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Sept. 13, 2017 - Sean Hannity Show
01:35:00
Some Good News on ObamaCare - 9.12
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All right, happy Tuesday.
Glad you are with us.
Write down our toll-free telephone number.
We'd love to hear from you today.
It's 800-941 Sean.
You want to join us?
We have Dave Bratt and the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, one of the few people I actually trust, like, and admire in Washington in the sewer, in the swamp.
We're going to talk with them.
Jay Seculo is going to join us.
We'll talk all the issues involved with the president, what's going on, and some other new news we're going to get to today as it relates to James Comey.
Bannon's comments that, well, he thinks it was a big mistake to fire James Comey.
How could you not fire a guy that had the fix in that needs to be investigated himself?
When are we ever going to have equal justice under the law in this country?
And all the different issues.
Hillary deleting bleach pit, subpoenaed emails, destroying Blackberries and iPhones.
And, you know, Debbie Wasserman Schultz looks like the I.T. guy and his brother might flip on Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
That kind of became apparent when the Daily Caller and Luke Roziak actually laid out that piece for us last week where the IT support guy ended up leaving Debbie Wasserman Schultz's laptop with a note to law enforcement officials.
That was a pretty good sign.
So just as I'm coming on the air here today, I get a note from somebody that says, yeah, there's a conservative at Hillary Clinton's ongoing book event going on right now.
I said, all right, here we go.
Let's see what questions are asked.
This could get interesting.
I had Greg Jarrett, my friend from Fox On last night, and he goes, There are 30 specific things that excuses that Hillary made for why she didn't win.
And I said, I don't have 30.
How'd you get to 30?
And then he says, no worries.
I'll send you the list.
And I have the list.
Sexism, which she did, misogyny, racism, xenophobia, suburban women, Comey Russians, Putin, WikiLeaks, the DNC, Obama, Biden, Sanders, Anthony Wiener, Electoral College, polling data, cable news, the New York Times, fake news, bots, Facebook.
Let me see, hang on, Twitter, Netflix, anti-American forces, Democrat documentaries, low-information voters, people wanting change, and people who assumed she'd win but stayed home, and the Republican Party.
I mean, really, you got to be kidding me.
I'm not going anywhere.
Oh, yeah, apparently you're going to a book signing today, and you're not going to the White House.
So that happens.
You know, I've got this article I want to share with you.
Before I get to it, it's in roll call today.
I want to just point out that job openings in this country have now soared to an all-time high.
We're at a seven-year low of people needing food stamps.
We've seen great growth in the economy.
We've seen a million jobs created with the recent surge in job openings, which was observed first last month and continued in July when the total number of jobs went up to a new record high of 6.17.
And then we've got the highest labor participation rate that we've had in years.
And that's all good for the country.
And I'm thinking, you know, imagine what would happen if we actually had Congress that worked with the president.
and actually got their job done.
One of the other stories that I'm following today is the DHS issued a waiver to speed up border wall construction.
It's like Trump is doing everything he can do on his own, but now we need a little help from those people in the legislative branch of government.
And for example, with the DHS, they announced Tuesday today that they issued a waiver to expedite the construction of barriers at certain areas of the U.S.-Mexican border.
They said they waived certain laws, regulations, other legal requirements to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers at the international border near California.
And according to the DHS, the waiver dealt with environmental, natural resource, land management laws.
I don't know what the environmental issues would be.
I've been down there so many times.
Frankly, I mean, there's nothing but cactus and sand.
There's not a whole lot down there that is that appealing that I think is at risk if we build a border wall.
And I'm sure environmentalists will have a fit over that statement.
But just stating a fact, putting up a border actually works.
And if you don't believe it, talk to the Prime Minister of Israel because it works for Israel.
Here's the article I want to share with you.
And this is one you've got to pay attention to.
And the headline of the roll call piece is, the White House continues their pivot towards congressional Democrats.
And the president will work with any members who want to move the ball forward.
Okay, so the president said this last week that he's pivoting away from a legislative strategy that's only exclusively based on Republicans.
And then he made a deal with Schumer and Pelosi because Republicans, Mitch McConnell, come back after an August recess, after a July recess, after a 4th of July recess, after a Memorial Day recess.
I mean, these guys have more recess than anybody I know.
We got like 30 legislative days in this next 14-week period to actually get some work done for the American people.
And so Trump said, finally, okay, you don't have a deal.
Let me put this together and we'll extend the debt ceiling for three months.
And I'm going to get the money to Texas because I promised the people of Texas that were victims of Hurricane Harvey that I'm going to get the money.
That's like rolling up your sleeves like the rest of us just to get something done.
It's beyond frustrating.
Where is their sense of urgency?
You know, if I was in Congress and I was a Republican, I think I'd be embarrassed at their inability to unite and get things done.
I've said it during the healthcare debate.
Get in a room, close the door, throw away the key, turn off the air conditioning.
I'll order all the pizza you guys can eat and stay there until you get your job done.
It's so frustrating to anybody.
And I know McConnell, our expectations were out of whack.
Pull that cut up, Jason.
I want to remind people because it's relevant.
How do you say after seven and a half years?
Well, maybe the president doesn't understand the parliamentary procedures involved in all of this.
It is a complicated process.
And, you know, by the time we get up in the morning, 11 o'clock, and by the time we eat our lunch in the Senate dining room and then have a nap after lunch, perhaps a brandy and a cigar, and then we have one or two hours maybe to chat about things and then it's off to the Senate dining room.
I mean, that's what they sound like.
That's even when they're there.
They're not even there half the time.
And he says everybody's expectations were too high.
They're not too high.
And where do you hear after you hear this what McConnell's now saying about the tax plan?
Where do you hear this?
Well, listen to this first.
I'm going to ask your show of hands, but I know everybody's saying we've been there, haven't done anything, which I find extremely irritating.
And I'm going to tell you why.
A Congress goes on for two years.
And part of the reason I think that this storyline is that we haven't done much is because, in part, the president and others have set these early timelines about things need to be done by a certain point.
Now, our new president has, of course, not been in this line of work before.
And I think had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the Democratic process.
And so part of the reason I think people feel like we're underperforming is because too many kind of artificial deadlines, unrelated to the reality of the complexity of legislating, may not have been fully understood.
And of course, our political adversaries would be love to say that anytime.
So what I'm asking of you is to judge this Congress when it finishes.
How much have we done to make America competitive again and to grow again?
And that's part of America, making America great again, which is what the president talks about so much.
That statement is so out of touch with how everybody else in this country lives their lives that I hear that and it just brings up raw emotion and fury and anger in me about this.
Been there, you know, people have been there, done nothing.
Their expectations, their timelines that, you know, there's, you know, not been in line with the work, excessive expectations, artificial deadlines.
I resent this and the complexity of legislation.
And the president's never done this before.
There, there, there, Mr. President.
Let me pat you on the head.
You've never done this.
I understand the complexity of parliamentary procedures, blah, blah, blah.
I'm not saying legislation is easy, but after eight freaking years, you would think you guys can get your act together and have a plan, a consensus plan ready on health care, but you can't.
And that's your failure.
And then rather than spend the summer learning from your mistakes and preparing to deal with the debt ceiling and preparing to deal with the tax plan.
Well, here's what we hear from McConnell just recently or whenever it ended up in roll call today.
But I mean, I'm stunned by what I'm actually reading and by what I'm actually hearing here.
And again, the headline is the White House continues to pivot towards congressional Democrats.
And the president wants to work with anybody that wants to move the ball forward and get something done, accomplish anything at this point.
Anyway, the article goes on and it says, while Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has said a tax bill, it might slip into next year.
Slip into next year.
What are you talking about next year?
What have you done all summer except whine and complain that people's expectations are too high?
What is so hard?
Why is it so hard to do this?
How about you vote on changing the tax code from seven brackets to three brackets?
Why don't we start there?
Why don't you vote on something as simple as giving the middle-class, hard-working taxpayers of this country a tax cut?
Why don't you move from there and then you move to corporations because corporations don't pay taxes anyway?
And you go from the highest taxes for corporations in the industrialized world to one of the lowest at like 15%.
Now, why is that good for the working men and women, the forgotten men and women in this country?
You know, the ones that need to be more patient, that are in poverty on food stamps and out of the labor force, that can't buy a house.
Those people, Senator McConnell, those that don't have your great lifestyle.
Why don't you think about them?
Maybe you'd have a certain sense of urgency if you were in that position.
And then all you would do is those corporations are going to invest.
What are they going to invest in?
Ways to make more money.
How do they make more money?
They build factories and manufacturing centers and stores, and then there's construction and people's jobs are going forward.
You know, why don't you move on the energy sector?
These are simple things to do.
Repatriation, multinational corporations, trillions of dollars parked overseas.
And you say, well, how do we know they're going to spend it?
Because they don't, what are they going to do?
Put the money in the bank?
That's not the way corporations roll.
Their job is to get profits.
And if they don't get profits, whoever's running the company is going to be thrown out of the company.
So the only way they're going to make a profit is to start with capital investment.
And the capital investment is going to be, okay, we've got to construct factories and manufacturing centers.
Oh, and now we ought to do it in the United States because the tax situation, the regulatory situation in the country's gotten infinitely better.
And while you're at it, remember, the single greatest thing we can do for this country is energy independence.
We have more natural gas.
It's the lifeblood of our economy, energy.
We have all these countries we import energy from that hate our guts.
It's good for national security.
It's good for job creation.
It's so good for job creation.
There would be millions of jobs that would be created that would end up being career jobs for those people that aren't working.
I'm sitting here stunned.
You've got 14 weeks and you're preparing us for another defeat.
And I'm like, first you wanted the House, you got it.
Then you wanted the Senate, you got it.
Then you wanted the presidency, you got it, but you didn't get the guy you wanted.
You want an establishment candidate, but he's offering Reagan-esque answers, which I've supported my whole life and career, and you're not supporting them.
So what are you going to do?
I don't understand it.
No, I do understand.
It's the swamp and the sewer, and Republicans are stuck in it.
All right, 800-941 Sean.
We'll get to some of your calls in the next half hour.
