America’s Crime Crisis - July 2nd, Hour 3
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We're right here for our final news roundup and information overload. All right, news roundup and information overload hour. Toll free, it is 800-941-SHAWN if you want to be a part of the program. I was pretty disgusted on the part of the families in this Kohlberger case. He pled guilty. Is it going to avoid the death penalty? But he didn't have to really do anything or give any explanation to the families, nor did the families have any say in

and whether or not they supported this, a lot of the families of these young college kids are frankly outraged and disgusted. These families want and need closure. They really do, and they deserve it. And I think the prosecutors, before they made that deal, they should have included some explanation. I mean, if you watch the facts of this case, and I know them pretty well, kind of inside and out, unfortunately,

I mean, this guy was stalking these young college kids for a long time, late at night, driving past their house, driving in the driveway of the house. I mean, just very creepy and bizarre. And it ends up in the murder of four kids. And we have all of this violence that takes place.

You know, when we talk about statistics and I ran all throughout the 2024 election, the names of people that were murdered brutally by Biden, Harris, illegals.

The people that were raped by Biden-Harris illegals, other victims of violent crime, Biden-Harris illegals, never mind, again, known terrorists plotting, planning, scheming, never mind cartel members, never mind drug dealers and other violent criminals. And it's very upsetting. You know, I used to ask all the time, Barack Obama's hometown was Chicago. Violence throughout his entire eight years as president,

was prevalent in Chicago. We went back and looked. We could only find two times, maybe three, that he mentioned the violence in Chicago. Never lifted a finger to stop it. And then it really came home personally for me when a very dear friend of mine, who I'm going to introduce to you in a second, you know him. He is a fellow Fox employee. Gianno Caldwell. It was June 24th. It was 2022. And his 18-year-old brother, innocent brother, was

was murdered. He was just standing with his friends on the south side of Chicago in a street. Black SUV pulls up and several unidentified men open fire. 50 shell casings later found at the sea. Three in the crowd rushed to the hospital. Two survived. Not his brother. And it just is heartbreaking to me.

And I but out of this tragedy, I have, you know, stayed in touch with Giano and I've watched him turn tragedy into, you know, an incredible passion and cause in his life as he has now developed the Caldwell Institute for Public Safety. He just authored a brand new book. It just came out. It's on. We'll put it up on Hannity dot com. It's on Amazon dot com.

and it's in bookstores around the country. It's called The Day My Brother Was Murdered, My Journey Through America's Violent Crime Crisis. And when you hear his story and he writes about it, it'll break your heart because nobody cared.

And I can't tell you how many conversations we had. I'm like, well, did you talk to the detectives? Yeah. What'd they say? They can't tell you. They know who did it, but they're not going to do anything about it. Like these conversations that we had, you can't even imagine how bad the system is and how little they care about the families and the aftermath of such horrific evil and such a tragedy, my friends.

My friend, Giano Caldwell is with us, sir. How are you? Thank you very much. I'm calling you, sir. We, I call you my brother. Yes. You're my big brother. Well, why am I the older brother? Why don't you be the older brother? You're telling me I'm old when you say that.

No, no, you're my mentor. You're my big brother. And I got to tell you, you have been one of the biggest inspirations in my life. And I really do truly mean that. After my brother was murdered, we would talk multiple times a week. What's going on with the investigation? How's your family doing? And you were really and truly an angel. I know you may not consider yourself an angel, generally speaking. By the way, anyone that knows me knows that's not true. But go ahead.

But no, no, no. It really is true, Sean. And people around the country have said similar things. Even people who don't like you politically have said Sean is a great guy. And I know that you're a fantastic person. You're a big brother and you're a mentor. And I can't thank you enough for your support over the years. I'm just proud of you.

and we've had this discussion privately, and why not bring it publicly? You know, a lot of people, when something like this happens, they just crumble and fall apart. You did the opposite. You turned it into action. And I'm going to tell people what you did, and if you don't want me to, stop me at any point. You immediately took charge of your family,

You took your savings. You moved your family out of Chicago. I won't give out the location. You moved them to a much safer place. And you just said, I'm not letting this happen again. And the pain I'm going through, I'm not going to let other families go through it if I can avoid it. And then you partnered with John Walsh. And then you're doing a number of projects to bring awareness to this and stop this madness.

I mean, you've inspired me every step of the way because you are relentless. You're unrelenting. And as you mentioned all of that, one of the things I cannot not mention is the fact that I met John Walsh through you. And, you know, I wrote this book, The Day My Brother Was Murdered, My Journey Through America's Violent Crime Crisis.

