Sean Hannity’s primetime Fox News show descended into a screaming match on Tuesday night as he argued about ICE’s hardline tactics.
Fireworks flew as soon as Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones appeared to discuss comparisons the Democrat had made between federal immigration agents and the Ku Klux Klan, as he goaded the host over his $45 million pay package and President Donald Trump’s associates.
Hannity, 64, opened the fiery five-minute segment by referring to the KKK as one of the most “notorious, racist, hateful, evil, domestic terror groups in American history” and said he had invited Jones, 30, on the show “to answer the question why” he had previously likened ICE to the white supremacist group.
As Jones appeared from a remote studio, Hannity announced that producers would be scrolling a list of people killed by what he called “criminal illegal immigrants” in Jones’ state.
“I’m scrolling the names, not for your benefit, but for the benefit of our [viewers],” he said, asking how many of their families Jones had ever spoken to.
Jones, who made national headlines in 2023 as one of the lawmakers known as Tennessee Three who were expelled and then reinstated for their involvement in a gun control protest on the state House floor, shot back, asking if the offenses being listed are “Trump’s charges.” He added that the president “doesn’t care about crime” and that he “hangs out with pedophiles and criminals at Mar-a-Lago.”
“He is keeping you fearful to control you because he wants to distract you from the real enemy, which are the corporate CEOs who screw you over,” Jones said of Trump.
Hannity sighed and replied wearily, “You got a little talking point out. You feel good about yourself?” while trying to direct the conversation back to his crime graphic.
After Hannity challenged Jones over comparing ICE to the Klan, saying, “What do you know about the KKK?” Jones invoked his own family history. “They ran my grandparents out of Tennessee,” he replied.
Hannity said of the KKK, “They were murderers. They assassinated people. Evil racists. They led people to their death. And you’re comparing law enforcement arresting criminals to those people.”
Jones then pulled out a black and white photo of a group of masked federal agents who, he said, had been “shooting mothers in the face,” in reference to the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Nicole Good, 37, by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, “bringing grandfathers out in the snow with boxers on, tear-gassing mothers and babies in cars.
“That is what ICE is doing,” he said.
After Hannity again challenged Jones to “name a single victim of crime in your state by illegal immigrants,” the lawmaker accused the host of being paid huge sums of money each year to peddle “fear.”
As the pair ranted at one another, Jones said: “You get paid $45 million a year to keep people fearful so they don’t pay attention to the CEOs taking their healthcare, letting their farms close.
He added, “You don’t care about the American people. You want them to be afraid of immigrants because all you have is fear.”
Estimates suggest Hannity—who countered that he does indeed care about the American people—is paid a salary of about $25 million a year by Fox, which he tops up with other work.
The host then accused Jones of endangering the lives of federal agents with his “reckless rhetoric”: “When you compare our ICE agents that are taking all those criminal illegal immigrants off your street… you’re putting their lives in jeopardy,” Hannity said.
The segment then ended with the two men shouting at each other, with Jones telling the host, “You should be ashamed of yourself…I’m going to pray for you,” and Hannity calling Jones “a disgrace” and saying he should instead “pray for the victims in your state.”
As the pair pointed and ranted over each other—Hannity continuing his argument that Jones should pray for the “victims of murder,” the “victims of rape,” and “children that have been sodomized and raped,” and Jones insisting history would not judge Hannity positively—the host finally pulled the plug and threw to a commercial break.
“Maybe a little more peaceful on the other side,” he said hopefully.
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