Jay Seculo, Chief Counsel, American Center for Law and Justice, Counsel to the President, is here today.
We got Dave Bratt and the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, Mark Meadows, two of the people that I trust.
They're going to join us in the course of the program as well.
I mean, there's just, it's like the greatest opportunity, and they're just, there's no energy urgency, motivation to just get any of this done.
Now, there is one little bit of good news, and I'll ask Dave Bratt and Mark Meadows about it later.
But I was actually intrigued, and I've discussed it a little bit in the past, about the idea that they're going to make one last push to repeal Obamacare before the deadline or appeal, before the deadline for a vote under the rules of reconciliation.
I won't go through all the parliamentary ins and outs of this, but that expires on September the 30th.
And you got Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy and Dean Heller of Nevada and Senator Ron Johnson.
And I assume if Lindsey Graham will do it, his buddy John McCain would probably jump on board.
Now, as a small government conservative that wants as much as possible limited government, I think this is overall a pretty good idea.
And that is let the states decide.
And, you know, the devil's ultimately going to be in the details of this.
But in other words, the states would decide whether they want to stay with Obamacare or not.
For example, California can have it.
You know, Jerry Brown is announcing today that they're going to be a sanctuary city.
Okay, I don't want to live in California.
I don't even want to live in New York for that matter because of the record unbelievable, abusively high taxation in this state.
And after all, the governor doesn't even want me here because I'm pro-life and I believe in the Second Amendment.
Anyway, Governor Brown's negotiating a deal to make California a sanctuary state.
Well, in New York, New York City, you pay an extra $12.7 in federal income tax.
In California, $13.5.
So anyway, what they're saying here is the bill would provide $1.2 trillion for Obamacare's Medicaid expansion and tax credits to states in an attempt to get the states to develop their own program.
I'm saying let New York, California, and all these liberal states, let them come up with their own program.
And the problem is going to be in the details of this.
The Senate parliamentarian ruled that in order to use the budgetary rule, you know, they ought to just get rid of the supermajority anywhere, make it a simple majority, which, by the way, the Senate has done before.
There is plenty of precedence for it.
Anyone that tells you otherwise is not telling you the truth.
All right, we'll take a quick break.
We'll get to some of your calls.
And then we have Mark Meadows, Dave Bratt, and Jay Sekulow all coming up.
Sean gets the answers no one else does.
America deserves to know the truth about Congress.
Hi, 25 till the top of the hour.
What's the deal, Linda, with Lindsey Graham and this program?
He doesn't want to come on anymore, right?
I don't know.
I mean, I reached out to his person and I am.
His people, his peeps.
Well, he has one main person, one main person that I talk to.
Talk to.
And I sent him a note.
I sent him a note about a month ago, and they reply right away, and they ask me what it's about, and then I never hear back.
And how many times have he reached out that way?
Well, today I reached out and I just said, hey, how you doing?
We'd like to have him on.
And he wrote back and he said, well, what's the topic?
And I said, you know, healthcare, debt ceiling, lots of interesting things, news of the day.
But you've been writing now for a while.
Yes, I do reach out often.
Basically, the Freedom Caucus people are the ones that come on, right?
We love the Freedom Caucus and the Freedom Caucus people are not afraid to be held to the fire.
They work for the people.
They don't work for themselves or the establishment.
Unbelievable.
All right, 800-941-Sean, our toll-free telephone number.
You want to be a part of the program.
Let's go to our busy phones.
Let's say hi to Tom is in Dallas, Texas.
Tom, hi, how are you?
Welcome to the program.
Sean, how outstanding to speak with you today.
Longtime listener and first-time caller.
Well, I've called many times, but I haven't been able to get through.
Oh, I'm glad you made it.
I haven't answered your question from the earlier segment.
The reason McConnell, Ryan, and about 92% of the other crooks in Washington won't get off their ass?
They're on the take.
You and I are both from the streets, man.
It's pretty simple to see.
Pretty simple to see.
I don't know so much.
Look, I don't know where the money is coming from.
I don't know if they're necessarily on the take.
I will say this.
There is a certain fear among politicians.
There's two things going on right now.
There's a fear among them to take bold steps.
And just, you know, the answer to good politics and an election victory is to keep your promises.
And so there's a fear taking a bold stand.
And the fact that they haven't gotten their act together, they didn't have a debt ceiling advancement is frustrating.
By the way, Governor Rick Scott is on our newsmaker line.
Governor Scott, first I want to give you all the kudos I possibly can.
I bet you probably slept like three hours in the last six days, but you did an amazing job getting the people in the great state of Florida safe.
And thank God it took a little bit of a westward turn, but it went right into our hometown of Naples, my second home in Naples, Florida.
I don't get there nearly as much as I want to, but I hear everything's all right.
Well, we were very fortunate.
The most important thing, though, is we've got to protect every person's life.
Every family is important.
So I tell everybody that we're still making sure that we did find through the hurricane, but now we've got downpower lines.
We've got a lot of debris.
So you've got to make sure that you're very cautious when you're going back to your house because I don't want to lose anybody in our state at all.
And we're getting our power back on.
We have in the last 24 hours, a million people have gotten their power back.
So we're working with our utilities to make sure we get our power back as quickly as possible.
Making sure that we get our fuel back into the state.
The president has provided the resources.
I asked him for a pre-landfall declaration.
He agreed.
Asked for a major declaration afterwards.
He agreed that day.
So federal resources are coming in.
So I want to thank the president, the vice president, Commissioner Brock Long from FEMA.
I've been talking to him all the time.
They've been helping us every day.
So we've got a lot of work to do, but a lot of people down here helping us.
I hear you're in the Naples area and then the Southwest Florida area, Fort Myers area with my buddy Sheriff Mike Scott and his deputy Carmine.
They're two friends of mine.
Be careful of Carmine, though.
He's a troublemaker.
He's a wonderful person.
And of course, the sheriff's a wonderful person.
I'm not saying that he's horrible.
I love the guy.
I'm totally messing with you.
You know, I will say this.
I saw on your face.
I watched all of this.
I can't tell you how many hours.
I'm such a loser, Governor.
I mean, I spent hours and hours and hours, and I thought the Fox News Channel coverage was amazing.
And I was so compelled.
I couldn't even watch the jets.
I was watching the coverage, obviously, going on, and just glad that everybody had gotten out there because we saw what happened in Barbuda and some of these other islands.
I mean, it was pretty devastating.
I mean, 95% of dwellings were destroyed.
So we did get a little bit lucky on this.
And I know some people say, oh, I should have written this thing out.
I'm like, no, you shouldn't have.
You can't risk your life.
You can't, your life is too precious.
Fox did a very good job of helping us get the message out that you can build a house, but you can't repair.
You can't rebuild a life.
And so they helped us get that message out.
So people were evacuating and listening.
And this thing impacted our entire state from Naples all the way to Jacksonville, the Keys.
I was down.
I flew by the Keys to see the damage yesterday.
I stopped in Key West.
They're still struggling.
They don't have water.
They don't have sewer.
They don't have power.
But we're working to get the roads open and get all the resources back down there.
I want to thank everybody, state, local, and federal, for working hard.
We just have a lot of work to do.
You know, it's kind of refreshing.
And you know, I'm a small government conservative, and I think often government is the problem.
And we've seen with these hurricanes when government doesn't coordinate, i.e., you know, Mayor Nagan and Governor Blanco at the time and Katrina, which was a disaster.
And then I look at how Governor Abbott, a friend of yours in Texas, and how well you've done and Pam Bondi did and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and state, local, and federal authorities coordinating and keeping people safe and pre-positioning resources, you know, to move right into the state after it happens.
And we were ready for the worst.
Case scenario, do you have any estimates about how bad the damage is going to be?
The cost factor of 50 billion is one figure I saw today, maybe more.
I don't have a number yet.
We'll work through each county to get that number.
The way I look at it now, what I've got to do is make sure we protect life.
The most important thing we can do every day.
Make sure that we get fuel back in the state, which I'm getting our ports open right now to get more tankers in here.
Make sure that our power gets back on, making sure the utilities have every resource they need.
And so that way we can get people back to their homes.
But Naples, especially if you go out to the Mockley, in the Mockley area, there was there last night.
They actually did get really hit really bad.
Not a wealthy area.
Jacksonville, over 300 people were rescued, and we sent Fish and Wildlife officers to help them yesterday when that flooding came up.
So people are showing up.
But the most important thing now is keep everybody alive and work on getting everybody their life back.
Well, I got to tell you, I heard an urgency in your voice every day.
As soon as you saw this was headed towards you, you just, it was all hands on deck.
I give you a lot of credit.
It's one of the times that we can look at government doing their job and doing it well and saving people's lives.
And as long as we follow through, then it'll be a complete success.
And I have no doubt knowing you as well as I do that that's going to happen.
And I hope you get some rest, Governor.
I know how hard you've been working and our thoughts and prayers for those people that are going to be inconvenienced further and have damage.
And I hope they get the help and assistance they need quickly.
Thanks so much.
And my best to the sheriff and to my buddy Carmine down there, okay?
I tell Carmine, you're getting in trouble.
No, Carmine is going to arrest me the next time I'm down there.
No, don't even just say Carmine's the greatest guy I ever met.
The sheriff is the greatest guy.
You know, I'm an honorary deputy down there.
I don't know if you know that.
Oh, are you really?
That's great.
Yeah, I'm the sheriff and undersheriff are wonderful people.
Absolutely.
All right, Governor.
Thank you.
And we appreciate all you did here to help people.
All right, 800-941-Sean is our number.
You want to be a part of the program?
Jeff in Oklahoma.
Jeff, hi.
How are you?
Glad you called.
What's going on, Jeff?
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
You do a great job, but it's getting a little redundant listening every day.
Call these people out.
Call Mitch McConnell out.
Call Paul O'Ryan out.
And these people that are being criminals by not getting anything done.
What do you think I'm doing today?
I'm calling Mitch McConnell out by name.
Wait a minute.
I just played Mitch McConnell's stupid comment about how our expectations are excessive.
And then I talked about Mitch McConnell saying that this whole deal may not get done until, let me quote it here.
I want to get it accurate.
