Nunes: CNN, Daily Beast are going to run for cover
House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes on taking CNN and The Daily Beast to court over false accusations.
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," November 25, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
Sean Hannity:
All right. Welcome to Hannity. Busy night tonight. We are tracking several big breaking stories, including new information on the FISA abuse report. Fallout surrounding another massive lie from oh, the president calls her Pocahontas Elizabeth Warren as she's now almost as bad at lying as your corrupt media mob and even the congenital liar, yeah, the corrupt compromised Adam Schiff. We're going to tell you all about a new investigation also into creepy sleepy quid pro quo Joe and a lot of details.
But first, in tonight's monologue, we start with a closer look at the mainstream media mob, and they are a mob, and their allies in the Democratic Party, because over the past week we have witnessed more of the same. Madness now consumes pretty much 99 percent of media in this country. Now, to be a Democrat, or part of the mob, there's no objective truth in your, "rage Trump every second of every day," world. You have to be a member. You have to have zero intellectual honesty, selective moral outrage only, no common sense, no reason, and breathtaking hypocrisy.
Now, the mob's nonstop coverage of the congenital liar, Schiff, and his impeachment charade -- it wasn't just maddening, it was also full of lies and outright propaganda, misinformation. They spent an entire week digging for evidence that doesn't just exist and, predictably, breathlessly [sound effect] hyping up testimony filled with, let's see, conflicting, confusing statements, almost all of it on hearsay conjecture. And what are people's opinions about a transcript? We don't need their interpretation, because we actually get to read it ourselves and decide for ourselves. None of it would be admissible or ever count in evidence in a real court of law. Here is a small sample of how sick, ugly, twisted, and despicable they really are. Take a look.
Female Speaker:
Trump allegedly abused his power for private gain by pressuring Ukraine.
Female Speaker:
-- abuse of office --
Male Speaker:
Yeah.
Female Speaker:
-- for Trump's personal gain at the expense of us.
Female Speaker:
He used the security and the international relationships that we are required to have for the security of our country as a bargaining chip for his own personal gain.
Female Speaker:
President Trump extorts a partner who's under duress, for his personal political benefit.
Male Speaker:
-- we're talking about here is a bribery extortion scheme. Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, extortion is extortion and bribery is bribery.
Sean Hannity:
They're talking about Joe. Oh, now, somehow at the very same time, these very same people -- follow me here -- they have literally bifurcated, cut in half, their brain. They have to literally shut off one half of their brain and downplay video evidence of the real corruption that they're acting so outraged about that, in this case, has incontrovertible overwhelming evidence. In other words, there really was a quid pro quo, but it was with Joe, 30330, shaking down the country of Ukraine and bragging about it.
Now, you're not getting a billion dollars unless you fire the prosecutor who've investigating my zero-experience son. "Wow, you're not getting the billion unless you fire that guy, because you're investigating him." There's no experience, and he's making millions and millions of dollars.
Now, stop for a second. How can the same people all last week, and the mob, and the media -- how can the same people in the news industry -- they're journalists -- be so outraged at President Trump for doing nothing, zip, yet totally, completely ignore the biggest slam-dunk case of what they say that they are so outraged about? You have to ignore the indisputable fact that Hunter Biden -- he was making millions and millions of dollars, saving on the board of a corrupt Ukrainian oil and gas company. You have to ignore the fact that Hunter had zero experience in oil, gas, energy, or Ukraine. You'd have to ignore the fact that Hunter Biden was hired just weeks after his father was appointed to lead the White House policy in Ukraine. You have to ignore the fact that Vice President Joe Biden leveraged a billion tax dollars, and bragging about it, to force out a Ukrainian prosecutor, the same one investigating his son. That is all -- that -- none of that is in dispute. But the mob and the media said, "This is one big -- this is only a conspiracy theory. Nobody has ever really proven it. Nobody's investigated it." We are, and we're going to get to the bottom of it. Take a look.
Male Speaker:
Mr. Vice President, President Trump has falsely accused your son of doing something wrong while serving on a company board in Ukraine. I want to point out there is no evidence of wrongdoing by either one of you.
Female Speaker:
There's no proof whatsoever that Joe Biden did anything wrong, or that Hunter Biden did anything wrong.
Female Speaker:
Trump's claims about wrongdoing here are unsubstantiated. We have looked. Lots of outlets have looked.
Female Speaker:
Trump is making a wholly unsubstantiated claim when he alleges corruption by the Bidens. There is no evidence of any wrongdoing. In reality, Joe Biden was the one working to purge corruption from Ukraine.
Male Speaker:
-- an utterly baseless theory --
Male Speaker:
-- visa vie Joe Biden. There's no evidence, nor has there ever been any evidence, that he was doing anything but trying to get the Ukraine government to crack down on corruption.
Female Speaker:
Leave Joe alone. Just leave him alone. The Burisma, the Biden probe, it's a bunch of BS.
Sean Hannity:
Now, that's how despicable and corrupt the Democrats and the mob are. How is it, "No evidence, we've all looked." If you looked, and you'll hear Joe bragging, "You're not getting the billion," he's leveraging the money. And if you look closer, watch Hunter Biden on GMA. What did he do? He said, "No, I have no experience. Well, I once was on a board at Amtrak." Oh, there's a ton of experience. This level of groupthink is not only despicable. What you just watched is dangerous. They're [sound effect]. They're losing it.
