Rep. Kevin McCarthy: Few leaders have sacrificed as much as McCain

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Rep. McCarthy: Few leaders have sacrificed as much as McCain

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy reflects on the legacy of Senator John McCain and discusses upcoming midterm elections on 'Sunday Morning Futures.'

This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," August 26, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARIA BARTIROMO, HOST: Good Sunday morning, everybody. Thanks so much for joining us.

Welcome to "Sunday Morning Futures." I'm Maria Bartiromo.

Remembering the life and legacy of Senator John McCain, who passed away yesterday at the age of 81.

Tributes have been pouring in this morning for Senator McCain. The war hero and former Republican presidential nominee died in Arizona one day after his family said that he had ended treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer.

The man known as the maverick left this world just as he lived in it, on his terms.

We have a report from Washington straight ahead on new information this morning about how the nation will honor Senator McCain, as well as where his final resting place will be.

We will also get reaction from House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy coming up, along with Congressman Darrell Issa, and our panel, including former Reagan-Bush campaign manager Ed Rollins.

We're also talking about the number four person at the Justice Department. Bruce Ohr will go before House lawmakers next week, on the 28th, to answer questions about the Steele dossier and whether President Trump hinted he may be closer to declassifying documents related to that FISA warrant.

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

A deep sense of loss in Washington today, as flags are lowered to half- staff in honor of John McCain's decades of service to our country.

The longtime Arizona senator passed away yesterday at the age of 81, ending his year-long battle with brain cancer. John McCain expected to lie in state at the Arizona Capitol and Capitol Rotunda in Washington. He will receive a full-dressed funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral before his burial at the Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, Maryland.

President Trump tweeted his condolences last night, saying this -- quote -- "My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you."

Chad Pergram is live from the Russell Senate Office Building right now on Capitol Hill, which could soon undergo a name change in McCain's honor -- Chad.

CHAD PERGRAM, FOX NEWS SENIOR CAPITOL HILL PRODUCER: Right. You're right.

And so John McCain's casket will be brought here to Capitol Hill for him to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. He will be the 30th person to lie in state. The first was Henry Clay, the former Kentucky senator and speaker of the House in 1852.

There will be an honor guard stationed around the Capitol Rotunda around the clock to guard his casket. And the public will be allowed to file in.

He will be buried in Annapolis after those services. But we're going to see some things in the next couple days. The Senate will come back to session on Monday afternoon at 4:00. And if custom holds, what they will do, is they will drape a block cloth across his desk in the United States Senate and put some flowers there.

We expect tributes to John McCain from senators as they come to the floor to talk. And the Senate usually, when there's a death of one of their colleagues or someone significant, what they do is they adjourn for the day in honor of that person. Now, we expect that to happen on Monday.

Now, there's been a movement afoot here by Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, to rename the very building in which I'm speaking, the Russell Senate Office Building. It's named after Richard Russell, who was a Democratic senator from Georgia.

Richard Russell was very controversial. He served 38 years in the Senate, but his views on civil rights were not exactly occurrent with what we would think in contemporary society today. And so this could be a fight to try to change the name of this building. It's something that doesn't go to the president.

If the Senate votes to do so, they would just change the name of this building. There are two other buildings here on Capitol Hill also named after congressional legends, Everett Dirksen, the former Republican Senate leader from Illinois, and Phil Hart, a Democrat from Michigan.

So changing the name of a building is a big, big deal.

A couple of stories here. One thing I remember about John McCain, a lot of people talk about how he was kind of irascible, but one thing I always noticed is that he was often in a hurry. And there's a subway that runs underground between the Capitol and the Russell Senate Office Building.

And he would always be scurrying back and forth to try to get back to a committee meeting or make it to the floor for a vote. And there's a button where you would call for the subway and you would hear a bell ring. And he would practically be punching that button, because he didn't have time to waste.

And sometimes I wondered when I would see him do that if that was because he basically lost all those years being held captive in Vietnam -- Maria.

BARTIROMO: Wow. Incredible story there.

Chad, thank you very much.

PERGRAM: My pleasure.

BARTIROMO: Members of Congress are remembering Senator McCain as a war hero, American patriot and political titan.

Congressman Kevin McCarthy is the House majority leader. He joins me right now.

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

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, R-CALI., HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: Thank you so much for having me back.

BARTIROMO: Any special stories you can share with us of your time with John McCain this morning?

MCCARTHY: Well, I just believe great nations require great sacrifice from their leader.

There's been few leaders that have ever sacrificed as much as John McCain. He was fierce, he was loyal. He would work across the other side of the aisle, but he could be the very best person in a battle.

I think the very best story is not one that he told, but one that he showed. If you just watched him put his jacket on, he never complained about what he went through, but the pain of putting on a jacket...

