Special counsel recommends no prison time for Gen. Flynn

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Special counsel recommends no prison time for Gen. Flynn

Mueller files sentencing memo for Flynn; Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows react.

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," December 4, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Hannity is pissed off tonight and I'm going to explain.

Tucker, great show as always. Thank you.

All right. Welcome to “Hannity”.

Just breaking, big news out of the Mueller witch-hunt. The special counsel just released its report on Lieutenant General Michael Flynn -- you know, the guy that served his country 33 years, five years in combat?

Now, Mueller is recommending after all of this time no prison time for General Flynn. But the damage has been done. Flynn is, quote, a convicted felon, a victimless process crime based on evidence that is suspect. The FBI didn't think he lied.

Now, you can't get him on an actual crime so the old perjury trap always becomes the fall back in the Mueller camp of Democratic donors.

This is how America is going to treat a military hero? This is a sad and pathetic moment for not only the special counsel but for the country.

We'll check in with Catherine Herridge. She has been reviewing as we have the full report. We will also react to this travesty of justice.

And also tonight, we continue to monitor the dangerous situation at our southern border. Now, while the left active solid promoting illegal immigration with promises of open borders, sanctuary cities and potential citizenship.

On this program, we have always told you the cold, hard truth. As we speak, there are thousands of migrants stuck south of the border in Tijuana, Mexico, camping out, squalid conditions, and now, a daily stream of migrants are sneaking into the United States and another border rush has happened.

Now, coming up, we're going to do something you will never see on any other network. We're going to break down the serious and deadly risk. The numbers are staggering as it relates to illegal immigration.

Also, we have alarming video we will share with you tonight. Look at this: young children being dropped over the border wall by smugglers, some as little as 2 years old.

And later, you won't belief what a CNN panel said about President Trump because he was paying respect to the late President George H.W. Bush. It's vile. It shouldn't shock you coming from CNN. I'll explain in a mini monologue tonight.

And last night, we told you about a teacher ruined Santa for kids in class. We'll you about that.

Also, we have an update, plus, much, much more. Sit tight, buckle up, we have a big breaking news opening monologue that we begin with.

After multiple delays, it has been a full year, a full year, ruined in General Flynn's life. Robert Mueller's report on the former national security advisor, Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, three stars by the way, finally out. And he has been jerked around by this witch-hunt for almost an entire year. We know now he was coerced into pleading guilty only to a process crime, lying to investigators.

Now, this despite fired FBI investigator James Comey, fired Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe and even Peter Strzok interviewed him, saying that there was zero indications that, in fact, Flynn ever lied, actually lied when they were in charge of the investigation.

We begin tonight with a report in Washington with our own Catherine Herridge.

Catherine, I actually have a report that you did, if I can put my glasses on I will find out the date on this thing. May 4th. In it, House Intel report, Comey testified FBI agent saw no physical indications of deception --

CATHERINE HERRIDGE, CORRESPONDENT: That's right, uh-huh.

HANNITY: -- by General Flynn.

HERRIDGE: That's right. That came, Sean, from testimony given to the House Intelligence Committee by the former FBI Director James Comey, as well as his Deputy Andrew McCabe.

And that testimony was given several months apart. They both reported the same thing that agents saw no signs of deception. In other words, they didn't think Flynn was lying to them when he tried to relate his conversations and contacts with the Russian ambassador.

So, the question has always been, how do they get from, as McCabe said, a very poor foundation for false statements case to a guilty plea for lying to federal investigators?

I'm still going through the records now. Just to break it down and keep it simple, this sentencing memo from the special counsel, Robert Mueller, says that Flynn lied about two separate issues. One was his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the transition and also his communications and business dealings with the Republic of Turkey.

Based on high level cooperation with the special counsel, they are recommending the minimum on the sentencing spectrum, which would be no jail time, possibly probation. But, what everyone is going to be talking about is what's called an addendum. This is the document that the special counsel has put forward that lays out how former national security advisor Mike Flynn has been cooperating with the special counsel.

And according to the addendum, which is heavily redacted, he has provided almost two dozen interviews with the special counsel and just taking the redactions out, what we can see is that those interviews have focused on contacts between the Trump presidential campaign and Russian officials so that's phase one. And then also in the second phase, the Trump transition team as well as Russian officials. So, we know Flynn has cooperated, provided information about both ends of the spectrum there, the campaign and then also the transition period.

What I draw your attention to is these heavily redacted sections which the special counsel is withholding, they say, because of sensitive ongoing investigations. But what they do say in one section is that Flynn has been so important to their investigations because, quote: the defendant began providing information to the government not long after the government first sought his cooperation. His early cooperation was particularly valuable because he was one of the few people with long-term and first-hand insight regarding events and issues under investigation by the special counsel.

So the bottom line is the special counsel is recommending the minimum, so no jail time for the former national security advisor. You are quite right. What's detailed here are process crimes, what they call lying to federal investigators, which is a violation of a thousand and one, typically a maximum of five years.

But in this case, they are recommending the minimum. Lying about contacts with the Russian ambassador during the transition period and lying about his work with the Republic of Turkey.

What we can't know at this point is what is in those redacted sections and how it may relate to other individuals and any future criminal prosecution in the coming days or weeks, Sean.

HANNITY: All right. Catherine Herridge in Washington. We will get back to her later in the program tonight.

