Rep. Devin Nunes reacts to declassified Russian intel

Published October 04, 2020

This is a rush transcript from “Sunday Morning Futures" October 4, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR:

Good Sunday morning, everyone. Welcome to "Sunday Morning Futures." I'm Maria Bartiromo.

It is the powerful image that is sure to be a marker of this unprecedented moment in American history. The president of the United States can be seen here displaying tremendous courage on Friday while being transported to Walter Reed Medical Center, after both he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for coronavirus just one day earlier.

The president, who has continued to work from his hospital suite, shared this update on Twitter last night, thanking his doctors and the American people for their continued support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I came here, wasn't feeling so well. I feel much better now. We're working hard to get me all the way back. I have to be back, because we still have to make America great again.

We have done an awfully good job of that, but we still have steps to go.

And we have to finish that job. And I will be back. I think I will be back soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: What does this all mean for the 2020 election in 30 days? How is the president doing?

GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy is here this morning to lay it on the line for us, along with exclusive details from his conversation with President Trump, as we learn that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will cancel work for two weeks after three Republican senators also tested positive for COVID-19.

Coming up this morning, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton with his reaction to the news and how it could impact Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court confirmation hearings, set to begin on October 12.

In the middle of it all, a major development this morning in the Russian collusion hoax, with never-before-seen Russian intelligence now implicating Hillary Clinton and President Obama in a campaign plan to -- quote -- "stir up a scandal" against then-candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 election.

Congressman Devin Nunes, along with Kevin McCarthy, they were both briefed on the bombshell reports earlier this week. They will tell us why the FBI's plot to take down President Trump was even worse than they thought.

We will also hear from acting DNI Ric Grenell this morning, who was instrumental in exposing deep state corruption, on why it took four years for his revelation to surface.

All that and a lot more right now, as we look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures."

And first this morning, prayers and get-well-soon wishes are pouring in from across the globe this morning, following the news of President Trump's coronavirus diagnosis on Thursday night.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was also hospitalized with this virus earlier this year, tweeted this: "My best wishes for President Trump and the first lady. Hope they both have a speedy recovery from coronavirus."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that, like millions of Israelis, he and his wife Sara are thinking about President Trump and Melania and "wish our friends a full and speedy recovery."

GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy spoke with the president on the phone. He joins me now with an update.

Good morning, Congressman. Good to see you this morning. Thanks so much for being here.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Thanks for having me back on, Maria.

BARTIROMO: Can you tell us how the president sounded, Congressman? You spoke with him on Friday, correct?

MCCARTHY: Yes, he called me Friday night, after he got into the hospital.

It was late, around 10:30 or so.

I could tell he wasn't feeling well, but you could see in the president, and you listen to him -- and we had a long conversation. He was worried about those others who had COVID. He was determined to make sure we defeat this virus.

And he was so appreciative of the thoughts, the prayers, and the well- wishes, but he was still doing work. We were talking about how we could get the speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to stop playing politics and actually get a COVID relief bill, of how hard he's continuing, even in his own state, that he wanted to make sure he got that to the American public, that the airlines would not be laying people off, that we could put people before politics.

BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.

You know, she reacted -- Nancy Pelosi reacted to the president's coronavirus test. And she said that it was a brazen -- the way he acted was a brazen invitation.

You have heard a lot of hate as well online. Your reaction to what you're hearing from the president's critics this morning?

MCCARTHY: Well, it's rather disgusting.

I mean, we have watched the speaker, Pelosi, say this before, that we're enemies of the state. This is uncalled for, especially in this time and place.

And, remember, other nations are watching America. This is the one time that we could unite together.

I listened in the president's voice none of those type of languages to anybody across. The one thing I did hear more of, that how committed he's even doubling down to make sure that he lowers prescription drug prices, that he protects preexisting conditions.

And he's sitting here trying to work with the speaker to get a COVID relief package together, and these are the comments that she makes? It's really unbecoming of that position.

BARTIROMO: It's unbelievable.

Look, Congressman, I want to move on to what you were briefed on this week.

This is really important, which is what the director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, declassified this week, a major bombshell that we got, when Ratcliffe sent a letter to Lindsey Graham, going through the intelligence that he was declassifying.