But Mitch McConnell literally saying on the tax bill, well, that might have to slip into next year.
I'm like, what are you doing?
What do you think I'm doing?
I'm calling him out.
Yeah, I mean, more so.
I mean, really calling him out.
Go sit in his office and get him on.
You want me to go sit in his office and do my radio program from his office and get arrested, and then you're going to come bail me out.
That's really an effective way to call him out.
That's so dumb.
What do you, I mean, what do you want me to do?
You want me to go into his office and call him out in person?
Yeah, heck yeah.
Okay.
Well, I actually did run into him when the president spoke to the joint session of Congress.
I said, Mitch McConnell, Sean Hannity, looked at me and his face contorted.
I'm not exactly on the fan list of Mitch McConnell.
And trust me, if I can't get Lindsey Graham on the program, Mitch McConnell's not coming on this program because I've said he needs to go.
Yeah, I agree with you.
And I'm all for what you're saying.
I just think these people need to be called out.
And I don't know.
I don't like Shanghai.
Well, I'm trying to urge.
I'm trying to create the sense of urgency that is needed to get the job done.
And when I read today that he's saying that he might slip the tax bill into next year because of the complexity of writing something that can garner 60 votes, I'm like, I'm ready to jump off a bridge in frustration.
So, I don't know what part of me calling them out you're not hearing because I'm calling them out and I'm keep saying, do your job.
And if it's redundant, it's because I'm trying urgently to get them to feel what I feel.
I don't go through my life without a sense of urgency.
I've had it my entire life.
Anyway, thank you.
I don't mean to yell at you.
You're a good guy.
But I mean, you know, I'm trying to urge these guys to understand the moment, the opportunity.
It's like it's right there.
And the fact, it's so frustrating to me.
You know, when I was a dishwasher at 12, there's an urgency.
There's the dishes are piling up, and you got to move your ass.
You got to move.
When you're delivering papers, you got to move.
You got to get it done.
When you're cooking, and I was a shape, you got to move.
There's no not moving.
You don't keep your job if you don't move.
The light goes on in radio.
You got to go.
There's no, oh, wait a minute.
Your expectations of hearing something at 3 or 12.06, depending on what coast you live, is way out of whack.
I'm not ready.
I'll be back in an hour.
I think I should be prepared in an hour.
I'm eating lunch now.
Just, where's your sense of purpose and urgency?
What did you go there for?
What was the purpose of going there?
Meaning to Washington if you don't want to work hard.
All right, Linda's writing me.
Well, why don't you?
I'll go.
I'll sit in his office.
Why are you texting me that?
Why don't you just?
Well, you were on a roll.
I didn't want to, you know, I didn't want to break up your flow because I mean, what am I doing but calling them out?
How do I help if I go get arrested in a state?
Well, he's right.
He's right.
We're not doing enough.
I mean, why should I send you to get arrested?
Exactly.
Why should we depend on our elected officials?
I think I should go and sit there in Lindsey Graham's office in McConnell's office and just sit there and just make some noise.
And I assure you, after hearing me say, do it, get it done, they'll get it done.
They'll want me to go back to New York.
They won't want to keep me there.
You know, I've used the example.
We've got sweet baby James.
He eats lunch at his desk.
Where do you eat lunch every day?
Is that question for me?
The question's for you.
I eat lunch in the studio.
Okay.
And Lauren, where do you eat lunch every day?
Where do you eat?
Usually like right in front of you at like four o'clock.
Exactly.
Ethan, where do you eat your lunch?
Studio.
Hello.
You got to put your mic on and talk.
This is in the studio.
And Jason, where do you eat?
I mean, I don't eat anything major until I get home.
I'm eating pretzels right now.
Yeah, exactly.
And so one of the things we do as a show, we keep the studio stocked with junk food and people order and coffee and talk.
And we, nobody leaves.
Nobody moves.
Julie is in Fort Myers, Florida, listening to Fox News Radio 92.5.
What's going on, Julie?
How are you?
Glad you called.
Hi, Sean.
How are you?
You're a bright spot in our day.
Oh, thank you.
Sitting in a gas line waiting for gas for a generator.
Well, is the line that long?
How long is it?
It's not too bad.
This station that we regularly go to had gas in the ground, and earlier this morning, they couldn't get their valves working.
So it came out again.
But some of the gas lines are three hours long.
And then you don't have any guarantee you're going to get gas when you get there.
Well, but you know, the state, you know, Governor Scott's office created this app, right, to let you know where the gas go, I think is what it's called.
Or somebody created it.
We've been using Gas Buddy and we've been doing that.
Yeah, Gas Buddy.
Yeah.
And we've been doing those things.
And don't we?
We have such a wonderful governor.
He's been doing such a great job.
You know, I actually felt sorry for him.
I mean, I mean, I just think he really didn't want one.
I mean, I was watching him.
He had such urgency.
Please, please listen.
Please, please.
We can replace your property.
We can't replace you.
We can't.
And I mean, he cares about the people of the state.
I loved it.
I love this passion.
Now, we are the idiots that did stay because, you know, the first thing they tell you is listen to your local authorities.
And we know.
Well, if you listen to me, I was telling you to go.
I told you to go.
But, okay, but realize, too, that, you know, Sean, you know how populated we are down here.
No, it's busy.
I know.
It's just my husband and I.
And we're like, you know what?
We need to get the elderly people out.
You know, we were at higher ground.
We're, you know, in a well-built home.
Now, did we have a come to Jesus moment when they said the storm was coming through between 75 and 75?
I bet you did.
I bet you said, why didn't we listen to Hannity and the governor?
Yeah, we did.
Yeah.
Well, listen, you made it through.
I'm just happy you made it out alive.
Listen, and I know it's going to be inconvenient for a while.
Just hang tough.
You know, I'd say drink a beer online, but I guess if you do that, you get arrested by Carmine for DUI.
Well, yeah, yeah, and I know Carmine.
You know Carmine?
Do you know the sheriff?
I don't think Carmine know.
Yeah, it's true, right?
By the way, don't go to dinner with Carmine and expect to get a word in Edgewise.
It just doesn't happen.
And the governor, I'm sorry, and the sheriff, what a nice man.
I mean, and I'm an honorary sheriff, but I'm not really a sheriff, but I really just admire the people down there.
You know, I get down there two weeks a year, and I hang out with my buddy Mike Scott.
They're just great people.
You know, four days before the hurricane, they were taking all the homeless people, getting them shelter, and they were thinking ahead, which we don't get often enough.
Listen, I'm late.
Julie, God bless you.
Hang tough.
It's going to get better every day now.
I'm promising you that it will.
Do you have a reaction to Steve Bannon's comments on 60 Minutes saying that the firing of James Comey was the biggest political mistake in modern history?
And I think that we've been pretty clear what our position is.
And certainly I think that that has been shown in the days that followed that the president was right in firing Director Comey since director's firing.
We've learned new information about his conduct that only provided further justification for that firing, including giving false testimony, leaking privileged information to journalists.
He went outside of the chain of command and politicized and invented a presidential candidate.
I think the president's been very clear about his position on that front.
He's very pleased with the new director and has full confidence in him to fully restore and lead the FBI.
I totally agree with Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Glad you're with us, hour two, Sean Hannity show.
And she was referencing Steve Bannon.
I thought it was a very powerful interview, though, on 60 Minutes on Sunday night.
But now we know that the fix was in and James Comey was exonerating and writing up a statement about the exoneration of Hillary before he really even began to get into the meat and potatoes of the investigation, like interviewing witnesses, including the person herself, Hillary Clinton, joining us now, the chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice.
Jay Seculo is with us also counsel to the president.
How are you, sir?
I'm great.
Look, I won't regurgitate everything Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, but it's pretty much everything I've been saying and I think you've been saying as it relates to Comey.
And now on top of the new news about Comey basically having the fix in for Hillary and not doing an investigation, his statement kind of took me back.
Well, I mean, everything he said was not.
Nothing he said was correct.
So if you look at his whole buildup to the July statement about Hillary Clinton and then his subsequent testimony on Capitol Hill where he said he was just outraged and he felt compelled to have to give his statements that he made because of the meeting between Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton and what it brought to the Department of Justice.
When I've got in our Freedom of Information Act litigation against the Justice Department, we had a mandatory production from the court that included with it FBI emails, which they denied exist, of course, but the Department of Justice showed him that the information about that event on the tarmac was sent to his chief of staff within hours of it becoming known by the media.
Within hours, it was actually within minutes.
It was at his chief of staff.
So this whole, he plays this righteous indignation and holier than thou approach.
James Comey at bottom, and this is the one I keep going back to, had a conversation with the president of the United States, took notes of that conversation on his government computer in his government car, stuck them in his government desk, and then he leaked his conversation with the president of the United States.
He leaked it to a friend of his who was a law professor for the sole purpose of getting it to the New York Times with the end goal of getting a special counsel.
So you look at this entire setup, and that's exactly what it was, a setup.
And James Comey, now we know, also was drafting his declination letters three months before he interviewed 16 witnesses, including the target of the investigation.
So there's not a whole lot for James Comey to be bragging about and a lot of reasons for the president to fire him.
Well, it also, to me, that that very fact should open up the door for the Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, to appoint a special counsel or at least begin the investigation into a matter that clearly was never investigated in a proper fashion.
And it seems collusion took place on a number of fronts.
So I don't know if you have to have, I don't think you have to have a special counsel for this.
I think this can be done within the Department of Justice.
It should be a full investigation with FBI agents and Department of Justice lawyer supervising it.
Now, for all we know, Sean, that could be going on.
I mean, we would not, that would not necessarily, nor should it be public, that kind of investigation.
But they sure should be.
Could you imagine if you, well, look, if you were an FBI agent and took a Form 302, which was the no-taking form that you utilize when you're an FBI agent, and leaked it to the press, what do you think would happen to you or me or anybody else?
Right.
But he gets a special rule and not so quick.
But the entire framework where he put forward that whole agenda of why he had to do what he did was a false narrative from the start.
Did you read, I forget where I saw this yesterday, that there was a report that Sessions wants the NSC staff to take lie detector tests?
Yeah.
