his parents, his son, they accept the medal of honor in his memory during a white house ceremony tomorrow. tonight we honor this true american hero, staff sergeant travis atkins. most-watched, most trusted, most grateful you spent the evening with us. good night from washington. i'm m shannon bream. >> tucker: good evening and welcome to "tucker carlson tonight." for two years we have sat on this set and listen to democrats tell us that the mueller report will reveal the final truth about russia and the collusion. just wait for it. on sunday, the report delivered that truth. there was no collusion. now the left is telling us that that verdict itself is part of a larger conspiracy. more on that just ahead. first tonight, just hours ago, prosecutors in chicago dropped all charges against actor jussie smollett. smollett, you'll remember, was facing 16 felony counts for faking an elaborate hate crime against himself back in january. police say smollett hired two nigerian body builders to hang e a noose around his neck, pour

bleach on him, and scream "this is maga country," because that kind of thing happens a o t in downtown chicago during the winter months. smollett then told reporters he had been assaulted by two white racist trump supporters. as of tonight, police still believe that smollett was lying about all of that. so do prosecutors. they think he concocted the hoax. and they said so yet again today. and yet the. state of illinois s somehow, for some reason, dumping the case anyway. in exchange for the $100,000 he has already paid in bond, smollett will walk free. his record will be expunged. everything will be returned to normal, like it never happened. smollett described this decision as a victory, not just for him but for the broader cause of civil rights. >> i've been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one. i would not be my mother's son if i was capable of one drop of what i have been accused of. this has been an incredibly difficult time, honestly one of the worst of my entire life.

but i am a man of faith and i am a man that has knowledge of my history, and i would not bring my family, our lives, or the movement through a fire this. i just wouldn't. i would like nothing more than to just get back to work and move on with my life, but make no mistakes. i will always continue to fight for the justice, equality, and betterment ofut marginalized people everywhere. >> tucker: uh-huh.ig okay, a couple of pretty obvious questions here. what is this "movement" smollett refers to? is he in contact with other perpetrators of fake hate crimes? have they formed a union? will they hold a convention? c there are enough of them. they could. how exactly is smollett, who, last we checked, was an actorni on a tv show, fought for the "justice equality, and betterment of marginalized people everywhere"? was pouring bleach on himself part of that fight? how did the noose and the nigerian body builders figure into smollett's struggle for justice and equality? by the way, why aren't the rest of us laughing at this?

it is just too absurd. cnn doesn't think it is funny. they are taking jussie smollett very seriously, as they alwaysys have. jeff zucker's tiny spokesman emerged this afternoon to declare the whole thing an unfathomable mystery of faith, like the shroud of turin. we may never know. >> the narrative has once again changed from victim to villain back to victim. it has been very confusing. as ryan was saying, people don't know what to believe and we may never really know what happened on the street that night in chicago. >> tucker: we may never really know! it looks like we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this whole jussie smollettt thing. but wait. does anyone know any newss reporters? they should have some free time these days, post-russia hysteria. maybe they could find out more about this. for example, why isn't jussie smollett concerned about the two white racists he saidhy attacked him? shouldn't he be leading the charge to lock these villains up? according to smollett, they are still on the loose. they are free to assault other

hapless biracial tv actors who are just looking to get a subway sandwich at 2:00 a.m. in the l morning on the streets of chicago. and we need to stop them before they do. and what about the chicago police department? it is led by an african-american chief, but that doesn't mean it is not part of the wider racist conspiracy. it must be. chicago cops just framed jussie smollett as a liar and destroyed his reputation. for some reason, smollett does not seem to care about that. he says he just wants to "move on." hmm, that is odd. what about the nigerian brothers? last month, both cnn and the "chicago tribune" reported the men had told police they had rehearsed the attack on jussie smollett. was that a lie? will smollett sue them now for defamation? other news outlets reported that police discovered rope, bleach, and masks at the brothers' apartment. apparently smollett's phone records show he was talking to the brothers immediately before and immediately after the attacknt he alleged. what was that all about? well, we could go on and on.

