Judge Jeanine: Please, Sen. McConnell, force an impeachment trial if it gets to you
I'd give anything to be a fly on the wall and see real justice in the Senate.
This is a rush transcript from "Justice with Judge Jeanine," November 30, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
JEANINE PIRRO, HOST: Hello and welcome to "Justice." I'm Judge Jeanine Pirro. Thanks so much for being with us tonight. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and thanks for keeping our winning streak going and making last week's "Justice" number one again, all weekend long. We have an all-star guest lineup for you on this Thanksgiving weekend. Congressman Devin Nunes, Sarah Huckabee, Sanders, Dan Bongino, Charlie Kirk, Greg Gutfeld, and I'll introduce you to a very special American hero at the end of the show. But first, my open. You can always count on the Democrats to keep their word. They mean what they say and they say what they mean. But don't be impressed. The only thing they've kept their word on is that they want to throw Donald Trump out of the White House, but you already know this. You already know that in 2017, within months of President Trump taking office, a congressman actually stood up and formally called for impeachment.
MALE SPEAKER: I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to call for the impeachment of the president of the United States of America.
PIRRO: And then, of course, good old reliable Maxine Waters wasn't far behind and Rashida Tlaib and on and on and on. So the attempt to frame the president and the Russia collusion delusion was their first shot across the bow. And when that didn't work, it was racism and recession and obstruction. But none of it was gaining any traction for them. So their frustration level was at an all-time high. They simply had to find something, anything to throw him out. So in early August, before anyone knew anything about a whistleblower, Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler, a longtime Trump hater, said this.
JERRY NADLER: This is formal impeachment proceedings. We are investigating all the evidence, we're gathering the evidence and we will at the conclusion of this, hopefully by the end of the year, vote articles of impeachment to the House floor. Or we won't.
PIRRO: And it's closing in the end of the year. Here we are. They certainly keep their word when it's about grabbing raw power. Now you don't think any of this is about real justice, do you? You don't think these Democrats respect real elections. And if the Democrats continue to keep their word, then God help them when the trial begins in the Senate. And please, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, force the trial if it gets to you. I can't wait for the American public when they're focused on the presidential election again and refreshed in January after the holidays to hear the president present a case. Call witnesses. Do rebuttals, cross-examination. All those legal requirements that he was not allowed to do in Adam Schiff's congressional circus. Now, normally, I'd be home with Stella and Sir Lancelot with popcorn and junior mints. But for this one, I'd give anything to be a fly on the wall in that hallowed center chambers, as Schiff, Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, the whistle blower and all the Democrat operatives start sweating bullets under cross-examination. Then we'll see real justice for the loony leftist Democrats who don't really believe in justice, who don't believe in elections, who don't believe we should decide who the president is, but instead believe everything that they're shoveling. And that's my open. Let me know what you think on my Facebook and Twitter. #JudgeJeanine and remember, if you love my opens, you should get my book, Radicals Resistance and Revenge: The Left's Plot to Remake America. And here with reaction to my open and more, a deep-trench warrior in Congress who fights every single day for our president against the baseless attacks by the Democrats and the liberal mob, House Intelligence Committee ranking member Congressman Devin Nunes, who joins me now. All right. Good evening, Congressman.
REP. DEVIN NUNES, D-CALIF.: Great to be with you, Judge.
PIRRO: All right. Congressman, you know, we heard your closing -- what we all thought was the end of this impeachment inquiry or whatever they call it. And it was concise. It was forceful and it was factual. And then Adam Schiff at the end gets to do his whole thing again. But did they give you any indication of what's coming next?
NUNES: Well we now know that this coming week, Jerry Nadler is going to start phase two of the circus. Now, Jerry Nadler has been in the witness protection program now for several months after he botched the Mueller probe. So we're going to see how this goes, suppose you're going to have like talk about the constitutionality of impeachment. And look, during the Nixon impeachment hearings, you had an actual break-in, you knew what the crime was. During the Clinton impeachment, you knew that he had lied to a grand jury. I think for two weeks, one of the things we were able to expose is that not only did they not have a quid pro quo, they actually had to change quid pro quo to bribery until John Ratcliffe pointed out that the only person that had ever been accused of bribery in Adam Schiff's star chamber down in the basement of the Capitol was Joe and Hunter Biden. So that's where we're at right now. We'll see. I just, I think it's just phase two of the circus this week.
PIRRO: Well, apparently there was a guy by the name of Mark Sandy, who was a career employee who worked in the Office of Management and Budget. And he said that the hold-up of the money, which wasn't for all that long, it was released on September 11th. He says that that hold-up had to do with the contributions by other countries. And we've got some tweets from Lee Zeldin and it says literally the transcript for OMB's Mark Sandy was just released. The only reason he was ever given why there was a hold on money to Ukraine was the president's concern about other countries, not bribery, not quid pro quo or any wacky conspiracy. And then, of course, Lee talks about what a dedicated career public servant Mark Sandy is. And he said the definitive answer from OMB was entirely about the president's desire to make sure that other countries were contributing as well. Now, the Democrats, of course, are going to try to turn this into something other than that. What do you hear they're doing with that?
