Sean Hannity Show - Free Whelan - December 9th, Hour 2

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Dec. 10, 2022 - Sean Hannity Show

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Free Whelan - December 9th, Hour 2

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	This is an iHeart Podcast.
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	I'm Carol Markovich.
	And I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
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	Right, hour two, Sean Hannity Show, toll free.
	It's 800-941-SEAN if you want to be a part of the program.
	We had this report come out yesterday.
	NBC reported a statement that contradicted President Biden's claim that Russia offered to free only Brittany Griner in exchange for this, you know, merchant of death.
	And they said Biden said this was not a choice.
	MBC News later reported that the a senior U.S. official told them that the U.S. government had sought both Greiner and of course the gentleman of Marine we're we've been talking about, Paul Whalen, and uh released as part of the swap with the Kremlin, but the officials said Russia was treating Whalen differently, uh, and that the Kremlin offered either Whalen or Griner, or nothing at all.
	That contradicts exactly what the Democrats said.
	Anyway, here's John Kirby trying to clear this up.
	It is accurate that they have set up uh a separate set of expectations for Mr. Whalen uh than what they had set for Miss Griner.
	Uh the the deal that uh we got with Miss Greiner was the only deal we could get, and now was the only moment we could get it.
	Uh so we took advantage of that to to get one American home.
	But as the president said, we're gonna stay focused on on Mr. Whalen.
	Uh this was not, as the president also said, some choice between the two.
	Um so I would push back on this uh notion that uh that we deliberately, you know, uh we re chose Brittany over Paul.
	Uh there was only one way to get one American home, and that was this particular deal.
	So we're gonna stay at it.
	Uh we were working on it yesterday, we're working on it today, and I can guarantee the Whalen family that tomorrow and every day hereafter, we're gonna continue to work to br to bring Paul home.
	So anyway, um I don't understand why I'm still sitting here.
	These are the words of a devastated Paul Whalen.
	He broke his silence from this Russian uh penal colony.
	Uh his brother slamming the catastrophic exclusion of his brother, rightly so.
	Uh I'm ready to go home, the former Marine said.
	Now he's been behind bars for four long years here.
	Uh there's no evidence at all that he committed any crime.
	Griner in her case, it was kind of a slam-dung case, a minor issue involving marijuana, but it still broke the law, and we have no evidence at all that what Putin is saying and Russia is saying is anything but a lie.
	Um Congressman Mike Waltz accused the White House of putting celebrities over veterans.
	Um also Saudi Arabia reportedly played a role in this.
	Anyway, joining us now is David Whalen.
	It's his brother Paul, uh, who in fact uh is still in this Russian prison.
	Uh sir, welcome to the program.
	I'm so sorry uh to you, to your brother, to your family.
	Um this has got to be pretty heart wrenching for all of you.
	It is.
	Thank you for having me.
	And uh yeah, it's it's a very difficult uh di very difficult couple of days.
	I read your initial comments, and you are extraordinarily gracious, uh, happy that Britney Greiner was released.
	Um then this MBC news report comes out.
	I'm sure you read it.
	What were your thoughts on it?
	Uh the one about uh w th that it might have been an either-or situation.
	Yes.
	Yes, no, uh I I assume that that was a uh a misstatement.
	Uh that doesn't sound right to me.
	Uh it's not what we understood was happening, and uh I'm sure that it was just a uh uh a misunderstanding.
	Uh we have always understood that the U.S. government had made a two for one um uh offer of a concession to the Russian government.
	Um that's what was reported back in the the uh uh uh uh late summer, and uh it's not surprising that they didn't go for two two to one.
	Russia always wants parody.
	Um, but I don't think that there would ever have been a position where um there would have been an either-or uh between the two Americans.
	Well, if you look at, for example, your brother, I mean, he's a Marine, he served in Iraq.
	Um the United States gave up one of the biggest arms dealers in the world, the most notorious arm deal arms dealer in his time, you know, he earned his name, Victor Boot did, the merchant of death for good reason, profiting off of weapons that fueled uh international conflicts, especially in Africa, the Mid East and Asia, and accused of helping uh arm cartels as well.
