David Schoen - December 27th, Hour 1

right into it. If we can do that, We've got some great guests coming up. We have Civil Liberties and former Trump Attorney Council David Shoon. We have our friends Matt and Mercy Schlapp from the American Conservative Union and SEAPAC.

And my friend in fellow Pennsylvania, Jeff Bartos, who has run for the US Senate from Pennsylvania himself and spent some significant time helping Dave McCormick win this Senate seat in a unbelievable race against three term in common Democrat Bob Casey, the namesake son of his late dad, Governor Robert P. Casey. So we've got a good show going for you here, and I just want to I want to start with talking a little bit about what Sean

loves to talk about, the media mob. And one of the things that has gotten me going here in the last few days, I saw a you know, I read the Washington Post, so you don't have to, and one of the things I noticed was this column. It was written two days published two days before Christmas in the Post, and it was by a columnist of theirs named Eugene Robinson,

who I'm sure is a nice enough guy. But his headline was, we cannot by Donald Trump's wish for a compliant news media fight the President elect's attack on independent journalism with the pro truth stands now in this step, in this gem. Rather, he begins by saying this, anyone who doubts the incoming Trump administration poses a serious threat

to independent journalism catch that phrase. Independent journalism has not been paying attention, an attack, he says, is already underway, and we journalists must now allow ourselves to be intimidated unquote now, to which one can only reply with a considerable burst of outright laughter. In fact, I would suggest

mister Robinson has it completely backwards. The Washington Post and its allies in the so called quote unquote mainstream media are anything about being seeking quote independent journalism quote unquote. They are the central players in what is much more accurately known as the liberal media. They themselves are the compliant ones who have long ago abandoned independent journalism to take sides one side, specifically in our political discussions of

the day. Some examples back before the twenty twenty four election. In October, the New York Post headlined this more Washington Post staffers resign over paper's failure to endorse Kamala Harris. That story reported quote at least two more staffers have penned their last story for the Washington Post, Don't you love this? As employees resign in protest over the Broadsheets decision not to endorse Kamala Harris for the twenty twenty

four presidential election. Editorial board members David Hoffman and Molly Roberts have issued their resignations. Semiphore. Media journalist Max Tannai reported on Monday the two longtime Washington Post staffers each authored resignation letters slamming the paper's decision not to endorse Harris. Quote. They said, I believe we face a very real threat of autocracy in the candidacy of Donald Trump unquote, said Hoffman, who took home the Pulitzer Prize last week and first

joined the paper in nineteen eighty two. And he was writing this in his resignation letter, which of course was posted on x. He went on, I find it untenable and unconscionable that we have lost our voice at this perilous moment quote unquote. And Ms Roberts, another longtime employee of the Post who first joined the paper as a student intern while studying at Harvard University, said she was resigning due to the paper's refusal to endorse Harris. Quote.

I'm resigning from the Post editorial board because the imperative to endorse Kamala Harris over Donald Trump is about as morally clear as it gets, she said. She went on to write in her resignation letter, worse, our silence is exactly what Donald Trump wants for the media, for us to keep quiet unquote. So right there, the veil gets torn away from Robinson's supposed quote unquote independent journalism at the Washington Post. Interestingly, the same situation arose across the

country at the Los Angeles Times. CBS News headlined that story this way, Two more LA Times editorial board members resign after the paper withholds a Harris endorsement, Unlike columnist Robinson over there in the New York Post, where a great columnist named Michael Goodwin has reported the reality of the fanatical and decidedly non independent journalism of the day from liberals, mister Goodwin headlined, the left wing media created their own crisis and now have to pay the price

for repeatedly attacking Donald Trump. Goodwin wrote, even as defeated Democrats try to decide who they are and what they believe in their media handmaids, what they believe in their media handmaids, face a crisis of their own. The come up and against their politically driven bias, say again, bias has arrived, and it's proving to be expensive in more ways than one. ABC News and its chief Democratic operative

George Stephanopolis the rights fell into another trap. They meaning ABC, put their agenda of defeating Trump ahead of the facts and the law, and faced with depositions that likely would have supported his claim of defamation, ABC caved in a settlement.

