All Episodes
Previous Next
Sept. 18, 2025 - Sean Hannity Show
33:38
Future of Turning Point - September 17th, Hour 1
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
This isn't iHeart Podcast.
You want smart political talk without the meltdowns?
We got you.
I'm Carol Markovich.
And I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
We've been around the block in media and we're doing things differently.
Normally is about real conversations.
Thoughtful.
Try to be funny, grounded, and no panic.
We'll keep you informed and entertained without ruining your day.
Join us every Tuesday and Thursday.
Normally on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm Ben Ferguson.
And I'm Ted Cruz.
Three times a week we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
Nationwide, we have millions of listeners.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes, inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
So Down, verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
Right down our toll-free telephone number if you want to be a part of the program.
It's 800-941 if you want to join us.
Um amazing things are happening.
And I I I it's it doesn't surprise me.
I don't think anybody with any degree of accuracy can predict the magnitude and the impact on our culture and society that this tragic event and assassination of Charlie Kirk is going to have.
We're beginning to see massive signs of it.
Over 32,000 requests for new turning point USA campus chapters have been filed since Charlie Kirk's death.
I mean, uh, and it's growing by the day.
I'm staying in touch with with people in the organization.
They're telling me that they've never seen anything like it.
Uh later in the program, we'll talk to our friend Selena Zito.
Remember, she was only a few feet from President Trump when he was assassinated.
She wrote the number one New York Times best-selling book, Butler the Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the fight for America's Heartland.
And she has a Washington Examiner piece out today, and she's talking about they went to the sanctuary church by the busloads.
He tells a story about Pastor Jason Howard was taken aback by the size and the scope of the number of young people who came out on Sunday for service.
He says, I'll be honest with you, I'm in my 40s.
I was caught off guard by the response from people who were in my church in their twenties.
They were much more in tune with Charlie's influence than I was, yet his assistant pastor, guy by the name of Cole Yoka, uh, was very much tuned in.
Twenty-two.
His immediate reaction was to spontaneously just put out on social media that we were gonna pray.
And the day after Charlie was assassinated, we had a whole bunch of people just gather in the backyard to pray.
The response response was going to be bold and unashamed about the message of Jesus more than ever before.
You know, one of the things I you know, I guess over time, as I've been using the the phrase, I'll continue to use it.
We become numb.
We've become maybe just used to it as a new norm.
You know, but there was this whole effort to kick God or any even a mention of God out of the classroom or out of public discourse.
And, you know, one of the things that Charlie did is he's go he'd go on these college campuses.
Now, they are bastions of indoctrination, but you know, where they should have free, open, you know, vigorous debate, not just about politics, but also about faith, religion, belief systems.
You know, I I I love the idea of comparative religions.
I did learn that myself when I went to school, and I did find it fascinating.
You know, I myself being raised Catholic, but I'm a non-denominational Christian.
And I can tell you that without faith, I would not be here today.
And it was such an important aspect of my life growing up because we we went to church every Sunday at the time I didn't always want to go, I'll be honest.
And then I went to Catholic schools for 12 years, and in high school I went to a seminary and I studied theology and Latin and went to Mass every day.
And you know, it was a school where to even to get in it, they said they said you just have to at least be willing to consider being a priest.
After like three days, they said everybody but him, and they pointed at me.
They didn't want me at that point.
They knew I was pretty incorrigible at that point in my life to be very blunt.
Um, but to see this among young people, and I think this was, you know, this as I I didn't know the magnitude and the foundational aspect of Charlie's mission as as well as I know it now,
having spoken to his pastor both on radio and TV and offline, and what his real mission was and how he'd go into these hostile environments, and a big part of his message was about his his deep faith.
We heard that this from his wife Erica last Friday night.
Um, the way he lived life, the things that he was telling kids, I mean, this is what's a the amazing part of it is, and the and Frank, I keep saying the genius behind it is that he was saying things that kids would never otherwise hear on college campuses.
Yeah, part of the message was about conservatism and making America great.
Part of it was about politics, part of it was turning point political action, but turning point also had you know their faith-based action, which is a big part of their mission.
And he was open about his faith, very old traditional standard values that that used to be the norm in this country.
You know, think about how far as a country morally we've fallen.
I mean, look at our school system, for example, as you go back to the 50s and 60s, what were the top problems in our school system?
You know, running in the halls, talking in class, chewing gum.
What is it today?
You know, drug abuse, suicide, gangs, violence.
I mean, how did we go so wrong?
Maybe time to, you know, kicking God out of the classroom.