Now, I say, "mob and the media," for a reason. They are a mob with a mob mentality and a mob mindset. They don't care about their breathtaking hypocrisy, obviously. Their hatred of Trump -- all that is superior to everything else. They don't care about the lies that they're telling, the propaganda they're spreading, the conspiracy theories they're spinning, the hoaxes that they continue to perpetrate: one right after another, after another, after another, because they're in their little bubble, little echo chamber. There's the whole rest of the country that doesn't live in D.C., New York, L.A., and San Francisco. And their bubble is filled with every second, minute, hour, of every 24-hour day Trump rage, psychosis, venom. And that has resulted in this endless stream of fake hysteria, lying, propaganda, misinformation, smearing, slander, distortion, and everything in between. They have been crying wolf for three long years. And, by the way, they've not done a thing for you. We, the American people, not one thing have these people done except bring us to the brink of impeachment. Wow, take a look.
Male Speaker:
I have not seen anything like this since October 20th, 1973, when President Nixon fired Archibald Cox.
Male Speaker:
-- Nixon --
Female Speaker:
-- Richard Nixon --
Male Speaker:
-- Watergate --
Male Speaker:
-- echoes of Watergate --
Male Speaker:
-- a giant step towards impeachment --
Male Speaker:
-- impeachment --
Female Speaker:
-- impeachment --
Male Speaker:
-- impeachment --
Female Speaker:
-- impeachment --
Female Speaker:
-- impeachment implications are now in the air --
Male Speaker:
The President will be removed from office.
Female Speaker:
-- a bombshell --
Male Speaker:
-- bombshell --
Female Speaker:
-- bombshell --
Male Speaker:
-- bombshell --
Female Speaker:
-- bombshell --
Female Speaker:
-- bombshell --
Female Speaker:
-- bombshell --
Male Speaker:
-- bombshell --
Male Speaker:
-- bombshell stories dropping seemingly every day.
Female Speaker:
-- he will resign the presidency --
Female Speaker:
-- warming to the idea of his resignation --
Female Speaker:
-- he should resign --
Male Speaker:
-- resign --
Male Speaker:
-- resignancy as the wall is closing in, and he's lashing out --
Male Speaker:
-- as he feels the walls closing in --
Male Speaker:
-- closing in --
Male Speaker:
-- you can feel the thread being pulled. You can feel the clothes starting to come off the emperor. I believe this is the beginning of the end.
Male Speaker:
Donald Trump's done. He's done. There's no question about that.
Sean Hannity:
Selective moral outrage, and that's what the mob looks like. It's sad, it's sick, it's dangerous. When the facts don't fit their narrative, they just lie. They lied for three years about Trump, Russia, the collusion hoax. They lied about the allegations against Justice Cavanaugh. Anyone ever say they're sorry? They lied about Covington High School students like, oh, Nicholas Sandmann. By the way, Nicholas Sandmann, I predict, is going to be one of the wealthiest kids in the country pretty soon. They lied about Ukraine. They're lying about the Bidens. Every single day, they lie when they say that they're journalists. They're not journalists. And yet they have the gall -- oh, they always want to criticize us. Look at fake-news CNN. Look at all their phony reporting. They're actually using -- well, this guy wouldn't have a job, he's so bad at TV. This low-rated stenographer of Jeff Zucker, their president. His name is Humpty Dumpty. That's what I call him. He dedicated an entire segment -- he doesn't have, I don't think, a million viewers on his show -- to his sparsely watched Sunday show, critiquing our coverage of Schiff's impeachment charade, calling the Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election a conspiracy theory. The problem the Ukrainian court determined otherwise, and maybe you'd want to go and look at what politico said on January 11, 2017, and read about Alexandra Chalupa, Ukrainian embassy in Washington, and how successful they were at interfering, helping Hillary, and trying to hurt Donald Trump. But 10 minutes later, then they feature a guest suggesting that President Trump is a destructive cult leader using mind control on his supporters. And humpty, he's just one of many of the monitors taking order from their leader, their fearless leader, fake-news chief Jeff Zucker. Their whole purpose of this low-rated, last-place, existence so-called news network channel is to, like, attack the channels that are successful.
And, if it wasn't so sick, it’s actually pretty funny. It’s very entertaining to me. In order to deflect from their own constant lying and their own conspiracies and their own hoaxes, well -- and, of course, their anti-Trump bias every second of the day -- they just lie, and more and more they claim others are guilty of what they do every day, all day. So, we’ve got a real crisis of information in the country, make no mistake. Fake-news CNN; Area 51 -- yes, Roswell Rachel Maddow’s conspiracy network -- MSDNC, a whole channel that tries to duplicate what she does. They have zero fidelity to truth, zero fidelity to truth and nothing but the truth, to the rule of law; equal justice under the law; equal application of the laws; equal application of standards -- Joe and Hunter. That’s why it is up to us, I guess.
Fine, they’ll leave it to us, the number-one show on cable news, thanks to all of you. We will remind them that Ukrainian interference in the 2016 elections actually happened. That’s why we will vet quid pro quo Joe and Hunter and the rest of the radical extreme socialist Democratic field. They’ll never do it. That’s why it’ll be up to us to call out, yes, the compromised, the corrupt, the congenital liar Schiff and the Schiff show for what it really is: just another effort to smear President Trump, undo a duly elected president, and, by the way, we’ll kick it all off with either hearsay or opinion witnesses and a hearsay non-whistleblower whistleblower who was communicating, apparently, with Schiff’s office early on.
