Media plays defense for Joe Biden amid Ukraine scandal
Reaction and analysis from Fox News contributor Charlie Hurt and Women for Trump national co-chair Gina Loudon.
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," December 20, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
Jason Chaffetz, guest host: Welcome to this special edition of "Hannity: Democrats and the Deep State." I'm Jason Chaffetz in tonight for Sean.
With President Trump surging in the polls, impeachment is turning into a major political disaster for the left. According to a new survey, two-thirds of voters believe Democrats are more interested in the impeachment charade than actually passing legislation. Meanwhile, in the 48 hours after Wednesday's vote, the Trump campaign raised a whopping $10 million. And let's not forget, one way or another, President Trump will be acquitted by the Republican-controlled Senate. And that's not stopping Speaker Pelosi from trying to declare victory. Today, she told the Associated Press, quote, "He just got impeached. He'll be impeached forever no matter what the Senate does." Only one problem. Remember Noah Feldman, the constitutional law expert the Democrats hauled in to testify a few weeks ago? Well, he just wrote an op-ed titled Trump Isn't Impeached Until the House Tells the Senate. As of now, Pelosi is refusing to submit the articles of impeachment to the Senate for a vote. So, according to her own constitutional law expert, President Trump hasn't even been impeached. Either way, voters are not happy with the Democrats political stunt, as CNN recently discovered firsthand. Take a look.
[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]
Reporter: In Blair County, Pennsylvania, the impeachment of Donald Trump isn't hurting the president.
Female Speaker: No. I love him.
Reporter: Supporters say it's helping him.
Female Speaker: I think what they're doing is completely rotten. And I will vote for him in the coming election.
Male Speaker: You can help get reelected, actually.
Reporter: Voters here are predominantly white, working class, strong in their conservative beliefs. What do you think this will do for Democrats?
Male Speaker: I think just put a nail in her coffin.
[END VIDEO CLIP]
Jason Chaffetz: Joining us now with reaction is Texas Congressman John Ratcliffe and California Congressman Tom McClintock. Both sit on the House Judiciary Committee and I have the honor and pleasure of serving with them in the previous Congress. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us here tonight. Congressman Ratcliffe, I want to go to you first. I thought you had one of the great best points yesterday on the floor of the House in as you compared the contrast between what the House Democrats were saying and what the Senate Democrats were saying. Share that with us.
Rep. John Ratcliffe: Well, over and over again, Jason, we heard House Democrats saying the evidence is overwhelming, it's clear, it's undisputed. We have everything we could possibly need to impeach Donald Trump right now. And at the same time, you heard Chuck Schumer over in the Senate saying we need more evidence and more testimony for a trial over here in the Senate because he knew that he was being handed a house of cards and that, you know, and I think that Nancy Pelosi knew that as well, which is why she slammed the brakes on sending the articles of impeachment over. They know that home-court advantage goes away over in the Senate. It's not Adam Schiff, as both prosecutor and judge, it's John Roberts ruling fairly on evidence that they don't have. And that would make for a very short trial.
Jason Chaffetz: Now, Congressman McClintock, Nancy Pelosi is not sending the articles over to the Senate. What's your read and what's your take on? What does that really mean?
Rep. Tom McClintock: Well, what it really means is they're playing politics with this. They have been from the start. And people can now see that very clearly. She has no authority to hold up an act of the House. She has no authority that is superior to or independent of the House of Representatives. This is strictly a ministerial act - the act of transmittal. And she is now assuming to herself the power to veto acts of the House of Representatives by holding them indefinitely. Ironically, this is precisely the abuse of power and obstructing official acts of the Congress that the Democrats have falsely accused of the president of.
Jason Chaffetz: Now, Congressman Ratcliffe, is there even room for a more centrist type of Democrat these days, the so-called Blue Dog Democrat? We saw a Democratic defection now join the Republican ranks. But where are these reasonable Democrats?
John Ratcliffe: Yeah, I think that's the problem, and that's why you saw Nancy Pelosi do an about face in the last six months. She's not in charge over there. She's hostage to an increasingly socialist mob. It's the Rashida Tlaib's and Omar's and AOC's that are running the show over there. Democrats are petrified. They're being primaried to their left. They had to vote for impeachment, or they wouldn't survive their primary. There's no room for people like Jeff Van Drew, a moderate Democrat. You either have to join the socialist mob or you have to leave. And that's why he joined the Republican Party. And, you know, welcome to America.
