Fox News "The Story with Martha MacCallum" - Transcript: Interview with Josh Hawley
Interview
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SEN. JOSH HAWLEY, R-MO: Thanks for having me.
MACCALLUM: You know, first question is about the other side of the building there and the House Judiciary Committee who wants to have staffers on the judiciary committee do the questioning of William Barr, the attorney general has said that that issue is off the table. That is not going to happen. What do you think about the request?
HAWLEY: It all sounds bizarre to me, Martha, and frankly, it sounds like more grandstanding. Look, the Democrats can't come to grips with the fact that the Mueller report found that there was no collusion, there was no conspiracy, there was no obstruction.
What we should be focused on here is what's been going on in our government, what's been going on at the highest levels of the FBI. That is where the focus needs to be and that's what I look forward to asking the attorney general about tomorrow.
MACCALLUM: You know, Senate Judiciary Chairman, Senator Lindsey Graham basically sounds like it is going to be a fairly quick process tomorrow. He said we're going to do one round and then potentially a second round of questioning. You know, what's the direction that you all are going in tomorrow?
HAWLEY: What I want to know is, what led to the president of the United States, the duly elected leader of the country, having a counterintelligence investigation opened against him by the FBI? Treated like a spy by the FBI.
I mean, based on what we have heard from news reports, this is because FBI leadership didn't like his policy positions on Russia, didn't like his campaign. I mean, this is extraordinary.
Here's my concern, Martha, we had a time in this country when the FBI tried to run the country, tried to tell elected leaders what to do. I don't want to go back to that time in our history. We need to make sure that we never do.
MACCALLUM: I want to play a sound bite from the last time that the attorney general testified and this got quite a bit of attention when he said it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM BARR, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL: Yes, I think spying did occur.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, let me --
BARR: The question is whether it was predicated, adequately predicated. I'm not suggesting it wasn't adequately predicated but I need to explore that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: There were a lot of dropping draws in that moment. Did that surprise you that he said it and the way he said it?
HAWLEY: It did. What surprised me even more, Martha, as he went on to say that we may be talking about not just the FBI but about other agencies and the government as well. I mean, this is extraordinary. I have never heard of an example in American history when a presidential campaign has been spied on by agencies from our own government.
When a presidential candidate and then elected president has been treated like a spy by agencies of our own government. We need answers on what exactly is going on at the FBI and may be in other agencies and that's what I hope to get tomorrow.
MACCALLUM: Yes. And so, what are you going to ask Bill Barr specifically about that tomorrow? What do you want to know about how that process is going?
HAWLEY: I want to know what he is learned so far about how this counterspy, counterintelligence investigation of President Trump got launched. Who was responsible for it, why did the FBI leadership tried to take steps to insulate that investigation from discovery and political oversight? Who's responsible for it?
So, I want answers to these things and I also want to ask him if we need a special counsel. I think that we do. The FBI -- Martha, I've been pressing the FBI for answers on this for months now. They have been stonewalling me. If they are going to stonewall and obstruct a special counsel should look into this.
MACCALLUM: You know, I mean, that's a tough question for the attorney general. Obviously, that, you know, it falls under his domain. You know, I guess the question is, you will be pressing him, I would imagine, on how, you know, objective that whole process can be when it's part of the Department of Justice, the FBI.
HAWLEY: You know, I'm encouraged that he had set up a task force. He said that he would, that he is going to press forward on this. I think he is asking the right questions. Tomorrow is a chance to see if he's gotten any answers. And it may be, Martha, that he needs help in getting answers. It may be that the FBI needs the consequence of a special counsel to really come to terms with their own behavior and so the American public can get answers.
MACCALLUM: Well, we're going to be watching closely. I got one more question for you, because I know that you are very interested in the issues of privacy and social media.
Mark Zuckerberg made some big statements today. The one that really caught my eye was that he said the future is private. The future on social media, where Facebook is concerned, is going to be private, which is the absolute antithesis of what we have all heard for the past decade about social media, that privacy is gone, that it's over.
HAWLEY: My question is, where has Mark Zuckerberg been for the last few years? I mean, the American people have wanted privacy, have been expecting privacy for years. Facebook has basically admitting that they have done anything but.
Look, they've been scooping up our private personal information, they've been monetizing that, making big profits on it. So, in terms of their privacy push, I'll believe it when they see it, when I see it. But what we need to do now is get answers from Facebook. We need to know what information are you collecting on consumers, what are you doing with it, and why are you discriminating against conservatives on your platform?
MACCALLUM: Well, you called it a creepy company, Facebook, so we'll see where that's going.
HAWLEY: Yes.
MACCALLUM: We'll talk to you more about that next time, Senator. Thank you very much. We'll see you tomorrow, watching everything.
HAWLEY: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: All right. Take care.
HAWLEY: Thank you.
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