Priebus: Media need to focus on results, not palace intrigue
Mainstream media attack Hope Hicks, who is resigning from her White House position; former chief of staff Reince Priebus shares his reaction on 'Hannity.'
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," March 1, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: All right. Thanks, Tucker.
Welcome to HANNITY.
Believe it or not, we are following six breaking news stories tonight. The great one Mark Levin, Tomi Lahren and Reince Priebus and many will be here for reaction.
This is a massive development today. The FBI may have, in fact, broken the law and violated their own protocol when getting a FISA warrant to spy on Carter Page. This according to brand new letter out tonight from the House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes.
Also tonight, the important questions are being asked. We should have answers very soon. And also tonight, Trump Russia collusion crusader Adam Schiff is admitting we have the tape. He has seen no evidence that this collusion exists. Former Clinton independent counsel -- even Ken Starr, he's saying Robert Mueller is way beyond his mandate. So, is this even more proof that the investigation has been and continues to be a witch- hunt?
And also breaking right now, Vladimir Putin, he is unveiling nuclear weapons that he claims can avoid detection. We are going to explain tonight why the liberal media, Democrats, Obama, Hillary Clinton are all to blame.
And the liberal mayor of Oakland, California, under fire for aiding and abetting criminal illegal immigrants. He is actually warning them about federal ICE raids. Is the mayor putting law enforcement and American lives in danger? The short answer, yes.
Also, FOX News reporting that the commanding officer during the Florida school shooting ordered some deputies on the scene not to enter the school.
This answers a ton of questions.
A lot of breaking news. We get started in our breaking news opening monologue.
(MUSIC)
HANNITY: All right. These are massive and huge breaking developments tonight about what is severe Obama era FISA abuses. This letter, just released tonight, to the Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The House Intel Committee Chair Devin Nunes is detailing how the FBI may have literally broken the law and violated bureau protocols when a painting that FISA warrant to surveil Trump campaign associate Carter Page.
In this letter released tonight, Nunes points out specific DOJ guidelines when it comes to FISA surveillance. He writes, quote: 'Under the subsection FISA verification and accuracy procedures, the FBI itself acknowledges this importance, quote: the accuracy of information contained within FISA applications is of the utmost importance, only documented and verified information may be used to support FBI applications, FISA warrants to the court.'
Given this new information, Chairman Nunes, he is now demanding the DOJ explain if, in fact, these protocols are still in place. We already know the answer. They never verified this. And if they are, the chairman wants to know how officials will be punished for violating this law, lying to a FISA judge and not following protocol.
This letter also points out how using this false information in a FISA court could violate several laws. Look at them on the screen, 18 USC 242, using color of law to conduct a targeted investigation based on the pretext of law enforcement, you have 50 USC 1809, surveillance conducted under color of law in a manner not authorized by a FISA conspiracy, obstruction of justice and contempt of court.
What this means is the scandal is getting bigger and bigger unlike an abuse of power we have ever seen in the history of this country. That's why we are unpeeling layer after layer of this onion. Gregg Jarrett, Sara Carter, Jason Chaffetz, the great one Mark Levin will all have reaction to this tonight. And also breaking, we have more evidence the Trump-Russia collusion narrative for 20 months is a complete farce.
Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, you know, the ranking member of the House Intel Committee, long time professional Trump hater, he is now admitting that the scary, damning, earth-shattering information that he has now been playing up for more than a year is already in the public domain.
Really? Where is it?
Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEGHAN MCCAIN, HOST: You said you had more than circumstantial evidence of treasonous collusion with Russia. What specifically were you referring to?
And please be specific, because, if it's true, I do believe Americans have a right to know a year later what that is.
(APPLAUSE)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF, D—CALIFORNIA: Well, I certainly said that there is ample evidence of collusion. I have never use you had the word treason. Only Steve Bannon has used that word.
But if you look at the facts that are already in the public domain, they are pretty damning.
MCCAIN: Is it enough for Mueller to bring charges? Because if it isn't enough for Mueller to bring charges, what does that mean?
SCHIFF: Well, what it means --
(CROSSTALK)
MCCAIN: Charges of collusion.
SCHIFF: This is a very important question. That is what's Mueller's job and what's our job? Bob Mueller will make the decision whether there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt to indict and convict people. He -- it is not his responsibility to tell the country what happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Amazing job, Meghan McCain.
Let me give you have the translation. Adam Schiff is accusing Trump of collusion with little more speculation, rumor and phony Russian dossier that it was never corroborated or verified. Do you see how severe this is?
