Joe diGenova: Jeff Sessions has a duty to fire Rosenstein

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Joe diGenova: Jeff Sessions has a duty to fire Rosenstein

Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz and attorney Joe diGenova weigh in on 'Hannity.'

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," April 11, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: All right, Tucker. Great show as always.

And welcome to 'Hannity.'

All right. In just a couple minutes, we will be joined by professor Alan Dershowitz and Joe diGenova. We're going to get some incredible legal analysis.

But tonight, disgraced former FBI Director James Comey is days away from kicking off the much-anticipated media blitz where he is likely going to hawk his new book of his. And warm up in the spotlight next to some of his favorite liberal friends.

Well, tonight, Comey is already in hot water after comparing the president to a mob boss. Really? We're going to break down this appalling analogy. We'll remind Comey tonight what a real mob boss looks like and you would think that a former FBI director would understand this but we'll give him an education tonight.

And also, an American-led response to Syria's a gas attack looms ever so present. The president is now sending a clear warning to Assad's ally, Vladimir Putin. He's pulling his ships out of the region.

And also breaking tonight, after eight months of DOJ stonewalling, the House Intel Committee Chairman Devin Nunes and the House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy were finally able to see the original document that kicked off the entire corrupt Russia investigation. OK, good start, where's the other 1.2 million documents that they have subpoenaed?

This only happened because Devin Nunes threatened Rod Rosenstein and the FBI Director Chris Wray with contempt and impeachment.

All right. We've got all of this and more an important breaking news opening monologue.

(MUSIC)
HANNITY: It's the moment liberals, the Trump-hating press have been so anxiously waiting for. Former disgraced FBI Director James Comey is ready to cash in on his very public hatred for President Donald Trump. Now his book tour kicks off on Sunday.

We couldn't have scripted this any better. He's sitting down for his first interview with Clinton sycophant turned ABC so-called news journalist, George Stephanopoulos. Watch this promo they're running.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS HOST: How strange is it for you to sit here and compare the president to a mob boss?

ANNOUNCER: This Sunday night on ABC.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Are there things that you know but haven't said that could damage President Trump?

ANNOUNCER: James Comey.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And to those who say you should have brought Hillary Clinton before grand jury?

ANNOUNCER: The exclusive interview everyone will be talking about.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Was President Trump obstructing justice? Should Donald Trump be impeached?

ANNOUNCER: Stephanopoulos, Comey, this Sunday night at a special time, 10:00, 9:00 Central on ABC.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Really? Mob boss, let's think about this. Of all the people, the former head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the person responsible for taking down actual deadly criminal gangs, shouldn't James Comey know better to make an outrageous comparison like that?

Since Comey clearly doesn't know what he's talking about, we're going to remind the former FBI director what an actual mob boss looks like, like for example Al Capone. Remember notorious gangster organized the illicit gambling, prostitution, tax evasion and, of course, was responsible for an untold number of murders, including seven people in one day which is now famously known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

And we got, oh, Lucky Luciano. He was responsible for widespread extortion, prostitution rings, bootlegging and also murder.

And last but not least, we can go on all night, look at John Gotti, convicted of 13 murders, also involved in racketeering, tax evasion, at least illicit gambling and, of course, obstruction of justice.

So, Mr. Comey, you're really going to compare the sitting president of the United States to a mob boss so you can make money, people that are tied to murder, drugs, money laundering, extortion, prostitution, loan sharking and all sorts of other racketeering crimes.

Why are you doing this, just to make yourself look good? Do you really need the extra money just to become rich and famous, just to make your point that you don't like Donald Trump?

I guess since Comey, if he's going to use the sweeping analogy, I've decided tonight we're going to use the Comey standard, I call it, and make some comparisons of our own. If Comey thinks Trump is a mob boss, he is in his eyes, well, let's talk about a family responsible for actual crimes. We'll call it the head of the notorious political cabal, of course, Bill and Hillary Clinton. The Clinton crime family.

Bill Clinton, as we've shown you many times, had been accused of severe sexual misconduct, harassment, even rape by Juanita Broaddrick. We know he lied under oath and we know he paid Paula Jones. We know he was impeached.

And meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, well, we know she committed crime. She should have been charged if we have equal justice under the law. She mishandled national secrets on that illicit private server, obstructed justice, destroyed evidence.

And Clinton wasn't alone in covering up her misdeeds. Look at Cheryl Mills on the screen. She was a witness in this email investigation, declared attorney-client privilege in order to abstain from answering any questions. Attorney-client privilege, imagine that.

A longtime Clinton aide, remember, Huma Abedin, who possessed classified information on her private computer uncovered in the Anthony Weiner underage sexting investigation.

