Cotton: US businesses 'effectively lobbyists for communist China'

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Cotton: US businesses 'effectively lobbyists for communist China'

American corporations must recognize Beijing as threat to the U.S., Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., tells 'The Story'

This is a rush transcript from "The Story with Martha MacCallum" December 8, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Thank you, Bret. Good to see you
tonight. Good evening, everybody. I'm Martha McCallum in New York and this
is the breaking story tonight. We will talk to Senator Kelly Loeffler in
her first post debate interview as she is center stage in the hottest pair
of elections in the country with the United States senate at stake.

But, first, a huge moment in history today, 10 months of COVID-19 and now
this woman, 90 years old in the U.K. she was a child during World War II.
She stood up today like Rosie the Riveter and did her part. First in line,
we hope this is the beginning of the end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARGARET KEENAN, FIRST TO RECEIVE PFIZER VACCINE: The happiest has
happened. Now that I've done it, hopefully it will help other people come
along. Do, please go first. That's all I can say. If I can do it, well so
can you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: If I can do it, so can you. And here at home today this was the
split screen. On one channel this one we showed the historic 90-minute roll
out of Operation Warp Speed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, 45TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We are just
days away from authorization from the FDA and we are pushing them hard at
which point we will immediately begin mass distribution. We are exceedingly
proud that both Pfizer and Moderna have announced that their vaccines are
approximately 95 percent effective which is a number that nobody expected
to be able to get.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: A lot of information in that 90 minutes on the roll-out. But on
the other channels it was Joe Biden on camera at the same time touting 100
million vaccines in the first 100 days which would, of course, not have
been possible without all the work that has gone into that on Operation
Warp Speed. So, let's bring in the man in charge of that program Dr. Moncef
Slaoui, Chief Scientist of Operation Warp Speed. Doctor Slaoui, great to
have you back on the program. Thank you for being here tonight.

DR. MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF SCIENTIST, OPERATION WARP SPEED: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: So it's great to see this woman in the U.K. get that first shot.
It was a beautiful moment. So when are we going to see that same scene here
in the United States? Can you give me a day?

SLAOUI: Well, first of all, I agree with you, it is a historic moment. We
started immunizations in the U.K. In the U.S. that same vaccine would be
reviewed by the FDA on Thursday. And the FDA may approve that vaccine
either Friday or Saturday. Within 24 hours we will be shipping the vaccine
and within maybe 12 hours from arriving into the immunization sites the
first subjects may be immunized which could happen on Sunday or maybe more
likely on the Monday.

MACCALLUM: Sunday or Monday is very exciting prospect. I think everybody
wants to at least, see the light at the end of the tunnel and start seeing
people walk around who are safely immunized for this. The President said
that Americans will get immunized first with American made product. And he
said if there is any glitches any problems and we have heard of something
for a second round from Pfizer that he would employ the Defense Production
Act. Does that make sense to you?

SLAOUI: Well, first, the Defense Production Act has been used and continues
to be used in many instances as we try to ensure and enable that vaccines
are manufactured here in the U.S. for American people and potentially
beyond. Raw materials, certain pieces of equipment, et cetera. I don't
think we will need that in terms of the further ordering of vaccine doses
from Pfizer. I think we can constructive conversations. And if the company
needs help to produce more vaccine doses, so as to supply the needs of
American people, we may use the DPA Act, the Defense Product Act to help
source the materials they need to produce more vaccine.

MACCALLUM: We have talked about the unprecedented nature of this
coordinated production under Operation Warp Speed which we have never seen
before. I think the shortest time line for any vaccine was about four years
prior to this. But one of the main reasons for that as you have said is
this MRNA technology which essentially is gene sequencing the virus instead
of creating a live virus from scratch.

So there is a piece that was reported recently that said that the sequence
basically helped to create the vaccine or the formula for the vaccine back
in mid January. January 13th was the date that they gave. So some people
will look at that and say why, you know, why has all these people - why did
we lose all these people in the meantime did - was it - did it need to take
as long as it has on the other end of the spectrum, doctor?

SLAOUI: Well, listen, seven months or 10 months is an absolutely
exceptional - exceptionally short time frame to produce this vaccine.
People need to understand that having the sequence is the beginning of the
discovery process that sequence had to be put into the platform technology,
the messenger RNA platform technology. It's a lot of work. It was in the
clinic within two months some were receiving the sequence. And then you
have to go into phase I trial and phase II trials and very large phase III
trials including between 44,000 and 30,000 subjects that need to be
recruited, immunized and then we had to wait until enough cases of disease
happened and then check where did they happen?

Did they happen in the placebo recipient or vaccine recipient? And as that
was ongoing with built and supported the manufacturing of the vaccine and
to do that, you have to say - do what is called scaling it up like
producing a quarter of milk or producing a thousand gallons of milk. It
doesn't take the same number of cows or is it same - exactly the same
principle where we had to scale up the manufacturing of the vaccine so we
could make tens or hundreds of millions of vaccine doses. That took only 10
months from A to Z. It's an exceptional performance. I don't think we can
make it much faster than that. We may be able to in a month here or there,
but definitely nothing significantly different.

