Are Democrats admitting they didn't have enough evidence to impeach Trump?

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Are Democrats admitting they didn't have enough evidence to impeach Trump?

Rep. Andy Biggs and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise react to Pelosi withholding articles of impeachment.

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," December 23, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

Dan Bongino, guest host: Welcome to this special edition of "Hannity: The Left's Failed Political Agenda." I'm Dan Bongino in tonight for Sean. For the hour, we'll highlight some of the very worst failures of the Democratic Party. And we'll start with the impeachment fiasco on Capitol Hill. As we speak, Nancy Pelosi is demanding a political ransom in exchange for turning over the articles of impeachment to the US Senate, a move that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is calling absurd. Check this out.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

The Press: Are you surprised you haven't been handed the impeachment -- two impeachment articles from the Speaker?

Mitch McConnell: Yeah. I mean, believe it or not, the papers have to be physically brought over to the Senate, and we can't go forward until the Speaker does that. She's apparently trying to tell us how to run the trial. You know, I'm not anxious to have this trial, so if she wants to hold on to the papers, that's -- go right ahead. It seems to me a rather absurd position to say after you've impeached the president you won't send the papers over to the Senate for the impeachment trial mandated by the Constitution.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Dan Bongino: Pelosi is facing widespread criticism over this ridiculous political stunt. Senator Ron Johnson is calling it bizarre. Senator Ted Cruz said the delay was a, quote, "sign of weakness," and Senator Lindsey Graham accused Pelosi of constitutional extortion over the weekend. Lindsey Graham demanded that Pelosi stop playing these nonsensical games. Take a look.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Lindsey Graham: Instead of allowing the president to go to court to exercise executive privilege, they put an artificial time limit and said, "If you don't allow these witnesses to come to the House at a time certain, we're going to impeach you." They impeached him for exercising his legal rights. Impeachment is a dead cat. Stop playing with it. Bury it; it's going nowhere. Quit violating the Constitution. Give the president his day in court, and let's get this behind us so we can talk about things that people really care about.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Dan Bongino: [LAUGHS] A dead cat. Perhaps the strongest rebuke of Nancy Pelosi came from President Trump himself, who just a few hours ago tweeted, quote, "Nancy Pelosi, who's already lost the House and Speakership once, is about to lose it again. She's doing everything she can to delay the zero-Republican vote articles of impeachment. She's trying to take over the Senate, and Crying Chuck is trying to take over the trial. No way. What right does crazy Nancy have to hold up the Senate trial? None. She has a bad case and would rather not have a negative decision. This witch hunt must end now with a trial in the Senate or let her default and lose. No more time should be wasted on this impeachment scam." This president is right, and the former House Speaker Newt Gingrich pointed out that this could be one giant stall tactic from the hapless Democrats. Check this out.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Newt Gingrich: I think that they don't think they have enough evidence to have any chance at all in the Senate, and they're buying time to see if they can create more evidence. That would be my guess. But the whole thing is pretty stupid. First of all, they're admitting that the case they have is so weak they don't want to send it over to the Senate. The more they behave politically, the more they devalue the entire impeachment process, and people look up and go, "That's just politics," which then further allows the president to keep gaining strength, which he's been doing now for six weeks.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Dan Bongino: The Speaker is on to something. The House Democrats' counsel just said that they're open to impeaching President Trump again. We're not kidding. Make no mistake, with Democrats in charge of the House, this charade is never, ever going to stop. Joining us now with more is Minority Whip Steve Scalise and House Freedom Caucus chairman Andy Biggs. Gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us. Congressman Scalise, this is kind of bizarre. You know, Chuck Schumer's press conference about how they wanted more evidence -- aren't they kind of de facto admitting that they impeached the president without evidence? Am I reading this right? He needs more witnesses, but they already took a vote, saying, oh, they had enough evidence to impeach. This seems kind of backwards.

Steve Scalise: Yeah, we said this all along. There literally was no crime. The president committed no crime. It was an impeachment in search of a crime, and they never found one. All of their own witnesses, their star witnesses, all said that there was no crime, there was no bribery, and now you've got Pelosi really carrying out her own quid pro quo. She's trying to say, "I won't give you the papers unless you do this." Isn't that what they were accusing President Trump of? Look, Joe Biden did the quid pro quo that he bragged about. You know, "Hey, I'll take the billion dollars of taxpayer money if you don't fire the prosecutor." Pelosi is doing a quid pro quo. President Trump is the only one who didn't do one, and they impeached him for it. This is bizarre, and, look, there is no case. It's time for her to give this up, stop the witch hunt, and finally start working for the American people. We could be lowering drug prices; we could have a secure border and do so many other things, but they are the party of impeachment. This is all they have.

Dan Bongino: You know, Congressman, before I go to Congressman Biggs, just following up on that, Congressman Scalise, you know, it's fascinating, because they allege the quid pro quo with the president that their only firsthand witness said never happened -- Gordon Sondland -- and yet the president is the chief executive of the country. He's obviously concerned about corruption and foreign aid. He's said that many times. And yet now we have Nancy Pelosi with an unconstitutional usurpation of the Senate powers, and where is the media on this? Nowhere; celebrating how wonderful Nancy Pelosi is. Am I reading this wrong?