And we got sketchy Terry McAuliffe. He directed his political action committee, remember, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars, an obscene amount of money, to the state senate campaign of Jill McCabe, the wife of, oh, Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. And, of course, he now obviously is out of that post and he got fired, and he sat on Huma Abedin's emails for months.

And, of course, Loretta Lynch. Really? We do believe that the former attorney general had a secret meeting on an airport tarmac with Bill Clinton in Phoenix just days before Comey clear Clinton?

And next, of course, we're going to look at the Clinton crime family. You have the Clinton bought and paid for dossier. That was used to get and three times renew a FISA warrant against the Trump campaign associate. This was authored by ex-foreign spy, remember, foreign national Christopher Steele working for Fusion GPS, hired by the law firm Perkins Coie at the request of the Clinton campaign.

And according to reports Clinton crony Sid 'Vicious' Blumenthal and others shopped that dossier around the State Department and to the media.

This brings us to Debbie Wasserman Schultz, OK, part of the same family, OK. She helped rig the primary for Hillary Clinton as head of the DNC, according to Donna Brazile. And Donna, of course, gave some questions before a debate.

Last but not least, you, of course, have the Uranium One scandal. Then-Secretary of State Clinton, along with the attorney general, Eric Holder, others in the Obama administration. Why would we ever sign off on giving away control of 20 percent of America's uranium to a hostile actor like Russia and a Russian state-owned company after the president of Uranium One pumped the Clinton Foundation with millions of dollars of cash, when we import 90 percent of our uranium?

The next, by the way, if we're going to go to crime families, let's look at the Mueller crime family. And, of course, we are now on day 329 of the Mueller witch hunt and there's still zero evidence of collusion. Imagine that. And now, we're talking about Stormy and Karen McDougal, oh, and even the NBC 'Access Hollywood' tape.

Let's start with Mueller. Remember this whole witch hunt started when Mueller's best friend James Comey leaked his personal, potentially classified notes to his friend who was a professor at Columbia who leaked those notes to the press, all as a purpose for setting forward the wheels in motion for a special counsel, which he got another best friend Robert Mueller. We'll have more on that in a minute.

But stay focused on Mueller. During Mueller's time as a federal prosecutor in Boston, four -- four men wrongfully imprisoned for decades framed by an FBI informant and notorious gangster Whitey Bulger, all while Mueller's office looked the other way. And Mueller was also responsible for the prosecution of the wrong person following the anthrax attacks after 9/11. That took place during Mueller's tenure as the head of the FBI. And, by the way, in that case with Whitey Bulger, $100 million payout and two of the four people died in jail that were put in there and they were innocent.

And then look at Mueller's merry band a Democratic donors. You couldn't find one Trump supporter to work on the special counsel case? Take a look at the side of your screen. Tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, not a single penny to Donald Trump.

And then you have -- why would anybody pick this guy? 'The New York Times' describes as Mueller's pitbull, Andrew Weissmann. His aggressive prosecution tactics have caused tens of thousands of people to lose their jobs, their livelihood, in the case against Andersen Accounting. That was eventually overturned 9-0 in the Supreme Court. He's also responsible for the imprisonment of four Merrill Lynch executives. That was overturned by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and he been accused twice that I know of a withholding exculpatory evidence by judges in cases.

And Weissmann also wrote a note to Sally Yates, remember, praising her for refusing to enforce President Trump's travel ban. 'The Wall Street Journal' reporting Weissmann attended Hillary Clinton's election night party.

Well, you want him hired as the pitbull to go after you in this never- ending wide -- with zero mandate witch-hunt of Robert Mueller? Because that's what's happening. Would you want that guy going after you with that track record and why would Mueller ever appoint that man?

And then also on his team, Jeanne Ray. She previously is done legal work for the Clinton Foundation, huge Democratic donor. Can we say conflict of interest?

Next up, OK, we have the disgraced Trump aiding lovebirds. There's Strzok, there's Page, who Mueller tapped to help with the investigation. And based on all the text messages that so far have been exposed is a lot more coming, hopefully, one day, it's apparent that they were out to get Trump from the very beginning and they're the ones that texted about having the insurance policy in case Donald Trump actually won and called them pretty much every nasty name in the book. And they got removed once their bias was exposed.

Last but not least, we have one other crime family we want to tell you about and -- well, this is near and dear to Comey's heart, we'll call the Comey crime family. He loves this analogy, let's stay with it. And during his tenure at the FBI, we all know about the special treatment that Hillary Clinton received from the bureau. Comey agreed to call Clinton's email investigation a ' matter' when it was an investigation, at the request of Loretta Lynch. Comey, with Peter Strzok and others, they wrote an exoneration in May before they even interviewed her or other witnesses in July, an exoneration before investigation.

