Rep. Steube: Democrats will stop at nothing to impeach Trump
House Oversight Committee member Greg Steube on Democrats' impeachment push.
This is a rush transcript from "Your World," October 4, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEIL ARMSTRONG, NASA ASTRONAUT: One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
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NEIL CAVUTO, ANCHOR: And one giant leap for the job market, because not since Neil Armstrong walked on the moon have we seen an unemployment rate so out of this world and just so darn low.
Try 3.5 percent. You heard that right, 3.5 percent. You would have to go back to 1969 to see a number like that, when a gallon the gas was 35 cents and the average cost of a new house was just over 15,000 bucks. A new car fetched about 3,200 bucks. And the average income was a dead north of $8,500.
1969, it was the year, of course, of Woodstock and much cheaper stocks. The Dow was at 800 or thereabouts back then, well over 26000 today. Different world. What a world, because this, my friends, is "Your World," and I'm Neil Cavuto.
And you thought that maybe Quentin Tarantino was the only guy who could make 1969 come back to life this year. But this isn't once upon a time in Hollywood; 3.5 percent unemployment is this time right here and now in America, historic and, for stocks, meteoric, the Dow rocketing, because after a week of some nail-biting data, it turns out the economy is not crashing after all.
And we have got you covered with FOX Business' Susan Li on the numbers that got them jumping and John Roberts at the White House that the president certainly wasn't ignoring.
We begin with Susan -- Susan.
SUSAN LI, CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Neil.
So the September jobs report, yes, less than forecast, but it's still a pretty strong report, but not too strong that it kills off the chances of another interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in just a few weeks' time.
So, 136,000 jobs in the month. We had that 3.5 percent jobless rate, the lowest in 50 years. Wage gains jumped 2.9 percent, a bit of disappointment there, since it's the weakest read that we have seen in a year's time. But there's still a lot of hiring taking place.
For instance, health care looking for ambulance and hospital workers in the month. We also had business, tech professional services hiring, along with transport and warehousing as well.
The soft spots were in retail, since we have retail shedding around 11,000 jobs in the month. Manufacturing cut around 2,000 jobs. But so guess what? That means that we still have 75 percent of the market anticipating an interest rate cut this month in just a few weeks' time.
And that helped rally stocks today. You saw the Dow jumping 360 points, being lifted by these consumer stocks and the health care names as well. One stock in particular, Apple, being lifted today because they have to produce more iPhones in order to meet demand. And that's a great sign of spending.
The National Retail Federation confirmed that this week, saying that the holiday shopping period will go up by 3.8 percent to 4.2 percent, so roughly around 4 percent, better than last year. And they say, Neil, the effect from tariffs either directly or even indirectly through consumer confidence remains to be seen.
So some would say this is what we call a Goldilocks scenario in the markets -- back to you.
CAVUTO: Well, it did chase away some bears.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: All right, Susan, thank you very, very much.
Well, the president was actually doing some growing about this jobs report. It got a lot of people's minds, he hoped, off something else.
John Roberts at the White House with more than that.
Hey, John.
JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Neil, good afternoon to you.
The president still happy about this economic report, despite the fact that the jobs numbers came in about 9,000 below what was forecast. But the president really focusing in on that 3.5 percent unemployment number, saying, with other economies around the world beginning to wobble or with the wheels fully coming off, America is the economic miracle.
But at the same time, with all of this other stuff swirling in Washington, D.C., the president tying the economic numbers to the impeachment inquiry in the House, the president tweeting -- quote -- "Breaking News. Unemployment rate at 3.5 percent drops to a 50-year low. Wow, America, let's impeach your president, even though he did nothing wrong."
Latest development from the White House is that we expect, on Monday, the president will be sending a letter up to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying, unless you hold a vote in the full House to authorize an impeachment inquiry, we are not going to be complying with any requests for documents and certainly no subpoenas for documents.
We should point out, Vice President Mike Pence got a subpoena for -- not a subpoena -- a request for documents a short time ago, including a request for a transcript of the president's first call with Ukrainian President Zelensky back on April the 21st, which the president said during the United Nations General Assembly he would be happy to provide.
But listen to what the president said about this idea of sending a letter up to Pelosi, basically, I guess you could say, challenging her to hold a vote in the full House. Listen here.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: We will be issuing a letter. As everybody knows, we have been treated very unfairly, very different from anybody else, when you look at what Biden and his son did, or when you look at other people, what they have done.
And I believe that was tremendous corruption with Biden. But I think there was beyond -- I mean, beyond corruption having to do with the 2016 campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, already sent a similar letter to Nancy Pelosi yesterday in which he said -- quote -- "Your proclamations of fairness fall flat when you deny a process that provides it. Simply put, you are failing to meet the basic standards of due process observed by past speakers of the House."
What McCarthy was referring to there was the Nixon and the Clinton impeachments, where there was a full vote in the House to authorize the House Judiciary Committee to begin an inquiry.
Pelosi firing back -- quote -- McCarthy -- quote -- "There is no requirement under the Constitution, under House rules or House precedent that the whole House vote before proceeding with an impeachment inquiry."
