'Sunday Morning Futures' on impact of censorship in fight against COVID-19
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," June 20, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Good Sunday morning, everyone. Happy Father's Day to all. And welcome to "Sunday Morning Futures." I'm Maria Bartiromo.
Today: Biden's big blunder. Why did the leader of the free world give a former KGB spy, Vladimir Putin, a list of the most vulnerable spots in America, begging him not to hack them?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The former director of national intelligence this morning, John Ratcliffe, on how the view of America has changed in just five short months. Russia, China and Iran in Joe Biden's America.
Then, social media and corporate dominance once again lets us down massively, the censorship that may have cost hundreds of thousands of lives. Senator Ron Johnson and Dr. Pierre Kory on lifesaving treatments that were censored and attacked early in the pandemic. Who is making money on this cover-up? And when will the lies from big media stop?
Plus: a wave of gunshots and crime across the country. The bad policies that are resulting in very bad outcomes. Former Police Chief of Detroit James Craig and Bill White, who's trying to separate his community of Buckhead away from the Atlanta violence, on the movement to defund the police, open borders and put prisoners back on our streets.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}All right here, right now, on "Sunday Morning Futures."
And first this morning, the potentially deadly impact of censorship and media cover-ups, as evidence mounts that big tech and corporate media have silenced truthful facts about COVID, to the detriment of the American people.
My first guests this morning were studying and questioning potential treatments for COVID-19 throughout the pandemic. And despite evidence of safety and efficacy of early treatment from at least one drug that's been on the market for treating other sicknesses, any mention of either ivermectin or, to a lesser extent, hydroxychloroquine was met with attacks and takedowns by political operatives and some media.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Such mentions or posts were censored by social media. This week, the Department of Health and Human Services reported it will spend more than $3 billion on developing and manufacturing antiviral treatments to treat COVID-19.
In fact, Anthony Fauci was quoted as saying pills taken at home to treat COVID would be a powerful tool in our effort to prevent death from COVID.
But, to date, more than 600,000 Americans have already died in the last year. Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson was among the first to question why certain medicines were being ignored or criticized to treat COVID-19.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He joins me right now, along with Dr. Pierre Kory, an infectious disease specialist whose testimony before Senator Johnson's committee was censored by Google's YouTube. Both men made the case that early treatment of COVID, even for those with mild symptoms, prevents later hospitalizations.
So, why weren't we doing it?
Gentlemen, thank you so much for being here this morning. Good to have you both.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}DR. PIERRE KORY, CRITICAL CARE AND PULMONARY MEDICINE SPECIALIST: Thank you.
BARTIROMO: And, Dr. Kory, let me play a bit of your testimony in front of Senator Johnson's committee on treating COVID. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}KORY: Mountains of data have emerged from all -- from many centers and countries around the world showing the miraculous effectiveness of ivermectin.
In early outpatient treatment, we have three randomized controlled trials and multiple observation, as well as case series, showing that, if you take ivermectin, the need for hospitalization and death will decrease.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}BARTIROMO: That was in December of 2020.
This morning, we have breaking news that everything you said was right from this new paper out of Science on this.
Senator, what happened here?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): Well, good morning, Maria.
Well, Dr. Fauci happened. Media arrogance, social media censorship happened. That clip, that testimony from Dr. Kory, powerful testimony, was viewed by eight million Americans, who weren't satisfied with the NIH guidelines that basically do nothing.
They wanted early treatment. It was pulled by YouTube. But we all know that Dr. Fauci, he's not a modest man. You know, if you question what he did, apparently, you're questioning science itself. But you can look at how he stage-managed the COVID crisis and call it anywhere close to a success; 600,000 people died, trillions of dollars of economic devastation.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He ignored early treatment. He probably helped sabotage the use of some of these things. And, Maria, you have to understand that Dr. Fauci, people in the health industries, the media, the social media, they will never admit they were wrong on this, because, if they do, they're going to have to admit that literally hundreds of hundreds of people didn't have to lose their lives, but for their censorship, their arrogance, and Dr. Fauci's mismanagement.