And we also know Comey signed off on multiple FISA warrants against a Trump campaign associate, as did Rod Rosenstein, Sally Yates and others. And we know that Christopher Steele's phony dossier -- well, according to the Grassley-Graham memo, that was the bulk of the FISA application. Hillary paid for it, they never verified it, according to FISA law they should have, and according to FBI protocol. This is the very same dossier that John McCain gave to Comey after it was obtained by his associate David Cramer.

And fellow Comey deep state sycophant, then-CIA Director John Brennan, remember, he briefed Harry Reid on that dossier. Harry Reid leaked the details about these Clinton bought and paid for lies to the press.

Knowing what we now know about what is obvious deep state crime families trying to take down the president -- again, staying with Comey's analogy, aren't you now glad that Trump fired Comey?

This is clearly a guy that has his own self-aggrandizing, arrogant agenda who himself should be under investigation, who lied to Trump, mishandled the FISA court system, maybe even lies to the FISA court judges, we'll find out, leaked privileged government documents, failed to apply the law equally which should be everybody's concern.

And Comey is now set to make millions of dollars off this impending book tour, all while trashing the president the whole way.

I again I say to Mr. Comey, I'll make you an offer you can't refuse come on this show you get the whole hour. I'm on 570 radio stations with 40 million, with 15 million listeners, promote your book. And I'll ask you tough fair questions that the American people deserve answered.

Also tonight, we cannot forget the U.S. preparing to respond to Syria's gas attack against innocent men women and children, the president sending a clear warning to the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump taking to Twitter earlier today: 'Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria get ready Russia because they'll be coming nice new and smart and you shouldn't be partners with a gas killing animal who kills his own people and enjoys it.'

And then the president continued: Our relationship with Russia is now worse than it has ever been and that includes during the Cold War. There's no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do and we need all nations to work together to stop the arms race.

Much of the bad blood with Russia is caused by the fake and corrupt Russia investigation headed up by all Democratic loyalists, people that work for Obama, Mueller is most conflicted of all except for Rosenstein who signed the FISA and the Comey letter, and there's collusion so they go crazy.

So, it's time for Putin to wake up and President Trump is nothing like President Obama. You will see. We'll keep you posted on any of these developments out of Syria as they happen an action could be imminent. Ed Henry will also join us with a full report.

We have another breaking news story we are following, this is a major development after eight months of unprecedented DOJ obstruction. Under the threat of contempt and impeachment, Rod Rosenstein finally today at the last hour cooperated with the House Intel Committee Chairman Devin Nunes and his request to see the original document that started this Russia investigation. Nunes and Congressman Trey Gowdy and congressional staffers, they met with Rosenstein at the DOJ today. We're finally able to view a still redacted version of the document that was used to start this Russia investigation.

Good step. Why do we have to push it to this point and it is it amazing how Rosenstein, all of a sudden, starts cooperating after others are threatening him with impeachment and then threatening Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress. You know what? It shouldn't have to come to this. It's a big step and Chairman Nunes is now saying it allows him to continue the House Intel investigation into the DOJ and the FBI abuses.

However, we can't forget this is one tiny piece of the evidence, Congress and we know Rosenstein is the one that's obstructed. He didn't want us to know anything about FISA abuses and Congress is subpoenaed and demanding that 1.2 million documents be turned over. So, there's a long way to go.

Nunes, Gowdy, other members of Congress, they have constitutional oversight authority.
All right. A lot to get to tonight. Joining us now, former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Joe diGenova, author of 'Trumped Up: How Criminalization of Political Differences Endangers Democracy', Professor Alan Dershowitz.

Professor, good to see you.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ, PROFESSOR, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: Thank you.

HANNITY: You've had a busy 36 hours. Let's go back a little bit to yesterday, and I also really want your take when an FBI director compares a sitting president to a mob boss.

DERSHOWITZ: Well, let's start with that. I mean, it really proves the point of my book 'Trumped Up'. You can find evidence to create or manufacture crimes against anybody if you determined to do it. That's what's wrong with the special counsel, because they come in with targets painted on people's back.

And people like Comey and people like Mueller are going to find crimes. Whether they have to go and try to find a technical violation of banking laws on which they can hook pornography stars or things of that kind, and even your account which was obviously metaphorical and in part proves again, if you're determined to find crimes against anybody, you can do it. That's why we have to restrict and limit the application of the criminal law to clear unequivocal crimes and don't use it against political enemies unless the evidence is just overwhelming.

HANNITY: Joe diGenova, let's bring you in.

