Sean Hannity Show - Chief Steven Sund - March 9th, Hour 3

All Episodes

Previous Next

March 10, 2023 - Sean Hannity Show

39:50

Chief Steven Sund - March 9th, Hour 3

Large

Audio Only |

Scroll

Time	Text
	This is an iHeart podcast.
	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?
	Listen to Fiasco, Benghazi, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
	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 download Verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
	All right, news roundup information overload hour 800-941-Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
	You know, it's amazing that so much we're learning about January 6th that the January 6th hearings never told us.
	We played for you now many times, even NBC reporting that all of this intelligence was available.
	Alba, I'm going to play this Lester whole thing.
	All of this intelligence was available and they didn't act upon it before January 6th.
	Actionable intelligence.
	In other words, this could have been prevented if they did basic law enforcement, you know, 101 maneuvers here.
	It's unreal.
	Listen to this NBC report.
	Now to our NBC News exclusive.
	The January 6th Committee's final report was more than 800 pages, but some material did not make the cut, including much of its findings on the failures of federal law enforcement leading up to the attack.
	Chief investigator of the January 6th Committee says the government could have prevented it.
	Had law enforcement agencies acted on the available intelligence, do you believe the attack on the Capitol could have been successfully repelled?
	I think it would have been a lot different had law enforcement taken a more assertive, protective posture.
	Law enforcement had a very direct role in contributing to really the failures, the security failures that led to the violence.
	People familiar with the committee's work tell NBC News members downplayed that finding because they wanted to keep the focus on former President Trump.
	Committee members dispute that.
	Hafe would not discuss internal deliberations.
	Was this an intelligence failure?
	It was not an intelligence failure.
	We just had to be circle breach the lives.
	We need value.
	Hafey says the committee found the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies did not act on the intelligence they had.
	Now, that's not the only thing we discovered.
	In the course of interviews that I have had, in the days, just a few days before January 6th, there was a meeting in the White House and the issue of calling up the National Guard came up.
	And what do we have?
	We have the defense secretary at the time, Chris Miller, his chief of staff, President Trump, Mark Meadows, and we don't have it on tape, but it was in the Inspector General's report, even General Milley, all acknowledging that Trump wanted the guard on duty and ready in case something happened.
	Listen, did you authorize calling up the guard?
	And then it became the chain of command went to Nancy Pelosi and to the mayor of D.C., Muriel Bowser.
	Did you, as required by law, authorize that?
	100% and attested to by many people, and they turned it down.
	Nancy Pelosi turned it down.
	Mayor Bowser's written refusal.
	The communications between the leader of the Capitol Police and their chain of command to the DOD, refusing our request to allow National Guard's men and women to stage on January 4 and 5 before January 6th.
	Did you both ask for the National Guard to be called up?
	Without a doubt, Sean, we've made that very clear, not just once, but on numerous occasions.
	We wanted to make sure that there was plenty of National Guard on the ready in case there was some kind of violence.
	I had a meeting with President Trump on the 3rd of January concerning some international threats.
	And at the very end, he asked if there were any requests for National Guard support.
	What was the president's response to you with regard to the request made by Mayor Bowser?
	Fill it and do whatever was necessary to protect the demonstrators.
	That was now NBC News reporting federal law enforcement could have prevented this.
	They didn't act on the intelligence.
	And then all these people in a meeting with the president saying, do we have guard troops?
	Are we going to need them for this day?
	Now it gets even more interesting.
	And that is because there's a terrific book out.
	You can get it on Amazon.com.
	We'll put it up on Hannity.com.
	It's in bookstores everywhere.
	It's called Courage Under Fire.
	It's written by Stephen A. Sun.
	He was the Capitol Police Chief on January 6th, and he himself made multiple requests for the National Guard.
	They were all declined.
	He joins us now.
	Sir, welcome to the program.
	It's an honor to have you.
	Sean, thank you very much for having me on today.
	There's still so much people don't know about January 6th.
