Fox News "Sunday Morning Features" - Transcript Interview with Kevin McCarthy

Interview

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GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy spoke with the president on the phone. He joins me now with an update.

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

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Thanks for having me back on, Maria.

BARTIROMO: Can you tell us how the president sounded, Congressman? You spoke with him on Friday, correct?

MCCARTHY: Yes, he called me Friday night, after he got into the hospital.

It was late, around 10:30 or so.

I could tell he wasn't feeling well, but you could see in the president, and you listen to him -- and we had a long conversation. He was worried about those others who had COVID. He was determined to make sure we defeat this virus.

And he was so appreciative of the thoughts, the prayers, and the well- wishes, but he was still doing work. We were talking about how we could get the speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to stop playing politics and actually get a COVID relief bill, of how hard he's continuing, even in his own state, that he wanted to make sure he got that to the American public, that the airlines would not be laying people off, that we could put people before politics.

BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.

You know, she reacted -- Nancy Pelosi reacted to the president's coronavirus test. And she said that it was a brazen -- the way he acted was a brazen invitation.

You have heard a lot of hate as well online. Your reaction to what you're hearing from the president's critics this morning?

MCCARTHY: Well, it's rather disgusting.

I mean, we have watched the speaker, Pelosi, say this before, that we're enemies of the state. This is uncalled for, especially in this time and place.

And, remember, other nations are watching America. This is the one time that we could unite together.

I listened in the president's voice none of those type of languages to anybody across. The one thing I did hear more of, that how committed he's even doubling down to make sure that he lowers prescription drug prices, that he protects preexisting conditions.

And he's sitting here trying to work with the speaker to get a COVID relief package together, and these are the comments that she makes? It's really unbecoming of that position.

BARTIROMO: It's unbelievable.

Look, Congressman, I want to move on to what you were briefed on this week.

This is really important, which is what the director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, declassified this week, a major bombshell that we got, when Ratcliffe sent a letter to Lindsey Graham, going through the intelligence that he was declassifying.

You are a member of the Gang of Eight, which, of course, is a term for a set of eight leaders within the country and within Congress who are briefed on classified intelligence matters by the executive branch.

You were briefed on this information this week. So let's talk about it.

So, here is the letter to Chairman Graham. And what we learned here is that, on September 7, 2016, U.S. intelligence officials forwarded an investigative referral to FBI Director James Comey and Peter Strzok regarding U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton approved a plan concerning U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private e-mail from her private server.

So, we see that Hillary Clinton approved a plan to stir up a scandal about Donald Trump in 2016. Congressman, we have been talking about the Russia hoax now for three-and-a-half years. And now we learned that it was Hillary Clinton's idea?

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What can you tell us?

MCCARTHY: Well, when Director Ratcliffe released this, the leaders of Congress wanted to have a meeting, because no one in Congress, the House or the Senate, has ever seen this information, even though we have spent all these years investigating.

Now, let's walk through -- and, remember, I must be careful here, because some of this is still classified. But let's talk about what's in Ratcliffe's letter.

First, we find out, in July of 2016, that Russian intelligence had picked up that Hillary Clinton's campaign was going to create a false narrative of Trump and Russia colluding. We now find out, on July 26, that the CIA director in his own notes briefs the president on this, Brennan, to President Obama.

Then, just this Wednesday, Comey gets asked a question about this referral that you just talked about from September. He says it doesn't ring a bell.

But I have seen the underlying proof. But inside Ratcliffe's letter, this referral was sent to the FBI, to Peter Strzok and to Comey. Now, remember Peter Strzok. He was on Crossfire Hurricane and the Mueller report.

And never once did this intelligence show up anywhere in any of those investigations or to Congress or to the Senate. So, what we know with all of this -- and I know everything that's going on this week. This is the biggest news that didn't get reported, that we find out that there was no collusion between Trump and Russia, that it was created by Hillary Clinton in a campaign in July of 2016, that the CIA director, John Brennan, that the FBI director, Comey, and the president of the United States, Barack Obama, all knew about that.

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And it was never brought to Congress. And we have wasted two years in this Congress and all the time before wanting to get this information, asking the questions.

So, another question that comes up, who has withheld this information?

Credit to Director Ratcliffe for that transparency of releasing it to the House and Senate. Every member of Congress should read the underlying information behind this.

This is really a bombshell of what we have wasted so much time on, that it was created by Hillary Clinton. President Obama knew it, John Brennan knew it, and Comey knew it, and never gave the information to the American public, let known to Congress or the Senate.

BARTIROMO: This is a disgrace.

For three-and-a-half years, the whole country was up in arms about this narrative that President Trump colluded with Russia. All of this time, nobody even mentioned this intelligence that they actually knew that Hillary Clinton was behind it, just like they lied to the FISA court and never told the FISA court that Hillary Clinton and her campaign and the DNC actually paid for the dossier, Congressman.

MCCARTHY: And remember the dates here.

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July 2016, during the campaign, they were going to create it. President Obama was briefed by the CIA director in July, by those notes, what Ratcliffe put forward.

A memo was sent to Comey and to Peter Strzok, who was part of Crossfire Hurricane and the Mueller report, and never did this intel ever come forward.

This is exactly what I warned about. Remember, we talked about this in a Commitment to America...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: ... that the Democrats want to dismantle this nation. This proves it.

There is a different way to go forward to rebuild, restore, and renew America.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

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And let me just say, before you go, the CIA director, Gina Haspel, apparently has been blocking declassification. Many sources have told me that she does not want the spotlight on the CIA.

What can you tell us about that? Because I understand -- as I understand it, this is only a small portion of what John Ratcliffe wanted to declassify. There's more. Is there more coming?

MCCARTHY: Well, there should be more coming.

You know, the person who doesn't want this to come out is probably Hillary Clinton and Adam Schiff, because what have they taken this -- America through?

We're finding now Hillary Clinton's campaign created this, Adam Schiff propelled it, even though underlying facts prove that the president knew about it, Obama, that CIA knew about it, and the FBI knew about it. And they withheld that information from the House and the Senate.

Nobody in Congress has ever seen this information. This is the biggest news, because of everything that's going on, that the public has not seen yet. And this is -- this should drive every member of Congress to go get the underlying information that John Ratcliffe had just made transparent to the world.

BARTIROMO: And, by the way, it should outrage every American, because our rights and liberties have been trampled on.

Congressman, we are going to keep following it, as we have been from day one.

Thank you so much for joining us and for shining a spotlight on what we learned this week. Thank you, sir.

MCCARTHY: Thank you, Maria.

And I'm looking forward to your new book.

BARTIROMO: Thank you so much, "The Cost: Trump, China, and American Revival." It will be out in three weeks.

Congressman Kevin McCarthy, it's great to see you this morning.

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