Gowdy: Obama would be relevant as an impeachment witness

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Gowdy: Obama would be relevant as an impeachment witness

Fox News contributor Trey Gowdy weighs in on calls for witnesses in Senate trial.

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," January 23, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST:  Welcome to "Hannity."

We begin tonight, a Fox News alert. We begin with major breaking news. We were right yet again.

Look at this. In a letter to the FISA court, the Department of Justice admitted that at least two of their applications against Trump campaign associate Carter Page lacked probable cause and that its surveillance of Page should not have continued. A stunning admission of guilt that FISA abuse occurred, illicit spying occurred, and the rights of not only an innocent American were trampled, but that means all of the spying on a candidate, transition team and president -- yes, that was happening too.

But, we, first, will have all the details coming up. At this hour, yes, the liar from California is continuing to hoist himself on "We, the American people". Here it is. 9:00 p.m. in the D.C. swamp, 6:00 p.m. out on the West Coast, and the Schumer-Schiff sham show is still going on.

After hours -- I mean, this is so painful -- and hours and hours of mindless, endless repetition, babbling, here's what we learned today: 
Nothing. We've learned absolutely nothing.

Zero new revelations. None. No new arguments. Zero. No new developments whatsoever.

It's the exact same Schumer-Schiff sham show over, and, ba, ba, ba, ba -- and over and over.

Now, here's what's getting interesting. It's actually, in a weird way, and we'll do all the watching for you so you don't have to suffer and remind you every night. But what's remarkable about this is now they're running out of things to say.

So, what do they do? After repeating themselves endlessly, because there's nothing new to add, well, then they went back. Remember they had hearsay witnesses and opinion witnesses? They brought back some of the old testimony from the opinion witnesses like the Harvard law professor. That guy.

He once wrote that President Trump should be impeached for tweeting out the phrase "fake news". He was brought back today.

They rehashed old statements from all of the hearsay opinions, non-fact, non-relevant witnesses, all that hate Trump or have political disagreements. They got so desperate today to fill the time. They even went back and read from the Mueller report, the one that vindicated President Trump.

Now, I've been in talk radio for 31 years. I love my home, my Fox home year, my 24th year.

All these years, I was a kid listening -- grew up listening to the pioneers of talk radio -- Barry Farber, John Sawyer, Barry Gray, Gene Burns, Jerry Williams, David Brudnoy, all these amazing people.

Anyway, and I -- I would listen constantly. My parents yelling at me all the time, turn the radio off. And I'd just say, OK, they go back in their room, I'd turn it back on again.

And when a new host, for example, you can hear this, but you're compelled to listen, like you'll hear hosts like, all of a sudden, OK, well, we have one open line, and what, and here's the number, and in three seconds later, here's the number -- there are no calls and they're struggling. And I'd hear it and it's painful to listen to. I've heard it many times.

As a matter of fact, it actually happened to one guy that we don't like on the show, Alec Baldwin. This turns out to be the greatest radio tape, not on purpose. He was trying out, he's tried out twice for a radio show, he walked out of one show when it was me and Mark Levin tag-teaming him, and he walked out.

Then he went to our -- my affiliate in Philadelphia, WPHT, and we have the tape. This is all real. We're not making this up -- the best radio in the history of radio. Listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR:  When can we take some calls?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Whenever we want.

BALDWIN:  Do we have calls that are on there now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  No calls yet. No calls yet.

BALDWIN:  No calls yet.

What number do people call to get on the air? Do we have that number?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  It's right there.

BALDWIN:  Oh, do I have the call number in front of me? Oh, I'm so sorry. 
That's interesting. Interesting.

We have any calls yet there, Ivan? No calls.

Let's read some more about scientology. Is Sean Hannity a scientologist? Alec Baldwin posing the big questions tonight here.

Do we have any calls here yet, Ivan? None. Boy, it's just incredible.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HANNITY:  Now, Danny (ph) had -- called his mother because nobody called.

It's painful, but in a sick way, if you listen to it, you don't stop, oh my gosh, this person's desperate. That's what makes it so bad it's that good.

Got to tip my hat to Alec Baldwin. His career in radio was not successful.

But like Alec Baldwin, what's happening in the swamp, Democrats, they've run out of things to say. They don't know what to do and they got another whole day, and then they're mindlessly just ba, ba, ba -- repeating themselves like a broken record.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF, D-CALIF.:  Today, we'll go through Article 1, the constitutional underpinnings of abuse of power.

REP. JERRY NADLER, D-N.Y.:  We will show that President Trump abused his power. And abuse of power. Abuse of power.

REP. SYLVIA GARCIA, D-TEXAS:  President Trump had the motive, the opportunity and the means to commit this abuse of power.