Now, not only does the White House want to challenge Pelosi to hold this vote in order to get documents, but there's a political angle to all of this as well, Neil. As you can imagine, they want to put pressure here at the White House on red state Democrats to see how they're going to vote.
And then they also want a full roll call of how everybody voted on this impeachment question in order to use it as a cudgel against them in the 2020 election -- Neil.
CAVUTO: Do you get sense, John -- I know it's a mug's game at this point - - that Nancy Pelosi has 218 votes in the House to move?
ROBERTS: You know, as of the beginning of this week, it appeared that she did. But when you -- I mean, saying that you have got them in a whip cap behind the scenes is one thing., but if you have to put this to a full vote, it might come out quite differently.
Again, you have got a lot of red state Democrats who are up for reelection in states that President Trump won handily back in 2016 and could win again in 2020. And they may not be particularly inclined to vote for impeachment, if they have got to put their name to it -- Neil.
CAVUTO: All right, thank you, my friend very much, John Roberts at the White House.
So it comes down to this. Impeach the guy who brought you this unimpeachable economy? The president says, you would be crazy.
To our market guests on whether they agree.
We have got Gary Kaltbaum, Charles Payne, Lauren Simonetti.
Lauren, he's saying crazy to get rid of the guy who brought you this.
LAUREN SIMONETTI, CORRESPONDENT: Well, where is the state of the economy?
We have had a lot of -- I call it wobbly, wobbly data this week, right? Manufacturing, 10-year low. We lost 2,000 manufacturing jobs. Yet we're still creating jobs.
CAVUTO: Yes.
SIMONETTI: And there's much more jobs that are open, positions opening than there are for people who can fill them. So you can make the argument the economy and the job market is healthy.
But then you have the other data that creates some noise. So...
CAVUTO: Yes, he's saying the confluence of data favors him.
SIMONETTI: We're shopping for the holidays, apparently.
CAVUTO: Yes, apparently.
The Retail Federation says they're very optimistic about that, Charles. Let me get your take on what the president says, though. Impeach me, kiss this goodbye.
CHARLES PAYNE, ANCHOR: Well, the impeachment process, in and of itself, would certainly be disruptive to the economy and to consumer confidence.
And that's the underpinning of the strength in this economy. So there would be a massive hurt toward that.
I think, also, if the idea was that there was going to be a President Elizabeth Warren, that would certainly scare the heck out of Wall Street. I mean, say what you will about the purists out there who don't like the trade war and things like that. What she has promised to do to bankers, to Wall Street, to -- internationally, the redistribution of money, I think the stock market would take a very sizable hit.
CAVUTO: And leaving aside what she wants to do to you.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Gary, it is an argument you hear a lot about that.
The one thing that helped Bill Clinton was that backdrop of a strong economy, a lot of jobs, the markets doing really well, similar, you know, situation today, I know night day in terms of the issues that might or might not come up if we went full-blown impeachment.
But what do you think of that, that this environment helps the president?
GARY KALTBAUM, CONTRIBUTOR: A better economy and a better market, of course.
And I think, at this point in time, the markets know and I think the economy knows he's going to be impeached. But he's not going anywhere. It's going to come down to November 3 next year. And that's where the rubber is going to meet the road.
CAVUTO: So, you're taking it as a given, and you think the markets take it as a given that the House is going to impeach?
KALTBAUM: Oh, yes. I think they're determined to do it.
And...
CAVUTO: But it goes nowhere after that?
KALTBAUM: No.
And I think Charles is being nice about Elizabeth Warren. There has not been one...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: I have never known Charles to be nice.
(LAUGHTER)
KALTBAUM: There's not been one industry that she has not said she wouldn't either shut down, take over or break up.
And I mean every major industry. And then we can start on the wealth confiscation, every tax under the sun. If we start getting close to that, the wealthy, I -- they're already meeting with their accountants right now and trying to find out what place in the Bahamas they're going to move.
(CROSSTALK)
PAYNE: They should meet with the travel agent.
KALTBAUM: That's already going on right now.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: But, no, you raise a very good point.
And, Lauren, I want to pick up with you, I mean, because people mistake -- and I think Charles Payne has hit on this one before. I have always argued that Wall Street isn't red or blue, conservative or liberal.
When it comes to making money, they're green. They're all about making money. And I don't think they care if it's Lucifer or Jesus in the White House, as long as they are making money. They don't want that disrupted.
And I think what adds to their volatility sometimes is fearing that Gary might be wrong, that the president does get impeached beyond the House, or that it leads to such disruption, there's trouble.
SIMONETTI: If the president does get impeached, and we're faced with -- well, first of all, the president is not going to get impeached, because the Senate is never going to do it.
So let's go to 2020. And let's see the opponent. And if it is a Joe Biden, I think Wall Street would be OK, because he's not going to disrupt anything. If it's an Elizabeth Warren, you do have a problem, because she is disrupting everything as you know it.
And that does affect Wall Street and all the rules that they have to play by.
I think things -- and we always say, you know, October is a very volatile month. It's not the worst month of the year, although it sometimes seems like it.