BARTIROMO: This is unbelievable.
Dr. Kory, walk us through ivermectin. Now, ivermectin is a drug made by Merck. It has been on the market for a long time. Now this new news that we got on Friday that Fauci says they're looking for treatments for COVID now.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}One of the treatments that they're looking at is made by Merck. So, the ivermectin Merck drug is off-patent, right? The pharma companies aren't making any money on that because it's off-patent. Tell us about that.
KORY: Yes, so that's correct.
I mean, that -- they do not make money off of ivermectin anymore. That's an old drug. Many, many different manufacturers make it. Briefly, that is one of the oldest and safest drugs we have. It's been given all around the world for decades, four billion doses.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}That testimony that you played that I gave in December, the evidence was convincing then. It's now overwhelming. Just yesterday, a paper by some of the top researchers in the world concluded that ivermectin leads to a massive reduction in the amount of patients who are dying. We're getting reports from all over the world from Mexico that put it into their public health policy that huge numbers of patients are avoiding hospitalization and death in Argentina and in certain states in India.
We know it's working. It's working around the world. And nobody in the United States is hearing about it.
BARTIROMO: So, does this boil down to money then, Dr. Kory?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}I mean, this drug made by Merck, ivermectin, is off-patent. They're not making any money on it anymore. But now Fauci says he's looking at a drug that's going to be a patented drug made by Merck. Aren't the underlying chemicals the same? So now they're going to have that on patent, so that they can make a huge profit on it?
KORY: Well, that's -- I mean, that is so clearly -- it's a glaring example of the system that we're in, which is that for-profit medicines are favored, to almost the total exclusion of nonprofit medicines.
And so you see all of this money being thrown at pharmaceutical companies to develop new therapies, when we already have existing repurposed drugs that are highly effective. They will never develop a drug that is more effective than ivermectin.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}I find it absurd. Our government just gave -- committed over $4 billion in two different areas this week to try to find an oral antiviral early treatment therapy. We have it now. We can save so many lives.
This is a treatable disease. We have identified that drug. And it needs to be systematically deployed throughout the -- throughout the health care system.
BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And also absurd, Senator Johnson, is the way you continue to get censored. So now you're banned from YouTube again temporarily. YouTube suspended you again last week for what they say was a violation of the platform's misconduct policy.
What happened last week, Senator?
JOHNSON: Well, again, just what I have been saying for well over a years, as I have been trying to alert Americans to the fact that there are early treatment options and try and find them. They pulled that off.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And, by the way Maria, if it weren't for FOX Nation, if you had to rely on YouTube, this segment right here would be censored immediately on YouTube. Think of that.
The other thing that Dr. Fauci and the media is ignoring right now is the early warning signals of the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. We have close to 5,000 deaths, over 1,700 within days zero, one and two of getting vaccinated. We have thousands of people with permanent disabilities, 20,000 hospitalizations.
And that, quite honestly, compares to less than 200 deaths per year through the entire 30-year history of the VAERS system with other vaccines. They're not paying attention. They are suppressing this information, and the American people are paying the price.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.
And, Dr. Kory, when I spoke with you over the weekend, you said this is analogous to penicillin. I mean, you think this is the biggest cover-up of all. What a massive, massive impact, with 600,000 of our fellow Americans dead right now because they were told not to have a treatment for COVID.
KORY: You know, it's inexcusable.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}I mean, we -- my group -- and, again, my opinions are not just my own. I'm part of a group of the most highly credentialed, highly published doctors in my specialty. We have made numerous contributions over decades. And we did the work. We did the research. And we identified all of the evidence behind this.
It shows that our agencies have ignored drugs such as this. And it's caused incalculable harm.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}KORY: Again, we have identified the solution.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
And real quick on the paper that was dropped last night, what do you want to say about what we learned from this white paper from the science in terms of ivermectin?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Real quick, Dr. Kory.
KORY: I mean, they reviewed dozens of randomized controlled trials. And in the most accurate statistical analysis, they're estimating that 62 percent less death would occur.
