On the final day of the RNC convention, former Speaker Newt Gingrich talks with Sean about the best quality of Donald Trump. "Donald Trump has the courage to allow facts to lead him to action," stated Gingrich, "This is a man who wants to get things done." The Sean Hannity Show is live Monday through Friday from 3pm - 6pm ET on iHeart Radio and Hannity.com. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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All right, day four.
Here we are in Cleveland wrapping up the Republican National Convention.
I tell you, these weeks, these days, these months, they go by fast.
And then you got a four-month sprint to Election Day, and you will decide the future, the fate of the country and the direction of the country.
What an amazing week this has been.
By the way, the people of Cleveland are amazing people.
I've met many of them, said hello to many of them, hung out with a lot of them, and we've had a great time.
I've been pretty good, though, about not going out and doing stupid stuff and hanging out at restaurants and bars.
I just, you know what?
It's just maybe a little chicken wings at the end of the night when most people hopefully are asleep.
Don't say that Republicans can't party.
We came back to the hotel last night and it was packed.
I mean, packed to the rims.
And people hanging out, drinking, and having fun and having a good time.
We're loaded up today.
I know Ted Cruz is on a lot of people's minds.
We'll hit that and the reaction of the crowd at the arena last night.
I think last night, probably you see this growing momentum that is building Mike Pence and Newt Gingrich and Eric Trump.
And tonight on the center stage, of course, Ivanka Trump will introduce her father, Donald Trump, and this probably the speech of this campaign for him.
I have talked to people that know a little bit which direction this speech is going, and it's going to be somewhat biographical.
It's going to be somewhat solution-oriented, and it's going to tell you where he wants to take the country and how, quote, we can get America to be great again.
So that's pretty much what you would expect.
I know everybody's watching.
It's going to be a fun night.
These are always the fun nights.
And the balloons come down, and the families come out, and the confetti is flying.
And then as soon as the speech stops, then I start working.
So a lot of fun, the confetti and the balloons are for me.
I'm not sure if they'll be pounding on my head, but we'll wait, watch, and see.
Mike Pence last night, I thought delivered a pretty outstanding speech.
And I think it demonstrated why Trump selected him.
I mean, he showed last night in a way I thought it was the perfect balance of going after Hillary.
I mean, there's always this quandary when you're running campaigns.
I mean, you're being called by Democrats every name in the book, racist, sexist, homophobic, want to poison air water, kill children, throw Granny over the cliff.
That's the litany you get every single election year, every four years, frankly, every two years.
Frankly, every time a Democrat opens their mouth, they lie about what conservatism is, what Republicans represent, because that's all they've got.
They can't run on their record the last eight years.
There's nothing there to run on it, which we have gone over many, many times.
By the way, Franklin Graham is there tonight.
Jerry Falwell Jr. will be speaking tonight.
There's a lot of good things happening there.
I think this by far, always the last night, the best night of the convention if you're going to watch.
So you worry and you wonder in campaigns, you know, how do you balance attacking your opponent and also laying out your vision for the future of the country?
And I thought Pence last night, I thought he hit the perfect pitch and the perfect balance here in terms of going after Hillary and Obama in a pretty tough, you know, truthful way.
And I think he was pretty clever about it rather than just, you know, pounding.
Sometimes a scalpel will work better than an axe.
I think he showed that last night, and he showed no anger.
I think it was a very principled, thoughtful case against Hillary rather than, you know, one ad hominem attack after another, which is important.
And I think for many that I have talked to here, the Pence selection has turned out to be tremendously good for the Trump campaign.
And for obvious reasons.
I mean, look, Pence was a congressman 12 years.
He's governor of the state of Indiana.
He has a story to tell about how Indiana has, in spite of all the national obstacles, has recovered economically.
And on top of that, they have a $2 billion surplus.
I mean, he's a pretty reassuring figure.
He is maybe more political, or I think probably more, it's a part of his nature.
He's a man of deep faith and lower wattage in terms of personality.
In that sense, probably a better compliment to somebody that is so outspoken as Donald Trump, just like his kids kind of soften him.
I felt Mike Pence almost played the part that Don Jr., Tiffany, Eric last night.
Eric gave a great speech last night, too.
Everyone's wanting Donald Trump Jr. to run for some office someplace somewhere.
I could actually see that happening one day.
And anyway, so it was a pretty thoughtful case that he laid out.
And I think it's a good compliment to Trump in as much as maybe Newt was right when he used the pirate analogy.
Two outsiders, you know, hard-charging people.
You know, maybe you need one person that is a little bit more calm and a little bit different personality-wise to actually get all the things you want done because governing is what really matters here in the end.
You got to win first to be able to govern.
And as Donald Trump Jr. acknowledged to reporters yesterday, we don't need two Donald Trumps out there.
That's a good line.
I think Trump understands that if he had probably added Newt or Christie to the ticket, it might have been too much for people.
So maybe my instincts were wrong.
But again, I didn't know Mike Pence as well as I know these other people.
I mean, I've interviewed Mike Pence.
I like Mike Pence.
I never disliked him.
I remember saying days before Trump was going to select him, I don't have anything bad to say about the guy.
And then when I interviewed him last Friday before the interview, I probably read 300, 400 pages on him.
And I went over his record with a fine-tooth comb, and I went over his time in Congress with a fine-tooth comb.
And I said, wow, I forgot he had challenged John Boehner.
I like that.
I forgot he got to leadership because of that challenge.
Yeah, that's a good thing, too.
And oh, yeah, one other thing.
He actually voted against all of those stupid, idiotic bailouts, and he voted against this and that.
So his record was really conservative, and to me, impressive.
He had, I think, 100% rating from the American Conservative Union, which is impressive also.
So maybe two guys on a ticket would have been too much.
And so for many, what I'm finding here in Cleveland is that they were reassured by Pence.
He's got nothing but praise for the speech last night, and that came through.
I mean, I think he had a really good line in the speech.
He said he's a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican in that order.
I asked him about this on Friday because that's something he kind of uses in a lot of his speeches.
And it seems to be true in the sense of who Pence is.
And I think that's a pretty nice order of priority to me.
Like, I'm not a Republican.
I'm a conservative.
And if I had to say I want to be a Christian, because I'm not as good a Christian as a lot of you out there, I have this argument with Franklin Graham and Jerry Falwell Jr. all the time.
I'm like, well, I don't go to churches as much as I should.
I don't do this.
I don't do that.
I don't do this.
I don't do that.
And they just dismiss me.
And I said, but I do believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
I do believe that he came to earth to save us from our sins.
I do believe that through his suffering and dying and rising from the dead, that there is a bridge that has been built towards your creator.
I believe all that.
Annity, we don't need your preaching.
Anyway, but so if Pence delivered the speech he needed, I think it was overshadowed sadly by the one that Ted Cruz gave.
Now, let me backtrack here.
I've always liked Ted Cruz.
I really do.
I've always thought Ted Cruz, I know he rubs people the wrong way.
I know, especially establishment figures, don't like him.
I know that they attack him, that he went to Washington with one ambition, and that was to be president.
I've been out on the campaign trail with him.
I've done hour-long shows with him.
We've had him on the radio program.
During this campaign in particular, we had him on radio, gave him more time than any other candidate.
And I know I got into a little bit of a battle with him over him not liking a couple of the questions I asked him, which I thought were fair questions.
Anyway, so Cruz goes out there and he gives this speech.
And anyone that follows politics, you know, this is the night the vice presidential candidate of your party is giving his big speech.
It went from Cruz to Newt, and then it went to Mike Pence, who closed out the night.
And what surprised me is if he doesn't want to endorse Donald Trump, why is he even here?
If he doesn't even really want to say much good about Donald Trump, what's the point of being here?
Now, I understand that it was a tough fight on all ends.
And as somebody that went around the country and did a lot of town halls with a lot of these candidates, you know, I would sit there and I felt my role, the best way I could serve you, my audience, was let these guys talk.
But there were times when I would interview almost all of them.
I'm not going to start naming names here, where they would say things about their opponents that I knew just were not true.
And rather than get into a pissing match and ruining the show and saying, well, really, that's not true.
Then it becomes about me.
I would just let it go and let people decide.
I always have confidence that the audience is smart enough to figure stuff out for themselves.
Anyway, so Trump, so Cruz, in that sense, he gives this speech.
Here's what he said.
And listen to the reaction of the crowd.
We deserve leaders who stand for principle, who unite us all behind shared values, who cast aside anger for love.
That is the standard we should expect from everybody.
And to those listening, please don't stay home in November.
If you love our country and love your children as much as I know that you do, stand and speak and vote your conscience.
Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.
Now you hear that.
By the way, I agree with Cruz about the Constitution.
One of the things I admire most about Ted Cruz is his fidelity to the Constitution.
One of the things I like most about Ted Cruz is he was willing to fight.
I know some of his critics and some of his fellow senators say it was only a show, but if every senator and congressman stood with him to defund Obamacare, it would have been defunded.
But they didn't have the guts to do it.
