Rep. Ro Khanna: The president has his facts wrong on China

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Rep. Ro Khanna: The president has his facts wrong on China

California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna says the U.S. is in a green energy race with China.

This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," March 24, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARIA BARTIROMO, HOST: Good Sunday morning, everyone. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Maria Bartiromo.

Straight ahead right here on "Sunday Morning Futures": Attorney General William Barr could provide lawmakers with principal conclusions about the Mueller report as early as in the next few hours.

I had an exclusive sit-down interview with President Trump on Thursday, just a day before the special counsel sent his findings to the Justice Department. The president weighs in this morning on the probe, as well as the U.S. economy, trade deals, China, the 2020 Democratic field, and a lot more.

Also joining me for reaction this morning to my interview with the president, as well as the Mueller report, a pair of influential lawmakers, Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe, who sits on both the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, and he is also a former federal prosecutor who has seen the redacted documents.

Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of the House Oversight Committee joining me as well.

Plus, former Whitewater independent counsel and former U.S. solicitor general Ken Starr is here.

Just how much of the Mueller report will be made available for all of us to see? We are on it this morning.

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

And we are awaiting Attorney General William Barr to deliver a letter to lawmakers summarizing his principal conclusions of the just-finished Mueller report.

Receiving that summary will be the top Republicans and Democrats on the Senate and House Judiciary Committees. We are told that that could happen as early as today. Many lawmakers told me they are expecting it within the next few hours.

I had an exclusive interview this past week with President Trump, a day before the special counsel filed the report. You will hear much of that throughout this hour this morning.

But, first, the president shares his expectations about the Mueller report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: Well, it's always interesting to me because a deputy that didn't get any votes appoints a man that didn't get any votes -- he's going to write a report on me. I had one of the greatest election victories in history. Would you say that's true?

BARTIROMO: Yes, absolutely.

TRUMP: They came from the valleys, they came from the rivers, they came from the cities, they came from all over. They voted in one of the greatest elections in the history of our country.

And now I have a man, that because we have an Attorney General, who nobody can even believe that he didn't tell me and he recused himself.

So I have a man who is a deputy, who I don't know -- who I didn't know at all, and he appoints a man who had just left my office. I didn't give him the job at the FBI. Comey's his best friend.

BARTIROMO: No, we covered it every Sunday.

TRUMP: Well, wait a minute. Listen. And you know better than anybody. You've been very fair to me in this.

But think of it. I have a deputy, appoints a man to write a report on me to make a determination on my presidency?

People will not stand for it. Now, with all of that being said, for two years we've gone through this nonsense, because there's no collusion with Russia. You know that better than anybody. And there's no obstruction. They'll say, oh, well, wait. There was no collusion, that was a hoax, but he obstructed in fighting against the hoax. OK? Think about that one for a second.

BARTIROMO: And at the same time, the same group is running the Hillary Clinton investigation.

TRUMP: Nothing happens to them.

BARTIROMO: And now we've heard from Lisa Page testimony, which was released, that the Obama Department of Justice suggested, we're not going to bring charges, so get off of this.

So during the campaign I remember you said, look, it's time to get away from Hillary Clinton. Let's forget about this now.

Do you still feel that way? Or do you think you want to see accountability here, given the fact that now we know that the DOJ, under Obama, did say, we're not going to bring charges to the FBI?

TRUMP: That's a great question. So when I won, I made my opening speech, everyone's shouting, lock her up, lock her up, lock her up.

I said, no, no, no, let's forget her. Let's get onto the future. But they have treated me so viciously, and they have treated me so badly and we did nothing wrong -- you look at the others -- and all of these people you hear about, that had nothing to do with Russia, Russian collusion, nothing. It's all a big hoax. It's a witch-hunt, and it's a hoax.

So, you asked me a question. It's a very interesting question. The way they've treated me -- and we have found many crimes on the other side -- these are stone-cold crimes, what they've done, between the deletion of 33,000 e-mails and many, many other things, Comey's lying, all of the Brennan lying, the lies to Congress.

And these are just absolute lies to Congress. Clapper lied to Congress. Nobody does anything.

If somebody -- they all say Flynn. I don't anything about what he said, but the FBI said he didn't lie. Mueller said he did lie. So what's that all about? And then they -- you destroy a man who is a general and a respected man for many years.

They've treated -- we have been treated very, very unfairly, all because Jeff Sessions didn't have a clue. OK?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: And recused himself.

BARTIROMO: And will William Barr follow this? Will he seek truth?

TRUMP: I think -- look, I have a lot of respect for him. I've never known him.

He's a very, very smart, respected man. Hopefully, he'll do what's fair.

BARTIROMO: And now...

TRUMP: All I can ask is what's fair.

BARTIROMO: The Southern District is on you. There's all these investigations by the Democrats. Are you...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, you know, they say there are lots of things, but I don't know about these things, OK, just so you understand.