NUNES: Well, if you were really super bored over the last two weeks and you watched every single minute of the impeachment inquisition held in the House Intelligence Committee, now known as the House Impeachment Committee, we actually raised this, that this was somebody who actually, this is the top civil servant that controls the money. So if you want a one-stop shop, somebody who had to make this call, this was a very important witness. Which is why Adam Schiff and the Democrats brought him down into the star chamber on a Saturday and then decided to not release the transcripts. So I actually brought this up.
PIRRO: [unintelligible] That's amazing.
NUNES: So did some of my colleagues. We said, wait a second. Yeah. Why don't you release this transcript so the American people can see from the top civil service bureaucrat what he actually said. So, look, and it's not a secret. Donald Trump wants more countries to pay their fair share. He's made that very clear since he first came down the escalator.
PIRRO: Well, yeah, he's been saying that since the beginning.
NUNES: That's right.
PIRRO: I want to talk about December 9th. Now, the inspector general's report on the FISA is coming out on December 9th. And you know, last weekend I had Carter Page on the show and Carter Page, of course, who was the subject of the warrant, who was essentially used as, you know, as some kind of a view into the Trump campaign. He said that he has never had an opportunity to see that FISA report. When people like Andrew McCabe, who was referred for criminal prosecution a year and a half ago, has been able to see and edit it or redact it or whatever they’re allowed to do, why is Carter Page not allowed to see that report?
NUNES: Well, partly the whole -- the idea of the Inspector General. The Inspector General only looks at the Department of Justice and FBI and how they handled the FISA. That's it. The Inspector General can't go out and get people to come in and testify. He has -- he's very limited in his powers. He can't prosecute anyone; he can only make criminal referrals. So, the idea that some of the people who went out and that were part of this, that were interviewed, that -- and that's what you’re -- that's who you're hearing from. You're hearing from the people who did really bad things. You're hearing from the dirty cops.
PIRRO: Oh, so they get a chance to get -- yeah, okay.
NUNES: That's why what you're seeing out here in the news media that's leaking now -- it's the version that the dirty cops have, not probably what the real version is.
PIRRO: All right, I want to talk about this guy, Clinesmith, who was mentioned in some of the reports, newspaper reports, that, oh, it’s just a low-level FBI guy who made some changes to the warrant, but none of it affected the outcome of the warrant. Now, this guy Clinesmith -- he's a guy who called Republicans, saying in tweets, “The crazies have finally won.” He called Vice President Trump stupid and talks about, “Viva the resistance.” Now, if this guy Clinesmith is the only guy who ends up, you know, being, you know, accused of some wrongdoing you're going to have some trouble in this country, I’m telling you right now.
NUNES: Well, also, this guy's not just some little French guy, okay? Number one, he's not French. He's the lead lawyer on the Clinton investigation and on the Trump investigation during the campaign.
PIRRO: Wow.
NUNES: So, the idea that anybody would be calling him some low-level lawyer is idiotic. Look, I hope that -- I'm actually shocked. If he really did actually change evidence, right? That's what he's been accused of in the papers.
PIRRO: Yeah, amending.
NUNES: We’ve got to wait to see if it's true. If he doctored evidence, that's far worse than even using the Democrats' dirty dossier and using fake news stories. Doctoring evidence? I mean, this guy better be strung up yet.
PIRRO: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll tell you, Congressman Nunes, I can't wait to get to the bottom of this. I thank you so much for being with us. We've got a lot to look forward to when you guys all come back. Thank you.
NUNES: Thank you.
PIRRO: As the impeachment battle rages on in Washington, I think it's very fitting to talk to my next guest, who was on the frontlines with the press corps on a daily basis defending this administration. Former White House Press Secretary and Fox News contributor Sarah Huckabee Sanders joins me now. All right, good evening, Sarah. It's good to have you on. I want to talk a little bit about impeachment with you, and right now there is a poll showing Independent voters are souring on impeachment in recent weeks. You can see, you know, in October those supporting impeachment of the Independent voters was 48 percent; November, 34. I mean, that's a huge drop in the group that is so essential, that everyone is fighting for. What does that tell you?
SARAH SANDERS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, to me, it's not surprising at all because we knew all along that there was no scandal here, that it was a complete sham that was, you know, dreamt up by Adam Schiff, another hoax. He failed with the Russian hoax, and so now he came up with this big process to try to, you know, distract America from all the good things that the president is doing. It's no surprise that after two weeks of hearing all of their star witnesses admit not witnessing anything that this thing has completely tanked, and that people are sick and tired of watching it. They want Congress to actually get something done; they want them to be productive. They’d love to see things like USMCA passed, and, you know, talk about infrastructure or drug pricing or anything that actually helps impact the country. And yet in so doing that you can see that the Democrats have no plan, no vision, no solutions, and all they can do is attack this president. And people are paying attention to that, and the numbers are reflecting it.
