Fox News "Sunday Morning Futures" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Doug Collins

Interview

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BARTIROMO: Whoa.

The notion that the FISA court was abused is nonsense. That was former FBI Director Jim Comey talking to reporters on Friday. He just said that following his closed-door testimony on the investigations into Hillary Clinton's e-mails and Russian election meddling.

Comey's answers leaving Republicans frustrated and baffled after he reportedly told them he could not remember some key details and events in the Russia investigation, probably his most important investigation of his career.

Joining me right now is Republican Congressman from Georgia Doug Collins. He is the incoming ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Congratulations to you on being the ranking member. And thank you for being here.

REP. DOUG COLLINS (R), GEORGIA: Glad to be here this morning.

BARTIROMO: So, we know that Comey used the words "I don't remember" 72 times, "I don't know" 167 times, or "I don't recall," all -- 245 times, he didn't remember anything.

What did you think about that comment just there, that no abuse in the FISA court?

COLLINS: Well, it's pretty amazing that Jim Comey has memory lapse issues. Maybe he needs to get checked for that. I'm not sure.

But when he walks out in the hall, and he finds reporters, he all of a sudden becomes very loquacious. He gets to talk about everything.

And to say that there was not a FISA abuse problem, this, to me, Maria, is the really the bottom-line issue, one of the things besides the evident bias, besides the attacks on the president.

When you get down to the system, where they used unverifiable -- up to this day, it seems like -- and even, as Lindsey Graham and others have talked about it, to this moment, that is still not verified, that they used in every FISA application with Carter Page.

Now, these are the kind of things that make Americans sit back and say, what's in it for me?

BARTIROMO: That's right.

COLLINS: And that's going to be a problem.

BARTIROMO: So where is the accountability?

With all due respect, your committee looks inept. I'm sorry. But you're subpoenaing Jim Comey and Loretta Lynch in December, four weeks before Bob Goodlatte is stepping down.

Did they win? Is it over? They got away with it?

COLLINS: No, I don't think they did.

And I think Chairman Goodlatte got this on record, because one thing, the Democrats will overreach. That's what they're looking at doing. We have heard this from the moment of 2016 up until now, to when they actually got in.

Jerry Nadler, again, I have said before, he's looking over his shoulder at basically a socialistic primary here, because he's got to appear that he's going after something that I don't think he's really comfortable in going after.

So Chairman Goodlatte said, we're leaving here. Comey has been avoiding it. He's been talking to the press. He's been leaking. I mean, he's the definition of hypocrisy.

Then he comes before it. We will put this on record. We will let Lindsey Graham in the Senate, which will have -- Ron Johnson in the Senate as well. They're going to have the ability to pick this up, along with what we're doing.

And we're going to -- we're not going to let it drop, because, at the end of the day, the American people, led by this president, want to know that the Department of Justice is fair to everybody.

BARTIROMO: And we need that. And we need to trust the Department of Justice, I mean, as a society.

But what are you going to do? You're going to have investigations thrown at you. They want to see his tax returns. Jerry Nadler has already sent it -- said it, the incoming chairman, your colleague. He is going to shut this probe down.

So how are you going to deal with this and what has been called even by yourself a politicization of these important agencies of our country?

COLLINS: At this point in time, Jerry Nadler needs to understand one thing. He can go on any investigation he wants. He will have the gavel.

But he's going to be met by someone who's going to say, Mr. Nadler, if you want to go down this -- this -- basically this path of attacking and attacking, finding things that we have already looked at, if you want to politicize this to the point to please a base that is just mad about a presidential election, to prepare for another presidential election, we're going to meet you.

And we're going to meet you firm. We're going to meet you on that field. And we're going to defeat you.

It will become so problematic for them to run a committee, that they're going to want to say, we're going to do our proper investigative oversight, but we're also going to have to get back to the American people. And that's what we're going to continue to do.

BARTIROMO: Has the -- what about the Mueller memos?

And now we have got the sentencing news. Give us your reaction.

COLLINS: I think what we have seen, that liars lie, and they have been prosecuted for that.

What bothers me the most about this -- and even some of the things that has been passed out -- is we're out of the scope of really where Mueller started. And Mueller started was the issue of investigation.

Now Comey is coming up with two definitions of what that actually means. And, again, he plays that. But for him and the memory lapse that he's having, with the Mueller investigations coming in, we will see where this actually goes.

And I think what we're now seeing is exactly still what the president said. There's so much in there we don't know. And none of it is saying, here's the president.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

COLLINS: So I think that's where we're going to look at it in the future.

BARTIROMO: Move on to your agenda.

I know you have got a criminal justice bill. That's important. You're going to be working on that. And then the border wall funding, where does it stand?

COLLINS: Yes, first off, criminal justice, First Step Act is in the Senate.

