Rep. Nunes: I'm not afraid of new witnesses, the facts will remain the facts

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Rep. Nunes: I'm not afraid of new witnesses, the facts will remain the facts

California Rep. Devin Nunes weighs in on battle for more impeachment witnesses.

This is a rush transcript from "The Story with Martha MacCallum," January 28, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, the President's defense team rested their case today. But tonight, you could say, we're about to hear another closing argument of sorts from the President himself. As we learn that Republicans reportedly do not have the votes that they need to block witnesses. Senator Lindsey Graham is here exclusively tonight in moments. Good evening, everybody. I'm Martha MacCallum in Washington. And this is THE STORY tonight. President Trump about to take the stage in Wildwood, New Jersey for a rally. New Jersey is a state that he lost by 14 points to Hillary Clinton back in 2016. But that and the drama unfolding in the nation's capital has not stopped a very large crowd from flooding into the New Jersey shore town. Look at these aerial shots here. One group of women telling Fox that they waited outside for 36 hours. Others lined up since yesterday braving the cold and sleeping overnight to get inside. There is a video of all of that. This part of New Jersey is more conservative. It's further down the coast away from Manhattan. This area - to the area to the west is real farm country for those of you who think New Jersey is just one big highway. We will take you there live as soon as the President gets underway to hear what he has to say about the trial today. The President's team made their case in Washington calling for a rejection of the impeachment articles and taking on the Bolton leaks directly. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY SEKULOW, PRESIDENT'S SENATE TRIAL COUNSEL: Trial of the leader of the free world.

(Senate Impeachment Trial)

PAT CIPOLLONE, WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: Why tear up every ballot across this country. You can't do that. You know you can't do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Here now. Congressman David Cicilline, Chairman of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. Good to see you this evening. Thanks for being here in studio with us. So, what did you make of the closing argument there and the plea from Pat Cipollone to leave this to the voters?

REP. DAVID CICILLINE (D-R): Well, look this trial is about the President attempting to coerce a foreign leader to corrupt an American election, to cheat in 2020 by announcing a bogus investigation of his chief political rival. So, the idea that we should leave it alone and just let the election decide this. The allegations are that he attempted to corrupt that very election. So, look, our framers put articles of impeachment in the Constitution for exactly this reason. They spoke about it during the debate that a President would have such unique powers, to be so powerful that he might use the powers of his office to advance his own personal political or financial, it's not the public good. That's exactly what this is about. If we don't hold this President accountable, we will be telling this President and future president. If you have to face a tough re-election, just pick up the phone and ask the Russians or the Iranians or the Chinese to help you and you know who will lose the American people, because the American people get to decide who is the American President, not some foreign power.

MACCALLUM: Right. And that's what a lot of them say when they watch us. They say you know what, we're inside an election year. They should be left to the voters. They're saying a lot of folks you know the country is divided, 50 percent, 51 percent on this issue say that they don't think it rises to the level of impeachment. Are you at all concerned that pushing this now may end up backfiring in the long run?

CICILLINE: I think we have a responsibility. We took an oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution. We have a responsibility to have moved forward in the House. There's overwhelming evidence that the President attempted to corrupt an American election, undermined our national security and at the same time attempted to obstruct Congress's investigation. I think the Senate now has a responsibly to try this case and to give the American people and the President a fair trial that means witnesses and documents. They took a separate oath to be fair and impartial. They have a responsibility to listen to the evidence, to allow the House managers to present the case.

MACCALLUM: Last question for you, real quick. Do you think because I've talked to some Democrats you know who are second guessing the decision to move this thing to the Senate and not to push for those witnesses when they have the chance? What do you think?

CICILLINE: No. Look, we did push for witnesses. We had ample evidence to support these charges that have been presented in the Senate already. We now hear Mr. Bolton can further corroborate that more direct evidence. I think that a trial is a search for the truth. The American people want to hear from witnesses. They want evidence and documents to be presented. They want a trial that's fair to the President and also fair to the American people. A trial is about allowing the prosecutors in this case to present their evidence. The Republican senators can't have it both ways. They can't say we're not - we're going to block witnesses. By the way, you haven't presented enough evidence to convince us.

MACCALLUM: They're saying Democrats are doing the same thing by saying that there was an overwhelming case when it was sent to the Senate. But now it's not overwhelming enough, and they want more witnesses.

CICILLINE: No, I think it is overwhelming. But when you have a witness who is going to support the evidence with direct testimony that corroborates many parts of this case. John Bolton completely puts a stake in the President's defense than we ever--

MACCALLUM: So, you're OK with Hunter Biden whistleblower.

CICILLINE: Hunter Biden has nothing to do with this. This is about the President's misconduct. The President trying to corrupt the American election by dragging a foreign power in there and then covering it up. Hunter Biden has nothing to do with the conduct of the President. It's completely irrelevant.

