This is a rush transcript from “Hannity,” January 13, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: All eyes are on the Senate race in Massachusetts. Now as the Democrats scramble to save their 60 vote super majority the race between Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Scott Brown has the Democrats acting desperate.
Now last night the Weekly Standard’s John McCormack was shoved to the ground by a Democratic operative after asking Coakley this simple question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MCCORMACK, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: You said last night that there are no terrorists in Afghanistan? That they’re all in Yemen and Pakistan now? You stand by that?
SENATE CANDIDATE MARTHA COAKLEY, D-MASS. : I’m sorry, did someone else have a question?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now the operative Michael Meehan can be seen on the right, Coakley is on the left, standing by watching the situation unfold and doing nothing. Now Meehan issued a statement earlier today saying, quote, “Last evening I was a little too aggressive in trying to help the attorney general get to her car and catch a flight.”
Joining me with more on this is the man in the center of it all, from the “Weekly Standard,” John McCormack.
John, I understand you got bruised and had a ripped-up suit. How are you holding up?
MCCORMACK: I’m doing just fine. It’s not too bad.
HANNITY: All right. Now you got a call from Meehan earlier today. He says, quote, “I apologized for my part.” How did the apology go?
MCCORMACK: I mean, he was very apologetic to me. I asked him if he disputed anything I wrote, and he said no. So pretty much all I could do is thank him for his apology and accept it.
HANNITY: He said, “But I clearly did not intend to cause John McCormack to trip and fall over that low fence.” Did you trip or were you pushed?
MCCORMACK: I mean, he knocked me. He knocked into me. He knocked into me which sent me into the fence which sent me to the ground. So whether he intended to knock me into an area without a fence that may be true. But the fact is, I mean, he knocked into me and I ended up on the ground because of it.
HANNITY: All right. Why don’t you walk our audience through? We can show the videotape of this. Why don’t you walk our audience through exactly what happened from your perspective?
MCCORMACK: I guess the play-by-play, I asked that question, she declines to answer it, she takes one more question, and begins to walk away. And within a matter of seconds I asked a question about while these health care industry lobbyists are here supporting her at this Democratic fundraiser, she’s supposed to be taking on the Democratic — she’s supposedly taking on the health care lobbyists in Washington, D.C.
And she didn’t answer. And before I knew it, I got knocked into on my right side. I think might have been a head-check, I don’t know exactly how he hit me. But he pushed me into this steel railing, metal railing. I ended up on the ground.
And then he actually helped me up. And he began — he asked, are you all right? And in my view he was feigning concern which is clearly displayed by the video, the fact that he continues to push-up against me aggressively.
HANNITY: Well, that’s the point. At the end of this video, and if we could just rack this up again. At the end of this, he’s like in your face and you’re trying to — you’re holding something up and — why didn’t you tell us specifically what had happened there?
MCCORMACK: Well, yes, I’m holding up my tape recorder so it doesn’t get broken and also hoping that if anyone is watching they’d see that I’m not pushing him. And also he begins to demand for my press credentials. And if there’s any moment that I regret from last night is that I showed him my press credentials.
HANNITY: Yes.
MCCORMACK: Because there’s no reason that a private citizen in the United States of America.
HANNITY: That part right here. By the way, I want to just — this is the part where you’re holding up your credentials. He’s obviously getting in your face. He’s being overly aggressive. And then, you know, you obviously have the right to walk on a street, don’t you?
MCCORMACK: Yes, I mean, any citizen has the right to walk on the streets — public streets in Washington, D.C. and approach a candidate running for elective office.
HANNITY: Yes.
MCCORMACK: The question — the candidate has the right not to answer. And reporters have a right to repeat their questions. I’ve spoken to Coakley before and she answered some of my questions.
HANNITY: Let me ask you this. Last question because we’re running out of time. And you only wanted to ask about her comment that all terrorists have left Afghanistan, which is absurd. And I think it should be asked so it’s a good question.
But Coakley said she’s not privy to the facts surrounding the incident. Now we have that picture where she’s looking right at you on the ground. Is that disingenuous?
MCCORMACK: I mean, she could have easily asked any — the operative who was working on her campaign what happened. She was walking a little bit ahead of me. And she heard the clanking and she turned around when she saw that, I believe.
Again, I was on the ground so I don’t know exactly which way she was looking when the push happened. I assume she was looking forward though. So I don’t know, if she wanted to find out then I would have been happy to — she’s more than welcome to interview me and maybe I can interview her and we could find out the truth.
HANNITY: Well, I think the answer to the question if all terrorists have left Afghanistan is a good one.
John McCormack, thanks for being with us.
MCCORMACK: Thank you, Sean.
— Watch “Hannity” weeknights at 9 p.m. ET!
Content and Programming Copyright 2010 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2010 CQ Transcriptions, LLC, which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user’s personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon Fox News Network, LLC’S and CQ Transcriptions, LLC’s copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.
Leave a Reply