thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. states. that does it for us on "after the bell." ♪ ♪ lou: good evening, everybody. president trump taking questions this hour in the white house rose garden after he updated reports about his administration's efforts to test more americans for the wuhan virus. in his update the task force focusing on how the united states does lead the world on testing. about 300,000 tests each day. the president also sending billions of dollars and millions of tests and personal protective equipment to get states to reopen. white house task force testing czar admiral breath guroir says the country is doing can enough

testing to test phase one for reopening. we'll have more on that, here now the president in the rose garden taking media questions. >> -- social distancing, yet we're still seeing about 20,000 new cases a day, 1-2,000 deaths. is there anything else the administration is planning to do to get these new cases under control? because we seem to be on a plateau. >> well, excuse me, 20,000 -- the numbers are way down from what they were two weeks ago. i mean, the numbers are really coming down and very substantially. this weekend was one of the lowest we've had. this is, you know, the numbers are coming down very rapidly all throughout the country, by the way. there may be one exception, but all throughout the country the numbers are coming down rapidity. i think you see that, admiral. >> [inaudible] 130,000 cases that go through august. is that, do you agree with those models? is that your expectation? >> well, the models haven't been

exactly accurate. you look at some of the models, they've been way off. a few of the models have been accurate, but as far as the models are concerned if you go by the model, we were going to lose 2.2 million people. and because we talk, we mitigated, we did things that were very tough on our country to do, frankly. we had to turn off our whole magnificent economy. we had to turn down the whole country. we're at the lowest of all of the models. i mean, if you look at i guess 120, 100-120,000 the people would be at the low side, and we're at -- there's nothing low. look, nothing low. one is too many people. and i say it all the time, one person to lose to this is too many people. if -- it's a disgrace, what happened. but if you look at the models, we're at a low, at the lowest of those projections. but the models are not models done necessarily by the white

house. they're models done by many people all over the world. and if you take the most respected of those people, many of those models have been wrong. they've been wrong as far as the u.s. is concerned because those numbers are nowhere near what was projected potentially. >> do you have an expectation of what the death toll is going to look like by the summer? >> you know what? i don't want to think about it even. i know that we're doing everything we can. we're doing a good job. we acted very early. we acted extremely early in keeping china out of our country and banning people from china coming in other than our citizens which we, obviously, had to take in. they were quarantined or watched carefully. they were tested, they were watched very carefully. but we had about 40,000 people coming in from china, from asia, and we had to, obviously, take the people -- can you imagine? you're a u.s. citizen and we're not going to take you, that doesn't work. but they were very carefully, i was with ron desantis, he said they literally put the people that came in from china for

quarantine for a substantial period of time. no, that was a big decision. i think we saved hundreds of thousands of lives by acting very early. and when i did this, i think the admiral can say it, everybody was against my doing it. everybody. everybody was. the professionals, the doctors. i was pretty much by myself on that one. and it was a lucky thing we did it because we saved hundreds of thousands of lives. yeah, please. go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president. earlier today the vice president urged governors to have all their nursing home residents tested. why not just mandate that? why not require that? have you considered that? >> well, i would certainly consider that. i will mandate it if you'd like. i think it's important to do, and i think, frankly, some of the governors were very lax with respect to nursing homes. it was obvious right from the beginning, the state of washington where 26 or 28 people died very early on, and i would

have said nursing homes -- and i did say nursing homes, that's what they should. now, some of the states, many of the states are doing that, but i think all of the states should be -- they have the capacity to do it, they should be doing nursing homes. that is a real vulnerability. >> [inaudible] the two staffers that were announced last week as testing positive, are you aware of any additional white house staff -- >> no, not at all. >> thank you. >> i'm only aware of people that saw them were tested. the tests were negative, and they're quarantining anyway. so please, go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president. i wanted to ask, are you now or are you considering separating some more with vice president pence as a precautionary measure? >> well, first of all, the job he's done on task force, the job he's done, frankly, as the vice president of the united states has been outstanding. and he's a warrior too just like