CAVUTO: Right.
SIMONETTI: Wait for the month volatility when we get the Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire caucuses, because if Elizabeth Warren comes out leading, stocks are probably going to go down, to piggyback...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: But, you know, the experts got Donald Trump wrong, right?
Charles, you didn't, but, I mean, there was a feeling that this sort of, you know, rabble-rouser is going to kill stocks. And we know that, election night, the futures were tanking and then quickly stabilized, reversed, and we're soaring.
So what you think happens doesn't always happen. So play out this scenario.
PAYNE: Well, that's true. That's true.
Listen, and we have seen that with appointees to the Supreme Court and a whole lot of other people that you thought one thing would go one way, and it zigged and it zagged the other.
But there's no doubt in my mind that there is an anti-establishment populism going on. And it's not just in America. It's all over the world. We just saw it in Brazil, Modi, you know?
CAVUTO: Yes.
PAYNE: And, you know, every country, not just Europe and America.
And I think -- I think Elizabeth Warren, if she were to win, would have this wind in her sails, that she would attempt to do a lot of the things that she says that she wants to get done.
I'm not sure how much she could get done. But it would be enough to derail all of what we have gained over the last couple years, certainly. And it would be frightening for a whole lot of people, because it would -- it would -- it would be deliberate destruction, deliberate destruction.
KALTBAUM: And just remember, President Trump was lower taxes, less regulations.
If it's Elizabeth Warren, much higher taxes, control of industry, the exact opposite of what's done the job. And I have always been a big believer of government, do your thing, set good conditions and get out of the way and let the 150 million people that are working get the job done.
And that's what's been going on. And that is the point. If we got close to that, you are correct, I think markets would take a hit on it.
CAVUTO: Sounds like you're not raising funds for Elizabeth Warren.
(CROSSTALK)
SIMONETTI: She's going to keep her promises. She strikes me as the type.
CAVUTO: We shall see. We shall see.
Very early in the game, as you all remind me.
In the meantime, in case you think that impeachment today took a break, well, it didn't. Wait until you see what some Democrats are up to, moving at a pace that stunned a lot of folks.
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CAVUTO: All right, this whistle-blower, it is numbing me.
But, anyway, the man who first got the whistle-blower's complaint at the center of the Ukraine controversy right now getting grilled behind closed doors on Capitol Hill today, fast-moving developments that our own Mike Emanuel has been tracking carefully on Capitol Hill -- Mike.
MIKE EMANUEL, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Neil, good afternoon.
Yes, the Intelligence Committee watchdog has been behind closed doors for a good six hours or so. Sources telling FOX News that Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community inspector general, has been protective of the whistle-blower.
He also told lawmakers that the whistle-blower volunteered being a registered Democrat. But we await the end of this session for a more complete readout from key players.
One Intelligence Republican spoke earlier about the focus of this probe.
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REP. CHRIS STEWART, R-UT: Out of everything we will talk about for today and last week, for the next few months, this comes down to one thing.
It comes down to one sentence in one phone call. And everything else always comes back to that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: A short time ago, three House committee chairs, Adam Schiff, Eliot Engel, and Elijah Cummings, sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence, writing -- quote -- "Pursuant to the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry, we are hereby requesting that you produce the documents set forth in the accompanying schedule by October 15, 2019."
Yesterday, former special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker spent 9.5 hours behind closed doors with three House committees. Fox News has obtained the opening 11 pages of Volker's testimony, including page five: "The president was very skeptical. Given Ukraine's history of corruption, that is understandable. He said that Ukraine was a corrupt country full of terrible people. He said they tried to take me down. In the course of that conversation, he referenced conversations with Mayor Giuliani."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ERIC SWALWELL, D-CALIF.: We have of text messages between State Department officials expressing concern as early as May that Rudy Giuliani had a -- there was a Giuliani-Biden thing going on that had concerned a State Department official.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: These are very tense times between House Democrats and the White House -- Neil.
CAVUTO: Thank you very, very much.
Greg Steube is with us right now, Republican from Florida, on the House Oversight Committee, House Judiciary, very important guy. A lot of things and people are going to go through him.
Congressman, where is this going? What's your sense of where it's going?
REP. GREG STEUBE, R-FLA.: Well, I mean, the Democrats will stop at nothing to impeach this president. And I think that's very clear at this point.
It started with the Russian collusion hoax. For two years, the mainstream media sold a farce to the American people. And that turned out to be nothing.
So, Adam Schiff has moved from that to obstruction, from obstruction to corruption, and now from corruption to this whistle-blower complaint.
There is nothing in that transcript that I -- that I have said -- and I have read the transcript -- that would be a high crime or a misdemeanor, that would be an impeachable offense
And none of the Democrats have articulated to me or to any of the American people what that specific crime, high crime or misdemeanor, would be.
CAVUTO: All right, so a lot depends on what -- we have got this transcript of the remarks by the whistle-blower and others, building a case of at least concern over what the president was doing here, maybe not an impeachable offense or a high crime, misdemeanor, as you say.