NADLER:  Abuse, betrayal and corruption. Abuse of power. Abuse.

GARCIA:  To President Trump's abuse of power.

NADLER:  Abuse of power. Abuse of power.

REP. ZOE LOFGREN, D-CALIF.:  The president abused the power of his office and executed his corrupt scheme.

NADLER:  Impeachment is justified for serious abuse of power. Power. Power. 
Power. Power. Power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY:  Ba, ba, ba, ba!  They could say "abuse of power" all they want, doesn't make it true, doesn't even make it impeachable.

But remember, the U.S. Constitution requires, oh, bribery, high crimes, misdemeanor, treason. But it's old, you know, the congenital liar who's compromised in the case, Adam Schiff -- well, he doesn't really care about the Constitution. Instead, according to his own -- he's actually -- I'm beginning to worry about this guy because he's losing it.

His psychotic, rage, delusions, all the lying he's done for three years, I think he believes he is like super patriot Comey. He's protecting the country from an imminent threat and he warned us -- a Russian invasion.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHIFF:  The United States aids Ukraine and her people so that we can fight Russia over there and we don't have to fight Russia here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY:  That's right. This is about Russia. This Ukraine -- this whole thing is a Russia collusion hoax. It's alive and well like again inside this guy's really psychotic, sick mind.

Now, forget the four separate investigations that found zero evidence, including the Mueller report that they put all their hopes in Trump Russia collusion. It's pathetically embarrassing testimony, Mueller's, on the Capitol Hill, he didn't even know what Fusion GPS is, had no idea Jeannie Rhee, oh, was Clinton's attorney and worked for him.

Forget Schiff, the congenital liar -- lying, lying, lying three years. 
Forget all intellectual honesty, common sense, logic and reason and take on spectacular hypocrisy by ignoring quid pro quo Joe and zero experience Hunter. Forget that the two sham articles of impeachment have nothing to do with Russia or a quid or a pro or a quo, because according to the lunatics, and they're loony, and the Democratic Party, they're all saying it -- all of this is about Russia.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHIFF:  President Trump's campaign had welcomed Russian assistance in 2016.

The Russians. The Russians. Pushing Russian propaganda. Vladimir Putin. Not the Russians.

The president wasn't pushing Kremlin talking points just to do Vladimir Putin a favor. Russian propaganda. Russians. Russia.

Vladimir Putin. Putin. The president of the United States believes this Russian propaganda against the advice of all of his advisers.

To confront Russian aggression. Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian. Russia's confidence sadly is growing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY:  Well, agree, Devin Nunes warned everybody. Russia is going to interfere. They did. He warned everyone in 2014, nobody listened to Devin Nunes.

The Ukraine interference election that was found by Ukrainian court in January 11, 2017, "Politico", read their investigative report.

But now that they're back to Russia, are you shocked the Democrats appointed their top Russia conspiracy theorist -- that guy, ba, ba, ba -- Adam Schiff, the congenital liar, to lead this case in the Senate?

I can't keep a straight face. The same nasty, degenerate, lying through his beady little eyes ever since he slithered into the D.C. swamp, that's saying something. He's the biggest con man there.

He promised us for three years, he had top secret Russia more than circumstantial evidence Trump-Russia collusion. The same lunatic lied about FISA abuse, lied about the hearsay whistleblower -- I wish we could talk to him. Yes, they did. And lied about Trump Zelensky in the transcript and made it up, and lied about so-called evidence in the impeachment docs.

The same guy, the only one in the country, and this is like divine justice, this is the boomerang of all boomerangs, the only person that was caught on tape talking to a Russian, thinking it was a Russian official, caught colluding with a Russian to get dirt on Trump to affect an election. 
Remember the one about compromising materials?

Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

PRANKSTER:  And she met with Trump and she brought him one Russian girl celebrity, Olga Buzova, who also known as a person with a strange reputation.

SCHIFF:  Olga -- and how do you spell her name?

PRANKSTER:  Olga Buzova.

SCHIFF:  And what's the nature of the Kompromat?

PRANKSTER:  Well, there were pictures of naked Trump.

SCHIFF:  And so, Putin was made aware of the availability of the comprising material?

PRANKSTER:  Yes, of course.

SCHIFF:  Thank you very much. We will be back in touch with you through our staff to make arrangements to obtain these materials for our committee and for the FBI. And I appreciate you reaching out to us.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HANNITY:  Compromising materials. What's the nature of the compromise? 
Picture of naked Trump, naked Trump. Does Vladimir know? But, of course, of course, Vladimir knows about the compromising material.

That's almost as good the Baldwin tape. It's a toss up, right?