Steve Scalise: You're spot-on, and, look, when the media was kept out of the room by Adam Schiff, where was the media then saying, "We're not going to let you impeach a president in secret behind closed doors?" This is Nancy Pelosi literally saying she has no case. She's already lost one Democrat over this fiasco last week. Jeff Van Drew said, "Enough already. I'm not going to be a part of this anymore." Who knows how many more she's going to lose either by switching, or a lot of them are just going to get beaten next year? Because the country is fed up with these theatrics, this drama by Speaker Pelosi trying to now take over the Senate because she has no case in the House, shouldn't have moved impeachment in the first place, but they did it anyway. The country says, "Look, focus on lowering drug prices and caring about the working families." Fortunately, President Trump cares about those families and is delivering with a great economy with a lot of people with a lot more money in their paychecks this Christmas.

Dan Bongino: Congressman Biggs, you know, I've got to believe that the Democrats, for as much as I disagree with their rancid political ideology, they're not stupid. They're not. They're usually a little bit more tactically efficient. They have to know this has been just a spectacular faceplant. Public polling is down; independents moving in the opposite direction; swing-state polls devastating. Minority support for President Trump going up. I saw some number raising millions of dollars on the day of impeachment for President Trump. Are you sensing up on the Hill that some of the 31 Democrats in Trump districts are starting to say, "Hey, you know, Houston, we've got a problem here; we may want to slow this down?" Is that where this is coming from?

Andy Biggs: Well, some of them are concerned, but others are kind of stuck in the middle with Nancy Pelosi. So, I think you've got some that are more rational that are saying, "Hey, this is a real problem for us," but, you know, Dan, what you're seeing is really a reflection of the authoritarian nature of the left and the Democratic Party. So, Nancy Pelosi is going to go out there and basically compel her members to go for an impeachment that does not have popular support and does not, as you pointed out, have evidence, and if they get through this, and if it ever gets over to the Senate, and he's acquitted, which we all know he will be, they're going to do it again. That's the authoritarian nature that you see within the Democrat Party that actually beats down on those 31 Democrats within that -- those swing districts, and so they're all in trouble. They're all in trouble.

Dan Bongino: Congressman Scalise, just following up on this, does the AOC/left-leaning -- far-left-leaning wing of the party -- do they really have this much power? As I was talking about before here with Congressman Biggs in my question here, she has to know this could lead to an electoral disaster. I mean, if this leads to a Republican retaking of the House, a holding of the Senate, and a landslide victory for Donald Trump, this is going to stain her legacy forever. I thought Nancy Pelosi was smarter than this. You deal with her in your leadership position. Again, I'm -- what am I missing in this? She's usually tactically smarter than this.

Steve Scalise: Well -- and, you know, she used to be in control of that caucus, and now, with this new socialist Democrat Party, AOC, as you were indicating, is driving the train now. It's her party. If you go back to the impeachment inquiry, she wasn't going to do an impeachment, and then one weekend AOC tweeted that the real crime is the Democrat majority not impeaching President Trump, and literally two days later Nancy Pelosi said she was going to impeach the president. So, AOC is driving this party. It's why so many of the moderates have no place left. There are no blue dogs left in the Democrat Party virtually. She's run them all off, because they're tired of the socialist style, but that's all she's got, and they're controlling things right now.

Dan Bongino: That's a great point. I forgot about that tweet. Congressman Biggs, nothing they've told us about this impeachment -- the Democrats -- is true. There was no quid pro quo; their firsthand witnesses told us the exact opposite. Gordon Sondland's own text said, "The president has been crystal-clear. No quid pro quo." Like, they can read it themselves. I know they don't do evidence, the left, or anything like that, but everything they told us about the extreme nature of it to be rushed -- "We have to get the president; he's such a danger to national security," this nonsense. So, they were in a rush, and now, all of a sudden, they want to slow down. Again, a little bit of a disconnect with their messaging, no?

Andy Biggs: Yeah. Oh, absolutely right, and they -- it shows the disarray that they have. And you're right; I think Nancy Pelosi is normally pretty strategic, but she's getting the pressure from the left. But they are in disarray right now, and it actually is undermining the very nature of what they think they're going to do in the future in the 2020 election. So, it really has consequences electorally; it has consequences for us constitutionally, of course, and within the institution itself. But they're in disarray. She's misread this thing terribly. I don't who's advising her right now, but she ought to fire them and get somebody else.

Dan Bongino: [LAUGHS] Good point. Congressman Scalise, Congressman Biggs, seriously, thank you very much. You're fighting a good fight up there. We really appreciate it. Thanks so much, guys.

Steve Scalise: Merry Christmas.

Dan Bongino: Merry Christmas, guys.

Andy Biggs: Merry Christmas, Dan.

Dan Bongino: Thanks again for joining us. While Americans largely tuned out the impeachment circus on Capitol Hill, the mainstream media has been totally consumed. In fact, at least one particularly deranged journalist, with the dreaded air quotes, believes the future of the planet earth is now at stake. Watch this.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

David Remnick: Here's what I hope that we understand. That the stakes here are immense. It's just -- it's not about -- just about the political future of one man, Donald Trump. It's about the future of democracy and democratic process and this is a trend throughout the world. It's about the future of the earth. [END VIDEO CLIP]

Dan Bongino: That's real. Most Americans do not agree and President Trump is surging in the polls. Pelosi's made an absolute mess out of her impeachment stunt and many in the mainstream media are starting to panic. Take a look.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Male Speaker: I cannot figure out what the strategy Nancy Pelosi has. The Constitution says the House has the power, the sole power to bring an impeachment. The Senate has the sole power to try and impeachment. I don't get what her leverage is here.