Female Speaker: And Congressman McClintock, you know, Nancy Pelosi set out the standards for impeachment in March of this year, and suddenly she abandoned those, as Congressman Ratcliffe just said, is she really the hostage here to the Democratic far radical left?
Tom McClintock: Well, I can't read minds, but I can tell you this. We just found out how many moderate Democrats are in the House of Representatives. There were two, now there's one because Van Drew has switched to Republican. I think people need to be very, very careful this year of Democrats campaigning as moderate problem solvers who will reach across the aisles and work with the other party. The fact of the matter is that there are roughly more than 30 Democrats who campaigned that way two years ago. And we've just discovered it was a lie.
Jason Chaffetz: I've only got about 20 seconds for each of you. But Congressman Ratcliffe, Attorney General Barr has spoken out the last two nights on Martha MacCallum's show, The Story. Do you have any reaction to what the Attorney General Barr is adding as we look at this IG Horowitz report?
John Ratcliffe: Well, what he knows from the report is that regardless of how the predicate started, the predicate for a counterintelligence investigation to surveil the Trump campaign died. It died when exculpatory evidence came up and the Steele dossier proved to be fake and phony. But it continued by lying to the FISA court repeatedly, 17 times. So, the answer to the question about whether that was just some misguided effort or a plot is how did it all start? And that's why you see John Durham looking back at the efforts and the actions of people like Jim Comey and John Brennan to look and see did this start before the official Crossfire Hurricane date of July 31. I've seen classified documents that indicates that it did.
Jason Chaffetz: Well, your service, both on the Judiciary Committee and the Intel Committee is really insightful. I appreciate it. Congressman McClintock, I wish I had a chance to go back to you as well, but I got to wish you both a Merry Christmas. And thank you for again joining us tonight. Again, thanks to both of you. Tonight, even some Democrats are starting to realize that impeachment is not only bad for the country, but also a political nightmare. The infighting has officially begun. And last at last night's Democratic debate, Andrew Yang called out his own party. Watch this.
[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]
Andrew Yang: The media networks didn't do us any favors by missing a reason why Donald Trump became our president in the first place. If you turn on cable network news today, you would think he's our president because of some combination of Russia racism, Facebook, Hillary Clinton and emails all mixed together. But Americans around the country, no different. The more we act like Donald Trump is the cause of all of our problems, the more Americans lose trust that we can actually see what's going on in our communities and solve those problems. What we have to do is we have to stop being obsessed over impeachment, which unfortunately strikes many Americans like a ballgame where you know what the score is going to be.
[END VIDEO CLIP]
Jason Chaffetz: I love that analogy - already know what the score is going to be. Now, Yang's fellow 2020 contender Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard also had some strong words for members of her own party, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Watch.
[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]
Reporter: If they don't end up transmitting that, what message does that send about this entire process?
Tulsi Gabbard: I was surprised to hear that. Look, I think that you can't kind of just shift and change and make up the rules as you go along. If you're going to pursue this process, you've got to let it play out the whole way through.
[END VIDEO CLIP].
Jason Chaffetz: Joining us now with more is Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer and American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp. Thank you, gentlemen, both for joining us tonight. Ari, I want to start with you, because it seemed like Andrew Yang had a really good point and I haven't heard very many Democrats make it, but it seems to resonate even with a guy like me.
Ari Fleischer: Isn't it amazing if you make a point that says we need to focus on the American people and on working people and people who are trying to pick their way out of poverty and then make their way into the middle class, that's what the American people are focused on. And you sort of stand out on Democratic debate stage because you're different. What a night. I did fall asleep halfway through the debate, so I didn't watch it all.
Jason Chaffetz: Fair enough. Now, Matt, you heard what Andrew Yang said, but also what Tulsi Gabbard says. I mean, there are, I think, a lot of Democrats scratching their heads. The Democrats made the point that they had to rush, hurry up. They can't stand Donald Trump, but now they're not going to even transmit it. How do you read what's going on here?
