Rep. Gohmert on impeachment: We’re seeing consciences become completely worthless

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Rep. Gohmert on impeachment: We’re seeing consciences become completely worthless

Rep. Louie Gohmert and former congressman Jason Chaffetz react to the push for impeachment gripping the Democratic Party.

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," December 16, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

Sean Hannity, host: All right. Welcome to Hannity. As the Democrats are literally going over the cliff politically, they're destroying themselves. Never stop them. By the way, what we're seeing tonight is the culmination of the pathetic so-called resistance against President Trump. It is backfiring big time. And the Washington swamp, lawmakers are now set to vote on articles of impeachment. It is the last meaningless step in what is -- been just a baseless political smear against the president. Three years do nothing Democrats. The latest chapter in what has been a desperate, dishonest, nonstop effort, well, to undo a duly-elected president and take the president down, impugn the will of his supporters, we the people, and like every other attempt to destroy President Trump it is built on a pack of lies by a group of the most partisan hacks that can never be trusted. The individuals now advocating for this madness impeachment were the very same people pushing the Russia, Russia, Russia collusion hoax. They were wrong. Four separate investigations, dead wrong. Mueller report, no collusion.

And tonight, we’re going to detail all of their lies, all of their corruption, all the individuals behind this, and we start with the hero of the deep state, the super-patriot himself who won’t come on this program, Jim Comey. He’s been lying, deceiving. He’s formed the very basis of the Russian hoax. What we now know, everything we reported two and a half years has been dead-on accurate. In the fall of 2016, Comey signed off on the very first FISA warrant application against Trump campaign associate Carter Page. Remember, it’s one-step, two-step. You get to Page, then you get into the Trump campaign transition, and as Attorney General Barr said, deep into the Trump presidency. He signed that application; he signed three of them ultimately. He swore that the material provided was true and accurate. On the top of a FISA application, it says “verified.” It was unverifiable what he used. The overwhelming majority of information was Hillary Clinton’s dirty Russian dossier, and that was the first of many repulsive lies.

The application, we now know, relied on a single source, secondhand information from Christopher Steele, being paid by the Clinton campaign and the DNC, and Comey’s FISA application omitted what they knew, that Clinton paid for the material. Comey’s FISA application also omitted that the material was not verified or corroborated. Oh, well, Comey’s FISA application also omitted Christopher Steele had a severe political bias against the president. There were numerous warnings he had not to use this information, and subsequent renewals submitted by Comey omitted that Steele’s primary sub-source -- the sub-source; the only source. Not even a source.

Well, he described his own evidence as rumors, hearsay, speculation, a crude bar joke, and he also omitted that the sub-source even questioned Steele’s credibility. Wow. And he intentionally omitted that Steele doubted the credibility of his sub-source, and get this: Comey’s FISA renewals straight-up lied -- straight-up lied -- about Carter Page and his connection to the CIA. And one of Comey’s lawyers fraudulently changed the document to remove the fact that Page, well, was actually a source for the CIA, and instead said he was not a source. But remember, Comey told us all that any claims of FISA abuse were just utter nonsense. This is a lie, what we’re about to show you. Look.

[begin video clip]

James Comey, former FBI director: I have total confidence that the FISA process was followed and that the entire case was handled in a thoughtful, responsible way by DOJ and FBI. I think the notion that FISA was abused here is nonsense.

[end video clip]

Sean Hannity: Nonsense. Yet another lie. Comey knew the dirty dossier was garbage; he knew it was full of unverifiable rumors and speculation. He was warned multiple times, and even Christopher Steele under oath -- when he heard this, he should have gone back, because the law requires this, and said, “I have no idea if any of it is true.” That’s why he repeatedly denied that it was used as the bulk of information in the FISA applications that we now know also is a lie. That means Nunes was right, that means the Grassley-Graham memo was right, and that means that the Schiff show -- Adam Schiff, the congenital liar -- lied repeatedly, too. Take a look.

[begin video clip]

Bret Baier, anchor, 'Special Report': You called the dossier unverified, salacious. Why did you use that to the FISA court to ask for surveillance of Carter Page? Not only use it, but you led with it. A bulk of that FISA application deals with that dossier. Why?

James Comey: Yeah, that’s not my recollection, Bret, and I don’t know that the FISA application has been released. My recollection was it was part of a broader mosaic of facts that were laid before the FISA judge to obtain a FISA warrant.

Bret Baier: There was a lot more than the dossier in the FISA application?

James Comey: My recollection was there was a significant amount of additional material about Page and why there was probable cause to believe he was an agent of a foreign power, and the dossier was part of that, but was not all of it or a critical part of it to my recollection.

[end video clip]

Sean Hannity: “Wasn’t a critical part?” It basically was everything; the Inspector General finding that the dirty dossier was the central and essential piece of the FISA application. But like any self-righteous habitual liar, Comey just can’t come to terms with the truth. Watch this clip from over the weekend. Take a look.

[begin video clip]

Chris Wallace, anchor, 'Fox News Sunday': You don’t see a difference between “it’s part of a broader mosaic” and “it was the -- played an essential role in establishing probable cause?”

James Comey: It was one of a bunch of different facts that were assembled to apply to the court. It was the one that convinced the lawyers that they had enough now with that added to the pile to go forward.

