Fox News "Fox News Sunday - TRANSCRIPT 'Fox News Sunday' on January 22, 2022 [sic]

Interview

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Joining us now, co-chairs of the House Problem Solvers Caucus, Democratic congressman of New Jersey, Josh Gottheimer, and Republican congressman of Pennsylvania, Brian Fitzpatrick.

Congressmen, welcome back to "FOX News Sunday".

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): Thanks for having us.

REP. BRIAN FITZPATRICK (R-PA): Thanks for having us.

BREAM: OK. So, let's start here. The headlines overnight are not the ones the White House wants to see. Yet another discovery of classified material at the president's Wilmington home.

Jonathan Turley, well known to our audience and a legal professional, a professor and constitutional scholar, tweets this: With the latest discovery, there's no real question that the Biden documents were grossly mishandled. There only remains who was responsible. However, the discovery of documents at yet another location used by the president is crushing for his defense team.

He says he's done everything right, he has no regrets. Congressman Gottheimer, should he, at this point?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, I think we've seen the Justice Department is conducting an on going investigation. That's the proper process here. And you want to get to the bottom of these things, which is why they were at his home yesterday in full cooperation.

And I think that's the -- what you need to do here. The White House needs to cooperate with the Justice Department. That's what they've been doing for months. Obviously, that's in stark comparison to the other investigation of classified documents with former President Trump.

And I think as long as the White House does what it should do, which is cooperate fully so we can get to the bottom of this, I think that's the appropriate process. And, of course, in a broader sense, we should understand in any White House, whether it's the last White House or this one, how any documents would ever get out. And the key is to make sure that never happens.

BREAM: So, also in contrast is the fact that there have been on going negotiations with this Justice Department, with the Biden White House and legal team. And there was an agreement for them to be there together Friday during the search, but what we found is leading to more questions than answers for a lot of folks.

Andy McCarthy, former federal prosecutor, tweeted this out: It's not six classified documents, this latest discovery. Awkwardly worded statement by Biden team, i.e., spin is favorable to Biden as possible, were six items consisting of documents with classified markings and we don't know what they meant by item. Box, envelope or how many classified documents in each item.

So, there is a special counsel investigations already under the way -- under way. You heard Lucas Tomlinson say, maybe some Democratic senators are also interested. House oversight has already said that it's going to investigate.

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BREAM: So the Wall Street Journal had reported on conversations between the two teams, and the Biden side, and the DOJ side about whether or not FBI agents or others should be doing these searches now that we're on umber five.

And up into the point on Friday, they had agreed to let the Biden team handle it. "The Washington Post" also has this, that the White House was hoping to keep this quiet. The White House was hoping for a speedy inquiry, planning to disclose this matter only after Justice issued its all clear.

But the approach would end up prompting accusations that the Biden's team had purposely kept the public in the dark.

Congressman Gottheimer, we know all of this started before the midterms. Do you get the perception that some people have that there are differences in the way the DOJ handles Republican and Democrat cases?

GOTTHEIMER: I mean, there's a huge difference in the fact, if you look at the last administration, the Trump administration, what happened in Mar-a- Lago, there was a refusal to cooperate for nearly a year, right? There was obstruction. You needed subpoenas. President Trump didn't come forward and offer up his documents. He was keeping them locked up.

And this administration, I believe, has cooperated in a constructive way with the Justice Department from the beginning. They didn't take months. They didn't stall. The president wasn't trying to hold up these documents as trophies.

And so, it's a huge difference. But the bottom line is this, and Brian is exactly right. We need to have a full cooperation investigation. We need to get to the bottom of what happened, why and when, to understand everything.

And in a broader sense, to make sure that no White House, no administration is ever able to handle classified documents this way and take them out of the White House from a classified setting. And I think, you know, we should get to the bottom of both, and I think we should run a reasonable process. And that's what's happening right now.

BREAM: Well, you as members of Congress may have more of a hand in that in the coming weeks and months.

There's this, you know, piece again -- Andy McCarthy speaking out on this saying after the White House has said there are no logs there, this is the personal home, where in the past they said the president does work from there. There are questions about whether there are logs of visitors or people who would have been there.

Andy McCarthy writes this: I'm very confident that if the agency, meaning the Secret Service, believed it was in the interest of the president's security that the information would be produced for the bureau would be produced at warp speed.

We've got at least one source saying to us the Secret Service is prepared to come forward with some information about visitors there but Congress is going to have to ask.

Congressman Fitzpatrick, will you do that?

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BREAM: OK. So, "The Washington Post" is quoting a senior Democrat over in Congress that says he had a conversation with Ron Klain, White House chief of staff who may soon be leaving. But he essentially said, no holds barred, there will be no negotiations. You've got to make it look like we're the responsible ones and that the Republicans are essentially irresponsible, trying to kill entitlements, and those kinds of things.

Congressman Gottheimer, can you work with that? If that's the strategy, if that's the theory, how do you move the ball at all?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, I've had conversations with the White House just this weekend. And I'm optimistic that they will sit down as this White House always has. That's why we were able to accomplish so much in a bipartisan way last Congress. It takes constructive conversation.

I think there's things reasonable on the table and things that are unreasonable. Gutting Social Security and Medicare is obviously on the unreasonable side.

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BREAM: Which the speaker has said is not on the table.

Yeah. Just to be clear, the speaker has said that those -- that those -- that that's a talking point and that Republicans are not going to do that.

GOTTHEIMER: By the way, that's great, because I don't think it should be on the table. Things like 30 percent sales tax should not be on the table.

But there are plenty of things that should be. And, you know, Brian and I and the Problem Solvers Caucus are obviously having discussions. I think the White House, you see Kevin McCarthy and the president will be sitting down, the speaker and the president will be sitting down. I think that's a good thing.

What we can't do is put the full faith in the credit of United States of America at risk. We can't put people's 401(k)s at risk. We need to have these constructive conversations, make sure that we raise the debt limit responsibly so that people can have faith in our country and our currency. And we can also talk about our fiscal health and do that in a responsible way.

I think we need to do both. And I'm optimistic that everyone will sit down. We'll work this out, because we have no other choice. We have to work this out.

BREAM: OK. Quickly, Congressman Fitzpatrick, with that in mind and the potential departure of Ron Klain, knowing what his strategy reportedly is, do you think his departure changes the way that you are able to work with this administration?

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BREAM: Well, the American people wish you well in trying to find solutions at the most treacherous problems we have now.

Congressmen, thank you both for joining us.

GOTTHEIMER: We'll get it done.

FITZPATRICK: You bet. Thanks.

GOTTHEIMER: Thanks.

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