PIRRO: Well, you know, what I think is interesting is -- in my open tonight I talked about, you know, whenever they do what they're doing or finish doing what they're doing, when it goes to Jerry Nadler, who hates Donald Trump and has for decades -- if you're from New York, you know that -- you know, now they’re going to have the articles of impeachment, and if they send it off to the Senate, you know, then the question is, what does Mitch McConnell do? I mean, I'm a fighter. I want a full-blown trial, and as far as I'm concerned, the president at least can present witnesses; he can cross-examine; he can do rebuttal. He can do all the things that they wouldn't let him do in this circus in Congress. So, what do you think should happen, though, as it proceeds? And it appears it will proceed, that -- you know, Jerry Nadler said, “By the end of the year, we're doing it.”
SANDERS: I mean, I'd love to think that after all of this, and after they've seen all of the people come forward and talk about the fact that nothing really took place, I’d love it if Democrats somehow came to the realization that this was a waste of time, but I think that I'm living in la-la land if I think that's going to happen. So, I'm pretty sure it's going to go forward. Maybe it goes to the Senate, and we do the big trial. However, I don't want to see them do one of those extended trials, and here's why: because it takes people like Elizabeth Warren and other senators -- Bernie Sanders -- off of the campaign trail, and I want them out and about around this country as much as possible --
PIRRO: Interesting.
SANDERS: -- because the American people need to see the clear contrast that they have in the ideas, that craziness coming out of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, versus the path of prosperity that we're on under this president. They have come up with more lunatic plans in the last couple of months, and I want voters to know exactly what they're going to do if they were ever to be elected to be president --
PIRRO: Well, you know, then --
SANDERS: -- which I don’t think is ever going to happen, but they should know.
PIRRO: Well, that’s certainly a great argument, but, I mean, there's a part of me as a trial lawyer who just wants to see Adam Schiff, you know, get cross-examined, wants this whistleblower, you know, CIA, you know, Vice President Biden.
SANDERS: [laughs] I’m all for that, too. I’m not saying we don’t [unintelligible].
PIRRO: I’m dying to hear that. But I think the significant part is, look, when the -- I think, and tell me if I'm wrong and you disagree with me, but I think that USMCA, I think infrastructure, I think drug pricing. They’re so busy hating this president and grabbing for raw unbridled power that the American people have to see through it that these people who we sent to Congress are not working for us.
SANDERS: Absolutely. The American people are much smarter than the Democrats are giving them credit for, which is why you're seeing the numbers tank, and frankly, the president is doing -- delivery day after day. I mean, this week we hit record highs again. I think it’s --
PIRRO: The stock market.
SANDERS: -- the hundredth record under this president in the stock market. The country is doing extremely well, and that's after only almost three years under this president. Imagine how much better we're going to do after he gets reelected in November. I mean, I think the sky's the limit, and the president is going to keep delivering, and I think the Democrats are going to keep losing. And for some reason, they can't figure out why attacking the president is never going to work. One, he's tougher than they are, he's smarter than they are, and he's always going to end up beating them. And so, you would think they should start trying to maybe work with him instead of just trying to attack him.
PIRRO: Well, you know, when some people are so clouded by hate -- and I never thought I'd be saying this -- when you have a political party so clouded by hatred that they refuse to do the job they were hired to do, it's a sad day in America. And -- but anyway, Sarah, did you cook some of your famous pies for Thanksgiving?
SANDERS: [laughs] I did. I made quite a few, and we don't have anything left, so I always consider that a good sign. I thought about sending some back to my old friends in the press corps, but I didn't want them to go to waste, so I decided to keep them here, and just friends and family. So, I think that was probably a better use.
PIRRO: Well, you know, you have friends over here. You can send a cherry pie to me any day of the week.
SANDERS: [laughs] Sounds good.
PIRRO: Sarah Huckabee Sanders, thanks for being here.
SANDERS: Thank you.
PIRRO: All right, and Greg Gutfeld is here tonight and joins me in a few moments. But next, what we already know about the upcoming FISA report that could be devastating for the Democrats. Two of my favorite guests join me together this holiday weekend to talk about that and more. Dan Bongino, Charlie Kirk, and me, next.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The radical left Democrats are trying to rip our nation apart. First it was the Russia hoax, total hoax. It was a failed overthrow attempt and the biggest fraud in the history of our country.
PIRRO: That's President Trump bashing the Dems' ridiculous, endless Russia witch hunt going after him. But with the release of the FISA report set for December, we may actually be getting answers on the origins of the real Russia investigation. Host of "The Dan Bongino Show" podcast, Fox News contributor and author of the new book "Exonerated: The Failed Takedown of the President" Dan Bongino joins me now along with Turning Point USA founder and president Charlie Kirk. All right, guys. So, you know, the president is consistent in his indication that this is something that's been a fraud from the get-go. And now it appears that the impeachment agenda and enthusiasm is lessening, certainly among the Independents, the group that both the right and the left are trying to co-opt. What say you, Dan? Where do you think this is going?
DAN BONGINO, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Well, let's use the Democrats own words. I mean, their strategy, Judge, was a total failure. You were the judge, right? So first they thought they had an actual crime, a high crime here. Right. They said, look, quid pro quo. He held up military aid, well the military aid arrived. Then they changed to "No, no, no, no, no. He was he wanted the information in exchange for a White House meeting." That never happened. And then they said, "no, no. let me change this story again. He wanted the Hunter Biden information in exchange for a public statement by Zelensky, the Ukrainian president." That never happened. And then they changed to this "no, no. It was an attempted bribery" until Gordon Sondland got up in front of the congressional committee. The only person who's actually a firsthand fact witness and said what the president told him is he wanted absolutely nothing from Ukraine. This case was a disaster from the start, a major pie in the face.