MACCALLUM: Congratulations, Dr. Slaoui. It's a big day and you all deserve
a lot of credit in Operation Warp Speed program. Thank you for being here
tonight.

SLAOUI: Thank you for having me.

MACCALLUM: Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler is facing a big run off in
Georgia next month. If she maintains her seat she would give the Republican
the majority in the senate and offer a check on a Biden-Harris
administration for numerous policies. She joins me now. Senator Loeffler,
good to have you here. Thank you very much for joining us tonight.

So one of the issues with the upcoming election is how the vote will be
carried out. And the RNC today filed a lawsuit on a number of fronts with
regard to these voting boxes and having proper surveillance on them. And
also the issue that I think was so pervasive in so many people's hearts and
minds having people be able to in there and watch the vote from both
parties. Can you give us an update on what is changing for these next
elections?

SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-GA): Well, absolutely, Martha. Thank you for having
me on. This is a really important topic. Because of what is at stake on
January 5th. And, look, Georgians need to know that they can trust the
voting process. And we're making sure that every legal vote is counted and
that no illegal votes are counted. We're building a very robust
organization to make sure that leading up to January 5th we are doing
everything we can, whether it's at polling or during the process to make
sure that we are rooting out any issues.

Because we know we had issues. Not just November 3rd, but had issues in our
primary back in June. So we now have 250 investigations open here in our
state. We need to get to the bottom of those before January 5th, because
Chuck Schumer has promised to take Georgia and then change America. And we
have to hold the line right here in Georgia. And Georgians have to trust
the process.

MACCALLUM: The structure that Stacey Abrams had put in play which expanded
the eligibility of a lot of votes, put the voting boxes in a lot of places,
not so much surveillance on some of those places, now this RNC lawsuit, you
know, give people what - what assurance do you have that any of that can be
reversed in such a short time frame, people are already voting in Georgia?

LOEFFLER: Absolutely. And Georgians are frustrated. I'm frustrated. The
president is frustrated. We need to get to the bottom of these
investigations. We're looking at what we can do around those ballot boxes.
We're working to train poll workers? We're going to be there to validate to
verify signatures? We are making sure that we have a very robust
organization because of what is at stake on January 5th. It's the direction
of the country really.

If you think about what the Democrats would do, they will raise taxes, they
will keep us locked down, they will implement the green new deal and have
government takeover of healthcare. And my candidate and my race his
organization, his voting organization which was founded by Stacey Abrams is
under investigation for voter fraud trying to register voters from New
York.

MACCALLUM: They absolutely are. We have talked about that quite a bit here.
Because I think what people need to understand about all of this is that so
much of this ground work was laid before any of these elections started.
And they have vastly changed the way that people vote all across the
country. And then you layer COVID on top of that and you've got just an
entirely new way of voting in the country and we need to determine whether
or not it's right.

This is from Marc Elias who is the DNC Attorney who was at the head of
about 75 cases across the country that helped to change these rules and he
says this. The Republican war on voting continues. The RNC just filed a
lawsuit in Georgia attacking drop boxes and trying to increase poll
watching for the January 5th senate runoff. We will intervene to defend the
right to vote from GOP suppression. What do you say to Marc Elias?

LOEFFLER: Well, I say my opponent Raphael Warnock has partnered with Stacey
Abrams in advancing this voter suppression conspiracies. Look we have had
record turnout in elections here in Georgia, year-in, year-out. What I'm
focused on is making sure that Georgians understand what's at stake on
January 5th. And that's why President Trump came to Georgia Saturday night
to Valdosta to make sure that Georgian knows that they have to get out and
vote early voting starts here on Monday. So we have got to make sure that
people know if we vote we will win. If we don't vote, not only we will
lose, we can lose the country. That's how serious this is.

MACCALLUM: And that could happen even with a small sliver of voters who
listened to Sidney Powell and Linwood and say what we are still frustrated
with what happened in the presidential election we are going to stay home.
How concerned are you about that given how close this is likely to be?

LOEFFLER: Well, it is going to be close, Martha. That's why we need to make
sure that we are doing what we can to build voter confidence. We are doing
that through our campaigns. We have a vast organization, 1,000 employees
40,000 volunteers. We are getting out the word about voting. And then we're
going to turn out the vote and make sure people get to the polls because
that's how we address this challenge. It's not by staying home. That's what
the Democrats want us to do.

They want us to be frustrated. They are trying to frustrate us. We are not
going to let that happen. And from what I see on the ground people are
energized. I have been going around the state. Vice President Pence was
here Friday. President Trump was here Saturday. My debate on Sunday showed
the stark contrast between what's at stake not just for our state but for
the country.

MACCALLUM: So your opponent, Raphael Warnock doubled down on some of what
he said on Sunday night. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA) U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: You have my commitment
that we must demilitarize police and we need to deal with the privatization
of prisons. And so it is something that I will be focused on. A lot of this
is driven by the war on drugs, which is too often been a war on black and
brown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Your reaction to his comments today?

