Sen. Johnson: Obama administration totally corrupted the transition of power

This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," May 31, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Good morning. Good Sunday morning, everyone. Thanks for joining me. I'm Maria Bartiromo.

Straight ahead right here on "Sunday Morning Futures": my exclusive interview with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as President Trump drops the hammer on China, announcing his toughest actions yet against the communist regime.

But first this morning, breaking news: chaos in cities across America this weekend, as protesters clash with police, demanding justice for George Floyd.

A live update from the streets of Minneapolis coming up, following a fifth night of unrest.

Trey Gowdy joins us coming up on whether the Justice Department could bring charges in this case. We will also hear from former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on what the unrest and violence could mean for the 2020 elections.

In the middle of all of this, Senator Ron Johnson continues his deep dive into the Russian collusion hoax. He will join me live with breaking news this morning on his Obamagate investigation.

All that and a lot more, as we look ahead right here, right now, on "Sunday Morning Futures."  And first up this morning, a FOX News Alert, as the National Guard is now mobilizing 5,000 troops across 15 states and Washington, D.C.

Our Matt Finn is reporting live on the ground in Minneapolis.

Matt, what can you tell us?

MATT FINN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Maria, we're around the corner from the 5th police precinct, which was heavily targeted by violent rioters the past two nights.

And you could see some of the extensive damages to businesses here. They were looted, set on fire, and suffered water damage. Wells Fargo Bank across the street was also lit on fire and vandalized.

Some good signs this morning, lots of city workers now helping clean up some of the devastation here. And there were several nights in a row of destructive and violent riots here in Minneapolis.

But, last night, it seems like law enforcement finally gained some control, along with the help of the National Guard, which was helping strictly enforce a perimeter around this city.

And today, this morning, there is some good news. There are no major fires here right now to report. We saw several, countless business burn straight to the ground. There's been a thick plume of smoke just blanketing this city, and overnight, into the morning, no major fires here in Minneapolis.

So, perhaps this scene is indicative that there might be some law and order restored here in this city -- Maria.

BARTIROMO: All right, Matt, thank you, Matt Finn in Minneapolis.

Let's get reaction right now from the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.

Mr. Secretary, thanks very much for joining me this morning

MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Good morning, Maria. Thanks for having me on.

BARTIROMO: What can the administration do to create calm, to calm things down this morning?

POMPEO: Well, let me begin, first of all, by expressing my personal condolences to Mr. Floyd's family and all the people too who have been impacting by this rioting and the violence.

It's not good. It's a tragedy. The police officers actually there were abhorrent. And what the administration has done so far is to move very quickly. You have seen statements by President Trump. You saw the attorney general talking about what the Justice Department is doing and how rapidly it's responding to proceed with its investigations of what took place there, the police incident that took place.

And then you have seen the president talk to the fact that this violence, this looting, this rioting is unacceptable. And he's offered to provide whatever federal assistance might be appropriate, including Secretary Esper's conversation with governors to offer that assistance, if that's necessary, to protect peaceful protesters and people all across these communities that have been impacted by these Antifa-like violent protesters.

BARTIROMO: Yes, the president did tweet out that this was largely Antifa.

Secretary, do you think maybe this started off with peaceful protests, and then Antifa came in, joined these protesters, and flared things up with weaponry like those Molotov cocktails?

POMPEO: Oh, I think it still remains to be seen exactly how what began as peaceful protests by people who were clearly saddened and frustrated by the police action against George Floyd.

I don't -- I don't know precisely how it proceeded to get this way, but we have seen this pattern before, where outsiders have come in. We have seen some of the mayors talk about the fact that they have had people travel from outside of the communities to really do destruction, destroying small businesses, the life savings of owners of those small businesses.

It's truly a tragedy.

BARTIROMO: Mr. Secretary, let me switch gears and ask you about China.

And here, I want to take you back and really reiterate your background. You come from the world of intelligence. You, of course, are a West Point graduate, the finest military academy in the world. You were the head of the CIA. You were on the House Intel Committee when you were in Congress.

And you have been investigating China, and zeroing in on behavior of China for 10 years. Can you assess the situation today? What is China's motives, the Communist Party motives?

POMPEO: So, it's a different Chinese Communist Party today than it was 10 years ago.

And I think the remarks that President Trump gave on Friday of this past week reflect that. This is a Chinese Communist Party that has come to view itself as intent upon the destruction of Western ideas, Western democracies, Western values, and puts Americans at risk.