Matt Schlapp: Look, I think the Democrats are in real trouble here. Republicans have made similar mistakes in the past. So, parties have been guilty of this. But the Democrats are way over their skis. They got so hyped up with their wins in 2018 that they forgot to listen to the voters. One of the reasons why the Democrats did so well in the House, not the Senate, but in the House, is because they were talking about practical problems like preexisting conditions. You know, we have really heard anything from the major from the majority in the House on practical solutions to problems that we've heard is is Trump hatred. And what they hate Trump for is something involving foreign aid. You know what, Jason? You know this -- you ran for Congress a lot of times -- the American people, they're not that high on foreign aid to begin with. So, it's the whole issue is kind of silly. And then if you look at USMCA, this renegotiation of NAFTA and the China trade deal, it reiterates that what a lot of independents, Democrats, and Republicans want to do is get back to this idea of focusing on the Chinese threat and making sure that the American worker is put first. And this is not really a Republican talking point, I can't believe the Democrats are just ceding the ground to President Trump, but I'm glad they are.
Jason Chaffetz: Ari, you're a communications expert, you're a spokesperson for the president. To the Democrats, is Nancy Pelosi making any sense to anyone by holding back the transmission of the articles to the Senate?
Ari Fleischer: This will go down as one of the greatest political mistakes the speaker has ever made. When you have the momentum of impeachment because your party earnestly believes in it and thinks it's the right thing to do, and it's urgent that they remove the president from power because the peril he presents, and then you sit on it, all you're doing is showing that this was a hollow exercise all along. So, what we know now is that impeachment began without a formal vote to authorize impeachment, and it's ending now with a thud. They don't even want to move it over to the Senate because they want to use it for some type of leverage. And there is no leverage to be had on this because it was a waste of time when it began. Now it's even more of a waste of time. Look, if I'm Mitch McConnell, if you want to match what Nancy Pelosi does, if she's going to delay, he should delay. And he should schedule the trial to begin ten days before the Iowa caucus and run right through the New Hampshire primary.
Matt Schlapp: I agree, Jason.
Ari Fleischer: If you want to play politics, play politics.
Matt Schlapp: I agree, Ari, with what you're saying, which is this whole impeachment thing has boomeranged on the Democrats so much that actually it's different from what we thought. Talking about it throughout 2020 will actually accrued to the president's benefit. Crimeless impeachment is now being matched with trial-less impeachment. And it just seems all so absurd.
Jason Chaffetz: No. Look, and I don't think they have a message. Real quickly, I've only got about 20 seconds for each of you. But is it a coincidence -- do we just think it's a coincidence that the USMCA came up for a vote immediately after this impeachment? Or did she just hold that in her pocket to cover the mess and this albatross that is over their neck in terms of impeachment?
Ari Fleischer: Yes, she's getting the pressure from the moderate -- so-called moderate -- members to get something done, and so she held it in her pocket. And it's something that President Trump is going to be running -- can run on and point to success. But it's not big enough to cover up the blemish of impeachment. And that's the problem the Democrats are going to have. Despite moving USMCA, this -- the Democrats, since they took the House, are going to been known for one thing, and that was wasting the nation's time with an impeachment.
Jason Chaffetz: Real quick. Matt, be real quick.
Matt Schlapp: She didn't want to go earlier in the year and USMCA because she knew that this creates hundreds of thousands of new jobs in America. She wanted to deny President Trump that economic impact. But guess what? This economy is rolling, and the USMCA is just going to add to it. And that's what voters in America care the most about what's going on with their family's financial situation. Let's face it, it is so much better than it was for all eight years of Obama's socialism.
Jason Chaffetz: Yeah. The USMCA was ready to go a year ago, but I think you're right.
Ari Fleischer: That's right.
Jason Chaffetz: She wanted to delay the economic impact going into 2020, but it's happening no matter what. Ari, Matt, thank you so much for joining us on this wonderful Friday night.
Ari Fleischer: Well, thank you. Merry Christmas.
Matt Schlapp: Merry Christmas.
