This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," April 26, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Good Sunday morning, everyone. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Maria Bartiromo.
Straight ahead right here on "Sunday Morning Futures" today: America rising. China's motives. They allowed a deadly virus to escape its borders. Then the Chinese Communist Party downplayed it to the world and cornered the market for critical protective equipment. What is China's motive and its endgame?
Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton investigates live, along with us.
Also here, she is on the front lines of science and politics, Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Birx on if the daily White House briefings will continue.
Plus, a handful of states easing coronavirus restrictions this weekend. That is 46 percent of the GDP about to open, as President Trump signs the latest $484 billion stimulus package into law.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on what a reopening of the country will look like.
In the middle of all of this, Devin Nunes continues his deep dive into the Russia hoax. He will join us with breaking news on the person he wants to interview, as well as his China investigation.
Also ahead, an exclusive interview with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on if the Big Apple will ever be the same.
All that and a lot more, as we look ahead, right here, right now, on "Sunday Morning Futures."
And new information this morning coming to light on what China really knew about the coronavirus pandemic, including words that they drastically underreported the number of cases in the country.
President Trump, in a stunning move, questioning whether or not this was deliberate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, the question was asked, would you be angry at China?
Well, the answer might very well be a very resounding yes. But it depends. Was it a mistake that got out of control, or was it done deliberately, OK? There's a big difference between those two.
In either event, they should have let us go in. You know, we asked to go in very early, and they didn't want us in. I think they were embarrassed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, first sounded the alarm about China right here on this program months ago.
He joins me right now live.
And, Senator, it's great to see you this morning. Thanks so much for being here.
SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): Good morning, Maria.
BARTIROMO: So, you knew very early on and you questioned very early on the origins of this disease. And you knew that it likely came from that lab, that level four super lab in Wuhan.
I want to ask you about what China knew, because you and I spoke over the weekend, this weekend. And I asked you, do you think it's deliberate?
You said, you don't have any evidence right now, but it should be investigated, but we do know what China did once they knew how severe this coronavirus be.
Tell us what you think China did.
COTTON: So, Maria, I want to distinguish between the origins of the virus and China's reactions to the virus.
So, right now, as you say, the most plausible explanation, supported by literally all of the circumstantial evidence, is that the virus originated in one of those two laboratories in Wuhan.
All the way back in January, it was pretty well-documented by Chinese scientists that it didn't originate in the food market. But wherever it originated, Maria, we know that the Chinese Communist Party was both criminally negligent and incompetent at first, and then deliberately, deliberately malevolent in the way they responded to this virus, for their own people and the world.
As early as the second week of December, it was clear that this virus was spreading from person to person. By late December, it was spreading to doctors in Wuhan hospitals. Some doctors were trying to blow the whistle on these facts, and the secret police arrived at their doorsteps in the middle of the night.
So only after China fessed up to the WHO on December 31 did the world know what was happening. Yet, still they continued to deny that it was spreading from person to person into mid-January. That allowed millions of people to leave Wuhan.
And then, finally, China continued to pressure the WHO and other countries not to stop international travel from China. That meant that hundreds of thousands of persons left China after this virus was spread far outside of Wuhan, which allowed the virus to escape China's borders and get to the United States and get to Europe and get to essentially every country in the world.
I believe that was a deliberate and conscious choice by the Chinese communist leadership, because they didn't want to see their relative power and standing in the world decline because this virus was contained within China.
BARTIROMO: So, a deliberate move because they expected this virus to cause economic contraction in China.
Tell me what they expected in China and what they didn't want to see from the -- they didn't want to happen with the rest of the world being fine.
COTTON: So, Maria, again, it was obvious by mid-December to Chinese authorities that this virus was highly contagious and very deadly.
They also knew that, once this virus began to spread outside of Wuhan, it would wreak economic havoc throughout China. And, in fact, China had the first contraction in the first quarter of this year since the cultural revolution ended in the 1970s.
I believe the Chinese communist leaders, when they were aware of those facts by mid-January, made the conscious decision not to explain to the world that it was transmissible between humans, not to shut down travel, not to ask for American or other kind of international scientific help, but to allow this virus to escape their borders, because if they were going to suffer an economic contraction, they were not going to allow the world to continue to prosper, and China be the only country whose economy was declining.
