Stephen Miller compares Biden's treatment of homeless veterans to migrants
Former Trump senior advisor calls tax payer funded benefits to illegal immigrants a 'thunderous violation' of the social contract on 'Hannity'
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," May 28, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
DAN BONGINO, FOX NEWS HOST: Welcome to the special edition of "Hannity". I'm Dan Bongino in tonight for Sean.
Now, Joe Biden and the extreme Democrats are failing at the border, feeling abroad, and failing to deliver for working-class Americans all across this great country, and the worst part is they are doubling down in this reckless, radical, ridiculous, irresponsible socialist agenda every single chance they get.
For example, Joe Biden's unveiling a whopping $6 trillion budget proposal, the largest in U.S. history that would vastly expand the size and scope of the already bloated, in debt federal government and vastly increased Washington's role in managing your everyday life.
According to estimates, if actually enacted, the plan would put the budget deficit at $1.3 trillion per year for the next decade. And would put us on a path to having the highest international debt as a proportion of the economy, so don't be fooled by the Democrats' political platitudes, their cheap, nonsense talking points and far left fantasies.
What Joe Biden is doing is mortgaging our future and your kids, too, and creating a perfect storm for fiscal chaos for current and future generations. What Joe Biden is doing right now is not smart, not even sane, and it's certainly not sustainable. It's a big government binge of more taxes, more debt, more spending and guaranteed turmoil.
Don't buy the Democrats' lies that these trillions and trillions will be paid by the so-called rich. Do the math. It's common sense. Because in the end, this will be paid for by you, working-class, dirt under the fingernails middle class Americans who work for a living all across the country.
And what about inflation? Rising costs at the gas pump and at your grocery stores, you're going to have to pay for that too, but the destructive Democratic agenda doesn't stop there, because despite the crisis at our southern border, Biden's leaves the homeland security budget flat.
The one thing we should be devoting more resources to is the one item he decided to leave out, but the fawning fake newsers in the press, they continue to play defense for Joe and on every turn, they continue to act as an arm of the Democrat Party, instead of focusing on Biden's failures and his total, complete inability to lead.
Don't believe me? Look at this embarrassing fiasco this week when they asked sleepy about his ice cream, take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Mr. President, why did you order?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Chocolate, chocolate chip.
REPORTER: What is your message to Republicans prepared to block the January 6 commission?
BIDEN: Eat some chocolate, chocolate chip.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: Nice work, fellas. A hard-hitting.
Joining me now for reaction, American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp, along with former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, and Austan Goolsbee, University of Chicago economics professor.
Thanks guys for joining me. Really appreciate it.
Matt, I'll go to you first. We're going bankrupt there, buddy. Trillions of dollars in debt. The GOP is, what, $20 trillion, $22 trillion. We owe more than the country actually produces every year and everybody is whistling Dixie past the graveyard, what do you say?
MATT SCHLAPP, CHAIRMAN, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION: Well, first of all, we went through this pandemic. We had all of this emergency spending. We've never spent so much as a country and now it looks like we are not going to go back to normal levels, we're just going to stay there and ante up.
And this is only a slice of Biden's socialist agenda. This only funds pieces of it. For instance, the infrastructure, we're not even point of free college and loan forgives and the rest.
And then there's these obnoxious parts to it. Joe Biden, the devout Catholic who lectures us constantly on his faith, literally making Christian voters, Catholic voters, voters of faith pay for abortions. This is the kind of thing, Dan, that's just never going to unify this country if we can't understand and respect somebody's deeply held principles of faith.
BONGINO: Yeah. I mean, it certainly isn't the lunch bucket Joe, the Scranton kid he tried to run on.
Austan, I always appreciate you joining us for perspective from the other side of the aisle but I have a serious question. You are an economics professor.
What's the number, level of percentage of the debt to GDP where a professor like yourself gets genuinely worried about a potential national bankruptcy, de facto or de jure, what's the number?
AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ECONOMICS PROFESSOR: Well, as all the economists will tell you, there's not a single number. It depends how fast your economy is growing, what that level you can sustain and it depends on what the interest rates are. it's well above where we are now.
What I can't understand, Dan, besides the disinformation campaign against ice cream is where were you guys when Donald Trump was running the --
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: Timeout, Tio, hold on.
GOOLSBEE: -- 40 percent lower than the one that Trump gave them.
BONGINO: I'm not having that. Timeout on the field, folks. Red flag, we're going under the hood for review.
