Rep. Kevin Brady calls for probe into leak of President Trump's taxes
Top Republican on House Ways and Means Committee joins Neil Cavuto on 'Your World' to discuss.
This is a rush transcript from “Your World with Neil Cavuto" September 29, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: All right, the scene in Cleveland, Ohio, at Case Western University, the scene of the big debate tonight. You might have heard a thing or two about it.
Wouldn't it be funny if either one of these guys realize, oh, it's tonight. Indeed, it is, everything on the line. They're expecting we could get upwards of 100 million Americans watching this, and the global audience that will be checking in as well. It is that big, that important, and now, 35 days ahead of the election, that crucial.
Both candidates have had opportunities to prepare for this. We know, for the president, Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie have been prepping the president and alternating playing roles acting as Joe Biden.
As for the former vice president, he has been relying on his former chief of staff Ron Klain, and his chief strategist, Mike Donilon, among others. So, they're as ready as they can be, a memory from this from former presidents, vice presidents, candidates of all sort who've been through this process.
You prepare, but you don't want to over prepare. You can get inundated with this stuff. So the battle is on.
Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto, and this is YOUR WORLD with John Roberts first off.
The president has arrived in Cleveland now. He will be touring the facility a little bit later today. Joe Biden will be doing the same.
John, what can you tell us?
JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Neil, good afternoon to you.
The battle is on, on a number of different fronts. This is kind of like a prize fight, with each one of the candidates looking for a knockout blow. And like any good prize fight, there's a sideshow going into this, both sides playing a little bit of gamesmanship.
Earlier today, the Trump campaign saying that, in weeks of negotiations leading up to the debate, they had said that they wanted to have a third party look into the ears of both candidates to look for Ethan Hunt-style transceivers that they might be receiving cues from the campaign from.
Originally, they say the Biden campaign agreed to it, but then today backed off of that and said, no, nobody's going to be looking into Joe Biden's ears.
The Trump campaign also saying that the Biden campaign had been asked -- but asked for two breaks during the debate at the 30-minute and 60-minute mark, but that the Trump campaign rejected that request.
Here's what the Biden deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield, said about both of those things.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
KATE BEDINGFIELD, BIDEN DEPUTY CAMPAIGN MANAGER: It is completely absurd. Of course he is not wearing an earpiece, and we never asked for breaks.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And then Bedingfield engaging in a little bit of gamesmanship of her own here. Listen to this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BEDINGFIELD: If we're playing that game, then the Trump team asked that Chris Wallace never mention the number of COVID deaths once during the debate. So, you can consider that confirmed from the Biden campaign.
See how easy that was to try to throw up a distraction?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Now, the Trump campaign saying that Bedingfield completely made that up out of whole cloth on the call, but, just in case, they wanted to put out a statement disavowing and saying -- quote -- "This is a lie, and it never happened. This is the height of playing politics with a public health crisis. Biden is trying to distract from the facts that he won't submit to an inspection for earpieces, won't take a drug test, and needs multiple breaks during the 90-minute debate."
I also heard a rumor running around, Neil, that they both wanted bowls of M&M candies with the brown ones removed. But that turned out to be a specious rumor started by a former member of Van Halen. And I just made that up -- Neil.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: It sounds plausible. It sounds very, very plausible.
ROBERTS: Sounds plausible, yes.
CAVUTO: John Roberts, thank you very, very much, my friend, following all of that there.
Jacqui Heinrich right now on how the Biden campaign is preparing for this big night -- Jacqui.
JACQUI HEINRICH, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, how do you follow that, Neil?
Biden's motorcade arrived at the airport about 40 minutes ago to some heavy rain. We're awaiting information as to when he's going to arrive here at the pavilion to take his walk-through.
Biden has been largely out of view since Sunday, reportedly preparing, with former White House counsel Bob Bauer playing the role of President Trump in at least one mock debate session. Biden said this weekend he's expecting a lot of personal digs from President Trump.
His biggest challenge will be delivering a succinct point on policy, while also deflecting attacks. President Trump indicated in a White House briefing on Sunday he plans to corner Biden over allegations his son Hunter profited from his father's position as Vice President.
But Biden made counterpunch with allegations President Trump avoided paying taxes for years, part of a New York Times report released days before the debate. Today, Joe Biden released his 2019 returns, making 22 years of financial disclosures available.