You are a member of the Gang of Eight, which, of course, is a term for a set of eight leaders within the country and within Congress who are briefed on classified intelligence matters by the executive branch.

You were briefed on this information this week. So let's talk about it.

So, here is the letter to Chairman Graham. And what we learned here is that, on September 7, 2016, U.S. intelligence officials forwarded an investigative referral to FBI Director James Comey and Peter Strzok regarding U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton approved a plan concerning U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private e-mail from her private server.

So, we see that Hillary Clinton approved a plan to stir up a scandal about Donald Trump in 2016. Congressman, we have been talking about the Russia hoax now for three-and-a-half years. And now we learned that it was Hillary Clinton's idea?

What can you tell us?

MCCARTHY: Well, when Director Ratcliffe released this, the leaders of Congress wanted to have a meeting, because no one in Congress, the House or the Senate, has ever seen this information, even though we have spent all these years investigating.

Now, let's walk through -- and, remember, I must be careful here, because some of this is still classified. But let's talk about what's in Ratcliffe's letter.

First, we find out, in July of 2016, that Russian intelligence had picked up that Hillary Clinton's campaign was going to create a false narrative of Trump and Russia colluding. We now find out, on July 26, that the CIA director in his own notes briefs the president on this, Brennan, to President Obama.

Then, just this Wednesday, Comey gets asked a question about this referral that you just talked about from September. He says it doesn't ring a bell.

But I have seen the underlying proof. But inside Ratcliffe's letter, this referral was sent to the FBI, to Peter Strzok and to Comey. Now, remember Peter Strzok. He was on Crossfire Hurricane and the Mueller report.

And never once did this intelligence show up anywhere in any of those investigations or to Congress or to the Senate. So, what we know with all of this -- and I know everything that's going on this week. This is the biggest news that didn't get reported, that we find out that there was no collusion between Trump and Russia, that it was created by Hillary Clinton in a campaign in July of 2016, that the CIA director, John Brennan, that the FBI director, Comey, and the president of the United States, Barack Obama, all knew about that.

And it was never brought to Congress. And we have wasted two years in this Congress and all the time before wanting to get this information, asking the questions.

So, another question that comes up, who has withheld this information?

Credit to Director Ratcliffe for that transparency of releasing it to the House and Senate. Every member of Congress should read the underlying information behind this.

This is really a bombshell of what we have wasted so much time on, that it was created by Hillary Clinton. President Obama knew it, John Brennan knew it, and Comey knew it, and never gave the information to the American public, let known to Congress or the Senate.

BARTIROMO: This is a disgrace.

For three-and-a-half years, the whole country was up in arms about this narrative that President Trump colluded with Russia. All of this time, nobody even mentioned this intelligence that they actually knew that Hillary Clinton was behind it, just like they lied to the FISA court and never told the FISA court that Hillary Clinton and her campaign and the DNC actually paid for the dossier, Congressman.

MCCARTHY: And remember the dates here.

July 2016, during the campaign, they were going to create it. President Obama was briefed by the CIA director in July, by those notes, what Ratcliffe put forward.

A memo was sent to Comey and to Peter Strzok, who was part of Crossfire Hurricane and the Mueller report, and never did this intel ever come forward.

This is exactly what I warned about. Remember, we talked about this in a Commitment to America...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: ... that the Democrats want to dismantle this nation. This proves it.

There is a different way to go forward to rebuild, restore, and renew America.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

And let me just say, before you go, the CIA director, Gina Haspel, apparently has been blocking declassification. Many sources have told me that she does not want the spotlight on the CIA.

What can you tell us about that? Because I understand -- as I understand it, this is only a small portion of what John Ratcliffe wanted to declassify. There's more. Is there more coming?

MCCARTHY: Well, there should be more coming.

You know, the person who doesn't want this to come out is probably Hillary Clinton and Adam Schiff, because what have they taken this -- America through?

We're finding now Hillary Clinton's campaign created this, Adam Schiff propelled it, even though underlying facts prove that the president knew about it, Obama, that CIA knew about it, and the FBI knew about it. And they withheld that information from the House and the Senate.