Look at this report. January 2017, Washington Times. This individual might have actually benefited from one of President Obama’s final directives. Wow. Doing to the next president that which you didn’t want in your administration, giving whistleblowers new protections against the executive branch. This came in the final weeks of the Obama presidency, and as a Washington Times columnist put it, quote, “This is in stark contrast to when he entered office in 2009.” And Obama waged a war against this community, and his administration prosecuted nine whistleblowers under the 1917 Espionage Act, more than double that of all other previous administrations combined.
But the mob -- “Well, President Trump is bad, and, well, Obama is a saint.” Again, it’s crystal-clear. They have an agenda, zero fidelity to truth, an unwavering allegiance to their own far, extreme, leftwing socialist agenda. And now, he’s a congressman vowing to take the Daily Beast and fake-news CNN to court, House Intel Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes. I’ve got to be honest, I know more about this than maybe you want me to reveal, so I will let you say it in your own words. I saw the report about you; I happen to know a lot of it is outright lies. Now, what are you planning to do?
Devin Nunes:
Well, Sean, like we’ve seen so many times over the last three years, every time House Republicans on the Intelligence Committee come up with real information and put it out there, what do they do? They smear the messenger. And the problem that CNN has this time, and the Daily Beast, is -- look, I understand the last week and a half -- it was a disaster for them. It was a train wreck for them. So, do they have to do? They had to come out and say, “Well, look, Devin Nunes was actually the one that was meeting with all of these Ukrainians.” So, sorry, CNN, it’s totally false.
So, we put out a very clear statement after the story came out on Friday night saying it’s demonstrably false, total fake news, and I will tell you, Sean, for all of the last three years, including the Russia hoax to the Ukraine hoax, this is the mother of all fake news stories. There is not one bigger than this. And so, next week we are going to take them to court. They will have an opportunity to come to court so that they’re -- we can subpoena each other; we can get discovery; we can sit people down for depositions. And I have a bet for you, Sean, CNN and the Daily Beast are going to run for cover. They’re going to fight this. They’re not going to show up in court. They’re not going to accept service. So, look, it’s -- but at the end of the day, I’m going to track them down, and I’m going to hold them accountable, because this is --
Sean Hannity:
See --
Devin Nunes:
This has just gone on for too long, and this is the only way we’re going to be able to get retribution and get -- and be able to seek fairness and transparency in the media, is by holding them accountable.
Sean Hannity:
I applaud what you’re doing, I really do, and actually, I’m pretty close to doing the same thing in some ways myself, which I won’t talk about tonight. But as a public figure, our standard is high. Absence of malice. Look at Nicholas Sandman. I would say the odds that this kid is going to be worth hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars is pretty high, because they lied about that kid. Even when the facts came out, they kept lying. And I would suspect that they're going to want to settle and have nondisclosure agreements at the end of it. It's harder, but it's important. I think we're getting to a point that they've got to be held accountable. How spectacular is the lie on, say, a scale of one to 100, the lies that they told about you?
Devin Nunes:
Well, your scale of one to 100 would not be -- they would blow the scale apart because it would be a thousand. So, look, I don't know how to describe it better. I made a clear statement on Friday night, “Demonstrably false and scandalous fake news.” Look, there were five other agencies, media agencies, that had this same fake news story that decided not to run it two months before. We have others that had the same story. So, look, I think it's also a little bit fake news, Sean, that these media companies have been -- they tell a story so often it just becomes true, that, oh, you're a public figure. Well, we’re public figures, but really, if you have reckless disregard for the truth and actual malice -- and, I mean, are you kidding me? Have you been watching CNN or reading the Daily Beast for the last three years? I mean, if they have malice towards anyone, I mean, obviously the president they have the most malice for, but clearly, they have malice towards myself and the House Republicans. They just can’t --
Sean Hannity:
Oh, yeah, they don’t like you. They don’t like me either. I have lawyer recommendations. I considered Lin Wood; he represents Nichola Sandmann. Charles Harder; remember, he won in the Gawker case. I’d like to see these guys get a lot of work, and I think they might. Congressman, thank you for sharing. We're going to watch very closely what happens with this suit.
Also, tonight support for impeachment is plummeting, especially among independents. that's why one Washington Post reporter is actually claiming Democrats on the Hill -- they're starting to get cold feet about this whole impeachment vote. Told you last week was a disaster. While Republican support for the president has solidified, Democrats are running scared. Here with more, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy. I will say this, and I've been hard on your Republicans when they're weak, and they were weak -- 65 show votes on repeal and replace, Congressman. But last week was a week that I actually said, “Wow, they’re -- they did amazing.” You should be very proud as their leader.
Kevin McCarthy:
I'm very proud of the whole team. I'm proud of Devin. Devin’s standing up because CNN -- what they're doing to him is an outright lie. They know it, and they're trying to repeat it, but Devin is one who will stand up. The Republicans themselves have been standing up, and I'm very proud of the whole Intel Committee. They did an excellent job, and what you're finding is exactly what you just said. the polls are dropping with independents, but now I'm seeing they're dropping with Democrats themselves. Schiff is losing because America knows he's lying. That's what the hearings brought forward.
