Matt agreed to be here. Kennedy will be back tomorrow at noon eastern. Now, heres harris. Harris lets begin as we await the start of a muchanticipated House Judiciary Committee hearing. President trumps former Campaign Manager, Corey Lewandowski, is such testify at any moment as the democrats ramp up their impeachment investigations. You are watching outnumbered overtime. Im harris faulkner. Now we will hear the chairman and Ranking Member giving the opening statements. But there is already friction inside the room that you are looking at right now, after the white house moved to limit the scope of lewandowskis testimony and ordered two former aides not to appear before this committee panel. Chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge is live outside that hearing room on capitol hill. Things starting to get really busy in there now. Thats right, harris. Im just looking over my shoulder because we are still waiting for Corey Lewandowski. We were told 20 minutes ago he
would be arriving in the next 1. A lot of activity at the far end of the hallway, if you panned down this way. I cant see Whether Lewandowski has finally arrived. In advance of the hearing, the white house has told the committee that they are invoking something called constitutional immunity. They say this is designed to protect the office of the presidency, whether its a republican or a democrat. In other words, that the conversation between the president and his closest aides remain confidential. On that basis, they have instructed two former white house aides, rob porter and Rick Dearborn, not to appear today. But Corey Lewandowski was never former to formally a part of the administration. He was part of the campaign. So he doesnt have that immunity. But he has been directed not to answer questions that go beyond what he told special Counsel Robert Mueller. Earlier today we heard from White House Spokesman Hogan Guilty who laid out there arguments this morning. Its our understanding he
will testify before congress about the Public Matters that were released in the mueller investigation, and we dont really have anything further other than to say that private communications between anyone and the president are just that. Private. In their subject to immunity. Never wants a drill down on a series of episodes in 2017 that involve the president , and were documented by the Special Counsel as well as lewandowski, and the former attorney general, jeff sessions. According to the report, the president asking him to curtail the Special Counsel russia investigation for the Mueller Report found that lewandowski did not follow that order and ultimately asked Rick Dearborn to be the messenger, but he also refused. Speaking to a new york Radio Station in advance of todays hearing, Chairman Nadler said he does not expect impeachment to get through the senate. But that uncovering new evidence is worth it. Have to show that this
kind of behavior, trashing the constitution, trashing all the norms which guarantee democratic government, aggrandizing power to the presidency and destroying the separation of powers, thereby leaving the president to become and more of a tyrant, cannot be tolerated. And cannot be normalized. That commotion i was talking about at the top of the hit was about something, lewandowski has just entered the hearing room and it should get underway sometime in the next few minutes. Harris my microphone wasnt on, i was trying to tell people he was actually walking in the door as you were talking, and we went to that piece of video. Corey lewandowski is now sitting where we can see the back of him, and you see all of this scrum of reporters perched to get the front of him with their cameras. He is trained for the camera, and this hearing will start in just a
moment. We have the opportunity to talk to some of the numbers of congress as they are getting set to do this, so as we wait for that, i would say this Corey Lewandowski is the first impeachment witness to appear before the House Of Representatives Judiciary Committee since former special Counsel Robert Mueller testified in july about his investigation of Russian Election interference. As we wait to hear from Corey Lewandowski, we do know from catherines reporting of the white house has instructed him not to talk about conversations he had with the president , after he became president. Including an exchange of the white house that democrats view as evidence of the president obstructed justice and may need to be impeached. All of that off the table. It basically is whatever he has told Robert Mueller, and the Mueller Report. We know the democrats wanted a dramatic reading of that. Perhaps they will get another one today. Lets go to republican congressman andy biggs of arizona, who sits on this committee, and will have the
opportunity to question the president s former Campaign Manager inside the hearing. This is like grabbing you for a quick selfie before it all begins. What will you want to ask . First of all, i just want to make sure he has plenty of opportunity to clarify with the democrats were to be asking. Thats the first thing. The second thing we will talk about his regard to the origins of this investigation. If you knew anything about this. In reality he has worked on the campaign, and he was never an employee of the white house or this administration. We are going to be talking, im going to be asking questions to clarify that. I think primarily the democrats are going to try to force the issue. But i think corey is perfectly capable, quite frankly, harris, of handling himself. I want to make sure he has ample opportunity to rebut any think of the democrats or imply. Harris as one of our coasts on the couch on outnumbered lots are pointed
out, he might be on that shortlist of people who was actually looking forward to going and testifying. He can certainly grab attention. I want to talk about what he can and cannot say. Certainly the conversations you had oneonone with the president you been in the white house, off limits. But what about anything outside the purview of, say, those hours he spent with bob mueller . I think anything outside of what he said with Robert Mueller is probably off limits. I think we need to be vigilant on that, because in reality jerry nadler, the chairman of this committee, he gave a very specific set of iterations of boundaries. If he is going to set the boundaries, we need to make sure he stays within those boundaries. We are going to watch that very carefully and probably will have to raise some objections if he tries to walk beyond that. Harris weve been talking