Oh, Hannity, you're proselytizing.
I'm not proselytizing.
I'm just telling you my experience.
And when people ask me in interviews, and it comes up often, you know, well, how do you explain your success?
I said, Well, uh, if that's what you want to call it, I think I've I've I've been living an undeserved life, and at some point God will wake up and realize it's I'm so undeserving and rightly take it from me.
But I do believe that this foundational experience of of growing up with faith in my life, and my parents sacrificing so much, my mom, the prison guard working double shifts, my dad working as a waiter on weekends, he was family corp probation, and all of their spare money went to sending their kids to Catholic schools, which they really couldn't afford, but they did it by sacrificing in their own life and not taking vacations.
I I can't remember a single family vacation I ever went on.
I can't, you know, remember my parents until much later in years ever getting a new car.
It was, you know, an old piece of junk, usually.
And not that I ever wanted for anything either.
And I I love the independence they gave me, but also the work ethic.
And they didn't have a problem with a 12-year-old kid staying out, you know, working in a restaurant, washing dishes or being a cook in a restaurant, 12, 13 years old, you know, flying home.
They didn't know I had my two St. Pauli girls and sat at the bar at the time.
Well, can you imagine that 12, 13 years old sitting at a bar after your work after your shift, and then you know, drinking two St. Pauli girls, and it was not it was not a big deal then.
And I remember I became a bartender at 17, and you know, then I was closing the bar.
Last call was at four o'clock, closed the bar at 4:30, and you know, just head on out to the diner, get some food, read newspapers, because I was obsessed with the news even at that point in my life.
And I love the look, I love the freedom it gave me.
But the things in my life that my parents gave me, that foundational faith that has sustained me.
And I would argue when people ask me, you know, well, how have you been able to achieve something that a lot of people in this business don't achieve?
And that's longevity, I would say.
Number one, it's definitely the work ethic of my parents.
Number two, I finally tuned conscience that I developed from a very young age thanks to them and their sacrifice.
And then my own natural pursuit of a spiritual life.
Human beings are mind, body, and spirit.
And uh that belief in God is foundational to how you live your life, and that keeps you out of trouble.
You know, uh society in many ways, you know, they'll say, oh, that's Catholic guilt.
Oh, that's you know, Jewish guilt.
Oh, that's no, I think guilt is a good thing.
And I've said this many times before.
It means you have a conscience.
That means that there is something within you that is that is telling you you you know when you're everybody knows when they're gonna do something wrong, or at least most people, unless you're a psychopath, then you don't have a conscience.
Most good people and most people are good.
I believe most Americans are good people.
But to see this is pretty incredible to me.
And, you know, Charlie would go on these campuses and he'd talk about okay, um, yeah, don't be the kid throwing up in the bushes.
Talked about how he did not himself drink.
I know a lot of people in my life that cannot drink.
It changes, it alters their personality.
I learned so much as a bartender.
There are people that can drink all night, and you would not tell the difference.
It is amazing how you how unique it is to the individual.
You know, everybody I determined, this is my own analysis of it.
Everybody has a number.
A number of drinks that they can have before it changes their personality.
Everybody has a number.
Some people's number is zero.
Because one drink they either can't stop, it changes their personality, you know, it would manifest itself, and it may be stereotypically, I'm saying this, but uh based on my own observations, like guys would become aggressive.
They would tend to become aggressive, you know, or you know, get very love you, bro.
What's up, bro?
Love you, man.
You're the best man, you know.
One or the other.
Girls would tend to become more flirtatious than they would normally be if they weren't drinking.
But this is Charlie saying, Well, I don't drink.
Is it how many kids on college campus are hearing that when they're all going to frat parties and getting absolutely out of shift-faced uh, you know, every weekend night.
You know, or the fact that, you know, kids are are doing drugs on a more regular basis, which as a any parent, when you have kids going to college, it scares the crap out of you.
Or the fact that these kids, you know, are going to church more, or that they want to develop their faith, and they're hearing from Charlie Kirk that you know, he views you know, traditional relationships.
How you guys open a door for a lady, pay for your date.
You know, don't be part of hookup culture culture.
He even talked about one one video that I saw of him that really caught my interest was him looking at dating as like an interview process.
Look, I'm not here to proselytize.
I'm not a preacher, but I am here to say that this that something happening and stirring in this country, the magnitude of which we can't calculate now.
And what Erica Kirk said on Friday night that you have no idea what you have unleashed here seems to be manifesting itself in real time.
And that was the beauty of Charlie Kirk.