MACCALLUM: OK. You know the other side will disagree.

CICILLINE: Of course.

MACCALLUM: With that, it's good to see you.

CICILLINE: Great to see you. Thanks for having me.

MACCALLUM: And thank you very much for bringing your side of your perspective of it. In tonight here to respond to that Congressman Devin Nunes, Ranking Member of the House Intel Committee. Good to see you, Congressman this evening. Thank you for being here as well.

REP. DEVIN NUNES (R-CA): Absolutely. Thank you.

MACCALLUM: You heard your colleague from Rhode Island. What do you say?

NUNES: I'm actually surprisingly I don't have a problem overall with more witnesses. I think what you have to weigh here though is how much farther is this going to go on. How much more taxpayer dollars are going to be spent? And if you're the Senate, do you really want to drag this out. Witnesses would take months and months and months possibly. And I just don't think that the senators want to go through that. The American people don't need to go through that. I however personally speaking, I have no problem with witnesses as long as you're going to bring in all the witnesses because what you will find at the end of it will be another hoax. And that's really what you have here. Once you find out, once Adam Schiff has to testify, once you have the whistleblower that has to come in and testify, what you're going to find out is, they fully coordinated. Remember, the ICIG number one that testimony is the only testimony that the Democrats haven't released. Number two, the ICIG still continues to respond to our investigation of him and his office. So, those people do need to be brought forward. You know maybe Lindsey Graham who is going to be on later, maybe he's right. Maybe it needs to be done outside of the impeachment process, but I'm not afraid of the facts here. I think the confusion here is that the Democrats are really trampling all over the constitution. It's almost like they think they're in a parliamentary system like we're in the United Kingdom where one party gets elected to the House and then they get to throw out the executive branch. So, they've just never accepted this election. But I'm not afraid of the facts. The facts will show very clearly that there is nothing here.

MACCALLUM: Here's your colleague Adam Schiff. Here's what he had to say about the case as it was wrapping up. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): The question is with the conduct that egregious, are we prepared to say that we will simply have to accept that this President and future presidents that we'll have to accept the idea that a president can so blatantly sacrifice the national security of his country in order to get help cheating in the next election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: What do you say to that?

NUNES: Well, egregious conduct. You mean like Adam Schiff calling up Russian pranksters that he thought where Ukrainians trying to get nude pictures of the President. That type of egregious behavior. I mean this is the same guy who for three years said that he had more than circumstantial evidence of Trump colluding with Russians. He was seeing the same intelligence we saw. He's the same one that worked with the dirty cops, the FBI to cover up the FISA abuse. Now you know the DOJ has thrown out two of those four warrants. So, you know the last person we're going to listen to is Adam Schiff. I think he has a very long record of having trouble telling the truth.

MACCALLUM: Congressman Nunes, thank you. Good to see you tonight.

NUNES: Thank you, Martha.

MACCALLUM: So, as we await the President, breaking news at this hour what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told his GOP colleagues behind closed doors that they do not have the votes to block impeachment witnesses which would mean that a vote for John Bolton or Hunter Biden could happen soon, but how will it go. Joining me now is Senator Lindsey Graham, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Senator Graham always good to have you with us.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Thank you.

MACCALLUM: For being here tonight. Can you shed some light on what Mitch McConnell said?

GRAHAM: I'll let you talk to Mitch McConnell, but I'm increasingly optimistic this ends Friday. I think the question is should we have additional testimony from witnesses that the House refused to call. Let's assume for a moment that John Bolton would say what the New York Times said he would say, the President told me to put a freeze on the aid, because I want to look at the Biden's, I'm paraphrasing. The President had every reason to want to look at the Biden's. The House managers told us there is not a scintilla of evidence that the Biden's did anything wrong. This has been completely debunked, thoroughly investigated. That's a complete lie. The defense team destroyed the House's case. If after listening to Pam Bondi, you're OK with how Hunter Biden conducted himself in the Ukraine and you're OK with Joe Biden not having a clue what was going on. That's more about you than it is anything else. There is a mountain of evidence that the Biden's were involved in corruption. The President would have been wrong not to ask the Ukrainians to help given what we know about Hunter Biden and Joe Biden.

MACCALLUM: So, the argument can be turned the other way by Democrats, who say well you know wouldn't you want to hear from John Bolton. Aren't you curious to know what he has to say?

GRAHAM: If you wanted to hear from him why didn't you call him. You had a chance to call him. You didn't even subpoena him. You know why? You know why they didn't call John Bolton or anybody else? They said it would create a court case that would keep us from impeaching the President before Christmas. They want to impeach the President before the election, not to remove him from office through impeachment, but try to hurt him politically. This is the weakest case you'll ever see in the history of the country in terms of impeachment. It was a partisan vote in the House and what's happened. The President will be acquitted. And I think it will be this week. But you've unleashed the forces of partisan hill on future presidents, if we legitimize this.