JOE DIGENOVA, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: First of all, it is now clear that no matter what James Comey says about the president of the United States, which are disgraceful comments by a former FBI director and he has besmirched forever his term as FBI director, what we now know and have known for almost two years is James Comey is a dirty cop. He is a completely dirty cop who was compromised from the very beginning of the investigation in the Hillary Clinton.

And it is also very clear that Rod Rosenstein is so incompetent, compromised and conflicted that he can no longer serve as the deputy attorney general. And Jeff Sessions now has an obligation to the president of the United States to fire Rod Rosenstein after Rosenstein authorized the unconstitutional and unprofessional search of the office of Michael Cohen in New York.

Jeff Sessions, tomorrow morning, should fire Rod Rosenstein. It is not up to the president to fire Mr. Rosenstein. It is Mr. Sessions' job and he has a duty to fire Rod Rosenstein.

HANNITY: Professor Dershowitz, you have said that the raid on Michael Cohen's hotel room, his home and his office was a violation of his constitutional rights. Do you agree with Joe that it's the attorney general's job to now step in and fire Rod Rosenstein?

DERSHOWITZ: I would do it differently. I think Rod Rosenstein is recused. I don't he can serve on an investigation in which he will end up being the key witness. And if I were a lawyer for Donald Trump and I am not, I'm just saying what I would say about anybody, I would be making a motion in front of a judge -- first, I'd make it into the Justice Department to recuse Rosenstein, then I'd make it in front of a judge.

You cannot be a prosecutor and you cannot be a witness in the same case.

But the thing to me that's most disturbing tonight, I am a lifelong member of the American Civil Liberties Union. I was on the national board of the American Civil Liberties Union. To its everlasting disgrace, today, the American Civil Liberties Union went out of its way to justify and defend the raid on the lawyer's office, never saying anything about the risks that it does to confidential communications, because most of your viewers don't know how taint teams work. Joe diGenova does because he was a great United States attorney.

HANNITY: Explain what a taint team is because they take all this information, everything.

DERSHOWITZ: Including the material that is ultimately found to be confidential and lawyer-client. And then somebody in the government reads the material, including the material that's confidential, and then the person says, oh, but this material is confidential although I've read it. I'm not going to give it to the prosecutor. I'm never going to tell anybody about it, and then suddenly it would have caused leak.

Let me give you an example, just to bring it home. So, we now -- we know they raided the office to look for this stuff about the 'Access Hollywood' tape. I can easily imagine the conversation between President Trump, then candidate Trump and his lawyer Michael Cohen. President Trump says, look, that was an illegal tape of me. I didn't know the microphone was on. California requires two parties to consent.

Is there anything we can do now to stop that tape from coming out, lawfully because it was illegally obtained?

Now, then the government gets that conversation --

HANNITY: Does it have anything to do with Russia? Does this have anything to do Russia?

DERSHOWITZ: No.

HANNITY: I mean, seriously, I mean, you're laughing because it's so absurd.

DERSHOWITZ: It's so absurd.

HANNITY: All right, Joe, we have so much to get to we're going to carry you guys over the next segment.

But, Joe, I want you to weigh on the taint aspect of this and more importantly, the person that has attorney-client privilege that that would be the president's right to invoke, not Michael Cohen's.

DERSHOWITZ: Right.

DIGENOVA: Look, I must tell you, I find this raid of Mr. Cohen's office so appalling in every sense -- legal, ethical professional responsibility. What Rod Rosenstein and Bob Mueller have done is weaponized in an unconstitutional way the criminal investigation process which should be sacrosanct.

And what they have done is they have conducted and are conducting now something that is called an in terrorem grand jury. They are using a grand jury to terrorize people. That is an abuse of power. Mr. Rosenstein is responsible for it.

And while I agree with Alan wholeheartedly that Mr. Rosenstein cannot possibly ethically participate in this, it will make no difference to him because he now has an animus toward the president of the United States, which disqualifies him from the performance of his duties and Jeff Sessions should fire him tomorrow morning.

HANNITY: All right. Well, when we come back, these are very, very important legal questions. We'll continue with Joe diGenova and Professor Dershowitz on the other side.

Also, Newt Gingrich is slamming the FBI raid on Michael Cohen. Wait until you hear who Newt is actually comparing them to. A lot of information, a lot of news and we're watching Syria as we speak, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Earlier today, while appearing on 'Fox and Friends', former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich had harsh words for the Mueller investigation and the FBI's tactics.

(BEIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, R, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: The fact is, that Rod Rosenstein has not done his job. He has not supervised Mueller. This whole thing is an absurdity.

We've now had one Paul Manafort and his wife in their pajamas at 3:00 in the morning, having the FBI break down the door. We've had this real last week, Cohen, the lawyer have the door taken off the hinges at 6:00 in the morning.

