House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy reacts to President Trump’s latest comments on fixing the border crisis
California Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy gives an update on the chaos in Congress over border wall funding.
This is a rush transcript from "Justice with Judge Jeanine," January 12, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
JEANINE PIRRO, HOST: President Donald Trump about to join me live tonight. Hello and welcome to "Justice," I'm Jeanine Pirro. Thanks for being with us and thanks to all of you for once again making "Justice" number one last weekend.
Coming up in just a moment, the President of the United States, Donald Trump will be calling into "Justice." President Trump will headline an all-star lineup tonight with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Congressman Jim Jordan, my exclusive sit-down with ICE director Rod Vitiello and Dan Bongino. But first my open.
The issue - border security. The wedge - the partial government shutdown. The collateral damage - Federal employees who didn't get a paycheck yesterday, yet they refuse to negotiate, sit for serious talks or work for the safety and security of the American people. Their mantra - there is no crisis at our open porous borders. Their goal - destroy Donald Trump.
And yesterday, reports are, an even larger caravan is staging in Honduras about to cause an even greater burden on our Border Patrol and the system at large. The President has shown he is capable of negotiating.
He has gone from a concrete wall to a steel slat barrier, willing to go with any barrier, any physical barrier that you cannot climb, over crawl under, rappel or shoot yourself out of a cannon over. He's made concessions from $25 billion to $5 billion, from a concrete barrier to a steel one promising more personnel, detention beds, using technology and electronics to buttress the security and money to address the humanitarian needs.
In spite of his negotiating, the Democrats refused to budge, but curiously, there are some Democrats peeling away from the rigid non-negotiable stance of Nancy Pelosi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DICK DURBIN, D-ILL.: Well, I can tell you, we've had fencing in the past. I'm sure we will in the future.
SEN. ANGUS KING, D-ME.: There are places where wall makes sense, but there are a lot of places where it doesn't.
JOHN BERMAN, ANCHOR, CNN: Some fencing you're saying is useful.
SEN. JOHN MERKLEY, D-ORE.: Some fencing has uses, some barriers are useful.
REP. CHERI BUSTOS, D-ILL.: If we have a partial wall, if we have fencing, if we have technology used to keep our border safe, all of that is fine.
REP. JOHN SARBANES, D-MD.: Well, you have to see what you're talking about here. Does it contribute in a smart way to our security? Certain physical barriers can make sense along the border and in a lot of places, you already have that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: I have a solution. There is no question that President Trump has the authority to declare a national emergency. The controlling case is Youngstown Sheet and Tube versus Sawyer; 343U.S. 579. The critical operational issue is that only money already authorized and appropriated by Congress can be spent. The only serious source of funds are in the military construction bill.
This week, there was some debate whether that money would come from a line item of $13.1 billion covering housing in Afghanistan and Iraq or a $13.9 billion line for disaster relief.
Now clearly, the $13.1 billion should be the line used since I doubt we need to build homes in Afghanistan and Iraq, but now expect the Democrats to go forum-shopping if that happens in California where the appeal goes directly to the Liberal 9th "circus" Circuit if the President declares an emergency using the military construction funds.
Assume they will win, but not on appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, they will lose under Youngstown, so the only question now is whether or not this is a national emergency and if you don't think another caravan of thousands moving in a highly organized fashion similar to military convoys with an advanced party, a main body in a rear party that has exhibited violence along the way with migrants in addition to those from Central America from Africa, Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and more is a national emergency, then you're out and out crazy.
The President has been sitting in the Oval Office since Christmas Eve. He is ready. If the Democrats aren't coming to the table, the time to declare a national emergency is now and that's my open. If you like my opening statements, you'll love my new book, "New York Times" number one bestseller "Liars, Leakers and Liberals: The Case against the anti-Trump Conspiracy."
And joining me now by phone, the President of the United States, Donald Trump. Good evening Mr. President.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Hi, Jeanine.
PIRRO: Thank you so much for joining us tonight. Is there an emergency at the southern border? Should we not now use the emergency funds and the powers that you have in your possession?
TRUMP: So we have a humanitarian crisis to put it mildly. People are trying to get in by the tens of thousands. They're rushing the border. There's right now in Honduras, a country we pay a lot of money to, I think foolishly because they don't help us, but right now, you have another caravan forming and it's going to be the biggest one yet.
We stopped the last one. You see what's going on in Tijuana. They couldn't get through because we have a wall there. We've got a wall up. The military has been fantastic. Border Patrol has been incredible and ICE is you know, these are brave people that do a great job and we stopped them.
But there's another big one forming, we need a wall very simple, whether you call it a steel barrier or wall, it doesn't matter, but we need a very strong structure.
