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This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," November 10, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARIA BARTIROMO, ANCHOR: Good Sunday morning, everyone. Thanks you so much for joining us. I'm Maria Bartiromo.

Joining me exclusively right here straight ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures," Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham is here.

How are Senate Republicans preparing for what appears to be an inevitable impeachment trial?

Also with us this morning, Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy on what to expect when the Democrats make their impeachment push public this week with hearings on Capitol Hill.

House Republicans have their own witness wish list. That includes the whistle-blower. Will they get the chance to get their questions answered? And how is the leader of the GOP reforming the Intel Committee ahead of all of this?

Also with us this morning, Mark Penn, who advised Bill and Hillary Clinton on how a potential Michael Bloomberg bid could disrupt the 2020 Democratic field. He called it. He said it on this program months ago.

Whether we should expect any other big names to jump in with Mark Penn this morning.

Plus, the Republican lawmaker who led the storming of the secure facility where Adam Schiff held his closed-door testimony in the impeachment inquiry, Congressman Matt Gaetz here this morning.

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

Welcome.

Public hearings are kicking off this week in the impeachment inquiry against President Trump. Meanwhile, House Republicans have submitted a list of eight witnesses they would like to hear from, among them, Hunter Biden, as well as the whistle-blower who sparked the whole thing.

The ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, arguing in a letter to Chairman Adam Schiff, "President Trump should be afforded an opportunity to confront his accusers," writes Devin Nunes.

But Schiff already ruled out an appearance by the whistle-blower, also saying this: "The inquiry is not and will not serve as a vehicle to undertake the same sham investigations into the Bidens or 2016 that the president pressed Ukraine to conduct for his personal political benefit."

The president, meanwhile, insisting he's already cleared by the White House's rough log of his July call with Ukraine's president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: Read the transcript. It's all about the transcript. They're having people. I never even heard of some of these people. I don't know who they are.

And, by the way, it's all thirdhand knowledge. But regardless of what anyone says, read the transcript.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: We will hear from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy coming up in just a short time from now.

But, first, how are Senate Republicans preparing for what appears to be an inevitable impeachment trial coming up?

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Senator, it's good to have you on the program this morning. Thanks so much.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-S.C.: Thank you.

BARTIROMO: You have said on this program not too long ago that Hunter Biden needs to answer questions.

What is your reaction to this list that your colleagues in the House have prepared as far as those they would like to hear from?

GRAHAM: Oh, they could care less about getting to the truth, what really did happen. Why was the prosecutor fired?

The John Solomon FOIA request is pretty stunning. You can see efforts in the State Department where they were worried about the conflict of interests between Hunter Biden and this company that was being investigated.

And when the president of the company -- Burisma, I think, is the name of the company. When his house was raided in February, the Bidens kicked in. And we're going to look at that.

I consider any impeachment in the House that doesn't allow us to know who the whistle-blower is to be invalid, because without the whistle-blower complaint, we wouldn't be talking about any of this.

And I also see the need for Hunter Biden to be called to adequately defend the president. And if you don't do those two things, it's a complete joke.

BARTIROMO: Well, I mean, you mentioned the John Solomon reporting.

Let's talk about that for a second, because John Solomon reported this: "Testimony bombshell. Obama administration tried to partner with Hunter Biden's Ukrainian gas firm, but was blocked over corruption charges and concerns."

Basically, he writes that the State Department's main foreign aid agency, USAID, planned to co-sponsor a clean energy project with Burisma Holdings

Is what you're referring to?

GRAHAM: Yes.

I think the big deal is that Hunter Biden is serving on a board of a gas company that's being investigated by the Ukrainian government. In February, they raid the house of the guy who owns the gas company. Then you see a lot of interaction, with Joe Biden calling the president of the Ukraine.

Then you see meetings between Hunter Biden's business partner and John Kerry, and all of a sudden, the case goes away. I think it's important that we find that what really did happen regarding the firing of the prosecutor and what was the conflict of interest that Hunter Biden had.

But back to the whistle-blower, it's impossible to bring this case forward, in my view, fairly without us knowing who the whistle-blower is, and having a chance to cross-examine them about any biases that they may have.

So, if they don't call the whistle-blower in the House, this thing is dead on arrival in the Senate.

BARTIROMO: Well, I mean, just speaking of that whistle-blower, FOX News is not naming the whistle-blower. We are waiting for any confirmation there.

But others in the media have named this person as to be a person who worked for Joe Biden, who worked for John Brennan at the CIA, a CIA operative.

GRAHAM: Right.