So I gave him a lot of credit when it comes to that.
So Newt Gingrich comes out after him, and Newt will be with us later in the program today.
And this is what Newt Gingrich had to say.
I'm also proud to be here as a Republican activist to see the extra effort Donald Trump has invested in bringing the Republican Party together.
With no requirement for endorsement, he encouraged his competitors to speak once again.
Governor Rick Perry, Governor Chris Christie, Governor Scott Walker, Dr. Ben Carson, Senator Marco Rubio, and Senator Ted Cruz have all responded to Donald Trump's generosity.
Now, I think you misunderstood one paragraph that Ted Cruz, who is a superb orator, said.
And I just want to point it out to you.
Ted Cruz said, you can vote your conscience for anyone who will uphold the Constitution.
In this election, there is only one candidate who will uphold the Constitution.
So, to paraphrase Ted Cruz, if you want to protect the Constitution of the United States, the only possible candidate this fall is the Trump-Pence Republican ticket.
That way, we have a Republican ticket to implement Republican principles in Washington.
That was a powerful moment because I was watching.
I was up in the Fox box at that time, and I was getting ready to go on Aaron a little bit, and I'm watching this unfold.
I mean, it was loud in terms of the booing that was going on inside the arena, and I felt immediately the momentum shifted back where I think the focus needed to be, and that was on center stage and electing Donald Trump and not being about Ted Cruz.
Now, here's where I'm disappointed.
I'm not angry.
There are many things I still respect about Ted Cruz.
I think politically this was a mistake.
I think, you know, it's like being invited over to somebody's house and insulting them.
And I think the fact that there was no requirement to endorse and you're given an opportunity, which, you know what, he did receive the second most number of votes in the primary.
But I think it was, you know, it was a very personal, very passionate time.
And I'm sure he didn't like being called Lion Ted.
I understand that.
I'm sure he didn't like comments about his father.
I'm sure he didn't like comments or the picture of his wife.
I'm sure all of that happened.
But nobody is so innocent in politics that they didn't have their fair share of attacks that probably were unfair to Donald Trump as well.
And Donald Trump would probably lay out that case, maybe not as forcefully as what Trump did to Cruz.
But you know what?
As I said during the primary at one point, I said, look, those of you whose candidate is being attacked by Donald Trump effectively, you know, at the end, if we all stand together and support the winner, you're probably going to like Donald Trump attacking Hillary Clinton.
And if he does it as effectively as he did in the campaigns here.
The problem I think that Ted runs into in all of this is his promises.
And he, I'm going to play the promises when he said he would support the nominee, the eventual nominee, coupled with him being confronted this morning by a member of the Texas delegation.
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As we come to you, we're in Cleveland, Ohio, at the final day of the RNC convention.
Of course, tonight features of Vanka Trump.
Donald Trump himself will take center stage in what will be the most important speech he has given in this campaign.
It's going to be very interesting.
Now, I want to go back to this whole issue.
Ted Cruz speaks here.
There's a report today.
We're now learning that Cruz's decision not to endorse Trump, which led to the booing that I played in the last half hour, apparently was made over the objections of his staff who were pushing him to make the endorsement right up until the last minute.
Now, just hours before the Hill reports, Ted Cruz took to the stage for that speech.
Senior members of Cruz's team were still pushing him to endorse.
Now, Cruz never wanted to endorse Trump.
He's still mad about the personal battles that took place between the two of them.
But anyway, Cruz's aides were pushing him to endorse for the sake of his own political future.
And Cruz has indicated he has the intention to run for president in 2020 if Trump loses, and he has a team forming behind him to execute that plan.
And allies of Cruz, a number of whom have spoken privately to the Hill, have been worried about the impact of not endorsing Trump and what impact it would have on the senator's plans for a second run for the White House.
All right, so that's going on behind the scenes.
Charles Krauthammer actually said the Cruz speech was a political suicide note.
I don't go as far as that in saying that, but certainly Hillary Clinton is taking advantage of it.
And she's so delighted by Cruz's refusal to endorse last night.
She was tweeting out snippets from his campaign speech, from his convention speech.
You know, Hillary's campaign sent out a tweet late last night echoing Cruz's admonishment to vote your conscience.
Hillary's campaign tweeted, vote your conscience.
And then, you know, go to Hillary 2016.
So, but Newt, I thought, brought it right back to the, you know, he came out and he saved it, but I think otherwise it would have been a bigger story.
Now, I think watching in the media, you think it's a big story, but in the arena, the energy came right back into the room once Newt Kingrich took to the podium.
So I thought that was, you know, just being inside the room, I thought that was pretty interesting.
And look, this, you know, it's one of the sad things about campaigns.
I mean, the reality is that it doesn't stop the Democrats.
I mean, you're going to see ads of Bernie Sanders saying she's not qualified to be the president of the United States.
And you're going to see campaign ads of 16 other Republicans criticizing Donald Trump.
That is the nature of campaigns.
As a matter of fact, I think one of the least effective ads that candidates use is when they have opponents in a primary and then they use the words against the eventual winner of that primary in the general election or their opponents use it.
So I think that the fact that I think that Trump knew he wasn't going to endorse him.
They had the speech.
I think the fact that he wants to reach out, be inclusive, doesn't hurt Trump one bit.
And I think what he's doing here is he's saying, hey, look, I picked Mike Pence.
He's a strong, solid conservative.
I've outlined the Supreme Court justices the type of justice I would pick.
I've outlined eliminating Obamacare.
You go through the agenda, and here's my position on refugees, and here's my position on building the wall and having Mexico pay for it and all these things.
But it has been frustrating.
And I do think there has been, and within the Republican Party, and this is sort of opposite of Cruz, though, more establishment types have been so anti-Trump that it has made winning this campaign that much more difficult.
In particular, I know some people were happy that the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, introduced Pence last night.
And I'm like, all right, you're the chairman of the convention.
It's your role.
You can do whatever you want.
But this is also a guy that I think has been more critical of Donald Trump than I ever hear him really being of Hillary or Obama.
I mean, he was there as the entire Obama agenda was rubber stamped.
And that's somewhat frustrating to me.
So now the question for Ted Cruz is, what impact is this going to have?
For me, it doesn't have a whole lot of impact.
I actually think it showed a lot more about Trump than it did about Cruz.
But I think it was a bad decision by Cruz.
If he didn't want to endorse him and he promised he would endorse him, I think he would have been better off just staying away from the convention.
You know, it's frustrating that there are people that gave their word, Jeb Bush, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich, and now Ted Cruz, that they would endorse the eventual nominee and that they have gone back on that pledge.
For example, here is Ted Cruz making the pledge.
Senator Cruz, yes or no?
You will support Donald Trump if he's the nominee?
Yes, because I gave my word that I would.
And then what I have endeavored to do every day in the Senate is do what I said I would do.
You know, just on Tuesday, we saw an overwhelming victory in the state of Texas where I won Texas by 17%.
And I will say it was a powerful affirmation that the people who know me best, the people who I campaigned to, make promises that if you elect me, I'll lead the fight against Obamacare.
I'll lead the fight against amnesty.
I'll lead the fight against our debt, and I will fight for the Bill of Rights and your rights every day that the people of Texas said you have kept your word and that's what I'll do as president.
All right, so he made that promise.
He was confronted about that promise earlier today with the Texas delegation when he was speaking this morning.
Here's how that went down.
We can agree to disagree, and that's okay.
She was a part-to-party nominee, but as a girl growing up, my mother and father said that your word is your bond.
If you didn't believe that you were about to say it at the time, and you weren't going to do it at the time, then you shouldn't say it, because your word is your bond.
I'm not looking to your delegates here.
I support you, and I expected you to keep your word and say that your world is your word.
If you believe you say it, then you shouldn't say it.
Well, thank you, man.
And thank you for speaking and speaking from your heart.
I will tell you, when I stood on that debate stage and they asked every candidate there, if you don't win, will you support the nominee?
I raised my hand and I raised my hand enthusiastically.
With full intention of doing exactly that.
And I'll tell you the day that pledge was abrogated.
The day that was abrogated was the day this became personal.
As I said at the time, and I'm not going to get into criticizing or attacking Donald Trump, but I'll just give you this response: I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father.
And that pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander and attack Heidi, that I'm going to nonetheless come like a servile puppy dog and say thank you very much for Melanie, my wife, and Melanie, my father.
All right, so that was his answer.
What the political fallout is, I don't know what it's ultimately going to be.
It was a pretty contentious primary season.
And frankly, it always gets that way.
At the end of the day, when there's so much at stake, things get personal.
It just is part of the nature of politics.
It is what it is.
You know, I will say this.
I do think there's going to be an upside here for Donald Trump on this.
Just my opinion.
One thing we can pretty much guarantee is that Trump's speech tonight is going to get a lot of viewers.
As a matter of fact, I would not be surprised if it set some type of record.
And if the Cruz speech had any impact at all, it would probably be to create more interest in whatever it is that Trump is going to say.
