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Sept. 13, 2025 - Sean Hannity Show
29:40
Analyzing Political Violence - September 12th, Hour 3
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This is an iHeart Podcast.
All right, news roundup and information overload hour.
Here's our toll-free telephone number if you want to be a part of the program, 800-941-SHAWN.
If you want to join us, we are expecting, and I've been told and it's been confirmed, that Charlie Kirk's widow, the bride that he loved, Erica, is going to be giving a statement tonight.
We'll have it on Hannity 9 Eastern on Fox.
I can only imagine, you know, I I I can't imagine, to be very honest, the pain that she is going through and the shock that she's going through as she looks at her two beautiful children every day.
Um of the things that I have been focused on, and I've I've been very honest in assessing this, in as much as maybe I've become too numb to it, maybe because this has now happened for the last ten years, maybe since the moment that Donald Trump Melania Trump came down that escalator at Trump Tower,
is that the left has used every weapon at their disposal to smear slander, besmirch, destroy the character, demonize, dehumanize Donald Trump.
You know, Miranda Devine put out a video.
I mean, the video is shocking.
Just listen to the audio of it.
Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.
Are they a threat to democracy?
Yes.
Are they going to take our rights away?
Yes.
Are they going to put people's lives in danger?
Yes.
Are they going to endanger the planet by not using climate change?
Yes.
People need to start taking to the streets.
This is a dictator.
I I just don't even know why there are uprisings all over the country.
that will be.
She's a genuine danger to American security.
They're still going to have to go out and put a bullet in Donald Trump, and that's a fact.
If you continue to dehumanize people to the extent the left has the last 10 years, what impact does this have psychologically on the minds of, or the weak-minded, or people with mental illness, and does that impact people, or cause people, or motivate people to commit acts of violence, and in their twisted minds, do they begin to think that they are doing good?
I've gone over everything that we have learned about the shooter.
We welcome to the program a good friend of ours, a friend of the program, friend of Hannity the TV show, former congressman.
He's a Utah native.
He was at the Prove Me Wrong event that took place with Charlie Kirk this week.
He was there during the assassination.
I know this has been a rough week for you.
I remember, you know, the day that this happened, and you were on Fox almost nonstop that day describing what happened, and I heard it in your voice.
I felt it in my own voice as I was doing radio that day and TV that night, because we both knew Charlie, and we knew what a great guy he was.
Let's go back to when this first happened.
Yeah, look, uh it it I was in shock, and but I felt like um the country was in shock, and they were in mourning, and you know, I felt like it was um sort of my duty, but also honor to tell and call it like it was, having been there and seen it and witnessed it, as horrific as it was.
Um, and and Charlie had a message of love and a belief in Christ and his unending message of look, we gotta be able to talk.
If not, there will be violence.
But if you prove me wrong, you got another argument you got another argument?
Make it.
There's no filter.
You can say whatever you want to say, but Charlie is gonna say what he wanted to say.
That's the essence of America.
And yet you have people that lashed out in this case, a shooter lashed out in violence and assassinated.
I would argue the most important voice for the youth in America.
Nobody, but nobody, other than the president of the United States, Donald Trump, could draw a crowd of two to three thousand people, because I'd say 95% of them are younger than the age of 30, out on a Wednesday afternoon to hear political dialogue.
Who else could do that?
Only Charlie.
Only two people my kids ever wanted to meet, Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump.
Uh They don't care about their dad.
I I even asked my daughter maybe a year and a half, two years ago, what time is my radio show on?
And and she didn't know the exact time.
I'm like, seriously.
Um but Mike but I I in one sense I'm happy about it.
I'm glad my kids are not in the political arena and and they are finding their own path in life, and I'm very proud of both my kids.
Um but what he was able to do, uh it was so brilliant the idea.
Show me where I'm wrong.
Tell me where I'm wrong.
And he would take on all comers and he'd he'd enter this hostile environment, which you know, these indoctrination centers in many cases.
Uh I know a lot of people would think that Utah might be a lot different, but you have liberal bastions in every part of the country, right?
And and he did it with a smile on his face, and he took all this hostility in, he'd give it back, you know.
It was a give and take, and he was great at debate, and he was brilliant, but it was also a moment where kids finally on a college campus, at least in this moment, would have an opportunity to hear a different point of view than they were likely getting in the classroom.
That's why it was so critical the work he was doing.