Male Speaker: Nancy Pelosi, as you know, has been masterful in the past months dealing with these issues. But now she's got a double -- what we might call a double-edged sword. The Democrats have been arguing all this time hustle up, hustle up, we have to hurry, we have to get this done and now that they've got the impeachment done they are saying slow down, slow down, we want to -- we're not even sure we're going to send over the articles. I think you can maintain that for a short period of time. I do not think that's sustainable position over a long period of time.

Male Speaker: I think it's very risky. You know, as Mitch McConnell said, "Why is withholding something I don't want to do, why is that leverage?" And so, he -- it was always going to be a reality that once the House voted to impeach they were going to lose control in the process. And they've essentially lost control of the process.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Dan Bongino: My next guess, constitutional scholar Alan Dershowitz argues that Pelosi's conducting an obvious ploy for partisan advantage and that the Senate can acquit President Trump with or without Pelosi's cooperation. Joining us now with more is the author of "Guilt By Accusation," Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, along with media reporter for The Hill, Joe Concha. Thanks, guys, for joining us. Professor Dershowitz, I'll go to you first. As you said here with Senator McConnell and his -- he's kind of in a bit of a bind here because if he moves forward Pelosi will accuse him of, you know, taking an initiative without in fact an impeachment and if he waits this is hanging over the president's head forever. My question to you as a constitutional law professor is how long can this stunt go on? Is there some kind of legal binding precedent here?

Alan Dershowitz: There is no legal binding precedent but the Constitution is clear that impeachment is a process. It starts with the House and it must go to the Senate. It would be utterly unconstitutional for Speaker Pelosi to accept my colleague Larry Tribe's idea that is impeach but don't ever bring it to the Senate so the impeachment hangs over the president's head forever with no opportunity to vindicate himself. But I want to comment about one thing. You showed David Remnick before saying that the world is coming to an end. I have to comment about that because David Remnick is the problem today. He is the poster child for what's wrong with the media. He makes up facts. He wrote a story in the New Yorker. I tell the story about it in my book, "Guilt by Accusation." He makes up a story about something that happened to my family. He got it from a Neo-Nazi Holocaust denial website. Never sent it to a fact-checker to check and published it as fact. Totally made up story. That's David Remnick. The New Yorker has the lowest ratio of credibility to apparent credibility of any media in the country. Nobody should take anything that the New Yorker says under David Remnick's leadership seriously. He just makes up facts and uses Neo-Nazi sources to source his facts.

Dan Bongino: Well, I'd like to say I'm surprised but I'm not. Nothing surprises me with the media. Joe, you study the media for a living. Joe Concha: Sure.

Dan Bongino: I mean, watching these clips they have to understand this hyperbole is getting old. Everything is the end of the world. This [unintelligible] moment. Trump is causing the ends and Angel Gabriel is going to come down tomorrow. I mean, when is this going to -- is it ever going to stop?

Joe Concha: The walls are closing in. The noose is tightening.

Dan Bongino: The walls are closing in. We got them now.

Joe Concha: It's the beginning of the end.

Dan Bongino: Yeah, beginning of the end.

Joe Concha: Yeah. It's losing its --

Dan Bongino: Every cliché in the book.

Joe Concha: --- effect. The panic among media over the lack of impact of impeachment, it basically is wrapped up in these five numbers that I'll share quickly, okay?

Dan Bongino: Yeah.

Joe Concha: Trump's approval is now at 49 percent and a Hill-Harris ex-poll that we just released tonight that's the highest it's ever been in that poll. Every poll is trending in a positive direction for the president, as you've mentioned. Nancy Pelosi's approval not mentioned at all very much, 39 percent despite almost being universally praised in the media on an hourly basis, right? Fifty-six percent, that's how much the DOW Jones is up. Seventy-two percent, that's how much the NASDAQ is up. So, for regular folks, working folks, 401(k)'s are doing quite well. Those are things that they can feel. But finally, this is the biggest number. Seventy-seven percent, that's the number of Democrats who now support impeachment. This is a CNN poll. That same poll last month was at 90 percent. Thirteen percent among Democrats are bailing on Nancy Pelosi and that's why I think, Dan, when we look back on the speaker's legacy over 50 years in politics, this will go down as the worst decision she has ever made because it could end up with the re-election not only of President Trump but of her losing her power in Congress as well.

Dan Bongino: No, I agree, I mean, it's not a secret either that I'm a conservative but I think trying to look at this objectively this was clearly a disastrous political decision. Professor Dershowitz, there's this legal question out there. It's kind of become a social media back and forth on Twitter and Facebook. In your legal expertise, some people are suggesting President Trump wasn't actually impeached at all, including some people on the left if those articles aren't in fact forwarded. Your opinion on that.

