'Sunday Morning Futures' on new Afghanistan leadership, Durham probe

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This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," September 26, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Welcome, and good Sunday morning, everyone. Welcome to "Sunday Morning Futures." I'm Maria Bartiromo.

Today, corruption at the highest levels, Clinton campaign dirty tricks and Hunter Biden's money schemes.

Coming up, House Intel Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes on the John Durham investigation. Will Joe Biden's DOJ stop more indictments, because the people who abuse power are now in power?

Then, never mind the border overflowing, the Afghanistan disaster. Now an economic crisis is at hand. The government will run out of money this upcoming Thursday. But Joe Biden is still pushing his $5 trillion- plus spending package, which he says is actually free.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every time I hear, this is going to cost A, B, C, or D, the truth is, based on the commitment that I made, it's going to cost nothing, because we're going to raise the revenue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Kevin Brady on the real cost and impact of sky-high spending and tax increases.

Plus, General Jack Keane assesses the new leadership in Afghanistan, as a former Gitmo detainee becomes the deputy minister of defense, with a little help from Iran to build the Taliban army.

Plus: Selling access could not be easier. Hunter Biden begins his art shows soon, and his gallerist wants to be the biggest dealer in China. But he's already had a real VIP reaction from its display in the White House.

Investigative reporter Peter Schweizer on the Hunter Biden conflict.

All that right here, right now on "Sunday Morning Futures."

And first this morning, the scheme to take down a president finally exposed, and accountability begins.

A federal grand jury indicted Hillary Clinton lawyer Michael Sussmann, who worked at Perkins Coie law firm, with making a false statement to the FBI back in September 2016.

The indictment, part of special counsel John Durham's investigation, confirms with this program and my first guest this morning have been saying for four years-plus, that the made-up story of Russia collusion with Donald Trump was nothing more than a corrupt politician trying to take down her opponent with made-up propaganda.

But in this big lie, Hillary's team was also able to ensnare the FBI, among other government agencies, and the media to deceive the American people.

Back in February of 2018, Congressman Devin Nunes dropped his famous Nunes report outlining the FBI's knowledge that the dossier was made up and the surveillance of Trump associates, which took place afterwards, was illegal.

Nunes appeared on this program throughout the multiyear Russia hoax and was the first person to warn us that this collusion charge was phony, years ago on this program.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: Who is the mastermind of the plan to insert Donald Trump into Russia meddling, which we know Russia has been meddling for decades?

REP. DEVIN NUNES (R-CA): Well, I think we can say -- first, let's talk about what we can -- what we know our facts, what we can say for certain. I think that's helpful.

We know the Clinton campaign, number one -- so they're aware of a lot of this, right? They're involved in the creation of the dossier. They're hiring Fusion GPS. They hire Christopher Steele. That's a fact. So the Clinton campaign is involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: Joining me right now is Congressman Devin Nunes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Good to see you, Congressman. You were spot on right there. Thanks for being back with us.

What do you say Durham's first indictment -- or, actually, it's his second indictment -- tells us about the broader investigation?

NUNES: Well, this is just a never-ending story, that the American people expect Durham to get to the truth. And they expect for DOJ to hold these characters accountable, because the American people have lost trust in the FBI and the Department of Justice. At least half of the American people have.

So this is a critical indictment, because, for years, they have hid under privilege: Oh, these are lawyers. You can't talk to them.

I think that's what's taken Durham so long, is just because they have been hiding under, well, if you hire a lawyer, therefore, those lawyers can't give up anything.

So, they used Perkins Coie law firm. Now these two lawyers are gone from Perkins Coie. One has been indicted. One has not. But that's why they were doing this. And it's really wrong. You can't use lawyers just to conduct dirty tricks to dirty up your opponent.

And, in this case, it went far beyond that, Maria. And I think this is really a test case -- or a case study, so to speak, an educational process, in how the swamp here really works.

You basically create a story out of thin air. You spread it out to your media that you control. And then you begin to feed this story around into the FBI, the DOJ, so it looks like it's real. And that's what's happened here.