PIRRO: Yeah, no quid pro quo. Well, it is a disaster and you know, Charlie, it just seems that they would recognize they are so close to an election that they've got to go back to their constituents and give them something, anything of what they've done for the constituents.
CHARLIE KIRK, TURNING POINT USA: Well, yeah and this doesn't deliver any results to their actual constituents. Meanwhile, the USMCA is still waiting to be approved. We're still waiting for our broken immigration system to be fixed. The Democrats ran on fixing health care and yet they say they can walk and chew gum at the same time. They can't even do either of those things metaphorically. I mean, they can't get anything done in Congress. And here's the other thing we have to realize. This is a pre-meditated impeachment. Impeachment was floated out as early as spring of 2016 when President Donald Trump was still trying to secure the nomination. The Washington Post wrote 18 minutes after he was inaugurated -- "The case for impeaching Donald Trump now begins." They've tried many different tactics along the way. But most importantly, why are they doing this? I think we need to ask that question. It's because he's succeeding. It's because President Donald Trump is succeeding. And not just the polls, but results for the American people, and he's done what he said he's going to do.
PIRRO: But, wait, Charlie, you say he's succeeding. There's no question the man is succeeding. But as you say, 18 minutes after he was elected, "the case for impeachment," he wasn't succeeding at that point. To me, I mean, he hadn't done anything yet. He wasn't even in the Oval at that point. To me, the guy is not the establishment. He's the outsider. He's the guy who doesn't owe them anything, where one hand washes the other, where they keep their secrets about sexual harassment and everything else, where they cut the deals for each other. I think that's what it is. He is working for us. They are working for themselves and each other.
KIRK: No, that's right, Judge. And to reinforce it, he's an outsider who's also succeeded. And that really terrifies them, that someone outside of the Beltway, someone who's run unconventionally, someone who has put forth real solutions to complex problems that both parties have presented over the last 20, 30 years. This horrifies them. They were never worried that President Trump was going to fail. They were horrified that he might succeed and that someone like this could actually bring this sort of track record of success. And maybe the bipartisan establishment might mean less after President Donald Trump. And this is why they're trying to impeach.
PIRRO: Let me ask you this, Dan. You know, I had Sarah Sanders on a little earlier and we were talking about the fact that, you know, once Jerry Nadler, once they come back from their little vacation, they got a lot of vacations. I've got to tell you, I'm here Saturday nights [unintelligible] Saturday nights. And I love what I do. I mean, don't get me wrong. But still, I say, look, I want that trial in the Senate. I want them under oath. I want them to swear that they're telling the truth and watch them sweat. And Sarah Sanders said something interesting. She said, "but you know what? I'd rather have the Dems out there talking to the public to prove how crazy they are anyway." What do you think? What should happen at this [unintelligible]?
BONGINO: Yeah, I think a Senate trial is going to go very poorly for them. I mean, think about this, Judge.
PIRRO: It is!
BONGINO: This was their best case. This is the best case they made in the Adam Schiff show, that hysterical fiasco of an impeachment hearing and the support for impeachment among Independents was down double digits. Those were their best witnesses. Now, imagine when Mitch McConnell's running the show and the Republicans get to put up their witnesses. That would be great, getting Hunter Biden up there and the rest of the crew.
PIRRO: That's what I want!
KIRK: That's right.
BONGINO: It's going to be, wait, let me just say one thing to what you and Charlie said. I think you both are right. Trump is an existential threat to the swamp. That's why all this is going on. But I think there's one more thing we shouldn't discount. The Democrats are in a rush to get rid of him and have been from day one because they understand fully what they did in the Spygate operation. They can't have this go public, Judge, they can't. It's devastating. And you're going to see that more as the facts come out.
PIRRO: Yeah, well no one [unintelligible]. It's terrible. It is terrible. I wrote about it in my books. You wrote about your books. All right, Charlie, last word from you.
KIRK: Well, look, Dan is spot on. And look, I think the FISA, the origins of FISA investigation, what's going to happen with Horowitz will be the beginning. I'm trying to tell people to keep their expectations managed. It's Durham that's really going to come out with the real revelations. And I pray people will be held accountable for what they did against this president, because no other president should have to go through it ever again.
PIRRO: Well, you know, it’s, I’m starting to get a little worried myself because, you know, Andrew Bakaj was supposed to be referred for criminal prosecution and the deputy attorney general approved it. And that was months and months ago. I don't know what's going on. I really don't. And it's about time. I don't want to have to wait for Durham, although he's worth waiting for, obviously. But like, let's do something soon, because I'm losing faith. Dan Bongino.
BONGINO: You've been holding their feet to the fire, Judge. These people don't want to listen. I've seen you nail every congressman on the show. Get busy. Get to it. They all dance on it.
PIRRO: Don't say that; they won't come on anymore. [laughs] Dan Bongino. Charlie Kirk, thanks so much.
KIRK: Thank you.
