Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee – Congressman Doug Collins (R-GA) – spoke with Brian Kilmeade about President Trump saying his campaign would accept information from a foreign country and saying that congress would do the same. Collins said if it was done for us, we would not accept the information and report it to the FBI. Collins also spoke about Donald Trump Jr.’s interview behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence Committee, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and democrats not working to pass legislation to address the border crisis and the chances of Republicans taking back the House in 2020.
Watch here:
BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX RADIO HOST: That is President Trump talking to George Stephanopoulos yesterday. Congressman Doug Collings joins us right now. Donald Trump, Jr. spoke (ph) for hours. He came out and seemed pretty confident, he doesn’t have to go back again.
Congressman, I know you have to run to a vote any minute. So we’ll stay as long as we can, OK?
REP. DOUG COLLINS (R-GA): OK. Sounds good, Brian.
KILMEADE: OK. Congressman, first off, how did Don Jr., what do you hear? What do you think he —
COLLINS: I think — I think it went well. I mean, I think, you know, from everything we can see, I mean, he came in, he — I mean, he stuck with his — his testimony, he went forward (ph) with it, he came back confidently. And I think that’s the way you handle these things is when you’re confident in what you’ve done, if you have nothing to hide, you come back and you do it. He stood tall, and I think that was a good thing yesterday.
KILMEADE: So yet today, there’s a big story on the investigation of the investigators, that the — that Durham is speaking to two CIA agents who are currently still at the CIA. What could you tell us?
COLLINS: Oh, just what I’ve heard there. And I think — but it goes back to what we’ve heard before and what we — you and I have actually talked about it, is it’s time that we saw a serious investigation of the Department of Justice.
And that’s exactly what we’re getting with Durham and Bill Barr, is put him out there to say, “Let’s just find out how this all happened. Let’s find out what’s caused this, you know, nation, about two years now of turmoil.” And basically, what has now turned into just harassment of the administration because (ph) they don’t lie. Is there something that we’ve seen.
So I think it’s an interesting point of view, is something that, of course, the Democrats don’t want to talk about because it ruins their narrative. And but I think for those up there who are determined that they can use governmental positions to possibly try to obstruct a political campaign or to exert (ph) political will, I think it is something for them to actually wake up to and something maybe they’ll get to the bottom of, looking forward to hearing what they say.
KILMEADE: So the president said he’d be open if another country came to him with intelligence on his opponent, whoever that might be in the future. So obviously, that’s a violation of the law. But here’s what Lindsey Graham said about it. I want to see what Congressman Collins thinks.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Yeah, I think it’s a mistake. I think — I think it’s a mistake of law. I don’t want to send a signal to encourage this. And I hope my Democrat colleagues will be equally offended by the fact that this actually did happen in 2016, where a foreign agent was paid for by a political party to gather opposition research. All those things are wrong.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
KILMEADE: Where do you stand?
COLLINS: Yes. I think, look, this is one of the times I agree with Senator Graham. I mean, I think this is something, you know, if it was done (ph) for us, we would not accept. And, of course, not — we would report it to the FBI.
But I think what a (ph) — the faux outrage of the media here and especially the Democrats, it’s just, you know, the hypocrisy is almost deafening. When you look at this, I mean, we’re looking at a whole two-year process it was, again, (inaudible) for and paid for, for an opposition research they’re paying foreign help to try and take down then-candidate Donald Trump, and then has bled into trying to disable his first two years of presidency.
So, I mean, look, Senator Graham and I are in agreement on that. And I think the interesting issue is, is — for me, is I’m tired of the hypocritical left who have been adamant (ph) about getting at this president because they cannot stand what’s happening in our country.
They — you know, somebody (ph) said (ph) they can’t seem to stand prosperity. They can’t seem to stand an economy working or the things going on in our foreign policy, our trade. But yet they want to keep going back to something that started with, you know, taking on American citizens (ph) and using a false (ph) dossier to do it.
KILMEADE: So Nancy Pelosi, we just played the cut. I won’t bore you with it. But she just said that she believes they could get humanitarian aid to the Border Patrol to be able to get it to the people who are flooding (ph) our border.
But yesterday, it all fell apart. She says it’s (ph) also going to add a supplemental to it. So what is the deal? Why can’t the House pass humanitarian aid?
COLLINS: Because they want it to — because really, what they don’t want is — let’s (ph) be (ph) very (ph) frank about what Ms. Pelosi wants. She doesn’t want a border that works. She doesn’t want ICE agents to be able to do their jobs.
But she’s also not — does not have the political will or courage to actually step forward and say, “You know, I don’t like the rules that says that there is a reason that we have immigration laws and that they are actually enforced.” She would rather undercut the brave men and women of our ICE and our Border Patrol. She would rather undercut them with money that is handicapping what they can do and simply allowing and giving more encouragement to people to cross our border. That’s the problem we have here.