So there are reports in the press that the Attorney General, concerned, as he should be, as we all should be, about the leaks of information coming out of the National Security Council, including conversations that the president had with foreign leaders, warrants, in his view, and this is what the reports are, some type of either polygraphs or questioning by various probably be wise.
Why did I assume, Jay, that that would already have been happening?
You know, I know that there, we all know this just from the way that government agencies work.
There's supposed to be constant monitoring of leaks and that kind of information.
But I think that what I hear from just the media reports is that the Attorney General wants it on a, what I would call more formalized basis because of the continued concern on this.
All right.
So you've been a lawyer for however many years, chief counsel.
How many?
Almost 40.
That is a long time.
You don't look as old as you must be.
I'm 61.
I've been practicing law for 19.
Ready for this?
Admitted to the bar in 1980, went to work for chief counsel's office of the IRS starting in 1979.
Oh, my God.
200 years ago.
200.
Listen, I started radio.
This is like my 30th anniversary.
There you go.
Same thing for me.
In all your years, you obviously have come across lie detector tests.
Do you believe them?
I've never been one that has had a whole lot of I agree with the court's rule that polygraphs are generally not admissible because you can game a polygraph.
I mean, there are people that have become experts at this.
Experts at gaming a polygraph.
But There's a reason that they're utilized, and that is if you know that that potential is out there, it should stop the leaking.
My view is the best polygraph, so to speak, would be a couple of prosecutions for these people that are leaking.
You do that, and I think the leaking stops.
But I'm not going to question what the Attorney General is suggesting here because none of us know exactly the nature and scope of what they're actually dealing with with regard to these leaks.
Well, we do know this: that we've had a leak a day, and I can't remember in my lifetime a sitting president having to deal with verbatim conversations that he's had with prime ministers and others.
I was going to say the scope and nature of these leaks are unprecedented.
I mean, you're talking about, yeah, I mean, you're talking about conversations with government officials, heads of government, heads of state, and that information's leaked.
There's no excuse for that.
What should happen is a prosecution.
It should happen immediately and should be investigated immediately.
I think what's getting sent out, it sounds like, is that the Attorney General is taking this very seriously.
I think they've got, what I understand, a task force or something like it on government leaks.
And look, this has been a real problem over the last - it's been a problem for decades, but at an exponential rate under the current administration, no question.
The investigations now begin or be revisited.
Hillary emails.
I don't know if you've been following the Debbie Wasserman Schultz case.
Yeah, I am.
It appears that, in fact, that this guy, this IT operative, and maybe his brother are going to flip.
At least there was one report out there today, and we know that apparently he had left in a place with a letter to law enforcement, Debbie Wasserman Schultz's computer.
I'm sure he didn't do that for any other reason except that there's a problem on that computer there somewhere.
But do you think these investigations will take place?
The leaking investigation will take place.
The Comey investigation is going to take place.
We're going to get into Uranium One.
And what about the special counsel?
Why is the special counsel in place?
Because I've yet to see any evidence of Trump-Russia collusion in the campaign.
And the more and more we discover and we learn, it never happened.
That's correct.
And look, I mean, here's, if you want to talk about the whole establishment of the special counsel's role, you got to go back to the Russian, the steel dossier, which is getting a lot of attention now from our friend Congressman.
This is Trey Gowdy.
And it's getting a lot of attention because Trey Gowdy said it's basically a fiction.
And that was the basis upon which the entire discussion as to this whole Russia, you know, so-called collusion took place.
I go back to something I've said before, Sean.
And, you know, no one has yet to show me a law, rule, regulation, or statute that actually defines what collusion even is.
Now, if they're talking about Russian engagement with the political process, that's markedly different from what's being discussed in the press.
Let me just say this.
My view is at the end of the day, when this is done, and it will be done, the president of the United States and the administration, we're not colluding with the Russians, whatever that means in the scope of a nature of an investigation.
And I don't think that's, you know, some may try to say that's news, but of course that's not news.
What has been the evidence of any of this?
And I think the media is so desperate for stories that they'll probably take a statement like that and try to make a story.
But the fact is, you know, the American people have seen what's out there.
You know, a meeting that took place a year ago that produces nothing.
These are not, this is not the basis.
You know, it makes for a good, you know, novel, maybe, or a movie script.
It makes for a good conspiracy theory news network.
Yeah, but it's not, but it's not a legally significant moment.
All right.
Let me talk about Mitch McConnell.
And I got it.
I'm talking about this later in the program with our Freedom Caucus friends.
There was a roll call article that's out today, and it was pretty shocking because in the article, Mitch McConnell actually said that the tax bill might slip into next year, given the complexity of writing something that can garner 60 votes.
Now, why he doesn't eliminate this new simple majority is beyond my comprehension because the Democrats.
You can do what the Constitution says.
Why not stick with what the Constitution says?
That's one.
Number two, he didn't get health care done.
Now, I know they're going to take another stab at it with Lindsey Graham's plan, which may not be a bad plan.
Actually, I think it's I mean, I think it's a good idea.
Well, conservatives love things going back to the states.
We want less Washington.
Block grants make a lot of sense, actually.
And centralized government.
I think what Senator Graham's proposing is a good idea.
But now he's saying it may be pushed into next year.
The tax reform.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think that's a big mistake.
First of all, look, the last time we had tax reform in this country of any significance.
That was 1986.
Right.
It was under President Reagan.
It was the Tax Reform Act of 1986.
So here we are, 31 years later.
Let me tell you, it's time to get this done.
So it's not, you know, they try to make it, and again, I understand the politics as they are.
But the fact is, are there going to be Americans that are really opposing a middle-class tax cut?
And the answer is going to be no.
So you know you can get that done.
So start checking off the things that you know you can get done that will actually impact.
You know, I was a tax lawyer for most of my training.
I was in Office of Chief Counsel of the IRS when I came out of law school, and I still do a lot of tax law.
Here's the thing: this is not so complicated.
You reduce the rates.
There's more money to the individual citizen in the United States.
What do they do with it?
They save and spend.
I mean, and that encourages the economy and investment.
And that's what you want to do.
You want to help the economy continue on what has been a very good run the last seven, eight months.
You want to continue that.
But I think that if Mitch McConnell would, you know, look, if they don't get tax reform done September, October, November, and December, I will be very, I think the American people will be let down and disappointed.
Let down, disappointed, and rightly blame the Republican Party in the House and Senate.
It's interesting.
They have the lowest, they're almost as low in their approval rating as the media is.
We'll take a quick break.
More with Jay Seculo, American Center for Law and Justice, and a counsel to the president.
800-941-Sean is our toll-free telephone number.
Later on, we have much more coming up on the program.
We'll continue more with Jay Seculo straight ahead.
All right, as we continue, Jay Seculo's with us, Chief Counsel, American Center for Law and Justice, and counsel to the president.
So, where are we?
There were reports yesterday that all these people are being called in that work with the president in Robert Mueller's investigation.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong.
I thought the investigation was supposed to be about collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign and as it relates to the DNC and the emails and the leak on the eve of the convention of the Democratic Party.
Wasn't that what it was supposed to be about?
Yeah, the mandate is actually quite specific in that regard.
I mean, it does, at its core, supposed to focus on collusion between purported collusion between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.
But let me say this, Sean, that the fact that there's these interviews that are being discussed in the media, and I'm not going to get into the particulars of who is or who isn't, but I'm just not going to go there.
But let me just say that's none of this is as a lawyer that represents one of the lawyers that represents the president.
This is not, these are not surprising to us.
This is kind of the, this is, these are normal kind of things.
But I'm not confirming who's being or who's not being, but that kind of thing tells me that we're wrapping this up.
That's what it tells me.
We're getting close to the end.
Why?
Because it's now they're talking to the last people.
I mean, you know, any kind of investigation, or I could use James Comey's word, any kind of matter that you're involved in with these kinds of, and I've done, look, I did the IRS cases.
I mean, they have a cycle to them.
And look, I don't know how it's going to relate to every, I can't speak for every other lawyer that's representing every other person that's impacted by this, but as counsel of the president, I'm expecting this to wrap up very soon.
Well, that would be great news.
Does that mean that the media told one big fat lie for almost a year?
I think the media has, look, look what they're creating stories out of.
Out of nothing.
I mean, I got a call yesterday.
I will leave the outlet nameless, asking me about something that happened purportedly in May or early June of this year.
And now this is news.
I mean, this is absurd.
So basically, they recycle their own funds.
Well, they're trying to.
Because there's nothing else.
So what else are you going to say?
You know, Don Jr. testifies, nothing comes out of that negative.
So what are they going to say?
He was cooperative.
He did everything professionally.
So, there's nothing to say.
So, this is why you've got, you know, the media focusing on things that are absolutely irrelevant.
There was a story yesterday.
I mean, there's been a whole series of them.
You've seen them.
There's been story after story that are recycled from three months ago.
I mean, look, I'm looking at three months from now.
They're looking at three months ago.
Does that tell you one thing right there?
That's kind of where it is.
Well, I think what's happened is this whole Russia conspiracy theory has become an industry for these networks and for the Washington Post and the New York Times.
Well, they're trying to create an industry of it.
I think the American people don't find it so interesting.
I mean, you know, the country, you know what the country wants to know?
Healthcare reform.
So now that everybody's looking at Lindsey Graham's plan, which I think actually works, I like the idea of a block grant going back to the states.
They're looking at tax reform.
That's what the American people are thinking about.
They want relief for the hurricane, those that suffered in the hurricane.
That's what the American people want.
They want the president focused on the problems with North Korea, which are serious and sobering and something that could be very, very damaging not only to the region, but to world stability.
That's what the American people are focusing on.
You know what they're not focusing on?
Russia, as a story about the election.
I mean, they're not.
And the media wants to make a field day out of the country.
They catch nothing eternity.
Julian Assange says he has evidence.
Is that something that the country needs to listen to?
Robert Mueller needs to listen to it.
I mean, anybody that has evidence that's relevant to an inquiry should be looked at.
Now, Julian Assange raises a particular guy that had it, right?
Well, I mean, look, if he wanted to give evidence to the, it doesn't have to be Robert Mueller, to the FBI or Department of Justice, he should hand it over.