And I'm looking at these numbers, and I'm looking at this this article, Selena Zito will join us at the top, and I'm and later I'll play for you a montage of people saying, you know what, I'm going to church today.
I haven't been there in 20 years, but I'm going.
And I'm going for Charlie.
I'm going to take Charlie's seat, one guy said.
I'm like, whoa.
Um, how many 31 year olds can have that kind of impact on a country, and it's not just this country.
I mean, uh there was a huge vigil for him in Great Britain and and in other countries around the world.
Pretty amazing movement that's happening.
And you know, what I had been saying that there's two real things that it was genius behind what he did.
He went go into hostile environments saying things that kids never heard before.
And then these kids would hear it, and then some of them would bubble and fizz because you know, they're woke little indoctrinated robots, and you're fascist, you're racist, you're a sexist, you're a misogynist.
And then he would challenge, okay, give me an example.
They could never give him an example.
It's hilarious, actually, if you put a montage of it together.
Sad on the other part that they they just throw out these names with no understanding of what they're saying.
And then the second part is there's this whole other group of kids that were kind of over the years, you know, forced to keep their true beliefs quiet and be silent.
And he gave them a validation that they can speak out the way he did, and be a part of a group that's not afraid to do that, and part of a group that's whose purpose is to do that.
Actually, amazing times.
800, 941 Sean.
I yeah, of course I have the pile of hate.
And yet, by the way, the Fed did exactly what I told you they do.
They cut the interest rates uh.25 basis points.
It's a beginning.
I think Jerome Powell knows he's out in May, and I think he doesn't want you know the next Fed chair to come in and make him look as bad as he's going to look.
So he'll he'll probably have multiple rate cuts between now and the time he leaves.
Hey there, I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
And I'm Carol Markowitz.
We've been in political media for a long time.
Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane.
That's why we started normally a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity.
We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor.
We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously.
So if you're into common sense, sanity, and some occasional sass.
You're our kind of people.
Catch new episodes of Normally every Tuesday and Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
I'm Ben Ferguson, and I'm Ted Cruz.
Three times a week, we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
Nationwide, we have millions of listeners every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
We break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
So down a verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
What I told people, I was making a podcast about Benghazi.
Nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked, why?
Benghazi, the truth became a web of lies.
It's almost a dirty word, one that connotes conspiracy theory.
Will we ever get the truth about the Benghazi massacre?
Bad faith, political warfare, and frankly, bullshit.
We kill the ambassador just to cover something up.
You put two and two together.
Was it an overblown distraction or a sinister conspiracy?
Benghazi is a Rosetta Stone for everything that's been going on for the last 20 years.
I'm Leon Navok from Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries.
This is Fiasco Benghazi.
What difference at this point does it make?
Yeah, that's right.
Locker up.
Listen to Fiasco Benghazi on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
As I get Into this, I want to I wanna I want to get to something that is critical here, and that is the FBI under Cash Patel, then the DOJ really is.
I mean, it's part of the DOJ, the FBI is Pam Bondi, Cash Patel, and Dan Bongino.
I've known all three of them for many years.
And when I said last week, I have faith and I have confidence in all of them.
And within 33 hours, now it wasn't conventional to put out enhanced images of the shooter, but they did it in the hopes that it would it would bring them a lead to get the the assassin of Charlie Kirk faster.
It worked within 33 hours.
If you look at the Sarnov brothers, the Boston bomber, you know, it took them what, five days.
You know, look at other cases.
You know, look at the case of the centennial bombing, it took six years.
Look at Ted Kacinski, the unibomber's 17 years.
You know, it's and so it was really record time.
And for whatever reason, I don't know completely why there is nothing but hostility from the left in this country as it relates to anything or anybody really related to President Trump is what it comes down to.
Um, there was an exchange yesterday, Cash Patel going before uh the Senate Judiciary Committee, or uh, I believe it was the Judiciary Committee, and he had this amazing exchange with the congenital liar Adam Schiff, and that was about the FBI agents and their handling over January 6th because listen to the exchange.
I think the American people believe the truth that I'm not in the weeds on the everyday movements of the weeds.
What I am doing is protecting this country.
Providing historic reforms and combating the weaponization of intelligence by the likes of you.
And we have countlessly proven you to be a liar in Russia in January 6th, being the biggest fraud to ever since the United States Senate are a disgrace to this institution and an utter coward.
I'm not surprised.
I'm not surprised that you continue to lie from your perch and put on a show so you can go raise money for your chrew reason.
You are political buffoon at best.
Well, you can take an innovator.
