Thank you, Scott Shannon, and thanks to all of you for being with us.
Here is our toll-free telephone number.
If you want to be a part of the program, it is 800-941 Sean.
If you would like to join us, we have a lot going on today.
Marco Rubio Pambondi, also John Ratcliffe going before the U.S. Senate, a lot like yesterday, not very substantive.
And, you know, it just is Democrats reverting to form, and that is they hate Donald Trump, and that means anybody associated with Donald Trump, although they were a little bit nicer to the nominees today than they were to Pete Hagseth yesterday.
And it's such a missed opportunity.
I mean, we now are finding ourselves defense-wise with a gap of vulnerability in terms of military technology.
I keep talking about this.
You know, we don't have hypersonic missile technology, but China and Russia do.
We also are falling behind in an intelligence gathering.
You know, how is it that China is able to hack into everybody's phone, including Donald Trump's and JD Vance's and everybody in the Trump campaign and anyone associated with Trump, and yet we can't bust into the phone of the would-be assassin of Trump International at six phones, and the FBI, according to reports, still has not been able to crack into that.
Anyway, we'll get into some of the details from the hearings today.
Go back to where we were yesterday.
We didn't talk about the next generation of warfare yesterday.
We didn't talk about the need for upping military recruitment efforts.
I think Pete Hagseth will be very, very helpful in that area.
I think Donald Trump being president will be helpful in that area.
They didn't talk about ending woke in the military.
They wanted to talk about identity politics and women in combat and Pete's personal life.
Ironically, we're getting lectures from Tim Kaine, who ran with Hillary Clinton, who was best friends with Bill Clinton, never once publicly criticized him.
This guy was accused of rape.
He was accused of exposing himself, accused of sexual assault, and he's all chummy with Bill Clinton.
And then he wants to publicly try to humiliate Pete Hagseth when he went through a tough time 10 years ago.
Oh, okay, that's fair.
We'll get into more of the details, but as of now, those hearings have gone very well.
I expect that most, I can't really see a scenario.
I don't know who would be on the list of not getting confirmed.
I know they'll go deep in the paint and hard against Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but that was to be anticipated.
But I'm not sure with the Republicans having the majority and John Fetterman apparently having an open mind, I think the vote should be there.
The people that I'd pay the most attention to would be Mitch McConnell.
By the way, what a great way to hand off the leadership position to Jon Thune by not supporting Trump's nominees.
That would be pretty vindictive and hateful on his part.
And really somebody that should know how hard it is to whip votes and get the votes for specific for important matters like this.
If Mitch McConnell doesn't go along, it would be pathetic.
Just an end to a fitting end to what has been mostly a disastrous career.
But we'll see what he does.
And Susan Collins, I'm not sure what she's going to do.
And I'm not sure what Lisa Murkowski will do.
John Fetterman seems like somebody that would be hopeful of basically bucking his party and saying, no, I think a president deserves the nominees that they choose.
Lindsey Graham has said it many times that he's gone along with nominees that he'd never support, but he believes that a president should have the cabinet of his or her choosing.
Anyway, we have the other big news of the day, and that is a deal that has been reached, and I think it's historic, and I think it's only because of one reason and one reason only, and that is Donald J. Trump and Donald J. Trump basically saying he will unleash hell.
There will be hell to pay.
All hell will break loose, is the actual phrase he used if hostages are not released before the inauguration.
All hell must be paid so they don't release the antagonist.
Do I have to define it for you?
All hell will break out.
If those hostages aren't back, I don't want to hurt your negotiation.
If they're not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East.
And it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone.
All hell will break out.
I don't have to say it anymore, but that's what it is.
And they should have given him back a long time.
They should have never taken him.
There should have never been the attack of October 7th.
People forget that.
People forget that.
Now, he said that with his Middle East special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who has been on his own dime, you know, trying to convey the message of the incoming administration about what will take place.
I mean, this is the difference.
I mean, it is so reminiscent of when Reagan took office, and after 444 days being held hostage in Iran, on the day that Ronald Reagan became president, those hostages were released.
It wasn't by accident.
The world feared Ronald Reagan.
The Iranians feared Ronald Reagan.
This is a healthy fear.
It is out of respect because they mean what they say.
And it speaks volumes about both.
And God rest his soul.
I think Jimmy Carter was a great post-president.
He had a great post-presidency, did a lot of good work in his life, and he deserves a lot of praise and credit for that.