LOEFFLER: Well, you know, you saw it firsthand. My opponent is the most
radically liberal candidate we have seen in this country for senate. He has
called police officers gangsters, thugs and bullies. When I gave him the
chance to apologize he refused to do it. He said we need to open up the
prisons. He said we need to eliminate cash bail. I'm focused on making our
communities safer, more secure so that families can live the American dream
that I have been blessed to live. We need to make sure that we understand
exactly who he is in his own words. He has said that you can't serve god
and the military. He has falsely used the bible to attack our men and women
who are keeping our country safe. That's wrong for Georgia and that's wrong
for America.

MACCALLUM: We will be watching the race and the developments in the coming
weeks really closely. Senator Loeffler, thank you for joining us tonight.
Good to have you here.

LOEFFLER: Thanks for having me, Martha. Thank you.

MACCALLUM: So considering the lack of science which we have talked about a
lot in the recent weeks, that justifies the closing of schools,
restaurants, stores, how do real people in real towns who run their
businesses feel about their politicians' refusal to back down? One of them
will join me next with a message for his Governor Gretchen Whitmer of
Michigan. Also Alex Berenson who has done probably more work than any other
reporter to expose the contradictions of COVID and how it's been handled.
He joins us as well, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: A short time ago a county judge limiting the Los Angeles outdoor
dining ban to three weeks saying that health officials acted arbitrarily
and without a proper risk benefit analysis across the nation ramped up
lockdowns like what is going on in Los Angeles are back in force reversing
reopening measures and upping penalties for those American who failed to
comply with their state's orders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL DE BLASIO (D) NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: We can expect in a matter of days
new restrictions.

GOV. CHARLIE BAKER (R-MA): Commonwealth will remove every community of
Massachusetts back to Phase III step one.

GOV. JAY INSLEE (D-WA): The enforcement mechanisms will be significant. The
one restaurant you mentioned will be facing fines of I think its $9,000 a
day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: $9,000 a day. For a restaurant that defies the lockdown orders,
Columnist, John Tierney writing that this latest wave of lockdown about
"inflicting social pain" writing for all the talk about following science,
the authorities and much of the citizenry can't resist the primal intuition
that a pandemic can be quelled only through public penance. My next guest
is a restaurant owner of Michigan where Governor Gretchen Whitmer has just
announced a 12 day extension to her indoor dining ban. Sam Khashan is the
owner of Sean O'Callaghan pub in Plymouth, Michigan which is now closed.
Sam good to have you with us tonight. Tell us about what you are going
through in Michigan.

SAM KHASHAN, MICHIGAN RESTAURANT OWNER: Thank you for having me. Right now
it December and November 16th and we are supposed to open up tomorrow, but
again it got extended to December 20th. And right now you can do curbside
delivery and carryout but for the most part it's basically a restaurant
shutdown because many other gyms and other businesses are still open, even
though there are restrictions on them.

MACCALLUM: Why do you think they are pinpointing your industry? Is there
any science to back up that your industry is causing more transmission of
COVID than these other businesses?

KHASHAN: I haven't seen any science like that. The only thing I could
really think about is that while you are eating you're taking your mask
off. So if you are at a grocery store or at the gym your mask is on at all
times and it supposed to be, but when you are at a restaurant even if you
are walking in with it, you know, I think the concern possibly is taking it
down and eating. Other than that, I don't know what else the reason would
be. I think there's restriction to that, restrictions at all other
businesses. I think we could have had restrictions but kept us open that
probably could have worked well or prevented any sort of danger to our
guests and to our staff and family.
 
MACCALLUM: Like what would you recommend?

KHASHAN: I guess first and foremost I would say a curfew. I think the
biggest problem would be maybe the late night crowd, the younger kids as
people are drinking after 9 o'clock, people start - tend to get close and
crowd around the bar. Maybe take their mask off. So I think a curfew of 9
o'clock probably would have prevented a lot of that because you don't see
that happening at lunch or dinner. So that would be one thing. I think
another thing that could happen is that they actually close the bar seating
up so, usually when you are at the bar you are sitting next to other group
and couples, kind of elbow to elbow. So if they remove those seats and you
couldn't sit at the bar, as table service only. I think that would work.
And I haven't heard that.

MACCALLUM: Sounds like you have pretty good suggestions because you
understand your business very well. And it's too bad that they didn't talk
to more restaurant owners about and you are obviously very willing to
compromise in a lot of ways. This is Governor Gretchen Whitmer talking
about your plight, watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): To our small business owners I want you to
know that I understand the incredible sacrifices that you have made this
year in order for us to help save people's lives. And I appreciate you. But
there is more work we need to do to protect one another.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Is that enough for you and how much longer can you stay closed
and have your business survive, Sam?

KHASHAN: Well, I understand how difficult not only her decision is but all
health department officials, all leaders I mean, around the world. So I am
not taking that lightly, and I understand the severity of what is going on.
But I think there could be a better compromise or a little bit more
moderate decision with regard to letting the restaurant stay open with some
strict regulations. And kind of have the best of both worlds.