Nobody in Congress has ever seen this information. This is the biggest news, because of everything that's going on, that the public has not seen yet. And this is -- this should drive every member of Congress to go get the underlying information that John Ratcliffe had just made transparent to the world.

BARTIROMO: And, by the way, it should outrage every American, because our rights and liberties have been trampled on.

Congressman, we are going to keep following it, as we have been from day one.

Thank you so much for joining us and for shining a spotlight on what we learned this week. Thank you, sir.

MCCARTHY: Thank you, Maria.

And I'm looking forward to your new book.

BARTIROMO: Thank you so much, "The Cost: Trump, China, and American Revival." It will be out in three weeks.

Congressman Kevin McCarthy, it's great to see you this morning.

Coming up: Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton with reaction to three of his Senate colleagues testing positive for COVID-19 since Friday and what impact that could have on the Supreme Court confirmation process, set to begin on October 12.

All that and more right after this short break.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

Breaking news this morning that the U.S. Senate will stop legislating for two weeks, after a third GOP lawmaker tested positive for coronavirus over the weekend.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who made the announcement yesterday, said he does not expect it to impact the already tight timeline to confirm Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett before Election Day.

Those headlines are scheduled to begin -- those hearings, rather, are scheduled to begin on October 12.

And joining me right now is Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton. He sits on the Senate Intel, Banking and Armed Services Committee.

Senator, it's good to have you this morning. Thanks so much for joining me.

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): Hey, good morning, Maria. It's good to be on with you.

BARTIROMO: How are you doing this morning? Your colleagues have tested positive.

And it looks like it was that Amy Coney Barrett gathering at the White House to introduce her to lawmakers that really was the place where so many people were exposed. What can you tell us?

COTTON: Yes, Maria, thanks for the question.

I'm doing fine. I extend my deepest wishes to the president and the first lady and every American who has been affected by this virus to get well very quickly.

I have been in contact with my colleagues who are -- either tested positive or who have been exposed, someone who tested positive. And, to my knowledge, as of last night, everyone remains either asymptomatic or has mild symptoms that hasn't required hospitalization.

What I can say is that everyone is eager to be at work when they need to be at work that are on the Judiciary Committee, a week from tomorrow, either in-person or virtually, to have the confirmation hearings for Judge Barrett, and then to have the vote on Judge Barrett this month.

The president has nominated an outstanding jurist to be on the Supreme Court. I visited her this week. It only confirmed my high opinion of her. I suspect that's going to be the case of the American people when they see Judge Barrett at her confirmation hearings starting a week from tomorrow.

And none of this should have any impact on the schedule of the Senate, either the Judiciary Committee or the Senate as a whole.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

I want to just point out that we showed video of the event with Amy Coney Barrett. Not everybody at the event has contracted COVID-19, obviously, but three senators have. And that's why I mentioned that event.

But tell me about the proceedings. You say you are confident that you will be able to, in fact, have the nomination hearings for Judge Barrett. You think this will not impact the schedule or the agenda, sir?

COTTON: No doubt about it, Maria.

Several of the senators who are in isolation right now would come out of isolation before those hearings begin.

But the Senate Judiciary Committee has also conducted 20 hearings this year that have either been in part or in whole virtual. Many Senate Democrats who are now saying we couldn't possibly do a virtual hearing were demanding throughout this year, going back to March, that all committees be conducted over Zoom or Webex or some other kind of virtual hearing.

So, the hearing is going forward, no doubt in my mind, starting a week from tomorrow, Maria, and then on the Senate floor later this month. First off, I think every senator who has currently tested positive or is in isolation will be back to work, under normal conditions, as other senators have been as well, like Rand Paul or Tim Kaine.

But, if that's not the case, Maria, there is a long tradition of venerable tradition of ill or medically infirm senators being wheeled in to cast critical votes on the Senate floor.

Most recently, Robert Byrd in 2009 repeatedly rolled in, in a wheelchair just months before his death to vote for Obamacare.

BARTIROMO: Wow.

COTTON: So, I'm confident that every senator will be in attendance when his or her vote is needed.

BARTIROMO: So, what are you expecting from these hearings?

We know how contentious the hearing was for Brett Kavanaugh, particularly Kamala Harris, when she was questioning him. What are you expecting from vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris?

