Sean Hannity Show - Best of Sean Hannity: The GOP Bench Is Strong

May 31, 2021 - Sean Hannity Show

01:26:18

Best of Sean Hannity: The GOP Bench Is Strong

In this "Best of Sean Hannity," Sean sits down with some members of the future GOP leadership including Mark Robinson and Governor Kristi Noem. Plus, Bill O'Reilly and a special Rush tribute by James Golden.The Sean Hannity Show is on weekdays from 3 pm to 6 pm ET on iHeartRadio and Hannity.com. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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	In North Carolina, the first African-American lieutenant governor, he went to Congress at a House hearing and he lit them up.
	I mean, it was an amazing moment, amazing speech regarding voting rights.
	It was before the House Judiciary Subcommittee addressing these claims by the left that voter ID is racist.
	As, you know, Joe Biden's been claiming, well, this is Jim Crow 2.0 in his state of Delaware.
	500 years he's represented that state.
	He's never once reformed, made more accessible the voting laws in his state of Delaware, or as he once said, my state's a slave state.
	But Joe Biden is out there criticizing Georgia voting, the new Georgia voting law.
	17 days of early in-person voting in Delaware, zero.
	Zero.
	You need an excuse to get an absentee ballot in Delaware.
	Not Georgia.
	Every single precinct in Georgia has a Dropbox.
	And both states require voter ID.
	And he, you know, how dare he play the race card the way he's been doing it.
	And he's done it three times now that we've counted.
	Anyway, so this is the lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson is his name.
	We'll meet him in a second of North Carolina before this subcommittee.
	Today, we hear Georgia law being compared to Jim Crow.
	The black voices are being silenced and that black voices are being kept out.
	How?
	By bullets?
	By bombs?
	By nooses?
	No.
	By requiring a free ID to secure the vote.
	Let me say that again.
	By requiring a free ID to secure the vote.
	How absolutely preposterous.
	Am I to believe that black Americans who have overcome the atrocities of slavery, who were victorious in the civil rights movement, and now sit in the highest levels of this government cannot figure out how to get a free ID to secure their votes?
	That they need to be collabed by politicians because they don't think we can figure out how to make our voices heard.
	Are you kidding me?
	The notion that black people must be protected from a free ID to secure their votes is not just insane.
	It is insulting.
	Just a few days ago, excuse me.
	And let me tell you something about this.
	This doesn't have anything to do with justice.
	This has everything to do with power.
	Wow.
	Anyway, joining us now, the lieutenant governor, the great state of North Carolina, by the way, the first African-American lieutenant governor of that great state.
	Sir, it's an honor to have you on the program.
	How come we, where have you been?
	Why have I not, why have you not been on our radar yet as a guest often?
	Well, there's been a couple of times, and I think some things jumped in front of us, some bigger news stories jumped in front of us, but I'm honored to be here for this first time, and I hope to be back again at some point.
	Well, I love North Carolina.
	I have a lot of friends down there, as you may know.
	And, you know, I watched this moment, and I was so grateful to you for sharing that.
	Now, I just gave the comparison of Georgia, their new voting law versus the restrictive laws in states like Delaware and states like New York.
	And it's far less restrictive in Georgia, and it's far more accessible in Georgia.
	At the end of the day, when Joe Biden, who's represented this state of his for 500 years, something like that, he's about 500 years old, makes that statement, that incendiary Jim Crow 2.0, like he once said, but they're going to put you all back in chains and you ain't black.
	And the same guy, interestingly, that even partnered with a former Klansman to stop the integration of schools and school busing, that would be Robert Byrd, who we praised, a former Klansman, and didn't want our schools to become racial jungles.
	We're going to get lectured by him and he's going to, with his restrictive state laws on voting?
	Absolutely.
	You know, when you think of Joe Biden, when you think of the left, one word comes to mind every time, and that is hypocrisy.
	They are expert on hypocrisy.
	Whether it be the racial jungle comment or they're going to put y'all back in chains or you ain't black comment, Joe Biden's political career is wiped not just with making racist statements, but fighting for racist policies.
	And how dare this man now stand like he's forgotten that and claim to be this justice, this champion for racial justice.
	He is anything but, and that needs to be pointed out.
	And while I'm talking on that subject as well, I think there were many people that were speaking during that hearing yesterday who were quite irritated by what I said.
	And nothing could make me feel warm deep down inside because of it.
	You know, I love the strong local leaders and states that go to Washington and do exactly what you did because it's kind of how I feel about many people in Washington, the swamp, the sewer.
	I don't respect them.
	I don't think a lot of them are honorable.
	I don't think they're consistent.
	You mentioned the word hypocrisy.
	Sir, you're 100% right.
	And it reeks with hypocrisy.
	And so many get caught up in the quicksand of that swamp.
	And it's so despicable.
	And in comes, you know, here you are, the lieutenant governor of North Carolina, and you don't care.
	You're going to tell them the truth whether they want to hear it or not.
	I'm so glad you did it.
	Well, you know, it's just another one of those things that I think points out to what we really need to start doing in this country.
	You know, these guys that go to Washington, D.C., and I told them this yesterday, they sit up high and they look low.
	They think they know better than us.
	They think they know what's right for our states, what's right for the people.
	It is time for us to stand up and push back against the federal government.
	The federal government has stepped out of its value.
	It did it decades ago, and they continue to do it at an increasingly alarming rate.
	You know, there was one time I was having a conversation with someone, and I told him, I said, you know, that annoying coworker at work who's never on task, who's always behind in his own work, who never knows what's going on at his own desk, but he's always in somebody else's business, always at somebody else's desk, and always trying to take somebody else's job.
	That is the federal government.
	That is a good description of what they do.
	They are never on task with what they should be doing, and they're always trying to take over things they shouldn't be.
	We see it all the time.
	We see it with education, and now we're seeing it with voting rights.
	That should be left up and prescribed to the states to carry out.
	Are there national voting laws that we need to have?
	Absolutely, yes.
	But absolutely, there should be.
	But we should not be allowing the federal government to reach in and dictate a partisan wish list upon the state for the purposes of trying to keep one party in power.
	Lieutenant Governor, I think there are four things that every state needs to have so we can have confidence in the results of our elections and integrity in the system.
	One is voter picture ID, right?
	You need that to get into the White House, to get into the DNC, to get into the Capitol, to buy a six-pack of beer, to buy a pack of cigarettes, to buy a jewel pod for crying out loud.
	All right.
	That's one.
	Signature verification is two.
	We have a very rigid standard for chain of custody that partisan observers be able to watch those ballots and they can't be tampered with.
	And partisan observers, it's the statutory language in most states, get to watch, really watch, not like this past election year, the vote counting to make sure that people are being honest, hold them accountable.
	Anything you would add to that?
	I would add this too, as well.
	Well, not necessarily to that list, but this is what I would add to that.
	I would add this.
	Yesterday during the hearing, I kept hearing all of these, and these guys, they love to use these phrases, you know, Jim Crow 2.0, and there's another one they use, the big lie by Donald Trump.
	What about the big lie of Russia, Russia, Russia?
	You know, they were talking about election fraud, and they had not a leg to stand on, and they beat that force absolutely to death.
	And, you know, driving home today, I was thinking about this.
	I said, you know, when you talk about election integrity, it should be done not just for what we've seen during the 2020 election with the debacle of mail-in voting and a lot of elder debacles that we saw across the country, but it should also be done to put to bed the specter of things like Russia, Russia, Russia, and any other speculation that we have because the American voting system, America is the greatest constitutional republic in the world, the greatest nation in the world.
	We should have the cream of the crop when it comes to elections.
	There should be absolutely almost no question about the integrity of our elections.
	And you are absolutely right.
	I firmly believe that starts with showing a state-issued photo ID.
	Let me ask you this.
	If Laura Trump, I know her name's been out there.
	I know McGrory's name's been out there.
