[Hannity] George W. Bush paints "Portraits of Courage"

[Ubiquitous]

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: And welcome to "Hannity." And we are
broadcasting from the George W. Bush Presidential Center. It's in
Dallas, Texas.

Tonight, for the full hour, our 43rd president will join us, along
with the brave members of our military who are featured in his
brand-new book. It's called "Portraits of Courage: A Commander-in-
Chief's Tribute to America's Warriors."

And joining us now, the 43rd president of the United States. Mr.
President, sir--

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: How are you,
Sean?


HANNITY: -- good to see you.

BUSH: Good to be back with you.

HANNITY: Good to have you. This -- I just now have gone through
this part of your museum. I am stunned, shocked. I don't even know
how to even describe it. You've only been painting five years, less
than five.

BUSH: Yes.

HANNITY: Tell us how you picked it up.

BUSH: Well, I was a little antsy. I mean, when you're the
president, your dance card is full.

HANNITY: Yes!

BUSH: And then, all of a sudden, you're not the president. And so
I spent-- Laura and I spent a lot of the time here at the Bush
Center putting programs in place that'll make a difference in
people's lives. I wrote two books. I'm staying fit. I'm --
mountain biking and elliptical. And you know, I play a fair amount
of golf. But it wasn't enough.

And so I read Winston Churchill's essay, "Painting as a Pastime,"
and my attitude basically was, that old boy can paint, I can paint.

HANNITY: You love animals, so you started painting pets.

BUSH: Pets.

HANNITY: You did Jasper. You did Dana's (ph) pet?

BUSH: I did.

HANNITY: Yes.

BUSH: And I did Bob the cat in our house.

HANNITY: Right.

BUSH: I was a pet portrait painter, which is kind of hard to say,
but--

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: Yes!

BUSH: So I painted pets. And the good thing about painting pets is
they really don't react when they see their painting.

HANNITY: So in other words, they can't say it's good or bad?

BUSH: Yes, but the owner can. But no, I did that, and then I
started getting into landscapes. And my first instructor at SMU
came and said, you know, you ought to paint the leaders with whom
you've served. And I did. And we had an exhibition here--

HANNITY: Putin.

BUSH: Yes, Putin and Blair and Dalai Lama and Angela Merkel. Now,
you know, they were OK paintings, but the most important part of it
was, was that I had gotten to know them so well during the
presidency, I felt comfortable painting them.

And we had a personal diplomacy exhibit here, which I think is
really important in life, and I know it's important for a president
to get to know the leaders from other countries.

And I hire a -- so I got two new instructors, and one of them is a
young guy who paints really fine portraits. And he said, you know,
You ought to paint people nobody knows. And it just dawned on me,
like, boom, warriors that I'd gotten to know.

And so I did. I painted all these warriors. I know every one of
them. I know their stories. I had ridden mountain bikes with them.
I play golf with them. And I admire them greatly.

HANNITY: So in the course of a year, I think there's 60-some-odd
warrior paintings here.

BUSH: Well, there's 60-something individuals, and on the montage,
there's another 30-something. So it's about 98 warriors.

HANNITY: In a year?

BUSH: Yes.

HANNITY: That's a lot of painting. So how long would it take you--

BUSH: I painted a lot.

HANNITY: -- to paint one person?

BUSH: Well--

HANNITY: Because I also saw the pictures of them. I know in the
book, you call yourself a novice. This is not the work of a novice,
really.

BUSH: Well, I think it is, but thank you. It's a--

HANNITY: Yes.

BUSH: That's flattering. I -- you know, it just depends, until you
finish. And you know, you really -- that's one of the interesting
questions for any artist is when are you through?

And I would go upstairs and be painting, you know, Milo's (ph), and
look at Faulkenberry's painting and said, I think I'd better paint
on Faulkenberry some more, and then go back to Milo.

And so it's a -- it was a process. And even when I look at them
now, I kind of wish I had my paint and touch up a few things. But
it never really ends.

HANNITY: It never ends. You're never satisfied, perhaps.

I've known you a lot of years. 9/11 happens nine months into your
presidency. You were a wartime president. We were on a war footing
the entire time you were there.

BUSH: Right.

HANNITY: And I look back at the last two major conflicts in
America. I look at Vietnam. We lost 58,000 people. We didn't
finish the job. We left. I look at Iraq and Afghanistan and here
all -- many of these people that you're drawing, they won Mosul,
Ramadi, Tikrit--

BUSH: Yes.

HANNITY: -- Fallujah, Baghdad only to -- like Vietnam, or similar
in my mind to Vietnam -- because I supported it. I thought it was
the right decision. I still believe it was. But it's not the right
decision if Washington politicizes it--

BUSH: Right.