but why bother? we know exactly what is happening here. smollett isn't getting off because he is innocent. he is not an innocent. he is something better than innocent. he's famous. the charges against him were dropped because someone in power called someone else in power and said let him go. none of this had anything to do with justice. it's the opposite of justice.. even in famously corrupt chicago, what was happening was just too obvious. the mayor and the chief of police pretended to be very shocked by it.t. >> if you want to say you are innocent of a situation,or then you take your day in court.. i would never, if someone falsely accused me, i would never hide behind a brokered deal and secrecy. period. >> where's the accountability in the system? you cannot have, because of a person's position, one set of rules apply to them and another set of rules apply to everybody else.ul in another way, you are seeing this play out in universities

where people pay extra to get their kids a special position in universities. this is a whitewash of justice. >> tucker: a whitewash of justice. how did the state's attorney, who dropped these charges, answer that? she issued a statement explaining the charges against jussie smollett were dropped in part because of his "volunteer service in the community." okay, what exactly was that service? according to a news account, smollett spent a total of 18 hours over two days at jesse jackson's lobbying organization, the rainbow push coalition. while he was there, smollett spent his time and this is a direct quote, "stuffing membership envelopes, working in the group's bookstore to sell merchandise, and critiquing its saturdaysys broadcast." he also "worked with the music director on a plan to build the choir." apparently the community was greatly enriched by all of thise we should note that jesse jackson, who runs it, is one of the most politically powerful people in chicago.

it helps to have friends like that. and if you don't believe it,ne go ahead and try it yourself. go ahead and stage a fake hate crime in which you slander an entire group of people on the basis of their skin color and political beliefs. and then head over to "good morning america" and conduct a tearful interview with a sympathetic robin roberts. describe yourself as a victim of systemic racism in this country and then get caught doing it. tell us how you do. then let us know when the visiting hours are.ci we'll come see you in prison. smollett is not going to prison. he was smarter than that. he knew he would never be punished. he knows jesse jackson. he's friends with kamala harrisa and barack and michelle obama. don lemon at cnn texts jussie all the time on his cell phone and brags about it. jussie smollett may claim to fight for marginalized people, but he is not one of them. in fact, he occupies the highest rank of privilege in our society. he is above the law. there seem to be quite a few people like that in this country. you will recognize them because they are the ones always lecturing you about how bigoted and unfair america is.

what they don't understand is that they are proving that point. kevin graham heads the chicago fraternal order of police and he joins us. thank you for coming on. this seems like a travesty. am i missing something? >> you are not missing anything. there was no justice that happened today. it is a disgrace to the police officers who work so hard. the detectives knocked their socks off. they worked that case and all they got for their hard work was being told, we will let him go. >> tucker: if i'm understanding this. he spent 18 hours volunteering for jesse jackson and forfeitedc the $10,000 bond. not 100,000, is that the sum total? as i said. is that the sum total of the punishment? >> that's my understanding. we are hoping the federal

government, we asked for an investigation last week. we sent a letter to the attorney general for the northern district of illinois asking for an investigation on kimer foxx. i think we were right on the money and we are doubling down.. i made sure that they had the letter today and i hand-delivered it to the federal building here. >> tucker: cops in chicago, the f.o.p. which you run have complained about the state attorney kim foxx. why do you think she is doing this? -- inadequate job? >> first of all, she is not prosecuting the people who need to be prosecuted and it is not just in the jussie smollett case. it is low-level offenders and getting people on bonds. it is people that should have been sitting in jail and unfortunately shooting up a car over the weekend. costing the life of a fine person.

one of our members was killed while sitting in a car by a by a person who should have been sitting in jail. they gave him a low bond and he was out. this is a travesty of justice all the way around.is our detectives are mad and our members are angry. they want justice. i hope that the attorney general for the northern district of illinois responds to this because there were still letters that jussie smollett claimed that were said to him. if that is proved to be also a hoax, then federal charges can be brought. >> tucker: it looks to us from outside chicago looking in that this was a pure political deal. somebody called somebody else. everybody here is connected. smollett knows people. p he knows the obamas and kamala harris and he somehow pulled strings to get out from underneath these charges. do you think that's right?

>> i think you've hit the nail right on the head. it stinks. it was stinking from the beginning and it smells even worse now. >> tucker: why in a city like chicago which famously has a high rate of shootings ande murders, would you ever let violent criminals out early? >> i have no idea what goes on at that office. we've had our complaints for over a year. we have written about it on our blog. we have made sure that people know that we are not happy with the state attorney. when i talked to the t chiefs around the county they are furious that we are not getting the prosecution that we need.ng the case is always, we don't have enough prosecutors and money. they did before, and they need to find it now. >> tucker: you guys have a really tough job. god bless. thank you for coming on.