Sean Hannity:
Okay, let's talk. So, do you think -- there's 31 House Democrats that are in Trump-won districts in 2016. Are they going to jump over the cliff with a guy that lied to us for three years and Nancy Pelosi, speaker in name only, that doesn't want to lose that title?
Kevin McCarthy:
You know, before we left there was a very interesting article in Politico that those Democrats were going to their leadership complaining because there's ads running in their district about impeachment, and they feel they're getting no cover, and they can't defend themselves. I've watched Democrat after Democrat; they go back into their districts after voting for impeachment, saying they didn't come to Washington to impeach the president because their town hall meetings are not going right. Now, Schiff just came forward with a letter saying he will send a report to Judiciary when we get back next week. Now, the Republicans in the minority will have a report as well to go forward. It’ll be very interesting if the Democrats can hold enough votes for it, but I know Nancy Pelosi. She can hold them tight together, but come next November, I think they'll have an awakening not just from independents, but from Democrats and all Americans alike to throw them out of office.
Sean Hannity:
All right, we're going to watch this very closely. I think they all jumped out of the airplane, and it's going to be a little hard to get back up to where the plane is. Just a little simple principle. Gravity; you fall. Great job, Leader McCarthy. Thank you for being with us. All right, December 9th, we know the FISA abuse report will be released by the Inspector General Horowitz. An obvious effort to get ahead of the story; now we're seeing anonymous sources playing down the report in the New York Times, Washington Post. Evidence is clear. Multiple warnings, we know, were given to the DOJ and the FBI -- multiple warnings. Hillary paid for this dirty dossier. It's not verified and not
verifiable we find out and if the report does not find what is obvious, what we already know, premediated fraud against the FISA court, I'd say we're screwed as a country for a lot of reasons.
Joining us now, Fox News contributor Sara Carter and Carter Page. Let me turn to you, Carter Page because your name -- you lost your constitutional rights. You have told me you served your country. You -- every time you went abroad did you or did you not come back and talk to our intelligence people and give them everything they wanted and did they not at times actually ask you to do things for them?
Carter Page:
I've served my country for over a quarter century, Sean, and I've always done the best I could, and when I was asked to help my country, I always did that.
Sean Hannity:
After a year of surveilling you, you're not under arrest. Obviously, they found nothing. Do you think you were used to get to Trump?
Carter Page:
No question. There -- it's on the face of it it's absolutely clear and, you know, you were talking with Congressman Nunes about knowledge of falsity and reckless disregard for the truth. I mean, that's exactly what the DNC did with their fake dossier and this entire fraud which then colluding with the FBI and DOJ. So, it's totally out of control.
Sean Hannity:
Okay. So, what are your next steps?
Carter Page:
I'm planning a very serious battle plan. And actually, with regard to this IG report we're going to have a lot of fights --
Sean Hannity:
Yeah, by the way, we're at the point in the process where people mention it are apparently being told what's said. That’s where some of these leaks are coming from. Have you been given that opportunity?
Carter Page:
Absolutely no opportunity whatsoever, and I'm thinking about ways of fighting back, potentially even a court injunction, and we'll see what happens. I'm talking to --
Sean Hannity:
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't tell me you're going to delay it.
Carter Page:
I'm not going to delay it.
Sean Hannity:
You're going to kill me if you delay it.
Carter Page:
I'm not going to delay it. I promise but I -- you know, I'm also talking with Senate Judiciary. I haven't gotten a full final answer on that. I think it's been totally one-sided across the board. I would like to also at that 11 December hearing have a say as well.
Sean Hannity:
You feel you were smeared, slandered, used by people for the purpose of getting at Donald Trump?
Carter Page:
That's who they were really looking to get. So, absolutely.
Sean Hannity:
Otherwise you'd probably be in jail after a year of surveillance, right?
Carter Page:
And really there's tons of perjury traps. I mean, that's what they grilled me on. So, --
Sean Hannity:
Let me go to you, Sara Carter. All right. We know it's premeditated fraud. We know interrogatory Steele I don't have any idea if it's true, the FBI later said 90 percent of it's proven false. They used it anyway and they were warned repeatedly. How could they ever come out with anything less than premeditated fraud committed on a court to spy on him and take away his rights and to spy on a president, a transition team, and a candidate?
Sara Carter:
Well, remember, Sean, inspector general Michael Horowitz is basically going to lay out the facts. The facts as he's collected them. He doesn't have the same kind of purview that John Durham will have, especially in a criminal probe where he can subpoena witnesses, impanel a grand jury, look into the issues that we've been reporting on. For example, John Durham has now expanded his probe into the Pentagon, into the office of Net Assessment which paid FBI informant, we believe Stefan Halper, for his work. He was the same person as Carter Page has told you many times before that befriended him. We also know now in the Horowitz report based on sources that I've been speaking to both on the record and off the record or on background who have said that Horowitz's report is so significant because of Kevin Clinesmith. This is the FBI lawyer that worked directly under General Counsel James Baker and if he altered documents --
Sean Hannity:
So, are they going to use him as a scapegoat so Comey who signed the thing and verified it as true can get off scot-free?
Sara Carter:
No, I don’t think so because this is what they're concerned about now and I've been talking to sources that a number of people within the bureau, particularly within the FBI that were involved in actually approving those FISA warrants on Carter Page are really worried right now. They're worried about the fact that those documents were altered and that those three renewals were altered. So, we're going to find out on December 9th for sure.