PIRRO: But by waiting to build a wall or using those funds that are available to you in a national emergency, aren't you negating the point of the emergency itself?
TRUMP: Well, I have the absolute right to call a national emergency. Other Presidents have called many national emergencies for things of lesser importance, frankly than this and I have the right to do it.
I'd rather see that Democrats come back from their vacation and act. They're not acting and they're the ones that are holding it up. It would take me 15 minutes to get a deal done and everybody could go back to work, but I'd like to see them act responsibly and they're not acting responsibly and that's it. We could be - I'm in the White House and most of them are in different locations.
They're watching a certain musical in a very nice location.
PIRRO: Of course, in Puerto Rico, watching "Hamilton."
TRUMP: Frankly, it's ridiculous. The whole thing is ridiculous. We have a very important thing to do. We have to have border security and we have to get people getting paid again very quickly.
PIRRO: But what about as this happens, look you were in the White House during the Christmas holidays and over New Year's and you've been there ever since. Nancy Pelosi is in Hawaii over the holidays, and now she's in Puerto Rico with a bunch of Democrats and lobbyists, you know, enjoying the sun and partying down there.
But what makes you think that these people are willing to cut a deal if you have shown your ability to negotiate by changing to a slat, agreeing to all of their demands as it relates to you know, technology, electronic, fencing and all of the other things, the humanitarian aid. They sit there. They don't even look you in the eye. What makes you think that they're going - in any way cave because if these people said 13 and again, six years ago, we need a wall, we need a wall, but now you're the President, they don't want a wall? What makes you think they're coming back?
TRUMP: Well, they might not. I mean you know, frankly I was willing to do something and we're asking for $5.6 billion which is way less than what other Presidents have been talking about.
You know, if you look back, this should have been done 30 years ago, 20 years ago, 10 years ago. This should have been done by others just like if you look at Jerusalem, if you look at the Embassy moving to Jerusalem, every President promised that, they never did it. I did it. You look at so many other things that I've done, we're doing well with a lot of - you know, we're doing well with China, we're doing well with North Korea. You know, I was left a very tough hand, but this was one of the problems, it's our southern border.
And it's you know, thousands and thousands of people are coming in and we have human smugglers. We have traffickers. We have people - the biggest drug dealers in the world and they're pouring through the parts of the border. They don't go through your areas where you have a port of entry.
PIRRO: Ports of entry.
TRUMP: Jeanine, they go through areas where you don't have any protection whatsoever and it's really very sad and very, very dangerous and very bad for our country. A lot of crime comes from that location.
PIRRO: You know, I interviewed Ron Vitiello, the acting director of ICE and he said that there was enough fentanyl seized by them last year that could kill every American in this country. We know that 90 percent of the heroin comes through the southern border and you know what we also know is that there are 800,000 Federal employees who didn't get a check yesterday.
You're sitting there waiting for a deal, the Democrats are not sitting with you. If this isn't an emergency, I don't know what is.
TRUMP: Well, I haven't actually left the White House in months and in all fairness, I'm doing a lot of other work. It's not just that, but that's a very important element of what I'm doing because we have to get the southern border done and I've been here virtually every night.
I guess every night other than one day, I flew to Iraq and then to Germany to see our troops and it was great to see them. It was great. The level of love they have for this country is incredible, so I flew and then came back. I'm not even sure I actually missed a night per se, but basically I've been here for many months in the White House and you know, I'm a worker. I am like you. I am a worker.
PIRRO: I know. You are a worker.
TRUMP: And frankly, I'm ready, willing and able to get a deal done, but they don't say - they think it's politics. I think it's bad politics. This country wants to have protection at the border.
Many of our crimes, much of MS-13 comes through the border, drugs - a big proportion of the drugs from that we have from this country, in this country come through the border. The human trafficking where they tie women up, they put duct tape over their mouths, electrical tape and they bring them in. They traffic in women and children, and they come through the border.
The areas that I'm talking about, putting a wall, we do that, it can't happen anymore. It's unbelievable. It's only politics, that's the game they're playing. I actually think it's bad politics for them.
PIRRO: So then, you know, when Nancy Pelosi won, you very warmly in November congratulated her and are you still confident you can get a deal done with her or has that ship sailed?
TRUMP: No idea. No idea. Well, we won also. You know, we won the Senate.
PIRRO: Right, right, but --
TRUMP: And you know, there are those that would say that the Senate is more important and for the most part, I campaigned for the Senate. And we got very little credit for that like even you, you just said they won, we won the Senate. We actually picked up additional seats. We beat incumbents - Democrats - and almost everywhere I went, we won.