BARTIROMO: Perhaps one of the people who dropped the bread crumbs back in 2016 that President Trump colluded with Russia, which was based on the dossier which Hillary Clinton paid for.

GRAHAM: Well, if the whistle-blower comes from the Brennan world, that would be pretty stunning, I think.

If the whistle-blower had a connection to a Democratic candidate, that would be pretty stunning. So the only way you can fairly deal with this issue is for us to find out who the whistle-blower is. No American can be accused of a crime based on an anonymous allegation.

The whistle-blower is foundational to what they're doing into the House. And the fact that they don't want to call him tells you everything they know -- everything you need to know about how valid this effort is to impeach the president.

It is impossible to conduct an impeachment inquiry when the chief complaining witness is unknown to the president, not subject to cross- examination.

BARTIROMO: Well, this is a really important point, because, for a long time, Adam Schiff said he wanted to speak to the whistle-blower. Then we found out that his staff actually did meet with the whistle-blower.

(LAUGHTER)

BARTIROMO: So now he doesn't want to speak to the whistle-blower in any of these hearings any longer.

GRAHAM: Yes.

Well, because what's going to happen, when you find out who the whistle- blower is, I'm confident you're going to find out it's somebody from the deep state. You're going to find out that they had interactions with Schiff. And this thing's going to stink to high heaven.

And the only reason we don't know who the whistle-blower is, that it hurts their cause. They're not trying to find the truth here. If you really wanted to know the truth about why Joe Biden said what he did about the prosecutor, if you don't fire this guy, we're going to cut off the money, well, let's find out, did his -- was Hunter Biden in the crosshairs of the prosecutor?

This is not about Schiff finding the truth. This is about Schiff trying to destroy the Trump presidency. Mueller looked at Trump, two years, $25 million, 40 FBI agents, and didn't find anything.

Now we got it in the hands of Schiff and Nadler. If you think Schiff is looking for the truth, you shouldn't be allowed to drive anywhere in America, because that's a ridiculous concept.

BARTIROMO: Well, you're making a really important point. And I want to make sure that our audience understands the way you're connecting the dots right here, because, for almost three years, this country was up in arms over the potential of Donald Trump colluding with the Russians.

GRAHAM: Right.

BARTIROMO: Now we are waiting on the John Durham now criminal investigation. We're waiting on the I.G. report to get to the details of exactly what transpired in 2016.

But many of these players that we're talking about when it comes to Ukraine are the same players that dropped those bread crumbs and try to spread a narrative of President Trump that was absolutely not true.

And that didn't stop the media from driving the bus on this and having this hysteria for two-and-a-half years of this president's administration.

One of the -- the people on the GOP list is Nellie Ohr, Senator, former contractor for Fusion GPS.

Why do you think she's on this list?

GRAHAM: Well, I think they were trying to find the connection between the whistle-blower complaint and what happened in 2016.

Here's what they don't want you to know. They don't want you to know that the whistle-blower was on the Brennan team, if he was. They don't want you to know that he's tied the people who falsely got a warrant against Carter Page four times.

They don't want you didn't know that he's tied to the group that set up a counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign in 2016. It would blow them out of the water if, in fact, the whistle-blower was connected to a Democratic candidate and came from the CIA world that's been trying to destroy the Trump presidency before he got elected.

That's why they don't want you to know who this person is.

BARTIROMO: Yes, which is why you have a resolution with 50 senators having signed it about the process of what has taken place.

Tell us about that resolution. And where's that going?

GRAHAM: Right.

Well, we looked at every other impeachment, the Nixon impeachment, the Clinton impeachment. And we found out that the president's counsel was allowed to cross-examine witnesses making accusations against the president. That's not allowed here.

The president's counsel cannot participate in the Intel Committee inquiries. It has been done behind closed doors. Everything afforded Nixon and Clinton has been denied Trump.

So this is the first time ever that impeachment has been driven by a member of Congress, rather than outside counsel. There was outside counsel in Nixon. There was outside counsel in Clinton. And Mueller was an outside counsel.

The first time in the history that we have had a partisan politician push impeachment. And the process in the House is way different than what happened in the past. And denying the Republicans the ability to trace the Hunter Biden conflict of interest storyline and deny them the ability to expose the whistle-blower, again, is basically denying the president the ability to defend himself.

And what are they hiding?

BARTIROMO: Yes.

So here, once again, we have public hearings supposed to be happening next week, but we still have an unfair process.

Senator, I want to take a quick break, but, when we come back, I want to zero in on you and why you haven't called anybody to testify yet. You have subpoena power. Everybody wants to know, will you call Hunter Biden? Will you call Nellie Ohr?