MACCALLUM: How long have you stayed closed? You know, and keep your
restaurant, keep your business?

KHASHAN: Well, right now I don't have exact time frames. Tried to do a
little bit of carryout, it doesn't work that well for us. So, it becomes
December 20th and we open up. You know that would be good, it's just for
some reason it seems unlikely to open up the week before Christmas and New
Year's Eve because technically that the busiest time of the year.

MACCALLUM: Absolutely.

KHASHAN: At this point will be extended into January.

MACCALLUM: Sam, we all want to be in restaurants and bars, all the way
through the holidays. So we hope we're near the end of this thing. Good
luck to you, sir. And thank you so much for speaking with us tonight.

KHASHAN: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: Good to have you here.

MACCALLUM: So joining me now is Alex Berenson former "New York Times"
Reporter and Author of Unreported Truths about COVID-19 and lockdowns.
Alex, you know, you hear Sam talk about running his business and he is more
than willing to make adjustments. But, you make an excellent point that we
have sort of, tried the lockdown thing in the past and now we still find
ourselves where we are, right?

ALEX BERENSON, AUTHOR UNREPORTED TRUTHS ABOUT COVID-19: Well, I hear him
talk and my blood boils. You know, you are asking him to try to figure out
some solutions to a problem that he can't solve. OK? And, you know, masks -
if they do anything, are extremely marginal. OK, so the idea that somehow
because it's a restaurant you are taking your mask off.

MACCALLUM: You know that people are going to hear that Alex and they are
going to freak out. Because the mask, you know it quitted - it is so
entrenched.

BERENSON: I don't care. I know what they should read the booklet. OK? But
so - when you began this segment, you talked about this idea of penance and
I was really struck by that. That we are punishing people and you know
there is no, as you said, everybody wants to be out. It's Christmas, it's a
holiday season. People go out with their friend. They go out with their
family. And half the country is too terrified to leave its homes and they
want to punish the other half that actually understand the science here and
are not going to be terrified of an illness that primarily hurts these
extremely elderly and extremely sick, OK.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't try to protect those people. But to say that
the rest of us have to stay need, inside and be afraid is try to terrify is
wrong, wrong, wrong. And I am getting upset about it because, you know, a
few days ago I got an email from a woman she said, I had a clothing
boutique. I tried to make it work with the lockdowns. I had to close it in
September. These days I stay in bed crying when my kids are stuck at home
which they're a lot of the time, I get in the car and drive around to
nowhere because I don't want them to see me crying except the other day I
drove past a gun shop and I had to make sure I didn't go in. This is what
we are doing to people. And we are doing it for no reason at all, except to
make a bunch of people who think they are in charge feel better about the
decisions they are making.

MACCALLUM: And they can help - a lot of people that are making the rules
are not in the desperate situation of the woman who sent that email.

BERENSON: That's right.

MACCALLUM: They are able to do the things they want to do and they have
better circumstances, 110,000 restaurants in this country have closed
probably permanently. 37 percent of operators say they are unlikely to make
it much longer. And you bring up the issue of mental health. Look at this.
Gallup, in this Gallup poll, how would you describe your own mental health?
Excellent, 34 percent that number is 8 points lower than the lowest
measurement that Gallup has every found. And you can see how the numbers go
down. Why isn't that a bigger consideration all of what you are describing,
your bigger consideration, Alex?

BERENSON: Why isn't it a bigger consideration? Why don't we care about the
fact that overdoses are up all over this country. Why don't we care about
the fact that in a lot of the country right now, if your kids needs
psychiatric admission they're going to be waiting days or weeks because the
psychiatric hospitals for kids which we don't have that many of are
completely full right now.

We are stressing our children. We are stressing all of us but we are
stressing our children in a way that we never have before. And it's
completely wrong because these kids are at basically zero risk. I said that
six months ago or 8 months ago and believe it or not, Sean Hannity yelled
at me about it. And it turned out, it's true. Even Anthony Fauci
acknowledges now schools should be open. We should not be doing this to our
kids. And we should not be doing it to ourselves.

MACCALLUM: Yes. I mean, we have had a learning curve here. In the
beginning, of course, it's a natural inclination to want to protect the
children. But everything that we have learned over the course of this in
points in the direction of allowing kids to live the most normal lives.
They can't. You wrote today about a 14 year old who overdosed on fentanyl.

BERENSON: That's right, and died. Yes. But you know, it's, and look, that's
not a case that I know of personally, that's a case that I referred to just
to be clear to people because I'm always clear about what I've heard
firsthand. And, but you know, the story in the, you know, in the - in the,
I think was a television story, said that, you know, the mother - his
mother said he had some problems, but he was in therapy. He was in school,
he was doing well. The lockdowns took all of that away, and he died of an
overdose. He was 14 years old. How much more of that are we going to take?

MACCALLUM: Alex Berenson. Thank you. Good to have you here tonight.

BERENSON: Thanks, Martha.