So my prediction is the speech itself, apparently drafted by a pretty talented guy, Ben Elliott, is going to be a superb speech in terms of rhetoric and the craftsmanship of it.
And apparently Donald Trump puts his fingerprints all over it and goes over every line and changes it, scratches out, and he's very active in putting his own speeches together.
Now, the question is whether, A, Trump is going to stick to the text or does he wander off the text, B, how well he delivers the speech.
I think so far his use of a teleprompter for somebody who'd never used it before is actually very good.
I read teleprompter every night.
It's not the easiest thing for a lot of people to do.
So in that sense, Trump, I think, benefits.
I think people understand he's only been in the political world a little over a year.
And I think there's going to be a lot of drama, a lot of tension.
There's going to be a massive television audience.
I think the lead-in of Ivanka was brilliant.
She's so impressive.
I mean, I had my staff with me last night, and they were just in awe of her.
I mean, she just captivated them.
And then when we were finished with the interview, Ainsley Earhart, she interviewed her right after me for Fox and Friends this morning.
And then after that, she just came over to me and my staff.
We were all hanging out and having a good time.
Couldn't be more gracious or nicer.
So it's going to be good.
So Donald Trump remains the underdog here.
I think that's a good position for him to be in.
If you care, Michael Moore predicts that Donald Trump is going to win.
He says, I'm sorry to be the buzzkill here so early on, but I think Trump is going to win.
I think he's right.
Anything can happen.
It's an eternity between now and November, but anything can happen.
In Philly, where we will be broadcasting all next week at the Democratic National Convention, by the way, we refer to it here on the show as the week from hell, except for Philly cheesesteaks.
I was just kidding.
Cops are slamming Hillary for letting Black Lives Matter moms address the convention.
So now we have Trayvon Martin's mom is going to be there, and then we have Black Lives Matter is going to be there.
The only question is, are they going to be chanting pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon from the stage?
Or are they going to be chanting, what do we want dead cops?
When do we want it now?
Was reported in the Washington Times that the, if Democrats want their convention, you know, thought their convention was going to be all sweetness and light compared to Cleveland.
They better think again.
The Philly police union blasted Hillary Clinton for inviting relatives of victims of police shootings known as the Black Lives Matter moms to speak at the Democratic National Convention.
So you can see a very different tone that is going to be said in Philly.
And that's going to get pretty interesting.
One interesting poll came out that Quinnipiak poll, New York State, shows that Donald Trump is gaining really fast on Hillary.
It's a 12-point race.
I mentioned this yesterday.
That is intriguing to me.
According to Gallup, only 17% of Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country.
Then why would we double down on Hillary?
Hillary says that Trump is bringing together hate groups.
Really?
I don't see Donald Trump inviting Black Lives Matter into her campaign and getting advice from them on issues involving the criminal justice system.
One other note on Ted Cruz I meant to bring up.
RNC officials agree that Ted Cruz was not being gracious last night and didn't have some nice things to say.
Sarah Palin, who helped launch his career, I mean, Ted Cruz himself once said if it wasn't for Sarah Palin, he didn't think that he would have won the race that he won in the primary down in Texas.
She's critical.
She said, Cruz's broken pledge to support the will of the people tonight was one of those career-ending read-my-lips moments.
I guarantee American voters took notice and felt far more unsettling confirmation as to why we don't much like typical politicians because they campaign one way and act another way.
All right, so that's going on.
Rudy Giuliani ripped Bill Clinton as a predator president.
That's going on.
And let me get to our busy phones here.
800-941-Sean.
All right, Mark is in Raleigh, North Carolina, wants to defend Cruz.
Hey, Mark, how are you?
Glad you called.
Thanks.
I'm not going to defend or detract from either.
I listened to the speech live.
I also listened to it twice today on YouTube, and I took a bunch of notes and time references.
I don't, for one instance, see where Cruz said Trump is bad and don't vote for him.
I also don't see where he gave a me, me, me, me, me speech.
He only referenced himself at the very beginning and then referenced his parents for the freedom that our country gives, and that was actually 20 minutes and 56 seconds, for his mom and dad.
So I'm still trying to figure, if you take Ted Cruz out of this speech and give it to somebody else, you will sit here and say, that's a great speech.
Love that speech.
The only problem that you have with it, three simple words.
I endorse Trump.
That's the only problem you have with this speech.
It's not that.
Look, I think there's some truth to what you're saying.
I like Ted Cruz.
I like his fidelity to the Constitution.
I like when he fights when other Republicans won't fight.
I've said that many, many times on the program.
The point is, he lost.
The point is, this is Trump's convention.
The point is, he can give that speech all day long and I'll applaud.
And the problem comes in for me is that he's doing it in an environment where, A, he made a promise he's not keeping, and B, wait a minute.
He made a promise.
He made a pledge.
I'll play it for you.
Play it twice.
He made that promise twice.
And so for me, I think it's the environment where he did it.
And if he didn't want to endorse him and he lost, look, I teach my kids in sports, you go shake the other person's hand if you lose.
Good match.
Thank you.
Okay, so what debate did all three of them rescind their pledge?
That was a CNN debate.
All of them rescinded.
Trump, Cruz, and Kasich all rescinded the pledge.
They said, no, I'm not going to support the other guy.
You know, at the end of the day, that doesn't diminish the original pledges, which were multiple.
So for me, if he wasn't going to stick by the pledge, he can give that speech all day long.
I think he made a mistake.
Do I think it's a big deal?
No, I really don't.
The case we have to make to the American people, the case each person in this room has to make to the American people is to commit to each of them that we will defend freedom and be faithful to the Constitution.
We will unite the party.
We will unite the country by standing together for shared values, by standing for liberty.
God bless each and every one of you, and God bless the United States of America.
I'm also proud to be here as a Republican activist to see the extra effort Donald Trump has invested in bringing the Republican Party together.
With no requirement for endorsement, he encouraged his competitors to speak once again.
Governor Rick Perry, Governor Chris Christie, Governor Scott Walker, Dr. Ben Carson, Senator Marco Rubio, and Senator Ted Cruz have all responded to Donald Trump's generosity.
Now, I think you misunderstood one paragraph that Ted Cruz, who is a superb orator, said.
And I just want to point it out to you.
Ted Cruz said, you can vote your conscience for anyone who will uphold the Constitution.
In this election, there is only one candidate who will uphold the Constitution.
So, to paraphrase Ted Cruz, if you want to protect the Constitution of the United States, the only possible candidate this fall is the Trump-Pence Republican ticket.
That way, we have a Republican ticket to implement Republican principles in Washington.
All right, that was Ted Cruz getting roundly booed at the convention center, the arena, last night when he didn't endorse Donald Trump.
By the way, the Trump campaign knew the speech.
They knew he wasn't going to do it, but they let him speak anyway.
And then Newt Gingrich came on right thereafter and pointed out that, hey, the Trump campaign knew it going in, and with a little extra effort to bring the party together, Ted Cruz came in second.
They didn't take the microphone away from him, which they had the option to do, and they let him speak.
Anyway, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has been with us all week and joins us right now.
How are you, sir?
I'm doing well.
And I think it's really important to note that until the delegates reacted so intensely that Trump and his team, while they weren't happy, they were not in any way trying to get involved in a fight with Ted Cruz.
But when the delegates reacted so strongly and began booing and yelling, I think they felt that we had to get closure on that issue or people wouldn't be able to pivot and listen carefully to Mike Pence's terrific speech as the vice presidential nominee.
So they came to me and asked me if I could insert that, and I was happy to do it.
And I think it sort of put a frame in.
I don't think Ted can answer that question.
If you're saying, you know, if Ted Cruz is saying that he is so morally superior that he is prepared to have Hillary Clinton win the presidency, destroy the Supreme Court, eliminate our liberties, and put us in enormous danger in national security.
Boy, that is a pretty big burden to take on your shoulders.
And I don't understand his reasoning, and I don't understand why he would come to a convention.
You know, if somebody invites you into their home, you don't walk in and pour acid on their flowers.
And Ted either shouldn't have come or he should have been a little more supportive than he has been.
And it's almost a study in psychological pathology.
It has nothing to do with politics.
You know, look, I'm a little tired of it.
I know people thought coming into this convention that it was going to be a much bigger deal, the so-called never Trump movement.
It ended up fizzling out fast.
It went nowhere.
But I do think it was gracious, knowing that he wasn't going to endorse him, to give him the microphone.
And I think that Ted had an opportunity to do something good for himself as well.
I know he probably has some ambition.
He's a young man.
He wants to run again.
I think this is going to haunt him in the years upcoming.
What do you think?
Well, look, I just think he has to answer the question.
Is he really willing to have Hillary Clinton as president with all of the disaster that implies?
And if he is, I mean, as a guy who's willing to have Hillary get elected, how does he think he's going to ever come back and run in a Republican primary?
His strategy makes no sense.
If he'd gone all out to, and by the way, if you go back and you look at 1976, when there'd been this ferocious Reagan-Ford contest, and Ford had barely won it by 70 delegates, Reagan didn't go out and trash Ford.