Everyone says this one, that one. I don't even know about this. I called -- I said to my lawyers, are we being looked at here, there? They don't even know what people are talking about. There's so much fake news out there, it's a disgrace.

If you look over the past two years, how many breaking news stories was there about me that turned out to be nonexistent? So many of them.

BARTIROMO: How are you going to get anything done with all of this?

TRUMP: This should never happen to another president, what happened to me. They came up with an excuse for losing an election. This should never happen to another president, because most presidents wouldn't be able to take it.

I know the politicians. I know the president. I know what we're dealing with. Most people wouldn't be able to take it.

Let me tell you something, Maria. What happened to me should never happen to another president of the United States, because I depend on this right here, mine, not other people.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

TRUMP: And what they've done is a fraud. It's a fake. It's a witch-hunt. It should never happen to another president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARTIROMO: And you will see more of my interview coming up with the president.

But, first, joining me now in an exclusive interview is Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe from Texas. He sits on the House Judiciary, Intelligence and Homeland Security committees. He's also a former federal prosecutor.

And, Congressman, it's always a pleasure to see you.

REP. JOHN RATCLIFFE, R-TX: Good morning, Maria.

BARTIROMO: Thank you so much for joining us.

First, your reaction to the president just there on the Mueller report?

RATCLIFFE: Well, I remember when, after the election, Donald Trump said, let's turn the page. Let's move on from Hillary Clinton.

Unfortunately for the president, Hillary and the Democrats were not nearly so gracious. They weren't ready to turn the page or move on from his election. In fact, they were already working to undermine him.

Hillary and the Democrats, unbeknownst to the president, had already funded the fake, phony dossier that they then peddled through the intelligence community of the Obama administration, Clapper and Brennan, to Comey and Lynch at the Department of Justice and the FBI, who falsely verified it, all of which wasn't true.

And so when the president expresses concern about the Mueller investigation, given the fact that some of those same people started that process, he has every right to wonder whether or not he's going to be treated fairly.

Having said that, without having seen a single word of the Mueller report, the one takeaway that we already have we know is positive for the president. There are no indictments for collusion. There was no conspiracy or collusion with the Russians.

BARTIROMO: Congressman, you have seen every document that any member of Congress was able to see throughout this whole period. You have been my -- one of my regular guests on Sunday here for the last two years.

Because of your intelligence on the subject, because of you seeing every document, you have been one of the reasons that I too have been pretty adamant about the no-collusion situation in the last two years.

Our viewers are smarter as a result of it, because of what you have shared and some of your other colleagues. Devin Nunes has done a great job on this as well. What are you expecting? Give us your sense. You're going to get that -- you're going to get that summary in, what do you think, the next couple of hours?

RATCLIFFE: I think in the next few hours.

BARTIROMO: OK, so what are you expecting that is going to be most important for you to look at within this report and this summary?

RATCLIFFE: Well, again, what a senior Department of Justice official has already confirmed is that Bob Mueller is going to issue no further indictments.

What that means is no indictments for collusion or conspiracy. And what the American people need to remember was, the primary mandate of Bob Mueller, the reason we had Bob Mueller, were Americans conspiring with Russians to undermine the 2016 election? And the answer to that is no.

Bob Mueller, who was not limited by time or expense or by resources, apparently, is concluding there was no collusion, there was no conspiracy, there were no crimes by Donald Trump or those associated with him as it related to Russia and Vladimir Putin.

And if that is true, Maria, the most important takeaway, I think, and the ironic takeaway for the American people would be that the very people who for two years have been accusing Donald Trump of treason, who have accused him of working with Vladimir Putin would themselves be the ones responsible for giving Vladimir Putin his greatest victory over American democracy.

Think about that, a dossier funded by the Democrats, peddled through the Obama intelligence community, falsely verified by the Obama Justice Department, then sold to the American people by those very same elected Democrats and willing folks in the media.

All of that taking place really is extraordinary. Vladimir Putin, in his wildest dreams, could not have devised a more destructive scheme to the fabric of American society, and yet it has consumed the public discourse for the last two years.

BARTIROMO: Right. And that's what I want to ask you.

We're going to take a short break. I want to ask you about the accountability here, John Brennan, James Clapper, Jim Comey, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Jim Baker, the lawyer.

And then Jim Comey has the nerve to write an op-ed about this in this past week.

Let's talk more about that we come back, more from Representative Ratcliffe, plus reaction from the Democratic side with Congressman Ro Khanna.

More of my interview with President Trump this morning as well.

Tell us what you would like to hear on the program this morning -- @MariaBartiromo is where you will find me on Twitter and @SundayFutures. Join me on Instagram @SundayFutures, @MariaBartiromo.

We're looking ahead right now, ahead of the Mueller report findings, on "Sunday Morning Futures."

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: And I am back with Texas Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe.

Congressman, the Democrats are not satisfied, even though we know that there was no collusion and Mueller is about to confirm that. They want everything released. They're talking about transparency. What do you think happens there?