Sean Hannity:
All right. Thank you, Sara Carter. Carter Page. Wish you the best of luck. It shouldn't have happened to any American.
Carter Page:
Thanks so much.
Sean Hannity:
When we come back, Joe Biden angry at Senator Lindsey Graham looking into his son's shady business dealings and the quid pro quo. Senator Graham joins us next.
[commercial break]
Sean Hannity:
All right. Former Vice President Joe 30330 quid pro quo Joe Biden is clinging to the narrative that he is above any investigation. Even as he runs for president of the United States. Imagine if his name was Donald J. Trump. Take a look.
Joe Biden:
They're asking Lindsey Graham. They have him under their thumb right now. They know he knows if he comes out against Trump, he's got a real tough road for re-election, number one. I am disappointed and quite frankly I'm angered by the fact he knows me. He knows my son. He knows there's nothing to this. Trump is now essentially holding power over him that even the Ukrainians wouldn't yield to. The Ukrainians would not yield to "investigate Biden." There's nothing to investigate about Biden or his son.
Sean Hannity:
Actually, report's out. They're now investigating the whole Burisma thing. Anyway, here with reaction Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham. Lindsey, I'm a pretty simple guy. Let me break it down easy. Joe's on tape. You're not getting a billion unless you fire the prosecutor. He was warned that prosecutor was investigating his son who was being paid millions and millions of dollars for zero experience. Now, maybe I'm making this too complicated. Isn't that what they accused Trump of and weren't able to prove all last week and why would he get a pass?
Laura Graham:
Pretty much. You know, as to Joe Biden, he's a fine man. I've known him for a very long time. But to those who say that the Biden connection to the Ukraine has been thoroughly looked at nothing could be further from the truth. When Adam Schiff stopped House Republicans from asking questions about the Biden connection, they shut him down in the House. They're not going to shut me down in the Senate. I like Joe Biden but here are the questions that need to be asked. Did Hunter Biden use his political influence to stop an investigation of the gas company he was serving as a board member on in the Ukraine, receiving $50,000 a month, run by the most -- one of the most corrupt people in the Ukraine? Why did the vice president, within a 10-day period, after the investigation was announced, call the president of the Ukraine? When he went to the Ukraine in March to meet with the president, about a week later, the prosecutor was fired, and the case was dropped. Hunter Biden reached out to the State Department after the investigation was announced, and his business partner met with John Kerry. We're not going to ignore all this. I hope there's no there or there, but I want the transcripts of the phone calls between Joe Biden and the president of the Ukraine after the investigation was announced against Burisma, when -- where Hunter Biden was serving --
Sean Hannity:
Hey, senator, you said you hope there's no there or there --
Lindsey Graham:
-- a subordinate where these are reasonable things to ask.
Sean Hannity:
Joe Biden --
Lindsey Graham:
Yeah.
Sean Hannity:
-- admitted it. He said, "You don't get the billion unless you fire the guy."
Lindsey Graham:
Well --
Sean Hannity:
We know the kid -- he admitted in GMA --
Lindsey Graham:
Well, but here's the point --
Sean Hannity:
-- "I have no experience."
Lindsey Graham:
-- it -- yeah --
Sean Hannity:
And then we also know that he went to --
Lindsey Graham:
Right.
Sean Hannity:
-- to the State Department representatives of Burisma Holdings to lobby the Obama Administration.
Lindsey Graham:
Right.
Sean Hannity:
And they said, "Hunter works for -- is on our board and everything."
Lindsey Graham:
Well, it's a little deeper than that. You had people on the ground in the Ukraine worried about the conflict of interest with Hunter Biden. Right after Joe Biden was given the Ukraine portfolio, Hunter Biden was hired by Burisma $50,000 a month for what? Obviously, for political influence, but was it an insurance policy to make sure the company would never be investigated? Here's what is disturbing about this. The day they announced the raid on the president's home, the investigation of the gas company, Hunter Biden reaches out to people at the State Department who used to work for Biden. Within a 10-day period, Joe Biden calls the president of the Ukraine three times. He actually goes to the Ukraine in March, and the prosecutor is fired a week later. It's one thing to say you're going to withhold money because the Ukraine is corrupt. It's another thing to withhold money unless they fire the prosecutor investigating the company where your son works. That's different, and that's what I want to know. I hope there's no there or there, but let's look at the transcripts and see what happened.
Sean Hannity:
Okay, so will hearsay or opinion witnesses be allowed in the Senate, should these Democrats, which I assume they probably will impeach in the House? Because I like what the President said, "Let's have a trial." I agree with him. I think it's a good idea. This way, people don't say, "Oh, you're covering it up."
Lindsey Graham:
Right. Well, if you have a trial, what are the rules of the trial? Here's a good rule to start with. The trial in the Senate should mirror trials all over America. Hearsay is not admitted, unless there's a valid exception in any trial in America. So, let's apply the federal rules of evidence to the trial in the Senate and let the chief justice of the United States rule on whether or not evidence is admissible. My believe is that 90 percent of the testimony being used by the House violates the hearsay rule, but let's let the chief judge make that -- justice make --
Sean Hannity:
Well, I can't see him being against that.