about impeachment, and democrats now want to impeach the president , they want to impeach justice kavanaugh. These terms, though, mean Different Things in different settings. What are we looking at today . This isnt really impeachment. Right, this has nothing to do with an impeachment. They have not done the proper procedure to actually open an impeachment investigation, regardless of what they say. With everything trying to do and mr. Nadler, i thought, has been unintentionally frankel about this they are searching for a peg to hang an impeachment out on so they can actually officially take this to the floor, open an impeachment investigation, and bring it back. Thats really what this boils down to today. Frankly, getting the cart before the horse as they want is on this. Harris i dont mean any disrespect, i know your colleagues on both side of the isle are very capable and talented people. But is there anyone among the democrats was a better investigator than bob mueller . How are they going to get that peg, if you didnt get it . They are not going to get the peg. Thus the irony in theres nothing we will turn up. We dont have the same budget, seam investigators, same people who have been spending a full on this thing, like Robert Mueller did. So they wont get anything new, and Corey Lewandowski probably dash the way that he placed things, i think this is going to get turned into a circus today. We are going to observe that. I will be sitting on the front row, and you will come too, harris. Harris yes, we are all perched. I know that you will be among those asking questions, so we appreciate your time ahead of the hearing. Corey lewandowski at the center of your screen. Everybody focused on him with their cameras. This is getting ready to get started at any moment. The congressman, andy biggs, from arizona. Thank you very much. I want to bring in one of our political analysts right now. Im going to ask whether or not he is ready. Okay. Lets go to a reporter first. Chief White House Correspondent john roberts now from the north lawn. John . I think Congressman Biggs at the nail on the said the head there. Knowing Corey Lewandowskis i do, having spoken to him as many times as i have over the course of the Trump Campaign in the preceding years, and as well as the years since, lewandowski is probably likely going to be like a cat playing with a mouse here in congress. I dont know if he will turn it into a circus, but i think is going to turn it into a very interesting hearing. If the democratic members of congress are hoping that they are going to catch lewandowski in some sort of a trap, they really dont know the type of individual that they are dealing with. He is sharpwitted, he is quicktongued, very fast on his feet, and he definitely knows what he will and will not talk
about. Not just because of any Marching Orders he got from the white house, but lewandowski is a smart guy who is very supportive of the president. Knows where the lines are, and can walk right up to it and not walk over it. I think the democrats on the committee are going to have their hands full if they are trying to trip up this witness. Harris just to spend a little bit of time on the people who are not there, those two aids the white house blocked, the good faith hes only going to go so far, and they do have the same amount of faith as anybody else asked to come before the committee. I want to give you an idea as a warm up here. This is a guy who knows how to think on his feet. He is definitely already got preset ideas on what is going to talk to commerce about. He definitely wont go outside those parameters. He knows how to stay within the lines when it comes to divulging
information. I can tell you over the course of the campaign, he got into a couple of incidents. One of which was the armgrabbing incident, which may have ultimately played to his demise as Campaign Manager. When it comes to using his brain that has mouth, he is pretty good at it. I think congress is going to have a hard time getting past anything but the canned answers that lewandowski will come out with. Again, as Congressman Biggs said, i think hes going to use that weight and mental acuity to really kind of throw it back in their face, as well. Harris john roberts, thank you very much for standing by to handle the breaking news with us as we await this hearing. The former Campaign Manager for the knife and candidate and now president trump. I want to bring in guy lewis, a u. S. Attorney who served with attorney general william barr under the george h. W. Bush administration. Always great to have you, and
your perspective on full display, helping us navigate these situations. Corey lewandowski. We talked about that maybe hes one of the few people on a short list that would welcome a day like today. Congressman biggs of arizona says he will be ready. What would you ask him . Let me tell you, its a bad call in terms of calling an adverse witness as your first witness and with the democrats claim is an impeachment prosecution. Id never do it as a prosecutor, and ihink he is going to put it right back at them. What would i ask him . Good question. If im on the democrats side, i want to try and get everything i can about conversations with the president , which are indeed privileged. At least on this point. If im on the republicans side, i want to establish, look, this whole thing was a witch hunt, and i suspect we are going to hear that term over and over and over again. Harris just to go back to that Privilege Conversation with
the president , dont you look kind of silly when you keep asking about something you know you cant get your hands on . Harris, they tried to get don mcgahn, the white House Counsel, in there. He has filed papers. They are in court right now arguing about this very same issue, what is privilege, what is not privileged. Why not join the two cases . Why not let this thing proceed in an orderly manner, unless really the only purpose is to try and get on the 6 00 news tonight and make some kind of harris or 1 00 p. M. Eastern, which is Whats Happening now [laughter] you are asking a similar question that ive been asking. Why not wait for the ig inspector report, michael horowitz, to come out all this to and fisa, and the origins of the russia investigation connect taking a close look at all of the player. The Mueller Report didnt deliver the political poison that they were looking for in terms of going after the president on impeachment. Would you be smart to wait for the fact of this next investigation can back something everyone agrees on. Or with the gretas job. Well, he thought that about bob mueller, too, until he didnt like what he said. What a novel idea. Wait for the facts [laughs] yes, of course it makes sense. Of course thats what you want to do. The facts arent going to support the narrative but the other side, the democrats, want to try and proclaim. Its just not in their cards. As a result, you will have this back and forth today, trying to create this Confrontation Consl confrontation between the executive and legislative branch. This will be about what john roberts and with the senator said. Itll be cory answering questions making the calmest people look kind of foolish. Harris did use the constitution . Because you are well aware of the fact that September 17th is constitution day. I did [laughs]