Alan Dershowitz: There's nothing in the Constitution about articles of impeachment. There's nothing about forwarding. As far as the American public is concerned the president has been impeached and that's why it was utterly unfair to suggest that we don't have to allow the Senate now to acquit him. So, there are two alternatives. If he hasn't been impeached Nancy Pelosi has to go to the media and say please, all the media that have said he's impeached, please withdraw that. Correct it. He's not impeached. He's presumed innocent. He's absolutely innocent. His status hasn't changed. And if he has been impeached the Senate has to start their trial as soon as they choose to. Remember the Senate is the sole judge of guilt or innocence of impeachment. And so the Democrats can't have it both ways. They can't say on the one hand to the public we're saying he's impeached but for the Senate we're saying he's not impeached. You know what I say? This is obstruction of the Senate. Exactly the same charge they made against the president. This is an abuse of power, exactly the same charge they made against the president. It's wrong constitutionally. It's wrong morally and it's wrong politically.

Dan Bongino: You know, Joe, I remember the -- I'm old enough to remember the Clinton impeachment where the media painted him as a martyr of this Republican witch hunt every day obviously the coverage of this are painting Nancy Pelosi and, you know, Chuck Schumer as these angelic figures out there, you know, doing the good of the country despite being a fake charge. As you said before, the trends matter. I mean, it's clear you and I both know Pelosi is typically smarter than this and I'll ask you what I asked the congressman. Do you think it's just this radical left-wing pressure from the AOC brand that's forcing her to lose her political staple? She's usually smarter here and more grounded. She's made some -- you know, you may not agree with her ideology but she's made some sound tactical moves and it seems now that she's completely lost it and has just fallen in with the left-leaning wing of the party right off the cliff.

Joe Concha: Before this impeachment process happened, if you asked me to describe Nancy Pelosi in one word I would say shrewd, right? She's been around for 50 years, as I said in politics, and she usually is pretty measured in her decisions. But now ironically the longer this impeachment process goes on the longer she holds this, the better it is for the president because he keeps getting things done, tangible things. You can say the last couple of weeks were the best of his presidency.

Dan Bongino: Oh, yeah, it was a great week.

Joe Concha: USMCA, defense authorization. You go down the line where people say ah, these are things that are making my life better. Then they look at the democratic side and they look at the scoreboard there. What have they got done since they took back the House in 2018? Not much.

Dan Bongino: And ironically, one quick point before we run, they've almost go the Democrats in a box, the Trump administration now because now the Democrats have to work with the Trump administration on things like USMCA which they had previously sidelined because they'll look even worse for not doing anything. So, it was kind of a -- it was really –

Joe Concha: We're walking and chewing gum, right?

Dan Bongino: That's their favorite –

Joe Concha: But Trump is always run on –

[CROSSTALK]

Alan Dershowitz: The real victims here are the American people and the Constitution. The Constitution has been damaged by this ploy being used by Nancy Pelosi who I have long admired but this is a very bad time for the United States Constitution.

Dan Bongino: I agree.

Joe Concha: I just want to see David Remnick and Alan Dershowitz in an alleyway somewhere.

Dan Bongino: Sign them up.

[CROSSTALK]

Alan Dershowitz: --- show together. I'd be happy to debate him and expose him as the fraud he is and the careless fact checker that he is.

Dan Bongino: All right. Guys, thanks a lot. Alan, Joe, thanks. Coming up next on this special Hannity, Congressman Adam Schiff says he has no sympathy for Carter Page over the FISA scandal. John Solomon, Gregg Jarrett, and Jason Chaffetz will react. Then another 2020 Democrat presidential candidate's hypocrisies on full display. Jeff Lord and Sara Carter will break it down with the latest example coming up next.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Dan Bongino: Welcome back to the special edition of Hannity. Now, despite the explosive Horowitz findings that detailed massive surveillance abuse and FISA fraud against Carter Page and the Trump campaign, congenital liar, corrupt Adam Schiff, is still showing no remorse for perpetuating a years long hoax and spreading FISA lies. Take a look.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Female Speaker: Carter Page says that the FBI spying into his life ruined his good name. That's a quote. He also says that he will, quote, "Never completely have his name restored." Do you feel any sympathy for Carter Page?

Adam Schiff: I have to say, you know, Carter Page came before our committee and for hours of his testimony denied things we knew were true, later had to admit them during his testimony. It's also hard to be sympathetic when you have someone who admitted to being an advisor to the Kremlin.

Female Speaker: But he was also informing the CIA.

Adam Schiff: Yes.

Female Speaker: Which we didn't know about.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Dan Bongino: Incredible. Really. That should shock the conscience. Carter Page was smeared for years, accused of being a traitor all based on lies and innuendo and a phony dossier, and Adam Schiff doesn't have the guts to admit he was wrong and show a little remorse. And this is the same liar, by the way, who wrote the now-debunked FISA memo and was given the greenlight to run the Democrats' impeachment witch hunt. He's corrupt to the core. It's undeniable. Now, the good news is the boomerang of justice is in full swing because not only is John Durham honing into the actions of ex-CIA Director John Brennan, but according to a new report in The New York Times, Durham got into a "sharp dispute" over a draft footnote in the Horowitz Report that implied Durham agreed with all of the IG's conclusions including political bias. Now, the footnote was not included in the final report, suggesting Durham is uncovering convincing evidence refuting Horowitz's conclusions. From Comey to Clapper to Brennan, some of America's most powerful bureaucrats abused their power to try and undo the results of a presidential election. The time for accountability is now.

Joining me now for reactions is author of the book "Power Grab," Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz along with the author of the great book "Witch Hunt," Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett and Fox News contributor and investigative report John Solomon whose reporting I've come to rely on extensively. Thanks guys for joining us. Gregg, I'll go to you first.