They won’t admit that they rather prefer open borders than to actually a border that is actually controlled, or one that actually gives, you know, a basic proper way of legal immigration. It’s just so bad (ph). And to see her spinning it like that, just for me, just doesn’t show a lot of political courage.
KILMEADE: Well, what she said is something’s got to get passed before the end of the month. But what Darrell Issa just told me was — former chairman of Oversight — is look out for the supplemental. They’re going to add a supplemental onto the humanitarian aid. And it’s going to be something that’s not palatable to Republicans.
COLLINS: Oh. Well, look. Part of the — well, she’s going to tackle on (ph) that supplemental, is not what the — don’t be fooled to think that the supplemental she’s talking about — not the actual but the original — is going to be — is actually what the administration wants.
They’re going to change it. They’re going to add in the things that they want. They’re going to limit, probably, still not — expand the dead space. They’re going to do things that, frankly, are not going to be the helpfulest (ph) thing at the border.
This is simply another political game that they continue to play. And they’re doing so at the expense of the American people. They’re doing so at the expense of the Border Patrol. And they just — the folks and the ICE agents who are out there are only doing what they’re told to do, and that is actually uphold our law.
When did the Democratic Party become the party of anti-law when it comes to immigration? I guess when it’s politically expedient and you like using the political immigrants as pawns.
KILMEADE: I guess. But it’s just a crisis that we can’t wait a year and a half to solve, until you have a new Congress —
COLLINS: I agree.
KILMEADE: Congressman Collins —
COLLINS: I agree with you.
KILMEADE: — last question. I know you have to run to vote. But you know, there’s been speculation — I was talking to Matt (ph) Schlapp (ph) yesterday. He thinks that the Mueller report really hurt you guys in the midterms more than anybody knows.
And I did talk to Brad Parscale who said, after the Mueller report came out, Democrats began coming back in his polling — Brad Parscale controls the re-election committee for the president —
COLLINS: Right.
KILMEADE: — he’s a digital genius. And he now — Matt now thinks that you have a chance of taking back the House. Others say no. Is there an effort, an organized effort to line up candidates to try to get back those 40 seats?
COLLINS: Yes. There is. And we’re working hard on that. I’m working with our counterparts that — what — our National Republican Congressional Committee, we’re looking for good candidates in these places. We’re already starting — I’ve already started talking to the folks across the country, getting a message out that is factual, is compassionate, is the thing that Conservatives run on.
And that’s why we’re here, to continue this economic boom. If we do the right messaging, we connect with the people and they understand that basically the Democrats have no agenda except a more radical socialist government-controlled agenda.
Then yes, I believe we can take the House back. I believe we can keep the president for four more years. And we get back to doing what we’re supposed to be doing for this country, protecting it and also making it stronger at the same time.
KILMEADE: We — what’s up next?
COLLINS: Next up is just continue to fight with my chairman, who’s obsessed with impeachment now. He’s trying to bring in Hope Hicks, he’s trying to bring in — you know, for her, for a transcribed interview.
KILMEADE: She’s come in, right?
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: — nothing (ph) — she is. Next week. And so — so, again, we’ve got to — across (ph) this board, Jerry Nadler’s the chairman of the committee that handles the immigration. And yet he is negligent at his job, at actually trying to find a solution.
We got the Flores (ph) states, we got the asylum states, we got the Trafficking Victims Act. These are things that actually will cut down and not have to have the supplemental monies because it will cut down the flow of those coming in because they know they can’t stay.
We just — I just got a statistic, here’s something new for you. Just got this statistic that says ten thousands of families coming in, 87 percent are not showing back up for their hearings. Eighty-seven percent is not showing back up. And of those who actually do show up, I think it’s less than 30 — somewhere around less than 30 percent or so is — that are actually being able to stay on asylum grounds.
It’s not even — and this is just a family. And so it’s less than that. This is just ridiculous, as we look forward to what’s happening. And my chairman has, unfortunately, decided to put (ph) (inaudible).
KILMEADE: Yeah. I mean, what you’re going to bring back Hope Hicks, find out about the president’s mindset. They’re just trying to put a video component to the Mueller report.
COLLINS: That’s all they’re trying to do. I mean, look, they sat in a room and read the Mueller report, nobody cared. So last week — first this week, they decided to read the Mueller report. And several of them did great dramatic readings. They may have a career in audiobooks later on, after they ever get out of Congress because that’s what they did.
And, again, people are getting wise to this. They saw that nothing happened. There’s no collusion. There’s no charge of obstruction. And they simply see this is an attack on an administration. And I think that’s beginning to come through.
KILMEADE: Congressman Doug Collins, the only man that talks faster than me. Thanks so much.
COLLINS: All right. Take care, buddy.
KILMEADE: All right.
