RUSH: Here is Steve in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Great to have you. I’m glad you called, sir.

CALLER: Thanks so much, Rush. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas.

RUSH: Same to you, sir.

CALLER: So my blood pressure has just been going through the roof lately, you know, between all the news of this guy Strzok getting thrown off. I just don’t see an endgame to this. And I’m hoping you have some type of an endgame to get these guys out of there, Mueller and his crew, to get me back off the ledge.

RUSH: Now, that’s an interesting point. You know, I think about it too. I don’t sit and try to imagine various scenarios, how it would end. I honestly tell you that I have this thing called faith that’s probably worthless to all of you, but I have faith that this is gonna end up right. But I don’t know how, and I don’t know what’s gonna happen before it does.

And I’m not deluding myself. I’m not confusing wishful thinking and turning it into what I think is reality. But let’s deal with this as the program unfolds. I’ve gotta take a break now, but I’m glad you mentioned that. Appreciate it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: You know, I’m talking to Andy McCarthy after the program today, interviewing for the upcoming issue of The Limbaugh Letter, and I’m gonna ask him. I don’t mean to sound like I don’t think about this. Our last caller says, “What’s the endgame, Rush? I mean, you’re telling us how illegitimate the investigation is — and it is — but that’s not stopping them. They know it’s illegitimate. They know they started an investigation over nothing as a means to create crimes elsewhere.”

Look. The bottom line is, folks, they know. They know they don’t have Donald Trump committing any crimes about the election and colluding with Russia. Hillary did all of that! They’ve known from the get-go that Trump didn’t commit any crimes. This is all manufactured from leaks in the deep state. This is a manufactured thing starting from the Obama administration. This comes from John Brennan at the CIA and James Clapper, the director of national service, and Obama acolytes scattered throughout deep state.

This whole premise that Trump’s election is illegitimate springs from the political community organizing strategy and techniques of the Obama administration. They knew that there was no crime that Trump committed. They knew that they needed to start an investigation where they could have crimes committed there, which they’re now telling us they’ve succeeded at. They’ve got Flynn lying to investigators. Now they’re going after Trump for obstructing justice by firing Comey.

So how does it end? They know they’re doing something bogus and illegitimate, but they’ve got an objective. In their world, it’s totally legitimate because: “Trump’s an outsider, doesn’t deserve to be there. Trump has no business being there. This is the world we’re talking about. He’s unequipped, he’s unqualified, he’s an idiot, all of these things, plus he’s a barbarian. We don’t want people like this in our club, and we’re not gonna put up with it, and we don’t care about the Constitution. We’re gonna do whatever we have to do to get rid of him.”

How do we stop that? I’m gonna ask McCarthy because there’s no bigger-rule-of-law guy that Andrew McCarthy. There’s no bigger proponent of the rule of law being the recipe. But when you have people that are behaving, by design, outside the rule of law — they won’t admit they’re doing that, by the way. And their supporters don’t even think of this as being outside. Their supporters think this is the Constitution being upheld because their supporters, these dummkopfs, really think there was collusion.

So how is a special counsel investigation stopped, particularly if it’s illegitimate and if there is no underlying crime? The only crimes are those they can create in the process of conducting the investigation. How does it stop? How do you beat it back?

You know what I still rely on? And I know you’re gonna sneer at this, but I’m gonna say it anyway. I still believe in the power of the American people. And I’ll tell you why. You may think this is quaint and not realistic, but it’s the only thing separating the swamp from succeeding so far. Trump won election. You look at the forces that were arrayed, and you look at the power projected against Trump all during the campaign and since he was elected.

Now, they have put roadblocks up, and they have succeeded in stalling and thwarting elements of the agenda, but Trump gets up every day and tries to march forward on it all, and he still has his voters behind him. The swamp wants to make their takeover of the government look like it’s legitimate and constitutional. So they’re going through the motions here of trying to find supposed, justifiable reasons to impeach Trump.

What is to stop them from just marching a couple people up to the White House and effectively pointing a political gun at Trump’s head and saying, “You either leave, you resign today, or else,” and the else we won’t know; but whatever threats they want to make, what’s to stop them from doing this?

I maintain to you that even though they resent the American public and they don’t really consider elections to be legitimate unless the American public votes the way they want them to, there’s still an invisible line that at least as of now they don’t want to cross and proceed into total totalitarianism or full-fledged, very loud and obvious coup.