Take it to the bank that the FBI is protecting this country control.
And the state and citizens of the California reform.
Wow.
That was pretty powerful.
Uh then there was an op then he got into it with Corey Booker.
Let's play that.
To what you said before the grand jury.
To whatever was released.
And my understanding, Senator, that the Department of Justice.
You and I both understand the law.
Let me finish.
You on I understand under Rule 6 of the Federal Rules of Procedure, a grand jury witness, in this case you is not barred from sharing their grand jury testimony.
This is an oversight hearing.
This is germane to your integrity and credibility.
You know right now whether or not you testified that Barn President Trump declassified the documents at issued the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.
Why are you refusing to answer that simple yes or no question right now?
Because the premise of your question is inaccurate.
And that is there is no premise to my question, but trying to get to an order of what is truth or not.
How do you or did you how do you know what was asked in the grand jury if you weren't there?
Mr. This is a mockery you're making of this hearing and simple question.
It's a simple question.
If you have a during your nomination, you don't have you promised that quote, all FBI employees will be protected against political retribution.
When I asked you, are you aware of any plans or discussions to punish in any way, including termination, FBI agents or personnel associated with the Trump administration, you would I mean first of all, the ignorance of the senators, and then I'll get to the Congressman in a minute.
Since Cash Patel has become the FBI director, more than 23,000 violent criminals have been arrested.
Six thousand illegal firearms have been taken off the streets.
They have located more than 4,700 child victims.
Fifteen hundred child predators have been arrested.
They have captured four top ten most wanted fugitives.
I would say that's a pretty successful.
You know, uh example of what it is that they're doing.
Here's Cash Patel talking about we have 3,500 international terrorism investigations.
Listen.
We're going after the new form of what I refer to as modern day terrorism in America, 764 crimes that involve harming our children by going after them online, causing self-mutilation, suicide, sexual abuse, and steering them in the wrong direction.
Currently we have 3,500 international terrorism investigations.
Specifically, we have in this country 1,700 domestic terrorism investigations, a large chunk of which are nihilistic violent extremism, NVE.
Those who engage in violent acts motivated by a deep hatred of society, whatever that justification they seem as.
The FBI has seen a 300% increase in cases opened this year alone versus the same time last year.
I mean, amazing, amazing investigation.
Now, we also have learned from Senator Chuck Grassley, records showing that this Arctic frost, that there it was an FBI case that went up to 92 Republican-linked targets, including Charlie Kirk's turning point USA.
This is what Cash Patel inherited, a weaponized, politicized FBI.
Listen.
You wrote a book called Government Gangsters.
You identified 20 individuals in that book.
You put me on that list at the top of the list.
Thank you.
My children find it flattering.
Twenty of those individuals have been investigated or have had adverse actions.
Will you recuse yourself from making any investigation decisions about these individuals?
All right, let me get to the right cut here.
I want a Chuck Grassley record showing about Arctic Frost.
Let's get the right cut.
It's cut.
Arctic Frost was the FBI case opened and approved by anti-trust Trump FBI agent Tebow.
Arctic Frost then became Jack Smith's elector case against then citizen Trump and now President Trump.
These new records show that Arctic Frost was much broader than just an electoral matter.
The case was expanded to Republican organizations.
Some examples of the group that Ray FBI sought to place under political investigation, included the Republican National Committee, Republican Attorney General's Association, and various Trump political groups.
In total, 92 Republican targets, including Republican groups and Republican-linked individuals were placed under investigative scope of Arctic Frost.
On that political list was one of Charlie Kirk's group's turning point USA.
In other words, Arctic Frost wasn't just a case to politically investigate Trump.
It was the vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and Department of Justice prosecutors could achieve their partisan ends and improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus.
Now, Jim Jordan had a series of questions for Cash Patel about the FBI.
Are they still spying on parents like Linda at school board meetings?
Is the FBI still targeting Catholics?
Is the FBI still censoring Americans?
Listen.
Director, yes or no, is the FBI still spying on parents at school board meetings?
No, sir.
Is the FBI still targeting Catholics?
No, sir.
Is the FBI still spying on President Trump?
I don't believe so.
Is the FBI still censoring Americans?
Uh no, sir.
Is the FBI still targeting Americans for shopping at Cabellas or purchasing Bibles?
Nobody is targeted for their faith.
Is the FBI still targeting Americans who are pro-life?
Nobody is targeting anyone for their beliefs.
Is the FBI still cooking the books on crime data?
The crime data is real.
Is the FBI still purging agents for conservative viewpoints?
