You want smart political talk without the meltdowns?
We got you.
I'm Carol Markovich.
And I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
We've been around the block in media and we're doing things differently.
Normally it's 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.
We'll be right back.
Well, we're coming to your city Gonna play our guitars and sing you a country song We'll all be inside.
And if you want a little bang in your yin-yang, come along.
According to the regulatory and operative definition of P3CO, the NIH did not fund gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
And you know, they have misinformation.
Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, but it's like their slogan, I'm a threat to democracy.
I'm the opposite.
They're the threat to democracy.
Well, my reaction was I was at Costco.
My my phone, my watch started to buzz, and I got so excited, I started leaking a little bit.
Believe it or not, there's only one hundred and fifty-two days left till you get to vote.
Yeah, we are coming to your center.
Don't play our guitar saying you will conscious song.
From coast to coast.
From border to border.
From sea to shining sea.
Sean Hannity is on.
Stay right here for our final news roundup and information overload.
All right, news round up information overload hour.
Here's our toll-free number.
It's 800 941 Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
Hey Sean, doing all right.
How are you?
I'm good.
So I said this to you before.
I'm gonna repeat it, and there's a reason I'm gonna repeat it, and I'll get to that on the other side.
If you had run for governor under the current conditions uh or under the conditions that you ran a couple of years ago, I contend you probably would have won the race.
Uh I think the biggest challenge that you are facing is what has been a steady, massive migration out of New York and and into places like Florida and the Carolinas and Tennessee and Texas and and other states around the country.
Um maybe you agree, maybe you disagree.
So in other words, people that would otherwise have have been open-minded, inclined to maybe go for the change that New York really needs.
So many of them have left that it put you at a decided disadvantage.
With all that said, you outperformed expectations by a huge margin and actually ended up carrying uh across the finish line in some well, democratic plus democratic districts, Republicans that actually gave Republicans a majority in the House.
You played a big part in that in my view.
There have been a lot of Republicans who have fled the state.
Uh, it has happened now for years as the state has been on a decline.
And New Yorkers might go travel to where their family or other friends have relocated to, and they realize that their money will go further, they'll feel safer, they get to live life freer, and the decision becomes easier.
The breaking point in New York gets closer, and the options are clear.
So, yeah, a lot of Republicans have fled the state.
Uh now since 2022, you have had more Democrats reaching their breaking point, being set up by Democrats in the state and independent-minded voters as well.
When I ran in 2022, the Biden border crisis wasn't a top three issue for many New Yorkers now, it's the number one issue.
Eric Adams' numbers are in a tank, Kathy Hochel's numbers have Gone down the drain, Joe Biden's numbers are worse.
So in 2024, the atmosphere, the political earth in New York has moved to the right because of all of that.
And I think that there is a a real opportunity for a good year in states like New York because of the consequences of democratic policies and the reality of the moment.
Look, you may be right.
I may be wrong.
Um I'm one of the many hundreds of thousands that did leave New York, as you know, but I was leaving anyway.
I mean, it just took me a long time to finally, you know, be in a position where I could make the switch, and it's not a decision I'll ever regret, I can tell you that much.
And uh, by the way, New York now state Democrats who control the entire entire state government, then they now want to decriminalize prostitution.
I did notice that they have instituted a congestion tax, but because Kathy Hokel is concerned about re-election, uh my understanding is she's gonna put a hold on that, and I'm sure if she is re-elected, it'll instantly be put back in place.
But there are other things that New York is now planning to do.
I mean, there has been talk now for a long time about a wealth tax.
Like California, there's talk about an exit tax where if you leave New York, they want the right to tax your income even though you don't live there anymore and you're not a resident there anymore.
Uh, then they've there's been a lot of talk about, you know, billions of dollars spent in reparations in and in states like New York.
Uh meanwhile, the one thing that would solve New York's problems like fracking, which would lower be able you'd be able to lower the tax base significantly, and I know this was a big part of your campaign, that's not even under consideration because uh radicals basically run New York.