Now, the Wall Street Journal today has an editorial that just lambastes Mueller. And the Wall Street Journal is an inside-the-establishment publication, as is its editorial page. And the Wall Street Journal editorial page has been very much Never Trumper from the get-go. I’m not saying that the Wall Street Journal editorial is gonna make Mueller resign. I’m saying it’s an element of opposition that has now been registered.

Up ’til now, look at how Mueller began. Reputation impeccable. Resume impeccable. Integrity, honesty, character unassailable. That’s how he was presented to people that never heard of him and don’t know who he is. That whatever this guy says, you can trust it and then some. Whatever this guy does, you can believe it and trust it and then some. Whatever he ends up charging, you can trust that it is lawful and legit.

Well, there are some people now beginning to put some chinks in that armor, in that reputation. And one thing guys like Mueller don’t want is for their reputations to be sullied. However, there are always mitigating circumstances. And in this case, getting rid of Donald Trump and erasing this election and its outcome may be seen as well worth a couple of hits to the reputation.

It’s hard to describe for people that don’t know these kinds of people, the people that really lead the establishment. But their public image, their reputation for probity and character, decency, integrity, all of the great virtues, is of paramount importance to them, especially to people who don’t know them. These are people that do not want and do not accept and will not abide bass press. To them, that’s not part of the price. They do not get treated that way.

There are not very many of these guys. I mean, this is not the entire establishment. I’ve had emails, “How do you know all of this? And if you don’t know it, how do you say it with so much confidence?” Folks, I do know it. Once you learn — well, I don’t want to go any farther. Just don’t doubt me on this. I know this stuff. It’s not because I know them and it’s not because I’m in it. In fact, it’s precisely because I’m not that I understand what it is.

But I do know that much of what’s happened is unbelievable to them. They cannot believe that this guy won. They can’t believe that they were not able to stop him. They can’t believe he’s still there. They can’t believe they haven’t taken him out yet. They can’t believe he’s still smiling. They can’t believe they haven’t gotten rid of Tillerson yet. They can’t believe any of this. They can’t believe he’s not in jail. In terms of their ultimate objectives, they have not succeeded yet. But they don’t care about that. They’re playing the long game here.

I think they can be beaten back. I think they can be exposed. I think there’s quite a lot the American people can learn that would really present these people in a bad light. And they already are. Why do you think Trump won? Trump won because people are already fed up with the world of politicians and the way that world operates. That’s why Trump won, not taking anything away from him personally, his charisma, his campaign, his issues.

The fact that Trump won tells me that these people can be defeated. And if they’ve been defeated once, which they were in the election, it can happen again. I’m a natural optimist in most things. In certain things I’m a dyed-in-the-wool pessimist, but I don’t tell you what those are. But on balance I’m an optimist on things like this. And we will see.

I’ll see what Andy says. I’m mentioning this now so that Andy can start thinking about it. This kind of question, when you get it, “What’s the endgame, how do we get there?” you do need to think about that. Because right now what we’re doing is reacting to each and every day’s revelations, events, occurrences, supposed factual events. We’re reacting to the plea deal of Flynn.

Did you hear what Manafort did? Manafort supposedly violated a plea deal. He supposedly was ordered by the judge not to make any public statements about the case. So he arranged for an op-ed to be ghostwritten making his case but not under his name, and the prosecutors found out about it. And now they’re ready to put ankle braces on him and keep him in his basement with nothing but bread and water for food twice a day.

They are livid! And Manafort has been charged with things that happened in 2016 that have literally nothing to do with the so-called crime they’re investigating, collusion with the Russians to steal an election. So clearly they want Manafort. They want to put so much pressure on Manafort that if he lied and told them that Trump did this and that, they’ll accept it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Matthew in Plainview, Long Island. It’s great to have you on the program. How are you doing?

CALLER: Hi, Rush. How are you doing?

RUSH: Just fine, sir.

CALLER: I just wanted to ask you one simple question: Do you think Robert Mueller is now the most powerful man in America?

RUSH: I think he thinks so.

CALLER: (laughs) Well, from my point of view, he’s got an investigation where he’s allowed to pick and choose who he prosecutes. He has the ability to investigate anyone he sees fit. It’s unconstitutional. There are no parameters or restrictions.

RUSH: Well, no. Look, I get your circumstance. Traditionally, it’s the president who is considered the most powerful man in the free world and maybe the whole world.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: But now you’re talking about a guy who thinks — and a lot of other people think — that he holds Trump’s presidency in the palm of his hand, which may mean this guy’s got more powerful than Trump. However, Trump can fire this guy. Trump can pardon Flynn and he can fire this guy. He can fire anybody he wants. I can do it. Now, there would be political consequences maybe. But he could still do it. So when it comes down to real raw power, Trump still has it.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: But if he’s made the decision not to fire Mueller for whatever reason, Mueller may think he holds Trump’s presidency in the orifice of his choice.

