futures." thanks so much for joining us this morning. i'm maria bartiromo. today, dysfunction and stupidity. a government shutdown is looming one week from today as a group of conservative lawmakers blow up republican chances to fund the government at a time that americans are hurting from the impact of the biden administration's terrible policies where pictures expose an invasion underway at the u.s. southern border. sky high inflation bankrupting families and businesses and corruption is in plain sight. republican disrupters are trying the stop funding the government, take down the speak speakerover the house and destroy the victories republicans have had in reversing this bad policy. now the house gears up to the vote on four appropriations bills this upcoming week to partially fund the government just days before the funding deadline. coming up, house judiciary committee chairman jim jordan on the budget battle and if what it means for current leadership. plus, will chuck schumer and the democrats beat the republicans to the punch this week with their own continuing resolution? senator mike lee on what happens to the funding bills once they reach the senate. then, the disrupter trying to blow up the gop unity the, take down the speaker and shut down government. florida congressman matt gaetz on his motives to disrupt the republican wins including investigating potential bribery from joe biden and a cover-up underway at the department of justice. >> have you had personal contact with anyone at fbi headquarters about the hunter biden investigation? >> uh, i don't recollect the answer to that question with, but fbi works for the justice department. >> i'm sorry, i'm sorry, you don't recollect, you don't recollect whether you've talked with anybody at fbi headquarters about an investigation of the president's son? >> i don't believe that i did. maria: no recollection from the attorney general. then, just three days away from the second gop debate and a new poll finds president trump leading president biden by a full 10 percentage points. will any of the candidates cut into president trump's faraway lead? republican presidentialing candidate lahr ily elder is hero assess the current field. plus, mark levin is out with a new book on why the democrats' agenda is hurting america. he's coming up. it's all right here, right now on "sunday morning futures." ♪ ♪ maria: and we begin this sunday morning with the clash on spending in washington and a countdown to a potential government shutdown. a weekend of talks amongst house members to come up with a solution to avoid a government shutdown one week from today. october 1st. speaker mccarthy told us weeks ago that he would pursue a so-called continuing resolution to fund the government for 30 days past next week's deadline as congress now has just with six days to prevent that shutdown. >> i would actually like to have a short-term c.r. only to make our argument stronger. because, maria, if we shut down, all of government shuts down, investigation and everything else. it hurts the american public. but if we're able to pass our appropriation bills, we're many a stronger position to remove those pelosi policies that are locked into law right now. maria: among the challenges, a group of conservatives who refuse to agree to any continuing resolution, a resubject of current spending levels even if it's the just 30 days to allow the house to finish the 11 remaining appropriation bills to fully fund the government. as the united states' national debt is now over $333 trillion -- $33 trillion with interest alone on that debt nearly a trillion dollars. now lawmakers will return on tuesday with hopes to push through at least four appropriations bills to partially turned the government by september 30th. of joining me now with the very latest on these negotiations is this "sunday morning futures" exclusive interview house judiciary committee chairman, chairman jim jordan. mr. chairman, thanks very much for being here. can you tell us where we stand in terms of funding the government? >> well, everyone wants to get the 12 appropriation bills done. i'm all for that, that's how we should operate but, frankly, we're not going to get it done in the next six days, so there's going to have to be some stop gap measure. let's win something when we do it, let's do something that actually benefits the entire country. and everyone knows what that issue is. this is literally politics 101. one really good issue beats fifteen pretty good issues every single time, and the one really good issue right now is the problem on our government. let's say we'll fund the government for 30 days, chuck schumer, but we're going to include a measure that says no money can be used to process or release any new my 2k3wr57b9s into the country. we're on pace to break the record of last year which broke the record for the year before which broke the record for any other year. year after year after year we've seen this unbelievable open border under joe biden, so let's fix it. let's demand that. and, oh, by the way, maria, even democrats agree with this. look at mayor eric adams in new york. let's do that, let's get a win for the american people, and then let's finish these appropriation bill, fund the government the way we should, the right way, the republican way, and let's get all that done. maria: i feel like we were talking about this very scenario six or eight months ago when speaker mccarthy was going through all of those rounds, and we knew then that you needed to get those bills done. why weren't the appropriations bills done in time? >> well, there's been a fight over the number, what level we're actually going to fund at. look, i want to reduce spending too. but in divided government, there's been a number that's agreed on to to fund the government and, frankly, it's