‘Hannity’ on day 75 in Afghanistan

This is a rush transcript of “Hannity” on October 28, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: All right, thank you, Tucker.

And welcome to HANNITY.

We begin this night with a FOX News alert. The disgraced former governor of New York Andrew Cuomo has now officially been charged with groping a former aide which if convicted could land Cuomo on the sex offender registry. We have all the details coming up.

Also, a judge is now refusing to pause New York City’s vaccine mandate for city employees. And now, the FDNY in New York is preparing to close 20 percent of all fire department companies in the city and take 20 percent of all ambulances offline as the mandates now are set to take effect on Monday.

That’s not all, the NYPD also bracing for a massive street cop shortage. We’ll have a lot more on this, straight ahead tonight, the impact on the economy. And we’ll tell you what it means for the ongoing worker shortage and, of course, the supply chain issues we’ve had.

But first, we turn once again to the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan.

ANNOUNCER: Americans Held Hostage, Abandoned Behind Enemy Lines, Day 75.

HANNITY: Eighty-eight days since Joe Biden promised he wouldn’t do it, 75 days since he’s done it, abandoning hundreds of Americans, thousands of green cardholders, our allies, our friends, their family members, all left behind enemy lines by Joe Biden. He simply turned the page.

And today, he just jets off to Europe, leaving behind a torrent of self- inflicted catastrophes.

Look at the economy, it is an unmitigated disaster, slowing down to its lowest quarterly growth since the height of the pandemic. The border, an absolute nightmare also. Another massive caravan is on the way.

But instead of fixing this crisis, the Biden administration they’re now planning to give get this certain illegal immigrants a whopping $450,000, illegal immigrants. This is not a joke, as Joe likes to say.

And tonight, Joe’s precious Build Back Better/New Green Deal socialist vision for the country, it is stalled in Congress with seemingly no way out. There’s no reconciliation going on, even though Biden gave such an impassioned final pitch before leaving for Europe earlier today. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These plans are fiscally responsible. They are fully paid for. They don’t add a single penny to the deficit. They don’t raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year.

I don’t want to punish anyone’s success I’m a capitalist. I want everyone to be able to — if they want to be a millionaire or billionaire — to be able to seek their goal, but all I’m asking is pay your fair share, pay your fair share, pay your fair share.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: What is the worst pay your fair share, pay your fair share — okay, it’s getting bizarre.

And this whole you know I know he still uses an abacus. We have something that’s actually called a calculator it works a little bit better and you can’t say trillions of dollars in spending won’t cost you anything, nothing.

Keep in mind, Democrats have tried this Build Back Better/New Green Deal socialism, you know, legislation. It funds actual infrastructure, we have that — you know, roads bridges and tunnels, better known as BIF, and there are now two trillion dollar bills stalled in Congress. Great job, Joe.

And tonight, the socialists, the left-wing of the Democratic Party, they can’t seem to come to terms with how much of your money they’d like to spend and how much they want to tax you. The latest draft of the Build Back Better proposal comes in at a whopping $1.7 trillion dollars, a lot of that is smoke and mirrors because they only are funding X number of years when they really intend to do it for 10 years.

The far left bud buzzword of the day is equity. It’s mentioned 44 times, and the climate that’s mentioned a whopping 110 times. But it’s just not enough for the socialists.

No, they are now nine solid no’s in the House of Representatives. Now, Congresswoman Cori Bush said she felt bamboozled. Congresswoman Tlaib reportedly screeched hell no and then stormed out of a meeting. AOC is also threatening to vote no. Congresswoman Jayapal just told reporters that there are not enough votes to get this legislation through the House.

Needless to say, Nancy Pelosi is very nervous. Don’t embarrass the president. We’ll get to that in a minute.

Biden told Congress he needed this agreement before he jetted off to Europe for this climate summit. That didn’t happen. Now, Pelosi reportedly warning of fellow Democrats not to embarrass Joey while he’s abroad.

Now, while praising Joe’s — oh this is my favorite moment of the day — Nancy Pelosi who struggles a little bit cognitively herself, Nancy Pelosi talking about wow how engaged Joe is and he wrote the bill and his encyclopedic knowledge. Joe Biden, just the same Joe Biden we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men and women are created by oh you know the thing — that guy?

Anyway, Pelosi was a nervous wreck today. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: For those who said I want to see text, the text is there for you to review, for you to complain about, for you to add to, to subtract from, whatever it is.