COTTON: Well, Kamala Harris in the hearings with Brett Kavanaugh revealed just what a terrible politician she is, just as she did last year, when she lit $100 million of her donors' money on fire, without even making it to the starting line for the Iowa caucuses.

In the hearings with Brett Kavanaugh, she repeatedly insinuated that there was some kind of nefarious connection between him and a law firm and Russian agents, without any evidence, and then dropped it, without ever following it up.

In another hearing for a Catholic judge who was a member of the Knights of Columbus, she attacked him for belonging to that Catholic social organization, criticizing him, as if his faith impacted the way he would rule and he couldn't overcome that.

So I expect she will launch the same kind of attacks that she did in the past, just like her fellow senator from California, Dianne Feinstein, attacked Amy Coney Barrett, saying, "The dogma lives loudly within you."

Now, when I spoke with Judge Barrett, I said I regretted these attacks in the past, but, unfortunately, I thought more of them were going to come in the future.

I mean, just last weekend, you had some Democratic voices attacking her for adopting two Haitian children on social media. I'm afraid we are going to see more of that. We ought not see it, but it's probably what the Democrats have up their sleeves.

BARTIROMO: Mm-hmm.

Well, I mean, why are there -- they so upset about this? They don't want the president to name another Supreme Court justice.

COTTON: Well, that's the bottom line, Maria.

It's why Joe Biden won't reveal his potential Supreme Court nominees, putting out a list the way Donald Trump does, because it would expose the radical left-wing agenda of the Democrats. Any judge that Joe Biden nominates would impose his views on the American people, taking critical questions away from them, not protecting their Second Amendment rights...

BARTIROMO: Right.

COTTON: ... or, in many cases, their First Amendment rights.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

COTTON: That's what the Democrats want from the courts, to achieve by litigation what they can't achieve by legislation.

BARTIROMO: All right, Senator, let's take a short break.

When we come back, I want to get your take Chinese state media and the reaction to the president's coronavirus diagnosis, what it says about their global ambitions.

We're talking with Senator Tom Cotton this morning.

Stay with us. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

We are back with Senator Tom Cotton.

And, Senator, Beijing has already chosen sides in the 2020 election, with the Communist Party backing -- the Communist Party-backed Global times endorsing Joe Biden last month, calling him -- quote -- "smoother" to deal with than President Trump.

Now they are mocking the president's positive coronavirus test, writing in this since deleted tweet that he -- quote -- "paid the price for his gamble to play down COVID-19," from the Global Times.

Senator your reaction?

COTTON: It sounds like foreign election interference, Maria, with the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece endorsing Joe Biden.

Of course, there's a reason why they endorse Joe Biden, because Joe Biden's record on China is terrible. He shipped our factories and our manufacturing jobs to China. He stood idly by while China stole our intellectual property and militarized its islands in the South China Sea and spread its communist tentacles of influence through our universities and Hollywood studios and major news organizations.

Their mockery of President Trump, though, calls to mind what I have said since early January, when I was the first person in Washington sounding the alarm about this virus, which I have said from the beginning is serious and highly contagious, that there is one party and one party only that is responsible for all of the Americans who have been affected by this virus, to include President Trump, those who have lost a job, or fallen ill, or even lost a loved one.

And the responsible party is the Chinese Communist Party for unleashing this plague on the world and lying about it from the beginning, as they still lie about it today.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

Unfortunately, we're not hearing the same upset from the critics of President Trump, even from your Democrat colleagues. They just refuse to call out China, and instead have plenty to say that's wrong with President Trump.

COTTON: Well, I mean, look, Maria, back in late December, about a week or so after I'd called for a travel ban from China, and I had consulted with the president about it, and he made the decisive announcement that he would shut down travel, what did Joe Biden say?

Joe Biden said, this is just another example of Donald Trump's hysteria and fearmongering and xenophobia.

If Joe Biden had been president in January and February, we would have still had tens of thousands of people landing in this country from mainland China while the virus was running rampant through mainland China for weeks.

That would have -- mean that the impact of the pandemic here would have been much greater, much earlier than it was. It's just another example of how Joe Biden has always been soft on China and, if he's elected president, will surrender all of the gains we have made over the last four years standing up to China, finally.