PIRRO: All right. David Avella still on deck but next, how far will the left go to get Donald Trump out of office? It's an early dose of Greg Gutfeld. He'll join me in a moment.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
REP. ADAM SCHIFF, D-CALIF.: The public support for impeachment has grown fairly dramatically in the last two months, so whether it is now essentially at a plateau, or whether it will continue to grow or shrink, I don't think, is really the question we should be asking.
PIRRO: All right, the Dems desperately holding on to their impeachment delusion as a last-ditch effort to try to get President Trump out of office, but Schiff show has been quite a flop so far. Host of The Greg Gutfeld Show, Greg Gutfeld, joins me now. Listen, I want to tell you how important this is. You’ve got to get the camera back on me. The reason this is important is because every Saturday night when I say good night, I introduce him. So, he's here now. He will fly through the air to be on the show Saturday.
GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS: Yes, I came here especially to make you happy.
PIRRO: Oh, good. Well, I --
GUTFELD: My entire life is about pleasing you, Judge Jeanine [laughs].
PIRRO: Yes, and can I tell you? You know that song Happy? We can do a little dance, do a happy dance.
GUTFELD: I don’t know if we can do that.
PIRRO: Okay. No, listen, let's talk about Adam Schiff, get out of the way right at the beginning.
GUTFELD: I thought that was Tom Shillue for a minute there.
PIRRO: Oh, Tom Shillue. Yeah, he’s a guy on your show, I know that. But, listen, this is a serious show.
GUTFELD: Is it really?
PIRRO: Yes.
GUTFELD: Okay [laughs].
PIRRO: Okay. So, what we’ve got is we’ve got Adam Schiff saying, “You know, impeachment -- you know, it's strong, but we shouldn’t look to the public as to whether or not we're doing the right thing,” essentially. What do you think?
GUTFELD: Well, it's kind of been -- here's the deal. Imagine if three or four years ago, Judge Jeanine, you were going around town saying that you were going to lock me up. Right? You're going to prosecute me; you're going to destroy Greg Gutfeld. And then --
PIRRO: You know what? It wouldn’t take me three years, but go ahead [laughs].
GUTFELD: Probably take you three minutes. But three years later, and you're doing it, no one would take you seriously because they would understand that you were planning on doing this all along. That's why it's hard, I think, for so many Americans when they’re watching it going like, “I can't take this guy seriously because we knew he was after this from the start,” the same way you would be if you were trying to destroy me. But I would just hire a better lawyer to defend me.
PIRRO: Yeah, well, you know what, I'm not going to go there because, you know, it wouldn’t matter who you hire, okay? So, let’s just keep moving.
GUTFELD: [laughs] You could destroy me.
PIRRO: Let’s keep moving. Now, I have to tell you I get a chuckle, you know, when the president does some of his pressers. I find there are some of them entertaining, but today he put -- today or this past week -- he put something on Twitter. I want everyone to pull it up. Now, there's a president. He's got Rocky; he’s got his boxing gloves; he's got a championship belt on. What's that about?
GUTFELD: You know, I just want to let everybody know that that's not his real body, because that’s what the --
PIRRO: It isn’t?
GUTFELD: No. Yeah, see, that’s what the media did immediately was, like, they had to tell everybody, “Excuse me” -- they run like little firefighters to tell everybody it's doctored. That's -- yes, it is doctored. By the way, I don't think he put it together. He probably found it -- somebody in his staff probably found it already --
PIRRO: They probably sent it to him. Somebody --
GUTFELD: But it’s so funny, because, I mean, it's like there are people on Twitter who have, like, blue checks next to their name who say, “He's not that fit.” It’s like, “Well, thank you so much.” But I think that the -- his critics, the Never Trumpers, they all have to understand that if they stop getting so mad about this stuff, he wouldn't be doing it. This is actually his way of, you know, having fun at the expense of their, like, emotional turmoil because it's too easy. You know, when you can really tick somebody off, you can't resist it.
PIRRO: Yeah, you can't resist it, and you know what?
GUTFELD: I try to do it to you.
PIRRO: Yeah, no --
GUTFELD: Whenever I can.
PIRRO: Yeah, no, we always end up laughing.
GUTFELD: Do we really?
PIRRO: [unintelligible] -- do we really?
GUTFELD: [laughs] Yeah.
PIRRO: Yeah. But that I had the power of the grand jury.
GUTFELD: The laugh turns to tears, Judge.
PIRRO: Hmm?
GUTFELD: It turns to tears. We laugh --
PIRRO: It turns to tears.
GUTFELD: -- then we cry.
PIRRO: All right, listen, I want to get two cents in here, okay? It’s my show.
GUTFELD: Is it really?
PIRRO: Yeah. Here’s the thing. The president enjoys it. He enjoys fighting, and that’s why --
GUTFELD: It’s what’s different.
PIRRO: -- every day -- you know, we’re all stressed out out here. The president of the United States --
GUTFELD: Well, he --
PIRRO: -- is having a good time.
GUTFELD: Here’s the --
PIRRO: He loves to fight.