HANNITY: -- and then gives back that which they won. Does that
frustrate you? Because that frustrates me.

BUSH: Yes. You know, yes, it frustrated me. And it -- I think
what people have got to realize is this bunch of thugs can be
defeated because we did so with the surge. And by the way, the
president's new national security adviser was a part of that
philosophy of how to win the hearts and minds of local populations,
which is necessary for victory. And we can win again.

And so you've heard both presidents after my time say we're going to
degrade and defeat ISIS. And I say, Go get them, because they can
be degraded and defeated. And it's very important, in my mind, that
we do so so that people know they can rely upon us, and the people
-- not only governments but people on the ground, people who want to
be free.

And you ask some of these troops, you know, were you able to see
human deprivation and improvement? And they say yes. I mean, one
of the -- a lot of them say to me, you know, I love the idea that
girls being able to go to school for the first time in Afghanistan
or young kids in Iraq being no longer subjected to the thuggery of
these ideological, you know, thugs.

HANNITY: You warned that if we pulled out--

BUSH: Yes.

HANNITY: -- precipitously and too early -- I've played this on my
shows many times.

BUSH: Yes.

HANNITY: And unfortunately, you were 100 percent accurate.

BUSH: Yes. I'm not surprised.

HANNITY: Yes.

BUSH: Because, you know, we're it in terms of defeating ISIS or al
Qaeda or whatever you want to call them. I mean, these are people
that murder the innocent to advance their point of view, and it
requires U.S. leadership to defeat them. And this exhibit honors
those who heard the call and volunteered--

HANNITY: Yes.

BUSH: -- and were willing to be -- you know, willing to risk their
lives to not only defend ourselves but to advance liberty.

HANNITY: Two things about you that people might not know, which I
think was the underpinnings of your passion for our military. You
used to always-- often would sneak over to Bethesda, sneak over to
Walter Reed.

BUSH: Right.

HANNITY: Never wanted any cameras, nor did you want any -- anybody
to know.

BUSH: Correct.

HANNITY: You did that a lot.

BUSH: I did.

HANNITY: And a second thing is I was on the campaign trail with you
in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2004, and it was at a big stadium--

BUSH: Yes, I remember that.

HANNITY: -- where the Jaguars play. You flew Air Force One right
over as you were flying in.

BUSH: I was a little bit of a showoff.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: A little bit. Yes! But when you got there, you got out
of your car, you went in a private room. Todd Beamer's father was
in there. Other Gold Star families were in there. And I remember
because I saw it -- I don't know if anyone else saw it. You came
out of the room, and it was obvious you had been crying.

BUSH: Yes.

HANNITY: Happened a lot.

BUSH: Yes. Yes. I mean, I'm kind of a crier. And when a mom hugs
me, and you know, talks about her son, it -- you know, it affected
me.

HANNITY: Yes.

BUSH: On the other hand, I -- and this is hard for many people to
understand, but when you go to Walter Reed and a soldier looks at
you who's lost his legs and says, I'd do it again, or you ride
mountain bikes with these troops that -- some of whom lost a leg,
who went back into combat or a mother whose son lost her life and
said, I just want you to know, my son died doing what he wanted to
do, it lifts your spirit. It's a--

HANNITY: Amazing people.

BUSH: Amazing. It is amazing, yes.

HANNITY: Amazing people.

BUSH: And hopefully, my art is able to capture how amazing these
people are.

HANNITY: Yes. But it was that passion. It's not easy being a
wartime president. You have to make tough decisions.

BUSH: Yes, you do. Sure.

HANNITY: You know, and--

BUSH: The toughest being to put somebody in harm's way.

HANNITY: Yes. Let me ask you about the art process and how -- so
all of a sudden, you started painting these.

BUSH: Yes.

HANNITY: You started with apple and the watermelon and a cube.

BUSH: Yes.

HANNITY: Then you went to the pets.

BUSH: Bob the cat.

HANNITY: Then landscapes.

BUSH: Right.

HANNITY: And you know, and you evolved and evolved and evolved.
It's less than five years and we can see all throughout this room --
and we'll be showing these throughout the program tonight -- this is
a lot of -- this is pretty sophisticated work.

How many hours do you work in a day in the studio?

BUSH: Well, some days more than others. You know, when I'm not
working here at the Bush Center promoting what we're doing here,
including the vets, you know, I'd be home maybe three or four hours
and--

HANNITY: In your man cave?

BUSH: In my man cave, yes.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: I saw that Laura said that.

BUSH: Yes. And it's a -- I would paint a lot. And even when I
wasn't painting, I was living with these paintings because I'd go up
there, and you know, hang out with Bob the cat and look at the
paintings and think about the individuals involved. See, I studied
every one of their stories ahead of time.