HERRIDGE: Sure.

HANNITY: When we talk about process crimes, wouldn't it be normal when you look at the date 2016 incoming national security advisor talking to his Russian counterpart. This is way over the line.

Look, I'm going to go through this slowly. If you believe in this constitutional republic, equal justice under the law, application of our laws, you ought to be very concerned tonight and outraged. General Flynn's entire life has been put in limbo for an entire year for this? I have read the entire report. They even used the Logan Act, and actually rarely ever used or invoked.

But Hillary and the Espionage Act, he has lost his House because he couldn't afford the attorneys. He had to sell his house. His life's work, 33 years of serving his country, washed down the drain for this? Reputation destroyed for this?

Nobody in the FBI thought this man lied. Comey didn't think so. McCabe didn't think. Strzok of all people, he didn't think so, and he interviewed Lieutenant General Flynn. Thirty-three years of service, five years in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. And this is the treatment? This is the thanks this country gives him?

This is what -- this is how we treat people? What kind of justice system is this? His house nearly faced bankruptcy, literally and his world crashes before him and his entire family, and I would bet any amount of money that the only reason he signed this deal was -- well, it's the same old system.

Well, we might have to go after your son worked with you and, you know, then we are going to invoke the Logan Act, which nobody invokes to go after him. So he could have made, instead of serving his country in the private sector a lot more money. But, now, he has to sell his house, literally fall on the sword for his family.

And don't forget, we know that they got through what a lot of this information, through what? We knew he was the victim of illegal surveillance, illegal unmasking, illegal leaking of raw intelligence. What about the people involved in those crimes? His rights were violated at every level.

Now, this is a disgrace and this is what we have been telling you. It's the glaring example of a two-tiered justice system in America. In Mueller's sentencing memo, it says, quote: Senior government leaders should be held to the highest standards.

Can we start with Hillary Clinton and James Comey? Because we have a long list of Democrats and Trump haters who have lied under oath before Congress and have faced no consequences.

For example, long-time Clinton aide Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin lied when they told the FBI investigators they had no knowledge of Hillary's private email except they used it, either DOJ official Bruce Ohr, Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson. They -- of course, one of them was lying due to their contradictory testimony. Nobody was held hostage like this for a year. Dirty dossier author Christopher Steele, his entire dossier has been debunked, he lied to the FBI, was fired for lying to the FBI. But he was still working with the Justice Department and Bruce Ohr to get to special counsel Mueller.

James Clapper lied under oath about the National Surveillance Program. So too did John Brennan also likely lying under oath about leaking.

And don't forget, James Comey himself lied under oath when he said the report about the Clinton investigation had not been written before she was interviewed. Lie. That was being written in May of 2016. They interviewed her in July of 2016.

Comey second in command at the FBI. Andrew McCabe fired because of his pathetic pattern of lying. So, you are going to end up with something like this in his life?

Where are the federal cases against any of these people? And that's the short list. Are charges going to be brought to all of those people? When are the screws going to be turned so they composed? Don't hold your breath.

And according to Michael Goodwin, President Trump is now preparing and he should be preparing for all-out political war for good reason. Robert Mueller and his team of partisan Democrats, even Clinton attorneys and a pit bull that lost 9-0 in the Supreme Court cost tens of thousands of people their job, Andrew Weissmann, and put four people in jail overturned by the Fifth Circuit, they have set out to disrupt, discredit, and destroy the presidency of Donald J. Trump.

No matter how many lives are ruined in the process. You can't get him on the crime. Let's get him on a process crime. Let's set a perjury trap.

Now, we have a lot more all throughout the hour. We will check in with Congressman Mark Meadows and Congressman Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz.

Also, let this monologue be a warning for anyone thinking about traveling through Mexico tonight to cross the southern border illegally. A "Hannity" investigation, it is not easy, it is not safe. And you are literally risking your life. If we had a wall up that people knew they could never get in, lives would be saved.

Look at this from the A.P. In the past four years, approximately 4,000 migrants have gone missing, 4,000, during their trek through Mexico. And The A.P. is also reporting that the true number is likely, quote: their words, much higher and, quote, bodies may be lost in the desert and families may not report missing loved ones who were migrating illegally.

Cartels have long scary history of kidnapping and slaving, murdering undocumented migrants traveling to the U.S. 2010, a mass grave containing 72 dead migrants was discovered. They were all murdered by a dangerous gang cartel called the Zetas Cartel. And just this year, a hundred migrants from the caravan, including children, have been kidnapped.

That same cartel reportedly responsible for those who do successfully cross the border illegally, the risks continue even within the United States, as they trek through rural areas of Texas, north of the border. Hundreds of bodies have been found. Many dying of dehydration after getting lost in the desert. In one Texas county alone, over 550 bodies have been recovered since 2009.

We talk about family separation. What about permanent family separation with people dying?

Now, meanwhile, look at this video, fencing along the southern border poses a serious risk for illegal immigrants lest we build a sufficient wall. Shocking video from Arizona shows a suspected smuggler, look at this, tossing children over an 18-foot border wall. Others below attempting to catch the kids -- look at this -- on the other side. Take a look at that video. One as young as 2 years old.