Lindsey Graham:
-- that decision, not me. The --
Sean Hannity:
The rules of evidence --
Lindsey Graham:
rules of the trial should ban hearsay.
Sean Hannity:
Rules of evidence are what they are.
Lindsey Graham:
Yeah.
Sean Hannity:
Let me ask you a final question. December 9th, we get the inspector general report. A lot of leaking about it saying, "Oh, it's not a big deal. Nobody's really in trouble except this low-level person." Don't we -- tell me which part of this is not true? Part one, we know multiple warnings went to the DOJ and FBI, that Christopher Steele hates Donald Trump, that it's not verified, that Hillary paid for it -- multiple warnings, yet they used it as the bulk of information to get the FISA warrant to go after Carter Page, who was just with us, and then back-door all things into Trump campaign, Trump transition, and Trump presidency. How is it anything other than premeditated fraud on a court?
Lindsey Graham:
Well, we'll soon hear from Horowitz as to what he found, but here's what I know for sure. The dossier, to this day, is unverified. It was paid for by a political party. The person who came up with the dossier --
Sean Hannity:
It's unverifiable.
Lindsey Graham:
-- hated Trump. They knew about it. Yeah, it's unverifiable, but the person still hated Trump. And here's the question for Horowitz, and the FBI, and the Department of Justice, "Why did you start verifying it or trying to verify it after you used it three times? Why didn't you try to verify it before you gave it to the court?" I hope you understand that, what they did, is used a document that's unverified, to this day, to get a warrant against an American citizen. They didn't even try to verify it until after they used it.
Sean Hannity:
All right, senator, thanks for what you're doing. Here we go. Two weeks from tonight, this thing is out.
Lindsey Graham:
[unintelligible]
Sean Hannity:
All right, now Elizabeth Warren's relationship with the truth -- I guess there's a reason the President calls her Pocahontas. It got even more complicated tonight. She told a school choice activist last week that her kids went to public schools. Let's take a look at the tape.
Female Speaker:
We just -- we're going to have the same chores that you make for your kids, because I read that your children went to the private school.
Elizabeth Warren:
No, my children went to public school.
Sean Hannity:
Okay, even her own campaign is admitting that's not exactly true. Telling Fox News quote, "Elizabeth' daughter went to public school. Her son went to public school until fifth grade." As The Federalist reports, Warren actually sent her son to two different private schools in Texas and Pennsylvania. Even her own hometown newspaper has taken notice. The Boston Herald columnist calling the latest lie, quote, "part of a pattern," lying about the cost of her massive economy-killing socialist plans, to lying about middle class taxes, lying about, of course, her heritage, which she used for decades. How could voters ever trust somebody that lies like that? Oh, I thought they didn't like lying. Same person promising you everything is free has been caught peddling lies and misinformation time and time again, it's probably one of the reasons Democrats are in desperation mode with candidates like Joe Biden flailing in the socialists like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, but because of the new piece in The New York Times, even Biden supporters are openly admitting a lack of enthusiasm for him on the campaign trail.
I guess that's why Michael Bloomberg is launching a last-ditch bid with the new $30 million ad blitz. And, while Bloomberg's hail Mary has little chance of success, his media empire there acting as his campaign arm, because Bloomberg News -- their editor in chief -- announced in a recent memo that, not only will they suspend their editorial board, they're actually vowing now to investigate -- not to investigate Bloomberg. Wow, great gig if you can get it, or any of the other 2020 candidates that are Democrats, but they will continue to investigate Donald Trump. Imagine if the names were reversed, once again. Remember, Bloomberg is already on an apology tour, oh, apologizing for a stop-and-frisk policy he championed, what, 12, 16 years, apologizing for his apparent history of some, well, pretty sexist remarks according to some? But I guess Bloomberg News won't be covering any of that. You can't make it up. Pretty extraordinary.
Anyway, joining us now, we have the one and only, the architect, Karl Rove, and also Ari Fleischer, who did an impossible job. He had to deal with the media. All right, Karl, a lot of lying going on. Between quid pro quo Joe, Elizabeth Warren's lies, I'm thinking that the media's pretty corrupt in this country right now, maybe the worst that they've ever been.
Karl Rove:
Well, we've -- they may not be the worst they've ever been, but they're pretty darn bad. And I thought the segment that you had earlier, where you quoted all of the members of the media saying no -- there was no wrongdoing on the part of the Bidens, is really extraordinary. And, you know, we used to have newspapers in the early part of our country that were partisan of pulpits. They basically were either Federalist or Democratic Republican. Later, they were Republican or Democratic, or WIGG [spelled phonetically] papers, but -- and we've seemed to returned to that, where the major media is not a partisan voice for the Democratic Party, and can be counted upon to parrot the party line, whether it's true or not. And I thought the footage you had of them using the same phrases in response to the same stimuli, making the same assertions, being so blithely dismissive of what Hunter Biden and Joe Biden participated in is a sign of how the media's returned to its earlier incarnation of being simply a voice for a political force inside the United States. Let's just be honest about it. There are voices for the Democratic Party and for the defeat or removal from office of President Trump.
Sean Hannity:
Ari, you dealt with the media: Houy Dana [spelled phonetically], Sarah Sanders, Sean Spicer do it -- I tip my hat to you. I don't think I could do it without a lot of four-letter words coming flying out at some point.