The list is long, whether it's stealing American intellectual property, destroying hundreds and millions of jobs here in the United States, or their efforts to put at risk sea lanes in the South China Sea denying commercial traffic the opportunity to move through armed encampments in places that China has no right to be.

The list of actions from the Chinese Communist Party is long. And for the first time, for the first time, we have a president of the United States who is prepared to push back against that and protect the American people.

BARTIROMO: It was back in 2015, when you were talking about China's I.P. theft, back in 2012, when you were talking about China's malign cyber- activity.

Did something change during this administration, though, that you learned something about Huawei and the Chinese Communist Party tracking Americans?

POMPEO: The Chinese Communist Party has become much more aggressive.

You're right. This issue has been out there for a long time, as far back as 2012, for sure. But they have become more aggressive. They have become more aggressive in their efforts to do disinformation campaigns, like we saw when the coronavirus was moving around the world, when they closed down their own province, but allowed travel around the world, infecting hundreds of thousands of people.

We saw the disinformation campaign trying to deflect attention. We have seen their increased cyber-activity as well, their efforts to be in position to do true disruptive harm in different places all across the world.

This is a Chinese Communist Party that is very aggressive. And President Trump, on Friday, announced a series of responses to not only what happened in Hong Kong, the destruction of this great, free place, this great place of enormous commerce over these last decades, but not only with respect to Hong Kong, but with respect to the Chinese companies' ability to be listed on America stock exchanges under a different set of rules.

You have seen the president take action on trade to try and get reciprocity back into the system, so American businesses and American workers are treated fairly. These are the kinds of actions of a president who understands the risk that the Chinese Communist Party presents and is prepared to take action to respond to it.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

The president on Friday went through those actions, in particular saying that we would be treating Hong Kong differently.

Listen to the president. I want to get your take on exactly what this means in a practical sense. Watch the president Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will take action to revoke Hong Kong's preferential treatment as a separate customs and travel territory from the rest of China.

The United States will also take necessary steps to sanction PRC and Hong Kong officials directly or indirectly involved in eroding Hong Kong's autonomy and just, if you take a look, smothering, absolutely smothering Hong Kong's freedom.

Our actions will be strong. Our actions will be meaningful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: Secretary, what does this mean on a practical basis in terms of treating Hong Kong differently? How will things change?

POMPEO: So, the background, of course, is that the Chinese Communist Party had entered into agreement with the United Kingdom that they would allow Hong Kong to have autonomy for 50 years.

Halfway through it, or so, they have now broken those commitments, those promises that they made to the world. The United States had a series of preferences. We treated Hong Kong more favorably than we did China for all of those years because of that treaty.

The Chinese Communist Party has now broken its promise. And the United States will respond.

As a practical matter, the president laid out a couple of thins that we will do. He's asked us to review every preferential treatment that Hong Kong had and work to eliminate it. It no longer make sense. If the Chinese are going to treat Hong Kong the same way that they treat mainland China, there's no basis for the United States to treat it differently as well.

Second, the president made clear that we're going to look at a number of things. We're going to look at Chinese students who are studying here who have connections to the military-civil fusion projects inside of China. And we're simply not going to let them come study here, if they are threatening to take American technology and transfer it into Chinese People's Liberation Army.

And then, two, he made very clear we're going to take a look at whether we ought to go and sanction individuals who destroyed this freedom inside of Hong Kong.

BARTIROMO: Are you expecting the CCP to use this opportunity, whether it's the chaos going on in America or the COVID situation that is dominating the world right now?

Are they using that as an opportunity to gain more territory? We see troops on the border right now with India. We see the militarizing of the South China Sea. And now, of course, we know that Taiwan is also looking and watching what will happen next.

Are you expecting the CCP to invade Taiwan?

POMPEO: Maria, the Chinese Communist Party has been on this effort, on this march for an awfully long time.

They will certainly use a tactical situation on the ground to their advantage. But each of the problems that you identified there are threats that they have been making for an awfully long time.

For the first time, we have an administration that's prepared to actually respond, to say, this is unacceptable, and to take responses that are measured, appropriate, but reflect the seriousness with which we take the obligation to protect the American people from these Chinese Communist Party efforts.

You talk about using what's going on, on the ground today. They are out using disinformation about what's taking place in American cities and trying to equate that somehow to what's happening in Hong Kong. These are completely different.

