'Sunday Morning Futures' on potential consequences of Democrats' $5 trillion spending bill

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Biden's plan is 'putting America on the wrong path': Rep. McCarthy

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy warns the Democrats' $5 trillion bill will 'transform America' to look like a 'socialist government.'  

This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," October 10, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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

Today: First Amendment rights under attack, targeting innocent American citizens Attorney General Merrick Garland ordering the FBI to target and silence parents who speak their opinions for their own children at local school board meetings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): This is wrong. This is dangerous. And I cannot believe that an attorney general of the United States is engaging in this kind of conduct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: Coming up, Candace Owens on attacking American citizens as domestic terrorists, the mandates and abuse of power in Washington, all the while Joe Biden stumbles and stammers through it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ohio-Pennsylvania -- the Ohio- Pennsylvania -- I'm from Pennsylvania.

The Illinois president of the -- Don Harmon, state Senator Laura Murphy, State Rep. Martin Moylan.

And we've got great labor leaders here, too. Robert Riter -- Reiter -- R-E- I-T-E-R -- Reiter -- of the Chicago Federation of Labor.

And, folks, that's how we beat COVID-19, by working together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: We don't know. We don't know.

Coming up: how to pay for it. Democrats racing to meet their October 31 deadline to vote on the biggest and most expensive spending package. And they intend to surveil your bank account to pay for a new free everything welfare state.

Wyoming Senator John Barrasso with the very latest on negotiations in the Senate and how the U.S. will fundamentally change with all of the free money, more government control, and millions of new migrants in the country.

Then: Nancy Pelosi calls the House of Representatives back this upcoming week to work on taking the U.S.' borrowing limit up to $29 trillion dollars, saddling future generations with heavy debt and high taxes.

GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy is here on the Republican agenda and fighting this Marxist playbook in America. What can we do to protect our freedom and liberties in the face of these communist China moves from the Biden administration?

Then: the adversary that Joe Biden will not take on, an aggressive Chinese Communist Party. Nearly 150 jets flown into Taiwan last week. Still no mention from the administration of the origins of COVID-19, killing 600,000-plus Americans, four million-plus globally.

Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on the China threat and the response from the U.S. military. General Mark Milley claims the CCP thought Donald Trump would invade. John Ratcliffe with the real underlying intelligence.

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

But first this morning: Senate Majority -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell once again caves in the Joe Biden and Democrat Party, passing the debt ceiling bill in the Senate and helping the progressives raise the country's borrowing limit to $29 trillion.

But even as the move towards socialism gets more realistic, Joe Biden this week turned the blame on Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: So, let's be clear.

Not only are Republicans refusing to do their job. They're threatening to use the power, their power, to prevent us from doing our job, saving the economy from a catastrophic event.

I think, quite frankly, it's hypocritical, dangerous and disgraceful. Their obstruction and irresponsibility knows absolutely no bounds -- excuse me -- especially as we're clawing our way out of this pandemic.

Democrats will meet our responsibility and obligation to this country. We're not expecting Republicans to do their part.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: Biden also made light of harassment and threats to Democrat Senator Kyrsten Sinema, calling the mobs hounding her in the hallways, on a plane and in the bathroom -- quote -- "part of the process."

Joining me right now is Wyoming Senator John Barrasso. He is the third- ranking member in the Senate Republican leadership. And we're happy to have him this morning.

Senator, thanks very much for being here.

You heard what Joe Biden just said. It's the Republicans' fault. Get out of the way, so that they could do their job. Your response?

SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY): What we're seeing here is an incredibly shrinking president of the United States, who wants to blame everybody for everything, instead of the man in the mirror.

I will tell you, he blamed the generals for Afghanistan. He blames our Border Patrol for the crisis at the border. He blames the general population for COVID. We have a president who is facing roaring flames all around him politically, in terms of COVID, the border, inflation.

And I will tell you, people around this country are fed up, and people don't believe he is up to the job.

BARTIROMO: Yes, people are fed up. I agree with that. We have got crises at every other corner, whether it be the inflation that's out of control, the jobs numbers were underwhelming, the crisis in Afghanistan, the crisis at the border.