They might see an absolute decline in their economy, but they refused to see a relative decline, especially relative to the United States.
BARTIROMO: In other words, they didn't want to see the Chinese economy contract 20 percent, with the rest of the world contracting 2 percent?
COTTON: That's exactly right.
I mean, it was inevitable that we would have economic impacts all around the world, because so much of the world has outsourced manufacturing productive capacity to China. So it was inevitable, if China's economy was declining, that it would have effects all around the world.
But what wasn't inevitable was that we would loss 26 million jobs in America in a month. If China had been up front about this virus from the very beginning, some studies suggest that they could have reduced the number of cases in China itself by 65 to even 90 percent.
Imagine what that would have done for the spread of the virus, not only in China but, more importantly for us, all around the world. But once they knew that it was spreading all around China, they were not going to take the responsible action of bringing in international scientists and shutting down international air travel.
Rather, they were going to let the virus escape their borders, so the rest of the world would suffer along with China.
BARTIROMO: So, one of the issues that we have spoken about in the past is this intellectual property theft that has been going on for decades.
China, the Chinese Communist Party, continues to steal intellectual property. You believe that they are stealing intellectual property right now, as we speak.
Let's talk a bit about that, because the whole world is looking for a vaccine. And I wonder, is China trying now to come out of this trying to save face, look better than the rest of the world, while coming up with a vaccine before the United States?
What's happening right now with regards to that kind of science?
COTTON: Well, Maria, the Chinese Communist Party has been stealing America's intellectual property for decades. And they aren't going to magically stop in the middle of a pandemic.
In almost every state in the union, there are active cases against Chinese nationals. In Arkansas, for instance, they are accused of having stolen proprietary genomes of our farmers in East Arkansas.
But in the middle of a pandemic, what's the most valuable intellectual property in the world? It's the research that our great laboratories and life science companies are doing on prophylactic drugs, therapeutic drugs, and ultimately a vaccine.
So I have little doubt that the Chinese intelligence services are actively trying to steal America's intellectual property as it relates to the virus that they unleashed on the world, because, of course, they want to be the country that claims credit for finding those drugs or finding a vaccine, and then use it as leverage against the rest of the world.
BARTIROMO: So, I want to ask you about your three pieces of legislation that you have already put out to keep China accountable. I'm going to get to that in a moment.
But just what you just said, that is why you believe we shouldn't be giving visas to Chinese students who want to study advanced sciences. They want to get into the Gilead Sciences and the Googles of the world to steal that research; is that right?
COTTON: Yes, Maria, it's a scandal to me that we have trained so many of the Chinese Communist Party's brightest minds to go back to China to compete for our jobs, to take our business, and ultimately to steal our property and design weapons and other devices that can be used against the American people.
So, I think we need to take a very hard look at the visas that we give the Chinese nationals to come to the United States to study, especially at the post-graduate level in advanced scientific and technological fields.
If Chinese students want to come here and study Shakespeare and the Federalist Papers, that's what they need to learn from America. They don't need to learn quantum computing and artificial intelligence from America.
BARTIROMO: Well, they're certainly making sure that anybody in China is learning the culture of China. You make a good point. Let's make sure people understand the culture of America.
So, you have introduced three pieces of legislation. And you think bringing pharmaceutical manufacturing back to America is critical.
You also think military spending and the measures there are going to actually keep them accountable as well.
Real quick, tell me about those pieces of legislation.
COTTON: So, I think most Americans are shocked to learn that so many of our basic drugs are made in China.
We need to stop that. We need to bring it back to the United States and get it out of China. So, we would give incentives to companies to build new plants here, create more jobs here, so we are not dependent on China in a pandemic or even in any kind of health concerns.
Second, China is continuing, even now, to take aggressive action throughout the region to break its commitments.
It's cracking down on Hong Kong, in violations of its commitment to Great Britain when Great Britain returned Hong Kong. It's taking aggressive action in the South China Sea. We need to invest more in our defense industrial base to offset some of the losses we're going to see because of this virus.
We need more ships, we need more submarines, we need more bombers, we need more fighters, the exact kind of systems that will deter China from aggressive action against the United States and our interests in the Western Pacific and ultimately all around the globe.