MACCALLUM: You bet. So, Hillary Clinton's infamous Russian reset, remember
that moment ended up not really doing anything, except it did open the door
for Putin's invasion of Crimea, an opportunity they took advantage of
quickly. So does China now see a similar opening for them? When Joe Biden
takes office Senator Tom Cotton breaks it down next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM (on camera):  It is been a very long road but it's finally over
for General Michael Flynn. Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan who was roundly
criticized for his actions in this case, dismissed it today, calling it
'moot' after President Trump pardoned his former national security adviser.

Sullivan raised eyebrows and ire among legal experts including Jonathan
Turley for continuing to pursue Flynn after the DOJ dropped the case
against him. General Flynn was the subject of years of investigation into
Russian collusion. He pleaded guilty before changing his plea this year.

Flynn will appear exclusively on Mornings with Maria tomorrow at 7 a.m.

And for more than three years, Democrats, including Eric Swalwell beat this
drum about the Trump campaign's supposed ties to Russia. And yet, never
prosecution any evidence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA):  What we know now is that the investigation into
Russia's interference has shown that Donald Trump and his team have deep
personal political financial ties to Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM (on camera):  But today we learned that several Democrats were,
in fact, compromised themselves by spies from China.

According to Axios, a Chinese spy named Fang Fang was able to infiltrate
several top Democratic including Swalwell's. Tulsi Gabbard and others where
she helped to raise money and hoped to gain influence. She has since fled
home to China.

Now the Chinese government is sending a signal to Joe Biden that it wants a
reset of relations with the United States. It's a movement we saw Hillary
Clinton try in 2009 with the Russians. They -- she was mocked at that time
for the plastic reset button in that moment. But shortly after, Russia
invaded Crimea and the U.S. stood by and watched.

Joining me now Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Member of the intelligence
committee. Senator, good to have you with us today.

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR):  Good to be on.

MACCALLUM:  There's also a report today that caught our eye in business
insider. China is already targeting Joe Biden and his team. A top U.S.
intelligence official warns and calls it an attack on steroids. Do you
think that is legitimate? Do you think that is likely?

COTTON:  Well, Joe Biden has been very soft on China for decades. He led
the charge for permanent normal trading relations. Most favored nation
status in the 1990s and also admit China to the World Trade Organization.
In the course of his last campaign he said China was not our competitors
and he was the one tasked by Barack Obama close relationship with the
dictator of China's Xi Jinping.

So, it's no surprise to me that Xi Jinping and the highest levels of
Chinese government think that Joe Biden might be soft on China. Hope they
are wrong about that. I hope that's not the case. But Joe Biden has a long
history of being soft on China and he surrounded himself so far with people
who are pretty soft on China as well.

MACCALLUM:  Well, you know, it remains to be seen how he is going to
approach this. But there's a lot that we do know already about what has
changed. China has the largest navy. China has infiltrated areas in
education, the United States education system with the Confucius centers.
Many of which have been closed at this point.

Last night on Tucker Carlson's show, he played a very interesting video
from a professor at a Beijing University. I want you to get a look at it
and see what you think. Here is a piece of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (through translator):  I'm going to throw out something maybe a
little explosive here. It's because we have people at the top. At the top
of America's core inner circle of power and influence. We have old friends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM (on camera):  He goes on to talk specifically at one point about
a Wall Street executive that is a vice president in a firm in the United
States. What do you make of these claims?

COTTON:  Well, obviously, the Chinese professor made those claims and they
believe those claims as well.

MACCALLUM:  Yes.

COTTON:  I mean, you look at the kind of political intelligence operation
that China ran against Eric Swalwell and Democrats in California. They have
a long record of these Democrats in California being targeted by Chinese
intelligence. Makes you wonder why China thinks they are such rich targets.
A lot of these Democrats have been in bid with China and a lot of them have
been there for a very long time.

But unfortunately, a lot of America's corporate leaders have been as well.
You know, there was reporting when Chinese trade negotiator came to America
last year they met at the chamber of commerce with a bunch of business
executives and asked them to lobby the president and lobby Congress on
China's behalf.

Sadly, that's been the case now for 20 or 30 years that many American
businesses are effectively lobbyists for communist China. That needs to
stop. They need to recognize that America should come first not their
profits.

MACCALLUM:  Yes. I mean, you know, obviously there was a symbiotic
relationship, you know, China was growing very fast. Wall Street wanted to
have deep ties to that growth but it also sort of paid off, I think in a
way that allowed this infiltration of Chinese executives in different
places and people who were likely passing information back and forth as we
hear from this professor that Tucker Carlson highlighted the other night.

You know, how -- America need a very realistic look at what this
relationship is and what we have sacrificed for it. And whether or not we
want to sacrifice any more, right?

COTTON:  They do. And Martha, Americans don't want to. I've campaigned
across the state of Arkansas and across the country this year. I can tell
you there is no love loss for the Chinese Communist Party among working
Americans. No matter what the type of industry may think.

China is our adversary. China has been ripping us off and stealing our jobs
and taking our factories and threatening our allies and our interests in
the western Pacific for 30 years. And too often politicians in Washington
have looked the other way in part because China has cultivated American
business to such a great degree.