Reagan helped Ford.
Reagan went down to the convention floor next to Ford and gave a great speech.
Reagan spread the word in places like Texas and did the right things.
So the difference, the contrast here, if you're in a team sport, then at the end, you have to be with the winner.
That's the whole point of this in the American system.
We don't have much space in our system for sore losers because they violate the whole core basis on which we organize the country.
Let me talk a little bit about your speech.
And I've known you for many years.
I often tell the story, having first interviewed you in 1990.
In 94, you became speaker, and I was the MC.
I've told that story many times, but I used to also MC all these events you were speaking at in Georgia.
And three minutes before you're about to get up to the podium, and I would introduce you, you would ask for my pen because you never carry a pen, apparently.
And you would take out a cloth napkin and you write down three or four things, and that became a 45-minute rift on whatever you wanted to speak about that night, and it was always captivating.
Last night was the first time in the 25-plus years we have been friends that I can remember you ever really preparing a speech as thoroughly as you did last night.
And in many ways, it showed.
I mean, you just, every single word, thought, line was just pitch perfect.
Why don't we talk a little bit about the case you were laying out last night?
Well, look, as you know, and I mentioned last night, I had wonderful help because I knew we had very limited time, and I wanted to say something that was very important and very powerful.
And so I asked, we have a team with Joe DeSantis and Ross Worthington and Vince Haley, and then Clista is sort of the senior editor.
And we went through, I think, seven iterations of that speech, trying to get it just right.
And I'll give you an example.
There's a section in that speech where I go through terrorist attack after terrorist attack after terrorist attack.
And then at the end, I stop and say, that's the last 37 days.
And I had a friend who sent me a note last night and said that his sister, who's very knowledgeable, said she was startled that there had been that many attacks in 37 days.
And my goal is to get across to people that we are in dramatically greater danger than people understand, that this is a real problem, and that we had better be prepared to talk through that we are at war with Islamic supremacists, that there are a lot more of them, and they're a lot more dangerous than we allow ourselves to believe.
And that we had better be prepared to win the war because losing it would be catastrophic for our entire civilization.
You know, it's scary.
These are scary times.
You know, it's almost every day an assassination now of a cop.
It's almost every day somewhere around the world a terrorist attack.
It's almost every day I get the sense that the world is so out of balance right now because there's this void and it's called American leadership.
Let me ask you this.
Why would Donald Trump be so much better on these issues that you articulated last night than Hillary?
Well, I think for two very different reasons.
First of all, Hillary is absolutely totally hopeless.
She is part of the left-wing intellectual worldview and the bureaucrats in Washington who have been a disaster.
They were a disaster with Russia.
They were a disaster in Libya.
They were a disaster in Iraq.
They were a disaster in Syria.
I mean, every time you turn around, they're doing something destructive.
And so when she talks about experience, remember what her experiences is.
It is failure after failure after failure.
Second, the thing I most admire about Donald Trump is that he has the courage to allow facts to lead him to action.
This guy's not some theoretical intellectual.
He's not going to write six volumes of conservative ideology.
This is a guy who wants to get things done.
And in order to get things done, he understands you have to deal with reality.
If you're going to build a 60-story high-rise, you better have a good architect and a good construction firm, and you better deal with reality.
Well, he wants to turn America around.
I think overall he is exactly in the right direction.
And more importantly, I think he has the guts, the energy, and the intelligence to really think through the scale of change we're going to need.
Well, I think it's got to be profound, and I think it's got to be deep both economically, in foreign affairs, international terrorism.
I mean, I think there's all those issues are at the forefront.
And as you and I have been discussing all week, I think this is really coming down to a big choice election.
You know, you and I, I remember asking you this question a number of months ago, and you referred to Donald Trump as a nationalist and a populist, but I also see everything in him that leans conservative, maybe with the exception of trade.
But when you really listen more closely to what he says about trade, he's saying he's a free trader, but he believes in fair trade.
And other people have taken that to mean that he wants to start a trade war of some kind or be a protectionist of some kind.
I don't see that in him.
I think he's negotiating even now before he becomes president in the hopes that he does become president.
And that would be the fear of the partners that we have.
So I look at this on every big issue, and this is what drives me nuts.
You know, we talked about Ted Cruz, but you also have Jeb Bush.
None of the Bushes came here.
You also have Lindsey Graham didn't get here.
You have people like George Will and Bill Kristol out there stirring everything up.
I don't think Paul Ryan has been particularly helpful.
As a matter of fact, I think that's a good question.
Oh, no, no, no.
Paul Ryan last night did a great job introducing Mike Pence.
Paul Ryan, in fact, hosted a House Republican conference with Trump that was a total victory in which everybody in the House party was positive.
You know, I think Ryan has come a long way in the last six weeks, and it's been mutual.
I mean, he and Trump have talked together.
My hope is that we will be able to get Ryan and McConnell and Trump to agree, and of course Mike Pence to agree to something like seven to nine items that could really be a contract this fall that they could all enthusiastically be in favor of.
Now, that means probably, look, you take the ones they don't agree on and put them off the table.
And then you look at the ones they can agree on.
But I do sense a spirit with Paul Ryan.
The others have a range of patterns.
This is the end of the Bush era in the Republican Party.
And I think that that's very painful for them, and you can understand that.
They've been dominant players in the Republican Party since the 70s.
But the fact is that era is over.
I think that that's a real challenge for them.
I think for people like George Will and Charles Krauthammer, they just can't come to grips with how much the world is changing.
I mean, they're kind of like those end-of-the-era movies about cowboys who don't understand automobiles.
They're just sitting there thinking, you know, how can this be?
But the rules and the principles that might have worked 30 years ago aren't going to work now.
And Donald Trump understands that, and these guys don't.
Can you explain that in more detail?
What is the difference from 30 years ago?
Well, let me give you an example that has everybody all hyper this morning, which is that Trump challenged the whole concept of NATO.
Well, NATO is a 1949 anti-Soviet containment program in which the Europeans have gotten sloppier and sloppier and sloppier.
There are only two countries that really have any military capability in NATO.
That's France and Great Britain.
All the others are free riders.
All the others are basically saying, gosh, we sure are glad you Americans are going to protect us.
Well, I mean, George W. Bush said over and over again to the NATO countries, you're not doing your fair share.
The fact is, I was with Don Rumsfeld when he said over and over, you're not doing your fair share.
You can't have an alliance that's actually a protectorate in which only one country provides the muscle.
And so Trump said, you know, I think we ought to reexamine it, which, of course, shakes up all the Europeans.
And my answer to them is you ought to be shaken up.
If you guys are going to stay as weak as you are, you're in real danger.
And so I think there is going to be some hard-nosed negotiating.
Same thing with trade.
When the director of national intelligence reports that the Chinese last year stole $360 billion in intellectual property, twice the amount of our total exports to China, I think we ought to have some pretty tough negotiations.
That doesn't mean you want a trade war, and it doesn't mean that you don't respect the Chinese.
But, you know, it's not their fault that we're so stupid that we let them steal from us.
You know, let me ⁇ I think there are big differences.
I'm not as sold on Paul Ryan's support as you are because I think there's big differences on trade and immigration and refugees that bother me.
His harsh commentary about Trump bothers me.
I think it's somewhat unfair.
And I don't see him using that same language against Obama or Hillary, just like I think John Kasich, if it was the DNC here, would welcome them to the state of Ohio.
And that's what I'm saying.
Well, no, no, no, wait a second.
You and I don't often disagree this directly.
But for example, Ryan is the guy who wrote the letter demanding that they withdraw Hillary's security clearances.
But you're not addressing my points, though.
I think he's been outspoken and disagreeing on trade.
He's been outspoken and disagreeing on immigration.
He even used the term racist.
And then he's been outspoken on Muslim immigration and refugees.
And I just think that he's been more harsh in his rhetoric towards Donald Trump than Obama or Hillary.
And the fact that he's a latecomer to this doesn't impress me.
Well, it impresses me because Paul Ryan has enormously high positive ratings among Republicans.
He is very widely respected.
And the fact is that if Paul Ryan is supporting Donald Trump, that brings Donald Trump to the bottom.
I'm just disappointed.
I'm disappointed in how he's handled the whole thing.
But he's getting there.
But look, this is a very, very dramatic, bold period of change.
And some of it's going to be sloppy and chaotic.
And some of it's also going to involve the fact that Trump is a real newcomer to Washington.
Well, you're older.
You're wiser.
You've been through these fights before.
But to me, I think that when you save your harsher language for your fellow Republicans, because you don't like the fact that he's not part of the good old boy system of the establishment, and then you come on a little late in the process after you've said these horrible things, I'm not that impressed.
Well, I don't know about it being impressed or not impressed, but I think it was an enormous asset last night to have Paul Ryan introduce Mike Pence.
And I was actually with, Kristen and I were with Donald when that was going on.