That's right.
I mean, that's what you're supposed to do in college, right?
Learn how to think and establish your values.
You've now gotten away from mom and dad, you're spread your wings and and um you know learn how to think and and develop the core principles.
And he would he he also did something that I hadn't seen somebody do for a long time, and that is wear his belief of Jesus Christ and religion on his sleeve, because for far too long the left has besieged us with messages that you were something less than cool if you talked about religion or believed in Jesus Christ.
He he he was so proud of that and inspired by that, and he shared that and it resonated with you know young teenagers and people in their twenties like nobody else.
It was it was phenomenal.
And I think that's why he ultimately was assassinated.
Um he was so effective.
He was the most effective communicator with our today's youth.
I had some amazing conversations with him, and I don't want to make this about me in any way, um, but his level of curiosity was it was keen.
I mean, with he he built his own little empire, and he really was the only one that I think that was able to pull this off to the level that that he did, uh, and I think it had everything to do with his his charm, his his natural charisma and his personality.
Uh, but yet he wanted to know my views on this business and and what I thought about you know the things that he was doing and decisions he was going to make career-wise.
And I was honored to, you know, offer that advice to him.
And what I loved about him is, you know, a lot of people have asked my advice over the years.
I give it to them and they don't listen to one word.
He listened very closely.
And he, you know, I think I have learned a thing or two over the many decades I've been doing this, uh, Jason, and it made me appreciate him even more.
Yeah, he I had an opportunity before he was the household word uh name that he became um and go visit his operation there in Phoenix and Tempe and he showed me kind of behind the scenes what he was building.
I'm like, Charlie, how did you how are you doing this?
And he and he looked he he found some people who believed in him and helped fund him early, but he produced results and he produced these videos and and he studied and he learned and you would often say, Look, you you're going to college.
I never I didn't go to college, you did, but I he you knew he was going to be smarter and have a more salient, compelling um argument.
But what he built, and then I went with him to ASU, Arizona State, and and watched him do one of these events, much smaller than the one at UVU that day.
Um, but it was just so fascinating to watch him in motion because he relished it and he loved it.
And people would line up like I want a chance to take him out.
I want a chance to prove him wrong.
And the day of of the assassination, people had lined up two plus hours ahead of time.
And um because they they wanted to have that unique opportunity and try to prove him wrong.
And he's like, hey, we're gonna be here for hours today, folks.
I'll I'll stay here a long time and answer all your questions and and and debate whatever you want to debate.
Oh, I mean, that was the thing, and the conversations that we had about politics and and he had such a passion.
He really loved the MAGA movement.
He understood it.
Um and I gotta give a lot of credit to you because uh long before it was public, and I did not divulge any sources, but I knew more than I was able to go with publicly.
Sometimes you're told this is what we're learning, but you can't go with it yet.
And I always want to be open with my audience, and there were there was a lot of information that you were sharing with me that was telling me that we were much closer than was being publicly disclosed, and I never wanted to get in the way or interfere in any way with law enforcement and their ability to do their job their way, and you know, saying, Oh, they're getting close would not have helped them.
Yeah, I you know, being in Congress for eight years here in Utah, pretty well tied in with local law enforcement and and and their the federal law enforcement.
Uh the the last text that I interacted with um with Charlie Kirk.
I said, Charlie, I'm so glad, excited that you're coming to Utah.
He was gonna be here twice.
He was also September 30th.
He's supposed to be up at Utah State.
I said, I'm so glad my daughter would really like to get a picture with you.
But um, the morning of the event on the 10th, I said, I'm going out with ice, and why don't you come with me?
We're gonna do a ride along.
We're gonna go out super early in the morning and go out with ice.
And he said, Ugh, I I wish I could join you.
I just I don't think I'm gonna be able to pull that off.
But come to the event, we'll get together, and um, you know, I'll I just um was hoping and I can't believe that uh, you know, we were we are where we are, but that was the plan.
And law enforcement, you know, they gotta be really sensitive, but they're also like, yeah, I want to give you a little guidance, can't let this out, but you know, don't say this.
If you want to get the story right, and that's what you know, we want to try to do is just get it right.
And uh they were they were good to me that way.
All right, quick break.
Welcome back more with our friend, former Congressman Jason Chafetz.
He was at the event where Charlie Kirk was assassinated this week, more with Jason on the other side, then we'll get to your calls this Friday.
