Fox News "Hannity" - Transcript: Trump on Rigged Elections

Interview

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SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to "Hannity." And tonight, the 2016 national conventions are now officially in the books. The polls are extremely tight, and we are only 98 days away from Election Day.

Joining us now is the Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump.

Mr. Trump, good to see you, sir.

DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Thank you, Sean.

HANNITY: I saw big crowds at both events you had today. The RealClearPolitics average is dead even. The L.A. Times tracking poll had you beating Hillary every day but one for the month of July. I'm sure you're probably mad about that one day, if I know you -- if I know you well.

The state of the race, how do you feel it's going?

TRUMP: Well, I feel really good. I'm in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania right now, and we have thousands of people outside. They can't even get them in. We have a big venue. There are two rooms that are full. And we must have 12,000, 13,000 people, maybe more than that, and I'm going to go -- as soon as I'm finished with you, I'm going to go outside, plunge into the group and say hello to them.

But we have thousands of people that won't be able to get in tonight. So there's something going on. And Hillary was here recently, and she had almost nobody. So I think that's a good sign.

HANNITY: What...

TRUMP: I don't know what it means, but I think it's a good sign.

HANNITY: You know that the same media that is obsessed with this Mr. -- Mr. Khan and his son and he spoke at the DNC, et cetera. I want to go through this issue, if I can, slowly with you.

You did call this man's son a hero, did you not?

TRUMP: Yes, I did, absolutely. Whenever you have the Gold Star families, whenever you have, you know, what -- what you and I have discussed in the past. I mean these are great people, great families, frankly.

HANNITY: You -- when you were talking -- when you talk about refugees or illegal immigration, you're not talking about people like the Khans. For example, James Clapper, our national director of Intelligence, our CIA director, our FBI director, assistant FBI director, our chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and even General John Allen, Obama's special envoy to defeat ISIS -- they have all warned us that the refugees that Obama is taking in -- and Hillary wants a 550 percent increase -- that they -- that refugee population will be infiltrated.

So we -- are you clear that you are not talking about the Khans, you are talking about what these people are saying?

TRUMP: No. No, I'm not talking about the Khans. I'm not talking about a lot of people. I'm talking about people coming over here from Syria that aren't properly vetted. They're in the migration. Nobody knows if they're ISIS. They don't know who they are. They're being put all over the country.

Hillary wants a 550 percent increase over what Obama's bringing in. Obama is bringing them in by the thousands, by the thousands. And she wants to bring them in 550 percent more. I think it's insane.

Now, I -- I also think that what we should do is build safe zones over in Syria, have the Gulf states pay for it. They've got plenty of money. They're not doing their job right now. They've got a lot of money. And we'll run it or manage it or do whatever you want, but -- but absolutely, I mean, we can't let more people come in.

You look at what happened with San Bernardino, and all of the different -- Orlando, and then you go over to Nice, and you know, what's just happened. I mean and we can't do this. There's something going on and it's -- it's bad.

HANNITY: So where -- so...

TRUMP: So it's really bad.

HANNITY: I think this is...

TRUMP: And this country can't be in the same position as France. You look at what's going on in France, it's insane. And we don't want to be in the same position as France and Germany, which is now crime-ridden. You take a look at what's going on in Germany with all of the -- you know, the migrants that came in.

And we can't do that, Sean. We have to get back to rebuilding our country, rebuild our infrastructure, create jobs, take jobs away from Mexico and all these countries that are taking our jobs.

That's why in Harrisburg today, I have this massive group of people, because they want their jobs back.

HANNITY: So...

TRUMP: I flew over Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and you look at all the empty factories from years gone by, where they used to be just flourishing. And now it's -- they're all gone.

HANNITY: You know, ISIS is involved in an attack every 84 hours. That came out last week. We know in the U.S., from our FBI director, that all 50 states, there's over 1,000 ISIS investigations going on in the country.

It sounds like the media wants one narrative. You're talking about protecting the homeland. And I -- I want to ask, why do you think Mr. Khan is -- is going after you when you talk about specifically people from -- coming from countries that practice Sharia, which discriminate against Christians and Jews and women and gays and lesbians and that -- whose values under Sharia are the antithesis of our constitutional values? And Hillary voted for the war and voted to pull out early.

Why do you think you're being targeted?

TRUMP: Well, I have no idea, but I watched him at the Democratic national convention, and he was really going after me. There's no question about it. And I watched and it's fine. I mean I guess it's part of my life.

I can say this. If I was president, because his son died 12 years ago, and I were president, his son wouldn't have died because I wouldn't have been in the war, if I was president back then. There would have been no war for Iraq, I can tell you that, because I think it's ridiculous, the whole thing.

And to be in that war was, as you know as -- ever since I've known you, I've been against that war and you wouldn't have...

