Bannon on Trump signing USMCA, announcing Middle East peace deal amid Senate impeachment trial
Former White House chief strategist Steve Banno joins ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’
This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," February 2, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Good Sunday morning, everybody.
An historic week ahead for President Trump, as football fans everywhere count down to one of the biggest events in television.
Good Sunday morning, everybody. I'm Maria Bartiromo.
Joining us straight ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures" right here, coming up, a major turn of events for the president's impeachment trial, the Senate voting for no witnesses. It is widely expected the president will be acquitted this upcoming Wednesday.
But, first, he will give his state of union address this Tuesday night to the nation.
Coming up, Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, will walk us through the next steps on the impeachment trial. The senator is coming up.
Plus, GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy on what happens next in the House and how he's been smashing fund-raising records. The congressman will break news.
Also ahead, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is here, assessing the Democratic field, as well as the impact of China's coronavirus, as we learn of yet another case in the United States.
Also here, big money and the big game.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in an exclusive interview this morning to tell us why billions of dollars are flowing into Super Bowl LIV live here in Miami.
All that and a lot more right here right now, as we look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures."
All of that coming up.
But, first, closing arguments are scheduled for tomorrow in what will be the final phase of the Senate impeachment trial.
Then, this upcoming Wednesday, a final up-or-down vote that is expected to acquit the president on both articles of impeachment.
We bring in right now Republican Senator from South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. He's chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He also sits on the Appropriations, Foreign Relations, and Budget committees.
Senator, it's good to see you this morning. Thanks very for joining us.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Thank you. Thank you very much.
BARTIROMO: So, lay out the next couple of days.
GRAHAM: OK.
BARTIROMO: Why will the vote to acquit the president be on Wednesday? Why not tomorrow?
GRAHAM: Well, Democrats have the ability to drag out the trial. There was an agreement reached to do it Wednesday at 4:00, allow some Democratic candidates to go to Iowa. I think that had a lot to do with it.
But we're going to turn the page on impeachment at 4:00 Wednesday. All Republicans will vote not guilty. I think we will pick up a handful of Democrats. I'm glad this trial is coming to end. It's the closest I ever want to be to being in purgatory. So it's been painful.
It's going to end. And we're going to turn the page and deal with the issues important to the American people. And the day of reckoning is coming for congressional and Senate oversight of Joe Biden and the FISA warrant process.
BARTIROMO: All right, I want to talk about Joe Biden and the FISA process, because you're in a position to really get these people down to speak.
GRAHAM: Right.
BARTIROMO: But, first, let's talk a moment on impeachment.
This goes all the way back to when the president was first elected. And then, in -- about a year ago, back in January of 2018...
GRAHAM: Yes.
BARTIROMO: ... Congresswoman Tlaib, what she said. Let's take a look at what she said more than a year ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-MI): When your son looks at you and says, momma, look, you won, bullies don't win. And I said, baby, they don't, because we're going to go in there. We're going to impeach the (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
BARTIROMO: Senator, they have wanted to impeach this president now for three years.
GRAHAM: Yes.
BARTIROMO: We heard it from Congresswoman Tlaib.
This is not going to end, is it?
GRAHAM: It will only end when the American people reelect Donald Trump in November and fire Nancy Pelosi and Tlaib for being in charge of the House.
If you want to exonerate the president, American people, and you want to deter future impeachments like this, make sure President Trump gets reelected. And let's fire Nancy Pelosi.
And what happened to the Nancy Pelosi that was thoughtful, prayerful, said impeachment could only be done bipartisan? Tlaib and these people took over the Democratic Party. And Chuck Schumer is having AOC breathing down his neck in terms of a Democratic primary.
Chuck Schumer is scared to death to lose his job to AOC. And that's why this debacle continued in the Senate.
BARTIROMO: And Schumer this morning signaling that the Democrats will not accept an acquittal as legitimate, Nancy Pelosi hinting that she's going to call Bolton in the House, John Bolton.
What's the Dems' next move? And how are you going to get anything done, Senator, if you have actually got the other side constantly pushing to find out dirt on Donald Trump?
GRAHAM: Well, the president's been successful, in spite of all of this.
I hope we could turn the page as a nation and focus on issues important. But, as Nancy Pelosi calls Bolton, here's what I would say. They're impeaching the president for a suspension of aid that was eventually received, trying to leverage an investigation that never happened.
This is ridiculous. Mueller broke their heart. They won't let it go. They hate this man. Pelosi is no longer speaker of the House, just in name only. I don't know if they will ever let it go.
But here's what I'm going to do. As they talk to Bolton. I'm going to bring in State Department officials and ask them, why didn't you do something about the obvious conflict of interests Joe Biden had?
Joe Biden's effort to combat corruption in the Ukraine became a joke. When Joe Biden got before the Ukrainian Parliament talking about sweetheart deals in reforming the energy sector, I can only imagine how they were laughing under their breath.
What about your son, Vice President Biden, sitting on the most corrupt board in Ukraine, Burisma, receiving $3 million?