Much more with Senator Lindsey Graham when we come back, as well as House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy. Leader McCarthy is here talking about former Clinton advisers.

Plus, we will also talk with Clinton campaign adviser Mark Penn. He was with Bill and Hillary Clinton for a time. He is now talking about the left.

GOP Congressman Matt Gaetz is also here. Wait until you see that.

Follow me on Twitter @MariaBartiromo, @SundayFutures, and on Instagram.

Stay with us. We're looking ahead right here on "Sunday Morning Futures."

Back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

And I am back right now with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham.

And, Mr. Chairman, there is a list in front of me of the people that the GOP want to call down to testify in these public hearings this upcoming week. They include Devon Archer, former board member of Burisma Holdings. They include Nellie Ohr, former contractor for Fusion GPS, as well as others, like Hunter Biden, former board member of Burisma Holders -- Holdings.

Are you planning on calling anyone to testify in front of your committee?

GRAHAM: Well, the person I'm going to call in front of my committee will be Horowitz, who investigated the FISA warrant abuse, the counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign.

This is all about the State Department. The Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate has jurisdiction over this.

But let me just say this. If the House Democrats refused to go down the road into looking into whether or not the reason the prosecutor was fired is because he's getting too close to Hunter Biden, and Joe Biden and his team stepped in, that is a legitimate inquiry.

And I'm hoping that Chairman Risch, if the House refuses to call Hunter Biden and other people related to that in the House, that we would call them in the Senate, because that may be the only place you hear the other side of the story.

BARTIROMO: So, in other words, if the House Democrats fail to do their job, you are going to do it? You are going to call these people down to Judiciary?

GRAHAM: Yes.

Well, no, I'm Foreign Relations. I don't have jurisdiction over the State Department. I'm not a committee that I can call anybody about anything. We actually have committees in the Senate for a reason, subject matter.

But here's what I do believe. It's impossible for the president to adequately defend himself unless we know more about why Hunter Biden was fired -- why the prosecutor was fired.

The president asked the Ukrainian president to look in corruption. Corruption is rampant in the Ukraine. I find it odd that the only person that Joe Biden wanted fired in all of Ukraine was the prosecutor who was investigating a company that his son served on the board.

That is very much relevant to the whole quid pro quo allegation against the president. And, to me, is there a quid pro quo in place where Joe Biden said, if you don't fire the prosecutor, you get no money? And was one of his motives to protect his son?

Somebody has to look at that. And if Adam Schiff will not allow House Republicans to look at that, then I think Senate Republicans need to make sure it is looked at.

BARTIROMO: I understand.

But, at the same time, there are similarities here to what we just came off of back in 2016. There are dots to be connected to the way that the president and his entire team was entrapped.

Are you going to call anybody? We still have the 2016 issue, which your colleagues on the left refuse to look at.

GRAHAM: Yes.

BARTIROMO: We know there was wrongdoing in terms of the FISA court, in terms of framing campaign people from the Trump campaign.

GRAHAM: Right.

BARTIROMO: Are you going to look to this? Are you going to call anybody regarding the 2016 origins of the Russia probe into your committee to testify?

GRAHAM: Yes, ma'am.

The person who's been assigned to look into whether or not the FISA warrant was properly obtained and whether or not that FISA court was basically defrauded is Mr. Horowitz, the inspector general of the Department of Justice.

He's been looking at this for over a year. He's also looking at whether or not the counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign was legitimate. He's looking at it internally.

John Durham is looking at the possibility of criminality when it comes to obtaining the warrant, criminality when it comes to the counterintelligence investigation.

My goal is to provide oversight. I promise you that Mr. Horowitz will come before the Judiciary Committee when his report is complete and testify in public, under oath, as to what happened.

Then I will start connecting the dots. If the whistle-blower is, in fact, part of the team that tried to get a warrant illegally in 2016, I think that would be a stunning revelation and may explain their motives in terms of why they filed the complaint to begin with.

BARTIROMO: Very important commentary that you're making right now.

Our viewers are frustrated with this I.G. report, Senator. Where is it?

GRAHAM: Yes, I get it.

BARTIROMO: When is it coming out?

GRAHAM: Well, it's...

BARTIROMO: You met with A.G. Barr.

GRAHAM: Yes.

BARTIROMO: What can you tell us about this investigation? Do you think he's going to get to the bottom of who framed Donald Trump?

GRAHAM: Well, I think he's -- I think Horowitz is going to give us a stunning report about the system being off the rails.