MACCALLUM: So, you think that the vote on Friday is going to be a vote to acquit the President?

GRAHAM: I think the vote on Friday is going to get us to a vote to acquit the President before the State of the Union is my hope. And let me tell my colleagues who are in witnesses, you're not going to get just John Bolton. I'm going to ask if there is one witness here, so I'm going to ask for Hunter Biden. Now, I want to prove to the country that there was ample reason to believe that Hunter Biden was corrupt and what he did in the Ukraine was against America's interests. I want to call Joe Biden and say, why didn't you follow-up when you were told about your son's conflict of interest. I want to call the Chief of Staff of John Kerry who was told by a business partner of Hunter Biden, he's joining this board. I just want to let you know did you ever call Joe Biden and tell him your son is about to do something terrible, the most corrupt company in the Ukraine, your son is getting a million bucks a year. I want to call the whistleblower. I want to find out if Lieutenant Colonel Vindman actually talked to the whistleblower after he was on the phone call. There are so many things I want to find out. I want to find out did anybody on Schiff staff work with the whistleblower. Were there friends of the whistleblower. So, to my colleagues, if you think you're going to call one witness, you're crazy. We're going to call lot of witnesses.

MACCALLUM: It clearly opens up a whole can of worms, and I think is that part of the plan to sort of make it so difficult for both sides that everybody throws up their hands and says, uncle, I'm done.

GRAHAM: When Chuck Schumer says, I just want to be fair. God, I just want to get to the truth. That's such baloney. He's the same guy that wanted to be fair to Kavanaugh. All this is about is trying to accuse a handful Republicans of being unfair and what are you accusing them of, they're unfair if they don't call a witness the House chose not to call, assume for a moment that John Bolton would say, listen the New York Times article, you can still acquit the President. Dershowitz says, you can assume all the facts most favorable to the government to the House managers and it falls well short of impeachment. This is not going to change the dynamic. This is just trying to make it tough on a handful Republicans and what I heard in that conference today, I heard Republicans who were in a tough spot politically say, I love this country. I'm not going to throw the country into chaos. I'm going to stand by the idea that I've been more than fair and I'm not going to let the House create a sham process and expect me to fix it in the Senate because we don't reward houses in the future to refuse to call witnesses come to the Senate and ask us to do their work and deal with privileges outside of court. There's so much at stake here.

MACCALLUM: Do you agree based on your colleagues that there are not 51 votes to block witnesses right now, is that true?

GRAHAM: I keep telling you, I'm increasingly optimistic that we're going to get this case done. Final verdict before the State of the Union which is next Tuesday. Because we've been more than fair into John Bolton. I've known you for 20 years. I recommended you to the President. We have a very shared world view. Somebody leaked this excerpt to the New York Times that hates Trump. Now, a lot of people in our government apparently hate the Trump, hate President Trump or somebody is trying to make money. Somebody is trying to increase book sales. The Wall Street Journal told to John Bolton, why don't you just tell us what you know and what's on your mind. So, John, you've kind of thrown the country into a ditch here. Just come forward and say what's on your mind. Hold a news conference and we'll consider what you've got to say if you think it's that important. But from my point of view, I've got all the evidence I need. The only reason we're in this box is because the House chose not to pursue John Bolton testimony because that means they couldn't impeach the President before the election or before Christmas. So, I just think this to me, needs to end. It needs to end now. But if it goes beyond this week, it's going to go for a long time. And Joe Biden and Hunter Biden are going to be asked questions. They were not allowed to be talked to in the House. They couldn't call Hunter Biden. They told us there's no there-there. Folks, there is a big there-there, when it comes to Hunter Biden and Joe Biden. And to the whistleblower, we're going to find out who you are and who you talk to and what you did, because if we're going to find the truth as they call it, we're going to find the whole truth. But here's what we know. The record in the House is insufficient by any legal standard in the history of the country to impeach this President as a partisan political exercise that needs to die this week. And I hope they lose the majority in the House, the Democrats, so the next partisan group will remember, when the Democrats did this to President Trump, they got beat.

MACCALLUM: Senator Lindsey Graham, thank you very much, sir. Great to have you with us tonight. Thank you.

GRAHAM: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: President Trump is about to speak for the first time since the legal team rested their case. We're going to take you there live in just a moment. Breaking up next with his thoughts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: So, we're waiting for President Trump in New Jersey live in a little while but there's five days to go, a lot going on before the Iowa caucuses as well and Bernie Sanders is holding on to a lead in the latest Emerson College poll of Iowa Democrats. Take a look at that number. 30 percent to Biden's 21 percent. But that might not tell the story of the moderates in that state. Reluctant to support the self-proclaimed democratic socialist and torn on which candidate to back. The New York Times writes this, as Mr. Sanders tightens his grip on the party's young and Left-wing voters in Iowa, more traditional Democrats, the ones who happily sit through a marathon banquet dinners and hear the candidates and their representatives remain split between his four leading competitors or remain unsure altogether about whom to rally behind. And of course, that's the way it all works in Iowa. Joining me now is Brit Hume, Fox News Senior Political Analyst and host of proving grounds Iowa on Fox Nation. Brit, always good to see you. Thank you for being here tonight. You brought up this Iowa. We're going take a look at this RCP Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses poll over the last six months. And people can see at home how volatile this thing has been. Your thoughts on that.

