Vice President Mike Pence: I was pleased to see the special counsel announce the investigation is over

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Vice President Mike Pence: I was pleased to see the special counsel announce the investigation is over

Maria Bartiromo sits down with Vice President Mike Pence to discuss Robert Mueller's public statement, the humanitarian crisis at the southern border and more.

This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," June 2, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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

Straight ahead right here "Sunday Morning Futures," Vice President Mike Pence sitting down with me exclusively just hours before President Trump threatens to slap Mexico with new tariffs if it doesn't crack down on illegal immigrants pouring into our country.

Also with me this morning, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, talking about immigration and why he's concerned Republican censorship on social media could play a role in 2020.

And Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe is here -- he sits on the House Judiciary Committee -- on whether Robert Mueller will ever testify, what comes next, as the attorney general investigates the investigators.

And as we await the inspector general's report expected to drop any day now, also Democrat Jeff Van Drew joining me, as House Democrats ramp up their investigations, why he says it's time to call off the dogs.

Also, this morning, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey is here on how the current A.G. is being treated.

All that and a lot more right now, right here, "Sunday Morning Futures."

And we are awaiting a report from the Department of Justice inspector general, Michael Horowitz, investigating surveillance against the Trump campaign during the 2016 election. That is expected to arrive any day now. We will be all over it when it hits.

This follows a week where we heard from Robert Mueller for the first time and perhaps the last time, the special counsel indicating he doesn't plan to testify before Congress. He also reiterated the findings of his report, which cleared the president of collusion, but didn't make a determination on obstruction.

Mueller said charging the president with a crime wasn't an option under guidelines set by an opinion from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.

Here's the Attorney General William Barr's reaction to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I personally felt he could have reached a decision.

QUESTION: In your view, he could have reached a conclusion?

BARR: Right. He could have reached a conclusion.

The opinion says you can't indict a president while he's in office, but he could have reached a decision as to whether it was criminal activity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: And joining me right now is Republican Congressman from Texas John Ratcliffe. He sits on the House Judiciary, Intelligence and Homeland Security committees. He's also a former federal prosecutor.

And, Congressman, it's always a pleasure to see you. Thanks so much for joining us.

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

BARTIROMO: So, let me see.

Robert Mueller -- you just heard that sound bite from William Barr. Robert Mueller said that he had a team of approximately 40 FBI agents, intelligence analysts, forensic accountants. The special counsel issued more than 2,800 subpoenas, 230 orders for communication records, issued almost 50 orders authorizing the use of pen registers, interviewed approximately 500 witnesses, and was given almost $40 million to complete the task.

Should he have come up with the determination or a judgment on obstruction?

RATCLIFFE: Yes, Maria, I actually disagree with the Attorney General Barr when he says that Bob Mueller could have reached a decision.

Bob Mueller should have reached a decision. Maria, there isn't anyone in the country, Republican or Democrat, who expected Bob Mueller, after everything you just related, two years of this, to come back and tell us that he wasn't able to reach a decision or a conclusion, especially when he was able to reach a decision on the most important aspect, whether or not anyone committed any crime by colluding with Russia.

Bob Mueller put a stake in the heart of this collusion conspiracy narrative as it related to Donald Trump. He did exactly what a prosecutor is supposed to do. It's -- that's what's so surprising and puzzling about why he then went on for 200 more pages in his report and did exactly what a prosecutor isn't supposed to do, which is talk about potential crimes, potential conduct of someone that he has no intention of charging with anything.

It doesn't make any sense. And to your point about that advisory OLC opinion that Bob Mueller used as the basis, I wish I could tell you that I agreed with his analysis. The idea and the explanation that he gave, that that OLC opinion stands for the proposition that you can investigate a sitting president, but not reach a decision or a conclusion about whether criminal activity occurred, is just absurd.

I wish I could tell you that it conjures up James Madison, but all I can think about is Billy Madison, the part of the movie where they say everyone in the room is now dumber for having listened to that explanation, because it makes no sense at all.

BARTIROMO: Well, if there was no crime, there was no crime. I mean, it's not -- you're either pregnant or you're not pregnant.

And to just leave some crumbs around for Bob Mueller's friends in the media, as well as in the Democratic Party, well, it's actually stoking exactly what he intended, I guess. And that's impeachment conversation once again.