>> thanks. >> tucker: the independent journalist who we are always happy to have on a show. looking at this unfold and you are drawing lessons about america 2019. what are those lessons? >> jussie smollett may have spent 18 hours stuffing envelopes, but his true community service was getting the attention off the russiast probe. what seems to be actually happening. this is the corrupt democratic city in action. this is the literal swamp that produced the obamas. here we have the perfect stitch up of the democrat party and the entertainment industry and the media all in one. what does jussie smollett do? he hires harvey weinstein's crisis control people and then he hires the attorney who works for cnn who was michael jackson's attorney and chris brown's attorney. a man who made a career getting

pedophiles and wife beaters off the hook and then we realized that not only did smollett grow up in a communist household, a black panther family, he also works with kamala harris. harris was one of the first democrats to jump on this, this obvious hoax to use it to advance her own political agendi and also on the other side of the political spectrum, you have kim foxx. you have kim foxx, who kamala harris -- was her mentor. kim foxx's campaign was funded by george soros. we know this now. all it takes was a phone call from the obamas in order drop the prosecution. this is the reason why president trump won and this is the reason why president trump will win again. it's not because russians are hiding in your cereal bowl. and not because there are nazis and white supremacists, this t level of corruption. this evil level of corruption

on the democratic party that everybody sees and people iy be dismayed by this, but don't think they will be dismayed in november 2020. >> tucker: what do you think would happen to you if you did something like this? or lied about a russia conspiracy or if you tanked the housing market? do you think he would get off scot-free? >> of course i would. i would be in prison for the rest of my life. all i have to do is say i like president trump as a gay man. meanwhile, look at all the damage he caused. look at all the money wasted and all the man hours wasted from the chicago police department who did a terrific job. he gets off scot-free and he nearly caused a race war. meanwhile you have black men who don't have privilege like jussie smollett who are rotting in jail

because of bags of marijuana. he is the first one to insult people who like the president. >> tucker: i am wondering, what do you make of the press and their take on this and we heard it from jeff zucker's spokesman on cnn. there is no way to know who is lying or telling the truth. it is one of the great mysteries, the yeti. >> interesting.et after the charges were filed against him from a grand jury who only heard a sliver of the evidence and decide to file 16 charges. the media and the democrats were no longer saying that he didn't do this. everyone knew he did it. they were trying to cover up for him and their terrible reporting. now it has been reversed and they have gone back and said, i guess we just don't know. it is just a mystery. g >> tucker: [laughs] just waiting for evidence. we are news men here!

>> we will never know. >> tucker: thank you very much. the mueller report came out but it did not dispel the conspiracies on the left. they have grown in magnitude and complexity. they will boggle your mind. get your tinfoil hat, we are coming back after the break. get your tinfoil hat, we are coming back after the (woman) candace, two minutes. too late for lunch. starkist saves the day. sweet and spicy tuna in a pouch!

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just one more way we take your business beyond. but hurry, switch and save days ends april 7th. internet that's reliable. internet that's fast. that's super important. i just want to get it right now. call today. comcast business. beyond fast. ♪ >> tucker: well, for two years, they told you that robert mueller was a moral hero. questioning any part of his investigation amounted to a betrayal of this country. firing him would be treason. the only real question about robert mueller was where on the national mall to put his statue? everyone agreed it should be at least as big as lincoln's. then on sunday, mueller dashed their dreams. after conducting the most thorough investigation in recent american history, he concluded there was no collusion between trump campaign and the government of russian. for the left, this was disastrous news. it was the political equivalent of a stock market crash, literally. ratings on cnn and msnbc plummeted immediately.