So, I think, if you go back and read that 27-page indictment -- I would encourage all of your viewers to do it -- you will really see how this place works, why it's so wrong, and why it has to stop, because people's -- think of all the lives that have been destroyed and the businesses here, whether it's -- whether it's the Trump campaign, all the people associated with it.

You still have many Americans who've been poisoned by this who think that Donald Trump had something to do with Russia, when, in fact, the opposite is true.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NUNES: It was the Democrats and the Clinton campaign and the Bidens who had something to do with Russia.

BARTIROMO: Yes. Yes. And that's basically what I said to John Podesta years ago, when I had him talking about Russia. And I said, look, it was the Democrats that are actually in bed with Russia.

But I want to take a look at some of the perpetrators of this lie and what they're doing now, because you have to look at something like a Jake Sullivan tweet and raise your eyebrows. Back in the day, he was among those peddling this lie.

Now he is the national security adviser of the United States. Look at what Jake Sullivan posted back in 2016, NSA adviser to President -- this is where they are now. He's the NSA adviser to President Biden.

But you have this statement from Jake Sullivan on this report about Alfa Bank. And he says: "This could be the most direct link yet between Donald Trump and Moscow. Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to the Alfa Bank of Russia, the secret hot line," he's talking about.

I mean, it's just extraordinary to me that here he is peddling this nonsense years ago, and now he is the NSA. Equally stunning is Hillary Clinton's tweet that did not age well. Let's take a look at Hillary Clinton's tweet when she back, in 2016 -- and she knew that her foreign policy advisers have come up and she was paying them to come up with this nonsense about Trump.

She tweets out that it's time for Trump to answer questions about Russia.

Did she not accept $148 million from a Russian company in the Clinton -- the Clinton Foundation? And so she's trying to turn it on Trump. Meanwhile, she accepted all that money?

NUNES: Well, look, this is why this is a case study in how Washington works. They essentially accuse your opponent of what they're doing. This is typical Marxist tactics.

And it's taken over this entire government here. And it's been going on now. This is the fifth year that this has been happening. So, this is why we expect Durham to get to the bottom of this.

And what I'm concerned about now, Maria, is that, if you look at the Department of Justice, if you look at Merrick Garland, who's the attorney general, look at how many things that have already looked entirely political, if you look at the issue of going to court and arguing that the eviction notices, that that's OK, defending what the administration is doing at the border.

So, my guess is, is that all these characters who were -- worked in the Obama administration, worked on the Clinton campaign, promoted this nonsense, have to have known that it was nonsense, are now sitting in high positions in the Biden administration.

So you have to believe the pressure in this town on the attorney general is so great to shut Durham down, because, look, they're beginning to circle around some very questionable characters. And look, this guy was promoting this back in '16. Sullivan, he should have never been put into this position.

And when you put people into positions like this that are completely unqualified, you end up with 13 service members getting killed in Afghanistan, because you don't have the propaganda media here to protect you. You don't have the tech companies to protect you.

And so you end up with somebody who doesn't belong there who was likely -- it had to be the Biden administration and the White House who was calling the shots on closing Bagram Air Base, on doing what they did to obfuscate everything, and then try to do these what look like now phony drone attacks that end up killing innocent Americans.

So, people get killed when the wrong people get put in positions of power.

BARTIROMO: Yes. Yes.

NUNES: That's why -- another reason why this is so important.

BARTIROMO: All right, we want to know what happens next and what you expect from the John Durham investigation.

Here's John Solomon on this program, investigative reporter, back in January telling us what he is expecting next from the John Durham investigation. Let's roll John Solomon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN SOLOMON, EDITOR IN CHIEF, JUST THE NEWS: Right now, John Durham is looks to be building a small number of indictments focused on the top of the FBI. That's very important, the very top of the leadership of the FBI. That's where he's looking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: So, Devin Nunes, what are you expecting next from John Durham?

Was there a statute of limitations that sort of pressured him to get this one indictment out? I know Kevin Clinesmith got a slap on the wrist. No indictment there. But we have got this first indictment. Where does it lead now?

NUNES: Yes, look, what I expect is, we have made 14 criminal referrals to the Department of Justice.

