Corsi on Stone indictment: We are seeing an out of control Mueller operation determined to terrorize, criminalize

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Corsi on Stone indictment: We are seeing an out of control Mueller operation determined to terrorize, criminalize

Conservative author Jerome Corsi reacts to Roger Stone's indictment and the Mueller probe.

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," January 25, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: This is a Fox News alert. Welcome to “Hannity” on this busy breaking news night.

We start this morning before sunrise, heavily armed FBI agents dressed in full tactical gear surrounding the home of a 66-year-old man, drawing their weapons, pounding on the door and they took him into custody. This was not a suspected murder, drug king pin, not a part of the mob. This was Roger Stone, accused of making a false statement to Congress.

Now, Stone is just the latest American to be persecuted by Robert Mueller's witch-hunt because of his connection to President Trump.

Now, coming up tonight, long time Roger Stone confidante and fellow Mueller target is identified as person number one in this indictment. Jerome Corsi, he will join us for an exclusive interview.

But first, big news, we start with the partial government shutdown, President Trump announced today that after 35 days, a deal has been reached to reopen the government temporarily until February the 15th. He is giving Congress now three weeks to agree on legislation to build the wall, secure our borders, and he was speaking earlier today from the Rose Garden and here's what the president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's just common sense walls work. That's why most of the Democrats in Congress have voted in the past for bills that include walls and physical barriers and very powerful fences. These barriers are made of steel, have see through visibility which is very important and are equipped with sensors, monitors and cutting edge technology.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: In our “Hannity” segment, we have the real behind the scenes story. Nobody else in the media will tell you.

Numerous Democrats, both in the House and the Senate for the last two weeks, they have been speaking to their Republican colleagues. They have been asking them to broker this three-week opportunity to support the wall and negotiate other parties like another issues like DACA and Dreamers. They have been begging their Republican colleagues to make that deal with the president.

So the president, well, he showed leadership, rose above the partisan bickering in the swamp, offering relief to federal workers all while sticking to his commitment to secure our border. Now, the president was very clear, no ambiguity. In three weeks, if Congress cannot do their job, secure a deal to protect our borders, then the president will do what he lawfully has the right to do and that's declare a national emergency and he will be building the wall with funds that he allocates most likely from the Defense Department.

This is, indeed, a real crisis. In three weeks, he will declare a national emergency and, look at what the president has done up until now. He has offered concessions, things the Democrats say they wanted. DACA, Dreamers, TPA. He is he standing up for life versus death. To him, he has been arguing safety and security for the people of this country.

But tonight, we have to ask ourself this question. What are the Democrats -- what are Nancy and Chuck been standing up for? Actually nothing. There is no position here.

They have only been placating what is now the radical extreme base of the socialist Democratic Party of today. And all they do is fuel their daily anti-Trump rage and hate.

Ask that question tonight. Democrats, what do they do? They went on vacation. The president stayed at the White House. Luxurious junkets really paid for by lobbyists while the president stays at the White House, refusing invitation after invitation to sit down with the president who is saying, I'm willing to work with you. I'll work on DACA. I'll work on Dreamers. But we've got to secure the border to save the lives of our fellow country men because of the problem with open borders.

Now, these other Democrats privately, they have been going behind the leadership in their own party, asking leaders like Lindsey Graham and others, hey, help us get this period where we can try to get this job done. They want the wall as well but they are just not telling Schumer and Pelosi. If not, they know the president will declare that national emergency.

Now, the president, to his credit, he has tried every single thing he could possibly do. He has been reasonable. He has been fair. He has offered concessions but in the end, it's his job as commander-in-chief to keep us safe. He will do his job.

So, now, Congress, they have their three weeks to do their job and secure our border. Democrats, weak-kneed Republicans, they need to remember the facts. We have built so far 654 miles of border wall over the last 15 years with notable results. For example, the wall in Huma, Arizona, after it went from five miles to 60 plus miles, that led to a 91 percent drop in crime.

Remember, Democrats actually used to be for strong borders just a few years ago. That's when Obama was president. Actually, they sounded more like Trump than Trump before they were consumed with all this anti-Trump hate and rage every day. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, D-N.Y.: People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who enter the U.S. legally.

To so many Americans, we do not want the wall to be a symbol of America. Much preferring the Statue of Liberty be that symbol.

