Fox News "Sunday Morning Futures" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Louie Gohmert

Interview

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CHARLES PAYNE, HOST: Good morning, everyone. I'm Charles Payne, in for Maria Bartiromo.

Joining us straight ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures," Texas Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert reports -- reacts, rather, to the partial government shutdown, now in its second week, this as Democrats prepare to take control of the House on Thursday. What will it take to break a very bitter stalemate?

Plus, former Justice Department prosecutor James Trusty is weighing in on the legal battle over immigration. Democrats outraged after the death of two migrant children in U.S. custody, while President Trump points to the murder of a California police officer, allegedly by an undocumented migrant, to push for that border wall.

And former State Department senior adviser Christian Whiton will join us to discuss the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Syria, the president vowing to fulfill his campaign promise by pulling troops out of the region. But how does this affect the containment policy toward Iran?

All this more, as we look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures."

We began with the White House blaming Democrats for this partial government shutdown. The standoff over the wall funding is expected now to stretch into the new year, presenting a day one challenge for the next speaker of the House, presumably Nancy Pelosi.

Here now to talk about it, Republican Congressman from Texas Louie Gohmert, who's a member of the House Freedom Caucus and the House Judiciary Committee, where he's the vice chairman on the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.

Representative Gohmert, thanks for joining us.

REP. LOUIE GOHMERT, R-TX: Sure, Charles.

PAYNE: It feels -- we have come a long way. We're a week into this, and I'm not sure that the American public necessarily feels an impact. But the political pressure seems to be mounting day by day.

Play out the possibilities of how this may end.

GOHMERT: Well, it's going to end at some point because there were things that had not been funded that the Democrats desperately want to fund, be it HUD and some other things.

But the truth is, there is nothing more important than the nation's security. It's our number one job in the U.S. Congress, keeping America safe. And when you have people that are here legally from Mexico, from Central America saying, get the wall where we need it, secure the border, you have got to make this country safe, I don't know why they're not being listened to.

And when you hear Democrats saying, oh, no, it's immoral to have a wall, and they say that while they're living behind a wall around their house -- this is like President Obama -- I read his new home has a 10-foot wall around it. Walls matter.

They do make a difference. And this isn't like the Iron Curtain that kept people in to deal with what Natan Sharansky called a fear society. If we're going to have a free society, it's got to be protected.

And Randy Weber said that he saw a bumper sticker in Houston that said, heaven has walls, pearly gates and a strict immigration policy. Hell has no borders, no walls, and no immigration party -- policy.

PAYNE: Right.

GOHMERT: There's something to that, Charles.

(CROSSTALK)

PAYNE: There is something to it, but let me jump in for a second.

(CROSSTALK)

PAYNE: Let me just jump in for a second, though...

GOHMERT: Yes. Sure, of course. It's your show.

PAYNE: ... because I think that the Democrats, again, playing the political -- playing the game of politics, understand what you're saying.

I mean, I think, if they don't have a wall, they certainly lock their doors at night. So they have tried to sort of make it a game of semantics, OK, maybe not a wall, but -- quote, unquote -- "security." I think that means drones and other things like that.

I mean, is that a viable alternative in your mind?

GOHMERT: Well, Janet Napolitano spoke for the Democratic Party while she was secretary of homeland security. We had appropriated billions of dollars, much of which was supposed to be a virtual wall, the drones, the - - all of this security cameras and all that.

And she ended up ruling that that wasn't a legitimate use of the money and she nullified what we appropriated money to do. Now, there was escape provision in case she felt like it was better spent elsewhere. But the fact is, she declared that wasn't a proper use of the money.

So this is total hypocrisy for Democrats to come along now, after they squandered that money -- we haven't been able to find out where -- and say, oh, no, this would be where we put it now. No, we played that game before.

PAYNE: Right.

GOHMERT: When we got you the money, you didn't use it for that.