And I don't think it I don't see it getting any better.
Add to it the weaponization of of justice in New York, and uh I I I just don't see that that state's gonna improve.
And honestly, if you really want to serve in government, Congressman, my advice to you would be to get the hell out of there and just see the handwriting on the wall.
Now you may not like to hear that, but that's my advice.
That would be my advice.
Yeah, the reality is it's not gonna get better because it is one party Democrat rule and in New York City, one party Democratic rule up in Albany, super majorities in the assembly in the Senate.
As you pointed out, they're all good points from the beginning as it relates to congesti the congestion tax to the end of that point regarding fracking and we're not even beginning to scratch the service on the pro-criminal laws that have been passed or law enforcement under the bus, prioritizing with free goodies,
people who aren't even legally in this country or or in New York from the congestion pricing front, the the news is that Kathy Hokel now with an election coming up just a few months away, is saying that she's gonna hit the pause on this new tax.
Now, what's amazing as far as being in an indictment on the economy under Joe Biden and Kathy Hokel is that she's saying that New Yorkers can't afford it.
Well, this was an election issue when we were running against each other two years ago.
You weren't saying that the economy wasn't going well then.
You weren't talking about inflation like you are now.
Who's been in charge for the last two years?
On the other front, you're talking about the safe extraction of natural gas.
We're we're rich in resources, they won't allow that.
They should.
They have uh banned the approvals of new construction on pipelines.
Kathy Hochel signed off on a a new order to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles, and the list goes on, it all adds up, and that's why the state is not heading in the right direction.
It's not going to get better unless these California, New York, they're on parallel paths.
You know, they they actually were so effective forcing people with the high gas prices out in California.
You know, you pay over seven dollars a gallon on average.
It's like twice the national average for gasoline, so they they've kind of four were forcing people into these electric vehicles.
Now, here's the interesting fallout of all of that.
Number one, they're more dangerous on the road, and there was a study out that shows that they actually pollute the environment more, but that's separate and apart from everything else.
Uh, but one of the the fallouts of this is their revenues have declined in terms of uh gas taxes significantly.
So now they're looking at a mileage tax out in California on a top of what are billions of dollars in reparations, on top of their proposal for an exit tax, you can't even leave the state with without them trying to haunt you for the rest of your life and and tax you even though you're not even uh uh you don't even live in the state.
They want to still tax you on income uh on top of a wealth tax that they want to charge anybody that makes any money.
I mean, it's insane.
And the crazy thing is if you think about adding up all of the the left's agenda.
If you really wanted to, you know, your AOC, you have the the keys to the castle, you want to implement your entire agenda, Bernie and Elizabeth Warren and the others.
And there's been this conversation where you know they love the talking point of wanting people to pay their fair share.
Well, what is their fair share?
Is it is it well let me give you an example in California?
Okay.
A couple earning eighty-four thousand dollars a year.
Now, you know from New York pricing, that's nothing.
You you're not living high on the hog on eighty-four grand in New York as a couple.
You know, you're barely surviving.
And the same thing would exist out in California.
And if if that is your income in California, they talk about taxing the rich.
Well, six percent of that eighty-four grand is gonna go to the state in income taxes.
They're not just taxing the rich as they claim, they're taxing everybody.
If if they increase the tax to a hundred percent on the wealthiest Americans, they still would not have enough money to implement their entire agenda.
You'd have they would have to actually start confiscating the wealth of the wealthiest Americans.
If you confiscated all of it, it still would not be enough to implement this entire agenda.
Now, there are Americans out there, you know, maybe someone's in college, and you know, they see some press release where Joe Biden's offering to pay off their school loan, and they make some you know quick single issue uh decision to cast a vote as a reward there.
Well, listen, for the rest of us who understand how this all works, when you see all the free goodies and handouts to people who aren't even legally in our country, the rest of us need to be asking tough questions of where the heck this all has come from.
They the the Democrats are pandering, and that should not be rewarded with more power.