I can only imagine if a Republican had done what Biden had done. But we're going to get to the bottom of this. And I can prove beyond any doubt that Joe Biden's effort in the Ukraine to root out corruption was undercut, because he let his son sit on the board of the most corrupt company in the Ukraine, and we're not going to give him a pass on that.
BARTIROMO: So how -- you're not going to give him a pass. How are you going to get to the bottom of it? Should we expect your committee to call to testify Hunter Biden, the whistle-blower, Adam Schiff, all of those names you have been talking about?
GRAHAM: Right.
BARTIROMO: Is this going to happen this upcoming week then?
GRAHAM: Right.
It's going to happen in the coming -- coming weeks. Jim Risch is the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.
Jim, if you're watching the show -- I hope you are -- we need to call the chief of staff to John Kerry who was told about the conflict of interests with Hunter Biden being on Burisma's board early on. Heinz, the stepson of John Kerry, was a business partner of Hunter Biden and Devon Archer.
And he told the State Department: I'm not part of this deal. I don't think it's right. George Kent told the State Department it would be a conflict for Hunter Biden to be on Burisma's board. Let's start there.
Let's call these people in. Eventually, we will get to Hunter Biden. And I want to know why the Obama administration did nothing about this obvious conflict of interest.
Joe Biden should have given up the Ukrainian portfolio, or Hunter Biden should be taken off the board, because they ruined America's ability to effectively deal with corruption in the Ukraine by having Hunter Biden on the board of Burisma. That's just a fact.
And we're going to get to the bottom of it.
BARTIROMO: I mean, you even have John Kerry's stepson writing a note to John Kerry's aide saying...
GRAHAM: Yes.
BARTIROMO: ... I don't like what's going -- we have this -- we have this e-mail here that we're going to show.
(LAUGHTER)
BARTIROMO: And he even said, I don't want to be anywhere near this Burisma situation. We are not investing here, as Hunter Biden was.
GRAHAM: Well, those three people on that e-mail are the first witnesses. Did the chief of staff, once notified, did he go to John Kerry and say, hey, Joe Biden's got a problem?
Can you imagine what would be happening today if this were a Republican vice president whose son received $3 million from the most corrupt gas company in the Ukraine, tied to Russia? It would be front-page news all over the world.
We're not going to let it go. Jim Risch, you need to start it. When it comes to FISA, I'm going to co Rosenstein, Sally Yates, McCabe and Comey to find out how a warrant was issued against Carter Page on four different occasions without an adequate foundation and find out how -- how the Department of Justice and the FBI became so out of balance when it came to Trump.
BARTIROMO: Well, what about Adam Schiff, Senator?
I mean, Adam Schiff, we know, has been lying or fabricating things...
GRAHAM: Intel Committee.
BARTIROMO: ... for at least three years.
He told us collusion was in plain sight...
GRAHAM: Right.
BARTIROMO: ... between President Trump and the Russians.
GRAHAM: Right.
BARTIROMO: He told us he didn't know who the whistle-blower was. He read a parody that he called it, which wasn't even the contents of the phone call between the president and the Ukraine leader.
I mean, he's saying all of this stuff, and he's not under oath. Will you put him under oath?
GRAHAM: The House Intel Committee -- excuse me -- the Senate Intel Committee under Richard Burr has told us that we will call the whistle- blower.
Why is it important? I want to find out how all this crap started. If the whistle-blower is a former employee, associate of Joe Biden, I think that would be important. If the whistle-blower was working with people on Schiff's staff that wanted to take Trump down a year-and-a-half ago, I think that would be important.
If the Schiff staff people helped write the complaint, that would be important. We're going to get to the bottom of all of this to make sure this never happens again. Intel, Senate Intel, will deal with the whistle- blower. Foreign Relations Committee will deal with Joe Biden's conflict of interest. The Judiciary Committee will deal with all things FISA.
And let me tell Republicans out there, you should expect us to do this. If we don't do it, we're letting you down. And I guaran-damn-tee you, if it were Democrat -- if the shoe were on the other foot, Democrats would be eating us alive, if the Republicans had done any of these things.
BARTIROMO: Well, that's right.
I can tell you, for sure, you will be letting down my viewers. They want accountability. For three years, this country has been in hysterics over collusion that never existed...
GRAHAM: And we're not going to do it. We're not going to let...
BARTIROMO: ... and now this Ukraine situation.
We will be watching, Senator.
GRAHAM: Thank you. We're not going to let you down.
BARTIROMO: Thank you so much. Good to see you, sir.
Coming up, I will talk with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. He is here live with me.
His expectations for the conclusion of the impeachment trial, whether he thinks Speaker Nancy Pelosi could still call John Bolton to testify in the House. When will it end?
We are looking ahead on a special "Sunday Morning Futures" this morning live from Super Bowl LIV here in Miami.
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
We are in the final stages of President Trump's impeachment trial. We are expecting the president to be acquitted this Wednesday.