less than the year before which is a huge step. when we control one-half of one-third of the government by five votes and we've actually got a negotiated number that's less than joe biden and the democrats spent last year, i think that's a win. so let's hold on that number if we can. there's some debate within our conference, and i get that. let's hold on that number if we can, but let's win the policies. the other policy, frankly, we should consider putting on these bills is the policy that says you can't, you can't fund the attack on your political opponent, which is exactly what joe biden's doing when he's funding this jack smith operation going after his political opponent. and the american people, i think, see that for what it is. it's one of the reasons why president trump's up ten points in the latest poll, for goodness sake, because they know his policies work and joe biden's policies don't. and they see that joe biden is using their tax money to attack president trump. so that's another policy win we could go for that, i think, makes a lot of sense. maria: and i know there are different people who have different priorities. you and marjorie taylor greene want to see that in there, no money, no more money for jack smith, no prosecuting of your political enemies. but there's common ground on the border. everybody knows what's going on on the border, so why couldn't that stand? if who blew it up, and why are you not using that conning resolution with -- continuing resolution with one major focus, make sure you've got money to the border and then work on everything else within this month's time? how come that's not happening? >> well, we're trying. look, i respect people who have a different position and want to save some money. i get that. we understand how bad the debt situation is. but i really think in divided government like we're in right now, the one thing we should focus on is that. we're trying to bring the team together. i still think we can. but i think the it's important if we can send that c.r., that stopgap measure, i think it's important that that we send it first to chuck schumer, because we know what he's going to try to do. he's going to try to increase spending, put additional dollars for ukraine. that's a nonstarter for so many of us in the house. so let's focus on getting that that one thing done, serving it over there -- sending it over there first. that's exactly what we're trying to do in our conference. maria: i want to ask chuck schumer and the democrats why it is we have sent $113 billion to ukraine for their border, and is we've got no money going to the u.s. border. >> great question. maria: can anyone answer that question? >> great question. and, again, maria, if we say no money can be used to process or release any new migrants into the country, we're going to stop it, we're going to fix the problem, we send it over there and chuck schumer says no to it, then he's in in essence saying it's more important to shut down the government than it is to secure our border. i don't think the american people are there. that's why it's so important we send it over there. and frankly, with the ukraine question, no one can ever answer the fundamental question, what is the goal? what ises the objective from -- is it to get russia out of the eastern ukraine? is it to get them all the way out of crimea which they took when president obama was, their administration? if. maria: yep e. >> what is the objective? and until someone can define the goal, i don't think i should continue to send tax dollars from the hard working people from the 4th district of ohio. i don't think we should send american taxpayer money there if no one can tell us what the antibiotickive -- objective is. until we know that, why should we send money there? maria: i want to turn to the judiciary hearing in a second with merrick garland, but real quick, you're going to work on four appropriations bills this week. is that going to be enough -- do you think you're really going to get four bills through this week, and you actually get those done and partially fund the government after september 30th? >> that's -- well, that's the plan, that's the objective. i think we can. i don't think we can get all twelve of them done, but i think we can get those four, and those are the bulk of the spending for the overall budget. so i think we can. we need to work through as much as we canning, but we do need, as we talked about, we need that c.r. sent to the senate with that one key provision or maybe those two key provisions, focus on those two key policies. maria: all right. and those four are homeland security, department of defense, what, foreign ops meaning the embassies, etc., and agriculture. >> yep, those are the four. maria: okay. congressman, i've got to get your take on what took place last week. let's roll this sound of merrick garland testifying. watch. >> do you know about the money that move through rob walker's shell companies, yes or no? >> as i have said repeatedly, i have left these matters to mr. weiss. i've not intruded, i've not interfered -- >> listen to the ignorance, it's like you're looking the other way on purpose because everybody knows this stuff's happening. and, you know what? people don't pay bribes to not get something in return, right? the china initiative resulted in the convictions of a harvard professor, of someone at monsanto. so we were working against the chinese, they paid the bidens, and now you're sitting here telling me that north korea's the big threat. maria: congressman, thank you for that hearing. it exposed so much. merrick garland said he did not recollect ever talking about the hunter biden investigation. what are the next steps here? >> well, we're going to continue to dig. we're going to continue to do our constitutional duty of oversight. and as the