BARTIROMO: Well, it's -- of course, President Trump is the first leader to really poke back on China's behavior, in particular, stealing intellectual property for so long from this country.

What's your take on what they're stealing now? You were not only the first to call out China and call out the seriousness of this disease, but you also were among the first -- you were the first on this program to say they were stealing our research on COVID-19, as we speak.

COTTON: Yes.

BARTIROMO: Is that still going on? How do you stop it?

COTTON: Well, yes, Maria, China -- the Chinese Communist Party continues to try to steal everything that's not bolted down to the floor.

And after they have gotten all of that, they will bring bolt cutters back and try to take the rest of the stuff too.

I mean, look, in Arkansas, they have bribed a university professor for esoteric, but essential engineering techniques that have military applications, and stolen rice genomes. As you said, there's evidence and the intelligence community has made public its concern about the threats that the Chinese Communist Party would be stealing research related to coronavirus vaccines.

They continue their campaign of industrial and commercial and military espionage. We finally have a president that has taken it seriously and imposing costs on them. I'm afraid that we will backslide if Joe Biden is elected president.

BARTIROMO: All right, we will leave it there.

Tom Cotton, it's good to see you this morning, Senator. Thanks so much.

Senator Tom Cotton joining us.

COTTON: Thank you.

BARTIROMO: We're going to continue talking about intelligence this morning.

Straight ahead, Congressman Devin Nunes is here with brand-new details on the origins of the Russian collusion hoax that he says proves the plot to take down President Trump was far worse than he ever thought. He was among those briefed by DNI Ratcliffe.

You don't want to miss it.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: This investigation of the president was corrupt.

The FBI and the Department of Justice were politicized and weaponized.

And, in my opinion, there are only two possibilities, that you were deliberately corrupt or willfully incompetent. And I don't believe you were incompetent.

This has done severe damage to the professionals and the honorable men and women at the FBI, because law enforcement should not be used as a political weapon. And that is the legacy you have left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: That was Texas Senator Ted Cruz grilling former FBI Director Jim Comey on Wednesday about his leadership overseeing the Crossfire Hurricane probe.

Comey, who oversaw the bureau during the 2016 election up through the presidential transition period, told the Senate he did not know the source of the Steele dossier, and that he did not recall anyone ever raising -- using the Logan Act against General Michael Flynn.

Devin Nunes is the ranking member on the House Intel Committee. He is the author of the new book "Countdown to Socialism."

Congressman Nunes, it's good to see you this morning. Thanks so much for joining us.

REP. DEVIN NUNES (R-CA): Always -- always a pleasure. Good morning.

BARTIROMO: So, first, evaluate the Jim Comey testimony that we saw in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee this past week.

NUNES: Well, you know, on certain day, James Comey has an intelligence level higher than Einstein. He seems to know everything. He takes immaculate notes. He even takes those classified notes home and shares them with a lawyer. Somehow, those notes end up in The New York Times.

But then, other times, like you would think when you have actually opened an investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia, he seems to have amnesia. He's forgotten everything.

And, look, I will just make this point. We asked him specifically and all the other dirty cops at DOJ and FBI and the intelligence agencies, in January of early 2017, where did this dirt come from? None of them seem to know the answer.

And you know what, Maria? Every damn person in that room knew the answer, except for the Republicans. That's the truth.

BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.

Well, we want to talk more about this. I want to point out this op-ed that Kim Strassel from The Wall Street Journal wrote last week. And it's called "The James Comey Election."

And, in it, she writes: "Mr. Comey personifies what enrages Americans after they have gone through three-and-a-half years of this collusion narrative."

She says: "This was the crew that, in 2016, based on the thinnest of tips, launched a counterintelligence investigation into a presidential campaign, complete with secret surveillance warrants and informants."

She goes on to say: "These -- this all took place in Barack Obama and Joe Biden's Washington. Those eight years also featured plenty of other swamp monsters. Don't underestimate the number of Americans who fear a return to that world, Lois Lerner harassing conservative nonprofits, supervisors at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives losing guns in Fast and Furious, the EPA minions who burn companies with ever-changing rules."

