Fox News "Sunday Morning Futures" - Interview with Doug Collins

Interview

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REP. DOUG COLLINS, R-GA: Good morning, Maria. It's good to be with you.

BARTIROMO: I want to get to the impeachment push in a moment but first, let me get your reaction to this breaking news this morning. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son, has pledged to resign from this private equity firm that he is on the board of on October 31st, and he says he will not work on any foreign-owned companies or serve on their boards if his father is elected president. This just coming out now. We know that there has been so much around this story, but now Hunter Biden says he will step down. Your reaction.

COLLINS: Well, it's pretty amazing now that Hunter Biden, after the -- you know, the light has been shined onto what seemingly is some interesting deals that were in Ukraine and China and other places, now you're going to come out and say, well, I'll step away from all of this because it might seem to be a conflict with my father, if he ever becomes president, which I think is a big leap of faith here to -- to start that. This just shows you how much this is just a messed up situation and how much that there were other things going on and all the Democrats want to do is focus on President Trump because they don't like President Trump because of everything going on.

I think this is just another way to save a flailing campaign that's going down, he knows he's in trouble, and this is just another way to -- to try and detract attention.

BARTIROMO: Now, we know that there have already been three testimonies behind closed doors as part of this impeachment push, another one on Friday. Some of it leaked down and then others -- other things from that cannot be leaked or discussed. Tell me what you've learned so far from these behind closed doors testimonies and this impeachment inquiry.

COLLINS: Well I think to first understand the closed door testimony -- let's -- let's at least go back and remember a few points. Number one -- November 2016 began the impeachment push for the Democrats, because they cried in Brooklyn, they haven't got over it yet. So number one. Number two -- when gained control of the Congress last year, instead of being truthful to the American people about wanting to do something for the American people, all they said was we're going to impeach the president. Jerry Nadler wanted to be chairman of the Judiciary because he's going to impeach the president. Number three, when the impeachment hit in January, all Jerry Nadler's focus and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee was let's have investigations.

Mueller was going to show it -- everything was going to show that the president needed to be impeached. We felt back (ph), it failed. Now you go to -- Miss -- Speaker Pelosi and Adam Schiff had to say we're got a failing plan here, we promised the Democratic base that we would impeach the president, and so far we can't do it, in fact, we've shown that he's done nothing wrong except have a great economy and a great standing around the world. So here's what they did, Maria -- and the viewers need to know this. They said we can't win this in the public eye, so we're going to take it behind closed doors. And so in the last few days, they have taken it behind closed doors, Adam Schiff, who has trouble telling the truth, much less spelling it, but he's a very good leaker. Let's -- let's be honest about what he is good at. He's a good leaker.

So what they did is take it behind closed doors, have testimony that I have heard from folks who were in the room that said these transcripts should be released completely because the defeat the entire narrative. But as long as he can keep it behind closed doors then they leak out to the American people only what they want to leak out and this is why you have seen this progression at this point.

The president has done nothing wrong, as he has said and has come out in the transcripts. And by the way, if you don't believe it just ask the Ukrainian president who said, I felt no pressure this was simply a discussion of what's going on in our two countries.

Maria, this is a sham of what's going on right now.

BARTIROMO: Well last week we had on Congressman John Ratcliffe, and Congressman Ratcliffe mentioned three reasons that this seems to be questionable. Number one was that typically in any impeachment it -- the jurisdiction for impeachment is the Judiciary Committee. It's not happening in the Judiciary Committee which Nadler runs, it's actually in the Intel Committee.

Number two it is all happening behind closed doors. We don't know what anybody said -- on Friday you had another testimony from Marie Yovanovich - - she's the former Ambassador to Ukraine. Her opening statement leaks (ph), but then everything else as part of that is behind closed doors.

And now they're calling him a fact witness. John Ratcliffe called him, Adam Schiff, a fact witness because of course he did meet with the so- called whistleblower before the complaint was public.

COLLINS: John's exactly right. Here's an interesting thing (ph) -- Adam Schiff is so deeply involved in this -- this is a man who once said there's collusion in plain sight, we'll do whatever we want to do. You know, because the president needs to be impeached and we've got the proof. And he's been saying this for well over two years that this president was someone needed to be impeached.

But notice what you just said there, he's a fact witness in that his staff and others met with the whistleblower before this came out. The president then released the transcript of the call and everybody said OK where's the "their" (ph) there because there's not a "their" there.

And yet, they had helped put this out -- in fact, many reporters said if you look at the whistleblower complaint it was laid out in a way in which Adam Schiff could then to go to committee and start talk about this -- and then keep it behind closed doors to only get out what they want to get out. But it's not just the Judiciary Committee that's been left out here, the Foreign Affairs Committee has been left out here as well.

Speaker Pelosi knew that Adam Schiff would do whatever she wanted him to do. He's done it for years, he's doing it now and the American people are the one that'll (ph) suffer here.