doctors and nurses. i mean, he is working so hard, and he's coming into contact with a lot of people. but again, he tested negative. so we have to understand that. but he comes into contact with a lot of people. it's something probably during this quarantine period we'll probably talk -- i have not seen him since then. but i would say that he will, he and i will be talking about that, yeah. we can talk on the phone. >> for the admiral, if i could, the president just said that dr. fauci, dr. h a ahn -- hahn have tested negative. then why do they need to be isolated? is there some concern that they could be spreading the virus in some way? is there concern about the testing? why to they need to isolate? >> so this is a very fundamental concept, and i'm so happy you brought that up, because it underlies a lot of the questions here. if you test negative just at that one point, that just means you've tested negative for that point in time. we though the that the

incubation period for this virus can be many days. so the cdc guidelines really says that if you're in close contact, just testing negative on that one day doesn't mean you won't be positive later on. so the prudent and the recommended thing to do is to self-isolate yourself for the entire period of incubation and really then some. so that's what they're doing. it's a precautionary matter because they were negative. we all hope that they remain negative, but if they turn positive in a day or two or became symptom mat you can, that's still -- symptomatic, that's still possible even with a negative case. okay? >> go ahead, phil. >> mr. president, in one of your mother's day tweets you appeared to accuse president obama of the biggest political crime in american history by far. those were your words. what crime exactly are you accusing president obama of committing, and do you believe the justice department should prosecute him? >> obamagate. it's been going on for a long time. it's been going on from before i

even got elected, and it's a disgrace that it happened. and if you look at what's gone on and if you look at now all of this information that's being released and from what i understand that's only the beginning. some terrible things happened, and it should never be allowed to happen in our country again. and you'll be seeing what's going on over the next, over the coming weeks. and i wish you'd write honestly about it but, unfortunately, you choose not to do so. john, please finish. >> what is the crime exactly that you're accusing him of? >> you know what the crime is. the crime is obvious to everybody, all you have to do is read the newspapers. except yours. yeah, please. >> mr. president, if i could get a clarification on the testing. we've seen, clearly, the numbers of tests have gone up. there's been some advancements in testing. but you said twice here today that every american who wants a test can get a test. >> yes. >> that's not the case. 1.9 million tests per day is far short -- >> well, i'll have the admiral if, but just from listening and hearing like you do, we all do,

not everybody should get a test because they have to have certain things, and they're going to know when they're not feeling right. those are the people that will be getting the test. admiral, i'll let you take it from there, please. >> so everybody who needs a test can get a test. we have plenty of tests for that -- >> [inaudible] >> right now in america anybody who needs a test can get a test in america with the numbers we have. if you are symptomatic with a respiratory illness, that is an indication for a test, and you can get a test. if you need to be contact traced, you can get a test. and we hope -- not hope, we are starting to have asymptomatic surveillance which is very important. again, that's over 3 million tests per week. that is sufficient for everyone who needs a test, symptomatic, contact tracing and to our best projections the asymptomatic kind of surveillance we need to get that. and that's the way it isment and

and -- that's the way it is. i work at hhs, i work there every day. i don't get tested every day. i get monitored for my symptoms. do i have any symptoms. i wear a mask when i go in. that's a safe work environment for the environment we have. if i became symptomatic, i would get a test, and if it were positive, i would isolate, and there'd be contact tracing to stop that just the way it was done here. if i'm not symptomatic, i do the precautions as everyone has recommended in phase one, and that's the essence of safely opening america. >> and, john, the numbers are coming way down, and they're coming down rapidly, and that's a beautiful thing to see. and that's pretty much universally all across the country. they're coming down very rapidly. very important. please, go ahead. >> admiral, so americans who are going back to work shouldn't expect and shouldn't need, shouldn't want to have the same thing that people coming to work here at the white house have, which is the ability to get tested regularly?