I expect every one of those to be looked into. For God's sake, the American people, the taxpayers pay for us to do this work. We don't have guns here in Congress. We can't go out and arrest people. All we can do is do an exhaustive investigation, which we have done, despite being stonewalled by the Department of Justice and FBI for years.

So we have done our job. Now we expect Durham to do his job, which I think he is doing. And, like I said, the American people, every Republican senator, every Republican congressman better be saying the same thing when they're having conversations, especially the ones who are in positions of power in this town, to tell Garland, Durham better finish this investigation.

And it's for a number of reasons that I have outlined here in the last few minutes.

BARTIROMO: And I know some of those referrals had to do with conspiracy, so we will be watching that.

NUNES: That's right.

BARTIROMO: Congressman, I want to take a short break.

You have got breaking news. You sent a letter this morning to Joe Biden. We're going to take a break, and then we will talk about Biden's no-teeth China policy and why the Department of Justice just dropped the fraud charges against the CFO of Huawei and why the Huawei founder's daughter is now back in her motherland of China.

That's next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

We are back with Congressman Devin Nunes, who, along with his Republican colleagues in the House Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to President Biden this week -- this morning about his COVID origins investigation.

Congressman, thanks for being here.

Why don't you walk us through this letter? What are you trying to accomplish here with this letter to the president?

NUNES: Well, it's pretty simple. The American people and Republicans in Congress, at least, expect there to be a whole-of-government approach.

We have sent the Biden administration two letters previously to this. Finally, this week, we were able to get briefed, because Biden instructed the intelligence community to do an assessment.

Now, what it's clear is that, once again, they're using the intelligence agencies to put a cloud of secrecy over all of this. And, quite frankly, with 700,000 Americans dead, this should not be happening, that there should be total transparency here, total and complete transparency.

Earlier this week, we had numerous questions that were asked by Republican members on the Intelligence Committee. And every member left there with zero confidence that there has actually been a real investigation done here.

And, look, the easy reason why is, is that there are numerous Americans who have received grant money. There are scientists who are paid for by the taxpayers. And simple questions were asked, who did you talk to? And the fact of the matter is, they couldn't answer that and they refused to answer that.

So, it looks like there needs to be an entire new report that needs to be written, because Republican members on the committee have basically had enough of this. It just looks like this is another attempt to obfuscate and protect China once again by the Biden administration.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

And there was an exclusive -- right. And there's an exclusive Wall Street Journal story this morning. That COVID-19 panel of scientists investigating the origins of the virus has been disbanded.

NUNES: Right.

BARTIROMO: So the Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs says he disbanded this task force because he was afraid that there was political implications. We're following that. He says that there were too many links to EcoHealth Alliance.

Let me get your take on the overall policy on China out of this administration. We know China's goals. They're using their Belt and Road strategy to ultimately take over America as the number one superpower. And yet Joe Biden keeps giving them victories.

He, over the weekend, allowed this hostage swap, allowing the CFO of Huawei out of -- she was under house arrest in Canada. She's now back in China, swapping for the two Canadians that were put in jail in China.

Your thoughts on what we're going to see from Joe Biden with regard to China? My sources tell me that there will be legislation soon written about China policy. So far, none of it has any teeth, Congressman.

NUNES: Well, look, the Biden administration and all the Democrats are always afraid to even dare mention China's name.

Even just a few -- just last week, in the United Nations, Joe Biden refused to talk about China, when, clearly, China is trying to overtake the world's -- be the world's largest economy, and essentially take control of the world's reserve currency.

So, they continue to be afraid of them for some reason. What should have been said here is the two Canadians -- that the Canadian government had picked up this Huawei leader, were holding her for extradition to the United States. The Chinese picked up two Canadians for no reason at all.

We have no reason why those Canadians were picked up. So, what the president of the United States should have been saying is, release the two Canadians now. But, instead, what do they do? They negotiate behind the scenes on a Friday night. Once again, there's an exchange. And they hope that the American people won't see how weak this administration really is.

BARTIROMO: By the way, Congressman, Secretary Mayorkas has admitted on "FOX News Sunday" that as many as 12,000 out of the 17,000 migrants under that bridge have been released into the country.

NUNES: Right.

BARTIROMO: So he's admitting that 12,000 have been released into the country.