We should be rewarding people, placing our trust in in folks who are not telling us just what we want want to hear to pander, but telling us that we have a fiscal crisis in this country that that can be argued to be our greatest threat that we face right now.
What is the tough decision that you're willing to make to fix it?
That might cost you votes, but you're willing to say it and do it despite it.
That's the type of people we need in office.
All right, quick break, right back more with former gubernatorial candidate and New York Congressman Lee Zeldon on the other side.
Then your calls 800-941 as we roll along.
Bringing you the people who make the news.
This is the Sean Hannity Show.
The Sean Hannity Show.
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.
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, We continue now with former New York
Congressman, former Republican gubernatorial candidate from the state of New York, Lee Zeldon is with us.
I don't see any hope that the state is your state is going to turn around.
I just don't.
I I I you know, if you have defund, dismantled no bail laws, reimagine the police in and that is life in New York City.
If you have a sanctuary city, New York City, you have a sanctuary state, New California, sanctuary cities like San Francisco.
It's gotten so bad that every major, you know, change store has decided to close down because as long as you steal less than a thousand dollars worth of junk uh from a store, they're not gonna arrest you.
I mean, they have let the inmates run the asylum.
You got you know, you got safe shooting zones in these in these states.
It's just uh it it the quality of life is deteriorated.
You know, now we have illegal immigrants.
You saw the story.
A hundred and twenty-one New York City hotels are being used to house the illegal immigrants, and taxpayers in New York and New York City have to pay the bill for the housing and the food and the education of their kids, and if some of them are incarcerated for ed for the criminal justice system, and then the health care that they need, all paid for taxpayers in your state.
It is unsustainable.
Yeah, and Washington.
And this he just allowed the non-citizens to vote inside of New York, it was actually one of those illegal migrants.
Well, they tried to do that in New York City, and it was stopped by our court, but they passed it in New York City.
Right.
Now, one one of the those illegal migrants from Venezuela just shot two police off NYPD officers a couple days ago.
It was somebody illegally in the country who didn't show up to his court date, who had an illegal firearm, who was under investigation for part of all sorts of armed robberies that were taking place.
Yet then he shoots two NYPD officers.
Two last week there were two polls that came out on on New York as relates to President Trump.
The first one, a Siena College poll, said that President Trump was out down nine.
They underpoled Republicans only 22%.
They oversampled New York City, 39%.
They didn't even ask Robert Kennedy Jr. as a name on the ballot, still had it as nine points.
Then at the end of the week, a poll comes out from Emerson saying that President Trump is down six.
We saw the energy in the South Bronx.
And even if, let's just say President Trump wasn't able to win New York, putting that aside, the fact that in a state where President Trump lost by 23 points in 2020, you're seeing that shift the ground under us.
This is more than just Republicans voting Republican, conservatives voting conservative.
There are disenfranchised Democrats, black voters, Asian voters, Hispanic voters, and more who have been abused, screwed by the Democratic Party.
They are disenfranchised by it, and now they have open arms waiting for us to show up a conservative solution.
I'm telling Republicans, get into the cities, go to blue areas like never before, don't pander, show up a conservative solutions.
I think there are a lot of Democrats ready to vote Republican.
You really do.
You think it's really gonna change.
And I don't blame Democrats if we come up short.
I blame Republicans if we come up short.
When a high-paid political consultant says not to go to the South Bronx because they'll never vote for you.
I say that's exactly where we need to go.
And what happens when we show up is that they're waiting with open arms because not only have no Republicans been showing up, but no Democrats have been showing up.
Because the Democrats know even if they don't show up, that they're still gonna get them vote.
But I think a lot of people realizing their votes have been taken for granted.
We saw it with the black voters in Chicago who show up to the city council meeting, pissed off that their tax dollars are going to illegal migrants.
I think people have hit the breaking point.
It's their kids maybe in the low quality public school education.
It might be a community seeing crime on the rise and having prosecutors like Bragg who won't go after violent crime.
It's these are issues that transcend blind partisan loyalty.