is that what you're saying? >> so let me clarify as well, people who come into close contact with the president get tested on a regular basis, okay? if i were not in close contact with the president specifically, i would not get tested like most people here do not get tested. that's a very specific circumstance. when i work at hhs, i go to hhs, i don't get tested. i do the exact thing that we ask americans to do to monitor your symptoms. if you are symptomatic, self-isolate, get tested. our community-based testing sites, at your hospitals, there are the even at-home testing now that has been authorized. and to cooperate that if you need to be contact traced, be contact traced and cooperate with your local public health. but not everybody who walks in here gets tested every time they do. if you're symptomatic here at hhs, at a meat packing plant, at a school, you need to get tested. >> and the meat packing plants are doing very well, there's great testing around those

plants. we're finding out who add had the problem, they're being quarantined, and the meat packing is moving along very nicely. but they were trouble spots. they were hot zones, or definitely. please. and one thing that is very important though, john, just to finish, we have now -- and nobody says it, they just don't want to write it -- by far more tests than any other country in the world. not even a contest. and the quality of our tests is the best anywhere in the world. that's very important to say. please go ahead. >> to make sure i understand the white house's position, are you saying that right now you feel there's enough testing, adequate testing across the united states, or to you feel it needs to be ramped up, and by how much, if so, does it need to be ramped up? >> we've been, i think we've been clear all along that we believe and the data indicate we have enough testing to do the phase one, gradual reopening that has been supported in the president's plan and the task force's plan. and it has to be a phased

reopening. nobody's saying turn the light switch on and everyone go because then it would be really impossible to control the spread of the virus. you know, there are many, many models out there. the rockefeller foundation published their recommendations of about 3 million tests per week. that's exactly what we're doing. if you look at our agent-base models it's far below that. if you take the stafford center at harvard and correct their misassumptions like on the sensitivity of the test, the mitigation process in how many people get hospitalized, you get about that number. now, i am not going to come here and say we can absolutely swear it's god's truth this is the number we need, but we know we have enough to open, and we're going to be very areaful with our iri net and with the data coming in to inform us even further as we grow and learn. >> let me add a little bit to that, because most days i don't come to the white house, i go to fema or hhs.

and let me talk you through the protocols there because i would never get tested if i wasn't going to the white house. we have our temperatures taken and get asked questions with about having symptoms. there's hand sanitizer all over the place in rooms that are made for conference rooms, they put pieces of paper that say don't sit in, essentially, every other or every third seat to separate people. there's a lot of precautions that we're taking in the federal government that are separate from testing, and those are the precautions that the admiral and i are working at to let us continue working. >> if people want to get tested, they get tested. we have the greatest capacity in the world, not even close. if people want to get tested, they get tested. but for the most part, they shouldn't want to get tested. there's no reason. they feel good, they don't have symptoms, they don't have sore throats, they don't have any problem. if they do feel there's something happening, they have the absolute -- easy. in fact, ron desantis of florida, the governor doing a fantastic job in florida, he

said he's got a little bit of the opposite problem. he's got so much testing that people sit around and wait for people to come in. they have far, a great overcapacity for testing, and there are numerous other states that have told me the same thing. that's, by the way, a good problem not a bad problem, okay? yeah, go ahead, please. >> you've said many times that the u.s. is doing far better than any other country when it comes to testing. >> yes. >> why does that matter? why is this a global competition to you if every day americans are still losing their lives and we're still seeing more cases every day? >> well, they're losing their lives everywhere in the world. and maybe that's a question you should ask china. don't ask me, ask china that question, okay? when you ask them that question, you may get a very unusual answer. yes. behind you, please. >> sir, why are you saying that to me specifically? >> i told you, i'm not saying it specifically to anybody. i'm saying it to anybody who'd

ask a nasty question like that -- >> it's not a nasty -- >> please go ahead. >> why does it matter? >> okay. anybody else? please, go ahead in the back -- >> i had two questions -- >> that no, that's okay -- >> i have two questions. you called on me -- >> i did. you didn't respond, and now i'm calling on the -- >> i just want to -- >> ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. appreciate it. thank you very much. lou: a contentious end to the media questioning of the president today after the report on the wuhan virus, the contagion and the steps that the administration has a taken. and as the president suggested to one of the reporters, perhaps china is the best country to ask about the contagion and why so many people are dying and the importance of testing and all

that is going into the administration's response to this what is the worst crisis to face this nation since world war ii. and as to china's responsibility for the origin of the wuhan virus, for the contagion that they kept secret and the deadly, deadly dimensions of the contagion. a new report from german intelligence giving us some new chews, claiming that chinese president xi jinping pressured the world health organization to withhold a warning about human human-to-human transmission of the wuhan views. german intelligence also report hi found that on january 21st xi asking w.h.o.'s director to delay a w.h.o. warning of a worldwide pandemic. a pandemic was finally declared on march 11th.