We have the rule of law. We have decent Americans all across this country who are troubled by what happened. And they have the opportunity to speak freely about that.

None of that exists inside of China. The Chinese Communist Party prevents that kind of freedom of expression. And the results -- the risk to America, as a result of that, are real. And we're going to respond to them.

BARTIROMO: Will the U.S. back Taiwan, should China go into Taiwan?

POMPEO: Maria, there's a long history there. You know the story.

Each time I speak with my Chinese counterparts, we make clear the commitments we have made to them that have been made as far back as the Reagan administration, and that we stand by those commitments.

The good news is, the Chinese Communist Party has told me directly they will as well. We have every expectation they will live up to those commitments.

I work nearly every day with partners around the world who understand the risk that is presented from the Chinese Communist Party, whether it's my Australian counterparts or my partners in Europe. They have all come to see the risks to their countries, to freedom, to democracy, to the rule of law that is presented by the Chinese Communist Party.

And we're going to lay out a detailed plan to make sure that we protect the American people. President Trump has been serious about this and has taken important measures to protect the American people.

BARTIROMO: You mentioned the rest of the world.

I want to take a short break.

Secretary, when we come back I want to ask you about our allies around the world. Are they with us in trying to stop this behavior by the Chinese Communist Party?

More on that when we come right back on "Sunday Morning Futures."

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

We're back with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

And, Mr. Secretary, I see that there is a joint statement with regard to China's behavior in Hong Kong. And that joint statement is from Canada, the U.K., Australia.

I want to ask you about our allies throughout Europe, Germany, France, Italy. Are they beginning to get it? Are they going to back away from using Huawei and get with the United States when it comes to the Chinese Communist Party and its behavior?

POMPEO: Maria, I'm counting on it. It's the right thing to do for their people.

No German citizen should have their private information transition across a piece of Chinese hardware, which will clearly be owned and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

They -- in Europe, they care deeply about privacy of their citizens. Allowing that information to go across Chinese-controlled networks is the antithesis of providing that very privacy.

So, we have seen real progress. We have been out talking about this. We have been sharing these risks with the Europeans for many, many months now. And we have started to see them recognize the risks.

They saw too -- they all saw their nations suffer, whether it was the people of Italy or the people of Belgium or the people of Spain, where they had tens of thousands of lives lost because of actions the Chinese Communist Party took.

I think the populations in those countries are now seeing most clearly the risks that the Chinese Communist Party presents. This is what authoritarian regimes do. They steal information. They deny freedom of expression. They oppress their peoples. And they present risk to people all across the world.

Democracies behave completely differently. And I think the people of Europe will come to see that, along with the United States, we can work together to build our economies, to protect our people, and to keep the entire world in a place where the Chinese Communist Party does not dominate the next century.

BARTIROMO: And they do want to dominate the next century.

Jack Keane has told me that it is the fastest growing military in the world. I want to show pictures to our audience of last year's big military parade, where Xi Jinping showed off some weaponry, one of which was able to hit as far as the United States.

What was this military parade telling the world? And, I mean, you mentioned European nations getting it, but they are still using Huawei telecom infrastructure, correct?

POMPEO: Yes, ma'am. Too many of them are.

They need to change that. They need to get it out of their system. They need to use Western technologies, whether that's Ericsson or Nokia or someone else. They need to use technologies that they know the information would be protected and kept private.

With respect to the Chinese Communist Party's military advances, they are real. General Secretary Xi is intent on building out his military capabilities. Our Department of Defense is doing everything it can to make sure it understands this threat.

And I am confident that, under President Trump, our Department of Defense, our military, our national security establishment will keep us in a position where we can protect the American people and, indeed, we can be good partners with our allies from India, from Australia, from South Korea, from Japan, from Brazil, from Europe.

All around the world, we can be good partners alongside them, and ensure that the next century remains a Western one modeled on the freedoms that we have here in the United States.

BARTIROMO: There are more than 60 bills in Congress right now holding China accountable, everything from sanctions on individuals, to moving the supply chain from China to America and elsewhere, to also what they're doing in terms of stealing intellectual property with students.

What do you believe will be signed into law? I mean, do you think that we are going to be limiting the visas for Chinese students who want to study things like A.I., quantum computing, and military?

POMPEO: Maria, I don't know which of those 60 will make it to the president's desk.

I'm counting on people of Congress. Your point about 60 is important. Many of these are bipartisan bills. This is something that I think people all across the political spectrum understand is a real risk.