HANNITY: And you were also against...

TRUMP: ... been in the war, so a...

HANNITY: ... pulling out early. You said once we were there, we had to finish the job.

TRUMP: That is -- by the way, that's true. They pulled out and they lost it, and they gave it up to ISIS and they gave it up to a lot of other people.

But I wouldn't have been in a war. We would have had no war with Iraq. Iraq would have been right now fighting, as they have been forever. They would have right now been fighting. They'd be in the middle of fighting Iran again for another five-year spurt. And they'd be moving nowhere...

HANNITY: Let me ask you this...

TRUMP: ... they'd be fighting each other and moving nowhere.

HANNITY: I was watching you with George Stephanopoulos and -- by the way, George Stephanopoulos worked for the Clintons. George Stephanopoulos donated to the Clinton Foundation. George Stephanopoulos has been on record talking about Hillary's temperament and how fierce her anger is. He seems to forget that. And he -- you know, he asked you the question, Well, what have you sacrificed?

But let me ask this question. What have the Clintons sacrificed if we're going to ask everybody that question? Do you know what they've sacrificed, or have they enriched themselves?

TRUMP: Well, they haven't sacrificed very much. But you know, they've worked hard. I talked about what I did and -- by the way, I thought that George Stephanopoulos gave a fair interview. I didn't see anything wrong with the interview. I think it was misinterpreted. For instance, we talked about the Ukraine. And I said, Look, essentially, if I'm president, they're not going in. Russia is not going into the Ukraine.

And he said, Oh, well, tell me, though -- and some of the newspapers -- actually, some covered it very well and very accurate, most of them.

But some of them said, Oh, therefore, Trump didn't know about Crimea being taken a couple of years before. Of course I knew about that. But that's gone. I mean Crimea is gone. They took that during Obama's administration.

You know, Obama says that, Well, Trump might be friendly with Putin, which I'm not. I don't know Putin. But they -- they -- you know, they're coming up with this narrative, like I'd be weak with Putin. Well, he's the one, during his term, that the Crimea -- you know, Crimea was gone, OK? That was during his term.

And right now, it's a mess over there, also, in terms of Ukraine. But I said that, and so many people tried to misinterpret it.

But I will say this. A lot of the press, a lot of the media said it right. And of course what I meant and what I think was very clear -- and I think George Stephanopoulos would say that because I discussed it with him -- is we -- if -- if I was president, they're not going in -- believe me, they're not going into Ukraine. So...

HANNITY: Yes.

TRUMP: ... that was very simple.

HANNITY: Let me ask this.

TRUMP: Now, as far as Crimea -- as far as Crimea, though, they've been there for two years. That's already -- I guess you could say that's basically gone, at least right now.

HANNITY: You know, it's interesting, a friend of mine sent me this and he Googled Pat Smith and Benghazi on -- on Google, 384,000...

TRUMP: Yes.

HANNITY: ... hits. If you Google the name Khan and Trump, you get 491,000 hits, if that's right, that in five days, this whole issue with the media -- he's getting more media coverage in five days than Pat Smith, who, by the way, Hillary Clinton suggested, well, may not fully recall, but it wasn't just Pat Smith, it was also Charles Woods that she lied to them at - - when their -- their sons' bodies were laying next to them. More coverage from the media.

Is this now -- you just have to accept the media is going to be an extension of the Hillary press office?

TRUMP: Well, the media is very unfair. They're very biased. You look at CNN and you look at The New York Times, -- I mean the fail -- I call it the failing New York Times because it won't be in business for another probably more than a few years unless somebody goes in and buys it and wants to lose a lot of money.

But The New York Times is so unfair. I mean, they write three, four articles about me a day. No matter how good I do on something, they'll never write good. I mean, they don't write good. They have people over there, like Maggie Haberman and others, they don't -- they don't write good. They don't know how to write good. And I guess if they did, they're certainly not doing it.

But The New York Times is just absolutely a disaster.

HANNITY: Let me ask one other thing on this...

TRUMP: The Washington Post has been very tough, although I must say, The Washington Post has been getting better.

HANNITY: They gave her four Pinocchios.

All right, we'll get to that when we get back.

TRUMP: Yes.

HANNITY: What...

TRUMP: They -- well, they did.

HANNITY: Respond to this stuff.

TRUMP: That was shocking.

HANNITY: Six thousand eight hundred seventy-seven Syrian refugees have arrived through July 31st. Of the 6,877, 6,834 happen to be either Sunni, Shia or generic Muslim. And yet we have genocide against Christians in Syria and elsewhere.

TRUMP: Yes.

HANNITY: Are we, then, therefore, discriminating...

TRUMP: Well, we don't...

HANNITY: ... based on religion?

