Fox News "Hannity" - Transcript Interview with Devin Nunes & Elise Stefanik

Interview

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Joining us now for reaction is the author of "Countdown to Socialism", House Intelligence Committee ranking member, Devin Nunes, and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik from New York.

Devin, I will start with you.

I have no idea whether the vice president supports a mask mandate or does not, whether he's going to lock the country down or he is not. It can't be due to a lack of time in Congress because he was there for 47 years. Do you know what he believes?

REP. DEVIN NUNES, R-CA: Well, Trey, I'm actually a little disappointed because that was one part of the Democratic platform that I actually understood, other than wanting to defund the police and tear down the Washington Monument, and tear down statues and allow riots to occur all over the country, the one thing I did understand was Biden was for a mask mandate.

But, you know, now, today, or just recently, we now have salon-gate here in the state of California where the speaker of the House I guess assumed that she wasn't abiding by Biden's mask mandate either.

GOWDY: Yes, Elise, I want to ask about the coronavirus relief. But I sat by you for two years on the floor of the House and you are one of the wisest people I know and you're also a fair person.

What do you make of what happened with Nancy Pelosi in California? And is the criticism fair for having a different set of rules for everyone else from herself?

REP. ELISE STEFANIK, R-NY: Absolutely, the criticism is fair. You know, when I first ran for Congress, Trey, I think one of the biggest promises you make to constituents and the American people is that members of Congress and elected officials live by the same laws as everyone else. And this is a classic example that we saw from Nancy Pelosi, at the height of hypocrisy, of do as I say, not as I do.

And what is particularly shameful is she is blaming it on a set up, blaming the small business owner. I know as small businesses have suffered over the course of COVID crisis, I spoke directly to many salon owners in my district. So, I was well-aware of what the rules are. That's part of your job as a policy maker.

So, again, this is the height of hypocrisy we're seeing from Speaker Pelosi. She should apologize to the small business owner and she should work to ensure that we can safely open these small businesses. Again, it's very disappointing to see, and there's going to be accountability as the American people see this.

GOWDY: Well, I want to get your perspective on that because I do consider you to be a fair person. Now, I'm going to, in fairness to you, will go back to what I wanted to talk to you about, which is the coronavirus relief package and why it's been stalled and what needs to be done to move it forward.

STEFANIK: Well, make no mistake. Speaker Pelosi walked away from three different offers that the Republican Senate put forward, that provided relief to small businesses, that provided direct funding to K-12 schools, to ensure that they can safely reopen. She chose to walk away from that package.

We need to come together and compromise. The White House has over and over and over again reached out to her. We are in a divided government right now and Nancy Pelosi needs to put aside her partisan politics and really ensure that comes to the table and not -- and really doesn't hold the American people and small businesses hostage.

GOWDY: Ranking Member Nunes, one of your committee members, John Ratcliffe, is now the DNI and he this week announced that he was going to suspend in-person briefings. Adam Schiff and others were apoplectic about that.

Can you shed some light for viewers on what that decision was and what John's impetus behind that may have been?

NUNES: Well, Trey, I think you can also answer that question because you were with us as leaks occur on a daily basis.

So, this is long overdue. There's -- we gain nothing from these briefers. What they always try to do is set up these briefers.

A lot of these people are professionals. They've been out in the war zones. They come back into Washington and to Congress.

And what the Democrats do is they play gotcha and then they run upstairs and they talk to their friends in the media. And it's leaking of classified information. And it's continued on and on, and it's always for one thing, and that is to build whatever false narrative they're building for that day or week. And we all know how that ended with this Russian collusion hoax where they've essentially decimated the FBI and the Department of Justice.

GOWDY: We've only got about 20 seconds, Elise.

My understanding is that you are still getting the intelligence. You're just not getting it in the form that can be leaked. Is that -- is that fair? You're still -- you're on an oversight committee over Ratcliffe.

STEFANIK: Absolutely.

Absolutely. We're getting written briefings. But we don't want to see the illegal leaks that we've seen for four years now from Adam Schiff and Democrats on the committee. So, I support DNI Ratcliffe's decision.

GOWDY: Thank you, Elise. Thank you.

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