You have got a disaster in Afghanistan, an incredible, dangerous situation at the open border. And we may very well have another economic disaster this week, because the government is running out of money on Thursday.

Real quick on this boondoggle, and what's most important for you to look at in terms of all of this spending, $5.5 trillion spending plan that Joe Biden is still pushing through despite all of these disasters.

NUNES: Yes, and the American people don't even know that this is happening, because they marked up all of these bills and passed them here in the dark days of summer, in August and September.

They marked up a bill yesterday. Most Americans don't even know that that happened. C-SPAN, for a large part, didn't carry a lot of these hearings. So, what they're trying to do, they know that this would be wildly unpopular. And we have seen this done before. Maria.

Let me just take you quickly back to 2009. Obama came in and said, we have to pass a stimulus. So we gave him $800 billion. I didn't vote for it, but they had $800 billion. Then they used that money to bribe members of Congress, Democratic members of Congress -- remember, it only passed by one vote in the House -- to get Obamacare through.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NUNES: This is on steroids.

Biden has $1.9 trillion that they passed, supposedly for COVID, to bribe these Democratic members, who really don't want to vote for it, because this bill...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NUNES: ... makes Obamacare look like nothing.

And then don't forget on top of all that the taxes. I know you're going to have Chairman Brady on in just a few moments.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NUNES: But the thing that worries me the most, why would they want to double the size of the IRS and double the number of agents, unless they have a plan...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NUNES: ... to finally force the banks to produce every record of every American at all times, so -- to the IRS, so that the IRS can go in and try to invade all of Americans to force them to pay more taxes?

BARTIROMO: Yes. We will talk...

NUNES: That's the only possible reason they want to double the size of the IRS.

BARTIROMO: We will talk about that with Kevin Brady coming up, because I know that they want all of the surveillance of anything that you withdraw from your account over $600, which is pretty extraordinary.

NUNES: Absolutely.

BARTIROMO: I know that's not in the bill right now, but we're going to talk with Kevin Brady about it.

Congressman, thanks very much.

NUNES: Thank you.

BARTIROMO: Good to see you this morning on all of this.

NUNES: Good to see you.

BARTIROMO: Devin Nunes joining us.

NUNES: Thank you.

BARTIROMO: Quick break, and then the disasters piling up, the Southern border overflowing with migrants, 200,000 every month, Americans in Afghanistan still fighting to survive and get back. And, this Thursday, the government will run out of money.

The ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee, Kevin Brady, is next to tell us what to expect this upcoming week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Well, welcome back.

Joe Biden's agenda is at risk, with the government running out of money this upcoming Thursday.

And Democrat leaders are still scrambling to find agreement on the massive $3.5 trillion spending plan, while progressives are threatening to derail the separate $1.25 trillion infrastructure package, which was set for a vote this week.

Joining me right now is Congressman Kevin Brady. He is the ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee.

Congressman, it's good to have you this morning. Thanks very much for being here.

REP. KEVIN BRADY (R-TX): Good to see you, Maria.

BARTIROMO: Your thoughts on the week ahead? Walk us through the week.

BRADY: Yes, so -- yes.

So, I think this is an economic and political crisis of the Democrats' own making. Right now, they're attempting to ram through this, as you said, over $5 trillion of crippling tax hikes and expansion of the welfare state.

But they have also failed to keep the government open, failed to provide disaster relief to Louisiana and a lot of other states. And, of course, they haven't raised the debt ceiling. They have known this debt ceiling for two years was coming. They never passed a budget, haven't had a single discussion with the Republicans about how we tackle our financial future as a country.

And they have the ability to pass this debt ceiling on their own. The question is, will they do that? And my guess is only if they're forced to. Right now, I think they're more interested in playing political games with the debt ceiling, which is wrong, than actually passing it and raising it.

BARTIROMO: So, you say that it's politically reckless to have the debt ceiling in this conversation, among all of the other conversations around spending and tax increases.

What do you think is going to happen this week ahead of this Thursday deadline?

BRADY: You know, my guess is, they will play political games with it in the Senate early in the week, realize they have run the clock out, and Speaker Pelosi and the president, Chuck Schumer are going to have to make a call on how to tackle it.