In Tijuana, where the majority of the 10,000 plus members of the migrant caravan are indefinitely stuck in limbo, the conditions there are horrific. They face squalid camp sites, insufficient facilities, rampant disease, a third of the migrants are now being treated for health-related issues. Tijuana's health department is reporting three confirmed cases of tuberculosis, four cases of HIV and AIDS. Four case of chickenpox and a hepatitis outbreak.

And, yesterday, dozens of migrants attempted to sneak across the border near Tijuana scaling a 10-foot metal fence. That's the one probably Chuck Schumer wants. Others were able to squeeze through gaps in the fencing near the coast. Most were apprehended.

I have no doubt the majority of migrants headed to the U.S. are merely in search of a better life and more opportunity. That's why if a wall is properly built, it will secure people on both sides and the door can be built and we can reform our immigration system. But, be warned, while immigrating into the U.S. is illegal and not easy, coming across illegally can take your live through the southern border, very harsh, risky, deadly.

And, we often report the serious consequences illegal immigration poses to those already living in the U.S. We have a briefing I witnessed from Texas Governor Rick Perry -- 642,000 crimes committed at the hands of illegal immigrants in a seven-year period in Texas alone.

Keep in mind, every single illegal immigrant that crosses our border costs you the taxpayers around 70 grand. And last year's total tax bill was a whopping $135 billion. A massive border wall would cost just a fraction of that.

And not only would Americans literally -- would be given important opportunities here to control our borders, but it would be a deterrent for people that would take that treacherous journey through Mexico -- simple solution to a complex, costly, dangerous problem. It's time for the border wall to be fully funded and right now.

But we're going to have more on that later in the show. We first get back to our top story as we are joined by North Carolina Congressman Mark Meadows, Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, both leaders of the Freedom Caucus.

All right. Jim, I will start with you tonight.

REP. JIM JORDAN, R-OH: Sure.

HANNITY: So, this is what we get.

JORDAN: Yes.

HANNITY: A man's life ruined. All of these other people have committed crimes that we know of. The information obtained on General Flynn was obtained illegally.

JORDAN: Yes.

HANNITY: OK. They put his family through hell. He has to sell his house. They threaten his family or he falls on the sword and signs something he knows is not true so they don't go after his family. Is that justice in America?

JORDAN: No, it's not. And your monologue was right on target, Sean.

Remember -- James Comey, director of the FBI, fired. Deputy Director McCabe lied three times under oath, fired. Chief counsel at the FBI demoted, Jim Baker, demoted and then left. FBI counsel Lisa Page demoted and left. And deputy head of counterintelligence Peter Strzok demoted and then fired.

But even those five people thought Mike Flynn didn't lie when he was interviewed by the FBI. Only Bob Mueller did and now this is what happens. So, we've got to keep this in context.

The top people at the FBI all demoted, left, or fired who have launched and ran the Clinton investigation, launched and ran the Russia investigation, put the fake dossier in front of the FISA court to get a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign, even they didn't think Mike Flynn lied when he was being interviewed by the FBI. And now, Bob Mueller is saying he should get the most lenient sentence possible but they still have the information they gave him. We'll find out what that is when we get the unredacted version of what Catherine was referring to tonight.

HANNITY: Listen, but I'm looking, seriously, Mark Meadows through all of this here. And what they're saying here, days prior to the FBI's interview, the defendant, The Washington Post published a story alleging he had spoken with Russia's ambassador to the United States on December 29th. Wouldn't it be a normal process for an incoming director such as General Flynn to have conversations with his soon-to-be counterparts about important issues, even a change of policy that might be coming or different points of view that they may have considering we have diametrically opposed views between Obama and President Trump?

REP. MARK MEADOWS, R-NC: Well, it would be a natural occurrence. And I can tell you, there are Democrats and Republicans on the Hill that probably have had a lot more conversations with the Russian ambassador than Mike Flynn ever thought about having. And, yet, here we are tonight looking at a three-star general being held guilty for missing a day and perhaps not recalling something.

But here's the other thing that we have got to remember, Sean, is this, I've got looked at this report and, yes, everybody is going to focus on what has been redacted. But let's look at what's not in there. There is no suggestion that Michael Flynn had anything to do with collusion. He was with the transition team. He was part of the campaign. And, yet, there is no mention of collusion.

I think it's good news for President Trump tonight that this is what has come down to, even though they said he substantially cooperated, I think he substantially cooperated to say that there was no collusion and we can look at it with that in mind.

HANNITY: Well, let me look -- Jim Jordan, I'll read to you. The Post query whether the defendant's actions violated the Logan Act. The Logan Act is 18 USC 953. It's all but rarely federal statute prohibiting private diplomacy with federal nations.

It is -- I think maybe, what, five or six times it's been used and most instances, the people get off innocent. So, this is what they are suggesting in this and that he was speaking, you know, as part of the president's incoming team, transition team, that they had spoken to the defendant, that he denied speaking to the Russian ambassador about sanctions, which the president had already said publicly if I'm not mistaken that in fact, oh, there's no -- you know, that's probably going to be what our policy is. That's it? This is what this is about?

JORDAN: No, I know. And when you look at the larger framework, of course, first of all, he's a national security advisor. Of course, he's going to be talking to foreign dignitaries. And that's going to be -- and he's going to be doing that in the transition and you are exactly right what the president said earlier.