Conversely, President Trump has described his preparations as far less formal, saying he prepares every day just by being president. But he did disclose Sunday he hosted sessions with former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, tossing out likely attacks from Biden on topics such as the coronavirus, with some reports out now that he may counter those attacks with attacks on Joe Biden that he's soft on China -- Neil.
CAVUTO: All right. I have a feeling they're going to go for the jugular right away here.
Jacqui Heinrich, thank you very, very much.
Let's go to Bret Baier of "Special Report" fame, bestselling actor -- author, I should say. Actor. Oh, my gosh.
Bret, each side has now sort of...
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Actor too.
CAVUTO: Well, that's fine.
Each side sort of has its own strategy here. We do know that the vice president, the former vice president released his 2019 tax returns, obviously telegraphing he's going to get into this tax issue that The New York Times highlighted right away.
What are you hearing as far as how some of these recent developments have changed things?
BAIER: Well, I do think that Joe Biden is going to take that tax story and run with it.
He's going to -- you have already seen it with Democratic surrogates out and about, using it to say that average Americans are paying more than the commander in chief. And there's a pushback from the Trump campaign and from the president.
If you read down into that New York Times story, it's interesting to read the details of what they have on that data and what we have not seen. And, obviously, the president could solve everything by putting it out once it's over this audit that they did confirm is happening.
CAVUTO: I'm curious, too.
I mean, it's always about expectations. You have covered more than a few of these and participated in more than a few of these over the years. And I'm just wondering if the president might regret presenting Joe Biden is all but a clueless Mr. Magoo.
I mean, all Biden would have to do that is just still be standing at the end of it and be OK, right?
BAIER: There's been a big reversal in the past week on that tone and tenor and those phrases.
And they have been -- the campaign and even the president's been saying he's done a lot of debates, he's been in Washington for 47 years, he steps up to the moment. So, I think there's been kind of like the Fred Flintstone car running backwards, trying to make up for what was said prior to that.
(LAUGHTER)
BAIER: But, listen, it is different tonight, Neil. I think this is -- while Joe Biden has tried to make it about Donald Trump, this election, this tonight is about how Joe Biden shows up and how he deals with 90 minutes, six topics, 15 minutes each.
CAVUTO: You know, all these stories back and forth, the earpiece thing, the break thing at every half-hour for Joe Biden, I mean, each side dismissing all of these back-and-forths here.
But do we know whether serious tradeoffs were being debated among the camps ahead of this big night?
BAIER: We know that negotiations were ongoing. Both campaigns now say that the other campaign is lying about what they agreed to or didn't agree to.
The bottom line is that this is all going to go by the wayside when the two men step on stage. And, really, the issues are going to be batted back and forth. There have long been these pregame distractions, Kate Bedingfield getting pretty forceful in her pushback on all of that, and the Trump campaign saying, it is what it is.
CAVUTO: You know, we talk about -- and I know others have gotten into this, Bob Barnett and others, the so-called likability factor, those who thought that Hillary Clinton did very well in the debates against him four years ago, but lost on that sort of intangible who voters connected with.
I mean, how does this play out, you think?
BAIER: I think this is different.
I think we know now President Trump in the spotlight. It's not the last time, where it was kind of like this new figure then and how he was going to play. It's been three-and-a-half years. And Joe Biden is a known figure as well.
How they interact with -- on stage with each other, and if it gets -- as you said, the gloves come off in the few -- first few minutes, it's -- both campaigns know that the first 30 minutes of this debate is really where the most eyeballs will be watching. So, expect fireworks early, if they're coming.
CAVUTO: All right, looking forward to it, Bret.
Thank you very, very much, Bret Baier.
(CROSSTALK)
BAIER: I'm going to look into the brown M&Ms.
CAVUTO: Yes. I'm sure there's some traction to that. We will look at that.
Thank you, Bret, very, very much.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Look forward to your coverage.
In the meantime here, we talk about so many people have made up their minds, anywhere from only about 5 percent to 6 percent of Americans who have not. And that might be generous. But a good many of those undecideds are in battleground states.
So their role, small as it is, is as crucial as it has never been before. Winning them over, the big battle -- after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, we're only moments away from the president of the United States.
He's going to get a sort of look at the grounds here Case Western University in Cleveland, the site of tonight's big debate between he and the former Vice President Joe Biden.