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF.: All of us agree that we need to have comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform. That can only begin strong border control. We must have that. We must control our borders.

A wall is an immorality. It's not who we are as a station.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Walls work but we have got to finish the job.

I have said some times on this program, the cost of a porous border they are enormous and it's growing more serious every single day. Human trafficking, drug trafficking, gangs, cartels. It is a life and death situation.

Talk to Angel moms and Angel dads. Talk to the parents that have lost their kids because of the opioid crisis.

Then to make matters worse, another 10,000-person migrant caravan right now as we speak is headed our way.

So, you say tonight to Chuck and Nancy, all right. Behind your back, your fellow Democrats, they want that wall. They also want a deal with DACA. They want to solve problems. They want solutions. Will you work for it?

Now, you can either work with this president, do what's right for the country or the American people will see you for who you are, just obstructionists, hating a president. And anyone out there by the way thinking President Trump caved today, you don't really know the Donald Trump I know. He right now holds the cards. He will secure the border one way or another.

And while President Trump works hard to solve serious issues of life and death facing the country, well, we do have another issue tonight. Hannity watch on the deep state. Robert Mueller and his merry band of Democratic donors they continue their quest literally to destroy the lives of everyone and anyone that's associated with Donald Trump. Today, Roger Stone was their latest target.

Our own Trace Gallagher has the very latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRACE GALLAGHER, CORRESPONDENT: Sean, pre-dawn raid on the Fort Lauderdale home of long time Trump confidante Roger Stone began with the FBI shouting, open the door. It ended with Stone being led away in handcuffs.

The second-count indictment is the first criminal case in months from special counsel Robert Mueller and alleges that senior members of the Trump campaign tried to benefit from the release by WikiLeaks of hacked Democratic emails damaging to the Clinton campaign. Stone called the special counsel politically motivated and vowed to fight the charges saying he was falsely accused of making false statements to the House Intelligence Committee.

Here's what he just said on "Tucker Carlson Tonight." Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER STONE, POLITICAL CONSULTANT: I'm in for the fight of my life. But I will not quit. I will not fold. I will not bend. I will not bear false witness against the president. I intend to fight because this indictment is fabricated. This indictment is thin as can be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders say the charges don't have anything to do with the president and Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said the indictment also does not allege Russian collusion by Roger Stone or anyone else meaning there is no evidence that stone conspires with WikiLeaks or the Russian officials who the special counsel believes hacked the Democratic emails.

The indictment does say that Stone repeatedly discussed WikiLeaks with campaign associates. Here he is again. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STONE: But knowing what's in my email and my text messages, there is no corroboration whatsoever for this. And as for my email exchange with Steve Bannon, everything I told him in the exchange was publicly reported information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Stone is obviously out on bail, $250,000 bond to be exact. His next court date is January 29th in the nation's capital. It's not uncommon for the FBI to make early morning arrests of targets who are under indictment, but it's the first time Robert Mueller has used this tactic. Stone had been predicting his indictment for months.

Sean, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANNITY: All right. Trace, thank you.

We are witnessing the biggest abuse of power scandal in American history. It's playing out right before your eyes. More corruption than we have ever seen. Really a predawn raid? Seventeen vehicles move in? Twenty-seven FBI agents in full swat gear, guns drawn, home surrounded? For what?

Roger Stone is not being charged with any violent crime here. He isn't charged with colluding with a foreign government at all. He has never posed any security threat of any kind. Instead, he was indicted on a series of process crimes that never would have happened, yet, Robert Mueller started an investigation. This is, in other words, created by the fact that Mueller had an investigation.

Why is he being treated like Pablo Escobar? Now, naturally, fake news CNN, they were there. They captured the whole thing. Wow, how did they know the exact timing of this?

Somehow the networks fake news so-called journalists knew exactly when and where the raid would go down and the time it would happen. Well, couldn't be, could it? Did one of, maybe, somebody in Mueller's office, maybe one of the partisan investigators, I don't know, did they tip off their favorite fake news network.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDOE CLIP)

REPORTER: Alisyn, its report is interesting. The whole Russia team thought something was happening. There was unusual grand jury activity in Washington, D.C. yesterday. We also had other signs that maybe something was going on this angle, the Roger Stone angle.