in some cases by more than 50%. they promised their audience a conspiracy. when the conspiracy evaporated, so did their viewers. democratic officeholders faced a similar problem. what do you say to the mob on twitter that secretly believes that trump speaks russian? tough question. they decided to say nothing, just pretend that nothing has changed. watch senator cory booker explain that indeed the conspiracy continues, complex and diabolical as ever, only now the newly installed attorney general is part of the conspiracy too. >> bob mueller did not find a chargeable collusion conspiracy. here's how you described it as recently as 2017. >> there continues to be smoke that might result in an actual fire. in other words, real collusion going on between us and the soviet union. >> real collusion going on. do you have to advise that to say not chargeable collusion? >> again, when i have an c attorney general who, in my opinion, is suspect, filtering a

report that i have not seen. i'm not willing to conclude anything yet. >> tucker: yeah, they don't trust barr. congressman eric swalwell is less creative than that. swalwell doesn't have a clever new theory about russia or really about anything. he likes his old theories just fine.bl they've worked for him.. he doesn't want to hear about any of your evidence or facts. he likes the world as it was last week. don't bother arguing with him. if you don't like it, you can go ahead and sue. >> i stand by what i said about seeing evidence of collusion. if he has a problem with that, he can sue me and i promise you i would win in court. >> tucker: go ahead and sue me. on cnn there was near panic at the news. let's say you spent decades s claiming to be the most trusted name in news and then it turned out you were way less reliable than alex jones who, by the way, you single-handedly forced off the air hilariously on theia grounds that he was too inaccurate to be heard by thefo american public. you would be pretty worried all of a sudden.

you wouldn't want to apologize because that would be the same as acknowledging your fraud,ub so you just keep lying. watch the governor's brother do just that. >> you guys on this network have tortured this man for two years with collusion and nobody is apologizing! before we talk about obstruction, apologize for the overreaction of collusion. >> not a chance. >> of course you're not. of course you're not because you're not being fair. apologize! >> no, never. i didn't do anything wrong. these questions are real. they need to be regarded as such. >> tucker: apologize? apologizing never even occurred to don lemon.d mr. lemon is a very busy man. he didn't have time to read the entire summary of the mueller report. he's got people for that. from the back of his maybach heading home from dinner, he glanced at his device and saw a line from it posted on instagram. that was enough. "don lemon knows what he knows." >> barr quotes him saying while. this report does not conclude the president committed a crime it also does not exonerate him.

it also does not exonerate him. it also does not exonerate him. and it also does not exonerate him.t >> tucker: it also does not exonerate him. that may be true, but at this point, donald trump isn't the one who needs to be exonerated. john kiriakou is a former cia officer and he joins us tonight. john, thanks for coming on. john, you worked at the cia for a long time under john brennan who ultimatelyth backed your prosecution, for which you were sent to prison for a crime that i don't think would be considered a crime today. tell me, with that perspective, your reaction to watching john brennan trotted out before the cameras daily almost for the last two years as an expertn on the russia conspiracy. >> an expert. i think this was scandalous for a number of reasons, the most important of which is that john brennan has repeatedly used the word "treason", the word "traitor" when describing the president. treason is a death penalty charge. is he seriously saying, or has

he been saying that the president ought to be executed for something having to do with a scandal that really never existed? to me, john brennan just simply is not a serious person. he shouldn't be taken seriously by us or by anybody else. i'm going to get a little bit personal here.dn i worked with john brennan for many, many years. i always thought that he was in over his head intellectually and i think that hed has proven that repeatedly in his responses and reactions to the news coming out of this investigation. >> tucker: it's funny you said that. i think the default assumption for most people, including me, is that the director of the cia is a very smart man. >> the best and the brightest. >> tucker: very complex job. i have watched him closely in his public performances over the last couple of years and i've concluded that he is not very bright. i'm not attacking him. it's okay. but it is clearly the case. how does a guy like that run the cia? how do you get that job? >> you get that job by latching onto george tenet before george tenet even entered the cia. john brennan, in the 1990s,

was george tenet's briefer when george was at the national security council as the director of intelligencei programs. when george became the deputy director of the cia, he took john over with him and then just promoted him through the ranks until he was practically cabinet level. >> tucker: so just pure cronyism? >> that's all it was, and it took less than a decade. he was on a rocket ride to the top of his career track at the cia. >> tucker: now i guess the results of all the stuff thatt we have watched for a couple of years is that the ordinary person -- me, everyone else -- knows thatf these agencies are run by people who are much less impressive than we thought with political agendas and in some cases are ruthless and cruel.uc you are one of the people who felt the sting of that and went to prison for it.. >> i did, thanks to john brennan. >> tucker: guys like roger stone are headed to prison because of that. where are the pardons here? i mean, is it time for the executive branch to send a really clear message we're going to stop the destruction of