	Have you thought about at all running for this open seat in North Carolina for the United States Senate?
	Because I'd love to see you.
	If you became a senator from North Carolina, that would be awesome.
	We did.
	We took a very hard look at that seat.
	We ran some poll numbers actually on that seat, and they came back very favorable.
	But ultimately, we decided that what we're doing in North Carolina is going to be far more valuable for the people of our state.
	I feel like I'm on a very good track right now if I continue to do what I'm doing.
	Some of the things that I'm doing, the anti-indoctrination task force that I put together here in North Carolina for our public schools.
	I'm going to ask a favor.
	Yes.
	Don't close the door to it.
	I want you.
	I'm serious.
	Would you please just keep an open mind about it for a little while?
	Well, you know, I've already said no to the Senate.
	I've already publicly said no to the Senate.
	But, you know, with God, anything's possible.
	Who knows what may happen down the road?
	But I've already made a public statement saying I'm going to stay in North Carolina.
	I know there were a lot of folks that wanted me to run for that seat, but I feel like I have obligations here in this state that I need to fulfill.
	But I certainly appreciate your vote.
	So you'd be able to serve in a larger capacity.
	And I think people understand that, you know, the right circumstances.
	I'm not sure who's going to run.
	I mean, there are good people that are considering it, but you would be in my top three for sure.
	Easy, right off the top.
	I sure appreciate the vote of confidence.
	But like I said, I think we have decided that we're going to stay put in North Carolina.
	But, you know, it's crazier things that have happened.
	And it certainly would be crazy if I decided to run for that seat because I have no plans whatsoever to do that right now.
	Well, it'd be pretty amazing.
	You know, let me ask you this.
	Why is it that states like New York, California, you know, if you notice liberal Democrats that now want to double, I don't know if you've seen this, that Joe Biden's plan for the capital gains tax increase.
	He wants to take it from 23% to 43.4% on top of raising the income tax rates dramatically.
	What do you see that doing to the economy?
	Well, of course it's going to destroy the economy.
	Of course, it's going to destroy the average American right across the board because they try to say what's going to destroy super rich.
	But we don't ever see that do we?
	Their bad policies don't ever destroy the Michael Bloombergs of the world.
	They don't ever destroy the Cuomos of the world.
	They don't ever destroy the Biden families of the world.
	They destroy ordinary folks who get up and go to work every day.
	That's who those policies are destroying.
	I've said this once and I've said it a thousand times.
	The ultimate goal of these socialists is to create a society that is two-layered, elites on the top and everybody else on the bottom.
	That is their ultimate goal.
	We have seen it in society after society after society.
	We cannot tolerate that here in the United States of America.
	And we have seen these plans literally bring states and cities to their knees.
	I plan to do everything I can to make sure that North Carolina is not one of those.
	All right, quick break more with the Lieutenant Governor of Great State of North Carolina, Mark Robinson.
	I think we're going to be hearing a lot more from Mark Robinson in the years ahead.
	I'm Ben Ferguson, and I'm Ted Cruz.
	Three times a week, we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
	Nationwide, we have millions of listeners.
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	When I told people I was making a podcast about Benghazi, nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked, why?
	Benghazi, the truth became a web of lies.
	It's almost a dirty word, one that connotes conspiracy theories.
	Will we ever get the truth about the Benghazi massacre?
	Bad faith, political warfare, and, frankly, bullshit.
	We kill the ambassador just to cover something up.
	You put two and two together.
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	Well, even one of fake news CNN's, I guess one of their medical pundits, somebody that works for Fake News CNN, had the same observation that I did and said it was really bad optics and questioned why when the speech was given to both houses of Congress,
	there were only 200 people in the chamber that holds 1,600, especially since everybody that works in the House and the Senate and Washington, they have been given every opportunity to be vaccinated since early, well, late December of last year.
	So in other words, Biden is now out there saying yesterday, saying, well, Americans should keep wearing masks.
	Even if they're vaccinated, it's their patriotic responsibility for God's sake.
	That's his quote.
	I'm like, well, hang on a second.
	Because my understanding was, and I refuse to tell people what to do because I'm not a doctor.
	You know, I bring on doctors to interview them so that you can make an informed decision for yourself.
	Hear different viewpoints, some that I agree with, some that I might disagree with, but at least you get to get some context and texture to the you must get vaccinated crowd out there.
	And I'm a believer in science, and I'm not anti-vax at all.
	Not one bit of me is.
	I just want, I just don't feel it's my position as a talk show host.
	I don't know anything about your medical condition, and I'm also a believer in medical privacy.
	I don't think you should have to answer everyone's question all the time.
	Are you vaccinated?
	Okay, the idea is you get vaccinated to protect yourself if it's the right decision for you in consultation with your doctor.
	And I urge people to do all their research on their own, get as much information as possible, consult with as many doctors that you might have or people that you trust that are doctors or medical researchers or scientists that you have faith in.
	And then based on your medical condition and consultation with your doctor, you make an informed decision.
	And, you know, I am grateful that, okay, well, we do have three vaccines.
	I've read the efficacy response on all three of them.
	I suggest you read it as well.
	Anyway, somehow this is now, so it just is a little odd that Biden is saying if you're vaccinated, you should keep wearing your masks.
	It's your patriotic responsibility.
	And if everybody was vaccinated in the House and the Senate or at least had access to it, And if they want to keep people in masks, I guess they can indoors.
	He's saying, even outside half the time.
	They can't make up their mind on that.
	The National Park Service in South Dakota denied South Dakota's request to hold the fireworks display at Mount Rushmore.
	Now, Governor Christy Noam says she's suing the Biden administration over their decision to allow the 4th of July fireworks at Mount Rushmore this year.
	They denied the state request to hold this fireworks display, citing concerns about COVID-19 and tribal objections and potential danger to the park itself.
	Anyway, this lawsuit is moving forward.
	Governor Christy Noam of South Dakota joins us now.
	How are you?
	Hi, Sean.
	I'm doing good.
	How are you doing?
	I'm good.
	Now, I think it's important to remind people: you never put any mandate in place at all.
	You urged people to be smart in your state, but you didn't mandate anything.
	You didn't mandate mask wearing, social distancing, but you told people in South Dakota that this is what the science at this moment, it often changed, was telling us to do, right?
	That's exactly right.
	Yes, we didn't do any mandates.
	We talked about personal responsibility, trusting people to make the best decisions for their families and their businesses.
	In fact, we were the only state that never once closed a single business, church, issued a shelter place, or did any kind of a mandate.
	So, you know, the people here in South Dakota just have gotten through this remarkably well.
	And we have the fastest growing economy in the nation now, I believe, because of it.
	Everybody who wanted to have a little freedom in the last year, they came to South Dakota, moved, spent their money, took their vacation, and we're doing really well.
	So let's talk about the parks, National Park Service's denial of this request to have a fireworks display.
	Well, it's just punitive and political.
	You know, we had had fireworks on July 3rd, the night before Independence Day, every year for many years until President Obama came into office.
	And then he took them away, said that there was environmental concerns.
	So one of the things when I first got elected as governor was I asked President Trump to help me bring them back.
	It's our one chance to really show off South Dakota, but also focus on Mount Rushmore, our founding fathers, and really talk about our nation's independence on a worldwide scale.
	Everybody could see the show when we had the fireworks display because there was nothing like it.
	President Trump did help us get the fireworks back.
	We did all kinds of environmental studies.
	We jumped through all the hoops that the federal government wanted us to.
	We studied our water quality.
	We worked with our tribes.
	We went through all of the fire concerns, did back burning, and signed a memorandum of agreement.
	Hell hosted the fireworks last year.
	Now this year, we already had that agreement in place, yet the Biden administration, when they came in, refused to give us our permit, even though we had already shown and done all of the work and had the memorandum signed and with no reason to tell us of why they were denying us the opportunity to host this show.
	So My only ability to really try to get fairness on this issue is to sue them.