Now joining me to talk more about that is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
And, Congressman, it's always a pleasure to see you.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Thanks for having me.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
So, tell us what this means. Take us back to what just took place and where this is headed, final steps now.
MCCARTHY: Well, the Senate just had their vote on witnesses.
That's pretty much going to be the end of this. The president's going to be acquitted for life. Nancy Pelosi needs to know that.
But what it -- really is happening right now, you're going to see a real change in the Democratic Party. There are two internal civil wars going on. There's many Democrats in the House that have told me they're very upset with the speaker and with Adam Schiff, because how the speaker handled this.
She jumped too soon. She didn't -- she wasn't fair in the process. And she changed the message every single week.
Now, with Adam Schiff, they're very frustrated, because they watched that there was all -- that he was lied to, to actually take it from Judiciary. He said he had a whistle-blower. He didn't even tell the Democratic members that he had met with that whistle-blower before.
It was the fruit of the poisonous tree from the very beginning. He started it. He failed from the very beginning, based upon his own lies. And they see it. So now it's an internal civil war. The members are going to lose their seat, possibly lose the majority over this.
And then you're watching what's happening in the Democratic Party, the other civil war. They are so openly going against Bernie, with Pelosi first holding the papers, so here we are at the Iowa -- going to be the Iowa caucus. I will be there tomorrow.
Bernie has not been able to campaign. Biden has not been able to put it away. So now they're even changing the rules to let other people on stage to run against Bernie.
You watch what Pelosi said yesterday, warning people not to vote for Bernie. They did it to him four years ago. They're going to try to do it to him again.
BARTIROMO: Yes, you make a really good point.
Actually, we're going to be speaking with Steve Bannon coming up, former chief strategist for the White House. And he says Bloomberg is somebody to watch with all of that money.
They are changing the rules, so that maybe Michael Bloomberg can be on that debate stage.
But Hillary Clinton has trashed Bernie Sanders over and over again. She just said last week, nobody likes him. He's hard to work with.
Why are they colluding against Bernie Sanders?
MCCARTHY: For the same reason they did it last time.
Remember, four years ago, the head of the Democratic Party had to resign, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the night before the convention, because the e- mails came forward about them cheating.
Now you're finding they didn't change those rules when Tom Steyer got in. Tom Steyer had to go spend millions of dollars to get local people to give him money. But they're doing that for Bloomberg.
And what they're planning on, because Biden has done so poorly, after Super Tuesday, they think Bernie could be out of money, and Bloomberg could buy an election. He paid them 200 -- more than $110 million in the last election to buy the House. They're trying to do it again.
But I don't think the people who are supporting Bernie will allow them to do this to him another time.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
MCCARTHY: They first held up the papers, which -- that's a lot of people in the House are very upset with that on the Democrats, with Nancy Pelosi, said they had rush this through before, right after Christmas.
And then now she held the papers to give an advantage to Biden? And now it hasn't worked.
BARTIROMO: When you were in the House doing the impeachment initially, you had 18 witnesses. You didn't see all 18 transcripts.
MCCARTHY: No.
BARTIROMO: Congressman John Ratcliffe was with us couple of weeks ago. Here's what he said. Listen to this, I have got to get your reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN RATCLIFFE (R-TX): The House managers kept putting up charts talking about the 17 witnesses, but there were 18. The 18th was the inspector general of the intelligence community, Michael Atkinson.
He was the second witness interviewed on October 4. I was there. It's the one transcript out of 18 that hasn't been released. It's a 179-page transcript. And you can bet that, if that transcript was helpful to Adam Schiff and the Democrats and harmful to President Trump, everyone would have seen it by now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: You haven't seen it?
MCCARTHY: No.
John Ratcliffe is 100 percent right. Out of all of them, why isn't that one released? Because it dealt with the whistle-blower. Would we have found out in there that Adam Schiff met with the whistle-blower beforehand? Would we have found out that he was a fact witness and shouldn't be in charge?
Remember, this all started with the inspector general and the whistle- blower and Adam Schiff saying that the administration wouldn't let the whistle-blower to come forward.
It was Adam Schiff showing that he would be a con artist and do whatever he can to take control of impeachment and lie, whatever he needed to do.
But I think, if that ever came forward -- and it could come forward. All Adam Schiff would have to do is call the Intel Committee in, vote, and release that paperwork. But he never would. And he didn't -- he didn't leak it to The New York Times too, so that's a good sign that you knew it was supportive of the president.
BARTIROMO: Wow. He didn't leak that one. Other things were leaked. We know that.
OK, real quick, what is the reception you're getting from people? You have had an incredible record-smashing fund-raising period here. Is that why you think donors are throwing money at you and the Republicans?
MCCARTHY: Look, they're throwing them at the -- based upon the direction of this country going forward.
What have these Democrats done? Just nothing but impeachment. They want a majority party that's going to put America first, not blame America first. And what you're finding -- I'm down here. Yes, there is a Super Bowl going on. But there's two congressional seats that we lost down here that would give us the majority back.