BARTIROMO: Wow.

MCCARTHY: Of raising the hand, it was more than his speech. It showed sacrifice.

He could make fun of himself. But there's many times when we were in the legislative battle, and we knew we're not going to win this, and we knew we're going against the odds of the establishment and others. He's the one that I would want to be in the fight with, because he didn't care and he would never give up.

And it wasn't that that day we didn't win. We're going to win the argument and eventually we're going to win the fight.

BARTIROMO: Well, he didn't care. You're right. And that was something that made him stand apart. But it was -- also created some problems.

When he gave the thumbs-down on health care, that was a big issue, and obviously stopped anything from moving forward. But that also showed the principles that he had. He stuck to what he believed in.

MCCARTHY: There's times we disagreed.

BARTIROMO: Right.

MCCARTHY: But I respected his ability and what he did.

Even though he was home getting treatment, I would talk to Congressman Mac Thornberry, the chairman of Armed Services, when they walk in through the NDAA. He's getting his treatment, but Senator McCain would be right there doing the work.

He knew exactly what was going on. There's no one that understood the military better or the idea of what happens around the world. When we would travel to other countries and sit with those leaders, it was always a person they'd ask about, and it was John McCain, because they knew him personally and they trusted him.

And that helped America's foreign policy around the world during all different eras and different times.

BARTIROMO: He was a true patriot. Our love and condolences out to his family, obviously. And we will be waiting to see in the next couple days how he is laid to rest, as we reported earlier.

What does this mean for the upcoming midterms? Let me switch gears here, Congressman, and ask you what you're expecting in November. It feels like you're going to have more success on the Senate side than the House. At least, that's -- the speculation is right now.

MCCARTHY: Well, the Senate has a much different map. And the map that they are playing is a much better map.

House has a history against them, where the party in power normally loses seats -- I mean the party that has the White House.

But there's two times that's been different. When you look at what this election is going to be about, it's going to be about results vs. resistance, Pelosi's resistance. And look at what results we have economically.

The last time there was a party in power that had economic growth at 4 percent, they actually gained seats. But take this one statistic. In the last 49 years of America, unemployment has only been below 4 percent eight months, eight months in 49 years.

BARTIROMO: Wow.

MCCARTHY: But three of those eight months were this year.

BARTIROMO: That's incredible.

MCCARTHY: It's unbelievable the results that have been achieved.

Unemployment claims, 44-year low. But what I'm more proud about, it cuts across all parts of America, if you're African-American, Hispanic, woman, some of the best unemployment you have ever seen. If you didn't have -- if you just had a high school degree, one of the best opportunities.

So we have got a unique opportunity going forward. And think what we did. We rebuilt our military. Think about what we did with the VA. It used to be, a G.I. Bill only 15 years, you had to use it or you lost it. No, we have made it a lifetime.

Or think of what we have done to combat human trafficking, modern-day slavery, where people are actually traded -- 70 percent of it happens because of the Internet. We shut that down.

BARTIROMO: Wow.

MCCARTHY: Or we have done the most to end opioid epidemic of any Congress before us.

We have got more work to do, but if you measure our results vs. Pelosi's resistance, not one Democrat voted for that economic package.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: So everybody who got a bonus, those 49 states that have lower electrical bills, not one Democrat voted for that. They thought it was Armageddon.

BARTIROMO: Yes, I wonder if the people hold them to account for that, because you're right. Nobody voted for this. And we're actually seeing needle move on economic growth.

The Atlanta Federal Reserve yesterday comes out and says, we're increasing our expectation for the economy for the third quarter to 4.6 percent. That's going to be two straight quarters of better than 4 percent growth. That's incredible.

MCCARTHY: If that doesn't do enough for people, think about what their agenda is.

First, they are very clear, because they put it across the desk, they want to abolish ICE. So those MS-13 members that come across, those kids that have been trafficked that get stopped that ICE saves, or what about all that fentanyl that ICE saves in the process?

They want to -- 167 voted present in the process. The other thing they want to do, they want to impeach this president. They voted on it twice already. They forced the vote to the floor.

Tom Steyer has spent more than $30 million. He brags that his list is bigger than the NRA list on impeaching this president.

BARTIROMO: Wow.

MCCARTHY: And then the last thing they want to do, single-payer health care.

So 55 percent of Americans have health care through their employer. That would end. But the scariest thing of this, those who are on Medicare, you will end, because they will bankrupt it before it's signed, because they're going to put everybody into it. It will bankrupt Medicare. It costs $32 trillion.

BARTIROMO: This is a really important point here you're making, that the 60 percent of people have health care through their company. And that will end.

MCCARTHY: That will end.