	And that is what I'm doing on behalf of, you know, frankly, our state, but our nation, and the ability to celebrate our independence the way that our founders encouraged us to.
	It's pretty outrageous.
	You've jumped through every hoop, the environmental concern issue.
	In this case, though, they specifically cited concerns about COVID-19.
	Now, I don't know.
	Maybe I'm onto something if even a fake news CNN medical expert and paid medical analyst says the same thing about the joint speech to Congress the other day that Biden gave, and everybody was in masks and the social distancing that we all saw with the idea.
	I thought my understanding, Governor, is that if you get vaccinated, you're good to go.
	And life was supposed to get back to normal.
	That doesn't seem normal to me.
	And now he's saying even if you're vaccinated, it's your patriotic duty to keep wearing masks.
	And up until this week, we were told that we even needed masks outdoors still.
	Yeah, they're not using science.
	It's actually, it's just stupid.
	And that's what's so hard about what we see our federal government doing right now.
	We hosted this event last year.
	I had thousands of people there.
	Over 7,500 people there did no social dance distancing.
	We did hand out masks if people wanted them, but we didn't mandate them.
	We did contact tracing.
	We had people from all over the country come to Mount Rushmore to celebrate our nation's independence.
	And we did not see any cases and spread happening because of bringing those people together because they were careful and smart.
	And I told people over and over again, I said, if you are scared, stay home.
	And even President Biden has stood up in front of us and told us that by July 4th, we should be back to normal and we could celebrate our independence from this virus.
	What better way to do that than by gathering everybody at Mount Rushmore to celebrate our nation's independence?
	I couldn't agree with you more.
	Tell me about the process.
	I'm sure you've spoken at length with the attorneys representing the state of South Dakota and representing you on this.
	What are they telling you?
	Where can you get an emergency injunction?
	Now it's April 30th.
	You don't have a whole lot of time, especially when you're talking about working its way through a court system.
	We don't.
	When they denied us the permits that were supposed to be allocated to us because of the memorandum of agreement is when we started working on what our options were.
	We have filed the lawsuit today.
	We're going to push it as fast as we can, but obviously we're dealing with the court system.
	You know, I believe that we've got a tough challenge in front of us, but this is the option that we have.
	We've already, we can prove that we've done the environmental studies or that we've studies have found that there's no significant impact on the surrounding environment.
	We have a go-no-go wildland fire and forest fire checklist that there's all kinds of entities, local, state, and federal, that can declare if there's any fire risk, that the checklist doesn't get met, then we don't blow the fireworks up until a couple of hours before the event.
	We have consulted with our tribes.
	We have gone through all of the COVID protocols that they have asked us to do.
	There really is no reason they could have pulled this show from us other than being political or being punitive to the state of South Dakota.
	Could I be a little bit of a, I don't know, I'm sure it would be viewed as radical?
	What if you did it anyway?
	What if you just did it?
	It's a little difficult because it's surrounded by Forest Service land, which is federal property, and it's a national park.
	So it's a little difficult for the state to get access out there and launch the fireworks from where we typically do in a way that would be safe.
	I've been looking around the surrounding area to see how we could celebrate and have a fireworks show.
	Obviously, all the communities throughout the Black Hills have their own fireworks shows.
	And so, you know, having fireworks and the technology that's utilized today and still protecting the forest is possible.
	It happens every single year.
	I've seen videos.
	I haven't been to it.
	Well, I've been to Mount Rushmore, but not for the fireworks display.
	But I've seen videos of the fireworks display at Mount Rushmore.
	There's nothing better.
	Oh, no, it's amazing.
	And I think actually, Sean, last year, it was a moment of unification for our country.
	It was a challenging year, a year that people were filled with a lot of fear and division.
	That was right when all the riots were starting and happening across the country.
	And we all paused for an evening and talked about the greatness of America and its founding leaders that led us through challenging times, and we are better for it today.
	So I think it can be a moment where the entire country can come together and talk about our shared ideals.
	But if the Biden administration chooses to continue to be divisive and keep us from doing that, then it's going to take governors like myself to go after them and try to get equal treatment at least.
	Well, I hope that you're able to get this expedited.
	I'd love to see this happen for the state and for the people of South Dakota and people from around the country who might want to attend.
	If it was a little closer, I'd like to attend myself.
	I'd love to see that.
	I noticed a tweet that you had put out, and it was in reaction to the article about, and I mentioned it earlier, 200 Seattle police officers quit, citing the anti-police climate out in Seattle.
	The number of retirements and police officers quitting in New York City is unprecedented.
	We've never had this level of attrition in New York as we're seeing before us.
	But that's after a billion-dollar cut to the police budget and the defund effort and dismantle effort.
	And yeah, it's become a hostile environment for police officers.
	So you sent out a tweet to these 200 Seattle police officers saying, I invite each and every one of these officers to apply for a career in South Dakota.
	We respect the work that you do to keep people safe.
	We'll always stand with you.
	We won't defund you.
	We'll have your back.
	Thank you for having ours.
	And I was pretty impressed with that.
	And I'm kind of betting that that might work.
	Well, it already has, Sean.
	Last year, when those riots started breaking out in many of our cities, I in South Dakota launched a national recruitment campaign for law enforcement officers, told them that if they wanted to live in a state that respected them and appreciated them, that we wanted them to move here and be a part of our lives.
	We got hundreds and hundreds of applications from 41 different states.
	And those law enforcement officers moved to South Dakota, filled our security positions, are part of our highway patrol, our local sheriff's offices.
	And this was just another tweet today where I again told my team, let's do another campaign, letting every single law enforcement officer in this country know that if they want a new home and they want to be somewhere where people are thankful for their service, let's tell them that we want their home to be in South Dakota.
	You know, it's very, very interesting.
	And I think it's fascinating.
	It's very much part of the strategy.
	I got to know Governor Jindal, Governor Rick Scott, Governor Rick Perry really well because they were up in New York all the time enticing businesses to move to their respective states and they did so successfully.
	And every time they stopped by, they'd either come on TV or radio.
	So I got to see them and got to know them, became good friends with all of them.
	And I see that outreach in your case.
	I think it may pay dividends.
	Probably you can entice a lot of businesses to move out there as well.
	Your name is mentioned quite often, along with Governor DeSantis, along with Mike Pompeo, Nikki Haley, and a group of people that potentially, if Donald Trump didn't run in 2024, that would consider running for president.
	Have you thought about it?
	No, I'm focused on South Dakota.
	You know, Sean, we have thousands and thousands of people moving to our state right now, hundreds and hundreds of businesses.
	South Dakota has the fastest-growing GDP rate in the nation.
	The next closest is Texas at 7.5%.
	South Dakota's is 9.9% right now.
	We have historic revenues.
	We're growing like we've never grown before.
	I said when I ran for governor that I wanted South Dakota to be an example to the nation, and that's exactly what we're going to continue to do and what my job is while I'm here.
	And I love the people here, and I'm incredibly blessed that we had the chance to do this job and be successful, adhering to our conservative principles and showing that it can be successful.
	It's amazing when you compare a year out now, the draconian shutdown states to the states that remained open and never put these dramatic shutdowns in place and how much better off the people were in those red states, including yours in South Dakota.
	Governor, we love having you on.
	Thank you for being with us.
	All the best.
	We're going to watch this closely.
	If there's anything we could do to help, I'd love to do it.
	I think it belongs at Mount Rushmore and you ought to be able to have that fireworks display.
	You've jumped through every hoop possible.
	And to me, it's just punitive partisan politics behind this.
	And I hope you're successful in the courts.
	I'm Ben Ferguson, and I'm Ted Cruz.
	Three times a week, we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
	Nationwide, we have millions of listeners.
	Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
	And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
	We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
	So down on Verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
	What I told people, I was making a podcast about Benghazi.
	Nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked, why?
	Benghazi, the truth became a web of lies.