We're supposed to have the rule of law. It ain't the rule of law when they kick in your door at 3:00 in the morning and you're faced with armed men and you have had no reason to be told you're going to have that kind of treatment. That's a -- that's Stalin. That's the -- that's the Gestapo in Germany. That shouldn't be the American FBI.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right as we continue with Joe diGenova and professor Alan Dershowitz, these tactics are not American. That's the point. This is -- this is what we expect in Venezuela. This is not the United States or anything.

So, my question to you -- what is the president now do? Because I don't think you can in good faith ever talk to Robert Mueller anymore.

DERSHOWITZ: I think that's right. Look, nobody should ever talk to a prosecutor unless they have absolutely no alternative. No prosecutor is trying to help a person who is a subject in an investigation.

Just ask Martha Stewart what happens when you talk to prosecutors. But he may have no choice.

HANNITY: That's horrible.

DERSHOWITZ: Yes.

HANNITY: Was that lying into the FBI, not the underlying crime?

DERSHOWITZ: Right, right. And that's what happens and that's, of course, why they want him to come and testify because remember, you can be charged with perjury for telling the truth. If somebody else gives a contrary story and the prosecutors decide to believe the other person, you can end up in a perjury trap for telling the truth.

HANNITY: It's -- these are unbelievable times. You know, I remember during the Clinton impeachment, people like Professor Dershowitz, Joe, was saying where's the sense of proportionality? Where is the prosecutorial discretion and in a lot of these things?

DIGENOVA: Yes.

HANNITY: I worry for the country because the president no longer can trust Mueller. What is his legal team to do here? Because now I would argue they've now got to go on offense and they've got to make their case and they've got to understand that it seems like there's no topic that is off the table here.

DIGENOVA: Well, as a result of the tactics authorized by Mueller and instigated by Mueller in New York, with the raid of the Cohen office, and as a result of the manner in which they raided the Paul Manafort home, it is now clear that Mueller is acting in bad faith, that he has surrounded himself with literally a bunch of legal terrorists, and that they are conducting an in terrorem grand jury. They are not interested in getting facts from the president of the United States through an interview. They are trying to trap him into a perjury trap or simply get information that they can send to Rosenstein to transmit to the House of Representatives for impeachment.

Those are improper methods for seeking to question the president of the United States. The president should refuse to cooperate with them completely. No more documents, no testimony. And if necessary, he should also take the Fifth Amendment.

HANNITY: Here's my next question then.

DIGENOVA: Take the Fifth.

DERSHOWITZ: I don't think he should take the Fifth, let me explain why.

HANNITY: You don't?

DERSHOWITZ: If he takes the Fifth, they can give him immunity and then they can compel him to testify and the evidence can be used against him in an impeachment proceeding because the privilege against self-incrimination doesn't apply in an impeachment proceeding. So, I think it's a mistake.

But he could take the Sixth. Let me explain how he does that. What he says is, I would love to testify, I have nothing to hide, but my lawyers have told me that under no circumstances will they allow me to testify. I don't want to lose my lawyers. I have a right to be represented by counsel and I have to listen to my lawyer's advice.

HANNITY: What about, Joe, I laid out -- look at the team that Mueller's put together. Why would anybody who's supposed to be fair, balanced and objective ever hire Andrew Weissmann?

DIGENOVA: Yes.

HANNITY: With one of the most atrocious records of any lawyer that I've ever read about, and frankly even Mueller, going back to Boston and the anthrax case. These are not small cases here.

DIGENOVA: Let me say I agree with everything that Alan said. I just take a different view of why the president should take all legal steps necessary to avoid testifying.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ, PROFESSOR, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: I agree with that.

DIGENOVA: And by the way, if Mueller attempted to immunize him, I happen to believe that there are legal arguments that would make the president not have to comply with an order to make him testify before a grand jury. But let's put that aside.

Mueller is now, has no legitimacy. The tactics that they have chosen to use against a president of the United States, against whom there is no evidence of a crime and never has been from the beginning, the use of those techniques has delegitimized this investigation.

Here's the other thing that's going on. Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein and Christopher Wray are doing mortal damage to the institutions that they represent. The American people know what's going on. They are watching this, and they are not happy.

And I must tell you, Robert Mueller, I used to think was a decent guy and a guy who had a great career. He is destroying his reputation through the thuggish tactics which he has authorized and through the people that he has surrounded himself with Andrew Weissmann--

(CROSSTALK)

DERSHOWITZ: But let me remind you--

HANNITY: Last word, yes, sir.

DERSHOWITZ: -- let me remind you where this began. Let's go back in time. The Clintons were being investigated for Whitewater. What he did end up with? It ended up with a perjury charge for not disclosing an alleged sex relationship with a woman that had nothing to do with the alleged underlying crime.