And the list goes on. This is why she's calling this the James Comey election.

Will the American people understand what took place under Joe Biden and Barack Obama's watch and this plan to take down a candidate and then a sitting president, Congressman?

NUNES: Well, look, Maria, this is -- this may sound a little self-serving, but the reason I wrote "Countdown to Socialism" is exactly for this reason, that people need to understand the consequences of this election.

We're going to go back to what we have been living through, this nightmare.

For me, it has been four years. You have to remember I was first briefed on this in September that the Russians were doing something nefarious, but was never given any information.

And now what we find out from the briefings we have recently had -- and I know you asked Leader McCarthy this. This is a real problem, that these documents that clearly our government had, the legislative branch of government never received these.

Remember what I said earlier about that January meeting? Hey, who the hell paid for this? And, remember, it was the work that we did, the House Republicans did? We had to fight through subpoenas. We had to prove that it was the Clinton campaign and the DNC that had paid for the dirty dossier and this dirty information.

You know, remember all of that that happened? We should have been -- they knew about this four years ago, when myself and Speaker at the time Paul Ryan were briefed, and they hid this from us. And they continued to hide it, all the way until we uncovered it.

But I will tell you, the documents that are underlying that we now have seen, I have only seen a few of those. They're definitely smoking guns.

That information definitely needs to be made available to the American public.

And, from what I understand, there's even more underlying evidence that backs up what Director Ratcliffe put out. And just think how long it took for us to figure out this information. It's -- I know it's mind-boggling.

This has been a very difficult task for us to get to the bottom of, because you have corrupt officials.

And I think that's the point here. Are you going to go back to and elect somebody like Biden, who just the other night, Maria, had the audacity to go after President Trump once again for what? That Putin -- I think he said he had Putin wrapped around his finger.

And then he didn't answer the question of, why did his son get $3.5 million from a Russian oligarch with ties to Putin?

If Ivanka Trump had been bought a Big Mac in the Red Square by a Russian oligarch, they would have locked her up and they would have said, this is evidence of collusion.

Here you have the media, which is the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party, ignoring all of this, ignoring all of this for the last four years.

And now you have, on a debate stage, why did your son get paid $3.5 million from a Russian oligarch?

So, here they have been blaming -- Republicans have something to do with Russia, when the whole damn time they have something to do with Russia.

I think what they think is, is that -- is that it's OK for them to take all of this money and grift, but they will just take and accuse Republicans of doing it to cover up their tracks. And that's basically what we knew about this the whole time.

BARTIROMO: Congressman, this is shameful.

NUNES: There was plenty of circumstantial evidence to know this, Maria, that this -- that the Clinton campaign had created all of this because they knew the 33,000 e-mails were out there somewhere.

They knew that Jason Chaffetz and House Republicans were trying to find those e-mails. So, what did they do? They created a sick fantasy, OK? This was the Clinton campaign. I want you to remember this. The Clinton campaign created this sick fantasy.

Then they went out and hired avatars to do it. So, they hired a former British spy named Steele, who did the Steele dossiers. Then they hired a suspected Russian spy, OK, so that they could give it a veneer of being a Russian. So, imagine that.

Now you have the Democrats hiring Russian spies, getting $3.5 million from Moscow, and nobody in the media seems to give a damn about it.

And so I think what Leader McCarthy said is exactly right. Every Republican senator and member of Congress should be saying, this is over. We want every damn bit of evidence that every intelligence agency has, or it's maybe time to shut those agencies down, because, at the end of the day...

BARTIROMO: You're making...

(CROSSTALK)

NUNES: ... our liberties are more important than anything else we have in this country.

And they have been stampeded over by these dirty cops...

BARTIROMO: Exactly.

NUNES: ... and the Democratic Party, and the media, who fails to report on it.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

This is absolutely shameful that this report last week that DNI Ratcliffe declassified got no coverage from the mainstream media, no coverage.

What a disgrace that our liberties and rights have been trampled over because of one political campaign coming up with an idea to stir up a fantasy, stir up a scandal around the other political campaign. And the FBI went right along with it and weaponized our intelligence agencies to go against Donald Trump.