And yet Mitch McConnell agreed to let -- join the Democrats in raising the debt ceiling, passing that bill in the Senate. Did Mitch McConnell cave?

BARRASSO: No, not at all.

We were able to force the Democrats do two things they absolutely did not want to do. One is, as you know, they wanted a blank check. They wanted to be able to raise the debt ceiling all the way through the 2022 elections to spend as much as they want. That undermines the accountability that they owe the American people, that all of us owe the American people.

So, number one, they did not get a blank check. We made them fill in a number. And it's the first time that's happened in over a decade. And, Maria, the number that they filled in was a small number compared to the amount that they're asking for in this $5 trillion big government socialism bill.

So I think, actually, it's going to make it a lot harder for them to pass this reckless tax-and-spending bill.

BARTIROMO: I want to ask you. I want to talk about that, that spending bill.

But, first, let me get your reaction to what happened when Chuck Schumer pretty much blasted the Republicans on the Senate floor the other day. We could visibly see Joe Manchin in the background putting his hand -- his head in his hands and then walking out.

I mean, the Democrats did not really need the Republicans' help. They could have raised the debt ceiling on their own. And even after you came across the aisle, came up with this deal, Chuck Schumer said this. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY): Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans insisted they wanted a solution to the debt ceiling, but said Democrats must raise it alone by going through a drawn-out, convoluted and risky reconciliation process.

That was simply unacceptable to my caucus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: Your reaction, Joe Manchin there in the backdrop putting his head in his hands, Senator?

BARRASSO: You're absolutely right. It was a tantrum by Chuck Schumer. And he is known to be a bully. He loves to bully even his own caucus.

I think, just looking at Joe Manchin, how disturbed he was by what happened, a number of Democrats came up to me, including calling me over the weekend, to apologize for the terrible behavior of Chuck Schumer.

And we have made it clear. They want to use this process of reconciliation to pass their massive tax-and-spending bill, well, they're going to have to use that process as well if they ever want to raise the debt ceiling again.

BARTIROMO: So, what do you think? Do you think they will get something through? I know Senator Manchin has said that he would be agreeable to something capped at $1.5 trillion.

You have made an important point recently, that it's not just the cost. It's what's in it. So talk to us about whether you believe Manchin and Sinema will hold up and not agree to anything substantial in terms of beyond 1.5 -- not that $1.5 trillion is not substantial. And what's in the plan?

BARRASSO: Well, as you last week showed the picture of me holding up this massive bill of 2, 500 pages...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

BARRASSO: ... $1 billion, $400 million per page.

And, to me, there are a couple of different parts of it. One is this just massive expansion of government's role in our life, cradle to grave, sunup to sundown, and all night long. Government is going to be more involved, sending out money often to people who don't even need it. It's a complete takeover and massive spending to a level that we have never seen before. That's about one-third of it.

The next part is the massive taxes that they need to pay for it. And we're talking about 40 different taxes, including all of this extra money for the IRS. And Janet Yellen, the Treasury secretary, wants to use it to hire an army of IRS agents to spy on Americans' checking accounts, banking accounts.

And then the third part is the real attack on American energy, which is going to make energy costs go up harder and more expensive to drive your car, to heat your home.

And here we are in a day when energy prices today at the pump are the highest they have been in seven years.

You asked specifically about...

BARTIROMO: Yes. I want...

BARRASSO: Go ahead.

BARTIROMO: Go. No, no, please continue, sir.

(CROSSTALK)

BARRASSO: You asked, is it going to make it easier or harder to pass it?

Remember, Maria, they wanted to get this done last summer. I was on with you in June. And I said well, if they do, it's going to be a long, hot summer.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

BARRASSO: Now they're hoping to get it done by November.

BARTIROMO: Yes. You did.

BARRASSO: They're entering their winter of discontent. They have a long way to go.

BARTIROMO: So, I want to ask you about energy.

But, before I get there, real quick on these big federal programs that you have discussed. What kind of free money is going to be coming to people? I know there's major child care support. There's elder support, free community college. Go through some of those programs that, once they're in place, isn't it true that -- they don't go away after a year?

BARRASSO: Well, that's actually the absolute bottom line of what we're looking at here.