We have agreement on most of those things. Now, when people see the language, they may say well, this goes more further than I thought, I don’t know. We’ll see what they say back.

You have to remember that we plan for $3.5 trillion. We were totally ready, and I say this because I feel some level of responsibility for working everybody so hard to be on time for September 15th. And then the rug was pulled out when they said we’re not going that high, but in the meantime the clock did not stop ticking on the calendar, did I mix my metaphors or my time frames?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right. There are a few things in the draft text Pelosi is referring to, $100 billion, universal child care, $20 billion climate change, $10 billion for community health clinics, $9 billion for monthly government handouts to families with children, $5 billion for the CDC, $5 billion for fleet and new electric vehicles for the federal government, $4 billion for the electric vehicles for the post office, and we can go on and on all night.

Now, this is far from a done deal. So as Pelosi likes to say, they’ll probably have to pass the bill before any of us find out what’s actually in the bill. In fact, earlier today, Pelosi wasn’t exactly eager to answer many questions, looking very uncomfortable after the disaster which is that Joe Biden was squashed again by the liberal wing of his party. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

REPORTER: Madam Speaker, a simple question, are you holding an infrastructure vote today? Have you made that decision?

So, you’re holding an infrastructure vote today? Are you holding the infrastructure —

PELOSI: No, I’m just getting my mask.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Oh, clearly, Pelosi has a lot on her mind. Not only does she need to secure enough votes in the House, which he’s been unable to do. Also Democrats can’t afford to lose one single vote in the U.S. Senate. And right now, well, Senator Manchin, Senator Sinema, they’re still undecided.

And some on the house side are starting to revolt. One Democratic congresswoman is already calling for the two undecided senators to be ousted from the party. In the coming days, we will know one thing for sure. Is AOC, is the squad all talk, no action, in other words — are they really just swamp creatures already to Washington, D.C., there to get along, because they like to be called congresswoman or senator or whatever they happen to be? Or actually socialists, with a backbone, an ideology?

Are they willing to fight for the things they said that they were going to fight for? This is going to be very interesting as it all unfolds. But one way or the other, for the good of the country, well, Build Back Better should never see the light of day. It is an unmitigated disaster. Capitalism, the greatest wealth-producing system ever designed by mankind.

That’s right. You get life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, thank God we get all of these rights from — oh you know, the thing, that thing, God, the creator of everything, endowed by our Creator.

If you think supply shortages, labor shortages, inflation is bad now? You wait until the federal government spends another two trillion dollars on their big government womb to the tomb, cradle to grave socialism. Add to that, the ongoing vaccine mandates. This is now about to hit full force and now thousands of nurses and cops and paramedics and military personnel and firemen emergency responders, they’re all going to be out of work.

Now, it’s not a matter of vax or don’t vax, they’ve decided for whatever reason they’re willing to give up their salary, their benefits and their pension because they believe in their decision. Whether you like it or not, seems like they made up their mind.

In New York City alone, up to 40 percent of police officers and firefighters might be out of a job as soon as Monday. That will be an unmitigated disaster for the City of New York. Anyone actually think this is going to make New York more safe, more secure? Anyone think this will make America a better place? Of course not. This will be bad.

And according to Biden’s own chief propagandist, Jen circle back Psaki, our current economic woes have nothing to do with Biden’s policies, no. Instead, according to Psaki, the supply chain crisis, you, you Americans, it’s your fault. That’s what she said. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: What’s your message to Americans who are still so worried about getting their Christmas gifts on time, Halloween? Is this going to be happening at a fast enough pace?

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, so many people across the country are purchasing more goods online. Maybe some of it is from habits that develop during the pandemic when people weren’t leaving their homes. Some of it is because we’ve seen an economic recovery that has been underway for the last nine months, where five million more people are working, the unemployment rate has been cut in half, and that is leading to a massive increase in volume. That’s what’s happening at ports.

But what we would tell people is we are addressing and attacking the supply chain issues, even with the increased volume, which is the root cause here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Jen, that economic recovery is stalled. Inflation is here to stay. Talk to Lawrence Summers, maybe he can help educate you.

Just to recap in the wacky world of Biden, your online shopping habits, that’s what’s causing the supply chain crisis. Build Back Better cost nothing, we’re supposed to believe that. We’re really supposed to believe that Joe Biden, the cognitive mess that he is, has encyclopedic knowledge on anything? I don’t even think he knows what day of the week it is.