I have been a critic of debt under George W. Bush, Obama, Trump, Austan, send me your email, I will send you clip. That is nonsense.
GOOLSBEE: All right.
BONGINO: So, no, listen, I always -- that's why have you on, but that's nonsense.
GOOLSBEE: The point is still there.
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: Let me ask you a simple question and follow-up, can we agree on this, me and you both then?
GOOLSBEE: All right.
BONGINO: Can we both agree excessive government debt and spending is a problem regardless of who does it?
GOOLSBEE: If it's not an investment, yes, we can agree.
BONGINO: Why is there's always a caveat?
GOOLSBEE: If it is an investment that will pay off, we won't agree.
BONGINO: There's always a caveat. Listen, I love debating with you, but there's always an out with you.
Reince, let me just go to you quick, hopefully, we'll do another round here, but, Reince, it's clear at this point we are never going to repay this debt. Now, we can monetize it and inflate our way out of it, but we are borrowing absurd amounts of money. I mean, is there ever going to be an end to this if we don't stand up and take a stand? I see even some Republicans wanted a trillion dollar infrastructure bill at this point. It's insane.
REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: It is insane.
Thanks, Dan.
You know, I think Austan would agree to -- first of all, this budget isn't going anywhere, it's a political document and what it does is it tells you what these guys are all about. In that budget, it's also calling for $3.4 trillion in new taxes. And the University of Pennsylvania did a study and they said, even if you increase taxes all the way to 70 percent and increase every other tax by 25 percent, you couldn't balance the budget.
And I think you remember Ronald Reagan said it's not so much the American people are overtaxed, is that the government in Washington is overfed and in Wisconsin where I come from, this is like a Scandinavian smorgasbord when it comes to being overfed.
But make no mistake, this is about progressives that think going the government can actually spur economic growth, it's a political document and I know it doesn't work, this is what they are about and is a wake-up call to the Republican Party, even a wake-up call to the things that Austan said, that both parties the spending eventually is going to kill us and the only one in the end that are going to have the money for the people doling it out.
BONGINO: Yeah, Matt. It's not like we haven't tried this before, remember the Jimmy Carter malaise? Oh, the American malaise, I mean, we tried this before. We have this incredible thing called stagflation, where unemployment was high, people didn't have money, and inflation was high too.
That's pretty -- Jimmy Carter managed to screw up something nobody thought was even possible where people weren't working and prices were still going up.
SCHLAPP: Look, all presidents no matter what party they come from know the number one question about whether or not they get reelected is whether or not people feel optimistic about their personal role in the economy. We vote our pocketbook in America because we are practical people.
The problem for Joe Biden just underneath his approvals and the questions in the economy and coronavirus are incredibly toxic unpopular policies. Look at what he's doing with Iran. Look at this open southern border. Look at critical race theory and his embrace of these radical policies, his approach on immigration is only at 34 percent, 35 percent.
That issue is going to drive these midterm elections underneath some kind of faux numbers of his approvals are real danger on the policy front. So, he's going to try to spend just to keep that economy going. I don't think it's going to work.
BONGINO: Yeah, it's quite a grip.
Austan, it's got a two-parter for you here. So the first part of my question I asked you before, you don't know the number, the percentage of debt to GDP where we could go bankrupt, then you're a trained economist, why should we trust the budget buffoons in Washington, D.C., who don't you think if they don't know the red line, maybe we should avoid the redline?
And my second part is -- go ahead. First part.
(CROSSTALK)
GOOLSBEE: It's not a red line. What's the second part?
BONGINO: Their second part is. So, they are talking about dumping that Trump tax cuts, right? Trump did cut taxes for the middle class despite liberal protestations otherwise. He cut the bracket from 25 to 22 percent and 15 percent to 12 percent. So if Biden dumps that, is that a tax hike on the middle class?
GOOLSBEE: Well, it would be but they're not talking about getting rid of that. It's only for the part of the families over $400,000. The thing that guys -- what I can't understand is your guys approach, Joe Biden ran for president and publicly got up instead, if you vote for me, I will invest in infrastructure. I will subsidize education, healthcare, childcare, and he got 7 million more votes than Donald Trump got.
He won. He won the House. He won the Senate. He won the White House.
(CROSSTALK)
BONGINO: Austan --
GOOLSBEE: And now he's going to do what he said he was going to do.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHLAPP: He's getting ready to lose.
BONGINO: Austan -- yeah, Matt is right, I think he's going to will cost you some serious seats in the midterm but that's not true, he ran as the lunch bucket guy, the Scranton kid, and on that note, he also said he was going to dump the Trump tax cuts and said it repeatedly. This claim that he's only going to do it for the upper echelon of taxpayers is absurd.