And I said, look, you know, this by itself is a major step towards reunifying the party.
And I think that Ryan is an asset.
And certainly by comparison with some of the people you talked about, he has been dramatically more positive and dramatically more part of a team.
All right.
Thanks so much, Mr. Speaker.
We'll see you tonight.
I wish I didn't have to introduce my next guest.
She has suffered great loss, great pain as a result of very poor decision-making, and then also some lies told afterwards as it relates to what happened in Benghazi.
Now, Dorothy Woods is with us.
She is the wife of Ty Woods.
Ty Woods was one of the heroes that defied orders and risked his entire career and went and fought to save the lives of those that were at the ambassador's residence coming from the adjacent CIA annex.
Remember, he was one of the ones told to stand down.
He didn't stand down.
And he was one of the last killed because we didn't send the people to go help them.
Anyway, Dorothy, how are you?
It's an honor to talk to you.
My thoughts, my prayers are with you, and I know the thoughts and prayers of my audience are with you as well.
How are you doing, first of all?
Well, hello, Sean.
Thank you for having me.
I appreciate all that you do in getting the word out and being honest to the American people.
I'm doing well.
I spent some time there in Cleveland.
Got a taste of it, and now I'm back home with my son and trying to get back to being a mom.
You know, I had the opportunity to meet you, and I didn't realize who you were because I didn't read the note that my friend Connie sent ahead of time, and I felt so horrible the other day because I absolutely was in the middle of a rush.
It was Sunday night, and when I figured it out, went back later and actually read the note, I was embarrassed.
I want to publicly apologize to you.
Although, I know we took a picture together.
We did, and no apologies necessary.
It was, you know, it was a great vibe there in Cleveland.
And you're a busy guy, and you're doing a great job.
Well, I met you.
I think I met you in between.
I didn't have the opportunity to take that picture.
No, it was cool because I got an opportunity to meet you.
I see Connie, and Connie and I go back 20, 25 years, and I love her to death.
And, you know, she always writes me so much information, I can't always absorb it because I'm so busy.
And I was in the middle of doing a two-hour show that night.
And that's when I met you just before airtimes, which means I'm getting crazed and frenzied.
But I just want to say it was an honor to meet you.
I'm glad we got to talk a little bit, and I got to take a picture with you.
That was my honor.
I'm telling Connie I want a picture of that.
Congressman Gomert is with us as well.
And I just want to ask you this.
We'll get to Congressman Gomert in a second.
So you hear the story of your husband and you hear the courage of your husband.
And you know that he risked his entire career.
And having interviewed many people that know what happened that night, he saved people's lives.
In the end, he died.
You know, the Bible says no greater love hath for one man to lay down his life for another.
And then you were lied to.
And then you find out that there were 600 specific requests for security that was denied by our government.
Then you hear that Hillary and company were agonizing over the idea of sending in American military to save people like your husband, save Americans under fire.
Then you hear that she knows it's a terror attack because that's what she says to her daughter, the Libyan president, the Egyptian prime minister, but then lies to the American people, then lies to the families afterwards at the funeral.
I don't know how I would react to all of that.
I think I'd go nuts.
How are you dealing with that?
You know, I've had to sort of compartmentalize it so that I could deal with it.
First and foremost, I was a patriot.
He was a fierce patriot.
He was a Navy SEAL.
And, you know, Americans needed help.
And no matter where it is, no matter if it's overseas or even here in our, you know, here on the streets at home, someone needed help.
He's going to go do it.
He's capable of doing it.
I would expect him to do nothing less.
And I guarantee you that he would do it over again.
So I'm comforted in that.
And I'm very proud of him.
In my loss, I am proud of him.
It takes something to love somebody who can look at you and say, hey, listen, you know, I'm going to do this, and I may not come back, but, you know, it's bigger than me.
It's for us.
It's for our country.
So I completely stand behind that.
Now, in the aftermath of everything, it's a disgrace.
He would be ashamed at what has transpired.
And, you know, I was in the military as well.
I understand that, you know, things, especially when we're at war, don't always go perfect.
We look to our leaders to, you know, make decisions, to also say, hey, we messed up.
We're sorry.
We're going to learn from it.
But the sad thing is what has pervaded is her attitude.
Not just her attitude, but the attitude of the administration.
They've been dismissive.
You know, they've really put, and I've said this before, they've put themselves first.
They put what they look like first.
They put their aspirations for the next job first.
Instead of truly remembering what it is to be a servant of the American people, you know, all of a sudden, you know, they look at it as we're there for them.
They're no longer there for us.
You're an amazing woman.
You really are an amazing woman to be able to be that strong and that thoughtful in light of what has happened to you and your family and how your family was betrayed by your government.
You know, I think that I can't always, while that is true, I have to really think about Ty.
And I think about his brothers in arms, and I think about all the other veterans out there and those families who have also made the ultimate sacrifice and the families who are living with their veterans coming home.
You know, we have to, these are very special men and women who serve our country.
And I think that we honor them by living the life that they fought for.
So for me, my priority really is, you know, reaching out to Americans, spreading the word of the type of men and women these people are that serve our country and to really honor Ty by being a good mother to him and to be able to raise him in the way that I know that Ty would be proud.
You know, principle, having courage, and remembering that the world, again, is bigger than you.
You have to protect those around you.
And it's that simple.
It's that simple.
You're very inspiring.
And I know you're talking about your four-year-old son, Kai.
Now you're raising this young man alone, but certainly with the memory of your husband, Ty.
Where does this put your mind?
I know you said you're supporting Donald Trump.
And where does this put your mind?
What would you want to tell people based on your experience?
You lost your husband.
He was a hero.
He was, well, first betrayed by not given the security that he deserved.
Secondly, he was betrayed by the standdown order.
Third, he was betrayed by, you know, putting men and women in uniform four different times because we don't want to offend the Libyan government when we go save Americans under fire.
And then, of course, the big lie afterwards.
What is this, through the prism of that experience, what does that say to you about this election?
Well, I think that, you know, election, voting for our next president will encompass a lot of things.
But for me, I come from a family of immigrants, most of whom have served in our U.S. military.
So this is essentially my adopted country.
My adult life, having served in the military, I have very, I choose to surround myself with those who have served as well because they get it.
So really what I'm looking for at this point is leadership and fearlessness and somebody who not only loves our country but is willing to do anything to protect it and also to support those who do go out there and put it out on the line.
We've seen time and time again, you know, evidence that she, Hillary Clinton, you know, is incapable of being commander-in-chief.
She had an opportunity to lead.
She took care of a whole department.
And for her to have lost an ambassador, for that to have happened on her watch, you know, and then to not really learn from it or to not even be able to really fully explain what happened, you know, that doesn't give me confidence.
It shouldn't give mothers, fathers, wives, children confidence that she's going to protect our loved ones who are serving overseas or even here.
You know, it shouldn't give confidence to those who even here are law enforcement that, you know, she's going to understand and protect them as well.
Let me bring in Congressman Gomern is a very good friend of mine.
And I know, Congressman Gomer, you really go out of your way to help families that do get betrayed by the federal government.
You're one of the few people in D.C. that I do respect.
You and most of the Freedom Caucus members.
For the rest of them, they can go jump in a lake because they all suck.
But, you know, I know that we all watch the Benghazi Select Committee.
And, you know, this is what they do all the time.
They drag out an investigation.
And then when the investigation finally happens and we start finding damning information, oh, that's old news.
We knew that already.
Oh, that's old news.
We've been there.
We've done that.
Well, the families, you know, I'm talking to a woman whose life has been, you know, dramatically altered, and she never gets to see her husband again.
Her son never gets to see her father.
Well, and one of the things I love about you, Sean, is you have a heart as big as all outdoors.
And I met Dorothy some years back after Benghazi, and you and I talked about her a number of times, and I could see it in your face.
You know, anything I could ever do for her, please let her know.
And so I was glad y'all got to meet.
But she is the ultimate professional.
She hasn't been out there doing interviews the last four years.
She is grieved, but she is the ultimate professional.
And boy, her and Ty's little boy, I mean, he's all man at four years old.
But she came to some of the hearings, and thank God she is so controlled because when Hillary Clinton, everybody remembers her saying what difference does it make at this point does it make when she blashed out and said, I've lost more sleep than any of you guys, basically.
I looked down because Dorothy was on the front row and she was so controlled, but I could see what was in her face.
There was no way Hillary Clinton ever lost a fraction of the sleep that this mother of Ty's son and this wife to an American legend and hero.
By the way, Ty was not the actual team leader, but because of all the experience, everybody looked to him and being former military, you know, being a SEAL, when the station chief said, do not go, kept giving an order.
He was complying.
He was itching.
But when he told the guys, load up, we're going.
We don't care what.
Everybody was going on Ty's word.
Yeah.
Now, you're even, you have been silent, which is a really good point, Dorothy, that Congressman Gomert is making.
But you are planning.
You feel so strongly about this and this election and feel so betrayed that you're going to be doing what I heard through the grapevine are extraordinary ads telling the story about how Hillary basically did all these things and how your family has suffered.