	And he previously served in the Soviet Union armed forces.
	Uh this is this is hardly a fair deal by by any objective measure.
	Um so I'm I'm I'm a little bewildered by the fact that MBC would make such a report because they did cite senior U.S. officials.
	And I doubt they would have cited senior U.S. officials had they not spoken to senior U.S. officials.
	So maybe I'm more suspicious because of the nature of my job, but um I am suspicious nonetheless.
	Um you have spoken to your brother.
	Uh he knows about Brittany Griner's release, he knows about the prisons prisoner swap, he knows he wasn't part of it, and he has no knowledge of when he's getting out of jail, does he?
	No, I think that that's the real issue we have here is that uh he's been there for four years, and initially, in the first couple of years, uh two names had been floated as possible exchange candidates for Paul, uh Konstantin Yaroshenko and Victor Boot.
	And both of those uh Russians have now gone home from U.S. custody to Russia.
	And uh in in this last attempt to bring Paul home, uh bring both Paul and Brittany uh home, uh the U.S. government appears to have gone through a long list of other um concessions.
	Who knows what they were, whether they were people or things or ideas like uh, you know, reduce sanctions on somebody, I don't know.
	Um and uh and apparently Russia didn't go for any of those either.
	So I think the the real difficulty for us here, and and probably for Paul, I'm sure he's done this math too, is well, if they haven't gone for anything that the U.S. currently has in its control, then what does Russia want and how does the U.S. government acquire it?
	Trevor Burrus, Jr.
	David, let's talk a little bit about your brother and about his case and when this nightmare began.
	I guess it was before 2018 when he was finally sentenced, correct?
	Uh he was sentenced in uh 2020.
	He was arrested in uh December of 2018.
	And he's being charged with being a U.S. spy, correct?
	Right, yeah.
	Uh in the same way that the Russian government used to do it with paper, uh, and they did it with American uh Nikolas Stanilov and then again with Edmund Pope.
	Um they they slip you information uh in a packet that you can't see.
	And so the digital version of that is a USB stick, and they gave Paul a USB stick, he was entrapped in a hotel and arrested, and uh the rest is history.
	You know, it's unbelievable, and I I hope Americans are listening to this and learn maybe taking a trip like Bernie Sanders did to the former Soviet Union to honeymoon is not necessarily a good idea.
	Um how many years is your brother sentenced now?
	Uh he has served four out of a sixteen-year sentence.
	Is there any other avenues that you've tried over the years?
	Uh is there any third party broker that maybe you can go to if the U.S. doesn't have anything else left in its arsenal to offer?
	Are there not any other prisoners that that Russia would want back besides the merchant of death?
	Well, that's the trick, you know.
	Uh I think in the past uh we were often uh looking at nation states dealing with terrorist groups.
	And so in that case you could send in a military unit, you had a lot more options if you wanted to retrieve your citizen.
	When is another nation state, a sovereign nation, uh who is uh essentially the hostage taker in this case, and it's it's Russia, it's China, it's Iran, it's Syria, it's Egypt.
	Um you don't have those tools, and it becomes very difficult if those countries aren't going to uh be persuaded, uh, and they do need to be persuaded.
	You have to have uh perhaps punishments like sanctions or you need to have a concession that you can release.
	Um we had thought about with Paul that it might not be people, it might be things.
	You know, the Obama administration had taken uh uh properties from the Russian government um that they had in the U.S. for their embassies and consulates, and the Russian government has wanted those back, so we thought, well, maybe that would be uh a fair exchange to bring back a tourist who is uh kept by the Russians.
	But uh I don't think we're there.
	Well, is that ever offered to your knowledge?
	I don't know.
	Uh we we try to um send suggestions to U.S. government.
	Obviously, there are people who are far more specialized within the U.S. government who are uh looking at this too.
	And uh I think again, Paul is unfortunately in the middle of an evolution of the U.S. government.
	Uh certainly over the last four years, i it has just changed and changed and changed.