Austan, you're a trained economist. You know for a fact the real money, Austan --
(CROSSTALK)
GOOLSBEE: He specifically said, he gave you the number --
BONGINO: Are you suggesting to me the real money in America and the tax base is not with the middle class and that he is going to magically take this money from rich people? You don't really believe that. Come on.
(CROSSTALK)
GOOLSBEE: There's no magic. He wrote it down on a piece of paper that you can read what the tax rates would go up. It's high income people and big corporations.
BONGINO: OK. You're switching the topic, the money is not there to pay for this. The money is not there --
(CROSSTALK)
GOOLSBEE: There is money there, what do you mean? The Congressional Budget Office says it's there.
BONGINO: The money to pay for 6 trillion? Come on. Where -- that is total nonsense. You cannot raise 6 trillion in taxes solely from 1 percent of the population. That is total bunk and you know it.
But we agreed. I don't want to -- it's a Friday night, I got to run. But, Austan --
GOOLSBEE: It's holiday weekend. It's great to see you again.
BONGINO: It is and I enjoy this segment. Everybody, enjoy your Memorial Day weekend, all of you. Thanks a lot.
We appreciate it. Good spirited debate there. Thanks, guys.
Also developing tonight, the Biden administration continues to go soft on China despite increasing evidence supporting the lab leak theory that we warned about the whole time of the coronavirus origins. When asked yesterday if the Biden administration would seek to punish China for their cover-up, Biden's principal deputy press secretary replied, quote, we're not going to go there just yet.
The new House bills would launch a coronavirus origins probe and allow victims families to sue Beijing and that's not all, because we're also learning that the U.S. reportedly has unexamined intelligence on where exactly the virus started.
And get this, former Trump official who is part of the former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's probe into the virus, he says the investigation found almost no evidence, that's a big zero supporting the natural origin theory. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we were finding that despite the claims of our scientific communities including National Institutes of Health and Dr. Fauci's NIAID organization, that there was almost no evidence that supported the natural zoonotic evolution, the data disproportionately stacked up as we investigated to be coming out of the lab or some supernatural source.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: But the Biden team didn't want to entertain that theory and reportedly actually shut the probe down in the spring.
So I don't want to hear anymore nonsense or talk from boneheaded libs about so-called conspiracy theories ever again from this point on, thank you very much.
The media, big tech, they've all been caught with their pants down again censoring and trying to suppress information that goes against their political agenda.
Joining me now for reaction, former acting director of national intelligence, Ric Grenell, along with Republican Congressman Darrell Issa.
Guys, thank you so much.
Congressman, I'll go to you first. I mean, this was obviously common sense that the lab leaked theory should at least be analyzed. We had a coronavirus pandemic that originated in Wuhan. We had a coronavirus lab in Wuhan that had been cited for security problems in the past -- I mean, was it -- and by the way, we found out we had intelligence that three workers in the lab got sick with a coronavirus type illness.
I mean, was this not the most obvious thing to look at? And yet, we were called lunatics and conspiracy theorists for daring to bring it up.
REP. DARRELL ISSA (R-CA): Well, you know, Dan, my late father always said, if someone looks guilty, it could be because they're guilty. When you have those kinds of indications, the important thing to do is to follow the facts. And as you said, the media has told us not to follow the facts. The Biden administration has denied them but the pressure is growing for a real commission.
You know, we had 3,000 plus people die on 9/11, and we kind of knew some of the facts but we still had a commission that that dealt deeply to make sure it didn't happen again. We now have 600,000 people dead, trillions of dollars of damage to our economy, countless greater amounts to the entire world. Of course, we have to look into it, and we have to look into all possibilities and probabilities.
BONGINO: You know, Ric, you've been an absolute warrior for the truth. I follow you and I really enjoy your social media, reading it. You have no problem going back and forth on these media folks and -- no, I mean it.
And when are they going to get a story right? I mean, we had the collusion hoax, the whole pee-pee tape thing. I mean, are they ever going to get a story right?
They spent four years wasting our time with Bob Mueller on that. We had this monstrous, disgusting, tragic global pandemic wiped out economies and lives, and they blow that story, too. Is anybody going to ever have faith in these guys again?
RIC GRENELL, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Well, I think outside of Washington, nobody has faith in them. They look at Washington and they say, everything that goes on there, they just you know talk amongst themselves and what newsrooms believe is not what the American people believe.