HANNITY: But they're all in here?

BUSH: Yes, they are.

HANNITY: You give a story with each person that you paint.

BUSH: Paint. Exactly.

HANNITY: Portrait. Were you as angry as a lot of Americans were
when you heard about all the corruption, institutionalized
corruption, at the VA? They literally had two sets of lists and--

BUSH: I think that was isolated to a few centers. But yes, of
course I was. You know, I've known the VA -- the last VA director.
And I know the new guy. And they are committed, as best they can,
to excellence.

And the truth of the matter is, what we need is public and private
groups helping these vets. Our focus is -- look, I understand
waiting lines and the vets being discouraged. It was the same when
I was the president. There was a lot of focus on that, and there
should be. But you know, rather than being angry with the VA, we're
trying to help them--

HANNITY: Fix it.

BUSH: -- fix it and do the best they can.

HANNITY: Yes.

BUSH: You know, one of the interesting things that I was told and
not -- maybe it's still the same thing -- same way now, but a couple
of years ago, the pipeline became full for PTS and TBI--

HANNITY: But you don't say PTSD?

BUSH: No, we dropped the D. It's an injury, not a disorder. I
mean, if you want some soldier to talk about their condition, you
don't want them to say, I'm not going to -- you know, if you talk
about it, you'll be labeled somebody with a disorder. And it's an
injury that can be -- you know, where we can help people.

HANNITY: You can heal.

BUSH: Not totally, of course. But you know -- but enough to be a
productive citizen.

HANNITY: It's estimated about 250,000 soldiers impacted by PTS.

BUSH: Right. And many of whom don't seek help. And so one of the
great things about this show is I'm confident, if they were wise,
they'd be watching your show.

HANNITY: Of course.

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: And so my message is, it's courageous to talk about PTS.
It's -- you know, you're not less of a man or a woman.

HANNITY: Yes.

BUSH: Talk about it. And go to our Web site, Bushcenter.org, and
it -- we will direct you toward groups of your fellow vets who can
help you.

HANNITY: We've got to take a break.

Coming up, we're just getting things started. President Bush --
he'll be with us for the entire hour.

And up next, we'll meet wounded American war hero Sergeant 1st Class
John Faulkenberry and his family. Now, the story is featured in the
president's brand-new book, "Portraits of Courage."

That and more as "Hannity" continues from the George W. Bush
Presidential Center. We're in Dallas, Texas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: John Faulkenberry was born and raised in my home town of
Midland, Texas. He signed up to join the Army while still enrolled
in high school. Even at that young age, John says, I was 100 percent
sure that's what I wanted to do. John served three deployments, two
to Iraq and a third to Afghanistan in 2007.

That July in the Korngal (ph) valley, John's unit came under fire
from both sides of a river. They took heavy casualties in the
ambush. John was targeted while trying to recover the body of his
company commander. "I was shot by a PKM machine gun multiple times
in the right upper thigh," he recounts, "basically cutting my leg in
half."

For the next three years, John fought to keep his leg. Eventually,
with support from his wife, Sarah, and doctors, he made the
excruciating decision to amputate. Looking back on it, John
considers it the best decision of his life. It freed him to begin
began his recovery in full and start running, climbing, and playing
golf again.

JOHN FAULKENBERRY, MILITARY VETERAN: First time I saw the picture
the president painted was -- was just -- I was shocked to have the
full action, the full body painting, and very much honored. I liked
the idea that he captured my personality and my walk and everything,
got a little smirk on the lip, and I like that. You know, it's -- I
think he did a really fantastic job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity," and we are coming to you
tonight from the George W. Bush Presidential Center. We're in
Dallas, Texas.

Joining us now is one of the veterans that are featured in President
Bush's brand-new book, "Portraits of Courage: A Commander-in-Chief's
Tribute to American Warriors."

Purple Heart recipient retired U.S. Army sergeant 1st class John
Faulkenberry. And also with us, John's wife, Sarah Faulkenberry,
and two beautiful children, Hayley (ph) and Jake.

Hey, guys. How are you? Good to see you both.

SARAH FAULKENBERRY, JOHN'S WIFE: Thank you for having us.

J. FAULKENBERRY: Thank you.

HANNITY: You were married when you had your injuries. Explain --
let's talk about what happened to you.

J. FAULKENBERRY: Well, I was -- I was deployed on my third
deployment in northeastern Afghanistan. And it was pretty -- it was
in `07, pretty good time in the war, pretty hot. And we -- our unit
got ambushed and I received a few gunshot wounds in the right upper
thigh.

HANNITY: And the injuries were pretty severe.