Chris Wallace: Did you know that the FBI had talked to the Russian contact, and he said what Steele said he had told him was not true? Did you know this? You’re the FBI director.

James Comey: First, again, the report will speak for itself. I don't believe the FBI concluded that Steele’s reporting was bunk after talking to his sub-source. The Inspector General did not find misconduct by any FBI people. He found mistakes and negligence and oversight. He did not –

Chris Wallace: No, no, no, that’s not true. In the case of Kevin Clinesmith, he has referred it for a criminal investigation.

James Comey: Right, but that’s not been resolved, this business with the lawyer changing some email to a partner on the team.

[end video clip]

Sean Hannity: Now, in case you’re wondering, Comey is not having a psychotic break from reality. He’s just lying like he usually does, through his teeth, and as FOX News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett pointed out in his bestseller, “Witch Hunt,” these lies are just the tip of the iceberg. First, as FBI director -- look at this -- Comey repeatedly reassured Donald Trump that he was not a suspect in the counter-intel investigation of Russia, a lie.

Remember, in the spring of 2018, Comey claimed he still had no idea who funded Steele’s dossier; lie. Before he was ultimately fired, Comey told the president he doesn’t leak, and he doesn’t do weasel moves. That was a lie, too. In fact, Comey leaked government memos detailing meetings and conversations with the president of the United States, and Special Counsel Horowitz -- well, in this case, the inspector general referred him to the DOJ, remember, for criminal prosecution over leaking and lack of candor.

Make no mistake, there is a very real human cost to all of these lies. This is the premier law enforcement agency in the entire world. This entire Russia witch hunt that put this country through nearly three years of hell; Carter Page’s reputation utterly destroyed, spied on, his civil liberties violated, his civil rights -- they didn’t exist. Constitutional rights, nonexistent. Op-ed by law professor Jonathan Turley: “An apology to Carter Page details the reckless nonstop smear of a private citizen all because of Comey’s fraudulent FISA application.”

And let’s not forget about Lieutenant General Michael Flynn. How can we forget what Comey did to a 33-year veteran? And as a part of Comey’s deceitful investigation into all things Trump, what did he do? He brags. Remember, first it was Andrew McCabe saying, “Oh, no, you don’t need a lawyer,” but he brags -- James Comey brags. He sets up an American war hero. “Oh, I’d never do this in the -- try this in the Bush or Obama years. No, I wouldn’t even dare do that.” Watch this.

[begin video clip]

Female Speaker: You look at this White House now, and it’s hard to imagine two FBI agents ending up in the sit room. How did that happen?

James Comey: I sent them.

[laughter]

Something we -- I probably wouldn’t have done or maybe gotten away with in a more organized investigation, a more organized administration, in the George W. Bush administration, for example, or the Obama administration. And in both of those administrations, there was process, and so if the FBI wanted to send agents into the White House itself to interview a senior official, you would work through the White House counsel, and there’d be discussions and approvals on who would be there. And I thought, “It’s early enough. Let’s just send a couple guys over.”

[end video clip]

Sean Hannity: “Well, I wouldn’t do this in these other administrations.” Is the higher loyalty that you claim to possess, Jim? Because -- is that how you treat a 33-year veteran of this country? Served in combat, Jim. Now, that just shows you to be so deceptive, narcissistic, and, yeah, you’re a liar. Don’t forget, Jim Comey also signs the first FISA application verified October 2016; goes to Trump Tower 2017. “Oh, it’s salacious but unverified, President-elect.” Lie again. Then he signs two more FISA applications verified. He lies.

And the great irony of all of this -- it was Lieutenant General Flynn, not Comey, who now faces years behind bars for lying when the FBI didn’t even think he was lying. But they were going after his kid, and he was bankrupt. “Oh, let’s see. You’re going to prosecute my son, or I fall on the sword.” I’m shocked at General Flynn’s decision. Without a doubt, Comey played a central role in what is the weaponization of these most powerful tools that we entrust to our government, and they turned them against we, the people. And he didn’t act alone. Let’s see what former CIA director John Brennan, another notorious liar -- let’s see what role he’s played in all of this. I can’t wait to get to the bottom of that.

And according to multiple sources, he strongly advocated for Hillary Clinton’s bought-and-paid-for dirty dossier to be included in the official U.S. intel assessment. Time will tell. The inspector general Horowitz confirmed this fact in his report, because in 2017 -- we do know this -- Brennan clearly lied to Congress when he said the exact opposite. Take a look.

[begin video clip]

Male Speaker: Do you know if the bureau ever relied on the Steele dossier as any -- as part of any court filings, applications, petitions, pleadings?

John Brennan, former CIA director: I have no awareness.

Male Speaker: Did the CIA rely on it?

John Brennan: No.

Male Speaker: Why not?

John Breenan: Because we didn’t. It wasn't part of the corpus of intelligence information that we had. It was not in any way used as a basis for the intelligence community assessment that was done. It was not.

[end video clip]

Sean Hannity: Just wondering what Prosecutor Durham, Attorney General Barr, they seem to know an awful lot about this that we will learn in the days and weeks ahead. Remember, this is the same former CIA director used his important status to push baseless, harmful, conspiracy theories against the president of the United States repeatedly. Take a look.