And in a way to try to lower the price tag, they're saying, well, we will just start them small and let them grow over time. You and I know, Maria, once you get a federal government program in place, it's very hard to -- for it to ever go away.

So, everything you mentioned is in there. The question is, how much are they going to start funding? But their goal is a complete takeover of the lives of the American people, which is why I call it big government socialism.

And it is an expansion of government and an addiction to government, like we have never even contemplated or seen before. And Joe Biden has surrendered to this socialist wing of the party, even to the point of holding hostage bridges, ports, airports, highways, things that the American people actually want.

BARTIROMO: Yes, so just to be clear, they will not agree to an infrastructure package unless the reconciliation goes through, right?

It's just -- it's dead, even though it was agreed upon, 19 Republicans agreed. And you mentioned energy. We're already feeling inflation, Senator. This is important, energy-rich state of Wyoming. And it's important to you.

Let's take a look at the price of oil and energy, for example. Give us the impact real quick.

BARRASSO: Well, today, people are paying more for gas at the pump than they have over the last seven years, about $1.25 more per gallon. That's about $30 per fill-up.

And that is taking a big bite out of people's paychecks. And the people most hurt, of course, are people on a fixed income, seniors, young couples and families trying to get by. And it's all because of Joe Biden's policies.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

BARRASSO: First day in office, killing the Keystone XL pipeline, blocking oil and gas leases.

But the problem about this, it's only American energy he's attacking. He has now asked Saudi Arabia, OPEC, and even Russia, even Russia, to pump more oil to sell it to us.

BARTIROMO: Yes. Wow.

BARRASSO: Look, we used to be energy-dominant. Under Biden, we're energy- dependent.

And there's a lot more value and smarter for our country to make the energy and sell it to our friends than having to buy it, Maria, from our enemies.

BARTIROMO: Well, Senator, I question that infrastructure package because there wasn't a dime allocated to the border.

In fact, we understand that the Department of Homeland Security has now canceled all remaining border wall construction contracts. So we will be getting into that later on in this program.

We so appreciate you this morning, Senator. Thank you. Thanks for joining us, Senator John Barrasso.

BARRASSO: Thank you, Maria.

BARTIROMO: We will see you soon, sir.

BARRASSO: Thank you.

BARTIROMO: We will take a break.

When we come back: We have heard from the Senate. Now we will hear from the House with GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy here. He is up next.

Also, Nancy Pelosi called the House back this upcoming week to vote on that debt ceiling, as Joe Biden moves to weaponize the DOJ, FBI and the IRS, while his DHS cancels all remaining border wall construction.

I hope you will join me this upcoming week on FOX Business on "Mornings With Maria." We are live from the border. I will be headed back to the Southern border. And we will be live from Del Rio, Texas, on Monday and Tuesday on FOX Business 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern on FOX Business tomorrow.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SEAN CASTEN (D-IL): Would you support simply eliminating the debt ceiling so that we don't have to deal with this in the future and can focus on real crises?

JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: Yes, I would, because I believe, when Congress legislates expenditures and puts in place tax policy that determines taxes, those are the crucial decisions Congress is making.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: That was Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last week on why there should be no limit to debt or a check on spending from Congress. If Biden signs it, that's good enough.

Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the House back early to vote on raising the country's borrowing limit to $29 trillion to pay for all of these programs that the Democrats want to spend money on, as Biden's DOJ goes after innocent Americans who are not in line with this administration's overreach.

Joining me right now to react to all of this is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

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

So, tell me why you're back this week and what will happen in terms of raising the country's borrowing limit.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Well, we're back for exactly that clip, because you need to raise the debt ceiling.

But what's interesting to me is, here's a secretary of Treasury that has a credit card that's maxed out. Instead of finding a way to pay the credit card off, all they think should do is, you shouldn't limit how much I can spend.

That is what's put us in this problem. That is what has increased inflation that we haven't seen in decades. That is why we have got one of the worst jobless numbers that we have had in quite some time. This Biden plan is putting America on the wrong path.

And so we have to come back in session to vote on the debt ceiling to increase the amount. But this will not give the Democrats enough money to go for that $5 trillion bill of what they really want to do with reconciliation that will transform America to look like a European, big government, socialist government.