german intelligence estimates that 4-6 weeks were lost in the fight against the virus because of china's deceit and cover-up. and i do want point to point out that this broadcast, in point of fact, declared a pandemic two weeks before the world health organization. and, by the way, the cdc delayed by two weeks just like the w.h.o. in acknowledging that the global spread of the virus was, indeed, a pandemic. the fbi and the dhs also attacking china's lies and deceptions about the wuhan virus' origin and contagion. the two agencies are planning to issue a report in which they find china guilty of stealing u.s. intellectual property and public health data related to vaccines, treatments and testing. according to "the wall street journal." the report has yet to be finalized. its release date remains uncertain. president trump today addressed

the reports just moments ago in the rose garden. >> what else is new with china? what else is new, tell me. i'm not happy with china. they should have stopped this at the source. they could have stopped it right at the source. so now you're telling me they're hacking. so so i just say this, steve, what else is new? we're watching it very closely. lou: with u.s. attorney john durham now working to expose those who orchestrated the plot to undermine the trump presidency and general michael flynn now in the clear after being framed by the fbi and the justice department. former president obama's leaked audio to yahoo! reporter michael isikoff. that leaked audio coming into question in a devastating response to that, that audio constitutional law professor jonathan turley said this of

obama's lecture: president obama is being quoted on flynn saying there is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury getting off scot-free. first and foremost, says jonathan turley, flynn was not charged with perjury as the president claimed. second, we now know obama discussed charging flynn under the logan act which has never been used successfully to convict anyone and is flagrantly unconstitutional. third professor turley goes on to say this reaffirms reports that president obama was personally invested in this effort. turley says, quote: finally, there is precedent contradicting the president outright. there is a specific rule allowing for this motion under federal rule of criminal procedure 48a.

there are specific supreme court cases like grimaldi v. united states addressing the standard for such dismissals. the justice department has dismissed cases in the past including the stevens case. that was requested by president obama's own attorney general eric holder for the same reason. misconduct by prosecutors. it was done before the same judge, judge emmett sullivan. how is that for precedent? asks professor jonathan turley. the effort president obama was invested in as professor turley put it, they were well underway when the former president met with then president-elect trump at the white house in november of 2016. just listen to what then-president obama had to say to mr. trump's face while he secretly is trying to carve him

to pieces with a conspiracy to overthrow his presidency. >> i want to emphasize to you, mr. president-elect, that we now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed because if you succeed, then the country succeeds. lou: more damaging documents that further expose the former president are expected to be are released sometime this week. former congressman trey gowdy says republicans shouldn't worry about obama's actions. >> for sure he knew about it. but i would caution republicans you've got comey, brennan, clapper, mccabe, strzok. if that's not enough for the executive branch to be embarrassed, i mean, it doesn't is have to go all the way up to president. those are some pretty senior-level folks that we trust

ed. lou: well, no one trusts mr. gowdy anymore. it is that level of duplicity from mr. gowdy as he seeks to avert his eyes from the uppermost regions of the white house that provoked this reaction from congressman matt gaetz friday evening. >> i'm glad you went through trey gowdy's exquisite questions in 2017 to these corrupt officials. i guess my question, sean, would be why was it then in late may of 2018 that trey gowdy went on martha maccallum's show and said the fbi did exactly what all of our fellow americans would have wanted them to do and it had nothing a to do with donald trump? both of those things have been proven to be not true, and it seems gowdy's brilliant lawyering back in 2017 that we're only able to see now proves those two statements untrue. the number one question i get asked is why no one has gone to jail and been held accountable unfortunately, when new yes,