The world is going to end in 10 years because of climate change, and the most important thing right now for Nancy Pelosi is that no one embarrassed Joe while he’s out abroad. Maybe — just maybe Joe Biden should have stayed in Washington until he got the deal done.

Here with more from Rome, in Italy, our very own Peter Doocy.

Pretty early in the morning, sir.

Now, Biden had said he needed this done before he left. He goes and makes the pitch today and he leaves in his wake an unmitigated disaster of Democrats in a — all-out civil war.

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And, Sean, part of the reason that he said he needed it done before he got here is because he claims that when he talks to world leaders, his counterparts on the world stage, they’re asking him, hey, can America get anything done anymore or what? So he wanted something to show especially on climate because the next part of this trip is going to be climate entirely. And right now, he has nothing to show for it.

And it’s not pundits and it’s not people below him on his staff who are raising the stakes here. It was Joe Biden behind closed doors today. He said at that meeting privately with Democrats, he said, I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that the House and Senate majorities and my presidency will be determined by what happens in the next week. He was referring to that vote. They wanted it to happen. It did not happen even though Speaker Pelosi said, in order for us to have success, we must succeed today. They did not in that way.

Now, the president is here. He wants to talk to world leaders about having a new global minimum tax on corporations. He wants to talk about re- entering negotiations with Iran about their nuclear program. He wants to talk about climate change.

But there are 19 other major economy — leaders of major world economies here. They might want to talk about something else. This is the first time after all that they have gotten together since the Afghanistan pull-out that caught a lot of them flat-footed because they’ve been reassured by the United States that they had it handled.

President Biden is on the ground right now. Air Force One touched down a few minutes ago here very early Friday. Air Force One touching down in a foreign country is usually the ultimate show of the power of the U.S. presidency. You see it right there, and it must have been a pretty good feeling for a president who earlier today did not have the power despite pushing for it to bring together the progressives and the moderates in his own party at home — Sean.

HANNITY: All right. Peter Doocy, thank you.

By the way we want to correct one report that “The Post” had put out there that Andrew Cuomo would be in the sex registry. He would not be added as a sex offender even if convicted of the misdemeanor. The charge of forcible touching would require the victim to be younger than 18. We’ll get a legal analysis coming up from Gregg Jarrett.

Here with the very latest though on the Democratic infighting on Capitol Hill, oh, we call it the hitchhiker’s guide to all things swamp and sewer, Washington, .D.C., Chad Pergram, is with us.

I love your note you sent out internally in FOX News today. The hitchhiker’s guide on how the left rolled both Biden and Pelosi today again. You want to break this down, Chad?

CHAD PERGRAM, FOX NEWS CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Sean.

Well, the president came to the Capitol for the second time in a month and he failed to close the deal, the stage craft of a presidential visit did nothing. They can’t even convince progressives to support the bipartisan infrastructure bill. They are holding the bill hostage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CORI BUSH (D-MO): If a vote on the bill is held today, I’m a no. That has not changed. We — I have held steady with what we’ve talked about as progressives, at least some of the progressive caucus up until now saying that we need both bills to ride together and we don’t have that right now. Also, I felt a little bamboozled because this was not — this was not what I thought was coming today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERGRAM: Democrats can’t pass the bill if liberals balk. They lack the votes.

Progressives don’t trust Democrats Kirsten Sinema and Joe Manchin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO CORTEZ (D-NY): I don’t think that we’ve really heard really any sort of commitment in what the Senate is actually going to be able to pass. But we need a little bit more than an IOU.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERGRAM: Moderate Democrats are seething at liberals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I’m disappointed and not because I’m a Democrat mind you. I’m disappointed because I’m an American. I’m disappointed because I work with Democrats and Republicans on the Problem Solvers Caucus that helped put this bill together. The country needs it.

Nineteen Republican senators voted for it. We should all be disappointed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERGRAM: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi doesn’t lose votes on the floor. If Pelosi had the votes, the House would have voted on the bill tonight. Progressives now control the votes, not Pelosi, nor the president — Sean.

HANNITY: All right. Great analysis. Thank you, Chad Pergram, and that is Nancy Pelosi’s M.O. She doesn’t lose votes on the floor. If she had the votes, she would have called for the vote.

Joining us now with more is Congresswoman Elise Stefanik and former senior counsel with President Trump, Kellyanne Conway.

Good to see you both.

Congresswoman, we’ll start with you.