BARTIROMO: That's pretty extraordinary.

So tell me about all of this spending. I know you won't be negotiating the reconciliation package. It's all about the debt ceiling this upcoming week. But we were just talking with John Barrasso about what's in it. Can you walk us through what strikes you most about this $3.5 trillion package?

MCCARTHY: There's a number of it.

And let's not get just hung up on the cost, because the cost is outrageous. But you watch what the Democrats are debating, they're going to come to you and say, well, we saved some money. They will not. It's the substance that's in the bill.

If they put these programs into the bill, what they will be saying is, it costs less. It does not. They're just dialing back how long they will fund it. It will continue to go on.

If you're concerned about bank surveillance, if you have more than $600 in your bank account, government will now know what you do, whether you go to Disneyland, how you spend your money. And, again, Secretary of Treasury Yellen supports that. And the Democrats support that.

Why? Because they want to vote for 85,000 new IRS agents to spy on what you're doing, instead of protecting the border. Then, if you look from the other aspects, it has more than $100 billion for amnesty for 10 million people who came to America illegally. And we're watching that happen day after day on our borders. And I'm looking forward to you being down to the border reporting again.

BARTIROMO: Well, thank you.

MCCARTHY: Then we're watching that inflation.

It's going to make America less competitive. It's going to make American companies less competitive when you look at China or Europe. Our corporate rate will be higher than China. You're watching businesses go overseas, instead of, when we passed a tax decrease, that companies came back to America. It's the reverse.

BARTIROMO: Right.

MCCARTHY: We're watching inflation that we have never seen before, government competing with business.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: They take the child tax credit, but they take away the requirement for work requirements.

So, here's small business once again can't find people to work, and business -- and government is now competing with them. These are the problems. And any economist will tell you it's wrong.

BARTIROMO: Yes. I'm glad you mentioned the requirements, because a big portion of the country will be eligible for all of this free money.

The bank surveillance is part of this overreach of this administration.

I want to take a break, Congressman. I want to ask you about the Department of Justice's overreach and reports that Nancy Pelosi is targeting you and your personal e-mails, your text messages from on and around January 6. Is that legal for her to do this, to go to telecom companies to get information from you?

We will talk about that when we come right back with Kevin McCarthy.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

And we're back with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Congressman, I want to ask you about all of these new mandates and this overreach from the Department of Justice. Parents across the country, governors across the country are complaining.

Here's Ron DeSantis: "A.G. Merrick Garland is ordering the FBI to target, intimidate and silence parents who exercise their First Amendment rights at local school board meetings, as the A.G. threatens to sic the FBI on parents who dare to oppose mandates on mask-wearing, as well as the indoctrination of their children in Critical Race Theory.

What is going on?

MCCARTHY: This is just more of the Biden administration wanting greater control over our lives.

Who would have ever thought that you would have an American president make a decision to leave Americans behind in Afghanistan now directing the DOJ to try to silence parents and actually separate parents from what their children can do inside schools?

And why is this rising up? Because, during the pandemic, children were going to school through Zoom. Parents were beginning to hear what was happening in the classroom. So they went to their local school board to question. And instead of making these answers or changing the course and not having Critical Race Theory taught in our schools, the next thing the Biden administration does is tries to silence you, intimidate you.

And what it really comes down to, a philosophy. Who is best to raise your children, you or government? I believe the parents are.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: I want the decision-making process in my children's lives. And I believe that's what America believes.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: But now we have an administration that wants to control every part of your life, from your -- what you do in your banking, if you have more than $600, to now what you can even say at a school board race and question your First Amendment right, and tell you that government has a better say over what your children can do in school.

And we even have a Democrat running for governor in Virginia that literally said parents do not have a say in what's happening in the education of their children.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: Absurd.

BARTIROMO: Yes, I -- that's right.

And, Congressman, it's not just that on Critical Race Theory. You mentioned the surveillance of our bank accounts. And now the Democrats want the social media companies to go along with all of this rulemaking. We understand that Nancy Pelosi wants your e-mails, you, Congressman Kevin McCarthy's e-mails, and your text messages on and around January 6.

Has she officially come to you and asked, or is she going to go directly to AT&T? How does that work?