But I keep trying to bring this back into a context. The guy we need to talk to, Sean, while the left is making all kinds of hay about this story tonight about Mr. Flynn, the guy we need to be talking to is Rod Rosenstein. It has been 10 and a half weeks since it was reported that he talked to subordinates about wearing a wire and invoking the 25th Amendment. And Mark and I and other members of Congress have yet to ask him one single question since that became public.

That needs to happen in the next 26 days before Nancy Pelosi is speaker of the house. That's what I'm focused on. This is news tonight, I get, we've walked through this, but that's the real thing we have to focus on in the last weeks of this Congress.

HANNITY: Let me go back to Mark Meadows.

Congressman, if you go back to the House Intelligence Committee report, Comey testified that FBI agents saw no physical indications of deception. Now, that includes McCabe. That includes Comey. And that includes Peter Strzok of all people that interviewed him.

They didn't think he lied. And, you know, and this sends a very bad message to everybody. And that is, boy, you better never talk to the FBI. Even though you might be inclined because have you -- I grew up with reverence for this great institution. You better never -- unless you are a Democrat then you can say anything you want. Then you are covered.

That's what I take out of it.

MEADOWS: Well, I think, here's -- it's not just in the House Intel. Jim and I have been part of testimony and briefings and questioning where that was reiterated not once, not twice, but three different times that they didn't believe that Mike Flynn lied.

So, here's what we have got. We've got a situation where we are a year and a half into this investigation. It started back in May of 2017 and here we are in December. If this is the best we've got coming out of Mueller's investigation, it is time that he writes the report, closes it out, and let the American people focus on what is important to them, which is really about making sure they keep their jobs and the economy and what the president has been delivering on.

So, it's time for Mueller to bring it to a close. Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end but it can come none too soon for most Americans.

HANNITY: It's amazing to me, Jim, as I read through this. Quoting The Washington Post, I'll give you one example, and they talk again about 18 USC 953, that's the Logan Act, and subsequent to -- they literally quote "The Washington Post", in an article. Prior to the defendant's FBI interview, members of president-elect's Trump transition team, I think they might be talking about Vice President Pence publicly stated that they had spoken to the defendant and he denied speaking to the Russian ambassador about the sanctions.

Look, I don't know what your guys' lives are like. I can tell you what my life is like. The number of conversations I have on a daily basis, if you ask me who I talked to yesterday, I will not be able to recall with any sense of certainty.

Most people live busy lives. I was there, I watched this. This was as busy as a time as anything else and I'm sure there are a lot of pleasantries back and forth. We're going to work on a lot of issues together, which would seem perfectly appropriate to me.

JORDAN: Yes. Look, and if they thought he said something that wasn't accurate, why not circle back with him. After all, he served our country, was a three star general. Why not circle back with him? And as we pointed out several times, the FBI, these key people, the same FBI who I think took something to the FISA court that they didn't check out themselves, those same people said we didn't think he was misleading us at all.

But if there was some kind of question, give -- circle back to the general and find out, instead of using it to get the information that looks like Mr. Mueller was trying to get.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Mark, go ahead.

MEADOWS: One other thing that we've got to realize, Jim and I have been in these interviews and testimony, there is a whole lot more that we can look at in terms of the conversations that FBI agents and previous agents have had that call into question whether they are being truthful or not than what we see with General Flynn. And this Logan Act, it's a relic of a bygone era. It was meant and designed to say, we want to make sure you are speaking on behalf of a legitimate government. It's time that we look at this in a very different light.

HANNITY: Yes. I think we have to look at in a different light.

I just gave you, Mark, a list. We just laid out. Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin, all of these people who lied before Congress, all of them. We know that they lied.

Then we have Hillary Clinton. James Comey wrote this exoneration in early May with Peter Strzok. He lied and said he wasn't beginning the writing of that exoneration. That's a lie by him. By the way, he also might have issues with the Espionage Act when he leaked information to the professor friend for the very purpose of getting it to the New York Times so that might spark the appointment of a special counsel. He should have the same legal jeopardies.

Hillary's, you know, mom and pop shop bathroom closet server, we believe at least six foreign entities hacked into it. We know it's a violation of the Espionage Act. We know that her aides emailed that very site and had email addresses from that site. I don't see any of them going through what a 33- year veteran, five years of combat veteran has gone through, guy that served his country.

Do you? Why is there this double standard?

MEADOWS: Well, there is a double standard it means if you are associated with the Trump team, the Trump campaign and the Trump administration, you come under greater scrutiny than a lot of other people that have been here and playing the game here in Washington, D.C. That must come to an end. It will come to an end.

Guys like Jim and I are willing to hold them accountable. But enough with the talk. Let's get Rod Rosenstein in here and make sure that he testifies and actually tells the American people what he said or didn't say.

HANNITY: Well, I have a tape. We played it the other night, Jim Jordan, of James Comey literally saying well, I lie, you know, I have lied and McCabe lied. But you can still lie and be a good person. The exact words of James Comey.

JORDAN: Sean, James Comey was saying he didn't want to come testify in a closed door session with Congress because of leaks. This is the guy who leaked the information to the New York Times to create the momentum for the special counsel. So, come on.

Mark is exactly right. You are exactly right. There is two standards, one for us regular folk, a different set if you are part of the political establishment. That's what drives Americans crazy.