	Uh and then with the executive order last summer, um there are now you know people who are tasked to come up with a strategy to on how to how to prepare for this and how to, you know, not be caught uh only after the detention has happened, but you know, to be thinking about it in advance.
	When you hear the reaction, the DEA agent, for example, it helped put uh Victor Boop behind bars, slam this deal, said quote, we couldn't even get two people for the world's most notorious weapons trafficker, uh former Kremlin aides, they are saying Putin now played Biden on the prisoner swamp.
	I think that's just stating the uh the obvious.
	Even some top Democrats are blasting Biden over releasing this guy.
	Bob Menendez, for example, in New Jersey is is one of them.
	Um senior defense officials are concerned that he's gonna resume his arms trafficking.
	Uh there is a bipartisan backlash to all of this, uh, because the price was so high and Brittany Greiner's offense so so minor in in comparison.
	Um let's talk a little bit about how your brother's being treated.
	Uh is he able to tell you in a conversation, knowing that he's probably being listened to?
	Is he able to describe for you what the conditions are?
	He is, and and they are uh they do record a lot of his calls.
	There's always a guard standing there, and he's able to speak to our parents on almost a daily basis.
	Uh and it's as bad as you probably can imagine.
	It's uh you know, six days of working in a sewing sweatshop, uh they're long days, um there's not very much food.
	There has been less food since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, uh, because the uh the sanctions are uh are obviously hitting the Russian economy and and that trickles down to the prisoners.
	Um so you know, he's lost weight, uh he has found an equilibrium.
	Um he has found uh survival tactics that he uses, so things like uh you know, getting up in the morning and singing the US national anthem uh is both, you know, something that helps him have a a ritual or a routine.
	It's something that uh irritates the guards and you know the and the Russians.
	So, you know, he he does those things to survive and uh I think he's doing the best he can, but you know, mentally you've got to wonder how uh he's been doing this for four years and now he's just had a huge disappointment.
	Um how does he face to do this for another twelve years?
	Is there anything that that the people listening to this program can do to show support?
	Is there for example an address?
	Does he get mail?
	Is he able to get um food or or uh even simple things like toiletries or anything like that?
	Is he is is that allowable?
	Well the two best things that they can do is that if if they're able to uh financially support Paul, there's a go fund me at GoFundMe.com slash free Paul Wheelan.
	And that money goes into a prison account that we then buy those things because you're not able to ship those to him, but we can buy those things for him in Russia and have the the US Embassy will then get them to him.
	The other thing is and and it's much simpler and what are the things that he would be able to have if you don't mind me asking specifically.
	Oh, it it's things like um apples, oranges, bananas, uh fruits and vegetables.
	Uh those are not supplied by the prison.
	Um if he wants uh protein beyond the two inches of fish he gets a day, uh you know, we send him peanuts and things, but uh all of that has to come in in Russian packaging.
	So uh so it's that sort of stuff.
	And he and he does receive those th that sort of thing.
	How did the other prisoners there treat him and does he have any means of communicating with most of them?
	I would assume they they mostly speak Russian.
	Well the US Embassy is really good at they take a package, he's allowed one package, which is why we don't ask we ask people not to send him any packages.
	He's only allowed one package every quarter, and uh and they're really good, so that's how we know he gets the things.
	The uh the labor colony he is in has other foreigners, and so there are uh two Americans there, there are a couple of uh other English speakers, and he you know, he's wor learned a couple a couple of words in Tajik, he's lear uh learned a couple of words in other languages so that he's able to communicate with uh other prisoners and uh you know, and and avoid getting punished by the guards for you know not having his uniform shirt on right or not wearing his hat right at formation and things like that.
	Is there any abuse that you know has taken place?
	Have they tortured him at all?
	It's gotten better.
	Uh it was uh bad up until um what, I guess it was almost a year ago, and then the warden then uh was arrested and has been charged for corruption and since been sentenced to three years to spend in in another colony.
	So uh, you know, the the corruption Is all the way to the top from uh well, from Putin all the way down, I guess I I might say.
	Um the last year has been much better since that warden left.