This thing with Carter Page, Gregg, is an abomination, and that's not hyperbole. We have a Naval Academy graduate who has never been charged with any crime who was actually doing work, now we know, for an intelligence agency thought to be the CIA to nail Russians working in this country to hurt this country. The FBI then targets this guy and manipulates an email to suggest that his contacts with those said Russians were on behalf of some nefarious, treasonous act. I mean, this is one of the most disgusting episodes of malfeasance I've ever seen in law enforcement.

Gregg Jarrett: And James Comey knew it because when the first stories started to appear late summer of 2016 identifying Carter Page, Page sends a letter to Comey saying, "It's not true. I've been helping the CIA."

Dan Bongino: That's right.

Gregg Jarrett: "I'd be happy to sit down and talk with you." Comey ignored the letter and sought a FISA warrant, but Adam Schiff is one of the first people to publicly accuse Carter Page of being a Russian spy before the FISA warrant situation. And you just played a clip of Schiff accusing Carter Page of lying in front of the Intelligence Committee. Completely untrue. The testimony was November 2, 2017. I've read it a dozen times. Whole portions of it are repeated in my book. Carter Page told the truth. If it were otherwise, he would have been accused of and prosecuted for perjury. Now, Adam Schiff continues to lie. And if you -- I invite people to actually read the transcript. It's online. Carter Page not only tells the truth, but Adam Schiff makes an absolute fool of himself trying on cross-examination to get Carter Page to admit that merely shaking the hand of a Kremlin official and saying hello is somehow the hobgoblin of a grand conspiracy to commit a treasonous act and steal the 2016 election. Adam Schiff, in his contorted and twisted mind, may still believe it, and it's ludicrous.

Dan Bongino: No, it's a stain on our country. It's a disgusting episode. John, I'll go to you. Your reporting has been just spectacular. I have relied on it extensively, and it's good to see now even some in the media who had tried to tarnish your reputation are now starting to come around, realizing you were right the whole time. I know you've got some --

John Solomon: -- stubborn things.

Dan Bongino: [LAUGHS] Yeah, they are stubborn things. I know you've got some information on Comey, but it's obvious now that Comey lied. We -- I saw a footnote this weekend, Footnote 323.

John Solomon: That's right.

Dan Bongino: Comey had told President Trump in this January 7, 2017, meeting, "We weren't really investigating the dossier. It's salacious and unverified." Footnote 323 says they were not only investigating it, they were sending FBI agents overseas --

John Solomon: They were --

Dan Bongino: -- to investigate Steele's sources. Is this guy -- I mean, really, his reputation has got to be finished.

John Solomon: It is, and some of the lies that he's told the Congress, or misstatements, are really serious issues. For instance, he says at one point, "I didn't know that Carter Page had been opened up on in the spring of 2016." That was one of the revelations in the IG report, and in fact, there's notes from Pete Strzok showing he was in a meeting with James Comey, and they talked about it. Same thing about Bruce Ohr. He didn't know about Bruce Ohr and the backdoor way they were getting Steele's information, and after Steele is fired, there's Strzok's notes there saying he was in a meeting where he briefed him on Bruce Ohr. James Comey has an issue now, and I think as Durham advances this criminal investigation there's a high probability they're going to look at him for false statements.

Dan Bongino: You know, that's fascinating, because that whole information laundering scheme they're running with Bruce Ohr -- again, another -- just another lie in the just bevy of Comey lies he's told. Congressman Chaffetz, one of the things that's bothered me is the media malfeasance in this -- we just had Joe Concha on; he studies media for a living -- but they keep suggesting that the IG report says there's no political bias. That is not what the report said. Matter of fact, Horowitz's own words in front of the Senate committee were clear. "Although I didn't find any document saying, 'Yes, we opened up on Trump because we hate him, and he's politically biased,'" he said it was one of two things. It was either gross negligence or political bias. Just goes to show you how the media will take anything and spin it for the Democrats' narrative.

Jason Chaffetz: And also, what the Inspector General said that is he did not look at it; he could not demonstrate definitively one way or the other if any bias was injected into itself in the actual FISA applications. What he said is he couldn't find missed or precept [spelled phonetically] that he had documented any sort of bias. He was the senior-most person that started this operation. But that's, like, not even a page of a 450-page IG report. If anybody thinks they were exonerated or cleared, are you kidding me? I mean, Comey takes it in the shorts for the fifth time in over a thousand pages now documented from the Inspector General, so good luck with that, Mr. Comey.

Dan Bongino: I want to get a quick answer from the three of you on this, because I'm genuinely curious about this. How much trouble do you think -- I'll go with you, Gregg, first -- John Brennan is in? And the reason I ask it is at one point during the sworn testimony of Lisa Page she tells Congressman Mark Meadows under oath that she would be genuinely stunned if the CIA was getting information from Steele. In other words, it seems like Brennan may have been -- I'm not giving the FBI a pass, believe me; Comey lied throughout this whole thing. But it seems at some point that if there was a puppet master in this from the intel side, it may have been John Brennan.

Gregg Jarrett: Well, I call Brennan the instigator in my book. He created, before there was a Steeler dossier, an interagency task force that was the original foundation -- you know this, John --

John Solomon: Absolutely.