HANNITY: All right. Thank you both. Freedom Caucus members Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan, we appreciate it.

JORDAN: Thank you.

HANNITY: We have a lot more on this breaking news with Mueller recommending no prison time for former national security advisor Michael Flynn.

We bring in Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, former Clinton pollster Mark Penn.

Mark, you have been extraordinarily critical of the process crimes that are involved here. We have in the last week talked to Jerome Corsi. He was offered a plea deal, 72 years old. If -- he doesn't take it because he says I can't lie under oath before God, which by the way, God bless him for having a heart to tell the truth.

But it would have made his life easier if he did. And in an interview with me here and on my radio show for an hour, he literally said they were telling him what -- they wanted him to say. If he just said it he wouldn't get probation. He wouldn't go to jail. His life would be great.

Now, he risks dying in jail. We have all of these process crimes but no underlying crimes.

MARK PENN, FORMER CLINTON ADVISER: Well, I think that's exactly right. I think what I observed is that the independent counsel's office, instead of getting people to sing is getting people to plead guilty to things so they can build a circumstantial case against the president in a report completely misusing the judicial process.

Now, look, 19 interviews with someone suggests maybe they didn't like what he had to say in the first ten. That is -- that is incredible number of interviews to get somebody to wind up. And let's all relax here.

If, in fact, General Flynn was colluding with the Russians, he wouldn't be getting no prison time. That means on its face, he was not colluding with the Russians. And if he had things to say about a transition team doing the transition, I'm sure they had communications with Taiwan, with China, with South Korea. I mean, this is what transition teams do.

HANNITY: During the whole Clinton impeachment issue, and you were working for the Clintons for years as their pollster. Do you remember there was never any proportionality? Here we have a guy that served his country 33 years, five years of combat. And he is the incoming -- you know, serving his country, national security advisor, and he is meeting with his future counterpart, literally three weeks away.

And they are having discussions and getting to know each other. And maybe he didn't remember. Maybe he didn't want to remember. I don't know.

But it's so insignificant to me. I know they are recommending no charges here and trying to help out he helped us here and here and here and it's a big mystery of the media.

If they had evidence of collusion, wouldn't we know by now?

PENN: Well, as I said, you would know it in the sentencing because it's not what he is being sentenced for. They wanted to get him to something so that when President Trump said, hey, maybe you should consider, you know, the Flynn case and the situation in totality, that, in fact, they would find something here that Flynn did, so they could make it look like the president was obstructing justice, when in reality here, the use of the Logan Act was outrageous.

The fact that FBI agents went to question him in the first place was really part of what seems to me, something of an effort--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Come on, unauthorized private diplomacy for a guy--

PENN: Well.

HANNITY: -- that's going to be in power in 20 days.

PENN: Right. And looking Senator Kerry went recently to visit the foreign affairs ministries of Iran themselves in person. So, obviously, somebody coming in and transition would be totally inappropriate to do this. But, remember, the Obama did not like General Flynn. They did not want him back in government.

HANNITY: Let me go to Matt Gaetz. We just got this in. Rudy Giuliani, the president's attorney has come out with a statement and he likened the offense in the Flynn guilty plea to spitting on the sidewalk with major repercussions for many. And he said that there was nothing in the sentencing memo at all to suggest collusion. Denounce the Mueller team and there was over zealous media inspired prosecutors and that quote, "they are sick puppies," your reaction?

REP. MATT GAETZ, R-FL: Well, I think that Mayor Giuliani had pretty stiff penalties for spitting on the sidewalk in New York during his time there. But the great irony, Sean, is that Robert Mueller has achieved the same outcome that Donald Trump was at.

I mean, Robert Mueller has essentially said to the court lay off of Mike Flynn. He is a good guy. If Trump said the same thing to Comey they apparently want to throw him in jail for it. It shows the double standard.

Look, we would not even be talking about Michael Flynn right now if it were not for the initial interviews he did with, wait for it, Peter Strzok. The very same Peter Strzok who had the insurance policy against the Trump presidency. The same Peter Strzok who said no we will stop him.

And most importantly, the same Peter Strzok who when talking to his girlfriend 10 months into this investigation after Michael Flynn's story had already been told was saying there is no there-there. There is no evidence of collusion with Michael Flynn or President Trump or anyone else.

This whole thing is a joke. Michael Flynn won't be facing any prison time but he would have faced no legal jeopardy at all if he just wouldn't have pled guilty because they would have never gotten a conviction with Peter Strzok as their star witness.

HANNITY: OK. Let's go through where we are here with the sentencing issues. And Mark, you actually had a really good column on this. All right so, Michael Flynn we got process crime, lying to the FBI. But the FBI we know didn't think he lied.

And they did surveil him illegally, unmask him illegally and leaked raw intelligence illegally but let's forget that part, you know, we got it illegally. All right. So, he has a process crime. Michael Cohen, taxicab medallions and taxes, that's where we got and he lied to Congress, OK? I listed all these Democrats that lied to Congress they don't get anything.

George Papadopoulos, again, two weeks, lying to Congress. Then we go to Paul Manafort. OK. Paul Manafort, loan application and tax issues. Then Jerome Corsi, you know, they want him to sign on to lying to the FBI.