Ari Fleischer:
Yeah, and you know, let's take a look at the presidents here. Donald Trump says things that the press doesn't like but think about what just happened. Mike Bloomberg did something the press should absolutely hate. He muzzled his own news organization. They will no longer cover Democratic presidential candidates. Donald Trump has never made anybody in America stop covering anything. It's already happening in Mike Bloomberg's organization, because Bloomberg is running. And they're still going to cover Donald Trump. So, what does that tell you about the media and Mike Bloomberg's organization? They won't cover Democrats, they will cover Trump, and the guild that represents the union workers at Bloomberg's -- of Bloomberg's journalistic employees, they have already objected to it. It's their word being muzzled. That's what they say. So, when people want to criticize --
Sean Hannity:
Ari, what do you make of the Hunter Biden --
Ari Fleischer:
-- President Trump for his rhetoric, look at the deeds.
Sean Hannity:
What do you make of the Hunter Biden, Joe Biden --
Ari Fleischer:
Go ahead, Sean.
Sean Hannity:
-- the -- when you look at Hunter and Joe, million -- zero experience -- fire -- "You're not getting the billion unless you fire the guy that, you know, is investigating my son," now, if that was Donald Trump, I think we all know that we'd have a very different -- we’d have very different coverage in this country.
Ari Fleischer:
Look, I think Joe Biden stepped in it even deeper today. He said there is nothing to investigate with Hunter Biden, so what Joe Biden is saying after all that testimony in the House of Representatives about corruption in Ukraine, including of Burisma -- he is saying there’s no corruption at Burisma; there is nothing to investigate at Burisma despite the fact that Burisma’s founder was one of the most corrupt officials in Ukraine under the previous president. Biden has already judged, saying there is nothing to investigate because his son worked there. The conflict of interest continues to this very day the way Joe Biden talks about it.
Sean Hannity:
All right. Karl Rove, I have a theory. David Axelrod, we’re reading, is supporting Deval Patrick in his entry. I don’t think -- I think the timing of the remarks of Obama saying, “Oh, you don’t want to go too far hard-left here” -- it seems like Team Obama -- I’m reading the tea leaves -- has given up on Biden. They don’t think that Elizabeth Warren or Sanders can win, or Mayor Pete, and I think they’re going to do a last-minute push and try and get Deval Patrick to capture the -- you know, the infrastructure of Team Obama to help him. What do you see?
Karl Rove:
Yeah. Well, I don’t think Team Obama was in Biden’s camp even at the beginning of this. I think from my conversations with some members of the Obama world that they were not particularly enthusiastic about his entrance into the contest, and rather than getting strongly in behind him, they were basically sitting on the -- many of them were sitting on the sidelines. You’ve already seen some splintering of the sort of moderate -- you know, the more moderate forces of the Democratic Party. Some Obama supporters were enthusiastic about Pete Buttigieg, and now a lot of them are enthusiastic about --
Sean Hannity:
Do you think that Team Obama -- is infrastructure coalescing around Deval Patrick?
Karl Rove:
I think some are, but I think -- look, I think it’s splintered and largely inactive. Where’s David Plouffe? Where’s Jim Messina? Where are members of the cabinet? Most of the voices we’ve heard have supported Biden, but it strikes me that we’ve heard only some of the Obama world. The rest of the Obama world seems to either be mute, sitting on the sidelines, or fracturing among half a dozen candidates.
Sean Hannity:
Something’s going on behind the scenes. Eventually, it will be revealed. Karl, Ari Fleischer, thank you both. When we come back, all right, this is getting weirder and weirder. Two guards charged with failing to check on Epstein; they were in court today. Lawyers are saying they’re being scapegoated, and we’ve got pictures of Orgy Island. Seriously, they’re scary. Take a look. We’ll show you when we come back.
[commercial break]
Sean Hannity:
All right, Jeffrey Epstein’s death remains shrouded in mystery, and Fox News chief breaking news correspondent Trace Gallagher -- he joins us live from the West Coast newsroom with the latest. I saw these pictures. It’s like every girl in the picture is young. What is going on?
Trace Gallagher:
Yeah, we can tell you, Sean, that Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend how allegedly recruited girls for his underage sex ring, says she is ready to come out of hiding and speak to the FBI. Maxwell wants to defend herself and Prince Andrew, who’s accused of repeatedly having sex with an underage girl. And the FBI is also looking to interview the prince on British soil. During his interview with the BBC a few weeks ago, the prince was noncommittal about talking to authorities, but now he says he will cooperate, and he would certainly face questions about Johanna Sjoberg, who claims she was groped by the prince more than a decade ago when she was 21. Sjoberg also claims she was recruited as part of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex ring. Meantime, a trial date of April 20th has now been set for the two prison guards accused of falling asleep and falsifying documents the night Jeffrey Epstein died. The guards claim they are scapegoats for the Bureau of Prisons, but prosecutors say they will use hundreds of hours of surveillance video to prove their case. Sean?
Sean Hannity:
All right. Trace Gallagher, thank you. Joining us with reaction, author of the bestseller Exonerated, the Failed Takedown of President Trump by the Swamp, Fox News contributor, former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino, and the author of, yes, another huge bestseller, Witch Hunt, the Story of the Greatest Mass Delusion in American Political History, Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett. I’m not sure what to think of this. I trust -- I believe Michael Baden is an incredible guy. I don't have the answers; I don’t know what happened here. But when I look at those pictures, and I look at, you know, Prince Andrew’s -- it was almost as bad an interview as Hunter Biden.