RATCLIFFE: Yes, it's -- again, it's this idea that what Bob Mueller was supposed to do was investigate and then make a referral to Congress.

It doesn't work that way, Maria. Members of Congress make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice because they have the ability to convene grand juries, issue subpoenas, conduct interviews, and make a determination whether or not conduct rose to criminal activity.

It doesn't work the other way around. The Justice Department doesn't make referrals to Congress to decide on whether or not something criminal has happened.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

RATCLIFFE: So I think that idea is just equally ridiculous.

BARTIROMO: Yes, and it's exactly what Bill Barr said, actually. The A.G. said, we're not an adjunct to Congress. The Department of Justice is not an adjunct to Congress.

Let me go back to a letter that you have been talking about very much that has to do with the intelligence assessment that then candidate Trump was given back in August of 2016. We have got the letter here to Charles Grassley, the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary then, back in October of 2017.

Let's talk about this letter and why this letter is important, because we are looking at the letter from Gregory Brower. He's the assistant director of the Office of Congressional Affairs.

RATCLIFFE: Yes, Maria, that letter documents some really important and extraordinary events that were happening in August of 2016.

Let me remind your viewers exactly what happened during that time frame. It was on July 31 of 2016 that the FBI opened this counterintelligence investigation that related to the Trump campaign, Operation Crossfire Hurricane. It was opened by FBI agent Peter Strzok.

So it's interesting that, 18 days later, on August 17 of 2016, that the FBI and CIA conducting a counterintelligence briefing for the purpose of protecting and warning Donald Trump would put in charge of coordinating that briefing Peter Strzok, the same agent who was already investigating the Trump campaign, the same agent who eight days before that defensive briefing to protect and warn Donald Trump sent a text message saying he was going to stop him, and who two days before that defensive briefing sent a text message saying, we need an insurance policy against a Trump presidency.

So little wonder that on that date of August 17, 2016, Donald Trump wasn't warned about Russian interference in his campaign. He wasn't briefed about the Steele dossier. He wasn't briefed about Carter Page.

And Jim Comey came out this week, Maria, and said, well, we wouldn't have wanted to tip off anyone about that. The problem with that, Maria, is at the same time they weren't warning and protecting Donald Trump, they were warning his political adversaries.

On August 25, CIA Director -- August 25, 2016, CIA Director John Brennan picked up the phone and called Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid and briefed him on Russian interference into the Trump campaign, about the Steele dossier and about Carter Page.

BARTIROMO: Right.

RATCLIFFE: So this is why Bill Barr is saying, this stuff doesn't add up about the origins of this investigation set and why he is getting...

BARTIROMO: Yes. So...

RATCLIFFE: Why he says it doesn't jibe and we need to get to the bottom of it.

BARTIROMO: So here we are, in August of '16. The president is candidate Trump. He's supposed to get this intel briefing. They tell him, oh, you have to be careful about China. You have to be careful about Russia. But they don't tell him, in fact, they are investigating him. They are investigating his campaign.

And it's Peter Strzok who launched the investigation, who's also giving the intel briefing.

Look, the president declassified some important documents last week . You wanted him to declassify this. Tell us what this means. And are we going to see accountability here? You mentioned John Brennan. I'm talking about John Brennan, Peter Strzok, Jim Comey. Will we see -- I mean, what will we see, prosecutions, indictments, what?

Where's this going?

RATCLIFFE: Well, think about the irony of what we just talked about, Maria.

The only reason Democrats are be able to talk about obstruction of justice as a possible basis for impeachment is because the people responsible for starting the obstruction investigation, Jim Comey, Peter Strzok, Andy McCabe, didn't do their damn job and warn Donald Trump.

Had they warned Donald Trump, there wouldn't have been a Bob Mueller. We wouldn't be having a discussion about obstruction. So these documents that go to the origin that many of us, like Trey Gowdy and Devin Nunes and myself, have been asking to be declassified, the president did give that declassification authority to Bill Barr.

One theory that I have as to why we have not yet seen those is because Bill Barr instead named a second special counsel, John Durham. And if I were a special prosecutor looking into these things, those documents and what I know they establish are things that I would want to use before a grand jury to determine whether or not indictments should be issued, whether not anyone's conduct as it related to the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation or the obstruction investigation...

BARTIROMO: Right.

RATCLIFFE: ... warrant criminal charges.