They're seeing that we have the best recruiting we have had ever. The record for the most women ever running was 143 Republicans. We're over 195, 175 veterans. We have got an ability. You look at Wesley Hunt down in Houston. We're going to take back the majority.
And that's why you're seeing the support that we're getting.
BARTIROMO: So, that means you're going to be the next speaker.
MCCARTHY: Very well true.
And we're going to have somebody that will work with this president to put this country first, instead of just blame this president and try to investigate everyone.
BARTIROMO: Congressman, thank you.
MCCARTHY: Thank you.
BARTIROMO: We will see you soon, Congressman Kevin McCarthy.
Just ahead, my exclusive interview with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell ahead of Super Bowl LIV.
His thoughts on sports betting, player safety and all the money going into the Super Bowl and around the Super Bowl this weekend.
Back in a moment with that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
This season marks the 100th anniversary of the NFL, with several major decisions to be made, among them, the collective bargaining agreement with the players, as well as the renewals of contracts with the media partners.
In an exclusive interview, I sat down with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss that, as well as all of the big money surrounding this year's game.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROGER GOODELL, NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE COMMISSIONER: You know, it becomes bigger and bigger every year.
And it's -- it becomes more complicated because of that. But that's also the fun of it, because more people share in it, and more people have an opportunity to be a part of the Super Bowl, whether you're here in Miami or whether you're home with a Super Bowl party.
And that's what we love. We love engaging our fans.
BARTIROMO: But this year in particular, I mean, Miami, big city. You have got a big city team. You have got the 100-year anniversary of the NFL.
GOODELL: Right.
BARTIROMO: It's an election year. I think the president has an incredible ad, $11 million. Michael Bloomberg has ads, $5.5 million per 30 seconds.
Characterize that. This is a different year than -- than usual, no?
GOODELL: Well, it is.
We're proud of our 100-year anniversary. It's been a wonderful celebration for us. So that's great.
But the event is more than a football game now. It's something really special that people look forward to playing around. And it's become essentially its own holiday.
BARTIROMO: Let's talk about the NFL, a multibillion-dollar enterprise, the highest-valued intellectual property in the world.
And you have got the current deals with your broadcast and digital partners expiring or coming up after the 2022 season. What are you thinking about? How do you think about that in terms of how distribution might change?
GOODELL: We love to be available on the broadest medium. That's why our network partners are important to us.
But we have supplemented that by bringing in other opportunities to reach fans that may not be watching on network television. They may not be watching a full game.
They may be watching highlights. So, social, over the top, digital transmission of our broadcasts are really important to us. And so we make our games available on those all those platforms.
We make it easy for people to engage, because we want the broadest number of people to watch and to engage and to share in that.
BARTIROMO: So, how have the current partners been in terms of distribution?
I mean, obviously, the broadcast gives you that tremendous reach.
GOODELL: Right.
BARTIROMO: You have got the pomp and circumstance, the pregame and the halftime show, after-show, and all the promotion that goes with it.
But you have seen a difference with your partnership with Verizon, for example. Tell me how else that evolves.
GOODELL: Verizon obviously is developing the mobile network. They're very integral to what we're doing in our stadiums by converting our stadiums to 5G, so consumers in the stadium can download anything they want and transmit anything they want back out.
And that makes the experience better in the stadium.
BARTIROMO: Have you started opening these discussions?
GOODELL: On the media contracts?
We always are in contact with our media partners. We work on "Thursday Night Football" that we do with FOX. And we have brought in Amazon to do over the top.
And we have it on our NFL Network. So we call it our Tri-Cast. So, people can enjoy the game on whatever platform they want.
BARTIROMO: Do you want to change some of the packages then? You mentioned Thursday night. People are wondering about the Sunday Ticket, the commitment on AT&T. Have you started those discussions?
GOODELL: As I said, our discussions are always ongoing.
I wouldn't say we're in formal negotiations, but we always have discussions. But we are very open to changing packages. We're very open to changing partners. We're very open to do the best thing we can for our fans and for the league overall for the long term.
BARTIROMO: Well, I know we're going to be rocking on FOX all day.
(LAUGHTER)
GOODELL: Yes, you will, yes, all day.
BARTIROMO: Yes, and all weekend, by the way.
How are your talks going with the players? They understand this, too, by the way, right?
GOODELL: Oh, sure.
BARTIROMO: I mean, the collective bargaining agreement that you're -- you have said that you have made a lot of progress and that you have -- you have addressed some difficult issues, incredibly productive dialogue.
What was most difficult? And I know you can't say much about this.
GOODELL: One of the, I think, challenges in any kind of collective bargaining system and negotiation, but it's also the opportunity, because when people really put their focus on, OK, here are the challenges, now let's work to try to find solutions.
Our players have been extraordinary in looking at that and coming up with solutions and saying, what about if we tried this? But it actually leads to really terrific solutions when two parties can come together and say, here's a great outcome.
BARTIROMO: What is your timing on that? When do you think you will be done with this?
GOODELL: I don't know. You know, when we're finished. And...