CALLER: (silence)

RUSH: Hello? Testing, one two… Did our caller drop off?

CALLER: Hello?

RUSH: Yes. You’re there. What’s your reaction to what I just said? That’s why you’re here.

CALLER: I agree with you, but his one objective — which is set by the Democrats, the deep state, the swamp — is to, at a bare minimum, get Trump impeached. The real objective is they want to see him carried out in cuffs.

RUSH: Oh, I think if they could do that — if they could send him to jail, put him in the dock — yeah. None of that would surprise me.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Beaverton, Oregon. Steve, I’m glad you waited. Welcome to our program, sir. Hi.

CALLER: How are you doing, Rush?

RUSH: Fine and dandy, sir. Thank you.

CALLER: First-time caller, many time dialer —

RUSH: (chuckles)

CALLER: — and this is the best Christmas gift ever. Thank you so much for taking my call.

RUSH: Thank you. I appreciate that.

CALLER: This isn’t the reason I called but I’m from Oregon, and we have a very high state tax, and I’m not exactly happy about that, either. If you want to talk about that after my question, we can do that. But the main question I have for you is, during your monologue you were talking about lying to the FBI. I’m not a lawyer, and I don’t play one on the radio, but I don’t understand how lying to the FBI is a crime. People lie all the time.

RUSH: Well, because it’s been entered in the statute as a crime. It’s an actual United States Code violation to lie to federal prosecutors, federal investigators. That would be the FBI.

CALLER: But are they under oath at the time?

RUSH: It doesn’t matter.

CALLER: But, you know, there was a —

RUSH: It really doesn’t matter. Talk to Martha Stewart. Here’s the thing. You know, if you want the crazy part: Flynn did not have to talk to them! You don’t have to talk to them.

CALLER: You don’t!

RUSH: No.

CALLER: You don’t at all. The other thing is, there was a Supreme Court ruling that stated that the police can lie to you.

RUSH: Right. That’s true. I see it on TV all the time.

CALLER: It’s gotta go both ways.

RUSH: Nope.

CALLER: (chuckling) So —

RUSH: You may think that justice is balanced toward the accused. It isn’t. It’s made to look like it is, but when the Feds are involved, there’s no way you can balance it. You don’t have the money they have. You don’t have the people that they have.

CALLER: Yeah. So a lot of people just give up, and they just acquiesce and do what they want to.

RUSH: Michael Flynn’s friends said that at the top of the list of reasons why he did this, he can’t afford, he would go broke continuing the fight. It’s tearing his family apart. And then when they zeroed in on his son and wanted to nail his son for the same crime, Flynn said, okay, that’s it. I’m not letting my son take a hit for this stuff, copped a plea.

It’s one of the pressure points and tactics that they use, it’s in their arsenal, and they use it as often as necessary. And they can always outlast you because they’ve got more money than even Prince Mohammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. They got more money than Gates. They got more money than Buffett. They got more money than Jeff Bezos combined. If they want to really spend you into oblivion, they can do it.

CALLER: So another question is, how did they know that you’re lying? If you believe that what you’re saying is the truth —

RUSH: Because if you tell ’em on Tuesday that you didn’t know X and then six months later you say, “Yeah, yeah, I knew that,” you’ve lied to them.

CALLER: Well, yeah, but Hillary Clinton’s memory all of a sudden —

RUSH: Hillary didn’t intend, you see. That’s what they told us.

CALLER: Well, I didn’t intend to lie to the FBI either.

RUSH: And neither did Flynn, but he still did. Screw him.

CALLER: So how does it —

RUSH: Because the purpose of this is to exonerate Hillary, to save the Obama legacy, to nail Trump and get rid of anybody who wants to try to help Trump. No exaggeration, not making it up, not trying to be funny. That’s what’s going on here. We’re outside the Constitution. We’ve got a bogus investigation driving all this. Collusion with Russia to steal the election . It never happened. There’s not a shred of evidence, and yet we’re investigating it and in the process people are lying and obstructing justice.

If you’re Trump and you didn’t do this and none of your people did this and you’ve got a phony dossier written about you that says you did it and all of these forces arrayed against you, and one of the guys leading them is the FBI director and you run the FBI, you fire the guy. You have every right to. You didn’t do any of this. And the whole establishment, which you now run, the executive branch, is coming after you, of course you’re gonna fire Comey. But now, if you’re Trump, what do you do? Can you imagine how frustrated this would be? Imagine yourself being pursued for something you didn’t do, that if they convict you of it, it ruins you and your family. What would you do?