HANNITY: Yes.

DERSHOWITZ: And we allowed that to happen. And some of the same people who are complaining today were pushing that kind of thing, including some of the senators and congressmen.

HANNITY: These circumstances, Joe, I here you signing in, go ahead.

DIGENOVA: No, I am just saying that I agree with Alan. And I think the one thing we shouldn't do is repeat a mistake.

DERSHOWITZ: That's right.

DIGENOVA: And I just have to tell you that what Bob Mueller is doing and has done is destroying the Department of Justice. And for Jeff Sessions to sit there like a bump on a log and do nothing about it is disgraceful.

HANNITY: I think we all agree on that.

DERSHOWITZ: And I would take it one step further. I think Jeff Sessions engaged in wrongful conduct by not telling the president before he was appointed that he's going to recuse himself.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: I concur.

DERSHOWITZ: The president would have never would have appointed him. The president doesn't want a part-time attorney general.

HANNITY: I agree.

DERSHOWITZ: If he would have had a nice conversation saying I appreciate you're recusing yourself but I need a full-time attorney general.

He should have appointed Joe diGenova to be the attorney general.

HANNITY: Well, maybe Joe or maybe you, professor. All right, guys, thank you. Very smart analysis. Our audience needs to hear from both of you.

When we come back, the media's anti-Trump agenda hitting now new lows. Michelle Malkin, Dr. Gorka, they're next as we continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Living up to its anti-Trump reputation, the liberal mainstream media they've have gone totally off the rails over the FBI's highly questionable raid on Michael Cohen, and of course, President Trump's harsh criticism of Robert Mueller witch hunt. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, CNN: Do you feel like we are on the verge of a Saturday night massacre here? Because what would be the point of firing Rosenstein if it's not in order to have some sort of impact on Mueller and the investigation?

CARL BERNSTEIN, POLITICAL ANALYST, CNN: We are in a constitutional crisis. The President of the United States has made clear to those around him and those who were closest to him in the White House and among his friends that he is determined to shut down this investigation.

MEGHAN MCCAIN, CO-HOST, ABC NEWS: We are pontificating about some that hasn't happened. That's going on a lot of unnamed sources. So I don't think that we should get too far ahead of our skis. I do think everything you're saying about what would happen if he fires Mueller, I've said, Lindsey Graham have said it's political suicide.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

MCCAIN: I want to present that there would, I think there would be rioting in Washington, D.C. I think it would be--

(CROSSTALK)

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, ABC NEWS: That would be fun to watch, I have to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right. Joining us now to react to all of this, the host of the Michelle Malkin Investigates CRTV, Michelle Malkin. Former deputy assistant to the president and Fox News national security strategist, Dr. Sebastian Gorka.

All right. Michelle, there is so much here. I'm just going to let you take it because I know you've got a lot to offer.

MICHELLE MALKIN, HOST, CRTV: Well, the fact is that the resistance media is shooting blanks. And when they are using cross hairs imagery, I mean, they have no self awareness. These are the people went -- who went nuts with Sarah Palin over crosshairs, remember that?

And now you've got Whoopi Goldberg essentially rooting for riots. I recall a time before the election when the left and the leftists in the media lectured America when they were so confident that it was going to be Hillary Clinton that we had to accept the election results. Remember this? And we couldn't have any kind of civil unrest. We needed civil order.

And now they are cheering for riots. As a result of their empty, empty conspiracy theories. And they are refusal to accept reality. I mean, if you are familiar with "The Caine Mutiny," the novel, Captain Queeg was the crazy guy onboard the ship who was on this fishing expedition for strawberries that he couldn't find. That's Robert Mueller and that's Robert Mueller's enablers in the media as well.

HANNITY: You know, the complicity here is very key because the media not looking at the FISA abuses, not looking at Hillary's, we know she committed felonies. We know that she was exonerated without an investigation. We know she paid for the dossier. We know that the judges, the FISA judges were lied to, Dr. Gorka.

Their focus on Russia, Russia, Stormy, Karen, and whatever else, now the Access Hollywood tapes, they are complicit in all of this. They don't report the news anymore. They don't do investigative work anymore.

SEBASTIAN GORKA, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGIST: But Sean, I'm not sure they ever really did. I mean, look at the last eight years, what did we see during the Obama administration? Just outrageous sycophancy. Not once -- not one smidgen of corruption and they actually towed the line despite fast and furious, IRS, Benghazi, and now they are excited, excited about lawyer-client privilege being broken for the first time in American history with regards to a presidential lawyer.

They live in a fever dream, Sean. They can't get over Watergate and they are desperate, desperate to get back to the days of Watergate. And the fact is they see their mission as one thing, Sean, to take down a Republican president.