sir, meadows trey gowdy wouldn't give us that subpoena power. when we had control we could have -- >> made a mistake. >> we didn't send out a single subpoena, not one, and that's a failure of our republican leadership. lou: that leadership he's referring to, trey gowdy, and then-speaker paul ryan. congressman gaetz rightfully called out gowdy i and ryan for their failure to hold anyone accountable and no radical dems either. joining us tonight is tom fitton, the president of judicial watch. tom and his organization are working diligently, vigorously to try to get to the truth of all of this. and, tom, i want to say, first of all, thank you for being here. president obama, let's start with him. the former president saying that the rule of law is in jeopardy here, and there was just so much compelling irony about that

remark, i don't think most americans could stand it. your reaction. finish. >> well, we have new information from sally yates who was interviewed by no one other than but the robert mueller operation that obama was involved in the targeting of flynn in that infamous oval office meeting. and we also have information that he specifically told president trump watch out for flynn. and, of course, he and his people were spying on flynn during the campaign, obviously targeting trump as well. not telling trump about their concerns about flynn. obviously to try to undermine him once he became president later on after the election. then he comes out and specifically attacks general flynn. how is that more -- how is that not more evidence that obama had skin in this game and was directing the targeting of flynn? yates says in retrospect after that meeting with obama and the later machinations of comey and using the logan act to ambush flynn with this illicit

interview she put two and two together. that's what obama was talking about. so at that meeting you had obama talking about the dossier and talking about flynn. the next day comey ambushes trump with the dossier. a few weeks later they ambush flynn. i don't know what more evidence you need than to put obama at the head of the conspiracy. the obamagate conspiracy to target president trump. and, you know, he had, obviously, gowdy's right in the sense that to you had willing accomplices like comey, brennan, mccake and company, but they were put this by obama and directed by obama. remember, obama put together that intelligence community assessment that fraudulently smeared trump as being a tool of putin. that was an all hands on deck whistle call by obama. obama was front and center here. he should be questioned, hillary clinton should should be questi, everyone in that to oval office

meeting should be questioned which would include joe biden. i don't know what durham is doing, but out doesn't seem to me like he's even focused on the people gowdy thinks he ought to be focused on. i'm not seeing any indications that these folks care one wit about what durham's doing. lou: the call by gowdy to ignore the former president's responsibility for putting in motion and if not putting in motion directly, it is it is a t sitly at the very least approving spying on a presidential candidate, then a president-elect and then a president is is unprecedented, it is outrageous, and we know that the whole thing was not only the conspiracy to overthrow the president, but it was a web of deseat and lies -- deceit and lies that were the basis for the special counsel and all of the nonsense that the radical dems, the deep state and, yes, the obama administration put in motion. >> you know, matt gaetz is

right. we had zero support when we were talking about mueller. frankly, we were almost all alone in highlighting the corruption of mueller. and the republican leadership was out there protecting him and highlighting how ethical he was. he was as dirty a cop as -- lou: oh, he still is. gowdy still is. >> yeah. lou: gowdy is basically -- it's inexplicable. i'll leave are it at that. tom fitton, thanks for explaining so much, as always, we appreciate it. and we're sorry for the abrogated time period we've got here, but thanks and look forward to talking with you soon. thanks so much. tom fitton, head of judicial watch. up next, president trump weighing in on what he calls obamagate. so do we. we take it up with congressman jim jordan and congressman andy biggs right after these quick messages. (music)

♪ find a stock basedtech. on your interests or what's trending. get real-time insights in your customized view of the market. it's smarter trading technology for smarter trading decisions. fidelity.