I don't know how far that goes. I know it's more of a political judgment call, but that it didn't look good for the president. It worried folks like Susan Collins, the Republican senator, also Mitt Romney, who said that it stretches credulity to talk about what he was saying regarding China just yesterday at the White House.
Are you worried that this is building into something?
STEUBE: I mean, the -- like I said, the Democrats have been trying to build this into impeachment the entire time, because they view him as an illegitimate president.
Hillary Clinton said a couple times...
CAVUTO: Do you think, though -- I understand that.
Do you think the president, to use that old Nixon line, gave them a sword, gave them something to pounce on?
STEUBE: Again, I don't see anything in that transcript that would -- that would be an impeachable offense.
CAVUTO: OK.
STEUBE: And they're trying to find something, where there's nothing.
CAVUTO: All right.
So, we had some very good job news today, not as many jobs created as we thought in the latest month, but unemployment that goes back to what it was back in 1969.
And the president was saying that is the real story here. He was talking about the fact that, if you get rid of him -- I'm paraphrasing here, sir -- you get rid of that, you get rid of this economic recovery, you get rid of this market surge, you get rid of all that.
Do you agree with that?
STEUBE: Well, I will tell you this. I'm back in Florida meeting with folks in my district, and they're upset and sick and tired of this impeachment talk for the last three years.
They want Congress to do something. And with the Democrats in charge, we haven't passed USMCA. We haven't done the type of things the American people will do.
And look what the president's doing, record unemployment numbers, record economy numbers. And those are the type of things that the people are seeing. And they want that to continue.
CAVUTO: All right, he was also talking up shoring up Medicare, doing something that isn't Medicare for all. He pounded that at The Villages yesterday in Southern Florida.
STEUBE: Yes.
CAVUTO: And I'm wondering how that is resonating with some of your constituents.
STEUBE: Well, like you said, he was here in Florida yesterday, and talking about those issues.
And, look, we have a high population that are on Medicare. Those type of issues resonate with them. He also talked about lowering prescription drug costs, something that he's willing to work with Democrats on.
And the American people and Floridians know that the Democrats aren't willing to work with him on anything. And so the things like lowering prescription drug prices are things that this Congress could get done with this president, and the Democrats are stalling because they're too focused on impeachment.
CAVUTO: All right. We will see. I have a feeling it won't end any time soon.
But, Congressman, thank you. Have a good weekend.
STEUBE: Yes, thanks. You too.
CAVUTO: All right, well, forget about following the texts and whether the Ukraine mess is hurting the president.
Follow the money and how it just could be hurting a lot more the guy who wants to the president.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Everything, to me, is about corruption. We want to find out what happened with 2016.
And, as you know, there's a lot of work going on, on that. I don't care about Biden's campaign, but I do care about corruption.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: All right.
The president might not care, but the guy who wants to be president might be starting to, because Joe Biden raised all of $15 million in the latest quarter. That's far less than Bernie Sanders or even Mayor Pete. And it's way down from the $21 million that Biden himself took in, in just the first couple of months he joined the race.
So, say it ain't so, Joe?
To Gianno Caldwell and Alayna Treene, Isaac Wright.
Gianno, a lot of focus on the president and what he knew and what and when and texts and all that stuff.
GIANNO CALDWELL, POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.
CAVUTO: This might be a bigger issue for the time being for Biden, in the fight of his life for the Democratic nomination. What do you think?
CALDWELL: I completely agree with you on that, Neil.
And, truthfully speaking, considering all the news we have seen, I'm not sure who's being -- possibly being impeached here. Is it President Donald Trump or Joe Biden himself?
Why? Because there's been a total change in trajectory around the integrity of his campaign, what did he know and what did he didn't know, further, the fact that the American people, a lot of folks, don't really understand the context of the conversation. They don't understand the impact.
They don't see any quid pro quo here. For them, they do see a quid pro quo where you have a vice president that goes and tells the government, hey, if you don't fire this guy who's investigating this company, then I won't release this money, or going to China with your son, and him getting over a billion-dollar deals with no expertise.
Those are things that they can understand. This other stuff is moving the American people in a way where they're having sympathy, for some folks, for the president of the United States on this issue.
CAVUTO: Well, Isaac, for a lot of Americans, it's numbingly confusing.
What they do know, though, in the Democratic Party, the other Democratic candidates don't even have to mention this and Joe Biden, just hoping that he implodes because of it. Is that a real possibility now?
ISAAC WRIGHT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No, not at all.
There's no evidence that there was any wrongdoing. Joe Biden is doing strong, as are the rest of the candidates for president.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Well, he's not doing as strong. And I'm not here to judge what happened in this.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: I'm not asking that.
Isaac, I'm just asking, do you think that the other candidates are going to be able to take advantage of this, even if there's nothing to it?
WRIGHT: I don't -- I don't think that this will impact that.
I think other candidates are on a surge. We're watching the waves play out, as Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina approach. I think the field will settle.
I don't know if Joe Biden will win or not, but I don't think this will have any effect on it. I think, if anything, the fact that Donald Trump is imploding and holding up Joe Biden as his enemy may actually elevate Biden in the long term.