This is bigger than being a Democrat to them.
They care about their future above all else.
Let me ask you.
Uh, and and you did a great job as a congressman, and uh, I really mean it.
I thought you ran a great campaign, and I think ten years ago, had it been the same situation with with not as many people having left New York at the time, you would have won.
Are you gonna stay there for the rest of your life?
I have no plans on leaving.
My only four the only four years that I spent outside of New York were my four years on active duty in the Army.
And this has been my home, born and raised.
And every time Kathy Hokel says, you know, Donald Trump leads Elden should get on the bus and move to Florida.
That only makes me want to stay and fight more.
I mean, Holt Hokel is she's calling on New Yorkers to flee, and she's making the case easier for New Yorkers to leave where you can't blame people for for going and not putting New York in time out, but permanently saying that they're gone.
I get it.
A lot of folks who used to come visit the state are saying, you know what?
I'm gonna go spend my available weekend or a week in some other state, not going to New York.
I get it.
But for me, I'm still here.
I'm staying on fighting, have no plans to leave.
Okay.
I respect your decision.
I really do.
I think you're nuts, but I and and you know, I understand your willingness to stay and fight.
I admire it.
Uh I don't think it's something at this point you can win in our lifetime.
I think I don't know what it would take for to change the place.
I really don't.
Lee, we appreciate your time, buddy.
Thank you.
You got it.
Thanks Sean.
All right.
Yeah, Joe Biden's big election year conversion on the issue of immigration is beyond laughable.
I I mean, how many election year conversions do you get from this guy?
You know, all of a sudden, oh, the border is secure, the border is closed.
I can't do anything.
Republicans won't help me or anything.
And then, oh, I'm gonna do it the way everybody said I could do it in the beginning because I undid all the good policies in the beginning.
Anyway, uh, listen to Joey talk about this and is flip-flopping on immigration.
Come here today to do what the Republicans in Congress refuse to do.
Take the necessary steps to secure our border.
Within a hundred days, I'm gonna send to the United States Congress a pathway to citizenship for over 11 million undocumented people.
Today I'm announcing actions to bar migrants who cross our southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum.
Migrants will be restricted from receiving asylum at our southern border unless they seek it after entering through an established lawful process.
There are gonna be no deportations in the first hundred days of my campaign.
Let me get that right.
You are going to freeze deportations.
Freeze deportations for the first hundred days.
Those who seek come to the United States legally, for example, by making an appointment and coming to a port of entry, asylum will still be available to them.
Still available.
But if an individual chooses not to use our legal pathways, if they choose to come without permission and against the law, they'll be restricted from receiving asylum and staying in the United States.
This action will help us gain control of our border, restore order into the process.
All those people are seeking asylum.
They deserve to be heard.
That's who we are.
We're a nation that says if you want to flee and you're fleeing oppression, you should come.
So today, I'm moving past Republican obstruction and using the executive authorities available to me as president to do what I can on my own to address the border.
This is the first president in the history of the United States of America that anybody seeking asylum has to do it in another country.
That's never happened before in America.
We must face the simple truth.
To protect America as a land that welcomes immigrants, we must first secure the border and secure it now.
Okay.
There's a guy that is been playing politics the whole time.
And with a hundred...
Well, we're now 152 days from election day.
He did it with 153 days before election day.
10 million unvetted Joe Biden, illegal immigrants, many from our worst, most hostile enemies and and regimes.
Unreal.
Anyway, let's get to our busy phones.
Jack is in New York.
Hey, Jack in New York, how you doing?
What's going on?
Forget about it.
I'm in Buffalo, Sean, so my accent wouldn't quite be like that, but I'm doing good today.
Thank you.
Uh Buffalo is great.
It's just a little cold.
Uh not today, it's not, but generally it is, you know, in February and January.
Um I kind of want to talk about this notion that there needs to be you unanimity on a verdict um for an underlying crime in the Trump case.
And I know you had spoke yesterday about the case of Ramos versus Louisiana.
That's I think that's misplaced.