innocent people by completely out of control bureaucrats. >> i think it is the time for pardons. i heard senator lindsey graham say earlier today that pardons probably would not be met very well right now in the united states senate and i think he is wrong. i think the american people understand that people have been wronged. look at mike flynn, what that poor guy has gone through. look at roger stone. these are all process felonies. we talked about this once before. these are felonies that really didn't exist until these people were thrown into this investigation. they are crimes that would have never been committed otherwise. since the investigation has come to naught, i think it is time to wipe the slate clean. >> tucker: it doesn't make sense not to pardon people. if you think this is a scam and a hoax and the people in charge are illegitimate, then you have an obligation to make it right by pardoning the people who were wronged. and i hope you are on that list. >> thank you so much. >> tucker: great to see you tonight. >> the pleasure is always mine.. >> tucker: sean davis is the

cofounder of the federalist and he just wrote a great piece of "the wall street journal" describing the collusion debacle as a catastrophic media failure. and even that may be an understatement. i am happy to have him join us tonight. as you wrote this piece you obviously collected what you have been watching and thinking about. how big was your conclusion with the magnitude of the screw-up here? >> this is probably the biggest, most consequential screwup of the last 25 to 50 years. it is difficult to really comprehend or overstate the damage that the media did to the country, to their own reputation, to the constitution. this was an absolute catastrophe. >> tucker: i don't know any -- i know liberals would feel that way. i don't know anybody running a media organization on the left who is willing to admit it.

today the new york times and the editor of "the washington post"" and jeff zucker of cnn, all bragging about what a great job they did. how could they say that? >> why wouldn't say? they were given pulitzers. they were showered withnd adulation by their peers and able to pat each other on the back and tell them that they were heroes. that they're going to bring down the next president and hold him accountable. there is no incentive in the media for them to have gotten this right. all the incentives in the wrong direction, traffic or viewership or ideology. there was no reason for them to get this right. >> tucker: the mueller report summary comes out sunday afternoon and the next day shows on cnn and msnbc drop by as much as 50% in viewership, just on the news. does that tell you everythinger about their incentive to pretend that there is collusion? their audience goes away without it. >> absolutely. and we saw the reaction, like children finding out

the tooth fairy isn't real. their bread and butter in the age of trump is to ratchet upn' the hysteria to get people completely freaked out so they feel they have to watch the news every day and every minute to figure out what is going on. they did a huge disservice to their country. their antics and their conspiracy spreading. >> tucker: it is hard to know what comes next in this environment. i mean, when the smoke clears and trump is gone or whatever happens in the next ten years, where do you go for news? will anyone ever believe cnn assuming it still exists for "the washington post" or "the new york times"? how could you? >> right, that is their problem. they didn't just destroy their"t ownou reputations. for all the talk that donald trump has eroded and damaged our vital norms and institutions. it is the media who let it credence to his charge. it is the media themselves who broadcast to everyone, you don't need to trust us. we are not trustworthy. i don't know how they comeev bak

from this.s. >> tucker: totally right. if you don't want to be called a liar, stop lying. that is my advice.th great to see you, thank you for that. robert mueller isn't the only fallen democratic hero tonight, the creepy porn lawyer. his long plans to bring down the president, even become be president himself. the dramatic and new amazing developments. more on operation karma, after the break. you control your blood sugar around the clock. and with a $0 copay, that's something to groove about. ♪let's groove tonight. toujeo® is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. it contains 3 times as much insulin in 1 milliliter as standard insulin. don't use toujeo® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar,

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>> when is the last time you saw porn? >> tucker: oh, you busted me. humiliation porn? that's why i watch you on cnn. you are more creepy than i realized. in the rundown, months later and he makes the hair on your arm stand up. it was not that long ago that he was a daily fixture on cnn. just six months ago cnn was hyping his bid to become the creepy porn president and now h that has crumbled to dust along with a list of felony charges, extortion, embezzlement and wire charges. trace gallagher has details. >> the alleged misdeeds of stormy daniels are numerous but