harris ive got you lets talk about the republican perspective in all this. You heard from Congressman Biggs, they are almost in a supporting role, making sure that what needs to get out from lewandowski in terms of understanding the questions from democrats is happening. Boy, oh, boy. Heres what theyve got Corey Lewandowski is going to walk in with a punch list. Hes going to have a sheet of paper in front of him. Its going to have one, two, and three. Russia investigation with the hoax, this thing is a witch hunt, bob mueller has looked at every bit of this, three ways to sunday, and has come up with nothing. And attorney general bill barr likewise has also looked at it and passed on it. What are we doing here . What are we here for . Harris legally, what are we looking at . You got the impeachment inquiry, which this is not. They had a meeting, democrats, earlier this week. And they said, would you go ahead with talking impeachment . Thats not putting impeachment in motion. Indeed, harris, the republicans who file those papers in the don mcgahn case have made fun. Literally, made fun of the moving target here. It is impeachment. Its not impeachment. It is initial impeachment. So its kind of ridiculous, to be candid. Harris it has begun. Lets watch and listen to give. Good deal. I hope that in what should be a spirited discussion of these issues today, we will stay focused on the issues, take care to keep our comments from being directed personally toward the president. I would like to recognize myself for an opening statement. Todays hearing is entitled president ial Obstruction Of Justice and abuse of power. This hearing is the first one formally designated under the committees procedures adopted last week, in connection with our investigation to determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment with respect to president trump. We subpoenaed three witnesses to
this hearing. Rick dearborn, rob porter, and Corey Lewandowski. Unfortunately we learned last night that the white house is blocking the first two from even showing up, and tightlylimiting the third. The white house has no authority, legal or otherwise, to give these orders. We wanted these three individuals to testify before the committee and the American People because they are critical witnesses to the incidents of Obstruction Of Justice laid out in the Mueller Report. At least five of those episodes, evidence laid out in the Special Counsel report, established all the elements of Obstruction Of Justice were met. Today, despite the roadblocks the white house has thrown up, we will focus on one of the most concerning of those five episodes. It is the president ordering the attorney general, through mr. Lewandowski, to stop the Special Counsels investigation into the president and his campaign. As the report details, mr. Dearborn was enlisted as part of that effort, as well. Mr. Porter has other Critical Evidence regarding obstruction. As our hearings with the special
counsel and other outside experts established, and anyone else involved in these episodes of obstruction would have been charged with a crime. Anyone else. Let that sink in. The president knows this. The white house is intent on preventing the American People from hearing the details. So it is no surprise that the white house blocked two of our witnesses, mr. Porter and mr. Dearborn, from showing up at all today. On behalf of the president , the white house, and the primitive justice, there advancing the same spurious legal doctrine they did when this many called on the most important obstruction witness to testify, former white House Counsel don mcgahn. They claim to porter and dearborn, like mcgahn, are absolutely immune from testifying before congress. There is no such thing. The only court ever to consider this absolute immunity doctrine totally rejected it. That is why we have gone to court in the mcgahn case to set it aside. What is happening today is more
troubling than mcgahns failure to appear, because even if we apply at dojs own made up the rules of absolute immunity, i question how mr. Dearborn fits under those rules. According to doj opinions, absolute immunity applies to president s immediate advisors who serve as the president s alter ego. To extend this already dubious doctrine to someone like mr. Dearborn, who was far more removed from the president than mcgahn, is a dangerous new stretch. I think we should call this what it is, an absolute coverup by the white house. Mr. Lewandowski is here, and his Vital Information about president ial Obstruction Of Justice. If the white house wants to limit our and your ability to hr it all. Mr. Lewandowski is called alone one on one into the oval office on in june of 2017 and again in july of 2017. In the president did something i find startling. He dictated a speech to
mr. Lewandowski. A speech not for mr. Lewandowski, but for Attorney General Sessions for delivery. He secretly told mr. Lewandowski to put the following words in the ags mouth. Im going to meet with the Special Prosecutor to explain this is very unfair and let the Special Prosecutor move forward with investigating Election Modeling for future elections, so nothing can happen in future elections. That quote is from volume 2, page 91 of the Mueller Report. As the Mueller Report found, Investigation Into Future elections would have cut off the investigation of any past conduct which struck at the heart of the Special Counsel. It would have ended the unification of the presence conduct. The evidence found by the Special Counsel that all the elements of Obstruction Of Justice. Mr. Lewandowski was in nervous about this, as it should have been. Very serious questions about criminal conduct. To forbid him from doing anything regarding the mueller
investigation. It was certainly not allowed to curtail it. So mr. Lewandowski tried to surreptitiously meet with the ag and try to pass the buck to mr. Dearborn. Mr. Lewandowski gave mr. Dearborn the script that had been dictated by the president. All the while, telling the president he would follow through on the president s orders. So that is what we want to try and learn more about today. As we learned with Special Counsel mueller, Witness Testimony is critical to any investigation. But the white house does not want us or the American People to hear this story in full. Mr. Lewandowskis conversations with the president , are protected from disclosure, Executive Branch confidentiality interests. They say he may testify about president ial communications that are already disclosed in the Mueller Report, but no more. They make that claim despite the fact that mr. Lewandowski was at all times a private political
operative, apparently was not offering advice of any kind. The usual prerequisite for Executive Privilege. It was enlisted for apparent wrongdoing. No court has ever said the president is entitled to confidentiality under these circumstances. Indeed, the department of justice has said Executive Privilege should not be invoked to conceal evidence of wrongdoing, on the part of executive officers. The white house is advancing a new and dangerous theory. The crony privilege. It makes absolute immunity look good by comparison. Where are the limits . This is a coverup, plain and simple. If it were to prevail, especially while the Judiciary Committee is considering whether to recommend articles of impeachment, it would upend the separation of powers as envisioned by our founders. Todays coverup is part of a pattern of the white house blocking congress. The president announced his desire to fight all the subpoenas. The white houses obstruction of