	Let me just hand you the microphone.
	You heard what I just played.
	You heard NBC.
	You heard President Trump and Mark Meadows and Chris Miller and others.
	What was your reaction to that?
	I've got a few things to say.
	I will tell you this, and just give me a couple of minutes.
	Congress passed a law that restricted my ability to bring in federal resources, whether it's the FBI, ATF, or National Guard, in advance of an event or even during an emergency like we had on January 6th without first obtaining approval from the Capitol Police Board and leadership.
	And then I was denied January 3rd by Pelosi's sergeant-at-arms, Paul Irving, to bring in the National Guard in advance.
	And then when we were under attack, I repeatedly requested permission to bring in the National Guard over and over from 12.58 p.m. until 2.09 p.m., 71 minutes, repeated calls.
	I made 32 calls to my law enforcement partners trying to get in assistance.
	11 of those calls went to the sergeant-at-arms, and it took 71 minutes to finally get approval.
	And then you know what the kicker is?
	Pelosi goes on the television the very next day, says, I failed as a leader, calls my resignation, and then lies to the American public saying, I never even talked to her that day.
	I spoke to her three times.
	And by the way, why didn't the January 6th committee subpoena her text messages, her phone records, her email records from that day?
	Why didn't they get Muriel Bowser's?
	Why didn't they ask for yours?
	Or maybe they did ask for yours?
	Oh, I gave them everything I had.
	Why didn't they call me and ask me to testify publicly?
	Well, that's a great question.
	I can give you my answer.
	What I believe to be the answer is they had a predetermined narrative and a predetermined conclusion.
	And I'll tell you what the worst part is, and I think you'll agree with me from a law enforcement standpoint.
	They didn't come up with a single plan or idea to prevent this from ever happening again.
	You are right about that.
	I mean, we can't have our institutions and our politicians, Chief, we can't have them under attack like this.
	I was condemning it on this show in real time.
	I condemned it on my TV show that night like I condemned the 574 riots in the summer of 2020 that everybody told us was so peaceful, which wasn't.
	And I absolutely appreciate that.
	And I will tell you, you're absolutely right.
	Very little has been done to prevent this from happening yet.
	They did pass one law that allows the chief to call in the National Guard in an emergency.
	But get this.
	They made it revocable by members of Congress.
	That's crazy.
	So what's even interesting is when you talk about that, we have 18 agencies that make up the intelligence community.
	Half of those are military.
	Like you had said, we now know Millie had such great concerns on the Sunday before January 6th, he talked about locking down the city and revoking permits on Capitol Hill.
	You know who signs those permits?
	Me.
	You know who they didn't tell?
	Me.
	Wow.
	My men and women were left out there without some critical intelligence that should have been in the intelligence assessments I was getting.
	And that's probably a whole nother call.
	But anyway, instead, I had to get on a call at 2.34 p.m. begging with the Pentagon to send National Guard troops that were within eyesight of the Capitol.
	And guess what?
	They didn't send them.
	They sent them back to the Armory and sent evening troops to relieve them and come to the Capitol.
	They didn't lie until 5.40 p.m.
	So you reach out in the days before January 6th, you're reaching out that day, and you're not getting any help at all whatsoever.
	And we're watching what's unfolding before our eyes.
	Everybody's in a state of shock.
	And yet this never came to light in the January 6th committee.
	They didn't come up with a plan how to create a perimeter to make sure that that Capitol forever remains safe and our politicians are never attacked again.
	They didn't do that either.
	And no matter how many times you asked, and this is important, and you point this out in your book, the rules are different for you because of two specific statutes restricting your ability to obtain the needed support for your officers.
	And, you know, the two statutes prohibited you from calling up the National Guard or even federal law enforcement to support an advance unless all these other people approve it.
	You did not have the authority to do it.
	And when you asked, they didn't help you.
	Right.
	I was denied the approval in advance and then delayed for 71 minutes when we were under attack on January 6th.