BARTIROMO: You're not in a rush?
GOODELL: Well, I think there's a lot of benefits to being in a rush in some ways, but I think it's better to do it right.
BARTIROMO: I mean, a year ago, we were talking about protests, the kneeling controversy, concussions. Now we're talking about ratings being up. We're talking about great strides, rule changes, equipment upgrades.
What are you going to do in order to make the game safer and continue to make the game safer?
GOODELL: Well, first off, I think the quality of the game is where it always starts.
But you point out there are things that we have been working on for years that I think bear fruit, which are health and safety. We all want to make sure the game is as safe as possible for our players.
So, what do we do to do that? What do we -- how do we train them? How do we take techniques out of the game? How do we take drills out of the game?
BARTIROMO: New helmets.
GOODELL: And new helmets. So, we're improving on the equipment. We have six new helmets being introduced this year.
All of that will raise, I think, the health and safety of our players.
BARTIROMO: And I know you have talked a lot about the integrity of the game over the years, but we're going to see over $100 million legally wagered on the Super Bowl, at least, right, this weekend.
Las Vegas also getting an NFL team next season, we have got to remember that, the Raiders.
How do you look at sports betting?
GOODELL: Well, I don't think you can ever take your eye off the integrity of the game. And so that's number one for us, two and three.
But I also believe that it's an opportunity for us to engage our fans on different platforms. You mentioned the legal market. The illegal market is still billions of dollars more than that.
And so we're all still going through a transition here. But what we want to do is focus on the consumer experience and making sure our consumers are protected when they do engage in any kind of gaming activity on the NFL.
And, second, we want to make sure that our own I.P., our own official data is protected in the context of gambling.
BARTIROMO: Are you surprised about e-sports, surprised at all of the money going into gambling around this game?
GOODELL: Well, those are probably two different issues, a little bit, in the e-sports and gambling.
But, no, I'm not surprised that the money is going into gambling, because it's been going in for many years on an illegal basis.
Now there's an opportunity to do it legally. States are having to approve that on a state-by-state basis. And we're still probably 12 or 13 states, and many of them haven't really even been able to implement it the way they want to.
BARTIROMO: Final question.
What about XFL? Are they a threat? Are they a competitive situation? Or is it a positive in terms of getting more fans in under the umbrella?
GOODELL: I think, personally, I look at this positively, because people are investing in football.
And they're investing a significant amount of capital to create new football leagues. That just shows you the popularity of our game.
In fact, what I usually hear starting next week is, I'm going to miss football for the next six months. What am I going to do?
And so they're going to have an opportunity to see the XFL starting next week. And people are investing in football. And I think that only creates greater opportunities and, frankly, more fans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARTIROMO: Be sure to catch more of my exclusive one-on-one interview with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell tomorrow morning on FOX Business, "Mornings With Maria," 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern on FOX Business tomorrow.
We continue with part two of that interview, where he tells me today is a billion dollars, "easy" -- quote, unquote -- in revenue for the NFL around the Super Bowl.
Up next, my exclusive interview with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon here on set with me.
His take on the impeachment trial, the president's election, and a lot more, as we look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures -- next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
We are coming to you live from Miami, of course, the site of Super Bowl LIV, the Chiefs and the 49ers going to kick it off tonight at 6:30 p.m. on FOX.
Meanwhile, the impeachment trial's final vote expected this coming Wednesday, and that guarantees President Trump will deliver his State of the Union address the night before the expected acquittal.
He will deliver the State of the Union Tuesday night.
Joining me right now is former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.
And, Steve, it is always a pleasure to see you. Thank you for being here.
I want to get to the State of the Union and the impeachment trial in a moment.
First, you just heard Senator Lindsey Graham. Your reaction.
STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: Donald Trump doesn't punt. And, particularly, he doesn't punt on first down.
I mean, this is just not acceptable. We just had the trial of the century, in which he is going to be acquitted. He's already been acquitted, but the formality will take place this week.
But he's focused on the crime of the century. The crime of the century is this kind of soft coup that is trying to blunt his presidency and remove him from office.
And what President Trump has said from the beginning, this is not about him. This is about the office of the presidency. Trump -- Trump has been adamant this can never happen again to any president, whether it's a progressive Democrat or another populist nationalist. You cannot have this happen.
And what -- I think what Senator Graham -- we're not interested right now in hearing from the chief of staff of John Kerry. President -- Lindsey Graham -- and I have tremendous respect for him -- he guaranteed at the Senate Judiciary Committee, we need to have the whistle-blower. We need to have the number two whistle-blower.
We need to have Adam Schiff as a fact witness. We need Hunter and Joe Biden. I think we need Brennan. We need all of them.
And here's the other thing we ought to do. President Trump ought to declassify all these reports. He ought to go back to Rosenstein's -- the 40 subpoenas that the House, under Devin Nunes, forwarded to Rosenstein, he ought to get all those. He ought to get all of those subpoenas.