We may well find out in coming weeks or months that Schiff's constant anti-Trump five alarm fires has been nothing more than political hyperbole meant to damage a sitting president that you voted for, so he could win favor with his liberal base and get hired by conspiracy TV MSNBC.
And is probably why, according to the RNC, Schiff has appeared on television 227 times since President Trump's inauguration. So, it's only a matter of time where NBC hires him. Maybe he'll take over for Matt Lauer who has been out for a while.
Also brand new tonight, Robert Mueller now facing criticism for someone who has intimate knowledge of special counsel investigations. Kenneth Starr, you might remember, independent counsel, responsible for investigating Bill Clinton in the 1990s. He is saying that Mueller, something we have been saying, might be crossing a line. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN: Bob Mueller, looking into Trump's business dealings before 2016 to see if there was potential opportunity for exertion of influence by Russian any kind of actors on their part, fair point?
KENNETH STARR, WHITEWATER INDEPENDENT COUNSEL: I think it's beyond his mandate. The mandate is what happened during the 2016 election in terms of collusion. In fact, I think that the indictment almost two weeks ago of the 13 Russian nationals and the three companies suggest there was no collusion. My sense would be but I don't have all the facts, Bob, I love you, but let's just stay focused on what the issue is and that's collusion in the campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Starr went on to explain while Mueller's investigation must remain narrowly focused it's up to the deputy attorney general. He's right, Rod Rosenstein who is overseeing this case to keep Mueller on task.
Remember, this whole witch-hunt was supposed to only be about Trump-Russia collusion. That evidence does not exist all of this time. Speaking of Russia, think about this, with all of that talk we have another major breaking news story tonight, that's the Russian president, the bad actor Vladimir Putin. That's right. The guy that Obama said wasn't a bad actor and tell Vladimir I will have more flexibility after the elections. Remember that guy?
He's claiming he has brand new nuclear weapons that can penetrate America's defenses. Putin made the announcement during a state of the nation speech. He detailed how these new weapons literally include a nuclear power cruise missile and knew hyper sonic missile and nuclear-powered underwater drone.
U.S. officials are casting a lot of doubt on Putin's comments but saying that his new cruise missile is still in the test phase and has crashed a few times. OK.
Here is my point tonight. You have the liberal media and the Democrats obsessing, totally obsessed over a conspiracy theory Trump-Russia collusion even though we have zero evidence Putin every single day as we are doing this is getting stronger. And the left and the media are literally playing right into Putin and Russia's hands.
Putin's entire goal, what is it? To sow political discord in America. That's exactly what the left -- that's exactly what the media are literally doing by going down the Russia collusion rabbit hole with no evidence.
Then there is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Remember Obama? Mocking Mitt Romney for daring to call Russia a threat and then ignore threats, specific threats in 2014 from Devin Nunes and others on the House Intel Committee and he told President Trump stop whining about the election and election interference just days before the election.
And Hillary Clinton stupidly -- remember that silly reset button, you're going to reset relations with Russia. She helped to approve, giving Russia and Putin control of it 20 percent of our uranium. And then she paid for the Russian dossier filled with Russian government lies, you know?
Great job, media and Democrats. You have done a great job dividing the country and lying to the American people without evidence and pushing baseless conspiracy theories because you hate Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is getting stronger.
We have more breaking news tonight. This story is outrageous. The Department of Justice is trying to determine if the mayor of Oakland, if she literally obstructed justice, warning criminal illegal immigrants about ICE raids. This liberal mayor, well, she took to Twitter on Saturday and to alter illegal immigrants and warn them in the Oakland area that, hey, federal immigration authorities are preparing to conduct operations.
The acting head of ICE is blasting mayor saying that her stunt allowed about 800 criminal illegal immigrants to avoid arrest. He also said this on 'Fox & Friends' this morning, let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ACTING ICE DIRECTOR: What she did was no better than a gang lookout yelling 'police' when a police cruiser comes into the neighborhood, except she did it to the entire community. I mean, it's beyond the pale. I have been doing this for 34 years. And this is a whole new low to intentionally warned criminals that law enforcement is coming.
Being a law enforcement officer is already dangerous enough, but to give the criminals a heads up that we're coming in the next 24 hours increases that risk, puts them -- you're talking about -- these are American heroes strap a gun to their hip every day to defend this notion. And to tell criminals we are coming in the next 24 hours is just incredible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Beyond incredible.