The former vice president sort of tours the facilities a little bit -- about an hour-and-a-half from now, I believe. When we catch the president, at least outside the facility, show you that. There's no showing anything inside of the facility.
But, of course, all of this comes at a time when this could decide a lot of things. As hard as this is to believe, there are a number of Americans who are still undecided on this presidential contest. And a good many of them are in these battleground states, Ohio, of course, where this is being waged, just among them.
Let's get the read on what's at stake tonight with Kennedy, FOX Business correspondent, much, much more. Kristen Hawn is here, the Democratic strategist, and Inez Stepman, Independent Women's Forum.
Inez, end it with you, if I can begin with you on what would resonate tonight. What connects with independent voters or those who still have not made up their minds? In other words, they're open to either guy, surprising as that seems in these very vitriolic times. What do you think connects?
INEZ STEPMAN, INDEPENDENT WOMEN'S FORUM: I think it really depends on two major factors.
One is, Donald Trump really has to make the case for his coronavirus response. He has very low ratings among independents on his response. About 34 percent of independents approve of that response. And I think that's going to take an uncharacteristically sober sort of performance from the president on that particular issue.
I think that's too much to expect across the board. But, on that particular issue, I think he has to show that he's capable of being sober and presidential.
But the other issue, I think, that is a positive for him that I think he will probably hit hard on in the debate and probably could -- should continue to do so throughout the election, the more people are worried about law and order breakdown, the more people are worried about the riots, those are the sort of issues that will push independents towards Donald Trump.
They may not like some things about Donald Trump. But if they're thinking about Kenosha, if they're thinking about Black Lives Matter protests that turn into riots in the cities, and even in smaller cities and suburbs, I think those are going to be issues that are really important in pushing them towards the president.
CAVUTO: You know, one issue that's evolved in the last 24 to 48 hours -- and, Kristen, I will begin with you on this -- is the tax situation, because of this New York Times report, over the last couple of decades, 10 years of which the president paid no taxes at all at, $750 in each of the two years in question, 2016 and 2017.
We already know Joe Biden has released his 2019 tax returns. That was not an accident, and far more than just coincidental. So, do you expect right away Joe Biden goes for that tax issue?
KRISTEN HAWN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think it depends on how -- I'm sure he will bring it up. I'm not sure of right away.
I mean, I think that I agree that 100 percent, Democrats, we're seeing in these swing states with independent voters that we're winning on the issue of health care and the president's response to COVID. So, I would go there right away.
But on the issue of taxes, I think you have to be careful, if you're Biden , not to get drawn into a long, prolonged tax discussion.
However, I have had a number of conversations with federal elected officials over the past couple of days just trying to gauge what they're hearing from people back in their districts. And the D.C. crowd, the D.C. elite crowd seems to be all over this.
I think that, if you're a Trump supporter, it's not necessarily something you're going to care about. But there is some element of an independent voter, particularly women, working people in Ohio, who may take a look at that issue, and if Biden effectively messages on it, may think, that's not fair.
But I think it's yet to be seen.
CAVUTO: Kennedy, we talk about the expectations game and how maybe the president would have put himself in a corner here, because some White House officials have since sort of unwound that notion that Joe Biden is clueless, out to lunch, aging, doesn't know where he is.
Some of them have sort of restructured that to think, oh, he's been in the Senate for 47 years and been a Washington key figure, I should say, for close to half-a-century here. He's well-seasoned in this.
How is that going to go? Because people have impressions that are made oftentimes by the opponent.
KENNEDY, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK CORRESPONDENT: Joe Biden does well when he naps. We haven't seen Joe Biden lately. We can assume that he's napping. Therefore, we can assume that he's going to do pretty well tonight.
(LAUGHTER)
KENNEDY: And Joe Biden is the best person to make the case that he's a mumble-mouth old person, which is fine. That's great. They happen to be some of my favorite golden Americans.
I don't know that I necessarily want one is president. And I think this debate could get very boring very quickly if you have two old white guys on stage going, you're old. No, you're old. You're corrupt. Well, you're crooked.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Boy, you're older than I thought you were, right.
KENNEDY: Exactly.
Yes, President Trump's going to hold up a sack of dirt and be like, you're older than this.
(LAUGHTER)
KENNEDY: And Joe Biden will say, curses. How dare you, young man?