But you know, I'm one person and the House had many races and yet, we won some great races where I went. But we won the Senate, Jeanine, we picked up two additional seats. It's 53-47. It was 51-49.
PIRRO: All right, so for the last time, given that they don't seem to want to come to the table that you have done all the negotiating, why not declare --
TRUMP: Well, that might happen, but I want to give them a chance to see if they can act responsibly. They should act responsibly. We're talking about the border and I have to say, a lot of the people that aren't getting their checks, are letting us know we don't care. You've got to solve the crisis at the border. It's a humanitarian crisis and it's national security. It's very important.
PIRRO: Okay and it's interesting, that's what I heard yesterday from some of the Border Patrol agents. Now, I want to move on to another subject. "New York Times" reported that the FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation the day after you fired James Comey in May of '17, and the investigation was whether you were actively working for Russia or unwittingly, so I'm going to ask you, are you now or have you ever worked for Russia, Mr. President?
TRUMP: I think it's the most insulting thing I've ever been asked. I think it's the most insulting article I've ever had written and if you read the article, you'd see that they found absolutely nothing, but the headline of that article, it's called the failing "New York Times" for a reason. They've gotten me wrong for three years. They've actually gotten me wrong for many years before that.
But you look at what's going on, you know, I fired James Comey, I call him lying James Comey because he was a terrible liar and he did a terrible job as the FBI Director. Look at what happened with Hillary Clinton and the e-mails and the Hillary Clinton investigation. One of the biggest screw-ups that anybody's ever seen as an investigation.
And what happened after I fired him, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok his lover, Lisa Page, they did it and you know, they're all gone. Most of those people, many, many people from the top ranks of the FBI, they've all been fired or they had to leave and they are all gone.
This is what they were talking about and obviously, nothing was found and I can tell you this, if you ask the folks in Russia, I've been tougher on Russia than anybody else, any other - probably any of the President period. But certainly the last three or four Presidents, modern-day Presidents, nobody's been as tough as I have from any standpoint including the fact that we're doing oil like we've never done it. We're setting records in our country with oil and exporting oil and many other things.
So which is obviously not great for them because that's what they - that's where they their money for the most part, but many other things, so I think it was a great insult and the New York Times is a disaster as a paper. It's a very horrible thing they said and they've gone so far than people that were necessary believers are now big believers because they said that was a step too far. They really are a disaster of a newspaper.
PIRRO: Well you know when you think about it, the people that were involved in that or all of the people have since been fired are gone whether it's Strzoik, Page McCabe and also the Steele dossier.
But the "Washington Post" I should say is following up reporting that you went to unusual lengths to keep your conversations with President Putin under wraps. Why not release the conversation that you had with President Putin in Helsinki along with some other stuff that might involve the FISA, Bruce Ohr and the whole lot of them?
TRUMP: Well, Jeannine I would. I don't care. I mean I had a conversation like every President does. You sit with the President of various countries. I do it with all countries. We had a great conversation. we were talking about Israel and securing Israel and lots of other things and it was a great conversation. I'm not keeping anything under wraps. I couldn't care less.
I mean it's so ridiculous. These people make it up. "Washington Post" that's basically the lobbyists for Amazon you know. He uses that. Bezos, who's got the bigger problems than anybody right now, but Bezos uses that as his lobbyists, okay as far as I'm concerned and the "Washington Post" is almost as bad, they're probably as bad as the "New York Times".
Think of it, I have a one-on-one meeting with Putin like I do with every other leader. I have many one-on-one, nobody ever says anything about it. But with Putin, they say "Oh, what did they talk about?" We talked about very positive things because look, we are beating everybody. Our economy is the strongest in the world right now, Jeanine. Nobody even close.
China is down 38 percent. Russia is not doing well with its economy. Most countries are not doing well. We're doing phenomenally even though we're paying interest rates because we're normalizing, you know, Obama had zero interest. Anybody can do that and our economy is now better than ever. We're almost at our high with the stock market again, so it's really - can you imagine where they say that I met with Putin. I met with every leader end of - just about individually.
I meet with Modi. I meet with - in Japan, I meet with Abe. I meet with all of them, but nobody says I did, but I mean with Putin, and they make a big deal. Anybody could have listened to that meeting. That meeting is open for grabs.
You know, the whole Russia thing, it's a hoax. It's a terrible hoax. You know it probably better than -- you, Gregg Jarrett, Dan Bongino -- people that look at it, it's a total hoax. Everybody knows it and it's really a shame because it takes time and it takes effort. Everybody knows there was no collusion whatsoever. They have found no collusion and they won't find collusion because I had nothing to do - I was a better candidate than Hillary Clinton. She was a terrible candidate and the fact is, I was obviously a good candidate.