I'm not going to get into what he should or should not do.
I'm not representing him.
Let me be really clear there.
All right, Jay Secular, American Center for Law and Justice.
We'll see you on Hannity tonight.
Good evening.
All right, sir.
Thank you.
All right, we'll take a quick break.
We'll come back and we'll get to your calls when we come back.
We'll also be checking in with Dave Bratt and Mark Meadows of the Freedom Caucus.
You know, can we get the agenda done in 14 weeks?
I'm not eternally optimistic here.
All right, 25 till the top of the hour.
Toll-free telephone numbers: 800-941 Sean.
You want to be a part of the program?
We got our Freedom Caucus members, Dave Bratt and Mark Meadows, coming up at the top of the hour.
By the way, there's now, I feel bad for the people in Florida.
All those people that left, you all did the right thing, and now you're stuck in traffic trying to get home.
And some of you are saying, Thanks, Hannity.
Thanks for telling us it was coming.
It wasn't as big as you said.
Great.
All right, for all of you saying that, I'm just glad you're alive.
I love you anyway.
And hang in there.
There's still flood warnings all across Florida, still in effect.
Jacksonville, I think, got the worst of it.
And I just saw some lines from earlier today.
I mean, look, it's just put your patient hat on.
Listen to the program.
Put a smile on your face.
You know, learn a little bit about your country.
We'll have some fun and we'll make the drive go by faster.
All right.
Just three hours is all we ask a day.
It's not a lot among friends, right, Linda?
I don't think that's a lot.
Not at all.
I think it should be longer.
Oh, your mother wrote me yesterday.
What'd she write me out?
She wrote me something yesterday.
It wasn't big.
And you're her new adopted child.
Yeah.
I'm sure that's coming any second now.
Well, I'm definitely in.
I don't, you know, my mother does.
Oh, yeah, you're the building one for sure.
For sure.
Because can we tell the story yet?
I'm dying to tell of the day you were born?
No, not the day I was born.
You know the story that I'm talking about.
There is a once upon a time.
Intramural, let's say, romance going on.
Oh, romance amongst amongst one member of the Hannity team here.
Are we hosting the love boat?
No, we're not hosting the love boat.
Am I allowed to talk about it?
That's what I'm asking.
I'm trying to know if I can talk about it.
So you're a talk show host on a show called Sean Hannity.
Your name happens to be Sean Hannity, and you want to talk about something.
There's one person whose permission we need to do this, and that person is being very silent right now.
Although it does impact, it does impact you.
Everything impacts me.
And the best part of the whole story is I knew it before you knew it.
Well, that's why you love it so much.
Yes, exactly.
This is not okay.
It's not okay, Hillary.
You tell them.
Can we talk about something else?
Okay.
Does that mean no?
I'll give you an opportunity now to say yes or no.
When are we going to make the announcement?
Not today.
Not today.
Chris.
Wait a minute.
What's this?
I said Jeopardy music.
Let's give her some time to think about what her answer would be.
I didn't need a lot of time.
Who is Lauren dating?
Who is Lauren dating?
That's the big question, exactly.
Alex, I'll take that for $1,000.
Oh, Alex, I'll take it for $100,000 because I know.
I do.
Chris in West Virginia.
What's going on, Chris?
Glad you called.
Hey, Sean, it's an honor to talk to you.
How you doing, old boy?
I'm good, sir.
How are you?
What's happening in West Virginia?
Oh, not too much.
I just wanted to give you a call.
By the way, is Joe Manchin ever going to step up and support the president?
My God, I hope so.
Well, I tell you what, somebody needs to do it.
At first, I thought some of the Republicans were going to, and now it just seems like everybody's going roadblock after roadblock.
It's so irritating.
I just, I don't even have cable anymore, Sean.
I literally, I don't know.
No, no, no, no, no.
You can't not have cable.
That doesn't help me out.
That doesn't help the country out, but you're not watching cable.
Well, I listen to you guys.
No, we appreciate it.
I'm going to get truth.
But aren't there days I tell you what's coming up on Hannity at 10 and you say, oh, I want to watch that?
Well, I tell you what, not only do I save myself some stress, but it also helps me pay the rent, not having cable.
You know, listen, I get it.
All these things are expensive.
Everything you have, I actually have Dish TV and I like it, but I'm just addicted to it.
I like Netflix, too.
That's a lot of fun.
And I like to watch the documentaries and some of the series.
Anyway, what else is on your mind today?
What's going on?
I got a, man, I got pages of stuff I'd love to spend hours with you talking about over a steak and a beer.
But the most recent thing that's really getting to me is Trump, he ups the debt ceiling, and he's helping Texas, and he's doing everything he can.
And I saw the meeting with him and Nancy, and I believe it was Chuck.
And the two Democrats are sitting there with this crap-eating grin on their face.
And it just seems like, oh, well, we finally got something that we want.
Yay, woo-hoo.
And then everybody else starts bashing him for all this other stuff.
And they're going to ride him for helping out Texans, the people in Texas, when he said we're going to put America first.
Yeah, we're not going to spend a ton of money overseas, but we're going to up the debt ceiling and we're going to help ourselves out.
We're going to help out our Texans.
And then the Republicans start bashing him?
I don't have any, any, I don't have any conflict at all with what he did on the debt ceiling to get money to Texas sooner.
I do have a problem here.
I have a problem with the Republican Party.
They were on vacation most of the summer.
They don't have many days on the calendar in terms of working for you, the American people.
And they came back knowing that they had to deal with the debt ceiling as the first thing, first course of business.
This is after they failed to do health care, and they had no plan.
So the president just said, okay, let's do it this way.
And I don't blame the president because he wanted to get the money in the pockets of the people in Texas.
And he'll do the same thing for the people in Florida.
I was reading today that the cost estimates are a lot lower than we thought they were going to be, which, you know, maybe they were talking about, you know, hundreds and billions of dollars.
Maybe now it's 50 and not 200 billion.
Good.
We save money and the people of Florida will still be taken care of.
Yeah, that and thank God because the less money that we have to spend means that there's less damage that they have to suffer through.
I think it's excellent.
Listen, I like his sense of urgency.
It's kind of how we all roll and what we do on this program and how I live my life.
And frankly, it's how everybody that I know all my life lives life.
Everybody's got stress and pressure to the max.
I don't know anybody that's not stressed out in some way because they've got so much going on in their life.
And again, they're trying to raise their kids, pay their taxes, obey the laws, make enough money to get a decent house in a nice community, safe, and have a good car and a few extras in life and take a two-week vacation at Disney, maybe once every three years.
Thank God we finally have a president that will actually step up and do what he needs to do when it needs to be done and not play the runaround game and the quote-unquote swamp game.
It's refreshing.
I love it.
I'm so tired of politicians being in there.
Before Trump got elected, I had to deal with Clinton and then, oh, God, George.
And then along came Obama.
I used to make $98,000 a year in the coal mine.
Here comes Obama, rips everything out from underneath my feet.
I go from $94,000, $98,000 a year to $10 an hour, 30 hours a week, as a single dad.
So now coal mining jobs are coming back.
You're going to go back in the mines?
I would love to, but being a single dad, I don't have anyone to watch my son because in the coal mines, you have to work a rotating shift.
One week you work midnights, one week you work afternoons, the next week you work day shift.
I don't have anybody to watch.
But if you're making $100,000 versus $10 an hour, you probably can get somebody, some nice teenage kid, to watch your kids.
No, I don't trust any teenage kid to watch your kids.
All right.
You can find a nice old lady in the community that has raised her kids and would love to raise yours or help you raise yours.
I could search it out.
It just makes me nervous.
Listen, you're just like me.
You sound like me because I don't trust anybody.
All right.
There's got to be a good go find a nice old woman in church that would love to help you.
That's the person I would find.
And give her, you know, pay her $10 an hour and go do, you know, this way you're going to be saving money.
You're going to have a little bit nicer house, a nicer truck, and you'll be able to have a better life.
You know, look, dads are supposed to work.
That's the bottom line.
I'm assuming you're divorced, right, or something?
Are you separated?
Yeah, we're separated.
She took off.
Okay, so, you know, you got to raise money.
You got to put food on the table.
You got to have a nice roof over your head.
You got to get clothes.
And the kids are going to want nice sneakers and it all costs money.
Yeah, I know.
And I'm hoping he said, supposedly, we're supposed to have some factories opening up back around this way.
So I'm hoping we get one or two close to my town and my county.
I can get in one of those.
You can't live on $10 an hour and raise two kids, my friend.
You got to get.
Listen, I don't like coal mining jobs.
First of all, I couldn't do it because I couldn't be underground at that level without a maximum freakout factor.
Okay.
So I admire people that can be in those closed quarters and be in the dark that long.
I just, it's so, it's such a hard job.
And then I know safety considerations are much better than they used to be, but it's still a threat to your safety.
You know, find something that you love and are passionate about and find ways to make money.
That's my advice for you.
But if you can get back in the coal mines and you're making $100,000 a year and that's going to put food on your table and a better roof over your head, you can get some nice person you'll find to take care of the kids.
I promise you.
Okay?
I got to roll.
AJ, Houston, Texas.
What's going on?
Big time.
AJ, how'd you survive Hurricane Harvey, my friend?
We haven't heard from you.
I told my staff to call you.
Big time, Sean.
How you doing?
Back in the back, baby.
Houston will survive.
We did good.
You did all right?
Helping people.
And hey, we dried up and everybody, the road's back opening up and everything.
Hey, now's the fix-up.
And everybody's just helping.
Hey, I'm going to be like a lawyer.
Let's start with you.
How did your house fare?
Oh, I did great.
The good Lord blessed me.
I was out the day after helping people.
I went to Old Steam Church and helped, you know, give out, gave them dog cages.
And then went to help one of the guys and pull the trucks out of the way.
It was a mess.
But we got through it big time, Sean.
Thanks for everybody help for the great state of Texas.
We appreciate everybody that came down here and showed, hey, I'm going to do like, okay, Linda, first of all, Houston showed the way America should be.
That's listen, there's no doubt about it.
Houston led the way.