We see what’s happening with the Democratic Party. This started out at $3.5 trillion, although if you use Joe’s math, it wouldn’t cost us zero, zero. Pay your fair share, that math doesn’t work. Now, it’s $1.75. Manchin’s still saying he’s sticking at $1.5.

Do you see and you’re on the floor, the Democratic progressive caucus going along with a Manchin Sinema style bill?

REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): Absolutely not. Democrats are in utter disarray, Sean, and this is a lame duck speaker of the House. Nancy Pelosi is a lame duck, and we know that both Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi and the entire Democratic Party is being controlled by the far left socialist progressives that you played earlier today, the Cori Bushes, the AOCs , the Pramila Jayapals, who do not represent everyday working Americans.

And when it comes to the price tag of the bill, Sean, they are cooking the books. This is going to cost the American people over $10 trillion if you look at it in a 10-year window. They are just expiring these programs which they have every intention to try to continue in perpetuity. They are cooking the books to try to hide the price tag from the American people.

And it’s not just the fact that it’s the largest tax increase and the largest spending bill in our nation’s history. It is riddled and loaded up with far-left policies like mass amnesty for illegal immigrants, heat your home tax, as we’re heading into what will be the most expensive winter ever in our nation’s history. So this is absolutely a bad deal for the American people. But the progressives have — they’re controlling Nancy Pelosi right now, who is a lame duck speaker of the House.

Can you see a scenario, Kellyanne, we’ve both been doing this for a long time — is there a scenario here because the margin is so tight in the House, four vote difference, that maybe this squad caucus uh pushes Pelosi out?

KELLYANNE CONWAY, FORMER SENIOR COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, they may. I think her days are numbered if they were to keep the House, which they won’t. I think that they’re walking into the kind of shellacking that President Obama claimed he had suffered after the 2010 midterms, and it’s for much the same reason, overreach.

You know, Senators Manchin and Sinema, Sean, who are more aligned with public sentiment. If you look at the FOX News poll, 53 percent of those polls said they are extremely concerned about inflation. No other issue cracked 50 percent on that measure, and you have a Democratic president and a Pelosi who’s not responding to what economic concerns are vexing Americans.

In fact, another poll said 58 percent disapprove of Joe Biden on the economy, and 60 percent said that Biden’s not doing enough on inflation.

The answer to inflation is not this out of control spending that Elise just described. The answer to inflation is making sure the supply chain is not disrupted, is making sure that the cost of every day items are not exploding.

And this is even before we get to Thanksgiving, Christmas, the Jewish holidays where people are spending money and they’re going to blame Joe Biden for the expense of those.

Look, if Joe Biden can’t convince liberals in his own party to spend other people’s money, how in the world would he convince global leaders on the world stage to do any of this? Joe Biden’s presidency, Sean, it is a man- made disaster. They’ve gone today, they went from disarray to total dysfunction, and I think the progressives are playing Pelosi’s game against her and they’re going to prevail. They’re 96-strong in that caucus, and they’re playing the long game here. They want us to reconfigure the federal government’s relationship with each and every one of us through spending policies, and they’ll play the long game here.

I think Sinema and Manchin should come over to the Republican Party, call Ronna McDaniel tonight, call Donald Trump, call whomever you want, because we won’t chase you into bathrooms. We won’t run millions of dollars at ads against you, in your own state, only because you agree with the majority of Americans that we don’t need more taxes and we don’t need more spending.

HANNITY: You know, Congresswoman, we have the most deaths from the pandemic in 2021, the weakest growth of since the pandemic with Joe Biden. I mean, literally, the slowest growth on record to this point, and a vaccine mandate looming.

We have less than a minute. We’ll give you the final word.

STEFANIK: Well, we have seen that instead of dealing with issues that are impacting everyday Americans, whether it’s inflation, the supply chain crisis, Democrats are trying to shove through this multi-trillion dollar package.

And when it comes to the vaccine mandates, Sean, I’m from — my home state of New York. I represent New York’s North Country. We are facing a historic labor shortage and the vaccine mandate is only exacerbating this. This is what Kellyanne is referring to when this is about remaking government, where government is controlling your lives.

That’s not what the American people want. Democrats are woefully out of touch, and I don’t think Nancy Pelosi is going to be able to deliver this over the finish line. Joe Biden is right that this is going to be the determinant of his presidency, and it’s an utter failure. It has been crisis after crisis.

HANNITY: All right. Congresswoman, thank you. Kellyanne, always great to see you.