J. FAULKENBERRY: They were pretty severe.

(CROSSTALK)

J. FAULKENBERRY: They were -- I mean, I looked down at my leg, and
it was pretty much cut in half. And I thought that it was going to
be pretty bad. And it did get pretty bad, but we made it through.
We were completely surrounded, and we had to fight our way out. So
it wasn't like I could just get to -- just quit and go home.

HANNITY: Right.

J. FAULKENBERRY: So I had another -- a friend come over and help
patch me up (INAUDIBLE) lacerated (ph) femoral artery, missing
femur, quad, hamstring--

HANNITY: Wow.

J. FAULKENBERRY: -- severed sciatic nerve.

HANNITY: Yes. And it ended up in an amputation.

J. FAULKENBERRY: It ended up in an amputation, yes, sir.

HANNITY: How -- you know, I guess we all try to put ourselves in
other people's shoes, but it's not possible. Now -- you've got to
now go through a whole process, where you come to grips with that
severe injury, and now you're building this new life for yourself,
which, by the way, I think anyone listening would be really proud to
hear.

And Sarah, your -- your loving husband's away, and you get a phone
call at some point.

S. FAULKENBERRY: Yes, sir.

HANNITY: And did you know how bad it was from the beginning?

S. FAULKENBERRY: Like he kind of said, it was going in to where he
was going, being deployed to, we knew it was a rough area. And I
was actually-- we were stationed in Germany, and I was back in Texas
visiting family.
And I had missed the original phone call. And as soon as I looked
down and saw what the number was, I knew at that point and--

HANNITY: You knew before you--

S. FAULKENBERRY: I knew. And so--

HANNITY: Did they take you to Germany after--

J. FAULKENBERRY: I went to Germany for a couple days to get
stabilized, and then I went straight to Walter Reed.

HANNITY: Right. And how long was your recovery? How long was that
process?

J. FAULKENBERRY: I spent 11 months at Walter Reed. Spent two-and-
a-half years trying to salvage the limb, and then ultimately ended
up deciding to amputate below the knee.

HANNITY: I actually followed the case of somebody that had a
similar injury. And then after 11 months and it doesn't work out,
that's tough.

J. FAULKENBERRY: It was a hard decision. We did our research. And
you know, people like Kent Saul (ph) -- he had a very similar
injury, and he was a mentor to me in the hospital and then after.
And he amputated before I did, and I went and talked to him and--

BUSH: So what's important -- not to do the question for you, but--

HANNITY: Take over. That's fine.

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: I'm going to.

HANNITY: You're the president.

BUSH: Yes. So there are two aspects to John's recovery that is
very impressive. One is the physical (INAUDIBLE) out playing golf.
The other is, you know, the mental. And one reason why I wanted to
talk about John in my book is because he realized he was self-
medicating.

HANNITY: You were.

J. FAULKENBERRY: Yes, sir.

BUSH: And quit.

HANNITY: Drinking?

J. FAULKENBERRY: Yes.

HANNITY: OK.

BUSH: And so we both share the same thing. We both quit. And--

HANNITY: I haven't quit yet, but--

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: Maybe that's why you've gained a little weight.

HANNITY: Oh, geez! I come here to get beaten up. Thanks a lot!

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: But yours is a story of great success. I mean, it really
is amazing.

J. FAULKENBERRY: It takes time.

HANNITY: When the president drew this painting and you saw it, what
was that like?

J. FAULKENBERRY: Oh, man! I mean, the president of the United
States painted a picture of you, you know? It's--

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

BUSH: He was in shock! That guy can paint?

(LAUGHTER)

J. FAULKENBERRY: But getting to -- to be -- because it's now a
history book.

BUSH: Yes.

J. FAULKENBERRY: And so now I get to be in history.

HANNITY: And you like that part of it. Are you happy with the
painting?

J. FAULKENBERRY: I am.

HANNITY: All right, if you could an art critic -- sorry, Mr.
President --1 to 10, 10 being the best.

BUSH: OK.

J. FAULKENBERRY: I would definitely give him a 10.

HANNITY: Yes.

BUSH: Well, first of all, his is an action shot.

HANNITY: Yes. I just saw it.

BUSH: Yes. And so, you know, mama (ph) may have a different view
if it were up close. But -- and the reason I put John and Bobby
Dove (ph) there is because it's very important for citizenry to
know, A, these people don't feel sorry for themselves, and B, they
can go out and play golf. And he's a good golfer.

HANNITY: Yes. Are you -- are you proud of your dad?

HAYLEY FAULKENBERRY, DAUGHTER: Yes, sir.

HANNITY: Yes. Are you proud of your dad? And you have a lot of
fun with your dad? Yes? What do you like to play the most with
your dad?