So, we showed up at his house this morning. We were the only ones there and lo and behold the FBI agents did come and arrest him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Maybe another investigation into more leaking? The details of an ongoing investigation? By the way that's a serious crime.

I wonder if these leakers, are they ever going to face justice? Well, that's right. We are living in a two tiered justice system. One if you are a Clinton, a whole other one if you are a Democrat. And like virtually all the investigators on Mueller's team -- well, they seem above the law.

But if you are associated with President Trump, you get your door kicked down in the middle of the night hauled away in handcuffs, all while CNN films it all.

You are tarred. You're feathered in the public square. Your innocence is stripped before ever facing trial. Your rights are trampled on by a politically motivated army of Clinton donors.

Do you know what? This bears all the markings of Mueller's so-called pit bull Andrew Weissmann. And like all of Mueller's previous targets, Roger Stone was not charged with anything Russia involved, no collusion, no Russia, no conspiracy to steal Clinton's emails or commit campaign fraud, because he didn't commit any of those crimes and isn't charged with that.

That's why he is charged with seven bogus process crimes again. Five counts of lying to Congress and not once lying about emails, oh, and text messages. All of these crimes occurring after the start of the Mueller investigation.

Now, this is nothing more than a political persecution. Now, let's not forget James Comey he lied to Congress. John Brennan lied to Congress. James Clapper lied to Congress on multiple occasions. Are they going to be charged? When will they get the predawn raid treatment?

What about former FBI Director Andrew McCabe fired for lying to the FBI? When is he going to get the predawn raid? Comey's general counsel James Baker, well, he leaked sensitive information. When is his predawn raid? James Comey leaked bureau memos to the press via a close professor friend, is he going to get charged with that?

Now, the biggest of all, we have Hillary Clinton. She mishandled top secret classified material on an unsecured private server and then, you want to talk about obstruction of justice -- not handing over emails, not handing over text messages. Oh, that's what they just charged Roger Stone with. But Hillary destroyed subpoenaed emails, 33,000 of them. Oh, and then she washed her computer hard drive with Bleach Bit and then they busted up the devices. Where is Hillary Clinton's predawn raid?

James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Sally Yates, Rod Rosenstein, they all lied to a FISA court. They never checked the veracity of the charges in the Clinton bought and paid for phony Russian dossier. Are they going to be charged for those blatant crimes? This is sad and this is now going to be the end of real justice in America because this is a two tiered system of justice.

And today, after posting bail, Roger Stone, he remained defiant. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STONE: I will plead not guilty to these charges. I will defeat them in court. I believe this is a politically motivated investigation. I am troubled by the political motivation of the prosecutors and as I have said previously, there is no circumstance whatsoever under which I will bear false witness against the president nor will I make up lies to ease the pressure on myself. I look forward to be fully and completely vindicated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And according to the special counsel, the basis for Stone's arrest around his attempt to source Clinton campaign emails acquired by WikiLeaks. By the way, that's not a crime.

I have said it before and I will say it again. If trying to access WikiLeaks information and find out what they had is a crime, then almost every media outlet in this country would be guilty of that crime. In 2016, nearly every paper, every news organization accessed WikiLeaks documents surrounding the stolen Podesta emails, including the ever so loved liberal "New York Times." They actually provided direct link to the emails inside of heir articles which brings us now to a Hannity history lesson.

Very similar to a case in 1971, that famous case known as the Pentagon Papers when the "New York Times" published a top secret federal report on the Vietnam War called the Pentagon Papers. The report was stolen. It was given to "The Times" by federal employees and subsequently published by the "New York Times" and various other papers and other news agencies.

Now, following an attempted government crackdown, the Supreme Court upheld the media's right to publish what are stolen Pentagon Papers. So Roger Stone, on or about the "New York Times" or anyone else was interested in knowing what WikiLeaks was going to produce next, which, they all were, and leak it. In other words, the Clinton emails in 2016, that is not a crime, unless, of course, they stole it or conspired to steal it which that is not part of the charges.

That's why Roger Stone is only facing process crime allegations. Five counts, lying to Congress. And as you can see Robert Mueller found zero evidence of criminal campaign collusion. But still, wanted to turn the screws any way, you know, so maybe he will talk or maybe he will compose or sing? Sound familiar?