BARTIROMO: Well, we will see about that. Maybe that's why we haven't seen it. We will be watching.

Congressman, it's good to see you, as always. Thanks so much.

RATCLIFFE: You bet. Thanks, Maria.

BARTIROMO: Congressman John Ratcliffe joining us.

Up next, my exclusive interview with the vice president. V.P. Mike Pence sat down with me just hours before the Trump administration announced it would slap new tariffs on Mexico if that country's government does not do more to help control the flow of Central American migrants into the United States.

The vice president talks trade and China as a national security threat as well.

Follow me on Twitter @MariaBartiromo, @SundayFutures, on Instagram at @SundayFutures. Let us know what you would like to hear from our jam- packed program this morning.

We're back in two minutes' time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

President Trump is threatening Mexico with new tariffs if the country does not do more to help stop the flow of migrants to ourselves southern border. The president says those tariffs will have companies coming back to the United States.

Just hours before the president made that announcement on Thursday, I sat down with Vice President Mike Pence for an exclusive interview. He told me that the president plans to hold Mexico accountable for what he calls a crisis at the southern border.

Also, though, I asked him for his reaction to now former special counsel Robert Mueller speaking out for the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT: Frankly, I was -- I was pleased to see the special counsel announce that the investigation is over. It's case closed. The special counsel sent his report.

And he concluded that there was no collusion. And after review of the facts, the Department of Justice confirmed there was no collusion, no obstruction.

And I think the American people have -- the American people want to see this Congress move on, move on to the things that are making a difference in their lives.

BARTIROMO: But he said -- he said, "If we knew that the president did not commit a crime, we would have said so."

And that is stoking more impeachment talk. Are you expecting impeachment proceedings?

PENCE: Well, I wouldn't know why there would be. I really wouldn't.

I mean, this president's been delivering for the American people. These questions were raised about election interference. And we know that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections. We don't believe it affected the outcome in any way. But we have held them accountable for that. We have taken steps to ensure that that doesn't happen again.

But there were other questions raised about collusion. Now, even the special counsel confirmed that there was no collusion between our campaign and the Russians. And the Department of Justice has confirmed that there was no collusion, no obstruction. The matter is entirely over. It's entirely closed. The American people got the answers.

I -- and I couldn't be more proud, Maria, of the fact that, for more than two years, hundreds of witnesses, millions of pages of documents, full operation with the special counsel. This president and our office, and our entire administration fully cooperated. And the American people now know that the investigation is at an end. They have their answers.

But what I think the country wants to see us do is focus on the things that are now most important to them. And that is jobs and security. We're -- we're in discussions right now about a budget agreement that will allow us to continue to make historic investments in our national defense.

We have got a crisis on our southern border. You traveled there very recently. You saw it firsthand, as did your viewers on this program. I mean, we're on track to have more than a million apprehensions at our southern border.

And yet -- and yet Congress, some in Congress continue to focus on investigations, baseless allegations, while -- while literally, last month alone, more than 118,000 people were apprehended at our southern border, and Congress continues to refuse to act to close the loopholes that are being used by cartels and drug traffickers to entice people to make the long and dangerous journey north to our southern border.

The American people want to see a Congress focus where this president and our team are focused. And that is on their security, on securing our border, on closing loopholes, bringing about asylum reform, and advancing the kind of policies that will continue to create jobs in this booming economy.

BARTIROMO: Well, what we saw at the border was actually quite extraordinary, the children in these dangerous positions. Women are renting out their kids, $140, apparently, so the smugglers can bring the children over the border.

Are you expecting real reform on immigration? Will the Congress actually take that up, in terms of changing the Flores decision, the asylum standards? Is that even doable this year?

PENCE: It has to happen.

President Trump has taken decisive action to call on Mexico to take further action to intervene in this massive flow of people that are coming north from Central America to our border to come into our country and take advantage of those loopholes.

And the president's also going to continue to call on this Congress to pass the kind of commonsense reforms. Look, we have a humanitarian and a security crisis at our southern border. I mean, the drug cartels and human traffickers -- you heard it firsthand -- they are telling people in Guatemala and El Salvador and throughout Central America about loopholes in our laws, and that if they come up with a -- with a -- with children, that they will have the opportunity to come into our country.