CAVUTO: All right, well, Alayna, let me ask you about this.
I talked to Don Peebles. He is a big Democratic fund-raiser. He's sort of like in that Dick Parsons, moderate politician, even though he's a Democrat and all that, but he's saying that he had tried to reach out to Joe Biden and help him raise some money and all of that, liked the guy, worked with the guy in the past. It went nowhere.
This is what he was telling me earlier on FOX Business.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
R. DONAHUE PEEBLES, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, PEEBLES CORPORATION: He's got a very weak finance staff.
Obama was killing it early on, creating excitement. And money, while the money doesn't vote, it is an indication of your status in the race. And he should be blowing it out right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: He told another story. It was actually a better bite, where he was talking about, look, I called the vice president's people, said I want to raise some money for him, want to help out, and never heard from either the people or Joe Biden himself, something Barack Obama would never have done, probably Bill Clinton would never have done, probably any one of a number of Republican candidates, if offered the opportunity, would never have done.
What did you think of that?
ALAYNA TREENE, AXIOS: I think it's a great point.
And we have seen that Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren have both raised more money in Q3 of this year than the former vice president, but -- and also just to go back to what we were discussing before, and, to Isaac's point, I actually disagree.
I think, from a lot of people that I have spoken with who are rooting for the former vice president to win the nomination, are very worried about this entire campaign that the president, Republicans and this White House are running against him.
And even if the allegations are totally unfounded, which every fact-check so far has said that they are, just putting the words Joe Biden and corruption in the same sentence is really worrying people. And they're worrying that, regardless of the truth, regardless of the facts, it's how you paint it.
And we know that this president is really a master at branding, at reframing the narrative. And if he's able to do that successfully with Joe Biden, it really could have an impact on him.
CALDWELL: And it is.
CAVUTO: Gianno, it ultimately could have a bigger impact on the president though, right?
I mean, if this really builds and escalates -- you can say all you want about Joe Biden and the impact -- and it might be palpable and real, even if it's not fair -- that's what Biden's people say -- that this is having a potential drip, drip effect on the president, is it not?
CALDWELL: Well, I mean, obviously, it impacts the president. No one wants to live under this cloud.
But to Isaac's earlier analysis, which may have come from the funny pages, it doesn't agree with facts and honesty. Truth of the matter is, Joe Biden's campaign is going in a direction that he doesn't want it to go in.
Elizabeth Warren, in South Carolina, is now nine points up with African- Americans. And that's been the rationale in which the Biden campaign has positioned their candidacy on, that they can get African-Americans. And he's losing that support.
So they should be concerned. And there is a direct impact from the impeachment inquiry. And I'm sure that he would rather not be seen in this light, because, right now, it's really hurting him.
CAVUTO: Anything can change. Anything can change.
CALDWELL: That's true.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Guys, I wish we had more time, guys.
WRIGHT: Biden may not ultimately be the nominee.
CAVUTO: That's right.
WRIGHT: But that doesn't change the facts of the case.
CAVUTO: You don't know who the nominee will be. And...
CALDWELL: Well, this is -- this is ensuring that he won't be the nominee.
CAVUTO: That's it! That's it.
I wish we had more time. I feel so bad, but not that bad.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: We will have more after this, including what's happening on Capitol Hill as we speak right now that could advance this argument or just keep it dragging on and on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: Everyone is so nasty. They're calling each other names. It's so vitriolic. Sometimes, you just feel like dancing.
Sean Spicer soon, very soon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: We could be hearing from the president very, very soon. He's at a White House event. So, you never know. He might take questions or just volunteer something on this impeachment push.
The intelligence, meanwhile, community inspector general, Michael Atkinson, before Congress as we speak on this whole whistle-blower complaint for the time being.
Chad Pergram outside the room where all that is happening.
Chad, what's the latest?
CHAD PERGRAM, SENIOR CAPITOL HILL PRODUCER: Yes, well, just a couple of minutes ago, I saw Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont, come back into the room.
He left about a half-an-hour ago. And there's been a lot of back and forth, I'm told, in the meeting with Atkinson about the whistle-blower and also the complaint here.
And here's something that Peter Welch told me a minute ago. He said -- quote -- "There's a difference of opinion about how important the whistle- blower is at this point." This is not as important because the White House released the transcript of the telephone call.
One of the other questions here is, will they ever hear from the whistle- blower? I have been told that that seems to be put on the back-burner and they have not really talked about that actively. There's concern about protecting the whistle-blower here.
I'm told that some people here on Capitol Hill do in fact know who that person is. And maybe the fact that they might have some associations with a high-level Democrat, that something that's important.
The other thing, Neil, that we found out this morning was, we got the prepared remarks that Kurt Volker, the special envoy for Ukraine, that he spoke to the Intelligence Committee yesterday. He had some remarks about Joe Biden yesterday.
And he said in his prepared remarks to the committee -- quote -- "The suggestion that Vice President Biden would be influenced in his duties as vice president by money for his son has no credibility with me. I know of him as a man of integrity."