CAVUTO: You're not allowed to bring dirt into the debate hall.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Inez, all kidding aside, I mean, these things are judged on a variety of levels.
One is, it's one thing to know the substance and be aware of the issues. It's quite another to reintroduce yourself to the American people.
And, after all, whoever wins is going to be in Americans' living room for the next four years. So, the likability issue or the relatability issue, how important do you think that is, if at all?
STEPMAN: I'm not sure, actually, in this particular election, it's particularly important, just because I think the bigger factor here is, there is still a very strong antipathy among both sides, right and left and center, towards sort of politics as usual in D.C.
Now, the multiple crises we have lived through this year or continue to live through does give some folks a longing for a return to normalcy. But I still think that Biden pointing to being in Washington for 47 years is not a great thing in this election.
And Donald trump, by the way, on his taxes, I think he will do the same thing he did in 2016, where he practically admitted to bribing politicians on the debate stage in 2016. And he basically said, yes, this is the corrupt system that these politicians before me have built. And, yes, I took advantage of it because I'm Donald trump.
I don't think anyone's under the impression that he wouldn't take advantage of that system. But I think he can get out of it in the same way he got out of that one, which is to basically say, yes, that's why you sent me to here to break up the system. You sent me here to change things, because this system of taxation is unfair. And, yes, I took advantage of it. But I'm here to fix that.
CAVUTO: All right, we will see.
That might be difficult, although, you're right. He has done that in the past. It's worked for him. He is in the White House right now, despite this exact thing coming to light four years ago this very week.
Ladies, I want to thank you all very, very much.
Couple of developments we're following, that the president's close to or about arriving at the Case Western University debate site in Cleveland, Ohio. We will continue to follow that, as he tours the site and, later on, Joe Biden.
But, in the meantime, some developments in Washington, D.C., where Judge Amy Barrett was sort of doing the courtesy calls on largely just Republican senators, so far, not a single Democratic senator. But who knows. Things could change.
The latest -- after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: Forget about decades of the president's tax forms that got into the hands of The New York Times. Is it a criminal act that they got out in the first place?
The congressman who's looking into that and says it's not right or legal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, the president has arrived at the debate hall, Case Western University in Cleveland.
We will not be getting any shots of that inside the building. About an hour, hour-and-a-half from now, we're expecting the former Vice President Joe Biden to tour the same facility here.
So, any news on that, we will keep you posted. But they are still slated for tonight's big debate.
With all these crosscurrents of developments, and now the vice president, the former vice president releasing his 2019 tax returns to telegraph that he is going to demand why the president hasn't released his, and back and forth back and forth.
In the meantime, it's not only just developments in Cleveland, this big debate tonight. Of course, there is that Supreme Court pick up of president making her rounds today, courtesy rounds, visiting Republican senators.
Judge Amy Coney Barrett was meeting with Mitch McConnell, other Republican leaders, John Thune, so far, no Democratic senators. Most have expressed no interest in these courtesy calls, obviously still smarting four years later from the treatment of Merrick Garland when Barack Obama was in his final year of office.
Mark Meredith with more from Capitol Hill.
Hey, Mark.
MARK MEREDITH, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Neil.
Judge Amy Coney Barrett has had a nonstop day here. It's still going at this hour, because, as you mentioned, she's meeting face to face with these different senators ahead of her confirmation hearings beginning a little bit later on in the weeks ahead.
Earlier this morning, Vice President Mike Pence actually greeted her on the steps of the Capitol, walked her up, as she had a chance to also meet with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The leader, he did not say much, but he did welcome her to the Capitol. And we're likely going to be seeing this become a contentious fight ahead.
Among the meetings today, in addition to McConnell, she had a chance to meet with some senior Republicans, including Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. She will be meeting with Senator Lindsey Graham, the chair of the Judiciary Committee, coming up a little bit later on this afternoon.
She also met with Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Cruz spoke out this afternoon.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: I expect that the Senate will confirm Judge Barrett and do so by the end of the month. And when the Senate does so, we will be honoring the promise we made to the American people to confirm principled constitutionalists to the Supreme Court.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MEREDITH: And while Republicans are adding Barrett to their calendar, so far, we have not seen that happen with any Democratic senators.
Something could change. But, so far, six senators have said they don't plan to meet with her at all, among them, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY): Her views are so pronounced that I don't think meeting with her would change anything. And the process was so legitimate, that I don't want to validate it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MEREDITH: Republicans are trying to get Barrett confirmed before Election Day.