He just passed away.
However, as president, it was a disaster.
His presidency was an unmitigated disaster.
But I actually think that Joe Biden, and public polls now seem to show that the public agrees with me, it was a horrific presidency.
The only reason that this is happening is because of what we just played for you that Donald Trump said.
Now, he put out on truth today, the epic ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our historic victory in November, as it signaled to the entire world that my administration would seek peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans and our allies.
I am thrilled Americans, American and Israeli hostages will be returning home to be reunited with their families and their loved ones.
With this deal, my national security team, through the efforts of special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, Steve is a friend of mine.
You might remember I had breakfast with him.
He was playing golf on the day that the Trump International incident with the would-be assassin 300 yards away from Donald Trump with an AK-47 with a scope on it.
And he was trying to convince me to play golf with him that day.
I did not, but he called me, you know, like an hour and a half later.
You're not going to believe what happened.
I think they just tried to assassinate the president.
It turned out it was one Secret Service agent with incredible eyes that spotted this guy and was able to shoot him through a tree area and a fence and got him.
I mean, but the fact that they didn't sweep the area, that's a whole separate discussion for a whole nother day.
Anyway, Trump goes on with this deal.
My national security team, through the efforts of special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will continue to work closely with Israel and our allies to make sure Gaza never again becomes a terrorist safe haven.
We will continue promoting peace through strength throughout the region.
We will build upon the momentum of this ceasefire to further expand the historic Abraham Accords.
This is only the beginning of great things to come for America and indeed for the world.
And he rightly pointed out, too, we have achieved so much without even being in the White House.
Imagine all the wonderful things that will happen when I return to the White House and my administration is fully confirmed.
And so they can secure more victories for the U.S. He's right.
Now, what did Joe Biden ever do to help secure the release of these hostages?
He has undermined Israel.
He has told Israel not to fight back, to show restraint, even after the April attack directly from Iran.
Iran is the number one state sponsor of terror.
We know that they were involved in the plotting, the planning, the scheming of October the 7th.
We know that they had their Quds forces, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards forces.
They provided the weaponry to Hamas.
They've been providing the weaponry to Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, out of Lebanon in the north.
They've been providing the weaponry and basically giving the orders to the Houthi rebels.
They've been fighting all these proxy wars.
They are fomenting nothing but misery in the region.
I hope Donald Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu understand that this is the existential threat that the world needs to deal with immediately.
We can never allow a nuclear-armed Iran.
According to reports, they're four or five months away from having the potential to have a nuclear weapon.
Well, that would be, in all likelihood, result in a modern-day Holocaust.
That can't happen.
And there's only one way to stop it.
And the Israelis have shown that they can penetrate deep into Iranian airspace.
And that means the two things that two targets I'd look at.
And I'd take them both out if I was president, but I'm not.
And if anyone's listening to me, this would be my advice: take out their refineries, take out their nuclear sites, and I would make sure that they have no ability to make money, which they do, because Joe Biden turned a blind eye towards the sanctions Donald Trump had and allowed the Iranians to get rich to foment this terror.
I would even argue that October 7th wouldn't have even happened.
Anyway, what did Joe Biden do this entire time?
Even after ballistic missiles were fired, he's telling Israel not to fire back, not to show restraint.
I mean, it's unbelievable.
And did nothing, not a thing, except provide all of this money to the people of Gaza that in overwhelming numbers support Hamas, a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel and their own charter.
Anyway, so a reporter asked earlier today: do you or Trump deserve credit for the Gaza ceasefire deal?
Here's Biden's response: I'm confident.
Thank you.
Is that a joke?
Oh, thank you.
Is that a joke?
No, it's not a joke.
That's not a joke.
He had nothing to do with it.
Nothing.
It is Donald Trump coming.
And by the way, the first hostages will be released the day before the inauguration.
Does anyone think that is an accident?
The timing of this?
Steve Witkoff on his own dime using his contacts, conveying what the next administration will do if they don't release these hostages.
Well, guess what?
Now there's going to be some American hostages left.
We know that, you know, unfortunately, the hostage release deal is expected to include five Israeli female Israeli soldiers held by Hamas, each of whom would be exchanged for 50 Palestinian prisoners.
I always hate this.
I don't know why it's not one for one, including 30 convicted militants who are serving life sentences, according to the AP.
That drives me nuts.