	It's almost a dirty word, one that connotes conspiracy theory.
	Will we ever get the truth about the Benghazi massacre?
	Bad faith, political warfare, and frankly, bullshit.
	We kill the ambassador just to cover something up.
	You put two and two together.
	Was it an overblown distraction or a sinister conspiracy?
	Benghazi is a Rosetta Stone for everything that's been going on for the last 20 years.
	I'm Leon Nayfak from Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries.
	This is Fiasco, Benghazi.
	What difference at this point does it make?
	Yes, that's right.
	Lock her up.
	Listen to Fiasco, Benghazi, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
	Hey there, I'm Mary Catherine Hammond.
	And I'm Carol Markowitz.
	We've been in political media for a long time.
	Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane.
	That's why we started Normally, a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity.
	We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor.
	We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously.
	So if you're into common sense, sanity, and some occasional sass.
	You're our kind of people.
	Catch new episodes of Normally every Tuesday and Thursday.
	On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
	Linda, you okay in there?
	Just checking.
	How are things back in New York?
	All right.
	Hello.
	Oh, I'm sorry.
	You're talking to me.
	No, I'm not, actually.
	Not a good time.
	Well, you're not going to get an in-and-out burger.
	That's all I can say.
	I haven't had my In-N-N-Oh.
	Crimea river.
	Oh, I got double, double, man.
	Oh, animal.
	Does it come with a toy?
	No, it doesn't come with a toy you got, guys.
	That was actually pretty funny.
	It actually was pretty funny.
	Poor Liam.
	Can we get him a happy meal so he could be happy?
	Oh, he won't be able to eat anyway.
	He's got his mask on.
	Well, there is a guy actually that got thrown off a plane and got in trouble because he was eating and he took the mask down just to take a bite of food.
	He got in trouble.
	Yeah, you can keep your peanuts.
	All right, simple man, Leonard Skinner.
	That can only mean one thing.
	That's all things Bill O'Reilly and BillO'Reilly.com.
	Although we are making an alteration today, we got a big change.
	I want to say to all of you gathered here today that let it be known that I will not break the agreement that we came into accord today.
	But I say this.
	If something should befall my son, Michael, if he has an accident, something terrible happens, I will hold all of you accountable.
	So I was very worried in the lead up to today's interview with Bill O'Reilly.
	The release of his book is out today.
	We have it on Hannity.com.
	It's on Amazon.com, BillO'Reilly.com.
	It's in bookstores now, everywhere.
	There were rumors that his latest in the killing series was going to be killing Hannity.
	But apparent thing, it's killing the mob.
	Hey, Bill, you're writing a book about the mob.
	They may come and kill you.
	What are you thinking about this?
	You know, the mob still is in existence.
	If they kill me, Hannity, you are to do three hours of tribute on this program and tell everybody how great I am and how courageous.
	Who is doing Don Corleone and who is the imitator there?
	Was that you doing that?
	That was me.
	Yeah, I do a lot of imitations.
	Do you know that little about me after 25 years?
	Yeah, because in the end, he goes, then I will hold everyone in this room accountable.
	I'm actually fascinated by the mob.
	I've watched every single show there is.
	I love Goodfellas.
	I love the Godfather series.
	I love Casino.
	I like all these mob movies like you do, like you do.
	And I'm fascinated that it exists.
	And I have a reason that I'm going to get to, but why don't you just give an overall because the fight against organized crime was successful in many ways, but the mob in some form still exists today, correct?
	Yes.
	They adapted.
	So I wrote this book because just like you and me, most Americans have a view of organized crime formulated by the movies and television.
	So Bonnie and Clyde, Warren Beatty, and Faye Dunaway.
	Wow, look at how glamorous they are.
	Look at how charismatic they are.
	In reality, Bonnie and Clyde were the lowest of the low.
	They would shoot children.
	That's how bad they were.
	Same thing with Don Corleone.
	Marlon Brano is such a brilliant actor that he invoked empathy for the godfather who slaughtered hundreds of people.
	The Corleone family was based on a real family.
	Mario Puzzo wrote the novel.
	So what I want to do is basically in this book tell you who organized crime really is.
	They are all evil across the board.
	How they acquired massive power between 1946 and 62.
	Organized crime, the mafia, was the most powerful entity in the United States of America, more powerful than Congress, any corporation, any law enforcement agency.
	How did that happen?
	The two most famous fights of all time, Sonny Liston, Cassius Clay, Muhammad Ali, were fixed.
	They were fixed.
	Now, Bill Riley, let me predict, by the way, because everything you do in your life is controversial.
	By you saying Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston was fixed, and you even mentioning the mob, people are going to say, all right, Bill O'Reilly, you're saying that about Muhammad Ali.
	All right, O'Reilly, you're saying this about Italian Americans.
	No, you're talking about people in the mob.
	You're not talking about a group of people.
	Ali didn't even know the fight was fixed.
	Ali had no idea that those fights were fixed.
	I never heard this story before.
	Go ahead.
	I'm interested.
	That's what we do.
	This is the 10th killing book, the most successful nonfiction book series of all time.
	18 million copies of killing books in print.
	I mean, it's unbelievable.
	But we name the names, the dates.
	We back up everything we say about Sonny Liston and what he did.
	But here's the key.
	In the second fight, when Cassius Clay had changed his name to Muhammad Ali, it was in Maine.
	The fight was in Maine, Lewiston, Maine.
	Why?
	Because the Boston Garden wouldn't accept the fight.
	The Massachusetts Boxing Commission said, we're not going to take this fight because the first one was thrown.
	They knew it.
	So you go from 17,000 seats in Boston Garden to 2,500 seats in Lewiston, Maine.
	How could that happen?
	The mob had huge money on Liston to lose both fights.
	Listen was a 7-1 favorite in the first fight in Miami.
	And the mob laid millions on him.
	You can imagine the money they made.
	But here's the kicker on this, because I know you're a fight fan.
	When Muhammad Ali walked back to his corner after the first-round knockout of Sonny Liston in 1965 in Lewiston, Maine, he said to Bundini Brown, his corner man, did I hit him?
	Ali didn't even hit him.
	And Liston went down.
	You know, I've been a fight fan, and I guess I caught up with really my passion for like Ali and Fraser and Foreman and Norton and those guys.
	I honestly had never heard that the fight was fixed.
	Is this, I mean, is this something that is controversial in the book, or is this something that's widely known and nobody talks about because I don't remember ever reading it before?
	Sports Illustrated did a big takeout on it about 10 years after the fight, but our information that we have is new, but it's irrefutable.
	It comes from Sonny Liston's mother and his brother.
	And then Sonny Liston subsequently wound up dead in Vegas, and they said it was a heroin overdose, but he never took heroin.
	So the mother and brother, wait a minute, corroborated with you and Martin Dugard on this book, and they're the ones that told you that Sonny took a dive on that fight?
	I'm not going to tell you anymore.
	You've got to read the book, but it's right there.
	O'Reilly, I just got the book.
	I'm asking you.
	Okay, in the portion that one got the portion of the book, Sonny Liston is on the phone with his mother after he gets knocked out in the first fight, and his mother said, baby, what happened?
	Listen, quote, I did what they told me to do, unquote.
	We got it from his brother who was on the call.
	Wow.
	I mean, to me, now that makes me want to read the book because I want to know more about that.
	Yeah.
	But so that's how influential the mob was.
	Now, the mob, though, as you look at its evolution, you know, there are a lot of issues that come up that I am aware of that fascinate me.
	Like, for example, to get John Gotti, you flip Sammy the Bull Gravano.
	You offer Sammy the Bullow.
	I think he had killed 19 or 20 people.
	And you say, we're going to put you in the witness protection program, not send you to jail.
	Something of great value.
	It's called your freedom just to get John Gotti, which worked.
	But the problem I have with that is a guy that's a murderer that you're given a free pass to, I'm believing that he'd probably say anything you want him to say to stay out of jail.