I'm not going to prejudge it. I talked to Barr Wednesday. The declassification issue has been resolved. Most of it's going to be declassified. I want the public to look at what happened, not trust my rendition of what happened.

Let's declassify all the applications for the warrants. Let's put it all out there to see, all the 302s, so you can make your own decision if Christopher Steele had a bias against Trump, if he was an unreliable person when it came to obtaining a warrant against the Trump campaign.

My goal is transparency, but I'm going to do this right. Horowitz is somebody outside of politics. He's going to testify first. He's going to have the time and the space to make the report the way he feels it needs to be made. And he will come before the American people and tell the story the way he needs to tell it.

Once he tells that story, then I will follow up and start connecting the dots to the whistle-blower, if there is any dots to be connected.

BARTIROMO: You know, I mean, the committee -- does your committee require the Democrats to agree to any subpoena?

Because this whole process of having to check with Adam Schiff is another thing that my viewers are outraged about. Tell me about that. Do you need a requirement from Adam Schiff or the Democrats to actually get a subpoena and bring somebody down?

GRAHAM: The Senate is a collaborative process, but I think I could do it by majority vote, if I had to.

But rather than me going out subpoenaing people based on news reports, I'm going to do it the old-fashioned way. I'm going to allow the guy who was tasked with looking into whether or not there was corruption regarding the FISA court and the intelligence community abused the Trump campaign through a counterintelligence investigation -- I'm going to hear from him first.

I'm going to build what I do off of Horowitz's investigation, rather than just running wild myself.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

GRAHAM: That way, I think it has legitimacy.

I think most Americans don't trust Schiff. There's a partisan atmosphere about this investigation. I think the House is going to flip to the Republican Party, because most people would rather solve problems than have yet another investigation of Donald Trump being driven by Adam Schiff.

BARTIROMO: Yes. Yes.

GRAHAM: So, what I'm going to do in the Senate is, I'm going to do it the right way.

BARTIROMO: All right, stay with us, Senator, because I want to ask you about this report that senators are going to be tuning out all next week.

Stay with us.

More with Lindsey Graham we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

I am back with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham.

And, Mr. Chairman, a lot of your colleagues have called this process a sham. You have a resolution in place calling the process a sham going into these public hearings.

GRAHAM: Yes.

BARTIROMO: But there are now reports that you're not even going to look at it. You are going to completely tune out this upcoming week.

A number of your colleagues said that they won't watch the highly anticipated public hearings, that you will not look at the transcripts. Is that the answer?

GRAHAM: Yes, I think the whole thing is a joke. I don't want to legitimize what I think is a joke.

If you really wanted to find out whether or not the prosecutor was fired because he was getting too close to Hunter Biden, you would call Hunter Biden.

There's plenty of evidence in the State Department files that there was a conflict with Hunter Biden and the company being investigated by the Ukrainian prosecutor.

So you have got the special envoy to the Ukraine saying there was no quid pro quo. You have got selected leaking of information.

To the House Republicans, you have done a good job of trying to correct the record. I think the whole thing is being driven by a partisan, Adam Schiff. The president's counsel is shut out. We have never done impeachment this way.

So I think the whole thing is illegitimate. And if you do not inquire as to why Hunter -- what role Hunter Biden had in getting the prosecutor fired, then you are really not looking at all things Ukraine.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

Do you think the voters figure this out, sir? I mean, do you think that vote...

GRAHAM: Yes. Yes, I do.

(LAUGHTER)

BARTIROMO: We're heading into now an election year. Do the voters get this?

GRAHAM: To the 31 House Democrats who are serving in districts that Donald Trump holds, you're going to lose your job if you continue to play this game.

No president in the history of the country has been treated this way. We have never had an impeachment process set up this way before, where the Intel does it, not Judiciary. The president's counsel is shut out. You have got to get the blessing of Schiff before you can call witnesses.

The Senate will take up the cause when it comes to the Bidens if the House is shut out. But the reason this is going to blow up in their face, it's a never-ending effort to destroy Donald Trump.

Horowitz will be coming out soon. And if you don't find out who the whistle-blower is, the whole thing is illegitimate, because, without the whistle-blower...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

GRAHAM: ... knowing who they are, you really can't evaluate credibility of the entire accusation.

BARTIROMO: I want to pick it up right where you left off, Senator.

It's good to see you today. Thanks very much for joining us.

Let's continue this conversation about the Intel Committee vs. the Judiciary Committee. Democrats are preparing to kick off this public phase of the House impeachment inquiry next week in the Intel Committee, with the first open hearings set for this Wednesday.