Why? Because Mueller wants to take down a duly elected president of the United States. He has only Democrats, donors on his team. Maybe they want revenge for the 2016 election. And they appear to stop at nothing to get it.

But I have a news flash for team Mueller. There was no collusion. Your investigation is baseless, always has been and you will never subvert the will of the American people.

We have a lot to get to. Joining us now, the author of "The Deep State", FOX News contributor Jason Chaffetz; the author of "The Russian Hoax", FOX News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett; author of "The Case Against the Democratic House Impeaching Trump", Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz.

Congressman Chaffetz, I'll begin with you. If this is the case all of these other people that we know lied to Congress and in the case of Hillary, they were subpoenaed. She did the delete them. She did acid wash the hard drive and she did bust up devices, where is her predawn raid? Where is the predawn raid of everybody else I mentioned?

JASON CHAFFETZ, CONTRIBUTOR: You remember, Brian Pagliano was the I.T. specialist for Hillary Clinton. Twice, twice, I issued a subpoena, he refused to show up for Congress. Not only was there a predawn raid, they never arrested him, they never prosecuted , they never did anything about him.

Instead, what you had was this FBI and the Department of Justice handing out immunity agreements so they got the easiest treatment possible. At the same time, as you point out, there were emails and documents, classified information so highly classified, even I as the chairman of the oversight committee could not see this information.

It was out in the wind. I was told up to 300 people have this secure information in a non-classified setting. And the Department of Justice did nothing.

It's the duplicity. It's the unbalance. It's that lady justice peeking under a blindfold and acting differently for the Democrats than they do on Republicans that's so disgusting.

HANNITY: Yes. Gregg, I want it get your thoughts on.

GREGG JARRETT, LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Jason is absolutely right. And, in fact, Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, two of Hillary Clinton's top aids clearly made false and misleading statements to the FBI. And emails prove that those were false statements.

And Jason during a committee hearing, intelligence committee hearing confronted James Comey about it and Comey said, quote, well, there is always conflicting recollection of facts. You know, this from the same guy who used no facts, no evidence, no probable cause to launch a dilating and improper and illegitimate investigation of Donald Trump.

And now, his long-time friend and ally Robert Mueller is pretty much doing the same. These are process crimes. But out indictment of Roger Stone only shows today that Mueller has failed to meet his mandate. No one has been charged with a crime for which Mueller was appointed.

HANNITY: You know, Professor Dershowitz, you talk about the criminalizing of political differences here. Every one of those people I mentioned and Gregg just mentioned are guilty of the exact same thing that they charged Roger Stone with. If we're going to arrest one person, if we're going to say that's justice, where is equal justice? Where's equal application of our laws?

ALAN DERSHOWITZ, HARVARD LAW PROFESSOR: No, I agree. I think we shouldn't arrest any of them. We should let this be fought out in the political arena.

Look, today's arrest is part of a long pattern by Mueller. He only arrest people for crimes that occur even after he came into office, crimes that were stimulated essentially by the investigation or crimes that occurred earlier but have nothing to do with Russia, tax evasion, bank fraud, taxicab medallions or one case where he indicts Russians who will never come into this country are show indictment.

HANNITY: Yes, Russian intelligence agents.

DERSHOWITZ: And the idea of arresting somebody -- right -- and the idea of arresting somebody like Stone the way they arrested him is a civil libertarian nightmare. The ACLU should be up in arms.

An hour later in court, the government conceded he was not a flight risk, he was not a danger, they accepted very low bail and they let him leave. They should have called his lawyer and said, please show up at the federal courthouse tomorrow at 10:00. He's been indicated, he will be arraigned. That's the way white collar criminals are treated.

But what they want to do with him, with Stone is to squeeze him the way they squeezed Flynn and the way they're squeezing Manafort and Judge Ellis who said they are not interested in Manafort. They are interested in what Manafort can give them on Trump.

They want to have him sing and the fear is these people may also compose. We know some of them probably have already composed, made up stories. Now, Stone has said he won't do it. Of course, Michael Cohen said he wouldn't cooperate either, so we have to wait and see.

HANNITY: Thank you all for being with us.

All right. We'll have a lot more breaking news tonight. Straight ahead, Newt Gingrich on all of the breaking news.