Yeah, I think that, you know, it's taken some time, you know, in all fairness.
I feel I've gained confidence when all the facts really are out there.
You know, unlike the current administration who likes to, if something happens, they like to jump on it right away without all the facts and make judgments and create a narrative.
No, I think it's important that, for example, the committee, Representative Gowdy's committee, worked really hard on getting the facts out.
And, you know, when they're indisputable like that, then, you know, I can sort of base, you know, what I want to say on that.
And, you know, I think without as much emotion, but just say, hey, look, these are the facts.
This is my experience with this woman.
And she now wants to lead.
And, you know, I can't tell you what to do.
I can only tell you my experience.
I can't tell you how to vote.
But, you know, if it can happen to me, you know, someone who she identifies, or who ideally, I'm her demographic.
I'm a minority.
I'm a woman.
I'm a single mother.
You know, I'm a veteran.
If it can happen to me, and she's saying she's standing with someone like me, it can happen to anybody.
So I think that I just want to be a part of this movement and say, hey, listen, we need a good leader.
She has proven that she's not.
And I hope I actually, you know, can make a difference.
Yeah, I think you're making a huge difference.
I really am very extraordinarily impressed with you.
Louie, I really, I mean, you're so articulate, and I actually feel a lot of pain hearing this story from you.
I am so sorry you've had to go through this.
I am so glad there are people like Congressman Gomert, though, that are in D.C.
And I don't like most of those people there.
I really don't, Dorothy.
I have no respect for them.
And I'm glad there are people that care.
I so honor and respect your decision to speak out.
And we really appreciate you taking time.
I'd love to have you on TV one day if you ever want to come on and tell your story.
I think it'd be amazing.
I think the country needs to hear this from you.
Sadly, they really do.
Thank you so much for taking your time.
Congressman Gomert, I love you.
You're the best.
Thank you.
By the way, tell Connie if she didn't send me such long notes all the time.
I would actually read most of them.
But her notes go on for pages and pages and pages.
And I'm like, Connie, if I just read your notes, I wouldn't get any work done.
You know, thank you for having me, Sean.
And I look forward to, you know, actually meeting with you now that you know who I am and can put a face to the name.
But I have to tell you, I love Connie.
You know, she helped me kind of navigate the whole convention process.
I must have gotten 20 texts a day from her.
Wow, fuck.
I love her, but I can't read all her texts.
That's the problem.
I can't read all her texts.
I can't read all her emails.
I'm like, Connie, I've got work to do.
And I love her to death, and I'm embarrassed, and I humbly, humbly apologize.
And I'm honored.
Sean, can I real quick, Louie?
I got to run.
Okay.
But Dorothy, who was it that came to your door to tell you?
Did you recall what they looked like?
You know, he was just a simple man, you know, a simple man.
You knew as soon as you saw him what it was about.
I knew.
I knew.
I knew I had never physically seen a man's eyes sink.
And that's, I saw it.
And I just knew.
His eyes sunk and his shoulders dropped.
And it's just something I can't unsee.
And I hope that no one ever has to see it.
But sadly, too many families have.
All right.
Thank you both for being with us.
Sharing our prayers.
We appreciate your time.
When we come back, news roundup information overload.
More from Cleveland, Ohio.
Final night of the RNC convention.
Tonight, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump, takes center stage.
And we will have, as soon as Donald Trump is finished with his speech, we come on probably, he'll finish a schedule to be finished at 10.50.
And we're on 11 Eastern to 1 Eastern, 1 a.m. Eastern, and that's 8 to 10 Pacific.
The case we have to make to the American people, the case each person in this room has to make to the American people is to commit to each of them that we will defend freedom and be faithful to the Constitution.
We will unite the party.
We will unite the country by standing together for shared values, by standing for liberty.
God, each and every one of you, and God, we're going to win this week, and that's okay.
But if you signed a pledge that said that you were so fight with Lyonon, God said, well, my God, my mother and father understand that your world is your mind.
And if you didn't believe that you were about to say that the time, and you weren't going to do it at the time, then you shouldn't say it because your world is your mind.
I'm going to look at your delegates here.
I support you, and I expect you to keep your word and say that your world is your one.
You believe you were safe, then you shouldn't say.
Well, thank you, ma'am, and thank you for speaking and speaking from your heart.
I will tell you, when I stood on that debate stage and they asked every candidate there, if you don't win, will you support the nominee?
I raised my hand and I raised my hand enthusiastically with full intention of doing exactly that.
And I'll tell you the day that pledge was abrogated.
The day that was abrogated was the day this became personal.
And as I said at the time, and I'm not going to get into criticizing or attacking Donald Trump, but I'll just give you this response.
I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father.
And that pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander and attack Heidi, that I'm going to nonetheless come like a servile puppy dog and say thank you very much for maligning my wife and maligning my father.
Senator Cruz, yes or no?
You will support Donald Trump if he's the nominee?
Yes, because I gave my word that I would.
And then what I have endeavored to do every day in the Senate is do what I said I would do.
You know, just on Tuesday, we saw an overwhelming victory in the state of Texas where I won Texas by 17%.
And I will say it was a powerful affirmation that the people who know me best, the people who I campaigned to, make promises that if you elect me, I'll lead the fight against Obamacare.
I'll lead the fight against amnesty.
I'll lead the fight against our debt, and I will fight for the Bill of Rights and your rights every day that the people of Texas said you have kept your word, and that's what I'll do as president.
All right, news roundup and information overload hour here on the Sean Hannity show.
That, of course, Ted Cruz twice promising that he would support the nominee, whoever it happened to be.
And of course, last night at the convention, you heard the booze, which we played at the beginning.
And then he was asked at the Texas delegation meeting, well, you gave your word, is your word your bond.
And he said, I'm not a servile puppy dog.
And if you go and slander Heidi and my father, et cetera, that I'm not going to come and say thank you very much for maligning my wife and maligning my father.
A lot of people are saying, well, then why did you go to the convention?
What was the point after you didn't win the nomination?
Anyway, here to discuss, debate, the fallout of all this, D.C. McAllister, senior contributor at the Federalists, former Cruz supporter, Amy Kramer, co-chair, women vote for Trump, Darrell Parks, managing partner at Parks and Crump, and the former attorney for the Michael Brown family and the Trayvon Martin family.
Welcome all of you to the program.
Thanks for being with us.
D.C., you had many passionate debates right here on this program defending, supporting Ted Cruz with Michael Cohn, who is a Trump organization attorney.
And what's your reaction to last night?
I did have passionate debates, and I had those because I believed in the principles that Ted Cruz said that he stood for.
And what's disappointing about what he's doing right now, and he said it himself, he said that when Donald Trump became personal and negated his bond, his word, his oath.
But the very fact that Ted Cruz made this personal, that the reason why he's not endorsing Donald Trump is because of personal reasons, it negates all those principles that he says that he stands for in the voting for conscience and voting for liberty.
It negates that message because it makes it look personal and petty and political.
And it's all of those things more than the principle.
And that offends people, and people saw through it.
And I see through it even as a supporter of Ted Cruz.
You know what surprised me?
Now, I went through a series of town halls with all of the candidates.
And look, I've always liked Ted Cruz.
I still like Ted Cruz.
I guess the word for me is disappointment.
If you weren't going to support Donald Trump, then don't go to Donald Trump's convention, the Republican Party nominee's convention.
And to me, it became more about him than about what now should be a moment where there's got to be unity in defeating Hillary.
But, you know, as I was interviewing D.C., all of these candidates, every one of them, would say things that I know were not true about the other candidate.
And they would be smearing and distorting and slandering.
I mean, it's sadly part of the political dialogue that happens every single solitary campaign.
So it didn't surprise me.
And I didn't sit there and interrupt every candidate and said, well, the other guy says this.
Well, no, that's not exactly what that person's saying because, you know, my role at that time was to let them make their case.
And actually, I think it was a mistake Ted Cruz made.
I thought he talked too much about Donald Trump and not enough about what the vision was that he was going to take the country.
There should be a saying, what happens in the primary stays in the primaries?
I mean, there's a lot of nastiness that goes on between.
That's about right.
That's a really good line.
Goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
Goes on in primary, stays in primaries.
You know, I know there's bad blood.
There's a lot of things that were said on all sides.
People get hurt.
But you know what?
At the end of the day, if you don't unite, you're basically helping Hillary.
And that's the point.
And that's the higher principle.
Do we want her and the Democratic Party to be in control for the next 40 years?
Or do we stand for liberty?
Do we want to vote our conscience?
Do we want our vote to be for Trump in order to have those principles come to the fore by keeping Hillary out?
Let me give you one example.
Ted Cruz, when I would interview him, often would warn people, scare people into saying Donald Trump is going to appoint liberal Supreme Court justices.
Well, you're with the Federalist Society.
You've seen the list of names that he's put out of the type of justice he's looking for.
I found that list extraordinarily impressive.
Thoughts?