Jason Chaffetz: Merry Christmas. Coming up, a major revelation in the FISA scandal that the mainstream media is ignoring. Kim Strassel and Greg Jarrett will break it all down. And later, Inspector General Horowitz hits the FBI for failures in another round of Senate testimony. Bret Tolman, Tom Fitton, and Sarah Carter will weigh in next.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Jason Chaffetz: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity." Now Inspector General Michael Horowitz's bombshell findings have cemented James Comey's legacy of disgrace, documenting his massive FISA failures and widespread surveillance abuses against the Trump campaign. And get this, the inspector general provided an answer to an even bigger question. What did President Obama know and when did he know it? Looking at the revealing passage that most of the media is ignoring, Comey actually confirms that in August of 2016, he did brief Barack Obama. Quote, "Comey said although he did not recall exactly what he said, he may have said there were four individuals with some association or connection to the Trump campaign."
And here's where it gets really good. Comey is actually claiming that after he briefed the Obama White House, including the president himself, that a presidential campaign may be working with Russia, quote, "No one at the meeting responded or followed up with any questions." End quote. Does anybody actually believe that? That the room was completely silent? But it gets even better because the report details that Attorney General Lynch and Barack Obama both brought up the issue of providing candidate Trump a defensive briefing. But Comey never did it despite the FBI giving one to the Clinton campaign. Just listen to the inspector general.
[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]
Lindsey Graham: Did they ever brief Hillary Clinton about efforts to foreign influences involving her campaign? Do you know?
Michael Horowitz: I've heard that but I don't know for a fact.
Lindsey Graham: They did. Good for them. And they stopped it. Was there ever a defensive briefing given by the FBI Department of Justice to Donald Trump about the concerns?
Michael Horowitz: There was not.
Jason Chaffetz: There was not. The corruption, the abuse of power could not be more clear. Now, thankfully the FISA court is finally taking notice of all this abuse because just today the court declassified another directive to the Justice Department ordering officials to identify previous surveillance requests by an FBI lawyer linked to the Carter Page warrant. But as the Wall Street Journal's Kimberley Strassel points out, why did the FISA court stonewall for so long? Remember, Congressman Devin Nunes laid this all out nearly two years ago and the court was suspiciously silent and even more unfortunate is the deep state's abuse of power is just the latest chapter in a long line of malfeasance and corruption inside the Washington swamp. As I lay out in a new piece on foxnews.com, it's up right now, the Democrat's pattern of spying on political adversaries is nothing new. From the IRS targeting conservatives to the Obama Justice Department spying on reporters, to the corrupt shifty Adam Schiff, weaponing the subpoena process, to collect phone data of the president's allies, the blatant hypocrisy of the left could not be more obvious. But the good news is we are inching closer and closer to holding those that abuse power accountable. FISA abuse has been exposed. The Durham probe is now a full-scale criminal investigation and a deep state reckoning is on the horizon. Joining me now for reaction to all of this is author of the fabulous book, "Witch Hunt," Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett along with Fox News contributor and Wall Street Journalist -- Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel. Thank you both for joining us tonight. Kimberley, I want to start to you -- with you. You have an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today. It really points out the problems on the side of the FISA court because they were put on warning nearly two years ago by Devin Nunes and yet they did nothing.
Kimberley Strassel: And yeah. It isn't just that he exposed this publicly. He actually reached out to the FISA court and I published in my column today two letters that he sent, one in February 2018, one in June of 2018, which he detailed the ways in which the FBI has misled the court. The second letter actually contained or had accompanied with it a classified letter that listed examples of this happening. And in both cases the FISA court just blew off the committee. Sent these very perfunctory responses that said they just didn't really want to know about it and as we know, they closed their eyes and ears to it until they no longer could avoid it because of the IG report.
Jason Chaffetz: No, and look, proving yet again that what Devin Nunes and the intel committee were putting out was the truth and what Adam Schiff was putting out there was just the blatant lies and misdirection. Gregg, I want to go to you because buried in this inspector general report, you know, 450 plus pages, is this idea that Barak Obama as the president of the United States in 2016 was given a briefing and that senior people in the White House did know that this was going on.