Plus, Jerome Corsi, in other words, person number one in Roger Stone's indictment. He will join us later for exclusive interview and, you will find out who our villain of the day is as we continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Today in extraordinary act of patriotism, the president -- he put country before party. He gave the Democrats what many of them privately have been asking for and that's three weeks to do their job, take action on America's border and its crisis, and if not, he will declare a national emergency on February 15th.

Now, the president spoke directly to the American people from the Rose Garden about this deal, emphatically declared he is still fighting for that border wall, it's about life and death and safety and security. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If we make a fair deal the American people will be proud of their government, for proving that we can put country before party. Walls should not be controversial. Our country has built 654 miles of barrier over the last 15 years and every career border patrol agent I have spoken with has told me that walls work. They do work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right. Joining us with reaction to all the breaking news today, author of his new book co-authored with Pete Earley entitled "Collusion", former speaker of the House, FOX News contributor, Newt Gingrich.

So, this is what happened behind the scenes and I knew this was going on for a couple of weeks, Democrats privately pulling in the Senate, Lindsey graham aside and some others in the House, Mark Meadows and others, pulling them aside saying they want the wall. Their leadership will not even touch it until the government is open, asking, pleading, begging, give us a chance. The president said all right, you have three weeks.

What do you think?

NEWT GINGRICH, CONTRIBUTOR: Well, look, I think given the way it played out, this is probably the strongest thing President Trump can do. He is actually in a pretty good position to demand two things. One, that Nancy Pelosi make an order as speaker a substitute. He is not going to get anything out of her. Her left is so crazy she couldn't possibly compromise.

What she could do is allow Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader, to offer a bill in three weeks keep the government open, build the wall, solve the challenge with the Dreamers, and I believe that bill would carry the House by a surprisingly big margin.

That's what Ronald Reagan did with Tipp O'Neill. He knew he couldn't get O'Neill to compromise. But he could get O'Neill to schedule a vote in which the majority of the House would vote for something that the left wouldn't accept.

The second I'll say is pretty simple, if you don't get your job done, I'm not going to close the government. But the minute this is over, I am going to file a presidential decree that this is a national emergency. That you in the Congress have failed totally to protect America and we are building a wall with money we can get out of the defense budget and the homeland security budget and just run over them.

This idea that the Democrats today, the leadership of the Democratic Party, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer care more about hurting Donald Trump than they care about either 800,000 federal employees or than they care about defending our southern border, I think it is up sustainable and I think the president is in a position now he has taken a beating in public opinion. He has had the natural 90 percent anti-Trump news media against him every single day but he still believes, as commander-in-chief, that his job is to protect Americans and I think three weeks from now will be the real test.

HANNITY: You know what's amazing about this, the president, when he talks about the issue, he keeps talking about cartels and gangs and -- not the 98 percent of people that want to get here to have a better life but the 2 percent that have committed homicides against Americans, sexual assaults against Americans, violent assaults against Americans. So he's talking about life and death - the 90 percent of heroin that comes in from that border. He's talking about safety and security.

And this is what's interesting, he's offered a compromise. He's invited people to sit down. They won't even show up. They go off on their junkets. What does Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer - what where do they stand? What are they doing here? What are they really fighting for? I don't see a thing except hating Trump.

GINGRICH: Look, I think, Pelosi and Schumer are at a much bigger crossroads than Trump is. I mean, Trump stood firmly for what he believes in. He's in a position in three weeks to enacted by Executive Order, if he has to, and then getting the big fight over, but that'll be fine.

They've got a real - I think this is a defining moment for the modern Democratic Party. Is it really going to be owned by left-wing radicals who want open borders, who don't see anything as a threat, who believe in talking in hateful ways about their opponents? Or are they going to say, all right, let's have an open vote.

All Pelosi would have to do is in the next three weeks agree to an open vote, and my guess is, you would pass reopening the government with border controls with probably not - 290 votes. And only by playing games can she avoid that.

HANNITY: Last question. Pre-dawn raid - now put this in the perspective. The pre-dawn raid, 27 FBI guys, guns loaded, processed crime nothing to do with Russia. But interestingly one of the charges is against Roger Stone about - lying about e-mails and text message. And I'm thinking, how do how does he get charged and Hillary gets to erase 33,000 e-mails, bleach pit the hard drive, bust up her devices. What does that tell you?