Roger Stone, who knows what they are going to do with him. And I'm thinking are we going to apply this to the Podestas? Did they always for the FARA Act? Did they always are they going to look into it if they did it the right way? And they did all that -- I don't know that they have or haven't or anybody else that might have violated this?

Where is -- why are we here two years later where we are going back to 2007 and we're going back to 3 weeks before you are about to take the position and you're meeting with counterparts? Why are we here?

PENN: Look, we are here because an effort was begun to have an insurance policy against Donald Trump winning the presidency and, you know, I spent a year fighting the independent counsel for President Clinton. I thought that was wrong. I thought this has been wrong from the beginning the kind of pleas here where the crimes are created by the independent counsel.

Conveniently he gets them to plead in areas of lying where he wants them to plead after finding unrelated offenses. This is star chamber tactics. I've said that for a long time. You are seeing it come it to the fore. And with Flynn.

HANNITY: It's scary.

PENN: I think with Papadopoulos getting two weeks from a P.R.--

HANNITY: Stupid.

PENN: -- point of view I had to come forward with no jail for Flynn or he would have looked even worse. And this Mueller effort is a P.R. effort as much as it is a real effort.

HANNITY: OK. But here's what we know. Here's what we know. We know that Hillary had a private server, illegally. And we know she had top secret classified and special access programming information, congressman, on that server.

Then we know that an exoneration was written in May of 2016 but they interviewed her or 16 other people associated with those issues. And three days after the interview they basically laid out that she violated the law but they give her a pass. OK.

Then they begin this whole witch-hunt into the whole Russia thing. Long -- by the way, long before this December so-called discussion that Flynn had with his soon-to-be counterpart.

Here is what is interesting to me. Then we do have some Russia collusion in the 2016 election. We have Hillary and the DNC's bought and paid for unverified, uncorroborated dossier was that debunked. We know it was used to obtain a FISA warrant, four separate FISA applications against the Trump campaign associate.

We know that they lied to the FISA court. There were grand omissions in the FISA report. The bulk of information was Hillary Clinton's bought and paid dossier. They didn't tell the judges it was her document. We know that false information hookers peeing in beds was leaked to the American people before the election to influence their vote with Russian lies.

And then we know that it was used post elections to bludgeon Donald Trump and get the appointment of Robert Mueller because they had a media leak strategy followed by an insurance policy. And where is the -- when are these people going to jail? Never mind the intelligence abuses, surveillance abuses, et cetera?

GAETZ: Well, they are not. And the reason they are not going to go to jail is that Jeff Sessions was a low energy attorney general who never really brought the resources to bear to hold them accountable. It's deeply troubling. It's probably the reason why Jeff Sessions isn't there.

The real question, Sean, isn't whether or not there's a double standard. Your fact pattern lays that out. The question why is. I think that the inspector general gave us the answer. When he said that never before, never in the history of the FBI had he seen the same people involved in that Hillary Clinton investigation migrate over and start investigating the other contender in the presidential race Donald Trump.

And then lo and behold they end up on the Mueller team. And so, I think a big part of the reason why that there is this attack on the president is because you got people covering up for failing to do their job as it related to you Hillary Clinton or actively trying to help Hillary Clinton avoid consequences for her crimes.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: All right.

GAETZ: The personnel overly are outrageous. Jeannie Rhee --

HANNITY: Stay right there.

GAETZ: Yes, sure.

HANNITY: Joining us on the phone number one New York Times bestseller The Russia Hoax, the Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump Fox News legal analyst, Gregg Jarrett.

Well, I know you've read it. I read it now multiple times. And the more I read it the angrier I get. Because this is it. This is how we treat a guy that served his country all these years and put his family through hell and have to sell your house because you can't afford the attorneys to keep going in defending yourself.

GREGG JARRETT, LEGAL ANALYST: well, Representative Gaetz is correct that had this case been brought to trial Mueller would lose and Flynn would win.

I've read the sentencing memo, nothing about collusion. The addendum, very short, five pages, heavily redacted. It says Flynn helped in two cases, two areas. One, a criminal case not handled by Mueller, and, therefore, not collusion related. And the other area was discussions that the Trump transition team had with foreign governments including Russia. But that's not collusion either because the election was over.

So, you know, it sort of makes you wonder what's Mueller doing here? Is he going after people in the Trump transition team for a Logan Act violation interfering with foreign diplomacy?

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: How many times does the Logan Act--

JARRETT: That's absurd because the transition team is allowed to contact foreign governments.

HANNITY: The Logan Act 18 USC 1953, now they forget about 18 USC 793, the Espionage Act where I believe and you believe that both Comey and Hillary could very well, we believe they violated it, we have identified about 18 crimes with Rudy Giuliani that Hillary probably commit you had.

I mention I just went through the whole litany of everything that happened with the Clinton dossier. Real Russian collusion, really paid for, really designed and used to influence the election.

But let's got to Logan Act in particular because that's what they site here. How often has that been invoked that federal statute which prohibited unauthorized private diplomacy with foreign nations. Wouldn't an incoming administration official at this level, wouldn't it be normal to have contact with your soon-to-be-counterpart?

JARRETT: Yes. In fact, in my book I interviewed the author of an expert who wrote a book himself on transition and he said are you kidding me? It would be malpractice for an incoming administration not to have conversations with Russian and other governments. That's what they are supposed to do.