One of the questions reporters shouted to Mitch McConnell today was whether or not Barrett would need to recuse herself from any of the 2020 cases, because, after all, this is all happening as she's getting confirmed.
The leader did not answer this. But that is something we're likely going to hear a lot more about in the days and weeks ahead -- Neil.
CAVUTO: All right, Mark Meredith, thank you very much, my friend.
So, it is a little chilly there, with Democrats, by and large, opting not to meet or even have a courtesy meet-and-greet with Judge Barrett.
Jim Trusty is here, the former DOJ prosecutor, much, much more.
Jim, I don't want to say absolutely unprecedented, but unusual. What do you make of it?
JAMES TRUSTY, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, look, it's not a constitutional requirement that they have these little informal meet-and- greets.
And I'm pretty suspicious that not many of those senators are actually looking to gauge her judicial philosophy or her temperament as a judge. They have kind of already determined where they want to go. So, look, it's a tantrum of sorts. It's the beginning of the street theater that we're going to see.
But I don't think it's much more than a hiccup to have the Democratic side of the aisle say they don't want to talk to her behind closed doors.
CAVUTO: If they don't want to meet with her -- and, obviously, this isn't mandated in the Constitution and everything else. You're quite right. But should they question?
For those members on the Judiciary Committee, Democrats, who opt not to, I can't imagine they would pass up the opportunity to grill her.
TRUSTY: Oh, I think they will definitely do that. Well, I shouldn't say definitely. It's a weird world. I wouldn't have predicted everything that happened in Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing.
CAVUTO: Right.
TRUSTY: So, if Michael Avenatti shows up, all bets are off.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUSTY: But I think there's a pretty good chance that they will give some serious questioning.
Right now, the Senate attacks seem to be based on this notion that she will single-handedly destroy Obamacare, and that we're all going to basically get coronavirus because of that.
But, historically, the attack was really much more about her Catholicism. And that's basically an unconstitutional attack, when you look at Article 6 of the Constitution, but one they were very comfortable with in terms of talking about her dogma, the dogma living within her.
So, I'm not sure if that's going to play out the same way this time. I think maybe some of them have a little buyer's remorse with that style of attack. But they're certainly -- when you go to the Web, at least, all of that stuff is in play. It's really kind of over the top right now, what they say about this woman.
CAVUTO: Yes, I suspect that maybe they will dial that back. There's already been some criticism among other Democrats that Dianne Feinstein went too far about the dogma lives within you comment and all that.
But you touched on it in the beginning, Jim, this notion that the Affordable Care Act and her criticisms of it, Judge Barrett's criticisms of it, over the years, including a bit of a zinger toward Chief Justice Roberts and a vote that sort of kept some key mechanisms of that act in place, that -- that could be the issue, couldn't it?
TRUSTY: It certainly is in play.
I mean, I'm not sure that a lot of people aren't thinking more about Roe vs. Wade and her Catholic views than they are about that. But you have to keep in mind she's a very academic candidate. And I don't mean that in a negative way. She's got a distinguished career, 15 years of being a law professor at Notre Dame.
So there's a lot that you can do in the academic world that doesn't necessarily translate directly to how you would judge on the bench. And so you don't have a candidate who's been a federal judge, for instance, for decades and decades, like some of the previous candidates for Supreme Court have been, and you have somebody where you're only looking at academic papers.
You have to take that with a little bit of salt, because it's not necessarily the best gauge for how they rule in an individual case.
CAVUTO: Yes, she's been only three years on a Circuit Court of Appeals. That's her total experience, right?
TRUSTY: Yes.
I mean, look, distinguished career, great jurist, from what we're hearing so far, from a few years.
CAVUTO: Absolutely. Absolutely.
TRUSTY: But not 20 or 30 or 40 years either. So, she's a little bit of a blank slate in terms of how she will actually handle cases.
CAVUTO: All right, well said.
Jim Trusty, good catching up with you, my friend.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: We were mentioning, as Jim and I were talking here, Dianne Feinstein.
Both she and Kamala Harris right now urging the president on another matter that has nothing to do with this Supreme Court pick and everything to do with the fires raging out of control in California. They want it declared immediately a major disaster area, beyond prior declarations.
Matt Finn right now in Calistoga, California, with the latest on that.