BRIT HUME, FOX NEWS SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: The lines really kind of zigzag all over the place, don't they Martha, which does give you an idea of how unsettled this race remains despite all these months of polling and advertising and campaigning and of course coverage. So, we now are in a situation where you have as you pointed out, you've got Bernie Sanders leading in Iowa, Bernie Sanders leading also in New Hampshire in the polling averages which as you point out does certainly strike fear into the hearts of at least a lot of mainstream Democrats who think that Bernie Sanders couldn't possibly be elected. So, there we are. And of course, in the race is on to see who would be the alternative to him assuming he does as well as he seems poised to do, now in Iowa, but also in New Hampshire and perhaps beyond. Then you've got a real race on. Does Joe Biden survive that? Does he remain the key alternative or does someone else emerge? Does possibly Mike Bloomberg emerge? He's up ahead now in national polling averages. He's now ahead of Pete Buttigieg. That's only an 8 percent. But considering it wasn't very long ago that he went anywhere near that. So, we still have a wide-open unpredictable race here.

MACCALLUM: It's so interesting because the Bloomberg plan is as we've said many times, very similar to the Rudy Giuliani plan to really make a big move on Super Tuesday. But if you do have this much dissatisfaction with what's going on and you see some of these races split maybe Biden wins Iowa, maybe Biden wins New Hampshire. I'm sorry Sanders and then Biden wins in South Carolina. You may leave a lot of those voters, those moderate voters wondering if there is another alternative out there.

HUME: Well, that's right. And bear this in mind you know the strategy that Rudy Giuliani used of waiting until Florida with its big batch of delegates was a total failure. But Rudy Giuliani nor anyone else has ever had the kind of money that Mike Bloomberg brings to bear on this race. We are talking about money, orders of magnitude greater than anything we have ever seen. And it might all be for naught, but we don't know that. So, he really is a wild card in the deck. In addition, of course there is this Martha which has to worry Democrats and that is they don't - mainstream Democrats I don't think want Bernie Sanders to be their nominee, but they certainly want his voters. And if the way this is handled by them eventually he gets aced out is the way this is handled is such that they feel that their man was cheated as they felt last time and they don't come out to vote for whoever the nominee is. That's a big problem for Democrats. They need those voters in what is expected to be a close election. So, this is really kind of - this is pretty interesting at this point.

MACCALLUM: It's going to be very interesting and we're in the right spot to watch all of it. Here's Hillary Clinton still thinking the whole thing over, Brit. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON: FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I certainly feel the urge because I feel like the 2016 election was really an odd time and an outcome and the more, we learn the more that seems to be the case. But I'm going to support the people who are running now and do everything I can to help elect the Democratic nominee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Quick thought on that as we watch the President coming out here.

HUME: It sounds like a no to me as the possibility of getting in, it is too late now, I think too. But so no, at least for now. She got into, wouldn't it?

MACCALLUM: It would be stuff she - as someone who has watched a lot of these races. Yes, it would be quite remarkable if she got in there. Brit. thank you very much. Good to see you tonight.

HUME: You bet. You too.

MACCALLUM: So, the President's walking up here, taking a minute. I'm just going to squeeze in. Do we have Fred Fleitz's microphone open here? He's on set with me. Your thoughts on Mr. Bolton and how he has sort of thrown this thing into some disarray. Real quick, Fred.

FRED FLEITZ, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO AMBASSADOR BOLTON: Well, look John Bolton is a good man. I think he has a message he wants to get to the American people. But senior advisers like this have to hold folks like that until after the election. Bob Gaetz established that precedent when he held his memoirs. He left Secretary of Defense in 2011, he didn't put his book out until 2014. That's the press and Mr. Bolton need to stick to.

MACCALLUM: So, what's the message that he wants to get out?

FLEITZ: I think he has interesting insights about foreign policy and the way this government is run. That's fine, but if there was anything that concerns some real legal issue or misconduct, if that was an issue, I think he would have reported that to Congress a long time ago.

MACCALLUM: So, there are calls for him to come out and do an interview, to do a press conference. Do you think that that's something that he would do?

FLEITZ: Well, he hasn't done that so far since he left government. I think he's thinking about how will this impact the book. How will this impact whether he should be a witness before Congress? I think he should - basically should lay low for now, let this play out and put the book out maybe in December.