Gregg Jarrett: -- was the foundation for the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, and so I think Brennan has a lot to answer for, and I think Durham may be looking at false statements insofar as Brennan is concerned.

Dan Bongino: John, on Brennan?

John Solomon: Gregg has it exactly right. I think that interagency task force is going to be one of the places to get cracked open by Durham. We're going to learn a lot. Also, on the issue of bias, the biggest bias that was ever injected into this investigation was the Steele dossier. He admitted he was desperate to defeat Trump, and the FBI used that to go to the FISA court. Bias is all over this investigation. Anyone who says it isn't is blind to it.

Dan Bongino: And Weissman knew it. Congressman, how much trouble do you think John Brennan is in in this?

Jason Chaffetz: He's in a lot of trouble. I agree with the other two, but I would also say, Dan, follow the money. There are millions of dollars that float from the Democrats overseas, and Durham is able to go look at that. It's something Horowitz couldn't look at. That is going to tell a lot about the travesty that was done here.

Dan Bongino: Jason, Gregg, John, thanks guys, you were great. Really appreciate it. Thanks a lot. As the democratic primary field narrows, the race for 2020 is beginning to heat up. At the last debate Elizabeth Warren blasted Mayor Pete for holding big dollar private fundraisers. Take a look.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Elizabeth Warren: The mayor just recently had a fundraiser that was held in a wine cave full of crystals and served $900 a bottle wine. Think about who comes to that. He had promised that every fundraiser he would do would be open door, but this one was closed door. We made the decision many years ago that rich people in smoke-filled rooms would not pick the next president of the United States. Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Dan Bongino: That's hilarious. Following this viral exchange, it was revealed that Elizabeth Warren herself held a $2,700 a head fundraiser at a -- you can't make this up. Is this real? At a Boston -- they're all laughing on the set -- at a Boston winery and former President Obama is working behind the scenes to quietly court wealthy donors to back her. Meanwhile, Obama is leaving his friends out in the cold with Deval Patrick trying to urge the former president to remain neutral and his former vice president playing to smaller and smaller crowds at each campaign stop. Joining me now with reaction is conservative columnist Jeffrey Lord and Fox News contributor Sara Carter. Sara, I'll go to -- I know. It's hysterical. Gregg and John are still here. They're laughing in the background. I think we have like a peanut gallery on the show because this is like watching this field implode is just embarrassing. I mean, I've kind of framed it this way, like there's three lanes and they're all led by phonies. The safe pit is supposed to be Biden. He's not even safe enough for Obama to endorse him. The radical pick is a millionaire, Elizabeth Warren, who supposedly doesn't like millionaires, and then you got the outsider pick focus group tested insider Pete Buttigieg. I mean, this field is just going to collapse.

Sara Carter: It's absolutely insane. First of all, Dan, it's like hypocrisy and self-hate. That's where I'm going with this. It's like Elizabeth Warren just can't like herself enough. We saw that when she actually touted as being a Native American. She's paid the price for that. She's apologized for that and now she's angry at billionaires and millionaires when we know the DNC, I mean, this is how you raise money. And Pete Buttigieg is right. He says, look, you're a hypocrite because we have to raise money. If you say we need to defeat President Trump why are you turning your backs on people who actually want us to do that, right? So, but she turns her back on herself. She's actually a millionaire. You're right. She's probably worth around $9 million.

Dan Bongino: Which is great.

Sara Carter: According to estimates.

Dan Bongino: We're all like free market people.

Sara Carter: Yeah, which is fine.

Dan Bongino: But not when you're a socialist trying to tell people that millionaires are awful people.

Sara Carter: Exactly and that's exactly what she is. She's a socialist. You know, it's the Che Guevara syndrome. It's like you grow up with money. She didn't. She actually made her money on her own but she's angry that she has it, so she has this kind of syndrome and pushes socialism.

Dan Bongino: Well, she can give it to me.

Jeffrey Lord: If she doesn't like it, I'll take it. I take checks. Make it out.

Dan Bongino: Really. I'll send you my home address on DM, Ms. Warren. Send it right over. Jeff, you know, my analysis there I think I'm spot on. I mean, generally in any election there are really those three lanes. I mean, it's kind of a broad brush but they're all lead by total frauds. You have, you know, Bernie, oh, millionaires, I can't stand -- he's a millionaire, too. I mean, nothing about this feel this genuine and Elizabeth Warren can't seem to get out of her own way lately.

Jeffrey Lord: I mean, don't forget Bernie's three houses and --

Dan Bongino: Yes.

Jeffrey Lord: You know, look, the FEC says that 61 percent of the Trump donors are small donors, $200 or less. The Democratic Party, and this has been the real sea change that is not talked about a lot. It used to be that Wall Street billionaires gave to the Republican Party but for a variety of reasons over the decades they're now all Democrats, in Hollywood, in Wall Street, the big tech, et cetera, et cetera. It's the little guy, the working American who's giving to Donald Trump. I mean, I just have to laugh at this. Joe Biden has 100 people show up for a rally. I was at the Hershey rally the other week with President Trump. Twelve thousand people totally filled the arena with thousands outside in the rain. What does that tell you?