The good news is, for them, in this reconciliation bill, they can do it with the simple majority in the House and Senate. They don't want to do that. But they can do that easily. And that is that the real answer to how this debt ceiling issue is attacked.

BARTIROMO: Let's walk through the plans in terms of the reconciliation bill.

I want to get your take on the tax increases that they'd like to push through there. And then I want to get into this item on bank surveillance, because I know that it's not in the bill right now, but they still want to double the size of the IRS.

First, Congressman, walk us through the tax increases that you're expecting in this reconciliation bill. Who gets taxed?

BRADY: Yes.

Yes, I have never seen Washington spend so much to kill so many American jobs, to raise prices even higher and expand the welfare state, the greatest expansion in our lifetime. This is an economic surrender to China, Russia, and Europe, with saddling American businesses with some of the highest tax rates in the world, which will drive and kill, we think, about three million jobs, drive many of them overseas, and make it easier to be a foreign company and work within the U.S. company or worker.

Secondly, they are devastating tax increases on local small businesses, just as they're trying to struggle to get out of this pandemic economy and get Americans back to work. And, as we pointed out, this breaks President Biden's pledge to not raise taxes on the low- and middle-income families.

And you don't have to take our word for it. The Congress' own scorekeeper at the Joint Committee on Taxation confirms that low-income, middle-class families will begin to see tax increases, the Tax Policy -- says beginning next year.

So, these -- and to put them in perspective, these tax hikes on our local businesses are three times greater than the tax cuts we gave them to spur this economy.

BARTIROMO: So, let me talk to you about the bank surveillance for a moment, because I know that right now there are negotiations going on to reinsert the SALT deduction.

So, you have got the New Yorkers, the New Jerseyans, Connecticuts, they all want that SALT deduction back in there. They want to raise $300 billion to pay for that. And, in doing that, Joe Biden says he wants to hire 80,000 new auditors at the IRS.

There was an idea of bank surveillance, that Joe Biden wants the banks to be forced to report any withdrawal you take out of your bank account of more than $600. So where does that stand? Are the banks going to report to the Treasury anything that anybody takes out of their account more than $600?

BRADY: So, while the bank surveillance was not in the Ways and Means Committee bill, as it was voted out by House Democrats, I predict it will be before this bill comes to the House floor, and for this reason.

Democrats are so eager to provide a huge SALT tax break, which mainly goes to millionaire households. And it will cost between $100 billion and $400 billion. I think where they believe they will get it is doubling the number of IRS agents to 80,000 in America and this bank surveillance. They believe, between the two, they will cover the money for the tax break for the wealthy with SALT.

But who pays the real price here are working families, small businesses, farmers, who will have their -- both their personal and their business bank accounts surveilled by the IRS. Local banks don't want to do this. They know this is a horrible intrusion on the privacy of everyday Americans.

And they think, as I do, that the real target here is not big business or the wealthy. I think they're coming after our farmers, our families and our local small businesses with this bank surveillance. I predict they put it in.

BARTIROMO: Yes. That is so extraordinary. Make sure to throw in that SALT deduction for the rich people in New York and New Jersey, but also make sure we're surveilling anybody who takes out more than $600 out of their checking account. I mean, this is incredible.

Real quick, before you go, can the Republicans stop any of this? Do you think the agenda is in jeopardy? Because I know that, even in the infrastructure package, there are also tax increases in the $1.25 trillion infrastructure package, which somehow nobody talks about.

BRADY: Yes, I believe we can stop this, Maria, but we can't do it by ourselves.

The question for the coming week is not about Nancy Pelosi's leadership here. This is a test of whether there are moderate Democrats left in the House who will fight for their local small businesses and for American workers. That's the real key.

BARTIROMO: Great point.

BRADY: Are there any left? Only three need to stop this.

BARTIROMO: Wow. Really good point.

Congressman, it's great to see you. Come back soon. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.

BRADY: Good to see you, Maria. Thanks.

BARTIROMO: And to you.

Kevin Brady joining us.

Coming up: access on sale, with new Hunter Biden e-mails revealing he wanted over two million bucks in success fees to help unfreeze billions in Libya assets while his father was vice president.