Hey, Matt.
MATT FINN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Neil.
We're just north of Napa, in the heart of Wine Country. And throughout the day, we saw fires rolling through these hills right here. This is freshly charred land, a lot of smoke in the area. And there's a ton of firefighters in this area monitoring this situation.
We went throughout Napa Valley today, sadly saw at least one resort entirely leveled. There are lots of charred vineyards around here. And there's been lots of ash in the air that kind of looks like gray or black snowflakes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FINN: This is the Calistoga Ranch just north of Napa. You can see the smoke still smoldering inside that fireplace.
And then this is an entryway. There's a sign for valet, and then several units across this property that are leveled. And, sadly, there are other resorts and wineries in this region that have a lot of damage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FINN: Right now, the Glass Fire is at 42,000 acres. That's the one near Napa, zero percent containment, 80 structures destroyed.
And to the north, near Redding, California, is the Zogg Fire, where, tragically, three people have died, that fire at 40,000 acres, also zero percent containment.
California residents described what it was like to escape the flames and how they're hopeful for some type of good outcome.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOMINIC WIGGENS, SANTA ROSA RESIDENT: It got so close that traffic was so congested, and it was just -- it was crazy getting out of here.
And then, once I finally got back, it was such a relief that some of our houses were still here and everything. But it was a scary night. It was crazy, for sure.
JAN ZAKIN, WILDFIRE EVACUEE: We woke up in the middle of the night, and there were -- there were flames. We could see flames. And we ran to the car. And I was in my underwear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FINN: And, Neil, you will recall was just a few years ago that large portions of California's wine region was burned by wildfires.
So, people here are familiar with this, some saying it kind of feels like the new normal -- Neil.
CAVUTO: All right, thank you, my friend very, very much, Matt Finn, in the middle of all of that.
Again, any other further disaster declarations that might or might be coming out of the White House, we will keep you posted on that.
In the meantime here, there's been a great deal of attention to the president's tax records getting out over the last couple of decades.
Congressman Kevin Brady, the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, is more interested in how they got out, because he said, that isn't only unethical; it's illegal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, depending on the day, if you have any doubt that Donald Trump is a target of a lot of people who want to bring out as much embarrassing stuff about him as quickly as possible, and ahead of the debates, no less, the whole New York Times taxes thing comes to mind, a separate story where the president allegedly called soldiers suckers. He said he never did.
And now a news story in The Atlantic that has the president saying, of evangelical leaders, that they are all hustlers, again, comments that the White House denies. But they all pile up.
And they are nonstop. You get used to it so much that Byron York says it's really illustrative of something probably far deeper going on.
He's the author of "Obsession" -- right now, it's getting all the buzz -- "Inside Washington Never-Ending War on Trump."
Byron, very good to have you.
I mean, as if to pound home the point of your book, reviewing this obsession to get out of office, kick him out of office, you get these new allegations that come in rapid fire. What do you think?
BYRON YORK, AUTHOR, "OBSESSION": Really.
I mean, right now, they're trying to defeat him in an election. But, as you know, they tried for more than three years to get him out of office any way they could.
This is what the book is about. Go back, December 2019. House Democrats were rushing, they were racing to impeach the president by Christmas. And a reporter asked Nancy Pelosi, what's the hurry here? Why the rush? And she said there is no rush.
This has been going on two-and-a-half years since Mueller. And a lot of Republicans really took note of that. They thought, wait a minute, this impeachment, it's not really about Ukraine. It's not really about a phone call. It's a continuation of a long effort to remove the president from office.
And that's what we saw, and we still see it.
CAVUTO: Are you surprised that now the latest wrinkle is to impeach him over the process on filling the Supreme Court?
YORK: That was, I thought, a bizarre suggestion from Nancy Pelosi.
First of all, they have already impeached him. And if the president is reelected, one of the things, I think, for him to worry about is that antipathy to him is that a fever pitch among Democrats. And yet they have already tried their constitutional remedy to remove a president, impeachment. And it didn't work.
The idea of using the remedy to sort of distract the Senate, so they couldn't confirm a Supreme Court justice, is really way out there.
CAVUTO: You know, you're talking about this obsession.
Regardless of your points of view on the president, whether you like them or dislike him, I mean, it's nonstop, allegations from present and former staffers who write tell-all books as the guy is still in office.