BARTIROMO: And, by the way, right now, they are also capitalizing on the problems we're having in this country on meat. A couple of meat processing plants have been taken offline. They're buying all the meat at discounted prices.
That's going to be a problem for the U.S. come next couple of weeks. We're going to see a skyrocketing price of meat, right?
COTTON: Yes, we have a lot of our biggest processing plants that are going offline. Unfortunately, that may hit supplies in grocery stores in the weeks ahead.
At the meantime, China is buying a lot of cut-rate protein from the United States, just another example of the way they are trying to take advantage of this crisis. They are not resting on their laurels.
BARTIROMO: All right.
COTTON: They're not breathing a sigh of relief. They are trying to advance their interests and ambitions all around the world.
BARTIROMO: All right, we will leave it there.
Senator, do you think they are going to keep their promise to buy the $250 billion of stuff that they promised President Trump in that phase one trade deal?
COTTON: Let me just say, Maria, I'm skeptical of any promises made by any communists. And the Chinese communists don't have a very good record of keeping their promises.
And they may not even have the resources to begin with, because, remember, even though the rest of the world is taking a big economic hit, China is taking it as well.
So, I would fall back here to Ronald Reagan's maxim of trust, but verify.
BARTIROMO: All that, and they lied again on the phase one trade deal.
Senator, thank you for your great work. We appreciate your time this morning. Thank you, sir.
COTTON: Thank you, Maria.
BARTIROMO: Senator Tom Cotton joining us there.
There is plenty of uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, when it will be safe for the United States to reopen the economy.
I'll speak with White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Birx next right here.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
The president on Friday signing the latest coronavirus relief measure totaling nearly half-a-trillion dollars, that to benefit small business, hospital and national testing.
But House Speaker Pelosi is already talking about a fourth bill and proxy voting.
Joining me right now is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Congressman, it's always great to see you. Thank you for being here.
I want to get started with the letter that you sent to the speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to try to get her to push back on this proxy voting, as well as to ensure that certain key committees come back to work.
Tell us about the letter you sent her and the response you have gotten.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Well, I sent a letter to her last week.
She wanted to change 200 years of history. So, constituents lend their voice to their congresswoman or congressman for two years and want to hold them accountable.
What Nancy Pelosi wanted to do was Congress was to be able to hold 200 proxies, 200 different votes for members of Congress to make her more powerful in control of the floor. Fortunately, after my letter and our discussion with her, she has pulled back on that.
But Congress is essential. We have worked through the Civil War, World War II and others. We need to get to work. And just as states wouldn't open up completely at once, we need committees to come back in, like Armed Services to do the national defense bill.
You have appropriators making sure government is funded. You could bring oversight back to look at the WHO. And the current administration of the WHO is acting not like the World Health Organization, but more like the Wuhan health organization.
We should actually get the facts and the answers. And those committees could come back, with not the entire Congress, to show that we are working for the American public, just as American as we watch these states phase in, in a safe, healthy manner.
BARTIROMO: But that's not what she wants, right? She wants everyone to not come back until May? And is that right? And is that the plan?
MCCARTHY: That is the current plan.
But after my conversation with the speaker, she put together three Republicans and three Democrats, myself and the majority leader and others, to start working on planning on how we can do this.
I don't think you should change the history of how Congress votes to empower one side. Congress can work. We just proved it. We have passed some of the biggest bills in the history of Congress during this pandemic.
We can open up in a manner and have committees working. They can work in bigger buildings, so they have social distancing. They can do it in a safe manner while all the members aren't there.
And we can have product being worked for the American public.
BARTIROMO: Why is the speaker now talking about November elections must go on? She says that the president may try to postpone it.
How can we ensure a safe election? And let's talk a bit about China. That has certainly been the dominant story. But a number of your colleagues completely missed China as a threat, as they continue to investigate Russia and the ghosts of collusion for years.
MCCARTHY: Yes, let's first talk about, this isn't the beginning of Nancy Pelosi, the speaker, talking about November's elections.
She brought this up and held up the first CARES Act, the act of the more than $2 trillion. This is when she wanted to institute -- change election law, go for the Green New Deal, pay for Planned Parenthood.