GINGRICH: Look, I hope that Senator Grassley is going to use the Judiciary Committee, look at prosecutorial abuse, recognize why is CNN sitting out there at 6 o'clock in the morning, who leaked?

I think, this whole thing has become such a clear vicious act of destruction that people ask themselves, is this really America? When at 6:00 in the morning, somebody who's not violent, has no record of violence, has armed FBI agents in full battle vest pounding on the door at 6:00 a.m., while CNN covers it. There's something despicable about what's happening in America today.

HANNITY: Newt Gingrich, thank you for being with us. All right, when we come back. Our exclusive interview, he is identified in the indictment of Roger Stone as Person #1, that's right Jerome Corsi, he will join us coming up next, that's straight ahead. And don't forget, coming up who is the villain of the day. Hard choice today, it will again shock your conscious.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: Joining us now Jerome Corsi who himself is facing his own legal fight with the Special Counsel after rejecting Mueller's plea deal, because he says he refuses to lie under oath against President Trump. Dr. Corsi was criminally threatened and coerced to tell a lie, call it the truth, as he explained on this show. And now here to give us further reaction author of the book, "Silence No More", Dr. Jerome Corsi.

You spent 40 hours with Mueller, correct?

JEROME CORSI, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, Sean, 40 hours.

HANNITY: And they were willing to sit - and you are 72 years old, right?

CORSI: Yes, I'm 72.

HANNITY: And in the course of answering questions, you didn't remember e- mails specifically from two years prior.

CORSI: Correct.

HANNITY: And at times you amended some of your testimony--

CORSI: Almost continuously, because, as I said, I'm not a human tape recorder. You can't punch a button and I can't remember precisely conversations or e-mails. In this got you game that the Mueller prosecutors were determined to play, it became up psychologically really disturbing. And by the end of 40 hours, I think, my mind was complete mush.

HANNITY: I can't tell you who's on the show Monday, so I don't know, I'm with you. But when you found out, when you went through your papers and your e-mails and stuff, you said, "oh, I got that wrong. Here's the truth", you amended it. First, your reaction to the pre-dawn raid of Roger Stone today.

CORSI: Well, I was shocked. I mean, I think this is Gestapo-like tactics. I mean, what's the point in having all these armed police with riot gear, bursting into a house at 7:00 a.m., wife and Roger in bed. I mean, this is not America.

This is not the way we treat people in America who are basically trying just to be political operatives, who are earning a living. And I mean, it frightens me to think what the FBI could do bursting into my home with my wife asleep and the family asleep. There's no need for it.

And, I think increasingly that we're seeing an out-of-control Mueller operation that is determined to terrorize people and criminalize politics. I think it's very frightening for the direction of America.

HANNITY: Do you still fear, because when you refused to sign what you said was a lie, what was said to you and your attorneys. And are you afraid that they're now going to pre-dawn raid you in your house?

CORSI: Well, it could happen. I mean the attorneys - why attorneys were told by the Mueller group, "Well, we'll take it from here", very angry, arrogant. And that's, of course, now been the end of November, and nothing has happened.

I think when I read this indictment today it's absolutely clear, I'm not being accused of no wrongdoing. I've done nothing wrong, Sean. I brought it and offered all my computers, my backup systems, my cellphone, my e-mails. I went in to cooperate. I've offered to cooperate throughout the process, and I did not willingly and knowingly give information I knew to be false to deceive the Special Prosecutor. I had a memory problems.

HANNITY: You were referred to as Person #1 in Roger's indictment. And they go through a series of e-mails that were - and communications between the two of you, where basically you know you're saying, "Oh, what does WikiLeaks have now after - this is after Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the first Clinton e-mail dump, which we never would have gotten probably if a lot of these things were better protected, that's a different issue for a different day.

But it's mentioned you want to find out - you're working for WorldNetDaily at the time - you wanted to find out like everyone else in the media what else did Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have? What was he going to release next? And you were talking about it. Now I know that you wrote a dissertation at Harvard, do you not on the Pentagon Papers?

CORSI: Yes. In fact, that's my PhD dissertation in 1972, the Department of Political Science. It was on the Pentagon Papers case. I mean, I'm thinking that was now 47 years ago. I mean it was amazing to me that that's what I focused on.

But as a journalist I had a right to talk with Assange, to speak with Assange, to publish what Assange had. It's just that I had no contact with Assange.