Without a doubt, the congenital liar, compromised, corrupt Adam Schiff is like the perfect mascot for just how ugly radical dishonest this do-nothing Democratic Party is coming, 285 days, you're the final juror. Oh thank goodness, the American people get to weigh in on this. You get to shock the world again, I hope you do.

His elaborate publicity stunt in the Senate, it's a disaster. How do we know? Well, thankfully, to all of you, we mean this everyday, you made us number one in cable news by far again last night. Thank you. We can't do it without you.

The TV ratings are horrific. ABC, CBS, NBC, ABC and CBS and NBC -- 1.2 million total viewers. That is an unmitigated disaster, with less than 300,000 in the, quote, key demo.

But they're sticking with their regularly scheduled programs during primetime, of course, they don't want to lose any more money.

And earlier, CBS News, they cut their impeachment coverage short to run the soap operas. Let's get back to making money.

American people tuning out loudly. They're not even watching fake news CNN and conspiracy TV MS you know Rachel Maddow's Area 51 conspiracy channel. They're not watching it the way you would think, oh my gosh, it's impeachment. Most people know how this ends, that's why.

So lawmakers are witnessing the Schumer Schiff sham show on Capitol Hill. 
According to reports, senators are struggling to stay awake. It's the best part of all this. Elizabeth Warren spotted playing a game on a piece of paper. Dianne Feinstein left the trial over an hour early.

Area 51 conspiracy theorist Roswell Rachel Maddow and her well panel of conspiracy theorists, they're angry. They're pleading now, begging the Democrats, their friends in the Senate, please pay attention, fake it, fake enthusiasm for the sake of the country, fake it.

Wow. After all, she's been lying to her viewers for three years, just like the congenital liar. First, those Russia collusion, the hoax. Now, she's filling her viewers heads with these far-fetched fantasies about Trump in Ukraine -- more lies, more propaganda, more false hope, and the viewers are about to be let down spectacularly all over again.

Now, unlike MSDNC, fake news CNN, they're obsessed -- by the way, there are some guys on fake news CNN, Humpty-Dumpty and his -- I don't know Humpty Dumpty and want to be some guy named Oliver, they stalked us. They should focus on their own failing network and their own failing shows.

We have been right every step of the way. They should report that. Tonight, I could easily cut through all the B.S. and tell you the truth, now I'm getting serious, because this is hurting the country. Funny but serious.

We know how this ends. We know the president will be acquitted. They are helping him. At this hour, 45 Republicans are ready to dismiss all these stupid charges by doing some pretty basic math. That means there are not anywhere near the 67 votes that would be required to convict, with just five more votes, this charade will immediately come to an end.

And now, the Democrats, they have managed to offend at least one of those swing votes and that would be Senator Lisa Murkowski. Yes, I think Donald Trump helped Alaska and with opening up oil there helps her state.

She's angry, rightfully so, the House impeachment managers accuse the Senate of a cover-up.

Now, you have representatives, you have senators. There's a few weak Republican senators that are probably still wavering. You need to let your senator know how you feel about you -- their decision here, that they should not be validating what has been a corrupt, unconstitutional crisis that they are putting this country to, an ordeal, it is hurting the country.

This article of impeachment is a farce. It's all politics. They have hated Donald Trump and that's all they've done every second, minute, hour of every hour day for three long years. And by the way, no crimes, no misdemeanor, there's no bribery, no reason. The House didn't even bother to subpoena the so-called witnesses that they're saying the Senate must subpoena.

If you make a crime out of going to the courts when there's a conflict between the executive branch and the legislative branch and you go to the judicial branch, and you say, oh, we're invoking executive privilege which can be traced back to George Washington, you'd be destroying the power of the presidency and spitting on the Constitution. That's serious.

And it's clear that the Schumer Schiff sham show is nothing more than partisan hackery and revenge. They have been dreaming about impeachment since 2016. If I had time, I'd run the tape again.

"Washington Post" announced that the campaign to impeach Donald Trump began
19 minutes after his inauguration. Tonight, this insane, concocted political stunt. They put this country through for three years is long enough.

How about working for the people of this country. You're supposed to be public servants. Do something to make us more safe, more secure, more prosperous, more jobs, do something. This has got to end.

The American people, the ultimate jurors, you get to shock the world in 285 days. You will be the ultimate jury. I hope you shocked the world again and you don't reward what they've done to this country for three years, because as we speak we are watching a tale of two Americas here. You got the president racking up and the last week and a half, one major accomplishment after another. Look at these accomplishments, record breaking, new trade deals, $220 billion with China, farmers, manufacturers, auto workers, energy sector, service sector, Japan, Europe, Mexico, Canada. Next week is expected to release a huge new plan in the Middle East. You had a great couple of days in Davos, envy of the world, our economy, record low unemployment, lowest since '69, every American benefiting, every demographic.