We have got to have a tangible wall where we need it. And, as Secretary Nielsen has pointed out, when we have a wall, over 95 percent of the illegal immigration in that area stops. That is important.

But when we look at whether this thing is -- the shutdown, how long before it ends, you look at each party's priority. And I loved Justice Scalia. I was having lunch with him one day, and he said -- and I don't remember who the attorney general was, but when he worked for me, he came in one day and he said, hey, I heard a great definition for the difference between Democrats and Republicans.

He said, Democrats want to control everything and everybody, and Republicans don't want them to.

Now, when you're plotting a strategy like that, it's more of the defense than anything to another party that wants to control people's lives, think they're not smart enough. So we have got our work cut out for us, but it's more defensive from here.

PAYNE: Is there a chance -- Representative Gohmert, let me...

GOHMERT: Sure.

PAYNE: Is there a chance for perhaps a grander compromise?

A week or so ago, there was talk of maybe the Republicans coming down a little bit, the White House coming down from its $5 billion number, and the Democrats going up.

GOHMERT: Yes.

PAYNE: But what about a grander compromise? Maybe the reintroduction of DACA, the offer that President Trump -- I thought was an amazingly -- amazing offer, amazingly generous with respect to what he campaigned on, coming back with something for greater funding for the wall, greater funding for DACA, maybe some immigration policy adjustments?

Because we saw the tragic death of police officer Singh in California. Could this be a chance to take it in a different direction and finally to deliver to the American people on a solution, so that we don't have to deal with this anymore?

GOHMERT: Yes. Well, we're going to have to keep dealing with it until we do have the border secure.

Any offer of amnesty before the border is secure, our Border Patrol men made clear day after day, you guys talk about even legality, amnesty, anything of that nature, Charles, it is a shiny object. It's an attraction that draws thousands and thousands more every day.

And so we need to secure the border, and then we can work these things out. But like you said, the president bent over backwards to try to negotiate, and he was slapped back for it. And I do think this president is and will prove himself to be the best negotiator we have had at least in my lifetime.

And it helps if people think he's a little bit crazy. You get better deals that way. But he made that offer.

PAYNE: Right.

GOHMERT: But I'm telling you, in states like Texas, if you do an amnesty before the border is secure, you can say goodbye to Republicans winning elections in those states ever again. And there goes the country.

PAYNE: OK. We have got less than a minute to go, so I do want to ask...

GOHMERT: So, it's serious, deadly serious.

PAYNE: I do want to ask you, Representative Gohmert, do you believe, then, ultimately, the Democrats will cave and they will come through with some additional funding where they are right now for this border wall?

GOHMERT: Well, with Nancy Pelosi expected to be speaker -- and she's in Hawaii -- most of us have been on alert ready to run back to Washington at a moment's notice.

But as long as she's in Chicago, the -- I mean, Hawaii -- the odds are zero. Once she gets back, then I'm hoping that some grander scheme can be worked out, a compromise worked out.

You can compromise on numbers. That's something that's compromisable. But when you are asked to compromise on principles that include the security of the country, more precious officers being killed, more children being lured into their deaths, I mean, that's something -- we really need to stand up for those live that are being lost...

PAYNE: Right.

GOHMERT: ... both legal Americans here and illegal Americans being attracted into their death.

It's time to protect this attractive nuisance, as what's called in legal realm, like a swimming pool. If a child comes in, falls in your pool and dies from drowning, every state has laws that said that land owner is going to likely be held accountable.

PAYNE: Right.

GOHMERT: And so the Democrats need to understand this is on them.

PAYNE: Yes. It's a -- we have had three tragedies in the last week that all point to...

GOHMERT: Yes, we have.

PAYNE: ... the desperate need to finally...

GOHMERT: And that won't be the last.

PAYNE: ... finally find a solution for this.

And, of course, it won't be the last, for sure.

Thank you very much, sir. I always appreciate it. Merry Christmas and happy new year. See you soon.

GOHMERT: Charles, love talking to you. Thank you.

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