But it's not -- more than 100 Democrats currently in Congress have co- sponsored it. Now, let's look at who their candidates are. They got Gil Cisneros running in Royce's district. He's being accused of sexual harassment by a Democrat legislator.

They have got problems with these candidates that they have before us time and time again. Look at the individuals that wants to run in Paul Ryan's seat. Numerous times, he's been arrested in the process. I don't think they have vetted the people they have gone through.

So this election is going to be much different. It's kind of like the weather. It changes kind of week by week. Two weeks ago, the generic ballot was at the exact same place it was the day before the election in 2016.

BARTIROMO: Wow. So, it's changing that quickly?

MCCARTHY: Yes.

Remember what happened in 2016? We kept the majority and President Trump won. So the battle is going to go forward, but the intensity level is on our side. If Republicans get out and vote, we will keep the majority.

BARTIROMO: Yes, but you would think, with all of this good news, from the economy to foreign policy and beyond, that you would have more unity within your party.

You're running for speaker. You have got others within the Republicans running for speaker. How are you going to get together, show a unified front, so that people understand that you are all together and behind this president?

MCCARTHY: Well, the most important thing you have got to do is make sure there's 218 Republicans, so there could be a Republican speaker.

I think what this president has shown, the results he has gone, the safety that he's created, the world is a safer place. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon today. North Korea is sitting down.

And when they didn't follow through, you know what the president did, just like when he stopped the first meeting, bringing them back to the table to do what's right?

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: And then he's standing up to open up more markets for us.

I think that's very important economically, where we are. If you look back at history, a party that has this much results with an opposition of just resistance, with an idea that they are going to abolish ICE, impeach the president, who wants that much chaos going into the future?

BARTIROMO: Right.

MCCARTHY: Nothing will get done. And they just want to reverse. Nancy Pelosi says she wants to reverse the tax cuts, so you will pay more in the future.

BARTIROMO: She did say that. She -- I was shocked that she would actually admit that.

Look, I think the markets are giving this president and the Congress some -- the benefit of the doubt.

MCCARTHY: New records every day.

BARTIROMO: The benefit of the doubt in terms of the trade issues and the tariffs issues, but no doubt that that is an uncertainty out there. Do you expect we will see a deal with Mexico over the near term?

MCCARTHY: I do. And I think it would be very soon.

We would vote on it on next Congress, but NAFTA needed a modernization. We needed to open the market up. Remember when this was written, in the '90s, and think of what the financial markets have done. Agriculturally, we have to have better markets going through, lowering the tariffs, letting America's products there.

That only builds to the future. Remember, the E.U. has come forward that they want to lower tariffs. South Korea, we renegotiated our trade agreement there. That all leads into where China is talking about in September sitting down with us.

I was just with Secretary Mnuchin this weekend. He's talked about the prospects of going forward. Each agreement we make only makes it stronger for the next. And there's not one place in the world will not agree with us of what China has been doing for the number of years, of stealing intellectual property.

BARTIROMO: Right.

MCCARTHY: Of -- of really gaming the system.

BARTIROMO: Forcing that transfer of technology.

MCCARTHY: Yes.

BARTIROMO: Right? And then enabling Chinese companies to come back and compete with American companies. And we taught them all about it.

MCCARTHY: Its been an unfair trade process for many years.

BARTIROMO: It feels like the U.S. and Canada have really gone at each other. Do you feel that you are going to see Canada follow suit?

Let's say, hypothetically, you do get a deal with Mexico in the next week, next week perhaps. Will Canada follow suit and come up with a better NAFTA?

MCCARTHY: I believe so.

I believe we're very close. And also, remember, we make policy in the world of politics. Remember what politics were going on. Mexico was having a presidential election. So it's very hard for them to make an agreement at the time.

That election is over, but the new president is not sworn in. First thing this administration did was go down there. And as they get that, as they get this agreement done, we know where Canada is. But when it only makes us stronger, and you're going into a new election next year in Canada, it's beneficial to them to have this all agreed upon this year.

BARTIROMO: All right.

MCCARTHY: I think that's positive.

And then that only builds to our negotiations with China.

BARTIROMO: Right.

MCCARTHY: The more we lower tariffs.

And remember this one thing. It's not America who are raising the prices. It's China who raises the tariffs on American products to enter the market. All we're asking for is, let's have a level playing field.

Let's have a fair agreement. And what will happen, we continue to build on these results, the next century will be America.

BARTIROMO: All right, we will talk about this. Let's take a short break.

I want to ask you about some of your comments recently about social media and what's going on in terms of potentially censoring conservatives.

We have got more with Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy on the other side of this break. Stay with us.

And then we will hear from Congressman Darrell Issa.