The mayor of Oakland is literally aiding and abetting criminal illegal immigrants and, of course, she is defending her actions writing on Twitter, not talking about the consequences. 'I don't regret sharing this information. It is Oakland's legal right to be a sanctuary city and we have not broken any laws. We believe our community is safer when families stay together.'
OK. They did break laws. We have laws on the books. It's pathetic. But what the mayor is not saying and clearly obviously doesn't realize or care is that not only is she putting immigration authorities' lives at risk, she is doing the same thing for American citizens in her community.
ICE is saying all they are trying to do is get the bad people off the street. So, guess what, if any of the criminal illegal immigrants that should have detained commit a crime, then the blood will be on her hands and literally, she will be responsible for whatever happens. She owns this.
We have a major update too tonight on the Florida school shooting.
Fox News reporting the commanding officer we are now confirming tonight on the scene during Nikolas Cruz's rampage literally ordered some of the first responder deputies to set up a perimeter instead of confronting and neutralizing this mad man, this gunman.
This new piece of information is beyond stunning. The Broward County sheriff's office policy for dealing with active shooter situation says first responders may go into a building to save lives without permission. The policy does not appear to about setting up the perimeter.
If that's the case and the question is, why did at least four Broward County sheriff's deputies not rush into the schooling like the neighboring community, Coral Gables' officers did to save lives.
Fox News is also reporting that there were delays in allowing EMTs to go inside the school. We are talking about kids literally, these moments, precious seconds save lives. We also know that there were dozens of missed warning signs prior to the shooting by the FBI and the Broward County sheriff's office.
This is one huge massive big government bureaucratic failure at every level. The government failed the people of Florida. And as we have been telling you, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel is refusing to accept even an ounce of responsibility. And he is also saying that he likely will not release video of how deputies responded so that we, you, the American people can see exactly what happened. Shameful because the tragedy could have been prevented.
All right. Back to our top story, joining us tonight, FOX News contributor Sara Carter, FOX News contributor Jason Chaffetz, FOX News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett.
Gregg, it's your night. This released letter by Devin Nunes tonight took -- when you are now questioning whether or not the FBI not only followed protocol, but whether they broke the law. And will have an answer, he's demanding one in seven days.
GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: There is a set of guidelines. It's a book. It's really the bible for the FBI. They have to memorize it. It says what they can and cannot do.
On the one hand when it comes to a criminal investigation, they cannot open it unless they have all articulable factual basis for it. They had none here, yet, they opened the criminal probe of the Trump campaign.
The second is in a counter intelligence probe, they have to submit evidence for surveillance warrant that is corroborated and verified. Again, it's in the diag --
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Don't we know it was never verified?
JARRETT: That's right.
HANNITY: By the way, because in January, Jim Comey goes to Trump Tower and say, it's salacious and it's verified. This is in October, this is months earlier -- he is now admitting months later that was never verified.
JARRETT: That's right.
HANNITY: And they used it.
JARRETT: And using it is a violation of at least six different felony statutes. You noted that some that Devin Nunes pointed out, which are the ones you and I have been talking about, plus a couple others he mentions there. But clearly, abuse of power. I think perjury, false and misleading statements, fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.
So, all of these are serious crimes punishable by five, 10 years behind bars and if you deceive a court, and conceal evidence from a judge in order to spy on Americans, that is a whole set of crimes.
HANNITY: This is going to come due now. This is happening. They are in deep trouble.
All right. Congressman, let me go to you and then I want to bring Sarah in.
So, we know that before the Nunes memo, they waited until the very last day and hours before the headline to release the information that then became the Nunes memo. We know that Rod Rosenstein went into Speaker Ryan's office and begged him, don't give the information that has been subpoenaed.
Now, I want to know, Rod Rosenstein, he has seven days to explain this and I suspect he is not going to want to answer again. And he is the guy that appointed Mueller. How should this be handled from a legal standpoint when you have separation of powers, when you have oversight authority as you once did?
JASON CHAFFETZ, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, no, look, Devin Nunes and Trey Gowdy and the crew is doing exactly the right thing. Give them seven days a very specific question, allow them to come up. I'm proud of the fact that Speaker Ryan is backing them and supporting.
I would also encourage Devin Nunes to look at the security clearances of these people. Why do these people still have security clearances? You don't have security clearance, you don't have a job.
But these people, they are given great latitude, but the law and the guidance as Gregg pointed out is very clear and it looks as if it was clearly broken.