But the Israelis put such a high value on life, they want to bring their citizens home.
I would expect there's going to be at least a few Americans that are part of this hostage deal.
Anyway, they're expected to be released over a period of time.
The deal calls for Israel to release, in the end, close to a thousand Palestinian prisoners.
We don't know.
A lot of these prisoners we know are not alive.
Well, maybe they can at least return the remains to families so they can have some closure at the very least.
Anyway, the ceasefire deal has been reached.
15 months of fighting.
Let's hope it holds.
If it doesn't hold, all hell will break loose in the Middle East.
That I have no doubt about.
And I know the deal was brokered by Qatari negotiators, which, you know, a lot of these countries in the Middle East, I am not the biggest supporter of people like MBS or, you know, the Qatari prime minister or whoever this guy is, and Egyptian intermediaries were also involved in this.
I understand, you know, the ceasefire.
There was Qatar's prime minister in meeting with Hamas negotiators, but you're negotiating with a terror organization.
But all hell would have broken loose if these hostages were not being freed.
And now at least there's a chance.
There's one thing that has to happen in all of this, and that is Iran has to pay the price for fomenting all of this terror in the region.
The one thing Donald Trump did accomplish in his first term, he created an alliance.
He never got credit for it.
Israel, U.S., the Jordanians, the Egyptians, the Saudis, the Emirates, all against Iranian hegemony.
Well, that now has to be taken to another level because they're that much closer to a nuclear weapon.
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.
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Catch new episodes of Normally every Tuesday and Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen.
All right, let's go back to Pam Bondi battling it out with Adam Schiff over a couple of issues.
One of the main ones asking about Liz Cheney and whether there's any factual predicate to investigate Liz Cheney.
The president also wants to jail Liz Cheney sitting here today.
Are you aware of any factual basis to investigate Liz Cheney?
Yes or no?
Senator, that's a hypothetical, and I'm not going to answer that.
No, it's not hypothetical.
I'm asking you, sitting here today, whether you are aware of a factual predicate to investigate Liz Cheney.
Senator, no one has asked me to investigate Liz Cheney.
That is a high.
The president has called for it publicly.
You are aware of that, aren't you?
No one has asked me to investigate.
But the president has the president has to be able to do that.
Ms. Bonnie, please answer my question.
We are aware of the roof.
Ms. Bonnie, your robberies are 87% higher than the national.
That's what I want to do.
Do you have the power to say no to the president?
And what you're suggesting today by your non-answer is you don't have the independence to say no to the president.
So let me ask you a different question.
It also requires you, if you're going to be a good attorney general, to be able to tell hard truths to the president.
So my questions now are: can you tell hard truths to the president?
So let me start with it.
Let me start.
I'll stop here.
This is the biggest congenital liar ever to walk the halls of the U.S. Congress.
Now he's a U.S. Senator.
He is a liar.
Him, I think the two, the people that peddled the Russia hoax based on the dirty Russian disinformation dossier bought and paid for by Hillary Rodham Clinton, the one that was used as the basis to spy on candidate Trump in 2016, then President Trump when he became president in 2017.
The person, the people that peddled that the most on TV, it would be that the conspiracy theorist, extraordinaire Rachel Maddow.
She is a liar.
She lied about all of it.
She's never been held to account.
The congenital liar, Adam Schiff, he lied through his teeth the whole time, was never held accountable.
Devin Nunes was the one that told the truth.
Adam Schiff lied.
These people in the media lied.
I loved it.
Then Pam Bondi, you know, just finally just had it with this nonsense of his.
Now, if Liz Cheney broke the law, Liz Cheney should be investigated.
You know, there are questions as to why Benny Thompson wants one of these preemptive pardons.
You keep hearing his name, Liz Cheney's name, Anthony Fauci's name, Joe Biden's brother Jim's name, and I'm sure there are others that they're considering.
If I was Joe, I would put his name at the top of the list, considering his own son's laptop identifies him as receiving large sums of money and him telling the biggest lie of all that he never met with his son or his brother or anybody about their foreign business deals.
And we have pictures and communications to the contrary.
But putting all of that aside, you know, Adam Schiff is a congenital liar.
He has no business being in the U.S. Senate, but of course the people of California.
That's why with everything that's going on out there and all of this, this that could have been prevented had they practiced basic common sense, you know, the science of forestry and removing brush, the kindling for fires, and having control burns and doing the things that you would normally do to prevent forest fires.