I still find this incredible in a settlement, the network forked over sixteen million dollars for a Trump library and his legal fees, and had to publicly say they quote regret unquote Stephanopolos's false claims that Trump had been found libel for rape in a civil case, says Goodwin Ouch. The apology surely stung much more than the money. Unquote. Well, I think that is safe to say. And you know, it isn't just major newspapers that have the left wing

bias problem. As this is written, Fox News is headlining something else quote TV Saturday Night Late Night, TV Saturday Night Lives boring, anti Trump's gold routines go unheeded. Well expletive, I can't say. On the radio, it happened again, they said. Late night hosts melted down the night after Trump's twenty twenty four victory after making him the butt of ninety

eight percent of their political jokes. The story goes on to report on the antics of late night hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and others, including of course NBC's Saturday Night Live, going all in on pro democratic and anti Trump humor quote unquote well exactly, yet with all of this out there, not to mention oh so much more in the way of a decidedly far left leaning media.

There is the Washington Post, mister Robinson saying, quote and when Trump takes office, the threat will escalate, perhaps dramatically unquote. The real threat, let me just say this to American democracy, is the central fact that Robinson simply ignores. That central fact being that American journalism has overwhelmingly abandoned the idea of so called independent journalism. And it should be noted this problem has been around a long time before Donald

Trump came on the political seat. You read the memoirs as I've done over the years of Republicans like nineteen sixty four Republican nominee Senator Barry Goldwater, or former President Richard Nixon, or the Bush's father and son and others from the conservative side of the aisle, and there is reference after reference to the liberal media and the hard fact and that person's days on the active political scene that they had to constantly deal with a far left

leaning media. You want an example, In August of twenty eighteen, the Washington Examiners Paul Baddard took a look back and headlined public's media hat fanned by Trump started with George H. W. Bush, and Badard wrote former President George H. W. Bush. HW Bush had it a lot better than President Trump. Economic growth was humming at five percent, his polling was high, and he was on duty in the Oval Office when

the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union crumbled. But the press attacked him, and as he headed to defeat to Bill Clinton, Bush became the first president to publicly rip on the media at campaign events, even handing out redhair. I remember this that had the words quote annoy the media, re elect Bush on them. Former Bush aid Mary Madeleine is quoted by bedardas saying, quote, Madeleine, isn't surprised the

public has turned on the press again. The assaults on freedom of speech religiosity, combined with the hypocrisy of a ruling class exempting themselves from all the degenerative policies they imposed on the electorate, created a combustible environment, and Trump picked up the fire starter. She said in short, the idea of being pushed in the Washington Post by one of its own, mister Robinson, is completely upside down and backwards. He ends by saying this we work for the people,

not the president. Whenever it's necessary, will remind the President that he works for the people too, quote unquote. Well, suffice to say, when large media organizations present themselves as doing quote independent journalism quote, when in fact they are about furthering a far left wing agenda, not independent journalism, they are not quote working for the people unquote. The irony.

The American people have long gotten onto this game of the media pretending to be doing independent journalism when in fact they are doing the opposite. In October of twenty twenty four, the Gallup Organization headlined this story, Americans trust in media remains a trend low trust in political and civic institution's highest for local and state governments, lowest for media and Congress. The story reported, for the third consecutive year more US adults have no trust at all in

the media. That would be thirty six percent than trusted a great deal or fair amount. Another thirty three percent of Americans express quote not very much confidence. There is a reason for this, and when a Washington Post columnst so so prominently denies the reality of that reason, media credibility takes are suffer another hit. Shocking not and I'm sure you have all seen the stories of MSNBC and CNN losing their audience and having all kinds of problems

out there. And interestingly, I vividly remember a personal note here when I was on CNN in the twenty sixteen election campaign defending then candidate Trump. It drew, as I began to understand, it drew considerable attention, and I was told personally by the president of the network that my appearance on the shows there was actually helping the ratings at CNN. Ah, you can't make this stuff up. So we're going to go on and we'll talk a little

bit more about this. One of the things that sort of as a corollary I think to all of this, and we're going to talk about this with David shown, and that is the rise of law fair and weaponizing the law to go after your political opponents. You know, I always find it very interesting that when you are accused by the left of whatever terrible thing they want to accuse you of, in point of fact, they're the ones that are guilty of it. They're the ones who

do this. And when they talk about Donald Trump wanting to be or he is a fascist, or he's going to do this or he's going to do that. And then at the same time they talk about all of the legal things that have been hurled in Donald Trump's direction. Well who's doing that. We're getting We're getting some music here, and we'll come back and talk that in just a little bit. But wow, we we're done now. I guess saying Merry Christmas, Happy fourth of July, no, happy New Year.