Let me just defend the intelligence community here for a minute. From the very beginning, if you go back and you look at April 30th, 2020, the statement from the intelligence community, I see wide agreement was that COVID-19 started in China and that it was either the wet market or the lab.
And that we would begin to look at information over time and we would always bring forward information. The media and the Democrats are the ones who never understood what the intelligence community was saying.
There is no evidence that is unexamined. The intelligence community every single day examines every piece that they have and they bubble it up. If anyone is confused as to what the evidence is showing, it's Joe Biden and the media. The evidence has been there.
I'd like to ask why Joe Biden is suddenly asking for a review -- a 90-day review of the evidence. That -- we don't hold back evidence in the intelligence community. If he hasn't seen evidence, it's because he's not being briefed and that's a real problem.
BONGINO: Yeah, that's an excellent point.
Congressman, from your side on the House side, you know, these three workers employees in this Wuhan coronavirus lab where they were studying these bat coronaviruses, they were sick with an illness. They were obviously blood samples taken. There had to be.
How can we as a government, our government, pressure them to release those blood tests? I mean, once we get the answer there -- I mean, we should have a pretty definitive answer. If there was an early infection from that lab of these three lab employees, I think we can pretty much isolate the lab leak theory and say that's the likely one at this point.
ISSA: Oh, absolutely, and that's the reason, the Senate and I give them credit, unanimously voted to declassify this information, to begin to get it out there because it's the only way to get out of this spin.
And I'm going to -- I'm not a conspiracy theorist but understand, the president United States is the leader of the free world, but China is the leader of the unfree world. They are using vast amounts of money and influence, including with the media, to stifle the kind of information that Ric saw when he was the director, that in fact we need to have the American people understand to get to the truth.
We're not going to get to the truth as long as China has influence over tech, media, and a great many politicians, perhaps including the president.
BONGINO: Yeah, sad but true.
Ric, Congressman, thanks a lot. Enjoy your weekend ahead. Thank you guys both. Appreciate it.
Directly ahead, you won't believe why the executive director of Black Lives Matter is stepping down. We've got a full report directly ahead. Don't miss it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BONGINO: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity".
It's not been a good week for the identity politics obsessed left, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrice Cullors has stepped down as executive director of the group, saying she was moving on to focus on a book and TV deal. Her departure comes amid rising scrutiny over BLM's finances and her own lavish lifestyle.
For example, she reportedly went on a real estate buying binge and snagged four high-end homes. Sounds like what a deal, huh? At the cost of $3.2 million. Socialism is great living over there. Remember, BLM's supposed to be a non-profit organization.
So what's the real reason she's leaving the group? Well, we report, you decide.
Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightweight is being sued for allegedly denying a white reporter's interview requests, only a week after she said she would only grant exclusive interviews to journalists of color.
Here now with reaction, FOX News contributors Charlie Hurt and Leo 2.0 Terrell.
Leo, listen, I don't know the rules with the hat when Sean's not in. So I'm passing on that. I don't want to get like kicked off and sure, there's very specific hat rules, I noticed you're hatless tonight. I'm not even going there.
But thank you for joining us. I can think of no one better on this topic because it infuriates me as much as it infuriates you. How is this possible that a woman whose claims to be, Patrice Cullors, a self-professed Marxist organizer, Leo, her words not mine, you know from each according to their abilities to each according to their needs -- she better have some amazing abilities to need a couple of $3 million homes or a $3.2 million portfolio. Am I wrong?
LEO TERRELL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: You're absolutely right. Let me tell you right now, Black Lives Matter last summer, after the George Floyd case, participated in rioting in Democratic cities, burning down Democratic cities and they basically demanded, intimidated corporations to pay them and create a $90 million trust fund.
Show me the money. Show me the money. Where is that $90 million gone to, Dan? Has it gone to minority schools? Has it gone to helping people recover from the business from that -- that were burned down?
And I want to see the paper trail on how she was able to finance $3.2 million worth of homes, separate and apart from the money collected from Black Lives Matter. I'm asking people, where is the $90 million? There needs to be an investigation by the IRS into Black Lives Matter and to how this woman has collected funds to finance and bankroll privately for homes. Outrageous.
BONGINO: Yeah, you're darn right.
Listen, Charlie, hey, I'm a capitalist, man. I -- good for you. That's some gift you got going. However you want to sell your services, you know, you give great speeches, people want to pay you millions. God bless you. I'm a capitalist.