HANNITY: One of the things, Sara, I want to weigh in all of this, but also add, the point that Ken Starr made earlier, because this is an important point and he was accused of the same thing, going beyond the mandate of what the special counsel is. I mean, literally, every day, I see and I believe my gut, the special counsel, there's somebody in there that's leaking, because they don't like the fact that they are being covered and uncovered in the sense that look at the people that Robert Mueller hired.
So, when Ken Starr says it's beyond the mandate, how far beyond the mandate have we gone here?
SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I think we have gone extremely far beyond the mandate. And, remember Ken Starr also argued that he was told by Janet Reno to go after those perjury charges against then President Clinton. So, his mandate was expanded he said by the attorney general at that time. And I think that's important to note.
So what we have to ask ourselves here is there is one specific question and I just want to go back to Chairman Nunes' letter. That says what has the DOJ and the FBI done to bring these people -- to investigate them or to bring charges against them? We want to know what's going on here.
And then if did you go to the special counsel and you see the expansive nature of this special counsel. And you now here Adam Schiff is saying himself that, you know, basically saying there is no real evidence of collusion, it's all out there. It's speculative. I mean, we may never know.
HANNITY: It's out there. What is out there? Nobody can answer, where is the collusion? What is it?
CARTER: There is no collusion. As of yet, there has been no proof whatsoever that President Trump's campaign --
HANNITY: These people have zero shame. Listen, if he doesn't have that answer, and he -- it's already out there, what is it? Somebody needs to ask him as he goes on 272 shows auditioning to be the next Rachel Maddow or Lawrence O'Donnell.
CARTER: Well, there is going to be charges. I mean, I believe right now, Chairman Nunes, as well as Senator Grassley, are right over the target. You know, I keep hearing this over and over again.
This is going to need to be investigated. There are going to be answers to these questions. I'm telling you, there will be answer to these questions the inspector general's report is coming out, Sean.
HANNITY: When?
CARTER: And that is going to reveal a lot. And I think it's going to be very soon. It was supposed to be this month. I'm hearing that it could possibly be this month. They may extend it into April but we don't know yet.
HANNITY: We need it sooner rather than later.
Gregg?
JARRETT: Here is the problem. In order to bring these people to justice, who appear to have committed a variety of crimes, you have to have the Department of Justice prosecutors investigate and bring the case. Jeff Sessions has shown no indication of doing this.
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: The inspector general's report comes out. Then we get reports of possible crimes. Then we have -- our DOJ lawyers will look at it.
JARRETT: They'll start all over again.
HANNITY: And then we'll have a special counsel. Really?
JARRETT: They'll start -- it's such a waste of time.
HANNITY: Don't we have enough evidence now that warrants an appointment of another special counsel to investigate the investigators, the FBI and the DOJ?
JARRETT: And Congress asked for it last July and Jeff Sessions has been utterly feckless in his responses.
HANNITY: Jason Chaffetz, should there be a second special counsel and do we have to wait for the I.G.? Then the DOJ attorney and then special counsel? Is that -- when we know laws have been broken? We have irrefutable evidence at this point.
CHAFFETZ: Look, you have an attorney general who has recused himself out of the very job. I've been saying for a few months, it's time for -- I'm sorry, Jeff Sessions is a good, honorable person, but he is not up to the job. He doesn't have the guts to get what needs to be done. He's recused himself out of everything. You don't need a special counsel if you have an attorney general who can actually, you know, make -- move the ball forward and do what he is supposed to do and administer justice.
But he's nowhere on this. So, if you're going to keep the attorney in place, then go get a second special counsel.
JARRETT: Jeff Sessions is not the attorney general. He's the AG in name only. It is being run by other people --
HANNITY: Rod Rosenstein?
JARRETT: Largely Rod Rosenstein.
HANNITY: All right.
JARRETT: Sessions is kept in the dark, out of major decisions. He doesn't have a clue as to what is going on there. I get that from people in the DOJ.
HANNITY: I do, too. And so does Sara. Sara is shaking her head. I wish we had more time.
CARTER: Absolutely.
HANNITY: All right. When we come back, Reince Priebus, also the great one Mark Levin will analyze all this new information. Stay with us as this news breaking edition of HANNITY continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASHLEY PARKER, THE WASHINGTON POST: She is fiercely loyal. She said perhaps problematically before the House committee yesterday. She tells white lies on behalf of the president. So I assume she will at this point to defend him and do whatever she can to protect him wherever she may be.