Listen, neighbor helping neighbor.
So you went the next day.
Your house was fine.
You weren't flooded out.
And then you go to your church and you went out and started helping a bunch of other people.
That's awesome.
I went to Osteen Church and gave some stuff to them.
And you know, the area where they was on him and that area where he had, nobody couldn't get around, Sean.
Everything was flooded out.
But it kind of goes down pretty fast in that area where he's at, not too far from the office.
And we was able to get around because we was out and about the day after me and my boss.
And we went down, man, and we, everybody, man, you ought to see the lines of people coming to bringing stuff at the church.
It was amazing.
Oh, man, the boats came out.
You've seen votes everywhere.
People from all walks of color creed.
What racism?
We sick and tired of it.
We don't want to hear no more about the racist bullcrap that these people bring out.
We showed that everybody, God's people, helped one another in Texas.
And now the fix-up is coming.
Everybody's tearing stuff out, trying to get their houses back dried up.
And it's going good big time, Sean.
It's going real quick.
Well, listen, you know what?
I hate to see, as I've been saying, you know, so many people, I mean, their number one investment is their house.
All right.
Yes, sir.
You work your whole life.
You know, you get enough money, you get a down payment, you get a loan, then you put in your 10, 20, 30 years to pay the stupid thing off.
And then you finally own the thing and it increases in value and it's your retirement money.
And then all of a sudden, boom, here comes Harvey to wreck it.
You know, the good news is: look, the country's extraordinarily generous.
You got groups like Samaritan's Purse.
That's who I donated to for Harvey and a couple other groups.
But, you know, just you just, the country's going to have, and government worked this time.
You got a great governor.
You got a great lieutenant governor.
And except for your dopey mayor, everybody did a great job.
The federal government was amazing.
And they did the same thing in Florida.
And there's still going to be cleanup and a lot of work to do there.
But AG, I got a roll, my friend.
We love you.
We're glad you're safe.
Thanks again, everybody.
Big time AJ Houston, Texas.
Right back.
We'll continue.
Our Freedom Caucus friends, Mark Meadows, Dave Bratt, are next.
What did you think of the deal that Schumer and Pelosi and the president made?
Well, it wasn't what I think the Speaker and I had in mind, but it still had to pass the Senate.
And since I was in charge of drafting the debt ceiling provision that we inserted into the flood bill, we're likely almost certainly not going to have another debt ceiling discussion until well into 2018.
So there may be some misinterpretation by people, including maybe people in this room, if you want to talk about it.
Let's put it this way: the deal's not quite as good as my counterpart thought it was.
It does not prevent extraordinary measures.
And I think I can safely say that the debt ceiling and the spending issue in December will be decoupled because the debt ceiling will not come up until sometime in 2018.
So, just so we understand this correctly, that what you're saying is that the December deal now will be mainly about spending and hurricane relief, those kind of issues.
That's correct.
And that won't necessarily require a vote to increase the debt limit again at that time.
Yeah, the Secretary of the Treasury won't even have to ask us to increase the debt ceiling because the measure that I inserted into the bill does not prevent the use of extraordinary measures.
And so I'm confident.
He can speak for himself.
But if I were in his shoes, I would say in December, I'm not asking you to increase the debt ceiling right now.
You go on and do the rest of the year-end business, and I'll see you next year on the debt ceiling.
So the fabled leverage might not be as leverageable as some people might think.
Precisely.
All right, so the debt deal is not as good for the Democrats as they thought.
Debt ceiling won't come up until 2018.
Oh, that just gives me so much.
One other bit of news as we go to a break here, then we'll get to your calls and comments, 800-941, Sean.
So the week of the 25th on Wednesday, I believe the 27th at UC Berkeley, it's Free Speech Week.
And that's obviously been the site of a few, well, internet-shattering showdowns between conservative speakers and liberals.
And guess who they invited in?
Yeah, Steve Bannon.
Oh, I think that's really going to work.
Steve Bannon is there.
All right.
Good luck on all of that and that one in particular.
Maybe we should go out there.
I don't know who the next person at Free Speech Week is going to be.
How much do you want to bet liberals do everything they can do to shut down every conservative?
After all, they so represent freedom and free speech.
One of the advantages of being the majority leader is you control the paper.
And I wrote it in such a way that it does not prevent what is frequently done is the use of extraordinary measures.
And the minority leader and his team were trying to get us not to write it that way.
I did write it that way, and that's the way it passed.
Do you think that they were a little too happy with their deal?
May have spiked the ball in the end zone a little too soon.
But you still will need Democratic votes on a spending bill.
We did.
And I mean, you will in the votes.
We needed them.
But we'll not be dealing with the debt ceiling until sometime next year.
All right, Mitch McConnell.
Now, there is some news today that is actually pretty fascinating and interesting to watch.
Senate Republicans, Washington Examiner, reporting they're going to make one last push to actually repeal Obamacare before the deadline for a vote under the rules of reconciliation, which expires on September 30th.
Now, you'd think they'd make more than one effort, more than one attempt.
Last time I checked, it's only September 12th.
But anyway, four Senate Republicans are introducing this legislation on Wednesday that would provide the Senate with a last-ditch opportunity to repeal, replace Obamacare.
And that's Lindsey Graham's bill.
He's also got Bill Cassidy and Dean Heller of Nevada and have attracted a fourth GOP sponsor, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.
And it would allow the states to decide the fate of Obamacare.
For example, California, New York, they want Obamacare.
They can keep their plan and keep their doctor and save money.
The rest of us would rather have free market competition, health savings accounts, and cooperatives.
But anyway, the bill would provide $1.2 trillion for Obamacare's Medicaid expansion and tax credits to the states.
Now, on the surface, as a conservative, I like anything taken out of Washington and sent back to the states, but the devil is always in the details here to help sort it out for us are good friends of the program.
Frankly, the only people I trust in Washington right now are the Freedom Caucus members, Dave Brad of Virginia, and the chairman of the caucus, Mark Meadows of North Carolina.
You know, we've got 14 working weeks left in the legislative session.
Let's start with this last-ditch effort to repeal Obamacare.
Mark Meadows, is this something that would fly in the House?
Well, I think it would, Sean.
And thank you for always being a voice for your listeners and those who understand that we've got to change the way that Washington, D.C. does business.
I can tell you I've had probably a dozen phone calls or more in discussions with Senator Graham and Senator Santorum on this idea that will get introduced here in just a couple of days.
We've got a very short window.
As I understand it, they're really looking at trying to push this forward on the 22nd of September where they could have a voterama and hopefully pass this out of the Senate.
But if it makes it past the Senate, based on what I understand, and I've only seen parts of the legislative text, it's certainly something.
Oh, slow down.
Therein lies the problem.
They've only shown you parts.
It's the parts they're holding back that trouble me.
Well, it could be.
And you and I both know because we've talked on a regular basis during the first health care debate.
I can remember a few midnight 1 a.m. conversations that people would love to have been a fly on the wall hearing two people I know debate passionately who the audience was.
You're exactly right, my friend.
But I can tell you that this is ⁇ I'm optimistic that if we can get this across with 51 votes in the Senate, that guys like Dave Bratt and myself will be able to support it here in the House.
Let me ask that.
Graham won't come on this program.
And, you know, Graham is so fickle.
I mean, he's all over the place.
He's beyond frustrating.
And I've heard some things that are said behind closed doors in Senate meetings that I'm not too particularly fond of him.
And, you know, some people like Ben Sasse and others saying, but this, if we could get it done right, my biggest fear, Congressman Bratt, is they're going to pay too much money and they're going to just add too much.
They're just going to fund this thing to death and we're all going to go broke.
Yeah, no.
Well, those are legit concerns.
And, you know, I think as Chairman Meadows has said in the past, we've got to see what it does to the Obamacare regulations.
But I just want to pivot back.
This is still theoretical.
We're going to wait to see what it looks like on paper.
But over the last few days, I got it posted on my website, DaveBratt.com.
Sean, if you want to check it out, your folks.
But McConnell made some remarks a few days ago about the tax reform package that I think will shock you.
This is from Roll Call.
The reporter is Jonathan.
He says, while Senate Republican Mitch McConnell has said a tax bill might slip into next year, not this fall, next year in 2018, given the complexity of writing something that can garner 60 votes, the president wants to move faster.
So there's the Senate majority leader saying we may not do tax reform in the next few months.
It may slip into next year, and it may take 60 votes working with Schumer and Pelosi on the tax cut.
I read the same roll call piece you did.
Remember, the headline of the piece is the White House continues the pivot towards congressional Democrats.
Right.
Right on.
So as Mitch.
Go ahead.
Yeah, and it's further.
Today, front page of Politico, I'm on there highlighting this because no one in the country is following this.
And the mainstream media, of course, won't pick this up.
They'd love a tax deal with Pelosi and Schumer because nothing will get done.
And so this is a, you know, the base needs to unite nationwide to demand, along with the president, that we get this tax reform.
And the reason it's complicated is leadership is pouching it in terms of a budget resolution.
So that confuses everybody.
They think it's going to be about budget issues and, you know, a couple hundred billion dollars and this, that, and the other thing.
That has nothing to do with it.
We've already passed the appropriations bill.
Budgeting proper is already done and complete.
So all this budget resolution has to do is the instructions on tax reform.
And as Mark Meadows and I have been saying, we don't know anything that's in this tax package for sure yet, right?
We don't know if there's a C Corp, what the rates are.
As Corp, is the individual forgotten man Mac home going to get a tax cut?
We don't know any of it.
Can we keep it simple?
Here's what simple is to me.
Yep.
Seven brackets to three, what the president ran on, a middle-class tax cut, a corporate cut, 15%.
I assume it's going to be higher because that's the way Washington works, but I hope not much.
Repatriation of the trillions for multinationals.
And then get rid of the double taxation of the death tax and maybe a few other reforms, and that's it.
How about we do that and energy independence that we have a goal this country will be energy independent in four years so we really dig deep and create millions of high-paying career jobs for Americans?
Why don't we just do that?
Well, that's too simple, Sean, to do.
I mean, the truth is we should be doing that, but the special interests that are here in Washington, D.C. always have their idea that they want to make sure that they support.