CALLER: Yeah. Exactly. But, see, people now know this. They know that they’re coming after you, and you don’t have to talk to the FBI. So, I mean, aren’t they learning in the process here that if the FBI comes, “Hey, I’m not saying a word.”

RUSH: But if you don’t talk to them, they can always come subpoena you. At some point —

CALLER: You still don’t have to talk to them.

RUSH: Then you get a lawyer and you take a lawyer in there with you. And you don’t say a word.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: But, see, these guys didn’t do anything. In their minds, they’re cooperating and helping. If they didn’t know that they were being pursued, that’s a whole ‘nother matter. Flynn is a patriot, a former military guy, Defense Intelligence Agency for Obama. He’s on the Trump transition team. They’re working with the Russians getting ready for the new administration. The FBI comes calling. I think it’s his intention to try to be helpful. He lies, whether he lies or not, didn’t know he was lying or what have you — look, he blundered. He did lie to Mike Pence about all this too. I’m not trying to exonerate Flynn here. But the point is, they’ve got Hillary Clinton on 10 times all this —

CALLER: Exactly.

RUSH: — for which she has been exonerated, in public! There’s no question about what’s going on here.

CALLER: Yeah, I know. I’d still like to see Hillary in jail.

RUSH: Lock her up. Lock her up. Well, you know, I’m not trying to throw gasoline on anything here, but where are the people who would normally be standing up and helping Trump fight all this? Where are they? Devin Nunes is. Devin Nunes is about to blow a gasket over the FBI — the House Intelligence Committee has regularly asked for this Strzok guy to show up and testify about what the hell he did and what his text messages were to his mistress about how they both hated Trump. And the FBI says, “Screw you! We don’t have to answer to you, you’re a low congressman. Who do you think you are? We’re not talking to you.”

And they didn’t. He’s about ready to blow his gasket. The swamp is not cooperating. They’re simply telling these chump change congressmen to go suck it. Their way, way outside — you know, if Nixon had been doing any of this, it would be a whole different story. This is uncharted territory because normally these procedures are followed and met because the Constitution’s the rule of law, it’s the glue that holds things together.

But when you’ve got the FBI playing a one way game here and the congressional committee, which has oversight over the executive branch and has to look at these irregularities and subpoenas or asks for testimony from FBI agents and the FBI says, “Screw you. We’re not showing up. We’re not telling you anything,” then what do you do? All it takes is a couple people who decide the Constitution.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Well, now, the stated reason that Mueller is going after Deutsche Bank, Trump’s Deutsche Bank records. Get this. I mean, on the surface, what the hell does this have to do with Russian collusion? Well, somebody put a rumor out some time ago that Trump’s financial dealings with Deutsche Bank had connections to Russia, and those connections to Russia via Deutsche Bank might show that Trump colluded with Putin to steal the election from Hillary.

And so Mueller is going to go subpoena and did subpoena, and the Deutsche Bank people are cooperating because they’re scared to death, too, they don’t need this. And Deutsche Bank is one of the prime lenders of the Trump organization when they need money for real estate development. So there’s a rumor that there’s financial dealings there, Deutsche Bank, Trump, and Russia.

Sure they can try to stop it. But the point is that Mueller is going there. And this is Trump family finances that precede any Trump intention to seek the presidency. It’s just another bit of evidence that this is an impeachment investigation. It’s not a collusion investigation. It is not a counterintelligence investigation, and it’s not even a criminal investigation. This is an investigation where they hope to produce, not enough evidence to — well, they do. They hope to persuade the American people because impeachment is a political event.

Folks, the game plan here, they are counting on the Democrats winning the House in 2018. So this is gonna go on all through next year. This is gonna be one of the many things the media and the left are gonna use to try to impact campaigns next year so that Democrats retake the House. And then, when Democrats retake the House, you watch how fast Mueller puts his investigation to bed and turns it over to the Democrats who will then be running the House theoretically to begin preparation of articles of impeachment. That’s what all this is predicated on. Democrats control. If the Republicans control the House then all this is kind of moot.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I just hit on the answer. The caller said, “What’s the endgame, how do we stop this?” He was asking, how do we stop the Mueller investigation? You’re not gonna stop it. But the Mueller investigation requires — I say “requires” — it is predicated on the Democrats winning control of the House and then running the articles of impeachment. That’s what this really is. If you want to stop Mueller, don’t let the Democrats win the House.