speaker announced two weeks ago, we are now in the impeachment inquiry phase. so we've got a number of witnesses at doj we want to depose, and david weiss has committed to come many front of the committee on october 14th. you can boil in this down to the burisma situation. matt was right to talk about the china issue, but burisma, i think, captures it all. hunter biden gets put on the board, gets paid a lot of money. fact number two, he wasn't qualified to be on the board. fact number three, the burisma executives asked him, can you help us with the pressure we are facing? fact number four, joe biden gets the prosecutor fired, lev racks -- leverages american tax dollars to accomplish that. and then what does the garland justice department do? they try to sweep it under the rug so much so that they allowed the statute of limitations to lapse for the most serious tax, felony tax concerns hunter biden had in 2014 and 2015. they let it lapse because those were the years that dealt with the burisma income. and they were going to sweep it all under the rug but for two brave whistleblowers and a judge in delaware who called bologna on their crazy plea deal. that's the whole story, and it captures the whole story right there. but then you add in all the other fact, and that's why we're in an impeachment inquiry phase. maria: unbelievable. mr. chairman, that sounds like bribery and a cover-up. >> well, they -- i think they were definitely going to sweep this under -- this is what we're focused on in the judiciary committee, how the weiss and garland justice department handled in this investigation. maria: we'll be watching, and we will watch the see if there's any accountability there, congressman. thank you. house judiciary committee chairman, congressman jim jordan in that exclusive. now joining us, one of the people holding up an agreement to fund the government, florida republican congressman matt gaetz. congressman, thank you very much for being here this morning. >> well, thank you. i'm glad i get to respond to you are your monologue, because if you're saying that i'm standing in the way of all the republican wins, i'd love you to enumerate them. watching my friend and mentor jim jordan, it was quite painful because he started by saying we should only pick one fight, the border. but as the interview went on, he said we should pick a second fight, jack smith, and by the time the the interview rounded out, he said we shouldn't be funding ukraine without a plan, yet the continuing resolution continues to have $3000 million more for ukraine -- $300 million more for ukraine. the best way for us to advance republican border policies is to pass the county of homeland security -- department of homeland security appropriations bill, do that with the other three, we'll have 73% of the discretionary budget funded. and, you know, if the department of labor and education have to shut down for a few days, that's certainly not something that is optimal, but i think it's better than continuing on the current path we are to america's financial ruin. maria: congressman, i understand, and that is why you are on this program this morning, because i want to give you a fair shot. and i want to get you heard. so tell me why you are threatening speaker mccarthy and trying to shut down this government at a time that the republicans have finally gotten some upper hands here in terms of wins, able to investigate president biden on what looks like bribery? >> yeah, we don't put our pencils down in the investigation of president biden during a shutdown. so the premise is false. second, if kevin mccarthy was actually serious about pursuing the bidens, he would have sent hunter biden a subpoena by now. that's how you know this is sort of failure theater that you're observing. during the first year of democrat control of the congress, they brought in donald trump jr. three timeses over nothing, over a nothing burger. we seem to be fundamentally unserious in our oversight. but what is serious is the fact that we are spending more than $7 trillion a year bringing in around $5 trillion a year, and i want to fund the government. i'm not pro-shutdown. but the way to fund the government is not the same way we've been doing it since the mid '90s where it's one up or down vote on the entire government all at once. you should have separate, single-subject spending bills. kevin mccarthy promised that in january, he is in breach of that promise. so i'm not here to hold the government hostage, i'm here to hold kevin mccarthy to his word. maria: are there freedom caucus members also out of compliance? they were also on the appropriations committee. where is the responsibility for them? are they also out of compliance? >> no. i'm not a member of the freedom caucus, i'll let them speak for themselves. take, for example, the border, this issue you think has great primacy, and i would agree with you. the department of homeland security appropriations bill was passed out of if ploaptions committee in june, and yet kevin mccarthy hasn't put it on the floor in more than a hundred hundred days. do you know why kevin mccarthy didn't move our border appropriations bill? because the lobbyists and the special interests who own kevin mccarthy want to put us in this position what we're backed up against the wall facing shutdown politics. and what that does the is it centralizes power to the people that they buy off with pac donations and lobbyist donations. and then the membership doesn't get to make real contributions to that process. i'm trying to democratize it. maria: congressman, the bills are being worked on. you just heard jim jordan say they are efforting four bills this week, appropriations bills this week to get through. that would partially fund the government. the defense bill as well, you wanted the defense bill to move if