And that's the minimum of ivermectin is capable of, because not all of them were early treatment. Again, the key is early.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}BARTIROMO: Yes.
KORY: The benefits that we're seeing for early treatment are massive.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
KORY: I mean, they prevent people from going to the hospital and dying.
BARTIROMO: Well, obviously, social media has...
KORY: I mean, I just wrote a thing. A hundred -- over 100,000 patients' lives would have been saved had the NIH instituted ivermectin when we presented to them in early January.
If they had done what Mexico did, over 100,000 American lives would have been saved. And around the world, if they'd followed our lead, we're talking about over a million lives, based just on that paper.
BARTIROMO: Yes. Oh, my goodness.
Well, look, we are told to trust our government agencies like the NIH, like the World Health Organization. But ever since social media decided that they are now the arbiters of truth, they continue to let us down.
We're going to take a break, because I know this is just the latest atrocious cover-up. It caps a multiyear period of misinformation, censorship and flat-out lies by some in the media, based on their inability to cover President Donald Trump, the biggest lies of all -- when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): I think this issue with big tech is unlike anything we have seen. They have massive amounts of power. These are monopolies that are much stronger than the monopolies of the early 20th century.
They control, in effect, a handful of companies, a huge percentage of the political speech in this country. And so I think, when you have situations, they're not just censoring based on partisanship. Obviously, we have seen conservatives be censored.
But when they're censoring things about some of the most important issues that we have ever addressed, how COVID started, whether lockdowns work...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
DESANTIS: ... you know they're really doing damage to society.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: Great, great damage.
That was Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on this program last week on the dangerous impact of social media censorship.
We are talking with Dr. Pierre Kory and Senator Ron Johnson this morning about the censorship by corporate dominance in social media and their obvious belief that Facebook, YouTube, Google, Twitter, they are the arbiters of truth.
I don't know when they started to believe they were the arbiters of truth. Many of the leadership are political operatives, by the way.
Senator, let's talk about what went on with Fauci and Facebook during the pandemic, when we have these e-mails from Dr. Fauci talking with Mark Zuckerberg. And they were talking about big opportunities with an information hub.
Let's look at the timeline of what Facebook did after these e-mails went back and forth between the two of them. Facebook decides to start an information hub, all things about COVID. But they censor certain important information, as we have been telling you.
And then, when these e-mails are released where Fauci admits to modest collaboration with the Wuhan Lab of Virology, all of a sudden, the Facebook -- the Facebook policies change and they say, oh, OK, we will no longer remove the claim that COVID-19 was manmade or manufactured from naturally.
Your thoughts on what has taken place here in terms of the censorship?
JOHNSON: Well, first of all, the truth has been hiding in plain sight since the beginning of the pandemic.
And so it's difficult to explain the collusion, the corruption of media, social media. It was all about the election. It was all about politicizing the campaign. The fact of the matter is, hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives because of the politicization of COVID.
And I would personally much rather put my faith in doctors like Dr. Kory, Dr. McCullough, Dr. Fareed that also testified before my committee, these doctors that have the courage and compassion to actually treat patients.
And my plea to Americans is, go on other social media sites. This information isn't 100 percent suppressed. If you get COVID, seek a doctor that will actually treat your disease, because there is treatment for it.
But, no, Maria, the lies being told, the false narratives across the board in instance after instance is affecting our politics. The media got their guy elected. And now they're not going to admit that they have been wrong.
And it's going to continue to cost people's lives.
BARTIROMO: I was looking at a research report from Morgan Stanley. And Morgan Stanley is estimating that Pfizer could earn $100 billion from vaccines, OK, in the next five years, $100 billion from vaccines.
Now, I just have to point out that, had we had other treatments early on in the pandemic, that would have negated the opportunity to use emergency use authorization.
Isn't that true, Dr. Kory?
JOHNSON: It is true.
KORY: Yes, that is -- it is absolutely true that -- and that may be one of the reasons why these alternative early treatments were suppressed.
The key thing, though, that we still need to understand is that we need more than the vaccine. Not everyone's going to get vaccinated. Not everyone can get vaccinated. And around the world, not everyone has access to vaccines.