TRUMP: We don't take care of -- yes, well, in my opinion, they are. But we don't take care of the Christians. We are very -- -- you know, before the migration, a friend of mine who is very, very well versed on all of this said, You come from Syria, if you're Muslim, it's one of the easiest places to come into the United States from. If you're Christian, it's impossible, virtually impossible to come into the United States. Very unfair.

And the Christians are the ones that really are going -- look, everybody's going through hell over there. But the Christians are going through more than anybody, with the beheadings and everything else. But in all fairness, it's a hellhole.

HANNITY: All right, we've got to...

TRUMP: But I will say, if you're Christian, it -- if you're Christian, it was very, very hard to get into this country.

HANNITY: We'll take a break.

We'll have more with Donald Trump right after this.

Plus, tonight, Peter Schweizer has just put out a damning new report. It has to do with the Clintons, the Russians, America's national security, and of course, a whole lot more. He's here to explain that and more.

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(NEWSBREAK)

HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity" as we continue with 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Interesting she suggested, Hillary Clinton, that Pat Smith was lying. Let's go to the issue of the veracity of Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton was on "Fox News Sunday." She made a claim and -- about James Comey. Let me -- this was on the "Fox News Sunday" interview.

Let's roll that tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, HOST, "FOX NEWS SUNDAY": FBI Director James Comey said none of those things that you told the American public were true.

HILLARY CLINTON, D-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Chris, that's not what I heard Director Comey say. Director Comey said that my answers were truthful, and what I've said is consistent with what I have told the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: So one, she suggests that Pat Smith and Charles Woods were lying about what she said to them about what happened in Benghazi, then she makes this claim. But I happen to have the interview with James Comey. Let me play it for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TREY GOWDY, R-S.C.: Secretary Clinton said there was nothing marked classified on her e-mails, either sent or received. Was that true?

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: That's not true. There were a small number of portion markings on, I think, three of the documents.

TREY: Secretary Clinton said, I did not e-mail any classified material to anyone on my e-mail. There is no classified material. Was that true?

COMEY: There was classified material e-mailed.

TREY: Secretary Clinton said all work-related e-mails were returned to the State Department. Was that true?

COMEY: No, we found work-related e-mails, thousands, that were not returned.

TREY: Secretary Clinton said her lawyers read every one of the e-mails and were overly inclusive. Did her lawyers read the e-mail content individually?

COMEY: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Now, The Washington Post, not a friend of yours, I don't think, by any stretch, they gave four Pinocchios, and although Comey did say many e-mails were retroactively classified, he also said there were some e-mails that were already classified that should not have been sent on an unclassified private server. That's the uncomfortable truth that Clinton has trouble admitting. She lied -- she lied to the parents...

TRUMP: Well, she lied...

HANNITY: ... according to Pat Smith.

TRUMP: I mean...

HANNITY: She lies a lot.

TRUMP: Yes.

HANNITY: What's your reaction to that?

TRUMP: She lied. She lied a lot about a lot of things. Well, she lied about a lot of things. She's now lying about jobs, and she's lying that she's going to be the agent of change. She's not going to change. She's been there for 30 years.

You look at this place, I mean, honestly, I fly over these cities and I land and I see these -- these factories. I fly over them and I see them, and one after another.

Sean, it's so depressing when you go to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, when you go to different places in Ohio, when you go to upstate New York and anywhere you go. I mean, it's like we're a war zone. They're -- these are factories that you can see, 20, 25 years ago, were vibrant, and now those companies have all moved out of our country -- they're...

HANNITY: Well, let me ask you about them...

TRUMP: ... in Mexico and other places.

HANNITY: ... because we have new information...

TRUMP: And she's lying about that. She's not going to do anything about it.

HANNITY: Well, we now have the lowest home ownership rate in 51 years now in America...

TRUMP: Yes.

HANNITY: ... the worst recovery now...

TRUMP: Big numbers.

HANNITY: ... since the 1940s, the lowest labor participation rate...

TRUMP: Right.

HANNITY: ... since the '70s. We have 1.2 percent growth. And this president has accumulated more debt than every other president before him combined. And she says she's going to continue this?

TRUMP: She's going to be another four years of Obama, in my opinion worse. And remember the Supreme Court justices. She will appoint justices that will make our country Venezuela. It'll be over. And you know, as you know, I have 11 people that are going to be outstanding. They've been -- just received rave reviews. And I think it's one of the most important things.

Defense is always, like, the most important thing, right? But beyond that -- because our military is totally depleted. I mean, we have to rebuild our military. We have to do a lot of things, Sean. We're way, way behind.

And we also have to do our infrastructure. You drive on some of these highways, you -- you hit potholes every 250 yards. I mean, what's going on in this country is incredible! We're spending trillions and trillions of dollars, and we don't know what we're doing, we don't know where we're spending it.