JAKE FAULKENBERRY, SON: Soccer.

HANNITY: Soccer. OK. Who's better at soccer, you or your dad?

JAKE FAULKENBERRY: Daddy.

HANNITY: Daddy? Who's better?

H. FAULKENBERRY: Dad.

HANNITY: But you're a better dancer, right?

H. FAULKENBERRY: Yes, sir.

HANNITY: Well, it's an honor to meet you. And it's -- you -- you
guys are friends. You -- you're all -- it's like how you walk in
the room.

(CROSSTALK)

BUSH: We were all raised in the Midland, Texas.

HANNITY: Yes.

J. FAULKENBERRY: We've gone through some similar things at
different levels, obviously, but--

BUSH: Yes.

J. FAULKENBERRY: -- similar things. You know, the part of the
recovery in that life-changing moment and the years to come after
that, in history it ends up being the easy part. That actual
transition afterwards is where it becomes complicated for most..

HANNITY: The people that I have found are the deepest, the most
introspective, the most appreciative are people that have been
through really difficult challenges -- cancer, something like you
went through -- because they have a greater appreciation, it seems,
than the rest of us that take a lot of things for granted.

So we're really proud for you. It's an honor to meet you. And you
have the two cutest kids in the world. And nice to meet you, too,
Sarah. Thank you all.

J. FAULKENBERRY: Thank you.

HANNITY: We'll take a break. We'll come back.

Now, coming up, we'll share the story of Purple Heart recipient and
American war hero, retired United States Army staff sergeant Spencer
Milo (ph). He's also featured in President George W. Bush's new
book, "Portraits of Courage."

That and more as "Hannity" continues from the George W. Bush
Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Spencer Milo joined the military in 2006 as an airborne
infantryman. In 2008, he sustained injuries in Iraq that led to the
discovery of a tumor in his brain. The prognosis was not good. He
was given six months to live.

Fortunately, that diagnosis was wrong. The tumor was removed,
giving Spencer a new lease on life. He chose to use it to continue
serving in the United States Army. Spencer embarked on his second
combat deployment, this time to Afghanistan. In January 2011, he
was injured again and in a horrifying way. A child suicide bomber
detonated eight feet from Spencer.

The experts at NICO (ph) helped Spencer rehabilitate with the
therapies that worked best for him. Mountain biking was effective.
Getting off the prescriptions helped a lot, and the family was at
the top of the list.

"When I found out that my wife was pregnant with my daughter, I
remember an emotion I had overseas. In order to take care of
others, you have to be able to take care of yourself. It gave me a
new and reinvigorated motivator to get better and allow myself to
heal.

SPENCER MILO: It's pretty humbling to even have a remote thought
that someone like that, a man you're going to choose to follow and
that you -- personally, I idolize (INAUDIBLE) going to take the time
out of their busy life to paint a portrait of myself. So it was
pretty humbling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And Welcome back to "Hannity," and we're in Dallas, Texas,
at the George W. Bush Presidential Center. And President Bush is
still with us.
Joining us now is another American hero. He is featured in
President Bush's book, "Portraits of Courage, A Commander-in-Chief's
Tribute to America's Warriors," Purple Heart recipient, retired U.S.
Army Staff Sergeant Spencer Milo. He calls you Milo?

STAFF SERGEANT SPENCER MILO, (RET) UNITED STATES ARMY: He can call
me whatever he wants.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: He can call you whatever he wants.

You had a pretty severe brain trauma. Tell us what happened.

MILO: Well, I had two separate traumatic brain injuries. My first
in Iraq and then my second, which was probably more prevalent,
moving forward in Afghanistan. There was a young teenage boy right
on the Afghanistan- Pakistan border, about 10 feet from me, he
detonated himself and gave my entire platoon quite a memory.

HANNITY: How far away, eight feet?

MILO: About eight to ten feet probably, yes.

HANNITY: Wow. How are you doing now?

MILO: I'm doing a lot better, to be honest with you. Long road, a
lot of hard work, but I would say that I'm definitely on the right
path and I'm grateful for it.

HANNITY: You see that the president of the United States drew a
portrait of you. What was that like?

MILO: Well, he made me look much better, and I appreciate that,
sir.

BUSH: I thought you said I took some liberties with you?

MILO: Yes, I like it. I appreciated them. It's incredibly
humbling to think someone I chose to follow and have the utmost
respect and would continue to follow anywhere would take the time
out of his life to do something like that for me. It's humbling,
it's surreal, and it's a true honor.

HANNITY: How long did it take for you to get to the point where you
are now, where you're now helping a lot of other vets? How long was
that process of healing?

MILO: Well, I really feel like it get started probably back in 2009
after Iraq. And it has been an ongoing adventure ever since, and
it's going to continue for the rest of my life.