House Republicans have submitted a list of eight witnesses that they'd like to hear from. They include Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden. They include the whistle-blower, who sparked this entire inquiry.

And joining me right now on the telephone is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

And, Mr. Minority Leader, it's always a pleasure to have you. Thanks very much for joining us this morning.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, R-CALIF.: Thank you, Maria. Thank you for having us.

And if I could just say one thing, to all those veterans out there, thank you for your service. And this weekend and every day is to thank you.

BARTIROMO: Yes, absolutely. Thank you for that.

MCCARTHY: Thanks for having me.

BARTIROMO: And everybody should, of course, thank a veteran today, as we approach Veterans Day tomorrow.

But, Congressman, I want to ask you about this list first.

MCCARTHY: Yes.

BARTIROMO: How did this list come about? I also want to ask you why you're making these changes in the Intel Committee, putting Jim Jordan where you are, changing the questioners around.

But, first, the list of Devon Archer, Hunter Biden, Alexandra Chalupa, David Hale, Tim Morrison, Nellie Ohr, Ambassador Kurt Volker, the anonymous whistle-blower whose secondhand complaint initiated this impeachment inquiry, and all individuals relied upon by the anonymous whistle-blower in drafting his or her secondhand complaint.

Tell us how you came up with this list.

MCCARTHY: Well, very clear, Maria.

What we did, we sat with Devin, the Intel community -- Committee. We sat with the Oversight and Foreign Affairs. And we looked at it. We looked at all what has transpired.

Remember that Adam Schiff started this all by wanting the whistle-blower to testify. And now Adam Schiff gets to decide who comes forward, and now he's fighting the whistle-blower from coming forward?

Why is he doing that? Is it because we found out that he met and the staff met with him? Is it because we found out now the whistle-blower's attorney had tweeted that the coup had started, that impeachment will follow ultimately, that he predicted, this attorney, that CNN will play a key role?

Maria, it is clear now more than ever this is a calculated coup. And it is being orchestrated by Adam Schiff. We are watching him orchestrate a takedown of a president, after we just celebrated 30 years of taking down the Berlin Wall.

BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.

And, you know, Congressman, I think one of the reasons that you're seeing them want to go really fast on this is because they want to try to get this done before the Americans go to the polls, and actually make their choice for the president in 2020.

So tell me about the timing here and what you're expecting in terms of next week, this upcoming week's hearings, and when this will actually go for a vote to impeach the president. How does that play out?

MCCARTHY: Maria, you're 100 percent correct.

We are less than a year away from electing -- reelecting our president and all of the House. Why won't they trust the American public?

But the other reason why they really want to go fast is because, what do we find out? Remember, Adam Schiff wanted the whistle-blower. Now we found out that he met with him.

One of the key witnesses is the former U.S. ambassador to, Marie. And what did we find out now? That she perjured herself, that she lied in the own - - deposition, that she did, with her own personal e-mail account, contact a Democratic congressional staffer with -- concerning a quite delicate and time-sensitive matter.

And this was just two days after the whistle-blower's complaint, and that kick-started the whole inquiry. This has been orchestrated. And if it goes out longer, we will find the lies. We will find how they calculated the coup. We will find more about from the whistle-blower's attorney and others.

And remember this. When Adam Schiff said he wanted the whistle-blower to testify, and now he doesn't -- he is fighting us on it, because everything we found out is his association -- in a federal criminal trial, if your case relies on an informant, you must produce the informant at trial.

They must face their accuser. But now he's trying to protect that individual because of what we're finding out of their own background and his association with them?

And they changed this all from the Intel Committee to now the impeachment committee. So one thing that I did -- I thank Congressman Rick Crawford, because he's on the Intel Committee, because he cares about intel and where America is standing around the world.

But, because it changed, he's going to take a leave of absence. I have now moved Congressman Jim Jordan...

BARTIROMO:

MCCARTHY: ... who is our ranking member on Oversight, who's been in these depositions and been a part of it, to add him to this committee...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: ... because, next week, we will start this.

BARTIROMO: I want to ask you about this.

MCCARTHY: And your viewers must understand...

BARTIROMO: Hold on, Congressman.

MCCARTHY: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

BARTIROMO: I want to ask you about Jim Jordan now being among the questioners.

Stay with us. We will slip in a short break, and then we will get into it.

More with Kevin McCarthy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

And I am back with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

And, Congressman, we were talking about the process a moment ago. It used to be, when you had hearings and testimonies, that one member could yield his time to another, right? Adam Schiff has decided no yielding any time, which is why you made some changes, and you put Jim Jordan on the Intel Committee.

Tell us why.