Welcome back to the Sean Hannity Show. And let me start out the segment here by giving you the phone number to call in. It's eight hundred nine four one seven three two six, or in other words, eight hundred ninety four to one Sean, and I hope you will holler a little bit. You know, we've got some very interesting times coming up President Trump. I always find this

comeback of his absolutely remarkable. And for those of you out there, and I'm sure it's a lot of you who know your American history, this kind of thing has not happened since Grover Cleveland was President of the United States. Groover Cleveland had been mayor of Buffalo, the governor of New York. He was elected President of the United States in eighteen forty four. I think it was I'm sorry.

Eighteen eighty four years later, he was defeated by the son or grandson of President William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison by name uh and William Henry Harrison was famous in history. He was the hero of the Battle of Tippy Canoe, and the slogan of the campaign was Tippy Canoe and Tyler too, John Tyler of Virginia Center from Virginia, I think, being his running mate. Well, he got he got elected, gave his inaugural address, caught a cold, and died in office.

So that was that was about it. So Grover Cleveland eventually came back four years later. So President Trump is repeating, and we will see what's going to happen here. So let's say we've got a little break here and we will go from there and welcome back to the Sean Hannity Show. This is Jeffrey Lord filling in for Sean and I want to start out by giving our call in number here eight hundred and nine four one, seven, three two six or eight hundred ninety four one. Sean.

I want to bring on now our guest David Shoan, who is a former counsel to President Trump. A noted civil liberties attorney, and David, before we start to talk, I have a our friend, Jason has a clip here of District Attorney Bragg in New York that he's going to play for us, and that I think can help us set up our discussion here. I know a lot of people are wondering, whoever has this job? Are they going to convict Donald Trump?

We know that the DA investigating Trump. When I was at the AG's office, I sued Trump over one hundred times for his administration's misconduct and brought a case against the Trump Foundation and held him accountable.

they're going out to get them. What are your thoughts, Well.

a complete mess, miscarriage of justice. Andrew Cuomo, who had been the Attorney General New York and the governor of New York, of course, and no Trump fan said that had he been Attorney General, that case never would have been brought. As you know the book out by Mark Pomerantz, who had been appointed sort of special counsel to investigate it. That office was against the prosecution until things changed politically, so it became advantageous for Alvin Bragg in his view

at least to bring the case. The case of the travesty, it will never hold up on appeal if it's not dismissed outright. It should be dismissed, frankly, for a number of reasons. Should be dismissed on presidential immunity ground that should be dismissed on the elected the election that just happened,

those immunity, that kind of immunity. But even if it weren't dismissed on a bill, it has to be reversed for a number of constitutional infirmities, including never identifying the target crime that made a felony in the case, giving a jury the choice and then not having them identify what crime it was. But there are many other errors in the case. The judge never should have sat on the case, clear conflict of interest. It's an abomination. And

that's just one example. But you know you mentioned the others. The others have all have infirmities of their own.

the worst instinct or human instincts. In that jurisdiction, they don't like a particular person, they don't like someone because of race or gender or some other reason, and they have an electric electorate filled with that kind of viewpoint, then the person can stay in office if you can prove that you know their professional violations. For example, we saw in the Georgia case with Fannie Willis. Now you know the Georgia Court of Appeal has removed her from

the case as she had to be. That's because you know, she, in her zeal to get President Trump and to advance her interests in the interests of her lover, she really overstepped the boundaries and created a clear appearance of impropriety and impartiality. As we moved from the case, and hopefully that case is going to be dismissed. But you're right, you know, you've identified a real problem. What do we do to hold them accountable outside of the ballot box?