Because I simply felt like I had no choice. As you mentioned, on June 24, 2022, my life changed forever when my innocent teenage baby brother, Christian, was murdered on the south side of Chicago. He wasn't the target, but it happened. And it happens to so many families, whether they be in Chicago or across the country.

So what did I do? Because I needed to do something about it. That was the only way that I can, quote-unquote, have a grieving moment, because I never fully dipped into the grieving process because I've been focusing on action. What can I do to stop this from happening in our country? And I created the Caldwell Institute for Public Safety at caldwellinstitute.org. I encourage people to support our efforts there.

And when I wrote this book, I talked about it with nine families who experienced the same tragedy, including my own. People like James from Philadelphia, who was an Army veteran who had PTSD and who would often go to a park at 1 and 2 in the morning because he couldn't sleep. And on June 24th, he went to the same park that he would go to every week, and there were a group of children there.

I'm talking about 10, 11 years old and some teenagers. And he said to them, what are you all doing out here this late? They took a traffic cone and they beat him to death. Or people like Catherine. Catherine was a mother, grandmother, 64-year-old wife, chemical engineer, going home on June 24th when a shootout took place on a freeway in Texas.

She was hit after a drug deal had went bad. Both the drug dealer and the drug buyer was trying to rip each other off, and she became collateral damage. Or talk about baby Cecilia, six months old, or rather five months, four days from six months old, in Chicago. She's in a car with her parents on June 24th. Parents in the front seat, brother three years old in the back. They thought they heard fireworks.

Baby Cecilia is dead. We know how bad it is, Sean. We've been knowing how bad it is. We talk about it time and time again. But I wanted to figure out how can we solve this. So I talked to people like you, the great Sean Hannity. You're fully through this book as one of the experts on here telling me how we should process this, how we should move forward.

People like John Walsh, people like Dr. Drew on the mental health challenges in our country and its contributions to crime, faith leaders, educators, because we have to do something about the violent crime crisis in our country. And now this has become fully a part of my brother's legacy and my very own. You know, when John Walsh lost his son Adam, over the years I've known John, I haven't talked to him in a while, but I've always thought the world of him.

And he took this tragedy in his life and he turned it into a cause the way you're doing. And I don't know if I would have the strength to do it. And I consider myself a pretty strong individual. But I don't think there's anything more deflating in life and difficult in life and challenging in life than losing loved ones like this. I mean, your younger brother was like he was like your own. He was like your own son.

You love this. And when you would describe to me, he'll never go to college. He'll never get married. You know, you gave me a whole you would give a whole list. I'm like, man, that hits you hard. That hits you right in your solar plexus. It is like a gut punch of no like no other gut punch. But you did not. You did never. You never wavered. Never. You were a man of action. And.

You know, if I helped in any little way, I'm honored, but it was really you, Gianno. You did it. Well, so God was the source, and he brought people in that helped in the process. Sean Hannity, John Walsh, and others in the Fox News family especially. And as I write in my new book, The Day My Brother Was Murdered, My Journey Through America's Violent Crime Crisis,

This is an effort that can impact any and every one of us, violent crime in America, and certainly the fact that we as a community, as a country, because this doesn't just happen in places like Chicago. This is happening all over the country. Just for example, the Lady Catherine I mentioned, this happened in Burleson, Texas. It's not the inner city. So this is something that we as a community must come together and solve. Now the politicians have a role in this. It's all

Soft-thumb crime prosecutors have to be pushed out of office. Mayors and governors who refuse to support law enforcement, those individuals need to be pushed out of office. But there's a fatherless crisis in this country too. And if you grew up in a fatherless home, you're 20% more likely, 20 times more likely to get involved in criminal activity. There's an education crisis in this country. That has to be solved. There's a faith crisis in this country.

And if a person, a young person especially, if they have faith, if that's a central part of their life, they're less likely to get involved in crime. And that's the thing. There's so many issues that we have to tackle, and I'm looking to tackle them one by one. And that's why I hope people will pick up a copy of my new book, The Day My Brother Was Murdered, My Journey to America's Violent Crime Crisis.

Quick break. We'll come back more with our friend Giano Caldwell. He's with the Caldwell Institute for Public Safety. His new book is just out, The Day My Brother Was Murdered, A Journey Through America's Violent Crime Crisis. It's on Amazon.com, Hannity.com, bookstores across the country as we continue. It's time to take back America. This is the Sean Hannity Show.

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We continue now with my friend and colleague, Gianno Caldwell. I don't want it to be political. It's probably going to sound political, but it's not meant to be. But I just I don't understand. And I feel the Democrats are responsible for this. And I'm just going to straight up ask it. Why didn't Obama lift a finger to help the violence in Chicago? Why didn't the Democrats? Why? Why didn't they?