That's not the job of the media. But that's what they think they are doing. And they are detached from reality because compare that to what the average person outside the bubble is lived through in the last 15 months, and they are loving it. From the economy, to ISIS, to the crushing of illegal migration across the southern border. These people--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Nobody ever -- I think we're the only show that has reported all of the good news. And I put my list up above. I will bring it back this week.

GORKA: Please. Please.

HANNITY: Yes.

GORKA: Now look, Sean, look, I just came back from L.A., and I'm meeting with people in California who are finally actually optimistic that they can get some sanity back into the people's republic. Why? Because they saw a president who has broken all the rules and is bringing us back to where we should be as a nation. That's California, Sean.

But these people live in their little cosseted, Kevlar coated bubble and they will never understand it. They are fueling this hatred, Sean, pure hatred.

HANNITY: What do you, what advice do you give the president, Michelle? He is his best advocate, he is his best spokesperson, he is his best defender? Does he go out directly now to the American people? Does he just let his lawyers go out there and do it? What would you recommend?

MALKIN: Well, he has always trusted his own instincts. And clearly there has been a housecleaning, housecleaning I think that was in order. And he is just going to, you know, let Trump be Trump. I think that's what going to have to happen here.

And as long as he has a direct conduit to the American people, that's why it's important. That he keeps speaking his mind. Whether it's impromptu at tax reform conferences where he throws out the talking points and instead, talks about what people were very concerned about at that moment, which was the invasion that continues to happen on our border and pulling out all of this stuff--

(CROSSTALK)

GORKA: Sean, can I add one thing?

HANNITY: Yes, go ahead, Dr. Gorka.

MALKIN: Yes.

GORKA: One thing for the president, we need more surrogates. He's the best communicator but when I was in the White House, it was just Sean, me, Kellyanne and Sarah. We need everybody out there. Stephen Miller, Peter Navarro, more surrogates telling the success story.

HANNITY: OK. Guys, great advice. We appreciate your time. All right. When we come back, Ed Henry with a live report from the White House on President Trump's potential military action. Could be any minute against Syria. That's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. New developments tonight concerning President Trump's potential military action against Syria and the Assad regime as the result of the gassing of innocent men, women, and children.

From the White House, Fox News chief national correspondent Ed Henry who had a news on that front. A lot of expectations, Ed.

ED HENRY, FOX NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Sean. Remember, on Monday, President Trump said a decision would be coming in 24 to 48 hours. That puts us right about now which is why the U.S., Russia, and Syria, all the militaries of those nations preparing for the possibility at least of military action.

In fact, the U.S. has a guided missile destroyer in position off the coast of Syria. You see it there. The USS Donald Cook, roughly 75 tomahawk missiles on board, 20 surface-to-air missiles. Other air and military power on the way, as well.

Russia has about 11 warships in the vicinity of its naval base in Syria that have been put out to sea in recent hours as Russian officials declare they are ready to engage any U.S. or ally warships that fire on Syria.

That tough talk from Russia came after the president tweeted today, quote, "Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart! You should not be partners with a gas killing animal who kills his people and enjoys it!"

Now Sarah Sanders insisted the president was not telegraphing military action. Remember, he was sharply critical of the Obama administration for doing that. She pushed back on claims from Russia that the chemical weapons attack was staged by a Syrian rebel group even though Defense Secretary James Mattis who came to the White House today to brief the president on the latest military options was noncommittal on whether he can say with absolute certainty that the Assad regime is to blame. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you seen enough evidence to blame the Assad regime for this most recent chemical attack, have you seen evidence, are you confident to make that assumption?

JAMES MATTIS, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: We're still assessing the intelligence ourselves, and our allies. We are still working on this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: But Secretary Mattis quickly added that the U.S. military stands ready to provide all military options of the commander in chief, Sean.

HANNITY: All right. You know, a lot of this has come down to, in a lot of different ways, OK, what is America's role? And I think the president has been very clear. He doesn't want to be an interventionist. He doesn't believe in nation-building. But we saw that the president well, last time, very emotional reaction. I don't think anybody can look at those images of women, children and innocent people being gassed--

HENRY: Yes.

HANNITY: -- and not say that only the United States of America is probably capable of putting an end to it. The only thing that it will work is military force but in no way is this nation-building.

HENRY: That's right. This president has said in fact that he's trying to learn the lesson of the previous president who put out the red line in Syria but did not enforce it. So it's one thing to have rhetoric. You have to follow it up if you're going to lay that red line out there with military action.

This president did it last year after the chemical attack. You're right. But this time, the question is going to be, what is the medium to longterm? Is it just short-term military action and then moving on? Because as you know, the president has also said he wants to get out of Syria long- term, Sean. He doesn't want to stay for nation-building.