MACCALLUM: Fred Fleitz, thank you very much. The President taking in the scene here in Wildwood, New Jersey. Jeff Andrew of course is one of the big reasons that he is there tonight. He switched from Democrat to Republican when the impeachment issue started percolating in the House. He decided that he'd be better off in his district in New Jersey in - as a Republican. I love New Jersey too. It's my home state. So, let's listen in.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The Garden State. Together, we're achieving historic victories for New Jersey families. You see it every single day. The New Jersey unemployment rate has reached the lowest of all time. More people are working today in the state of New Jersey than ever before. And I have to tell you, more people, almost 160 million are working right now in the United States. That's the highest level of employment in the history of our country. And a lot of countries aren't doing so well just so you understand. Tomorrow, we will replace the NAFTA nightmare, one of the worst trade deals ever in history with the incredible brand-new U.S. Mexico Canada agreement, the USMCA, a massive win for New Jersey workers, New Jersey farmers, New Jersey union people, New Jersey manufacturers and everybody. And weeks ago, we also signed a fantastic new trade agreement with China that will boost New Jersey exports and defend New Jersey jobs. $250 billion coming in, now that's going to be so nice. And we're restoring America's industrial might like never before. They're all coming back. They want to be where the action is. After years of devastating defense cuts, we have fully rebuilt the United States military. And thanks to the incredible courage of our warriors, the greatest water is in the world, the ISIS caliphate has been totally destroyed and its savage founder and leader, Al Baghdadi is dead. Weeks ago, at my direction, the U.S. military launched a flawless precision strike that killed the world's number one terrorist, Qasem Soleimani. And Soleimani was responsible for murdering and wounding thousands of Americans and actively planning new attacks, but we stopped him cold. Yet Washington Democrats like crazy Bernie Sanders and nervous Nancy Pelosi. They opposed our action to save American lives. They oppose it. They opposed it. They opposed it. You know the roadside bombs that you see hurting our people and lots of other people so badly? The legs, the arms wiped out, no legs, no arms, Soleimani loved that. That was his weapon of choice. We didn't like him. He's not around anymore.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: While we are creating jobs and killing terrorists, the congressional Democrats are obsessed with demented hoaxes, crazy witch hunts, and deranged partisan crusades.

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP: That's all they know how to do. The do-nothing Democrats. They have spent the last three years, and probably even before I came down on that beautiful escalator with our beautiful future first lady.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Trying to overthrow the last election and we will make sure that they face another crushing defeat in the next election. We are going to have a victory that is even greater than 2016.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: This November, we are going to win back the House, we are going to hold the Senate, and we are going to keep the White House.

(APPLAUSE)

(CROWD CHANTING)

TRUMP: The American people are disgusted by the Washington Democrats which -- and you see it. You see it. Which is worse? The impeachment hoax or the witch hunts from Russia? But we are going to be signing up millions and millions of registered independent voters, Democrat voters, and today, I had the best polls that I ever had since being elected.

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP: The best we've ever had. Remember I used to go over polls but I only used to talk about them when I was doing well. We had our best polls. Americans of all political beliefs are sick and tired of the radical, rage filled left. Socialists, I never saw anything what's going on in this country, what's going on in this country. The Democrat, really, the Democrat Party is the socialist party and maybe worse. Voters are making a mass exodus from that party and we are welcoming them to the Republican Party with wide open arms.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And the Republican Party is doing great. We are privileged to be joined tonight by a courageous leader who left the Democrat Party because he has had enough of their extremism --

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP: -- enough of their socialism, and enough of their violent hoaxes and scams. He's had enough. I'll tell you. He really is. He's a brave guy. He just said I'm not doing it, I'm not doing it, it's a hoax, it's a scam, I'm not doing it. And we told him, you know, you are our kind of guy, let's go. And it didn't take much, because he believes like we do. We are truly honored to be here with the newest Republican member of the House of Representatives, you are great Congressman Jeff Van Drew.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And I have to tell you, a few weeks ago, Jeff was one of the few brave and principled Democrat lawmakers. In all fairness we have been after him for a long time, who stood up to the House Democrats and the outrageous abuse of power that you see going on right now, they can't win an election so they are trying to steal an election. It's not happening folks. It's not happening.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And Jeff had the guts to defy the left-wing fanatics in his own party and to stand tall in defense of our Constitution, our freedom, and democracy itself. And I just want to -- I have to tell you, I've gotten to know him really well over the last couple of weeks. He's a great guy, he's a brave guy, he shares our values. He supports lower taxes, not bad. They want to raise your taxes, how does that work, Jeff? How did you get elected with that one? Less regulation, a strong national defense, he loves our military, he loves our vets and police, and he is a tireless champion for the state of New Jersey, he loves your Second Amendment which is under siege by the Democrats.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Jeff, it's an honor to be with you, please.

REP. JEFF VAN DREW (R-NJ): How about having the president right here in South Jersey? What a great day.