What have the Democrats done to improve the lives of anybody? Nothing, not a single solitary thing at all. They have not done a thing, years of psychotic, non-stop rage, hate.

Here's now is the author "Guilt by Accusation", Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, Trump legal team member, Attorney Robert Ray.

All right. Mr. Ray, we'll start with you tonight. We give a lot of time to our professor friend, don't diss on him. You're both part of the president's team.

The part of this that makes me angry is they're hurting the country. The other part of it to be honest, it's just pure entertainment. I could have a lot of fun with this every night if it keeps going. But it's not good for the country.

Explain in your own words what you think.

ROBERT RAY, TRUMP LEGAL TEAM MEMBER:  Sean, it didn't have to be this way or even at all, and the point that you've made about what has transpired so far is an awful lot of repetition which, you know, just because you continue to repeat it doesn't mean that it gets any better. In fact, usually, as a trial lawyer, I have found that that sort of repetition makes things worse.

I hope that through this trial when the president's team gets the defense case that the American people will tune in. We will try to be much more efficient and not waste the American people's time to present a defense because the president of the United States deserves to be heard and you are correct, the most important thing here is that we were -- we will all be judged at the end of this in the eyes of history as to whether or not we acted in the best interest of the country.

HANNITY:  Professor?

ALAN DERSHOWITZ, "THE CASE AGAINST REMOVING TRUMP" AUTHOR:  Well, you know, people called me today all day and said, how come the defense team isn't objecting to all this irrelevant material? Particularly, there was one place they showed, president in the United States committing a cardinal impeachable offense, meeting with Vladimir Putin at the G7. And they showed that clip and they said oh my God, that proves it all, the president of the United States meeting with the head of Russia, who can imagine that happening? And that was an element that was allowed in.

If this were a normal trial, the defense team would be objecting every two minutes to irrelevant material that's in there only for political purposes. 
But the rules of the Senate preclude objection. They allow three solid days of un-objected to, hearsay and very often just political matters that have no bearing, even on the unconstitutional charges of obstruction and abuse. 
But the defense has to sit there quietly and just listen without objection.

People say all the time, oh, in a real trial -- in a real trial, there'd be objections and 90 percent of what was on television today was never be allowed in by a judge.

HANNITY:  Well, I will tell you that it's so dangerous for the country. 
Will this issue of witnesses that were never subpoenaed, how does that become an issue?

And I only got 30 seconds for each of you. Professor Dershowitz, first.

DERSHOWITZ:  Well, it won't become an issue if my argument prevails, because my argument is a constitutional one, that says the two charges are not constitutional, and therefore, you should simply dismiss it without hearing any witnesses. But if witnesses are called, it will have to go to the courts because the president will appropriately invoke executive privilege.

HANNITY:  Last word, Robert Ray?

RAY:  Sean, I think, you know, to keep it even more simple and you know aside from the legal arguments which are the ones that obviously have the most merit, you know, this -- this is a situation where only if the senators think they need witnesses in order to resolve this issue and the issue presented is, is anything that is alleged here sufficient to warrant the president's removal from office? If the senators don't need witnesses and documents in order to make that judgment, then it's over.

DERSHOWITZ:  Yes.

HANNITY:  Thank you both. Important time for the country. We know the outcome.

Here now with reaction, FOX News contributor, our friend, former South Carolina congressman, a guy who prosecuted and never lost a case, Trey Gowdy.

By the way, it's the -- it's the second anniversary today. I've got to say congratulations to quid pro quo Joe. Second anniversary of him admitting that he leveraged and shook down the country of Ukraine with a billion taxpayer dollars to get a prosecutor he knew investigating his son in Ukraine fired for paying his zero experience Hunter millions of dollars.

I would say there's your quid pro quo, Congressman.

TREY GOWDY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  Well, that certainly makes him relevant as a witness. Part of impeachment is setting a precedent for what's going to happen in the future. So, if the vice president can make that assertion, then he is relevant as a witness, but so too is President Obama because I would want to know whether or not he had the authority of the president at the time he made that that pronouncement that there'll be no loan guarantees unless the prosecutor is fired.

So, every time that clip plays of Joe Biden, I just think of more reasons that he is relevant as a witness if the Senate wants to go that route.

HANNITY:  Well, that is a point very few people made. I talked about it on radio again today. I brought it up before.

You don't believe me? You're not getting the billion. Call Obama, he'll tell you.

Was Obama in on this shakedown?