Dan Bongino: Yeah. Jeff, there were more people on the line for the bathroom at Trump rally than have been at the Biden's rally. I mean, I'm only half kidding because it's probably true if you count it, but Sara, I mean, this thing with Biden is becoming like it's really almost painful to watch. I mean, listen, as a former Secret Service guy, you get to know some of these people somewhat personally. I was on the president's detail, but I mean, this is painful to watch. This guy's supposed to be the safe pick, right? The establishment pick, the Mitt Romney for the Democrats of this pick and he can't even get an endorsement for a guy he served for eight years as his vice president? I mean, this has got to be humiliating for this guy.

Sara Carter: Well, look, President Obama knows him well. He spent enough time with him. It's embarrassing. It is gut wrenching to watch, you know, Vice President Joe Biden and you see these clips of him talking about corn pop, about the hairy legs situation.

Dan Bongino: Hairy legs. He doesn't know what state he's in.

Sara Carter: Hairy legs. So, you know, President Obama, he's a realist. He's saying this isn't going to happen. This isn't the guy for the party. The problem is you have people like Senator Elizabeth Warren, you know, the limousine liberals in Hollywood and others that Jeffrey Lord was talking about who are, you know, basically telling the American people this is how you need to operate. We believe in socialism for you, just not for us, and Jeffrey's right. More people are supporting, you know, President Trump. They're coming out in droves. They're spending two nights out just to see him speak and these are regular folks because he connects with the regular American. He connects with people and they are not connecting. They don't have a platform.

Dan Bongino: Jeff, I got 30 seconds left but these debates are going to be must see TV. I mean, President Trump is going to eat these candidates alive on the debate stage right now if this field stays as it is.

Jeffrey Lord: I'm investing in popcorn stock for one, but just remember this about President Obama. He's -- he is really insulted that Donald Trump is president of the United States and that his legacy is vanishing and that he was rejected. So trust me, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or Alvin the Chipmunk he will be out there for the democratic nominee regardless.

Dan Bongino: Yeah. Interesting point. We'll see what happens. Thanks, Sara. Thanks, Jeff. Really appreciate it. Up next. Violence continues to plague major liberal run cities with shootings over the weekend in Chicago and Baltimore. Larry Elder and Tammy Bruce will weigh in next.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Dan Bongino: Welcome back to this special edition of Hannity, the left's failed political agenda. One of the most striking and tragic examples of the failure of the Democratic Party's policies is the seemingly never-ending wave of violence that has taken over major liberal-run cities. This includes Baltimore, my old home, and Chicago, which suffered multiple major shootings over the weekend. Joining us now with more is FOX News reporter Anita Vogel. Anita?

Anita Vogel: Good evening, Dan. A violent weekend for two major cities, and police say they don't have any good answers. In Baltimore, seven people, including three teenagers, were short early Sunday morning outside a hookah lounge in the downtown area. Witnesses say two men carrying firearms approached a crowd of people standing in line just to get in.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Male Speaker: Criminals are just brazen. This guy gets out of a car with a rifle, not even a handgun, and he walks up the street and just opens fire on a line of people.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Anita Vogel: In Chicago, a house party on Sunday meant to honor a 22-year-old victim of a carjacking ended up turning into a bloody crime scene after two different gunmen opened fire at the memorial, wounding 13 people. The victims were between the ages of 16 and 48, and some of them were left in critical condition. Now, just last week the Justice Department announced a crackdown in violent crime in seven cities across the U.S. that have higher crime rates than the national average. Baltimore is among them. The crackdown involves adding more federal law enforcement officers and additional grant funds to help cities hire new officers and purchase new equipment and technology. Now, it might be surprising to many to note Chicago was not included as part of the crackdown. Dan, back to you.

Dan Bongino: Anita, thanks a lot. Joining us now for reaction is Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce and Salem Radio nationally syndicated host Larry Elder. Tammy, I'll go to you first. This is -- I just remember my time as a police officer in New York, and you'd be sitting there -- I worked in a pretty high-crime, busy area -- and people would come out once in a while, and they'd tap you on the shoulder and say, "Listen, that guy in the corner is slinging drugs. Don't tell him I said anything, but, please, can you help us out?" You know, these are our citizens. These are our people who live in our country who are living in a second-class America, in these cities being burned to the ground by these liberal policies. It is a stain on our country and an embarrassment to the richest country on earth.

Tammy Bruce: And the genuinely obscene situation is when you're -- if you're -- when you're outside of a city like this, whether it's Baltimore or Los Angeles or Chicago, you think it's -- you know, you think of the town, the entire encompassing city, whereas this is a small group of people, effectively a small percentage, victimizing everyone else in that city. People of color; people, whether they're middle class or on the lower income scale -- and it's those American citizens who want protection, who want leadership, because this for me is really -- certainly, we know it's gun control policies.

We see that those, of course, victimize cities, victimize the citizens in those cities, like in Chicago and in Baltimore; sanctuary-city policies, whether they're complete or partial. But it's signaling from leadership that anything goes, that if there is -- like in California, decriminalizing certain crimes, right? Here in New York, the quality of life elements are decriminalized, where you can defecate in -- on the sidewalk; you're not going to be arrested if you're drunk and walking down the street with a bag. It sends a message to the rest of the community that nobody cares, that leadership doesn't care. And if you -- if leadership doesn't care about the city, why should the average criminal? And that is what ends up victimizing everyone who is relying on leadership. Regardless of complexion, regardless of whether -- where you are or what your income is, people want security. That is why Trump is president, as an example, and it is why, I would contend -- I think Larry might agree -- that it is liberal leadership, so-called leadership and policies, that condemn these cities, because it's an abandonment. They don't want to govern, and their policies condemn people even further.