Gregg Jarrett:
It was a royal mess. It was an absolute disaster. He didn’t do himself any favors. But --
Sean Hannity:
Well, he actually got caught in lies, one after another.
Gregg Jarrett:
So, the FBI wants to talk to Andrew, not necessarily because they want to prosecute Andrew. He probably has immunity as a royal, same as diplomatic immunity. Statute of limitations would be a huge obstacle. No. I think they want to gain information from him because they're going after anybody who was aiding and abetting Jeffrey Epstein in this sex trafficking ring.
Sean Hannity:
But did you hear when -- they way he –
Gregg Jarrett:
Ghislaine Maxwell is the person they're after.
Sean Hannity:
The way that he characterized -- this guy was a convicted pedophile. Didn't he have a deal? The worst. By the way, how did he get that deal?
Gregg Jarrett:
Oh, well, he got it because, you know, he had the best lawyers money can buy, and it makes a difference. The scales of justice are not evenly balanced in lady justice doesn't have a blindfold when you're wealthy. Just ask O.J. Simpson.
Sean Hannity:
You know, Dan, I don't know but I know more and more people tell me that they believe this is too suspicious what happened in jail. I agree it's suspicious. I have a lot of respect for Michael Baden. He was hired by the family to watch the autopsy. Nobody has been able to confirm whether or not the body was cremated. But he's saying -- suggesting the breaks in the neck are not really what you'd see with this type of hanging but with strangulation. What do you think?
Dan Bongino:
Well, you know, Sean, after 17 years in running around law enforcement, Occam's razor given all possible explanations accept the one that requires the least amount of assumptions. In other words, keep it simple. If the video in the indictment, they're talking about a video of the actual jail cell says what the indictment says it says and there's no reason to believe they put it in a legal document otherwise and that video in fact shows nobody going into the cell then obviously by Occam's razor by definition [unintelligible] it would have to be a suicide. Having said that, yes, Dr. Baden's a respected guy. I am not a medical pathologist.
Sean Hannity:
But they didn't -- if they have the video that shows nobody went in the cell that means he did it himself, right?
Gregg Jarrett:
That's right.
Dan Bongino;
There's no other -- I mean, unless you believe in Casper the friendly ghost, I mean, there's no other explanation. Now, that is in the indictment.
Sean Hannity:
You mean Casper's not real?
Dan Bongino:
And I don't see any reason why they put that in the indictment. No, Casper, sorry, Sean, sorry to burst your bubble but I don’t see any reason why they would put that in legal documents and lie about it. It would be easily refuted. Someone will say let me see the tape. Again, Occam's razor.
Gregg Jarrett:
Yeah. The attorney general William Barr has reportedly spent his time reviewing the videotape and during the critical eight-hour period of time from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m., nobody enters the tier where the cell is located. Nobody killed Jeffrey Epstein except Jeffrey Epstein.
Sean Hannity:
Okay. Interesting, though. I think they need to find every single person that was involved. Thank you both. All right. When we come back today President Trump invited Conan to the White House. He's the hero dog that helped take out the leader ISIS al-Baghdadi. You won't believe how one fake news CNN contributor actually attacked him for this. What have I been saying? If he cured cancer, they'd probably try to impeach him for curing cancer. That's how sick they have gotten.
[commercial break]
Sean Hannity:
Here you go. Fake news CNN contributor Joan Walsh obviously had to find something to complain about calling a "terrified" and saying Melania exuded coldness towards Conan the dog. Some people, you know, are afraid of dogs. You just can't make it up. That’s how sick, ugly, twisted they all are. They're lying to you. They've lied to you. And in 344 days you get to fix all that. We'll never be that media mob. We'll always pursue the truth. Let not your heart be troubled. Don't forget to set your DVR for the show because Laura Ingraham is up next. Laura, in the swamp.
Laura Ingraham:
Hannity. It is not surprising in the slightest that they take a sweet little story about this amazing K-9 and turn it into an attack on Trump. Why -- I mean, these are the most unhappy, bitter people on the face of the planet. The rest of the country is doing really well. Liberals on a really negative train ride right now. It is unbelievable. I'm sure they're all dog whisperers.
Sean Hannity:
I actually would give the dog a medal. Maybe I'm just old fashioned.
Laura Ingraham:
Oh, he's cute.
Sean Hannity:
And you know what? I love dogs.
Laura Ingraham:
Or a milk bone.
Sean Hannity:
Everybody loves dogs.
Laura Ingraham:
You still have that little fluffball dog or did you get a bigger one?
Sean Hannity:
No. Mine weighs 116 pounds.
Laura Ingraham:
The other one was a cute dog that you had. It was like a little cotton ball. That was a cute dog. I'm glad you got --
Sean Hannity:
Thanks, Laura. You're trying to -- I have a Burmese Mountain Dog. It's huge.
Laura Ingraham:
No, but Hannity, when you used to walk that other dog that was funny because it was a little tiny fluffball.
Sean Hannity:
I never walked that dog. I just said go out and come back when you're ready.
Laura Ingraham:
I'm just kidding you. I love all dogs. Hannity, great show as always.
Sean Hannity:
Have a good show.
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