But she's not Charlie. She said and I, quote, I'm a trained Marxist organizer. I mean, are these not the biggest frauds of socialism, some grift?
CHARLIE HURT, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah, it sounds like something we need to get into. But yeah, no, exactly. That's the problem.
The problem is she hasn't created anything. She hasn't built anything. She hasn't done the hard work that that millions of Americans across the country have done to do something that's unique or to offer some unique service for people where it's justified to make this kind of money.
But in a lot of ways though, it is sort of like kind of how a lot of these operations work in Washington, where they raise all this kind of money and they skim off of, you know, some you know embarrassing amount of money for themselves. But I think even by Washington standards, this is -- you know, her grift is a pretty rich one.
But I agree with you Leo. You know, the real question that I have is, what about those business what about those minority-owned businesses in largely minority neighborhoods that were burned to the ground? What about those people? What about those people who lost their lives? What about those people whose homes were burned to the ground by all of this stuff? Did they get a cut of this?
Because I -- you know, it seems to me that would make a whole lot more sense than this woman getting, you know, the massive cut of it that she's gotten.
BONGINO: You know, Leo, on this second story we had discussed with Lori Lightfoot. You know, what's really sad and tragic here -- someone said on my radio show today, I had Sean Davison from "The Federalist", who he just goes for it, he's great. And he brought up a great point. He was, you realize we're probably only a year or two away from Martin Luther King being canceled, like suggesting we should judge people by the content of your character is now considered near heresy. I mean, this is really sad.
TERRELL: It is horrific and this bothered me more than anything else, Dan, because I'm a civil rights attorney. Charlie -- Charlie is a more qualified reporter than I am, I'm not a reporter. Charlie can't interview her because of his skin color.
This is so embarrassing for a black person to discriminate, knowing the history that we hate discrimination. And you know what it is? It boils down to her playing a game, a game in which she's trying to deflect the black on black crime. Her total ignorance towards helping the community and playing the race card.
And guess who's going to have to defend this frivolous lawsuit that is being filed against her, the friend of the lawsuit? The taxpayers are going to have to pay for this.
BONGINO: Yeah.
TERRELL: It is outrageous. It's insulting. She is a racist, a racist.
BONGINO: Yeah.
And, Leo, it's not like she wasn't warned she was going to be sued and you're absolutely a great point that taxpayers are on the hook for this obvious stupidity.
Hey, guys, thanks a lot. I really appreciate it. I got to run again. I hope you have a really great weekend this weekend.
Hey, Sara Carter has an exclusive report about COVID at the border. Stephen Miller and Congressman Andy Biggs will also be with here -- be with us here. Don't go anywhere. Stay with us, coming up right next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BONGINO: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity".
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris continue to ignore the growing crisis on the southern border. Illegal immigrants are flooding across the border and what unfortunately appears to be our wide open border, along with astounding quantities of illegal drugs.
And let's not forget all this is going on during a pandemic. Meaning border patrol agents are often exposed to the virus.
Here to tell us the tragic story of Border Patrol Agent Freddie Vasquez is investigative reporter and FOX News contributor Sara Carter -- Sara.
SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, Dan. You know, a lot of times, we forget the many sacrifices that our law enforcement officials make when they're out on the front lines and one of those is actually COVID-19.
Border Patrol, CBP, has more than 8,800 people that had become infected with COVID-19, and of those, 31 die. One of them was Freddie Vasquez a border patrol agent that was beloved by everybody in his hometown of El Paso. His wife Inez and his four beautiful children have survived him and his wonderful K-9 partner Manny (ph).
I want you to see what his friends and border patrol agents have to say about what's happening along the U.S.--Mexico border. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER: Is there something that you would like the American people to know when agents are out there putting their lives on the line every day?
BRANDON JUDD, NATIONAL BORDER PATROL COUNCIL PRESIDENT: As tragic as Freddie Vasquez's story is he would do it again tomorrow. If he knew that he could save somebody else by sacrificing his life, he would do it. We saw that with Brian Terry. We've seen that with multiple agents.
And again, Freddie Vasquez, he was loved because everybody knew how much he cared about other people. He put other people above self. That's why he lost his life.
CARLOS VALLE, FRIEND OF FREDDIE VASQUEZ: I tell guys you want a hero look at Freddie, he gave his life for this job. And I know Freddie enough to say that if he gets to come back and do it all over again, he wouldn't hesitate. He will do it all over again knowing the risk because he loved this.
There's the things he was passionate about -- his family and his work.