Investigative journalist Peter Schweizer is next on how Joe Biden's China entanglements are compromising America's national security.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): I said that our report raised far more questions than it answered. This requires detailed investigations on the part of the Justice Department, on the part of the FBI, on the part of the media. And that's not occurring.

So, why is this being covered up? Why is this not being talked about? This is a major news story, because, if you have all this -- these vast webs, all these connections, this could be used as blackmail against a potential Biden presidency, far in excess of anything that was ever alleged against Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: That was Senator Ron Johnson on this program last October warning that, if elected, then- candidate Joe Biden's China ties would compromise his presidency.

On Friday, as you know, Biden's DOJ dropped fraud charges against Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of CCP member and Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei. She was arrested, and then she had been under house arrest in Canada since 2018 for misleading HSBC about Huawei's dealings with Iran.

As we reported -- as we have reported, her release was a top priority for the Chinese Communist Party.

Joining me right now is Peter Schweizer. He's the president of the Government Accountability Institute. He is the host of "The Drill Down," a weekly podcast on corruption.

Peter, it's good to see you. Thanks very much for being here.

Your reaction to the CFO of Huawei now back at home?

PETER SCHWEIZER, PRESIDENT, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY INSTITUTE: Well, it's another example, Maria, of basically a strategic retreat by the Biden administration.

I mean, they talk tough. They claim that they're serious about the challenge represented by China. But what you basically get is retreat. And you saw that enunciated by Joe Biden in his speech to the United Nations earlier in this week in New York, where he basically said, yes, we might have some disagreements with China, but all of that is trumped by these other issues we have to work with them on.

So, the bottom line is, China has said consistently they seek to surpass the United States in political and strategic capabilities. And their goal is to be the supreme power on the globe over the next couple of decades. And the Biden administration says, they're not a competitor, and they basically are backing down on so many positions that were staked out by the Trump administration.

BARTIROMO: What is this about?

I mean, is this about the current leadership in Washington not wanting to upset China? Or is this about conflicts of interest that the Biden family has with China?

SCHWEIZER: Well, I think it's probably both.

There's no question those conflicts exist. Joe Biden himself, two of his family members, his son Hunter Biden, of course, and his brother James Biden, have received millions of dollars from politically connected Chinese interests.

We also know, by the way, Maria, that Joe Biden has been a beneficiary. I mean, the Hunter Biden e-mails show that Hunter Biden was paying some of his dad's bills while he was vice president of the United States. So you have the conflicts with the Bidens.

If you look at Tony Blinken, if you look at some of the other senior people in this administration, they too have financial conflicts of interest as it relates to China. So, my view is, why is this not being scrutinized by the media?

Certainly, if you were talking about Wall Street money or big oil, they'd be talking about conflicts of interests.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

SCHWEIZER: But, for some reason, when it comes to China, they don't seem to discuss it.

BARTIROMO: You're right. We have been one of the few to zero in on China now for several years.

We want to show you this text message that we were able to get, again, all of that information the Biden laptop, the Hunter Biden laptop, which you have in your -- in your possession.

Hunter's 2019 text to daughter Naomi. And it says: "I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years. It's really hard. But don't worry. Unlike pop, Joe, I won't make you give me half your salary."

Wow, what a damning text this is.

(LAUGHTER)

SCHWEIZER: Yes, it is.

And you could say, is this hyperbole? Well, the fact is, when you go through the e-mails -- and we have been going through them. There's about 30,000 of them. We're doing it by hand. We're not just doing word searches.

And what you find is, there's plenty of evidence to support that Hunter Biden was paying Joe Biden's bills. We know that there were contractors that were working on Joe's private residence in Delaware while he was vice president, and Hunter and his business associates were handling the payment of those bills.

We know there were things like a private phone or several phones that Joe Biden had while he was vice president. The bill was 300-plus dollars a month. That was being paid by Hunter's business.

BARTIROMO: Right.

SCHWEIZER: So we know at least tens of thousands of dollars of bills thus far would have been paid. And this is illegal.

You cannot subsidize a family member in politics by paying their bills.

BARTIROMO: I want to also ask you about the upcoming art shows.