-- former attorney are numerous. we chose five. court records show daniel's former attorney presented his client with a phony document saying that a $1.6 million settlement check would arrive in march of last year, when it actually arrived in january of last year. prosecutors say he had the money transferred from a client trust account into his own account to pay his personal expenses. then there is the allegation by a former financial officer for stormy's attorneys, the employee said even though he directed her not to be the company's payroll taxes, he was following coffeeng shop money into license fees and sponsorships for his caran racig team. separately when the irs contacted him about unpaid taxes for his coffee company, prosecutors c say he change the company's name, shifted bank accounts, sold off assets and pocketed the money. prosecutors also say daniels' former attorney used phony tax

returns to gain millions of dollars in bank loans are now the feds say not only did he receive nearly $4 million in loans. he never filed the tax returns and never actually paid any taxes. they say he was spending money. he paid nearly a million dollars to an ex-wife for child support and alimony. $176,000 to a private vacationo club. $69,000 on luxury watches. $82,000 on a porsche and he also shelled out millions for homes in laguna beach and newport beach. >> tucker: creepy porn lawyer, living large. thank you. things have changed a lot since last august. members of the press are suggesting that creepy porn lawyer was the best candidatee the democrats could dominate because he could crush donald trump. >> look at the field of democrats, michael avenatti is the one who stands out. if he gives the base what

they're looking for and shows that he can go toe-to-toe truax with trump. >> if they decided they value an fighter, people would be foolish to underestimate michael avenatti. >> tucker: yeah. speaking of foolish. tammy bruce, president of independent women's voice -- she's not foolish at all -- and she joins us tonight. occasionally, tammy, f as you know, we like to just -- things are moving so fast here in washington. it is good to just pause and remember what the world looked like six months ago. people were touting this man has the women's candidate. >> oh, boy. the only thing missing from mr. avenatti's lineup there is that he hasn't eaten dirt yet. maybe he can add that insi and steal a little bit of that from robert francis. he has got some time. look, what i really enjoyed and what was very important about your initial coverage of this fool was the fact that he appeared to be exploiting one of his clients, stormy daniels. he was making money from her and she was reduced to doing tours

of strip clubs in the process of him representing her. that is what it spoke to. >> tucker: if i can pause. i said that to him and i've always felt sorry for her. i have never doubted most of her story, just for the record. i'm not embarrassed to say that. i felt bad for her. and i said that him and he said that her stripping in some sad club in richmond, virginia, was an act of female empowerment. he actually said that. is it? >> well, obviously not. when you are seven years old, show me a 7-year-old who says when i grew up i want to be stripping at some club on a rural road in virginia. 7 no girl says that. that is not what we aspire to. ms. daniels has an opportunity to remake herself. she has had problems with him as well, and look, if all the charges against him are true, this guy is like the zelig of criminals. he is trying to adjust or would seem to be involved in so many different kinds of behaviorss. and crime. it could be explained by a

comment he made to "the view." they asked him explicitly -- somehow it moved to what his sexual fantasies were and he said they all involved handcuffs. so now it looks like he has gotten one part of his dream fulfilled. >> tucker: we always get what we want in the end, don't we? >> you do.dc watch out for what you wish for. you just might get it. >> tucker: the zelig of criminals. >> he adapted to everything around him and this fellow seems to be in competition with somebody. look, for all of us, i wish that he would have been the perfect democratic candidate only if all of this then came out in the spring of 2020. it would have been even better. >> tucker: it would be unbelievable, tammy. i'm stealing that line. great to see you. a group in congress is pushing to lower the voting age to 16, all democrats and one republican and he is brave enough to come on and explain why that is has

his possession.

♪ >> tucker: after losing in 2016, the democratic party did not pause for a second to see if

its policies were unpopular with voters. instead they decided they didn't like voters and they were looking for new ones. they fought to give illegal immigrants and convicted felons the right to vote. a group of democrats in congress has led a campaign to lower the voting age nationwide to 16. nancy pelosi endorsed it. one republican who is not crazy about it, michael burgess of texas, has joined them to support lowering the voting age to 16 years old. he was brave enough to and gracious enough to come on our show tonight and explain it and we are grateful for that >> thanks for having me on. >> tucker: you have children? i have had four 16-year-olds. i give my life to them, but they shouldn't be voting. you must know that. you have been a physician and you've delivered a lot of babies. 16-year-olds are not ready for vote. >> certainly not ready after delivery. this was an amendment that failed.