I won every debate. I won everything I did and I won and I won easily, 306 to 223, I believe and that's a big difference in the college - in the Electoral College, but it's really - it's really a shame, Jeanine. It really is a shame. It's such a waste of time.
PIRRO: It is a shame. It is a waste of time. It's a waste of energy, and you know, some people have to say to themselves, how can you deal with all of this? This "New York Times" article to be absolutely truthful with you just seems to be another rehash of the same players and the same arguments and the same dossier, you know, just to keep it going and they'll keep it going as long as they can. What keeps you going?
I mean, you've got such fight in you, it is unbelievable.
TRUMP: Well, I guess I have good genes because you know, somebody said the other day, no President should have to go through what you're going through Mr. President because I'm going through all of this nonsense. It's all nonsense. But I have to be careful because these are dirty players. They're no good and you got the Mueller investigation, you've got all this nonsense. There's no collusion, no nothing.
And you know, they say this should never happen again, never again should this happen and that's the story, but despite that, we've done more than any other administration by far in the first two years.
We've had tremendous success.
PIRRO: All right, and now of course a little added shift as you call them is going to be dragging in and -- Jerry Nadler, going be dragging in Michael Cohen, an already proven liar to Congress convicted of it, you know, are you worried that he is going to --
TRUMP: No, look, I was a client of his and you know, he's supposed to have lawyer to client privilege, but it doesn't matter because I'm a very honest person, frankly, but he's in trouble on some loans and fraud and taxicabs and stuff ...
PIRRO: The taxi medallions.
TRUMP: ... that I know nothing about, and in order to get a sentence reduced, he says, "I have an idea, I'll tell - I'll give you some information on the President." Well there is no information, but he should give information maybe on his father-in-law, because that's the one that people want to look at because where does that money - that's the money in the family.
And I guess he didn't want to talk about his father-in-law. He's trying to get his sentence reduced so it's pretty sad, you know, he's weak and it's very sad to watch a thing like that. I couldn't care less.
PIRRO: What is his father-in-law's name?
TRUMP: I don't know, but you'll find out and you'll look into it because nobody knows what's going on over there. Again, I was a client. I was a client. He has a law firm. They broke into his law firm sometime early in the morning, I guess, and they took - this couldn't happen to anybody, except you're dealing with McCabe, you're dealing with the remnants of Comey and wait until you see how it all ends up. You watch -- McCabe, Lisa Page, Strzok -- you wait until you see how that all ends up, including some others that I could name, but I better not, we'll make front-page your news if I do.
PIRRO: I can't wait to read it. Will you release the FISA? We're all waiting for the FISA. That will give us --
TRUMP: Well, at the right time, we will probably do that. If that's necessary, we'll do that. You know, that's very, very important stuff.
PIRRO: I know.
TRUMP: And you know, as you know a lot of bad things happened when a lot of elements of what we're talking about and at the right time, we will probably do that. That's right.
PIRRO: All right and my - are your lawyers working to keep the Muller report from being made public?
TRUMP: Well, I can't tell you because I don't devote too much time. Here's the bottom line. There was no collusion. There was no obstruction. There was no anything. So you know, no calls to Russia. No nothing. So you know, it's all nonsense, Jeanine. It's all nonsense. It's a hoax. It's called the Russian hoax or - you know, it's a witch hunt and it's a shame and you know, despite that, what we're doing is amazing.
But actually what we're doing in this, too, because we're exposing people that are corrupt. People are being exposed by this that are totally corrupt. A lot of the people that don't get mentioned even in that article today, the phony article in the "New York Times" there's a lot of corruption and we're exposing it.
And I'm going to put that down someday as one of my greatest achievements.
PIRRO: Well, I look forward to hearing that and I guess, one last question, Mr. President, when are you going to get out of the White House. I mean, Washington after while gets very depressing.
TRUMP: Well, I love it and I love this building and I do a lot work in the building and if you look at what we're doing on the deal with China, which nobody was able to take on and we're taking it on great, we're doing an incredible deal for our country. You look at Iran, when I ended the Iran nuclear deal, look at what happened to Iran. It's a different country than it was when I came here two years ago.
PIRRO: Right.
TRUMP: And all of the trade deals we're making with Mexico and by the way, Mexico is paying for the wall because the trade deal is billions and billions of dollars better than the old NAFTA trade deal and I call that -- Mexico is absolutely paying for the wall.
So I mean, we're doing a great job and I like doing it and then we get involved with the Russian hoax or you know, whatever you call it.
PIRRO: Distraction.
TRUMP: You know, it's one of those things, but I love doing it, the whole thing. But this will turn out to be very important because people are going to be exposed that nobody ever thought possible.