Hunter Biden is now suddenly an artist who thinks he can sell his art for half-a-million dollars...

(LAUGHTER)

BARTIROMO: ... per painting, between $75,000 and a half-a-million.

It was reported in The New York Times that Dr. Jill Biden has Hunter Biden's art hung up in the White House. That's pretty -- pretty significant. Tell me about the art shows and what you believe this is going to yield for the Biden family.

We know that the owner of the gallery that is supporting Hunter Biden says he wants to be the biggest thing in China.

SCHWEIZER: That's exactly right.

I mean, you have to basically stake this out to genius level corruption. And what I mean, Maria, is that Hunter Biden previously was going around the world striking business deals. That required a certain level of transparency. If you're sitting on a corporate board, that gets disclosed.

The art world is very, very hard-to-trace money. In fact, the Senate did an investigation in 2019, and concluded that the art world was rife with money laundering, oligarchs moving money around.

So, going into the art world, Hunter Biden has created a circumstance whereby he can collect half-a-million dollars at pop -- at a pop for a piece of work, and there's going to be no paper trail.

And the White House says the ethics solution here -- I will put that in quotation marks, Maria -- is that nobody's going to know anything about anyone involved.

Well, that's absurd. We know that these art deals, these art shows, Hunter Biden's going to be there schmoozing with people. We know that the man holding these art deals and showing Hunter's art has said China is a growth market, where he really wants to go.

And we know that this is what the Bidens have done for decades. It's really not in dispute. So, this is a new avenue for corruption. The money is going to give an opportunity for foreign corrupt intermediaries who want to curry favor with this administration.

And Jill Biden is displaying this artwork in the White House, which is a really nice gallery for foreign dignitaries to see the work.

BARTIROMO: It's absolutely extraordinary.

Before we go, let's just put up this graphic on the deals that Hunter Biden still has in China, because we know about the famous, infamous e-mail that says, yes, we're going to do this deal with CEFC and 10 percent held by H. for the big guy. We found later that the big guy is, in fact, Joe Biden.

Do you think these -- that these dealings are still going on now with Joe Biden as president? Is he making money and then holding it for the big guy when he's out of office? Is that the plan here?

SCHWEIZER: Well, we know -- it's a great question, Maria.

We know that their finances are intertwined. The e-mails make that clear. We also know that Hunter still has existing ties to Chinese companies that are linked to the Chinese military and Chinese intelligence.

BHR, that private equity firm where he was put on the board and given a stake, that is estimated to be valued worth $20 million. And that deal still exists.

BARTIROMO: All very disturbing.

Peter Schweizer, thanks very much for reporting on all of this. We will talk soon. We appreciate your time this morning.

SCHWEIZER: Thanks, Maria.

BARTIROMO: We're taking a quick break, and then we're looking at the president on the world stage. And he does not mention the threat of communist China during his speech at the U.N. General Assembly, as Beijing sends more warplanes into Taiwan's airspace this past week and negotiates with the Taliban to exploit trillions of dollars in rare earth minerals from Afghanistan.

General Jack Keane on this dangerous state of affairs for America next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): And, basically, if Trump did it, it doesn't matter it was a good idea. If Trump did it, they're going to do the opposite.

And I think the same is playing out a little bit here in China. If Trump was tough on China in one way, they want to be loose with China in another way. They want to do the opposite of everything Trump does. And you know what that's gotten them? A border crisis. It's gotten them a fiasco in Afghanistan. It has put them in a very difficult position and the country in a very bad spot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: That was Florida Senator Marco Rubio with me this week on "Mornings With Maria" over on FOX Business.

Joining me right now to talk more about the situation in Afghanistan and how it relates to China is FOX News senior strategic analyst General Jack Keane. He is the former vice chairman of the U.S. Army, a retired four-star Army general, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, the highest civilian honor.

General, it's always an honor to speak with you. Thanks for being here.

JACK KEANE, FOX NEWS SENIOR STRATEGIC ANALYST: Delighted to be here, Maria.

BARTIROMO: What was your take on the fact that President Biden sits there at the U.N. General Assembly, on the world stage, and does not recognize the threat of China, after a year that saw the CCP invade India, killing soldiers, invade Hong Kong, start throwing around their national security law, putting people in jail, freedom fighters like Jimmy Lai, as well as the continuation of bad behavior on the U.S., from stealing intellectual property, to bullying its neighbors?