GOWDY:  Well, any time you hear the word unprecedented, what makes me -- you know, that makes me wonder, well, does that mean no other president's done it? If this is really, you know, Adam Schiff loves to say this is an unprecedented abuse of power. OK. Well, that makes what other presidents did relevant. In addition to the credibility of the assertion, it makes it relevant.

So, if President Obama gave Joe Biden permission to condition loan guarantees on the firing of a prosecutor, then that makes both of them potentially relevant as witnesses.

HANNITY:  Do you agree with my constitutional interpretation that if the House has the sole power to impeach, and they've impeached the president, they didn't bother to call witnesses, that it's not the Senate's job, their job is to hold the trial, now they have their House managers that dressed up, they get to make their case, and they're repeating themselves and they're even going back to the Mueller report, then they're playing, you know, their opinion witnesses that wanted to impeach Trump for tweeting the words "fake news"?

Is the Senate's job to bring in witnesses they decided not even to subpoena? Because I don't believe constitutionally it is.

GOWDY:  No, it's the House's job to investigate it and these investigations take a long time. I mean, this is about the removal of a duly elected chief executive and they wanted to do it in three months. As you and I have discussed in the past, Sean, it's really about putting a handful of Republican senators in really tough reelects.

You also can't call a witness you know is going to invoke privilege. So, if you know John Bolton is going to invoke privilege or it's going to be invoked, then you can't call him to--

HANNITY:  That's the president --

(CROSSTALK)

GOWDY:  -- then say that. Right.

HANNITY:  And that's the president's right.

All right. Thank you, Trey Gowdy.

GOWDY:  Yes, sir.

HANNITY:  Thank you, sir.

When we come back, this is huge big breaking news, more vindication. We were right, the spying on Carter Page. Now, the DOJ is admitting it shouldn't have happened. Who will this impact? Huge story the mob will likely ignore, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY:  A huge Fox News alert. This is big. The Department of Justice has admitted what we have been telling you all along that, in fact, the FBI did not meet the legal standard to conduct surveillance a former Trump campaign official Carter Page and its last two FISA warrant applications. Wow, Jim Comey sound one of the -- signed one of those.

Now, what does that mean? Premeditated fraud on FISA court, not only did they use Carter Page and take away his constitutional rights, but that gave them the backdoor to spying a presidential candidate, transition team and deep into the Trump presidency.

This news comes from a newly declassified order from the court that handles FISA applications. This means the final two FISA warrants at least to spy and deny the rights of a U.S. citizen, the civil liberties tied to the Trump campaign for the spying that took place there -- spying, yes, the right word -- well, should never have happened.

Joining us with the reaction, they've been a big part of our investigative team, our ensemble cast, FOX News investigative reporter Sara Carter. All of this chronicled in his best-selling book "Witch Hunt", FOX News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett.

Sara, we begin with you. Let's go to the news part of it. This is huge, and I think it's more than two.

We know premeditated fraud in a FISA court --

SARA CARTER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  Right.

HANNITY:  -- bulk of information, unverifiable dirty dossier.

CARTER:  That's right. And exposes the level of corruption at the highest levels of the FBI and even within the DOJ under the Obama administration, particularly under Director Comey -- former FBI Director Comey.

Sean, it also did not excuse the first two. What we know is that the last two FISA applications signed by Rod Rosenstein, Director Comey and Andrew McCabe have now -- they've come out and said the DOJ, as well as the FISA court, these were not legitimate, they should have never been done. But it doesn't excuse the first two applications it says, they are continuing to investigate the first two applications and that would be going all the way back to September 2016 when they began to spy on Carter Page.

And remember, Kevin Clinesmith, the attorney for the FBI, basically omitted significant information that Carter Page was actually working in supplying information to the CIA. He omitted that from those applications. He also altered the application. So, this is something that they're going to continue to look at and we're going to hear a lot more about this in the upcoming weeks.

HANNITY:  Huge.

CARTER:  Huge.

HANNITY:  Gregg Jarrett, let's talk about this from the legal but more importantly the criminal side, the criminal probe. We know they had multiple warnings long before the first warrant was signed, don't trust this dirty dossier, it's unverified, steel has an agenda, Clinton paid for it and they did it anyway, and they lied to the court in the first one.

GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST:  Well, this is an admission by our government that these were illegal warrants to spy and you're talking -- the people who signed them are James Comey, Dana Boente, who was then acting attorney general, now unbelievably FBI general counsel, and, of course, the two people who proved the Peter Principle, Rod Rosenstein and Andrew McCabe.

They deceived the court, not just 17 major deceptions and omissions and errors, 51 of them all against Donald Trump. And these illegal warrants were a major component of the entire Trump-Russia investigation that put the nation through three agonizing years over, what? Over a hoax based on a phony dossier and fabricated evidence.