So, what else can you tell us about this? You were briefed by DNI Ratcliffe, part of the Gang of Eight, a small group of eight, Congressman, who are privy to intelligence out of the executive branch. What can you tell us? Is there more coming?

NUNES: Well...

BARTIROMO: And, by the way, you just said many times you have never seen this.

When this story first came out last week, that is the first thing that the media said, this was out, and it was debunked.

What you're saying is, you have never seen this.

NUNES: Yes.

Well, look, remember, the media is essentially the Democratic National Committee. So, they're putting out the same propaganda to cover up the tracks, because the media was involved in this the whole time.

Remember what I was saying, that we were looking for all of this information because we suspected -- and, look, it was really -- it was really -- I have got to credit Lee Smith, the investigative journalist who actually wrote about this in his book.

He actually discovered, just by going through and looking at what the media was saying, looking at what the campaign was saying, and the timing of it all, and then he actually got his hands on what were -- these are really unknown. Only Lee Smith has these, the proto-dossiers.

So, these were the early dossiers. And I would encourage everybody to look at the early dossiers, before you got to the Steele dossiers. So, essentially, what you had is, you had these sick fantasies that were in these proto-dossiers, that then they hired the Russian spy and the British spy to make it look like it was real to cover up what the Clinton campaign was doing.

And so now there's a bunch of underlying evidence that I have only seen a little bit of this week. I think there's a lot more of it.

I will also say this.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NUNES: If you ask of other information that I think we need to see...

BARTIROMO: Congressman -- yes.

NUNES: ... we need to see -- we had this FBI agent.

A 302 came out about his recollection of everything that had happened. So, the Russian spy that the Democrats hired that actually worked for a left- wing think tank called the Brookings Institute...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NUNES: ... we need to see -- he was interviewed three times.

And, in fact, he was even given -- supposedly, he was given a get-out-of- jail-free card because he testified. Now, when he testified, he said: I don't have anything.

At least, that's what we're being told by Horowitz and others.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NUNES: The American public needs to see the three reports, that we know about, at least, from the Democrats' Russian spy that they hired.

So, that's additional documents that we need to see.

And then, just on -- on another note...

BARTIROMO: Congressman -- yes.

NUNES: ... you see that -- that McCabe isn't going to testify this week because he's fearful for his safety. He's supposed to testify before the Senate.

This is new evidence too. I'm not familiar with COVID transmitting over the Internet. But it seems the dirty cops at the FBI, they can get COVID over the Internet now.

It's a shame that these guys now are not going to testify before the Senate.

BARTIROMO: So, Andrew McCabe is saying he's not going to testify on -- virtually because of COVID?

NUNES: Yes, that's right, exactly. How -- I mean...

BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.

NUNES: So, these guys are such good agents...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NUNES: ... they have even -- I mean, they know more than medical doctors know. He doesn't want to get COVID over Zoom or Skype.

BARTIROMO: Right.

NUNES: I mean, it's a joke. I'm joking, but it's ridiculous.

BARTIROMO: Devin Nunes, it's good to see you.

It's unbelievable. Yes, I understand. I understand what you're saying. It's absolutely unbelievable.

And, for four years, you came on my show, this program, and you laid it all out. And I know that you have been asking, demanding documents. You never got them.

Coming up, we continue this conversation with Ric Grenell.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

We just heard from Congressman Devin Nunes, and he said the plot to take down President Donald Trump was far more sinister than anybody ever expected.

My sources tell me that DNI Ratcliffe declassified only a small portion of the intelligence which implicates Hillary Clinton. There is more.

Even so, without Ratcliffe and his predecessor, Ric Grenell, the American public would never have known about any of it. As acting director of national intelligence, Grenell and Ratcliffe view more raw intelligence than anyone in the country, except for the president.

Ric Grenell also served as the U.S. ambassador to Germany. He joins me right now.

Good morning, Ric. Great to have you this morning. Thanks so much for joining us.

RICHARD GRENELL, FORMER ACTING U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE:

Good morning, Maria.

BARTIROMO: And you really got the ball rolling, starting to declassify these important documents.

Can you react to what you just heard from Devin Nunes?

GRENELL: Yes, first of all, let me start, Maria, by really thanking you.