When we come back, a brand new FOX poll just released hours ago showing Glenn Youngkin now with a stunning lead over Terry McAuliffe. Youngkin will join us and react.

Also, former disgrace Governor Andrew Cuomo has just been charged with a misdemeanor sex crime. Gregg Jarrett will break it down for us straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: We have big breaking news out of Virginia tonight, in the commonwealth, where a new FOX News poll has Republican Glenn Youngkin surging ahead of Democrat Terry McAuliffe by a whopping 8 points. Remember, this is a massive shift from just two weeks ago where the same poll had McCullough up by five.

And get this, we’re also learning tonight about a major blunder from the McAuliffe campaign, after they mistakenly emailed a FOX News journalist, quote, can we kill this, when they were inquiring about whether or not Terry McAuliffe hired attorney with questionable, oh, let’s say background — with a questionable background, Marc Elias, he’s a Clinton attorney, to possibly challenge election results, something both candidates said they wouldn’t do.

Now, there is clearly massive momentum behind Glenn Youngkin. Can a deep blue state like Virginia really turn red? Can Republicans turn out their voters and deliver a massive political upset?

Here to make the case Republican Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin is with us.

It seems like a huge jump statistically, almost impossible. If that poll is accurate or close to accurate, that would mean late-breaking deciders are breaking hard for you, and with early voting seeming to be low and at your — you’re at a pretty close level with McAuliffe, I would say that gives you an advantage. How are you feeling about it?

GLENN YOUNGKIN (R), VIRGINIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: We’re feeling great, Sean. I mean, we’re out on day six of our 10-day bus tour. The crowds are amazing. We just had a giant event in Augusta County. We had over a thousand people.

There’s energy on this campaign. It’s no longer a campaign. It’s a momentum. It’s — it is absolutely a movement. It’s a movement to stand up for Virginians, for parents, and to reject government control.

And Terry McAuliffe has demonstrated that he cares more about his own career than he does for Virginians. He wants to put government between parents and their children. If he doesn’t like the answer, then all of a sudden, the FBI comes in and tries to silence him.

This is our moment as Virginians to come together. We’re winning the independent vote by double digits. We have Democrats walking across the aisle in droves, and what you’re seeing in these polls is exactly what we’re feeling on the road.

HANNITY: You know, you look at all the people McAuliffe has brought in, unpopular Joe Biden, 35 percent, Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams, even Barack Obama. At Terry’s own events, he seems to be getting more press appearing than people showing up for his events. I think the maximum crowd they had with Biden and Obama was less than 2,000, and you’re drawing huge crowds everywhere you go.

So, anecdotally you’re feeling good about it? How do you analyze the early voting?

YOUNGKIN: Yeah, so the — so first of all, Terry McAuliffe’s doing exactly what the playbook that he wrote as the godfather of the modern day Democratic party would do which is bring somebody else in. He’s asked everybody to come in to campaign. If you’ve ever held office and won or didn’t win, he’s invited you to come in, to take the spotlight off of his failed record as governor, and his failure to lay forward an agenda that embraces Virginians.

And I tell you, this early voting has been great the turnout for us has been strong, the turnout for him has been weak. I mean, I’ve said it all along, the only person excited about Terry McAuliffe is Terry McAuliffe.

And, Sean, the big thing is, this race has become a national race. Virginians are voting for the nation. I get so many emails and texts every day our website at youngkinforgovernor.com, absolutely almost overwhelmed by folks coming in and being part of what is going to not just change the future of this great commonwealth of Virginia but it’s going to set a shock across the bow for the entire country that we’re going to take our country back.

HANNITY: So, one of our reporters for Fox News, I believe dot-com, says he’s writing a story about McAuliffe hiring Marc Elias.

Now, what’s interesting about this, a friend of this program, Jonathan Turley, tweeting out, there are a host of election lawyers, but McAuliffe selected an attorney accused of lying to the media, advancing rejected conspiracy theories, currently involved in a major federal investigation that has already led to an indictment of his former partner. McAuliffe may be preparing to challenge any win by Glenn Youngkin, and the response was they didn’t mean to do it, but they write can we get this story killed, can we try to kill this?

What is your reaction to the hiring of Elias? And the campaign obviously feels that they have an in with certain media outlets that they can get stories killed?

YOUNGKIN: Well, first of all, this just is the exact playbook that Terry McAuliffe wrote for the modern day Democratic Party, and his campaign is absolutely failing. I mean, the sun is setting on his 43-year political career.