The time for that has got to stop. These corporate CEOs need to focus on
bringing them back to America or at least getting them out of China.

MACCALLUM:  Yes.

COTTON:  Because as long as you are operating in China you are susceptible
to pressure from the Chinese Communist Party.

MACCALLUM:  This was also shocking to me. This is DNI Ratcliffe talking
about from a defense perspective and Joe Biden looks to be naming his new
defense secretary Austin, General Austin. This is what the DNI had to say
about something that I found quite intriguing. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN RATCLIFFE, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE:  From a military force
standpoint, there are the People's Republic of China has a military of two
million. They want them to be the largest and they also want them to be the
strongest which is why they are engaged in gene editing. Literally trying
to alter the DNA experimenting on DNA to make soldiers, sailors and airmen
stronger and more powerful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM (on camera):  You served for the United States of America. What
is that, what goes through your mind when you hear that?

COTTON:  Yes. There's nothing which China will stop to try to gain military
dominance over the United States and ultimately replace us as the world's
leading super power so they can have their way and call the shots in the
world.

Whether that's building islands out of the sea in the South China Sea to
extend the range of their missiles and bombers or experimenting with their
own people. Some of those experiments are probably conducted in slave labor
camps in Xinjiang province.

There is nothing that China won't do to try gain dominance over the United
States.

MACCALLUM:  Scary situation. Senator, thank you very much. Good to have you
here tonight. Senator Tom Cotton.

COTTON:  Thank you. Yes, thank you.

MACCALLUM:  You bet. So, we just got word of the decision by the Supreme
Court on Pennsylvania's vote by mail extension. The two men that have been
fighting to get that reversed. Congressman Mike Kelly and Sean Parnell will
react to that breaking news next.

Plus, senior adviser to the president Jason Miller on how that fits into
the overall strategy for them going forward when we come back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:  I received almost
75 million votes. The highest number of votes in the history of our country
for a sitting president. Twelve million more than the 63 million we
received four years ago. And they say that when the numbers came out and
the numbers came through machines and all of those ballots were taken away
and added all you have to do is turn on your local television set and you
will see what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM (on camera):  OK. We talked about this over the past two nights
where the changes that were made to the mail-in ballot deadlines in
Pennsylvania just before the election constitutional. It was a battle
between the Republican-led legislature who wanted to do the voting the way
that it had always been done and they are in charge of controlling voting
law in the state but then the Democrat-led Supreme Court, the state Supreme
Court overruled them.

Congressman Mike Kelly and Pennsylvania congressional candidate Sean
Parnell have been on the front lines of this fight and tonight they got a
set back from the Supreme Court of the United States.

Gentlemen, thank you very much for being here. Congressman Kelly, let me
start with you. Explain what the court decided and where does it leave you?

REP. MIKE KELLY (R-PA):  Well, first of all, Martha, thanks for having us
on and the captain and I have known each other for 10 years. I will just
tell you this. What we are talking about today was the Supreme Court
decided that they would not give us a temporary injunctive relief on what
was taking place where the states actually appoint their electors. So, but
today was also the safe harbor date.

So, both Sean and I and the other plaintiffs or petitioners submitted at
least two to the Supreme Court along with Pennsylvania trying to defend
what they did. So, the set back today is that we were not granted a
temporary injunctive relief. It does not mean that our lawsuit does not go
forward. It means that the temporary injunction relief that part has been
taken away and it's going to allow the state to move forward with
appointing their electors. But by no way is this over.

MACCALLUM:  So, Sean, it seems that based on that, there are sort of two
elements of this. One is the certification of this current -- of the
presidential election. And the electors that are going to go for Joe Biden
if there is no change in that situation, which it appears now there will
not be.

The other arm of it is for future elections and whether or not the changes
that were made were unconstitutional. Do you think that given that struggle
between state legislature and state Supreme Court over who controls the
voting rules in the state that the Supreme Court will take that up?

SEAN PARNELL (R-PA), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE:  Well, first of all, I think
it's important to define what we are talking about here. We are talking
about Act 77. It's Pennsylvania no excuse absentee law. And what we argue
is that Act 77 is fundamentally unconstitutional.

So, why is it unconstitutional? Because in order to change the time, place,
and manner of an election in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania it requires a
back-to-back vote in the general assembly. Martha, that did not happen. It
needs to be advertised in two newspapers and every county in the state for
three months that did not happen.

And, and this is the most important part and it needs to be put on a ballot
in a referendum so that the people of our great commonwealth have a say in
how we conduct elections here. I believe that that is what the P.A. framers
of our Constitution intended.

So, you know, I think we are in the midst of a great constitutional crisis
here. And we're seeking remedy from the Supreme Court to help us find -- to
help us find a solution. Because even if the court says that, you know,
yes, 2020 was messed up but let's fix it moving forward.

You are still going to have 50 percent of the people in the state saying
wait a second the election in 2020 was unconstitutional and illegal? And
we'll forever have an asterisk next to the 2020 election if they decide
that.

But by contract, if the court decides that -- and this is what the media
likes to frame it, that we're trying to throw out 2.5 million mail-in
ballots. Well, that's also explosive and we don't like that solution
either.

