Fox News "Hannity" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Lindsey Graham

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

So I'll ask again, when is the Biden administration going to be transparent, start being honest with you, the American people, about all the evidence supporting not only the lab leak theory that the Democrats and the media said was a conspiracy theory and lied about, but also, it appears American dollars may have helped fund this.

Here with reaction, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.

Senator, let me start first at the border. I'll be down at the border next week on Wednesday with President Trump.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Yeah.

HANNITY: With Governor Abbott.

I understand there's a chance you may be going as well.

We're doing a town hall when we're down there. It's the number one issue. We're now headed for two and a half million people illegally in -- coming into the country, and now, they're being -- now, they're being transported to every state in the country and people now have to pay for food and clothing and shelter and housing and education.

GRAHAM: Yeah.

HANNITY: How do we deal with this?

GRAHAM: Well, number one, the Biden-Harris administration is incompetent and foolish when it comes to managing illegal immigration. They are literally telling people that we've sent to Mexico because they didn't show up for their asylum hearing, hey, you can come back and start over again.

The Biden administration supports eliminating cash bail, basically letting everybody out. Look at what has happened in New York, the cops arrest a guy on Monday morning, they're out Monday afternoon.

So, all these policies are blowing up in the Biden-Harris administration's face. It's six months since they've been in charge, let's name the winners in the last six months. Drug cartels in Mexico, human traffickers and coyotes in Mexico, the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Iranian ayatollah, Russia, Putin and China have all been the biggest winners of incompetent domestic and foreign policy.

HANNITY: Okay, we knew that the Wuhan virology lab studied coronaviruses. We knew that they were involved in gain of function research. We knew all of this.

GRAHAM: Right.

HANNITY: Anthony Fauci knew this and Anthony Fauci was told that a certain genome indicated that the gain-of-function procedures were taken place on COVID-19.

On January 31st, 2020, then he had panicked emails about whether or not the NIH helped fund it.

GRAHAM: Right.

ACOSTA: Knowing what we know, is there any doubt that gain-of-function research caused this virus at that Wuhan lab?

GRAHAM: There's no doubt in my mind. I think I could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the virus came from a lab, not from a bat, an animal into human beings. That the Quay and Muller analysis of the case here, five fingerprints proving it came out of the lab, you could convict somebody in a -- in a court of law.

So, what do we need to do? We need to allow the American people to go to an American court and sue the Chinese Communist Party for ruining their lives and their businesses by waiving sovereign immunity, like we did after 9/11 for Saudi Arabia.

So I'm going to challenge my Democratic colleagues to open the American court system up so we can get to the bottom of what happened in China. The best way to get to the truth is to have a trial over where it came from and how it got to America.

And I'm convinced this came from a lab leak. I don't think it was an intentional, but it didn't come from nature. And I hope you'll have Quay and Muller on your show to explain to your viewers why they believe beyond a doubt that it came from the lab.

All right. Senator, S.R.1 is now officially dead. We now have Senator Sinema --

GRAHAM: Yeah.

HANNITY: -- and Joe Manchin on record saying they would not abolish the legislative filibuster.

GRAHAM: Yeah.

HANNITY: Apparently, you were taking part in, in bipartisan discussions on infrastructure -- not something I would have advised you to do. I think you're wasting your time.

But nobody ever listens to Sean Hannity. Trust me. I've tried to advise a lot of people.

GRAHAM: A lot of people actually do.

HANNITY: But the question now is, is this New Green Deal socialist agenda dead? Can Republicans -- more importantly, will Republicans unite and stop it?

GRAHAM: Good question.

Okay, we know what's dead. The power grab to take over the elections by the federal government is dead, because we stopped it today.

Now, if they do reconciliation to pass the Green New Deal, we'll see where Manchin and Sinema are on that.

What I'm offering my Democratic colleagues is a trillion plus dollars paid for infrastructure as we know it, roads, bridges and ports, electrical vehicles, they can be in the mix, that we can find a pathway forward for trillion dollars for infrastructure. But we're not going to find a pathway forward for $6 trillion of spending in the name of infrastructure.

So I'm hoping that moderate Democrats will work -- me and others to find a solution and they will reject a $6 trillion takeover of the country.

HANNITY: I'll say this, Senator, 2022, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Senator Scott, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Ohio, Arizona -- all those Senate seats are up for grabs. Those -- that this race in 2022, it's all on the line leading into 2024.

All right. Senator, thank you.

Source