[begin video clip]

John Brennan: I think he's afraid of the president of Russia.

Male Speaker: Why?

John Brennan: Well, I think one can speculate as to why, that the Russians may have something on him personally that they could always roll out and make his life more difficult. Clearly, I think it's important for us to be able to improve relations with Russia but the fact that he has had this fawning attitude toward Mr. Putin has not sent anything negative about him. It continues to, you know, say to me that he does have something to fear.

[end video clip]

Sean Hannity: Lies, deceptions, hoax, conspiracy theories, rumors, speculation, conjecture. Two of America's most powerful bureaucrats abused their power. They spread false information. They tried to undo a presidential election and they got caught. Their corruption must not go unpunished. Here now with reaction former Trump associate deep state target himself, Carter Page. Author of "Witch Hunt," Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett is with us. You know, I've read Jonathan Turley's -- did you read Jonathan Turley's piece about you, Carter?

Carter Page: Yes, Sean. It was -- I actually felt bad for Professor Turley because he, you know, the issues he's dealt with the threats, the death threats that he had after this crazy impeachment controversy, so, you know, I mean, I appreciate what he had to say but I know he's been living through a lot of the same craziness. So, he deserves an apology just as much.

Sean Hannity: Let me bring this audience a little bit behind the scenes in our relationship. There are a lot of people that told me not to trust you, a lot of people told me you were guilty of doing a lot of these things. I was always skeptical, but I have you in my radio studio. We had you in the TV studio. I kept pressing you I would say on a scale of one to 10 I gave you a 9.8 in terms of -- and at some point I figured out that you work for some three-letter agency. I remember the exact moment, actually. But I kept asking you do you love your country? I kept asking you when you would go to these countries did you come back and talk to people in certain agencies. You were uncomfortable but eventually the story began to -- you sort of started coming clean. Then I realized he's working on our behalf and probably if he's going to Russia and coming back and talking to the CIA, that's probably a pretty risky thing to do in life for this country that he loves, is that true?

Carter Page, former Trump campaign policy adviser: It's true, Sean, and I was trying to stay true in terms of, you know, having some confidentiality. Unfortunately, as we, you know, many of the same people you just showed were constantly leaking and constantly giving false information to the press. So, unfortunately it created a situation where now -- particularly now that we have the inspector general report we can be more vocal and more up front as to, you know, all the wrongdoing and some of the things we've had to deal with over the last few years which has just been crazy.

Sean Hannity: You know, I talk about Comey's lies and the deep state and a lot of people thought we were nuts, Gregg. We've now been fully completely vindicated every step of the way. You got into chapter verse and a lot of detail in your books, the two best sellers you've written about all this, about the lying, about the abuse of power, about the corruption. Tell us what you see in the -- your little Gregg Jarrett legal crystal ball for the future for people like Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Brennan, Clapper.

Gregg Jarrett: Legal jeopardy. I mean, James Comey manufactured evidence, concealed evidence, manipulated the FISA court in order to spy on Carter Page and the Trump campaign and when caught now he's feigning ignorance and amnesia. Oh, gosh, I wasn't really involved in the Trump/Russia investigation and they kept information from me and gosh, I just didn't know. You know, when people get caught in a lie, they have two choices. They can either fess up to it or they can invent vapid excuses and that is precisely what James Comey is doing. You know, Carter Page sent a letter directly to James Comey about three weeks before the first FISA warrant was signed by Comey telling Comey, hey, I've been helping the U.S. government and intelligence agencies. That document should have been presented to the FISA court. Instead, Comey concealed it. It was exculpatory evidence. If the court had known about that they would've rejected Comey's FISA application. He doubled down time and again signing three of them even when he learned three years ago next month that the dossier was garbage.

Sean Hannity: Carter, thank you. Gregg Jarrett, thank you. As you can see, the swamp full of deceptive partisan hacks. On Capitol Hill we have the biggest liar of them all, the compromised, corrupt, coward, congenital liar Adam Schiff. He lied all about Trump Russia collusion. He lied about having secret evidence of collusion. He lied about having evidence of collusion in plain sight. He lied about the dirty dossier. In fact, he entered the dossier's misinformation and lies into the official record and he also lied about FISA abuse. We can prove that, too. Take a look.

[begin video clip]

Major Garrett, CBS White House correspondent: Is it your representation to the nation, sir, that everything that the FBI did in the process of obtaining that surveillance warrant on Carter Page absolutely followed proper protocol, every evidentiary standard was met, and there was nothing askew about that warrant ever?

Adam Schiff: Major, there's nothing askew about that warrant that I can see and if the Republicans who are really concerned about this because everything that I have seen the FBI acted completely appropriately.

[end video clip]

Sean Hannity: Well, of course thanks to Horowitz and this is just the beginning, here's what we can report tonight. Nunes and the Nunes memo was 1,000 percent correct. The Schiff memo, a total fraud but despite Schiff's best efforts the most egregious lies America's economy, look at this. It is booming like never before. Even the Washington Post had to admit look at this, the U.S. economy is heading into 2020 at a pace of steady sustained growth. Uh-oh. Good news for the American people, bad news for Democrats. Here with reaction. She is the host of the Mornings with Maria on the Fox Business Channel. Also, listen, I have to admit, my favorite hour you do is right here on this channel. You have the best interviews. You have been -- and I can never have you on the show because you got to get up at, I guess, what 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.