And all those people ought to be called to witness. This has to -- we need an apparatus that's official to go about this to protect the office of the presidency going forward.
BARTIROMO: Well, this is why I have been so adamant about this for three years.
It wasn't about President Trump. It was about fairness. It was about being a patriot, having the top leadership of the FBI and the CIA put their finger on the scale and try to take down candidate Trump and then President Trump.
That's why my audience wants accountability.
BANNON: This happened in the '50s and '60s. This is why we had the Church Commission that looked into activities of the FBI and the CIA during the '50s and '60s.
This is why you had this whole new structure come up. We need to -- this needs to be put on trial. It needs to be put on trial for the American people. President Trump is right. It is the crime of the century. And we can't cover it up. And we don't need to go to the House Foreign -- it's not a foreign affairs issue.
It should be Senate Judiciary. And we have got to get Senate Judiciary Committee, because here's the reason. Nancy Pelosi and these people are not going to stop. The formal acquittal vote on Wednesday is just the curtain coming down on one act.
They're going to continue on. They're going to -- they are going to try to subpoena John Bolton in the House. They want to get his notes.
And my point is, I don't...
BARTIROMO: So, you don't think this is going to end anytime soon?
BANNON: It's not going to end, because, listen, this ties back to what's happening in Iowa.
There's no heat on any of those candidates. There's no personalities out there that can beat the president. There's no -- the policies are so radical. So they can't run on personalities. They don't have the policies. They must destroy Trump.
Nancy Pelosi from day one understands, to get back the White House, they must destroy Trump. And the way they're going to use it is to use these fake hearings.
This is not going to stop. They're going to subpoena more people. They're going to leak more information. And this is why I don't mind getting John Bolton as a witness.
Let's cross-examine him. Let's get in his notes and cross-examine him about that. Let's -- let's get -- I don't mind Mick Mulvaney or the OMB people. All the e-mails, let's get it up there in full daylight.
President Trump's best days on this is the first Saturday and the Monday when he came up. Jesse Watters, who watches this better than anybody, did an eight-minute open on his show last Saturday night. And he says: I do this for a living. I learned so much.
When you had Sekulow.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
BANNON: And you had Pam Bondi, and you had Cipollone, and Raskin, and all those people. And Atticus -- and Atticus -- Philbin came up. Those -- laid out President Trump's case so perfectly.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
BANNON: People said, hey, I understand it now.
This is what we need to do. And Lindsey Graham has committed, and I think he promised the American people he was going to do this.
BARTIROMO: Well, look, I mean, the impeachment trial had the legal team make the case for the president.
But you wanted to see more. I mean, we have been hearing about collusion and all of these so-called bad things that the president did now for three years. So, the critics of the president keep on going and going and talking about it over and over again.
BANNON: In the format that they agreed to for the trial, I think the lawyers did a fantastic job. And that's why you could see the air come out of the -- out of the opposition party media as soon as it happened.
I would have rather they had gone for all 24 hours, wash, rinse, repeat, wash, rinse, like the Democrats, take all the time you can.
When you lay it out and connect the dots and the interactions of these, you start to see the president's totally innocent. That's, I thought, quite powerful.
But, in that, it just -- it dealt with a very narrow part of this case. That's why I'm saying, Trump's right. It is the crime of the century. There was attempted coup here.
That's what has to come out. And you shouldn't have to depend upon conservative media to do that, the media. Let's use the official apparatus of what the framers set up. Let's have the Senate Judiciary Committee.
(CROSSTALK)
BANNON: And let's get -- we need to bring the whistle-blower. We need this bring Adam Schiff as a fact witness. We need the second whistle-blower.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
BANNON: We need the entire apparatus. We need their phone records, their text messages.
And we need to have them up there addressing the American people.
BARTIROMO: For some reason, the critics of the president take all the oxygen out of the room, and they start focusing on what they want to focus on.
You said to me a couple of weeks ago on this program, the president shouldn't give the State of the Union if this is still going on.
Let's take a short break. I want to ask you about that.
We are with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. And we have got more when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BARTIROMO: We're live coming to you from Miami Beach, the site of Super Bowl LIV.
And I'm back here with former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon. And we are talking about a lot to come.
You have got Iowa in the next couple of days. The president's going to do his State of the Union on Tuesday night.
Steve, you said to me, the president shouldn't give the State of the Union if he's not acquitted yet. Well, he's getting acquitted Wednesday. Are you OK with this?
BANNON: I'm not OK with this.
Let's -- let's take this past week, the split-screen. The president -- you have -- you have the president with Jared, has the -- has the Israel -- the new Israel peace plan, which radically changed...
BARTIROMO: Middle East plan, yes.
BANNON: Middle East, and totally changes the paradigm -- it's a paradigm shift to how really to think about and get buy-in.
Ivanka comes in with the new $40 million for human trafficking that changes that whole scourge. Kellyanne has got the great announcement on opioids. Peter Navarro does the -- does the counterfeiting.