it's never going to become law. let's not frighten people that this is going to be a structural change in our society. i'm on the rules committee and part of my job is to evaluate ideas that come before the rules committee as amendments. when this representative from massachusetts came forward and said here's my idea and i want a considerlee it by the rules committee. my first thought was no, that's not a good idea. as i thought about it, you see it through the lens of your own experience. when i was 16, dive pay taxes? yeah, i worked. i paid payroll taxes. maybe not income taxes. here's the other thing, the 24 hours between the rules committee and the time the amendment came on the floor. what about this structural debt we're leaving to 16-year-olds, the national debt. this generation of adolescents is going to inherit more debt than any other generation. and i've heard you talk on this, not just the structural debt. there is the acquired debt. the student loan debt that they are picking up.

colleges are encouraging it. they are a facilitating it. this is a debt that cannot be discharged. >> tucker: i couldn't agree more and i hope congress will fix it right away because i ndink it's wrong. 16-year-olds, if allowed to run the government, would accrue a lot more debt. that's why you don't give credit cards. i don't think any wise parent would give in on 16-year-old in unsupervised credit card. >> i won't say it doesn't happe happen. they are participating in our society. b here's the bigger thing to me. what are we afraid of? 16-year-olds are going to be 18-year-olds in the next election cycle. the midterm election 2018, 2020. >> tucker: i am afraid of bad government. >> they will not be in charge of the government any more than an 18-year-old would be. >> tucker: there are more 16-year-olds in the margin in the lot of states between presidential candidates. >> if what we are afraid of is

that they will vote democratic, then that's sauce. we need to talk. we are the party of emancipatio emancipation. >> tucker: why no 12-year-olds? >> are you going to draw the line somewhere? 16 seems to be, when the information was presented to me and i thought about it, seeing things through the lens of your own experience. at age 16, there is not a brighter bulb in the firmament then yours truly. >> tucker: i believe you! >> i have tempered that a little bit. if we are not willing to engage and talk to people in late adolescence or early adolescence then we will lose that. >> tucker: i think you're right. allowing them to vote is a different question and if we allow them to vote on the pretext that they pay taxes. that means foreigners should vote to? >> of course not. >> tucker: people who pay don't pay taxes shouldn't be

allowed to vote? >> that would never occur and you know that. let's back up. the amendment didn't pass. it was brought to the floor of the house. 25% of the house thought it was a good idea. 75 percent did not. so this is not something that is going to happen. but i thought it was an idea worthy of consideration because i was willing to vote for it to be included in the package we brought to the floor. >> tucker: i love your open-mindedness. a lot of the ideas people think are insane are not insane. i happen to think this one is insane but i love open-mindedness. why do you think democrats are in favor of this? >> i think they're making the assumption these individuals will vote democratic. this is where we need to work. we have got to be talking to people. if we do not engage that age demographic, guess what. i promise you. beto o'rourke was in my district night and day when he was running for senator in texas and he made a lot of equity with people who couldn't vote in that election but they will be with

him in the nexthi election. >> tucker: i think you are right. that is true. congressman, thank you. more just ahead on the biggest story of the day, there are so many. we will isolate the charges dropped against jussie smollett. how was he able to beat the rap? a defender of jussie smollett is here to state his case. straight ahead. chicken?! chicken. chicken! that's right, candace-- new chicken creations from starkist.

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>> tucker: well, the mayor of chicago, rahm emanuel, and the chief of police, seem stunned today that prosecutors were dropping all 16 felony counts against dr. jussie smollett. those charges stem from his bogus hate crime in january. what exact happened to make those charges go away? we are still getting information on that. in the courtroom today, from chicago. matt? >> tucker, they are slamming prosecutors for dropping charges today against actor jussie smollett. chicago's top cop says justice has not been served, the actor owes this city an apology. chicago's mayor says the grand jury indictment of 16 charges against dr. jussie smollett could not have been any clearer. >> mr. smollett is still saying that he is innocent, still running down the chicago police department. how dare him. how dare him.