Maria Bartiromo: It's true.

Sean Hannity: Why would any -- I don't go to bed until you and Doocy and Kilmeade and Ainsley get up. So, I'm -- you know, you guys are all -- I don't know how you do that. But you do a great show here. You have been all over this. You have done a phenomenal job.

Maria Bartiromo: Thank you, Sean.

Sean Hannity: Great interviews. But let's talk about the liar versus the truth teller, Nunes versus Schiff.

Maria Bartiromo: Yeah. Well, it's pretty incredible. I mean, the lies that came out of Adam Schiff and Adam Schiff's office, as you just pointed out, it's even worse than lies, though, Sean. These are crimes committed. People will be prosecuted for this. Even if you believe, which I do not, William Barr does not and John Durham does not, that there was a credible reason to start the investigation into Donald Trump that counter-investigation, it died within weeks. It died within weeks because there were transcripts of undercover DOJ agents, FBI agents, running into people like George Papadopoulos, Sam Clovis, Carter Page, and those documents were the exculpatory evidence that they did not send to the FISA court. I think this really blows up even bigger than it is right now when obviously John Durham comes out with his findings but leading into that all the attention will be on what happened before July 2016. You know, the lie that the FBI has been telling us that the counter-investigation began in July of '16. We know that's not true. In fact, in the IG report, and nobody really talked about this, I thought this was stunning, in the IG report it says that Christopher Steele was hired by Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS in May of '16, May of 2016 to see –

Sean Hannity: Slow down. This was Kimberley Strassel's find last week.

Maria Bartiromo: That's right.

Sean Hannity: And I honed in on it as well. I don't think many -- they're saying the official investigation began what July 30, 31.

Maria Bartiromo: That's right, but that didn't happen. We know that because we know that Carter Page –

Sean Hannity: That didn't happen.

Maria Bartiromo: --- was invited to all of these conferences in Cambridge. We know George Papadopoulos was told go to Rome, meet this guy Joseph Mifsud, and then, Joseph Mifsud drops this bomb on his lap that Russia has Hillary Clinton's emails. That was in April of 2016. So, they were -- there was a lot of informants, the same informants, spies, that have worked with the FBI and the CIA over years, western intel. Those were the spies that were running into anybody they could who was remotely attached to the Trump campaign as you said earlier, just to get a window into Trump's strategy. So, the lies are real. People will be prosecuted. And you are looking at crimes, not only against Carter Page, but against a sitting president, duly elected as you said.

Sean Hannity: And what's really, Maria, also amazing to me in all of this is that there were few of us that were right and you're on our Fox Business Network, and you're here on weekends with us on the Fox News Channel, but it was you, Lou Dobbs, Stuart Varney.

Maria Bartiromo: Right.

Sean Hannity: All three of you have done -- Trish -- have done a phenomenal job in exposing this. Where's the rest of our colleagues in the so-called media here?

Maria Bartiromo: Well, I think this is a really important point because the left-wing media has become an attachment, an arm of the Democratic Party. And I've been saying now for several years: anybody on either side of the aisle has to be outraged by this because you have people in positions of power putting their finger on the scale and trying to change what the American people voted for. This is a democracy and we have freedom to elect our leader. And what they did was try to get in front of that. That's why I find it extraordinary that nobody else in the media wants to. But even worse than that, criminal, is the fact that the Democrats refuse to focus on this. The same people who had been calling for impeachment are the people who tried to take Donald Trump down from the get-go. It was Adam Schiff, remember, for three years, Sean, going on MSNBC and CNN and everywhere he could get saying "collusion between the Russians and Donald Trump is in plain sight." Plain sight. Why is no one asking him where that is in terms of being in plain sight? This weekend, more interviews. Admit it. They lied. They lied because they just didn't like Donald Trump --.

Sean Hannity: We need more --

Maria Bartiromo: -- regardless of the policies that are moving the needle on the economy and among other things.  Sean Hannity: Great analysis. We see -- we need Maria on more, but she gets up at 2:00 a.m. and we'd love to have you on more, but you get up at 2:00 a.m.

Maria Bartiromo: I'd love to be here, Sean.  Sean Hannity: And the only reason, I will concede -- tonight's the company Christmas party so we got to -- you got to stay late. Thank you, Maria. We'll be wa --

Maria Bartiromo: Thank you so much, Sean.  Sean Hannity: And tomorrow, Maria has on U.S. Trade Representative for the U.S. Robert Lighthizer. All right. Coming up, Chuck Schumer's past comments on impeachment, they're coming back to haunt him. You won't believe what he said in '98. Plus, one moderate Democrat is thinking of switching parties to the Republican Party. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, he will weigh in next as our coverage continues. Stay with us.