Now, this is news o'clock here in Washington. It's about 4:35, 4:36 in the afternoon. We do not have compliance with the administration with the subpoenas that were sent out here. We might have some information coming out here just a few minutes ago.
So this is -- this is a high noon here in Washington at 4:30 on an afternoon a Friday.
CAVUTO: How close is a vote to proceeding on this?
PERGRAM: Well, this is an issue that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, have gone back and forth about.
Pelosi is saying that she doesn't have to have a vote to initiate an impeachment inquiry. The White House says that they will not comply with subpoenas or provide witnesses unless there is a vote.
The reason Republicans want to do that is, they want to weaponize a vote on the House floor against vulnerable swing state and swing district Democrats. In other words, then you have documented this.
So the other thing to watch for is, once they get through some of this investigation, Neil, is what goes into the actual articles of impeachment that they craft? What do they look like? Do they talk about obstruction of Congress, which could play into the idea that they're not complying with these subpoenas?
Do they talk about specific things with Ukraine? That would be the next step. And even though front and center right now is the Intelligence Committee, next would in fact be the Judiciary Committee.
CAVUTO: All right, thank you very, very much, my friend.
We should be hearing as well from the president very soon. He is addressing the Turning Point USA's Black Leadership Summit. It's largely conservative individuals. They're having this three-day conference.
You know the drill. He speaks at the White House, commemorates the weekend plans, and then might take questions or might offer his own. He has essentially dared a vote today on impeachment to Nancy Pelosi to sort of see whether she would do so and get those Democrats in particularly vulnerable districts, or at least ones that Donald Trump won, to put them on.
So we should be getting that soon, should be hearing from the president soon.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Did you see Adam Schiff got four Pinocchios by The Post this morning for lying?
TRUMP: Well, I heard Adam Schiff got four Pinocchios. That's good. He should have gotten them two-and-a-half years ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: All right, the president saying it took a long time coming, The Washington Post fact-checker giving the House Intelligence chair, Adam Schiff, four Pinocchios for his claim that his committee never spoke to the whistle-blower.
It turns out that wasn't quite the case. Normally, The Washington Post is doing that whole Pinocchio thing to him. So, obviously, the leader of the free world was happy to see maybe a little bit of fair and balanced out of that paper.
The Wall Street Journal, another great paper.
And the guy behind it, James Freeman, says that Chairman Schiff's credibility is indeed on the line here.
And he's been playing fast and loose with a lot of stuff. Right?
JAMES FREEMAN, CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, there's really a history here, this series of falsehoods about the whistle-blower and whether his office was in contact.
The remarks that Congressman Schiff attributed to the president that were not actually the president's remarks.
CAVUTO: Remember that, yes. Recounted it, yes.
FREEMAN: You go back to the characterization of the call before we got the transcript. Not accurate.
And then you go back even further. Mr. Schiff spent two years telling us he had more than circumstantial evidence, in other words, direct evidence, of collusion with Russia. He never produced it. People wondered, how can he talk about it? He's on the Intelligence Committee. You're not supposed to be able to even discuss classified information.
The answer was, the information didn't exist. That's why he was able to do it. But...
CAVUTO: He is the front person here for this, that Jerry Nadler, the Judiciary Committee chief, has been sort of sidelined. And everything goes to Schiff now, right?
FREEMAN: I think that's why it really goes to the credibility of this whole enterprise, because this is not some backbencher. It's not a member of the Squad saying a bizarre comment that the House leadership then has to figure out how to reckon with.
This is the person running the impeachment inquiry.
CAVUTO: Yes.
FREEMAN: And this series of falsehoods, I think, has to make people wonder, do they really have a case? And if they do, why do they keep -- I don't want -- I don't know if I want to say lying about it, but it is a series of claims that are not true.
CAVUTO: Well, misstating facts.
It's that old Jean Dean thing, in variance with the facts.
FREEMAN: Right.
CAVUTO: So, Jim, one of the things the president says, we have the market up 372 points today, and he was talking about the record low unemployment. You have to go back to 1969 for that low, 3.5 percent.
That's all on the line if this impeachment line builds. What do you think?
FREEMAN: It is, especially if it's Warren, who seems to have the momentum.
This is -- you would like the president to be judged on the merits one way or the other.
CAVUTO: Right.
FREEMAN: But I think it is underlining that the consequences of ejecting him from office could be -- could be significant.
I mean, maybe if you want to sort of...
CAVUTO: And it's the uncertainty around all that, too, that just sort of rattles folks, if it comes to that, which so far, who knows, right?
FREEMAN: Yes.
I don't think he's going to be removed from office, unless voters decide to do it next November.
CAVUTO: Yes, or it's a drip, drip, drip thing kind of thing.
All right, James Freeman, The Wall Street Journal, much, much more, bestselling author.
Well, who says there isn't life after leaving the Trump White House? Forget about singing in the rain. Sean Spicer has been dancing up a storm.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right, we have our Gen Hexed kids here. I like to say kids, because everyone here is a kid -- anyway -- compared to me.
But earlier today on FOX Business, I had a chance to talk to former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, and what got him into this whole "Dancing With the Stars" thing.