On our panel, Ed Rollins, Mary Kissel, and Gregg Jarrett.

And we continue to remember the life and legacy of John McCain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

We're back now with Congressman Kevin McCarthy, the House majority leader.

And, Congressman, you have been tweeting talking a lot recently about this potential bias that -- this censoring of conservatives by social media. You confirmed the other day that Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, will testify in front of the Energy and Commerce Committee on September 5.

MCCARTHY: Fifth, yes.

BARTIROMO: Tell me what you're expecting.

MCCARTHY: Well, first of all, you have got to look at the problem.

Social media has become the modern-day town square -- 67 percent, two- thirds of all adults get some of their news from the social media. And it only continues to climb.

But you look at the stories, what we found, two weeks before the California Republican primary, if you Googled the California Republican Party, they said our ideology wasn't the party of Lincoln or Reagan. It was Nazism.

BARTIROMO: How does that happen? They say it was an algorithm. How does that happen?

MCCARTHY: They said, well, these algorithms.

Then just look what's happened on Facebook and Twitter. Elizabeth Heng, who is running against Jim Costa in California, her parents escaped Cambodia. She has an amazing story to tell. They won't show the video for the same footage that would be on PBS.

Or Prager University, these non -- it's a nonprofit that talks about conservative subjects. But they had Alan Dershowitz talking about Israel for five minutes. They had George Will talking about baseball. YouTube's rated them equal to the same categories as pornography, so Facebook wouldn't show it.

BARTIROMO: That's incredible.

MCCARTHY: And then we found what VICE came forward with, that conservative voices were being shadowboxed -- or shadow-banned on Twitter.

BARTIROMO: Right.

MCCARTHY: And we looked at all of the progressive Democrats, none of them.
And they say it was an algorithm.

Now, I want to give Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, some credit, because I have been talking to him. And I requested him to come in. We have had numerous conversations throughout this month. He's coming in.

Now, we disagree philosophically. He will say he's a liberal. I'm a conservative. But he does believe in the First Amendment.

Now, the algorithm that he writes, I have real concerns about. Like, the other day, just my setting has sensitive. Laura Ingraham put something out about the election in Sweden and conservatives having -- going to win because of immigration.

That was marked as sensitive, and not showed to me.

BARTIROMO: Immigration is sensitive. Come on.

MCCARTHY: So, that algorithm -- but he's...

BARTIROMO: Somebody sets up the algorithm, though.

MCCARTHY: Exactly. Who are those people?

Remember what happened to President Trump's own Twitter account, was taken down by a person in Europe.

BARTIROMO: You don't want to see more regulation. You just want them to clean up their act.

MCCARTHY: I want transparency, transparency, especially before the election.

Well, Jack is coming in. He wants to be very open. The other social platforms should be open as well to what's going on, because what happens here is, if there's a conservative being shut down, that voice is not being heard. And if this is where two-thirds of Americans are getting their news, it's not a fair process. And this country believes in fairness.

The Internet was created on fairness.

BARTIROMO: This is really important. We will be watching that testimony.
Thank you so much for coming.

MCCARTHY: Thank you.

BARTIROMO: Great to see you, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

MCCARTHY: Thank you.

BARTIROMO: Stay with us.

More on the life and legacy of John McCain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

This morning, we are remembering the life of Arizona Senator John McCain, who lost his brave battle with brain cancer yesterday, at the age of 81.

Looking at the flag at the Capitol at half-staff this morning in honor of the senator.

Let's bring in California Congressman Darrell Issa. He's been on Capitol Hill roughly as long as Senator McCain was.

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

REP. DARRELL ISSA, R-CALIFORNIA: Well, my length of service pales in comparison to the late senator.

But I did have the honor of serving with him. And everyone has a story. Half of my stories are sitting in the barber's chair with Mario as he got what little hair he had cut once a week every week, but also being in Pakistan at the base that Gary Powers took off in that famous U-2 incident as we were looking at the Pakistan-Afghan border.

And this man 20 years my senior looking -- looking less exhausted than I was, because he was used to taking that kind of treatment that it takes to-- to just keep going.

BARTIROMO: He was just an incredible man. He really was, and such principles.

But what he did for our country in terms of serving in the military and the patriot that he always was and his father was and his grandfather was, really a long history of patriotism and love for our great country.

ISSA: Well, you're exactly right.

And, you know, patriotism sometimes runs in a family and sometimes the second or third generation takes it for granted, but that certainly wasn't the case with John. And I think, when he's remembered this coming week and the week after and the months after, it's going to be as a patriot.

With all his strengths and weaknesses, all his accomplishments, it was really just the fact that America came first with him at all times.

BARTIROMO: Absolutely.