CARTER: For the American people who don't understand the sacrifices that you all make every day, how do you -- how do you express to them what a family like the Vasquez family right now is going through? You know, young children without a father and a wife without a husband?
ART DEL CUETO, BORDER PATROL UNION OFFICIAL: When you see politicians that just don't care anymore, and I know that's a strong word to say, but if you're not doing anything about it and you know there's a problem, you don't care. And that's what it comes down to, and it's very upsetting because not only is it a slap in the face to the families that we're losing now, the agents that are losing their life now but it's a slap in the face to all the other agents that have paid the ultimate sacrifice to defend our nation's borders.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER: Sean, and Freddie Vasquez did make the ultimate sacrifice and so did his family but they have a huge support system -- Dan, they have a huge support system from all the Border Patrol agents that are their own family. And they basically gave Manny -- they retired Manny (ph) early, that was his K9 partner so that his daughter Sammy and his son Isaac would have a little piece of Freddie to remember him by.
And I got to tell you, the family is extraordinarily grateful and so are the Border Patrol agents. Let's not forget them this Memorial Day.
BONGINO: Yeah. Sarah, thanks. You're doing really important work down there. Thank you very much.
As we've just seen, the Biden administration is sadly refusing to enforce the law at the border but they're actually doing the same thing within our nation as well. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, has been completely handcuffed by the Biden administration. For example, ICE deported fewer than 3,000 people last month. The lowest level on record, according to "The Washington Post", which calls ICE under Biden an agency on probation.
Biden also reportedly plans to cancel an effort begun under President Trump that would have asked green card applicants if they've ever been part of a criminal gang. But U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said late today in a statement that they've made -- they've made no final decisions about that form and that any proposed changes will go through appropriate procedures.
And as we've mentioned earlier, Biden's budget just released today requests only a 0.1 percent funding increase for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE. By the way, the Justice Department only gets a 5.6 percent increase, while every other department except Defense and Veterans Affairs gets double digit increases.
Announcing the budget today, Biden called it a statement of values -- he should have called it a statement of bankruptcy. Apparently, border security and law enforcement aren't things he values at all.
Here with reaction, Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs, and former senior adviser to President Trump, Stephen Miller.
Stephen, I'll -- you know, I'll go to you first. I was just listening to Sara's report and one of the things that really disturbed me about this, you remember when President Trump recovered from coronavirus and Secret Service agents who I knew, I worked there, volunteered to take him in the car so he could show the American people he's okay and wave.
And remember the media had an uproar. Keep in mind, they were all in protective outfits, in protective garb. They said, oh my gosh, he's putting them in danger of coronavirus.
You know what's fascinating, we have all these Border Patrol agents now, documented cases of coronavirus, people who could be could be killed by this, and the media all of a sudden -- you heard anything about that, Stephen? Not a peep.
STEPHEN MILLER, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, it's a great point .And obviously, when the thousands of illegal immigrants who show up at the border do so, they're not wearing masks, they're certainly not wearing face shields, they're certainly not wearing PPE. They've been in some of the most unsanitary, unhygienic environments imaginable. It's an epidemiological disaster.
And these border agents that passed away, those are line of duty deaths. They put their bodies on the line to keep this country safe during a pandemic.
My organization America First Legal, along with the state of Texas, is suing the Biden administration for violating their own COVID rules on our southwest border, putting our communities at risk for the benefit of illegal aliens.
Now, with respect to the ICE issue, I want to be very clear about this. These are criminals that are being set free. Ninety-two percent of illegal aliens deported by ICE last year under Donald Trump had criminal charges or convictions when they're slashing deportations.
That's gang members. That's felons. That's people guilty of sex crimes going free.
And then on top of that, you have USCIS actively planning to get rid of gang screening for green cards, something that we were working on. Now, they're getting rid of -- by the way, I've seen the draft documents showing them trying to get rid of that screening question. That's outrageous.
BONGINO: Congressman, you know, when Stephen was in the Trump White House and I know you followed this obviously as well, being an active congressman on the issue, they -- we had largely -- not fixed, I mean, the problem was never solved at the border, but the Trump administration had done yeoman's work in getting a hold of that southern border.
I mean, really, you have to be a Democrat to create a problem for a solution. We've already -- this problem was being fixed -- remain in Mexico, the other -- you know, the asylum, the fix to the asylum rules, and they screwed this thing up. I mean, this is absurd.
REP. ANDY BIGGS (R-AZ): Yeah, that's exactly right, Dan.