♪ ♪ >> obamagate. it's been going on for a long

time, from before with i even got elected, and it's a disgrace that it happened. if you look at what's gone on and if you look at now all of this information that's being released -- and from what i understand, that's only the beginning. some terrible things happened, and it should never be allowed to happen in our country again. and you'll be seeing what's going on over the next, over the coming weeks. lou: the president just moments ago talking about obamagate. and joining us tonight to take all of this up, congressman jim jordan. he's the ranking member of the house oversight committee, member of the house judiciary committee. congressman, good to have you with us, as is congressman andy biggs, also a member of the house judiciary committee. good to have you with us. let me start, congressman jordan, with you. spygate, the president now calls it obamagate. do you agree with him? >> heck, yes, lou. remember, three weeks in january of 2017, january 3rd, chuck

schumer says you mess with the intel community, they have six ways from sunday to get back at you. january 4th, peter strzok overrules field agents who said mike flynn did nothing wrong, says comey and mccabe want us to pursue mike flynn. >> january 5th, obama meets with brennan the, clapper, yates, comey the oval office. after that's done, he sits down with comey and talks about mike flynn. january 6th that same group of people in the intel community go up to trump tower and brief president trump. at the end of that meeting, comey does what? sticks around and talks to the president about -- president trump -- about the dossier that he already knew was false, salacious, unverified and russian disinformation. and then, of course, 12 days after that they go set up michael flynn. and in between january 6th when they're trying to trap the president and january 24th when they trap michael flynn, what do they do? they leak information to friendly reporters to further set up this false narrative. those three weeks in january

tell us everything, and the president is exactly right. if it can happen to him, imagine what they can do to you, to andy, to me and more importantly, to any american citizen. that's why this is so darn wrong. lou: and, congressman biggs, because this happened to a president, there should be great, i believe, an insistence about an accounting and justice. and that includes knowing exactly who is responsible for the conspiracy against this president. he obviously believes it is president obama. what do you believe? >> well, i think all the evidence, jim gave you a great timeline, but all the evidence does point to coming right out of the top from president obama on down. this really was a conspiracy to do something that we've not seen in american history, and that was to actually perform a coup. that's really a what this was. i mean, you can't get to it any more succinct hi than that. this was an attempt to undermine

the election of the people. that's a coup. and they were abusing their power, abusing the process, and they were -- yeah, they were using the media. >> -- lou: we'll be back in just a few minutes with congressman jordan and congressman biggs, and we'll take up the issue of the investigation of the investigators and will that, will we have results before this election. stay with us, we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ our members understand social distancing. being prepared and overcoming challenges. usaa has been standing with them for nearly a hundred years. and we'll be here to serve you for a hundred more. ♪

lou: breaking news tonight, two sours tell fox news that u.s. attorneys jeff jensen and timothy shay are now both working with u.s. attorney john durham who's in charge of the investigations into the origins of obamagate. the same source ises add durham is going full throttle with his investigation if looking at everything. everything is a lot. congressman biggs, let me can you this -- met me ask you this, this is, obviously, a conspiracy by thed radical dems, the radicalling deep state and aided and abetted by the national left-wing media. but importantly, chairmen of house committees. amongst those, adam schiff, the

speaker of the house herself because all knew none of those witnesses called by the house intel committee all of the transcripts reveal not one of them said anything about russian collusion on the part of the russian campaign, the organization. it's just insane that they would have proceeded with the special counsel report let alone come up with a, an impeachment kin inquiry -- inquiry. why aren't the republicans going after the people responsible? it is the democratic party of hate, and it is the justice department and the intelligence agencies, the fbi under the obama administration. >> well, lou, first of all, not only did they not say anything about it, they said there was no collusion. that's what the folks were saying. they would go out and leak this to the media, you're right, there was a conspiracy afoot. the republicans, when we had the majority, we didn't get the subpoenas, we didn't get the investigations we immediate. we're now in the minority. so the same people --

lou: wait a minute, wait a minute. let's not just to go by that, congressman. >> yeah. lou: speaker of the house, paul ryan, or trey gowdy in charge of the benghazi committee, one of the most -- head of the overnight committee as well at one point. good lord. now would thety is out try -- gowdy is out trying to dismiss consideration by the republican party of the culpability of pam ma. what in the -- of president obama. what in the world was the leadership of your party thinking? >> i can't -- lou: [inaudible] go ahead. >> yeah, i was just going to say i can't explain why, i know a number of us were asking for subpoenas in the judiciary e and