And so the idea that we have identified an early treatment that can actually act as a bridge to or as an alternative for and even a safety net for vaccines...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
KORY: We don't know if these escape variants are still going to be protected by the vaccines.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
KORY: We now have another tool in the toolbox and more protection.
BARTIROMO: Let me broaden this out.
And, by the way, Dr. Kory, we should point out the effect that the litigious nature of our system has on creating restraints on drug claims. That's another major problem.
But, Senator, this is just one of many lies. Let's take a look at the biggest lies of all since the Democrats came up with this ridiculous big lie about election integrity. These are actually the biggest lies, the Russia hoax based on a made-up dossier to try to take down Trump, an impeachment of Trump with absolutely no crimes attached to it. The Hunter Biden laptop and all of his business deals and the money that he received from everybody from the former Moscow mayor's wife to the Chinese companies tied to the Chinese Communist Party.
The origins of COVID-19, a lab leak, and the treatment. And then, of course, there's the armed insurrection. Armed insurrection is what Nancy Pelosi keeps calling January 6, Senator.
How many guns were actually taken up on that day, since she says it was armed?
JOHNSON: Well, by the way, they always talk about thousands of armed insurrectionists.
I asked the FBI witness. Not one, not one gun was recovered either in the Capitol or on the Capitol grounds, according to that FBI witness. So, that's just one of the latest big lies.
And, Maria, we have to understand how dangerous this is for our democracy. And everybody's concerned about Russian interference in the 2016, 2020 election. What the big media does, it is so much more influential and interfering in our election and our electoral process than anything that Russia or China could ever hope to accomplish.
And they don't admit it. They will never admit it.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
I am so incredibly proud of this team on "Sunday Morning Futures" and of working alongside you. We have been telling every story. We have been on the right side of it for seven years going. I have been trashed every day along the way. Keep trashing me. I will keep telling the truth.
Senator Johnson, Dr. Kory, thank you so much, gentlemen. It's great to have you this morning. We so appreciate it.
We're going to take a break.
When we come back: gunshots, robbery, murders, spikes across the country. When and how did our neighborhoods become so dangerous? We examine the Biden administration's policy on securing our cities, defund the police wide-open borders, no cash bail. How did they think it was going to play out?
That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Well, welcome back.
It has been one year since America viewed scenes like this across the country, Seattle under siege, Portland on fire, property damage, and looting in New York City.
So, where do we stand today? Here's a look at the murder rate in America's big cities vs. this time last year, Philadelphia up 40 percent, Minneapolis up 56 percent, Portland up 800 percent, New York City 22 percent. And the list goes on.
Joining me right now is the former police chief of Detroit, James Craig, along with Buckhead City Committee Chairman and CEO Bill White, who is fighting back against the violent crime wave in his city of Atlanta.
Gentlemen, it's good to see you this morning. Thanks very much for being here. We so appreciate it.
BILL WHITE, CEO, BUCKHEAD CITY COMMITTEE: Thank you, Maria.
BARTIROMO: Chief Craig, let me kick it off with you.
What is going on in our big cities? Why this spike in murder?
JAMES CRAIG, FORMER DETROIT, MICHIGAN, POLICE CHIEF: Well, I got to tell you, let me just start by saying that our profession is in a crisis right now.
And when you talk about issues like bail reform, the courts are not using common sense. They're putting these violent, predatory criminals back in our communities. And so that's the common thread we see in all of our cities.
The other big issue, some of the mayors in these cities are failing miserably. Let's look at Chicago. Lori Lightfoot talks about what's dangerous. The cops are dangerous? No, she's dangerous.
What's happening is, people who live in the most vulnerable communities, and Chicago, South and West Chicago, vulnerable communities, who speaks for them? Who's protecting them? They want effective policing.
And, lastly -- well, we can talk about the failed leadership. Where's the support for the men and women? This anti-police rhetoric.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
CRAIG: It is not a surprise that police officers are leaving in large numbers.
BARTIROMO: Yes, we're going to get to that in a moment, because we have got a graphic of all of the police resignations.