	Absolutely, but they had taps on him.
	The turning point in the mob was the mob ran wild from 1946 to 62 because J. Edgar Hoover would not investigate organized crime.
	Why?
	According to Lucky Luciano's diaries, which we have, Luciano says that they had stuff on Hoover.
	Hoover was a known gambler, played the ponies, and he was gay.
	And Luciano says he's not going to be a problem for us.
	We have him.
	That's Lucky Luciano.
	Now, I don't know what they had.
	I couldn't find it.
	I tried.
	I couldn't.
	But then Bobby Kennedy became attorney general.
	All right.
	And he went after the mob with a ferocity that has never been seen before.
	And then after that, as you know, they passed the RICO laws where they could tap like crazy, wiretap, organized crime.
	That's what really got Gotti.
	They got Gotti in the Bergen Fish Club in New York City on tape.
	They had wired the whole place talking about all kinds of crimes.
	Gravano was a sideshow on it.
	You don't convict on a snitch.
	You got to have something else.
	All right.
	And they had him on a wire.
	If they had the wire, why did they need the corroborate?
	You got to corroborate.
	All right.
	So the RICO statute said, if you even talk about a crime, we can charge you with conspiracy, a felony, and send you away for a long time.
	That changed everything.
	So the mob today, if you want to get into it in a little while, is now different than it was.
	But Gotti was caught on the tape and they brought in the snitch to reinforce that he did.
	He actually did all these things that he was talking about.
	So that's how that happened.
	I'm Ben Ferguson, and I'm Ted Cruz.
	Three times a week, we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
	Nationwide, we have millions of listeners.
	Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
	And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
	We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
	So down with Verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
	Hey there, I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
	And I'm Carol Markowitz.
	We've been in political media for a long time.
	Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane.
	That's why we started Normally, a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity.
	We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor.
	We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously.
	So if you're into common sense, sanity, and some occasional sass.
	You're our kind of people.
	Catch new episodes of Normally every Tuesday and Thursday.
	On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
	What I told people, I was making a podcast about Benghazi.
	Nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked, why?
	Benghazi, the truth became a web of lies.
	It's almost a dirty word, one that connotes conspiracy theory.
	Will we ever get the truth about the Benghazi massacre?
	Bad faith, political warfare, and, frankly, bullshit.
	We kill the ambassador just to cover something up.
	You put two and two together.
	Was it an overblown distraction or a sinister conspiracy?
	Benghazi is a Rosetta Stone for everything that's been going on for the last 20 years.
	I'm Leon Nafok from Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries.
	This is Fiasco, Benghazi.
	What difference at this point does it make?
	Yes, that's right.
	Lock her up.
	Listen to Fiasco, Benghazi, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
	All right, more with Bill O'Reilly, his brand new book just out today.
	Amazon.com, Hannity.com, BillO'Reilly.com, Bookstores Everywhere, Killing the Mob, The Fight Against Organized Crime in America.
	Explain to people that don't know.
	By the way, so people understand where Bill O'Reilly's coming from on this.
	I shouldn't say this.
	You probably get robbed tomorrow.
	If you go to Bill O'Reilly, one of his many mansions where he says he cuts his own lawn and he's lying through his teeth.
	But when you go to Bill O'Reilly's house, it's like you're going through a museum.
	You have a passion for history and you spend a lot of money buying authentic historical letters and photos and all sorts of things.
	And it's like a mini museum at your house.
	Well, it's all because we only use primary sources in our books.
	And so if I can get an original letter written by somebody, I'm going to get it.
	And because that's how you report history.
	I'm a reporter and a historian.
	And so when we write Killing the Mob, this isn't stories that we heard from somebody or, you know, something like that.
	We go and we find the things.
	That's why you mentioned Killing Reagan.
	Yeah, they complained about what I wrote about Ronald Reagan.
	It was 100% true.
	It was absolutely 100% true.
	They didn't say that.
	Well, nobody sued you, so I guess they couldn't.
	We can back up everything you said.
	But when I see something, all right, and it doesn't have to be famous.
	It can be, you know, somebody who is there and who wrote a letter extemporaneously there.
	And I get a hold of it.
	So we have eyewitnesses to what we write about, which is why killing the mob is so darn compelling.
	Now, I'm going to tell you another story that you're going to love in this book.
	Remember, I Love Lucy?
	Remember that?
	Of course.
	Ricky Ricardo.
	Yeah.
	Well, Ricky was almost whacked by the mob.
	His name was Desi Arnaz.
	He was Lucille Ball's husband, but he was a huge producer in Hollywood.
	He put out a show called The Untouchables, where Elliot Ness, the feds, going after Al Capone and all the Italian gangsters.
	Well, Sam Giancana, the real Italian gangster, the godfather of Chicago, sends Arnaz a note, all right, through Sidney Korshak.
	Korshak controlled all of Hollywood.
	The mob controlled all the film industry back then and said, hey, Desi, we don't want to see any more Italian gangsters and the untouchables.
	Where Desi turns around, what's a wise guy note back to Giancana, says, what do you want to mean to make them Jews?
	That day, Giancana puts a contract out to kill Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball's husband.
	Wow.
	Does anybody know that?
	No.
	Because I never heard it.
	We investigated Giancana, who was a lynchpin of the 1960 election in Illinois that was thrown to JFK by the mob.
	He did it.
	So What is the proof you put in a book that backs that claim of this story up?
	Because again, I'd not heard this one either.
	Desi RNS thing?
	Yeah.
	Oh, we have it down.
	We have all the testimony that was given about Desi R.
	And Desi knew he was going to get hit.
	And how he was saved is the backup for the story.
	And I'm not going to tell you how he was saved because I want you to read the book, Kennedy.
	You know, this is so annoying.
	We get right to the precipice of, you know, the crescendo to a great story that you discovered that nobody had heard about before.
	And then you just pull a Bill O'Reilly on us and you don't tell us.
	And then you try to make the argument that you're a simple man, which proves my point that you're not simple.
	That is a complicated strategy to get people to buy killing the mob.
	Hold it.
	I'm supposed to give you 300 pages of stuff that I broke my back to find out for free.
	I'm telling you the story design.
	Well, if you would have sent it to me earlier, I would have had time.
	All right, listen, Bill O'Reilly, he's going to...
	We said it to you months before.
	I bet I give more money to my mailman at Christmas time than you give to yours.
	Let's put it in.
	That doesn't mean you can't buy love.
	Didn't you hear that Beatles song?
	You can't buy love.
	Come on.
	I'm Ben Ferguson, and I'm Ted Cruz.
	Three times a week, we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
	Nationwide, we have millions of listeners.
	Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
	And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
	We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
	So down with Verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
	What I told people I was making a podcast about Benghazi, nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked, why?
	Benghazi, the truth became a web of lies.
	It's almost a dirty word, one that connotes conspiracy theory.
	Will we ever get the truth about the Benghazi massacre?
	Bad faith, political warfare, and, frankly, bullshit.
	We kill the ambassador just to cover something up.
	You put two and two together.
	Was it an overblown distraction or a sinister conspiracy?
	Benghazi is a Rosetta Stone for everything that's been going on for the last 20 years.
	I'm Leon Nayfock from Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries.
	This is Fiasco, Benghazi.
	What difference at this point does it make?
	Yes, that's right.
	Lock her up.
	Listen to Fiasco, Benghazi, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
	Hey there, I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
	And I'm Carol Markowitz.
	We've been in political media for a long time.
	Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane.
	That's why we started Normally, a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity.
	We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor.
	We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously.
	So if you're into common sense, sanity, and some occasional sass.
	You're our kind of people.
	Catch new episodes of Normally every Tuesday and Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
	I want to tell all Sean Hannity fans out there, killing the mob is going to result in a new book, Killing O'Reilly.
	Anyway, Bill O'Reilly's new book is out today, Killing the Mob.