Congressman, let me switch gears and move forward and ask you about this ongoing saga of Bruce and Nellie Ohr.

And, of course, Bruce Ohr was the number four official at the Department of Justice. He will be in front of your committee in the next week, the Judiciary Committee, as he testifies. What are you looking to get from Bruce Ohr this upcoming week, sir?

ISSA: Well, you know, what the question always is, the infamous question, what did you know and when did you know it?

It's clear that we know some things. He knew that Christopher Steele had been dismissed. He knew that the information in that fake dossier shouldn't go forward. He knew that, in fact, that he had it go forward.

He, of course, also knew that his wife was actively involved in it. And, as an attorney, there are things you disclose or recuse yourself. He did neither. So the questions will be about the things he clearly knew and did wrong.

Remember that this isn't us saying there's a problem with Ohr. He's been demoted from being the highest-ranking nonpolitical appointee, highest- ranking nonpolitical, if you will. He's been demoted twice. And he's been demoted for cause.

And one of the causes is the clear distortion of the FISA warrant that led to this entire investigation that now turns out to be false in so many ways.

BARTIROMO: That's right.

And, you know, last week, we had on your colleague Congressman John Ratcliffe, who also sits on the House Judiciary Committee along with you. And he believed the questioning of Bruce Ohr this upcoming week, he said last week on this program he said he may actually after this testimony need to call back former DOJ officials to testify before Congress.

Listen to what he told us last week, sir. I want to get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN RATCLIFFE, R-TEXAS: I think that, after we work through current Department of Justice employees like Bruce Ohr, we will get to those folks like Sally Yates and Jim Comey and Loretta Lynch that are no longer at the Department of Justice or the FBI, and we will be requesting that they appear either voluntarily or involuntarily, by subpoena, if necessary, because there's been a lot of documents and testimony that has come out since the last time they testified under oath before Congress that calls into question some of that prior testimony.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: So, connect the dots for us, Congressman.

Sally Yates was the person that Bruce Ohr reported to. Why would you need Lynch and Comey to come back and Sally Yates to come testify as well?

ISSA: Well, partly because of the inconsistencies.

Peter Strzok told us a great deal about Bruce Ohr's activities and what he did and how it was done. And, obviously, you also have McCabe, who was fired for cause.

So, as we get through these -- these, if you will, statements that contradict each other, we have a reason to have people back to see if they want to correct the record, in other words, tell us the truth, and the whole truth this time.

BARTIROMO: But where is the accountability for lying in the first place then? I mean, you know, we keep seeing issues where people are getting immunity, and then we know that they lied under oath, and now this.

You have got to have these -- this group back because the testimonies don't add up. Are the American people going to see accountability here and justice?

ISSA: You know, Maria, that's one of the biggest challenges.

The Constitution only gives one entity the ability to hold people accountable legally. And it happens to be the entity in which all this wrongdoing was going on. When you have the fourth highest person, the third highest person, and even Loretta Lynch, the highest person, all doing things that are just wrong, and they are the only entity that, in fact, can hold people accountable legally under our Constitution, so it begs the question of, when will the attorney general engage in an area in which he is not recused, order these documents to be delivered in a timely fashion, and begin ordering real investigations leading to criminal prosecutions for false statements and wrongdoing?

This is one of the areas in which my former colleague Senator Jeff Sessions needs to step up to the plate and engage, because it's his responsibility. And, quite frankly, he's the only one that can do it. His number two clearly won't.

BARTIROMO: But, Congressman, his number two is also a witness. Rod Rosenstein signed off on the FISA warrant, for the -- for the last FISA warrant.

I want to ask you about that, and I also want to ask you about the president potentially declassifying all of those documents, so that the American people can actually see a transparent situation, what took place in 2016.

Let's slip in a quick break, Congressman, a lot of questions for you on the other side of this break.

ISSA: Of course.

BARTIROMO: And, of course, will President Trump declassify those FISA documents?

As we look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures," stay with us -- more with Darrell Issa on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: And we are back with Congressman Darrell Issa, Republican of California.

And, Congressman, we were just talking about Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, moments ago. And you said Jeff Sessions is the only one who can do this, to right this wrong ship.

But he's not doing it. Should the president fire Jeff Sessions, Congressman?

ISSA: Well, I think the president has an obligation to make it clear -- and I think he's done that -- that Jeff Sessions has to step up to the plate and do his job.

He's ordered open and transparent communication. In other words, give Congress the documents they're asking for in the most unredacted way possible. And what he's done is allowed the bureaucrats to slow-walk us and give us documents that look like a black cow eating a licorice at midnight. They're just all black.

BARTIROMO: That's right.

ISSA: And that's unacceptable.