BUSH: And one way to look at it -- sorry to butt in, but one way to
look at it is by helping other vets he's still healing. There is a
healing process oftentimes, and this is what you will find in this
book. The healing process is accelerated when somebody helps
somebody else. And that's what Spencer is doing, helping people
find work.

HANNITY: You are helping vets find work?

BUSH: Yes, that's what we're doing at the Bush Center as well. You
can get on BushCenter.org, and we have a roadmap, a veterans'
employment roadmap.

HANNITY: You said to me there is a divide with the public sector,
and you actually said well, maybe sniper on your resume --- a
company is not looking for a sniper, but aren't you looking for
people that are disciplined, hard-working, willing to serve, go
above and beyond?

BUSH: Ask Milo, he is the one helping people find work. There is a
language differential, and we are trying to bridge that gap so the
employer understands the vet and the vet understands the employer.
That's what they're doing.

HANNITY: Explain how that is working out.

MILO: I work for Hire Heroes USA. And what we focus on is
transforming military service into civilian success. And a term
that we kind of toss around I guess in the industry is civilianizing
that lingo, that jargon. And like the president said, if you want to
go work and you want to be a general manager at, let's say, an auto
sales place, you're not going in and say I was a sniper. They are
going to say, well, that's great. How are you going to sell cars?

Well, snipers, some of the skills they have, the operational
planning, they are so meticulous with what they do. And you talk to
any sniper in the world, they will say they are better at math than
half the people I know and probably more so. And so we focus on
highlighting the skills that they may not realize they have or just
don't think about on that everyday basis. But really they are the
future leaders.

HANNITY: So you are translating military skills into everyday
skills, but they also have that added discipline, dedication.

MILO: Correct.

BUSH: Teamwork, personal responsibility.

MILO: Loyal, hard-working. The most selfless people you're ever
going to meet. And if we may not know how to do something right
now, if you put the task in front of us, I promise you we are going
to get it done.

HANNITY: How has that project worked out? How well are you doing?

MILO: We're doing really well. Last year we placed over 6,000
veterans in new careers. And I mean careers, not just jobs. And
we're going to continue to do so. I think we're going to continue
to knock it out of the park and we're going to continue to educate
all the employers as to what they're going to get when they hire
these men and women. And we are a group of men and women that are
not willing to quit. And we're never going to quit when it comes to
this.

HANNITY: And this is now your life's vocation, your passion. This
is what you love.

MILO: I will spend the rest of my life doing everything I can to
help my brothers and sisters in any way.

HANNITY: And this is your like passion now. I know you have spent
a lot of time painting, but you also have golf tournaments you do --

BUSH: Mountain bike riding. That's where I met Milo. He's a good
athlete. I love it. I love riding bikes with him.

HANNITY: How many miles do you do on a trip?

BUSH: We do what's called a W-100, so we do 62, 100 K, 62 miles
over three days. And it's fun.

HANNITY: Milo, I do not know if I can call you Milo.

MILO: You can call me whatever you want to.

HANNITY: Thank you so much for being with us, appreciate it.

All right, coming up, we will speak with yet another Purple Heart
recipient featured in President Bush's brand new book. And then
later President Bush, he will give me a tour of his gallery where
his painting portraits are on display. That and more as we continue
from Dallas, Texas, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PATTI ANN BROWNE, FOX NEWS REPORTER: Live from America's news
headquarters, I'm Patti Ann Browne. Federal Reserve chairwoman
Janet Yellen signaling rate hikes are in the future. Yellen said
those hikes are all but certain in a speech today in Chicago. The
Fed meets later this month to determine its policy going forward.

The European parliament votes to end visa free travel for U.S.
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And U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will appear before the
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I'm Patti Ann Browne. Now back to "Hannity." And for all of your
headlines, log on to FoxNews.com. You are watching the most
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BUSH: Danny Casara is a man of many interests. He started playing
the drums at age two. At seven he fell in love with baseball. He
was a biology premed student at Xavier University of Louisiana
before changing his major to music and the liberal arts. Then he
joined the army. He was the first participant to compete in both my
institutes' golf tournament and our mountain bike ride.

What makes that remarkable is that in 2005 an antitank mine flipped
Danny's M-114 armored personnel carrier in Baghdad, killing two of
his teammates and crushing Danny's legs. "Doctors asked me if I
wanted them to save my legs," he recalls. "I said, yes, I came into
this world with two legs and I'm going to leave with two legs." In
2014 Danny spoke in front of a large crowd at a dinner we were
hosting during the Bush Institute's Warrior Open.
He had the entire audience captivated with his story and his
lessons. He was so good I nicknamed him "The Preacher."