But, first, I want to get your assessment of also what's happening in New York, because the year was 2020. It was around February of 2020 when I welcomed Governor Andrew Cuomo on this program. And we pretty much foresaw what was about to happen, because they had done away with cash bail, no bail. If you get arrested, you're just processed and go right back on the street.
And I asked the governor about it. Here's what Governor Cuomo told me over a year ago. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): We have been improving the bail reform.
Look, bail reform for many years was based on how much money you had, Maria. That's what cash bail is. If you're rich, you get out. If you're poor, you sit. That's an injustice, not justice. We made that change.
We're going to make more changes. I understand the fear. I understand the criticism. I said that I'm working on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: Working on it, Bill, but this is before -- this was March 2020, before we saw double-digit spikes in crime, murder and shootings. Your reaction?
WHITE: Well, in Buckhead, Maria -- and thanks so much for having us on.
And, Chief, it's an honor to be on with you. We love the men and women in blue. We love our police men and women and their families. And we can't thank you enough for your service, sir.
CRAIG: Thank you, Bill.
WHITE: In Buckhead, the -- thank you, sir. God bless.
In Buckhead, the murder is up 133 percent from 2019. And shootings are up 164 percent. I'm hearing today that Mayor Bottoms is blaming -- literally, COVID was first. Then she's blaming Governor Kemp for opening up our great state economy last year.
And I want to thank Governor Kemp for putting $5 million into state police resources to come into Atlanta to do her job. She's asleep at the switch. No one's answering the 911 calls. And we're vilifying our beautiful men and women in the police department. It is literally insane, Maria.
And I have read the resignation letters since I was on your show. And I can't thank you enough. You are staying on this issue. And you're helping us. Those resignation letters are so sad from men and women of all multicolor, multiracial, multicultural, telling us they want to just do their job, and they would love to come work for the Buckhead City Police Department.
And we're going to welcome them and celebrate them and honor them.
BARTIROMO: Well, do you think you're going to be able to get this through, separate Buckhead from the city of Atlanta?
WHITE: Yes, ma'am, I really do.
We are 100 percent confident in the courageous leadership that we have in the Georgia Assembly.
BARTIROMO: OK.
WHITE: They are fed up with this. And we are going to get this done, Maria.
And it's going to be in thanks to you putting us on like this. We really appreciate it.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
Chief Craig, go through the issues about the blue. I mean, police don't want to really extend themselves in some quarters, because they are afraid. They're not getting the support from leadership in the cities, the states, and even the White House.
Kamala Harris on the campaign trail said that she wants to go no cash bail at all for the whole country, not just some of these big cities. Look what it's already done to New York. We have a graphic here of the resignations of police and why we are seeing people decide, you know what, I'm going to leave the force, 45 percent higher on retirements, 18 percent higher in resignations.
What else can you tell us, Chief Craig?
CRAIG: Well, I got to tell you, and I will say it again, bail reform is an absolute failure.
OK, let's try to work on reforming the system, but when you start letting violent criminals out, who does that impact mostly? I applaud Bill and what he's doing. There's no secret to what will work. What will work, support the men and women who serve with dignity, courageously every single day.
And it's just not happening. So let's talk about qualified immunity. The City Council in New York did what? Ended qualified immunity. So, is there a surprise that NYPD officers are leaving in large numbers? Is it a surprise that Chicago P.D. officers are leaving in large numbers?
And you wonder why there's violent crime. But it's all these other issues. And we're not coming together on this. Who speaks for these men and women who go out and serve?
BARTIROMO: Yes.
CRAIG: And that's a big issue, Maria.
BARTIROMO: No, it's no surprise. It's no surprise, because bad policy equals bad outcomes. And that's what we are seeing over and over again in this administration.
James Craig, Bill White, thanks very much for being here. We so appreciate it. And we certainly will continue to put a spotlight on it.
We're going to take a break.
When we come back, the former director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, an intelligence professional himself, on what he thinks a former KGB spy named Putin learned after being with Joe Biden for four hours.