forward, did you not? >> yes. that's why i voted for it, and i voted for the rule to proceed on to to it. and, by the way, don't give kevin mccarthy credit for the fact that we're moving on these appropriations bills, that was the deal that house conservatives foisted upon kevin mccarthy when he couldn't just move the big spending bills without moving the bills to cut spending. we said, no, no, no, you have to move the state and foreign ops bill because we don't think we should be borrowing money from china to go fund gay pride parades in prague. we don't think that's a good use of our money. and the only way to do this is line by line. kevin wants it in one big up or down vote, i'm saying single-subject spending bills is the only way to lib right ourselves from this caught of -- liberate ourselves -- maria: well, he's doing the four bills next week. >> because we're making him. maria: the push now to blow up all of the wins that you all have had -- >> which winsesome please enumerate them. maria: okay. how about the fact that he has set up a weaponization committee to investigate the the koj -- >> that's process -- maria: hold on. hold on. how about the fact that he has set up the china select committee to keep china to account and, of course, he has launched this inquiry into impeachment potentially for president biden. is that not what you want? >> none of those things are deliverables. those are steps in a process. setting up a committee is an end unto itself only in washington d.c. maria: but these committees -- >> hold on. i let you talk -- maria: okay, go ahead. go ahead. >> these committees have done nothing to reduce inflation. they've done nothing to actually constrain the biden government. we can set up committees and have hearings and yell at people, but at the end of the day if we still send the check to fund a weaponizedded government, having a weaponization subcommittee is little relief to the american people. and if any of this was serious, we would be sending out subpoenas and compelling process the way the january 6th committee did. we should be operating like them. instead, we're playing patty cake with the bidens. of we're allowing them to get away with it. ask we're funding it. we're sending the money. if we were serious, use the power of the purse. maria: the speaker joined me a week ago and told me that he will, in fact, subpoena hunter biden. he said at the appropriate time -- >> well, it's it's been eight months. when do you think the appropriate time is? how many months should the american people have to wait before that subpoena's sentsome you tell me. maria: we would not know anything that we know about the biden family, 176 suspicious activity reports, 20 shell companies set up while he was vice president, the whistleblower testimony, we would not know any of this if not for those committees that he set up exposing all of this -- >> we shouldn't still fund it. you have the follow that to its natural conclusion. it's not enough to expose facts that get people angry and animated. you then have to follow those facts to a conclusion and to accountability. you see, that's what republicans are bad at. we're great at having the hearings and putting on the performances, before -- but if you're still going to underwrite biden's debt and if you're going to join up with democrats to still fund this government, merrick garland will sit there and answer my tough questions and he'll smirk at me or obfuscate ask is and then, guess what? he goes back to the justice department, and the coffers are full with money from the american taxpayer that a gets turned against the brave patriots in this country. what about the january 6th case? he promised he was going to release those, and he still hasn't. maria: well, the january 6th tapes are available to anybody who wants to see them. he gave them to tucker carlson -- >> it's not true. maria: congressman, it is true. >> maria, they're not available to anyone who wants to see them. that is a factual misstatement. they have been curated for some people in the media and some defense attorneys, but any american cannot see any of the january 6th -- that is a false statement. maria: are you not right now indirectly working with democrats, because you are going to allow chuck schumer to comp with a continuing resolution next week to fund the government. that's what your actions are doing. that's why some people feel this is a personal vendetta you have against the speaker. >> no. my vendetta is against a washington system that allows corruption to put the interests of lobbyists and pacs above the interests of the american people. kevin mccarthy facilitates that system, and i do deeply resent that, but i'm not working with chuck schumer or any other democrat. i am the one working with -- maria: you're enabling them. >> no, no, no. you guys criticize me for forcing single-subject spending bill, then you give kevin mccarthy to -- maria: no, i actually agree you should do the single bill. i think the single bills -- >> why hasn't he done them? it's september. we knew september 30th was coming all year, and kevin mccarthy has been fiddling like -- maria: as we unit, as we understand it, they're doing it this upcoming week. >> right. because we are making them. maria: congressman -- >> putting a political gun to their head, and you are welcome, america. we're going to keep making them do it. maria: congressman matt gaetz joining us this morning in that exclusive. exclusive. we'll be right back. ♪ke y ♪ with voya, considering all your financial choices together can help you make smarter decisions. voya. well planned. well invested. well protected. not that into saving, are you? -whoa, dude... -money. cuz... cuz you paid too much for those glasses. next time, go to america's best where two pairs and a free, quality eye exam start at