SGT. DANIEL CASARA, (RET) UNITED STATES ARMY: The first time I
heard about him painting me made me just ecstatic. It was an honor
and a privilege for the 43rd president of the United States of
America taking his time out to paint me and so many others.

HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." And we are in Dallas,
Texas, at the George W. Bush Presidential Center. Joining us now,
another American hero featured in the 43rd president's book,
"Portraits of Courage, A Commander- in-Chief's Tribute to America's
Warriors," he is also a Purple Heart recipient, retired U.S. Army
Sergeant Daniel Casara is with us. Good to see you, sir. It's an
honor. You're wearing my favorite converse.

CASARA: There you go.

HANNITY: Was it surprising that the president of the United States
did a portrait of you? Did you know it was coming?

CASARA: I did not. It wasn't until I want to say maybe a Facebook
post. And I don't even have Facebook, but someone did and sent it to
me and blew me away.

HANNITY: What does that mean to you?

CASARA: It was an honor. And just knowing that someone that has
been a part of leading the free world, and took the time. And that
is what I think people need to understand. He took the time. He
could have gone and withered away or cycled or golfed.

HANNITY: He could have done what I want. I have been wanting him
to bash Obama for eight years. He wouldn't do that.

CASARA: He did not do that because he is a man of honor and
integrity. And to see the 90-something portraits of great men and
women shows that integrity and honor that this man has for this
country.

HANNITY: This really means a lot to you. I know it does for all
the other guys.

BUSH: Guess what I call him?

HANNITY: What?

BUSH: The Preacher.

HANNITY: Is that what you call him?

BUSH: So at our events we ask the vets to speak. He gave one of
the most stirring speeches. I've heard a lot of speeches. This guy
can speak. Remember that?

CASARA: Thank you, sir.

HANNITY: That was awesome. Would you consider being a preacher?

CASARA: No.

(LAUGHTER)

CASARA: I love God, but I don't believe that is my calling.

HANNITY: Let's talk about what happened.

CASARA: Sure. So on 23, September, 2005, I was in south Baghdad,
Iraq. And me and five others were in an M-113, armored personnel
carrier, so a smaller tank basically to get us from point A to point
B. We rode over an anti-tank mine, IED, EFP, whatever it was. But
it had enough power to where it flipped the tank over. It killed
two of my guys. From that I sustained bilateral fractures to my
right tibia and fibula, shattered left tibia, both my heel and ankle
bones were shattered and dislocated right here.

HANNITY: And how did you heal? How are you now?

CASARA: Healed slowly, still healing to this day.

HANNITY: Are those the two guys that were with you.

CASARA: These are. Anytime I have a bad day, I just look down and
think about their families and it pushes me through.

HANNITY: I told the president, I have been, I went to Iraq. I also
went into one of the hospitals there when I was there. And I've
gone to Bethesda, Walter Reed. It is embarrassing. You kind of
walked out saying, these things are pretty superfluous that I think
in my life when you see the suffering.

BUSH: Tell him what you said about your legs.

CASARA: Oh, right, yes. So the doctors asked me if I wanted to
keep my legs. The chance of me being able to walk again was pretty
low according to them. It was early on so they had not seen many
cases like mine. So the question was, do you want to keep them?
And I told them. I said I came in with two, I would like to leave
with two.

HANNITY: So it made it harder, your recovery?

CASARA: It did. It did. I remember the first time I got out of
the wheelchair to try to walk again. I was on parallel bars. I
went half the way with my arms because I was strong, tough. It's
just I had no mobility down below. And I am walking with my arms.
And the physical therapist yanked on the belt that was around me and
pulled me back and said no, that is not how this works. And just
trying to put one foot in front of the other was very difficult.

HANNITY: He didn't want to be relying on your upper body strength?

CASARA: That's correct, because when you walk you rely on your
lower body.

HANNITY: And where are you now in terms of all your progress?

CASARA: Well, golfing and cycling.

BUSH: He's one of the few vets that has played golf in our
tournament and rode the W-100. He is doing damn good.

HANNITY: That's pretty good.

CASARA: That's a very accurate statement.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: What was the speech that so inspired the president? Do
you remember what you were talking about?

CASARA: It was just about just being there and just kind of how I
felt and trying to be a voice for the men and women that were
sitting there. I wanted the donors and those that were in
attendance to understand that we are not to be looked down forests
or seen as oh, poor warrior, poor veteran. This man, woman is at
this place. What can we do to help them?

HANNITY: I do think a lot of people don't understand the trip to
Germany, the trip to Bethesda, Walter Reed, these guys are there for
a year or longer.

BUSH: Yes, but most people -- a lot of people. I should say most.
A lot of people would look at Danny and say I feel sorry for you.