[commercial break]

Trace Gallagher, Fox News correspondent: Live from America's News Headquarters, I'm Trace Gallagher in Los Angeles. Deadly storms sweeping across the South tonight. In Louisiana, one person has been killed by an apparent tornado. Officials there fear others could be hurt. First responders are still trying to reach the hard-hit areas. The storms destroyed buildings, toppled trees, and downed power lines in several Louisiana communities before causing more damage in Mississippi. About 20,000 homes and businesses are without lights at this hour. Boeing will temporarily stop producing its grounded 737 Max Jet next month as it struggles to get approval from regulators to put the plane back in the air. Some 12,000 employees work on the plane near Seattle. Boeing does not immediately expect layoffs, but they could ripple through some of the 900 companies that supply parts for the plane. The Max has been grounded since March after two crashes. I'm Trace Gallagher. Back to Hannity.  Sean

Hannity: All right, now, Senator Chuckie Schumer's lashing out at Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tonight, demanding that his handpicked witnesses be part of any Senate trial, also slamming the GOP leader for saying that he will work with the White House throughout the process. Imagine that, the White House actually will get due process and some fairness for once. Wow, that's horrible. Take a look.

[begin video clip]

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.: Two weeks ago, now, I told Leader McConnell I was ready to discuss trial rules. Instead of talking to me, he spoke publicly about what a trial may look like and said he was taking his cues from the White House. It was very partisan, very slanted, very unfair. The four witnesses we propose have direct knowledge of why the aid to Ukraine was delayed. I haven't seen a single good argument about why these witnesses shouldn't testify or these documents be produced unless the president has something to hide.

[end video clip]

Sean Hannity: Hey, Chuckie, we just had an audition of witnesses, non-witnesses, hearsay, opinion witnesses. Then we brought them all in and we brought in the ivory tower professors. They had all the time in the world. But, you know, deep in your heart, they didn't prove their case, did they? All right, so the hypocrisy's also stunning. Let's take a little trip down memory lane and let's look at Chuckie Schumer back in 1999, saying the exact opposite about bringing in witnesses. Ah, thank God for videotape. Let's go to it.

[begin video clip]

Chuck Schumer: Any fair process would be consulting the White House because it's the president who's the defendant and due process would guarantee him, or fairness certainly would guarantee him certain rights. If the purpose, as the House manager stated for witnesses, is to compare the disparities in facts, then they would have called a different list of witnesses. What we ought to be doing instead of this is doing what the American people want us to do, which is make the schools better and preserve Social Security and reign in the HMOs.

[end video clip]

[begin video clip]

Chuck Schumer: There were some on my side -- I was not among them -- but some on my side who argued strongly that they ought to call witnesses and they resisted it every step of the way. There has not been a good explanation why 60,000 pages of testimony was good enough for the House but isn't good enough for the Senate.

[end video clip]

Sean Hannity: And when they're not pushing their impeachment show trial, Democrats like Nadler, the nutty Nadler, are spreading more election conspiracy theories, actually now claiming, it's my favorite line of all, President Trump, quote is, has right now, quote, "he's in a crime that is in progress." What? That's what --they're impeaching him as a crime is happening, right now, in progress. Somebody send over the FBI and police because it's happening right this second. Here with reaction, Congressman Louie Gohmert, along with Republican Congressman and Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz. Good to see you both. Louie, you know what I love about Louie Gohmert? Louie Gohmert is not one of these guys that's going to Washington and getting rich. You know how I know that, Jason Chaffetz? Because Louie Gohmert literally sleeps in his office every night because he can’t afford to pay the D.C. swamp rent prices and live at home around the Houston area. Correct? What part of Texas? I might have gotten it wrong.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas: Well --

Jason Chaffetz, Fox News contributor: [laughs] That’s very true.

Louie Gohmert: No, you’re right, I’m due north of Houston. But it is outrageous, and you have been talking about this for years now. But what gets me as a former judge -- I saw people that lied so often, they had no conscience. It had been so numbed, it was completely worthless, and we’re seeing that. We’re seeing that in the House; we’re seeing that in the Senate, and that’s why people can say one thing, and 98 and 99 say 180 degrees opposite right now and feel no qualms about being so duplicitous. But this is an outrage. We heard for three years -- you know; you’ve been talking about it -- crime, crime, crime, crime in progress. We’re still even hearing about it. And when it came down to the articles of impeachment, there is no crime, and still they talk about this foreign interference. “We have to act now because of foreign interference.” Yet they will not acknowledge the only proven serious foreign interference was engaged by the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton’s campaign, when they got England, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, all of this -- maybe Australia, the ambassador there -- all these other people there involved in our election to try to defeat Donald Trump. Pretty outrageous.

Sean Hannity: You know, Jason Chaffetz, you’ve been right from the beginning. One thing -- you actually were the one that told me you believed Horowitz would do the good job. Putting aside his -- how he didn’t see the political motives, we’ve got to remember he did refer Comey -- lying and materials in his house he shouldn’t have had -- McCabe, Strzok, Page. We’ve got the Strzok-Page texts from Horowitz. But there’s something very important that both Durham and AG Barr pointed out. He only could work in the bubble or the confines of the DOJ and the FBI. He couldn’t go outside that purview. They have gone outside that purview and very strongly said that to us, but everything we’ve been saying -- dirty dossier, bought and paid for; unverifiable; used as basically the whole FISA application -- everything we’ve said is true. He nailed it in his own way.