Gregg Jarrett: Yeah, as I pointed out in my book there was a text message between Peter Strzok, Lisa Page saying the White House wants to know everything we're doing on this. That's also repeated in the inspector general report. Look, you don't have a counterintelligence operation on an opposing party candidate and the president of the United States doesn't know. Of course, Barack Obama knew and James Comey is feigning amnesia and ignorance as he normally does. What's outrageous is, you know, the White House said you should give a defensive briefing. They gave it to Hillary Clinton but not to Donald Trump. Why? Because Comey wanted to continue to escalate his investigation of Trump and spy on the Trump campaign and of course he did so by lying to the FISA court, deceiving the judges, and concealing vital evidence and in one particular case actually a lawyer doctoring the evidence for the FISA warrant application to spy. This is appalling and the FISA court presiding judge, her reaction to this is sort of oh, kumbaya, you know, let us know in January what remedies you're going to take. For me, that should be the end of the road for the FISA court. It should be abolished and replaced with a new system that doesn't automatically rely on the FBI to be honest and trustworthy because they've proven they can't be.
Jason Chaffetz: No, it really is stunning. If things weren't bad enough for James Comey the idea that the president, the attorney general, the deputy attorney general, all recommended defensive briefings and they never happened. I've got just a few seconds left for each of you, but Kimberley, one of the concerns here is that they continue -- the Democrats have been spying at all levels.
Kimberley Strassel: Well, and the most recent example of course, as you mentioned, is Adam Schiff obtaining the phone records of the president's personal attorney and then publishing information about sitting congressmen and a reporter. I mean, Americans should be terrified when politicians are using the powers of the state to snoop on individuals and their rivals. This is the founders' worst nightmare.
Jason Chaffetz: No, and you do a great piece in the Wall Street Journal of highlighting this -- that they were warned at the court, they were given specifics, and the court did nothing about it. Kim and Greg, thank you so much for joining us tonight. Really do appreciate it. Also, tonight, big breaking news from Judicial Watch. They've filed a lawsuit against Congressman Schiff and the House Intelligence Committee over the phone records subpoenas targeting President Trump and his allies and even journalist John Solomon. Joining me now to explain more is Fox News contributor Sara Carter, Judicial Watch president, Tom Fitton, and former United States Attorney Brett Tolman. Thank you, all three of you, for being here. I actually want to start with Brett because this FISA court fiasco that we're looking at here, the federal -- the Department of Justice has duties and obligations under the law to update the FISA court, doesn't it? And at what point should they have actually cut off this investigation because they were gaining more information?
Brett Tolman: Well, Jim Comey says it was something that occurred, you know, levels below him. The reality is the FISA court is at a level that is at the highest levels of the department and at the bureau. So, he was where he needed to be and the FISA court knows that the deputy attorney general and the attorney general, as well as the director of the FBI, has to routinely review and reassess what they're presenting to make sure that their evidence is sufficient to justify further surveillance and further subpoenas in order to conduct the spying that they are authorized to do. In this case it didn't happen and now people are wondering why didn't they shut this down if their evidence was getting weaker and weaker as they went?
Jason Chaffetz: No, and I think that's why we have the attorney general and Mr. Durham looking into this further because the suspicion is really off of the charts and then you combine that with the court now asking the Department of Justice to provide more information about an attorney who changes the scope of an email in order to justify its existence. What an absolute mess. Sara, I want to go to you because Horowitz –
Sara Carter: Yes.
Jason Chaffetz: --- it was the day of the impeachment, so it didn't get much attention, but Horowitz went and testified in front of Ron Johnson's committee and provided even more details. What did we learn there?
Sara Carter: Well, Horowitz was saying this shouldn't have gone this far. The FBI should not have basically he said they should've pulled back. They should not have been spying on Carter Page. It absolutely shouldn't have happened. Look, this is something that Horowitz laid out in his report. I know everybody was kind of disappointed because Horowitz, they believed he didn't go far enough. How could there not be bias when we saw so many text messages that actually showed bias? I think right here what happened is Horowitz laid everything out and said look, this is what's going on. It's up to John Durham now and to others in the DOJ to continue this investigation and that's why it became so expansive. This is what we heard from Attorney General William Barr when he said this isn't just about the FISA. We're looking far beyond that. We're looking at the pretext of this investigation. Now remember, Carter Page, Carter Page did not have any opportunity inside that FISA court. No one does to have anyone represent him and they basically lied to the FISA court judges. So now it's going to be up to the FISA court, as well as to Attorney General William Barr on what happens next, what's the remedy next.
Jason Chaffetz: Yeah.
