Fox News "The Ingraham Angle" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Steve Scalise

Interview

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INGRAHAM: Weeks ago I said that the worst mistake Pelosi has made was putting Adam Schiff in charge of impeachment. And I think it's really showing now. A brand new poll out today revealing that 52 percent of Americans think Democrats are doing a bad job handling the impeachment inquiry.

Joining me now is Doug Schoen, former Clinton adviser and FOX News contributor, and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise. Congressmen, you all are seeing this unfold on Capitol Hill. Do your Democratic colleagues have any even some tiny signs of buyer's remorse?

REP. STEVE SCALISE, R-LA, HOUSE MINORITY WHIP: I think there is a lot of buyer's remorse, Laura, especially when you look at the fact when a lot of these members of Congress go back home and they fought to get the majority, they're in the majority. And people what have you done with it to help improve my life? And things like lowering the cost of prescription drugs could be law today, except that they are obsessed with impeachment. Our troops aren't getting the tools they need right now, Laura, because Pelosi is obsessed with impeachment. Our border is not secure because Pelosi is obsessed with impeachment.

That's the kind of stuff they are hearing about when they go back home, as they should, because people are looking at this and going wait a minute, the president didn't do anything wrong. In fact, Zelensky himself - there were only two participants in the call, and Zelensky himself said there was no pressure, and he got the money. And so Democrats still move forward because they made this unholy pact with their far left socialist base that wanted to impeach Trump on day one.

INGRAHAM: We're going to get to Hillary Clinton in a second, Congressman, because she is now talking again about getting in. But the latest poll, Doug, on the issue of impeachment that CBS just did, it's another interesting metric. OK, here is the survey, "How much you're you heard or read about Trump's phone call with the president of Ukraine that prompted a whistleblower complaint and the current inquiry?" A lot, 44 percent, some 37 percent, none, 19 percent. So they haven't read much into it, read or heard. I travel a lot. Literally no one talks about the substance of this impeachment. Everyone is talking about football or their talking about their kids or what is going on in school. But I just think it misses the mark. I go back to what Tom Brokaw said. It's not an obvious thing here. It's not connecting with a lot of people.

DOUG SCHOEN, CONTRIBUTOR: The Democrats thought initially they could do it with closed door hearings. When there was an outcry, they've now taken the stop beginning tomorrow of public hearings. This is an attempt to turn those numbers around, to make palatable what is for many people unpalatable. And Congressman Scalise is right. I say this as a Democrat. You win on the issues. They won the midterm elections on climate, on guns, on healthcare. They're not going to win on impeachment. And that's why this is so problematic for the Democratic Party and why so many swing members are privately very nervous.

INGRAHAM: Congressman Scalise, I was at a dinner in Alabama on Friday night.

SCALISE: I know what you were doing earlier that day. We could talk about that another time. Go Tigers.

INGRAHAM: I was at dinner. And sitting not too far from me, I think to my right, was Senator Doug Jones, OK, then you had Joe Manchin. They were sitting together. I didn't want to bother them. But I kept thinking Doug Jones is going to be this Senate fight, probably against Sessions, and he's going to go back and they're going to talk about, oh, we tried to impeach Trump, or we got Trump impeached, in Alabama? So are these red state Democrats, what are they going to tell their people? Even "The New York Times" wrote about this today in a piece saying they are going to have trouble.

SCALISE: Yes, and it's not just the red states. It's all these swing states and swing districts in the swing states where people care about their pocketbooks. They like the fact that President Trump fought to get the economy going again. And they are seeing higher wages right now, and all Democrats are talking about is impeaching the president over some whistleblower that they are hiding from the public, they still don't want this whistleblower to come forward who heard something thirdhand from somebody else about something that didn't even happen. Ultimately, again, this was all about withheld money that ultimately wasn't withheld. Ultimately, you look at what -- the facts are on the president's side, and yet they still keep pressing forward.

INGRAHAM: Doug, real quick, the 2020 field is obviously looking really weak. So we are hearing more and more of this from a familiar voice.

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