	Uh Paul had been put in solitary periodically.
	Obviously, uh the UN considers fifteen days in solitary to be um torture, and so uh Paul has had a number stint there.
	There's theft, you know, when we've sent him medicine.
	Uh sometimes it gets as far as the uh the uh prison and then guards will steal it.
	So, you know, it it's not a great existence.
	We do the best we can to support him, and uh and he I think does his best to s to survive.
	Does he have access to doctors if he gets sick?
	In an emergency, there is a prison hospital.
	Uh they tend to actually send him to the prison hospital when they don't want him to see what's going on at the low the labor camp.
	So recently the the Wagner mercenary group came to recruit prisoners to go to the Ukraine war, uh, and they s shipped Paul off to the hospital.
	He didn't have any illnesses, he didn't get any treatment when he was there, but uh that's where he went.
	So in an emergency, there would be some uh healthcare nearby.
	All right, so if people want to help your brother out, he's been there now four long years, and he's got a long stint to go uh moving forward.
	If the government's not allowed to get him out, um it's gotta be heartbreaking for you and your entire family.
	Uh you have a GoFundMe account.
	What's that address again?
	Uh GoFundMe.com slash free Paul Wheelan.
	And then the other thing you can do is to write uh to the uh State Department Counselor Services, and if you go to freepaulwheeland.com, there's an address there.
	Uh a a letter, a card, anything to let him know that he is he isn't forgotten would be a huge help.
	Um with the war in Ukraine, uh mail to Russia has stopped.
	Uh the U.S. mail mail doesn't go to Russia, Russia mail doesn't come back.
	And so uh he's been cut off from a lot of the mail that we used to be able to send him.
	So cards sent to that address will go to the State Department, and the State Department will then make sure that they get over to Paul.
	And uh yeah, they're a real lifeline.
	I mean, the State Department has been just such a huge help for Paul and for our family.
	Uh what I'd like to do is we're gonna put this up on my website, Hannity.com, because many people might be driving and obviously can't remember that address.
	Uh, but we'll put all the information if you want to help out uh David's brother, Paul Whalen in this Russian prison.
	Uh and uh man, I it's I feel bad for you.
	I feel bad for your brother, I feel bad for your whole family.
	Uh it's a travesty, and it's got to be so disappointing in light of the the magnitude of this prisoner swap and the disparity in this swap.
	Um certainly your brother should have been included in my view.
	Um anyway, we'll put that up on Hannity.com.
	David, our prayers are with you and your family and your brother.
	Thank you for being with us.
	Thanks so much so much for having me, Sean.
	We'll continue.
	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.
	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 sas.
	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.
	All right, 25 till the top of the hour.
	We'll get to your calls in just a second.
	800 941 Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
	Now, radio is a very small industry, even though you hear about you know thousands and thousands of stations around the country.
	It's a it's a relative relatively small business.
	Uh Jeff Smullian uh is the founder, CEO, chairman of the board of Emma's uh communications corporation.
	Uh he has a new book out.
	It's called Never Ride a Roller Coaster Upside Down.
	Uh The Ups, the Downs, the Reinvention of an Entrepreneur.
	Uh, he spent fifty years now building this successful media company of his.
	And um it's uh it's it's a pretty interesting life story among many of his accomplishments.
	Uh you were the founder of American All Sports Radio.
	Uh I think that turned out okay for you.
	Yeah, what's going on, Jeff?
	How are you?
	Sean's good to talk to you.
	Yeah, that one worked out pretty well.
	We've had You know, when you look at all sports radio, I mean it's everywhere.
	I mean, I would say every market now has two, if not three or four all sports radio uh stations, right?
	Yeah, and and and I have a favorite saying the line between being a genius and idiot is very fine, and I've been on both sides.
	And when we wanted to put we wanted to put uh WFAN on the air, uh uh nobody wanted to do it in our company, and they finally did it as a favor to me.
	And it was called Smollian's Folly for a long time.