MCCARTHY: No, I haven't heard anything from them.

But, remember, this is a select committee that is not a bipartisan committee. For the first time in history, Nancy Pelosi picked who could be on this committee.

And what they're trying to do, they're missing the two main points. Why were we so ill-prepared on January 6 and how do we make sure we will never be in this position again? It's purely politics.

And Congress does not have the right to go after mine or your phone number records. And the Supreme Court has made this ruling. It's interesting about how far they want to control and where they want to go.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: Even in the reconciliation bill, there's an interesting point in there. They provide $1.3 billion to subsidize their friends inside the media, where government will actually pay for the media and their reporting.

This is a real concern and the change of a course of what America stands for.

BARTIROMO: Well, there's also something that we discussed recently, and that is about Google.

They have -- they have -- the DOJ has asked Google to send them the people who search for certain phrases. And is Google participating in this? Tell me about that. This was very concerning when I understood what this was all about, that Google was actually going to provide phrases that we put in that search bar?

MCCARTHY: Now, you don't have to be concerned at home what you're doing. We know how Google tries to control what we can -- our thoughts and what we can read, on the basis that 90 percent of any search inside the Internet goes through Google.

But now the Biden administration's government is asking Google to tell them whoever searches certain phrases. I just read about this, this week. This is a real concern.

But a big problem that we have is what Nancy Pelosi has done in Congress. She's desecrated this institution, because now she's made it almost impossible for the minority to get documents from the Biden administration, so we can hold them accountable, not just on this, but on Afghanistan as well.

She now has proxy voting, where there are Democrats that have not shown up for work for months, but they still get their paycheck. She now fines members up to $5,000 if they just walk through the wrong door going to the chambers.

She selects who can be on committee, never before in a Congress.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: She denied the minority the ability to even offer an amendment, something that -- hasn't done in the history of Congress.

But, now, why does she do that?

BARTIROMO: Well, she's -- yes.

MCCARTHY: She's a lame-duck speaker. She's on a farewell tour.

Where was she last month when the Democrats were working on reconciliation? The U.K. Where is she today? She's back in Europe while they're supposed to be concerned about the debt ceiling. She's on her farewell tour.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MCCARTHY: And that's why in the reconciliation bill, she put $200 million from our hardworking taxpayers for a park in her district.

BARTIROMO: Wow. Well, we reported last week that she was going to Italy, yes. She's there now.

Real quick. It feels like they're willing to do anything to stay in power. We know that voting laws have changed in, I believe, 18 states. Do you feel that the GOP can take back the majority next year? Because, clearly, these policies are not winnable, but can they still win? Do you feel that enough has been done for a free and fair election for these congressional races in 2022?

MCCARTHY: Yes, we are making great improvements in, as you say, 18 states.

But we have also been able to stop H.R.1, where the Democrats would have greater control of our election, of what we could actually say, a speech czar, to make the Democrats have greater control when it comes to the Federal Election Commission.

And these states is where the rules need to change. We need to clean the rolls up. Like, in Los Angeles, there's more than 1.2 million people on the rolls. That's more than who are old enough to actually register to vote there.

BARTIROMO: OK.

MCCARTHY: And this is what -- the plan that Republicans in Congress have. But, yes, we can win, and we will win.

And anybody there that wants to help us, just go to TaketheHouse.com because we need to hold this Biden administration not only accountable, but secure our borders and get this -- stop the inflation and get the economy moving again.

BARTIROMO: Yes. Well, the president of Panama has been -- has been warning there are more caravans on the way.

Congressman, it's good to see you this morning. Thanks so much for being here, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

We will see you soon, sir. Thank you.

Quick break.

And then, as the DOJ and FBI target innocent parents concerned about Critical Race Theory, actual crimes, corruption and power grabs go unnoticed, China undermining the U.S. and its allies, the nation's top decorating general claiming China was concerned that Donald Trump would invade China, so he had to de-escalate by telling our adversary he would give them a heads-up.

We will talk with John Ratcliffe when we come back about that, former director of national intelligence.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE POMPEO, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We have been out around the world just making sure everybody had the same information, that countries understand the risk of putting this Huawei technology into their I.T. systems.

