Is English the language of success? In other words, if you come to America and you want to succeed, how important is it that you know English?

DOBBS: Absolutely critical. That's why it's required to learn English to be a naturalized citizen in this country. It's amongst the very few requirements to be a citizen. We welcome people warmly but we do insist that they speak our language.

HANNITY: Let me point out, because one of the things that really irks me because the media, all they want to talk about is process, palace intrigue, and Russia. They don't want to talk about real scandals, real evidence, real proof, nor do they want to talk about -- let's put it up on the screen. This is the president's economic plan. Look at the stock market.

Six days in a row records, unemployment record low, gutted Obama era regulations huge. Nobody thought we would get to 2.6 percent GDP growth in the second quarter.

DOBBS: The normal under Obama was one percent growth and be happy please.

HANNITY: What is it with Foxconn, is it $30 billion they're going to spend?

DOBBS: There are various numbers, but they're going to put as many as three plants in this country which will amount to something between $15 and $30 billion.

HANNITY: And last month, 222,000 jobs. And here --

DOBBS: Over a million since the election, a million jobs created, and people act like there is no cause and effect. It's absolutely cause and effect. And by the way, the working man and woman, the middle-class family in this country understands that. It's the folks in the White House press briefing room that don't get it.

HANNITY: They're so pathetic. Steve Miller I thought did a good job on this today.

So here's my next question. The president gets through ending Obama era regulations. I think we get millions of high-paying career jobs in energy if we do become energy independent. But we still need 30 percent prediction. Mulvaney was on "Fox & Friends" this morning, rate increases in insurance for 2018, so repeal and replace is still not done. More importantly, are we going to get 15 percent corporate raises, middle class tax cuts, repatriation of trillions, are we going to get those key things that will help the forgotten men and women?

DOBBS: I still believe we're going to get many of those things. I think we're going to get some form of repatriation of 2.5 to $3 trillion in capital that is banked overseas.

HANNITY: How big is that?

DOBBS: Here for investment and job creation.

HANNITY: Those factories, manufacturing centers. And if you want to further incentivize those multinationals to build in Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Pennsylvania, Philly.

DOBBS: There is no other way to do this intelligently. If you're going to repatriate capital you've got to give direct incentive for those companies to invest in the home economy, and America is the home economy. And that is precisely what the president wants to do.

HANNITY: Why is it, and Larry Kudlow is a mutual friend of ours, Larry Kudlow talked about the Kennedy years in his recent book and the Reagan years. How come it always works when you cut taxes? It always creates millions of jobs, but there is this mysterious reluctance and resistance in Washington to do that job. Why?

DOBBS: The fundamental competition is over all of that money. Do we want the government to spend it or do we want our citizens to spend it as consumers, investors, small business people. And that is really the choice. The more capital that remains after taxation, the greater will be the impact on investigation and job creation. It is straightforward.

HANNITY: Last point, Reagan went to a 70 percent top marginal rate to a 28 percent top marginal rate. Revenues to government doubled, 20 million new jobs were created. There are 20 million new taxpayers. You've got a doubling of the money they have in D.C., but they think they can get more money by taking more.

DOBBS: But, by the way, they get more government by taking more. The fact of the matter is that the 1986 economic reform act effectively lowered rates as you say. But the reality is, this is 30 years ago. Right now we have hemorrhaged capital out to Asia, to Europe. We've got 47 consecutive years of trade deficits in this country. The president is exactly right when he says we've got to have fair trade. We've got to have balanced trade. It's madness to continue to squander America's wealth, and that is what the president is trying to stop.

HANNITY: Lou Dobbs now in a year, number one in all business, congratulations.

DOBBS: Thank you very much.

HANNITY: Up next, the conservative duo, our friends, Diamond and Silk, they are back. They get the final word straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Welcome back to HANNITY. So our conservative duo, our friends Diamond and Silk, they are back again tonight. They have the final word, tonight's message aimed at weak, spineless, ineffective, well, visionless Republicans without an identity. Guys, listen up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYNETTE "DIAMOND" HARDAWAY: Hey Sean, here is tonight's final word. The American people are fed up to the roof about ObamaCare. ObamaCare is not only a disaster, it's deceptive and misleading because it was it was built on a lie. Remember what Obama said -- like your doctor, keep your doctor.

Now you people walking around here with no doctor, a card without care, high deductibles, and these mandates are just a hammer that beats the middle class into poverty.

Like your doctor, keep your doctor? We don't like ObamaCare. So to all of these politicians that voted known to repeal and replace, maybe it's time for the American people to repeal and replace you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Perfect. You Republicans, listen and learn something. Thanks to our friends Diamond and Silk.

That's all the time we have left this evening. As always, thank you for being with us. We promise we are not the establishment media. News and information you won't get on those other channels that nobody watches anyway. We'll see you back here, we're fair and balanced, we'll see back tomorrow night.

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