And for every moment these Democrats have tried to held up -- held up each bill to play politics with it. And I expect her to continue the same. But we will move forward with the November election, and not try to give advantage to one party or the other, but make sure they're fair.
You were correct.
BARTIROMO: So, how -- yes.
MCCARTHY: Maria, you were one of the first that was showing what China was doing.
I remember Twitter -- people on Twitter criticizing you because you were one of the first ones coming out there concerned about the laboratories in Wuhan, concerned about, was China being honest with the American public?
Now we see a -- own study by Southampton that, had China been honest with the world, 95 percent of this never would have happened. What China has done has directly led to Americans death. And this is where we should have started long ago.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
MCCARTHY: And President Trump has been correct about China, long before, when he was just a candidate, about our supply chain...
BARTIROMO: No, you're right.
MCCARTHY: ... when it comes to our pharmaceuticals, critical minerals and others.
And one thing we should learn from this pandemic is, never put ourselves in this position again. Look what Japan is doing.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
MCCARTHY: Japan is pulling back those companies from China.
We should do the same. Our allies could as well. And we can make the world stronger and never be in this situation again.
BARTIROMO: Yes, you make a great point. Thank you for that.
The president completely changed the conversation on China.
Will there be a fourth stimulus package, Congressman? What are you looking for in terms of putting in another relief bill, even as even McConnell, your colleague on the Senate, is questioning the debt? Now the debt that this country faces is higher than the actual size of the economy, $22 trillion.
MCCARTHY: That is a real fear. Every great society has collapsed when they have overextended themselves.
We have just passed four bills, more than $2.7 trillion. And you combine this with what the Fed is doing, that's $7 trillion into the economy.
BARTIROMO: That's right.
MCCARTHY: Let's first look at the results before we want to go back and try to rework another bill.
I would listen to the Democrats, but this is where their socialism comes out. They pick the dollar amount before they even know what needs to be done. Let's get this implemented into society. Let's let the $7 trillion work. Let's look at results before we react to anything else moving forward.
BARTIROMO: OK, we will leave it there.
Congressman, it's great to see you this morning. Thank you so much, sir.
MCCARTHY: Thank you, Maria.
BARTIROMO: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Several investigations still under way in Congress on the threat China poses to the country, including stealing intellectual property.
House Intel Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes is here. He's been investigating China since 2011.
We will learn what he's uncovered when he comes -- next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
If the U.S. continues to make progress, the head of the government's Coronavirus Task Force, Vice President Mike Pence, says that the crisis could largely be behind us by Memorial Day.
This comes as several states begin reopening their economies this week.
Joining me right now to talk more about that is Dr. Deborah Birx. She is the White House coronavirus response coordinator.
And, Dr. Birx, it's great to have you this morning. Thank you so much for joining us
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: Good morning.
BARTIROMO: So, first, let me ask you, where are we today with this virus? We know what Vice President Pence said. What do you say in terms of where we are and what is most important?
BIRX: Well, I think what we have tried to convey to the American people is, every metro area is different in where they are in the epidemic.
So, when you look at New Orleans, they're way on the downside, and they have a very low number of cases. When you look at Detroit, they're moving on to the downside. When you look at Boston and Chicago, we're still very concerned about the rate of new infections.
And, at the same time, we're tracking every county, including rural America, to look very carefully about any outbreaks that occur at the county level and rural areas. And that together is really informing how we work with every governor and every state and local official to really ensure that they have the support that they need.
BARTIROMO: So, I know that you have studied disease for many years across the world
And you look at data all day long. You're getting the very latest data every day, 2:30 in the morning. Then you're bringing it, studying it, analyzing it, mining it, bringing it to the task force, and telling the public about it.
Tell me what strikes you most about the data that you're seeing today, because I know that you have uncovered and identified some data about people who don't have any symptoms. Tell us why that's important. And what strikes you most about the data you're looking at today?
BIRX: I think we're getting a lot of information out of these isolated outbreaks that are occurring, whether they are occurring in prisons or among essential workers in packing plants, or, specifically, gatherings that came together, whether it was a wedding or an event.