Absolutely.
What is Hillary giving us?
What has she given us?
Amy Kramer, good to have you back.
Thank you.
I had the chance last night to interview Ivanka Trump.
I've known her for many years.
She's an incredible young woman, and I think her story is incredible.
Her own success is incredible.
I mean, she started multiple businesses, TV, author, and probably one of the best surrogates for her father than anybody else out there.
Absolutely.
And I'm really looking forward to hearing Ivanka speak tonight.
I think she's such an inspiration to young women, and I know that people look up to her.
And I think tonight's going to be a really important night.
I know that last night many of us were disappointed.
I'm a huge, or I was a huge Ted Cruz supporter, and I like you, and extremely disappointed.
But I actually think it kind of backfired on Ted last night because those people that were sitting on the fence that didn't know which way they were going to go, when they knew that Donald Trump had seen that speech before Ted gave the speech, and he still allowed him to give that speech, they knew that Donald Trump was a man of his word.
His word is his bond, and they are now on the Trump train.
And I think more than anything, it unified us in a way last night that people weren't expecting.
And so tonight, I'm so excited to hear Ivanka, and I want to hear her introduce her father because I know she loves him, and she's so passionate about this and such a big supporter.
And I want to hear Mr. Trump come out and talk about unity.
I want to hear, you know, a message about bringing us together because, Sean, I do think that we will win in November, and I do think that Mr. Trump can bring us together.
And it's sad what happened with Ted last night.
But either way, I think Donald Trump was going to win because if Ted had come on that stage last night and endorsed Donald Trump, Mr. Trump would have been a win for him then.
But with Ted doing what he did, it's also a win for Donald Trump.
And, you know, Ted is a very smart man.
He knows that politics is personal.
He knew that going into it.
And people need to remember that before Donald Trump ever attacked Ted Cruz's family, Melania was being attacked by the cruise camp with the nude pictures and calling her horrible names.
And so, you know, it is all personal.
And I think that people need to remember that's exactly why Ronald Reagan had his 11th commandment.
So tonight, I want to hear Ivanka and Mr. Trump come out and give a unifying speech.
And let's lead this convention and go forward.
And let's focus on defeating Hillary Clinton.
I think that's what's most important here.
I think that's extremely well said.
Darrell Parks, you're not voting for Donald Trump, are you?
You're going to vote for Hillary.
I'm voting for Hillary as many times as I can.
But let me say this to you.
Are you planning on voting more than once?
As many times as I let you vote in Florida.
I will say this, though, about the Ted Cruz situation, Sean.
I think that obviously we all hate to see politics turn personal the way it did.
But I think Ted Cruz is a pretty smart person.
And I'm not a big fan of his at all, but I think that he used that opportunity, one, to bring his group of people.
Obviously, we saw that many people in the country were followers of Ted Cruz for whatever reason.
And so they are part of that Republican Party as well.
And so I imagine that last night was a first step on his part to, one, doing a face to Donald Trump, but also, two, as part of the process of bringing his group to the Republican Party for this approach.
Well, let me ask you about your candidate for a second, because I think this is an important question.
I mean, do you think Hillary Clinton is honest and trustworthy, or does she lie on a regular basis?
No, I think she's honest and trustworthy, but more importantly, I think she cares about people.
I don't want to talk about the talking points.
I really want to hone in on this question of if she's honest and trustworthy.
So now that we know when she told us about Benghazi, that it was a spontaneous demonstration related to a YouTube video and the demonstrators just happened to have RPGs and mortars in their back pockets and they fired at it and she was telling her own daughter and the Libyan president and the Egyptian prime minister one story that it was a terror attack and the American people another story that it wasn't.
That's not a lie?
No, it's not a lie, Ted.
And I think it's propaganda by the Republican establishment to tear her down.
I think she's an excellent, trustworthy person.
So even though at the exact same time she's telling us one story and other people a totally different story, that's not a lie in your estimation.
Let me say this here.
I think you can probably put lies in categories.
It was not an active lie or something that she intended to do.
So there are different levels of lying.
So it's a lie, but it's a lie on a lower level to you.
Well, you know what it is?
It's sort of like the things that you said Republicans were seeing in the primary, that things changed later, that type of thing.
Well, it didn't change because it was from ⁇ one second.
I want to play ⁇, all right.
So we have this whole email scandal, and I thought it was a stinging indictment by James Comey, just stopping short of a criminal referral of Hillary.
But he was called into Congress, and he was asked specific questions about all the things that the American people were told by Hillary Clinton herself on the issue of her secret email server.
And Trey Gowdy quoted her and asked James Comey, the FBI director, whether or not she was telling the truth.
So let's get to this question of honesty here.
Good morning, Director Comey.
Secretary Clinton said she never sent or received any classified information over her private email.
Was that true?
Our investigation found that there was classified information sent.
So it was not true.
Right, That's what I said.
Okay.
Well, I'm looking for a little shorter answer, so you and I are not here quite as long. Secretary Clinton said there was nothing mark classified on her emails, either sent or received. Was that true? That's not true. There were a small number of portion markings on, I think,
three of the documents. Secretary Clinton said I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email. There is no classified material. Was that true? There was classified material emailed. Secretary Clinton said she used just one device. Was that true? She used multiple devices during the four years of her term as Secretary of State. Secretary Clinton said all work-related emails were returned to the State Department. Was that true? No,
we found work-related emails, thousands, that were not returned. Secretary Clinton said neither she nor anyone else deleted work-related emails from her personal account. Was that true? That's a harder one to answer. We found traces of work-related emails on devices or in Slack space,
whether they were deleted or whether when a server was changed out, something happened to them. There's no doubt that they're work-related emails that were removed electronically from the email system. All right. Now, I have a question for all of you, and I'm going to ask a very simple yes or no question, and we'll come back and pick it up here with our news roundup information overload as we continue from the RNC convention. Does that mean that the director of the FBI just called her a liar,
or do you think she was truthful to the American people, Darrell Parks? I think she was truthful. Michelle, let me see it like this. No, no, no. All right, we'll come back. I'll let you expand on that in a minute. That cracks me up. Hey, listen, as we continue, by the way, Big night tonight, Ivanka Trump introduces her father, Donald Trump, and he gives his speech at the Republican National Convention.
Our coverage from Cleveland continues.
I had not sent classified material nor received anything marked classified.
Secretary Clinton said she never sent or received any classified information over her private email.
Was that true?
Our investigation found that there was classified information sent.
So it was not true.
And I am confident that I never sent nor received any information that was classified at the time it was sent and received.
Secretary Clinton said there was nothing marked classified on her emails, either sent or received.
Was that true?
That's not true.
There were a small number of portion markings on, I think, Three of the documents.
I never sent classified material on my email, and I never received any that was marked classified.
Secretary Clinton said I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email.
There is no classified material.
Was that true?
There was classified material emailed.
People across the government knew that I used one device.
Maybe it was because I am not the most technically capable person and wanted to make it as easy as possible.
Secretary Clinton said she used just one device.
Was that true?
She used multiple devices during the four years of her term as Secretary of State.
But we turned over everything that was work-related.
Every single thing.