You have conversations to prepare the incoming administration and he laughed when I suggested that it could possibly be a Logan Act violation.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Let me -- let me ask--

JARRETT: Nobody has ever been prosecuted successfully under the Logan Act.

HANNITY: The night you released your book, when it finally came out, we had been telling the audience. I watched you write the whole thing. Do you remember the specific of the conversation we had before we went on the air? Do you recall?

JARRETT: You said that the premise would be proven true.

HANNITY: No, I did -- well, if I asked you the details of that conversation, how many details would -- this is big -- one of the biggest days of your life. This book I told you this book would go number one of the New York Times list and it did for six weeks in a row. And, but here is the point you wouldn't be able to recall, would you what we really talked about off air.

JARRETT: No, of course not.

HANNITY: So, how do they expect, how do they expect people to recall specifics in conversations with people? And what does it say about somebody like myself whose mother was a prison guard and my father worked in family court probation and all my cousins were cops, and two guys were deity that made it to the FBI.

What does it say if you want to cooperate with institutions that we grew up revering and you get it wrong and it's a political case this is how you are going to be treated? The only recommendation I could give somebody is don't help, don't open your mouth.

JARRETT: Right. If the FBI or Robert Mueller, God forbid, comes knocking at your door, do not talk to them. Go to the nearest lawyer. And you should not provide documents. You should not provide any information whatsoever. Because they will entrap you and smear you in a perjury trap.

HANNITY: All right.

JARRETT: You know, they play a game of got you. If you forget one conversation or one e-mail that they have their grubby hands on, they will charge you with lying.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: But this is -- but this is now--

JARRETT: And that's what they did to Michael Flynn. His recollection of a conversation with Kislyak was different than the FBI's version of events.

HANNITY: But the FBI--

JARRETT: Well, that's not a crime but Mueller makes it a crime.

HANNITY: And that's the point. And every single example we have from Michael Cohen taxicabs well, he did admit to lying to Congress. He changed this testimony. We'll out that aside. Tax issues, loan application issues with Manafort had nothing to do with Russia long before he was near Donald Trump and his life.

The same with tax issues with him. You look at all the other, George Papadopoulos, really? Two weeks in jail, again, another process crime. It seems like Mueller's goal at this point is to go after Trump and collusion in two different areas. Which is why he is trying so hard to tie people that I interviewed in the last week both Jerome Corsi and Roger Stone to WikiLeaks, an saying they were trying to get that information and then give that information to the Trump campaign.

Now, both of them have told me in strong terms that they never talked to Julian Assange, they never talked to WikiLeaks. They never talked to any representatives of WikiLeaks. But after the DNC leak, I assume they wanted the information. They were speculating that he might have more or in the case of Roger Stone he says a friend told him that he had more.

So, like the Pentagon papers case, even if they did have the information, it wouldn't be illegal for them to get it if they didn't conspire to get it and steal it or hack into somebody's system to get it, correct?

JARRETT: That's exactly right. Let's assume that Jerome Corsi or Roger Stone successfully made contact with Assange and gained information and passed it along to the Trump campaign that passed it along to Americans. That's not a crime. That's what I tried to do. That's what you did. You are the only one who successfully interviewed Assange. That is not crime.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: And by the way, and he said to me--

JARRETT: And the problem is that Mueller is criminalizing acts that are not criminal at all and weaponizing the system of justice for partisan purposes.

HANNITY: But didn't they illegally surveil, unmask, and leak raw intelligence on Michael Flynn to get to this point? Didn't they steal the information illegally? Isn't that how we got here?

JARRETT: Absolutely they did. And they unmask for a variety of individuals.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Who is going to be held responsible for that?

JARRETT: And none of those people who were involved in the unmasking have been properly investigated or prosecuted which is a crime. So, you know, there is a two-tier system of justice here. If you are friends of Bill and Hill and Obama you can do anything. If you are remotely associated with Donald Trump they will come after you.

HANNITY: All right. Last question and I think this important. Assange, if he didn't hack it himself and he was given the information, wouldn't the Pentagon papers' case hold for him similarly the New York Times published the exact same thing.

JARRETT: Yes. It probably would, although it's a debatable subject as to whether or not Assange qualifies as, you know, a journalist or a news organization WikiLeaks. But, nevertheless, you know--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Well, if he didn't hack it and he was given information which have been given to him in the past it would seem that the six-three Supreme Court decision the Pentagon papers case would apply to anybody, especially because that information then also was used by another news organizations.

JARRETT: If he were prosecuted, he'd have an excellent defense. Let's put it that way.

HANNITY: All right. Thank you all for being with us. All right. We have a lot more to get to tonight. We'll have more on the breaking news. Catherine Herridge now has been combing through Mueller's filing and she has found some very interesting tidbits.

Also, Sean Spicer, Dan Bongino, big breaking news night, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. This is a Fox News alert, Robert Mueller finally releasing his sentencing report a year later on general -- Lieutenant General Michael Flynn.

With more from Washington, she has been combing through the details. Look, I've read it over and over again but you still find little nuggets every time you read it.

CATHERINE HERRIDGE, CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It's definitely worth, the folks reading at home taking the time to read the documents themselves. It's not that long and they can reach their own assessments based on what's public. And also, Sean, was blacked out or heavily redacted.