MCCARTHY: Well, first, they made the Intel Committee the impeachment committee.

They controlled it even more, making Adam Schiff the fact witness, the prosecutor, the judge, and the jury. He now controls who can ask questions and who can have time.

Congressman Devin Nunes has done an amazing job, John Ratcliffe. And what I wanted to add a little more in there. Jim Jordan has been in all these depositions and has been part of it. So we wanted to add him for the short time period that the Intel Committee becomes the impeachment committee.

So I made that addition last week, and we will add Mr. Crawford back on after this is over.

BARTIROMO: And I know John Ratcliffe is a former federal prosecutor. So he's always been very good in terms of getting to the meat and potatoes of the conversation.

So he will be -- will people be able to yield their time to him, or not until an hour in or something?

MCCARTHY: Well, this is what's so unusual, Maria.

Adam Schiff now is dictating that only the chair and the ranker and staff. So he's saying staff is now more important than a member of Congress in those first 45 minutes.

He is trying to control all of this. It goes back to, this is so calculated, so controlling by one person, Adam Schiff, who is the individual who has consistently lied to America and created greater control over the whole calculation.

And what's interesting is, the cards in this House is beginning to fall, and we're finding more association with Adam and his staff with the whistle-blower, communicating with Democrat staffers, their key witnesses.

Everything about this, this house of cards should fall upon itself.

BARTIROMO: This is quite extraordinary.

Meanwhile, there's a ton of stuff you guys are not getting done. You're a couple of days away from funding the government. Is the defense -- is the defense industry -- the Defense Department, rather, going to just go live from continuing resolution to continuing resolution?

Where are you on the budget issues? And then there's USMCA hanging in the balance, although Nancy Pelosi said she's on a path to yes, Congressman.

MCCARTHY: This is the status bar.

Here we are on a weekend that we're going to honor our veterans. But we're going to be in another place where they're getting a continuing resolution, where they're not getting the raise that we wanted to pass to give to them, that we're not giving them the protection of the new weaponry and others to make sure they can carry out their mission?

And that is all because the only thing that is happening in Congress is impeachment. This new Democrat majority has issued more subpoenas than they have created laws. This new Congress has not taken up USMCA, United States, Mexico and Canada, to make us stronger.

This speaker of the House in name only, she has said for the last 10 months she's working to getting to yes . She holds all the power to bring that -- to bring it up. And we would pass the USMCA. No one is fighting it. It would only make this country stronger in our negotiations with China...

BARTIROMO: Right.

MCCARTHY: ... to have our number one and number two trading countries together with us.

BARTIROMO: Well, you make a point of saying speaker of the House in name only.

A lot of the moderates have not been able to get past go on the Democratic platform because the progressives want real left -- real progressives all the way to the left.

So you wonder how Michael Bloomberg may do. I remember a couple of -- maybe a year ago you, you had said that people like Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer were trying to buy their way into the election. And you got slammed. They said you were attacking a Jewish person.

What your reaction today to Michael Bloomberg wanting in?

MCCARTHY: Well, it's very obvious.

There's three things you should take from it. The first thing you should take is that everyone understand the Democrats currently running for president cannot beat President Trump.

Secondly, it also goes to the point of why Michael Bloomberg gave the Democrats $110 million to try to win Congress to majority last time.

Remember, he re-registered as a Democrat right before he gave them money, because he was hoping that he could buy their favor to win the nomination. Now he's getting into the nomination to run for president understanding that none of the others can beat the president.

But I don't believe Michael Bloomberg can win this Democrat nomination. You have to have more of an agenda than just trying to outlaw a Big Gulp. You got to prove that you could actually govern.

And I think he's probably a little jealous that he watched President Trump, being a successful businessman, go from there directly to president. And I think he wants to use his billions to try to do that.

(LAUGHTER)

BARTIROMO: Outlaw a Big Gulp. That was too much.

Congressman, it's good to see you this morning. Thanks very much for joining me.

MCCARTHY: Thank you, Maria.

BARTIROMO: And we will see you soon, Congressman Kevin McCarthy, leader of the GOP.

More on the -- Michael Bloomberg's possible 2020 run with Democratic strategist Mark Penn. He called it months ago on this program, an adviser to both Bill and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaigns.

Plus, GOP Congressman Matt Gaetz is here on one of his colleagues making a strategic move on to the impeachment inquiry team.

We're looking ahead right here, right now, on "Sunday Morning Futures."

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg taking big steps toward making good on reports that he's about to join the 2020 race, registering as a presidential candidate in the Alabama Democratic primary.