(CROWD CHEERING)

VAN DREW: Now I heard that the folks in this room can make more noise and more applause than anywhere in the world, so we are going to do one more time for this man right here.

(CROWD CHEERING)

VAN DREW: Now when I was in the White House with the president, he asked how he could help me. I asked if he could come down to South Jersey and have a rally, without even hesitating our president said yes, and he is here. A man who kept his word to ensure --

(APPLAUSE)

VAN DREW: -- to ensure that the eyes of the world are on South Jersey, and all of us.

(APPLAUSE)

VAN DREW: The USA is a great nation, the greatest nation that civilization has ever known. Do we want to keep it that way? It's a nation, a nation and a people of great exceptionalism. Do we want to keep it that way? Our president has made it clear, by restoring our military, protecting our economy, and by not allowing any other nation to ever take advantage of us again. Do we want to keep it that way?

(APPLAUSE)

VAN DREW: This year, this very year is a flash point election. Are we going to allow ourselves just to be like any other nation in the world? Or are we going to keep America great?

(APPLAUSE)

VAN DREW: I say to all of you, may God bless South Jersey, may God bless our president, and may God bless the United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)

(CROWD CHANTING)

TRUMP: So, we have tens of thousands of people outside, if anybody would like to give them your place, please let us know. But we have thousands and thousands, tens of thousands and Jeff gave me a number, he said 175,000 people signed up. Is that a fact?

VAN DREW: It's a fact.

TRUMP: One hundred seventy-five? I think he's on his way, I think he's on his way. Thank you, Jeff. Great job. Thank you, Jeff.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you, Jeff. So, it's been a bit of a story, you see the fake news back there, fake news.

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP: You know, you know, if another candidate, if another candidate has 1,000 people, they say he spoke to a massive crowd. If they have 10,000 like Pocahontas went into Central Park in New York, and this young man in the front row could have 10,000 people, you know that in Central Park. So, she had 10,000 people in Central Park, I said what's the big deal? They made it. The crowds were so large. So, Jeff just tell you, we just had 175,000 people sign up.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And seriously, you have to see outside. They know because they have to follow, they are trailers like all of them trailers. But they're fake, they are fake. They are not honest. Let me just tell you, so here's the story.

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP: So, we have these massive crowds that fill up stadiums every single time, we have tens of thousands of people outside, they never mention it. They never mention it. So maybe they will tonight. But that's an all-time record, this is not a brand-new place, and unfortunately it holds probably 10,000 people or less. And we set the all-time record, you know why? Because for games you see the floor with packed with people. For games you're playing ice hockey or basketball, so we broke the all-time record in this house. And it's a wonderful house, and a wonderful community.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Also, in Wildwood, like we are in the middle of winter. There is nobody in the middle of winter, and it's a great place in the summer and those streets are packed all the way back to the airplane practically, so.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: But on June 2nd, everybody has to do us all a favor. Number one, you have to get out and vote Republican. Get rid of these clowns.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And you have to get out and vote for really a brave man, what he did was incredible. Jeff Van Drew, what he did was incredible. Get out and vote.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: You're going to have a big victory. He's going to have a big victory. And we are grateful to have with us this evening some wonderful friends of mine, people that I have known forever. Your former governor who did a terrific job, Chris Christie. Chris?

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Great, Chris, great job. Your wonderful Republican state chairman, Doug Steinhardt. What a job he is doing.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you, Doug. Thank you, Doug. My campaigns to great New Jersey co-chairs, and I think we'll play for the state, you know, they all say Republicans can't win. Tell me why. They said should you move this to the Meadowlands? I said no, I want to be in South Jersey and we want to be with our friends.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: But we could have filled up the Meadowlands arena two or three times, maybe we'll do it during the summer. Should we do it during the summer?

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP: But two brave guys, two great politicians, people that love our state, state Senators Mike Testa and Joe Panuccio (Ph). Joe Panuccio (Ph). Thank you, Joe, thank you. Thank you. And two incredible New Jersey natives, you've never heard of Kellyanne Conway, have you?

(CROWD CHEERING)

TRUMP: And Bill Stepien.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: And I love you back.

(APPLAUSE)

CONWAY: Mr. President, I think South Jersey is a Trump country.

(APPLAUSE)

CONWAY: Mr. President, thank you for all you've done to add respect and resources to our military, to our great veterans, having the best economy in the world, two new trade deals, two Supreme Court justices, two dead terrorists, that's two terms.

(APPLAUSE)

CONWAY: South Jersey is my home, Donald Trump is my president, Melania Trump is my first lady. Life is great, everyone. God bless you.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you, Kellyanne. So, I just want to thank Republicans, because what they've been doing is incredible. Republican leadership in this country, we are winning, winning, winning like never before. We are winning again, and we've got a party that's a very different party, a much stronger party, a much more inclusive party. We have a party that we love. We have a party that has the votes. We have a party like they have never had before. The Republican Party respected again.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And I have to say this, America is winning again, and America is thriving again like never before.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: So, since the election, we have created seven million new jobs. The average unemployment rate under my administration is lower than any previous administration, listen to this one, in United States history.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: That's a good fact, the lowest in history.