	It's atrocious what we went through, but then to be put on national TV and made the scapegoat for a law, they were the ones that passed and tied my hands.
	That's what really kind of irks me.
	So at the end of this, how many years had you served as the chief of the Capitol Police?
	I have 30 years of law enforcement experience, but 25, a little over 25 of those are with D.C. police.
	I had been the chief of Capitol Police for 18 months when this occurred.
	Yeah.
	And I noticed, by the way, that one January 6th committee member, Zoe Lofgren, was on the House committee overseeing the Capitol Police and received security briefings ahead of 1.6.
	Did she not see the security briefings that MBC was reporting?
	I don't know what other security briefings she had.
	The intelligence that I had available to me, I've outlined in detail in the book.
	And you'll see that those, even those intelligence don't indicate the level of intelligence that we now know existed that people were planning.
	There was groups planning attacking the Capitol.
	They're penetrating the Capitol, doing a number of things.
	None of that had been portrayed, not in any of the assessments, not even in the footnotes.
	They even put out assessments saying demonstrations low probability of civil disobedience.
	Did you know that Muriel Bowser is on record denying calling up and saying you don't have authority to call up the guard?
	Are you aware of that?
	Yes, I do.
	So when I first asked Paul Irving for the use of the National Guard on January 3rd, he used the term optics.
	He was concerned about optics.
	And I believe that goes back to Speaker Pelosi's concern in the term she used, stormtroopers, to refer to our fine men and women in the federal law enforcement National Guard, referring to them being on the streets of the United States during the 2020 riots.
	Muriel Bowser put out a letter, I believe it was January 4th or 5th, I referenced it in the book, that says she does not want any more National Guard called up without her explicit notification and approval of her and the Metropolitan Police Department.
	So I am aware of that.
	That's unbelievable.
	More with Chief Stephen A. Sun on the other side.
	Don't forget his book, now on sale at Amazon.com, Hannity.com, and bookstores everywhere.
	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 Podcast, 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 Mayfook 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.
	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 at 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.
	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 download Verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
	All right, we continue with Capitol Police Chief, former Capitol Police Chief.
	He was there on January 6th.
	His request for the National Guard denied repeatedly.
	Courage Under Fire is his book, Amazon.com, Hannity.com, bookstores everywhere.
	You know, we watched in the summer of 2020, 574 riots.
	We had a couple of thousand cops injured.
	We watched every night as they were being hit with bricks and rocks and Molotov cocktails and frozen water bottles.
	A couple of thousand cops injured.
	We had dozens of dead Americans, 16,000 rioters arrested, 600 cases of arson, billions of dollars in property damage.
	How come they didn't have a hearing on that?
	Well, let's just tie it down to Washington, D.C. You know, during the riots they had at the White House between May 30th and I think June 1st or 2nd, when they were attacked on the White House repeatedly and made the president and his family go into the bunker, there was more officers injured there than there were at the Capitol on January 6th.
	Yeah, let me ask you this question.
	Now that some of this new videotape has come out, what was your reaction to it?
	You know, I'll tell you, I'm in favor of the videotapes being released.
	I think transparency is important.
	You know, I think any chief that's faced with a body-worn camera, any kind of issue like that, the one that people are going to call for it to be released, but I think it should be released.
	So I'm all in favor of it being released.
	And people are looking for fair and balanced reporting.
	And that's ultimately, I think, the goal.
	I think that's when Tucker Carlson was releasing.
	I think that was his main concern, to provide the alternative of what was being put out just by the J6.
	But my concern, and I think some of the concern of law enforcement is his portrayal made it look like it was just more of a walk in the park than it really was that day.
	Apparently, Benny Thompson, who headed up the J6 committee, is actually out there, was on fake news CNN, and he was claiming that none of the committee members had access to this footage.
	I find that hard to believe.
	He said only committee staffers kind of went through the video.
	Now, if you're being charged, if you're a lawyer and you find out there's 41,000 hours worth of footage, a crazy amount of footage, I would think that they would want that evidence, potential evidence that could be exculpatory towards their clients.