PIRRO: Well, I look forward to that and I have to ask you another post last question, you're hearing about all these people looking to run against you in 2020, your thoughts?
TRUMP: I'm not worried. So far I love the competition. I love what I see. I love what I say, you know, a couple of them aren't running that I was hoping we're going to run. They just announced yesterday that they weren't running. I was sort of looking forward to that, but you're going to have probably 30 people, close to 30 people maybe more. I heard as many as 32 and I see nobody in fact I, guess Bruce Springsteen, Moore, all these guys are saying "We're not going to beat him again. We're not going to ..." So they're all going around saying --
And then look, we're doing too well. If anybody beat me, we have the greatest unemployment and employment numbers that we've ever had in the country.
PIRRO: That's right. That's right - who would ...
TRUMP: African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American -- the overall number, historically the best numbers we've ever had. The economy is the best economy we've ever had. More people are working today, Jeanine, in our country that have ever worked in our country before.
I don't know how does somebody beat that? We have great trade deals. I cut taxes down to the lowest number that they've been in many years, bigger than the Ronald Reagan tax cuts. We have ANWR. We got rid of the individual mandate on this horrible Obamacare, which will end up taking care of, watch what's going to happen there.
So you know, we're doing a good job, and I think people see it.
PIRRO: Who is the one person that you would really like to run against?
TRUMP: Well, I don't want to pick any one out, but you know, a lot of people say Biden's doing okay, but you know, he was always a one-percenter. He was a one-percent guy. He ran two or three times. He never got above 1 percent and then Obama came along and took him off the trash heap, then he became a Vice President and now he's probably leading.
But he's basically a 1 percent guy. He's weak. So we'll see what happens with him, but I think he's leading right now from what I understand, but I'll be watching and whoever it is, I think we're going to do just fine.
PIRRO: Mr. President, I really hope you get out of the White House. I really do. I think you deserve a vacation.
TRUMP: Well, I like the symbol. I'll be honest I like the symbol of being here, you know, to be totally honest with you. I mean, your audience knows I'm a straight shooter. I like the symbol of me being here and then being at some play in a nice location, having a good time.
I like that symbol because I am ready to sign and they're not, and they're not. So we'll see what happens and if they don't do it, if they don't come to their senses, you know what I'll do, I'll do a national emergency. We're all set. It's a hundred percent and I'll have to do that, but honestly, we shouldn't have to.
But you know what, Jeanine, they're going to want something from me someday. Very important, because I have to sign everything. Everything has to go through the White House. Mitch McConnell and the Republicans have done an incredible job and they have stuck together like glue. We have tremendous support.
But you know, they're going to want something from us, for one of their favorite little deals and all of a sudden, they're going to find out, it's going to be very, very tough for them. We need security at the southern border for our country.
PIRRO: Well, I'll tell you, Mr. President, when you reference the viewers, the "Justice" viewers, they are behind you a hundred percent. Mr. President --
TRUMP: Thank you very much, Jeanine. That's nice.
PIRRO: Thank you for being with us tonight. We are very grateful.
TRUMP: Thank you, Jeanine. Thank you very much.
PIRRO: All right, so much to discuss. Congressman Jim Jordan, Dan Bongino, Kevin McCarthy -- here tonight to react to my interview with the President and next, I'll talk live with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the President's comments, the shutdown, the "New York Times" bombshell on the FBI. We will touch on everything. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LAUREN BLANCHARD, CORRESPONDENT: Live from "America's News Headquarters," I'm Lauren Blanchard. Thousands of yellow vest protesters gather in France for a ninth straight weekend. Paris authorities arrested more than 120 people, but said, a majority of demonstrators were peaceful. The protest began months ago in response to new fuel taxes from French President, Emmanuel Macron. The government backed off those taxes, but the protesters are now focused on broader issues of economic hardship.
A mass drug overdose in Chico, California leaves one person dead and 12 others in the hospital. Police Chief Mike O'Brien says the powerful opiate, fentanyl, was the cause.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE O'BRIEN, POLICE CHIEF, CHICO, CALIFORNIA: The amount of fentanyl, powerful fentanyl, these substances are extraordinarily dangerous and it takes just a very minute amount to cause life-saving conditions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLANCHARD: I'm Lauren Blanchard, now back to "Justice with Judge Jeanine."
PIRRO: Welcome back on this very busy night of breaking news. You just heard President Trump right here on "Justice" discussing the latest on the border crisis and here to react to that and more, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy joins me now. Good evening, Congressman McCarthy. You heard the interview with the President?
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, R-CALIF., HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Yes, I did. I thought he did a very good job.