	Um it was uh Jim Lampley called it the Vietnam War of Emma's, and uh so I was pretty much an idiot, and then one day uh we merged with NBC, we put Don Imus and Mike and the Mad Doug on, and and it and it worked, and so I became uh I went from idiot to genius on that project.
	By the way, IMS was a friend of mine, and then uh he had the most wicked sense of humor.
	I mean, he was so obnoxious in his text messages to me, and I just used to give it right back to him even harder.
	But uh what was it like dealing with him in his younger years?
	I I dealt with him when he was older.
	He was still crotchety and cranky, but he was not as as as nasty as he was in some of those early years.
	No, he was yeah, I think Don was bored born crotchety, but uh just a definitely was, but he was funny as hell.
	Yeah, he really was, and it was so much fun working with him.
	And uh he used to call me uh the hillbilly from Indiana.
	So uh yeah, so be it.
	I don't know if too many hillbillies from Indiana.
	So you've owned a major baseball team.
	Well tell us about that.
	Well, uh you know, one chapter in the book is Idiot to genius, which is a story of WFAN, and the next chapter is Genius the Idiot, owning the Seattle Mariners.
	Um I was sort of the boy wonder when I went out there and we were sort of the turnaround wizards, and when it didn't work, uh I I became a pariah pretty quickly overnight.
	So I I definitely went from genius to idiot on that one.
	But we'd love to talk about made a lot of friends.
	Well, I mean, look at uh look at everybody that owns a football team now.
	I don't care what you paid uh twenty-five years ago, uh you made a fortune.
	Uh there's no doubt about it.
	So I guess it's hit or miss in any of these businesses, sports in particular.
	It really is.
	Um so you've had to manage people like Don Imus, David Letterman, Ken Griffey Jr.
	Um, you've even been nationalized by uh by an ally of Vladimir Putin.
	I'm not sure what that exactly meant.
	Tell me about it.
	Well, we we owned the national network in Hungary.
	Um, and we you know were basically nationalized by Victor Orbot, uh, which I didn't know at the time, but he is he was you know, as you now know, he's pretty close to Vladimir Putin.
	Um, and he basically just took the the two national networks and nationalized them.
	It was an interesting experience.
	I never thought it would happen to me.
	Tell me about Letterman, another crotchety old guy.
	David David worked for me, it was the first radio station he worked for.
	He was a weekend weather man, and we hired him, and uh he was absolutely absolutely brilliant.
	Uh very funny guy, did all sorts of crazy things.
	One day he announced that the city of Indianapolis had sold a monument in the middle of town to Guam so that uh so that they in exchange gave us a three hundred and fifty foot salary stick, and people said you can't sell our monument, and he said, but look how much greener downtown will be with a 300 foot salary stick.
	That's a pretty good line.
	There's no doubt about it.
	Yeah.
	Uh he went on to have a fairly successful career, wouldn't you say?
	Yeah, uh David's the best.
	Absolutely.
	And uh you know, I've known him forever.
	He was on our board and uh just a brilliant guy.
	Fun guy.
	What about Ken Griffey Jr.?
	Well, I'm biased.
	I thought Kenny would have if he had been healthy, would have been the greatest baseball player who ever lived.
	Uh he was a human highlight reel.
	And you know, I I think in the book I talk about the fact I've known two incredibly great athletes, Peyton Manning and Ken Griffey Jr., and they were the opposite.
	Kenny was the natural.
	Peyton was a guy who studied film, you know, twenty-four hours a day, worked at it harder than anybody, and in his younger days, it changed a little bit with Kenny, but in his younger days, he was just a natural, and people said, Well, you know, he's not studying pictures, he's not analyzing things, and he didn't need to.
	He was just, you know, he could hit anybody.
	You know, it's amazing the difference between natural talent and those that uh outwork people.
	I I would argue my work ethic is my my greater strength in my case, but yeah, yeah.
	Um I have the same I have the same issue.
	I don't have that much natural talent.
	Yeah, I mean, I there's I will tell you this is I I do have a pretty good eye for spotting talent.