I know so many of you want to comment on the events of this week.
800, 941 Sean as we continue.
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All right, we continue now with Jason Chavitz's Uh native of Utah, was at the event where Charlie Kirk was assassinated this week, going over the events of this week.
There's gonna be a question now that there are gonna be federal charges and state charges uh against this assassin.
And the question really is uh I would argue that you're better off staying with the state.
My understanding is in the state of Utah, you still have you know uh a death penalty and a firing squad, uh of which I am not personally against for people that brutally murder innocent people.
Yeah.
We have a uh lethal injection, but you as a um in the death penalty, you still have the option for uh.
Um, I I think Sean, you know, that'll play out in due time.
Uh I think we'll we're still mourning.
I think the the focus on the legacy and the family is paramount and prayers are still needed to buoy up that family.
But I do think the bigger long lasting story is how did this shooter um in a conservative part of the world, iconic in its beauty, it's the gateway to Zion National Park and a conservative community.
How did this kid?
Call him a kid, he's early twenties, but how did this person become so radicalized that it the alleged shooter got up on a roof, put that rifle up there and took that shot.
Th there's much more to this story.
I have a million questions because that doesn't just happen in isolation.
You don't just wake up and say, hey, this is what I'm gonna do.
Who was talking to him?
Was there funding?
Were there people encouraging him?
Why was he leaving messages uh the way he was leaving those wretches?
Who was on the other end of those messages?
Why were they why did the questioner ask him about transgender mass shootings when the shot was fired?
Um all of these types of things.
What do these inscriptions on the bullets and the gun, what do those mean?
I mean, some people are saying online, I don't know if it's true or not.
These are these are tied to Antifa.
So how did Well let me let me just sum it up this way only because I'm looking at the clock and the constraints of time.
Um I never want to cut off a friend.
Um stay tuned.
There may be more.
We don't know for sure, but there may be more.
Absolutely.
Um Jason, thank I know this has been a very tough week for you, for your family, for the people of Utah.
I love the people of Utah, have a long history there.
And um I'm grateful for your friendship and all that all the help that you offer this week.
Uh really, really appreciate it, and this audience does as well.
And I wanted to make them aware of that.
Thank you, sir.
Appreciate it, and Godspeed.
Thanks, sir.
All right, let's get to our busy phones.
Uh let's say hi to Tim.
He's in Montana today.
Tim, glad you called.
What a week this has been.
Absolutely.
Thank you, Sean, for taking my call.
I'll be quick and concise.
Um, there's many people who are left leaning or just claiming liberals that are saying that people who are conservative are on the right are just as violent as people on the left.
And I would say from a thirty thousand foot view, you know, excluding the outliers, let's take a look at it.
Absolutely false.
If that were true, where are the riots?
Where's the city's burning?
Where's the indiscriminate uh physical harm and financial injury to our to our neighbors that uh you know happened for a multitude of other people in the in the history of the United States, even recently.
And yet the right, what did we what did we see last night?
We saw a prayer vigils, we saw moments of silence, we saw people gathering peacefully, quietly, remembering and mourning.
The left is violent.
The left has always been violent.
The right is more respectful and r and we value human life.
We value individual liberty, we value personal property rights, and we value community with our neighbors that builds people up rather than tears them down.
And that are some of the fundamental differences between the right and the left.
So if your leftist friends are out there saying the right is just as violent, ask them where the riots are.
Ask them why conservatives aren't are uh burning colleges down, these liberal indoctrination centers, because we don't do that.
We don't.
We won't support it.
I mean, I've if I heard January sixth one more time, you know, and you know, everybody, you know, just just ignored peacefully, patriotically, march to the Capitol, so your voices will be heard.
Uh they forget that part.
Should people have breached the Capitol?
Absolutely not.
Did people pay a very dear price?
Yes, they did.
But these are the very same people that stood by silently as five hundred and seventy-four riots took place in the summer of love, the summer of twenty twenty, where dozens of Americans were dead, thousands of cops injured, and I point this out all the time, pelted with bricks, rocks, bottles, and Molotov cocktails, and billions in property damage.
And then the vice presidential candidate of the Democratic Party goes on Colbert.
They're not gonna stop writing.
They shouldn't stop writing and we won't stop supporting them.
I don't want to get lectured by any liberal uh on the I I I just I cringe every time because it's nothing but a lie.