PIRRO: And what is your take on the issue of the border and how the Democrats are handling it given especially that Schumer has voted for a border fence eight times, Pelosi has voted for a border fence, the way the Democrats are behaving in the meetings with the meetings with the President, what's your opinion?
MCCARTHY: Look, I've been in all these meetings and I've watched the President, even when you listened tonight, he was calm, just answered the questions. I watched him in these meetings. He's made offer after offer. The only people in these meetings that have not made a counteroffer are the Democrats.
The Democrats said they're for border security, but who in America believes that border security would not include some form of a barrier? We know that works. We know there is a crisis on the southern end. You know who else said there was a crisis on the southern end of our border? Barack Obama - who's voted for fencing. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Biden, Nancy Pelosi - twice, but now because it's President Trump, they're allowing their own political bias to enter in this for those extreme levels of the Democratic Party to stop anything from moving, and this is causing real damage.
There's 800,000 of Americans who didn't get a paycheck because Nancy Pelosi will not compromise. She will not even put an offer on the table and they've been in power and what have they done? Every week, they've been in power, the government shutdown. They adjourn instead of staying here and solving the problem.
PIRRO: Well, you know, Congressman, the amazing part of it all is that it's almost as though the illegals are more important to them than the American citizens, than the safety and sovereignty of this country.
MCCARTHY: Well what's very concerning to me, they'd rather have open borders than an open government. We have sat inside these rooms and when we had our first meeting in the Situation Room, to just get the facts on the southern border. The minute Secretary Nielsen from Homeland Security went to speak, Nancy - Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer interrupt, will not let her talk because they don't want to hear the facts.
Three or four meetings in, when we finally get the facts out, she says, "I just do not believe them." I thought the Secretary was very strong. She goes, "Ma'am, those are just the facts." And what's most interesting is when we first started these meetings, Speaker Pelosi could not actually discuss it because she wasn't elected Speaker yet.
Then when she gets elected Speaker, the President even in the last meeting offered her what she wanted. He said, he turned to her and he said, "Okay, Nancy, if I open up the government in 30 days, could we have border security?" She said, "Not at all."
That's why he got up and left because they will not even go one minute of compromise and the President has moved from a from a concrete wall to a steel slat. I mean, he has moved and you've heard Democrats say they would support part of the wall part.
PIRRO: Part of the wall, absolutely. I ran several - the sound of them, but the amazing part of this thing is that if the American people 800,000 are not getting a paycheck and if 90 percent of the heroin in this country and I don't know what percentage of fentanyl is coming from the southern border and we know that there are gang members coming through, why isn't the American public onto the fact that they don't care about the American people? That if Chuck Schumer can't eyeball the President, he can't even look in his eyes and they come out smiling and smirking that you know, the American people need to get what's going on here.
MCCARTHY: What the American people have to understand, because of the rules of the Senate, you need 60 votes, so this shutdown would have never taken place unless Senator Schumer decided he would not provide the ten votes because the House when the Republicans were in the majority, sent a compromise over to the Senate that gave $5.6 billion in border security.
Schumer said no, so we went into a shutdown. The President stayed here to solve it and where did the Democrats go? Just like they went this weekend, they don't want to come back to the table and the President is right. We could solve this in 15 to 20 minutes, it would be over and we'll compromise, too.
I will work with any American that wants to put us - move America forward and actually secure our border and open this government up.
PIRRO: All right, I've got 20 seconds, Minority Leader, how does this end?
MCCARTHY: I'm sorry?
PIRRO: How does it end?
MCCARTHY: Well, how it should and how our government is designed that we find compromise on both sides. We secure our border just as President Obama said there was a crisis and we see that there's a crisis today that you have to have for border security, yes, some barrier along there.
We've seen it work in San Diego, El Paso, Yuma. We know that it works and we know we need a part of that and I appreciate the President being strong and staying and making it happen.
PIRRO: We appreciate your being here, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Thanks so much.
MCCARTHY: Thank you.
PIRRO: All right, Dan Bongino still ahead, but next Congressman Jim Jordan with his take on my exclusive interview with President Trump and just what this new information about the FBI and the investigation into the President really means. Who do you think?
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PIRRO: President Trump speaking to me just minutes ago in a "Justice" exclusive. Congressman Jim Jordan joins me now with reaction to that interview and all of the developing news tonight. Congressman, thanks so much for being here tonight. It's always good having you on set.
All right, let's - just your reaction to the President. You heard him tonight. You were in the green room.
REP. JIM JORDAN, R-OH: Yes, now, the President is doing a great job. I mean, I've said this time and time
again. Think about what we've seen the last two years -- regulations reduced, taxes cut, economy growing at an unprecedented rate, lowest unemployment in 50 years, 312,000 added last month, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh in the court, out of the Iranian deal, Embassy in Jerusalem, new NAFTA agreement -- I mean, you could just go on and on.