HANNITY: The New York Times published it.

CORSI: Yes.

HANNITY: Yes. And by what you said to me, you never talked to Julian Assange.

CORSI: Never. And I've never talked to--

HANNITY: Neither has Roger Stone, if I remember correctly.

CORSI: As far as I know, I mean - Roger can speak for himself. But I know for myself that I have never spoken with Julian Assange directly or indirectly. I had no contact.

CORSI: So comparing the Pentagon Papers case, which you did a dissertation ironically on, and looking at this case all you and Roger want to know is what does he have. Neither one of you were part of a conspiracy to steal information from anybody, nor did you steal any information from anybody.

The precedents, 63 Supreme Court decision in the Pentagon Papers case, the U.S. against The New York Times, clearly states that The Times had a right to publish information as long as they didn't steal it. And you were requesting information and trying to find information like many others in the media, what was coming next, correct?

CORSI: You're exactly right, Sean. We had right to do this. It was - every new journalist and person involved in political operations and the campaigns, Julian Assange not only dropped 40,000 e-mails on Debbie Wasserman Schultz in July 22, 2016, within a day or two, he said he had more e-mails to come.

And of course the speculation was rampant. I wanted to know, everybody wanted to know, and I passed on a couple of e-mails to Ted Malek to say, "Go see Assange. Roger had written those e-mails". But there's no crime in any of this. This is just normal politics.

HANNITY: Why are you confident? You seemed confident the last time you were on the show that you going to get a pre-dawn raid. You feel that it's less likely today why?

CORSI: Much less likely. I think, I've pushed back. I've written this book, "Silent No More". The indictment - it suggests nothing I've done that's wrong. I believe, I've done nothing wrong. And as far as, I could--

HANNITY: And you are prepared, though, if it does happen?

CORSI: Well, I mean if it does happen, we'll deal with it, and my family is prepared. But it's made my life, my family's life, my wife, the entire family a nightmare. And days you can't sleep - up days, bad days. This is not America. I was - done nothing wrong.

I was a journalist. I went in, to the best of my ability with faulty memory. I can be convicted of having a bad memory. But I can't be convicted of telling the Special Counsel or the FBI something I knew to be false to deceive them. It didn't happen.

HANNITY: All right. Well, watch carefully. This is scary. If Hillary Clinton can delete 33,000 subpoenaed e-mails, acid wash her hard drive and bust up devices, nothing happens. All these other people - ranking people, we know lied to Congress nothing happens, scary for this country.

When we come back, you won't believe fake news CNN'S Jim Acosta did it again. He certainly didn't sound like a journalist. And our villain of the day it will shock your conscience, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TRACE GALLAGHER, ANCHOR: Live from America's News Headquarters, I'm Trace Gallagher. The latest move in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe leads to the indictment of Roger Stone who served as President Trump's Campaign Advisor.

The FBI pulled off the pre-dawn raid at Stone's Fort Lauderdale, Florida home. Stone is accused of lying to Congress, obstruction of justice and witness tampering. A spokesperson for the Mueller's team says, the 66-year- old was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on Thursday.

Stone appeared in front of a Federal Judge in Florida and was released a few hours later after posting a $250,000 bond. Mueller's indictment also alleges Stone acted as a link between WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the Trump campaign.

Appearing earlier on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Stone says, "There are several things in the indictment that are not true". Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER STONE, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: I believe, I will be vindicated. It's funny to watch Preet Bharara on CNN say this is a slam dunk, calls me a liar. Here's a guy who Federal Judge lashed for lying in the William (Walters') case. You're the liar Preet.

So - and then watching reporters jump to conclusions, Tucker, and say, "Oh, well, the Trump campaign official who directed Stone to find out about WikiLeaks was Donald Trump". No it was not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: The president weighed in on Twitter calling it, "The greatest witch hunt in the history of our country". Stone is the sixth former advisor to the President to be charged in the Russia investigation. The other five have pled guilty.

Meantime, President Trump has just signed the continuing resolution to reopen the government until February 15th. The Senate and House both passed the measure earlier by a voice vote. I'm Trace Gallagher. Now back to Sean Hannity.