Sara Carter: In this whole process and I think come March when FISA comes up for renewal it's not going to be renewed unless there's dramatic reforms with the court or the court is changed altogether.
Jason Chaffetz: Now, Tom, Judicial Watch does some amazing work, very important work, you know, one of the great scandals I think is that Adam Schiff, in my opinion, overused his powers of subpoena and went and did some things by getting records of the president -- from the president's team, you know, of journalists, of Devin Nunes. Tell us what Judicial Watch did today in filing its suit.
Tom Fitton: Well, we asked under the open records, the general open records rights that Americans have for access to these documents. This was not speech or debate type covered activity. And we suit in federal court to get access to the subpoenas and these records. Overuse of power is a generous way of putting it. The question is, did he have the power to issue subpoenas? Was it a potential crime for the AT&T or whoever was directed -- whoever received these subpoenas to share the phone records with Schiff? And to make it even worse, he published these private phone records in his sham impeachment report, a real abuse of power. But quickly, I want to get back to the FISA court as well. Just don't think it's limited to the FISA court. We were in court earlier this week, Jason, on Hillary Clinton's e-mails. The Justice Department sent six lawyers over to try to shut us down. And the court's been very interested in how the DOJ and State Department lawyers may have been misleading it. This is a major issue with the Justice Department. They do what they can to get away with accountability and lying to the courts in across the board. And too often the courts give them a pass. Now, this FISA court's been asleep at the switch. We found out through our own litigation that the FISA court held not one hearing on any of these warrants targeting the president of the United States. If they're going to rubber stamp warrants targeting the president, what are they doing for the rest of the of the other Americans that end up before their court? Do you think they get full justice either? A terrible situation?
Jason Chaffetz: And one of the other things that really needs to change is that the inspector general needs the ability and the authority of Congress in order to investigate individual attorneys. Right now, he can't look at them. And that is a crying shame. Sarah, Tom and Bret, thank you so much for joining us tonight. I really do appreciate it. At last night's presidential debate, the Democrat candidates showed that they want to force government into every aspect of our lives. Herman Cain, Jeffrey Lord and Jenna Ellis will react next.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Jason Chaffetz: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity: Democrats and the Deep State." The Democrat 2020 contenders took to the debate stage last night where they put their revolutionary ideology on full display. Take a listen to the left's vision for America's economy in their own words.
[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]
Moderator: Apart from health care would hike taxes, an additional $8 trillion over the decade, the biggest tax increase since World War II. How do you answer top economists who say taxes of this magnitude would stifle growth and investment?
Elizabeth Warren: Oh, they're just wrong.
Tom Steyer: I'm in favor of undoing all the tax breaks for rich people and big corporations that this administration has put through.
Pete Buttigieg: Taxes on wealthy individuals and on corporations are going to have to go up.
Amy Klobuchar: Introduce sweeping legislation to put a price on carbon.
Bernie Sanders: We are going to increase personal taxes.
Moderator: Would you be willing to sacrifice some of that growth, even knowing potentially that it could displace thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of blue-collar workers in the interest of transitioning to that greener economy?
Joe Biden: The answer is yes.
[END VIDEO CLIP]
Jason Chaffetz: In case those proposals aren't radical enough, these candidates are also completely obsessed with race, gender and toxic identity politics. Take a look.
[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]
Andrew Yang: Our country is deeply misogynist and most all of us know that.
Moderator: Mr. Mayor, you said last month that the U.S. owes compensation to children separated from their families at the southern border. Are you committing as president to financial compensation for those thousands of children?
Pete Buttigieg: Yes.
Moderator: Do you support reparations for African Americans?
Pete Buttigieg: I support H.R. 40, which is the bill that has been proposed in Congress to establish a commission to look at reparations.
Moderator: Senator Sanders, you are the oldest candidate on stage and I'm white as well.
[END VIDEO CLIP]
Jason Chaffetz: Joining me now with reaction, T.H.E. New Voice, CEO Herman Cain, conservative columnist Jeff Lord, and senior legal adviser to the Trump 2020 campaign, Jenna Ellis, is joining us here in New York. Thanks to all three of you who are here. I always start with Herman Cain because there is a lot of talk about it wasn't 999. It was about raising taxes, spending more and raising taxes even higher. What was your reaction to that, Herman?