Jason Chaffetz: No, he did nail it, and, Sean, I think we have to go really to page one of the IG report, when it says that the foreign -- friendly foreign government approaches Papadopoulos. That begs the question, because that’s the only thing that Horowitz starts to look at, but why? Why would a friendly foreign government be approaching somebody, with all due respect -- I mean, he’s a very nice guy, but he’s not being paid --

Sean Hannity: I talked to him today on my radio show.

Jason Chaffetz: -- by the Trump campaign. Why did that happen? And so, there is a lot more to come here, and it’s going to involve Brennan, and it’s going to involve Clapper --

Sean Hannity: Slow down --

Jason Chaffetz: -- and it’s going to take somebody --

Sean Hannity: What is it --

Jason Chaffetz: -- who’s got the political guts to do it.

Sean Hannity: Where I see this going, Jason, is I see powerful tools of intelligence turned on the American people, as we said, but also, there are other layers involved here, and that gets to Papadopoulos, Joseph Mifsud. That gets to friendly Western intelligence agencies. Did they outsource illegally spying on Americans, maybe a president and president-elect or a candidate, for the purpose of circumventing American law? You think that might be part of this equation?

Jason Chaffetz: Follow the money. There are millions of dollars that came from the Democrats that went overseas. Whose pockets did those get into? I think it’s a very legitimate question. It’s not the one that the FBI wants to ask, but it is the one that now Attorney General Barr and Durham are looking at. And you’ve got to follow the money. There are people that did things that caused people to do other things. That’s where this is going.

Sean Hannity: Thank you both. Appreciate it, Jason Chaffetz, Congressman Gohmert.

Louie Gohmert: Thank you, Sean.

Sean Hannity: Thank you, guys. And also, tonight, the backlash to Congressman Van Drew’s possible defection to the Republican Party over radical Democratic plans to hate Trump 24/7. Well, it has now been swift. Multiple congressional aides quit, and this weekend Democrats blasting Van Drew. How dare he have original thoughts? Take a look.

[begin video clip]

Male Speaker: I think it’s ridiculous. He put politics over the Constitution. He’s put -- he’s trying to be cute instead of being courageous. I think it’s outrageous.

Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn.: I think Jeff Van Drew is making a serious mistake, and to turn and to go be a Republican is kind of strange. It’s kind of -- you know, I’ve heard of rats jumping off a sinking ship, but very few of them jump onto a sinking ship.

[end video clip]

Sean Hannity: He’s actually abandoning ship, your ship that’s sinking. Meanwhile, impeachment-obsessed Democrats are facing the wrath of voters in their districts. Look at this. Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin held a town hall, Rochester, Michigan, and got a taste of voter anger. And by the way, this is real. Even in liberal New York, almost everybody I meet is fed up with this. But take a look at this.

[begin video clip]

Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.: Okay, well, I’m thrilled to see such a great turn out today.

[yelling]

Female Speaker: Let’s please -- please let her speak.

Male Speaker: [unintelligible] impeachment.

Elissa Slotkin: Okay –

[yelling]

Female Speaker: Please let the congresswoman speak.

Elissa Slotkin: Thank you for joining us today.

[yelling]

Female Speaker: Let’s please respect the people around you who are here to listen.

[end video clip]

Sean Hannity: Also, tonight, according to a recent focus group -- this is big -- now, swing voters who switched from Obama to Trump, they’re not changing their minds. Look at this. In fact, they’re sick of impeachment. They’re sticking with Trump. This is the all-important state of Michigan. So desperate, all the left’s anger, all their vitriol, three years of hate, hate, hate Trump every second, minute, hour of every day. And guess what? Not able to stop Americans from supporting this president. Look at the Army-Navy game on Saturday. You could hear exactly how people felt about President Trump. Take a listen.

[begin video clip]

Male Speaker: It’s obviously with great pride and a great honor to welcome our commander in chief, our president of the United States, President Donald J. Trump.

[applause]

[cheering]

Male Speaker: Mr. President, thank you for all that you and all the good you do for our country. We thank you for joining us today to make this a special moment.

[end video clip]

Sean Hannity: Then they started chanting, “Four more years.” Here with reaction, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. You know, when Donald Trump, who I’ve known for 20-whatever years -- I don’t know; over 20 years -- when he was running, I had to assure, like I always do -- I’m sort of, like, on the highest tree, the weakest branch, the tiniest twig with a leaf held from last fall. That’s kind of how we do our lives here. And you go out on a limb when you believe something. But I knew he would be conservative. I knew he meant what he said. I knew he’d fight for his promises. I think a lot of Republicans at the time -- they were skeptical of me, angry at me, some of them. Turned out to be true, but now it seems like your guys, your rank-and-file guys, are realizing they’ve learned a lesson. Fighting for promises, fighting hard for beliefs, makes the country better, and it’s good politics.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.: You’re right, you were out on the limb early on, but you noticed when he came down that escalator like so many people across the country. They knew then that he was going to win. Just had to convince the American public to actually see what he was talking about. You know, think about this. Just about a month ago, you asked me on this show. Privately, you said, “Are any Democrats frustrated by this or even talking?” and I was mentioning then that some Democrats had come to me even questioning whether they should stay in the party. Now we’re learning that Jeff Van Drew is disappointed in the Democrats, and I don’t blame him, because it’s not just Jeff who’s disappointed in Democrats. We’re -- America public is disappointed in the Democrats. You know, they have abandoned their so-called “for the people” agenda, and the Speaker slipped and really admitted that she has been trying to impeach this president for two and a half years, long before any phone call or more lies from Adam Schiff trying to make something up.