I don't know which of those will make it to the president's desk. Last week, there was one that had to do with the Uyghurs in China. I would encourage members of Congress to continue to study this issue, to work to help this administration do the things it needs to do to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from its advances and to keep the American people safe.

I know that they will. It's bipartisan. I'm heartened by that.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

I mean, it's incredible, but, for a decade, the Chinese Communist Party has been moving military bases across the world and putting them near ports or by U.S. military bases.

Do you think things changed considerably when Xi Jinping became dictator for life, Secretary? Because we spoke with Jimmy Lai, who has been on the front lines of the Hong Kong protesting, and he said that everything changed when Xi Jinping got in there.

POMPEO: You know, I had the chance to meet with Jimmy a few months back, a remarkable freedom-loving patriot.

I do think things changed significantly when the Chinese Communist Party changed its rules to allow General Secretary Xi to remain in charge for a long time.

But I also believe this is deeply embedded in an ideology. This is bigger than any one person. The threat from the Chinese Communist Party emanates from the nature of the Chinese Communist Party doctrine and ideology.

BARTIROMO: Right.

POMPEO: I think that's the basis for it.

And so I think this is something that America is going to have to do, along with its Western democratic -- democracy-loving partners all across the world. We are going to have to be at this for a while.

BARTIROMO: Secretary, before you go, I want to ask -- I'm sorry.

Secretary, before you go, I want to ask you about these tensions that are escalating between yourself and congressional Democrats over the firing of your I.G.

Separate letters. The lawmakers are asking you to respond by Monday for request of a closed-door questioning on the firing of inspector general Steve Linick.

POMPEO: You know, this is just part and parcel of the attacks on President Trump and now on myself related to us trying to make sure that this government was functioning in a way that was designed to assist the American people.

These attacks have become very personal to me. They have now gone after my wife.

All we have done is simply make sure that, in respect to the inspector general, that we had an inspector general that was working towards the mission of the United States Department of State and the foreign policy of Donald Trump.

The -- I have seen some of the stories. The stories are based on nothing. They're rumors. They're gossip. They have attacked me for my faith. They have attacked my wife for trying to help the State Department and the CIA be better.

BARTIROMO: Right.

POMPEO: This is all just silliness.

Your viewers should know we're going to continue to do the things that President Trump was elected to do here in the United States of America. And this carping, these personal attacks on me...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

POMPEO: ... and on the president aren't going to slow us down.

BARTIROMO: Secretary, thank you.

POMPEO: Thank you very much, Maria.

BARTIROMO: We will be watching, Secretary.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

We have a FOX News Alert right now.

We are looking at live pictures of the SpaceX Dragon capsule that just docked at the International Space Station moments ago. It blasted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida yesterday afternoon, marking the first time since 2011 that U.S. astronauts have been launched into space from U.S. soil.

NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are expected to stay on board the ISS for at least six weeks.

We will have continuing coverage of this throughout the day. Quite exciting for America to watch these live pictures.

Meanwhile, the Senate is set to take key action this week on investigating the Russia probe, the origins of that probe.

Senator Ron Johnson forcing a vote to decide whether he, as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, can subpoena records and testimony related to Crossfire Hurricane and the unmasking of Michael Flynn.

Senator Johnson joins me now.

And, Senator, it's good to have you on the program this morning. Thanks so much for joining us.

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): Good morning, Maria.

BARTIROMO: You are investigating the transition from the Obama transition into the Trump administration.

Can you walk us through what you have learned so far?

JOHNSON: Well, first of all, we learned that what America is just admired for, the fact that both political parties respect the wishes of the American borders.

And so we have, throughout history, had a very peaceful and cooperative and I would even say well-wishing transition of power from one administration to the next.

What we saw was a total corruption of that before, during and after this transition. It's incredibly serious. It amazes me how little attention the media is really paying to this aspect of it.

But we're talking about potentially State Department involvement in helping obtain the Steele dossier and pushing that into the FBI. We're talking about burrowing in. We see the -- now what we know is corrupt investigations, the misuse of defensive briefings, all the media leaks.

And, of course, the Obama administration holdovers, what they did once they were inside the Trump administration to frustrate and sabotage his administration. So, this is a serious, serious internal attack and assault on our democracy, the most serious possibly in our history.