And so when the president, rightfully so, says that if Jeff Sessions won't do it, then the president will in fact use his authority to clear the classified requests and the attorney-client privilege and the presidential prerogatives out of the way and make it available.

And this is something that needs to be done. Of course, you need to make sure that if somebody's life is at risk, that you protect them. But after that, the rest of it really is the president saying he wants to be open and transparent, and every one of his Cabinet officers needs to heed that and provide that kind of information quickly.

BARTIROMO: Yes, but why wouldn't he just declassify these documents, Congressman?

You know, when I asked him that when I interviewed the president in July of this year, he said, well, some people are saying, don't do it, they don't want me to get involved.

And then, of course, we know that the special counsel is trying to look for any obstruction. But why would that be obstruction? Wouldn't that just be shining a light on things, making it more transparent? What's the downside risk?

ISSA: Well, one of the interesting things is, of course, the special prosecutor gets everything completely unredacted.

We're only asking to, quite frankly, look over his shoulder and look over the shoulder of other investigations that should occur. Understand, the president inherited a system that likes to give no one anything. I often say that the most highly classified thing there is anywhere in Washington is embarrassment.

And so, often, it's what they don't want you to know because they don't want you to -- they don't want to be embarrassed. It's not real classification.

BARTIROMO: Right.

ISSA: But the president is doing the right thing, exactly the opposite of President Obama.

He's saying, make it open and transparent. When Jeff Sessions was a senator, he certainly would have said, I want the information. He in fact, maybe not as quickly as John McCain, made the moral argument that we needed to know about Benghazi and prevent that from happening again.

BARTIROMO: Right.

ISSA: And he demanded documents.

Now he needs to be on the other side, saying Congress has an absolute right, the American people have a right, and he needs to lead that or get out of the way.

BARTIROMO: So...

ISSA: And when I say get out of the way, he -- somebody has to replace him that will do it if he won't.

BARTIROMO: Well, you said that the special counsel gets to see everything unredacted.

A lot of people have been making the point recently, me included, that the special counsel's investigation will not have credibility unless he looks at everything, both sides. We know that Hillary Clinton and the DNC paid upwards of a million dollars for that dossier. They spent the money on the dossier. Then they used the dossier to get a warrant to wiretap.

They didn't -- they didn't tell the FISA court that the DNC and Hillary Clinton paid that million dollars for it. And yet we haven't heard a word about this from the special counsel. Can Robert Mueller continue this investigation without looking at the FISA process and what took place in 2016?

ISSA: Well, I think a way to put it -- and I agree with you -- is, Rod Rosenstein needs to give specific instructions that says, you can and should do that.

And if he isn't willing to do it, we have to look to his own culpability in that false FISA warrant that he had a part in.

BARTIROMO: Right. He's a witness.

Let me switch gears real quick, Congressman, and ask you about China and trade, because really stunning developments on Friday, when the president decided to stop Mike Pompeo from going to North Korea for this planned trip, and then talked about how China is not where he thought they should be in terms of trade.

Where are we in this battle with China right now?

ISSA: Well, you know, the -- the way you get a deal, whether it's a national security deal with North Korea on their nuclear weapons, or a trade deal that begins to get some level of fairness from China, is you have got to be willing to walk away from it.

The president is the master of the art of the deal. He wants to be there. He clearly will turn Mike around, Mike Pompeo around, the secretary, in hours if there's an opportunity. But he's not going to send them there just to have a pretty portrait of people shaking hands.

And I think that's the difference in this negotiator, is, the deal is off if you're not making progress. The deal is back on quickly if you are. He's done it before. He can do it again.

But, Maria, the thing that I think the American people have to understand is, although trade is a national security issue, you can not continue to give away hundreds of billions of dollars of the American people's hard- earned money to China just because China has a bad actor that periodically will misbehave. And they use it as leverage.

And that's exactly what China continues to do.

BARTIROMO: Mm-hmm. It's true. And they won't even admit that they are taking the I.P. and that they're stealing so much technology from the U.S. and forcing the transfer of tech.

So we will see if this strategy works in terms of changing China's behavior.

We love having you on, sir. Please come back soon. Great to see you, Congressman.

ISSA: Thanks, Maria.

BARTIROMO: Congressman Darrell Issa there.

Remembering a senator, war hero and former Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, our panel is here with that and other big stories of the week.
Panel up next.

Stay with us, as we look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: We are remembering the life and legacy of John McCain this morning, a war hero, senator and presidential nominee, after he lost his brave battle with brain cancer yesterday at the age of 81.

Our panel joins us right now to talk more about that.

Ed Rollins is former White House adviser to President Reagan. He's a FOX News contributor. Mary Kissel is back, editorial board member for The Wall Street Journal and also a FOX News contributor. And Gregg Jarrett joins us this morning, FOX News legal analyst and author of the top-selling book "The Russia Hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump."