And it's got to stop, Sean. We have to rebuild our country. We have to get jobs. We're going to bring our jobs back from all of these countries that have taken our jobs. Believe me, they're going to come back. We're going to lower taxes. Hillary's going to raise taxes substantially.

HANNITY: But I think the...

TRUMP: I'm lowering taxes.

HANNITY: The...

TRUMP: Right now, we're the highest taxed nation in the world. We're going to lower taxes under my plan, and Larry Kudlow and so many others love it.

HANNITY: Well, I...

TRUMP: We're going to lower taxes very, very substantially.

HANNITY: The repatriated money, which is trillions, that -- and I think, becoming energy independent...

TRUMP: Yes.

HANNITY: ... alone would create millions of jobs. Let me ask you, though -- I want to ask you about last week.

TRUMP: Two and a half trillion dollars.

HANNITY: I want to ask you last week about the -- the DNC. I -- I watched Hillary's speech. And I know you had millions more actually watching when you compare Thursday to Thursday.

But look, I kind of viewed it as a -- a checklist, sort of cliches and -- and platitudes and slogans, not a lot of specifics, you know? And a lot of things happened there that went -- uniformed police officers not on the floor of the convention. You have General John Allen interrupted, chanting, No more war, when -- when he said that America would defeat ISIS.

The audience interrupted a Medal of Honor recipient. And also, the embracing of Black Lives Matter and that organization, a group that had chanted, What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want them? Now! Hillary is seeking counsel from them. Your reaction to some of those events?

TRUMP: Well, I thought it was terrible. And they also -- they didn't show when Bernie Sanders's people all walked out of the arena. They didn't show that. You know, it's like if that happened with the Republicans, it would have been a national scandal. But Bernie Sanders -- and when they showed Bernie Sanders while she was speaking, it looked like the guy was very, very angry and tired, and he wants to go home. I mean, he just wants to go home.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: You know, Bernie Sanders really hurt his legacy. If he -- if he would have not made a deal, his legacy would have been amazing. I have so many people, they call me, they're -- you know, they like Bernie. And honestly, they are so disappointed. You just take a look at the numbers. They were so disappointed with what he did.

And they're not going to go for Hillary Clinton. We're going to get a lot more Bernie Sanders people than anybody would believe because on trade, we agree. Now, I've got to do...

HANNITY: Yes.

TRUMP: ... something about it and make great deals. But on trade, he understands that this country is getting ripped off. Our jobs are being taken away.

HANNITY: Let me...

TRUMP: That's an important thing.

HANNITY: final question. I just gave you all the economic evidence, 51- year low home ownership rate, really bad economic statistics. Some -- some observers say, Well, yours -- your convention, you were being dark and she was giving her checklist.

And I'm wondering, OK, they can't say radical Islam. They're not talking about the real state of the economy with the worst statistics, worst debt we've ever accumulated. They're not -- they don't have a real plan to deal with open borders, the impact on security and on job creation or crime or any of these other issues. And when you compare the two conventions, how do you analyze it?

TRUMP: Well, I think my speech was very optimistic. I talk about the problems, whether it's police being shot like never before at record numbers -- it's horrible when you look at it. I never realized how dangerous that job is. I love the police. And law -- and I love law and order. They don't talk about law and order.

I mean, they didn't even have an American flag up on the dais, and it was two days and then we started complaining, and all of a sudden, they put American flags up there.

I think we had a great convention. I think the Republicans did a terrific job. As you know, millions more watched the final night, my speech, than - - than their night. I just think we had a great convention and...

HANNITY: Last -- last question...

TRUMP: ... you know, you hear all these platitudes, it's -- it's ridiculous -- for the other one. Go ahead.

HANNITY: You said at a speech today you're afraid this election is going to be rigged. Explain.

TRUMP: Yes. Well, I've been -- I've been hearing about it for a long time. And I know last time, there were -- you had precincts where there were practically nobody voting for the Republican. And I think that's wrong. I think that was unfair, frankly, than Mitt Romney. You had areas where a lot of people were curious, How is that possible?

And I've been hearing about it for a long time. And I just hope that there's really -- I hope the Republicans get out there and watch very closely because I think we're going to win this election, but if it's rigged, like anything else -- look, it was rigged, I thought, a little bit for me, and we won in landslides. I think it was rigged against Bernie Sanders with this super-delegates nonsense...

HANNITY: Absolutely.

TRUMP: ... it was...

HANNITY: Well, we know it was rigged now.

TRUMP: ... you know, the guy never had a chance.

HANNITY: We have the e-mails.

TRUMP: And -- and I'm telling you, November 8th, we'd better be careful, because that election is going to be rigged. And I hope the Republicans are watching closely, or it's going to be taken away from us.

HANNITY: All right, Mr. Trump, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

TRUMP: Thank you.

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