And yet it did not come up in Joe Biden's U.N. speech?

KEANE: Yes, it was quite remarkable, in my mind, and what a lost opportunity.

Usually, when we have a new president, and he's going before the U.N. General Assembly, where all the leaders of the world are present, or at least have representatives are there, it's an incredible platform that usually most presidents take advantage of.

And before that platform, given -- given the debacle that took place in Afghanistan just such a short while ago, and the whole world watched that -- and the United States' competence and resolve was brought into question. I think that's indisputable. And, certainly, people had that on their minds.

This was an opportunity for the -- for the president of the United States. He's making the claim that we're returning to the world stage as a global leader.

And, therefore, deal with the United States' competence and resolve. Lay out the strategic framework on how we're going to deal with adversarial nations who are destabilizing the world order, China, Russia and Iran, and, also, I think, come straight out and deal with Afghanistan, in terms of U.S. commitment and U.S. resolve going forward, and admit that there had been some mistakes made.

But the fact that our allies are sitting there -- think about our allies in an Indo-Pacific region. And I have been out there and talked to many of them. And what they -- they all do business with China. They don't have much choice, as a trading partner. But they all look to the United States, Maria, for security, all of them out there, to include the lesser countries we don't mention much, like Vietnam and Singapore and Indonesia.

But all the major ones do as well. And we didn't even address that, in terms of the strategic significance, and what is the United States' plans to deal with China's aggression, as well as Russia...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

KEANE: ... in Eastern Europe and creating their own sphere of influence...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

KEANE: ... and what Iran wants to do in the Middle East?

That was a huge lost opportunity.

BARTIROMO: Yes. And what did we see in response? China send flights, military warplanes into Taiwan.

We're going to take a short break, and then I want to ask you if, in fact, you believe China will invade Taiwan next.

Plus, General Mark Milley and Secretary Lloyd Austin will take the hot seat on Capitol Hill this week. I will ask General Keane on the main questions they need to be answering.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

I'm talking with General Jack Keane this morning on the implications of the cut-and-run out of Afghanistan.

General, what are your thoughts on what we saw these last two weeks, where Chinese warplanes entered the airspace of Taiwan?

KEANE: Yes, it's very significant.

The numbers involved and the frequency of it has outstripped anything we have seen in the past. And it clearly is a result of what took place in Afghanistan. I mean, what -- they're trying to send a message, particularly to the Taiwanese, but also to our other allies in the region, is Chinese might and power and the inevitability of Taiwan actually becoming a part of China, that you cannot resist it, and the United States is not going to be there to help you.

That's the message they're sending as a result of the disaster in Afghanistan. But it portends a dangerous situation. Listen, most analysts who look at this and look at President Xi -- and you have to take him at his word, because he has a tendency to do what he says. He's very unlike his predecessors, because he speaks so much openly and publicly about where he's going strategically.

And he has said repeatedly that we are not going to pass the Taiwan problem on to the next generation. We are going to solve this problem during his tenure.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

KEANE: And that clearly means either Taiwan submits willingly, or they do something forcefully.

BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.

KEANE: And I do believe that the -- that the situation, in terms of force being an option, is likely getting closer.

We all said sometime in the next decade. But here's what's driving Xi, also, as a backdrop to what's taken place.

BARTIROMO: Yes, for sure.

KEANE: Number one, he knows full well he's got economic headwinds, with debt and loss of productivity, demographic problems.

BARTIROMO: Right.

KEANE: And they're going to get worse over time.

Secondly, increasing global resistance and militaries in the region, to include the United States and our allies, retooling, getting more capability.

BARTIROMO: Yes. Unbelievable.

KEANE: That may move that window closer. And that would be unfortunate.

BARTIROMO: General, we should also point out that General Mark Milley and Lloyd Austin, defense secretary, will testify next week. That will be among the topics.

Jack Keane, always a pleasure. Thank you, sir.

Have a wonderful Sunday, everybody. I will see you tomorrow on FOX Business.

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