GUTFELD: Here’s the thing. It’s behind the myth of polarization. You know how everybody’s, like, saying, “Well, we’re all polarized?” Polarized? What they’re saying is there are now two poles. It used to be there was just the Democrats and the media making fun of everybody, and nobody fought back. So, now you have somebody doing it, and they go, “Oh, my God, it’s polarizing.” No, you’re just -- another pole just showed up.
PIRRO: Yeah, and they want to blame Donald Trump. “It’s Donald Trump’s fault that they’re polarizing the country.” Are you kidding? You’re the one running around like crazy, Antifa and everything else.
GUTFELD: I seem to -- I mean, I’m very young --
PIRRO: You are?
GUTFELD: -- in my mid-thirties.
PIRRO: Yes, [unintelligible].
GUTFELD: But I can remember Reagan --
PIRRO: You’re in your mid-thirties?
GUTFELD: Yes, mid-thirties.
PIRRO: Oh, good for you.
GUTFELD: 1830s.
PIRRO: Keep moving. Keep moving on that [unintelligible].
GUTFELD: The -- Reagan. I remember what they did with Reagan. I mean, they -- there were people that were comparing him to Hitler. They do this to every Republican. People forget how they portrayed Romney, remember, with the dog, or cutting the kid’s hair; what they said about McCain as a warmonger. They have -- they always hit Republicans.
PIRRO: But not only that. You know, there’s Jerry Nadler. He says, you know, “I want to impeach Trump,” all this. He wanted to impeach Bush, too.
GUTFELD: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
PIRRO: I mean, the guy just hates. He’s a hater.
GUTFELD: But to be fair --
PIRRO: If you’re not ideologically aligned with him, he wants you gone.
GUTFELD: To be --
PIRRO: “I want the power.”
GUTFELD: To be fair, though, when you’re out --
PIRRO: To be fair?
GUTFELD: -- of power --
PIRRO: We are about fairness.
GUTFELD: Are we really?
PIRRO: Yes.
GUTFELD: No, to be out of -- when you’re out of power, this is what you do. Right? I mean, people -- there were people who wanted Obama impeached, blah, blah -- you know, constantly coming --
PIRRO: Who?
GUTFELD: I couldn’t think of a name, but it’ll come to me.
PIRRO: Yeah, keep moving.
GUTFELD: [laughs]
PIRRO: Who wanted him impeached? Yeah, okay, go ahead. We’ve got 30 seconds. Hit it. Okay, [unintelligible] --
GUTFELD: Yes. Do you want to talk about how great my show is --
PIRRO: No, I don’t want to --
GUTFELD: -- The Greg Gutfeld show?
PIRRO: Well, actually, your show is very good. I like your show. You know why?
GUTFELD: Yeah, you’re going to be joining it pretty soon.
PIRRO: I’m going to joining it soon?
GUTFELD: Whether you like it or not.
PIRRO: Yeah, well, [unintelligible] --
GUTFELD: Instead of doing this show, you’re going to do to mine.
PIRRO: Instead of doing this, I’ve got to do yours, and then I have to fly through the air on my broom to get to your show [laughs].
GUTFELD: You don’t have a broom.
PIRRO: All right, listen --
GUTFELD: You don’t have a broom.
PIRRO: -- how was Thanksgiving?
GUTFELD: You never swept anything in your life.
PIRRO: Oh, I have, I have. I worked in a dairy when I was a kid. Did you know that?
GUTFELD: Really? I had no idea. What did you do?
PIRRO: I worked in a dairy.
GUTFELD: What did you do?
PIRRO: I was a soda jerk.
GUTFELD: Oh, really?
PIRRO: Not a jerk, a soda jerk.
GUTFELD: Interesting.
PIRRO: And then I would watch the farmers milk the cows. Did you ever see a calf being born?
GUTFELD: I actually --
PIRRO: I'll talk about it on your show.
GUTFELD: -- milked a goat recently.
PIRRO: You milked a goat?
GUTFELD: Yeah, a goat.
PIRRO: Was it your goat or someone else’s?
GUTFELD: Somebody else’s goat. [laughter] I was arrested shortly after. Pretty sure I was [unintelligible].
PIRRO: All right, listen, I’ve had enough. I’ve got to move on.
GUTFELD: I haven’t. Let’s do another segment.
PIRRO: No, no, I don’t have time for you. This is a serious show.
GUTFELD: You know, that hurts.
PIRRO: This is a serious show. Greg Gutfeld, thanks.
GUTFELD: This is a serious [laughs] --
PIRRO: I love having you on. Take care.
GUTFELD: Oh, we’re fist-bumping now.
PIRRO: Yeah, we fist-bump now.
GUTFELD: Aren’t we young? Kids.
PIRRO: All right, now you’ve got to go. All right, how is the impeachment process affecting local state elections? GOPAC chairman David Avella, my friend, is next. We’re having a good time.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
PIRRO: As the Democrats charge forward on impeachment, some are worried about the impact, not only on the 2020 presidential election, but state and local elections, as well. GOPAC chairman and Republican strategist David Avella joins me now to weigh in on it all. All right. Good evening, David. Good to see you.
DAVID AVELLA, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good to see you.