Congress Investigation of the administration. Weather related to children in cages, security clearances, or their failure to defend the country from oncoming attacks by a foreign adversary. Mr. Lewandowski, you are here under subpoena. That means you are required to answer our questions. All of our questions. Completely and truthfully. An investigation also extends beyond the four corners of the Mueller Report. We are looking at corruption and abuse of power more broadly, so we will inquire about other subjects from as well. We will be not daunted by the cover. We will secure accountability for any wrongdoing, because no one is above the law, not even the president of the united states. I now recognize the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, the gentleman from georgia, mr. Collins, for his opening statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for introducing this hearing, which is now, as you said, under the new rules. Sort of the old school, the old ruse, the new rules. And yet here we go again. We are going to say that they are new because we like the packaging ive never seen a majority so amazed with packaging and all my life you know why . Because they cant tell whats inside. They cant sell the product. So they just keep packaging it differently. I think i agree with my chairman. We should call it for what it is. Its just another simple hearing. Its actually become this. It has become lets read the Mueller Report for audiobook. We had mr. Mueller here. We had a long day of it. Judging by all accounts, he didnt go real well. Weve proclaimed for over nine months, and almost two years, that there is an impeachable offense, as my chairman has said, clearly in the Mueller Report. But heres the problem dash 17 of the members of the Judiciary Committee have said that they think the president ought to be impeached. So why are we still investigating it . 17, you get some more. The problem is you dont have the votes. You dont have the number. Even if you got out of this committee, you dont have it on the floor. Thats your problem. So the thing we are going to do is we are going to drag this committee through oversight hearings, talking about things that have been talked about, and now zoom, add. Youre going to put filters up, and all things, we are going to try and imply that this president should not be president. Its really interesting to me that we just said, you are just a moment ago, that these madeup rules at doj. Its interesting that now they are made up rules. They werent made up rules when the Obama Administration use them. Where they made up rules then . Just asking. For a friend. This is amazing as we come into this situation, the chairman also said that while we are doing this and stopping committees from searching into products like the Immigration Issue and foreign influence, i
just want to remind everybody here watching to see the show today, also to remind the majority, that they have complete jurisdiction over immigration. We have complete and total jurisdiction over immigration, for the most part. All we have to do, if you want to fix the border come put a bill up. You dont want to do that, you like this. You like having the press here. You likely cameras. Because it makes it appear like something is happening thats not. But The Real Thing that is coming out, and the American People started to get it. They are starting to get that if you are just howling at the wind you are not doing anything. Youre making them think you are, but youre not. So dont tell me, dont bring to me immigration anymore that you want to deal with. You just want to bring Administration Officials in here and yell at them because you dont like Whats Happening. I agree, we need to fix this. Bring this a bill. Bring my bill, bring your bill. But do something. Quit talking about foreign influence. The only thing we agree on in the mueller ports foreign influence from russia, but yet, wheres the bill . Wheres the bill . Where is waldo . Wheres the bill . We dont do anything about it. We like to talk about it. Because we think it makes the president look bad. Because thats the application weve been giving for two years. Unfortunately, we also dont really want information in this committee, either. If we did, we would work like the Intel Committee had done. Wed had that issue before. They had to actually work with witnesses to get them to come in. Mr. Lewandowski, i believe he said he would come without a subpoena but we subpoenaed him anyway. Because it looks as i was told earlier this year from the chairmans perspective, a subpoena is a start of a dialogue. Not according to the dictionary, but who cares . We are just the Judiciary Committee. This is the problem youre having. This committee doesnt want to interview dom again behind closed doors. They want him in front of everybody. They want to do this out front. They dont try to actually get information. Thats what real oversight is. The oversight is trying to get information. But we dont do that. I understand its tough, making a promise and not keeping it. I understand. All of us in this room can relate to a time where he made a promise and we couldnt keep it. The majority made a promise. We will impeach him we will investigate him for most of them it happened in november 2016, because they couldnt believe that donald trump won. And they still cant get over it today. So what can we do . We have public hearings, lots of flashbulbs, embarrassing the president , not gathering the facts, not investigating, not doing oversight. This is certainly not being fair, but we like to issue subpoenas. We are setting a world record at that. 40 times faster than the previous chairman. But we dont want any answers, because we are not willing to engage in dialogue to get information from folks. You know, i believe this is more just wanting to get in here here. Its not like mr. Lewandowski has had silence on this issue. He has testified before committees. Now he has also voluntarily testified for the Special Counsel, by way of mr. Mueller. We have had access to all of the summaries of his testimony. This is not new. But yet, it is new, because its another time to rehash an old story. This is the fall. This is when abc and nbc come all the broadcast folks, they bring out their new shows. This isnt the summer reruns season we should get into something new. But i just want to show you last thing before i turn it back over, and we will get the show going. The Judiciary Committee is the committee for a reason. Its because we oversee the court system. For any person who has actually been here and actually appeared before a judge, a judge is pretty stickler for rules. I just want to point out something. I know some will laugh and some wont care, but for some of us, it does matter. The subpoena today for mr. Lewandowski and the other said 10 00 a. M. This morning. This just shows you how impulsive and poorlydesigned this entire sort of faux Impeachment Charade we are doing is. The subpoena we were to compel an attempt on this money. But todays hearing is at 1 00, not 10 00. The witnesses lacked appropriate notice for the hearing today. Thats a simple basic subpoena issue. But we are the Judiciary Committee. I can understand this and it will fence natural resources, i can understand if they get it wrong. Or transportation. I dont understand how judiciary gets