(CROWD CHANTING)

TRUMP: Thank you, ma'am. We have a great veteran up here, and he say, we love you, we love you, the veterans. Are we doing good for the veterans?

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you. African-American, Hispanic-American, and Asian American unemployment rates have reached the lowest levels ever recorded in the history of our country ever recorded.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Women's unemployment is at a 65-year low, sorry about that. Soon it's going to be historic, another couple of good months it will be historic. Sixty-five years for women. In the eight years before I took office over 300,000 working age people left the workforce. They had no choice. In just three years of my administration 3.5 million people have joined the workforce. Nobody believes that, including the fake news.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: If I would have said that during the campaign that we were going to produce numbers like this, the fake news would have been hitting me. He is exaggerating, he is lying. Pinocchio, Pinocchio.

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP: The press is very dishonest. More than two million millennials have gotten jobs and their wages have grown by nearly 5 percent every year, which is a record. A record number of Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 are now working, another record. Under the Trump economy, the lowest paid earners are reaping the fastest gains of anybody, you don't hear that. Because this is a blue-collar boom.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: It's very nice. It's about time. It's about time, it's been many, many decades. Earnings for the bottom 10 percent are rising faster than earnings for the top 10 percent, first time ever. Since my election, the net worth of the bottom half of wage earners has increased -- listen to this -- by 47 percent, three times faster than the increase for the top 1 percent.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Median household income is at an all-time high. For President Bush in eight years it was $450, over eight years. Think of this for a second. Under President Barack Hussein Obama for --

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP: -- for eight years it was $975. So, eight years, eight years, $450, $975. Right? Under your favorite president --

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: -- and when you include the tax cuts, the regulation cuts that nobody is ever cut taxes like this, nobody has ever cut regulations, that's why all these jobs have been made. Under President Trump, for three years, the number is almost $10,000. And that's three years.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And it's going up, it's going up very substantially. That's a big difference. New business applications in New Jersey have just soared to a record high.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And we have lifted 10 million people nationwide off federal welfare, they're off.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: They are off federal welfare. Nobody would have believed this numbers. Someday they are going to write the true story. Our child tax credit alone is delivering $2,200 a year to 40 million American families. And we have ended so importantly for you, the war on American energy the United States is now the number one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: We don't need anybody else's energy anymore. It's so nice. What happened in the last three years with energy is incredible. But extreme liberals in Washington want to shut down U.S. energy, including through the so-called Green New Deal.

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP: Close your factories, get rid of your cows, you don't have too many cows in Wildwood but if you do, they've got them. We will never sacrifice America's energy independence. It took us a long time to get there and we really picked it up over the last three years. What we've done is incredible, pipelines all over. Pipelines are good. They are underground, they are good. Environmentally sound. To lift up the forgotten communities that need investment the most. These are the communities that really have suffered. We created with the help of a great gentleman from the state of South Carolina, you know talking about? Tim Scott, right? Senator Tim Scott. He is an incredible guy, he really is.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: He came to my office and he had this idea that he has wanted to do for a long time, Senator Tim Scott. Opportunity zones and jobs and investment are now pouring in to nearly 170 newly designated opportunity zones right here in New Jersey, all over the United States. Billions and billions and billions of dollars, and not government dollars. They are flowing into the opportunity zones into areas where investment was dead.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And for decades, politicians ran for office promising to protect American workers, but then they went to Washington and they lined their pockets with special interest cash and they shipped American jobs and dreams to other countries. They close up your factories, they got rid of your jobs, they didn't have to pay taxes. Globalist politicians lowered our economic defenses and allowed other nations to rob our factories, steel our farms, ransack our communities. Not anymore. Not anymore, because we are defenseless no more because at long last, you have a president who puts America first. Is that OK?

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: The United States lost -- listen to this number. And you know if it was wrong the fake news would be, you know, all over me and I've been saying it for three years. The United States lost 60,000 factories and plants. Think of that. Sixty -- you wouldn't think that was possible. Because of stupid trade deals, because of bad leadership. During the 16 years of the two prior administrations. Under just three years, my administration has now added 12,000 new factories and many more are being built and they are pouring back into the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Because that's where the action is. That's where they want to be. They are pouring back into our country. New plants and factories, you see them all over. I passed two of them coming in. Brand-new beautiful plants and factories they are pouring back in. This is where the action is. This is where they want to be. I see the leaders, they say it's incredible what happened to your country. I said, don't tell me that. We want you to have your companies build plants in New Jersey and other places. And that's what's happening.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: But on issue you have Washington bureaucrats more thoroughly betrayed the American people then the issue of immigration. Left-wing radical politicians support deadly sanctuary cities.