Gregg, good to have you. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
Great to see everybody.

ED ROLLINS, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you.

BARTIROMO: And, Ed, you go back with Senator John McCain, don't you?

ROLLINS: I first met John McCain when he came back from Vietnam from prison in 1973.

He handled the Senate congressional relations for a while. I was doing congressional relations. I was a secretary for transportation. So we hung out together and we all were involved in the Watergate and what have you.

He was always a man of great fun, great integrity, great intellect. He wasn't always a happy warrior. Sometimes, he was a grumpy warrior. But he was always a warrior. And I think the only battle he ever lost was this one, and he lost it with great class and great -- there will never be another one like him.

And I say that in a very positive way. I fought with him on many occasions. I loved him on many occasions. But he was an extraordinary human being. And the Congress was very lucky to have him and the country was very lucky to have him.

BARTIROMO: He was a maverick. And when he named Sarah Palin as his running mate, initially, I thought it was brilliant.

(LAUGHTER)

ROLLINS: Well, in a way, it was brilliant. For about three weeks, she drove the agenda.

And, again, he was the most beloved candidate ever to run for president by the media, unfortunately not so much by the conservatives. But at the end of the day, the country was well-served by him. And the veterans of this country owe him an undying debt for all the things...

BARTIROMO: And the world as well.

Today, we're talking about world issues, Mary Kissel. I want to get your take on the president's decision on Friday to stop Mike Pompeo from going to North Korea because of the challenges that the U.S. is having with China, largely, and I guess North Korea as well.

MARY KISSEL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, I thought it was a very encouraging sign, Maria, because let's be honest, there hasn't been a lot of progress since President Trump met Kim Jong-un in Singapore in June.

And I think it was right for the president to acknowledge that and not sort of reward the North Koreans with another meeting with a Cabinet-level official. Now, President Trump, remember, called off the Singapore summit before he called it back on again.

BARTIROMO: That's true.

KISSEL: So I hope that he sticks with this decision, but it's a step in the right direction.

BARTIROMO: What do you want to see happen in terms of the U.S. and North Korea, just complete denuclearization? I mean, what would be victory?

KISSEL: Well, victory, according to the White House -- and we agree with this on the editorial page -- is complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization.

And the Trump administration has acknowledged that dragging out talks in the past has not worked, that bribing North Korea doesn't work. But they have a big problem in the South Korean administration, Maria, because you have a give there in Seoul that is very far to the left and that wants rapprochement with the North at any cost.

So if there's a problem here, it's not just China that we have a problem with. It's our ally and friend in Seoul.

BARTIROMO: So many incredible issues going into the midterm elections, not to mention the issues around the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the president now attacking Jeff Sessions in a louder voice.

Gregg Jarrett, you wrote the book "The Russia Hoax." Your thoughts on the president's tweets this week basically pointing out that Jeff Sessions, according to the president, is not doing his job?

GREGG JARRETT, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the president is absolutely correct.

First, at the outset, Jeff Sessions betrayed the president. Sessions told the Senate Intelligence Committee he began his recusal his first day in office. He concealed his intentions from the president.

So the president was betrayed from the outset. And then Jeff Sessions has taken very little action to go after, as I name them in the book, the law enforcers who became the law breakers. He should have renewed and reopened the investigation into Hillary Clinton's e-mails, gone after her for the destruction of evidence under a lawful subpoena.

And why hasn't he investigated Hillary Clinton and her campaign paying a foreigner, a British spy, for information from Russians which was then used as the basis for the Trump-Russia investigation and wiretap warrants? All of that should have been done.

BARTIROMO: Right.

And next week, Bruce Ohr, the number four guy at the Justice Department, will testify and answer questions behind closed doors. What are you expecting from the Bruce Ohr testimony, Gregg?

JARRETT: Well, I have 63 pages of Ohr's notes, e-mails, and text messages between himself and Christopher Steele.

There are going to be a lot of questions about the nefarious activities between those two men in pushing the Trump-Russia collusion hoax.

BARTIROMO: Well, you know, this is probably the most consequential midterm elections that we have seen in a long time, Ed Rollins. Do these issues come up? Do these issues drive voters, or is it largely economic, or something else in November?

ROLLINS: Well, every race will be different. The interesting thing in this race is, there are 66 races in the House that are listed as tossups or lean one way or the other. Only four of those are Democrats.

Most of them are ours. We have 39 Republicans either retiring or running for another office, the biggest vacancy since 1930. So my sense is, you have got to go out and you got take these new candidates, the Democrats, apart.