And by the way, they’re not going to need lawyers because this isn’t going to be close. What’s happening in Virginia today with us winning independence by double digits and Democrats walking across the aisle and voting for us, this isn’t going to be close, Sean. Virginians are making a big statement. We’re making a statement that there’s a new day ahead of us, low taxes, the best schools, the best jobs, safe communities and a government that works for us, and isn’t telling us what to do all the time.

These are universal values and Virginians are ready to step forward and make this race not even close.

HANNITY: It really would be nice to have a governor that actually likes parental involvement in kids education, age-appropriate materials being taught, CRT, draconian measures as it relates to COVID, et cetera, et cetera, and not being lectured that they have no business being involved in their children’s education. I didn’t think that was a very good line by McAuliffe.

We’re going to be watching very closely, five days. Glenn Youngkin, thank you for being with us.

And the bad news for Democrats, it doesn’t stop there. As Biden and the extreme socialists now are also getting low marks from Americans on their spending talks, with fewer than half of the American people approving the way Democrats are handling the debacle. According to Gallup, Americans approval of Congress has now tanked to a whopping 21 percent, the lowest so far this year.

Here to explain more, Trafalgar chief pollster, our friend Robert Cahaly, and along with former Clinton pollster, Mark Penn.

Mark, we’ve known each other for a lot of years and I have great respect for your work. I look at the FOX poll. I’m a little dubious, just my knowledge of polls, that kind of shift, that kind of jump seems a little high to me. That’s my gut.

But with that said, it could be an indicator that late deciders are breaking heavy for Glenn Youngkin. Your thoughts?

MARK PENN, FORMER CLINTON ADVISOR & POLLSTER: Well, when you look at that poll, there’s a wide gap among likely voters and it’s a one-point race among all voters. So what this poll is saying is that Youngkin’s had tremendous momentum.

I myself was puzzled in the last week or so where McAuliffe brought in Biden and Harris and he knows that the Democrat number —

HANNITY: Stacey Abrams, Obama.

PENN: Yeah, I mean, McAuliffe should have made it a local race, about local issues, and his performance, and instead he nationalized it. So I did think he made a major mistake in the last two weeks.

HANNITY: I think that’s a great observation.

Robert, your take when you see these numbers? Because I see it a little closer. My internal antenna is up. I see this still as a close race, with a lean towards Youngkin, for sure, and momentum moving his way.

ROBERT CAHALY, CHIEF POLLSTER AND FOUNDER OF THE TRAFALGAR GROUP: Absolutely. A couple weeks ago when we put out our poll, we had a just a nine-tenths point lead from Youngkin. And since that happened, I mean, all these major polls have come in, whether it was a Quinnipiac or Monmouth or Emerson, they all had it you know within a point and a half. The FOX News is a little bit of an outlier.

But I think it’s about the direction. There’s no question I think now that there is a — there’s a lead. Now, whether it’s — whether it’s as high as the FOX News poll, I’m not sure.

But I think — we’re back in the field now looking at it. And we feel like it’s probably going to be a two or three point ahead for Youngkin.

But you’re right, a lot of people are breaking his direction and just this has just become a perfect storm of everything you can imagine going wrong. I mean, northern Virginia being competitive, that — I mean, you know who would have thought of that?

HANNITY: Let me ask you this, Robert. How do you analyze early voting because it seems that we’re almost at parity?

CAHALY: Absolutely. Early voting is where the Democrats have traditionally just absolutely just worn out the Republicans, and you know, it seems like they’re putting a lot of effort to all these events. But for some reason, they’re not focused where they need to be with getting voters to vote. They spent two years tell everybody to be afraid to go to the polls, because they’re going to catch COVID, and guess what, now, that they’re dependent upon that.

But the guy’s running around like he’s lost in a corner maze or something.

HANNITY: Mark, how do you analyze the early voting?

PENN: Well, again, I think this is all about parents, and education. I think when you look at what’s happening here, key suburban parents, particularly dads, are the ones that appear to be switching their vote, you know, from the Democrat to the Republican as a result of this education issue. And obviously, the early vote is not showing the kind of lead and turnout and enthusiasm that you’d get because of Biden’s numbers or are tanking, and that’s why Terry brought in all these leading Democratic figures. But I think that only accentuated his problem rather than —

HANNITY: Right, in the words of John McLaughlin, predictions. Mark Penn, we’ll start with you.

PENN: Well, you know, if you’d asked me last week, I would have said McAuliffe by two. This week, I’m going to have to say it looks like Youngkin by two.