oversight committees. lou: oh, i know. >> we were not getting help. and who can explain why. it just didn't make sense to me, it still doesn't make sense. we have got to get the during the ham report out. it's long overdue, in my opinion, but there has got to be change in the house leadership from d to r. we need people who will actually prosecute and investigate next time. lou: well, we had rs. that didn't work out too well either, did it? congressman jordan? >> yeah. the good news is, lou, bill barr's doing a great job. but for him putting jeff jensen on the task, we might not get this information. we anxiously await the report. i want to go back to something andy said, he used the term coup. that's not what the fbi called it. they called it the insurance policy, right? they called -- the insurance policy started off stop getting donald trump from getting elected, and then it transformed into stop the american people from knowing what we did. bill barr, jeff jensen, is sidney powell and i have been pushing, and we know everything we've been saying is now true. we were right about the whole a darn thing. lou: and the reality is that a

great deal is riding on this investigation. do you believe that -- by durham and now joined by u.s. attorneys shay and jensen -- do you believe that they will have results before the midterm -- before the presidential election in november? >> i sure hope so, and i hope they're still looking at jim comey, because comey is the common denominator through this whole thing. he's the guy that told us early july 16th hillary clinton did all these wrong things, but we're not going to prosecute. that same month they launched this investigation into president trump with no basis, a bunch of garbage, this crazy russian dossier that they knew was garbage. jim comey's at the heart of every bit of this thing. i hope that's who they're pursuing. rue rue you get the last word, congressman. >> it's time to quit talking about and quit waiting. i think the american people are clamoring for action, and i know that i am.

so i, i'm glad that we've got the team that we've got investigating, but they really need to put the horses in the barn and let's get this thing done. lou: attorney general barr is moving things ahead. i have to admit i worried about a couple of lulls, but it seems that is a bit of the past. it's a time, as you say, for action, and we thank you both. jim jordan and andy biggs, great congressmen, great americans. thank you both. up next, james clapper and james comey and andrew mccabe can't seem to get their obamagate stories straight. we take that up, we'll be talking with former fbi assistant director james kallstrom. stay with us.

staying connected your way is easier than ever. you're just a tap away from personalized support on xfinity.com. get faster internet speeds with a click. order xfi pods to your home in a snap. or change your xfinity services with just a touch. all in one place. you're only seconds away from all of that on xfinity.com. faster than a call. easy as a tap. now that's simple, easy, awesome.

♪ ♪ lou: the federalist sean davis reporting new questions are being asked whether james clapper lied in his hearing before the house intel committee back in july 2017. davis reporting that in clapper's testimony he denied ever briefing president barack obama on those phone calls between general flynn and the russian ambassador kislyak. james comey and andrew mccabe

contradict him. comey testified in march of 2017 clapper did brief obama on the calls. he said this, quote: in the first week of january he, clapper, briefed the president and vice president and then president obama's senior team about what we found and a what we had seen to help them understand why russians were reacting the way they did. in his book mccabe shared comey's recollection on the flynn-kislyak phone calls. he said this: an analyst shared it with me, i shared it with comey, comey shared it with the director of national intelligence, james clapper. clapper verbally briefed it to president obama. wow. joining us now, james kallstrom, former assistant director of the fbi. he served nearly 30 years with the bureau, and, jim, it's great to see you. let's start with who do you believe in that triangle? >> i don't believe any of 'em, they're all full -- [bleep] lou,

we've been talking about this for almost three years, right? along with the members of congress and the few people that have the right story here. just an absolute outrage, what's going on here and continues to go on. now, thank god that we have an attorney general that's, i think and i believe, is going to see this to the right end. you know, we're going to deal with comey, mccabe, strzok, baker, page, brennan, clapper, yates, mueller, assorted doj officials and white house staff. and what do they do? you've got criminal leaks of classified information in violation of the espionage act, conspiracy to obstruct justice, conspiracy to deny civil rights to the president, to carter, to general flynn and all the others. conspiracy to defraud the u.s. fisa court. conspiracy to obstruct congressional proceedings. perjury, false statements. and those are just to name a few, lou, of things that we've