And that's just unacceptable. We ought -- this Congress ought to be willing to set politics completely aside, and, at minimum, bring about the kind of changes in our asylum laws that would fix this immediate problem overnight. We're building the wall. We're building hundreds of miles of wall over the next several years.

The president's kept his promise in that regard. We're providing resources for Customs and Border Protection. But we have to close the loopholes in our law. And the action the president has taken and will continue to take are all designed to say that -- that Congress needs to step up and bring about the kind of reforms that will close these loopholes and end that magnet that drug cartels and human traffickers are using.

And we will continue to call on Mexico and take actions necessary to see to it that Mexico does their job to ensure that this mass exodus and humanitarian crisis comes to an end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARTIROMO: More of my exclusive interview with Vice President Mike Pence.

We will talk China and the complicated relationship the U.S. must balance with the country, not just as a trading partner, but as a national security threat. We're going to talk about that next.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

New this morning, the Chinese government is blaming the United States for the ongoing trade dispute, accusing U.S. negotiators of -- quote -- "resorting to intimidation and coercion" to get what they want.

In my exclusive interview with Vice President Mike Pence, he tells me the standoff with China is much more than just a trade war. As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told us, it is about national security, theft of intellectual property and espionage.

I asked the vice president how President Trump plans to work through not only his stalemate with Beijing, but now also efforts to ratify the U.S.- Mexico-Canada agreement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PENCE: I would tell you that it's been -- it's been amazing to watch this president and the way that he's forged relationships with leaders around the world, being with Prime Minister Trudeau here in Canada, seeing the way we -- he was able to negotiate the USMCA with Canada and Mexico.

And it all begins with President Trump with personal relationships. And I have witnessed it. That relationship people saw with Prime Minister Abe in high relief that now has us talking about a free trade agreement with Japan.

The president will be traveling to the U.K. just in a few days. And you will see that relationship, writ large, as he visits with the queen and as we continue to talk to the E.U. about -- about the possibility of a free trade agreement, even as Brexit continues to work its way through for the U.K.

But, with regard to China, I can attest firsthand that the president's forged a good relationship with President Xi. But we have our differences. And it's not just the structural or the -- it's not just the fact that China is half of our international trade deficit.

It is those structural issues, intellectual property rights, forced technology transfers, the -- essentially, the respect for private property that, at this point, China has not reflected in their practices.

And we need to see reforms in that regard.

Now...

BARTIROMO: Yes, these are the big-ticket items, I know.

PENCE: These are the big-ticket items.

And we have made it very, very clear with the Chinese leadership that these are the things that have to be addressed.

President Trump will be meeting with President Xi when he goes to the G20 in just a few short weeks. And we remain hopeful that China will step forward. They were coming our direction. We have made great progress.

But, as the president said last week, they started to step backwards. And so the president called it off. And we believe we're in a very strong position with the tariffs that we have imposed. We could more than double those against China. But president hopes for better.

He hopes we can make a deal with China that will reset our relationship, put American jobs and American workers first, and really level the playing field in ways that it's never been leveled in the modern history of our relationship with China.

BARTIROMO: It was interesting see how aligned you were with Justin Trudeau on China, given the fact that you both discussed the -- what you called the wrongful detention of two Canadian citizens after the CFO of Huawei was arrested.

Have you gotten a response from China on this? What are you expecting in terms of these two citizens that are being detained?

PENCE: China knows where we stand on the wrongful detention of two Canadian citizens.

And Prime Minister Trudeau and I discussed it at length today, that it -- just it's unacceptable. And the United States is going to continue to stand with Canada until those Canadians are free and hopefully back home in Canada.

But the whole issue of Huawei is -- it's an issue of national security. I mean, Huawei is, in effect, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party. And to have Huawei operating as a 5G network in our country or in our allies' countries, we believe represents a fundamental compromise of our national security and the privacy of millions of citizens.

So we're going to continue to communicate that message very strongly to our allies in Canada and all over the Western world. But we're also going to continue to promote alternatives for 5G networks.

Look, this is the most dynamic, innovative economy in the history of the world. We know we can meet that global need for 5G with enterprises that respect our values, respect privacy and individual rights, intellectual property, and preserves our national security, and will continue to drive that.

BARTIROMO: Is the president considering some kind of a TPP arrangement, now that we see how difficult it is to do a deal with China?

PENCE: President Trump made the right decision to withdraw the United States from the TPP.