And all the incidents of political violence that we have seen, yeah, it's left versus right.
Steve Scalise, perfect example.
Two assassination attempts against Donald Trump, another two examples.
Charlie Kirk, another example.
Anyway, my friend, God bless you.
Appreciate your call.
I appreciate all of you out there.
I know this has been a tough week for all of you.
I mean, the messages that I'm getting from people are unbelievably loving and kind and heartfelt and um and people are just hurting.
Christy is in Missouri.
Hey, Christy.
Mr. Hannity.
Um I I've never called into anywhere before.
Um and I really felt the need to call in after the video was uploaded where the young man is kind of cheering um when Charlie is shot.
And I really I I'm only 34.
So my message is really for any young audience that's listening to you, which they are doing, especially right now, even if it's just for updates, you do have a following of of my age and and younger.
And I just need them to understand that if you are my age in your 30s and you have children, get them off of social media.
It is about to be the time where you are picking a side and and we need to help our children pick the right side, uh, because what that man did uh showed a lot of people that that there are heartless people in the United States and and it's going to grow if we if we allow it.
It is like sucking poison from a wound.
And if you are a younger kid, you are in college and you are starting to pay attention to conservative ideals, which is what Charlie preached, and it's starting to sound pretty good.
Please, for the love of God, get off of social media, live according to the way that he would want you to live.
I mean, you I guess I can't say that you should become a Christian, but I mean start listening to things Hey Christy, you you can say that on this program.
It's okay.
This is not a college campus.
Right, right.
I just I it's just it's important that we we we really have a nation.
We have failed my age and slightly older.
If you were alive before Obama was president and you saw what life was like before Obama was president, and then immediately after, then you know dang well that what America can be.
And we have they have unfortunately capitalized better than us, social media, they have capitalized uh uh really all of media in general better than we have.
We're catching up, but we have to remove our children from it.
Get rid of Snapchat, not not, you know, parental hours or you think they're watching them.
We have got to remove it.
It is a cancer, it's a cancer, and it's also now that we know this information from the shooter, now like more than ever, we know for a fact that it is a it is poison in a gigantic gash beeping wound in our nation.
And and we we just can't be a part of it anymore.
We have to, as conservatives, remove our children from it because that is what Charlie was doing.
Charlie was jumping ahead to the next generation, and that is why they killed him.
You know what I mean?
That is the reason.
I think you're right.
Listen, I I actually believe that Charlie Kirk was on a church trajectory that was just straight up.
It was a rocket ship.
And there was no stopping him.
And I I could easily have imagined Charlie one day being president.
I really could have.
Yes.
But listen, Christy, one thing I will say to you, thank you for calling.
Um you have a heart of gold, and I I would just j gently, very gently challenge people like yourself, stay involved and and get the message out, whether it's a small group or a large group, it doesn't matter.
Every voice matters.
I I've always viewed what I do for a living as being a spoke in the wheel.
And I I I look at anybody that is on our side, even if they're just an 80-20, you know, Reagan said, if you're 80% my friend, you're not my enemy.
Uh there are plenty of people on our side that I have twenty percent or thirty percent disagreement with, I promise.
But I don't spend my time focused on it because we are this is an ideological battle against people that I believe fundamentally do not want America to stay true to its core mission and value and constitutional order.
And I think that is, you know, that was Charlie's mission, and he he had a deep understanding of it, and he was willing to walk into the Lion's Den and fight it every day.
Um anyway, Christy, God bless you, appreciate it, and uh thanks for checking in with us.
Uh 800-941 Sean.
If you want to be a part of the program, we'll go to Utah.
Ken is there.
Ken, I know, especially the people in Utah devastated.
It's not the people of Utah's fault.
It is not.
And Americans understand that.
Glad you called, sir.
Uh, thank you.
Um a couple of things.
My wife and I are both Charlie Kirk fans.
We love him to death.
And um I I look at, you know, there's a lot of uh Democrats I don't like.
I don't like Obama.
I don't like Biden, Harris, Pelosi, um, Newsom.
But you've got I don't believe in violence is gonna solve anything, but the the USI doesn't seem to believe that as much.
So when you got these um high highly publicized, high profile, uh highly prominent conservatives that are doing these outdoor venues.
How much does a drone cost?