If they want to overturn a 2016 election then I would recommend get in the field, have a candidate who knew where some of these states were to actually go campaign and do that in 2020. You don't turn over an election based on the fact that you hate a president who got elected, who beat the person you thought was going to elected.

And then, by the way he also put in trade -- he's working on trade deals, we have an economy. They can't beat him on the facts, so they're going to beat him on the lies.

BARTIROMO: But what are you going to do about it? I mean, your colleagues on the left are in control, they are in the majority. We -- the American people are wondering what's going on in terms of this impeachment inquiry?

We don't see any transcripts, we can't hear any of these hearings -- are you just going to -- and then, by the way no one's getting anything done, you're supposed to pass USMCA, you're supposed to get trade deals done as well as perhaps gun legislation infrastructure. So what are you going to do about it?

COLLINS: Well if anybody's watched me over the last nine months in particular, I don't sit back and take it -- that's why I'm on here with you this morning, that's why we've been talking about the story.

If Adam Schiff wants to have it behind closed doors, my job is to pick the lock. Mine is to open it up and say, look at what has actually been happening here. Look at the lies that have been told, look at the hearings that have been had and nothing has came from it. And now, because you don't like the results you take it behind closed doors.

Here's what we're going to keep (ph) doing, we're going to keep putting this out, we're going to work to get these transcripts released -- but also the Senate in the next couple weeks is hopefully going to be able to begin looking at other things as well, especially the Horowitz report which should be coming out in the next little bit.

These are the kind of things Maria that viewers have to understand. When they look at Washington, D.C. what they're getting right now is a one-sided approach to an impeachment because Democrats know they can't win on the facts so they're having to move it behind closed doors, so those of us like myself are going to keep going forward. I believe that sunshine is the disinfectant. Right now Adam Schiff don't want to have disinfectant anywhere close to what he's doing.

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BARTIROMO: Welcome back. And we are back with the Ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Georgia, Congressman Doug Collins. Congressman, I want to get your take on the I.G. report.

I have reported last week on Fox Business, I reported that I'm hearing the I.G. report will be out this upcoming Friday, October 18. And my sources say it's as thick as a telephone book, more than just FISA abuse. Can you give us any sense of what you're expecting out of this Inspector General report, which is forth coming?

COLLINS: Well, we're expecting it to show exactly what we've been concerned about for a long time. That there was issues at the Department of Justice, especially dealing with the FISA court.

And you know, Maria, how I actually know this? I start looking at the ones that should be the most concern because one of the things I did (ph) mention a few minutes ago is the Democrats wanted nothing to do with any investigation to the really issues of collusion and corruption.

It was part of the 2016 campaign, which is the Democratic National Committee and (inaudible) and Fusion GPS and all of these parties that came together to try and deny Donald Trump from becoming president. And they never wanted any part of that.

And they're not wanting a part now and you see it when you see Brennan and you see McCabe and you see some of these really ramping up the I'm innocent phase of their life when they go on T.V. and talk about this is not really happening.

But the best one is when Mr. Comey, the one who has the trouble with the truth, who has a Superman syndrome is out there saying oh I wish that this would just go away. But then he reveals himself and he says all I want to do is get rid of this president. This report is going to show what happened in that time frame, and I believe from what we're seeing from their reaction, it's not going to be very good.

My only question is will the Democrats have an integrity bone in their body to actually -- Jerry Nadler to call Mr. Horowitz to our committee to have to answer about this report.

BARTIROMO: Yes, last week -- well, last weekend on this program we had George Papadopoulos on the program. And we had been following this, obviously, for the last couple of years and we've put together this timeline of really what looks like entrapment of Papadopoulos, given the fact that he got all of this outreach from these internationalist, quote -- quote/unquote, ambassadors and -- and people who invited him to conferences like Steven Halper or Alexander Downer from Australia or Joseph Mifsud.

Now on the Joseph Mifsud situation, this was the individual who dropped the news on George Papadopoulos that Russia had Hillary Clinton's emails and he said -- and another of these internationalist said to him well, this is great news for you and Donald Trump that you've got this -- these emails and he said I would never do that, that's treason.

And that transcript, that conversation was transcribed, because he was an informant, the guy who said that to him, and that was not given to the FISA Court. So, many people have come on this program, Trey Gowdy included, John Ratcliffe, to say that that was exculpatory evidence that was not given to the FISA Court. Is that something that you are going to be looking for in this upcoming report on Friday?

COLLINS: That's the first of many things. I think what we've we got to understand here is, you have a court that meets in secret, that is integral that they have a position which they receive all the information, especially when you're dealing with an American citizen.

