Tennessee State Democratic Rep. Justin Jones gave Fox News anchor Sean Hannity a piece of his mind during a chaotic interview where Hannity criticized Jones’ stance on ICE while the congressman bashed the popular media personality for hanging with “pedophiles and perverts.”
The back-and-forth interview took place Jan. 20 when Jones joined the Trump-favored host as a guest on “Hannity.” Things went left almost immediately as Hannity blasted Jones for comparing ICE agents to members of the Ku Klux Klan, with disturbing pictures to correspond. After the host took jabs at the leader for failing to list crimes committed by illegal immigrants in Tennessee, Jones decided to flip the script to the Epstein files, claiming he can list names of “perverts” that hang out at President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate. “So my question remains…can you name a single victim of crime in your state by illegal immigrants, yes or no?” Hannity asked.
“I can name the people who have been criminalized by this administration and masked agents who are kidnapping people in this community,” Jones said while the host attempted to interrupt.
Successful, Jones decided to change the terms of the exchange. “You want to go through a list? Go through the list of pedophiles and perverts who hang out at Mar-A-Lago. Go through that list.”
Both Trump and ICE agents have been under fire for different things: ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the unrest occurring in U.S. cities such as Minneapolis at the hands of federal officers. Just days ago, Jones was seen carrying an “Abolish ICE” flag while walking into the new Tennessee legislative session.
Then things got personal after Hannity accused Jones of being “lazy” and not having a full understanding of what white supremacy was or is. In response, the lawmaker accused Hannity of being out of touch. “They ran my grandparents out of Tennessee,” Jones educated him, according to The Independent.
“My father was a U.S. Marine; he fought for this country. Who have you served, Sean, other than your pocketbook?” Jones said.
The Democratic leader continued to scold Hannity for projecting that he knows what the American people want, being out of touch by using fear tactics, and simply working for the wealthy. “You never got off your ass and picked up the phone to talk to one constituent ever to talk to them and give them condolences because you are making them less safe and secure,” Hannity said, pointing his finger.
“All you do is use the same talking points to keep people fearful because you make $45 million a year to keep these people that watch your show fearful so they don’t pay attention to CEOs taking their healthcare, for letting their farms close….you don’t care about the American people,” Jones said in a heated rebuttal.
“All you have is fear, Sean. You want people to be fearful, but it’s not immigrants, it’s the corporate CEOs who are screwing them over and making it so they can’t afford groceries or their healthcare. That’s who we need to go after.”
Jones’s criticism is supported by reports of grocery prices being sky high. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed the cost of food at home
has gone up 2.4% in total over the past 12 months of Trump’s presidency. In December 2025, prices went up 0.7%, which was the fastest single-month increase since October 2022.However, the president continues to falsely take credit for dropping the prices of groceries by “400, 500, and even 600 percent.”
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