CHRIS HAYES, MSNBC: Yes, it's left to all of us saying, define white lie. Define non-substantive lie.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN: Hope Hicks had a very elevated position with Trump and her loyalty to him helped garner that. But this is not a battle-tested person who knows how to weather storm.
JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC: Things are about to get pretty ugly inside the White House and the question is for somebody like Hope Hicks, why did you stay that long? She's got to get ready for Mueller. She's got to get ready for a trial. I mean, it's -- things could get ugly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Yes, Joe has lost his mind obviously.
The destroy Trump media having their field day following yesterday's announcement Hope Hicks that she was resigning her position at White House communications director.
Joining us now with reaction -- he was there himself -- former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.
All right. First of all, I defy all of these phony overpaid so-called journalists, hypocrite colleagues that are lazy beyond belief. OK, this is a white lie. The president would love to be on with you liberal Joe, but, he is busy that day. OK? Meaning the president has no intention.
Or Reince, your tie looks actually looks great tonight when I really think your tie looks hideous. That's a white lie. And they have all told them.
REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I mean, look, this is part of what is driving money in the media is it's Trump world. It's trashing Trump. It's all part of what's been happening since day one with the president.
Look, I mean, you look at what it's like in the White House. You are working like a dog. You are getting destroyed in the press. Many of these people are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on lawyers. And you know, and you look at the results.
HANNITY: By the way, they'll pay more lawyers --
(CROSSTALK)
PRIEBUS: And they're very good. But you have to go to hell and back in order to get there, Sean.
HANNITY: You know, this is another thing. The media will say, OK, well, Donald Trump is never going to be somebody he is not. He is not going to be the president, the mainstream establishment president that they wanted elected. They would have had that with Hillary. He is his own man.
So, if the president vents or tweets that he is annoyed with something, is that how he makes decisions or is it part of a process?
PRIEBUS: Well, that's just it. I mean, the American people voted for a disrupter. But what I always try to explain to people all the time is that the media is obsessed with the decision-making process, who is in, who is out, who is up, who is down, tweet of the day. But this is --
(CROSSTALK)
HANNITY: Palace intrigue.
PRIEBUS: This is a president who makes decisions. He measures things out -- he measures this out. He puts really smart people that might not agree with each other in the same room.
But what I always tell people, focus on the results, look at the results.
Remember four things. Federal judges and Gorsuch, ISIS, regulations, tax cuts, those four things.
If you look at the results of what this president has accomplished and you ignore the palace intrigue, ignore what the media wants to talk about everyday that really doesn't matter.
HANNITY: Energy independence, ANWR open --
(CROSSTALK)
PRIEBUS: You can't find a whole lot that hasn't been accomplished.
HANNITY: Look at the statistics today, what, 49-year low of unemployment issues? Here's what I want to ask you. So, Adam Schiff --
(CROSSTALK)
PRIEBUS: Look at the Heritage Foundation. Look at the Heritage Foundation. They said Saturday, they said 64 percent.
HANNITY: Of his agenda.
PRIEBUS: And I would tell you that the Heritage Foundation was -- they were no big pro-Trump organization when Donald Trump went down that escalator. So, it's not like our Trump cheerleaders out there making these numbers up. It's actually true.
HANNITY: Let me ask you this, Adam Schiff's admission. I thought Meghan McCain destroyed him on 'The View'. I didn't watch. We showed the clip.
PRIEBUS: She did.
HANNITY: And I give her all the credit in the world. She did a phenomenal job. Adam Schiff, oh, it's all in the public arena enough to about Trump- Russia collusion. I'm like, is there any evidence? Have you ever seen anything? Because I haven't.
PRIEBUS: You know, I have never seen anything. I have been told by high ranking members of the FBI as I mentioned before. I won't get into it again. They flat out told me one of the articles, the original New York Times article that apparently won an award the other day for journalism was over stated, untrue, and many other things about it. These were people from the FBI that told me this. Look, I have never seen it I know the president hates it. And he hates watching it. But I would just suggest to as always move forward.
HANNITY: Last question. Just because the president vets at a meeting as he makes a decision -- I think I want to fire left person, what is the real process? Is that -- does he mean it when he says it or is it part of a process.
PRIEBUS: No, listen. There is a process. There was a process when I was there. Same process that was followed by Ronald Reagan and Bush 43. There is a principles committee where major decisions are brought through with all the principles of the White House. Major departments. General Counsels. They all come up to the president with a decision memo in hand presented to the president for a decision. Now, there are some things though that the American people understand that the President at times gets tired of waiting on. If he knows what he is going to do?