So, Carter Page, he has a slam dunk case now for millions of dollars and unfortunately American taxpayers will have to foot the bill for that.

HANNITY:  Frankly, he deserves it.

JARRETT:  He does deserve it.

CARTER:  He does.

JARRETT:  All three of us, but I don't care about me, I signed up for this a long time ago. We all took a lot of crap from a lot of people.

CARTER:  We did.

JARRETT:  While the 99 percent of the media mob we're out attacking us and peddling lies and conspiracy theories, we got the truth, we were right and we did it. We dug hard and we've litigated it behind the scenes and we checked and we double checked and we triple source -- thank you both for your hard work. Great job.

And now, for more reaction to this damning new evidence of FISA abuse, as well as today's Senate impeachment Schiff sham show -- Schumer Schiff sham show, so dangerous, do that (ph) flying without a net every night live -- we're joined by Congressman Steve Scalise, Congressman John Ratcliffe.

Congressman Ratcliffe, I begin with you. This was a big part of your work as well with Devin Nunes. There were maybe 15 of you, really, if I'm going to be honest here, that dug deep.

You guys were right. We were right. The mob and the media, the Democrats, Schiff leading the way, were dead wrong and lied.

REP. JOHN RATCLIFFE, R-TEXAS:  You're right, Sean. You know, I was one of the few people that was able to see the FISA application. So when I came on your program, I told people that Carter Page's rights had been violated and that the government was -- the FBI was spying on the Trump campaign.

The other person that had access on the other side to those very same FISA applications was Adam Schiff, and he put out a memo saying exactly the opposite, that the FBI and the Department of Justice and the Obama administration had done everything right. He knew --

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY:  Slow -- Congressman, slow -- this is too important.

RATCLIFFE:  He knew that wasn't true. He knew that wasn't true.

HANNITY:  Schiff lied in his report, and he knew better, correct? Is that a fair statement?

RATCLIFFE:  Absolutely. Actually, what he did.

HANNITY:  Next question, weren't you the first to tell me that the word "verified" is on top of a FISA application? I think it was you.

RATCLIFFE:  It was, very clearly, verified application. And you're right, Sean. I mean, this is -- this is really staggering news.

First of all, it's a great day for Carter Page. The government just admitted that they violated his civil rights. I'd love to be his lawyer.

But the more profound impact here is that this is an admission that a counterintelligence investigation against a sitting president was illegally continued. That's really earth-shaking news and it's the same Democrats that started --

HANNITY:  Hopefully.

RATCLIFFE:  -- that Russia -- that same -- the same Democrats that started that Russia impeachment hoax are some of the same folks involved in perpetuating this Ukraine impeachment hoax that were unfortunately dealing with in the Senate trial.

HANNITY:  Steve, that's such a great point. Steve Scalise, let me pick up on Congressman Ratcliffe's point. Now we know the dossier was unverifiable. 
That's the other thing.

But what Congressman Ratcliffe just said, the same lying media mob being led by the same liar, now proven liar -- he had the truth that he purposely lied. It shows how mentally sick and deranged this -- you know, compromised, congenital liar Schiff is, and he's leading this mess now on Ukraine, another witch-hunt.

RATCLIFFE:  Right, Sean, and remember, this is the same Adam Schiff who for months during the whole Mueller investigation said that he had more than circumstantial evidence that there was collusion between the president and Russia and, of course, that evidence never existed. The media -- the mainstream media surely never held him accountable.

But I'll tell you this, Sean, I know I do, I know you do. Everybody in America should expect and demand that there's accountability at the FBI for those people who went and abused their power. You want to talk about abuse of power, the people who actually abused their position to go after a sitting president because they didn't like his political views. We have elections in this country to solve that.

Those people ought to be held accountable and go to jail.

HANNITY:  Job well done both of you. We pursued the truth. It took three years. Here we are.

Director Wray, you need to clean this mess up for the 99 percent of great agents in the premier law enforcement agency in the world. I don't see enough urgency from you, Director Wray. Do your job.

I see a good job from the -- from -- let's see -- the DOJ, I see -- yes, I see Barr. I see Durham doing the job.

Director Wray, let's go. These are the best of best. Do it for the 99 percent of good people in the FBI.

When we come back, wow, I've talked to him. He's fired up, the great one, Mark Levin, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY:  As you can see on your screen, the Schumer Schiff sham show -- yes, still underway and they run out of anything new to say. Now, they're just re running everything again.

Here now, the author of the number one New York Times bestseller, "Unfreedom of the Press", he hosts a number one show on Sunday nights, 8:00, "Life, Liberty, & Levin" right here on the Fox News Channel, actually syndicated radio host. I call him the great one.