PIRRO: All right. Let's talk about, you're GOPAC, you're the state and local elections around the country. Talk about Congress. I mean, we now realize how important Congress is and how important these local elections are. I mean, you know, it's the number that determines whether or not the House can literally take a president and impeach him.
AVELLA: Absolutely.
PIRRO: So what do you think?
AVELLA: There are 20 districts that President Trump won that are currently held by Democrats. And this impeachment hearing now puts the U.S. House in play from a majority perspective. Republicans pick up 18 seats, we take the U.S. House majority back. And let me also add the advantage to having the president on the ballot. And we saw it in 2016 that a president, an incumbent president now with a high 90 percent approval rating amongst the party base ensures that Republicans go out and vote. And in races in 2016, whether it be in North Carolina with Richard Burr or Ron Johnson in Wisconsin or Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, those are razor-thin races. And certainly the presidential race had an impact. And just as the president is going to have an impact on 2020 for his own reelection, he's going to help in a lot of congressional races, as well.
PIRRO: Very interesting. All right. So, you know, when he has that 90 percent positive in his own base, they're not going to stay home, say, "gee, he's going to win." They're -- well, you know what? After what they've seen for the last three-and-a half-years, they'd be crazy to stay home, you know?
AVELLA: [laughs] Well, true. And equally important, though, is what's happening with Independents and we're seeing it start to percolate. The two best messages and the president talked about it during this last week in his campaign rallies, and that is the Democrats are trying to fix the 2016 election or try to redo the 2016 election and that is a message that resonates well with Independents, particularly with the second point that resonates the most with them. That is, they use it as a distraction to not get things done in Congress on the priorities that they care about. And Independents cast their votes on "did you get results for me?" And in that case, this U.S. House, led by Nancy Pelosi, can't answer that. And Judge, there is no way Nancy Pelosi can allow Adam Schiff to remain the Judiciary chairman after what he has done with first, Mueller, and now this impeachment.
PIRRO: You know, what's interesting is once Jerry Nadler started these impeachment inquiries or whatever in Judiciary where it's supposed to start, I mean, with Corey Lewandowski, I mean, it was like she just took it away from him. So I'm curious to see what she does with Adam Schiff. But you know what? I just wonder if there won't be a lot of back and forth because they don't want to have to deal with what they may have to deal with come the Senate. But let's talk about what is the impact of the local races on the presidential race? I mean, the president has to look at certain areas, the swing areas in particular, and say, "I need these areas, too." So the reverse of what we first talked about.
AVELLA: Absolutely. Strong candidates at the state and local level are equally important in turning out the base and many voters won't have an opportunity to ever meet a president of the United States. But they do get to meet their local state senator and state representative, and they come to the polls to support their local officials just as the president helps turnout. You know, we're, as Republicans, we are all in this together, just as the team that starts with President Trump and Mike Pence and goes all the way down to the state and local offices. One, though, last key point or one additional key point is the fact that there's going to be not only the impact it has on the Republican side, but also on the Democratic side. You're already seeing Democrats who voted, the two who voted against impeachment, Van Drew already has an opponent against him in the Democratic primary, and as if Pelosi requires the swing state Democrats to vote and they vote against impeachment, you're going to see a lot more progressive, challenging incumbent Democrats who vote against impeachment, thus causing more chaos within the Democratic Party.
PIRRO: Right, within the Democratic Party, which inures to the benefit of the Republicans because there are Democrats. I mean, look, I mean, you know, they haven't been this wacko before. I mean, they really -- they're over their clown shoes on this one. This is crazy.
AVELLA: Well, when it comes the Democratic primaries, far be it for me to get in their way and try to help them solve it.
[laughter]
PIRRO: Yeah. All right. And then, you know, what's interesting is, I watch the president and everything that he's doing, you know, I don't think there's anyone who's got the energy that he has. I mean, I thought Elizabeth Warren had a lot of energy. But she seems to have gotten beat down by Wall Street and everyone else. And so what we're seeing on the other side is this, you know, Joe Biden and then Barack Obama comes out and deep six is the guy. You know, he doesn't connect with people.
AVELLA: It's an interesting race. Certainly they are now kind of having their flavor of the month, as Republicans did in those early stages in 2016 until the voting occurred. But, you know, it's interesting, the Democratic process. This is a party that says let's get rid of the Electoral College. Let's have one person, one vote. And yet they're not having a national primary to nominate their nominee. They're still going state by state.
PIRRO: Yeah, because if one person, one vote, a good primary.
AVELLA: That's right.
PIRRO: All right. David Avella, thanks so much for being with us.
AVELLA: Thank you.
PIRRO: And last week, I interviewed Fox News contributor John Solomon, reporting on the Bidens in Ukraine. And he mentioned that Devin Archer, an associate of Hunter Biden, may be related to notorious gangster Whitey Bulger. Turns out he's not. Now, John has since retracted on Twitter. But since he said it here, we wanted to make sure that we address it as well. Back in a moment with author Lee Smith.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
PIRRO: My next guest believes that most Americans don't want to be governed by the Deep State, and they certainly don't want to be spied on by them. Joining me now, author of "The Plot Against the President: The True Story of How Congressman Devin Nunes Uncovered the Biggest Political Scandal in U.S. History," Lee Smith, with more on why this is such a critical time in our country. All right, good evening, Lee.