I mean, what this president really understands -- and he talks about it a lot -- is the importance of bilateral negotiations and the ability to be able to fight for our nation's interests when we're negotiating at arm's length with one other nation.

Now, the circumstances will be different. We hope to enter into free trade agreement with the European Union. That's a different arrangement. But President Trump really believes, whether it be China or Japan or any other nation in the world, that, with just a couple of exceptions, the American worker and American jobs and the American economy are better served if we can enter into bilateral trading relationships.

And then we're better able to hold our trading partners accountable to the promises that they've have made.

BARTIROMO: So, how concerned are you about these retaliatory tariffs and these retaliatory moves from China? Because it's not just the fact that they're going to put on the $60 billion this weekend.

Are we going to see prices go up for things like coffee, beef, salmon, flowers, fruits, vegetables? But there's also the other things, like bullying FedEx, or bullying American companies who are trying to operate there, or threatening that they will halt rare earth material imports into the United States.

How concerned are you about those that China is now fighting back with?

PENCE: The United States is the most powerful economy in the history of the world.

We have every confidence that the United States and the American economy have the ability to do what's necessary to reset this relationship with China and other nations.

Look, the president has been very clear. He believes, for far too long, we have tolerated trading relationships that are much more of a one-way street for the United States.

We see nations that have broad access to our marketplace and give us limited access to their marketplace. And those days are really over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARTIROMO: Up next, the vice president on the U.S. trade deal with our neighbors directly to the north and the south.

Also, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy joins us.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

More now of my exclusive interview with the vice president, Mike Pence, on how President Trump plans to get the USMCA trade agreement across the finish line, whether the surge of apprehensions at our southern border, one million now expected by the end of the year, could derail the deal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PENCE: Well, first and foremost, let's recognize that the American economy is booming, 5.8 million new jobs, in the last quarter, 3.1 percent growth.

More importantly, wages are rising at the fastest level in more than 10 years. And we have seen 500,000 manufacturing jobs created. And the president's done all that because he drove for tax cuts. He's been rolling back federal red tape.

We have been unleashing American energy. But, also, a central pillar of President Trump's vision for this growing economy is the kind of free and fair and reciprocal trade that we have negotiated in the USMCA.

And I think the American people see that. And they see that the president drove a hard bargain. We put American agriculture first, American workers first. And we're just taking that message, not just to Capitol Hill, but I have literally been traveling all across the country, carrying that message to farms, to factories.

And we have every confidence that, as the American people let their voice be heard, that the USMCA will be approved by the Congress of the United States. But we're just determined to carry the message of what this will mean for jobs, for growth, for opportunity.

And we think it's absolutely essential, just like they're doing here in Canada, that the Congress move on approving the USMCA, and approving the USMCA this summer.

BARTIROMO: You want this approved by the summer, but Speaker Pelosi has said she's not even sure that she's going to bring it down to the floor for a vote.

So, how do you convince her to actually bring it down for a vote, assuming that it does pass once it gets down on the floor?

PENCE: Well, we -- look, we have been in regular consultations with Democratic leadership in the House, the Republican leadership in the Senate.

But we have been talking to the rank and file as well and what the USMCA is going to mean in their districts. I think the American people know that trade means jobs. But when it comes to NAFTA, we saw lots of jobs head south of the border since the 1990s, when that was signed into law.

The president took this issue before the American people, like many of his predecessors had. You know, it's -- it really is interesting. As I talked -- as I talked to some leaders here in Canada, they noted that many people who had been elected president in the past have been critical of NAFTA, but it was only President Donald Trump that stepped up, rolled his sleeves up, and renegotiated our trading relationship with Canada and Mexico.

And we believe, as we carry that message forward to the rank-and-file Democrats, we carry it forward to the American people, that the Democratic leadership in the Congress -- and we know we have strong support of Republican leadership in the Senate -- will move this bill to the floor.

And if it's put on the floor of the Congress, we know the USMCA will pass.

BARTIROMO: But some Democrats that I have had on the program have said that they want a stronger enforcement mechanism in place, so that Mexico in particular keeps its promises when it comes to labor laws.

PENCE: Yes.

BARTIROMO: They also want changes to the drug patents, the biologics getting 10 years of patent protection. They see that's going to keep generics out and impact pricing of pharmaceuticals.