Why did they allow 12 to 20 million, whatever the number is, unvetted illegals, including murderers, rapists, known terrorists, cartel members and gang members in the country and not not bad an eyelash? Why didn't they stand for the families of Lake and Riley and Jocelyn Ungary? Why? Well, tell me what is that?

Well, first off, Sean, that isn't political. You're giving statements of fact here. And the truth of the matter is it isn't advantageous for the Democrats to try to get involved with Chicago because they have to admit the mistakes they made.

They can't talk about the open border. They can't stand for folks who have been murdered by these illegals or raped. They can't because then they have to admit their fault in it. So this becomes another situation where they pretend it doesn't exist when it does. You've seen it on news segments. The people who are listening, they've seen it on news segments. They act like this wasn't a problem. Remember, Biden said.

There was no issue at the border. That's what they said. When Trump would say, oh, they're bringing over drugs, they're bringing over crime, they said, oh, that's not true. Look at him. He's lying. All of those things that Donald Trump said end up being accurate, absolutely accurate. And it's a problem. But thank God the American people heard and responded because they know what's going on.

They put Donald Trump in office because, simply put, there was no other choice. There was no other option. You couldn't have voted for Kamala Harris. You could not have because you would get more of the same and even worse.

And I'm honored that President Trump has endorsed my book this past weekend because we need to be talking about solutions. We need to focus on solutions because we know how bad it is. People are experiencing these things on a daily basis. Look at the drugs that have come into our country through the open border, China, Mexico. These are legitimate issues, and now we're trying to fix it. Well, John Walsh turned his tragedy and saved lives and found criminals.

And you're doing the same thing. And, um, I admire you. I want to just encourage you to keep doing what you're doing. Uh, Gianno Caldwell, he has the Caldwell Institute for public safety. His brand new book is out the day my brother was murdered. Uh, my journey through America's violent crime crisis. It's on amazon.com Hannity.com bookstores around the country. Uh, my friend, I'm very proud of you. Uh,

I'm I'm I'm lucky to be your friend. And I I know that you're going to do a lot of good in your life with all of this and your energy level. It's almost near mine. No, I'm kidding. But, you know, honestly, you are tireless and committed at a level I've never seen. And I just admire the heck out of you for it.

I'm blessed to call you a big brother, a dear friend, and thank you for all of your help in this journey. And please, folks, if you would, go to CaldwellInstitute.org, support our efforts there, and follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok at Gianno Caldwell, G-I-A-N-N-O, Caldwell, C-A-L-D-W-E-L-L. Thank you so much, bro.

All right, Gianno Caldwell, love you, man. You're the best. 800-941-SHAWN. You want to be a part of the program. Pure Talk, my wireless company, a veteran-owned company, believes every man, every woman who has faithfully served this country deserves to proudly fly an American flag that was made in America. And that's why Pure Talk is on a mission to give an allegiance flag, the highest quality American flag made in Charleston, South Carolina, to 1,000 veterans in time for these patriotic holidays.

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Or go to the website HannityGold.com. So I've gotten to know over a period of years now Alina Habba. And I saw the attack on Alina today by Cory Booker and Andy Kim. And it's the people of New Jersey deserve a U.S. attorney that has deep experience with law enforcement, a reputation and an approach that puts partisanship to the side and who will work to keep our community safe and healthy.

impartially pursue justice in her short tenure as an interim U.S. attorney. She has degraded the office, pursued frivolous and politically motivated product prosecutions. It's clear that Alina Haba does not meet the standard to serve the people of New Jersey. Let me tell you something about New Jersey. I know New Jersey. I know it pretty well. And there are areas in New Jersey that are absolute disasters.

Because there's been no law enforcement, there's been no accountability, there's been nobody that's cared. And Alina Hobb has done more in the short term as the interim U.S. attorney than the previous like five attorneys combined. It is infuriating to me when good people get attacked. She was the president of the United States' counsel.

His his legal counsel and with all the lawfare weaponization against her. Guess what? She did a phenomenal job. Alina Haba. I read this today and I'll be honest, I just infuriated me because I know you're doing a good job for the people of New Jersey. And I know that this is a horrible, you know, partisan political attack, as predictable as it would be.

Yeah, it pretty much is. And thank you for that, Sean. As you know, there's nobody that understands that better than I do after after what we went through. And it was such an honor that the president nominated me formally, to be honest. It was an honor to even be made the interim U.S. attorney, because if anything, my.