>> at the end of the day,w ths mr. smollett who committed this hoax, period. if he wanted to clear his name, the way to do that was in a court of law. >> smollett was scheduled to be back in court april 7th for the 16 felony charges of lying to police, but suddenly an emergency hearing today, prosecutors filed a nolle pros motion, which mean to stop prosecuting, and they granted that motion. the cook county state attorney office says it did not exonerate smollett and it stands by police. the charges were dropped in exchange for community service and forfeiting that $10,000 bond. in a statement, the cook county states attorney office wrote "after reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including mr. smollett's volunteer service in the community and an agreement to forfeit his bond to the city of chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution of

this case." and here is smollett after today's stunning ruling. >> i've been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one. i would not be my mother's son if i was capable of one drop of what i was accused of. >> jussie smollett's attorneywh said that they have nothing to say to police in response to all of the man-hours and resources chicago police poured into this investigation, other than not to try the case in the media. tucker? >> tucker: matt, thank you very much. we want a quick correction, by the way. you saw tape of the mayor of chicago, rahm emanuel, and he repeated twice the phrase "how dare him, how dare him," and we just want you to let you know what you be "how dare he, how dare he." just wanted to make that clear before we proceed. joining us that was jason nichols, professor of african-american studies at the university of maryland, and always happy to have him. it seems to me, professor, nobody disputes the guilt. nobody disputes that this was made up, the police, the mayor, the prosecutors, even the

state's attorney whoos let him off, saying it didn't happen. it does seem like a clear example of a rich, famous guy with connections getting a different standard of justice. getting away with something because he can.e >> so, first of all, i think jussie smollett deserves the presumption of innocence. >> tucker: for sure. >> it hasn't been proven that he is guilty of any kind of crime. the thing that was really disgusting to me was to hear rahm emanuel and the superintendent of police sit there and say this has been a black eye on the city, he owes the city an apology. i think if anybody owes the city an apology it should be rahm emanuel himself, the superintendent of police, that they solve 5% of nonfatal shootings in chicago. so that is basically, you shoot someone, you have a 95% chance -- >> tucker: i literally couldn't agree with you more. i'm nodding in absolute agreement. i think rahm emanuel has done a horrible job as mayor, and i think the police superintendent should be ashamed, i totally agree. but jussie smollett made it worse.

so because he is rich and famous and went on "gma," cried with robin roberts, he sucked up a huge percentage of the resources of the chicago police department that should be going to solving shootings. >> but they weren't going to solving shootings. or at least they weren't actually working prior to jussie smollett. >> tucker: he made it worse, don't you think?ea >> to claim that the black eye on the city of chicago comes from jussie smollett, i thinkth is just preposterous. >> tucker: okay, but hold on, wait a second. >> they covered that up for a year! >> tucker: i'm agreeing with you vehemently, it is a badly won city, a one-partyhe state, and the people who can leave are leaving. it's very sad to watch, i agree completely. but jussie smollett is not the victim here. here's a rich guy who pretended to be the victim, and because he has connections with the obama's and kamala harris, he is skating. isn't that the wrong message? >> the thing is, so much of this has been in secret, so much of this hasas been covered

up. i watched some of your earlier segments. i think it is a little unfair to blame kim foxx because shech recused herself, she wasn't part of this. the guy who actually, magats, i believe his name is, he has 23 years of experience as a prosecutor, and he set up this deal, not even a plea deal. >> tucker: honestly, if you're going to let the guy out early, and i'm not always against that, shouldn't he at least concede what he did? shouldn't he stop lying first?g >> at this point, we don't know what is going on. i'm waiting for the facts to come out just like you are. >> tucker: hopefully they will. professor, great to see you. >> thank you, tucker. >> tucker: we are out of time, sadly. we will be back y tomorrow nig, faithfully, and every week night, they show that is the sworn enemy of my income lying, pomposity, smugness, and groupthink.

we encourage you to dvr it. good night from washington. we have a special surprise for you, not really a guest on this show, but the man who is going to anchor the 9:00 p.m. show tonight. and honestly, every night, sean hannity. he is live from new york right now. >> sean: great show.w.he i saw your friend was in the tonight.in a special tucker headline. good friend of yours. good show, thank you. welcome to "hannity." buckle up, we have a lot of work to get going on and get started on. the mueller witch hunt is over. obamacare was just dealt a serious blow. democrats are running scared from their green new deal of insanity. the wall on our southern border, guess what? it just got 57 miles longer, and the president wins again. are you sick of winning? and the economy is booming. and this is been a major week for the country, one we will never forget. we are going to cover it all, and we will begin the process tonight of holding people responsible that were involved in the biggest abuse of power, corruption scandal, in our history.