Have any of those things been addressed? Have you made changes to the to the treaty as a result of these demands?

PENCE: Well, let me say the discussions are all under way with leaders on Capitol Hill about what's called the implementing legislation.

And we're in negotiations with Democrats in the House of Representatives to bring about some of the changes in the way that the USMCA will actually be unpacked for the American people and the economy, and those are ongoing.

But when it comes to drug prices, I will tell you, you never met anybody more determined to lower drug prices for the American people than President Donald Trump. And we're so proud of the reforms the president has already advanced. We know it's going to -- it's going to result in a lowering of drug prices over the counter to the American people.

And so, as we work through all the deals with USMCA, the American people can be confident this president is going to continue to fight to lower drug prices for them.

BARTIROMO: Mr. Vice President, let's go through some of the most important issues and some of the most important things that USMCA does, relative to what NAFTA was doing.

PENCE: Yes.

BARTIROMO: It's eliminating some of those barriers that prevent farmers from selling into -- in Canada and Mexico. It's boosting wages.

But you tell me what you think is most important about USMCA and how it impacts the American people.

PENCE: Well, let's go back to what NAFTA did. There were elements of NAFTA that actually created an incentive for companies to build factories in Mexico and outside the United States.

And what we have done in the USMCA, by creating a wage level that's commensurate with the American wage level, we're literally protecting American jobs. We're removing the incentive for companies to, in effect, go south of the border to chase lower wages. And that that's going to help American workers protect American jobs, but also it's also going to, we believe, bring wages up in our neighbors to the south.

I mean, the simple fact is that, in my home state of Indiana, we literally saw almost entire communities hollowed out as you saw factories closed, automotive factories close, and go south of the border. Those incentives are out of the USMCA.

It's a huge win for American workers and American jobs.

BARTIROMO: So, what is the timing on this? When will the president officially submit USMCA to the Congress? And then they have got 60 days to vote on it. You want this done by this summer. When do you expect the president to push this through officially?

PENCE: We're in those discussions as we speak.

The U.S. trade representative will be on Capitol Hill when Congress reconvenes this coming week and in discussions with members of the Democrat majority about that implementing legislation.

But I can -- I can tell you, President -- President Trump is ready to go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARTIROMO: My thanks to Vice President Mike Pence for taking the time to sit down with me for that wide-ranging discussion.

Want to bring in now House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, joining me exclusively this morning.

Leader McCarthy, it's always a pleasure to see you. Thanks so much for joining us.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, R-CALIF.: Thanks for having me back, Maria.

BARTIROMO: Why would the president pick a fight with Mexico now, knowing that you have already got pushback in terms of getting this thing over the finish line by your colleagues on the -- on the left?

MCCARTHY: Well, Maria, you have actually been to the border. You know the crisis that is happening.

If I recall correctly, you were down by El Paso.

BARTIROMO: That's right.

MCCARTHY: El Paso just broke a record, 1,000 people illegally coming across in one encounter. We have never been anywhere near that.

You just heard the vice president, more than a million people apprehended illegally crossing the border. And those are only the numbers that we have apprehended on the process of this year.

Now, what the president is doing is getting the attention. There are not tariffs in place right now. We have until June 10 to solve this. We're going to have a meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this Wednesday.

I think he's bringing the right emphasis to this. But, more importantly, Congress needs to act. We need to close the loopholes. This is why, because our laws are wrong, that are encouraging the individuals to come.

You have seen it firsthand...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: ... if I watched your own -- your own show, people coming across during your show.

BARTIROMO: Yes, that was pretty extraordinary.

MCCARTHY: ... because of our asylum laws, the Flores decision and others.

These are things that can be solved. And this president's fighting to make sure that we solve these problems.

BARTIROMO: Yes, you're absolutely right. It was actually quite extraordinary.

But you're having multiple fights here. And I'm just wondering how you're going to solve them all. There's China as well. That's getting worse. They're fighting back. They're threatening that they're not going to send rare earth minerals here. They are bullying American companies.

And, of course, they're also -- this weekend, $60 billion of U.S. goods just got tariffed in China.

MCCARTHY: We should have a national discussion about China.

We're a few days away from the 30th anniversary of Tiananmen Square, where a million people came to Tiananmen Square craving more freedom, freedom of expression. And you know what's happened 30 years later? There is less freedom in China.