No one at the FBI has asked their viewpoints on public.
Is the FBI still labeling the Betsy Ross flag, the flag of the American Revolution, a hate symbol?
No.
Well, maybe that's why.
You've been able to.
What was the number?
23,000 bad guys you've arrested, a huge increase from the same time period in the previous administration.
I think you said 1,400 predators, 4,000 children rescued.
Were those effects?
4700, 35% increase on children rescue.
Yeah.
And you got the guy that Abbey Gate.
We got the Abbey Gate guy.
The guy from the Fourth District of Ohio lost his life there, serving our country.
We appreciate that.
Maybe when you're not focused on politics, you can actually do what the FBI is supposed to do.
Go get the bad guys, right?
That's what the men and women of the FBI do.
Then, of course, you got the loony left.
And you got Mr. Fang Fei.
Eric Swalwell.
Here's that exchange.
You wrote a book called Government Gangsters.
You identified 20 individuals in that book.
You put me on that list at the top of the list.
Thank you.
My children find it flattering.
Twenty of those individuals have been investigated or have had adverse actions.
Director, considering that you have identified these people as quote government gangsters, will you recuse yourself from making any investigation decisions about these individuals?
Anyone that has been terminated at the FBI has been done so.
No, no, the question is to meet the mustard of constitutional.
I would work on the audio visual capabilities.
I'm going to borrow your terminology and call your entire career in Congress.
You can reclaim your time all you want.
Wow.
Maybe the best exchange came with that idiot Jamie Raskins sparring about the release of the Epstein files.
listen.
Wait, have you released all of the stuff that the FBI has seized from Epstein's house?
The computers, the emails, the file cabinets, the documents?
What about the financial records?
Have you released all of that?
Everything the court has allowed us to court are you talking about?
Three separate federal courts have come in and said We're talking about the evidence you've got.
It's got nothing to do with what those courts have.
Do you have any idea?
Wait a minute you want me to break the law in a federal judge's order.
No, I want you to follow your own word, Director Patel.
You said up there it was under the direct control of the FBI director.
He had the black boy have direct control over.
We have gone to court.
You have in the case.
Complete your sentence.
Everything you have direct control over, you said.
We have gone to court and everything we have direct control over.
Director, complete your sentence.
You said everything.
We can lawfully release.
We are releasing.
Thank you.
Wow.
Very powerful.
You know, um.
But this is the state of the the radicalized Democratic Party.
You know, I just go back dramatic increases, more than 23,000 violent criminals arrested, 6,000 illegal firearms taken off the streets, a 35 uh percent increase in locating uh child victims, more than 4700, 1500 child predators arrested, and they have captured four top ten of the most wanted fugitives.
Now back to the issue of Charlie Kirk, the mother of Charlie Kirk's assassins as he became more left-leaning in the last year, more political, left-leaning, supporting pro-gay and trans rights.
He also recounted heated arguments between Robinson and her his father, who had sharply different views.
Jamille Hill, formerly a CNN deleting her post, claiming Charlie Kirk was the victim of a white supremacist hit gang.
By the way, all these people that claimed, oh, it's a MAGA guy, they all have egg on their face.
One of them, Jimmy Kimmel, telling his audience that Charlie Kirk's assassin was one of the MAGA gang.
And over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.
In between the finger pointing, there was uh grieving on Friday.
The White House flew the flags at half staff, which got some criticism.
It just is, and then he compared, oh, they're acting like this is the death of a goldfish or something.
This is why these shows have failed spectacularly.
And they're going to continue to fail.
Because it's unbelievable.
Wall Street Journal, by the way, reporting the Biden family is broke.
I guess there's no more money coming in from China and Ukraine and energy companies because they don't have influence anymore.
Uh, The chief national correspondent for ABC News has to apologize after calling the text from Charlie Kirk's assassin to his trans uh lover.
Very, very touching.
What is wrong with the media in these days?
What is wrong in this country?
800-941 Sean is on number if you want to be a part of the program.
Watching, by the way, really beautiful table setting for this uh state dinner, Trump's historically second UK state dinner.
You want smart political talk without the meltdowns?
We got you.
I'm Carol Markovich, and I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
We've been around the block in media, and we're doing things differently.
Normally is about real conversations.
Thoughtful, try to be funny, grounded, and no panic.
We'll keep you informed and entertained without ruining your day.
Join us every Tuesday and Thursday.
Normally on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm Ben Ferguson.
And I'm Ted Cruz.
Three times a week we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
Nationwide, we have millions of listeners.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
So down a verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
▲
Export Selection