So we are seeking to, we're trying to find a remedy in seek -- in going to
the courts for their help because, you know, Act 77 is facially
unconstitutional and we are in the fight to make sure that the great people
of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania have faith in how our elections are
conducted.

Because, Martha, right now, 50 percent of the people in this state have no
faith. And we need to make sure that we are fighting for everybody. This
isn't just about Republicans by the way. Because, at some points Democrats
might find themselves on the receiving end of a Republican governor. You
know, passing unconstitutional laws and we don't want that to happen
either. It's important that our elections are conducted by the
Constitution.

MACCALLUM:  Yes. I think you're right. I think when you take a step back
you want to look at the way the law is made and whether or not the
legislature can be overridden by the Supreme Court based on the rules that
you are talking about.

So, changing voting rules in a state is not something that can be done ex-
Constitution.

So, Congressman Kelly, you know, what do you think happens next? Do you
think that based on that part that the Supreme Court is likely to pick this
up? They gave absolutely no explanation for today's decision. It was just
a, you know, it's a direct decision without any writing along with it. So,
it's tough to read the tea leaves.

KELLY:  Well it is tough to read the tea leaves. But I think what Sean just
laid out, what it really comes down to, was this done constitutionally or
unconstitutionally when it comes to changing the voter laws. If you want to
change it you can do that but it's an amendment to the Constitution.

MACCALLUM:  There's a procedure.

KELLY:  This is not what took place. So now, first of all, a commonwealth
court ruled in our favor saying I think there is merit to this case. And it
needs to be heard. And then the Pennsylvania Supreme Court comes in and
does something that's totally politically motivated and says no, we are not
even going to hear it. You guys have no business coming here. You waited
too long to come. And if you had come early, you wouldn't have had -- you
wouldn't have had any reason to complain about this because you weren't
harmed.

And if you come too late, you came too late. That is absolutely insane and
that is a phony accusation to make. What we're looking for is the
constitutionally of what took place in Pennsylvania versus the
unconstitutionality of it.

If you want to make an amendment to our Constitution there is a way to do
it. Sean just laid out some of the things that have to take place.

MACCALLUM:  Yes.

KELLY:  What we are looking for is for the Supreme Court to take a look at
the merits of our case.

MACCALLUM:  I got it.

KELLY:  That are strictly based on the Constitution or going outside the
Constitution and if you are going to go outside the Constitution, you can't
sit there and talk about, well you guys are too late. There is by the by
this limit on when you can challenge that so they are throwing out
something that can't be thrown out. I'm talking about Pennsylvania Supreme
Court.

MACCALLUM:  OK.

KELLY:  I am hoping along with Sean and with the other petitioners that the
Supreme Court of the United States looks at this case on its merits.
MACCALLUM:  Yes.

KELLY:  On its merits. It's basically what we are talking about here. And
we're not alleging that any fraud took place. What we are saying very
factually is that this took place outside of how the Constitution is
formed.

MACCALLUM:  I get it.

KELLY:  Amendments can be done, it's an onerous thing to do.

MACCALLUM:  I get it.

KELLY:  But it should be you can't do it casually.

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM:  I get it. And I think that it's something that all voters --

KELLY:  So, all we're asking is to be treated fairly.

MACCALLUM:  -- should care about. You know, everybody should care about the
procedure and how these laws are changed. Otherwise, everything is up for
grabs and you can have elected court -- an elected court official making
changes that the people in this state don't want.

So, thank you, both. Sean Parnell, good to see you tonight. Congressman
Kelly, thank you for being here as well.

So, there is more breaking news on this front tonight. In the state of
Georgia, where it appears that Republicans are still filing lawsuits
despite a setback earlier in the day when a judge dismissed an effort to
decertify the November 3rd results.

Within the past few minutes, we learned that the RNC has filed a brand-new
lawsuit challenging Georgia's use of ballot drop boxes in the upcoming
Senate run-off election. And there is already push back on that from Marc
Elias who has represented the DNC.

Joining me now Erick Erickson, former elections lawyer and host of
Atlanta's evening news on WSP radio.

Good to see you tonight, Erick. So, give us the lay of the land here on
what's going on in Georgia. What should people understand about this?

ERICK ERICKSON, FORMER ELECTIONS LAWYER:  So, a Fulton County court, that's
Atlanta, threw out a lawsuit that was filed trying to get the signature
verification process. The judge said the guy sued the wrong parties, waited
too late to do it until after certification. So that case is out.

There is a pending case that's actually a very credible case that a lot of
people, myself included earlier got confused with this dismissal. It's
still pending. And it challenges a number of voters more than the margin of
victory who the president and the Georgia Republican Party say should not
have voted.

They were felons, moved out of state, had died. That case is pending. And
now the newest with the drop boxes in Georgia also pending. Those drop
boxes were done by the secretary of state. And largely to speed up the
availability instead of having to mail them back to a board of elections.
You could put them in the drop box and boards of elections are going and
picking them up. That's being challenged now by the RNC.