LEE SMITH, AUTHOR: Good evening. Thank you very much, Judge, for having me on. I appreciate that.
PIRRO: I have your book. I read your book. I think it's phenomenal.
SMITH: Thank you.
PIRRO: It is really phenomenal.
SMITH: That’s very kind.
PIRRO: And what I'd like my viewers to understand is how it is that, you know, when you talk about Devin Nunes -- and we had him on the show; we have him on the show often -- and how he uncovered the biggest scandal in U.S. history, and I remember at the time, it was right at the beginning when they started gunning for him, and they started bringing all kinds of complaints against him. And I remember saying, “What is going on?” Can you tell us a really short version of how they tried to take down Devin Nunes because he was on to something?
SMITH: Sure. They went after him in a whole bunch of different ways. They filed a whole bunch of ethics complaints. They threatened him; they threatened his family. They had an enormous press campaign --
PIRRO: How did they threaten his family?
SMITH: -- an enormous media campaign.
PIRRO: How did they threaten his family?
SMITH: Well, yeah, I mean, they replicated his phone number, and they had a phone number that looked like his that was going to family members -- his mother, his grandmother, dozens of family members -- and when they picked up the phone it looked like the congressman was calling, and when they picked up the phone -- it looked like the congressman was calling, and when they picked up the phone -- there were threats. So, the congressman really -- I mean, he really walked through fire, and he still is walking through fire. And the reason they targeted him is because he started uncovering all the different stuff they were doing, whether it was the intelligence community, whether it was law enforcement. He also found out different things that -- I mean, it's about Obama operatives and -- or, rather, Clinton operatives and Obama-era officials. He found out what they were doing, and they went after him.
PIRRO: Well, you know, in my latest book, which I believe is published by -- we’re published by the same publisher --
SMITH: Yes, it’s an honor.
PIRRO: -- and in my book I talk about how this all goes right to the White House, to the Oval. Am I right about that?
SMITH: I think so, too. I mean, there’s evidence -- I point to a couple of different places in the book where the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, seems to be involved. One of the most important times is when he ordered John Brennan, his CIA director, to produce that intelligence community assessment which said that Vladimir Putin was responsible for electing Trump. The purpose was to delegitimize the election and to delegitimize the Trump presidency. It’s a shameful thing that the last president interfered, actually interfered, with a peaceful transition of power, one of the things that -- one of the key features of our political system.
PIRRO: Well, you know what's interesting? I think everybody watching at the end of 2016 before the election, watching President Barack Obama taking the week off and doing nothing but campaigning for Hillary Clinton and, you know, showing up with all these singers in Hollywood and everything else. To me, I just remember thinking to myself, “That's a little weird.” I know presidents support incoming -- but that was full-on, all-in Barack Obama worried about Trump, making fun of Trump. It had never happened that way in the history of this country. He started the Trump hate.
SMITH: Yeah, I mean, I think so. And if you look at what's happening now, I mean, I find it's more than curious the fact that the previous president is still living in Washington. He's still living in Washington, D.C. The way I see it, he is the de facto head of the Democratic Party still. I believe the last president who remained in Washington was Woodrow Wilson, and this was after he had a stroke. He couldn't move. So, the fact that Barack Obama, that this is still his party -- and people talk about the radicalism, and they talk about the anti-Trump operation. I’m sorry, Barack Obama is right in the middle of this, as are all of his intelligence officials, from John Brennan to James Clapper, James Comey, Andrew McCabe. These are Obama appointees.
PIRRO: And you know what's interesting is this guy Clinesmith that the New York Times quotes as the low-level FBI lawyer. You know, he quotes, you know, “Viva la resistance,” and the “crazy radicals” and all that. And, Lee Smith, very quickly -- I have about 15 seconds -- what do you think is going to happen? Are they going to go through the impeachment? It seems like they will, but --
SMITH: They’re going to do that.
PIRRO: -- are they going to pay a price for that?
SMITH: I certainly think so. I think they'll probably pay a price at the polls. You know better than I do about such things. I mean, I think a lot of this is a defensive mechanism. They're worried about the Horowitz report, and they're worried about John Durham’s investigation. I think that's a lot of what we're seeing here.
PIRRO: All right. Lee Smith, great to have you on the show --
SMITH: Thank you kindly.
PIRRO: -- and congratulations on the book.
SMITH: Thank you.
PIRRO: And next, I'm going to introduce you to an American hero, one that I got to meet personally this week. We'll be right back, but stay with us.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
PIRRO: Finally tonight, I have the honor of meeting a true American hero who's fought shoulder to shoulder with some of the toughest in our armed forces, special forces, including Delta Force and Navy SEALs. The hero was both accommodating and sociable when we met in the Oval Office. Take a look. Here I am with Conan, the hero dog who took down the leader of ISIS, al-Baghdadi. Conan couldn't have been nicer when we met. And I want to thank Conan for the brave service to this country and President Trump for inviting me to this special ceremony. I loved meeting him. Thanks for watching. I'm Jeanine Pirro, advocating for truth, justice and the American way. Greg Gutfeld is coming up next. And I'll see you next Saturday.
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