You know, it's just sad, but I bet that Gavin Newsom, if he ran tomorrow, would probably win.
And if Kamala runs in two years, she'll probably win.
And the congenital liar won because the people of California don't even seem to care.
But Pam Bondi took him to task, and this was a great moment.
Listen.
Will it be your advice to the president?
No, Mr. President.
I need to go over them on a case-by-case basis.
Do not issue blanket pardons.
Will that be your advice to the president?
Senator, I have not looked at any of those files.
If confirmed, I will look at the files.
And will you be able to do that?
Will you be able to review hundreds of cases on day one?
I will look at every file.
I am asking.
Of course you won't.
So will you advise that?
Can I answer the question?
I would have plenty of staff.
You said, of course, you want.
You'll be able to review.
I'm not going to mislead this body, nor you.
All right, let me ask another question.
You don't want to ask that?
Let me ask you.
You were censured by Congress, Senator, for comments just like this.
I love that.
I love that.
That was probably the best moment and probably will be the best moment of any of these hearings.
It's just sad.
But that is the state of the modern Democratic Party.
Why did the files go missing?
Why in this predetermined primetime extravaganza did Liz Cheney omit very critical information involving January 6th?
We have five people on record in the days leading up to that day, and this never came out in these hearings, that confirmed that Donald Trump had approved calling up at least 10,000 National Guard troops after hearing warnings that so many people are going to be in town and that they needed to protect the Capitol.
Why didn't that come up during the hearings?
Why didn't it come up that Muriel Bowser, the mayor, in writing, decline calling up the guard, it became her decision.
Donald Trump did not have the authority to do it.
He just had the authority to approve it.
Why did they not bring in the Capitol police chief's son?
He wrote a whole book about this.
We interviewed him, who was calling and begging for National Guard troops.
Why didn't they bring in the actual driver of Donald Trump that day, who they had the testimony of, that said that he never tried to commandeer that vehicle, but instead they bring in a hearsay witness that got the country all alarmed that Donald Trump tried to commandeer the vehicle?
She knew nothing firsthand about that story.
And John Solomon at justthenews.com reporting, and it should be investigated, whether or not inappropriate conversations, signal text messages took place between Liz Cheney and witnesses during the hearing without the attorney being involved.
Why did all that happen?
And when are we going to get to the bottom of it?
By the way, everyone, the little MAGA wars that break out, I'm not getting involved in this.
I'll just remind everybody that Republicans are going to succeed or fail together.
And they better be united on the main issues.
The main issues, secure the border, deport illegal immigrants, starting with criminal, illegal aliens, murderers, rapists, cartel members, gang members, known terrorists in the country, but we don't know where they are, and others that didn't respect our laws, our borders, our sovereignty.
Then the issue of refunding the police, making towns and cities safer again, then getting the economy going.
I think the biggest piece of that equation is going to be energy and becoming the most energy-dominant country on earth in spite of the obstacles Joe Biden is trying to put in place.
And that would be the biggest part of it.
Keeping the tax cuts in place, the Trump tax cuts, making them permanent.
I would include no tax on tips, no taxes on Social Security, no tax on overtime, as the president promised.
I think that will go a long way, rebuilding our nation's military, preparing for the next generation of warfare, as we often talk about.
But these little skirmishes have broken out in MAGA world.
And I'm like, if somebody is with you 85, 90% of the time, they're your friend.
And I'm not sure why there's hostility that Elon Musk and Donald Trump established a friendship.
He's one of the smartest guys in the world, and he might be able to help us develop that next generation of weaponry for the next generation of warfare, which is not going to be fought on the battlefield.
But Elon Musk, with all the criticism, is providing Starlink Wi-Fi for free to people fire-ravaged out in Los Angeles.
And he's made that promise for everybody.
And Elon Musk, by the way, is rushing to provide L.A. with the Starlink Wi-Fi services.
And while he's doing it, the SEC filed a lawsuit against him, accusing him of violating securities laws by failing to disclose his active stake in Twitter, which allowed him to purchase shares at artificially low prices.
He probably, by every measure, overpaid.
And we got these wildfires, and 70% of Democrats, they blame the wildfires on climate change.
Has anyone noticed that it's freezing everywhere?
By the way, there's a huge cold front coming in, a dangerous one sometime next week.
Joe Vistardi has a quick update for us of Weatherbell.com.