I'm calling on the majority leader right now, Mitch McConnell, put this on the floor. This is a bill that is good for Americans. This is good across the board.

We have the president...

BARTIROMO: Lindsey Graham wants it on the floor too.

COLLINS: Lindsey as well.

And the president has spoken passionately about this. Jared Kushner and the rest of the folks at the White House, they have seen the fact that this is what I say money and morals. It's a great argument, because we're spending money to put people in jail, 95 percent of which will get out at some point.

BARTIROMO: They will get out.

COLLINS: So the question is, how do you deal with them in there? Are you going to give them the opportunity, on their choosing?

So we're hoping to get that done. And we think we can.

BARTIROMO: Are you going to get the border wall funding?

COLLINS: I'm ready to see it funded.

Look, the issue is -- for us is, I think, as Leader McCarthy said just a moment ago, this is -- the Senate is the issue at this point. They're going to have to come to the terms.

And if Schumer wants another shutdown, if he wants to put American citizens' priorities ahead of those who are trying to crash our borders and overtake our borders, and do so from a -- very much an illegal fashion, then let's see what he does with that.

But they're going to have to come to it. And I think the American people get this, and we need to make sure that they understand it.

BARTIROMO: Congressman, stay with us.

Much more with Congressman Doug Collins when we come right back.

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BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

I am back with Republican Congressman from Georgia Doug Collins. Mr. Collins is the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee in the new Congress coming up.

And, Congressman, I want to ask you about all of these whistle-blowers that are coming out about the Clinton Foundation now, one saying: "I know where all the bodies are buried. There was real wrongdoing."

The Clinton Foundation CFO, the former CFO is spilling the beans about them. Is this going to be on your agenda?

COLLINS: I think it will be.

I mean, if we're going to investigate it, if -- again, Ms. Clinton has lived and the Clinton family has just lived sort of a charmed life when it comes to people investigating and doing whatever they wanted to do.

I think this is something that we can see, and even in the Department of Justice. If you have people coming forward saying there was actual wrongdoing done, then it needs to be investigated. It needs to be happening.

I mean, they're on the down climb. I mean, they can't even put people in seats to do their book tour. I mean, so at a certain point in time now, everybody's abandoning ship. They're finding out what that feels like. But it does need to be investigated.

You can't take a foundation and do whatever you want to do with it.

BARTIROMO: Well, how did Jim Comey answer the questions to your committee in terms of him handling Hillary Clinton with kid gloves?

COLLINS: Well, when -- there's a time when Jim Comey was on our committee earlier, about two years ago, even before the election.

And I told him, I said, you got played, plain and simple. She played you on this stuff.

BARTIROMO: And what do he say about that?

COLLINS: And he got really mad. He just he -- he feigned this, I know I do my job.

No, he didn't. He got actually is. When you look at it -- from somebody who's still in the military -- I'm still active -- you don't do anything more important than making sure that the classified information and how you handle that.

So don't tell me that it was just a one-off -- don't tell me that it was something, when you actually took a separate server, you had separate accounts, and you made sure that it was part -- I mean, he just got played in. And he won't admit it.

BARTIROMO: But you know Jerry Nadler, your chairman, is not going to investigate the Clinton Foundation again.

COLLINS: Well, again...

BARTIROMO: He wants it off the front pages.

COLLINS: Well, he would love to have it off the front pages.

The problem is, it's not going to come off the front pages, because I think an interaction between myself and our side, which is going to continue to bring these issues up, we're going to continue to make this point.

Every time he wants to take it down another rabbit hole that he wants to chase, we're going to say, let's look at the issues here. But also never forget -- and I think it was made -- Lindsey Graham, Ron Johnson in the Senate, and, again, the president, we have the ability to continue this process and make sure that the people understand that there are two sides to the story and one that, frankly, under the Obama administration never got told.

BARTIROMO: Why so many -- why is it that so many of your colleagues, Republicans, are unwilling to get behind the border wall funding for the president?

COLLINS: I think they need to. And it's just not -- he's been actually very good.

The president has laid out a very simple process, the four pillars, where you look at it from that perspective. But it's pretty simple, Maria. You secure the border. You make sure that it doesn't happen again. Then you start dealing with the folks who are here legally and illegally.

That's the way you stop it. I have always made this analogy, sort of the - - if you go into your basement, and there's an inch of water, and you see the pipe broken on the other wall, you don't grab a mop. You fix the pipe. Then you grab the mop and fix what's happening from there.

(LAUGHTER)

BARTIROMO: Yes, it's a good analogy.

(LAUGHTER)

BARTIROMO: Congressman, it's great to see you.

COLLINS: Good to see you.

BARTIROMO: We're going to be watching your agenda and whether or not your criminal justice bill gets to the floor.

COLLINS: Yes.

BARTIROMO: We know that that's a priority for you.

Republican Doug Collins there.

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