We can't forget these systems were designed by -- with the express work alongside the Chinese PLA, their military in China. They are creating a real risk for these countries and their systems, the security of their people. Europeans care deeply about their privacy. The risks to privacy from this technology is very, very real.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: That was Secretary Pompeo with me back in February 2019. Wow, how times have changed.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on "Mornings With Maria" outlining the Trump administration's hard line on Chinese telecom giant Huawei, which is backed and funded by the CCP. President Biden has taken a different, much more lenient approach to the China threat, his DOJ recently dropping fraud charges against Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the Chinese Communist Party member and Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei.

Her release was a top priority for the party, the Communist Party. And now we are hearing reports that the U.S. is buying surveillance drones made by China for the FBI and the Secret Service.

My next guest warned the administration against emboldening China on his way out the door, but was ignored. John Ratcliffe is the former director of national intelligence. He joins me now.

Good to see you. So nice to have you, John. Thanks for being here.

JOHN RATCLIFFE, FORMER U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: You bet.

BARTIROMO: Is the U.S. buying drones from China?

RATCLIFFE: Yes, those reports are accurate, as reflected.

The Biden administration, through the FBI and Secret Service, purchased from DJI, which is -- which is a company that the Trump administration actually flagged in 2017. Department of Homeland Security said that that specific company was using its drones for the purpose of providing information on U.S. critical infrastructure to the Chinese Communist Party.

And that was moderate confidence that that was taking place, which is why our administration took all of those out and basically advanced a policy where we wouldn't use that Chinese technology. You outlined the kind of concerns that Huawei and companies that are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party pose to our national security.

So, like so much the Biden administration has done on national security lately, this makes very little sense. It's harmful to our national security. And, also, Chinese drone technology is not as good as U.S. drone technology.

So, it's hard to make sense out of what's doing this, other than it is consistent with the Biden administration taking a softer approach, trying to promote a false narrative that somehow China is a competitor or not an adversary.

And you would think that the lessons learned from COVID would treat -- would teach everyone that China's not to be trusted and that moves like this are harmful to our national security posture.

BARTIROMO: This morning, I saw a report, illegal alien from China hit with federal charges for allegedly setting fire to a historic Alabama church.

I mean, all of that work that your administration did in terms of confronting the China threat, there's a list of indictments that we have here, and this is only a handful of them from 2020.

The list is long in terms of the crackdown on Chinese espionage, everybody from the U.S. University of Arkansas professor indicted for wired passport fraud, to the head of the Biology Department at Harvard, who were being paid to send information back to China.

We haven't seen any indictments under Joe Biden. Has the espionage threat gone away? Or are there spies right now in the United States, and particularly in Wall Street firms, from your standpoint?

RATCLIFFE: Yes.

Well, absolutely. In fact, to that point, Maria, I went to Capitol Hill as the director of national intelligence last year to brief Congress on those efforts, and particularly on China's efforts to target members of Congress at a rate of six times greater than any other country. And you're familiar with Chinese spies and a relationship with California Congressman Eric Swalwell.

So, the idea that all suddenly stopped is nonsensical. The reason you're not seeing this is, the Department of Justice gets what it focuses on. And, right now, very clearly, the Biden Department of Justice and law enforcement think that American parents are terrorists...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

RATCLIFFE: ... and not Chinese espionage agents that are very clearly not just in Washington, D.C., but, as you said, in Wall Street, this narrative of China as a noble strategic competitor, as Wall Street banks are selling trillions of dollars in debt and equities in Chinese companies to U.S. investors and retirees.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

RATCLIFFE: There are so many both in Washington and in Wall Street that don't want China to be the bad guy.

And, as I said before, recent events around the world that resulted in the deaths of four million people worldwide at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party through COVID should teach a lesson that China's not to be trusted, particularly with regard to national security.

BARTIROMO: Yes. And every time Biden has a phone call with Xi, he doesn't bring up the origins of COVID.

But I want to get to two more items here.

Mark Milley. This week, we know that the CCP flew 150 jets into the Taiwanese airspace. They are bullying Taiwan. They have made it very clear they want a reunification. They want to invade and acquire Taiwan.