RATCLIFFE: Well, they can demand whatever they want.

What they're going to get is what the law and regulations require Bill Barr to give them. So, today, that's going to be a brief notification of the actions that were taken and the decisions that were made.

I know that the Democrats are saying, we want everything, but the law doesn't provide for that. In fact, it says the opposite. And I very much doubt that Bill Barr is going to turn over classified material or material subject to executive privilege, or, most importantly, grand jury testimonies that Bob Mueller has received that did not result in charges against anyone.

That has been a longstanding policy of the Department of Justice. It was a departure from that policy by Jim Comey as it related to Hillary Clinton that got him fired and had Democrats complaining back then.

BARTIROMO: Right.

RATCLIFFE: Bill Barr is not going to repeat those mistakes. So he will be as transparent as the law will allow and as the regulations provide, and the Democrats should respect that.

BARTIROMO: Because -- because when a person is investigated, investigators don't say, oh, look, we're investigating you, and we're not going to bring charges, but, by the way, we were looking at this other stuff that you did around insurance, and it looks shady, or we were looking at something you did last week, and it sort of looked shady.

I mean, that's not the way the American judicial system works, to give crumbs to the skeptics, so that they can just create more chaos around the official word that there were no charges.

I want to move on to this op-ed that Jim Comey wrote this last week. And in it, in "The New York Times," Congressman, he writes, look, I don't care what Mueller does, and I don't care if he doesn't bring charges to the president. I want to be clear.

First, your reaction to the op-ed that Jim Comey wrote.

RATCLIFFE: Yes, Jim Comey doesn't care.

My reaction was, Jim Comey cared enough about the special counsel's conclusions that he created the special counsel. His ego, when he got fired, was why Jim Comey cared enough to leak classified privileged conversations with the president of the United States from the Oval Office to "The New York Times" to create the special counsel.

Now the special counsel doesn't come up with the findings that Jim Comey wants, and he wants everyone to know that he doesn't care anymore. But, at the same time, in that op-ed, he wants to lecture you and me about the rule of law and restoring the reputation of the Department of Justice.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

RATCLIFFE: Getting a lecture from Jim Comey about the rule of law and the reputation of the Department of Justice is like getting lectured by Bernie Madoff on how to invest wisely.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

RATCLIFFE: Donald Trump wasn't -- Donald Trump wasn't the president when Loretta Lynch met with Bill Clinton five days before Hillary Clinton was cleared.

Donald Trump wasn't the president when Jim Comey decided he was going to be the FBI director and the attorney general at the same time. And Donald Trump wasn't president when Jim Comey talked in the public square about conduct of Hillary Clinton for which she wasn't charged.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

RATCLIFFE: All of those things happened and undermined the reputation of the Department of Justice under Jim Comey.

BARTIROMO: Well, it's just incredible to me to watch Andrew McCabe on his book tour and Jim Comey writing these op-eds.

Is it not true that Jim Comey was the director of the FBI? So, in other words, he knew that Hillary paid for the dossier. He knew that this was flimsy evidence to go get a warrant to wiretap an American citizen, just so that they could spy on their political enemies' campaign, the Trump campaign.

And he knew that it was flimsy evidence to get that wiretap. He knew all of this, and yet he's acting like this schoolboy.

Real quick, from the Mueller report, are you expecting that we are going to see new investigations start? Like, for example, we know what Lisa Page told us the other day, that Obama's DOJ told the FBI, lay off of Hillary Clinton.

Are we going to see new revelations, new investigations as a result of what you will learn from the Mueller report? Where's the accountability, as I always ask you, Congressman?

RATCLIFFE: Yes.

Well, I do know that the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity for Bill Barr is to restore the reputation of the Department of Justice and the FBI.

And the only way he can possibly restore people's shaken faith and trust in those venerable institutions is accountability. So, I do expect Bill Barr to take -- he doesn't need to take anyone's word for it. He only needs to take the transcripts that are now becoming publicly available, where Jim Comey contradicts Andrew McCabe, where Jim Comey contradicts his own lawyer, Jim Baker, where Sally Yates contradicts her own deputy, Bruce Ohr, and so on, and take all of that and look at it and present it to a grand jury and say, this was sworn testimony to Congress.

All of these things can't be true. Some people are telling the truth and some aren't.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

RATCLIFFE: And I expect Bill Barr to follow up with respect to all of that.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

By the way, Congressman, I mean, we know that the Hillary Clinton Foundation got $145 million in the foundation while she was secretary of state. She got the $145 million from Russia. We know that they hired Russians to find dirt on Donald Trump and put in this dirty dossier, which Jim Comey called salacious and unverified.

Do you believe that the Clintons were doing exactly what they were saying Donald Trump was doing, colluding with the Russians?

RATCLIFFE: Well, I will say this, Maria.