	Whenever I see somebody on television that I I can tell almost immediately if they've got that it factor or whatever it is, you can't even describe it sometimes and and stand out, and I've been proven right on a number of occasions and uh have helped people uh become you know stars in their own right to whatever extent they've wanted to.
	Um anyway, the book is fascinating.
	Jeff uh Smollian is the uh founder, CEO chairman of the board of MS Communications, his new book is Never Ride a Roller Coaster Upside Down, the Ups and Downs and Reinvention of an Entrepreneur.
	Uh we'll have a link on Hannity.com, it's on Amazon.com, it's on in bookstores everywhere if you want to read it across the country, some great anecdotes, brings you insight, a lot of great stories, and you're gonna learn a lot.
	Uh Jeff, we appreciate your time.
	Thanks, John.
	It's a pleasure.
	800 941 Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
	Uh all right, let's go to uh Jack in Florida.
	Jack, how are you?
	Glad you called, sir.
	What's going on?
	Hey, Sean, thanks for having me on.
	I just want to uh voice my support for uh uh Kevin McCarthy for speaker, um, because I think he's a he's a great candidate.
	He laid out the commitment to America with uh several conservative policy initiatives, um revitalizing our economy, uh securing our border and stopping the flood of immigrants, illegal immigrants coming into the country, setting up the China.
	And I and I just um don't quite understand the objections raised by some uh uh freedom caucus Republicans like Andy Biggs or Mac Gay.
	Um and I j I just think that Republicans should align themselves behind him and uh uh understand that the Republican Party is bigger than you know, UltramAGA or the 2020 election and really um go back to our roots of you know, because you understand that the Republican Party is the party of abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, uh civil rights in the nineteen sixties of the Cobalt War, and these are all things that Kevin McCarthy uh wants to return the Republican Party to, at least the House, and uh stop the radical Democratic agenda.
	So that's that's my main point.
	You know, look, um Kevin did raise nearly five hundred million dollars.
	There is some animosity among some Freedom Caucus members and in terms of money spent and how it was spent during the campaign.
	You know, I I actually sent out a note to a few select people, and it has to do with whether or not they're gonna get this resolved before January third or whether it's gonna be an Adam Schiff show on the House floor, which is gonna be a disaster for everybody.
	And they need to get their act together.
	I'm not I'm not gonna get involved in the process.
	I'm not a member of the House.
	This is their job to figure this out.
	McCarthy did get 85% of the vote.
	Uh I like Andy Biggs.
	I get along fine with all the Freedom Clock Caucus members.
	I'm more philosophically aligned with them.
	What nobody seems to have figured out yet is that any three any four or five congressmen, caucus members joining together are gonna have an awful lot of power uh at any at any given moment.
	But what I what I tried to warn them is that if if in fact they don't get their act together, and we go back to this hasn't happened since 1923, and they're gonna have vote after vote after vote.
	The media mob is gonna have a field day with this.
	Democrats are gonna have a field day of this.
	And what I suggested to some key people, uh, not that anybody ever listens to me, is that they clear their schedules, they leave their phones and their egos at home, uh, that they stop leaking to the media, and that they hammer out a deal that is acceptable to everybody.
	And that would be that would have to do with small things like committee assignments and office locations, although committee assignments is not a small deal, and come up with the agenda.
	It should be the commitments to America that they they ran on, uh that resonates with the American people, and that's gonna make our lives better.
	They're supposed to serve us.
	And they've got to figure out how they're gonna use their newfound power of subpoena and the power of the purse.
	And what they better figure out sooner than later is at the end of the day, they're going to succeed together or they're going to fail together.
	There's not going to be any in-between here.
	And if they allow this to keep going on and they turn this into a shift show on January 3rd, um, then they're going to deserve everything that they get.
	And we're going to be screwed because of their incompetence.
	So that's my message to everybody.
	Uh whether or not they listen to me, I don't know.
	Um I gave it my best shot because I see what's unfolding, and I see it, you know, two trains on one track and they're headed towards each other, and a collision is not going to be good for either side.
	That's what I see.
	Right, Sean.
	And I I just think that um, you know, Kevin McCarthy in his commitment to America.