So it's been a great two years, but Democrats just want to keep focusing on trying to stop him instead of helping the country.
PIRRO: Well, yes, it seems they're pretty determined to stop him.
JORDAN: They sure are.
PIRRO: Even if they look like absolute hypocrites and deny everything they've done in the past.
JORDAN: Voted for our border security wall, a few years ago, against it now because it'll help the President. Forget about what's good for the country. They're focused solely on stopping the President.
Think about the first day, Brad Sherman, Congressman from California, first day files impeachment article with - they haven't even been in Congress 24 hours and the congresswoman from Michigan says the disgraceful thing she said about the President and now we've got Michael Cohen, the first big interview - excuse me first big hearing. They're bringing in a guy who was a convicted felon going to prison in two months.
And you know one of the things he's convicted of, lying to Congress.
PIRRO: Lying to Congress.
JORDAN: I mean go figure. You can't make this stuff up, but I mean, you'd laugh if it wasn't so serious.
PIRRO: Yes, well, a lot of the stuff is absolutely bizarre, but I want to talk to you about the "New York Times" article where the FBI opened an inquiry into whether or not Trump was secretly working on behalf of Russia and I asked the President if he is now or has he ever worked for Russia as in the old McCarthy question. What's your take on this article? You did a lot of investigating on the FBI.
JORDAN: Yes, and we're still going to, if the Democrats won't shut it all down. Two things, you've got to remember, who's saying this? Who's doing this? And when are they doing it? So who's doing it? Andy McCabe, Deputy Director of the - former Deputy Director of the FBI.
PIRRO: Fired.
JORDAN: Fired. Lied three times under oath, not according to Republicans, but according to the Inspector General. Lisa Page who was demoted, then left the FBI. Peter Strzok, former Deputy Head of Counterintelligence, demoted and then fired by the FBI and Jim Baker, don't forget him.
PIRRO: Counsel.
JORDAN: General Counsel at the FBI, demoted and then left. These four people are the ones who have this extreme animus towards the President. They're the ones who are saying to start this counterintelligence investigation in the President. It's ridiculous.
And remember when it happened, it happened just days after their best pal, Jim Comey is fired. So remember that critical week, those critical eight days. May 9th, Comey gets fired. May 17th, Bob Mueller gets named Special Counsel. Andy McCabe is running the FBI. They're talking about everything. They're talking about this investigation, "New York Times" report on it, which is not really new news. We all agreed ...
PIRRO: Why? I didn't think it was new. I kept reading it. What's new here?
JORDAN: The one name that's not mentioned there though, Rod Rosenstein. Rod Rosenstein who is talking about wearing a wire to record the President, who was talking about invoking the 25th Amendment. This is the crazy stuff going on with these people who had this extreme animus and bias against the President of the United States.
PIRRO: All right, so what you have is their best friend is fired. Comey is fired, so his pals who worked with him on the Hillary Clinton investigation, so-called investigation decide that we're going to look at this guy for obstruction of justice and start a counterintelligence investigation.
The guys who already hate the President, all right, and at the same time, Rosenstein is talking about, "Hey, maybe I'll go in and wear - and get a wire - wear a wire when I talk to the President."
I mean if this isn't a conspiracy in itself ...
JORDAN: It's scary.
PIRRO: To undermined the President, then it's very scary.
JORDAN: And remember, even with all this, Judge, Jim Comey testified up until the day he's fired, he said there was no evidence to show any type of coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the election. Lisa Page said the same thing when we deposed her.
Remember that one text message from Peter Stzrok, "There's no there, there."
PIRRO: Right.
JORDAN: That's the day --
PIRRO: There's no big there, there.
JORDAN: Right, that's the day after Mueller is named Special Counsel and Strzok is deciding whether he is going to go in to the Special Counsel, so even if all this crazy stuff is going on this eight-day time period, even then Peter Strzok says, "There really isn't any there, there." But because he had this bias that you know sent these terrible text messages, he sent Trump should lose a hundred million to zero. This bias he had against the President. They're all talking about these ridiculous things.
PIRRO: Well you know what I don't understand in all of this and I'm sure you have better insight than I do because you know stuff that's classified that I don't. Why is Rod Rosenstein allowed to just leave?
JORDAN: Yes.
PIRRO: Why is this guy given the velvet glove treatment? Don't - talk to me, you're looking down. Look at me.
JORDAN: Mark Meadows and I sent a letter to Chairman Cummings this week where we said just because - excuse me, to the Justice Department where we said just because Rod Rosenstein has said he's leaving, he still needs to come testify. There's important questions he needs to answer that we want him under oath in front of us asking - answering our questions and more importantly, the American people need the answers.