And so that's what you're seeing: is a whole lot of lack of specifics and a whole lot of special interest trying to make sure that that forgotten man and woman that Dave Bratt was talking about remain forgotten.
And we're not going to allow that to happen.
You're not going to allow it to happen.
But getting back to health care a little bit, I want to just say this: if we give up on health care with only one try where we missed it by one vote in the Senate, shame on us.
We all need to go home.
And we've got to get this done.
It was part of the promise that the president made to the people on November 8th and before.
And kudos to those who are at least willing to try in the Senate.
And I'm optimistic that we will at least have a lot of time.
I'll put Lindsey Graham on the program, but you're going to have to broker some kind of peace with this guy because he won't come near us.
Well, I'll do that.
I'll reach out to Senator.
I'll do that, Sean.
Listen, you know, you said something.
Well, that's just too simple.
You know, what is so, why does it have to be so complicated?
Listen, these are the things.
You know, there's a painting, The Forgotten Man, that a buddy of mine out in Salt Lake City is a great painter.
His name's John McNaughton.
I actually bought the painting.
And because that's what this election was about.
And I was inspired by it because it has all our former presidents.
I'll explain it to you.
I'll send you a copy later.
But all these things, if we have corporations with lower taxes, we have multinationals repatriated, we have middle-class cuts, we get energy costs down and create jobs, and we're not dependent on foreign entities for the lifeblood of our economy.
This isn't complicated.
Keep it simple, stupid.
Why can't we keep it simple, stupid, Washington?
Well, I think you know on the Obamacare repeal, look up repeal in the dictionary, and it means repeal.
So they're simple, and we didn't get anywhere near it.
And so the swamp is still in full control, and we're going to have to contend with that.
And so that's why Paul Ryan, I think, wants to get this tax package through.
He's had a passion for that for 20 years.
But Mitch McConnell, I don't think he may not have the 51 votes to get it with Republican votes.
And if that's the case, I wish he would at least be on it and say, look, I'm the leader.
I can't get 51 votes.
That's why we're going to have to pivot to Democrats because my 51 guys don't have a backbone.
And so your plan is perfect.
We want it simple, but it's a matter of time.
Okay, we don't have to have the tax code overhaul completely.
Let's get the tax cuts in.
So that means job creation will happen faster.
And, you know, what McConnell's then saying is he may not have accomplished a damn thing in a year.
Yep.
All right, stay right there.
This is why I only trust Freedom Caucus members right now.
I really have no faith in anybody else in Washington fighting to keep their promises.
And so many Republicans, as we learned during the health care issue, had no intention of repealing and replacing, and they just lied to us again and again.
So holding their feet to the fire and holding them accountable is now our job.
All right, as we continue with the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, Mark Meadows, and also Dave Bratt, another Freedom Caucus member, and we've got about 14 weeks to accomplish a lot.
One of the things I haven't figured out, if the Senate doesn't get health care done, if they don't fund the wall, which I don't know if there's any desire or passion on their side to actually do that either, and if they don't get done the tax plan, and McConnell's going to try and push that off into next year, do they not realize the anger and frustration of conservatives and the people that voted to put them in power?
And in a year, they ought to be accumulating extra House and Senate seats that are probably going to lose them.
Well, Sean, no, they don't realize it.
And perhaps that is the tragedy in all of this.
I mean, here we are talking about these things that you and I both know, your listeners know, that we have to deliver on, and yet we're sitting there, you know, facing the reality of nothing getting done.
And I can tell you, the people that I serve and have the privilege of serving, they're tired of it.
They are tired of the talk and no action.
And at this point, if we do not deliver on tax reform and health care repeal and replace, I can tell you there's going to be not only real consequences in a few months, but there's going to be lasting consequences.
They believe that we have abandoned this president's agenda and that we're not supporting a duly elected president.
And so it's time that we get on board and accomplish something.
Congressman Bratt, could it be done in that period of time?
What is the likelihood?
Because I actually asked Newt Gingrich, and he said 50-50.
50-50 doesn't give me a whole lot of confidence.
Yeah, I used to be 90.
I'm there.
And I'm going to be even more cynical than my leader, Mark Meadows.
I don't think it's that they don't know what they're doing.
I think the Senate fully well understands what they're doing, especially the leadership.
They're protecting the swamp, and you can see it.
It's doling out $4 trillion, right?
If you're in the majority party, you get to dole out more than half.
If you're in the minority party, the deal is you get to dole out a little less than half.
And then they switch seats depending on who wins the election.
The clearest place you can see that is in the budget in the Christmas time disaster every year.
Now we're coming up to Christmas again.
We're going to have a fiscal clip, some of that drama going on again.
And so you see it in the budget battle, the debt ceiling increase.
What did we just do?
Did the swamp pay a nickel in future fiscal responsibility?
No.
We just jacked up the debt ceiling with no thought of the future.
And now finally, you're seeing the real evidence come in.
It's always been clear on the budget.
But when it comes to taxes, they won't upset the apple cart with the cronies and the lawyers and the special interests and whatever.
And so they know who they're serving.
They're serving the guys who write the huge checks, and they're not serving the forgotten man.
And that's why you're a hero, Sean, because you represent the forgotten man every day on your show, and you got passion.
You can tell you get upset about the whole thing.
And I think our president gets upset, too, that the forgotten man is not getting their due.
And so we applaud you.
By the way, I was going to go out to North Carolina to hang out with Congressman Mark Meadows, Congressman Brett, but then he rescinded the invitation.
I doubt that.
And word got back to me that he didn't want to be seen with me like everybody else in Washington.
Not true.
You have a standing invitation 365 days ago.
A standing invitation is not an invitation.
Say, all right, Hannity, come with me, and we're going to do this that day.
I'm there.
Come with me.
We'll do it.
We'll set it up right away.
Listen, it's better than 50-50, Sean.
And let me tell you the reason why I would disagree with the Speaker, Newt Gingrich, only on this issue.
Do not underestimate this president.
He will outwork Congress.
If it's left up to Congress, it's less than 50-50.
But do not underestimate this president.
He will be on the phone, as you know, at midnight or at 1 o'clock in the morning getting this done.
He is myopically focused on getting tax reform done.
You know, and we say 14 weeks, actually, what we've got is about 38 legislative days left to get it done.
And that is not a lot.
Well, that's because you guys take off all the time.
I mean, does any, I know you guys wanted to stay and work in August.
You guys need all right.
The other people need less work there, but I got a roll.
All right, Congressman Dave Bratt and the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, Mark Meadows, two of the people I really appreciate and admire that are actually trying and fighting hard to keep their promises.
Thank you both for being with us.
And if you could work out a peace accord with me and Lindsey Graham, I'll listen to his idea on health care if it's going to be better for the American people.
We'll take a quick break.
We'll come back when we come back.
Wide open telephones.
Hannity tonight, 10 Eastern on the Fox News channel.
Straight ahead.
25 till the top of the hour, 800-941.
Sean, our toll-free telephone number.
You want to be a part of this extravaganza.
Now it's time, T-minus 14 weeks and counting to save the country and to get things started in the right direction.
I wonder if the Republicans are up for it.
It's getting interesting to watch these rumblings about the Awan brothers to get immunity for significant, disturbing news over Debbie Wasserman Schultz, just when you thought it couldn't get any more bizarre, strange, and weird.
I mean, this PACA Stane IT staffer, Imran Awan, and whether or not, you know, why did he lay out Debbie Wasserman Schultz's computer in a place and leave a note for the, it wasn't the special counsel, it was the, I guess, the AG or an associate AG or somebody to prosecute Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Anyway, now there are rumblings.
He may get immunity in exchange for testimony on Wasserman Schultz.
And that was predicted by Congressman Trent Frank.
So we'll watch that pretty closely.
All right, as promised, let's get to our busy telephones here if we can.
Let's say hi to Joe in Ella J, Georgia.
Joe, how you holding up there in Ella J post-Irma?
Sean, you are great.
You are the best friend Donald Trump has in Washington.
And I just want to say that I agree with Steve Allen.
I think McConnell and Ryan needs to go.
And we've got a great senator down here, David Perdue.
I had a two-hour lunch with him.
He loves Donald Trump, and Trump asked him to lead the economic agenda.
And I just think David Perdue is a superstar.
And together with Trump, I think they would make the best economic team in history.
And I'm very fired up.
And I really appreciate your sticking behind Trump and doing the American people.
Couldn't have a better taxpayer champion than the great Sean Hannity.
I'm standing behind the principles that Reagan stood for.
I haven't changed a bit.
The principles that Reagan stood for, everything Trump is advocating, seven brackets to three.
All right, that's Reagan.
That's 86.
That's the tax reform plan, the corporate tax cuts.
All right, that's just smart business to get people back to work.
And we want Americans working.
We don't want to forget the forgotten men and women of this country.
We want every American to have their shot at the American dream.
Same thing with repatriation.
That means corporations will spend money on factories, manufacturing centers to help get people back to work.
That's all we want.
This is not hard.
This is not that complicated.
Energy independents, millions of high-paying career jobs.
And we don't have to rely on countries that hate our guts, Joe.
Not that hard.
Well, Sean, I believe if we get these tax cuts, we'll have the best economy in world history.
And I believe that will lead to Republican landslide wins for many years because of people like you out there advocating for the job.
Don't underestimate the weakness and stupidity of Republicans in getting things done.
It's so pathetic.
New Republicans, Sean.
We might have to get some new Republicans up there.
No, look, look at the Alabama race is fascinating to me with Luther Strange is like 36% and Roy Moore is at 52%.
And there's a big reason for it.
The people of Alabama don't want the establishment.
They want the president's agenda.
And Mitch McConnell's having a fit over that race, which makes me like Moore a lot more.
No pun intended.
All right.
Thank you.
800-941.
Sean, let's say hi.
Oh, Lourdes is in Miami.
We asked her to call back, and she was in, you know, that was really nice of you.
All of a sudden, the hurricane's headed right to your house, and then it shifts directions and heads right to my little condo.
And I'm like, all right, I'd rather take the hit than you.
I feel better it hit me than you.