And yet Mark Milley claims that the U.S. is the threat, and that he had to de-escalate things by calling his Chinese counterpart and saying, if Trump invades China, we will give you a heads-up in advance.

You were the director of national intelligence at the time. What does the intelligence say that -- around Trump potentially invading China? What can you tell us?

RATCLIFFE: There was no credible intelligence that the Chinese believed that to be the case.

I mean, the story that Bob Woodward told where -- in his book, apparently, where Mark Milley is the hero of that story reflects that, on October 30, General Milley felt the need to call his Chinese counterpart to de- escalate.

Now, keep in mind, Maria, from a time frame standpoint, that's four days before the presidential election. Now, the idea that something like that took place, and Mark Milley, as the president's principal military adviser, didn't brief President Trump on that or myself, as the president's principal intelligence adviser, didn't brief President Trump, would tell you that it just didn't happen.

I have had Trump Cabinet members when this story broke contact me saying, what is General Milley talking about?

There was nothing to de-escalate. We held no National Security Council meetings regarding this in the days in advance.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

RATCLIFFE: It's simply not true. And so Mark Milley was the hero in a fiction that didn't take place.

And what's troubling about that, Maria, is a sitting chairman of the Joint Chiefs shouldn't be partisan and political. And he clearly went out of his way to participate in a hit piece book against President Trump.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

RATCLIFFE: And it's just inappropriate. And I don't think that he should be serving in that role.

BARTIROMO: John...

RATCLIFFE: To your point about Taiwan...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

RATCLIFFE: ... we predicted this.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

RATCLIFFE: Well, we predicted this.

We said there'd be a ripple effect from Afghanistan, that our adversaries, particularly China in the Indo-Pacific, would test American resolve in the face of retreat and a surrender to the Taliban.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

RATCLIFFE: And that's exactly what's happened in Taiwan.

And we cannot afford to let that happen. And, unfortunately, I think the Chinese are going to continue to be aggressive over the next three years when they see weak leadership in the White House.

BARTIROMO: Real quick, before you go, got to ask you about John Durham.

We have these handwritten notes which you declassified from John Brennan. And in these notes, John Brennan clearly briefs President Obama that the idea to tie Trump to Russia was an idea from a foreign policy adviser of Hillary Clinton.

You declassified these notes. And it is clear that they show Brennan telling Obama, we have -- we have intelligence that proves Hillary Clinton is trying to tie Trump to a Russia scandal.

And that was part of, obviously, what they knew to be true, even though they made believe they thought Trump was colluding and the media followed suit.

Your thoughts on the Michael Sussmann indictment and whether or not we're going to see any more indictments from John Durham. You worked so hard on this as well when you were a congressman.

RATCLIFFE: Well, we predicted it.

Maria, you and I talked about it on this show. We said there was Pfizer abuse. And Kevin Clinesmith was indicted on lying to the Pfizer court to spy on the Trump campaign. And then, on your show, we talked about this very fact, that the Hillary Clinton campaign created the Trump-Russia collusion. And the intelligence community and the FBI knew that.

And they briefed not just President Obama, but Vice President Biden and the entire national security team. I expected and said there would be indictments forthcoming. Michael Sussmann is the first of what I would hope would be a number, based on the fact I provided not just those declassified documents, but I provided 1,000 intelligence community documents that I think support additional charges that I would expect John Durham to bring.

BARTIROMO: OK.

RATCLIFFE: My only surprise is that it's taken this long.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

RATCLIFFE: I hope that justice delayed is not justice denied.

BARTIROMO: All right, John, good to see you this morning. Thanks very much.

RATCLIFFE: You bet.

BARTIROMO: We're going to take a break and then talk with Candace, Candace Owens, when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

Parents across the country are refusing to be muzzled and bullied by Joe Biden's DOJ, after A.G. Merrick Garland's announcement earlier this week that the FBI will investigate intimidation and potential threats of violence by parents at school board meetings across the country.

One Florida mom got a standing ovation Thursday when she called for a mass exodus from the public school system during a panel discussion in Virginia. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUISHA KING, FLORIDA MOTHER: You're at home wanting -- trying to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for your kids. And the FBI could be knocking at your door because you might have said the wrong thing at a school board meeting.