MACCALLUM:  All right. So, what, if anything, could potentially change
before this all-important Senate race on January 5th?

ERICKSON:  Well, with the drop boxes, that potentially could change. I'm
not sure the likelihood of it changing though it was actually widely agreed
to by all the parties. And no one fought it before the initial November
election.

The other one is actually the case I'm keeping my eye on. And it's actually
rather explosive. If the claims are true it's basically a re-set of the
whole election in Georgia. Now this wouldn't impact Joe Biden's being
president-elect in the Electoral College because he still has over 270
votes. But it would probably force a complete re-do of the November
election in Georgia.

The odds of it passing are (Inaudible) some of the lawyers I have talked to
have said it looks like the plaintiffs are using old data not the current
data to make their case. But they filed it. It actually is a credible
allegation. This is the first time the president's lawyers anywhere in the
nation have actually filed a lawsuit in court with copious documentation
showing a lot of people shouldn't.

MACCALLUM:  Erick Erickson, thank you. Good to have you here tonight.

ERICKSON:  Thank you.

MACCALLUM:  So, today's safe harbor deadline requires states to certify
election results but President Trump's legal team says it's an arbitrary
deadline and they will continue to fight.

Joining me now Trump 2020 campaign senior adviser Jason Miller. Jason, good
to see you. Thank you for being here tonight. So where does that stand?

JASON MILLER, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN:  So, Martha, today is
what many in the media are saying is the safe harbor day where states need
to certify their elections and then we hear a lot of talk about December
14th next week when the electors come forward and actually cast their
votes.

But the real dates that people need to be paying attention to are January
6th. That's when the new Congress comes forward and actually counts the
electoral votes. And that's a date that going all the way back to the case
in 1960 when Hawaii had to decide between whether it was Nixon or JFK that
would get their state's electoral votes or even in 2000 when former Justice
Ginsburg said that was really the date that mattered.

But the only date that truly matters is January 20th. And that's the date
when we will swear in the next president of the United States. Whether
that's President Trump or whether that's Joe Biden. And so, there is some
time here.

And this is why it is so critical, Martha. We have to get these elections
right. We have to make sure not just for the 2020 presidential but for
these January 5th Senate races that are coming up in Georgia. It is up to
us to get it done now. Because if we don't do it, the can is going to get
kicked down the road.

We see all these weak kneed politicians, these clubhouse governors who
won't go and call the special sessions to deal with the consent decrees
with all of the fraud and all of the abuse things we have laid out as Erick
laid out this the lawsuit that we filed in the state of Georgia. Whether it
be the case that we have from Wisconsin where they don't have the
applications on file. We believe we have very strong legal challenges. We
have to see these through but there is plenty of time to do it.

MACCALLUM:  Well, yes. There is a bit of time. I want to drill down on
Georgia and the consent decree real quick. I just have two minutes. is
there any -- and I feel like I am asking this question a lot.

But between now and January 5th, the Georgia Senate election, is there any
indication that anything is going to change about the consent decree? There
doesn't seem to be any willingness on the part of the players involved and
even Doug Collins said to me and it's too late to change anything in
Georgia.

MILLER:  But it doesn't have to be. I mean, we have a Republican governor.
We have a Republican controlled legislature. We can get them together and
get this done pretty quickly. I mean, the fact that we allowed whether it
be the ballot harvesting, whether we allowed the applications be sent out
without people requesting them. All across the state. I mean, this is just
completely ridiculous.

We are talking about control of the U.S. Senate here that's coming up. And
I would think that Governor Brian Kemp would step up and do something here.
If he doesn't have the courage to go and do this, I mean, clearly, he
doesn't care about President Trump.

But if he doesn't care about making sure that we get the Senate contest
right, when we have had all these examples of fraud and abuse and
statistical anomalies in the state of Georgia, there have been a lot of
problems in the state of Georgia with regard to this election on November
3rd. I think it's up to the governor to go and get this right.

But it really doesn't seem like that's of interest or of the secretary of
state. He is too busy writing op-eds in the newspaper. So, a little less
op-ed, a little more getting it right.

MACCALLUM:  Yes. I mean, just 15 seconds. But what do you say to those who
say these fights should have been fought before the election when all of
these cases were happening in all of these states?

MILLER:  Great point specific to the state of Georgia. This is the only
time that their state laws allow us to go and bring these issues forward.
And so, I know Erick had raised that point previously. But their code says
this is the time we can actually bring these challenges. And so, we
couldn't do it any earlier.

MACCALLUM:  OK.

MILLER:  But we're making sure we are going to get to the bottom of this
whether it be Wisconsin, Georgia, also, this lawsuit the state of Texas is
bringing I think is critical. And I think how the Supreme Court rules on
this will be a real big determinant as we talk about 2020.

MACCALLUM:  All right. Tough fight. A lot at stake. Jason Miller, thank
you. Good to have you here tonight.

So that is THE STORY of Tuesday, December the 8th, 2020. But THE STORY
continues and we will be here to take you through it tomorrow night at
seven. We'll see you then. Good night.

 

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