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Jan. 16, 2025 - Sean Hannity Show
30:10
Hamas Deal - January 15th, Hour 1
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This is an iHeart Podcast.
All right.
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 Pambandi, also John Ratcliffe going before the U.S. Senate, a lot like yesterday, not very substantive.
And, you know, it 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 uh 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.
Uh, we also have falling behind in an intelligence gathering.
You know, how is it that that China is able to hack into everybody's phone, including Donald Trump's and J.D. Vance's and everybody in the Trump campaign and anyone associated with Trump, and yet we can't we we can't bust into the phone of the would-be assassin of Trump internationally 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 uh details from the hearings today, go back to where we were yesterday.
We didn't talk about the you know, the next generation of warfare yesterday.
We didn't talk about the need for upping military recruitment efforts.
I think Pete Heggseth 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 and Pete's personal life.
Ironically, we're getting lectures from Tim Kane, 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, you know, publicly try to humiliate Pete Heggseth when he went through a tough time ten years ago.
Oh, okay, that's fair.
Uh we'll get into more of the details, but as of now, those hearings have gone very well.
I th I expect that most, if not, I 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 Cash 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.
Uh I think the vote should be there.
The 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 John Thune by not supporting Trump's nominees.
That would that would be pretty vindictive and hateful on his part.
And and really somebody that should know how hard it is to whip votes and get the votes for specific in uh 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.
Um, but we'll see what he does.
And Susan Collins, I'm not sure what she's gonna 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 he's gone along with nominees that he'd never support, but he believes that a president should have the cabinet of of his or hers choosing.
Anyway, um 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 they 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.
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 anymore, but that's what it is.
And they should have given him back a long time.
They should have never taken him.
They 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 Whitkoff, who has been on his own dime, you know, trying to convey the message of the incoming administration about what what is like 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 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 the public agrees with me.
It was it was a horrific presidency.
The only reason that this is happening is because of what 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 Whitkoff.
Steve is a friend of mine.
You might remember I had breakfast with him.
He was playing golf on the day that the uh of 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.
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 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 Whitcoff will continue to work closely with Israel and our allies to make sure Gaza, you know, 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 seventh.
We know that they had their Cuds 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 I'd 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?
He was telling, even after ballistic missiles were fired, he's telling Israel not to fire back, not to show restraint.
I mean, it's 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 in 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.
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 Whitkoff 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 of close to a thousand Palestinian prisoners.
We don't know.
A lot of these prisoners we know are not alive.
Well, maybe they could at least return the remains to families so they can have some closure at the very least.
Anyway, the ceasefire deal has been reached.
Fifteen 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.
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 who or whoever this guy is, and Egyptian intermediaries were also involved in this.
I understand, you know, the ceasefire.
There was Cutter's Prime Minister and 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.
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All right, let's go back to uh Pam Bondi, uh battling it out with Adam Schiff over a couple of issues.
One of the main ones, uh, 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 a 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 point.
You are aware of that, aren't you?
No one has asked me to investigate.
We're also worried about Liz Cheney, says Bondi, please answer my question.
Your robberies are 87% higher than the national question is this.
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 gonna 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 let me start.
I'll stop here.
This is the biggest congenital liar ever to walk the halls of of the U.S. Congress.
Now he's a U.S. senator.
He is a liar.
Him, I I think the two the people that peddled the Russia hoax, you know, with the 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.
Uh, the person, the people that peddled that the most on TV, it would be that the conspiracy theorist, extraordinaire Rachel Mattoff.
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 his 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 pre-emptive 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 and having control burns and doing the things that you would normally do to prevent forest fires.
You know, it's it's just 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 to the presentation.
And will you be able to do as well as the other thing?
Will you be able to review hundreds of cases on day one?
I will look at every file.
I am out of the city.
Of course you won't.
So will you advise the president?
Can I answer the question?
Well, my question is.
I would have plenty of staff.
You said, of course you want.
I'm not going to mislead this body, nor you.
All right, let me ask another question.
You don't want to answer that.
Let me ask you a question.
You were censured by Congress, Senator for comments.
Just like this.
I love that.
I love that.
That was a great that was probably the best moment and probably will be the best moment of any of these hearings.
Uh 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 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 to her in 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 Sun?
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 just the news.com reporting, and it should be investigated, whether or not inappropriate conversations, signal text messages took place between Liz Cheney and witnesses in uh 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, I I I 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 issue is 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, 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.
Keeping the tax cuts in place, the Trump tax cuts, making them permanent.
I would include no tax on tips, no tapsa 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 eighty-five, ninety percent 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 provide providing Starlink Wi-Fi for free to people fire ravaged out in Los Angeles.
And he's made that that promise for everybody.
Elon Musk, by the way, is rushing to provide LA 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.
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 Bistardi has a quick update for us of Weatherbell.com.
Joe, what's going on?
Yeah, this is uh one of the more severe outbreaks we've seen since 2014, uh, the so-called polar vortex that crashed into the uh Great Lakes, except this one's uh going to be extensive and last longer.
The big uh 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 Grand Valley, Corpus Christi, along the I-10 quarter, spreading east all the way to Jacksonville, perhaps Tuesday, Tuesday afternoon, Callahasy, New Orleans, some of these places that never see virtually never see this stuff.
To the north of that, you have a band of sleep, 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 swath of snow breaks out there, and then that may move off and be followed by yet another system.
Uh Wednesday, uh, Tuesday night and Wednesday, the waves of low pressure moving on the southern part of this brutally cold air mass that's coming into the United States, and uh your problem, of course, will be that uh, you know, in the deep south, you can't clean this stuff off.
So uh, 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 teams in Atlanta.
Now, uh, you know, when you get 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, and these are all starting to blend together, and severe, severe cold.
I called my handyman today.
Uh, you know, I'm up here at State College, Pennsylvania about I gotta shut the water off because I'm worried about the pipes busting, because I think it could get to minus five, minus ten here, minus fifteen in Cincinnati.
Uh for the inauguration.
I'm expecting temperatures around twenty.
I think there's gonna be a couple of inches of snow the night before.
It won't be as cold as the Reagan inauguration, which was seven.
And uh, you know, the Kennedy inaugural, they had seven inches of snow the night before.
I don't think we get that much in DC.
Well, what?
I don't feel like freezing, but it sounds like I'm gonna be freezing in our nation's capital.
But yeah, uh Joe Bastardi, uh, weatherbell.com for the latest information.
We appreciate it, sir.
Uh 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 uh vowed 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 Merrick 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.
Uh Kamala Harris, I mean, it's really it's it's beyond obnoxious.
J.D. 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 nineteen seventies.
They have children seven, four, and two.
And uh they asked for an opportunity and asked for feedback into in terms of you know, setting up safety, making sure the house was safe for kids.
Kamala Harris refused to let J.D. Vance visit the vice presidential residence before he has to move in.
Uh more of Biden and and Kamala trying to sabotage Trump on the way out the door and to slow down Trump's uh on day one.
He's put up a series of roadblocks to do so, changing the order of sus uh 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, forty percent higher budget deficit this year than last.
He's trying to spend as much federal funds as possible uh 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 gonna spend.
Uh 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, six hundred and twenty-five million acres.
That's gonna be removed on day one.
Then it's probably gonna be a court fight from there.
It's been the privilege of my lifetime.
He's gonna give his farewell address tonight.
I'm sure it's gonna be really riveting and interesting.
I'm sure you're gonna be fascinated.
You know, his farewell addresses tonight, and we'll have full coverage of that on the Fox News channel, nine Eastern Hannity on Fox.
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