this wrong this chairman wants to hold people in contempt for not showing up. Try to enforce this in court. Because there is no extra letter, there is no clarification of time, and when i was given a subpoenaor my client to appear in court, what time do appear in court . Whenever you feel like it . No the time is asked. Unless the court or the officer giving the subpoena says to finley. Heres the issue. We can do this, i guess, weve wasted enough time with other things. Theres probably a date somewhere october we havent filled up with this mess somewhere. With this, here you go. Mr. Chairman, there is so much we could actually do together. There is so much. As long as we dont have time, we will continue with reruns season. Popcorn still tastes good. I dont know why we do this, except maybe we just have maybe its a deficiency of flashbulbs, i dont know. Because we just like the show, and the show is going to get even more as it goes today. Because the new rules are in effect. Oh wait, they are not new, they are old. But we are applying them to you because you want to look better. I have more of those who will talk about later when we get to some other questions. With that, i yield back. Think you come mr. Collins. I will now introduce todays witness. Corey lewandowski is a political consultant and commentator. He previously served as the first Campaign Manager for Donald Trumps funny 16 president ial campaign. Mr. Lewandowski received a Bachelors Degree in Political Science from the university of massachusetts, and a Masters Degree in Political Science from
american university. He also attended the naval war college. The former White House Deputy chief of staff, Rick Dearborn, and former staff secretary robert porter, have refused to appear today despite dulyissued subpoenas from this committee. As i discussed in my opening statement, i strongly disagree with the white houses assertion of absolute immunity. As to mr. Dearborn and mr. Porter. We are considering all of our available options to enforce the subpoenas. We welcome mr. Lewandowski and thank him for participating in todays hearing. If you would please rise, i will begin by swearing you in. Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you are about to give his true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief, so help you god . Let the record show that the witness has entered in the affirmative. Thank you, and please be seated. Please note that your Written Seaweed will be entered into the record in its entirety. I ask that you summarize your testimony in 5 minutes. To help you stay within that time, there is a timing light on
your table. When the light switches from green to yellow, you have one minute to conclude your testimony. When the light turns red, it signals were 5 minutes have expired. Mr. Lewandowski, you may begin. Chairman nadler, Ranking Member collins, and members of the committee, good afternoon. I would like to start off by expressing my hope that todays hearing will be productive in revealing the truth, both to the committee and to the American People. For the record, and as you likely know, i have already testified before congress on three separate occasions. I sat at length with the staff of the Special Counsels office. There, too, my time and answers were given freely and without hesitation. I think in one form or another ive already answered questions for well over 20 hours. So now here i am before the House Judiciary Committee, to answer the same questions again. Just last week this committee, over the objections of the minority, unilaterally changed the rules to make this an
impeachment proceeding, which is very unfair. However, in the spirit of cooperation, i am prepared to move forward today. I would like to start by recounting the events that brought us to this point. My story of joining the Trump Campaign, working through historic election, and continuing to have the privilege to be part of the greatest Political Movement in our nations history. I present this summary in the interest of truth and transparency to the American People, the very same reason and rationale that this committee offers as a basis for todays hearing. Growing up in a bluecollar, singleparent family in lowell, massachusetts, i learned the value of hard work. That work ethic helped me put myself through both college and graduate school. Prior to becoming a congressional staffer, and ultimately a certified Peace Officer in the state of new hampshire. However, the world of politics was always of passion. And in january of 2015, donald j. Trump, than a private citizen, hired me to help them explore a possible run for the presidency. It was an honor and privilege to play small part in such a
Historic Campaign. The campaign started as a small group of individuals helping mr. Trump to make the decision in june of 2015 to ride down the golden escalator and seek the republican nomination for presidency of the united states. For more than a year i served as Campaign Manager to thencandidate trump in his Historic Campaign, where i led a lean and dedicated operation that succeeded in helping him capture the republican nomination. My job was simple provide mr. Trump with my best advice, spend his money like it was my own, and give him the support he needed to win. I also said to longterm objectives and managed daytoday decisions. I had the privilege, and it was a privilege, of helping transform the Trump Campaign from a dedicated but small makeshift organization to a historical and unprecedented political juggernaut. I am proud to say mr. Trump won 38 primaries and caucuses and received more votes than any candidate in the history of the republican party, all while
being outspent most of the way. The Historic Campaign helped mr. Trump secure the republican nomination, and ultimately the presidency of the united states. However, since election day, whether it was bad actors at the fbi and the Intelligence Community or lies coming from members of the current house majority, there was evidence of collusion. The American People continue to be sold a false narrative with the purpose of undermining the legitimacy of the 2016 results. But no matter the size, campaigns are not always the most efficient organizations. While you run in single congressional districts, just imagine what its like to lead a National Campaign that spans all 50 states of the union. During my time as Campaign Manager, there were competing interests for the candidates time. And a sea of ideas. Some laudable, some sound. A few, not so much. Many of which were dismissed out of hand. Otrs were passed on to staffers to be handled. I also received hundreds of thousands of emails, some days with as many as a thousand emails. Unlike other clinton, i dont