	AllthingsO'Reilly, BillO'Reilly.com, Amazon.com, bookstores everywhere.
	You know, look, I don't have a fear of anybody in my life.
	I just don't live my life in fear.
	And there have been a few brave people.
	You mentioned Bobby Kennedy.
	He went after the mob with a vengeance.
	Another person that did that was Rudy Giuliani.
	And, you know, I would argue that probably there are still a lot of mob people.
	And I wouldn't even talk about the top echelon, but the ones at the lower level, the wannabes, the ones that maybe want points within the organization as it currently is configured or exists, very different than what it used to be, which I know you agree with, that they may not like what you say in this book.
	Does that concern you?
	No, not really.
	I mean, this is a history book.
	I don't think that there's any contemporized annoyance for criminals in the book.
	They know what happened.
	In fact, they might like the book because I tie it all together.
	I mean, the genesis of organized crime in America happened when George Patton invaded Sicily in World War II.
	Did you know that?
	I did not.
	Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower made a deal with the people who controlled Sicily for centuries, the mafia.
	The mafia conducted sabotage and other things to disrupt the Germans, and then gave Patton, the Third Army, where they should land and what they should do.
	In return, after the war, the U.S. government allowed a bunch of Sicilians into the United States.
	And they flooded into New York and Philadelphia, took over the unions, which they already had their hooks in.
	And that's where it all began.
	And no one knows it.
	I didn't know it when I wrote the book Killing Patton.
	And we only uncovered that for this book.
	And the mafia really helped U.S. forces invade Sicily.
	It's an amazing story.
	You know, when you look at, for example, what is the mob known for?
	Running the numbers, right?
	They're known for gambling and prostitution, loan sharking, quote, protection for companies, et cetera, et cetera.
	Why can't Bill O'Reilly start his own lotto?
	Because the government has a monopoly on it.
	Why can't Bill O'Reilly sell weed like New York is about to and Colorado allows and many other states are now allowing?
	Why can't you get the point here?
	Yeah, all these things that government said vices are taken over by the state and federal governments.
	But it's beyond that.
	The organized crime elements now have franchised out.
	So the violence you see in Chicago and New York and Los Angeles, the horrific murder and shootings, they're done primarily by drug gangs.
	Those drug gangs are allowed to operate because organized crime tells them they can.
	And every month they have to pay the mafia, the mob, the casa nostra, whatever you want to call it, in their city, VIG, all right, tribute, a lot of money.
	So the organized crime chieftains never see the drugs, but make all their money now on drugs.
	Narcotics is a billion-dollar industry.
	And the organized criminals are actually directing it.
	But the drug gangs are selling it.
	That's the difference.
	It used to be in the French Connection days that the organized criminals would actually move the heroin from Marseille, France.
	They don't even see it now.
	They franchise it out.
	Wasn't there a struggle?
	And this has been, this was chronicled, for example, in the Godfather movie, and I think it was accurate, that the five families, for example, that there was a conflict, that there were some families and some mobs.
	They didn't want to sell drugs.
	They didn't want to sell drugs.
	And we have that scene.
	It took place in Havana in 1958.
	And Lucky Luciano was the man.
	He was deported from the USA, but he took over Cuba.
	The guy who wanted to start the narcotics traffic was Vito Genovese, perhaps the most evil person ever to live in the United States in the history of this country.
	Vito Genovese.
	You don't get more evil than him.
	And he demanded that all the families start the narcotics traffic, and he would be in charge of it in New York.
	That happened.
	And that was the movement into narcotics where we are seeing unbelievable profits to organized crime today.
	How much time have we got left?
	I want to tell you a rules.
	Yeah, we do.
	We have a lot of time.
	Go ahead.
	All right.
	Who do you think organized crime likes best in the political arena in America today?
	Take a guess.
	Sean Hannity.
	No, not you, an elected politician.
	Who's their favorite elected politician?
	I hope Donald Trump.
	I hope they're voting Republican.
	Joe Biden.
	Of course.
	Organized crime loves President Biden.
	And President Biden has no blanket clue why.
	When Biden lifted all the restrictions on the southern border with Mexico, it resulted in 100 days in hundreds of thousands of migrants coming to this country, as you and I have documented, well documented.
	The Border Patrol and federal authorities down there now have to spend all of their time with the migrants, regulating the migrants, getting them into shelters, getting them into cities, all of that.
	What suffers when all of the Border Patrol and all of the federal agents down there are occupied with migrants?
	What suffers?
	Wide open for the cartels, the human traffickers, the drug traffickers.
	Absolutely.
	So drug interdiction is put on the shelf.
	Right now, there are more narcotics coming into America from Mexico than at any other time in history.
	Fentanyl, heroin, cocaine.
	They don't even bother with marijuana anymore.
	Methamphetamine.
	The organized crime families in America have a deal with the Mexican cartels.
	You know what that deal is?
	The deal is this.
	The deal is this.
	The Mexican cartels cannot operate in America.
	They're not here, anywhere.
	But they are in charge of manufacturing and smuggling narcotics, hard drugs, into the USA.
	Once they get here, then they're distributed to all the cities around the country by these franchise outfits.
	The organized crime mob, mafia, whatever you want to call it, oversees all of that, put that together.
	And now they got more product than they've ever had before because of President Biden's executive order.
	How about that?
	So you go through the period of the mob, the 20th century, some of the most notorious serial robbers, conmen, mob families, et cetera, et cetera.
	And you mentioned names earlier during the Depression, for example, or Prohibition era.
	You talk a lot about that.
	Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Babyface Nelson, the Five Families, et cetera.
	But the book is killing the mob, the fight against organized crime in America.
	Their power has waned somewhat significantly over the years, but has it?
	In other words, are they just more successful at staying below the radar now that the real money seems to be in drugs, which, by the way, is killing 300 Americans a minimum, either a day or a week?
	I mean, it's killing thousands of Americans every year because of the insidious addictive qualities.
	Well, you're asking a very good question and very interesting question.
	So the mob's making more money now than they've ever made.
	But they don't have the influence they used to have.
	So between 46 and 62, organized crime control politicians, police agencies, they compromised J.A. Go Hoover.
	They were running the show.
	The movies that you saw, mob.
	The records you heard on the radio, mob.
	It was unbelievable how much power they had.
	That's gone because of Bobby Kennedy and then subsequently the RICO statutes, which Rudy Giuliani used, to put away a lot of New York gangsters, okay?
	So they adapted.
	They basically are a one-trick pony industry, drugs.
	They don't need the vice anymore.
	They don't need the gambling anymore.
	It's too much legalized gambling now.
	Yeah, there's some Soprano lowlives that are taking bets, bookies, and stuff like that.
	There's MS-13 Salvadoran gangs shaking down people.
	But the big boys don't even bother with that anymore.
	They're all businessmen.
	They live in Westchester.
	They live in the Hamptons.
	They have big mansions.
	And they get paid big tributes from the guys who are actually doing the crimes.
	That's how it works down.
	So the mob traditionally was killed, but now it's a quasi-industry in a different way.
	And that's the saga we tell in a book.
	I'm Ben Ferguson, and I'm Ted Cruz.
	Three times a week, we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
	Nationwide, we have millions of listeners.
	Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
	And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
	We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
	So down with Verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
	Hey there, I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
	And I'm Carol Markowitz.
	We've been in political media for a long time.
	Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane.
	That's why we started Normally, a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity.
	We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor.
	We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously.
	So if you're into common sense, sanity, and some occasional sass, you're our kind of people.
	Catch new episodes of Normally every Tuesday and Thursday.
	On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
	What I told people I was making a podcast about Benghazi, nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked, why?
	Benghazi, the truth became a web of lies.
	It's almost a dirty word, one that connotes conspiracy theory.
	Will we ever get the truth about the Benghazi massacre?
	Bad faith political warfare and, frankly, bullshit.
	We kill the ambassador just to cover something up.
	You put two and two together.