Sean Hannity: So, I'll ask you the same question, and what’s the status with Van Drew?

Kevin McCarthy: Well, I think he’s going to make a decision very shortly here, but, you know, he’s been very forthright from the very beginning. He has said from the beginning there is nothing here to be impeached. And what did the Democrats do? They have turned on him, and it’s scaring those other Democrats. And remember, there are 31 Democrats who sit in seats that President Trump carried, and I'll guarantee you in the next election President Trump will carry more than just those seats.

Sean Hannity: Give us a little bit of a timeline. I know obviously this is in Pelosi and Schiff and nutty Nadler’s hands, but what is the timeline? How do you see this going down? Is it true they’re actually going to do it in a day because they’re in a rush?

Kevin McCarthy: Yes. Yeah, I think they’re going to work very quickly to try to get this done on Wednesday. What was interesting earlier in your show when you were listening to Schumer -- Schumer is admitting that it was an unfair process on the side over here in the House, and remember, early on you put out that letter I sent to Speaker Pelosi. Why don’t we give the exact same rights that Bill Clinton got, that Nixon got as well? Due process, where we could actually pick witnesses. The Democrats got to pick every witness they wanted. Republicans got to pick none, and now Schumer’s complaining about that when they got to pick everybody? Because they’re finding these poll numbers dropping; they’re losing independents. It’s because -- you look at Jeff Van Drew. He’s listening to his constituents, and Adam Schiff is lying to his.

Sean Hannity: He’s been lying for three years. Nunes told the truth.

Kevin McCarthy: Yes.

Sean Hannity: Schiff lied.

Kevin McCarthy: Yes.

Sean Hannity: You could see for the first time -- you now see the real clear politics average impeachment is under water and it's going to drop even further. Great job, congressman. Thank you as always for sharing your thoughts with us and what's coming up. Wow. Talk about what's coming up. Fireworks. The ladies of The View. Whoopi Goldberg, Meghan McCain, stay -- stand by. Entertainment only starting.

[commercial break]

Sean Hannity: All right. So, the media mob's impeachment hysteria has reached their fever pitch and on The View today Whoopi Goldberg, who I've always liked and co-host Meghan McCain, I've also always liked her, never had any problems with anybody except I have no desire to ever do that show again. Here's a heated reason exchange –

[begin video clip]

Meghan McCain, co-host, 'The View': My job here is not to litigate the ethics of it. I'm an ABC political analyst along with being a View cohost. My job is to analyze the politics of it, and I'm telling you the politics --

Female Speaker: But I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about the people that are –

Meghan McCain: But I'm telling you my job here.

Female Speaker: --- the people that are senators that are –

Meghan McCain Just let me finish. I let you talk. Let me finish.

[cross talk]

Whoopi Goldberg, co-host, 'The View': Here's what's happening now.

[cross talk]

We're going to -- keep -- girl, please stop talking. Please stop talking right now because you know what?

Meghan McCain: No problem.

Whoopi Goldberg: What's happening -- thank you. Thank you.

Meghan McCain: No problem. I won't talk the rest of the show. No problem.

Whoopi Goldberg: Okay.

[end video clip]

Sean Hannity: And it's got like the Christmas scene in the background and everything. This may be a preview of coming attractions when you're home with your family, turkey legs flying across the room. All right. After that The View had Trump-hating actor Robert DeNiro on the show. No surprise there. He bashed the president. Take a look.

[begin video clip]

Joy Behar, co-host, 'The View': You have played some of the most really unredeemable characters, Travis Bickle. Travis Bickle was a psychopathic taxi driver. Jake Lamotta who used to beat his wife and he was in The Raging Bull. Is Trump worse than they are?

Robert DeNiro, actor: To me he is.

[laughter and applause]

Because he has no understanding that I can see of the outside world other than anything around him. He has no idea of what his purpose in life is -- as the president should be. He's -- I always say he's a low life. He's a low life.

[applause]

Joy Behar: But you also, Bobby, you also talk about his children and you say that they're like a gangster family too.

[laughter]

Robert DeNiro: I don't want my kids to take this the wrong way, but if my kids did what these kids did, I wouldn't want to be related to them. I would disown them.

[end video clip]

Sean Hannity: Oh, what a tough guy. All this anti-Trump media bias is adding up to a full-scale revolt of Trump voters against the mob in the media. Here with reaction, 'Fox & Friends' weekend cohosts Pete Hegseth and Fox News contributor Rachel Campos-Duffy. Guys, good to see you both.

Pete Hegseth, co-host, 'Fox & Friends Weekend': Good to see you. Sean Hannity: Rachel, by the way, congratulations on your new baby. We're very proud of you.

Rachel Campos-Duffy, Fox News contributor: Thank you.

Sean Hannity: And happy for you guys.

Rachel Campos-Duffy: Thank you.

Sean Hannity: Let's start with, you know, we're watching this, and you see it's sort of like Hegseth's tattoos, which he shows apparently everybody. He does. He puts it everywhere.