think ive ever deleted any of those many of them will respond to do with either one word answers or forwarded to other staff for additional followup. Throughout it all, into the best of my recollection, i dont recall having any conversations foreign entities, let alone any who are offering to help many play the outcome of an election. As i said publicly many times, anyone who attempted to illegally impact the outcome of an election should spend the rest of their time in jail. Let me stress this fact. During the 2016 election cycle, mr. Trump held no elected position. He was not a government official. Rather, the obama biden information in the Intelligence Community overseen by james clapper, jim comey, and john brennan, have the responsibility of the American People to ensure the integrity of the 2016 election. I believe it to this committee and the market public to decide how successful or not they were in doing their jobs. Regardless, as a Special Counsel determined, it was no conspiracy or collusion between the Trump Campaign, and any
foreign governments, either on y watch or afterwards. Not surprisingly, after the Mueller Report was made public, interest in the fake Russia Collusion narrative has fallen apart. In conclusion, and its sad to say, this country has spent over three years and 40 million taxpayer dollars on these investigations, and it is now clear that the investigation was populated by many trump haters who had their own agenda to take down a dulyelected president of the united states. As for actual collusion or conspiracy, there was the dog none. There has been harassment of this present from the date he won the election. We as a nation would be better served if elected officials like yourself concentrated her efforts to combat the true crises facing our country, as opposed to going down rabbit holes like this hearing. Instead of focusing on petty and personal politics, the committee focused on solving the challenges of this generation, imagine having people we could help or how many lives you could save. As i stated earlier, i have
voluntarily appeared in front of congress on three separate occasions and spoken to members of the Special Counsels office for multiple hours. I will continue to be forthright and cooperative, and i will be as sincere in my answers as this committee is in its questions. Thank you for your testimony. We will now proceed under the five minute rule with questions. At the completion of the members questions, pursuant to the chairmans September 12th 2019 resolution for investigative procedures, and ps will be followed by one hour of Staff Questioning equally divided by the majority and the minority. I will begin by recognizing myself for 5 minutes. Mr. Lewandowski, we received a letter from the white house just yesterday that they will not let you answer any questions beyond what you told the Special Counsel and was publicly released. The white houses instruction to you is based on a bogus claim of Executive Privilege, even though you did not work a single day
for the administration, let alone in the Executive Branch. My colleagues are going to get into the specific events and details, and i am especially troubled by the president s attempt to obstruct Congress Investigation and prevent the American People from learning the truth about what he has done. I want to ask you questions relevant to that issue. Mr. Lewandowski, is it correct that, as reported in the Mueller Report on june 19th, 2017, you met alone in the oval office with the president . Is there a book and page number you can reference me too, please connect i dont have a copy of the report in front of me. Going to turn, page 90. But i sadly ask you, is it correct that as reported in the Mueller Report, on june 19th, 2017, you met alone in the office of the present connect speaker could you read exactly which gimmick i dont have it available to me. I dont the guy need to do that and i have limited time. Did you meet along with the president on that date . I would like you to refresh my memory by providing a copy of the report so i can follow
along. Because you dont have a copy with you connect i dont have a copy with you, congressman. Chairman, i request this caucus stop while this charade is sorted out. Im sorry, Congressman Terry What page was it . The clock should have been solved and should remain stopped. Page 90, volume 2. Which paragraph, sir . I dont have it in front of me. I would like reference, sir, so i can follow along on what you are asking. You dont have an independent recollection of whether you met with the president on that date . Congressman, im just turn to find in the Mueller Report where it states that. You have it in front of you, i gave you the page number. Where on page 90 is it, sir . Mr. Chairman, you got to start the clock. No, i dont have a start the
clock while he filibusters me. Bottom of page 90. Filibustering is different, thats across the hall in the senate. Mr. Chairman, point of parliamentary inquiry, mr. Chairman. The gentleman will state his point of parliamentary inquiry. Is it appropriate for a witness to refuse to answer a question, and instead demand that we reference and point him i asked that the new report be closed and the witness be directed to answer the question. The answer is it is not appropriate, but its on the bottom 2 lines of that page. The clock should start now. Point of order, when will the clock start, mr. Chairman . Was the question is asked, mr. Chairman, the clock should start. Read under overview, second line. Point of order. The witness has the time Point Of Order, point of
order, that overrides it. And you know that. The gentleman will state his Point Of Order. Was the question has been asking reference properly properly to the witness, to answer the question, the clock should start. It cannot be held by you and your cats will go notes the gentleman is correct, clock will start. The question will be answered without further delay paid yes, i see that in the report. Thank you. During that meeting, do you tell the Special Counsel that the president ask you to deliver a mission dont like messages sessions, it was in the Internet General of the united states, page 91. I asked you a question, sir. Im looking for that reference on page 91, congressman. Do not have an independent recollection . Mr. Congressman, im trying to adhere to the white houses request. I answer questions that are provided in the Mueller Report only, so im trying to reference
that report directly about your question, congressman. Where you a white house employee at that time . No, congressman. Speak okay. You do not hold a position in the government whatsoever, did you . Correct. Sitting behind you is counsel to the white house, correct . Thats my understanding. You understand they actually were for the president of the white house . I believe thats accurate. Nevertheless, their lawyers have asked you not answer any questions by the committee other than whats already been disclosed in the report. Is that correct . Congos men, i have to read from the letter the white house provided the committee, if that would help clarify. Would you like me to do that . No, i would like you to answer the question. Have you been directed come rissman, ive never spoken to any members of the white House Counsels office other than saying hello about 15 seconds ago. But you are directed by . I was provided a letter that