Why can't they just fly a drone up because Trump was almost assassinated by the grace of God he wasn't, but had to add a drone just checking out the rooftops because that's your best vantage point at any outdoor venue if you're trying to shoot somebody and yeah, I I I hate the fact that what you're saying, but I know what you're saying is true.
I mean, you know, look at now the new security that Donald Trump has to go through if you go to a Trump event, what you have to go through.
It is it is very different.
Um and outdoor events are more challenging.
And you know, Charlie Kirk, uh, yeah, he did have private security.
Yeah, there was local law enforcement there, and I'm not faulting anybody.
You know, this guy snuck onto this roof, was in a prone position, he was hiding down.
Yeah, in the in retrospect, yes, we have video of it.
All of that is true.
Uh did we think that there's an assassin on on the roof of that building?
It's very hard.
Now, I do believe that common sense measures for conservatives going forward would be prudent.
And I can tell you in all the years, and I traveled extensively over the years, and there were years we I did radio and TV and books and speeches and 70 appearances a year at at different points in my career.
I don't travel that much anymore.
I still do events, but going forward, my recommendation to my conservative friends is you've got to put security up front.
That means you have to have uh I would say an enclosed area.
You have to be inside.
I think everybody should go through a mag.
I think everybody needs to be wanted if they want to go, if they don't want to go, they don't have to go.
Well, it's intruding on my private.
But no, it's not.
If you want to go see President Trump, you have to go through those measures and and take security seriously.
Um I I don't want to live through this again.
I don't want anybody, whether I like them or not, I don't want anybody of any political persuasion, you know, being hurt in any way.
Uh anyway, it's a great reminder, Ken.
It is a great reminder.
And Charlie did this knowing what happened at Butler, knowing what happened at Trump International.
He did it anyway.
He knew he was going into a hostile environment when he went to a college campus.
Because it was often hostile.
It was usually hostile.
It was predictably hostile.
Anyway, I appreciate the call, my friend.
God bless you.
My free state of Florida, Dave is next.
Hey Dave, how are you?
Glad you called.
Yeah, Sean, thanks for having me.
Uh thank you.
You know, when I when I woke up uh yesterday, I expected to see tributes to Charlie.
Instead, the left were celebrating his assassination.
You know, teachers, doctors, uh, even other senators and congressmen, you know, saying that Charlie Kirk uh deserved what he got, you know.
Why why can't we censor these people and get them the hell out of there?
You know, uh we're so nothing they're doing is bringing us closer together with with anybody.
Uh you had school teachers uh celebrating his demise, you know.
Uh you had multiple teachers around the country cheering Charlie Kirk's death.
It's it I know it I it shocks the conscience.
Well, I'll tell you the tipping point moment, and I wish I had more time because I want I'm gonna highlight this tonight on TV.
It was a tipping point.
And when the left and Democrats would not stand for Lake and Riley's family, then they wouldn't stand for Jocelyn Nungary's family, when they wouldn't stand for this young man that had cancer and became a Secret Service agent.
That's that as radical as they were.
If you can't stand for the families that lost their children or celebrate a young man that be cancer, I said that at that night they lost their heart, their conscience, and their soul.
And that is the new radicalized Democratic Party.
And it is it is widespread.
It is a cancer.
One last thought.
I'm urging people when you see this cancer on social media.
If I ever want to feel bad about myself, I could just Google myself and look on social media.
I don't do it.
I don't even have access to my accounts for that reason.
You know, understand these these keyboard warriors in their underwear or naked in their basements, anonymous, are just full of cancer.
Be careful, monitor, you know, the the outlets you get information from.
You don't need that darkness in your life.
All right, that wraps things up for today.
It's been a tough week, I know for everybody.
Uh, we have Hannity tonight, 9 Eastern on the Fox News Channel.
Uh, we have full and complete coverage of the arrest of Charlie Kirk's assassin.
Uh, what investigation is ongoing?
Uh were other people involved.
It's still an open question.
We also expect Charlie's wife to speak out.
Clay Travis, Riley Gaines, Nicole Parker, James Gagliano, Jason Chaffetz, Stephen Miller, uh, Lawrence Jones tonight, Jim Jordan tonight, John Solomon tonight, nine Eastern, Satya DVR, Hannity on Fox.
We'll see you then.
Our prayers are with Charlie Kirk, his wife, his children, his family, his friends.
Uh, we'll see you tonight.
Have a great weekend with your family.
God bless all of you, and we'll be back here Monday.
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