	Wouldn't you think they'd request that now?
	Well, absolutely.
	We think they'd request.
	I mean, any police officer knows any information you have associated with any kind of prosecution or any kind of case usually becomes what they call juice material.
	But, you know, for him, you know, as a member of the committee to be saying they didn't have access to it, but his staffers may have.
	If your staffers have it, they're working for you.
	That's still you having access to it.
	And you should have had access to everything available from the Capitol Police.
	I would have been very surprised if they didn't collect.
	Sounds to me like they selectively edited it and they failed this country by not telling a true and accurate story and not interviewing very key players like Nancy Pelosi, the sergeant of arms, the mayor of D.C., Muriel Bowser, and not bringing you in.
	I think you would have been one of the most important people to talk to.
	It's sad that you had to say this in a book.
	It's sad that people smeared you.
	It was undeserved.
	You did not have the authority to do what they told you they wanted done or should have been done.
	And when you asked, you were denied.
	I mean, it doesn't get any more clear than that.
	And the worst part is we don't have any plan in place to stop this from ever happening again.
	And anyway, Chief Stephen A. Sun, thank you for being with us.
	The book is called Courage Under Fire.
	It's on Amazon.com, Hannity.com.
	It's in bookstores everywhere.
	I think your story deserves to be heard.
	Thank you, sir.
	I appreciate it.
	Thank you, sir.
	I appreciate it.
	800-941-Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
	All right, 25 now till the top of the hour.
	800-941-Sean, our number, if you want to be a part of the program.
	And anyway, we have a lot going on today, and we got a great show tonight.
	If you want to be part of a studio audience show, it's simple.
	Just go to Hannity.com.
	Tickets are absolutely, positively free.
	You don't get anything for free these days.
	No.
	But anyway, we'd love to have you.
	People are having a great time.
	We throw out a ton of footballs, and I make people catch them before I say that you can have it.
	Or you hit them in the head.
	No, there's been a couple of people.
	There's been a war, people jumping on.
	That's why they sign that waiver before they sit down.
	Liability waiver.
	Do they sign a waiver?
	Of course, before potentially getting hit by Sean Hannity.
	I doubt it.
	But anyway, last year, listen.
	I'm just kidding, by the way.
	I am kidding.
	I know.
	Our friends are pre-born.
	They don't get any money like Planned Parenthood from the federal government.
	None, not a penny.
	But they are in the baby saving business.
	And what they're doing is using the science of ultrasound.
	And ultrasound today, what is it, a 4G?
	I mean, you can see fingers and toes.
	Were you able to see that with Liam and facial features at a pretty early stage, right?
	He's already making the face.
	I don't want to do that.
	But that's the thing.
	So any expecting woman that wants a free ultrasound, you can have one thanks to pre-born.
	And the only reason pre-born can offer that for free is because of generous donations from people in the pro-life community, people that believe in the sanctity of life.
	And they're using this science and it's having a profound impact.
	People take a look at a baby growing inside them and they say, I'm going to keep that baby.
	And then they hear the heartbeat.
	I'm going to keep that baby.
	Anyway, if you want a sponsor, for example, it's $28 a piece.
	Sponsor as many as you like and you might actually literally be saving a baby's life from abortion.
	Anyway, I love the fact that they don't take a penny from the government.
	And anyway, they're doing great work.
	I'm going to make my donation this weekend.
	Just dial pound $250 on your cell.
	keyword baby pound 250 on your cell keyword baby they have a safe and secure website at preborn.com slash sean that's preborn.com slash sean uh and you're gonna love this group and they're really really having a major impact on the issue of life so jim jordan uh he previewed this on my television show the other night uh jim jordan is now looking at information that our government now is searching for
	every single correspondence of Elon Musk.
	Elon Musk is a private citizen.
	And it all has to do with the fact that he bought, purchased Twitter.
