2020 MAY 17 Trump; Unmasking Of Flynn Is Greatest Political Scam In History Of Our Country

Transcript: Sunday Morning Futures Headlines: Trump: Unmasking of Flynn is greatest political scam in history of our country^[1]This is a rush transcript from “Sunday Morning Futures,” May 17, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. URL: … Continue reading

Maria Bartiromo, Fox News Anchor: Sunday morning, everyone. Thanks so much for joining us. I’m Maria Bartiromo.

Joining me straight ahead on “Sunday Morning Futures,” just one week after bombshell revelations in the General Michael Flynn case, a new list emerges of more than a dozen top Obama officials allegedly involved in unmasking the three-star general during the 2017 presidential transition.

James Comey, John Brennan, and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden all named.

I had an exclusive sit-down with President Trump on Wednesday, just moments after that news broke. His reaction straight ahead, as well as why he says he is no longer interested in negotiating with communist China.

Plus, House Democrats passing the largest bill in the history of Congress just before midnight Friday night, without a single committee hearing. Senator John Kennedy and Congressman Doug Collins are here telling us why the $3 trillion stimulus will be dead on arrival in the Senate and how they intend to hold China accountable for getting us here.

Also here this morning, Mayor Bill de Blasio on what it takes to reopen New York City and his response to the president’s comments on stimulus.

Plus, NASCAR is back today live. FOX NASCAR analyst and four-time NASCAR Cup champion Jeff Gordon on what it means for the economy and the country.

All that and a lot more right here, right now, as we look ahead on “Sunday Morning Futures.”

And first this morning, breaking news out of the intelligence community this morning.

Acting DNI Richard Grenell announcing on Friday that his office will strip the FBI of its duties briefing the 2020 presidential candidates. That follows accusations of political bias in the 2016 election.

Former FBI Director James Comey infamously briefed president-elect Donald Trump on January 6, 2017, just one day after he met with President Obama and other top officials in the Oval Office.

I sat down with President Trump himself to discuss what happened in the weeks leading up to his inauguration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was the greatest political crime in the history of our country.

If I were a Democrat, instead of a Republican, I think everybody would have been in jail a long time ago. And I’m talking with 50-year sentences.

It is a disgrace, what’s happened. This is the greatest political scam, hoax in the history of our country.

BARTIROMO: Well, it is the biggest political scandal we have ever seen.

TRUMP: And people should be going to jail for this stuff.

And, hopefully, a lot of people are going to have to pay. No other president should have to go through — and I will tell you, General Flynn and others are heroes, heroes, because what’s happened to them, they went after General Flynn.

They wanted him to lie about me, make up a story. And with few exceptions, nobody did that. There were many people. I watched K.T. McFarland the other day. I watched where she was, knock, knock, FBI, you know, the FBI, OK?

This was all Obama. This was all Biden. These people were corrupt. The whole thing was corrupt. And we caught them. We caught them.

BARTIROMO: You — but I saw you…

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: And what you saw just now?

I watched Biden yesterday. He could barely speak. He was on “Good Morning America,” right? And he said he didn’t know anything about it.

And now it just gets released. Right after he said that, it gets released that he was one of the unmaskers, meaning he knew everything about it. So, he lied to your friend George Stephanopoulos.

What kind of…

(CROSSTALK)

BARTIROMO: Explain to our audience what this means, because, I mean, this is a serious thing. They are tracking phone calls. They were tracking a phone call of, I guess, Kislyak. And you’re not supposed to…  TRUMP: I will tell you what it means. It’s very simple.  BARTIROMO: Yes. I mean…

TRUMP: So, even before I got elected, you remember the famous — the two lovers, right, Strzok and Page, the insurance policy. She’s going to win, but, just in case she doesn’t, we have an insurance policy.  That means that, if I won, they’re going to try and take me out. That’s all it means. It’s very simple. It’s an insurance policy.

So, she’s going to win, isn’t she, darling? Isn’t she going to win?

And you remember, very famous.

BARTIROMO: I do.

TRUMP: That was a real — getting that whole thing, that whole series of – – of texts.  BARTIROMO: We covered it. We seek out the truth, Mr. President, on my show.  TRUMP: You have been unbelievable, but most shows haven’t.

BARTIROMO: The FBI said that they started the Crossfire Hurricane in July of 2016.

But we know that there were informants running into your campaign associates as early as January, February of 2016.  They would be Stefan Halper, Joseph Mifsud, Alexander Downer.

Who organizes that? Would that come out of the CIA? I know that Stefan Halper made $1 million. I don’t know what he was paid that $1 million for, but I…  TRUMP: So, look — look, they got paid a fortune. These guys got paid…

BARTIROMO: Just for — for running into your campaign?

TRUMP: … government money. Think of it, government money.

They were interviewed. And I never — I don’t know Papadopoulos. I never met — even Carter Page, I never met this man.

But they went after Carter Page because they thought he was a person in the campaign. I think he was on a committee. But I never met him.  But they went after these people viciously, all because they wanted to hurt the president of the United States. They figure they’ll either hurt him, or they’ll take him out. That would be the ideal.