HANNITY: And, Robert, your prediction?

CAHALY: I’d say Youngkin by two and a half to three, and he’s on the short list for everybody’s VP once he gets in there.

HANNITY: I’m actually going to agree with the Democrat. I’m going with Mark Penn, Youngkin by two. We’ll know in five days. Thank you both.

Anyway, also breaking tonight, we have news in New York. Disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo is being charged with forcible touching over allegations that he groped a former aide. Now, the misdemeanor criminal complaint filed in Albany city court — that court system alleges that Cuomo, quote, did intentionally and for no legitimate purpose forcibly place his hand under the blouse, shirt of the victim and onto her intimate body part. And by the way, to clarify, because the alleged victim is not a minor, the former governor would not be placed on the sex offender registry even if he were convicted as one news article pointed out tonight. We have corrected the record and we apologize for that mistake.

Here to break it down, FOX News legal analyst Gregg Jarret. Either way, not good. The issue here always comes down to evidence, doesn’t it, Gregg? I mean, is this a case of he said/she said, or do you see other factors coming into play? And would a judge for example take into account other allegations against the former governor?

GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it’s altogether possible that a judge could allow one or more of the dozen other accusers to testify to establish a pattern of conduct. But even without that, a compelling and persuasive, a sincere witness victim can still obtain a conviction in a case like this. I wrote a column seven months ago that said, wait a minute, this accusation of groping the young woman in the governor’s mansion, that’s forcible touching, that’s a sexual assault crime, and the governor should be treated like everybody else. He’s not above the law.

And finally today, seven months later, the criminal complaint is filed, and he’ll soon be arraigned. You know, if the president thought or if Cuomo thought that you know quitting the office in disgrace would somehow absolve him or erase any criminal culpability, it does not. The proper reckoning is in a court of law and that apparently will now take place.

So, you know, Andrew Cuomo’s insipid rationalization, his vapid, anemic denials, that ain’t going to cut it in a court of law, where facts and evidence matter.

HANNITY: Very, very interesting. On a legal matter, what’s the worst case scenario that he’s facing?

JARRETT: Well, he’s looking at up to a year behind bars. This is not felonious conduct is charged, but rather a misdemeanor, but that is a severe penalty nevertheless.

And you know, Andrew Cuomo’s, you know, conduct here is really just revolting and appalling when you listen to this woman. Her name is Brittany Commisso, who gave an interview to CBS News. What she describes is really awful, that he lures her under a pretext to the governor’s mansion, shuts the door lifts her blouse and against her will begins fondling her breasts.

HANNITY: Again, let’s be clear though —

JARRETT: That’s sexual assault.

HANNITY: If it comes down to her word versus his word, you’re saying that conviction could still happen.

JARRETT: If she is persuasive and compelling, the case can be won for prosecutors especially given Cuomo’s track record and some of his remarks when he testified in the attorney general’s investigation, that will come back to haunt him, it’s cited as evidence in the criminal complaint.

HANNITY: Gregg Jarrett, thank you.

Coming up, well, you’re not going to believe how much money the Biden administration is now reportedly considering your money that they will give illegals who are separated from their families at the border. It’s a massive amount.

Plus, how the left’s vaccinate mandates are about to make New York City less safe and secure in ways that nobody’s predicting, straight ahead.

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HANNITY: Now the Biden open borders agenda is now hitting new levels of insanity tonight. Get this, according to “The Wall Street Journal”, your President Joe Biden would like to hand out six-figure cash payments to 2017 and ’18 illegal immigrant border crossers over claims they were separated from their families and psychologically damaged. According to the report, Biden wants to pay these illegal immigrants, they came here illegally, 450 grand per person to resolve a series of lawsuits filed against the U.S. government.

So we’re now paying illegal immigrants for breaking our laws? Oh, up to — let’s see a billion dollars in payments, up to a million dollars of family. And of course, we also already give preferential treatment to illegal immigrants. What? They don’t have any vaccine mandates? They don’t even get tested because they’re not going to be here very long, Jen Psaki says.

Why would we reward people with massive payouts when they’re breaking our laws and not respecting our borders and our sovereignty?

This is happening at the same time our first responders, police officers, firefighters, nurses, teachers, military and now being forced out of their jobs over Biden’s vaccine mandate. You think the supply chain crisis is bad now? Wait until this hits.