I'm not a prosecutor anymore. I don't allege crimes anymore. But, as you mentioned earlier, I have seen every classified document that any member of Congress has been allowed to see. And there is enough there that I think that everyone should be treated fairly, everyone should be treated equally.

And there is enough information there that a jury of their peers should be presented with that information before a grand jury to consider whether or not crimes were committed.

And, again, finally, someone in charge of the Justice Department who is committed to that and getting away from a political Department of Justice to an apolitical one, and I think we will get back on track. That's the only way the American people are going to feel better about our justice system.

BARTIROMO: All right, we have said it before. It certainly looks like Obama politicized all of these agencies.

Congressman, it's good to see you this morning. Thank you.

RATCLIFFE: You bet, Maria. Thank you.

BARTIROMO: More reaction this morning to the Mueller report from Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna -- he sits on the House Oversight Committee -- and former Whitewater independent counsel Ken Starr.

More of my interview with President Trump coming up.

Back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

We are awaiting Attorney General William Barr's summary of the Mueller report.

We have reaction this morning from Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna and former Whitewater independent counsel Ken Starr coming up.

But, first, more now of my exclusive interview with President Trump.

I asked the president how he will keep the U.S. economy growing, as the rest of the world slows, as his team is on the ground in Beijing trying to hammer out a trade deal next week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: Well, I just think it's happening.

You look at what's going on with respect to China. The deal is coming along very well. We'll see what happens. But we're taking in billions and billions of dollars for the first time ever against China in the form of tariffs.

I'm very happy with that, but I think the deal will probably happen. I think they need it very badly.

Nobody's ever really seen anything quite like what's happening. And we did the Mexico and Canada deal, USMCA. That's going very well. I think that it should get approved pretty quickly by Congress, because it's a great deal. It's a really great deal. NAFTA was, to me, one of the worst deals I've ever seen as trade.

I think the WTO is terrible, also, by the way. I think that's a really bad one. But we're doing even better with WTO. We're winning cases all of the sudden, because we never won cases. Now we're starting to win cases because they know my attitude. If they don't treat us fairly, we get out. And there's a big difference there.

We're doing a good job. We finished up at 3.1 GDP. Everybody -- you know, that hasn't been done in 14 years, maybe more than that, but 14 years. And I think we have tremendous momentum right now.

And you're right. The world is slowing, but we're not slowing. And, frankly, if we didn't have somebody that would raise interest rates and do quantitative tightening, we would have been at over 4, instead of at 3.1.

BARTIROMO: And the Fed said this week, actually, signaling that we're not going to see any more rate hikes this year. Do you think you influenced that decision partly?

TRUMP: I don't know. I mean, look, I hope I didn't influence, frankly, but it doesn't matter. I don't care if I influenced on it.

I -- one thing, I was right. But we would have been over 4 if they didn't do all of the interest rate hikes. And they tightened. I mean, they did $50 billion a month. I said, what are we doing here?

And so I'm not -- 3.1 may be the best in 14 years. I'm not happy with it. We should have had much higher.

And, hopefully, now we won't do the tightening, because, with the world going so, you know, off and with a lot of things happening, you don't do tightening at this time. And we'll see what happens.

But we have tremendous potential as a country. Our companies are doing phenomenally well. The earnings are great. We have the greatest companies in the world. We're not being treated properly by other countries.

BARTIROMO: But things are slowing.

TRUMP: And I'm straightening that out.

BARTIROMO: Things are slowing. So, can you keep this growing?

TRUMP: Oh, I think so. I think we can, and I think other -- maybe others can't, but I think we can, absolutely.

BARTIROMO: On China, you've got officials headed to Beijing this weekend.

TRUMP: Yes.

BARTIROMO: You said that the tariffs are going to stay in place for a substantial period of time. Is there a snag in these negotiations?

TRUMP: No, not at all.  But we have -- if you look at technology and the first $50 billion of goods, we want to keep that and -- because we need that. You know, we have what's called the Chicken Tax. You know what that is.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

TRUMP: On the small vans and trucks and different things, and that's a great thing for us. And that has to do with the automobile industry. That's the best segment.

People don't know, we get a 25 percent tariff on that segment. That's our best segment by far. And, yes, we will absolutely be able to keep it, and not only keep it going. I really think we have tremendous potential.

The world is going -- the world is going in a little bit the wrong direction, not horribly. I think a lot of people are waiting for the deal with China. I think that's going to have a very bit impact, maybe bigger than people know.

As to whether or not it makes it, I think it will. I think we're getting very close. That doesn't mean we get there, but I think we're getting very close.

BARTIROMO: I'm glad that you mentioned the Chicken Tax, that 25 percent tariff on European light trucks, because, right now, the Commerce Department is looking at autos and auto parts and whether or not they pose a national security risk.

Do they?

TRUMP: Well, no.

What poses a national security risk is our balance sheet. We have to have -- we need a strong balance sheet. Otherwise, you don't have national security.