That case simply said that you can't convict somebody in a criminal trial and have a verdict come back, or 10 say yes and two say no.
That's all that case stands for.
No, you're wrong because what the judge and the jury instruction said here is you can find people guilty, and I don't have the exact langu language that I have read on the air numerous days and and put up on the screen on TV.
Uh, but instead of having the idea that, well, you can believe he's guilty, four you can believe it for one reason, and four for another reason, and four for a third reason.
The language in the actual Supreme Court decision, that's a 2020 decision, uh, was very clear that you need unanimity on all issues.
There was no ambiguity in that language at all whatsoever.
I I disagree with that.
The court of appeal you you can't you can't disagree with what the facts are.
You just can't.
I I disagree with what what you're representing that case, that Louisiana case to me.
This let me give you an example, Sean.
But the Supreme Court language was clear.
I've read it on the air repeatedly, and I'm telling you, it said unanimity on all issues.
There was no ambiguity there.
There that case was a simply a 10-to-2 verdict.
That was not a case like this.
The Court of Appeals in New York and the people versus Tavares addressed this issue.
You can be charged and found guilty of falsifying business records, but you do not need to prove the underlying crime that you uh were attempting to conceal.
The Court of Appeals is very clear on that.
And that's the We're talking about two different things.
I'm talking about the judge's instructions.
In other words, first of all, I don't even think they had jurisdiction on a federal election law.
That's number one.
This is in New York City a misdemeanor, if you're talking about business records whose statute of limitations had long run out.
I felt the judge allowed prejudicial information during the trial, uh, which would be another grounds for appeal as well.
And this this deals with, you know, never mind the Sixth Amendment rights of Donald Trump that were violated, but not even telling him up until the what last day what crime he was even being charged with, as every intelligent lawyer was pointing out as the trial was ongoing.
And as it relates to the two Supreme Court decisions and jury instructions, it clearly mandated unanimity of the jury on all issues involved.
You can't break it down with, well, I find them guilty for reason A, B, or C, but if you all agree it's guilty, uh, that's okay.
That's exactly the opposite of what the decision said.
Sean, on the issue of the Sixth Amendment, to our to say that the defense was only aware of the underlying crimes a day be or two before the trial started is absolutely incorrect.
Judge Mershan ruled on a motion that the defense filed and clearly indicated and prize the defense of what the underlying crimes were.
There is precedent in New York State that a federal crime, if you commit a federal crime, that can be a justification for committing uh being found guilty of falsifying business.
Okay, let me you know what you've caused me to go and pull out the actual decision.
Okay, let me read to you.
Okay, this is April 20th, 2020.
Supreme Court Ramos versus Louisiana that the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial is incorporated against the states by the 14th Amendment requires a unanimous jury verdict in both state and federal criminal trials.
Okay.
So in this particular case, you know, what the Supreme Court was doing, you know, is addressing the very specific issues and whether a defendant is entitled to a new trial if his convictions by a non-unanimous jury were final, but his sentences were under review, etc.
at the time that Ramos was decided.
The court held that even if a defendant's sentence or resentencing is still on appeal, a defendant is not entitled to a new trial under Ramos once a direct review of its non unanimous conviction is final.
All right, that's a separate issue in that particular case.
But when it comes to the issue of unanimity and the Sixth Amendment, they were very, very, very clear about it.
And that is they have there has to be unanimity on all issues to have a conviction.
And they talked about a state trial and they talked about a federal trial.
And remember they they upgraded what was a statute of limitations past misdemeanor to even get to this novel legal theory.
And no, Donald Trump did not know what the actual charge was.
His lawyer didn't know, and neither did any legal uh uh analyst on television know, or writing in the Wall Street Journal or any of the top newspapers know.
Even fake news CNN commentators agreed with that.
You go and look at Judge Mershan's decision on the underlying motions filed, it is clear as day that they were apprised of what the underlying crimes would be submitted to the jury.
It's clear as day.