HANNITY: Right.
PRIEBUS: About the issue in regards to say transgender in the military. He is going to make a decision? He has been talking about steel tariffs since the 1980s. I may not be a big fan of steel tariffs but this is what President Trump's agenda is all about. The staff is charged with executing the agenda of the President. And the agenda of the President is getting done and it's workings for the American economy.
HANNITY: All right. Reince, always good to see you. Thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. All right. When we come back, the great one on our top story, yes, the FBI could have committed crimes and broken protocol. The great one Mark Levin responds to all of that. That is straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right as we continue and as we report in our opening monologue tonight the House Intel Committee chair, that would be Devin Nunes, he has sent a letter tonight to Attorney General Sessions that says the FISA surveillance application for Carter Page, a campaign associate in the Trump administration, for the Trump campaign appears to be a clear violation of FBI rules for submitting evidence to the FISA court and may also violate criminal statutes. Mark Levin's legal foundation has also filed a motion. They are asking the FISA court to do something about the suspected abuses allegedly committed by the FBI and the DOJ he is also the host the new colleague, we are proud to have him and that is 'Life, liberty Levin,' I am going to call him the great one. Also the host of Levin TV, CRTV Mark Levin. This Nunes memo that I have here that the FBI could have committed crimes and that they broke protocol. Don't we already know when you don't tell a FISA Judge in your initial application, subsequent renewal applications that Hillary bought and paid for the dossier and it was never verified and the law specifically says to verify it, don't we know that they violated the law, Mark Levin, constitutional scholar?
MARK LEVIN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: You know, Sean Hannity. Let me tell you something. The Judges on FISA court so far have gotten away without being scrutinized. If you are a federal judge. Forget about the FISA court. Federal district judge. The appellate court, the Supreme Court and you know as a matter of fact that you were misled, and I want everyone to listen to this. And you know as a matter of fact that the information that is provided to you or the information that wasn't provided for full context led to you issue a warrant to spy on an American citizen under the idea that the American citizen was an agent of Russia who is likely to commit a crime and by the way that citizen, Carter Page, last time I checked he hasn't been charged with anything. If you are a judge and we have had successive Judges in this FISA court over a period of one year and you don't do something about it, Congress needs to look into this. I do not expect the Department of Justice to investigate the Department of Justice. I just don't. I don't expect the FBI to investigate the FBI. But I damn well expect federal Judges serving as FISA court judges to make sure that conduct wasn't committed in front of them.
Now, let me tell you something. Last April, Landmark Legal Foundation filed secretly with the FISA court, because we don't have any standing. Nobody has standing. Nobody really knows how this works. We said to the court, hey court, hey Judge, guess what? Guess what just took place in your courtroom? Here is what he said. You have the inherent jurisdiction to order an investigation of the FBI to get answers to this. Number one.
Last April. Have this court's order or orders been used by intelligent and law enforcement entities of the federal government as a subterfuge to surveil private citizens and at least one United States Senator we were thinking of Sessions at the time for political purposes.
Number two, did government officials seek one or more national security surveillance warrants from this court as a pretext to conduct an investigation for the purpose of affecting an ongoing national Presidential campaign and subsequent transition of an incoming President? This is last April.
Number three, when applying to this court for one or more warrants in this matter. Did the FBI inform this court? That they apparently paid some of the expenses of a former British spy who prepared the dossier, reportedly relied on in whole or part, in its application to convince this court to issue a warrant.
Number four, when applying to this court, this is us to the judge, for one or more warrants in this matter, did the FBI inform this court that the dossier it reportedly presented in pursuit of one or more warrants had originally been prepared by the former British spy for a Washington research firm conducting opposition research against the Republican nominee for President of the United States Donald J. Trump? This is important.
Landmark Legal Foundation respectfully requests the court, the judge, the FISA judge, sitting en banc, by herself. That she should direct the government to complete its investigation and report its findings to the court within 90 days.
The court should also consider whether it's appropriate to issue an order to all relevant federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies to show cause as to why they should not be held in contempt for failing to protect the secrecy of classified information obtained pursuant to the court order.
