Hannity asked Freeh, Giuliani's Delaware chair: "Do you see any strength on national security in the Democrats?"

On the January 9 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity asked Louis Freeh, former FBI director and current "Senior Homeland Security Advisor" and chair of Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's campaign in Delaware: "I wonder, I guess, one question that will come up before November: If something horrible happens to this country, who do you want as president? That's got to be asked, and I don't see one Democrat that shows any strength." Hannity then asked: "Do you see any strength on national security in the Democrats?" Freeh responded: "No, I don't see any strength on that side." During the interview, Hannity did not disclose that he has reportedly raised money for Giuliani presidential campaign.

On August 19, 2007, the New York Daily News reported that Hannity "introduced the Republican front-runner at a closed-door, $250-per-head fundraiser Aug. 9 in Cincinnati, campaign officials acknowledge." Bill Shine, Fox's senior vice president of programming, was quoted in the article saying, "Sean is not a journalist -- Sean is a conservative commentator." As Media Matters for America documented, Hannity also failed to disclose his reported involvement with the Giuliani campaign in a January 3 interview with Giuliani, a December 17, interview with Giuliani, and an October 16, 2007, interview with Giuliani and his wife, Judith.

From the January 9 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

HANNITY: Well, Director, first of all, there's a lot of rank-and-file policemen and firemen that aren't beholden to the Clinton machine and the Clinton union supporters that are feeding those false stories, 'cause he is loved by a lot of the rank and file. I've got to tell you something, Director, that I could look at any scenario, anybody that's telling our audience on radio and television that they know what's going to happen, they don't know.

I could make a case for Romney, Rudy, Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee, or Senator McCain. But the fact is that in the larger states, in the bigger states, that Mayor Giuliani does hold a significant lead in many of them. So he sort of is out of this until January 29th when this starts. So it is a different strategy that he's adopted. Time will tell if it pays off.

But so far he seems to be holding his lead in many of those states, right?

FREEH: No, he's holding his lead for sure. He's in Florida today. You heard his tax plan, which was probably one of the most ambitious tax-reduction plans that anybody has proffered. And I think it's clear from Iowa and it's clear from New Hampshire, there is no leader in either party to date, and it's a wide-open race. And he wants to compete nationally in that wide-open race.

HANNITY: One of the things that surprised me a little bit in the exit polls that we saw in New Hampshire, Director, is that many of us thought that this race would be run almost entirely on national security. Economics is playing a very big part, in terms of what is on the minds of the people that are going into the voting booth here this year. So perhaps Rudy is spelling out that plan specifically in response to that?

FREEH: Well, I mean, he's been talking about taxes for a long time. He reduced taxes 23 times as the Republican mayor of New York City. So what he's doing now is focusing on a national tax-reduction plan, but he's also talking about health care. He's talking about education. He's talking about free choice with respect to health care. So I think he is hitting the issues that are most important to people, but we should not become complacent about our national security just because we've been very fortunate since September 11th.

HANNITY: Director, I wonder, I guess, one question that will come up before November: If something horrible happens to this country, who do you want as president? That's got to be asked, and I don't see one Democrat that shows any strength, but we only have about 15 seconds. Do you see any strength on national security in the Democrats?

FREEH: No, I don't see any strength on that side. We've got a candidate talking about pulling out in 10 months, including stopping our police and military training missions in Iraq. And I think, I think those are very reckless things to be promoting.

HANNITY: Director, thank you for being with us. And coming up tonight, New Hampshire and Iowa are behind us, and now several prominent states are on deck. We're going to gauge who's likely to be left standing on Super Tuesday. That's all coming up next, straight ahead.