I don't even have to ask you a question. Just go. Whatever you brought with you, go.

MARK LEVIN, FOX NEWS HOST, "LIFE, LIBERTY, & LEVIN":  Here's what I brought with me. You don't need 24 hours and three days to make a case if you have a case. You know Potter Stewart was an associate justice of the Supreme Court and they had ruled on this issue of pornography and he was asked, what's the definition of pornography? And he said, I don't know it, but I know it when I see it.

Well, abuse of power, what's the definition of abuse of power? No standards, it's whatever the Democrats say. It's their pornography, and Adam Smith -- Adam Schiff is the pornographer.

Abuse of power, it just means whatever the Democrats say it means. There's no standard. There's no definition.

In all these hours, all this talk, they have not explained -- forget about Trump, what's the definition of abuse of power? Because every president has theoretically abused power -- Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson -- look, the Louisiana Purchase was done without authorized funding, abuse of power.

We can go and add -- John Adams put people in prison under the Sedition Act, abuse of power. FDR used the IRS. FDR, the internment of Japanese- Americans.

JFK used the IRS and the FBI. LBJ, same thing in the CIA. Go down the list, all these great Democrats. Woodrow Wilson resegregated the civil service, abuse of power, abuse of power. That's ridiculous.

It's pornography in the hands of the Democrats. It's whatever they think it is, and not once have they explained the standard for abuse of power.

Obstructing Congress, you know what obstructing Congress is to these Democrats? Separation of powers, that's not obstructing Congress.

Here's my question. Where's the smoking gun? All this bull that's been going on day in and day -- the testimony where's the witness under penalty of perjury who said the president of the United States committed treason, bribery or other high crimes or misdemeanors, the president of the United States quid pro quo, the president United States committed a crime? They said the opposite and they called all the witnesses over there in the House of Representatives.

Where's the smoking gun document? All the talk about no documents, they had hundreds of thousands of pages of documents. They don't have one that incriminates the president United States, not one. That's why they're spewing for 24 hours and three days.

Now, we want to talk about interfering in an election. They say Donald Trump interfere in an election. First of all, don't we have a right to know if Joe Biden and his son are as corrupt as hell, that Joe Biden as vice president, they've been corrupt, that Joe Biden, if he's elected president, God forbid, could be blackmailed? Don't we want to know this? Why is he the bubble band?

Donald Trump's been investigated from day one by committees, by prosecutors, by reporters, they don't worry about that.

Let's talk about interfering in the 2020 election. What did Schiff -- what did Schiff and the other mobsters say on the floor of the Senate? What did they say? We don't want Trump to get elected president again. We must stop him.

In other words, they want to interfere in the 2020 election and prevent the Republican Party from nominating their president for a second term as president of the United States. It's right out there. They're interfering in the election and senators, they're interfering in your election. Schumer has been collaborating with these guys.

He's calling all these votes for the purpose of taking over the majority.

Why do you think Nadler, low I.Q. Nadler was on the floor the Senate the other day saying you're involved in obstruction, you're not upholding the Constitution, because they want to take the majority. This is about also not only defeating Trump in 2020, but defeating the Senate.

Now, here's mostly what's going on, when you hear their arguments, when you hear their argument, they're projecting motives. They're not arguing evidence. They're projecting motives.

The president must have meant. This must have meant that. When he did -- he must have done that. I had the damn phone call right here the transcript.

The president United States talking to the president of Ukraine. He knows there's at least people listening it. You think he's going to sit there and commit an impeachable offense with 12 people listening in? In this phone call, there's no interference in any campaign, there's no threats of withholding military aid in exchange for anything. There's no campaign of pressure.

Campaign of pressure they say -- the only one who doesn't aware of it was the president of the Ukraine and the foreign minister of Ukraine. There's never been any campaign of pressure.

Let me just say this, America -- these Democrats have destroyed the Constitution, the impeachment clause, they're trying to destroy separation of powers. They're trying to choose the Republican nominee for president in 2020. They're trying to take over the Senate. That's what's going on.

The Senate has a responsibility to protect the American people from the House, from the Democrats. That's their constitutional responsibility.

This president hasn't violated the Constitution, not once. He hasn't violated any federal statute, not once. He's complied with every federal court order, every one. He's not committed treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

But the pornographers over there in the House -- abuse of power, obstruction of Congress, they're the ones. Maybe they ought to be expelled. 
Maybe we ought to start thinking about that. That's it.

HANNITY:  That's why I call you the great one, Mark's show, "Life, Liberty & Levin" right here every Sunday night 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Wow, powerful.