Now, do you know what the judge said in response to us, the FISA court judge? I want you to listen to this. April 25, 2017. This is Rosemary Collier, the presiding judge, keep in mind, the judges on the FISA court are picked by the chief justice of the Supreme Court. This are district court judges for the most part. So they are existing federal court judges. She wrote in this little order, the court has received a pleading titled motion for leave to appear as a me as amicus curiae on and on….
HANNITY: Explain that.
LEVIN: Five days later she says although presented as a request to appear, there is no matter pending before the court with respect to which such an appearance would be proper, now listen to me. This warrant was extended three times. That matter was still appearing before this court. That is number one, number two, the court has ongoing jurisdiction to supervise the conduct of attorneys, the FBI, the Justice Department, before the court. Contempt may reach backwards. Even after a case has been concluded. In other words, this FISA Judge and quite frankly, was misdirecting when she said the matter is not before us anymore when it was still before them and this court, like any federal court, still has the power to reach back and hold people accountable. She did nothing. She did not call in the FBI as far as we know. She did not call in the Justice Department. She did not ask for answers. She did not ask for an investigation. She didn't hold a contempt hearing. Nothing. Do you know what that tells me? Something smells like a rat. Which means this.
HANNITY: Let me ask you this.
LEVIN: Go ahead.
HANNITY: This is all great information. Mark, this is how I see this. Remember the Grassley-Graham memo, huge news. They said the bulk of the FISA application consisted of what we now know to be unverified information. Fusion GPS, co-founder Glenn Simpson, never verified it. The FBI never verified. The deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe literally said no dossier, not even an application. You're right. It's renewed every 90 days. So, if you have an opposition Party candidate using unverified Russian lies in the lead-up and post-election, to undermine a president, and -- what we know as of now is none of it is true. Is this based on your knowledge of history at least a biggest abuse of power and corruption in your lifetime? Because to me this is Watergate, are you kidding? This is Watergate time a thousand to me.
LEVIN: When you and I spoke way back March of last year, and we laid this out. We recalled kooks, conspiracy theorists, almost everything we said. We didn't have a lot. I was focused specifically on the FISA court, because there were leaks about the FISA court. I want to underscore something tonight, Sean, it is this. These federaljJudges sitting on this FISA court act like they have no role in this.
HANNITY: Baloney.
LEVIN: They were abused. The court was abused. The court was misled. People should be held a count. They read the newspapers now. They watch television now. We presented this Judge with the evidence and filed it.
HANNITY: Mark, last thing.
LEVIN: Congress needs to find out now why these Judges even today aren't holding these people accountable.
HANNITY: Remember, Comey said to Trump in January of 2017 in Trump tower, oh, it's salacious and it's unverified. The FISA application, the first one was three months earlier, he by his own words is admitting he violated as Gregg Jarrett said earlier as many as six laws. These are felonies, Mark. You don't lie before a judge nor do you present especially when it comes to the Constitution.
LEVIN: I'm talking about a court needs to protect itself.
HANNITY: Agreed.
LEVIN: Any federal court in America in somebody lies to a court. Omits material facts to it. Information is not presented in court, a court is misled, and federal Judges every day they hold people to account. These Judges in the FISA court. Let me say this quickly.
HANNITY: Last word.
LEVIN: It's time to abolish the FISA court. It is time to create a new counter intelligence related court. It should not consist of existing federal Judges. They should be confirmed. Not for life terms. For given terms. The FBI and the Justice Department, where they go into that court should not be alone anymore. There ought to be an office within the federal government that is there to ensure that civil liberties are protected there are things we need to do with this court right now.
HANNITY: 'Life, Liberty, Levine' Sunday nights, 10:00 eastern. Who are is your guest this weekend?
LEVIN: We have a full hour with Chairman Nunes.
HANNITY: Awesome.
LEVIN: We go over everything soup to nuts.
HANNITY: I love this.
LEVIN: I hope everybody watches.
HANNITY: I love Walter Williams this past weekend. Great opening show. Number one in the ratings. Awesome job. All right great one. Good to see you, thank you. When we come back, Tomi Lahren. You don't want to miss this. We are going to get into this Oakland mayor. This is unbelievable, putting people's lives at risk. Law enforcement straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: All right. Joining us with now on the outrageous story the Oakland mayor warning residents beforehand that ICE agents law enforcement raids is targeting illegal immigrants. Joining us now Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren and from Catalina Magazine, the publisher Cathy Areu is with us. Do you believe in the rule of law, Cathy?
CATHY AREU, CATALINA MAGAZINE PUBLISHER: Of course I do, yes.