He let in f in closing arguments, he allowed the prosecution to declare with certainty that there was a violation of federal election law, and he let it be said dozens and dozens of time, campaign finance laws.
That had not been established at all in the case by the evidence in this case, and to do that was prejudicial towards the jury on top of the instructions, which I would argue very clearly went against two Supreme Court decisions, but we're going around in a circle.
I'm not going to convince you.
But the facts are very clear in this case.
And you could ask Greg Jarrett, Alan Dershowitz, Jonathan Turley, Andy McCarthy, Mark Levin, Judge Jeanine Pirro.
They all agree with me.
Yes, I also believe they're partisan, okay?
We we have to agree upon that.
And so are you a partisan.
You obviously are a partisan too.
So cut the crap about partisanship.
Just be honest about who you are.
Okay.
Well, regardless of my political stance.
So you're partisan.
I want you to hear say it.
Yes, I'm partisan.
I wanted Trump convicted.
Say it.
I will not say that I am partisan.
I will say that I tend to vote democratic.
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah, I I can look at a case objectively and tell you Well, so could so can Mark Levin, Judge Jane Impiero, Greg Jarrett, Jonathan Turley, the law professor, Alan Dershowitz, the law professor at Harvard, and Greg Jarrett, uh, who knows the law like the back of his hand.
Well, he he's wrong about this, Sean.
No, they're right, and you're wrong.
Okay.
Because the language that I kept putting up on the screen and reading on this radio program is clear.
That case in Ramos is so distinguishable what we have here.
Okay, you're not we're now going in circles.
Do you have anything else to add?
Can I move on?
Last thought.
Hello?
And I'm I I got other callers.
What's your last thought?
Last thought.
There is more than a federal crime that would have been committed here.
There was a New York election statute that said you cannot interfere in election by Then why didn't they charge him with a New York election statute?
Because they didn't.
Okay.
So my question to you is does a defendant have a right to know what they're being charged with, a constitutional right?
100% they do, without question.
Okay.
Did Donald Trump know what he was being charged with?
The answer is no.
He was listen, he No, the answer is no.
That's wrong.
That is correct too.
You're wrong again, Mr. Partisan.
Did the indictment state the crime?
No.
No.
It's an appellate.
Thank you.
Okay.
Now, let's go to the bookkeeping error, the underlying bookkeeping error.
Now, did Michael Cohn admit on the stand that he did this and admitted that he told people that he did this deal without the knowledge of Donald Trump, did he say that and admit that he told many people that?
That is correct.
Is that true?
Yes, he did.
Yes, he did.
Okay.
So if he telling all these people that it's true, and we know he's a convicted, admitted liar and now also a thief, um, uh, do you think he should be charged with stealing from the Trump organization?
If if they want to, sure, absolutely.
If they want to, I didn't ask you if they want to.
If you steal from a company you're working for, should you be charged for that crime?
If the Trump organization wants I didn't ask you, it's not about the Trump organization.
He admitted on the stand he stole from a company.
Okay.
Tens of thousands of dollars.
You would need but if you're a star witness for the prosecution, they're gonna overlook that, aren't they?
No.
Do you see what a partisan you are?
You you you know, you call here and you wanna you you you want to just dismiss all of these smart legal minds.
Now, Jonathan Turley's a Democrat.
Alan Derschwitz is a Democrat.
Like you.
And the difference between them and you is well, they know a lot more about the law, number one.
And number two, they're not partisan like you are.
They're looking at the law.
And Dershwitz said in 60 plus years of practicing law, he's never seen a case this bad.
Greg Jarrett, 40 plus years practicing law, never seen a case this bad.
The same goes for Turley, Jonathan.
Uh the case goes for Andy McCarthy, and the case goes for Mark Levin.
Okay.
So, you know what?
I think you need to look inward and realize that you just wanted Trump convicted and you didn't give a damn how they got there.
Otherwise, you wouldn't be defending the indefensible.
Appreciate the call, man.
800 941 Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
Ready to give your home a summer makeover without breaking the bank.