Fox News "The Story" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Doug Collins

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

ED HENRY, ANCHOR: All right. Breaking tonight, new info on the FBI's controversial insurance policy to try and prevent Donald Trump from ever becoming president. These new revelations coming straight from one of the plans chief architects, disgraced FBI official Peter struck.

Good evening, everybody. I'm Ed Henry, in for Martha MacCallum and this is "The Story."

This information breaking tonight is contained in a fresh -- freshly released transcript of private testimony from Strzok that comes on the heels of admissions from his former lover, FBI attorney Lisa Page.

In a closed-door interview with lawmakers, Page revealed the Obama Justice Department ordered her not to prosecute Hillary Clinton over her e-mail scandal.

Even though, then-President Barack Obama promised our own Chris Wallace there was quote no political influence in FBI investigations, period. The president said, full stop. Remember that?

Well, tonight, we're learning even more new details of just how far the bureau may have gone to try and take his successor, President Trump out. Big lineup of guests to break all this down, including an exclusive interview with Congressman Doug Collins, the lawmaker behind the release of those transcripts. Why he says they reveal a "two-tiered justice system". One for Hillary Clinton, one for Donald Trump.

Plus former House Oversight Committee chair Trey Gowdy. He says these new revelations are just proof the FBI was "engaging in election forecasting instead of doing their jobs."

But, we begin tonight with Congressman Collins. Congressman, we appreciate you joining us.

REP. DOUG COLLINS, R-GA: I'm glad to be here. Thank you.

HENRY: What is the most alarming part of Peter Strzok's testimony that you want to share with the American people?

COLLINS: The most alarming part of Peter Strzok's testimony is he seemed to believe that he and he alone could do whatever he wanted to do and that his own bias, his own indiscretions with Lisa Page and anything else nothing mattered except what he believed that he was untouchable. And I think that's a problem that interferes did not only an e-mail investigation but also started at Russia investigation that has led us down a lot of paths that have ended up fruitless.

But it goes back to a fact that here's an FBI -- you know, someone who at the department just FBI who says, "I believe I can solve the world's problems politically."

HENRY: Well, let's take that piece by piece. First of all, in the idea that Peter Strzok thought he was untouchable. What about the fact that we're learning now, he deleted some of his text messages with his lover, Lisa Page.

He says it's because they were messages of a personal nature but we simply don't know whether there was some official business there that they're deleting or whether this was a cover-up.

COLLINS: Well, he's asking us to take his word for it, but yet, we have a lot of text messages that have been uncovered that have a plenty of personal stuff that I'm not sure he would ever want to get in to in a public setting. But also at a certain point in time, is when did he become the arbiter of what he could decide was needed to be deleted or not. That's what I mean by the oversize importance of himself and saying that I can decide what I can delete and what I can keep.

HENRY: What about the fact that he says that the Justice Department under President Obama did not want to seize Hillary Clinton's e-mail server. And then, ended up cutting a deal with Clinton's legal team where they get some access to the server, but they could not see e-mails involving the Clinton Foundation. Does that suggest they were hiding something?

COLLINS: It does suggest that there is a problem at the DOJ. This is something that these -- releasing these transcripts have provided an insight into what many of us have feared and also talked about for, for going on 40 years now.

And when we understand that Hillary Clinton was treated differently, it started with frankly with the President Obama's Department of Justice. We're now seeing insight through Lisa Page's testimony through Peter Strzok's discussion of this that it was the Department of Justice basically saying there is no way Hillary Clinton is going to be charged here because we're not going to use the standard of intent.

And the intent is not a part of gross negligence here. So, well, that's what we're seeing. And then, FBI just completely went against protocol when they would interview her with fact witnesses in the room and not give her any other thing. This just shows you there's a sure tier system here.

HENRY: Congressman, I've got 30 seconds. I want to end on what I thought might be most important. Republican John Ratcliffe asks Strzok about August 2016, his back and forth with Lisa Page about the insurance policy. We've heard so much about that of them essentially a going rogue, as you say, and trying to prevent Donald Trump from being president. And Strzok admitted that he at one point said, "No, no, no, we'll stop it. We'll basically stop him from being president."

But then, next part struck me most that he was asked directly under oath. Has Robert Mueller and his team ever come to you to ask you about this insurance policy, and he says, "No"? Why hasn't the independent counsel -- the special counsel gotten to the bottom of that?

COLLINS: We'll see what is going on now because we do know that, that has been discussed a year later. And what he actually has said, is he set himself as this -- is individual and being part of that team, he -- I don't think was playing -- you know, honest with the facts.

We know that him -- the -- I've called them the corrupt (INAUDIBLE) Page, Strzok, and McCabe had this. They were part of all of these investigations, and they knew what was going on and they were the insurance policy they believed themselves to protect the country, from who? From a president that they didn't like, from a man that they didn't like.

HENRY: Stunning series of revelations. In part, we know about this because Congressman Collins put these transcripts out there. Congressman, appreciate you joining us tonight.

COLLINS: Ed, thanks so much.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source