Herman Cain: My reaction, Jason, is memo to Bernie Sanders: I'm black. So what? The color of success is green. He doesn't seem to get that. And none of the people on that stage gets that. That debate last night with those people that were there who represented the Democrat presidential wannabes have taken over the Democrat Party. Moderates have lost and the extremist socialists, they have taken it over. Not one idea that they proposed is workable. Now, there's only two things standing in the way of them shoving these lunatic ideals down the throats of the American people. One, they have to get the nomination. That's why they are so lunatic in their ideas. And two, they have to get elected president. But based upon the way that they are destroying the Democrat Party, it's unlikely that even if one of them gets the nomination, that they are going to become president.
Jason Chaffetz: That is good news. Jenna, you're here joining me on set together. Identity politics, it seems to be the go-to issue for Democrats. They can't get enough about it. They talked about it a lot last night in that debate.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, unfortunately, they are catering to, you know, maybe the one percent extreme leftists of their party because normal Americans who love freedom and liberty don't care about identity politics. They care about results. And President Trump is winning in the economy. And that is a non-partisan issue that is for all Americans. And so, we're seeing success for the women for Trump, the black voices for Trump, all of these different coalitions, and now Democrats for Trump that was just launched last night for disaffected Democrats. And so, I would say to Andrew Young and Tulsi Gabbard, you know, when you're so fed up with your party for all of these extreme leftist policies that are socialist and that are completely antithetical to our U.S. Constitution and everything that America stands for, join team Trump, because this is for all of America.
And so identity politics, I don't think are going to win for the Democratic Party, but that's why they're not talking about policy, and that's why everyone, including Nancy Pelosi, is so focused on this impeachment sham, because they know that that's the only way that they're going to win at the ballot box. They're not going to win with these issues that their candidates are running.
Jason Chaffetz: Yeah. And Jeff, I mean, part of I think the issue is they don't have an economic message. I mean, how can they compete against the success of Donald Trump? But they did spend a lot of time talking about reparations not only for African Americans, but reparations for people that are here illegally. Is that going to be -- does that resonate with people?
Jeffrey Lord: No. And you notice the one thing they studiously ignore, which is the political party that supported slavery? That would be the Democratic Party. Which is the party that supported segregation for 100 years? That would be the Democratic Party. Are they suggesting at all that the Democratic Party and their candidates will pay reparations for this? No, no, no, no, no. They want to shift the blame elsewhere, shift the financial cost elsewhere. And one other thing, I noticed Joe Biden and his response on, yes, he would cut the jobs and all this. Joe Biden, you know, makes much being from Pennsylvania where I'm from, that little clip is going to be replayed over and over if he gets the nomination. He betrayed his home state. There there's at least 8,000 natural gas drilling wells in this state that employ thousands of people. He would throw them all out of work. Good luck carrying Pennsylvania if that's what you're going to campaign on.
Jason Chaffetz: All right. I've only got seconds for each of you. Going to Herman Cain first. Quick question for you. What is the message that the Democrats are trying to put out there? Hurry, quick. Can you even name what the message is?
Herman Cain: That message is, "We want to destroy America," period. That's the Democrats' message. Every idea will destroy America and destroy the prosperity that we are now enjoying under President Donald J. Trump.
Jason Chaffetz: Jenna, where is this headed? What is going to be the message that the Democrats are going to try to squeeze into the general election?
Jenna Ellis: "We hate Trump because we hate the American people, and we hate our Constitution." That's all they're after. [laughs]
Jason Chaffetz: Jeff, real quick, what's your take on it?
Jeffrey Lord: I can't say any better than that. This is about destroying America. They're out to do it, and they're on track.
Jason Chaffetz: Now, I think they have Trump derangement syndrome. I think they need to change the subject --
Jeffrey Lord: Yes.
Jason Chaffetz: -- because foreign policy and the economy is going exceptionally well under Donald Trump, and they don't have much to talk about. They're trying to sully -- dirty up Donald Trump, but it isn't going to work. Herman, Jeff, and Jenna, thank you. Have a wonderful holiday. Merry Christmas to us all.
Jeffrey Lord: Merry Christmas.