You have been on this story. This is something that the American people need to know the truth on. Transparency is not political. And anyone who is trying to pretend that bringing the facts out and bringing the documents out is somehow nefarious or political is just dead wrong.

We have had a scandal developing. And the scandal has developed largely because politicians have allowed individuals to hide information to create a false narrative on one side.

What Devin was saying, I think, is very real. What we heard from James Comey this week was really shocking, because James Comey is blaming lower- level, mid-level career intelligence officials for this whole debacle. He's pleading that he didn't know anything about it, and they did it.

And so this is the first moment where he's throwing the intelligence community officials, career officials, under the bus.

BARTIROMO: So, he's throwing them under the bus by saying he didn't know anything.

Was this not the most important investigation the FBI has ever conducted into a sitting president, and he says he didn't know? Why was -- if he didn't know, why was this investigation happening out of headquarters, right?

Wouldn't an investigation be happening in the field office? Instead, it was right there under his watch. How is it possible that he didn't know?

GRENELL: Oh, I think it's not possible at all.

He was a leader who knew every detail, took copious notes. And he's now just pretending that he didn't know. But the most important part is, he's blaming mid-level career officials.

Let me be clear to intelligence officials, career individuals that I have worked with who are incredible people, who have been shocked at what has happened, that leadership has hid those voices that were early on saying, this is Russian propaganda, we shouldn't go with it.

But the leadership, James Comey and others in the leadership, decided to hide those warnings from career officials. And now he's blaming career officials.

Let me just say, these career intelligence officials, who largely live in the D.C. area, are represented mostly by Senator Warner, who sits on the Intelligence Committee, who is a leader on the Intelligence Committee.

And Senator Warner has been completely silent on protecting those individuals who did the right thing early on by creating warnings, saying, this is Russian propaganda.

Senator Warner is protecting James Comey.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

GRENELL: If you live in Virginia, this is an outrage that you are not being represented by a senator who has your interests, because, when I saw James Comey throw the intelligence community officials under the bus, that is outrageous, should not be allowed to happen.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

So, I want to ask that about Mark Warner. I also want to ask you about Gina Haspel. Gina Haspel does not want any more declassifications coming out.

Why? What is going to happen to the CIA head next?

We're going to take a break. Then, we come back, we will talk about the media bias and the 2020 election.

More with Ric Grenell next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

I'm back with former acting DNI Ric Grenell.

And, Ric, we were just talking about this declassification, this bombshell declassified document, which happened last week.

You saw that Gina Haspel has been reluctant to release information about what took place in 2016. That's the head of the CIA. Is that what you have experienced as well? And why?

GRENELL: Look, Maria, I don't think it's helpful to publicly criticize the heads of intelligence agencies, especially as the former acting director. I worked very closely with all of them.

But let me just say this, that I think it's incredibly important that we all lean forward on releasing documents. If the documents are not showing specific sources or methods in how we got those pieces of information and intelligence, I think that this scandal is big enough that we need to lean forward and declassify and release the information, especially when we have U.S. senators asking for this information.

I think it's incredibly important...

BARTIROMO: And...

GRENELL: ... if we want to have intelligence agencies that the American public has a faith in.

And it's clear that this past several years, our intelligence agencies and other agencies of the U.S. government were weaponized against their political enemies. And this is a scandal that people need to pay attention to.

BARTIROMO: OK.

GRENELL: And this is also -- let me just say this.

BARTIROMO: Absolutely.

GRENELL: This is what happens when the insiders maintain control over all of the information.

And this is why I believe that President Trump, as the outsider, is being viciously attacked, because he's getting close to really changing the way that Washington works. And they do not want the rules changed, which is why they have gone back to the guy that they can trust as the nominee, the 47 years of Joe Biden.

BARTIROMO: That's right.

GRENELL: They know exactly what he's going to do and what rules he will play by.

BARTIROMO: Well, that's right. People do not want to lose their grip on power.

Ric, I wanted to ask you about the LGBTQ community and why you have said such favorable things about the president. We will talk about that next time.

I hope you will join me next week, Ric. We need to hear more from you, Ric Grenell.

That'll do it for "Sunday Morning Futures." Watch us, the repeat today,

4:00 p.m. Eastern.

And I'll see you tomorrow.

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