And the press is largely just ignoring it. We're not going to ignore it. I'm going to get to the bottom. I'm going to find out what happened, because the American people deserve the truth.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

And, in fact, you mentioned media leaks. Let's go through those, because the amount of media leaks in the first 125 days is actually stunning. Tell us what you learned, Senator.

JOHNSON: Actually, a leak a day, 125 leaks in the first 126 days, and 62 of these leaks threatened national security, by President Obama's own definition of that, because they were concerned about that as well.

They had eight leaks of a similar nature in Obama vs. the Bush administration, about nine. They had 62. President Trump had 62 that threatened national security. It was completely out of control.

And do you knows what -- who leaked this information and what was falsely leaked to them? The news media. It was leaked to 18 different outlets. And I haven't seen too much investigation, reporting, or investigatory reporting, from the media in terms of how they were either duped or complicit in this corruption of the transition process.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

In fact, we did get the declassification of the phone call between General Michael Flynn and Ambassador Kislyak. What can you tell us about what we learned from that declassification of that phone call?

This, of course, was one of the issues that James Comey used to ambush General Flynn.

JOHNSON: Well what we learned is, General Flynn was doing exactly what you would expect, somebody who is going to become national security adviser to the incoming administration.

He was reaching out. He was talking to other -- other foreign leaders, including the ambassador of Russia. That's exactly what you would expect. There was nothing improper about those conversations at all.

But what we did learn from the Michael Flynn trial and Sidney Powell is the fact that the FBI, on January 4, were ready to close the case on Michael Flynn. They were investigating his contacts with Turkey and other matters, had come to the conclusion there was -- there was really nothing to continue the investigation or bring charges. So they were going to close that out.

But then, apparently, word came down from on high, the seventh floor, James Comey's office, says, no, no, let's keep this open, maybe there's Hatch Act violations. And that began the -- really, the corruption of that process, and the really persecution of General Flynn, who headed up the Defense Intelligence Agency.

I don't think anybody would consider him anything other than a patriot.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

Let's talk about the fact that the same team that was working on Crossfire Hurricane to investigate Donald Trump was the same team working at the same time on Hillary Clinton and an investigation into her e-mail.

We have Hillary using State Department e-mail. Tell me what you have learned about that in all of your investigating. Did President Obama understand that she was using this different server?

JOHNSON: He certainly should have.

We do know, because we have gotten records from the National Archives now, that the header on those e-mails that Hillary Clinton sent to President Obama had https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__HillaryClinton.e-2Dmail.com&d=DwICAg&c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&r=tgDLkJy54PfJyWJwul3dKe54qGxqO7b7d5vjo7RcZds&m=ladBnEa2qjFllIF4-Iidr-51oMmuDZCFylnSNcK60-E&s=YtaKhs4e7K-qmChySfK-I2E6_HZYrvHiz4a2IKUP6iA&e= , not https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__StateDepartment.classified.gov&d=DwICAg&c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&r=tgDLkJy54PfJyWJwul3dKe54qGxqO7b7d5vjo7RcZds&m=ladBnEa2qjFllIF4-Iidr-51oMmuDZCFylnSNcK60-E&s=VljGw_5U4ED5RjQw9USzfuyvSWFHVNdVGsIxo1l8QuI&e= .

So, President Obama must have been and other people throughout the State Department realized she was using her private server. And they all realize what a significant risk that posed, as well as the law governing this, under the Espionage Act -- 783, Subsection F, states that not only somebody who mishandles national security information through gross negligence is vulnerable or culpable under that legal standard, but anybody that has knowledge of it as well.

So you had people throughout the State Department, including President Obama, that should have had knowledge of. I have always felt that was one of the reasons why we saw the exoneration of Hillary Clinton.

BARTIROMO: Right.

JOHNSON: And, of course, that same group of people, the Peter Strzoks of the world, the most high members of the FBI, edited that exoneration e-mail to make sure that gross negligence was taken out of that and anything else that was really incriminating...

BARTIROMO: Right.

JOHNSON: ... for Hillary Clinton was removed from that initial memo, so that it could exonerate her back on July 5 of 2016, setting up the election and setting up the investigations for President Trump -- or into his campaign.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

And, Senator, we have got all of these texts from Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, his then girlfriend. And one of them I want to point out was Peter Strzok writing to Lisa Page: "Think our sisters have begun leaking like mad, scorned and worried and political. They're kicking into overdrive."