He's still in it, you know, so you have to still be in it to win it.
Anyway, I asked him why he's doing it, what he thinks about being able to laugh at yourself, just have a fun time, which he is.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN SPICER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: A few reasons.
One is because you live once. And I thought, you know what, let's have some fun. I'm not a good dancer.
CAVUTO: You're absolutely right, not about the dancing. We only live once, right, right.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
SPICER: You live once. Have some fun in life.
It sounded like -- I had been talking about it with the show for a while. It never fit in with the schedule. My businesses are doing well. My partners could take up the slack. And I thought have some fun, number one.
Number two, have a show that I could encourage my children, who are pretty young, to watch. And number three is, we have turned this opportunity into a cause. Everything that we're doing, from auctioning off that bright green shirt, to selling campaign paraphernalia on our Web site, SpicerArnold.com, benefits two veterans charities that I'm involved with, the Independence Fund and the Yellow Ribbon Fund.
So we have tried to turn this opportunity into something good for those who have truly sacrificed for our nation.
And you know what? I'm having a blast doing it.
CAVUTO: You know, what I always remember about you, Sean -- and I'm not blowing you smoke, but I do mean this -- you have a great sense of humor.
You're very effective at laughing at yourself. My dad used to tell me the same thing. Neil, you might as well laugh at yourself, because, trust me, everyone else is.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: And I think you're embracing that.
And I think that's what has grown your appeal on the show week by week.
And are you surprised when you survive another week? Are you surprised when you keep it going?
SPICER: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
SPICER: And I'm also humbled.
And I know this is a silly -- but I will tell you why, because it's not serious, right? It's a dancing show. It's meant to have fun and entertain people.
No one -- none of us are trying to be professional dancers. But it's -- it truly is humbling. And when you stop and go, OK, between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. on Monday nights, someone is taking away time that they could be spending with their kids, getting ready for the next business day, doing laundry, or cleaning the kitchen or whatever, and they're texting 10 times to support myself and Lindsay Arnold, it actually really humbles you to realize that how many people are taking time out of their day to vote for you.
And they go -- if you go to SpicerArnold.com, you can actually sign up, and we will send you updates.
(LAUGHTER)
SPICER: But it humbled me. It did humble me a bit to realize, because I thought...
CAVUTO: I like how you made it a political campaign. You made it a campaign. That was a good move.
SPICER: Right.
CAVUTO: I don't mean to sort of throw in politics here. But we live in a very polarizing, eat them up alive world.
SPICER: Yes.
CAVUTO: The Democrats going after the president on impeachment, the president going after them for pushing impeachment.
It's a nasty time. I almost think juxtaposing that and you on this show is a reminder, maybe we can just chill a little bit, you know?
SPICER: Well, and it's what you and Joe were talking about a little.
Like, here's the thing. What I love about this show is that there's -- we started with 12 people, literally from the most diverse backgrounds. You have got some athletes, some comedians, actresses, singers.
CAVUTO: Oh, yes.
SPICER: And none of us talk politics ever.
I don't really know where any of them lie. I can probably guess on a few.
(LAUGHTER)
SPICER: But we actually go out there. We root for each other. We actually want each other to do well. We don't take it -- we work hard, but it's not that serious.
And for two hours, people can tune into something, and people are enjoying themselves, rooting for each other, having a good time.
And then you can go back to whatever you have been doing in the past. And like I said, I have always been saying -- said to folks, I'm a fierce partisan, but I think you can do that in a very civil way.
I will fight for conservative principles day in and day out. I believe in this president's agenda.
CAVUTO: Well, you should have fought a little harder about that green shirt in the first going, you know?
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: I know you auctioned it out.
SPICER: But you know what? Neil, Neil, that shirt -- that shirt went for 3,800 bucks.
CAVUTO: I heard. I heard.
SPICER: And we now split that between...
CAVUTO: I can't believe Hannity spent that much, but yes. Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
SPICER: Yes.
CAVUTO: I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
You know, we were talking about this here.
SPICER: Hannity -- Hannity has been...
CAVUTO: Go ahead.
SPICER: He's been -- he wasn't too pleased. He is. He has said that friends don't let friends do that.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAVUTO: Could you imagine if Hannity wore that on his show?
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Anyway, Sean Spicer.
It's good to laugh at yourself, have fun. And he's having fun. Who knows? He could win it all, right?
Anyway, let's get our read from "Your World" audio technician and author Dion Baia. We got Internet radio sensation Mike Gunzelman. They call him Gunz. We call him just whatever he wants us to call him.
MIKE GUNZELMAN, INTERNET RADIO HOST: There we go.
CAVUTO: And last, but not least, Kat on FOX Nation, Kat Timpf.
Kat, I'm all for it. Have at it. Have fun.
What do you think?
KATHERINE TIMPF, CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, I think that it's great to have fun.
And it's so amazing to me that some people are upset about him being on the show.
CAVUTO: Well, do you remember, it was very controversial?
TIMPF: He worked for someone who I don't like. Therefore, he's not allowed to dance around. He's not allowed to have fun.
He is laughing at himself. I think that that's very important.
