Former House Speaker and Donald Trump-backer Newt Gingrich talks debate preparations, and gives his advice to Trump, on Sunday night's edition of Hannity.



"I have never seen a campaign so publicly indicate that they don't have faith in their own candidate," he said about the Clinton camp's effort to lower expectations ahead of Monday night's debate. "They are desperate to create a two-on-one situation, where [moderator Lester Holt] and Hillary are on one side, and Donald is on the other."



"I'm really looking forward to this debate as one of the things that the rest of your life you remember," he added.



Gingrich also suggests that Trump call Hillary a liar, delicately. "You don't want Trump to be the issue. You want Hillary to be the issue, because she is a liar."



"I think his greatest strategy would be to be respectful and slightly lower key than people expect," Gingrich also said. "I think he wants to be pulling her out rather than attacking her, and where possible he wants to be making fun of her... kind of keeping her on defense."



Gingrich also suggests that Trump avoid directly calling Clinton a liar, instead to say that she has made statements which are "not true," or which contradict what the FBI director said, for example.





NEWT GINGRICH: I have never seen a campaign so publicly indicate that they don't have faith in their own candidate. They apparently don't think Hillary can stand up to Trump. They don't think she can correct him if he is wrong. They somehow want [moderator] Lester [Holt] to be their partner. They are desperate to create a two-on-one situation, where Lester and Hillary are on one side and Donald is on the other.



First, I don't think Holt is dumb enough to do it. Second, I think that it just tells you that the Clinton people are very anxiety-ridden. They watch their polls go down week after week after week. They are now frankly fighting to survive. This is her first big test. And in the past she hasn't done very well with big tests.



It is going to be interesting to watch tomorrow night. I am like you in that I'm really looking forward to this debate as one of the things that the rest of your life you remember.



HANNITY: You may have 100 million people watching this. Let me ask if you agree with this thing. She said she is going to advance Obama's economy, same economic agenda. She can't run on foreign policy. She can't run on honesty and trustworthiness. Do you agree that she is going to spend a lot of time tomorrow night trying to aggrivate Donald Trump? Is that the strategy they have adopted?



GINGRICH: Certainly everything said publically would indicate that that is going to be their desire. I think that is a big mistake on their part. I have watched Trump very closely. And Trump's actual strength is as a counter-puncher. If she went in there and handled him very delicately and was very respectful, and we got a very boring debate that he would go along. He is going to modulate and operate at the level she sets.



But if she really wants a bar-room brawl with Donald Trump, this would be an insane misjudgment.



HANNITY: I agree.



GINGRICH: Trump has been very clear about it.



HANNITY: Let me ask this. Hillary and her campaign, I think they were trying to work the press today. He lied here and here. She is like the number one lying politician in the history of Washington, D.C.



I'll give an example here but I guess the longer question out of Tray Gowdy questioning James Comey about all of her lies is: How does Donald Trump delicately say to the former Secretary of State that she is a liar? ...



So my question is, Hillary has made honesty and lying an issue now going into this debate. If you are Donald Trump how do you point out she lied about Benghazi, lied about her e-mail server, and lied about a lot of other issues?



GINGRICH: I think his greatest strategy would be to be respectful and slightly lower key than people expect.



So I think, for example, if he says, you know, 'That is simply not true,' as opposed to you are a liar.



If he says: 'How can you possibly say that given what the Director of the FBI has already said?'



I think he wants to be pulling her out rather than attacking her, and where possible he wants to be making fun of her. Just to say for example: 'Nothing the director of the FBI has said agrees with what you just said. How do you explain that?'



I think that kind of keeping her on defense.