	It all has to do with the fact that he has been forthcoming with information about the inner workings of Twitter prior to his ownership.
	And he's hired, you know, a bunch of journalists and people to do the work for him.
	And that's where we discovered that the FBI had been meeting weekly with big tech companies in the lead up to the 2020 election, telling them they may be victims of a disinformation campaign from a foreign country.
	And it may be about Joe Biden or even his son, Hunter Biden.
	Now, meanwhile, the FBI knew that Hunter Biden had the laptop because they had a copy of it since December of 2019.
	They also knew Rudy Giuliani had a copy, so the odds were pretty high that that was going to get leaked before the election.
	And lo and behold, the New York Post ran the story about Hunter's very real laptop.
	But these big tech companies had all been primed and prepped to expect the worst from the FBI, putting their thumbs on the scale once again of an election.
	Anyway, Jim Jordan is now looking into this privacy breach of what is Elon Musk.
	Does he not have a right to privacy?
	Does he not have a right to run a company the way he sees fit?
	I think he's smarter than most of these idiots in Washington.
	Anyway, here's Jim Jordan.
	He reads an email from the White House asking Twitter to censor a tweet.
	You cannot find actual evidence of any direct government censorship of any lawful speech.
	And when I say lawful, I mean non-criminal speech because plenty of speech is non-criminal.
	I'll give you one gentleman's time to expire.
	I'd ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the following email from Clark Humphrey, Executive Office of the Presidency, White House office, January 23rd, 2021.
	That's the Biden administration, 4.39 a.m.
	Hey, folks.
	This goes to Twitter.
	Hey, folks, wanted to use the term Mr. Mr. They used the term Mr. Goldman just used.
	Wanted to flag the below tweet.
	And I'm wondering if we can get moving on the process for having it removed.
	ASAP.
	Boom.
	Now, one of the main reporters that were used in the Twitter files is a guy by the name of Matt Taibbi.
	Now, Matt Taibbi is no fan of Sean Hannity's.
	How do I know?
	Because he actually wrote a book and put my picture on it, Rachel Maddow's picture on it, and it was called Hate Inc.
	I don't think he likes me.
	I don't know why.
	He doesn't like me at all.
	And he said, why today's media makes us despise one another?
	Matt, I don't make anybody despise anybody.
	I give out information.
	And if you want to take issue with any specific information I give out, I'd be glad to have him on the program.
	We can talk about it.
	But anyway, Matt Taibbi did excoriate today.
	He testified about the relationship with government and Twitter and how they targeted tens of thousands of individuals and sites on the left and right.
	And he said he learned that social media companies developed a system for taking in requests from government and private companies and making lists of people spreading disinformation, misinformation, malinformation, then ripped the media for becoming an arm of the state sponsored through their policing system.
	It's actually worth listening to all of this long cut.
	Let me play this for you because I think it's relevant.
	Because had the FBI not primed these big tech companies to be on the lookout, something about Hunter or Joe may come out.
	It's probably misinformation.
	The world would have known that what the FBI should have known by then, 11 months in, they had the, or 11 months prior, they had the Hunter Biden laptop from hell.
	Anyway, here's what he said in testimony today.
	It's worth listening to.
	The original promise of the Internet was that it might democratize the exchange of information globally.
	A free Internet would overwhelm all attempts to control information flow, its very existence a threat to anti-democratic forms of government everywhere.
	What we found in the files was a sweeping effort to reverse that promise and use machine learning and other tools to turn the internet into an instrument of censorship and social control.
	Unfortunately, our own government appears to be playing a lead role.
	We saw the first hints in communications between Twitter executives before the 2020 election when we read things like flagged by DHS or please see attached report from the FBI for potential misinformation.
	This would be attached to an Excel spreadsheet with a long list of names whose accounts were often suspended shortly after.
	Again, Ranking Member Klasket, I would note that the evidence of Twitter-government relationship includes lists of tens of thousands of names on both the left and right.