Some of the things that now jumped out at me is that when you look at one of the first violations, which is lying to federal investigators, you know, if you just think back to October of this year, a senior FBI official was found by the Justice Department inspector general to have lied about sports tickets they received from a television journalist who was covering that department, yet there was no prosecution in that case.

And I think that goes to the idea that critics say there is a double standard in the Mueller probe. The second is this lying about work on behalf of the Republic of Turkey. This is a violation of something called FARA, the Foreign Agent Registration Act.

In this particular case, the special counsel makes the argument that General Flynn lied about his activities for the Republic of Turkey and a project his company was doing with them. Also wrote an op-ed on their behalf, lied about how that was initiated.

But for most people, FARA violations are kind of paperwork problems and once the paperwork is resolved and gotten in order, it does not result in a criminal prosecution.

And the third thing, if I could, that jumped out at me is that when you read sort of the statement recommending a reduced sentence for Michael Flynn for his lengthy cooperation with a special counsel, there is a reference to this January 2017 Washington Post story, I know you've been talking about it but this really is one of the important data points in the investigation.

It was the first time that there was a leak about Mike Flynn and the conversations he had with the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at that time. As I recall, Mike Flynn was outside of the country so his communications even as an American citizen would have been picked up by the intelligence community but in those circumstances, the American citizen's identity is hidden in what they call anonymized so they are just U.S. person one. But in this case, that's--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: If I may--

HERRIDGE: Yes, go ahead, please.

HANNITY: I don't mean to interrupt you but I think the audience needs to know, there is a process -- I understand he's out of the country -- but there is a process when we know that there is an American citizen on the line.

HERRIDGE: Correct.

HANNITY: That a process called minimization.

HERRIDGE: Correct.

HANNITY: They are supposed to not -- and more importantly, they're not supposed to identify -- they would usually identify as American citizen unless there was clear--

HERRIDGE: That's right.

HANNITY: -- terrorist talk or something so outrageous that it was a national security issue.

HERRIDGE: That's right. So, this is what they call the unmasking controversy that Republicans have been so focused on and in one case, the House intelligence committee found that a former Obama administration official had unmasked over 200 names, or their office had come in the course of one year. And that's highly unusual activity.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: In 2016, Samantha Powers it was over 300.

HERRIDGE: That's correct.

HANNITY: Yes.

HERRIDGE: So, the thing people need to know at home, is that when someone leaks the name of an American citizen whose conversations have been picked up in the courts of foreign intelligence gathering at the very least, that is a mishandling of classified information or a disclosure under USC 798. And those are criminally prosecutable actions, Sean.

HANNITY: But also, we know the Logan Act, for example, 18 USC 953 rarely invoked federal statute prohibiting unauthorized private diplomacy with foreign nations, but there's also talking to a future counterpart, it's pretty unbelievable. Catherine, great--

(CROSSTALK)

HERRIDGE: Folks at home can read the documents and decide for themselves whether they think it's an equal application of the law--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Easy ready.

HERRIDGE: -- or whether there was a separate set of rules. Yes.

HANNITY: All right. Great job for us tonight. Thank you, Catherine Herridge--

(CROSSTALK)

HERRIDGE: You're welcome.

HANNITY: -- in Washington. Joining us now, we don't have a lot of time. Dan Bongino, Sean Spicer. You know, I am glad about one thing in this document and that is they talked about his 33 years of service, five years combat duty. You know, retired three-star general.

But, it says, however, senior government leaders should be held to the highest standards. Dan Bongino, are we holding Hillary Clinton to the high standards? Are we holding James Comey? McCabe, Strzok, Page and the rest of this as Joe DiGenova said "bad cops, corrupt cops?" A few, not rank and file. Those at the top that abuse power or lied to the FISA courts. Do we hold them to the highest standards?

DAN BONGINO, CONTRIBUTOR, NRATV: No, of course not. I mean, this entire case was based on the dossier. Let's just go through the top of the FBI, people you're talking about. James Comey said it was salacious and unverified. Andy McCabe said they would have -- he's the number two at the FBI, said they would have had no case without the dossier.

Bill Price, the number three said they hadn't even verified it, that it was in its infancy. Peter Strzok who was the lead investigator at the FBI, in his own text said there was possibly no there-there. And Lisa Page, the lawyer in the FBI in (Inaudible) case, Sean, quote, said "It could be literally nothing."

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: I only have--

BONGINO: That's the upper level of the FBI on the Trump case.

HANNITY: I apologize to both of you, I only have 30 seconds and we will have you both back. I apologize because of the news. Last word, Sean.

SEAN SPICER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I would just say that the timing of this is what concerns me. The president had probably the best seven days of his administration between the G20, China, the USMCA signing, and the way that he is pitch-perfectly, he and the first lady have handled it--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: All right. We'll get back to this.

SPICER: -- to Bush presidency's funeral, it's a shame that this is happening now.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: I apologize to both of you. We'll continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: When you really look at this in its entirety and you've got a man with 33 years of service, five years combat duty, an entire year of his life ruined on a process crime, and all these other people go free. We are in the middle of a constitutional crisis - equal justice, equal application of our laws. We'll have more tomorrow. Let not your heart be troubled. Laura Ingraham, I wish I had an extra hour tonight.

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