	He said we need to deliver an economy that's strong, a nation that that's safe, a future that's built on freedom, and a government that's accountable.
	These are all conservative principles.
	So I think the right thing for Republicans to do is get their full support behind the carte.
	And the last thing you need is a democratic speaker.
	I mean, Cardinals.
	He's not he's not Mitch McConnell, and if at any if they're not happy with them, after a period of time, they can get rid of them.
	So I I I have every belief with the small margins that they have that they're all gonna have to work together here.
	And they've got to put the American people first, not themselves first.
	That's that's my advice to them.
	Anyway, appreciate it.
	Quick break when we come back, we hit the phones 800-941 Sean.
	If you want to be a part of the program, Christmas is coming.
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	The final hour of the Sean Hannity show is up next.
	Hang on for Sean's conservative solutions.
	You are basically exposing collusion between a political party and uh and one uh pilot was released, it was even uh called the Biden team contacting uh Twitter.
	I mean, that is uh election interference, isn't it?
	Yeah, it's yeah, I mean I clearly if if Twitter is doing one team's bidding before an election, shutting down dissenting voices um on a political election, that is the very definition of election interference.
	And what the hell else would you of course like yes?
	Um you know frankly, Twitter was acting like an awful of the Democratic National Committee.
	It was absurd.
	All right, back to our busy phones 800-941 Sean.
	If you want to be a part of the program, Mark Illinois, next Sean Hannity Show.
	What's going on?
	Oh, thanks for taking my call, Sean.
	I wanted to talk about the information that Elon Musk has released regarding Twitter in the last two election cycles.
	It's obvious that we won't get any relief from the DOJ or any investigations, uh, any support from the executive branch.
	But the state's attorneys in various states have the right to investigate to start inquiries, they have the ability to start civil and uh criminal investigations.
	If if they believe that the citizens of their state have been in injured by these practices, they have the right to it's it sounds like you have a background in law, Do you?
	I do not, sir.
	Okay.
	Sounds like you do, but that's okay.
	Keep going.
	So I I would just, you know, if any state's attorneys, if if uh smart people in your audience are listening, if they could weigh in on this, uh many a basketball coach will tell you that uh good deep uh good offense is uh the best medicine for winning a game not to play defense.
	I think if the state's attorneys would get together, start to investigate this.
	It's obvious what we're doing.
	Well we see this happening uh with Eric Schmidt in Missouri and Louisiana's attorney general.
	They've teamed up together, and you know, they they got the head of the integrity uh whatever system, I'm not sure the exact title, um, at Twitter, and they got a lot of information out of the guy.
	And you know, one thing that we did find out, his name actually is uh Yo Roth, he's Twitter's former head of integrity, and he did admit that these weekly calls that were put together by this uh friend of of Baker and friend of Struck and Page and a guy that had a um I I guess his his claim to fame was his postgraduate thesis claiming Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help former President Trump.
	He's the guy that organized all these weekly meetings with the big tech corporations and was warning them of a hack and leak operation and they needed to be on on watch that that doesn't happen and they don't want to be disseminating false information.
	Uh and remember it was Twitter's Yel Roth that said, yeah, he mentioned that this information may have to do with Hunter.
	I think they knew damn well that this was coming out because they knew Rudy Giuliani had a copy, and they knew the New York Post was working on a story.
	So they were, you know, not debunking it, they were pre-bunking it, and they got what they wanted.
	They were able to censor uh all of the media and big tech corporations from disseminating the story, which had an impact on the election, which is why Elon Musk is a hundred percent right by shutting down dissenting voices.
	That was the very definition of election interference, and I and I'm pretty sure that's why Elon Musk is exposing all of this.
	It's a pretty big reveal.
	I mean, you can't even you can't even calibrate the impact on an election.
	But I would I would argue that it probably would have been the tipping point for a lot of people.
	But you're right, states attorneys generals can do their job.
	I think they can follow in the footsteps of Louisiana, Eric Schmidt, Missouri, and and uh follow the path that you laid out very articulately.
	Anyway, appreciate the call, my friend.
	800-941 Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
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