And when you look at those epidemics, it isn't until you start seeing symptomatic groups. When you go in and test, you find a lot of people had the virus and may not ever develop symptoms. And I think we're really starting to look at this in a very careful way to understand how we do surveillance.
And so, in the guidelines that were put out, because we could start to see this even a couple of weeks ago, we were very careful in the guidelines to recognize two parts of monitoring this epidemic, one, continuing to diagnose cases.
Those are people who come forward with fever or other symptoms, but, secondly, setting up surveillance, what we call this actually sentinel monitoring of specific populations that we know may be of greater risk, where you want to find those asymptomatic cases earlier, long-term care facilities, among Native Americans, inner-city metro areas, where there may be multigenerational household, to really screen people before they develop symptoms to really understand if the virus is in the community and increasing or decreasing.
This is a novel approach. We haven't had to do this often with respiratory diseases. And so we're bringing together those two aspects to really have a comprehensive plan, working with each and every governor and state and local official to make sure that both components, diagnosis and monitoring for the populations at greatest risk, simultaneously.
BARTIROMO: So, that means that we're going to have to see more antibody testing to understand who is walking around who has it or had it with no symptoms?
BIRX: And I think that who had it is very important to understand.
And you have heard a lot about these antibody tests, what we have been working on with CDC and with the FDA, because we did this -- there's other diseases where we try to find asymptomatic cases, whether it be chlamydia or HIV or HPV. We know how to do this.
And so, with an antibody test, you often want to do two. That increases what we call the specificity and sensitivity of the test to make it more accurate.
So, we have been waiting -- and it's why we haven't come out with a specific algorithm, although we think we will have it by the beginning of this week -- to really talk about how you do one test, followed by -- if you're positive, you confirm that with a second test.
BARTIROMO: I see.
BIRX: That really increases the -- what we call the positive predictive value of that test.
BARTIROMO: Let me ask you, Dr. Birx.
You have been doing this for so many years on a scientific level. Here, it's a little bit of a new game for you, with the politics getting involved, right?
How difficult has it been in terms of politics getting through all of this? There's controversy over hydroxychloroquine, the FDA issuing a warning on Friday that hydroxychloroquine, that -- this warning about this drug. The president is getting slammed for calling it a miracle drug a couple weeks ago.
And then, of course, this week, the president tweeted this: "What is the purpose of having White House news conferences, when the lamestream media asks nothing but hostile questions, and then refuses to report the truth or facts accurately? They get record ratings, and the American people get nothing but fake news. Not worth the time and effort."
Are you going to stop these regular daily press briefings, Dr. Birx?
BIRX: Well, we -- I would say, Dr. Fauci, Dr. Redfield and I all come from a place where another disease was highly politicized.
And when we were working on the front lines of HIV/AIDS, and -- we understood two things that were absolutely critical, communicating early scientific facts, because communities can understand them. And it gives communities the ability to have knowledge to protect themselves. And that is really extraordinary.
And then also communicate about what we're studying and what we're not studying and why. And those are in clinical trials and other evidence-based -- and, any time we hear about something that could be hopeful, to let the American people know that we're studying that, that we're -- we're not leaving any stone unturned to really figure out what can really help the American people.
But I think that communication to communities is essential, because a knowledgeable community is a protected community. And we know that's important. And I think we understand that those messages of science and policy need to continue to be brought forward to the American people in a non-political way.
BARTIROMO: So, do you think it's best to do the communicating when you have something new to communicate?
Or do you think you should be doing these press conferences every day, putting the president out there, and fielding these questions in some regard that may not have anything to do with the science?
BIRX: Well, every day, we discover something new and important.
And I think the American people should understand that we had no experience with this virus until a few weeks ago anywhere in the world. And starting in January, different information started coming in, but not in a country like the United States.
We are probably the most genetically diverse. We have the most different age groups that have not seen this virus before. We're a younger country than much of Europe. So our outcomes and our knowledge are going to be critical for all the countries moving forward.
And we have really been delving into, what -- why do our younger people have a different course than we saw or have been reported in other countries? Our -- is it a genetic issue? Is it the way we respond to the virus? Is it an antibody response to the virus?
BARTIROMO: OK.
BIRX: We're uncovering really important pieces.