	Was it an overblown distraction or a sinister conspiracy?
	Benghazi is a Rosetta Stone for everything that's been going on for the last 20 years.
	I'm Leon Nayfak from Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries.
	This is Fiasco, Benghazi.
	What difference at this point does it make?
	Yes, that's right.
	Lock her up.
	Listen to Fiasco, Benghazi, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
	And we're with Bill O'Reilly.
	We're in California today from my interview tonight with Caitlin Jenner, Killing the Mob, The Fight Against Organized Crime in America.
	You also talk about, you know, the Irish had connection to mobs too.
	They had their own mobs.
	Yeah, you're talking about the Boston Whitey Bulger, Winter Hill gang.
	But they were local guys.
	Whitey Bulger was a local punk.
	All right.
	He didn't have any national implications.
	I mean, we all knew what Whitey was up to in Southie.
	But now you have an industry.
	It's an industry.
	Narcotics is an industry in this country.
	The appetite for it, how many people are buying these illegal drugs.
	I tell people, every time you buy a drug, you're helping organized crime in the Mexican cartels.
	Don't you understand that?
	I mean, you're building their power base.
	But the federal government, you know, they get them.
	They're after them.
	The DEA does a good job, but they're outmanned or overwhelmed.
	And now we have from Barack Obama a direct quote: drug dealing is not a violent crime.
	You know how much that helped organized crime, the mob and the cartels?
	An American president saying that selling heroin to 16-year-olds isn't a violent act?
	And we need fewer penalties for it?
	On my mind.
	You know what the strategy has been is they're purposely putting in inexpensive doses into small towns and cities.
	Ohio, there's a number of cities that are perfect examples, creating the demand and the addiction, resulting in massive profits.
	They almost are investing in monies into getting people to try these drugs.
	And once they try them, then, for example, if a kid's using Grandma, Grandpa's OxyContin or Percocet or Vicodin, next thing you know, they can't get it, and it's $80 a pill on the street.
	But here's a $10 bag of heroin, and it's a, quote, bigger high.
	They go to heroin.
	Once they go down that road, it's over.
	It's done.
	It has devastated small-town America.
	And I will tell everybody listening to us today, Hannity, if you take fentanyl, you're going to die.
	Done.
	You're going to die.
	You're going to die.
	Your life's over.
	It's not if, it's when.
	So if you want to hurt your parents, your wife's children.
	I mean, I can't even fathom it.
	Bill, they lace other drugs with fentanyl.
	They're putting it in every drug.
	You don't know.
	And then they have this practice of a hot shot.
	Whatever the brand name happens to be of whatever heroin they're selling or whatever drug they're selling, they will purposely make a hot shot that'll guarantee to either kill somebody or put them in the hospital.
	And either they get emergency, what is it, Narcan, or they die.
	And then for some sick twisted reason, then people on the street are thinking, oh, I got to get that drug because that's more pure.
	That's more powerful.
	That's how dark, evil, and insidious this gets.
	You bet.
	And people should know how evil these people are, how much destruction they do.
	Yeah, you can watch American Gangster with Denzel Washington, and he's so charismatic, and he's such a good actor that you like him.
	That's true.
	Great movie.
	He's a great actor.
	Right.
	But what are they really doing?
	And what is the federal government doing to stop it?
	I said to all my audience here that Bill O'Reilly's new book, Killing the Mob, is going to end with Bill O'Reilly.
	Killing the Mob.
	The fight against organized crime in America.
	I highly suggest you get it.
	BillO'Reilly.com, Amazon.com, Hannity.com, and bookstores everywhere.
	And if you don't get it, I'm going to get you.
	Mr. O'Reilly, sir.
	It's called Killing the Mob.
	BillO'Reilly.com.
	Thank you, my friend.
	All right, always a pleasure.
	Thank you.
	Bye.
	I have been friends with Bo Snerdley, better known as, well, James Golden is his real name.
	And Bo Snerdley was the name that Rush gave him on air.
	He was with Rush Limbaugh for nearly all 33 years of the Rush Limbaugh show.
	Now, our syndicator, our partners in radio, our premier radio networks, and iHeart, and they, along with the EIB network, they are now launching a new original, limited, original podcast series, Rush Limbaugh, the man behind the golden EIB microphone.
	It's a 12-episode series.
	It's narrated by my good friend, and he's been a good friend all these years, James Golden, a.k.a.
	Bo Snerdley.
	It launched yesterday.
	It's on demand.
	You can take it anytime you want.
	And it is the behind the scenes.
	Here's the trailer.
	Whether the news was good.
	This is the happiest and the most optimist presentation.
	What if it was bad?
	It is popping.
	All kinds of things happening.
	In the middle of your day, he would be the pastor's three hours in media, Rush Limbaugh having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have.
	33 years.
	Instructing, teaching, and forming a place of telling the truth.
	I think I just happen to be saying what a whole lot of people think, but don't have a chance to say themselves.
	Of triumph.
	The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the State of the Union address to Rush Limbaugh.
	And now, tribute.
	The man who has literally paved the way.
	Radio icon Rush Limbaugh died today.
	Losing his battle with lung cancer.
	There is no talk radio without Rush Limbaugh.
	33 years of excellence in broadcasting.
	People don't remember what you say.
	Too many words lying around it, but they never forget how you make them feel.
	This is Rush.
	From the very beginning.
	Three hours of broadcast excellence straight ahead.
	Great to have you.
	Until now.
	So I have to tell you something today that I wish I didn't have to tell you.
	And it's a struggle for me because I had to inform my staff earlier today that I have been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.
	This podcast takes you behind the Golden EIB microphone with those who knew him best and loved him the most.
	And then Rush, being Rush, apologized to us.
	He said, I'm sorry I let you down.
	And I let out an involuntary scream, no.
	Hosted by James Golden, who you might know better as Bo Snerdley.
	Rush made no secret about it.
	He said it.
	And it was just what it wasn't.
	I was born to host.
	And you were born to listen.
	And until the very end.
	That was Rush Limbaugh.
	Born to host with talent on loan from God.
	This is the definitive story of Rush with special guests and stories never before heard.
	Whether it happened on the air or behind the scenes, he was simply Rush.
	It has been one of the biggest blessings to be able to tell you the entire story.
	Talent on loan.
	And they are all but memories now.
	I mean, they really just seem like they happened yesterday.
	Coming soon to iHeartRadio or wherever you download your podcasts.
	And that podcast now, you can download it.
	We go, it's right on the iHeart app.
	It's iHeart.com slash apps on iHeartRadio.
	Rush Limbaugh, the man behind the Golden EIB microphone, hosted by the dear friend of mine for many, many years, James Golden, a.k.a.
	Bo Snerdley.
	You know, it's hard for me.
	I'm just listening to all of that.
	And it's like I still haven't fully grasped that he's not with us anymore.
	Does that make any sense?
	Of course it does, Sean.
	I'm listening to it with you, and believe it or not, my eyes are teary again, even though I've heard this trailer, you know, at this point dozens of times, but it just still hurts and still seems to be quite unreal.
	You know, it was a particularly hard time in your life.
	And I don't know if you want me to share this or not.
	But you lost your mom within a week after losing Rush.
	Three days later.
	And just say something, too, because you said you tell people you're good friends, Nate.
	And people, yeah, yeah, good friends.
	People say those words all the time.
	No, Sean Hannity is not just a good friend.
	He's a dear friend.
	He's an everything friend because throughout this whole process, from the time that Rush made his announcement till the time that Rush passed, and then, as Sean just mentioned, my mom passed three days later.
	Sean Hannity was on the phone with me so much, just making sure I was okay, checking to see not just me, how the rest of our staff was doing.
	He called other members of our staff.
	Sean, and Sean, I guess you will never know how much all of that meant to me and how much it means to all of us for the love coming from you.
	And it was all through the process.
	And Sean, it just meant so much.