President Trump inherited a problem and solved it, and they -- Biden administration inherited a solution and have totally botched it up.
And it's everything you say. Everything from stopping the fence, to providing dollars to illegal aliens who come across, to stopping the Mexico City -- excuse me, remain in Mexico policy, the agreement with the Northern Triangle states.
And you know what, now, this not surprising that they're talking about emasculating ICE even further. But Steven's exactly right. These are criminals that ICE goes after. They're the ones who need to be removed from the country more than anybody else to keep this country safe.
And the Biden administration, they won't even acknowledge this. Don't forget, Secretary Mayorkas just said this week, the border is closed.
Well, when I was down to the border just a couple of days ago, it was a steady stream of people coming across and surrendering and that was in a sector the Yuma sector, and this is everywhere along the border. They're not doing enough.
In fact, they're not doing anything because I do truly believe you can't be this incompetent. They have to desire this. They wanted and campaigned for open borders. That's what this looks like.
BONGINO: Yeah. Stephen, you said something on an appearance on this network the other night. I was watching, forgive me, I don't remember the show. But you said something that really got under my skin.
You said, you know, it's amazing these hotels, we're spending tens of millions to house people in the country illegally, not here illegally, and you brought up the point -- you know, we have homeless veterans out there fought for this country. We have American citizens with psychological problems on the street and we're spending tens of millions of dollars to shield people who could have come here legally. And they said, no, I don't think so. We're just going to disregard the law and do what we want.
MILLER: You know, when President Trump ran for office, he used to say, we treat illegal aliens in this country better than veterans. When he got elected, he switched that put our veterans first and secured our border.
We are now literally living in a time, it is not hyperbole, it is fact, that we have homeless veterans and we have a president who is using taxpayer dollars to house illegal aliens. Next time you see a veteran on the street who needs help who needs a path forward, a path upward, just remember, your tax dollars are going to help somebody who has been in this country for hours in violation of our laws to take American jobs and American benefits. It is a thunderous violation of the social contract.
BONGINO: Yeah. Hey, thanks, guys. I really appreciate it. Great commentary.
Coming up next, big tech is suing Florida over a new state law that protects free speech on social media. Of course, they are. Gregg Jarrett and Sean Duffy react next.
Say with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BONGINO: Welcome back to this "Hannity" special.
On Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took on big tech tyranny when he signed a bill that would allow Florida to penalize tech companies who banned political candidates. After the signing, one reporter asked if DeSantis was doing it all for President Trump.
Here was his excellent response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: You're a loyal supporter of former President Donald Trump. Donald Trump is now a resident in Florida and he was deplatformed. Is this bill for him?
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: The bill is for everyday Floridians. It's what we said. And it allow any Floridian to be able to um to provide what they're doing.
So -- but I think, I mean, I do think that's another issue that that has been brought to bear when you de-platform the president United States but you let Ayatollah Khamenei talk about killing Jews, that is wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: Yes. Can I -- guys, can I get up and give a round of applause. Would that throw the whole show off? Now, here's why I love this guy.
Now, trade groups representing tech giants Facebook, Twitter and Google have sued Florida over that new state law.
Also this week, Project Veritas revealed documents reportedly showing that Facebook has an algorithm that can be used to target and silence speech that Facebook doesn't like. Shocker.
One of the Facebook technicians who released the documents has now gone public following his suspension from the company. FOX News has not independently verified any of the claims made in this video. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES O'KEEFE, PROJECT VERITAS FOUNDER: Ultimately, it seems like any facts that escape a particular narrative are omitted, demoted, de-boosted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
O'KEEFE: Banned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
O'KEEFE: Considered dangerous to society.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Suppressed in any way possible.
O'KEEFE: Where do you think this is headed? Does it get worse from here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
O'KEEFE: How so?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think people accept it and they see people like Twitter, Facebook, Google and stuff like, that they see that this is accepted by the public, and then they go -- that's like a green light to be like, oh, we can go ahead and do this more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: Joining us now is FOX News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett and co-host of "From the Kitchen Table: The Duffys" podcast, former Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy.
Sean, I go to you first. I'm looking forward to that. I used to watch you and Rachel from the kitchen table on the social media. I told you, did I not that, those were the most engaging videos. I want credit for that. I want royalties on that show because it's going to be a regular, I promise.
SEAN DUFFY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Done.
BONGINO: Yeah, you guys are very talented and you're great together. Obviously have great chemistry.
So listen these big tech --
(CROSSTALK)
DUFFY: I hope so, nine kids, I hope you have chemistry.