These people, they're not -- they are serious. They want to silence us and shut us down.

I really think, at this point, the only thing to do is have a mass exodus from the public school system. That's it.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: Joining me right now is Candace Owens. She is the host of "Candace" on The Daily Wire.

And, Candace, you said on this program months ago, pull your kids out of the public school system. Your reaction to what's taking place?

CANDACE OWENS, HOST, "CANDACE": I'm very happy to see it. I have been beating my drum for a long time, saying, guys, look what's coming around the corner. You know what they're doing. They're classifying anything that stands against the state as a form of domestic terrorism.

We saw this, obviously, most notably, after January 6, a lot of lies being told by the media. And, in reality, what they were trying to do were two things. They were first trying to say -- issue a threat to any person that was awake to what this administration was always going to do that, if you ever try to stand up to us, we have no problem locking up political dissidents.

They were also trying to brainwash everybody else to think that any extreme efforts taken from the government wants to say, hey, listen, we're fighting domestic terrorism.

Well, now they have expanded their tentacles. Now we're looking at parents. Parents are rightfully standing up, left and right. And this is not partisan at all, left and right, and saying, what is going on in these school systems?

Our kids are systematically becoming dumber. That's a fact, if you look at a standardized test scores, which is why they want to do away with standardized tests, because it tells parents, hey, your kids are not actually learning anything. They're getting dumber and dumber and dumber every single year.

And, at the same time, you're trading in, and they're saying, you know what, we want to teach them Critical Race Theory? We want to teach them about emotional psychological conditioning.

I mean, the programs they're trying to implement, Maria, I want to be very clear, this is psychological conditioning like we haven't seen since we learned about Stalin youth, communist youth programs. And they want to make sure that kids are at first -- first and foremost allegiant to the state and not to their parents, not to their family.

And parents are rightfully standing up and saying this is wrong. And what's happening in response? Joe Biden's administration's looking at them and they're saying, you know what, you're domestic terrorists too.

BARTIROMO: Well, I mean, he's taking a page out of the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP is making sure their kids are beating the American kids as well.

Look, I got to ask you if there's a real threat to parents. Will they actually be arrested?

Let's take a break and talk about that when we come right back.

Stay with us. We're with Candace Owens this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

We are back with Candace Owens, the host of "Candace."

And, Candace, where is this going in terms of this overreach from the Department of Justice? You have been so brave and a cultural warrior on all of this. You told us this was happening a long time ago. Where is this going?

OWENS: Unfortunately, it's really scary.

So, listen, they look at children as the future because children are the future, right? So a government that wants to maintain itself, if they want to maintain this Marxist government, they need to guarantee that they can have your children.

If you deny them access to your children, then they can't guarantee that they're going to be able to exist and sustain itself. So what's happening next -- and I keep telling people to pay attention what's happening internationally.

What happened in France last year was that they banned homeschooling. They did it under the guise that, well, at home, there's radical threats, there's homegrown terrorists, we're dealing with all these Islamic terrorists, and the one way that we can prevent this is to guarantee that nobody's allowed to homeschool.

So, now you are not allowed to homeschool your child. Imagine not being given the option as a parent, you birthed a human being, to not homeschool your child.

Well, let me tell you, if that's them catching a sneeze, then America is about to catch a cold, OK? If France caught a sneeze, we're going to catch a cold. They're going to start saying that terror -- domestic terrorism is happening at home, and the only way to fight it, to go against these Trump supporters, these conservatives, is to guarantee that all children must be enrolled in the public schools.

This is why I say to parents over and over and over again, the time is now. Remove your children from these indoctrination camps. They're not learning to be smart. They're not focused on hard academics. They are being brainwashed and systematically controlled.

And what they want to produce, by the way, are failures, because it guarantees then that they will have children that grow up to be adults that are dependent on the government. And a totalitarian government that's focused on Marxist principles needs people that are dependent upon them.

That is what is happening right now in this country.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

OWENS: Pull your children out of public schools.

BARTIROMO: Candace, let me just say, Garland's daughter is married to the co-founder of an education company funded by Mark Zuckerberg, and they promote Critical Race Theory.

Candace Owens, thank you.

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