China is the only country in the world that gives a score to their own people about their social activity. If you want to buy a domestic airline flight inside China, it's a score whether you cannot.

There's a report of a reporter that tried to buy a ticket. He was denied because of what he said on Twitter. They told him he should apologize. He apologized, and they said that wasn't in -- that was insincere of how you apologized. They didn't believe your apology.

But what China is doing -- remember when they built those islands in the South China Sea, said it wouldn't be weaponized? Well, that was a lie.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: They have a long-term goal of where they want to be within that 100-year anniversary in 2049.

BARTIROMO: I think you make a great point, yes.

MCCARTHY: America should be discussing this, more so than what we have been discussing inside Congress.

BARTIROMO: I think you...

MCCARTHY: When it comes to rare minerals...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: ... we could actually produce those in America.

We should be passing legislation today that allows us to mine those, makes it easier to mine those, so we're not beholden to China.

BARTIROMO: Yes, I think you make a lot of really important points.

Speaking of censorship, because Chinese people will never hear about Tiananmen Square, 30th anniversary. You're not going to get any information about it, because they're censoring it.

But we have got censoring going on right here in America, something that you have been leading the charge on in terms of Google, Facebook, Twitter, et cetera.

Now The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the DOJ is readying an antitrust suit against Google. Where's this going? And how worried are you that you're going to see censorship of conservative voices going into the 2020 election?

MCCARTHY: Well, we have already seen that activity take place, if you looked at what Google did to the California Republican Party right before the election, said our ideology was Nazism.

We saw what happened after 2016. The power of these companies -- remember, Google was a company that started that said, don't be evil. They no longer have that motto.

They now have a monopoly where 90 percent of all searches go through Google. In 2013, the FTC actually looked at this. They found that their behavior, the way they treated other companies was wrong, the way they abused their monopoly power.

And they were supposed to correct themselves, even though staff wanted to go further. I think it's right to look at this, because the power of that first placement of where you search something can influence what an individual does.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: But the way they treated other companies, I mean, this is something that has to be looked at.

Three main companies control so much of our life, from Amazon, Facebook and Google.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

But you have got -- you're right. You put your most sensitive things in that Google search bar. And they have 90 percent of the market share.

But you're going back this week for the first time after Mueller spoke. And you know what you're going to hear, lots of impeachment talk and investigative talk. Real quick, comments on that?

MCCARTHY: Well, look, the Democratic -- the Democrats don't care about facts. They don't care that the -- there was no collusion.

Remember, the last Congress, more than 60 Democrats voted for impeachment before the Mueller report ever came forward. You listen to the new freshmen said the only reason why they ran was to impeach the president.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: You have a chairman of Judiciary Committee, Nadler, he won his chairmanship on impeaching the president.

And now you just saw that the speaker the House on a late-night show...

BARTIROMO: Right.

MCCARTHY: ... she leaned in, sounded like she wanted to go to impeachment.

This is purely politics.

BARTIROMO: This is...

MCCARTHY: Their own base is angry because they lost an election.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: That's the only reason they want to impeach.

BARTIROMO: Congressman, thank you.

MCCARTHY: There's no facts or reason why.

BARTIROMO: What state of affairs we're in.

Congressman, good to see you, Kevin McCarthy.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi facing intense pressure from some in her caucus to open an impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

My next guest is New Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew. He is a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus. He's been with us before and has said he's wanting to get work done, not fight.

Good to see you, Congressman. Thanks very much for joining us.

REP. JEFF VAN DREW, D-N.J.: It's always good to be with you. I enjoy it.

BARTIROMO: You just heard Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, said the Dems are all about investigations and impeachment, nothing else, that you can't get anything done.

How are you going to break through this logjam of some of your members who just want to take down President Trump and not give him any victories?

VAN DREW: Well, I believe there are some people that really do want to break through the logjam.

You mentioned the caucus that I'm involved in, the Problem Solvers, the Blue Dog Caucus as well. There are individuals there who want to get work done.

Let me really get right to the point here. I have spent the past few days in my district speaking to a lot of people. They are worn out. They're tired. They have had enough. They want to see results.

We get paid a salary. We work for you, and we should be getting something done. And on issues that people agree with across the board -- and there - - some issues are Democrat issues. Some are Republican.