And I just want to acknowledge the health care workers that are in the front line, who are getting this information back to us on an everyday basis
BARTIROMO: You're doing it, Dr. Birx.
Thank you so much. We appreciate your time this morning. Come back soon. Thank you.
BIRX: Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MARCH 25, 2018)
REP. DEVIN NUNES (R-CA): We actually are running an investigation on many aspects of China at the House Intelligence Committee.
And I think most Americans know that China is, in fact, stealing our intellectual property. They're spreading globally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: That was California Congressman Devin Nunes, the ranking member of the House Intel Committee, back in 2018, when he was the chairman of the committee, when it was becoming more widely known that China was stealing intellectual property, gaining technological advantages over the United States.
Congressman Devin Nunes joins me right now.
And I want to thank you, Congressman, because ever since I started at FOX, I was talking to you a lot. And over the first couple of years that I'd been here -- I have been here six years -- but by the time I was here three years or so, I was knee-deep in studying the FBI and its wrongdoing, the coup to take down Donald Trump, and China, because of your investigations. I was following your investigation.
You're still investigating China. You have been doing so since 2011. And now it's topic A.
What have you learned?
NUNES: Well, the concern that we had back in the beginning of the 2011- 2012 was that China was trying to take over the global communications architecture.
So, we looked into companies like Huawei that were somehow underbidding every company in the world. They were giving things away for free.
And, as we know, the Chinese don't do anything for free. That's why then they started -- they moved in from communications architecture, which I do believe now that's given them a global footprint to listen in and grab communications across the globe and to spy on not only people within the United States, but also our allies.
So we warned -- way before anybody else, we warned about those challenges.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
NUNES: You also look at what they have done in giving money out to other countries, where they have now own their financial infrastructure and they own their energy structure.
And I will just finish on this, that the next big challenge here is going to be 5G. Our companies here in the United States are so far behind. China is giving out free 5G products. We are getting lapped by the Chinese over and over and over again. And we're going to have to take some -- we're going to have to make some changes if we want to deploy 5G across this country and beat the Chinese.
BARTIROMO: Congressman, you're doing a great job. You're investigating the real important things to the American people and to the national security of America. So, thank you for that.
While you have been doing this, your colleagues have been charging the president with collusion with Russia, which you had to take slams for, because you investigated that it was actually a coup to take down the president.
Let's go back to your reporting there and your investigation. Where are you on that? I know this upcoming week is going to be an important one for General Michael Flynn.
What can you tell us?
NUNES: Well, as everyone has been watching the coronavirus, our investigation continues.
And, most critically, there is a lot of new information that has come out in terms of things that were redacted or kept classified by someone, I don't know who, in both the Horowitz report and stuff now that is finally being declassified.
And the real question here is, is, why was this stuff being classified? Why were the American people being kept in the dark, still being kept in the dark?
We finally just got to see the FISA warrant that was used against Carter Page. There's still a lot of black marks, OK, in that FISA report. We need everything declassified, so that we can continue this investigation.
Why is General Flynn important? Because, on Friday night, thankfully, Attorney General Barr has appointed a U.S. attorney out of Missouri to look into what was going on in some of these investigations. And, now, we don't know what was submitted to the court on Friday evening, but we believe that it's possibly exculpatory evidence that the government had on General Flynn, OK?
And remember, in our report, the report which -- the House Republican report from 2018, it's the gold standard, OK, of reports. If you look at all the other reports, whether it's the intelligence community assessment, whether it's the Mueller report, whether it's the Steele DNC dossier, those are all a joke, right?
And the media has been promoting these -- this Russia hoax for so long. And the reality, you have a -- the former head of the DIA, who has been strung up here for year after year after year, in what was now likely, we're going to find out, he was framed. Imagine that, being framed by our own government and by political operatives who don't like you.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
NUNES: And I think that's what we're going to find out.
BARTIROMO: And we have a timeline here that shows exactly the Michael Flynn situation.
Of course, he met Donald Trump in August of 2015. They were already looking into Michael Flynn at that time, because I guess he wanted an audit of the Department of Defense and of the Pentagon. He didn't understand where the money was going.
And we see that some of the money was paid out by the Office of Net Assessment. Stefan Halper, who was an informant, was awarded a contract of -- several contracts up to $1 million for so-called studies that he was writing. But we know that he also was running into Trump campaign people.