So, people are always saying, Well, what do cars have to do with national security? When Germany is sending cars, and we virtually don't tax them, and yet they won't accept our cars, namely, the European Union, which frankly, treats us as badly as China. The numbers are just smaller by a lot.

But, you know, we lost, over the course of the last five, six, seven years $150 billion a year with the European Union. They don't take our product. They tax us tremendously. They tariff us tremendously.

Almost every country has taken advantage of the United States. And we're straightening it out.

BARTIROMO: Yes, but if you slap more tariffs, if you slap tariffs on auto and auto imports, doesn't that affect the global stream of goods?

TRUMP: Sure. It does.

BARTIROMO: Doesn't it slow down the economy? It's expensive.

TRUMP: It does, but you know what it does?

BARTIROMO: And what's the endgame?

TRUMP: I'll tell you what the endgame is. They'll build their plants in the United States. And they have no tariffs.

BARTIROMO: Yes, but what if the Europeans come back to you and say, Mr. President, let's go to zero percent, let's go to no tariffs?

TRUMP: No, because they want to...

BARTIROMO: Are you willing to give up that 25 tariff on light trucks?

TRUMP: No, because Chevrolet will never sell like a Mercedes sells here.

They've offered me that. They said, oh, I have an idea. We'll go no -- well, the problem is that the Chevrolet will never be accepted in Europe like the Mercedes is accepted here, so it's not a good deal. I wouldn't do that deal. They've offered me that deal.

BARTIROMO: So you wouldn't do zero tariffs?

TRUMP: I would do it for certain products, but I wouldn't do it for cars, because they have BMW, they have Mercedes, they have a lot of very good cars that come in, and they make them here.

I want them to make them here. Instead of making them over there, make them here. You're going to sell them to the Americans, make them here.

BARTIROMO: You mentioned USMCA. A lot of Democrats have said to me, I'm not going to vote for it in its current form.

Do you have a Plan B if it doesn't pass?

TRUMP: Maybe go pre-NAFTA. NAFTA's one of the worst deals ever made, one of the worst trade deals ever made, probably the worst. And I do include WTO. WTO gave us China in its current form.

They're considered, you know, in WTO, a developing nation. We put an end - - you know, we've let them know, we're not going to stand for that. We let the folks over at the World Trade Organization know we're not going to stand for that.

But -- so think of it. China, India, these are all considered developing nations. We're not a developing nation. They have a big advantage over us. Why didn't people come out strongly against that in past administrations? They should have. That's a tremendous advantage. We are not allowing that to happen.

BARTIROMO: Let me ask you...

TRUMP: We've advised them that we are not going to stand for that.

BARTIROMO: Let me ask you about social media. You said that many platforms are censored, conservative speech. You have Congressman Devin Nunes suing Twitter for the same reason.

What, if any, regulation do you want to see? How do you want this to end?

TRUMP: Well, I hate the concept of regulation on media, but it's very unfair.

You talk about the word collusion. The collusion between the Democrats and these people is -- it's ridiculous. It's hard to believe I won. If you think about it, I had Facebook, Google, Twitter, everybody against me.

I have -- the media is almost totally against me. And yet I won 306 to 223. People can't even believe it. I won, because I'm able to get the word out through my social media, because I have great social media.

But I'll tell you, it's much tougher than it should be. I deal with Twitter. It's not right the way they do it. I know exactly what they're doing. They take people off my account. They make it very hard for people to join.

I had a time, very recently, though, where I was picking up hundreds of thousands of people in a very short period of time. Now, when I pick up -- and I guess I have way over 100 million on the different platforms...

BARTIROMO: Wow.

TRUMP: ... added up, way over 100 million. But it gives me a voice, because it's a corrupt media.

And I call it fake media, but it's fake and corrupt. It is so bad.

BARTIROMO: do you want to break those companies up?

TRUMP: And the good news is, you understand that. And I'm not talking about you, by the way. But you know that better than anybody, 93 percent negative news, and I think it's worse than that.

BARTIROMO: Do you want to break these companies up?

TRUMP: Well...

BARTIROMO: This is one thing Ted Cruz and Elizabeth Warren agree on.

TRUMP: I don't like the concept of it. I really would like everybody to be free, but they don't treat us the same way as they treat liberal Democrats and others, because the Democrats actually are becoming a far left party.

I mean, they're becoming a radical party. You look at what they want to do with the Supreme Court. You look at what they want to do with the voting age. Where did that come all of the sudden, the voting age at 16?

They're becoming radical. They are radicalized.

You look at this Green New Deal. It's the most preposterous thing. Now, I don't want to knock it too much right now, because I -- I really hope they keep going forward with it, you know, frankly, because I think it's going to be very easy to beat.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARTIROMO: Coming up, more of my interview with President Trump, including his reaction to the 2020 Democratic field.

Also, Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna on the Mueller report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

Straight ahead, Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna on the pending conclusions of the Mueller report.