Russia, China and Iran in Joe Biden's America -- next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Joe Biden came in, immediately began undermining Israel, immediately began sending over $250 million to the Palestinian Authority that is in bed with Hamas, immediately began promising billions of dollars to the Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran, who funds Hamas.
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Yes.
CRUZ: And all of that flip in policy led to Hamas launching this massive terror attack. Those rockets were, in a very real sense, paid for by Joe Biden.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
CRUZ: And they were launched by Joe Biden.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: That was Senator Ted Cruz on this program two weeks ago outlining why he believes tensions in the Middle East are the direct result of policy mistakes made by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
My next guest warned the administration against emboldening Iran on his way out the door, but the advice was ignored.
John Ratcliffe is the former director of national intelligence. He joins me right now.
John, it's good to see you. Thanks very much for being here.
JOHN RATCLIFFE, FORMER U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Good morning.
BARTIROMO: I want to discuss the threat of nuclear Iran, as well as the broader foreign policy from this administration.
But, first, give us your assessment of Putin with Biden. Good or bad for America?
RATCLIFFE: Well, Vladimir Putin got exactly what he wanted.
You have to remember, Maria, he had a pretty good year. I could make an argument that the first five months of the Biden administration have been the best of Vladimir Putin's political life.
Just from an economic standpoint, folks know that Vladimir Putin was 3-0 when it comes to pipelines. Joe Biden shut down the Keystone pipeline. That was a win for Putin. Criminal networks in Russia shut down one of our major pipelines, the Colonial Pipeline. That was a win for Putin.
And, of course, Joe Biden responded by giving Vladimir Putin the one thing that he wanted most, which was the Nord Stream II pipeline, the ability to finish that, and, by doing so, to control the flow of energy into Western Europe.
So it had already been a great year for Vladimir Putin before he ever got to Geneva. But then Joe Biden gave him a political win. He invited the Russian dictator who governs a country with an economy -- a small, dwindling economy the size of the state of Texas, to sit down with him.
And, as a result of that, Vladimir Putin was on the world stage with equal billing with the leader of the free world, and he made no concessions. He made no concessions about cyberattacks. He made no concessions about political dissidents. He made no concessions about Russian interference in Ukraine or Belarus.
And that's a political win for Vladimir Putin back home that he could not possibly have dreamed about.
BARTIROMO: Wow.
RATCLIFFE: So, it was a great day for Vladimir Putin as a result of the summit, and the United States literally got nothing out of it.
BARTIROMO: So, you're an intelligence guy.
You were the former -- you are the former director of national intelligence. Vladimir Putin is also intelligence. He's a former KGB spy. From an intelligence standpoint, how do you view that meeting? What was Putin looking to learn?
RATCLIFFE: Well, you talk about things that Vladimir Putin gained, we talked about an economic win, we talk about a political win.
He also got a strategic win. He -- Vladimir Putin got something that the American people haven't gotten. He's had for hours with Joe Biden and an ability to conduct really a physical and mental assessment, evaluation and differential diagnosis.
And why that's important, Maria, as intelligence professionals, when it comes to foreign leaders, whether it's videos or pictures, I mean, we look at every tick, every tremor, every bobble. Is his hand shaking. Is that a spot on his neck? Did he just slur his words?
Because that's important. You want to know the abilities or capabilities or limitations of foreign leaders. And, in this case, Vladimir Putin, as you said, a former KGB spy, a seasoned intelligence officer, had four hours directly with Joe Biden, Joe Biden, someone who we all know fell up a flight of stairs for no apparent reason twice, someone who couldn't remember the name of his own secretary of defense, couldn't remember the name of the Pentagon, and someone who has uttered more incomprehensible words and sentences than any American would care to admit.
So, Russia came in with some kind of a diagnosis, but Vladimir Putin had an opportunity to either confirm that or modify that. And he very much would have been looking for that over that four-hour period.
BARTIROMO: Well...
RATCLIFFE: Did Joe Biden remember what he said at the end of the meeting that he said at the beginning of the meeting?