HANNITY: All right. Let's go to the Comey book for just a second here and get some reaction. I tried to make a big point on this tonight and that is very clear.

When you have a former FBI director comparing a sitting president of the United States in the release of his book to mob family, mobs that are responsible for murder, extortion, money laundering, constitution drug dealing, I used the Comey model, if you will, tonight. That's what we are going to say. Fine, we'll talk about the criminal -- the Clinton crime family. What is the reaction been in D.C. tonight over Comey's analogy?

HENRY: Well, there is some shock about this, number one, because it certainly makes it seem like James Comey is much less of an honest broker than he has portrayed himself in the mainstream media when he says things like that. If, in fact, that's what he is telling ABC News in their special to come.

The other key point that I'm hearing from Republicans on Capitol Hill who have been investigating the possibility of a second special counsel is that James Comey is a fine one to talk because even before this book has come out, there are some big developments.

You have Andrew McCabe challenging James Comey's account in some ways, and Loretta Lynch, the former Obama attorney general, has challenged his account as well. So he has his own problems with the truth, James Comey. And let's not forget another big development is coming--

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: A lot of issues. Wait until next week. We have a lot on James Comey.

HENRY: And what's coming out, guess what, the inspector general report is coming up from the Justice Department, Sean, and it might not be good for James Comey. So that may coincide with this book tour.

HANNITY: All right. Ed Henry at the White House. Joining us now with reaction, author of the new book ' Reaper: Ghost Target: A Sniper Novel,' former brigadier general Tony Tata. Also with us, retired CIA senior intelligence officer Sonoran Policy Group vice president, Daniel Hoffman.

Mr. Hoff man, I'll start with you. I think we're obviously a little closer. It looks like it's happening. You know Russia better than anybody. They pulled their ships out earlier today. Obviously they are expecting something.

DANIEL HOFFMAN, RETIRED SENIOR INTELLIGENCE OFFICER, CIA: They are. And I can tell you from the perspective of a CIA officer who serve, I served in Moscow for five years and in the Middle East. Our intelligence community is on a full court press, you know, collecting intelligence on Russia's actions, right now military and diplomatic. And then what they might do in response to our military action.

HANNITY: Yes. All right. General Tata, at this point, with all the bluster from Moscow, not Putin himself, when you -- when Russia starts pulling their ships out, they obviously don't want to be collateral damage here or involved in this. So would you say that the threats that they are making, Moscow is making, though, to take our missiles out of the sky, is that an empty threat?

TONY TATA, RETIRED BRIGADIER GENERAL: I don't think so. I think what they may be doing is trying to save face with Syria as they remove all possible threat from, you know, U.S. airplanes, jets, missiles, that could be coming in.

And I would just like to say, unlike with the Democrats have been trying to do in this country for the last 16 months which is to remove a duly elected president, regime change is not our goal in Syria.

In fact, what we should be doing is, and what we are doing is applying the elements of national power, diplomatic information, military, economic to enable our national security strategy which is to essentially prevent weapons of mass destruction and to have international order based on the rule of law.

HANNITY: Real quick. Last exit question. Are you both convinced that this was Assad and Syria? No chance otherwise.

(CROSSTALK)

TATA: Absolutely, I think Syria.

HOFFMAN: A hundred percent.

HANNITY: You both answer the same, a 100 percent.

HOFFMAN: Yes, sir.

HANNITY: All right, thank you both. We appreciate it. We're watching that closely.

When we come back, former speak -- I'm sorry -- Speaker of the House Paul Ryan announcing he is not seeking reelection. His reasons, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY: All right. Earlier today, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced that he will not be seeking re-election. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL RYAN, R, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Today I am announcing that this year will be my last one as a member of the House. To be clear, I am not resigning. I intend to fulfill my serve term as I was elected to do, but I will be retiring in January, leaving this majority in good hands with what I believe is a very bright future.

My kids weren't even born when I was first elected. Our oldest was 13 years old when I became speaker. Now all three of our kids are teenagers. One thing I've learned about teenagers is their idea of an ideal weekend is not necessarily to spend all of their time with their parents. What I realize is, if I am here for one more term, my kids will only have ever known me as a weekend dad. I just can't let that happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: I understand that. I've worked nights all my career. And unfortunately, I would say I totally get it, Mr. Speaker. We wish you the best in all that you do.

Unfortunately, that's all the time we have left this evening. But remember, this show will always be fair and balanced. I am loving it that the news media is having a meltdown like Alka-Seltzer in water because I use the Comey standard. I guess to catch the nerve. Let not your heart be troubled. She's here.

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