EXCLUSIVE: Sean Hannity Shreds Gavin Newsom on His Debut Podcast — Says He Lives ‘Rent-Free in That Man’s Head’

Sean Hannity and Stephen A. Smith delivered a blistering swipe at California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on the debut episode of Sean Hannity’s newly-launched podcast,

Hannity’s new podcast Hang Out with Sean Hannity premieres March 10 with Smith as his debut guest — recorded in the Fox News host’s Florida “man cave.” In clips of the first show obtained exclusively by Mediaite, Hannity and his guest deliver a gloves-off flaying of Newsom.

Hannity kicked off the tag-team takedown by saying that Newsom’s ability to “screw up” was part of the reason he was a Republican. Smith, a self-professed Democrat who has been a vocal critic of the Democratic Party, leaned in and, in remarks he warned could land him in “trouble,” agreed — adding he would defend the Fox News host against any criticism from Newsom:

SEAN HANNITY: You wanna know why I’m a Republican? Because you can’t screw up more than your buddy Gavin Newsom. I notice he’s not coming on your show.

STEPHEN A. SMITH: Not yet.

HANNITY: Not yet? I’ve been in a big fight with Gavin.

SMITH: He certainly has not done that.

HANNITY: Oh, guess why he ain’t coming.

SMITH: You know I’m gonna ask him what needs to be asked.

HANNITY: Well, because you laid out for him what you’re gonna ask to him. And guess what? He doesn’t want to answer those questions. By the way, I won’t take sh*t from him. And I, by the way, I live rent-free in that man’s head, he can’t stop from attacking me.

SMITH: Well, I’m going to say something that’s going to get me in trouble, but I don’t care: I will defend you to the hilt against Gavin Newsom for one reason and one reason only, that debate that he had against Governor DeSantis, you could not have been more fair.

HANNITY: I was fair.

SMITH: I’m saying you could not have been more fair because remember you and I talked before that day and I was like, since we want to reveal our text messages, before the debate I was like: ‘Be fair. Be fair!’

HANNITY: Your career’s on the line, that’s you told me

SMITH: I said, ‘The country is watching, you gotta be fair.’ I said, ‘You gotta strip yourself from the favoritism role and you gotta go down the middle and give him the platform’ and what did I say to you after the debate was over?

HANNITY: You said, uh, I shocked the sh*t out of you.

SMITH: ‘You shocked the sh*t out of me,’ I said, ‘I can’t believe it.’ I said you were fair. And I was like, that’s all you needed to do.

The Fox host also accused the governor of neglecting problems in California while showing more interest in chasing media attention as a “Trump stalker,” and “a full-time world traveler” – a jab that comes one month after his trip to the World Economic Forum.

HANNITY: Gavin’s a disappointment to me in this sense, he had potential, a lot of potential. I don’t think he is going to make it for a lot of reasons. This guy now is a full-time podcaster, full-time Trump stalker on X, you know, a full-time world traveler, now he’s an author. For a guy that, if you live in the Pacific Palisades and you lost your home and it’s a year and four months later and you can’t get a building permit and he’s on book tours and he is in Davos and he is in Munich and he’s fighting with Sean Hannity and fighting with Donald Trump and and doing podcasts with this person and that person and, meanwhile, they got the highest income taxes sales taxes gas taxes – and you have people racing out of your state because they have a referendum tax on billionaires in Silicon Valley, he ought to be fixing problems.

Smith later revealed he had recently confronted Newsom about appearing on his shows after running into the governor during Super Bowl week. The ESPN host said he told Newsom there was “really no excuse” to avoid the interview, insisting he only wanted to ask the questions Californians are asking and give the governor a chance to answer them on the record:

SMITH: I saw him during Super Bowl week…

HANNITY: Yeah?

SMITH: …and I saw him during Super Bowl week. And I said to him, I said, look, and I’m hoping he comes on, he tells me he’s going to come on my podcast –

HANNITY: He ain’t coming

SMITH: – and comes on my YouTube show. And I’m hoping he comes on because I said to him, ‘There’s really no excuse for you to be avoiding me. All I want to do is ask the questions that people want to hear, and I want to give you the platform on the record to answer them any way you choose.’

HANNITY: He can’t. How do you –

SMITH: That’s the whole point. Cause I’m not going to, when I, what I’m not going do, I’m not going to push back and challenge you like I’m trying to debate you. But the one thing I am going to do is ask you the questions that Californians want to know If you are.

The first episode of Hang Out with Sean Hannity will be available in full at 7 a.m. ET Tuesday, March 10. Upcoming guests include Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) and former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Watch above via Fox News.

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