And while we let illegal immigrants waltz right across the border into the country, no vaccine, no negative test, no mandate whatsoever. That’s unbelievable.

In New York City, we’re now facing a massive shortage of key staff. Now, with the FDNY, this starts Monday, warning that it may have to close 20 percent of all New York City fire companies, including taking more ambulances off the street. This is now turning into a full-fledged crisis. The FDNY said this week that just only 65 percent of firefighters and police officers and EMS workers have been vaccinated, are far left city leaders are really going to terminate 35 percent of cops and firemen and emergency medical technical people?

We’re going to fire all these people? New York City? Oh, okay. Any community — can anybody afford to lose that many cops, firefighters, nurses, first responders, crime surging already, billion dollar cut to the NYPD?

At this point, people have made up their mind. This isn’t about vax or not vax. Clearly, people in these professions, teachers, nurses, firemen, policemen, military, they made up their mind. They’re willing to lose their income, their benefits, their pension. They made up their mind, whether you agree or not.

It appears we’re on a collision course because a New York judge refused to pause the mandate for the city’s workforce. The New York City firefighters union is now telling their members to defy the mandate.

And down in Florida, Governor DeSantis, he’s once again becoming a beacon of hope for common sense Americans. He’s now planning to give five thousand dollar bonuses to any out of state law enforcement officers that want to relocate to Florida. Not a bad idea. The weather’s better, taxes lower.

Here with reaction, former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and Leo 2.0 Terrell.

This is going to be a disaster on top of inflation, the economy, virtually no growth, Reince. Now, we’re going to we’re going to take key positions like this, and we’re going to fire these people, especially nurses and policemen and military that were on the front lines of COVID, and the worst days of this, saving other people’s lives?

REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Yeah, our American heroes, the American heroes that were hung in there during the pandemic every single day while we watched them on television go to the hospital every day, pick people up, haul them to the hospitals, get into their homes, get sick, and they’re the first people that we’re going to throw under the bus.

You know, on this — on a supply chain issue, it’s even more insane because the American Trucking Association said just today that if this — if the vaccine mandate is put into place, 37 percent of every trucker in America is going to be gone. That’s almost a million truck drivers at a time that we need 80,000 truck drivers in this country, they’re all going to be gone. Thirty percent of the workforce is going to walk and it’s just going to make everything worse just before Christmas. You know what what’s happening was getting rich? Lobbyists in Washington, D.C., because now American businesses that are going broke because of what the Biden economy is doing, they have to spend tens of million dollars on lobbyists to beg the Biden White House to only put these vaccine mandates in place after the holidays.

So that’s where American businesses have to spend their money today, on lobbyists in Washington, D.C. It’s a — it is a disaster, Sean.

HANNITY: Leo?

LEO TERRELL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I’ll tell you right now, Sean, both of those stories you mentioned are ridiculous. The illegal aliens getting $450,000, they don’t deserve a dime. Psychological trauma, are you kidding me? This is a backdoor way to give money to these ACLU lawyers and to funnel money to illegal aliens for breaking the law.

I can tell you right now as a lawyer, Reince Priebus and I can go in there and win every one of those cases because they got to prove psychological trauma. The psychological trauma is when they broke the law coming into this country. Regarding those officers in New York —

HANNITY: Four hundred and fifty thousand a person.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: New York paid out a billion dollars, a billion dollars.

TERRELL: Military service people who fight and who lose their life, they only get $400,000 to the next kin. They’re going to pay illegal aliens, criminals more money than our service workers. They know they cannot win these cases.

We need a Republican administration to say no to these outrageous settlements. This is crazy. Taxpayers money to criminals?

HANNITY: All right.

TERRELL: Crazy. Reince and I can go in there and win every one of those cases.

HANNITY: That I believe.

Thank you both.

When we come back, the latest on Alec Baldwin and the shooting took place, where the actor is staying, that’s straight ahead.

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HANNITY: Before we go, quick update on the Alec Baldwin film set shooting. The actor was spotted in photos obtained by TMZ and a small Vermont ski town, picking up pizza with his family. Baldwin also retweeted a “New York Times” article spotlighting that the film’s assistant director who admitted he didn’t properly the check the gun before handing it off, and we’ll continue to follow the story. Is there any culpability? We will find out.

All right. That is all the time we have left this evening. Please set your DVR, never miss an episode. You make this show possible, we could never thank you enough.

In the meantime, let’s not your heart be troubled. Laura Ingraham who has the cutest puppy, she showed us last night, takes over right now.

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