The president signs USMCA, which makes us a geostrategic manufacturing alternative to China. And Brexit gets done. Brexit would have never gotten done without Donald Trump's victory. He had the back of Theresa May's government, Boris Johnson's government, Nigel Farage.
This week is a historic week on action. Split-screen, you have got these Democrats on a phony, forced constitutional crisis, talk, talk, talk all week.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
BANNON: And so what the president and what they -- they have boxed him into now is that they're going to have, what, 15 hours of senators talking before the final vote.
And we're going to have the State of the Union. And The New York Times has already gone to print with their headline: Under cloud of uncertainty, president addresses the nation.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
BANNON: No, let's have all the senators talk. Let's do everything they want to do. They could have worked Saturday, if they wanted to.
Let's have it all, and the president of the United States gets the last word. He addresses the nation, talks about all the actions he's taken, not the talk, and talks about where he's driving the country.
It's not -- it's unacceptable that they're going to have a following day after his State of the Union. And you know what they're going to do?
BARTIROMO: Yes.
BANNON: They're going to hold their heavy hitters until that day, and they're going to sit there and rip. They're going to have a counternarrative to everything the president said.
If I was the president, I would say, hey, look, let's do it the following Tuesday. Let's do it on the night of New Hampshire.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
BANNON: I will address the nation and see how they like that.
BARTIROMO: But the average guy and gal out there knows. They're feeling what this president has put into place.
I was talking to one of the drivers the other day. He said to me: My wife and I were just able to buy a house. We are so happy.
I mean, the average person out there understands how these policies are impacting them.
Take that to Iowa. Let's talk Iowa for a second. The DNC now changing the rules so that Michael Bloomberg could be on the debate stage. Bernie is leading in Iowa. What's your take?
BANNON: Well, let's talk about what happened over the last 48 hours.
President Trump always says, it's a rigged game. The most important thing that comes out in the last week of Iowa is The Des Moines Register poll. They didn't publish. And the reason that it didn't publish is that it had some technical problem.
I guarantee you, when they get to the bottom of this, and that comes out in a couple days after the caucuses, Bernie would have been up a couple of points, OK? They're -- they're trying to -- they're trying to stiff Bernie, because the centrists there are in a panic mode.
And so the whole thing is rigged. And the Democrats, and particularly the Bernie Sanders supporters, should understand, you're playing in a rigged game.
Michael Bloomberg, who really now you're seeing an oligarch come in here, an oligarch that has committed $2 billion not to make himself president, $2 billion just to defeat Donald Trump.
And here's the thing.
BARTIROMO: You don't think he wants to be president?
BANNON: I think he -- look, he knows he's not going to beat Donald Trump. He knows he's not going to win the nomination.
BARTIROMO: You said he wants to be something else, not...
(CROSSTALK)
BANNON: He's -- he's basically doing a leveraged buyout of the Democratic Party, is what he's doing.
He's an LBO of the Democratic Party to control the Democratic Party to select who their candidate is going to be and use his capital, OK, and organization and technology to defeat Trump.
And that's why this is very dangerous. Now you are seeing an oligarch actually step over, has no chance at all to actually defeat Trump as a presidential candidate, do something that's much more dangerous to this republic.
That's why it's got to be followed. And it's serious. Remember, he can apply and capital like nobody else. He's worth 70 -- over $70 billion now.
BARTIROMO: Wow.
BANNON: So, he can put that -- he can put this to work, but...
BARTIROMO: Money matters.
BANNON: Here's -- here's the point about the actions.
There's no personality out there that can beat Trump, and there's no set of policies. The policies are so radical. Trump's policies have blue-collar people outperforming white-collar finally as far as wage growth goes.
This is a striver's economy built by Donald Trump with his tax cuts and particularly his deregulation. He's now got the nation hitting on all cylinders in a troubled world economy, OK?
And this is what -- this is why Bloomberg, Nancy -- remember, he wouldn't never have been impeached if Bloomberg hadn't given Nancy Pelosi $100 million for her candidates.
BARTIROMO: Right.
BANNON: He won 21 of those 20.
He's taking -- he's taking $100 million of advertising during the impeachment just to hammer Trump.
BARTIROMO: So, the president tweeted last night: "Mini Mike is now negotiating both to get on the Democratic primary debate stage and to have the right to stand on boxes or a lift during the debates. This is something -- sometimes done, but not fair."
Do you think that is why...
BANNON: I love the way that President Trump can get personal very quickly.
BARTIROMO: Do you think that's why they changed the rules, because he gave $100 million to the DNC last year, and he's pledging up to $2 billion?
BANNON: Absolutely.
BARTIROMO: That's why they changed the rules?
BANNON: He's doing a leveraged buyout of the Democratic Party.
And the centrists, the Wall Street faction, the global corporatists, they understand Joe Biden. Joe Biden's performance in Iowa has been pathetic. And if you watch it closely, only two-thirds of the things are full. The little V.F. halls, they are full.
He's not on point. He can't bring the heat. They understand -- they understand Mayor Pete, a small-town mayor from Indiana, is not going to be president. There's no centrist candidate.