And I'm just wondering, does he feed a lot of this, his behavior, his mannerisms, his tweets, or whatever, that get people turning on him fast, and then continually bringing all of this stuff up, new allegations up, new outrageous charges up?
They just seem to be part of an ongoing, nonstop pattern.
YORK: You know, one of the things I talk about in the book is that there's something really structural about this.
Remember, in May 2017, Robert Mueller is appointed Trump-Russia special counsel. Now, Mueller has all the law enforcement powers of the United States. He can subpoena people. He can do all sorts of things. But he cannot indict the president, cannot convict him of a crime.
Now, on the other hand, the House of Representatives run by Nancy Pelosi does not have all of those law enforcement powers, but it has the constitutional authority to impeach the president. And, really, what happens is, there's a structural thing going where the two essentially work hand in hand.
House Democrats were waiting anxiously -- you remember it -- waiting anxiously for Robert Mueller to give them a road map for them to impeach the president. And even when Mueller failed to find collusion between Trump and Russia, which was his main assignment, they still wanted to go ahead and impeach him on the basis of the Mueller report, which they kept trying to do, until a brighter, shinier object, Ukraine, came along.
So there's actually something sort of baked in the cake about this effort to remove the president from office.
CAVUTO: Yes. If he wins, then what?
YORK: That's a great question.
And I do think we have seen an intensity. One of the things that I -- when I talked to political observers who were around for the Bill Clinton impeachment, who were around for all of the anger at George W. Bush over the Iraq War, this seems to be more intense. It seems to be even angrier than it was then.
And, as I said before, the Democrats have tried the legal constitutional means to remove the president. If he is reelected, it's hard to imagine that they will say, well, gosh, I guess we need to get along now. Don't think that's going to happen.
CAVUTO: Yes, I just wonder whether Nancy Pelosi and he can ever talk again. That's a whole 'nother issue.
Byron York, it's a great book, "Obsession: Inside the Washington Establishment's Never-Ending War on Trump."
Whether you like the president, dislike the president, the ticktock and the pattern of all of this that continues even now, post-Byron's great book, it is interesting. I will leave it at that.
Byron, thank you.
In the meantime here, the president's tax records the latest sign that he has not stopped issues to deal with that a media, to hear his people tell it, is out to get him.
Now the congressman who's out to understand how it is those documents got in The New York Times' hands to begin with.
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CAVUTO: All right, the president has wrapped up his tour of the facility at Case Western University here.
There were some protesters along the motorcade route, the brief motorcade, at that. But he toured the facility, was out in short order.
We're understanding right now that Joe Biden, within the next half-hour to 45 minutes, will visit the same site, and then they're set for the big debate, the first confrontation between these two of the election season, I believe the first time they have personally met each other since the president's inauguration back on January 20, 2017.
Keeping an eye on that. Also keeping an eye on the latest on these tax returns that have become all the debate in all the major papers since The New York Times went back a couple of decades.
At issue with that isn't necessarily if the president did anything wrong, but how these tax returns or tax forms, whatever you want to call them, schedules, addendums, got out and into the hands of The New York Times.
Anyway, Kevin Brady joins us right now, the House Ways and Means Committee, ranking member.
That's your issue right, Congressman, that they got out that. And that's a criminal act, right?
REP. KEVIN BRADY (R-TX): Yes, it really is, Neil, and for good reason.
Since Watergate, we have had laws protecting Americans from the illegal release of their tax returns, for good reasons. Those laws protect the president as well. There is the prospect that a felony crime was committed here.
The bigger picture is that, if you can release the president's private tax returns illegally without consequences, who -- which Americans are protected for their privacy?
And so I am calling for an investigation by the inspector general of Treasury, as well as the Department of Justice. It is really important that these privacy laws be complied with and, if they were broken, for a prosecution to occur.
CAVUTO: Now, normally, the illegality is committed by the person or persons who got the documents, not on the news organizations who take them, right?
I mean, that was the case in the Pentagon Papers.
BRADY: Yes, that's exactly right.
CAVUTO: What about here?
BRADY: Yes. Yes. No, that's exactly right.
And if this source had legal access, as The New York Times has said, then they especially know what those laws are for protecting the privacy of those tax returns. And so that, too, is a red flag as to what is occurring here. That's where the focus of the investigation ought to be.