Comey is a corrupt person, but let me tell you, Brennan bad. They’re all bad, everyone. Clapper is a not-smart guy, in charge of intelligence.  But here’s the thing. It was impossible for it to happen without the man that sits right in that chair in the Oval Office. He knew everything.  BARTIROMO: Do you believe President Obama directed the U.S. intelligence agencies to spy on you?  TRUMP: Yes, he probably directed them. But if he didn’t direct them, he knew everything.  And you will see that.  BARTIROMO: Once they couldn’t find collusion evidence…  TRUMP: By the way — excuse me. You’re going to see that when the papers come out.  Remember the Lisa Page text to her lover saying, POTUS wants to see everything? POTUS. They’re not talking about me. I wasn’t president. They’re talking about POTUS wants to see everything.  BARTIROMO: Well, there was a meeting on January 5 in the Oval Office. President Obama was there. Vice President Biden was there, Clapper, Brennan. And that’s when the Logan Act came up.  So, should we believe that they were looking for collusion evidence? They couldn’t find the collusion evidence. There was none. So, they said, let’s just use the Logan Act to take you down?  TRUMP: First of all, they snuck around White House counsel. They went to see a very unsuspecting General Flynn.

You know, he’s a general. He’s not a lawyer. They said, you don’t need a lawyer. And they started asking him questions. And they probably brought up the Logan Act. And they probably scared the hell out of him.  But let me tell you a little secret. They go knock, knocking. Ask K.T. McFarland the way they knocked on the door, and many other people with Mueller. That whole thing turned out to be a total fraud. The whole Mueller investigation is a fraud. It was all part of the same deal.  But they — what they did to General Flynn and others — you know, we know about General Flynn. You’ll find out about others too. What they did to these people is an international disgrace. And all over the world, they talk about it, because this is not America.  And, hopefully, the people involved are going to pay a big price, because it should never be allowed to happen again.  BARTIROMO: Trey Gowdy on my show this weekend said that leaking classified information is a 10-year felony.  TRUMP: Yes.  BARTIROMO: We know that some of those people did that.  TRUMP: Well, Comey did, and other people did too.  BARTIROMO: How involved was John Brennan?  TRUMP: Totally involved. He was totally involved. John Brennan was one of the architects, in my opinion.  You look at Brennan, you look at Clapper, you look at them all. But, ultimately, the president knew everything. The president knew everything. President Obama and Vice President Biden, they knew everything.  BARTIROMO: So, what can you do about it?  TRUMP: And, again, if…  BARTIROMO: What can you do about it, that…  TRUMP: Let me just tell you, if I were in that position, it’d be a whole different thing.

If this happened to Obama, instead of to a Republican president, that’s popular, 96 percent in the Republican Party, but it’s a whole different thing.  If this happened to Obama, instead of to me, you know what? Everybody would be in jail for years already, for years. It’s a disgraceful thing.  But it’s — it’s — we caught them in the act, Maria. It’s a beautiful thing. And, every day, we’re seeing more and more information come out. We caught them. And their guys are gone. They were guarding the fort. Comey and all these guys, they were guarding the fort.  And once they left, it got easier and easier. And now it’s like an avalanche of really bad — call it treason, call it whatever you want, but they tried to take down a duly elected president of the United States. 

BARTIROMO: They didn’t care that 53 million voted for you and wanted you in the office.  TRUMP: More than 63 million. Just so you understand that they got caught in the act. They never thought that was going to happen.  And they got sloppy, where Lisa Page would text and send messages through service. You know one of the other things that is missing? The DNC server. Where is it?

Why is it that the FBI didn’t take it? They arrested all of these people, but they didn’t arrest — they went in to see the people at DNC, right? They go in to see, you know, her wonderful campaign manager. You know all about that, right?  They went into see those people, whose brother, by the way, was supposed to be arrested. And the brother never got arrested, right?  BARTIROMO: Well, the same people who were working on…  TRUMP: But why didn’t — why…  BARTIROMO: … the investigation into the Trump campaign, they were also working on the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s e-mails.  TRUMP: Yes, oh, yes, except slightly different level of intensity, OK? How about where they walk…  BARTIROMO: But they wanted that over by the middle of the year. They called it the mid-year review.  TRUMP: How about they walk into see Hillary Clinton’s people, five people, I think, and they said, you all have immunity, you all have — no problem, you all have immunity?  And, with our people, they wanted to try to put them in jail. And in some cases, they did. And those people are going to go down as heroes.

BARTIROMO: I think Carter Page is going to sue. And I wouldn’t be surprised…  TRUMP: Well, I hope he sues.  BARTIROMO: … if General Flynn sues.  TRUMP: General Flynn’s going to have a heck of a case.

But he’s got a judge that I guess doesn’t like him very much. But maybe the judge doesn’t like me very much, OK? Maybe the judge doesn’t like me very much.  I will tell you what. I’ve read legal scholars. They can’t even believe what the judge is doing to him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Original Source: Date-stamped: 2020 MAY 17 | Time-stamped: 9:00 | Author: Maria Bartiromo | Article Title: TRANSCRIPT: Trump; Unmasking of Flynn Is Greatest Political Scam In History Of Our Country  | Article Link: foxnews.com