	The people affected include Trump supporters, but also left-leaning sites like Consortium and Truth Out, the leftist South American channel Telesor, the Yellow Vest Movement.
	That, in fact, is a key point of the Twitter files, that it's neither a left nor right issue.
	Twitter, Facebook, Google, and other companies developed a formal system for taking in moderation requests from every corner of government, from the FBI, the DHS, the HHS, DOD, the Global Engagement Center at state, even the CIA.
	For every government agency scanning Twitter, there were perhaps 20 quasi-private entities doing the same thing, including Stanford's Election Integrity Partnership, NewsGuard, the Global Disinformation Index, and many others, many taxpayer-funded.
	A focus of this fast-growing network, as Mike noted, is making lists of people whose opinions, beliefs, associations, or sympathies are deemed misinformation, disinformation, or malinformation.
	That last term is just a euphemism for true but inconvenient.
	Undeniably, the making of such lists is a form of digital McCarthyism.
	Ordinary Americans are not just being reported to Twitter for deamplification or deplatforming, but to firms like PayPal, digital advertisers like Xander, and crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe.
	These companies can and do refuse service to law-abiding people and businesses whose only crime is falling afoul of a distant, faceless, unaccountable algorithmic judge.
	As someone who grew up a traditional ACLU liberal, this mechanism for punishment and deprivation without due process is horrifying.
	Another troubling aspect is the role of the press, which should be the people's last line of defense in such cases.
	But instead of investigating these groups, journalists partnered with them.
	If Twitter declined to remove an account right away, government agencies and NGOs would call reporters for the New York Times, Washington Post, and other outlets, who in turn would call Twitter demanding to know why action had not yet been taken.
	Effectively, news media became an arm of a state-sponsored thought policing system.
	I mean, it's pretty fascinating, isn't it?
	You know, this is now your government, you know, demanding the private emails of Elon Musk.
	This is your government, your media mob that are in sync together.
	And no, it's not me that hates Matt.
	It's people on the left.
	I've never called for anybody to be canceled.
	I've never called for censorship.
	I've never called for firings.
	I've never called for boycotts.
	That's the left that does that.
	Actually, I've been a victim of all of that throughout my career.
	Not that you would care to hear.
	I believe in freedom of speech, every aspect of it, even speech I don't like.
	Chris is in Alabama.
	Chris, how are you?
	Glad you called, sir.
	Hey, Sean, thanks for taking my call.
	It's an honor to speak to you.
	So you've said on several occasions that you've spoken to Jim Jordan and many of the other Congressional Oversight Committee members.
	I'm thrilled to see that they are finally investigating the weaponization and overreach of all these alphabet agencies like D.C. By the way, they're doing COVID origins.
	They're doing whether the FBI is politicized, the DOJ weaponized the disaster of Afghanistan.
	They're all over everything right now.
	I love it.
	I love it.
	My question to you, though, is: do you get the impression when you're talking to these folks that they have not just the intention, but the guts to take these hearings to the next level and actually prosecute folks like Mayorkas, Christopher Wray, Anthony Fauci, Merrick Garland?
	What are your thoughts on that?
	They can only make referrals.
	They don't make that decision.
	That decision would be made by the Attorney General of the United States.
	The Department of Justice is part of the executive branch.
	That would mean you'd need people like Merrick Garland and Christopher Wray to do their job.
	So the answer to your question is probably not likely.
	That's so frustrating.
	So frustrating.
	Yep, it is, but it's terrible.
	It's beyond terrible.
	Listen, we have a dual justice system.
	Conservatives are treated one way.
	Liberals are treated another way.
	Trump's treated one way.
	Biden and Hillary Clinton, they're treated in another way.
	I mean, I say it over and over again, and people I think are beginning to get it, but it's taken a long time, hasn't it?
	It sure has.
	It would just be awfully nice to see these traders perp walks like the left so often does to the folks on the right for far less.
	If you're a conservative, I would advise you to not spit on the sidewalk.
	Honestly.
	You know, I would advise you not to jaywalk.