So they all were aware of the leaks and they all were aware that there were informants running into campaign people as early as March of 2016.

JOHNSON: Yes, I have been highlighting that text.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)  BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

And I am back with Senator Ron Johnson.

Senator, I'm sorry about that. We actually got cut off, so my apologies there.

We were talking about this text that our sisters at the CIA are going into overdrive. What were they going into overdrive about over at the CIA?

JOHNSON: Well, it was the leaks.

And that's the text I have been highlighting, because I think it's just a seminal moment in this process, because, six days before that, The Washington Post ran its first story on the whole Russian interference issue, stating a secret CIA assessment that Russia intervened on behalf or to help President Trump win the White House.

Now, we seen reports that John Brennan knew -- had information of the exact opposite, that Russia actually wanted to see Hillary Clinton win, because she was a known quantity and Trump was a wild card.

So, that really began this process of leaks, as we said earlier, 125 in the first 126 days, that set up this Russian narrative, first of Russia helping Trump and then, all of a sudden, the Trump campaign colluding with Russia, which set up a special counsel, even though, by the end of January, the FBI knew full, full well that there was nothing to that hoax, that they still allowed a special counsel to be set up in May of that year.

So, again, this is the corruption of that process. And, Maria, from what I have seen, I really do believe that there was an effort under way from the day after the election. It actually started before that, but really kicked into high gear the day after the election, to sabotage this administration.

And look what -- look what it resulted in, in an impeachment trial as well. So there's an awful lot to be uncovered. There's an awful lot the American people need to understand.

BARTIROMO: And, by the way, Senator, there's a cost to that, right?

For three years, we were dominated by this narrative that President Trump colluded with the Russians. And look what we missed. Look at China and how it's been eating our lunch for the last five years in terms of stealing intellectual property. We just had a whole conversation about that with Secretary Pompeo.

Let me ask you this, as we wrap up here, Senator.

How far up the line do you believe this goes? John Brennan was running the CIA. We know that there were informants running into Trump campaign people like George Papadopoulos, like Carter Page, General Flynn, all of these people being invited to events across the world, meeting people like Alexander Downer and Stefan Halper.

Who was running this, and who is the mastermind of inserting Donald Trump into Russia meddling?

JOHNSON: Well, that's what we want to find out.

But you mentioned the cost of this. What was the Senate doing as the COVID- 19 crisis was heating up in late January, early February? We were in an impeachment trial, an impeachment trial started by a whistle-blower who was identified in a RealClearInvestigations article talking about an all-hands- on meeting two weeks into the Trump administration where the alleged whistle-blower leans over and talks to Sean Misko, who is another holdover from the Obama administration.

And after Michael Flynn had just briefed the staff about America-first foreign policy, the whistle-blower turned to Sean Misko and commented, "We need to take him out."

And Misko replied, "Yes, we need to do everything we can to take out the president."

Now, Sean Misko joined the staff of Adam Schiff right about the time of the whistle-blower complaint. Start putting two and two together. You can see the enormous cost of this effort to sabotage and -- sabotage this administration and corrupt that transition process.

BARTIROMO: Right.

And you believe laws were broken. Who specifically are you going to call to testify, if you get the chance, in terms of your subpoenas? Give me the list, and then we will wrap up, Senator, please.

JOHNSON: Well, we have a list of 35 people currently.

It's very similar to what Lindsey Graham is going to be working on as well. We're not going to -- there will be some overlap, but we will kind of let Lindsey Graham focus on the FBI, the Department of Justice, the corruption of that FISA corruption.

We will be listening very carefully to his hearings and probably calling in those witnesses for follow-up questioning.

BARTIROMO: All right, we will leave it there.

Senator, we will be watching the developments. Thanks very much for your leadership on this.

Our audience, of course, wants to see accountability as well.

Senator Ron Johnson, we will see you soon, sir. Thank you.

JOHNSON: Have a good day.

BARTIROMO: Meanwhile, as we have been telling you, another night of violence in cities across America following protests that began in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd.

Want to bring in former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon to talk more about that.

And, Steve, it's good to have you this morning.

STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: Thanks.

BARTIROMO: The world is on fire.

Your reaction to what has taken place? And then I want to go and get your take on China.

BANNON: Well, look, yesterday, I think you saw the two alternative futures for America.

In the launch at -- in Cape Kennedy, you saw the opportunities to -- of America leading the fourth industrial revolution, American capital, American workers, American-made.