But, first, more of my interview with President Trump. We talked about where the president could work and find common ground with Democrats on Capitol Hill and his thoughts on the 2020 Democratic presidential field.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARTIROMO: Is there anything you see that you would like to work with the Democrats on in this next two years?

TRUMP: Yes. We could...

BARTIROMO: What?

TRUMP: work on a lot. We could work on a lot.

And I think the easiest thing, frankly, of all -- and I could have started it with number one, but I wanted to get the tax cuts, which we got. The easiest thing is infrastructure. They want it. I want it. I spoke to Nancy Pelosi about it the other day. We agree on it. We even like the type -- I think we like the type of infrastructure we're talking about, maybe in a certain way, more Democrats, from my standpoint, than the Republican concept, private-public.

I like, frankly, owning our own roads, owning our bridges. I don't like selling them to other countries.

(CROSSTALK)

BARTIROMO: But is it even feasible? They don't want you to have any victories.

TRUMP: I think it's very feasible because I think they want to do it.

I mean, Nancy Pelosi told me very strongly they want to do infrastructure. And we have other things we can do, too. I think we should do something on immigration. Immigration's a total disaster in this country.

We have laws that are so bad, people pouring in. I'll tell you what. Border security, Border Patrol, what they've done is incredible, the job they're doing, the job that ICE is doing. What they're doing, without the protection and the ability to have a wall, now -- and, by the way, we're building a lot of wall right now.

You know that. We're building the wall, and it's going up fast, big, strong, looks good, not the horrible thing that they were building before I got here. We're building the wall now. We're going to have a lot of wall built pretty soon.

But if you don't have that, you can't have border security.

BARTIROMO: Who do you want to go up against in 2020? TRUMP: So, you have people saying a lot of weird things.

You know, I hear not only the Green New Deal, but so many others, so many other things.

BARTIROMO: Medicare for all. Attacks on wealth.

TRUMP: Yes, you have...

BARTIROMO: Seventy percent tax rates.

TRUMP: You have Beto. So you have Beto. And Beto comes out, and he says, let's take down the wall.

If you ever took down the wall, this country would be overrun. OK? And we put up a lot of wall. Like, in San Diego -- it's so interesting in California So, in San Diego, they're begging me to do the wall. I end up doing the wall, and then I see the governor of California criticizes me for the wall. They're begging me to do it.

I said, if you don't have it -- and they know this better than -- it's all a political deal. It's all politics. But...

BARTIROMO: You want to run against Beto?

TRUMP: You know, my attitude is -- I wouldn't mind. I mean, I'd love to have Biden. I'd love to have Bernie. I'd love to have Beto. I mean, Beto seems to be the one the press has chosen. The press seems to have chosen Beto.

BARTIROMO: Is this socialism vs. capitalism? TRUMP: And when I watch Beto, I say, we could dream about that.

But whatever it is -- no, I think it's competence. I think it's somebody - - look, when I first ran -- I was never a politician -- I ran -- I ran on a certain platform. I've done far more than I said I was going to do.

When you look at the tax cuts, when you look at the regulation cuts, more than any other president, when you look at all -- and it's the biggest tax cut. You look at ANWR.

BARTIROMO: Well, that's why we saw growth.

TRUMP: You look at even a thing like Right to Try, where people can now use -- they're terminally ill, and they can use medicines that we've developed, but that aren't out, by signing a simple document.

They used to travel to Asia, to Europe, all over the world to try and get a cure. You look at so many things that I've done for the veterans, choice, accountability, they never thought you'd have accountability.

You couldn't fire anybody if they treated our vets badly. Now you have accountability. Veteran's Choice, where if they have to wait two weeks in line or they have to wait two days...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

TRUMP: ... they can go out now, Maria, and see a private doctor, and we pay for that doctor.

BARTIROMO: Mr. President, let me end on Golan Heights issue.

TRUMP: Yes.

BARTIROMO: You tweeted about this today. In Israel -- you said it is time for the U.S. to recognize Israel's sovereignty...

TRUMP: Yes.

BARTIROMO: ... of the Golan Heights.

Why now? Why did you send that out now? TRUMP: I've been thinking about doing it for a long time. It's been a very hard decision for every president. No president has done it.

They've all -- this is very much like Jerusalem, moving the embassy to Jerusalem. I did that. And I fully understand why every president, Clinton and Bush and Obama, everybody campaigned on Jerusalem and the embassy going to Jerusalem. I even got the embassy built, by the way, very inexpensively.

But they all campaigned on it. They never did it. And I understand why, because, when I got elected -- I also campaigned on it. When I got elected, I was inundated with calls from all over the world, the leaders, mostly the leaders, saying, please, don't do it. Don't do it.

I did it. And it's been done and it's fine. Golan Heights is the same thing. For years, other presidents have campaigned. They said they'd do it. This is sovereignty. This is security. This is about regional security.