Joining me right now is Mark Penn. He is a chief strategist on both Bill and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaigns. He is managing director of The Stagwell Group. And he is the man who called this months ago on this program.

Mark, it's great to see you.

MARK PENN, FORMER CLINTON CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST: Thank you.

BARTIROMO: You came on this show and on my show on FOX Business, "Mornings With Maria," and said you wouldn't be surprised, that you are expecting Michael Bloomberg to enter the race.

Good call.

Tell me what you feel about that now.

PENN: Well, look, I think it was political logic then that, unless this field changed, Biden is a front-runner, but a weak front-runner, and a lot of the other candidates are too far to the left.

And I think Michael Bloomberg saw that opportunity and made a pretty intelligent decision. Look, for him, it's now or never in terms of running for president. So why not get in and shake up the Democratic Party? And that's what he's doing.

BARTIROMO: Well, you make a good point when you compare it to Biden, because there are some people, and actually Congressman Kevin McCarthy among them, that say the whole reason that Bloomberg is coming in tells you that means Biden must be failing, because Bloomberg said, I'm not going to enter the race if Joe Biden is there because you don't need me. But if he starts to fail or flag, then I will come in.

So is that an admission?

PENN: Well, I think what Bloomberg has said directly, he thinks the field is weak.

But I do think that Biden's going to have a test in Iowa and New Hampshire. If Biden doesn't come through that test, and at the end of those two, has to drop out, then I think that's going to present a clear field for Bloomberg and the moderate wing.

If Biden does particularly well in those two states, that might block the Bloomberg effort and it will never get off the ground. So a lot of pressure is put on the Biden campaign now to deliver in the early states.

BARTIROMO: Bernie Sanders has said there should be no billionaires in the United States. He actually said that. And we know that.

We know that moderates in the past have not gone past go in the Democratic Party, because the progressives have taken over. Will Bloomberg get a fair shot from Tom Perez, the head of the DNC?

PENN: Well, I think a big question is whether Bloomberg will be put into the debates or not, regardless of his polling numbers. He needs 165,000 small donors.

And while people seem to like billionaires as presidents -- and, in fact, John F. Kennedy came from an incredibly rich family, as did FDR. So, Americans have always seen that as someone above corruption in many ways.

On the other hand, the Democratic Party says, if you don't have 165,000 small donors, you don't qualify for the debates. And that is a problem for Michael Bloomberg.

BARTIROMO: Well, Kevin McCarthy a minute ago just said that Michael Bloomberg gave the Democrats $110 million to help them win the House majority back in November for the midterm elections.

Is he buying his way in here?

PENN: Well, he certainly contributed his way in some sense.

But, look, I believe that's what his conscience said. He's come out with some very strong positions on gun safety or gun control. He's come out with strong positions on climate change.

Look, I think Bloomberg very much represents a social progressive, right, but economic moderate or conservative. And a lot of the country has been crying out for somebody who's like that.

BARTIROMO: So let's talk about his policy platform for a second.

Do you think it will be climate change and guns or something else?

PENN: I think he's going to combine here climate change and guns with a set of moderate positions.

I think -- I think, once Elizabeth Warren put out a $52 trillion Medicare for all program, that became a target for everyone, because it's laughable that the government could put together that kind of program without increasing taxes on a lot of people.

BARTIROMO: What are the chances that President Trump wins reelection?

You have talked to in the past about an issue that he may have with suburban women. Walk us through what the president's chances are today.

PENN: Look, right now, the country is in the middle of a realignment. The Republicans had strongholds in the suburbs and were weak with the working class.

Donald Trump comes in, wins the election with a combination of suburban and working-class voters. But he has strengthened since his election, I think, the commitment of working-class voters to him, but he's been losing the suburbs.

And that's where you see election after election. In the midterms, the suburbs went over to the Democrats. The Democrats are changing as a party. So is the Republican. Is that permanent? Will it last? That, I couldn't tell you.

BARTIROMO: You have also said in the past on this program you think Hillary Clinton may reenter. Do you think she still is thinking about running for president?

PENN: There's still a couple of days here. I don't know whether she will look at the Michael Bloomberg thing and say, ah, the field is too crowded now, I missed my opportunity, or the opposite. Wow, the field is weak, I could come in, I could get 165,000 donors. I'm tied with Biden in some of these early states if I get in.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

PENN: There's still a political logic there for her.

BARTIROMO: You also have not been afraid to be out front in calling out the wrongdoing in 2016 and the FISA abuse, as I have as well.

Do you think this now criminal investigation from John Durham, the Horowitz report, the I.G. report that we're waiting on, all of this blows up right in the middle of an election year, 2020? What is that going to do to the Democratic stance?