And late at night, you saw what could happen of breaking down to anarchy and racial division. This is all in -- you talk about law and order. It's law and order predicated upon a robust economy.

And this means American capital brought back to America, to stop financing our enemies. Bring American capital back for American jobs through American companies. That will make America the leader in the fourth industrial revolution. That is what this country needs. That's what the millennials need.

I think it's very -- I think yesterday is a great juxtaposition. We have two alternatives.

And, as Donald Trump says, nothing is inevitable. It's going to be human action and human agency that does that. I think it's now time to get focused on American jobs and bringing high-value-added manufacturing jobs back to the American people.

If you do that, you're not going to have these problems in these cities. People are going to be too busy to do this. They're going to be too busy working great jobs with overtime that can support families and have a career, have a future.

BARTIROMO: Well, this is exactly what the president is trying to do in terms of moving the supply chains out of China, Steve.

And we see all of this effort within the Congress to actually hold China accountable. They unleashed this virus on the world, accidentally or not. They allowed it to leave its borders. And then they cornered the market for the very products that the U.S. needed, like the protective gear, and then had a whole disinformation campaign about it.

And throughout it all, Steve -- you just heard the secretary of state -- they are actually making moves, using this as an opportunity to gain more territory. They are on the border with India right now. They're militarizing the South China Sea.

You know, they're facing down on Taiwan and now, as you can see, breaking promises in Hong Kong.

BANNON: Well, Senator Rubio and National Security Adviser O'Brien this morning showed that they have got their social media trying to stir things up among these anarchists.

OK, it's very simple. Donald Trump went to the Rose Garden the other day. This is -- what the Chinese Communist Party has done as -- Hong Kong is Czechoslovakia in 1938. We're at a seminal moment. We're at a crossroads.

We either stand these guys down now, or we're going to be inexorably drawn into a kinetic war in three or four years. We have to stop them now.

Donald Trump is the hammer. American capital and American technology is the anvil. We must -- and I appreciate the secretary. He's been the best secretary of state in living memory. But the measured response is this, no access to American capital, no access to American technology.

The Chinese Communist Party is an enemy to their people. They are an enemy to the people of the United States. They are an enemy to mankind. They have shown this by how they have done -- what they did on this pandemic. It's outrageous.

Here is what has to happen.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

BANNON: We have many different bills up, but we have every ability to cut them off from delisting and deregistering American companies, get them out of these indexes, get them out of these ETFs.

Also, sanction the banks in Hong Kong. Sanction the banks. Cut them off from any dollar-denominated transactions.

BARTIROMO: OK.

BANNON: Start to use the Magnitsky Act against their senior people.

And we have these bonds that they owe the American people, these railroad bonds, $1 trillion.

BARTIROMO: Hold on. Stay with us, Steve.

I want to take a break. I want to ask you how this all plays out for election 2020.

More with Steve Bannon when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

And we are back with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.

And, Steve, when you look at what has taken place with the Chinese Communist Party, over the last couple of years, it's a mystery on how we arrived here.

We're going into the 2020 election right now, and I do believe it will be about China. Joe Biden was the point man in the Obama administration to ensure that China kept its promises. And they did not.

BANNON: Donald Trump is president of the United States because the voters rejected the managed decline of our country.

The managed decline of our country is inextricably linked with the rise of the Chinese Communist Party. It's the Wall Street elite and the global corporatist elite that sold out the American worker. It's very simple.

Joe Biden's not from Scranton, Pennsylvania. Joe Biden is from Wilmington, Delaware. That's the post office box of the global corporatists. Joe Biden has kowtowed to the Chinese Communist Party.

President Obama put him in charge of and depended upon him on the pivot to Asia. He was the point man, because, remember, they thought President Obama was an anti-war populist. So the Wall Street faction of the Democratic Party inserted Biden in to give some substance to Obama.

Biden blew every opportunity to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable. And that's all going to be brought up in these Upper Midwest states. They are going to strip Joe Biden and show his record, going to field strip him and show what his record has been.

He has kowtowed to the Chinese Communist Party from his entire eight years, leading up to this terrible deal that he agreed to they signed in the Rose Garden that was a joke about cyber-intrusions and militarization of the South China Sea.

Whether it's Biden doing memorandums of understanding to let the Chinese Communist Party have more access or giving speeches in China talking about the CCP having more access into American government, American education, Joe Biden is a globalist.