Personal stuff, we did not. I had no obligation to do so and did not. Secretary Clinton said all work-related emails were returned to the State Department. Was that true? No, we found work-related emails, thousands,
that were not returned. All I can tell you is that when my attorneys conducted this exhaustive process, I did not participate. Secretary Clinton said her lawyers read every one of the emails and were overly inclusive. Did her lawyers read the email content individually? No. All right. That,
of course, proves Hillary Clinton lied. We continue with our panel. By the way, we are in Cleveland, Ohio, the final day of the Republican National Convention. Ivanka Trump tonight introduces her dad, Donald J. Trump, as he speaks from the convention and gives probably the most important speech of his life. Joining us now, D.C. McAllister, senior contributor at the Federalists and also a former crew supporter, Amy Kramer, co-chair of Women Vote for Trump,
and Darryl Parks, managing partner at Parks and Crump, and he was the former attorney for Michael Brown and for the Trayvon Martin family. So you just heard her say one thing, and you just heard the FBI director contradict everything she said. Now, here's what I don't understand about you,
Clinton supporters, Darrell, and I say this with all the respect that I have for you: is that here it is, it's right there in front of you. She's lying. Now, for example, you can ask me what I think about Republicans in the Congress, and I can tell you they're weak, they're feckless, they're visionless, they're spineless at times, and they've done a horrible job standing up to the Obama agenda. See, I'm not being partisan here, but you can vote for Hillary, but you've got to admit you're voting for a liar. Now,
can you just admit what you heard there is a lie? Why can't you just admit a simple, basic, fundamental truth that is self-evident? You know, I can't do it because just like the criticisms I hear about Donald Trump about what he did in Atlantic City would be the same. So,
I think you've got to take every candidate in the totality to make your decision as to who you want to vote for. And I think the American public is smart enough to do so. All right. Let me go to D.C. McAllister. D.C., I really think, you know, and I love Darrell, he's a great guy, but if you're locked into the Clintons in your mind, you seem to have to transcend any sense of what reality is to defend them. Well, you do, but let me point out something very important. Not only is she a liar, and you can dispute that,
and you can say all politicians are liars, but she's something that no one else is. Not Donald Trump, not any other politician. She is a liability. She is a national security risk. That is a fact. Because of what she did,
she probably shouldn't even be able to get security clearance. If she wasn't named Clinton, if she wasn't running for president. Well, James Comey said that. Be safe. If you remember, he said, I'm not saying that in other cases and lesser offenses that there wouldn't be some consequences here. So he was basically saying that. Yes,
and hostile actors probably have her emails. She is a national security risk. What I want to ask, Mr. Parks, and anyone supporting Clinton and anyone thinking about not voting for Trump is how can you put, as the top national security officer of our country,
a national security threat and national security risk? How can you do that? This is a fact. She is a risk, and you're willing to put her as president of the United States. How can anyone do that in good conscience? Let me say this to you. I think that the comparison between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, when we think and listen to all the things that Donald Trump says out of his mouth, I mean, I'm sure he'd mean the Republican Party a dumbfounder. How is he a national security risk? Daryl, I have to say something. I don't know if you're a parent,
but I am a parent. And I will tell you one thing. This is very personal for me because I don't know what kind of person it takes, a mother, a grandmother, to look another mother in the eye, in her eyes, and lie to her, to her face, about why her child died. That person, the fact that she can do that says she has no soul. What kind of person can do that? It's one thing to lie about all this other stuff she's lied about,
but to look another mother in the eye and lie about the way her child died. There's no excuse. That woman is not only a liability, she has no soul. I wouldn't trust her with my family or my country. Let me ask, I want to ask, that's a great point, and I know you're with women for Trump. D.C., if you look at the polls, men overwhelmingly are supporting Donald Trump. Hillary has more women than Donald Trump,
but Donald Trump is doing better with women than Hillary is doing with men. What do you think Donald Trump can do to get more women to come over to his side? I think women are concerned about security and the economy. And he needs to focus on those two things to show what he can do for women when it comes to jobs and being able to take care of their families. And he needs to show how he's going to make this country safer. Women are very,
very concerned about safety. And this is why the point of Clinton being a liability is so important. She will make us less safe. By her very presence, she will make us less safe. Donald Trump needs to hit that home over and over again, and he will bring in more women. And another, to back up what D.C. just said, Sean, this administration has said we will bring in 10,000 Syrian refugees. We all know that Paris and Brussels,
there was a Syrian refugee that was involved in those terrorist attacks. Hillary Clinton said on November 15th on CBS, Face the Nation, that she would up the number of Syrian refugees to 65,000. That's an increase of 650%. We have no way of vetting every single one of these people that come across our borders when they have no papers. You cannot even identify them. There's no way to possibly vet them. How many,
even if we stop 99% of terrorist attacks, 1%, 650, that is too many. That's too many. No one should die. And we don't have a way to vet them, and we shouldn't allow them across our borders. And Hillary Clinton is willing to put Syrian refugees above the safety and security of the American people. I don't think you can. That's where Daryl, then we're going to get to our phones here. Go ahead. I don't think you can complain. Wait, I got to tell you, let me ask this. Daryl, I have a question for you. All right,
you're going to vote for Hillary. She's been in the public eye for how many years? You know, three centuries, right? Three decades, whatever. Sorry. I'm glad somebody gets my humor. Thank you, D.C.,
for understanding me. It was not said by accident. Let me put it that way. I'm just messing around. So she's been on the public face. She's been a public figure forever. All right. I want to give you the test. Name me three specific accomplishments she has made that have made the lives of the American people better. Go. I think without question,
the thing that she's done as relates to children insurance and children's health care is a mainstay in America. So without question, I think that would be the starting point of where. All right, let's start there, X. Nope, wrong answer, because you know what? The person that actually did the health care, her health care plan failed. Ready, go. I think, but you got to stay there, Sean, because given the fact of what she did to start the movement related to children's health care. All right,
stop. You got to go back to the criteria. What did she accomplish that actually made people's lives better? Not what she started. What did she specifically accomplish? Ready, go. Sean, to say that, though, would mean that you're refuting the fact that almost everything that happens in America starts. All right, give me number two. Go. I won't get into that, but I think that she's the type of candidate that spends all of her time trying to improve the lives of Americans. Stop right there. It has done. Wait,
trying to improve the lives of Americans. Let me go back to the criteria. But, Sean, I'll tell you. Wait, wait. A specific example where she has successfully made the lives of Americans better. Go. I think as First Lady, all the things that they have done as the Clintons when they were in the White House is without question. Wait, wait, wait. But being First Lady is not specific. Ready, go. No, Sean, I think without question,
we're going to see next week when the Democrats go to Philadelphia. Stop. Stop, stop, stop. We're not talking about next week. We're talking about three specific things she's done in her career to make the lives of Americans better. Ready, go. Well, as Secretary of State, we know without question all the efforts that she did as it relates to traveling around as Secretary of State in the Middle East. So traveling around made our lives better? No, no. You're being funny now. You know,
when she came under sniper fire in Bosnia, you know, that is another lie. You know, she claimed that she came under sniper fire. All right, I'm going to let you off the hook. You know why? Because I like you. Anyway, DC. It's not a test for me. I think it's a test for the American people. No,
it's a test for you because you said you're supporting her, and I'm just trying to point out you can't name one thing she's done to make the lives of the American people better. You can't name one specific thing. But here's the point. When I name stuff. I can name stuff about Trump. You don't want to accept it. I can name it how she has made the lives of Americans worse. Let's start with Benghazi. We'll start right there. Let's start with pulling out of Iraq early. Let's start with not following through on the line in Syria. Let's start with the Russian reset. I can name a lot of those questions,
too. All right, guys. Appreciate you being with us. Thank you all. DC McAllister, Amy Kramer, and Daryl Parks. Yeah, I think that's one of my favorite Hillary lies, though. Oh, when we landed, we came under sniper fire, and then she shows up, and we got the video of it, and the sniper fire turned out to be little young children with flowers handing them to her. I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia. And I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport,
but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base. Live. All right, let's get to our busy phones as we go to Rodney is in Palm Beach Gardens in beautiful Florida. And Rodney, welcome to the Sean Hannity Show. Welcome to Cleveland and the RNC convention, sir. Hey, Sean, thanks a lot. I really appreciate you taking my call. You know, like so many other people, I am so absolutely frustrated at what's been going on. And I just wanted to make two real quick points and get your comments on that. Number one,
let's take a look at the four top candidates in the Republican primary. Three of, of course, are not Trump. So number one, John Kasich, unbelievably important Battleground State in the upcoming election. He's a total no-show. Marco Rubios, who's from my state,
another senator from an incredibly important battleground state, he basically just phoned in and he could have just put up a Facebook post if he wanted to. And Ted Cruz, of course, actually showed up and did nothing more than pretty much give the middle finger to the Republican Party and to Donald Trump. And it just reminded me of three guys,
five-year-old kids, sitting in the corner, holding their breath, jumping up and down, pouting because they didn't get their way, which just goes to show you that these guys are all about ego. They're all about ego because things didn't go the way that they wanted. And they're not about the party. They're about themselves,
which brings me to the second point. And I think these three guys, and Ted Cruz in particular, are making the exact point of the anti-establishment movement headed up by Donald Trump this year. And this is exactly the reason they're making the exact point as to why people are so frustrated with the politicians and with the establishment. This is exactly what we didn't want. People acting like this. And I think it just totally makes the point. And I think it's perfect for Donald Trump. I think this is going to bring people together. So anyway,
that's all I got. Appreciate it. Good points. Thank you. And I think you're right. You know, I really believe in my heart that if the Democratic Convention were here in Cleveland, that I think John Kasich would come and welcome the Democratic Convention. And he stayed away after he made a promise. And that is beyond frustrating. And I'm going to tell you something. I do think Donald Trump will win the election. I think it's going to be very tight. I think it's very hard. It's a very narrow path. I don't like the electoral map. He's going to have to change it,
shift it somehow. And that means Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and a few other states have to flip for him to win. And then he's got to win the states that he is expected to win. Now, with that said, at the end of the day, if he loses, and let's say it's a close election, I'm blaming these people that have been petty. I'm blaming these people that have broken their word. I am blaming these people that have been active in undermining him. And that means people like Paul Ryan and Lindsey Graham. And in the case of,
I'm very disappointed in Jeb Bush because he made a promise too. And everybody else seems to be all set on their own agenda. And they can't get past the fact that they lost and that he won. It's very frustrating to me. Then you have the Never Trumpers, the Crystals, the Wills,
and the others out there. You know, on simple, basic, fundamental issues. This is why you should vote for Trump. For the Supreme Court, number one. Building the wall. Number two. Getting rid of Obamacare. Number three. Sending education back to the states. Number four. Energy independence. Number five. And I can keep going. Huge,