HANNITY: You would hate that.

CASARA: I really would.

HANNITY: I respect your courage. I think the single most special
quality, character trait, is courage. And you embody it. All these
other guys embody it. And Mr. President, I think that is what you
capture in these guys.

BUSH: Thank you. I think the thing we ought to focus on is helping
people like Danny transition because the future of our country is
very bright when you think about the Dannys of the world taking
leadership roles. And that is what we are all about. That's why
this book was written, how can we help these men transition. This
guy is awesome.

HANNITY: Pleasure to meet you.

CASARA: Thank you, sir.

HANNITY: I think you're really supposed should be a preacher,
though.

CASARA: I appreciate that.

HANNITY: If the president says you've got to do something, you've
got to say yes. Yes, sir.

BUSH: No, he doesn't.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: All right, we're going to come back. President Bush will
take me on a tour of his gallery for his portraits of courage are
being displayed, that more as we continue from the George W. Bush
Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." And we are at the George W.
Bush Presidential Center. We're in Dallas, Texas. Earlier I had
the chance to tour the gallery with President Bush and get a
firsthand look at the paintings that make up "Portraits of Courage."

BUSH: This is Melissa Stark (ph).

HANNITY: That is a great picture there. You've done a number of
self- portraits.

BUSH: That looks like Alfred E. Neuman.

HANNITY: This baby girl is really cute.

BUSH: That is Lily from Roswell, New Mexico. This one, I met his
mom and dad, and saw Willy in the hospital. He'd never get out.
And I was shocked when I looked on the roster of people that were
going to play in our golf tournament that Lily was on the
tournament. He came and played and I said could he bring his
daughter by to see me. I thought, the scar on his head points
exactly to the little girl. His brother in arms, Schumacher (ph),
it's an experimental painting in a way that I didn't complete a lot
of it.

HANNITY: What part didn't you complete?

BUSH: Like here. This is just the hint of shoes. But the reason I
did that is I wanted to emphasize the prosthesis. And then I love
the idea of these two guys are arm-in-arm, both real good men.

HANNITY: We talked earlier about how often you go to Bethesda and
Walter Reed. If you had to guess how many times you were over
there?

BUSH: Probably six times a year, I would guess. I don't know.

There's Faulkenberry (ph) who you talked to.

HANNITY: That's a great shot. And some of these guys are really
great golfers.

BUSH: Yes. A couple of them back here are really good.

Dan Evans (ph) story struck me. He lost both legs and is now a yoga
instructor and believes that yoga is an important way that people
can heal. And he travels the country giving lectures. And Jay
Barkley (ph) lives in Houston. Here's Scott Adams. Barkley (ph)
lives in Houston, 45 percent of his body burned, father of three.
He's got a good job in the private sector.

HANNITY: You never told anybody you were painting them before you
did it.

BUSH: No.

HANNITY: Not one. Wow. That's amazing.

BUSH: This is a different style if I'm not mistaken.

BUSH: A little bit. It evolves. Some of them have more paint than
others. Will is a guy who works for Bell Helicopters, friend of
mine, really good mountain biker.

Now here is the -- this is the piece, this is 16 feet long. And
this is, you know, I painted, as you can see, except for these two
guys, the uniforms were pretty uniform because they were all part of
something. Even though they were in different branches of service
they were part of something bigger than themselves, serving the
country.

HANNITY: What we're looking at, isn't this the mural of heroes?

BUSH: Yes, it is. It's America. It's people from all walks of
life who put on the uniform, and the volunteered to do so. And so I
tell people, what an amazing country. And one should not feel sorry
for them but we ought to be thankful to them.

HANNITY: We ought to be thankful.

BUSH: We ought to help them. And that's what we did here at the
Bush Center. That's why I'm so thankful you came down because I
want to talk about, to the vets who are listening, get on the
BushCenter.org website. We can help you find a job and help you deal
with the invisible wounds of war. And if you ought there as a
citizen and want to help, get on that website. There are some
programs in there that work.

HANNITY: Well, the book is phenomenal. Each individual story is
phenomenal. And I'm impressed. Four years in, this is pretty
impressive. Mr. President, good to see you again. Thank you, sir.

BUSH: Appreciate you coming.

HANNITY: And coming up, we'll have more "Hannity" right after this
break as we continue from the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
We're in Dallas, Texas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right, that's all the time we have left for this
evening from the George W. Bush Presidential Center, "Portraits in
Courage," gives you a lot to think about, the brave men and women,
their sacrifices for our freedoms. Thanks for being with us. We'll
see you back tomorrow night.

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Dems & the media want Trump to be more like Obama, but then he'd
have to audit liberals & wire tap reporters' phones.