And in this day and time, a globalist cannot win a national election in the United States. Donald Trump is the jobs president. He's going to get focused on jobs, jobs, jobs, high-value-added manufacturing jobs to lead the fourth industrial revolution.

That's what this -- that's what this campaign is going to be about. And that's why Donald Trump is going to beat Joe Biden.

BARTIROMO: All right, we will leave it there.

Steve, it's great to see you this morning. Thanks very much.

BANNON: Thanks, Maria.

BARTIROMO: Really great analysis, as always, Steve Bannon joining me this morning.

We will see you soon, Steve. Thank you.

Murder and manslaughter charges filed against a former police officer in the death of George Floyd.

Could there also be federal charges for him? Or are there other fired police officers involved as well?

Former South Carolina prosecutor and Congressman Trey Gowdy, my special guest next, reacting.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

Well, a now fired Minneapolis police officer has been charged with murder in the death of George Floyd. Three other officers involved were also fired, but have not been arrested or charged.

Trey Gowdy is a former South Carolina prosecutor and congressman, also a FOX News contributor.

And, Trey, it's great to have you this morning. Thanks very much for joining me.

TREY GOWDY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, ma'am.

BARTIROMO: Your reaction to those charges and what has taken place this weekend?

GOWDY: Took too long.

You know, murder one in Minnesota is premeditation with an intent to kill. Murder two is an intent to kill without the premeditation. Murder three is the doing of an inherently dangerous thing that results in someone's death.

So, my question for the prosecutors and cops in Minnesota, Maria, is, if you have a man with your knee on his neck, and he is telling you, you're killing me, I cannot breathe, you're killing me, how long does it take for premeditation to manifest itself?

I mean, nobody thinks these cops went to the scene with the intent to kill him. But, at some point, when you're being warned that your conduct is taking someone's life, isn't that premeditation? Isn't that consciousness of guilt that you need to prove an intent to kill?

So, murder three is the easiest charge, but I was never a prosecutor that liked to go for the easiest thing. I think you need to do what fits the facts. And, to me, I think it's a murder one charge.

BARTIROMO: How is the DOJ seeing this, do you think? Do you think that there will be federal charges as well?

GOWDY: There will be, Maria, but this is -- they are going to charge violation of civil rights, which is serious. And if it results in death, you can get a significant sentence.

But our criminal justice system is both substantive and it is symbolic. And if you take someone's life intentionally, with premeditation, even without premeditation, that's murder.

So, to call it in violation of someone 's civil rights, sure, go ahead and charge them. But Minnesota owes it to this victim and his family to also get the Minnesota state law justice.

So, great, the feds are involved. But, symbolically, call this what it is. It is the intentional taking, the unlawful taking of someone's life, and that is murder.

BARTIROMO: Yes, just an incredible situation. We will be watching that.

Trey, I want to switch gears and ask you about what we know now in terms of the origins of the Russia probe. You did such a good job in terms of looking at this and exposing the bad actors.

We have got a dump of documents this week, the Kislyak-Flynn call. Did we learn anything from what we saw this week in terms of these documents?

GOWDY: I didn't learn a single solitary thing, other than how to stay awake reading transcripts.

I told you, I have told everyone there's nothing in these transcripts. There's nothing criminal, there's nothing untoward. So, as you read these transcripts, particularly Flynn's part of the conversation, I defy anyone to tell me what the FBI's basis for going to interview General Flynn was.

I mean, keep in mind, they are about to close the investigation, Maria. And Peter Strzok and others say, oh, we have got these transcripts. We have got all these calls between Kislyak and Flynn.

OK, now we can read them. So, tell me what in this call led you to lie to Flynn, and tell him he didn't need a lawyer, not advise White House counsel, not even tell Sally Yates, and go set him up in an interview?

What in these transcripts was so bad that you had to keep a counterintelligence investigation open on a three-star general? I defy anyone to find -- hell, even Politico can't find it, Maria.

Politico can't even find what's in these transcripts that is bad.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

BARTIROMO: Yes. Well, you don't hear a lot of this story on any of the media, frankly, at all.

Congressman, it's always a pleasure to see you. Thanks very much, Trey Gowdy.

GOWDY: Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

BARTIROMO: Congressman Trey Gowdy there.

We will see you soon.

That'll do it for us on "Sunday Morning Futures." Thanks so much for joining me.

I'm Maria Bartiromo. And the news continues this week on "Mornings With Maria."

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