That's why Biden -- that's why Bloomberg money's coming in to get him more stature. Now, he's not going to be the nominee, I don't think. And there's no chance he can beat Trump.
So -- but they...
BARTIROMO: Are we going to see a brokered convention? Where is this going?
Hillary Clinton said...
BANNON: Yes, Hillary Clinton.
BARTIROMO: Hillary Clinton is not done talking about Bernie Sanders.
In a podcast, she says: It's not my experience from 2016 that what -- that he's going to unite the party. Nobody trusts him. You can't work with him.
I mean, he's still -- she's still trashing Bernie Sanders.
BANNON: Bloomberg money's and Clinton -- in a brokered convention, the centrists will look to Clinton to save the -- save the party, as I have said, when they don't have a centrist.
And the specter -- remember, Bernie Sanders is AOC. Bernie Sanders is AOC's third term. It just happens to be the first. Bernie's surge has come since Bernie's been back in Washington on the impeachment trial.
It's AOC in Iowa. She has taken over that one taking over that wing of the Democratic Party, or the socialist party. They're really not Democrats. Remember, she said, in any other country in the world, Joe Biden and I wouldn't be in the same party.
So, she's taken over the socialists. She's become the mini rock star out there as they have gone around. That Bernie surge -- and the Bernie and AOC people should understand something. When they get to the bottom of what happened on this poll, Bernie would have been up.
This was completely the Democratic apparatus and guys like Bloomberg to try to suppress what you're doing as left-wing populists.
BARTIROMO: You have been working a lot on your wildly successful podcast "War Room" on coronavirus. I want to talk to you about the economy, because the president needs a strong economy going into the election.
We will take a break, and then we will talk about that. More with the former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon coming up in a moment.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
We have this FOX News Alert. Police in the U.K. say several people have been stabbed in what they're calling a terrorism-related incident.
It happened in the Streatham neighborhood in the South Side of London. Police say that they shot one man believed to be involved in the stabbings.
We will stay on top of this story. We will bring you more information as we get it.
Meanwhile, I am back here in Miami with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.
A terrorist incident in London, Steve, is what we understand is happening.
Meanwhile, the president trying to secure the country, as we see more incidents around the coronavirus.
Joe Biden attacked the president for what the president is trying to do.
BANNON: The president took really heroic and very smart action on Friday to try to make sure that we're -- and helping the Chinese people, because this is number one.
The Chinese people need assistance here, OK? And the Chinese government needs assistance. The Chinese people are the victims of this.
This is a horrific pandemic that's broken out in Central China. They're trying to quarantine essentially anywhere from 70 to 90 million people. That has never happened in human history before. They need all the assistance they can get.
What President Trump is trying to do, and other nations around the world, is make sure that this pandemic doesn't spread to other countries. And he took heroic and smart action to protect the American people, but also to help the Chinese.
Biden today -- and this shows you how, I think, he's lost a step and is not really on top of things, doesn't understand the complexity here. This is a very complex situation.
He called the president -- fell into hysteria, was xenophobic, nativist.
And he's absolutely dead wrong. What the president of the United States did is what the head of this virus fighter in Hong Kong, Dr. Gabriel Leung, who's the top virus fighter, he recommended these actions on Tuesday and Wednesday.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
BANNON: And the president took them on Friday.
The president also showed his team. He has a very strong team of FEMA, throughout the government. They were up there on stage the other day.
So he's -- they're -- we're attacking this wholeheartedly. He actually became a war president on Friday on the war against this virus.
BARTIROMO: But this is hitting us nonetheless.
You have got company after company shutting down businesses in and around China. Obviously, Wuhan is totally closed down.
Is this going to impact the global economy? Look at this major sell-off we had in the Dow Jones industrial average on Friday, because people are worried that the first quarter, write it off in China. Write off their first quarter.
That's going to hit the U.S., isn't it?
BANNON: Listen, this is the downside of globalization. This is why President Trump's been talking about economic nationalism.
This is why people today -- and Bank of America had this analysis of multinational corporations looking at localism, bringing jobs back to their own home thing.
The -- the downside of globalization, globalization has just-in-time inventory. The issue is, this interlocking distribution chain you have also has certain security risks to it, not just national security.
You have health security. And that's what we're seeing. And so China, right now, the major industrial center of China outside of Southern China is in complete lockdown, and so -- quarantined. They have extended the Golden Week for another week.
But the schools in Hong Kong...
BARTIROMO: But is this going to hit the U.S. economy right before the -- for the election?
BANNON: Here's what I think...
BARTIROMO: What can the president do about the economy here?
BANNON: Here's what I think people ought to start focusing right now, is the third quarter.
In China, if they don't open these factories, if they don't start -- drop these quarantines in the next couple weeks, you're going to have real impact.
BARTIROMO: All right, Steve, it is great to have you, as always.
Thank you so much, Steve Bannon.
That will do it for us on "Sunday Morning Futures."
I will see you tomorrow morning on FOX Business 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
Stay with us.
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