And so the issues that we want to run on, the economic issues, what have you, are a little tougher. And there's 10 weeks left to go. A ton of money out there. Bloomberg, the former mayor, has put $80 million into Democratic races, clearly has defined himself.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

ROLLINS: We have raised a tremendous amount of money on our side. So every race will be well-funded.

But it's just a question of time. What can you do?

BARTIROMO: The outcomes have been positive, whether it's economic outcome or foreign policy outcome.

I want to get your take on the outcomes when we come right back, Mary Kissel.

Let's take a short break. The panel stays right here. More in a moment when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: We're back with our panel, Gregg Jarrett, Mary Kissel, and Ed Rollins.

And before we went to the break, we were talking about the midterms and the outcomes, Mary.

The Federal Reserve of Atlanta just raised its expectation for economic growth for the third quarter to 4.6 percent.

KISSEL: Yes.

BARTIROMO: You have got good outcomes, and yet the midterms seem tight as ever.

KISSEL: Yes, that's true, Maria.

The president has a great story to tell, if he talks about the economy, if he talks about regulatory reform, if he talks about energy market liberalization.

But I think the danger here is that the president may try to nationalize this election, in the same way that he ran for president, as if he were running against Hillary Clinton, talking about the wall, talking about trade, talking about China, instead of really promoting all of the achievements of his administration.

And let's be honest here. You cannot underestimate the political peril that this president is in if the Democrats retake the House. Say goodbye to this stock market. Say goodbye to reg reform, any chance of welfare, health care reform in the future or a second go at tax reform.

We're never going to know what happened with the DOJ and the FBI if the Democrats take the House, because their only goal is to impeach him.

BARTIROMO: Well, that's absolutely right.

And, Gregg Jarrett, it almost feels like they are in fact waiting for the clock to run out. They're sitting on documents at the DOJ. They're not giving documents that certainly Devin Nunes and others are asking for.

And if they were to run the clock out and not get this, you're not -- and the House flips -- you're not going to hear another word about this FBI-DOJ investigation. You know that.

JARRETT: Oh, you're absolutely right. It'll be covered up.

And -- but, of course, the Department of Justice, as you pointed out in your interview with Darrell Issa, has been obstructing Congress, and thus obstructing justice now, for the better part of a year. These are lawful subpoenas. Congress has a right to these documents.

I think the president needs to step in and declassify and authorize the release of three sets of documents which the House Intelligence Committee wants and is entitled to see.

BARTIROMO: Right.

Yes, and the editorial board has asked him to declassify.

KISSEL: Multiple times.

BARTIROMO: I have said it a number of times. I don't know what the downside risk of the president declassifying these documents are, Ed?

ROLLINS: There is no risk.

You're fighting the intelligence community. And people always argue there's something that gives away secrets. The bottom line is, we need to give away secrets. We need to know what's going on in the Justice Department.

The critical thing, going back to your point, the president can't turn the House around. Each House member has to go win his own fight, and he could talk about the good economic stuff. But we have a great shot at the send. We could pick up three or four Senate seats here.

But we should have picked up 10, because there are 10 seats that were in jeopardy, but they are no longer in jeopardy. But if we can add three or four seats to the Senate, there's only three of ours that are somewhat in jeopardy, the two open seats, Arizona and Tennessee. And I think we can win those. And then Heller in Nevada is in a real race.

But they have got five or six that are really vulnerable, starting with Florida, where we have a real chance of winning Florida, which we haven't in a long time.

So if he goes out and campaigns hard for those candidates, that will make a difference. If he tries to do every House race that's in jeopardy, then you are going to basically create some chaos.

BARTIROMO: It feels like every time you have positive news on the GOP side, the detractors come out with some other big story to sort of, oh, nothing going on here, let's look over here, Mary.

KISSEL: Yes. And there's some funny business going on too.

Look at the indictments. You had a representative in New York, Collins, and Duncan Hunter in California, who were indicted less than three months before the election, which is completely inappropriate.

Very hard for Republicans now to put another name on the ballot in both of those areas. So, it's -- it can be a dirty business, Maria, unfortunately.

BARTIROMO: It sure can.

KISSEL: But an awful lot at stake in this election.

BARTIROMO: There really is.

Great to see everybody.

ROLLINS: Thanks.

BARTIROMO: Thank you so much, Ed Rollins, Mary Kissel, Gregg Jarrett.
Great to have you.

That will do it for us this morning on "Sunday Morning Futures." Thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Maria Bartiromo.

I will see you on "Mornings with Maria" from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern on the FOX Business Network weekdays. Join us.

"MediaBuzz" with Howie Kurtz is up next after a short break.

And we continue, on Fox News, looking at the life and legacy of Senator John McCain.

END

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