Jenna Ellis: Merry Christmas to Team Trump.
Herman Cain: Thank you.
Jason Chaffetz: Members of the mainstream media are starting to take notice of the Bidens' Burisma problem, but you won't believe how one host tried to spin the scandal. We have the tape. You'll want to see it.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
You both for joining us tonight. Now, Gina, I want to start with you because to hear Joe Scarborough say it, this is a political godsend that his son Hunter is being looked at. But there are a lot of legitimate questions about Hunter Biden and Vice President Joe Biden aren't there?
Gina Loudon: Very legitimate questions. I mean, we have to realize that this is exactly what the Democrats are trying to say about President Trump that has been proven completely untrue. We are talking about Joe Biden pressuring Ukraine to say that -- to put pressure on their prosecutor to not prosecute a company that his own son was actually doing work for -- the firm that his son was doing work for. This is actually the quid pro quo, or we might call it I guess kid pro quo for his son, Hunter Biden, to make lots of money. The Bidens have profited millions and millions of dollars off of what Joe Biden has done. I personally don't understand why they're not investigated and why they're not all in jail at this point. And I think most of Americans feel that way.
Jason Chaffetz: Now, Charlie, Joe Biden is kind of complaining that Republicans are unfairly picking on him. What's your take on that?
Charlie Hurt: No. You know that clip from Scarborough. Joe Scarborough is absolutely amazing. I don't know how you managed to connect all those dots to come up with that theory. Perhaps the only way that maybe all of this helps Joe Biden, is that it draws attention away from his ridiculous gaffes and the stupid things that he says and the stupid stories that he tells from from his time as a lifeguard. I don't know.
But the real the real scary thing about all of this is is that you have millions of people out there, Democratic voters out there, who have been lied to now by people like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Scarborough and Adam Schiff. They've been lied to for years now about how they were going to get rid of Donald Trump. They were going to impeach him and throw him out of office. And those people are --and they're still lying, of course, because you have to you've got to keep the lie going if you're going to tell a lie like this -- and, but eventually, those voters are going to realize that they've been lied to for three, four years. And when that reckoning occurs, it's going to be terrible. And I hope it's just as terrible for Joe Scarborough as it will be for Joe Biden and Hunter Biden.
Jason Chaffetz: Now, look, I think the Democrats have a problem. The economy is sinking. Foreign Policy is going well. The trade deals are now in place. They are making progress with China. They got the USMCA in place. And you look at the poll numbers, impeachment went absolutely the wrong direction for them. So, they have some problems --
Charlie Hurt: The Democrats are running against success in America.
Jason Chaffetz: They are. They are. They don't like prosperity.
[CROSSTALK]
Jason Chaffetz: Listen, I got to thank both of you. We're up against a hard break.
Charlie Hurt: Thank you, Jason.
Jason Chaffetz: But coming up after the break, Sean Hannity spoke at the action at the Student Action Summit today where he shared some life advice. You don't want to miss it. It's up next.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
Jason Chaffetz: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity: Democrats in the Deep State." Earlier tonight Sean Hannity went down to Florida to speak to young conservatives at Turning Point's student action summit. Here is some of the advice he had for them.
[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]
Sean Hannity: I was on ladders and I was doing construction and I'd be calling talk radio programs. And I -- one day I found out there might be a job in talk radio. And only in America can it happen that I start there and I can be here with you tonight and I want all of your hopes and all of your dreams and all of your aspirations to come to fruition as mine have and there's only one system of governance that will ever allow that to happen and that is freedom, that is capitalism. Don't ever live your life in fear. More advice from my dad. I don't care. I want you to go to the high dive and say all right, I'm going to jump, I'm going to be courageous. We are the land of the free and the home of the brave, right? So be brave and be courageous in your life. Don't be afraid to take chances.
[END VIDEO CLIP]
Jason Chaffetz: Great advice from Sean and many thanks to Sean for allowing me to host. I want to put in one more shameless plug for my book, "Power Grab: The Liberal Scheme to Undermine Trump, the GOP, and Her Republic." It's going on right now but most of all tonight I want to thank the men and women who are serving in our United States military. God bless you. Thank you for all your service. You're away from your families. We want to thank those families and thank those men and women. The United States of America is the greatest country on the face of the planet.
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