i believe this committee was assigned. As explained below, mr. Lewandowskis conversation with the president and with senior advisors to the president are protected from disclosure by longsettled principles, protect Executive Branch confidentiality interests. As a result, the white house is directing mr. Lewandowski not to provide information about such communications beyond the information provided in the portions of the report. We will take that as a yes. The basis of their direction is a claim of Executive Privilege, is that correct . I can read it again, congressman. You are not answering the question. We have already established you were never employed by the white house or the Executive Branch. I have never been employed by the Executive Branch. Sir, did you ask the white House Counsel to be here . As i just reiterated, ive never spoken to anyone at their office. Of the answer is no. Was it their idea for you to not answer questions based on the claim of Executive Privilege . I can reiterate, ive never had a conversation with someone from the white House Counsels office. So it was her idea not to
answer . Ive never had a conversation with someone from the white House Counsels office. Was it your idea not to answer these questions based on Executive Privilege can make yes or no . I can only go by the letter provided. It was not my idea to have you suggested you thought your Committee Kitchens with him were official White House Communications . Commerce men, i have not disclose the substance of any to protect Executive Branch, the jelly. I recognize is not my privilege, but im respecting the white houses decision. Let me ask you questions about your relationship with the present after he assumed office. How many times has the president ask you to meet in the white house . The white house has directed not to disclose how many times did you meet with him alone in the white house in 2017 . I dont know the answer to that. How many times that he directly to deliver a message to a member of his cabinet . They have did he ever discussed with you any concerns they may have committed a criminal offense . The white house has directed
not to disclose the substance of any discussion with the president or his advisors to protect Executive Branch confidentiality. I recognize this is not my privilege. Can i make a Point Of Order . Pursuant to clause, the general is at or paid he has exceeded the time limit under the five minute rule. I will enforce the time limit under the five minute rule. I challenge the ruling of the chair. The ruling of the chairs challenge paid all in favor of overwriting, i roll call. Where is we can make this a lot easier. We can. We will call the role mr. Nadler . The question is, will the ruling of the chair be overruled . My vote is no. Mr. Nadler votes no. Ms. Jackson lee . Ms. Jackson lee votes no. Mr. Cohen . Mr. Cohen votes no. Harris we are watching now former Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski for the Trump Campaign on capitol hill, and a point of process that is happening. In the middle of that hearing, which already has been pretty contentious. I want to bring in chris stirewalt, fox news political editor. What would you say about Whats Happening right now . Woof, close it would be the word i think that comes to mind. This is why congressional earring seldom yield things of interest. Lewandowski is not going to tell them anything. He went to every length that he could possibly go to make asking even the first question, like breaking rocks. Hes not going to come off of that. Hes going to stay right in that
space. Thats why having hearings i understand the polygonal necessity of having this hearing and undertaking this process for nadler and the democrats. They have to have an answer for the numbers of the conference who want action. Theyve got to do something, they have to undertake it. But boy, what a frustrating waste of everyones time. Harris its frustrating and now they are doing this roll call. Going back and forth on points of order and rules and whatnot. I was curious at this point, when term another said going to try 2, page 90, i dont know the paragraph, lewandowski said, the white house has told me what i can and cant talk about, i want to read exactly what it says in the Mueller Report to make sure im allowed to talk about that, and nadler says, dont you have a recollection of it . And then lewandowski says, which paragraph on page 90 and volume 2 . And nadler says, i dont have it in front of me. Dont you . So im confused. Everybody was supposed to bring this report today, is that the case . If they are all going to quote from it . Why didnt you have one in the room . Why Doesnt The Chairman have one in front of him . I dont know. I think its illustrative of a larger consideration here. Which is that this doesnt go anywhere. Right . Harris well that certainly didnt. This is an empty undertaking. Again, i understand why they have to do it. I understand the political necessity of it and i also understand why they have to proceed down this way and that this is the avenue available to them. But, good grief. There is other stuff to do. Harris what is the political necessity . Im watching the very careful dance that the speaker of the house nancy pelosi is doing. Theres a lot of claws in the room when democrats get together. Part of them want impeachment, they are so thirsty they dont know what to do. The other more moderate, wait a minute, if we go too hard on impeachment we almost ensure the incumbent gets back in office. President trump is reelected. So shes having to navigate. So what other politics are at play here . Im not going to question anybodys motives. Im sure the people who believe this is the appropriate thing to do leave for the right reasons, as well. The politics of it, though, are pretty tricky. If youre one of the insurgent, this is a show put on for your benefit. Harris lets get back to the hearing. Chairman nadler is talking once again. Corey lewandowski in the hot seat. The motion the chairman is not following the house rules, i moved to adjourn. The motion is to adjourn. Part of parliament to the inquiry, mr. Chairman if your republicans on this committee are successful in his motion to adjourn, does that mean there would be no hearing in the American People will not hear from mr. Lewandowski about his efforts to obstruct justice . Thats exactly what it means. They can also read i have a point to parliamentary inquiry. The motion is not available. As many are in favor i have a motion of parliamentary inquiry. Mr. Sisley and gets recognized for his, but i dont get recognized . As many are in favor of the motion to adjourn, say aye. A post, no. In the opinion of the chair, the nos have it. Roll call. Roll call as requested, the questions on the motion to adjourn. They will call the roll. Mr. Lather . No. Miss jackson lee . No. Miss jackson lee votes no. Harris how they are doing a roll call on the motion to adjourn. Republicans saying thats what needs to happen at this point. Democrats saying no to that. As far as i can hear it, they did a kind of audibly and how theyre going to do this roll call. Chris stirewalt back with me now. This is collins of georgia using Delay Tactics to try and further frustrate democrats. Harris is it working . I mean, none of this is working. This is all just wasteful. What collins is doing doesnt get the hearing over any quicker, but it does let him show off and it does let him frustrate democrats efforts more. They are all try to frustrate each other and do this stuff. These kinds of public hearings, theres a hope in a hearing like this that later when you get the