this is President Nixon's Watergate situation. And it has occurred to me more than once that once that occurred, then all bets were off and every president, every public official was going to be targeted or could easily be targeted by prosecutors, because well, if they got Richard Nixon to resign and almost you know, other than Gerald Ford's pardon, he might have had more problems. What else would have

happened there. I keep having the feeling that opened the floodgates for all kinds of conduct here on the part of the legal community, which is just not good.

can imagine from an elected official. You know, on the one hand, with our separate branches of government, often we like to see, you know, different parties having different branches a sort of check on the other But in this case, I think the President Trump provided the ultimate answer to the unfair attacks. I think the American people have said this many times now, are basically a fair minded people in the majority.

last ward. President Trump gets the last word in this because now he has both Houses of Congress and the presidency, and so if someone's going to try to abuse the impeachment process again as we saw last time, they're going to have a tough rota hoo with the Republican Party in both houses.

I will fight back. Do you think we're just we're fortunate that we've got somebody here who is just not going to let people get away with it as opposed to just rolling over here. I mean, I can only imagine the conversations that you that you and his staff and friends have had with him. I saw him in Johnstown, Pennsylvania during the campaign, and because I know him that they asked if I would come out and talk to him.

I did, and I have to say, David, I was standing, you know, like almost nose to nose with and I'm sort of tilting my head a little bit to see the condition of his ear where he'd been shot, and he notices and and I said, are you all right? He said, yeah, I'm doing great. I'm doing just great. I'm fine, And then he went out on stage and delivered this, you know, incredible speech that had thousands of

people all set to go. I have never seen anything like this, and I worked for President Reagan and have been around my share of people like this, but wow, I just think he's amazing when he comes to this. But it's also very helpful because otherwise they're going to try and bring him down.

I mean, we've seen it already. We've just now, you know, backing off publicly of some of our arch enemies. And they know that he means business. And part of it is the unpredictability. They don't know what he's going to do, but they know what he's capable of doing if he decides to in terms of sort of payback. You know. Look, I hope that doesn't dominate the agenda. I think though he learned a great lesson over these last four years

and the four years administration. Remember, they tried to sideline him with this phony Mueller so called investigation that really you know, it wasn't fair to the country. It handcuffed the country, and then we got COVID, and so now he gets to start anew Listen. He made the decision, constant conscious decision at the beginning of his last administration not to prosecute Hillary Clinton, despite the evidence of what she did with her computer, you know, and so on.

You know, any criminal defense lawyer has had clients who were indicted for a lot less in terms of obstruction of justice and evidence tampering and that sort of thing. But he made that decision. I don't know if he would make that same decision today, and he was believing, you know, he got a lot of pressure all of that. Locker up, locker up.

to have a strong leader. And I think that they've really responded. I don't think there's any accident that he was invited to France just as president elect for the anniversary or the celebration of the redoing of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, and President Matron went out of his way to treat him as if he were already the sitting president. I think that's pretty amazing right there.

be like him. They want to be, you know, that kind of leader for many of them. But you know, we see these doomsday reports. If he were to move the Israeli of the United States embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, it would be armageddon. Well, he did it because it was the right thing to do. It's the thing the law requires him to do, and he wanted to do it, and it turned out to be the perfect decision. The

Abraham Accords then arose from that. Now we were told those would be impossible, we could never make peace with these countries, never have dialogue with them. But he went out and did it. Now, you remember, when they Biden administration came in, there was apparently a ban on using the term Abraham Accords. I read it for any of these things which they said he couldn't do, and he

did them all. So I'm hoping to see a lot more positive things along those lines, you know, with this administration, and it comes through strength, as.

they fired, he fired him, and lo and behold. We later found out that who paid real close attention to this the Soviet Union.

one seven three two six. We invite you to call in. We have just about a minute here before we get into our heartbreak, and I just thought i'd use that even though we are a few days past Christmas, I did go through for the American Spectator before Christmas a list of conservative books for Christmas. And even though Christmas may be over, you could buy it for somebody's New

Year's gift or what have you. So I'll probably mention this a little bit later in the show here, but we have some great books out there, new books in twenty twenty four, and also some old books that are the classics, like from Bill Buckley. Okay, so that is great, and we will be back in a few minutes. That This is Geoffrey Lord filling in for Sean Hannity, and the number again is eight hundred ninety four one seven three two six.