Ranking Member House Judiciary Committee Congressman Doug Collins (R-GA) joined Brian Kilmeade to discuss releasing the transcript of James Baker’s first interview with the House Judiciary Committee and his belief Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report will confirm what republicans have been saying for years about wrongdoing related to the issuance of FISA warrants that eventually led to the Mueller probe. Collins said he finds it amazing that House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler is so desperate to find something on President Trump he sent out 81 letters on a “fishing expedition” because there is nothing in the report and now democrats have changed their arguments on what they are looking for.
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WILLIAM BARR, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: …office of the inspector general has a pending investigation of the Pfizer process in the Russia investigation and I expect that that will be complete in probably in May or June I am told. More generally I am reviewing the conduct of the investigation and trying to get my arms around all the aspects of the counter intelligence investigation that was conducted during the summer of 2016.
BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX RADIO HOST: A laid back but firm Bill Barr yesterday, can you imagine having an attorney general that is curious what went on leading up to the election of 2016 and not just is giving all the power to Robert Mueller or Rod Rosenstein. That is music to the years of Congressman Doug Collins, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. Congressman thanks so much for joining us.
REP. DOUG COLLINS (R-GA): Brian it’s good to be with you.
KILMEADE: So, how great was that to hear from your prospective?
COLLINS: Oh, it’s been great to hear, he is – I have to say Bill Barr has been the ultimate professional since the moment he went for his confirmation hearing, the day he’s taken office. He’s done everything he said he would do, he’s kept his word, he’s followed the law, he’s followed the regulations and he’s also had the intellectual curiosity to go how did we get here? How did this actually come about? And that’s why with the stuff that we’ve been doing on the Hill and now he’s looking into it, I’m glad to see this, it’s a good day for American people.
KILMEADE: So do you want to wait for the inspector general report from Michael Horowitz to come out first, will that be a help? Or should you do something before that comes out?
COLLINS: No we’re going to – we’re continuing this process Brian. This is a process in and that’s why we’re releasing the transcript, that’s why we’re showing the process from our prospective in the House, it’s what I call an offensive defense. We’re simply saying these are things that need to be discussed now that Mueller has come out and we’re going to get the report, we’re going to find out but we found no collusion and no obstruction. These are the things that we found, now we’re trying to get the – to make sure that we go back and say do we ever want to come at this again? We don’t want to ever see this happen again. The Horowitz report will just simply, I believe, confirm what many of us have been saying for several years while the Democrats and the left make fun of us. So, I think here’s the good thing about it, I think the Horowitz report’s going to be a good thing.
KILMEADE: So yesterday you released the transcript of Jim Baker and one of the things that emerges when you were behind closed door with him, not only was the 25 Amendment brought up by Rod Rosenstein, he told Baker that they had two Trump Cabinet members that were willing to our along with his ouster?
COLLINS: Yes, that was an interesting discussion. He said he had the impression that the Deputy Attorney General had all ready discussed with two Cabinet members about this and that was sort of what he understood. So, this gets deeper and deeper and I think that’s why we’re releasing the transcripts, that’s why we’re showing what we’re actually doing in regard to real oversight, only cabal of Strutt(ph), Page, McCabe and Baker and all this and then really it was not the total – yes we went back to this same cabal of corruption that we’ve been exposing now and this is why I believe it’s so important that Bill Barr look into this because we can’t let this happen again no matter who is president. But this one is so egregious that I’m glad to see we’re looking into it.
KILMEADE: Right, so and Baker’s role during this time was what? He was the attorney, the FBI attorney right?
COLLINS: Yes, he was, he was the attorney of the counsel, the general counsel.
KILMEADE: All right.
COLLINS: As well he was – and it was really interesting his involvement in this.
KILMEADE: So, the other thing I find interesting is it turns out The Daily Caller says the inspector general has actually talked to Stefan Halper. Stefan Halper seems to be everywhere in this with Carter Page, with George Papadopoulos as well with Sam Clovis who worked for the Trump campaign. He seems to be the guy working for the FBI to try to get these other players to do things and say things to make them bigger than they actually were in this campaign.
COLLINS: Well and then – and again that’s why we’re going through this very methodically and looking at the players and looking at what happened and doing so in a way that when we do this we’re coming at it saying let the facts speak for themselves, let the transcripts speak for themselves. Look at the players that are coming in, I mean the Michael Sussmann, you know coming in and talking to Baker from Perkins Coie which is an interesting thing that you’re having, you know, that we know of their involvement in democratic politics and the, you know, Baker’s relationship from David Corner, a journalist. How do these things all get in there, well we’re laying it out there to let people look at it, let’s make their own assessment and say this is what we need to avoid in our country and like I said I can not be any more empathetic than Bill Barr looking into this is the right thing. I want to encourage the Senate to look into it. I want to encourage and wait for the inspector general’s report. These are all things that I think will lead us to the truth, we’ve all ready seen the truth come out in the Mueller report. The democrats have nothing at this point, you know, their whole argument was blown because they believed is now that the collusion is going to be everything, they don’t have it and now they’re just desperate to find anything. We’ve got to stick to the truth, stick to the transcript, stick to what is actually happened and we’ll continue down that path.
KILMEADE: Ranking member Doug Collins in the judiciary committee joins us out of Georgia but in Washington. Congressman, I understand Jerry Nadler called up Attorney General Barr last week and he said he had a substantial conversation about the Mueller report. I assume that won’t be on the four pages, I assume that you are entitled to that same conversation. Did you go for that?
COLLINS: Yes, we’ve had the conversation with Attorney General Barr and I think what the conversation with Mr. Nadler and what we’ve seen in this and my conversation is with Bill Barr is he just explains what we’re going to do and how he’s going to do it and why he’s going to do it. It’s amazing to me that Chairman Nadler is so desperate to find something. I mean four or five weeks ago he sent out 81 letters on a giant fishing expedition, the stuff that has come back in out of that is mainly stuff that had all ready been turned over to other committees or to the Mueller investigation. There’s nothing new here, they’re finding nothing. It’s just a basically a fishing expedition to no where, they now have nothing in the Mueller report. They’re just desperate so now they’ve changed their argument on many times on what they want to see, again it is sort of sad, I made the comment a few – a couple weeks ago that this is like someone who’s lost their first love and they don’t know what to do to move on…
KILMEADE: On another…
COLLINS: …and it’s just sad.
KILMEADE: On another note, is there anything that my listeners can look forward to hearing from Democrats or Republicans on the border? Are you guys working on anything behind closed doors to address these issues?
COLLINS: I am trying my best Brian, I head your comments earlier, I couldn’t agree with you more. This is – I mean this is an existential crisis this one, when you have Jeh Johnson who I disagree with on almost everything from a polical standpoint saying that we’ve got a crisis. When you have the, you know, main stream media now picking it up that there’s a crisis…
KILMEADE: Yes.
COLLINS: When we heard the testimony yesterday we’re working – I have a bill all ready that does those three loop holes. I’m willing to sit down with anybody on this Hill to move that and try to tie together to the President so we can do what’s right for the country.
KILMEADE: Congressman Doug Collins, thanks so much.