BONGINO: I know. God bless you. I mean, if you had the Olympics of kids, you guys get the gold medal. Well done, nine great kids, too.
So you have these de facto governments out there and what bothers me about these big tech tyrants, Sean, is at least you have some recourse against government. If -- you know, you were a congressman. If you were to ban a certain like Lori Lightfoot racial group from New York, you could be sued. I mean, you could be sued for violating people's civil liberties.
But yet these squelch -- free speech squelchers, these big tech tyrants, nothing ever seems to happen. They're more powerful than governments, I'd argue.
DUFFY: That's right, because they're not governments, Dan. The First Amendment applies to them. So they've come into this lawsuit and said, you're violating Ron DeSantis our First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and you are infringing on our ability to mitigate harmful material.
Well, let's be clear, I mean these guys, these social media platforms are an affront to all of our political speech, right, and all of our free speech. They're shadow banning. They're de-platforming all conservatives across their platforms and we don't have free use of it and it is the public square.
And so what I think is interesting about what's happening here, Dan, is if you look at the old Republican Party, Republicans would sit back and go we believe in free enterprise and so we want to leave these companies alone. We don't want to engage.
But after Donald Trump and now Ron DeSantis, you have Republicans leaning into this fight using government to push back and fight back for freedom for the public square so we can have a free debate and I think it's going to work -- and my wife loves Twitter and I tell her to get off, but I think conservatives have to get off these social media platforms.
They make billions of dollars off us and they try to craft the content to change how we view issues and how we vote. Get off them find different avenues for your -- for your search engines, for your mail, for your for your social media because they're not our friends. They hate us.
BONGINO: Yeah. Gregg, I'll say disclosure I am an investor in Parler and Rumble alternate platforms, but -- so I have some knowledge of the space and I'm consistently surprised that they get away with this. I mean, Gregg, think about it -- how is this not an in-kind donation if Greg Jarrett was running for Congress when your opponent's allowed to post on one of the world's biggest social media platforms, Twitter, and then you're banned? I mean, how do they continue to get away with this?
GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I'm glad to see the lawsuits happen. And DeSantis knew this would happen. That was his intent. Let's bring out this politically driven discriminatory censorship out of the open, let's litigate it.
The staggering wealth and unbridled power of these tech goliaths allows them to punish their political adversaries and to protect their partisan allies. They are engaging through censorship suppression and coercive thought their thought and if you dare to disagree with them, you'll be banned or you'll be slapped with the label false information.
Look, I've long argued that these tech platforms need to be regulated by the federal government and treated as common carriers, akin to public utilities. Which means the government has every right to regulate good behavior, prohibit bad behavior.
The second thing that should happen is no more immunity. Repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. There's no reason a world why these tech giants with their unlimited wealth shouldn't be held responsible through lawsuits.
And finally, they should be broken up as unlawful monopolies. Their tyrannical behavior, their sheer size, their anti-competitive practices make them unlawful monopolies under any anti-trust analysis. The corporate overlords that run these companies like Twitter and Facebook are more powerful than our government.
BON GINO: Yeah, sorry, guys. I'm out of time. I appreciate your commentary.
But I agree with you both. I am consistently stunned at what they get away with. And, you know, at least people like Ron DeSantis and other good Republicans out there are finally getting the hint that this is a serious problem.
Greg Jarrett, Sean Duffy, thanks a lot. I hope you guys have a really great weekend.
More of this "Hannity" special right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BONGINO: Welcome back to the special edition of "Hannity."
But before we go, if you haven't already, please check out "The Dan Bongino Show" on FOX Nation. I'd be honored.
Here's a video FOX put together, check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: "The Dan Bongino Show" live every weekday on FOX Nation.
BONGINO: You want the truth about America, then you've come to the right place. My job is to tell you what matters.
While others are silencing free voice and free thought, in here, no one tells us what to think. If who's looking out for the people who do the real work in this country? Expressing political hypocrisy.
ANNOUNCER: Stream new episodes daily and catch Dan's must-see interview with President Trump.
"The Dan Bongino Show" streaming on FOX Nation and listen any time on local radio station.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BONGINO: I promise, you'll love it. You can check out every episode of "Dan Bongino Show" on FOX Nation. Do it today.
Unfortunately, that's all the time we have tonight. Sean will be back next week.
Have a really wonderful Memorial Day weekend. And don't forget those who have served and are currently serving to protect the wonderful country we all share. Be safe and enjoy this time with your families.
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