So, there's that.
You want to investigate and talk to a certain Russian individual. You say this is going to be very important for your investigation. Who is that, and what do you want to know?
NUNES: Well, what we have -- what I have talked about is, we're looking into what I call the three dossiers, OK? We're drilling down into those.
But because of the new information that's come out from the Horowitz report that's now declassified that we have been talking about for a long time and the FISAs, we now are targeting what appear to be three Russian Americans.
I think the most important one is somebody that we actually asked to come to our committee named Sergei Millian. He is hiding somewhere around the globe. We don't know exactly what country he's in. But we really would like Sergei to come forward and talk to us, because either he was -- either he was, you know, working for Fusion GPS and the Clinton campaign, and dirtying up Trump people, or it's quite possible he may have been framed.
We don't know which of those is true, but we want to find out. And we really need him to -- you know, he can call my office. We will be glad to - - if he's afraid to come back to his home country, the United States of America...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
NUNES: ... we can make sure that he can -- we can guarantee his safety.
But we need to hear from him, because he is the source. He is Steele and Glenn Simpson and Fusion GPS' -- he is their -- he is one of their major sources. And guess who did -- never interviewed him, Maria?
BARTIROMO: Interesting.
NUNES: Guess who never interviewed him? Robert Mueller's team.
BARTIROMO: Adam Schiff.
NUNES: Robert Mueller's team.
BARTIROMO: OK.
NUNES: Even worse.
(LAUGHTER)
NUNES: Why would you not -- why would you not interview an important person like this?
BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.
Congressman, thank you. We will be following this story.
And we are waiting for accountability and to hear from John Durham, hopefully this summer.
Congressman Devin Nunes.
New York City has been hard-hit by the coronavirus. We will speak with the mayor.
Mayor Bill de Blasio is live next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
New York City, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, now, as things are slowly beginning to look better there, how will the city handle the reopening?
Joining me right now is the boss, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Mr. Mayor, it's great to have you this morning. Thanks very much for being here.
I want to ask you that question right here. How will a reopening of New York look? What industries are poised to open first? And when do you see that happening?
BILL DE BLASIO (D), MAYOR OF NEW YORK: Thank you, Maria.
Well, first of all, Maria, you are a proud New Yorker, a proud Brooklynite, by background. You know how tough and resilient this city is.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
DE BLASIO: So, the first thing I want to say is, we will be back, we will be strong. In fact, we will be stronger.
And we're going to create a city that builds on our previous success and comes back stronger and fairer. I believe we can do this. And I already see the naysayers out there saying, oh, New York City is not going to be able to come back.
New York City fought back after the fiscal crisis. We fought back after 9/11. We fought back after Hurricane Sandy. We will fight back again.
What we need to...
BARTIROMO: So, how do you do it?
DE BLASIO: Yes, what we need -- there's no question in my mind, we must have the support of the federal government to do this, because, right now, to be able to have a strong economy again and really restart, we have to be able to provide the basic services that have made this place work, police, fire, sanitation, health care, education.
The things that have made New York City strong and allowed us to get through this crisis are now in the crosshairs because we have lost $7.4 billion -- that's our projection from our budget -- $7.4 billion in lost revenue, $3.5 billion in new expenses to pay for the coronavirus and the fight to save lives, over $10 billion combined.
The federal government must make us whole for us to be able to be in a position to restart. If we're not whole, if New York City is not whole, it will drag down the entire region, and it will hold up the entire national economic restart.
If we are whole -- and that could be...
BARTIROMO: So, how much money do you want?
DE BLASIO: Maria, we have to get...
BARTIROMO: Mr. Mayor, how much money do you need from the federal government?
DE BLASIO: All the money that's been lost and will be lost, lost revenue.
And this is true for New York and cities and states around the country. We need $7.4 billion. That's how much we have lost. That's how much we need to get back.
Just like the federal government bailed out the airline industry to the tune of $58 billion, bail out the largest city in the country, so we can restart and be able to be strong leaders in an economic revitalization in this country.
We get that, I have no doubt we can move forward.
BARTIROMO: Let me ask you this.
Are you using this crisis to take us into socialism?