PIRRO: Will the FISA warrant give us some indication of the wrongdoing?
JORDAN: I think all of that -- Bruce Ohr's 302s, the FISA -- but, we need to get Rod Rosenstein under oath in front of us.
PIRRO: Oh yes, I want to be there that day, Congressman Jim Jordan. Always great to have you on set in New York. Thanks for being with us.
JORDAN: Good to be with you. You bet. Thank you.
PIRRO: All right, Dan Bonging is next, stay with us.
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PIRRO: More reaction to my interview with President Trump. Joining me now, host of "The Dan Bongino Show Podcast," Don Bongino. Good evening, Dan. Did you hear the President tonight? He actually mentioned you and thought you a great guy and all that jazz, did you hear that?
DAN BONGINO, HOST, THE DAN BONGINO SHOW PODCAST: Yes, sorry I was like scratching my brow there when I came on. I did hear that. I was - I was surprised, always flattered, but listen, he's onto something, Judge.
He knows, you know you and I and Greg that have done a lot of homework into this Spygate, Russiagate debacle that this is nonsense. This is a total scam. It's a scheme. It deserves to be exposed and I'm glad he fights back and doesn't take the media narrative nonsense.
PIRRO: Well, we're all glad that he fights back and you know, the amazing thing is that this second "New York Times" article, the second, the one from yesterday, it's like they just won't give it up. They just rerun this stuff and give it a new headline and you know, it's almost like, there's a coup. I mean, like every day, there's a new coup with the same dossier, the same players. It has got to be - it is amazing that it's been able to last this long.
BONGINO: Yes, you know your line to Congressman Jordan there was classic. It was great. You felt the same way I did. You read this right, Judge, and you said "What's the news here?" The FBI used the political document, the dossier from the Hillary team that's been widely discredited and debunked as a reason to target and weaponize the FBI to attack the Trump team.
I don't understand what was new about this article and even worse, I don't understand why this reflects poorly on Trump. The piece basically admits that the FBI took a purely political document and used it to spy on the President.
Wait, Judge, can I mention one more thing about this though, don't you find it a little odd that in that piece, Rod Rosenstein is not mentioned? Yet, it was Rod Rosenstein's letter that was used to fire Comey. So if that piece is right, that the firing of Comey incited some big counterintelligence investigation, why was the investigation focused on Trump? Why not investigate Rosenstein?
You and I know the answer. This had nothing to do with Rosenstein and everything to do with Donald Trump.
PIRRO: Well and the amazing part of it is that Rosenstein announces he's going to - he's going to retire and it's like, there's no consequence like you know, "Bye, Rod. We'll give you a watch. We'll see in a few." I don't understand why he's getting away with it, but the answer is in - is when the President releases the FISA information and the FISA warrant and declassifies it. It has got to be done. I just - I am dying to know what it is about this guy.
But let me ask you this, I mean when we talk about the - what is going on right, you were in the Secret Service. I mean, you were in law enforcement before that. Immigration -what is going on and why do the Democrats allow this to continue? And I'm not even talking about the politics, but the influx.
We know MS-13. We know drugs. We know fentanyl, human trafficking. Why?
BONGINO: Because this isn't about immigration to the Democrats. This is about political power. This is about open borders and a welfare state to replace the voters they're losing now in mass amongst the American working class. This is all the Democrats have.
Judge, make no mistake, this fight, this shutdown fight right now, I'm telling you on the Democratic side, don't laugh when I say, it has nothing to do with immigration. This has everything to do with what they perceive to be a defeat for the President of the United States where they can marshal that political power for impeachment later.
This is the fight. Everybody needs to draw a line in the sand right now and understand what this is about. If we lose this fight on this shutdown, they will go after this President. It will be geometrically worse than it is now. This is the fight. There can be absolutely no backing down and no retreat on this. The fight is now, the sacrifices have to be made now. Everybody needs to toughen up for what's ahead.
PIRRO: All right, Dan Bongino, yes or no, use emergency funding?
BONGINO: I don't think so. I think it's a bad call. I think he's doing the right thing right now, holding back on that.
PIRRO: All right, Dan Bongino, thanks so much for being with us and we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PIRRO: And finally tonight, I mentioned my exclusive interview with acting ICE Director Ron Vitiello, but we went a ran a little long with President Trump tonight, so we're saving Director Vitiello for next week. You'll see it then right here.
Don't forget to keep up with me throughout the week on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thanks for watching tonight. I'm Jeanine Pirro advocating for truth, justice and the American Way. "The Greg Gutfeld Show" is coming up next and I'll see you next Saturday night.
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