BARTIROMO: It's not about Netanyahu's reelection?

TRUMP: No, I don't -- I wouldn't even know about that. I wouldn't even know about that. I have no idea. I hear he's doing OK.

I don't know if he's doing great right now, but I hear he's doing OK. But I would imagine the other side, whoever's against him, is also in favor of what I just did. Every president has said, do that. I'm the one that gets it done.

BARTIROMO: Mr. President, thanks so much.

TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARTIROMO: And joining me right now in an exclusive interview is Democratic Congressman from California Ro Khanna. He sits on the House Oversight, Budget, and Armed Services Committees.

And, Congressman, it's good to see you this morning. You thanks so much for joining us.

REP. RO KHANNA, D-CALIF.: Thanks for having me on, Maria.

BARTIROMO: Let me kick it off with your reaction to the president, as well as what you're anticipating from the Mueller report, Congressman?

KHANNA: Well, I would say, on China, the president's facts are just wrong.

We had a report recently that we have an $891 billion trade deficit with China. It's the largest in our 243-year history. And that's because the tariffs haven't been working. And I know he knocks the Green New Deal. But, really, we have a green energy race with China.

They're leading in making electric vehicles, 40 to 50 percent of vehicles. And the Democrats are saying, let's make them here.

(CROSSTALK)

BARTIROMO: Congressman, just to be clear, this president is really the first president that has pushed back on China because of the trade imbalance and because of the constant intellectual property theft.

So, when you talk about the deficit with China, that was very much in place, and that was one of the catalysts that caused the president to act and put China's feet the fire.

KHANNA: Right. I agree with you about the trade theft. And I'm not saying that China isn't acting inappropriately.

But the 25 percent trade tariffs, which even Gary Cohn has rejected, I think has made the situation worse. And the facts speak for themselves. We have the largest trade deficit with China today in our history.

And what we ought to be doing...

BARTIROMO: Right.

KHANNA: Anyway...

BARTIROMO: That's why the president has his team on the ground right now in Beijing trying to do a deal.

Congressman, let's talk about the facts from the Mueller report. If we do get the facts from the Mueller report that there was, in fact, no collusion, as many of us have expected for the last two years, are you going to let the facts speak for themselves?

What's your next move, when we do get the report and you are able to see it later this afternoon, the summary, and you hear that there was no collusion with the president and Russia?

KHANNA: Well, I heard my colleague John Ratcliffe earlier.

We passed a bill together. He voted, part of 420-0, to make the full Mueller report public. So that should be the first step.

Second, there -- the Mueller report has a lot of indictments of Russians who have interfered. So, putting aside the collusion...

BARTIROMO: Right, but that's not collusion. Just to be clear, that wasn't collusion.

KHANNA: Sure.

BARTIROMO: There's no collusion, Congressman. Is that a fair statement, no collusion?

KHANNA: Well, I want to hear -- I want to read the report first, but there are two separate issues. I agree with you, Maria.

One is Russian interference. Every American should be opposed to that.

BARTIROMO: Right.

KHANNA: And we should look at what the Russians did and take steps.

BARTIROMO: Right. No, that wasn't debated. Nobody debated that.

What we're debating is whether or not the president colluded with the Russians. And now we're learning that there will be no more indictments.

One issue that I have had -- you're on the Oversight Committee, sir.

KHANNA: Yes.

BARTIROMO: Carter Page, we know that the Carter Page was wiretapped. He was a member of the Trump campaign. And the other side wanted to spy on the Trump campaign.

For two years, we have been hearing about all of these charges. Your colleagues called the president treasonous. Carter Page was never charged. So he was wiretapped, but never charged. Does that bother you, that all of this euphoria around Carter Page, and yet the guy is walking around? He never did anything wrong.

KHANNA: Well, Maria, I have never called the president that.

But I am for a transparent investigation...

BARTIROMO: OK.

KHANNA: ... and having the facts lead wherever they do.

I do think there have been allegations that Mueller has made about Manafort and giving polling to a Russian.

BARTIROMO: Right. Again, no collusion.

Let's take a short break, sir. And I want to ask you really what you want to know, where you want to see that transparency.

We will be right back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: And I'm back with Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna.

Congressman, I want to ask you. We said earlier your colleagues have been trying to take down this president and called him treasonous. Is it fair to say that -- that your colleagues overreached? And should they step down from their positions for, the last two years, misleading the public so massively?

KHANNA: I don't think so.

I think most of our colleagues have been calling for transparency; 80 percent of FOX News viewers want the report to be public. Every member of the House has said it should be public.

BARTIROMO: I'm talking about Adam Schiff, Adam Schiff two years ago yesterday, or two years ago this week, saying he had more than circumstantial evidence that the president colluded with Russia.

Where is the accountability? How do you spew that out, when there's absolutely no evidence? Should he step down for calling the president treasonous and misleading the American people for the last two years?