Well, yeah, we got a huge bullet.
God speed this to what happened in Miami, Sean.
I'm happy.
I have to check in.
I had to check in with my brother from another mother.
We did it, Sean.
We made it.
You made it.
Were you worried?
Were you scared?
This time I really was because when they compared Irma to Andrew, that's when I said, oh, my God, that's horrible.
Because it was double the size.
So I actually did get scared this time, you know?
Listen.
I was like, heck, you know what?
Jesus was on the wheel, baby.
We missed it.
Maybe cue Carrie underwood.
Jesus, take the wheel.
Look, the bottom line is this.
And I said this before, Came.
You don't want to risk your life.
Now, did you stay or did you get out?
No, we stayed.
We stayed because I had a.
So basically, my advice is meaningless to you.
It doesn't matter that I'm telling you to get the hell out of the way.
No, it touched my heart so that they called you to a report.
Your sister is alive.
Oh, God.
All right, Laura.
We love you.
God bless you.
Glad you're okay.
All right, let's go to Al is in New Joise.
We're watching the Menendez trial up there.
It does not look good for him.
Democrats are actually sounding like they're convinced there's going to be a guilty verdict in that case.
Then they're saying, wow, if we can just, if he's guilty between now and January, we could just wait till Chris Christie gets out of the way, then he won't be able to make the appointment.
And if a Democrat wins in the election, that means the Democrat will get to make the appointment.
Well, it's only September.
I usually hope that the wheels of justice, you know, turn a little more quickly with Menendez.
He has been flying under the radar for too long, as corrupt as they come.
And the people he hangs out with just stinks.
It's the same thing with Debbie Washerman Schultz.
You know, the lady doth protest too much, methinks, and she seems to be protecting the bad guys.
I don't understand it.
She's crazy.
You know, I live in Nassau County, highest tax county in the country, and I don't know if these people are going to end up being found guilty.
There's more Republicans that have been indicted in and around where I live, and it's all the same crap.
It's all the same, you know, what are they going to get for themselves?
And it's all kickbacks, and it's all bribery charges.
And I'm like, guys, you know, what are you doing?
What do you think?
If they would just work so hard doing their jobs or doing a job, they'd be wildly successful.
Instead, they belly up to these corrupt people who promise them everything.
And it's like, you know, it's like Lucy and Charlie Brown.
They pull the football out from under them and they keep doing the same thing over and over.
People say it's the definition of insanity.
I think it's more like the definition of stupidity.
It really is.
I'm watching the Menendez case.
I'm like, wow.
I mean, if all this testimony turns out to be true, I don't see how he's not convicted.
There's a part, I just don't understand it.
And this is the problem I have with a lot of these guys in Washington.
Look, if money is their thing, then go out and figure out ways to produce goods and services that people want, need, and desire, work really, really, really hard, and you can make money.
Sorry.
If you want to serve people, serve them.
Yeah, well, you know, it's like they went there to do good, and they seem to be doing really well instead.
Yeah.
They become military.
Listen, or when they leave, then they end up being lobbyists.
And lobbyists get a lot of money because that means, hey, let me call my old friend Joe.
We'll go out to Harvard or three martini to lunch and let's talk about, you know, I'd really appreciate it.
I've got this client and he needs this application put in the bill, this provision.
Would you do that for me, old Joe O'Powell, old buddy, old friend?
Oh, yeah.
And they really think they're their friends instead of using them for, you know, for their access.
No, they're not using it for that.
In that case, they're using them for a big fat steak dinner and expensive wine.
And, you know, there's other ways to achieve those things.
I actually think that what they want the most is to be called congressman.
Yes, congressman.
Yes.
You know, when Jesus came, if you read the Bible, who did he love the most?
The average person.
You know, he was, it's such a great applicable story to modern day.
And, you know, he's a carpenter and he was a builder and as his father was.
And the people he had contempt for were the people that, you know, snubbed their nose at everybody else and had their beautiful garbs.
And in their hearts, he knew that they were hypocrites.
And the people that I think are the greatest people in this country today are not politicians by any stretch.
I think the greatest people are these people, the people all across this country that get up every day and they slog through difficult schedules and they put on their work boots or they put on their suit and tie, whatever it is, it doesn't matter.
And they go out and they put in their, they take care of their kids.
They feed them.
They get them off to school 12, 14, 16 hours.
They come home, they cook dinner and they get their kids to bed.
They try and help them with a little homework.
And it's a grind and they're trying to get a decent house and a nice neighborhood and a good car and some of the extras in life and government screws them every way but sideways.
Those are the people that built this country.
You know, Obama said, you didn't build that.
Yeah, most of those people did build everything.
Yeah, they did it.
So anyway, who went to Bethlehem to pay taxes, not because they were on vacation.
Yeah.
All right.
Thank you so much, Al.
Listen, best to you.
Appreciate it.
800-941-Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
Tracy is in Texas.
Tracy, a liberal.
What's up, Tracy, the liberal in Texas?
You're in the wrong state.
What's happening?
Why are you going to try to demonstrate who I am?
But anyway.
I'm just going to, I'm going to insult some of you people.
Hold on, let's move to the business because I'm going to tell you something.
No, no, I'm very serious.
Tracy, sounds like you got a chip on your shoulder.
Why are you so angry at me?
I'm just messing with you.
No, I'm not worried about you.
No, no, we're going to say this.
First of all, Sean, to me, the president's an income poop, and this tax cut is about to devastate this country.
He's an idiot.
First of all, I'm shocked because I'm listening to all these people who say the tax, the tax cut's going to go for the rich is only for the rich.
And the fact that we're not putting no stipulations on this repatriation of money, nor are we doing this tax cut, means all the rich are going to do richer.
Let me ask you a question.
Let me ask you a question.
What do you do for a living?
Let me let me say this.
No, no, no, because you're not, because I got your point.
Are you going to repeat yourself?
Because I got your whole point.
You say it's not good.
It's only going to be for the rich and it's not going to work.
All right.
What else do you want to?
Myself.
I'm not repeating myself.
Are we going to put a stipulation to say if you repatriate, you got to start school, vocational school?
Are we going to say you got to hire a certain amount of Americans?
Are we going to say if you repatriate, you got to show us actively that you're going to put this money, but no.
If we're going to do a tax cut, are we going to say you can't outsource no more?
Are we going to say you can't hire illegals?
Sean, all we're doing is giving free money with no, so if nothing should be.
I got your whole point.
Let me ask you a question.
What do you do for a living?
What I do for a living, I'm a software developer, and right now I don't want to go specific into what I do, so I don't want to get it.
Okay, you're going to keep it super.
All right.
So you're a developer.
All right.
Did you ever get a job in your life from a poor person?
Yeah, I've made some jobs myself.
I used to be a teacher.
All right, come on.
Come on.
I'm asking, did any poor person ever hire you?
Did a poor person ever hire you?
Sean, Sean.
No, because here's the problem.
Number one, you're not explaining accurately what the Trump tax plan is.
You're not explaining historically how tax cuts.
Kennedy did it and Reagan did it.
Reagan dropped the top marginal rates, yeah, for the wealthy and for corporations, 70 to 28% in the course of his presidency.
Revenues to the government doubled, and he created 20 million new jobs in the course of eight years.
That, to me, is helping those people that I talk about all the time, the people in poverty on food stamps and out of the labor force.
That's who I want to help.
Those are the Americans that need government working for them.
Now, one of the ways we're going to stimulate the economy is, yeah, middle class is always screwed and squeezed.
Okay, they get a tax cut.
You go from seven brackets to three.
Then you have corporations get one of the lowest tax cuts in the industrialized world from one of the highest.
What you're not understanding is corporations don't pay taxes.
They pass the cost on to consumers.
And their job is to make a profit.
And they're not going to take taxes and absorb the taxation on their bottom line.
It's not going to happen.
It never has, never will.
As far as repatriation, you're making an assumption that's false, that they're going to bring the money into the country at a low rate and they're going to park it.
And they're going to put it in a bank account.
That's not how investors work.
That's not how these multinational corporations work.
They're going to take the money in at a good rate.
They want to invest in America, but they can't bring the money in or else they're going to lose 40% of it.
But if they lose 10 or 7%, well, that's trillions of dollars.
Number one, it's a huge, huge increase in revenues to the government.
And then secondly, they're going to start looking to build factories, corporations, manufacturing centers and businesses here in America.
And that's going to put the people in poverty on food stamps, out of the labor force that can't buy a house in a better position than they've ever been.
So you can sit there, you can denigrate, you can complain, but you're not understanding any history of tax cuts.
When Kennedy did it, it ended up in an economic boom.
Same thing with Reagan.
This plan, if you couple in a commitment to energy independence, I'm telling you, there are millions and millions of high-paying career, lifetime jobs available for Americans with natural gas and oil and America weaning itself off of any imported energy, the lifeblood of our economy.
So that's what I want to do.
You know, it's not for me.
It's not for, I have no idea, haven't looked, don't really care, to be honest, how it impacts me.
It's not about me, but it's about our country.
And this country is supposed to be the country where Americans can dream and their dreams can come true.
And you can dream big and they're going to be bigger dreams and you're going to have bigger success and you can climb the ladder to success.
And I would think as a liberal that maybe you want that to happen to those people that are left behind.
Maybe you're successful.
That's great.
You know, you have two jobs.
Good for you.
But it's pretty tough out there for most of the people I know.
And if you've got 11 million illegal immigrants, well, then it's tough there too because they're competing at a lower rate and driving down wages and taking jobs away from Americans.
And not only that, we have the security risks of having open borders.
All right, that's going to wrap things up for today.
Let not your heart be troubled.
Hannity Tonight, 10 Eastern Fox News Channel.
We're going to list all 32 excuses for why Hillary lost tonight and what needs to happen with Hillary.
Are we going to have equal justice under the law?
Laura Ingram weighs in.
Also, what about the laws regarding her?
Can she get her?
Can she be indicted?
Jay Seculo, Greg Jarrett.
Also, Mike Huckabee checks in tonight, and we'll check in with Ollie North and Monica Crowley, 10 Eastern Hannity Fox.
And we'll see you back here tomorrow.
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