And, if there is being withheld exculpatory material, then it just goes to the -- to the position that I've said all along, that the corrupt cabal of McCabe, and Comey, and Strzock, and Page, and all these folk, have really had a mindset of, they came off of an e-mail investigation with Hillary Clinton, went right into, let's see if we can investigate this president, because we don't like who this president may be.

And at that time he was still a candidate. And we're seeing this build up, and build up, and build up. So, I think this report is going to show -- even Comey himself said that the dossier was salacious and unverified. Well then why would he actually go out there and verify that before a FISA Court?

Why do we then come in finding out later that Mr. Durham now is enlarging his investigation to other areas all the way into spring of 2017 --

BARTIROMO: Yes.

COLLINS: -- when we have the Special Counsel name. When we're also beginning to have doubts of Mr. Mueller's truthfulness in what he was actually looking for and how much Rosenstein was actually a part of McCabe?

This whole deal, the McCabe memo, shows that there were actually discussions of wearing a wire to the White House. Maria, this is something that everybody needs to be concerned about, I don't care what Party affiliation you have.

If you are an American, you need to make sure that we actually find out, did our Department of Justice turn on us and then these questions are going to be answered. And I believe this is what you're going to see, starting with this Inspector General.

BARTIROMO: Yes. And as our timeline correctly points out, Mifsud telling -- telling George Papadopoulos about the -- about the e-mails that Russia had happened in April of 2016. That was way before the FBI said that they started an investigation. That was March and April in 2016, was when -- when he first got that information. Also, this $10,000 in cash that was dropped in his lap from another information. They said, oh, we want to do business with you, here's $10,000 in cash.

Again, they were using -- I mean, if this is -- comes to light, in this I.G. report and Bill Barr's investigation and John Durham's investigation, they were actually using the tools that this country uses on terrorists, that's informants, wire tapping. These are the tools that this country uses on terrorists and they were using it to entrap Donald Trump's campaign if this is true. And this is what everything we've learned so far leads me to believe.

COLLINS: Well, unlike the Democrats, I actually believe that let's let the facts come out. And I think what we're seeing here, is let's remember, Maria, everything you just talked about, let's look at the timeframe here, that was under the Obama/Biden Administration. That was under the previous Administration.

When the collusion and the work from Russian operatives, when we had this dossier coming out, which was paid for by the DNC, this was under the watch of President Obama.

I'm sort of tired of being lectured by the former president, about how he was in charge and how they would never had done this on a world stage, but yet, it was under his watch that this was the election interference from Russia actually happened.

Let's just put this all in perspective, the I.G.'s report going to show what it's going to show, and I believe it's going to have a lot more that most people are aware of, because you're seeing the players who have been involved in it squirming on stage and we'll see how that comes out.

You have a John Durham who is actually looking into this from possible charges as we go forward, but all at the same point, while all of this is starting to come out, the Democrats realize that in the light of day, they couldn't find anything to impeach President Trump on, so now they're going behind closed doors and they're just believing that the American public is not smart enough to realize what they're doing. That they can just leak out what they want to and influence this next election cycle.

Never forget, this is not about a Ukrainian phone call, this is not about anything else, this is about the 2016 election that was failure and the 2020 election that is almost a year away.

BARTIROMO: Wow. So, can you do anything, being in the minority? Can Lindsey Graham, as the Chairman of the -- of the Senate Judiciary, with subpoena power, can he do anything? What -- what can you do to push back on this?

COLLINS: Well, number one, like I said, I -- I -- it's amazing to me that my Chairman would like to have just very partisan hearings that go nowhere, and simply are for show in the House Judiciary Committee.

But Lindsey Graham is the Chairman of the House over the Senate Judiciary Committee, and he's already said that he will have Mr. Horowitz there. I can't wait to see this report come out to see this.

Now remember, this is not going to be a report like the Mueller Report, it's going to be -- there's a lot of probably classified information, but there's a lot of public information, because we're dealing with a very intelligence community and very secretive issues that we have to the report (ph) on national security. So, I think everybody just needs to be aware, sit back, let the facts come.

BARTIROMO: OK.

COLLINS: Unlike the Democrats, who want to change the facts, let the facts come to us.

BARTIROMO: And by the way, you're not getting anything done in the meantime, right? Anything else done?

COLLINS: No.

BARTIROMO: I mean, we've talked about a prescription drug plan, we've talked about gun legislation, we've talked about, obviously, USMCA. Is that ever going to come to the floor do you think?

COLLINS: No. And here's the interesting part about it, think about this Maria, the president himself has reached out on transportation. The president himself has reached out on prescription drugs.

The president himself has reached out on trade. The president himself did criminal justice reform last year, a bill that I helped write. There are the kinds of things this president who's reached out and every time he reaches a hand out, the Democrats now in majority, bit it.

It's amazing he keeps wanting to work with these folks because they have no desire to work with him because they know that these things of success is for the American people and they're no -- they're not wanting to be a part of that.

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