HANNITY: All right. Time for "Hannity Watch" on the media. Let's take a look at what CNN's old Jim Acosta did today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: If folks are wondering whether or not we might see a bright, shiny object before the end of the day after that stunning news, the indictment of Roger Stone, one of the President's long-time advisers and friends, it appears we have one.

The question is whether or not at this hour, Brianna, that - is that bright, shiny object potentially light at the end of the tunnel in terms of this government shutdown?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: That doesn't sound like opinion at all. Unbiased journalists, oh, and guess what, he's writing a book the title, "The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America", and dangerous if you are conservative.

Joining us now with reaction, America First Action, Senior Advisor, Sean Spicer; Fox News Contributor, Tammy Bruce. Tammy, I look at that, I see the book deal and I'm thinking, "Oh, okay". You just tell everybody you're a journalist, not a talk-show host like we are, where the whole newspaper is supposed to be one part of it, but they're really not, are they?

TAMMY BRUCE, CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. And, look - so, just even based on the title of his book, it's not going to affect him at all, because he's not a journalist. This is - he's made a mockery, others have made a mockery of an incredibly important industry, and yet President Trump just by existing, has exposed so much.

Look, this didn't just happen to the legacy media. This has exposed to degree of their partisanship that has clearly been applied likely for decades, right? So, this is important. It's very disappointing. It's a problem for our democracy.

We've got - we have being able to ask questions of power by legitimate individuals who are serious about wanting to get answers, were separate and out regardless of partisanship, is an important part of our democracy.

But we also were wondering when Acosta was doing all of his shenanigans at the press briefings, we thought he wanted his own show. Well, now we know, it was for content for a book. I mean, that was what he was doing.

So it this is, I think, clear. And I don't mind if people have noticed, we've now had the longest stretch of not having a press briefing. I think, perhaps (Carl) would maybe know the number in the history since they've they returned with Bill Clinton.

And have you noticed, our lives are better, right? We've not had the daily shenanigans of this particular person or the other individuals and the American people remain informed, so hopefully the White House will continue to not do that.

HANNITY: On the two big stories we have today, Sean, on the case with Roger Stone, nothing to do with Russia. If no Mueller, there's no chance of lying to Congress. We have the double standard issue. More importantly on the wall, the President has showed a passion about life and death, safety and security, stood on principle.

He's shown a reasonableness, willing to make concessions, willing to give them another time to do their job. They are on excursions and vacations and lobbyists paid junkets. And eventually he'll act on his own. So I see that the President is showing the maturity that people say they want in him.

SEAN SPICER, AMERICA FIRST ACTION, SENIOR ADVISOR: Well that's absolutely right. If I can, just one second go back to the comment that you made - that Mr. Acosta made.

The idea that it is referencing the end of a government shutdown that has affected so many people, not just the workers and the contractors, but the other folks that are dependent on the economy around federal installations or buildings or agencies or departments, and calling it a bright shiny object.

Acting as though minimizing the importance of what the President was trying to do, really speaks to his character and his ability to become opinion maker, not a journalist.

But to your point, look, I think that the - this is - the President did everything he could. He was fought hard for the priorities that he said on the campaign trail that he would protect American people. I think everybody in America understands that he went as hard as he could for this.

But at the end of the day, he did what was best for the country. As you saw those - that airline traffic become a little tenuous today with shutdown starting to go, and people in the air not knowing whether they were going to go, and the effect that that would have not only on travel, but on our commerce system. The President did the right thing for the country.

HANNITY: When we come back, our villain of the day and we will read your e- mails, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Now our villain of the day is one of the left's new rising stars, and that's Congresswoman Ilhan Omar who is tonight winner or loser, based on her most recent comments about the President's move to recognize a new interim leader of the crumbling socialist of Venezuela. Get this, Congressman Omar getting backlash, accusing the President of backing a coup - OK, is our villain of the day. Wow. The thing she has said, keep watch on her, scary.

All right. Before we go, we want to hear from you, each and every night next week. Starting next week, every night, we will be putting your comments on the air. If we pick yours, you going to get a Hannity Football. @seanhannity on Twitter, hannity.com, says e-mail Sean, and we'll pick the best e-mails starting on Monday. And so my website hannity.com, @seanhannity on Twitter.

All right, that's all the we have left. Lot of news today. Thank you for being with us as always. We hope you have a great weekend. We'll see you back here on Monday.

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