just $79.95. book an exam today at americasbest.com. ♪ >> tech: cracked windshield on your new car? bring it to safelite. my customer was enjoying her new car, when her windshield cracked. [gasp] >> customer: my car! >> tech vo: she didn't take it to the dealer. she scheduled with safelite. we have the latest technology for the newest vehicles. and we do more replacements and recalibrations than anyone else. >> customer: thank you so much. >> tech: don't wait-- schedule now. ♪ pop music ♪ >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ maria: welcome back. well, the fallout continues over the indictment of longtime new jersey democrat senator bob menendez and his wife on bribery charges. senator menendez is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for using his power and influence as a senator to benefit three new jersey if businessmen and the egyptian government. menendez and his wife are expected to appear in federal court in manhattan this wednesday. joining me right now with reaction to all of this this morning in this "sunday morning futures" exclusive is utah republican senator mike lee. senator, thanks very much for being here this morning. want to get your take on the budget battles, but first, what do you make of this indictment of bob menendez? >> the allegations in the indictment are serious, and if true, if proven, these are certainly criminal offenses. i don't know what's going to happen. he has yet to have the opportunity to present his case and to make his argument. i look forward to hearing those. it is interesting though, i was noticing this morning you've got a number of democratic politicians in washington and around the country who are calling for his resignation. that's somewhat unusual at this stage, but that's a signal, and it's a troubling one for senator menendez. maria: senator, what is your take on this budget battle? you just heard my conversations with jim jordan and matt gaetz. do you expect a government shutdown? >> i think a government shutdown is possible. i think it's avoidable, i think we should avoid it. i think the best way to proceed at this point would be to passes something that keeps the government funded for a few weeks. look, the husband of representatives has got -- house of representatives has got things moving to the point where we may have as many as four of these appropriations bills that you mentioned earlier in the program passed perhaps in the next few days. that's going to take some time though. they might not be able to get it done next week, and even if they did, it would probably take longer than that to get it through the senate. i think the best way to move it forward would be to extend the government spending for a few weeks to keep it open so that we can pick up these bills one by one. because it's absolutely true, for a long time the law firm of schumer, mcconnell, mccarthy and jeffreys, year after year in all of its iterations has waited til the last minute and written up an omnibus spending bill which it drops on congress at the worst possible moment. sometimes they like to extend the deadline up until close to christmas and then they use christmas extortion to to get people to vote for it not wanting to cause a shutdown and be delayed for getting home to their families just before christmas. this has got to stop. and the best way to top that is by doing these appropriations bills one by one. fund one part of government after the other one at a time until it's all done. maria: what you're saying is very important and sounds quite practical, but we are looking at an offset within the members. you just heard matt gaetz. if we see a government shutdown, does the investigation of president biden stop? we've learned so much about what he and his family have been doing in the last decade. >> yeah. look, and those allegations are very troubling, and they need to be investigated. and i applaud speaker mccarthy for launching this inquiry. i am aware of no reason, maria, why that inquiry could not continue -- maria: okay. >> -- even if the government were to shut down temporarily. there's nothing suggesting to me that congress can't do its work if that happens. many any event, we shouldn't use that as an excuse unilaterally to just accede to what the democrats want. maria: yes. utah senator mike lee, thank you so much. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. maria: quick break, and then mark levin is here. he's got reaction to this budget battle in washington along with his thoughts on the biden family business amidst charges of bribery and money laundering against this president. author of a new book, host of life, liberty and levin, mark levin will join me with analysis on the other side of this break. ♪ ♪ your financial story. ♪ we're not an airline, but our network connects global businesses across nearly 160 markets. ♪ we're not a startup, but our innovation labs use new technologies to help keep your information secure. ♪ we're not architects, but we help build stronger communities. ♪ we're not just any bank. we are citi. ♪ so many people are overweight now and asking themselves, "why can't i lose weight?" for most, the reason is insulin resistance, and they don't even know they have it. conventional starvation diets don't address insulin resistance. that's why they don't work. now there's release from golo. it naturally helps reverse insulin resistance, stops sugar cravings, and releases stubborn fat, all while controlling stress and emotional eating. at last, a diet pill that actually works. go to golo.com to get yours. ♪ ♪ i have type 2 diabetes, but i manage it well. ♪ ♪ jardiance ♪ ♪ it's a little pill with a big story to tell. ♪ ♪ i take once-daily jardiance, ♪ ♪ at each day's staaart. ♪ ♪ as time went on it was easy to seee. ♪ ♪ i'm lowering my a1c. ♪ jardiance works 24/7 in your body to flush out some sugar! and for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease, jardiance can lower the risk of cardiovascular death, too. jardiance may cause serious side effects including ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration, that can lead to sudden worsening of kidney function, and genital yeast or urinary tract infections. a rare, life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection, ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction, and don't take it if you're on dialysis. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. ♪ jardiance is really swell, ♪ ♪ the little pill with a big story to tell. ♪ >> have you had personal contact with anyone at fbi headquarters about the hunter biden investigation? >> uh, i don't, i don't recollect the answer to that question, but fbi works for the justice department. it's -- >> i'm sorry, i'm sorry, you don't recollect, you don't recollect whether you've talked with anybody at fbi headquarters about an investigation of the president's son? >> i don't believe that i did. maria: that was attorney general merrick garland testifying in front of the house jewish dish cannily committee, repeatedly testifying that he did not recall anything, he did not recollect whether the investigation into his boss' son was ever discussed with him. he refused to acknowledge the biden family influence peddling and played i dumb to the 176 suspicious activity reports on the biden family bank accounts, the 20 shell companies set up by biden family members while joe was vice president and whistleblowerses saying joe and hunter biden may have accepted $5 million apiece from the head of burisma for getting the prosecutor investigating the gas company fired. instead, the doj claims to be investing hunter on gun charges. the first son is scheduled to appear on october 3rd for federal arraignment on gun charges which, if convicted, could face 25 the years in prison which, of course, is highly unlikely. this after a plea deal on gun and tax charges was rejected by a federal judge over concerns biden could be exempt from all certain future criminal charges. all of this as democrats defend president biden. joining me right now is the host of life, liberty and levin, mark levin is with us. mark has a new book out called "the democratic party hates america." it is number one on amazon's bestseller list. mark, congratulations to you on the book, the new show on fox news and all of your success. i want to talk about everything being discussed in this morning. first, let's take a look at that testimony by merrick garland. your reaction. >> my reaction as a former chief of staff to an attorney general who who handled an awful lot of bigtime cases is he's a liar where. he's not just a liar, he's a serial liar. the idea that the attorney general of the united states watches television, sees a deal break down in front of a judge, doesn't say to the public integrity division or his deputy attorney general or associate attorney general i need to be briefed on this, especially before i go into this hostile committee that's controlled by the republicans in the house judiciary committee, the idea that he doesn't know what's taking place with joe biden, with hunter biden, with donald trump, he is a flat-out, serial liar. he knows it, i know it, and anybody who ever served as an foreign general or chief of staff to an attorney general knows it. i'll give you a little bit of information. at least when i was there, and i was in charge of what went in and out of the attorney general's office, at least twice a day we would have a stack of articles about matters relevant to the department of justice small and large that would be provided not just to the attorney general, but every senior person who reports to the attorney general. the idea that this attorney general doesn't know exactly what's going on -- and why wouldn't he? it doesn't mean he's involved in decision making. i mean, he can still play stupid to the point and say, look, i know what's going on but, you know, i have a special counsel, so i haven't gotten involved in that and so forth. they have an all-hands meeting there probably once a week like we used to have with the attorney general, the deputy, the associate, the heads of the acquisitions, criminal, civil rights and so forth and so on, and they talk about the most important cases that are going on. so we have an attorney general who says i don't want to know anything about hunter biden, i don't want to know anything about joe biden, i don't want to know anything about donald trump, i don't want to know anything about anything. well, why is he there? again can, it doesn't mean he's involved in these decisions, but i can also tell you he is involved in these decisions. a special counsel by regulation appoints, reports to the attorney general of the united states. maria: right. >> so it's so preposterous, it's so outrageous. and here's our problem: how do you get to this idea? my idea, maria, is this: we ought to subpoena all the texts, all the e-mails, subpoena all the communications between can and among the senior staff at the department of justice. and if the county of justice, the -- the department of justice, the president can only do it, they want to exert executive privilege, let's have that constitutional fight and get to the bottom of this, because i think he is a liar. maria: and i'm wondering what his number two is doing in terms of her involvement, lisa monaco. that's the one who many people believe is really calling the shots. >> including me. maria: yeah. >> she is a political bomb thrower, hard core leftist, an obama acolyte. and, by the way, they all are there. the head of the civil rights tuition was a loud-mouthed racist for the longest time, the number three, same damn thing. they loaded