KHANNA: Well, I don't think he's ever called the president that. I certainly would never use that term.

What I do think is important...

BARTIROMO: He said he had more than circumstantial evidence. That's a quote, sir. You know that.

KHANNA: Well, what I would say is, let's get the Mueller report out.

It doesn't matter what any member of Congress thinks. What matters is what Bob Mueller has found. We haven't even read the report. Let's -- let's look at what he has found, not just about possible interference of Russia and who was involved, but also an obstruction of justice.

And then I would stand by the Mueller report. I think Bob Mueller has more credibility than anyone in Congress.

BARTIROMO: All right.

KHANNA: And what matters is his findings.

BARTIROMO: All right, so you stand by the report.

I know that sometimes you vote alongside Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Does it -- does it bother you that -- the idea that you can get rid of fossil fuels in 10 years? Does it make sense and that it would cost upwards of $94 trillion, sir, real quick?

KHANNA: I don't think it's correct that it would cost $93 trillion.

What I'm concerned about is the green energy race. China is building solar plants...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

KHANNA: ... energy and wind -- we need to be competing here. We need to have electric vehicles here. We need to have renewable energy here.

And that's something Republicans believe in too.

BARTIROMO: Right.

KHANNA: I don't want to lose out to China.

BARTIROMO: Yes, that's absolutely right.

KHANNA: And so I...

BARTIROMO: China, I believe, is the story of our day. I totally agree with you there, sir.

Sir, we appreciate you joining us. We hope you will come back. Sorry about the abbreviated time. We are waiting on the Mueller report. Thank you so much, sir.

KHANNA: Thank you, Maria.

BARTIROMO: Former Whitewater independent counsel Ken Starr is next.

Back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

We are awaiting Attorney General William Barr to release his summary on the principal conclusions of the Mueller report.

Joining me right now is former Whitewater independent counsel Ken Starr.

Ken, it is good to see you this morning. Thanks very much for joining us.

KENNETH STARR, FORMER SPECIAL PROSECUTOR: Thank you, Maria. My pleasure.

BARTIROMO: Tell us what we need to focus on when we get this conclusion summary report. What are you looking at?

STARR: And thank you.

Maria, you're doing exactly the right thing. You're mindful of what the attorney general, Bill Barr, who's a terrific lawyer -- and he's very careful. He's going to go by the book.

Now, everyone says, we want the full report out. Well, the full report, it all depends on what that report contains, because Justice Department prosecutors -- and that's what Bob Mueller is -- are not to go about besmirching people's reputations.

So I was so pleased to see Bill Barr and that first communication to Congress on Friday afternoon.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

STARR: There are four different references to the regulations under which he's operating. People just forget that and say, well, he will just...

BARTIROMO: So, he's going -- so, in other words, he's going to stick to the boo, the way it should be?

STARR: I think he's a by-the-book kind of guy.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

STARR: And that's the way it should be.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

STARR: Now, at the same time, he promised -- he promised under oath during his confirmation hearings that he wanted as much transparency as possible.

He reiterated that in his Friday afternoon letter. And I think that's good. But he's going to be mindful of these practices, procedures, the law. You know the law, 6-E.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

STARR: That's a fancy way of saying, thou shalt not reveal grand jury information. It's a crime to do that.

BARTIROMO: Well, that's the thing.

The Democrats, I think, or the skeptics of President Trump would like all this information about what they may have looked at or didn't look at, so that they can launch their own investigations.

STARR: Right.

BARTIROMO: Let me ask you about the Hillary Clinton investigation, because the right will say, well, look, she wasn't investigated at all. Meanwhile, Donald Trump was investigated on flimsy evidence.

Do you think the Mueller report is going to be a catalyst for other investigations to come out of that, like of Peter Strzok...

STARR: It may very well.

BARTIROMO: ... and Andrew McCabe and...

STARR: Right.

BARTIROMO: ... and all of these people who tried to take down a duly elected president?

STARR: It may be.

But I will tell you this. I'm in favor of, let's just get to the truth of this, either through the inspector general, and if there are appropriate criminal charges to be considered, as is happening right now with former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

The findings of the inspector general were very unflattering to Andrew McCabe. And so that's referred over to the Criminal Division. So let's just take it a step at a time see what the facts are.

But, yes, I think the American people -- or at least a huge swathe of the American people just want -- if charges should be brought, or at least seriously considered, have that serious consideration process, because I don't think there's been an assurance that there has been that kind of careful, fair-minded review.

And just let the facts come out.

BARTIROMO: It sounds like you think there will be accountability here?

STARR: I think eventually.

BARTIROMO: Yes, eventually.

STARR: It may not take the form of criminal charges. Yes. Yes, I do.

BARTIROMO: Ken, it's good to see you this morning. Thanks so much, Ken Starr.

STARR: My pleasure.

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

And congratulations to "Sunday Morning Futures" celebrating five years today on the air.

Have a good Sunday, everybody.

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