Pete Hegseth: Only by request, Sean.

Sean Hannity: Okay. Whatever. But it's like tattooed into the foreheads of all these media mob people, fake and news. How do they ever get rid of that branding? I don't see them ever, ever getting rid of it.

Rachel Campos-Duffy: Well, first of all, full disclosure, I've done The View about 25 different times, more than you Hannity, and I actually really enjoy the debate but whether it's The View, the media, big tech, academia, what you're seeing right now is an absolute total meltdown because they have had a monopoly and a strangle hold on the narrative, the political narrative for so long because they know how to play in the culture and suddenly here comes Donald Trump. This guy he's a reality TV star. He's a former Democrat. So he knows their game, and he's playing it and winning at it and doing it better than them and you see this frustration that they've thrown everything at them, everything in the impeachment, the Russia hoax, every media outlet, every movie, movie star, big -- everybody against him and he's getting his message out and he's going over the heads of all of them. He's setting the news narrative and he's getting his story out and exposing them and it's driving them absolutely bonkers. So yes, get ready at your Christmas table if politics comes up the liberals in your group are not happy.

Sean Hannity: I'll have to do another Hannity's tips to deal with your crazy insane liberal media mob relatives.

Rachel Campos-Duffy: Love it.

Sean Hannity: Well, you know, Pete, we do -- we deal with this all the time and it's never been this corrupt. It's never been -- they speak in one voice. It is state-run mob liberal leftist extreme radical socialist TV all the time.

Pete Hegseth: All the time. Whoopi Goldberg did to Meghan McCain and Meghan McCain is not a big Trump supporter, we all know that, what they wish they could do to Fox News Channel, to talk radio, to Donald Trump and his Twitter feed, as she mentioned. The problem, what they hate so much is -- we'll stick with your tattoo theme, Sean -- Donald Trump has tattooed "fake news" on the forehead of all of these leftists who, before, got to play the same game "oh, we're unbiased. Watch our nightly newscasts as we read from the teleprompter for 30 minutes and tell you the way the world is." And then that all ended. And when he showed up, it made them mad. Liberals are angry people. And with Donald Trump --  Sean Hannity: [unintelligible]  Pete Hegseth: With Donald Trump, he's just exposed them for who they are. Look at the anger, the [unintelligible].  Sean Hannity: I'll tell you, it's not going anywhere. Look at the -- look at these polls. This is The Washington Examiner. Look at Pew, the research is clear. We'll see what happens. I don't think anyone cares. Nobody that I --  Pete Hegseth: No.  Sean Hannity: Even some of my friends that are to the left of -- very left of me, they think this is dumb. I will say, oh, Pete, I got your Christmas card. Thank you very much.  Pete Hegseth: You got it.  Rachel Campos-Duffy: I did, too. Beautiful.  Sean Hannity: Both of you, congratulations. Big year -- big year for both of you and I want to send my congratulations to both of you.  Rachel Campos-Duffy: Thank you.  Pete Hegseth: Thank you very much.  Sean Hannity: Thanks for being with us. All right, tonight, we have not one, no, tonight's a special night, two villains of the day. That's straight ahead.

[commercial break]

Sean Hannity: All right, two villains of the day, our friend Joy Reid and Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Well, lunacy on full display when you have Area 51, Roswell -- Rachel Maddow's conspiracy TV MSDNC yesterday, President Trump joking about running for a third term. Maybe we should just keep saying it because it -- it literally drives them nuts anyway. The joke goes right over their head. Joy Reid is upset, genuinely concerned that President Trump may be our president forever.

[laughs]

Take a look.

[begin video clip]

Joy Reid, MSNBC: What happens -- in all seriousness, what happens if Donald Trump, who doesn't believe in the constitutional norms or anything; he just believes in power and money for Donald Trump -- if he just says, "you know what, if I leave this office, I might get prosecuted in New York. I ain't leaving."  Male Speaker: So --  Joy Reid: And what would happen?  Male Speaker: Well --  Joy Reid: Because he keeps joking about it. But you know, dictatorships happen all over the world when the person who jokes about not leaving doesn't leave.

[end video clip]

Sean Hannity: Joy, let not your heart be troubled. Not going to happen. And Congresswoman Maxine Waters back in the news later in the hour, saying Republicans don't care about the Constitution or democracy. Remember? "Impeach 45, impeach 45." You think she'd be happy. They're going to follow through on her dream. Well, won't mean a thing, it's -- you're helping to reelect Donald Trump. Take a look.

[begin video clip]

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.: Watch what happens in the Senate. You are going to see what happens when your democracy is undermined. You are going to see what happens when you have people in power who disregard the Constitution, who don't care about the democracy, who are opening the door to Putin and Russia.

[end video clip]

Sean Hannity: Only Putin, only Russia. Dirty dossier. Hillary paid for it. New York Times said, "oh, yeah, likely Russian disinformation from the beginning." I'm trying. All right, let not your heart. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have left. We will never be the hate, rage, psychotic, hate-Trump media mob. We will seek the truth. Hope you set your DVR. Please never miss an episode, 9:00 Eastern. Hannity. And let not your heart be troubled. Laura Ingraham starts right here, right now. Have a great night.

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