CAVUTO: Absolutely.
TIMPF: I love to laugh at myself. You spend a lot less time crying if you're able to do that.
CAVUTO: I think you're right.
GUNZELMAN: I feel like Sean Spicer really remade his brand right now, that people are finding him as almost like a likable human being once again.
He could have went away.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Which he is. He is.
GUNZELMAN: Yes, exactly.
And life -- everyone's like, oh, life is too short to take it serious all the time, which is true. People want people that can have fun, joke around with themselves. Nobody wants a stiff. Nobody wants somebody that's so overly defensive all the time.
(CROSSTALK)
TIMPF: I would love to be on the love so I could learn how to dance with my lower body. Like, I usually just do this.
(LAUGHTER)
TIMPF: And it's not a good look.
CAVUTO: I could see Dion in this getup here.
DION BAIA, AUDIO TECHNICIAN: You know me. I'm the first one to make fun of myself. I was doing years. They demanded stuff. It just made me look like a fool.
CAVUTO: Yes, you do. But look where you are now.
BAIA: Yes, exactly.
It is really nice to be able to make fun of yourself or laugh at yourself, especially in a very family-friendly environment. Like he was saying, he has young children. That's really nice that he's able to have them sit in front of a TV.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: And that's a lot of pressure. And he freely admits, I can't dance.
BAIA: Prime-time television doesn't have family -- like that much family- friendly stuff. And it's good to be able to go on and drop the partisanship and just have fun.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Have fun.
BAIA: And wear a green shirt.
GUNZELMAN: He looked like a dancing peacock, and it was perfect.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: What I found out is, there are conservatives who shouldn't be dancing and liberals who shouldn't be dancing. It's a bipartisan...
(CROSSTALK)
BAIA: Geraldo was on that show. That would be great if he wore a shirt like that.
(CROSSTALK)
BAIA: That thing is amazing. Look at that.
CAVUTO: And Tucker years ago.
BAIA: Tucker did it years ago, right.
(CROSSTALK)
TIMPF: I don't think I have ever been that happy.
CAVUTO: They have asked me. They have asked me. I'm thinking about it.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: ... dancing, doing all this stuff around me.
One of the things he brought up -- and I don't know whether you agree with it, Kat -- is that the audience grows either with you or against you. Now, I don't know the show enough to know whether that's the case.
How does that happen? I know you're not into the show.
(CROSSTALK)
TIMPF: I'm a die-hard fan.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: But you know what I'm saying, that it builds, he says? And there's something that's been building here. People who had doubts about him, like I said at the outset, where they were very leery of the political stuff and all, but that he's grown on people.
TIMPF: Good for him.
I mean, you saw that photo that we keep bringing up where he's like...
CAVUTO: Right.
(LAUGHTER)
TIMPF: I mean, how do you look at that guy and go, uh, I hate that guy?
CAVUTO: Gunz is that way.
(CROSSTALK)
BAIA: He endears himself to a lot of people.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: And he laughs at himself.
BAIA: He's like almost the underdog. And people at home eating popcorn or whatever watching are like, that's nice. They like him to -- they want to see him go to the next round.
CAVUTO: Yes.
GUNZELMAN: Because he's not taking himself too seriously.
People are starting to be like, you know what, that's cool. He's having fun. Like you said, like, there's so many bullies and people out there. The best thing you can do is just make fun yourself.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: What do you do with your career after this show, though? You know what I mean?
I know there are a lot of people -- he's already a well-known entity.
TIMPF: Right.
CAVUTO: But where do you go after this?
BAIA: Well, some people can turn into something else.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Really? Like what? What do you turn it into?
(CROSSTALK)
BAIA: Yes, he's going to become a professional dancer.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: He could advise politicians on dancing.
BAIA: How to dance and to be envoy for that show and then to also be like the foreign -- speaking relations to the show like that. When you go on, he will be your press secretary.
TIMPF: I think it's been good for him, though, because it has endeared more people to him.
And I think it's harder to make fun of someone when they're already making fun of themselves first.
BAIA: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
GUNZELMAN: ... to do is always embrace your fault and be like, yes, I'm fat. What's the big deal?
CAVUTO: Yes.
GUNZELMAN: Because then, if anybody goes after you, they can't.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: And he's funny about it and he's self-deprecating.
BAIA: It also shows the ludicrousy of the backlash on just a partisan level. He's having fun. People didn't want him on just because of the -- guilty by association.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: It was very biting. It was very biting.
And I asked him about it. And he said yes, yes, and he just danced.
BAIA: Yes. And then people are like, hey, he's not that bad. He's funny. Look at the shirt he's wearing.
(CROSSTALK)
GUNZELMAN: Plus, who doesn't want to see more of that photo, right?
BAIA: I know.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Guys, I want to thank you. I wanted to talk about this.
Speaking of comedy and all that, Al Green, the congressman, he is very funny. People find that hard to believe.
He's going to be joining me tomorrow on "Cavuto Live." This is one of the original guys who was saying, we got to impeach the president.
Now the entire party is following him. You think he's having the last laugh? Tomorrow at 10:00.
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