Whether you're concerned about climate change, whether you're concerned about ensuring that our elections are really true in America...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

VAN DREW: ... and we don't have to worry about anything happening, a whole -- on just a ton of issues, immigration, all of them...

BARTIROMO: Yes. Well...

VAN DREW: ... we need to get these things done by Republicans and Democrats working together.

(CROSSTALK)

BARTIROMO: Are you going to vote yes for USMCA, if it comes down to the floor?

VAN DREW: Yes, I am going to vote yes for USMCA.

BARTIROMO: Are you going to tell Nancy Pelosi to bring it to the floor? She's not even bringing it to the floor.

VAN DREW: I have no problem doing that, because it's going to -- we have been treated unfairly.

An area that I do agree with the president is that, for too long, America hasn't been treated fairly by Mexico, by China. We know about the theft of intellectual property. We know about the stealing of technology.

BARTIROMO: Yes. That's right.

VAN DREW: We know that they have not treated us in a decent and fair way. And that is true with Mexico as well.

And I also believe Mexico can help us with this immigration issue. So we need to all work together. But, if we get on the same page, we're going to have an election in November anyhow.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

VAN DREW: We can hash it out, debate, do what we want to do then.

But, right now, we have a responsibility.

BARTIROMO: Right.

VAN DREW: That's to work for the American people.

BARTIROMO: Look, you pinpointed all...

VAN DREW: We have got to get stuff done.

BARTIROMO: You're identifying all of the issues that are important to the American people.

Congressman, please come back again soon, when we have a longer period of time. We so appreciate your insights this morning. Thank you, sir.

VAN DREW: I will. Thank you so much.

BARTIROMO: Coming up, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey right here with us after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

Joining me right now is former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

Your Honor, it is a pleasure to see you.

MICHAEL MUKASEY, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: Good to be here.

BARTIROMO: Thank you so much for joining us.

What's your reaction to what's taken place so far? The A.G. naming John Durham to look at the origins of the Russia investigation, how do you see this playing out?

MUKASEY: That, I think, is the most consequential thing that's taken place with respect to this investigation since it started, because John Durham is a guy who will conduct a completely impartial, very thorough investigation.

He's had -- he's investigated the CIA twice. I picked him to investigate the CIA in connection with the destruction of the interrogation tapes. My successor picked him, notwithstanding that my successor was a Democrat, picked him to investigate the cases that he reopened, notwithstanding that they had been closed, on interrogation.

And he did a thorough investigation, gave basically over a year of his life to it. And he also has a history of having investigated the FBI, when he was in Boston investigating the Whitey Bulger case, specifically the corrupt FBI agents who concealed the fact that innocent people had been convicted of murder, because they wanted to continue to use Whitey Bulger as an informant.

He prosecuted, I believe, two of those people. I'm not certain. He also prosecuted a Republican governor of Connecticut. So this is a guy who...

BARTIROMO: He is an honest broker.

MUKASEY: That's the understatement of the year.

BARTIROMO: Yes. So, do you think we're going to see...

MUKASEY: Seeks no headlines.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MUKASEY: He's also -- also working with him is a woman named Nora Dannehy, who I had selected to investigate the firing of the U.S. attorneys. She's also from Connecticut, and miraculously came back to the office after having been in private practice for a while.

So the two of them are working on this. And that is the most consequential thing.

BARTIROMO: Do you think we're going to see accountability?

I mean, when you look at, like, the informants and the wiretapping and the abuse for the FISA court, it just seems so bad. Do you think we're actually going to see accountability?

MUKASEY: Absolutely.

BARTIROMO: You do?

MUKASEY: Yes, because of who's been appointed and who is ultimately responsible, which is William Barr, an attorney general who has fidelity to only one thing, and that is finding out what happened and finding it out under the law.

BARTIROMO: But they're trying to take him down.

I don't understand why both sides of the aisle would not agree that you don't want a person in power putting their finger on the scale, like Peter Strzok did in 2016.

MUKASEY: Because there are a lot of nervous people in Washington.

When he decided that he was going to investigate how this all got started, I think a lot of people got very nervous. I will tell you that the Mueller report, the first line...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MUKASEY: ... says that they opened the file in -- I forget -- in 2016, after Papadopoulos had this conversation in the bar.

BARTIROMO: Right.

MUKASEY: That's not what started the investigation.

BARTIROMO: No.

MUKASEY: So, the first line of the Mueller report.

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