Dan Bongino: You know, Larry, I know this is an area very close to your heart. I was a city kid myself. It matters a lot to me. These are real people with real lives who are living in places where -- again, the -- you know, John Edwards, who ran for president as a Democrat, he said there were two Americas in that speech. He was right, but for the wrong reasons. Those two Americas are being created by disturbingly awful liberal policies which are ripping the hearts out of these hardworking people forced to live in areas with these crap policies, garbage law enforcement policies, lack of school choice, terrible economic policies. Again, I could go on, but I know this matters to you as well. You've spoken about it often.

Larry Elder: Right. Well, the elephant in the room is the large number of kids, particularly black kids, who are raised without fathers. According to the CDC, Dan, 70 percent of black kids are raised without fathers. And Tammy is right, this violence takes place in a handful of neighborhoods in Chicago and in Baltimore. These are neighborhoods that are black neighborhoods where a lot of the kids are raised without fathers. And forget about Larry Elder; Obama once said, "A kid raised without a father is five times more likely to be poor, nine times more likely to drop out of school, 20 times more likely to end up in jail." What we've done with the welfare state is we've incentivized women to marry the government; we've allowed men to abandon their financial and moral responsibility. We need to reverse the welfare state, we need to return the stigma against having a kid outside of wedlock. We're not doing that. We're blaming guns, we're blaming racism, we're blaming all sorts of other things other than the problem, which is incentivizing women to marry the government and allowing men to abandon their financial and moral responsibility.

Dan Bongino: You know, I notice, Tammy, whenever I get into a debate about a liberal about this it always turns into some kind of soft bigotry on their part -- on their part -- where it ends up with them saying the "they" line." "Well, they -- those people." There's no "those people." These are human beings. This is absurd. I mean, think about it. The median income in Baltimore city used to be about 5, 10 percent above the national average in the 1950s. Liberals took over; it's now 20 percent-plus below. This -- it's not the people; it's the darn policies --

Tammy Bruce: That's correct.

Larry Elder: Right.

Dan Bongino: -- and the liberals that are running it.

Tammy Bruce: And you see, these are great American cities, the greatest. Baltimore, Maryland; Chicago, Illinois; New York City; Los Angeles --

Dan Bongino: That's right --

Tammy Bruce: -- San Francisco. It is remarkable. Milwaukee; Kansas City; Albuquerque; Memphis. I mean, we're looking at great American cities that became great because of the people in them, and one of the problems is people who are subjected to this horrible leadership become isolated and begin to feel that there is no way out. And then Republicans have got to step up. I would say Republicans in the past have abandoned certain cities as belonging to the Democrats; President Trump is trying to reverse that. But the fact is these are American citizens who are from, and their families are from -- have built up these cities. They're the history of these cities, and we've abandoned them. There's a way to change it. America was headed in that direction under Obama; we changed that, and we can help change these cities as well with different leadership.

Dan Bongino: Larry, I've got a minute left. One of the things that really bothers me is these kids deserve a shot. It's not just bad law enforcement policies and the terrible government -- you know, social welfare state policies. It's also school choice. You know, if this was happening in a white, middle-class neighborhood with these terrible schools in inner cities, they'd be burning the statehouse down, but all of a sudden, it's acceptable because it's a largely minority neighborhood. Just -- I've got about 30 second left.

Larry Elder: Yeah, they sure do hate choice, don't they, except when it comes to their own children. You know, you look at Chicago, all these leftwing heavyweights. It should be a shining city on a hill. You have Rahm Emanuel there; you've got Barack Obama; you've got Jesse Jackson. You've got Father Pfleger, Bill Ayers. You've got all this leftwing intellectual firepower. Why isn't Chicago a shining city on a hill for crying out loud? Jesse Jackson, Farrakhan, Ayers, Rahm Emanuel, Obama. Why don't you guys have a meeting and solve this? You're so smart.

Dan Bongino: Yeah. Thanks, Larry. Thanks, Tammy. Really appreciate it. Coming up on this Hannity special President Donald Trump spoke at Turning Point Student Action Summit on Saturday. You're not going to want to miss his message to young conservatives. Stay with us.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Dan Bongino: Welcome back to this special edition of Hannity, the left's failed political agenda. President Trump gave a rousing speech to young conservatives at Turning Point's Student Acting -- Student Active Summit over the weekend. Take a look.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

President Donald Trump: The coming months will decide whether our country will be governed by a corrupt, failed, and far-left ruling class, or whether we will govern our country. Will it be governed of and by the American people? That's what we're talking about.

[cheering]

On every front the extreme leftists and they are leftists –

[chanting four more years]

Thank you. Now, if you want to drive them crazy, go 16 more years.

[cheering]

Sixteen more years.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Dan Bongino: The left is going to have a really hard time replicating that kind of energy. You saw it. There you go, folks, you've seen the lines. You've seen the crowds. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have left this evening. Thanks so much for tuning in to the show. I really appreciate it. If you need a last-minute gift idea right around the Christmas holiday check out my new book, "Exonerated: The Failed Takedown of Donald Trump By the Swamp." It's available anywhere books are sold, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and elsewhere. Before we go, I want to wish our viewers a very, very Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah.

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