	You know what the amazing thing is, is that when I came to New York to work on Fox in 1996 and then worked at WABC in New York, we refer to it affectionately here as the ex-wife at this point, but that's a fun, just a side note from no points.
	But anyway, you know, I remember going into, for the first time, the control room.
	Rush was doing his show, and I knew you and I knew Mike Mamon and I knew Kit Carson.
	And if Kit wanted to throw you out, he'd throw you out in two seconds, but we all seemed to get along pretty well.
	That was like the smoking center for cigars and everybody and all things going on that you're not allowed to do anyway.
	And then I realized very quickly that there was always a show going on behind the show.
	And that was you basically telling people to go F off and arguing with people at the top of your lungs that you were screening calls with.
	I'd never seen anything like it because I was kind of always brought up in the tradition that our listeners, they're like your customers.
	You got to serve them.
	And meanwhile, you're slamming down phones, telling them to drop dead.
	I mean, it was, if I could ever run those shows, it would be, that would be a story in and of itself.
	Well, you know what?
	I've mellowed over the years.
	By the way, no, you have not.
	You haven't mellowed at all.
	That's not true.
	Well, let me ask you this.
	Okay.
	So this incredible journey with this unique, incredible performer, passionate, patriot, unbelievable human being, generosity beyond comprehension.
	You know, talk about the big picture.
	And you also, you say in this, because I've had a sneak peek of it, the only blessing greater than working with Rush was knowing the man that he truly was.
	It was not only my honor, but my duty to help ensure his legacy is properly acknowledged.
	And that's why, you know, I'm so glad you got to do this.
	And I mean every word of that.
	You know, Rush, all the things that you just mentioned, his generosity, his incredible professionalism, his wit, his intellect, oh, yeah, all that is great.
	All that is wonderful.
	And the whole professional life that he had is something that most of us in this industry wish we could aspire to to have.
	And Sean, you're having a great ride yourself there, buddy.
	I'm just waiting for somebody to wake up and realize they screwed up and made a mistake.
	But Rush was a gentleman.
	And you know this because you were in there with us.
	You know, somebody brings him a cup of coffee.
	What does he say?
	Thank you, sir.
	Thank you, ma'am.
	Off the air, very quiet, off the air, always extremely polite, always so much of a gentleman, so much of a nice guy with respect for everybody that he comes in contact or came in contact with.
	I mean, this guy, Rush Nimbaugh, was just as a larger-than-life figure off the air for being a great person, a good guy that treated others the way that they should be treated, as he was for everything that he did in radio, which will live on and on for generations.
	As he made that announcement that day, and I want to talk about that day in a minute, but one of the things as after the announcement that he had advanced stage four lung cancer, you know, I started reading.
	I'm sure you did too, right?
	We all go to the internet and we think, you know, check out what Dr. Google had to say, and there was not much good at all in that diagnosis.
	And there was little hope.
	There was little, you know, I tried to pull out whatever I could find that gave me some hope, as I'm sure you did.
	But what was the amazing thing to me is, you know, I don't know if you've seen the movie The Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.
	That's a great movie.
	I have seen that.
	And here's Rush.
	When you get chemo the way he was getting it, they half kill you in the hopes to either save you or buy you more time than you otherwise would have had.
	That's what chemo does.
	And I think one day we'll look back as our treatments of cancer as barbaric and we'll have it advanced so far medically.
	That's what I believe.
	But he's going through it.
	What was Rush's bucket list?
	It wasn't to travel the world.
	He knew that his time was likely over, and it's just a matter of how much time.
	And he'd be many days sick as a dog after being treated.
	His bucket list was to get back up behind the golden EIB mic and be with his audience.
	That's exactly right.
	Rush's bucket list this final year, the final year that he spent with us, and Sean, it was as difficult as you say, and even more.
	And here's the amazing thing about it.
	When the mic came on, even after he came back from his treatments and he was going through it, he was going through all of the effects of the chemo.
	When the microphone came on, you couldn't tell.
	His energy was the same level as if he were just having a normal show.
	His enthusiasm, his drive, all of that was the same.
	He was robust.
	It was just, if you were listening, you could not tell that you were listening to someone that was fighting and having the major fight of his life to stay alive.
	What you heard was someone that was just giving it all to his radio show like he did for the entire 33 years this national show was syndicated and before that to even get there.
	But after the show, Sean, there were days when we were, the three of us sitting there, Brian Dorn and myself after the show, when he could barely get up some days after the show.
	He was so weak.
	He was so exhausted from the energy.
	And you know this.
	I mean, if people don't think, and I'm not saying this that they should, there's a lot of energy in doing a radio show.
	There's a lot of focus.
	There's a lot of energy.
	And the prep work that it takes to be able to even perform is demanding.
	And so by the time the show was over, my goodness, he had expended the energy that he had.
	And that, he gave it.
	He left nothing off the field.
	He gave it his all.
	And that's what he wanted to do, to be with his audience as long as he could for as many days as he could.
	Take us back to the day that he told you, Brian and Dawn and the staff and Mike Mamone, and I'm going to forget everyone's name here.
	Forgive me.
	That he told you what was going on.
	Well, it was before he went on the air and told America.
	Yeah, it was an all-hand staff meeting.
	And we knew immediately.
	I was on my way to work when I got the call that we were going to have a meeting.
	And I knew something was wrong.
	My stomach immediately got, I had butterflies immediately because we didn't have meetings.
	We didn't have an all-hands.
	We had maybe one or two in the entire three decades meetings of the entire staff.
	And those that weren't in Florida were on the phone lines, were on conference lines.
	And so we all knew that something was wrong.
	Dawn, in fact, came back.
	She was on a schedule vacation day.
	And Craig had reached out to her at Craig Kitchen and had asked her to come back in early from her vacation.
	So she knew something was wrong.
	But everyone was trying not to panic.
	And then, as I say, and I talk about this on the podcast, Rush came in.
	And at first, you couldn't tell.
	He didn't look like anything was wrong.
	He was just stoic.
	He looked like he had no anxiety.
	But within minutes, we all knew because that's when he broke the news to us that he indeed had this advanced lung cancer.
	And he did apologize to us, which I still to this day.
	Every time I think about that, it still hits me emotionally that he felt the need to do that.
	And I wish, you know, but that's just who he was.
	I mean, he always felt like he was responsible for all of us on this staff.
	And it was just an amazing thing.
	My gut instinct is to hold you over, but I'm going to tell you why I'm not going to do that.
	And I mean this, is because I want to hear the rest of the story.
	And that's what this whole series is about.
	Rush Limbaugh, the man behind the golden EIB Mike, 12 episodes narrated by our dear friend here, James Golden, a.k.a.
	Bo Snerdley.
	Very simple.
	Visit iHeart.com slash apps, and you can download the episodes right now.
	I assume, is it one at a time, or can you get all 12 at once?
	We're releasing one per week.
	All right.
	So you can download the first one today.
	All right.
	We'll put it up on Hannity.com, iHeart.com slash apps, and you don't want to miss this.
	James, I love you.
	You're a brother to me.
	You've been through the toughest time ever.
	We'll be friends for life, and I'm going to be listening to it as well.
	Thank you, my friend.
	Thank you so much.
	I'm Ben Ferguson, and I'm Ted Cruz.
	Three times a week, we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
	Nationwide, we have millions of listeners.
	Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
	And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
	We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
	So down with Verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
	You want smart political talk without the meltdowns?
	We got you.
	I'm Carol Markowitz.
	And I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
	We've been around the block in media and we're doing things differently.
	Normally is about real conversations.
	Thoughtful, try to be funny, grounded, and no panic.
	We'll keep you informed and entertained without ruining your day.
	Join us every Tuesday and Thursday.
	Normally, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
	When I told people I was making a podcast about Benghazi, nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked, why?
	Benghazi, the truth became a web of lies.
	From Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries, this is Fiasco, Benghazi.
	What difference at this point does it make?

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