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP: And remembers, a sanctuary city is a jurisdiction that refuses to hand over criminal aliens that are in local law enforcement custody. Instead, they order them to be released into your community. What the hell is going on?

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP: What is going on? And once these loose criminal aliens are free to continue their crimes spree against innocent Americans. Right here in New Jersey your states Democratic leaders have instituted sanctuary policies that result in dangerous predators being set free into your community.

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP: For example, Cumberland County, we all know Cumberland County very well. Right? Good luck with this one. They released an illegal alien criminal with multiple charges for sexual assault of a child. He is now at large, free to search for another innocent victim. They didn't want to get them to ICE. And I want to thank ICE because of the abuse they take and the incredible job they do.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Right here another criminal alien was arrested for a violent assault in New Jersey. The sanctuary jurisdiction of Middlesex County defied the ICE request to detain him. Local authorities released him and he went on to commit a gruesome triple murder.

(CROWD BOOING)

TRUMP: It happens -- I could read these cases, honestly. I could read and state these cases to you all night. I could state these cases to you all night. No American should ever be hurt, harm, or killed because left-wing politicians, Democrats decided to shield and shelter criminal -- look, look. Wait. You have criminals --

MACCALLUM: All right. We are watching the president here in Wildwood, New Jersey. I just want to get a quick comment before we toss it over to Tucker. Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at The Federalist and Fox News contributor, and Richard Goldstein, a Democratic strategist and former adviser to the Clinton campaigns. Just quickly, Richard, what goes through your mind when you see Jeff Van Drew up there talking about keeping America great again, a former Democrat until a few weeks ago.

RICHARD GOLDSTEIN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Exactly. And I mean, I feel like I've seen this rally before which is to say in 2018 the president went coast-to-coast, north to south and lost 40 seats and 20 -- flipped 40-seat, flipped and lost 24 of 35 House seats -- Senate seats, excuse me. So, if it was that effective, I don't think we would've seen that outcome. And as you saw in the Fox News poll just yesterday, Biden is up 50 to 41 over him. So, it sounds great. I just don't see the evidence that this language is working with any kind of swing voters.

MACCALLUM: Mollie?

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: When you look at the impeachment process, nobody ever thought that President Trump would actually be removed from office. So, I think Democrats had a different goal. They wanted to tarnish him. They wanted to sink his numbers and they wanted to get bipartisan support for removing him. Instead in the House, you had three Democrats not vote with Democrats. And so, you had bipartisan opposition to the impeachment and now heading into the Senate or with the Senate, you're also not going to be -- you might see bipartisan opposition. And more than anything, you have President Trump's approval ratings the highest they've been in three years. So, when you look at it that way, this has not gone the way that Democrats certainly hope for.

MACCALLUM: It's so tough to read these polls, you know. I mean, at this point you look at all of it and you see these crowds, as the president points out enormous support, the fund-raising is enormous for the Trump campaign. Small donors, everything. It's pretty, you know, impressive from a campaign perspective, Richard. On the Senate side, as Mollie just suggested, you've got Doug Jones, Kyrsten Sinema, and Joe Manchin all signaling that they could potentially vote to acquit or dismiss or end this impeachment process.

GOLDSTEIN: So, we saw Joe Manchin do that with Kavanaugh, right? He bucks the part so he is super popular. And like Jones in Alabama and Sinema in Arizona, these are three senators who it's not clear that any other Democrat could win in those states. So, on one hand, they alienate the Democratic base big time which overwhelmingly thinks Donald Trump should be convicted. But Democrats have to keep in mind, OK, let's say that we turn on Kyrsten Sinema who -- what Democrat are we going to elect in Arizona instead of her? Although Mark Kelly is doing quite well right now against Martha McSally. So, I think that's a calculus they have to make.

MACCALLUM: A quick thought on how this vote goes Friday.

HEMINGWAY: Well, I think both parties are starting to come to terms with what it would mean to call witnesses and how much longer that would drag things out. With it being a foregone conclusion, I would not be surprised if Mitch McConnell can get the votes to end everything. But Republicans in the Senate being who they are, you never know which way they will go.

GOLDSTEIN: I would bet my bottom dollar we will not see witnesses not would say that in fact that 75 percent of the public says we'll have them.

HEMINGWAY: Right.

MACCALLUM: Gentleman, thank you. Gentleman and lady, thank you very much.

GOLDSTEIN: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: Mollie and Richard, good to see you both. That is THE STORY of Tuesday, January 28, 2020. But as always, THE STORY continues. We'll see you back here tomorrow night at 7 o'clock. And we'll leave you with the last few thoughts here from President Trump. We'll go back there. Tucker is on the other side.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And this powerful border wall is going up at record speed. And we just reached over 100 miles of wall. And by next year, we'll be over 400 miles and shortly thereafter it will be complete.

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