HANNITY: And federal law says that you are not allowed to enter the country illegally.
AREU: Right.
HANNITY: Ok. Especially for the case of those criminal aliens that we know committed crimes, do you think it's a good thing that the Oakland mayor, that she warns criminal aliens in some cases oh, ICE is coming. I want to aid and bet you and help you break the law.
AREU: I wouldn't say she was warning criminal aliens.
HANNITY: She warned them ICE is coming.
AREU: I wouldn't call them criminal aliens, I would say undocumented immigrants.
HANNITY: Forget the word smithy.
AREU: Tax paying, good family members, hard workers in our community.
HANNITY: Did they break the law?
AREU: They are working in our country. They are paying taxes. They are not breaking laws.
HANNITY: When they entered the country illegally by not going through the normal process, is that illegal? Yes or no.
AREU: I'm not saying they entered illegally. They may have had a work visa that was here. They may have been invited in by a company and decided to stay.
HANNITY: What about the people we know that are here illegally, you are being stubborn.
AREU: Not at all. They are undocumented.
HANNITY: People enter this country illegally.
AREU: Some people enter this country to work and people hire them.
HANNITY: Is that illegal?
AREU: It may be frowned upon. But I would say they are undocumented.
Undocumented.
HANNITY: This the party -- it all depends on the meaning of the word is.
I can't handle. This it's obviously illegal. The thing that bothers me, Tomi, that mayor is putting law enforcement lives in jeopardy by giving them a heads up.
TOMI LAHREN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Not only -- Sean, not only law enforcement lives but American lives. Residents of Oakland their lives are on the line. We talk about the Democrats talked time and time again they don't want to break up families. I would ask them what about the families of Kate Steinle and Jamil Shaw II killed by illegal immigrants? What about those families? Do those families matter? You are putting a lot of lives on the line and this mayor, if one of those illegal immigrants then goes out and harms someone or god forbid kills someone, she has blood on her hands so I hope she sleeps well at night.
HANNITY: Cathy answer Tomi.
AREU: Violent crime has gone down.
HANNITY: Answer the question about Kate Steinle.
AREU: There are so many people who have died at the hands of non-Hispanic white men in this country so let deport all white men. I mean they are murderers.
HANNITY: Would Kate Steinle have been alive if there was illegal immigrant? That we knew that was in the country.
AREU: Would millions of people be alive if we didn't have white men that were committing this mass murders in this country Sean, Tomi. Let us deport them.
LAHREN: Wait. Illegal immigrants have no legal right to be here. Now you are changing the argument that we should deport white men, white American men, because they commit crimes? Have no legal right to be here. They have no legal right to be here.
AREU: They pay taxes. They are contributing to the community. What did they done wrong?
LAHREN: And what happens when one of these individuals doesn't contribute to their community? What happens if they kill or harm someone?
AREU: There is always a bad apple in the group. There is always a bad apple so let's get rid of every contributor in our community? Every person that is with a family helping their children? Every hard worker because of one bad apple?
HANNITY: My blood pressure, Tomi, help me.
LAHREN: Laws matter.
AREU: And the mayor knows her city. The mayor knows her city.
HANNITY: Check mate Tomi Lahren on this one. Conde Rice confronted Adam Schiff on the view today. We have that video and the Hannity hotline straight ahead.
HANNITY: So earlier today on "the view" Condoleezza Rice delivered a very simple buy very powerful message to the Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff who has spent months and months making his grandiose claims about Trump- Russia collusion. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I spent a lot of time in Washington and I know have you got a really hard job and I appreciate what you are doing for the country but I really hope you can wrap it up. The country needs to
(APPLAUSE)
Get back to business. That is my greatest hope.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: He admitted oh we don't have any evidence. All right. Time for the Hannity hotline. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I listen to you on the radio today. And I didn't think that I would change my opinion about having more security in the schools, but I guess you kind of convinced me that you're right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Mr. Hannity, I just want to tell you my mom watches your show every night. She makes us go to bed by 8:59 so she don't miss a minute. Can you pretty please change back to 10:00 so we can stay up later? Please?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
HANNITY: I can't, Laura Ingraham has the slot she took it from me. This is the first night of all the calls were nice. You want to sound off, like me, hate me. It doesn't matter, 8772258587. This is the first night. All right. That is all the time we have left. As always we will be fair and balance, we are not the destroy-Trump media -- all right what is with -- what is it Laura Ingraham, what is it?
Copy: Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 ASC Services II Media, LLC. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox