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Jan. 21, 2025 - Sean Hannity Show
30:58
Liberation Day - January 20th, Hour 1

Sean covers Inauguration Day and looks ahead to the many changes that President Trump will bring as he fights to put America first.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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All right, thank you, Scott Shannon, and thanks to all of you for being with us right down our toll-free telephone number.
It's 800-941 Sean.
If you want to be a part of the program, it is Inauguration Day in our nation's capital.
It's freezing, but it's inauguration day with the wind chill.
I think it's somewhere down about zero degrees.
Although people are kind of out and about a lot more than I'd be out and about, I literally have no appetite at all for this kind of weather ever under any circumstances.
But all that, put all that aside, it could be 100 degrees below zero, and I'm still happy.
Today is a great day, and for so many different reasons, but really great because of all of you.
And I've said this before, and just indulge me a little bit in saying thank you to all of you because this day is not possible without you.
And it is, words cannot even really capture how important a role all of you played in today being possible.
When you think of everything that they did to this man and how they tried their hardest to destroy him and how they corrupted every system to do so, and they weaponized our Justice Department.
They destroyed what was once the premier law enforcement agency in the world, the FBI.
They weaponized our intelligence community.
They politicized both the FBI and the intelligence community and all the various ways they used lawfare and novel legal theories and false valuations of Trump Tower and the we didn't have equal justice under the law or equal application of our laws.
And you stuck by them and you didn't buy, you didn't listen to the state-run legacy media mob.
That's why I can officially say that they're dead.
In 2007, we did declare over and over again that journalism is dead.
I now declare legacy media is dead.
And if anybody, you know, I get people ask me questions all the time about getting into this business.
I'm not sure if I would go about the same model that I found because if you really look at the timing, I feel like I've been blessed beyond measure and blessed beyond what I deserve.
But the timing for me getting into talk radio, it was the ground floor of new media.
Talk radio, when I started, was only on a couple of hundred or news talk stations were only a couple of hundred around the country.
Now there are, you know, four or five thousand stations, the number one format in all of radio.
And I mean, I never thought we'd get to as many stations as we have, 750.
And you made all that possible.
I'll never forget when I left Atlanta.
Well, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reminded me at the end of 1996, is that it was a great year for the city of Atlanta.
The Olympics came and Sean Hannity left.
And I left for the Fox News Channel.
And people said, oh, you're going to Fox 5 in New York.
And I said, no, I'm going to the Fox News channel.
It's cable news.
And people looked at me like I had 10 heads on and they're like, you're crazy.
And I'm like, no, I have a lot of confidence is going to do very, very well.
And I'm on the ground floor of that.
And that became a revolution.
And it's expanding out now.
And, you know, some people say, well, it's more competition.
I don't look at it that way.
I look at a rising tide lifting all boats.
But if you're going to be a content provider, if you're going to be, there's one thing now that is a prerequisite if you want to have any success.
And I now tell this to anybody that talks to me about doing any form of media.
You better tell your audience the truth.
You better dig hard for the truth.
And you better be willing to even put ideological differences aside at times.
And there have been many, many times on this program we have gone after Republicans.
I expect in the weeks and months ahead that we're probably going to deputize many of you to start calling Congress because there's going to be a couple of Republican congressmen or women or both or senators, and they're going to start going wobbly on us.
And they don't have the spine of a Donald Trump.
And if you want this presidency and this agenda that is transformational implemented, we're going to need your help and your support.
And I think if I listen to politicians, I listen to these people in the media.
They're back to where they were at the end of the campaign.
AOC, we'll play it later in the program.
Fascist, Nazi, racist, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini.
Trump said a crazy thing.
I mean, it was a hilarious opening to Saturday Night Live.
And it had MSDNC, oh, we got breaking news.
Donald Trump believes this.
Donald Trump said that.
Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump.
Breaking news.
Donald Trump.
Donald Trump.
Breaking news.
I don't know.
What did they do?
They peddled lies, conspiracy theories for three long years.
They peddled that Russia hoax.
They peddled the P-Tape story or the peeing on the bed story at the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow, which never happened.
And we broke down that story and we unpeeled every layer of the onion in that story with a lot of help from the likes of John Solomon and Greg Jarrett and Sarah Carter and Catherine Herridge.
And I can't name, there were very few of us.
I think we counted it up once, seven or eight people.
And there were very few people in Congress that worked hard with us to help sources that I had that provided truthful information that we could bring to you.
And it's not just that.
I was explaining this the other morning on Fox and Friends, and I've explained it to you before.
Richard Jewell, we got it right.
UVA, we got it right.
Duke LaCrosse, we got it right.
We don't rush to judgment on this program.
Ferguson, Missouri, we got it right.
In the Duke La Crosse case, I took the time.
I went to the homes of these kids that were being accused, and I sat down and talked to them.
I learned that they had exculpatory information.
In Ferguson, Missouri, I learned from law enforcement that they had multiple eyewitnesses that confirmed Darren Wilson's story that, in fact, hands up, don't shoot, never happened, and that Michael Brown was charging at the officer when he was defending his own life, and that story would eventually come out.
And the same with Freddie Gray.
We had contacts in Baltimore.
They told us the same thing.
They said, nope, they're never going to be found guilty of anything.
And eventually the charges were dropped on most of them.
So I only say that is that this is a new era.
And the American people, you were smart enough, discerning enough to see through all of that noise.
And this is only the second time in history.
It was, what, 1892?
Grover, Cleveland, where somebody was elected president, lost, and then won re-election again.
And we're living through historic times.
And I'm going to get to the president's speech because I thought it was amazing today.
The president, the only thing I was sitting there, I was watching it.
I was glad they moved it inside.
And I'll tell you why I was glad, not for the president's sake, but I see people outside my hotel.
I mean, they are bundled up to the max and they're still freezing.
I mean, the hospitals would be filled probably today with people that had frostbite.
They would, and because people would stay there.
And then law enforcement, the military, everybody would be suffering.
And it's just too much.
The second coldest, I think, inauguration in history or somewhere around there.
I've been telling you for weeks that we are on preemptive pardon watch.
We saw the Hunter-Biden pardon, then the commutations of all these drug criminals, etc.
And I knew this would happen, and I knew it would be last minute.
None of it surprises me, but it all, you know, for all the talk about democracy, all the pledges to never do this, all of the guarantees, the constitutional order.
You know, we have cuts of Chuck Schumer when it was brought up as an issue in 2020.
Let me play Chuck Schumer, you know, talking about this.
Then we have Adam Schiff, the congenital liar, conspiracy theory-peddling, you know, pathetic senator from the communist state of California saying the same thing about preemptive pardons.
Listen, nonetheless, it's silly season at the White House.
The president seems intent on filling each of his remaining days in office with petulance, grievance, self-interest.
The president's reportedly asking his staff about whether he can preemptive part, whether he can issue.
The president's reportedly asking his staff whether he can issue preemptive pardons for himself, his family members, Rudy Giuliani.
There's a simple answer: no.
No, Mr. President.
That would be a gross abuse of the presidential pardon authority.
Have you ever heard of somebody getting a preemptive pardon who was innocent of all crime?
Who's just an innocent person?
Have you ever heard of that?
Just somebody getting a blanket pardon and they're an innocent person.
But no, you know, I think that it's an effort not only to prospectively pardon people for things they have not yet been charged with and may never be charged with, but also it's the president's own family.
It's people that have been covering up for the president in addition to his own family.
This is the nature of those the president has surrounded himself with, including his family.
And that is, it's been essentially a dead of these thieves environment.
And so I think the president used this as his way of trying to protect those that have protected him.
How ironic is that one of the people pardoned today was the guy you just heard from, Adam Schiff.
You know, as in Adam Schiff show, Adam Schiff head, Adam, you know, a congenital.
I said Schiff.
Why am I getting those looks?
Let's see.
He not only pardoned Hunter earlier, today he pardoned his brother James, Sarah Biden, Valerie Biden-Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis Biden.
All the people that Hunter's laptop implicate as receiving monies and that James Comer identified receiving monies from these entities, oh, oligarchs, the Joe Biden warning about oligarchs, like the Russian oligarch, Elena Patarena, or the Kazakhstan oligarchs, or the Ukrainian oligarchs, or the Chinese oligarchs.
They all got pardons.
Anthony Fauci, why did Anthony Fauci Fauci lie to us about COVID?
Did Anthony Fauci cover up with COVID?
Did Anthony?
I'm asking questions.
I'm allowed to ask questions.
I'm not accusing anybody of anything.
Did Anthony Fauci have any financial relationships that maybe we don't know about?
I'd like to know more.
Why did General Mark Milley, remember when Trump was leaving the first time, wanted to kind of take over the power of the presidency?
Why did he, he's so thankful he got his pardon.
And let's see, Zoe Lofgren, Chairman Benny Thompson, let's, you know, Jamie Raskin, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Adam Kinson.
I don't want to pardon.
Oh, you got one.
You didn't have to take it.
You got it.
You took it.
You own it.
And it just is, you know, such a contrast.
Now, with all that said, the president will sign in the next two days anywhere from 100 to 200 executive orders.
But it was his speech today, and I sat there wondering if you're Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Basically, he just went up there and it was a complete decimation.
He just decimated and just outlined their utter incompetence and failure and how everything is going to change and change dramatically.
You know, who said famously, it was Obama that famously said, elections have consequences.
Yes, they do.
So on behalf of everyone here at this show, I can tell you we are very grateful for this day, as cold as it might be in the Capitol.
I'm here till Wednesday.
I can't tell you the reasons why, but I'm here till Wednesday.
One of the reasons is we'll have a town hall with Mike Johnson and House Republicans on how they can stay on the same page, what their agenda needs to be to be successful.
But it's a great day for the country.
It really is.
And the president's speech was phenomenal.
Phenomenal.
Hard-hitting, a complete and utter 180-degree shift and direction for the country, all for the better.
And how anybody could be against it, I'm having a hard time understanding.
I really am.
Anyway, we're in our nation's capital.
It's inauguration day.
I hope you all have a big smile on your face.
Going to be a fun night tonight.
We'll be broadcasting from the military ball where Donald Trump and Melania will be during my hour, 9 Eastern.
Hey there, I'm Mary Catherine Hammond.
And I'm Carol Markowitz.
We've been in political media for a long time.
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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.
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Now, the best part of the day, I mean, we could talk all day about what hypocrites the Democrats are.
There's a part of me that doesn't really mind the preemptive pardons.
Well, do you want to hear the go ahead, say it on the air instead of giving a look?
You know, a look says a thousand words, so go ahead.
You know why?
Because after we witnessed these Democrats abuse their power and weaponize the justice system, if we think it's going to happen to innocent people in the future, they, not us, have created a precedent to do so.
They have created that precedent.
Now, Donald Trump could have done this in 2020.
He did not.
Or in 2021 when he was leaving office.
He didn't do it.
And there were many people telling him to do it.
And there was Chuck Schumer and Adam Schiff, Adam Schiff, who got a preemptive pardon today.
I'd like to know what he did in his life.
Liz Cheney, all that they didn't say.
So there's a part of me.
Do I think this shows that everything that Jim Jordan and James Comer and John Solomon and everybody in between was telling us was true?
Yeah, I do.
Do I think the January 6th committee was trying to interfere in an election?
100% they were.
It was too much information they withheld from the American people.
They had a predetermined outcome.
They had their prime time made in Hollywood theater presentation, but it was missing major facts, like Donald Trump authorizing the use of the guard, like the Capitol Police Chief begging for the guard, like Muriel Bowser in writing.
It was her authority at that point.
Once Donald Trump authorized it, you know, that she, in writing, said she didn't want the guard.
Nancy Pelosi, what was her role?
What was the sergeant of arms role?
Why didn't they play Donald Trump never calling for violence, saying many of you will peacefully, patriotically, the lie about commandeering the beast or the car that Donald Trump was being driven in.
But let's bring in a hearsay witness, not the actual driver who they knew testified Donald Trump never tried to do such a thing.
And then there's the John Solomon investigation into Liz Cheney.
I'd like to get an answer to it one day.
You know, was she coaching witnesses in terms of what to say about Donald Trump?
Anyway, that part infuriates me.
All of this, all the Bidens, they made a fortune as evidenced by Hunter's laptop.
The evidence was overwhelming.
It was incontrovertible.
It shows what a hypocrite Joe is, but he goes out that way.
But it's time to turn the page.
And Donald Trump did just that today.
He did it, and he did it.
You know, it was actually an amazing speech.
Can you tell us about the border?
Well, I have a lot of news about the border.
The first thing I can tell you is effective as of 1201 today, the functionalities of CBP1, that previously allowed undocumented illegal immigrants to submit advance information and schedule appointments at eight southwest border points of ports of entry.
That is no longer available.
And in the El Paso sector, yeah, I saw a picture.
And guess what?
Everybody there, that border is now officially closed.
You're not getting through the El Paso section.
Remember, I went down to El Paso.
Remember, I went to the Rio Grande.
I've been down to that border more times than anybody except maybe Sarah Carter, who after I got sick and tired of going, you know, she graciously would go for us.
The president, you know, he went into great specificity, went into great detail about the border.
But more specifically, he spoke in broad terms, but on the border, specifically, he talked about the actions that he's going to take.
And he said they're common sense, and he's right.
The idea that Harris and Biden left this border open for terrorists and cartel members and gang members and rapists and murderers and they didn't vet anybody is madness.
The number of people that are dying from fentanyl.
And I'm going to tell everybody today, and remember I said this on the day that Donald Trump was inaugurated.
I've said it before.
Joe Biden's legacy has yet to be cemented.
His legacy is going to be open borders.
His legacy is going to be any more people like Lake and Riley, Rachel Moore, and Jocelyn Nungari that die at the hands of their unvetted illegal immigrants or the people that get raped, including children, or the people that are victims of other violent crimes.
Those terrorists, they've come from nearly 200 countries, unvetted into, why would people from Iran and Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Russia, and China, why are they coming to our southern border?
What about, you know, I had Tom Holman on TV last night.
We did a special show last night.
And he said, Sean, the gotaways, the 2.5 million, they paid the cartels more money so that they can get in the back door.
The people that have the money to pay for that are not the people that are looking for a better life for themselves and their children and their family.
And he's right.
Anyways, Trump said that America is very, very clear.
He's declaring a national emergency at the border.
All illegal entry will immediately be halted.
It already has started.
And we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to places from which they came.
We will reinstate my remain in Mexico policy.
We will end the practice of catch and release.
I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion into our country under the orders I signed today.
We will also be designating the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
And by invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of the federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs, criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities and inner cities.
And he says, I have no higher responsibility to defend our country from threats and invasions.
And that's what I am going to do.
And we'll do it at a level we've never seen before.
And further went on to say that next, he will direct members of my cabinet to marshal the vast powers of their disposal to defeat record inflation, rapidly bringing down costs and prices.
I think the thing that I'm most excited about, the thing that will make this country rich, I've talked about at length, energy dominance.
And then he talked in broad themes that are very, the golden age of America begins right now.
Now, imagine if you're Joe and Kamala listening to this.
From this day forward, our country will flourish, be respected again.
We will be the envy of every nation.
We will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer during every single day of the Trump administration.
I will simply put America first.
That's his first opening paragraph.
I'm like, let's go.
Time to, you know, man up.
Everybody, let's roll.
Let's roll.
And he said, our sovereignty will be reclaimed.
Our safety will be restored.
The scales of justice will be rebalanced.
The vicious, violent, unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end.
And he said, our top priority will be to create a nation that is proud and prosperous and free.
America will soon be greater, stronger, far more exceptional than ever before.
I return to the presidency confident, optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success.
A tide change is sweeping the country.
Sunlight is pouring over the entire world.
America has the chance to seize this opportunity like never before.
American citizens, but provide sanctuary and protection against dangerous people.
But first, we've got to be honest, he said, in front of Kamala and Joe about the challenges we face.
And while they're plentiful, they will be annihilated by this great momentum that the world is now witnessing in the USA.
For many years, radical, corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens.
The pillars of our society lay broken, seemingly in complete disrepair.
And now we have government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home.
I was really glad to hear that he mentioned the people in North Carolina, by the way.
And then he said, while at the same time, stumbling into a catalog of catastrophic events abroad, it fails to protect our magnificent law-abiding Americans from these criminals and people that have entered our country illegally.
He said he will defend our borders, defend America's borders.
Our country can no longer deliver basic services in times of emergency, as shown recently to the wonderful people of North Carolina, and he is so right.
And then he said about Los Angeles: other states are suffering.
You know, we're watching fires still tragically burn from weeks ago without even a token of defense.
In other words, no science of forestry.
They're raging through the houses, the communities, affecting some of the wealthiest.
It doesn't matter.
They're affecting everybody.
And he said, all of this, we can't let it happen anymore.
And this is what today is really all about.
This is the most, I've been saying it differently.
I'll say it in my own way.
We have an opportunity you get maybe every hundred years.
You know, everyone keeps saying, who's the next Trump?
Who's the next Trump?
There is no next Trump.
There's only one Ronald Reagan, only one new Kingrich.
There's only one Donald Trump.
He is a force of nature.
Nobody, they might say the same words like they did.
People would quote Reagan, but they didn't have Reagan's spirit.
They didn't have Reagan's strength.
They didn't have Reagan's conviction.
Only one Donald Trump that is going to talk in a State of the Union address about taking back the Panama Canal.
I'm sure the shock and awe of that speech was like, oh my gosh, in front of Obama and George W. Bush, and let's see, everyone else, all the other dignitaries that were there, whoever else was there.
Joe looked like he was napping there for a while.
It's sad.
I mean, he said, America's decline is over.
Our liberties, our nation's glorious destiny, can no longer be denied.
And we will immediately restore the integrity, competency, and loyalty of America's government.
You know, he said over the last eight years, I've been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250-year history, and I've learned a lot along the way.
The journey to reclaim our republic has not been easy.
That I can tell you.
Those who wish to stop our cause have tried to take my freedom and take my life.
And he talked about Butler.
Then he talked about all Americans coming together.
We will move with purpose and speed to make that happen, you know, to bring hope, prosperity, safety, peace for citizens of every race, religion, color.
He goes on.
January 20th, this day, he calls Liberation Day, and that it hopefully will be remembered as one of the greatest, most consequential elections in history.
If he accomplishes his stated goal, if he secures the border, if he deports illegal immigrants, if he makes America the most energy-dominant country on the face of the earth, we will be rich again.
We'll have the money to modernize our military, prepare for the next generation of warfare.
We'll have the money to save Social Security and Medicare.
We'll have the money to deport these people, and we will have the money to tax American citizens less and stop robbing and stealing from our children and our grandchildren, as has gone on for generations, and cut $2 trillion in spending.
He reached out to the African-American Hispanic communities, thanking them for their outpouring of love and trust.
He said, you know, we set records.
I will not forget.
I have heard your voices in this campaign, and I look forward to working with you in the years to come.
He mentioned today is Martin Luther King's Day.
It is honor.
He said this will be a great honor, but in his honor, we will strive together to make his dream a reality.
How about we get rid of identity politics?
Why don't we all just be Americans now?
To be Americans.
You know what?
Based on meritocracy.
The harder you work, the better you're going to do in this country.
Linda doesn't work hard.
She doesn't do well.
You know, she works.
She hardly works.
You know what?
I worked very hard today.
You know why I worked hard at laughing my ass off at Joe Biden and Kamala Harris sitting there looking so sad.
They weren't happy.
You know, he declared today a national energy emergency.
We're going to drill, baby, drill.
We have the largest amount of oil or gas of any other country on earth, he went on to say.
And, you know, he's right.
That is where we will bring down the prices of energy.
We'll fill our strategic reserves up again.
I mean, it's a great day.
I'm so happy.
I am so happy.
Sorry.
I don't know the way you said that was.
I'm just happy.
I want to thank this audience because they need to.
Are you happy about a tuxedo again tonight?
It's a big day for you.
Tuxedo signed.
I'm not happy about the tuxedo part.
Oh, yeah.
Hang on.
Where's my clicky pen?
Oh, Gail, gets a clicking.
Gets a clicking.
When I click the pen.
Why don't you ask your audience how much they love it?
Yeah, my audience.
I don't have an audience.
You mean the audience?
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Sean Hannity.
In our Nation's Capitol Polster, Matt Towery polled Trump and Congress.
He's next.
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