My key and lead mission for my office is to never, ever weaponize an office and a Department of Justice, ever, because that is what America needs. And you know me personally, but this is why I'm so happy to be here. This is why I know I can do more for the state of New Jersey, frankly, than I could have done...

from the west wing and it's been the biggest honor to work with great prosecutors who have been here i have not fired one of them despite it doesn't matter what your political views are it does not matter the department of justice is supposed to be the hammer

crime and New Jersey needs a hammer and that has nothing to do with politics and that's my real commitment so it was insulting but not surprising to be honest to hear their sentiments well I thought Todd Blanch captured it in an ex post that he put out here you launched three imperative

initiatives, the election integrity task force, the human trafficking task force, the fentanyl task force. And you also initiated in June alone what was called Operation Apex Hammer, a month long violent crime surge.

resulting in the arrest of over 250 gang members, violent offenders all across the state of New Jersey. Nobody's ever taken on that big of an initiative. You've taken tens of millions in Medicare fraud off the books, dismantled child trafficking networks. I mean, I have chronicled this for my entire career, Alina.

And people have no idea how widespread it is. You've seized millions and millions and millions of dollars in fentanyl and other hard drugs that are killing our kids. And, you know, you have been fearless, fair and effective, as Todd points out. And it's like all of these good things. And it doesn't mean a thing to this grandstander, this performative artist, Cory Booker.

Yeah, it's a shame. Honestly, my message is, if he's listening too, I'm here and I'm here to help. Oh, he'll hear about it. Trust me. And the truth of the matter is this, Sean, we are so much stronger as a country if we work together. And the president said this a ton of times. If we could just stop this divisiveness, this ridiculous political rhetoric, and if we could just get to work and do what New Jersey needs, which is to get rid of this violent crime, which I

We literally took away 250 individuals just in June since I've been here alone. That's just one month. At this rate, we will make a serious... I will make a serious difference for everybody in the state of New Jersey, and I'm committed to that. And there are no politics, Sean, none. As somebody who's been around it for years, I can tell you that now I am not about that. We are about one thing at the Department of Justice, safety, security, and the law. And if that is not...

That does not bind you and you can't get behind that no matter what your politics are. That's a damn shame for this country and for the state of New Jersey. So I encourage Cory Booker, who has never met me, I encourage Andy Kim, who has never met me, to sit down and get to work with me because we can do a lot of good. And it's a shame, honestly. Yeah.

Well, freeze frame that for a minute. I mean, these guys are condemning you and they've never even taken the time to sit with you and maybe maybe decide to work together for the people of New Jersey. Doesn't want to get to know you, just wants to rush to judgment and turn this into a political witch hunt, as they always do.

Well, that's exactly what we're not supposed to do, and the Department of Justice is committed to not doing that. This is not political grandstanding. This is justice. This is a place where we can make our country safe and restore faith in the Constitution and in the laws, which, frankly, the country, I think, lost for some time. And for the first time, we're back and we're going to fight to get crime off of our streets. And if they can't get behind that by picking up the phone, talking to me before attacking...

It's a shame. It's a shame for our state. It's not really going to hurt me. It's going to hurt the state of New Jersey. And I would just urge them to come to the table and get to know me before you attack. Now, by the way, you know how this works, right? So I'm really relieved to not be involved on the political side of

anymore but but you nailed it you nailed it i mean if it's an absolute opportunity to hit me when you don't even know me and the truth of the matter is we've done so much good here my office the u_s_ attorney's office in new jersey were right in the heart of newark or in trenton wearing camden i go to work every day and either in one of the location and we are working hard and i plan to continue to and i plan to stay and i i really hope they can get behind that idea because i think new jersey will really try it

We will. No, you're getting through. You're going to have this physician. One thing in the very short period of time that you've been there that really stood out to me is as it relates to this national health care fraud, you had 324 defendants in connection with what, $14.6 billion in alleged fraud? Yes.

and 15 criminal charges out of New Jersey, 50 million in civil settlements this year alone, eight million from data mining.