cataloged and we're 99% sure of could bring, you know, a prosecuteable case with these people and probably many, many others. we haven't even touched the base of a lot of other things that we've talked to over the years. lou: yeah, it's, it is a wide, wide canvas of corruption, political corruption at the highest levels of the fbi, the justice department. it per viewedded -- pervaded the top of various intelligence agencies as well, the intelligence community itself. the trekker of national intelligence -- the director of national intelligence under considerable scrutiny now. do you believe it reaches all the way to the white house? >> i believe it does, sure. you know, i don't know how much of it does, but without question there's knowledge there. there were instructions given down the chain that stupid e-mail that the director of,

what's her name sent to herself, you know, a 15 minutes after -- lou: sally yates, yeah. >> yeah. i mean, that's just a crazy, crazy, crazy story. and then we've got wray, i mean, we've got comey who was just an inept, totally inept fbi directer and crook ared cop. and then you've got wray who's asleeped -- a asleep at the switch with. he hasn't done a thing. we know now i that he hasn't brought any of this stuff to bear that we've became aware of in the last two weeks. you know, he these to step down or be relieved of his duties. he hasn't done the job. to make matters worse. lou: and the, and the attorney general, somewhat surprisingly, expressing support for christopher wray. by the way, i said sally yates, it's susan rice i believe you're referring to -- >> right. i am. lou: -- at that oval office meeting. your thoughts about the attorney

general's voicing support then for wray as he has, in point of fact, blocked a lot of transparency and the public's right the know hasn't been exactly high on his agenda in any -- >> yeah. i don't know what that is. it might be a matter of timing, might be a matter of waiting for other shoes to fall, i don't know. but i do know one thing, there's been an absolute lack of leadership, you know, throughout the government. there's a few people that stand up and say the right things like yourself and others. but without leadership you're not going to have results. and i'd just point out two things that happened with fbi that just point out the fact that the place is out of control. you know -- lou: got about 30 seconds, jim, i'm sorry. >> roger stone and paul manafort. i mean, look at those two people. white collar crime, supposedly. 40 agents, s.w.a.t. teams,

automatic weapons, helicopters, 4:00 in the morning, wives in bed, you know, people banging down the doors. i mean, that's not what the fbi does. and that's not what anybody that leaves the fbi should ever let happen. so, i mean, what kind of a leadership do we have in the fbi? we know what we had with comey, and i'm afraid to say we've got the same thing with wray, in my view. lou: jim kallstrom, always telling it straight. we appreciate you doing so. great to see you again, my friend. james kallstrom. stay with us, we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ["good job" by alicia keys]

♪ you're the engine that makes all things go ♪ ♪ and you're always in disguise, my hero ♪ ♪ i see your light in the dark ♪ ♪ smile in my face when we all know it's hard ♪ ♪ there's no way to ever pay you back ♪ ♪ bless your heart, know i love you for that ♪ ♪ honest and selfless ♪ i don't know if this helps it but ♪ ♪ good job ♪ you're doing a good job a good job ♪ ♪ you're doing a good job ♪ don't get too down ♪ the world needs you now

♪ know that you matter ♪ matter matter yeah

♪. lou: president trump today calling out the radical left's efforts to overthrow his presidency. he called it straight out, "obama-gate." >> "obama-gate." it has been going on for a long time. it has been going on before i even elected. it is a disgrace it happened. if you look what has gone on. if you look now all the information being released and from what i understand, it is only the beginning. some terrible things happened. it should never be allowed to happy in our country again. you will see what is going on over the next coming weeks. s. lou: only the beginning. we'll take all of that up with general michael flynn's defense

attorney sidney powell, investigative reporter john salomon, dr. michael pillsbury, who is the asian expert on this broadcast. pleaeaeaeaea morning morning good morning, happy tuesday, everybody, i'm maria bartiromo, thanks for joining us. it is tuesday may 12th, top stories 6:00 a.m. on the east coast. road to recovery. more businesses reopening now and now some economists are predicting a large decline and slow recovery similar to a nike swoosh. house democrats working to finalize additional stimulus this morning looking to give money to states and put $2,000 into americans' pockets but some raising concerns over growing debt. tenses between the united states and china growing report that the white house is set to accuse beijing of trying to steal researching on coronavirus vaccines and treat