Up next, Senator Elizabeth Warren, you've got to see this, confronted by a voter in Iowa. This might be game-changing, straight ahead.

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HANNITY:  All right. Before she headed back to D.C., the swamp or the Schumer-Schiff sham show, Elizabeth Warren faced even more campaign struggles this week after being confronted by her working class father about her plan to cancel student loan debt.

This is big. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  I just wanted to ask one question. My daughter is getting out of school. I've saved all my money. She doesn't have any student loans. Am I going to get my money back?

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, D-MA., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  Of course not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  So, you're going to pay for people who didn't save any money and those of us who did the right thing get screwed.

I worked a double shift, worked extra -- my daughter worked since she was 10.

So, you're laughing at me.

Yes, that's exactly what you're doing. We did the right thing and we get screwed.

WARREN:  I appreciate your time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY:  It's kind of hard when you face the American people and, well, you are a crazy left-wing radical extreme Democrat. Ka-boom.

Meanwhile, President Trump -- he is continuing to call out the Democratic primary process, claiming the DNC is out to destroy Bernie Sanders like they did in 2016. It's actually right. Crazy Bernie takes the lead in the Democratic primaries, but it's looking more and more like the Dems will never allow a win again.

Will Sleepy Joe be able to stumble across the finish line? I don't think it matters.

Here now, co-host -- this guy has 400 shows in his name, really? Can't give one -- can't we give one to our other guests? He hosts "The Five."  By the way, "The Five" is killing it in the ratings. Good job. Congratulations.

JESSE WATTERS, CO-HOST, "THE FIVE":  Thank you very much. I take full credit.

HANNITY:  OK, I think Gutfeld and Dana have a little something to do with it, OK?

WATTERS:  And Juan, share the credit, OK.

HANNITY:  OK Dana -- I'm kidding. I love Juan.

Also attorney, Trump 2020 adviser Jenna Ellis is with us.

You might want to give more time to Jenna. Invite her as a guest or something. You got 400 hours of airtime to fill.

(CROSSTALK)

JENNA ELLIS, SENIOR LEGAL ADVISOR TO THE TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN:  Jesse can just be here to look pretty and I can bring the smarts.

WATTERS:  Thank you.

HANNITY:  How does this play out, Jenna, considering you get less time than the other guy?

ELLIS:  Yes. Well, you know, this is exactly why the stories of Elizabeth Warren and all these things really need to be in the headlines. But we are seeing that the impeachment sham is exactly why the Democrats are pushing this as their 2020 election bid, because Elizabeth Warren was just called out so dramatically and precisely by, you know, this father who realizes that when you actually have two adults in this world and you don't want Elizabeth Warren to be your helicopter parent and you actually have to pay for things in this world, then, he's saying, why are you willing to just reward people who are -- who are not responsible?

But she's clearly trying to buy votes here, but she's trying to do that on a hypocritical socialist agenda, because she's trying to buy votes by saying, here, I'm going to give you money. But really what she's buying is our freedom. And she is trying to take that away by an encroachment towards socialism.

We need to push back on this. It's a really, really huge thing. And I'm so sad that the mainstream media is not covering this, because all they're doing is looking at that stupid sham of a trial that is not going to get anywhere. And once it's done, once it's done, what are they going to be left with?

HANNITY:  Let me bring in Jesse. Jesse, your take?

WATTERS:  Well, Liz Warren has a lot of plans, but she didn't have a plan for a dad. You never want to laugh in the face of a dad, who is trying to explain the difference between right and wrong.

And your guest is right, Sean. He called her out for buying votes, except, she's only buying votes for debtors. She turns the savers into suckers and then they just turned against their neighbors who spent like drunken sailor and got handouts. And that's why Trump was elected last time.

We bail out the rich people. You give handouts to the poor people. And the millions in the middle get absolutely nothing.

So, if you are a father and a family man in Iowa, who is working two jobs, a President Warren is going to raise your taxes, take away your health care, and then that credit card from your dumb neighbor next door, they wiped it clean and his daughter gets to go to college for free.

HANNITY:  Great analysis, both of you. The people that do the right thing get screwed. Wow.

Thank you both.

More "Hannity" right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HANNITY:  OK, this just came out. The president just tweeted this. See if we can pan in on that.

That is Donald Trump at Trump Tower and there is Barack Obama with binoculars spying in on Trump. The president just tweeted that out, based on the news.

Yes, they spied on him. The media got it wrong. They mocked him. Just like they laughed at the idea he could be president.

All right. We're always be fair and balanced. We're not the hate-Trump media mob. We always seek the truth.

And set your DVRs every night. Let not your heart be troubled.

Laura, you got to look at that tweet.

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