Staff Questioning maybe you can get someplace. But even under the circumstances, Given Lewandowski in his approach to this and what he is doing, i cant imagine its going to be fruitful. Its a terribly frustrating wasteful experience. Calling roll call procedural votes is a good example of how our system is broken. Harris a little while ago i had on guy lewis, he worked in the doj with william barr, our attorney general. Years and years ago. He said, look, this will be a circus. You will go back and forth. At the end of the day, its Corey Lewandowski who is really ready for this. If this is an impeachment, this isnt even impeachment light, which is what ive been calling it. This is like at the pre, before you get the horse come of the everything else. For getting something to peg on for impeachment. Democrats have to do something. They cant do nothing. They are trying to baby step their way down this process. As you mentioned before, nancy pelosi does not think this
is probably going right to impeachment isnt strategically a good idea. Harris why do they have to do something . You say that. Why . Because the people who elected them, the numbers of congress who are demanding that action be taken, and that Movement Take place here, or insisting on it. The democratic leadership from the democratic majority, can either go faster or they can go slower. They can try and find a way to accommodate these demands. Sooner or later these demands have to be accommodated, and then you just up doing it this way. It has political and practical upsides but it has these downsides. Harris we are going to resume now, the hearing. Chris, thank you for standing by. My questions are about the presence efforts to interfere with the criminal investigation from self and have nothing to do with official government business. This is clearly just part of the president s continued attempt to cover up his actions. He is obstructing our congressional investigation by preventing you from telling the American People the truth about his misconduct. He will not succeed, and we will not be deterred. Now recognize the gentleman from
georgia for his questions. Think you come mr. Chairman. This past few minutes was totally avoidable and also very frustrating, and since it is also not raise from my perspective the privilege of the rules of the house, which can be discussed on the floor and probably will be. Possibly just a blatant runningover of house rules. My concern is ethics violations, as well. This has got to be run in a different way. At this point, mr. Lewandowski, you have testify before congress multiple times over the past couple years, correct . Yes. Correct me if im wrong youve already testified twice before the house Intel Committee, correct . Yes. Along where the sessions . I think the first session was about seven hours, and the second session was maybe four hours. Weve also testify before senate intel, correct . Yes. About how long is that . About eight hours. You also testified before the Special Counsels office, correct . Yes. How many times . Two separate occasions. For how long . Probably 15 to 16 hours. Okay. And those were voluntarily, correct . Yes, sir. So there was really and you agreed to come here voluntarily, as well, today connect i did. There was no need for basically a flawed subpoena to be issued to you . Correct. Okay. And i want to note that our staff and many of our members have read the full fbi summary of your testimony, because everyone on this committee has access to your summary for months. Have you had an opportunity to review the summaries in preparation for today connect no, sir. Which goes to the point about why he wont be able to remember so many details of the outside of what is specifically remembered dull nitrogen in the new report. That is something that needs to be made aware of. Were you given any guidelines on the topics of subjects of your questions today . Thats a problem we seem to have here. Overbroad subpoenas around here. We could have talked today about your favorite football team. Patriots. So youre pretty happy right now . Tom is a winner. The problem is we dont follow procedure. If it gets in the way of a good story, we dont like it around here. So we will do whatever we want, including brick house rules, to do that as we go forward. In any of the times that youve had today, and especially being questions, you said you plan to answer as best you possibly can. Is that correct . Yes, sir. But at a certain point in time you realize that having testified so many times in these various issues we have that there are certain things does that concern you, having to keep coming back and back again without having proper reference . Without be a problem to you . I think my memory to events that transpired more than two years ago is clear the first time i testify, because it was a year and a half ago in many occasions, or longer. If i can have a specific reference to something, i would be happy to have it. So youre just wanting to make sure you give an accurate
response, and youve also already testified on these issues many times before. Correct . Yes, sir. To imply otherwise is basically in many ways taking a shot at your testimony here, correct . It is. Okay. When he worked on the Term Campaign and he said this earlier, i just wanted to be seated again because weve had hearings here and the Judiciary Committee didnt seem to take, but we will try again did you engage in collusion, quotation, or conspiracy with the russians connect never. Did you observe anyone else doing that . No, sir. When we look at Whats Going On today, i think the concern we have, and many on this side, we have a narrative that failed. The failed narrative is continuing. You are being asked to continue to do something youve done. This whole committee is seeing exactly what you are looking for. If you follow the premise of what the chairman says the majority is looking for, its that they are finding a reason to try and impeach the president. Ive already said, they have found 17 of them the least, but they cant get more on the floor
to do this. This is dragging out. Mr. Lewandowski, i would encourage you to answer the questions fully, as he said he would do. You voluntarily come here even though we decide to throw a flawed subpoena at you. And the others, as well. I think as we go forward here we will see how this actually moves forward. But this is concerning to me, mr. Chairman. We will take this for the this is concerning for me. It is not okay to overrun house minute rules. The five minute rule is a house rule. Its not up for interpretation by the chairman whenever he feels like. Its not debatable. You may not have got your last question in, but weve already discussed and were going to have a lot more discussion on Staff Questioning. Theres plenty of time to get that last little question that you didnt asked to somebody el. Is it worth breaking the house rules . I know some of the house dont care. But at the end of the day, youre accusing a president of very high issues that we got to look at. Youre accusing him and dragging
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