up that department of justice with these radical, political bomb-thrower leftists. and you notice how quiet they are publicly. they leak like hell, they picked this guy, smith, to be the head of the investigation of trump. now smith's brought his number two in. these guys investigate maniacs overseas, now they're investigating trump? they purposefully made their decisions on what that deal was going to be with weiss, then they reappoint weiss in violation of the rules, and nobody knows anything that's going on. that is bull crap. they all know exactly what's going on -- maria: yeah. >> and that committee, my dear friend, jordan and the others, subpoena them, get the communications, find that that they committed perjury and let's go for it. maria: mark, let me move on to the budget battlingses. you just heard both sides, congressman jim jordan and matt gaetz. it looks like we will see a government shutdown one week frommed today. your reaction. >> look, i used to like matt gaetz politically. to i'm no big fan. he's not mr. conservative to me. i worked for mr. conservative for eight years, his name was ronald reagan, and we shut the government down six times. you shut the government for a very specific reason, and it needed to be shut down. the democrats were spending all kinds of money, but they wouldn't fund, for example, the trident missile system. reagan said you don't put that in the budget, i'm not signing a budget. so the government was shut down for a few days, and we got the missile system. and he did this because he was up against a house of representatives that was controlled by the democrats. he brought in the senate, the republicans in the senate. here's a couple things i want to point out. just because you want to be pickett in the civil war, doesn't mean we're all going to follow you up the hill. you may sound good, you may make all these allegations and all the rest, that's not conservative. conservative is, okay, byron donalds, chip roy, others. maria: right. >> the vast majority of the freedom caucus does not support these five, four of whom want to run for statewide office which is fine by me. that's what politicians do, they're constantly looking for ways to run for office. but don't confuse that with conservative. that's not conservative. i'm a conservative. other people are conservatives. we're saying you were just offered an 8% cut across the board in domestic spending. i'm 66 years old, that has never been proposed by a republican ever. you were also told as part of that deal we're going to move resources to secure that damn border that's killing this country, except we're not going to cut for the military and the vets. this is the best with we can do in the next two weeks, and you're told these guys are selling out? oh, no, we need 12 bills. let me tell you a little scent, maria, the american people don't know 12 bills from 12,000 bills. maria: that's right. >> they want that budget cut, they want that border secured, i do too. they want our department of defense to be able to defend us, and we want our vets taking care of us. that's a pretty good package for a continuing resolution when the senate republicans -- and i love to hear them -- when the senate republicans haven't done a damn thing except endorse chuck schumer's spendingly ed! he blows the cap off in may. what the democrats are going to do in the house, they're going to pull three of four of these republican reprobates with them. we'll have schumer and mcconnell in the senate, we'll have people like matt gaits, biden will sign it, then what are we going to do? is that conservative? that's knot conservative, that is insane -- not conservative, that is insane. maria: that is the exact point i was trying to make with matt gaetz. and and putting all of that aside, the republicans have actually had success in terms of exposing potential criminality of a sitting president. and i don't know if that investigation connells or shuts down -- continues or shuts down. i'm not afraid of a government shutdown. i agree with you, mark. but at the same time, we are where we are. those bills are or the bulk of them should have been done. they weren't with. we are where we are. so in the next five days, what do you do? attack the house, take it over, blow it up even after the victories that we've seen many terms of this criminality? >> here's the problem. matt gaetz has four colleagues, had five. matt gaetz wants to do all these things, he's going to need more than himself and four others. the vast majority of republicans, the overwhelming majority of the free come caucus, conservatives all, disagree with matt gaetz and the other four. so what are we supposed to do? they represent five congressional districts. well, they say there's a lack of leadership. well, how is it that the current leadership in the house who's been there for eight months, by the way, how is it possible that he is the failure when he's got everybody but these five? maria: right. >> i mean, what it is, it's a minuscule majority. you could actually have three of them shut down the house of representatives and not get anything done. so i think they're exploiting this situation. they don't have any kind of practical way to get to where they claim they want to go. maria: yeah. mark, real quick, your book, bestseller once again. what's your main point? >> my main point is the greatest threat we have in this country is not china. they're the second greatest threat. maria: yeah. >> it's the democrat party. border, finances, safety in our streets. you go down the list, i couldn't write a book that the democrat party loves america, because there's nothing i can say about it. if you want to fundamentally transform america, transform it into what? well, or they're showing us what. we're not going to produce things we used to produce, he was their face