The other thing that he would have had an advantage in that four-hour period is to determine whether or not Joe Biden runs his staff or Joe Biden's staff runs him.
So, as you know, Maria, for good or for bad, Donald Trump ran his staff. He never said, I'm only going to call on reporters that they let me or my staff gets upset when I call on reporters. That never happened.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
RATCLIFFE: That's been a question about Joe Biden. And Vladimir Putin would have been able to observe the interactions with staff, because, if Joe Biden's not making decisions, Vladimir Putin and the Russian intelligence service wants to know how those decisions are being made.
BARTIROMO: Well...
RATCLIFFE: So, again, another really valuable takeaway from Vladimir Putin.
BARTIROMO: There is one other thing that, for me, was the most astounding, that President Biden told us in the press conference that he had with reporters after the meeting. Here it is.
Watch Joe Biden. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Another area we spent a great deal of time on was cyber and cyber security.
I talked about the proposition that certain critical infrastructure should be off-limits to attack, period, by cyber or any other means. And I gave them a list, if I'm not mistaken -- I don't have it in front of me -- 16 specific entities, 16 defined as critical infrastructure under U.S. policy, from the energy sector to our water systems.
So, we agreed to task experts in both our -- both our countries to work on specific understandings about what's off-limits and to follow up on specific cases that originate in other countries in their -- either of our countries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: I mean, are you serious? Is this a joke?
Joe Biden gave Vladimir Putin a list of 16 critical infrastructure, and he said, these are off-limits for you to hack? You have got to explain this one to me.
RATCLIFFE: Well, I don't think anyone can. I mean, it's bizarre. It's absurd.
To hand him that kind of list is essentially to hand him a target list, to give your adversary, whatever you do, don't attack these. These are where we're most vulnerable, so stay away from that.
I mean, that's how Vladimir Putin would look at that. I don't know who's coming up with the strategies. But if you're going to give Vladimir Putin a list, it should have been a list of our targets. It should have been, hey, if we suffer another major cyberattack, we're coming after one of these, or, even better, shut down the lights in the Kremlin before you go to the summit, so that Vladimir Putin knows you mean business and that when you say, don't cross these red lines, or there will be consequences, he knows that you're serious about that.
BARTIROMO: Unbelievable. Yes, that was just astounding.
John Ratcliffe, stay with us. We want to take a short break.
It was you who told us on this program several months ago that the Chinese Communist Party was doing gene editing on their soldiers to engineer them stronger, just as gain of function research and the potential making of a bioweapon was taking place in Wuhan.
Yet Biden still won't call out China and won't call China an adversary. He keeps calling China a competitor.
More with John Ratcliffe -- when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
I am back with former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe assessing Joe Biden's foreign policy.
Director, I want to point your attention to the G7 statement out of the G7 meeting this last week. The G7 members called challenge -- called China a challenge. And they're harder on Russia than they are on China.
Your reaction?
RATCLIFFE: I'm not surprised.
Those G7 countries are heavily reliant on China at this point in time. Italy, France, Germany, even Great Britain have taken, collectively, hundreds of billions of dollars in direct Chinese investment over the last few years.
And, for instance, Germany, from an export standpoint with regard to automobiles, sends -- sends more Mercedes and BMWs to China than they do any other country in the world. So they're not going to be tough on a country that they're reliant and dependent upon.
And so, when members of the club, as they now refer to themselves, are soft on China, I'm not surprised. I'm disappointed that the United States would want to be part of that club and agreed to language that is soft on China, when, Maria, as you are starting to see some of the intelligence that I have seen as the director of national intelligence that tells us that China not only wants to supplant the United States as the world's superpower, but that they're a proximate cause of four million deaths over the past four years from the Wuhan virus.
And the language from every country in the world ought to be tough on China.
BARTIROMO: Yes, I mean, I think it was week one or week two in Joe Biden's presidency that we were told we're not allowed to call it the Wuhan virus, OK? We're not allowed to say Wuhan virus. It's just not appropriate, according to Joe Biden, on federal land.