	And one thing I tell everybody: if you're a conservative and prominent conservative, I'm going to warn you one other thing.
	You better pay every tax you owe because that's the first thing they go after.
	Yep.
	Anyway, I appreciate the call.
	All right, let's go to William in California.
	William, how are you?
	Glad you called.
	Thank you so much.
	I'm good.
	Thank you.
	Yeah, so my question is: I worry that most of the people aren't unaware of the probable collusion that was discovered in the Twitter files.
	I guess my question is: do you believe we will hit a tipping point when more of the population will know and hopefully do something about it?
	And if so, what does that timeline look like?
	Well, the answer is yes.
	I think we're going to hit a tipping point.
	Look, I think on every issue that the country is facing, we're going to hit a tipping point, to be honest.
	I think Americans now are seeing the devastating impact of Joe Biden's economic and energy policies.
	I think the country is seeing very clearly that open borders is a horrible idea.
	I think the country is seeing a president that is not cognitively there.
	He's checked out.
	I think that has made the world a far more dangerous place.
	We see our enemies, our geopolitical foes, they're all saber-rattling.
	And we can see in the case of Putin, his territorial ambitions on full display.
	And I think soon, I hope I'm wrong, we'll see China's territorial ambitions on full display.
	And I think all of it is bad for the country and all of it's bad for the world.
	So I really don't know what else to say, except the only way you fix it is elect a new president and a new Congress.
	And that's why I keep telling Republicans they better get in the game of early voting, voting by mail, and ballot harvesting based on what the state law is in every individual state, because that's what the Democrats are doing.
	And we better do it as good, if not better.
	And then, of course, I believe our ideas are better and they'll be better for the country.
	The country will be better off under conservative leadership.
	I'll give you the last word.
	Nothing else.
	That would answer my question.
	Thank you so much.
	I appreciate it.
	Thank you for being with us.
	800-941 Sean, our number, if you want to be a part of the program.
	Look, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, it was born on America's darkest day, 9-11, 2001.
	They've been helping American heroes ever since.
	Now, when a first responder or military service member doesn't come home, young children are left behind.
	Well, Tunnel to Towers pays the mortgage on the family home to lift that financial burden and bring that family some stability.
	Now, for catastrophically injured vets and first responders, Tunnel to Towers builds mortgage-free smart homes, giving severely injured heroes the ability to live more independent lives.
	And through their Veterans Homelessness Program, Tunnel to Towers, they're providing housing and services to homeless vets all across the country.
	They help more than 500 in 2022.
	They're going to help three times that number, 1,500 this year in 2023.
	People who put their lives on the line for our country and our communities need our help.
	It's that simple.
	So we hope that you'll join everyone here on Team Hannity.
	They're asking all of us to donate $11 a month.
	And just go to their website, the letter T, the number two, the letter T.org.
	The letter T, the number two, the letter T.org for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
	All right, that's going to wrap things up for today.
	A busy Hannity Tonight live audience edition.
	And by the way, if you'd like to join our studio audience, we'd love to have you.
	Just go to Hannity.com.
	Tickets are free, especially if you live in New York, New Jersey, Long Island, and the weather's getting warmer.
	We'd love to have you.
	Anyway, Nine Eastern, Hannity Sety DVR, loaded up tonight.
	Benjamin Hall, who had severe injuries reporting for Fox, what an incredible story he has to tell.
	We're going to preview my big interview with him.
	Also, Clay Travis, Jason Chaffetz, Senator Ted Cruz tonight, JD Vance tonight, Vince Ellison, and Reines Priebus.
	Nine Eastern, Setya DVR, Hannity, Fox News.
	See you tonight.
	Back here tomorrow.
	Thank you for making this show possible.
	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.
	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.
	From Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries, this is fiasco, Benghazi.
	difference at this point does it make?
	Listen to Fiasco, Benghazi, and the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
	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 download Verdict with Ted Cruz Now, wherever you get your podcasts.

▲