in our homes telling us what kind of lightbulbs we can have, they're destroying the family, the classroom. the book is much more in depth, so i hope people will check it out. maria: mark, thank you. we'll be watching you tonight. mark levin joining us. join him tonight, life, liberty and levin, right here on fox news 8 p.m. saturday and sunday. we'll be right back. ♪lk ♪s. important things aren't worth compromising. at farmers, we offer both quality insurance and great savings. (crowd cheers) here, take mine. (farmers mnemonic) there are too many options. how do we decide what hotel to book? fear not, i got you! who are you? i'm your fairy hotel mother. what is happening? let me help you pick a hotel you feel good about. choice hotels is a family of brands, with a hotel for every type of stay. like a comfort with the kiddos. oooo, spacious! or, a cambria hotel downtown for just the two of you. hold my wand. don't wave it at anything. -mmm! -yeah! what did i say!?! maria: welcome back. customs and border protection reporting more than 2 million migrants have illegal he crossed the border for this fiscal year. last week was a complete disaster. joining me with more is republican presidential candidate larry elder. larry, thanks very much for being here. i want to talk to you about the issues of the day, and i know you wanted to communicate this on the debate stage next week, but you're not going to be there, are you? >> i won't know until monday at 6 p.m. i need to be at 1% or better in order to qualify for the first debate. i got shafted, ronna mcdaniels said i couldn't use one of the polls because it's affiliated with trump. i don't know what i was supposed to do, i got shafted. i'm very ang angry about that, but -- maria: what are you going to do, if given the chance, about the wide open southern border? last week was a complete disaster. on wednesday and thursday we saw 10,000 migrants somewhere this country -- enter this country. they are entering the country, they're getting processed, and then they're being released into the country. many of them are going to new york and other big cities. that's why eric adams is out of control upset about it. let's look at these pictures while you tell us what your plan is. >> well, my plan is to reinstate the trump policies on the border. if it weren't for these governors in texas and florida sending these illegal aliens to the blue cities, it wouldn't be cover. even people on the left are getting upset about it. california's an even bigger sanctuary state, so that's why in the book as goes california about people like gavin newsom and democrats have done to california, it's even a worse with state when it comes to coddling illegal aliens. gavin newsom has expanded the amount of illegal aliens who get taxpayer-paid health care and on and on and on. maria: yeah. >> we need to stop this from happening to our country. maria: and began newsom might be the opponent of -- >> no, he won't. more. maria: more hold that thought, we're going to take a shortt break and come back with your thoughts owen that. larry elder is with me. stay with us. we're not an airli, but our network connects global businesses across nearly 160 markets. ♪ we're not a startup, but our innovation labs use new technologies to help keep your information secure. ♪ we're not architects, but we help build stronger communities. ♪ we're not just any bank. we are citi. ♪ dude? dog food in the fridge? it's not dog food. it's freshpet. real meat. real veggies. real weird. he was bad luck anyway. maria: welcome back. and we are back with republican presidential candidate larry elder. larry, i want to show you these latest polls, washington post/abc news reporting that president trump is now 10 points above joe biden in a one-on-one, head to head race. your thoughts on the 2024 the election. will anybody be able to cut into president trump's lead here? >> i don't think so. people are worse off than they were two, three years ago, the borders are insane. and this business about gavin newsom coming in all of a sudden, are you kidding me, maria? their first democratic primary is south carolina. 60% of the voters on the democratic side are black, most of them black females, and they love, love, love kamala harris. black women will -- they won't vote republican, they just won't vote, thereby guaranteeing whoever our nominee is, he or she will win the nomination. you die by the gender and race card, they cannot afford to drop kick kamala harris. maria: okay. what about this idea that the democrats are going to roll in michelle obama at the end of the day? >> ask kamala harris if she wants to be rolled out for michelle obama. she ran for president, she wants to be president. the only way she can go is if she says, you know what? i'm so incompetent, i'm out of here. she will not do that. they've got a huge problem, it's called joe biden. their second problem is kamala harris, and they're not going anywhere. maria: 2024 presidential candidate, larry elder. that'll do it for us. i'm maria bartiromo. thanks so much for being with us. the news continues. i'll see you tomorrow morning oe t"mornings with maria" on fox business. have a good sunday. considering all your financial choices together... can help you be better prepared for unexpected events. voya. well planned. well invested. well protected. (vo) sure you can get data everywhere but do you have to use it all the time? that's not really you. with tracfone, you get great coverage all on nationwide 5g. for a lot less. plans start at $15 a month no-contract. tracfone. ♪ from the mountains, ♪ to the fruited plains. ♪ it's the best part about this land. ♪ and to those of you who hear the call - answer. ♪ come in to bass pros shops and cabela's for great gear before your fall hunt. your adventure starts here. ♪ ♪ howard: there's a standard