CAVUTO: You know this is going to be a big subject in the debate tonight. I would only imagine it will, because Joe Biden, as you know, Congressman, has released his tax returns from the year 2019, as if to say, all right, Mr. President, when are you going to show yours?
How big of an issue do you think this will be, the president's debt, reported in the hundreds of millions, a lot of that debt coming due, that it's going to raise more questions than it ever does get answers?
BRADY: Yes.
And I -- well, I question what impact it has. Most Americans have debt of some type. The question is, how much of it, compared to what you earn or own? That's what we don't know in any of this.
And while you may -- everyone has a different opinion on whether the president should release his tax returns or not, but that's not really the issue here. We know what the president's worth is, what he owns, what the income in the bank loans are from his financial disclosure statements, which we have had every year for four years.
And so, yes, I don't think this is, frankly, much of an issue. This is an extreme -- economically, a successful president.
CAVUTO: Well, we don't know enough -- well, from financial disclosure statements, you don't get the full picture, right? You don't get the full picture. And a lot of people are disputing what's in those statements.
But, bottom line, you think that this is a step too far here, but do you think it could be an election deal-breaker?
BRADY: I don't think so.
CAVUTO: OK.
BRADY: Look, I think most people are worried, not about his tax returns, but their own. This president delivered one of the most competitive economies we have seen in a long time. And he's gotten us halfway back to that recovery.
And so I think people's own pocketbooks and tax returns, which, by the way, those tax returns are less because of this president. I think that's what carries the day.
CAVUTO: Got it.
All right, Kevin Brady, good catching up with you. Be well, Congressman Kevin Brady, beautiful state of Texas, ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee.
He was the guy responsible for that tax cut. It all started with him.
All right, in the meantime here, how this plays out in the battleground states, not all of them, four of them -- after this.
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CAVUTO: You know, there still are a good number of undecided voters, not a whole bunch of them, but, in at least four battleground states, enough of them to tip the balance, depending on how the candidates do in tonight's debate.
Jackie DeAngelis following those four states closely.
Hey, Jackie.
JACKIE DEANGELIS, FOX BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Neil.
Well, debate night is upon us in Cleveland, highly anticipated, so important. It's the first night that Trump and Biden are on the stage together, with 35 days left to the election.
Let's take a look at how each candidate is faring in some of these swing states, as you mentioned, Ohio being one of them. I want to take a look at the polls here and see where they both stand at this moment.
You can see that, in Ohio, the polls are showing, this is the RealClearPolitics average, that Biden is ahead as we're going into this, up 3.3 points. Let's also take a look at what happened last time in that state, because this is really crucial when it comes to what we're expecting going forward.
You can see, in Ohio, that Trump did win that state in 2016, 18 electoral votes. But he won by a margin of eight points. Now, Trump appealed to the blue-collar voters in the state last time. But Biden isn't Clinton. He's got some blue-collar appeal too.
The candidate to win Ohio has won the overall election since 1964. And that's why this is so important.
Now, I want to take a look ahead as well here just at the calendar for one second, because we have got some more debates coming up. October 15, we're going to be in Miami. And that is one of the swing states, Florida, as well that we need to watch out for. Debate three is going to be October 22 in Nashville.
So, let's take a look at where we are in the polls with these states for just a moment here. And you can see, in Florida, you have got Biden leading as we're heading in a little bit here, but it's a much tighter race than it was in Ohio.
So, let's take a look at what happened last time there, because this is interesting too. Now, Florida is one of these states that's turning purple, if you will. It's not a slam dunk for the Republicans. But it was last time. President Trump won the 29 electoral votes. And he won it there by just about a 1 percent margin. So, this is something that we need to watch for.
Also, Pennsylvania is very highly contested, and we're looking at North Carolina as well too, Neil.
CAVUTO: All right, as those states go, as they say, so goes the race.
Thank you very, very much, Jackie, very, very much.
DEANGELIS: Sure thing.
CAVUTO: Speaking of Florida, as she was showing you there, we're getting word for Disney that it plans to lay off 28,000 workers at its parks in Florida and California, blaming the pandemic. It's really walloped theme park business.
These are among the issues we will be covering on FOX Business tonight, as we monitor not only the debate and everything else, but the business impact, stock market trading, and global markets responding to all these developments.
It's the one stop where you can get on FOX Business how the world is responding and how the world markets are. We will see you then.
Right now, here's "THE FIVE."
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