I mean that that is a remarkable track record how long have you even been there you have that you haven't been there six months no I have not I've been here for roughly a hundred days and it's been it's been just it's been invigorating to get back to practicing law and doing what I love and honestly I I don't plan on slowing my pace at all we're just cracking

down on wait a minute i think we had a conversation saying nah sean i'm definitely not going in i'm going back to private practice i remember that conversation i might have been maybe maybe i don't know maybe i made it up in my head

Yeah, you're right. I did tell you that. I said, I forgot it. Then I went to the White House and now I'm at the U.S. Attorney's Office and I'm running the New Jersey feds and I'm working great with Pam and Todd and all of the wonderful leadership, frankly, that I've had the honor of being with. And I never thought I would love a job, honestly, more than I love this one. It has been such a pleasure. And honestly, it's God's work. It's it's it's

a different type of work for this country than i've ever been through and i every hit that i take sean you've had my back but i'll tell you one thing i don't mind because you can keep hitting me but i am i'm absolutely in love with our country and i love my home state so i'm i'm excited to keep fighting for it and to fight well that's the interesting part of it i mean you had an opportunity to be and you were working in the oval and not in the oval office in the white house and and

You know, you could have stayed there and but you wanted to go home. You wanted to serve your your state, your your town, your community and the you know, the entire state of New Jersey. That was a decision that you made. Most people wouldn't make that decision. I think most people would probably choose the White House.

Yeah, well, you know what? You can do more good running one district. New Jersey is very different because we have one U.S. attorney for the entire district, so it's the whole state. And these are where my children are being raised, and this is where I call home for my entire life. And...

To get back here and take care of my home state has been a tremendous gift. And I truly have to say, as much as I loved my time in the West Wing and being obviously in the White House, which was so special and an honor as well, I can do so much here and the state needs it. And that's my real commitment. I really, it was an honor to go home and to take care of my home. I actually would like to pursue this idea of...

Cory Booker and Andy Kim sitting down with you. I really would. They'd probably sit with me. We sat with her. We checked the box. And, you know, I hope they do. Honestly, Sean, you know me personally. Yes.

There's a lot... You'll sit down with anybody. Anybody. I don't care about politics like that. I care about the country. And that's the reality. If you just put your political stuff aside...

and you sit down and you talk about things that are going to make our state safer, and you sit down with me, we are probably on a lot of the same pages, but I won't get behind grandstanding, not from the Department of Justice, not from this seat. I absolutely will not. I will not lower myself to that. You see, what I think is going on here, and correct me if I'm wrong,

I think that that people like Cory Booker and others, I think they fear everything they did to Donald Trump is going to be done to them.

And the interesting part of that is it's the exact opposite is true. You're not political. You're not going to weaponize justice. You're going to you're going to follow our Constitution. You're going to follow the rule of law. You believe in equal justice and equal application of our laws. These are not slogans to you. And I know because we had these conversations yesterday.

both during the witch hunt and the weaponization of justice under Donald Trump. And you're like, you know, this is not how it's the system is to work. And you even said, if we get in charge, this is not what Donald Trump is going to do. And he's not. And you're not.

No, I absolutely am not. And I'll be honest with you. If I were to lower myself to that type of behavior, then what is the point in anything happening that changes in this country? Anybody changing U.S. attorneys, anybody changing presidents, it means nothing. You cannot lower yourself to that which is done to you. And at the point...

that I really believe is, frankly, there is nobody that is going to protect the law and do things impartially more at this moment than the people that are sitting in the Department of Justice now because we do not want that for this country. The tit for tat, the eye for an eye, that is not what I am about, I can say, and most

certainly not the Department of Justice and most certainly the people that I came up in this world with, it just won't happen. I've made tough decisions while I've been here, Sean, that have been public. And some of those decisions have not been favored by both political parties. And the reality is it doesn't matter. When I make the decisions, I have to call balls and strikes as I see them, as they are law to facts.

And that is it. It doesn't matter who you are, what your job is, what your politics are. I will dismiss cases as I see fit. I will bring cases that I think are worth bringing and are factually there. And it's very simple. It's very simple math. It's really there's no interpretation on that one. You have discretion. It is a big hammer that you can use, but it has to be used wisely. And that's how I plan to continue my job here.

All right. But the worst part is, as somebody who lives in the free state of Florida, New Jersey's not my favorite. I left the state I was born in in New York for good reason. Alina Haba, I see no problems regardless of what these guys might say in terms of your nomination. And you, Pam Bondi, Dan Bongino.

You're going to make a great team and make the country safer and more secure and restore law and order and integrity to our justice system. And we appreciate people like you that are willing to sacrifice. Thank you. Thank you, Sean. Thank you for having me.

800-941-SHAWN is the number. You want to be a part of the program. And that's going to wrap things up for today. A great Hannity tonight, 9 Eastern on the Fox News Channel. Stephen A. Smith is apoplectic at the Democrats over the Marxist Mamdani. He'll join us. Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan on the one big, beautiful bill. Tom Homan will talk about border security. Greg Jarrett, Laura Trump.

That's your DVR. Hannity, tonight, 9 Eastern on Fox. We'll see you tonight. Back here tomorrow. Thank you for making this show possible.

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