PENN: Well, the problem we have is, every fact now, right, left, center, is look through a partisan lens.

I think -- I have been looking forward to the I.G. Report. I don't see, having looked at this, there's any foundation for that FISA warrant, that real abuses were committed. And I hope people are held accountable for those abuses.

I think they will, based on the kind of the hints that people like Senator Lindsey Graham say. But where is this report? It's been years now.

BARTIROMO: Yes, that's what our viewers want to know as well.

Mark, it's great to get your insights always. Thank you.

PENN: Thank you.

BARTIROMO: Good to see, Mark Penn joining us there.

Next up, Republican lawmaker Matt Gaetz is here. He led the GOP storming of the closed-door Democratic impeachment inquiry hearings on the battle for transparency.

Back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon last weekend on this program talked about my next guest, who led House Republicans in storming the Intel Committee's closed-door hearings, saying he -- quote -- "broke the fever."

Congressman Matt Gaetz is with me right now, Republican from Florida. He sits on the House Judiciary and Armed Services committees.

Good to see you, Congressman. Thanks very much for joining us.

REP. MATT GAETZ, R-FLA.: Thanks for having me.

BARTIROMO: Why did you storm through? Tell us the message you were trying to communicate.

GAETZ: Well, it appears we were successful in communicating the message that this was an unfair, politically motivated process.

We saw just last week polling from AP and ABC News reflecting that half the country or more saw this as politically motivated and unfair to President Trump.

And so now, in the coming weeks, we will have open testimony. And I think that it's important for the American people to know that you have got a group of people whose names you don't know, whose faces you haven't seen, who are part of the permanent government in Washington.

And whether Republicans or Democrats are elected, they believe it's their way or the highway. President Trump is very different. He pushes back on permanent Washington. And now you have people in the bowels of the bureaucracy of government who thinks that the president serves at their pleasure, instead of them serving at the president's pleasure.

BARTIROMO: How much of this impeachment inquiry is smoke and mirrors ahead of the John Durham criminal investigation details and the I.G. report?

A couple of weeks, ago we had on Svetlana Lokhova, who was basically a woman who met General Michael Flynn. And, as we know, ahead of Veterans Day, let me just say, Michael Flynn rose to the rank of lieutenant general over 33 years of service in the U.S. Army.

He served as President Trump's national security adviser, before resigning in February '17. And he basically saw his reputation destroyed.

Here's Svetlana Lokhova. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: Did you have a romantic relationship with General Flynn?

SVETLANA LOKHOVA, RUSSIAN ACADEMIC: Absolutely not.

BARTIROMO: The media suggested that perhaps you did, after meeting him that one time.

But you're saying -- how many times did you meet General Flynn?

LOKHOVA: In my whole life up to today, I have only met and spoken to General Flynn once, on 28th of February, 2014.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: So, Congressman, they used her to muddy up the reputation of General Flynn, who had served our country for more than 30 years.

Can you connect the dots and tell us if this Ukraine situation has any relation to what took place in 2016, where they tried to frame Donald Trump and his campaign?

GAETZ: It's not just me saying that.

It's not just Rudy Giuliani. It's actually a court in Ukraine. A court in Ukraine held that there was an act of election interference that was unlawful in the 2016 election. And it is only appropriate for us to get to the bottom of that.

The Flynn case specifically highlights the hypocrisy here. When General Flynn was tricked into a misstatement to Jim Comey's team, he was forced into this plea deal. When Andrew McCabe lied repeatedly under oath, he escaped consequences.

So, time and again, you see these people who are part of the permanent government of permanent Washington playing by their own rules.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

GAETZ: But when you have disruptive patriots like General Flynn, like Donald Trump, then all of permanent Washington sort of crashes down on them.

And that's what we have got to fight back against.

BARTIROMO: So, which is why Sidney Powell, who also joined me a couple of weeks ago, his lawyer, wants all of these charges dropped on General Flynn.

Real quick, next week is the public hearings. What should we expect? How is this going to go down, sir? How does this play out?

GAETZ: Yes.

You will see a policy disagreement on how to approach the Ukraine sort of refashioned into an impeachment exercise. There are people who believe that the only appropriate action would have been full support of the Ukraine with no conditions whatsoever.

President Trump had a different view. And now they want to impeach him for it. It's crazy.

BARTIROMO: Congressman, it's great to have you this morning. Thanks so much, Congressman Matt Gaetz.

Everybody, please thank a veteran today.

I will see you tomorrow on FOX Business.

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