And he continues to call China a competitor. He never says he's an adversary. In fact, even during the campaign trail, he said, oh, please, China's really going to take us over? Not really.
And then, a few weeks ago, he actually admitted it. Look at Joe Biden over the last couple of years. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man.
I have spent more time with President Xi of China than any world leader has for 24 hours of private meetings with him with just an interpreter, 17,000 miles traveling between China and here.
He firmly believes that China, before the year 3035 (sic) is going to own America, because autocracies can make quick decisions.
But America is unique. Of all the nations in the world, we're the only nation organized based on an idea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: What is the point of telling us that China thinks it's going to acquire us in 15 years and doing nothing about it?
What should be the accountability that you would like to see as a result of the CCP allowing this deadly virus to escape its borders? And why hasn't Biden brought up the origins of COVID with Xi Jinping, now six months into his term?
RATCLIFFE: Yes, as you know, Maria, after the election, I wrote an op-ed calling China our number one national security threat and talked about, as the person who has seen more intelligence than anyone in the country for the past year, just how clear it is that they are not just an adversary, but someone that wants to supplant us as the world's superpower.
And my hope was that, as we shared that intelligence with the incoming Biden folks, that they wouldn't just have tough rhetoric on China, that they would have tough actions. And, clearly, that's not been the case.
So, case in point, to your -- to the point about COVID, Joe Biden put out a 200-page strategic plan on COVID-19, or the Wuhan virus. There is zero words, not a single word in there about the origins of COVID-19, or the Wuhan virus.
And from Joe Biden, to Antony Blinken, to CIA Director Bill Burns, maybe it's because they have all had interactions with China, business dealings with China, or their family has, but, again, it's been empty rhetoric on a country that, again, let me tell you, as someone that has seen all of the intelligence, is a proximate cause of not just four million deaths last year from this virus, but 600,000 American deaths.
BARTIROMO: And you would like to see the debt go away as a result.
We're going to come back. We will take a short break, come back and talk about how much money the Biden family has been paid by China. And then we will get into Joe Biden's Middle East policy and whether or not it will lead to a nuclear Iran.
Stay with us.
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BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
We are back with former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe.
And, John, we were talking about the dangerous nature of communist China and why Joe Biden has been so soft on China. I wonder if it is any -- has anything to do with the conflict of interests that are obvious, all the money that Hunter Biden, his son, has taken.
We have a graphic here to say -- to show some of the deals that we know about. He was paid $5 million from the Chinese oil companies CEFC. Of course, he created a $1 billion investment fund with the state-owned Bank of China. We also have the Russia deals, receiving the $3.5 million check from the wife of the former mayor of Moscow.
And, of course, the elephant in the room is that e-mail that we all know about when he was putting together this Chinese company. The e-mail said, 10 percent held by H for the big guy. The big guy, we are assuming, is Joe Biden.
Do you believe that this president is soft on China because he's afraid of what they have on him and because of all of the entanglements his family has in communist China, where they were paid?
RATCLIFFE: Well, I think it's fair for people to be asking that question, in light of the evidence and intelligence that you're talking about, Maria.
As you know, it was on this program, while I was the director of national intelligence, when Hunter Biden's laptop first surfaced, where I said, no, it's not Russian disinformation, as Adam Schiff says. The laptop is his and the e-mails are real.
And, in addition to the disturbing e-mails about Hunter Biden's personal conduct are the equally disturbing e-mails that you're referencing that talk about financial ties to China, to Chinese companies that are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
RATCLIFFE: ... and the involvement of others in the Biden family.
BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.
RATCLIFFE: And so those are absolutely fair questions.
And then, when you consider the soft approach that the Biden administration is taking on China, they're going to continue to get those questions. I think it's a fair -- it's a fair skepticism.
BARTIROMO: John, real quick, Axios is reporting this morning that Biden wants to do a deal with Iran on a nuclear deal before the president there gets reelected in August.
That's a whole 'nother ball of wax. I know you think that's an even more dangerous situation.
Good to talk with you this morning, John Ratcliffe.
RATCLIFFE: It may be his biggest...
BARTIROMO: I will see you this week.
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