DE BLASIO: Oh, Maria.
BARTIROMO: I just saw you on the press conference, and you said this: "The bigger picture, a fair recovery for all, confront structural, economic and racial inequalities."
Are you looking to change things that have nothing to do with the coronavirus and were not impacted by that, Mr. Mayor?
DE BLASIO: Maria, I'm looking to go at the very things that the coronavirus has dredged up.
And have we seen it all over the country. There are vast health care disparities that have come up that must be addressed for the good of all us of us. It's the right thing to do, but also to have a strong, healthy society.
But, Maria, what I'm talking about in the first instance, when we talk about just getting on our feet again, I think we all can count here. If we're missing $7.4 billion -- and now we heard today there may be additional state budget cuts looming on top of that that will hit New York City and the whole rest of the state -- we won't be able to provide the basic services and have the personnel we need who do that amazing work.
We're talking about the heroes, the first responders, the health care workers, the essential workers. These are the folks who need to keep their jobs going forward if we're going to have a healthy recovery.
BARTIROMO: Yes. Yes. Yes.
DE BLASIO: And if we are missing billions and billions of dollars, how on earth are we supposed to do that?
BARTIROMO: OK.
You know what? I want to talk more about this. People are worried about the air in New York. They're worried about the hospitals. They want to know when they can get back to work.
Let's take a short break, because I want to take a look at New York even before this. You were having issues even before the coronavirus. People were leaving. Crime is up.
Mayor de Blasio is with us live. We're looking ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures."
And we will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
I'm back with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Mr. Mayor, honestly, I need an hour with you. There's so many important things to cover in New York.
You made a very good case just there. You said that the city needs to be made whole.
Number one, how are the conversations going with President Trump? Are you going to get that money?
And, number two, Mr. Mayor something that you know I have been railing about, about the inmates being let out. Now coronavirus is ripping through our prison systems. And now you're letting inmates out.
The New York Post with a headline, "Dozens of New York City inmates back in jail after coronavirus relief."
You're letting them out, they're committing crimes and going right back in. Even before this, between January and March, on the heels of your bail reform law, car thefts up 65 percent, robberies up 24 percent, burglaries up 22 percent.
We know you have your hands full, Mayor. What are you going to do about it?
DE BLASIO: Well, I will come to your question about the president in a moment, Maria.
Real quick, there was a bail reform law passed by the state of New York, not the city, the state of New York. There were some things I thought needed to be better. In fact, a lot of us agreed, Governor Cuomo and I and many others agreed, there needed to be changes.
And the state legislature did make important changes a few weeks ago. And I think it's going to help us fight crime.
But, remember, the NYPD has done a remarkable job. Crime in New York City today, the last time it was this low was the 1950s. So we have had some challenges the last few months, but, overall, crime continues to go down in New York City. NYPD has done an amazing job.
In terms of the folks who were in our jail system, we let 1,400 out who either had very low-level offenses or had an immediate health danger because of the coronavirus. They're being monitored. When the jails are able to -- and the court system gets backup and running, we will bring back anyone who needs to be brought back.
Some have done the wrong thing. And they will pay the consequences. The vast majority haven't. But it was about protecting lives of correction officers and inmates in a humanitarian crisis.
President Trump and I have spoken several times about the stimulus. Look, I have given President Trump credit when he's helped New York City. And, sometimes, he and his team have done a great job at that.
You and I, Maria, have talked about Peter Navarro and the effort to get us supplies and equipment that's been deeply, deeply appreciated. And I have thanked the president for that.
Where I have been in disagreement with him is, he's still not spoken up for the stimulus to help cities and states. And he needs to speak up with energy to move the Senate. He understands the economy. He understands New York City.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
DE BLASIO: If we can't pay for basic services, we won't have a strong economy.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
DE BLASIO: We need to hear the president's voice. We're not hearing it so far.
BARTIROMO: Mr. Mayor, I want you to come back to talk about what New York City and New York will look like when we get out of this.
I want to know what the subways are going to look like. Are they going to be different? I want to know in terms of getting back to work.
Will you come back soon, so we can talk about that, because we haven't covered it enough?
Mr. Mayor, it's great to have you today.
Thank you, sir.
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