Joe, what's going on?
Yeah, this is one of the more severe outbreaks we've seen since 2014, the so-called polar vortex that crashed into the Great Lakes, except this one's going to be extensive and lasts longer.
The big thing I'm trying to get across to people is we are very concerned about the deep south, beginning Monday night with freezing rain all the way down in the low Rio Grande Valley, Corpus Christi along the I-10 corridor, spreading east all the way to Jacksonville, perhaps Tuesday, Tuesday afternoon, Callahassee, New Orleans.
Some of these places that never see, virtually never see this stuff.
To the north of that, you have a band of sleet.
And then once you get, let's say, north of Houston up to Dallas and then eastward toward Atlanta, when you get to Monday night into Tuesday, a swap of snow breaks out there.
And then that may move off and be followed by yet another system Tuesday night and Wednesday.
There are waves of low pressure moving on the southern part of this brutally cold air mass that's coming into the United States.
And your problem, of course, will be that, you know, in the deep south, you can't clean this stuff off.
So, you know, we just saw the snow around Dallas, but at least it was 32, 33 degrees.
I anticipate temperatures in the 20s in Houston while this is going on, for instance, and probably in the teens in Atlanta.
Now, you know, when it gets to Friday, have a better look at this.
I just wanted listeners to understand that, you know, when you get this stuff in the South, it can paralyze you for a couple of days.
There's no snow or ice fighting equipment.
You saw what happened with Atlanta with the storm a couple, what was it, last week or the week before?
These are all starting to blend together and severe, severe cold.
I called my handyman today.
You know, I'm up here at State College, Pennsylvania, about, well, I got to shut the water off because I'm worried about the pipes busting because I think it could get to minus five, minus 10 here, minus 15 in Cincinnati.
For the inauguration, I'm expecting temperatures around 20.
I think there's going to be a couple of inches of snow the night before.
It won't be as cold as the Reagan inauguration, which was seven.
And, you know, the Kennedy inaugural, they had seven inches of snow the night before.
I don't think we get that much in D.C.
I don't feel like freezing, but it sounds like I'm going to be freezing in our nation's capital.
But Joe Bastardi, weatherbell.com for the latest information.
We appreciate it, sir.
Fake news, latest CNN poll.
Most Americans, 61%, say they see Joe Biden's presidency as a failure.
Only 38% is a success.
A new Suffolk University USA Today survey finds most respondents either do not know who the leader of the Democratic Party is or believe it has no leader.
They don't have a leader.
Nearly two-thirds of federal employees who voted for Kamala Harris are now defying, vow to divide Donald Trump's orders.
Let's find out who they are and fire them.
It's really that simple.
Senator Katie Britt, Alabama, warning Merritt Garland to preserve records on the DOJ's decision to allow pro-abortion protesters to harass Supreme Court justices.
That would be the right thing to do.
Kamala Harris, I mean, it's really beyond obnoxious.
JD Vance has a young family.
He's going to be moving into his new residence, the U.S. Naval Observatory, where vice presidents have lived since the 1970s.
They have children seven, four, and two.
And they asked for an opportunity and asked for feedback in terms of setting up safety, making sure the house was safe for kids.
Kamala Harris refused to let JD Vance visit the vice presidential residence before he has to move in.
More of Biden and Kamala trying to sabotage Trump on the way out the door and to slow down Trump's on day one.
He's put up a series of roadblocks to do so, changing the order of secession in federal agencies so pro-Biden staffers will be in charge before Trump nominees can be confirmed.
I mean, they're just playing dirty, like trying to sell off portions of the wall.
You know, then they're spending like crazy, 40% higher budget deficit this year than last.
He's trying to spend as much federal funds as possible for four major legislative accomplishments.
Yes, student loan forgiveness, inflation reduction act, CHIPS Act, so on and so forth.
Money that he knows Trump isn't going to spend.
He's rushing through rules and confirmations.
And by the way, any federal employee has a one-year probation period.
Then, of course, the moratorium on drilling and fracking, 625 million acres.
That's going to be removed on day one.
Then it's probably going to be a court fight from there.
It's been the privilege of my lifetime.
He's going to give his farewell address tonight.
I'm sure it's going to be really riveting and interesting.
I'm sure you're going to be fascinated.
You know, his farewell addresses tonight.
And we'll have full coverage of that on the Fox News channel, 9 Eastern Hannity on Fox.