Fox News "Sunday Morning Futures" - Transcript: Interview with Elise Stefanik

Interview

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BARTIROMO: Well, welcome back.

President Biden continues to shame anyone who has not been vaccinated, calling the Delta surge a pandemic of the unvaccinated, as his administration readies for more rules at any moment.

Joining me right now is the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives. She is New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik on the phone this morning.

And, Congresswoman, it's great to see you. Thanks very much for being here.

Want to get your take on our civil liberties. This is a major issue. New York City just became the first major city to require proof of vaccination at restaurants, performances and gyms. De Blasio is on his way out.

What are you thinking in terms of where we are with COVID and the potential for more lockdowns?

REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): Well, first of all, every American should be outraged.

We're seeing the chipping away of our civil liberties across the country. And New York City, unfortunately, is ground zero for this. Now our restaurant owners are becoming law enforcement officers and having to make the tough decisions.

And individuals are coming in with vaccine cards. Some of them are counterfeit cards. This is not the role of our restaurants. We also should not have policies that segregate those who have been vaccinated or not vaccinated.

And the other group of constituents I'm hearing from, Maria, is concerned parents, this discussion about getting back to school in person. We all want to make sure our kids get back to school in person. But there's already discussions about a mask mandate, which is not based upon science.

We know that our kids, so, so few are affected by COVID. So there are concerns. And, unfortunately, I think this is the overall politicization of the CDC.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

Well, I'm wondering if we're going to be sitting in fear until the 2022 midterm elections, conveniently, Congresswoman, because now you have, obviously, audits going on. The last time you were with me, you said that you supported the audit going on in Arizona. We know that Michelle Obama is teaming up with Stacey Abrams for this federal election takeover legislation, H.R.1.

Yesterday, Nancy Pelosi says she's confident that Democrats will keep the House in 2022. Are you expecting a fair and free election for the midterms? Or are we going to be on lockdown again, ensuring mail-in ballots are the standard?

STEFANIK: Well, Republicans need to do everything we can to ensure free and fair elections. That means passing election integrity and election security laws at the state level.

And I think it's the height of hypocrisy when you have the Texas state Democrats traveling, becoming super-spreaders of COVID, and they're traveling in opposition to a commonsense election security bill that would ensure secure integrity of elections in the state of Texas.

So, we need to make sure that we're doing this in all states and do everything we can to fight back against the universal mail ballots, where there's no signature verification, where there's no voter I.D. So I am concerned, Maria. This is why Republicans need to continue to speak out.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

I mean, look, you had a Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee chair yesterday warning that -- it was a closed-door meeting for the party. And they said that -- he said, if the midterms were held today, they would lose the majority because they can't win on policy.

STEFANIK: Well, he's exactly right. They are going to lose the majority, whether it's today or next November.

Look at the Biden border crisis. Look at the inflation crisis across the country. Look at the unraveling of our civil liberties, the attacks on our constitutional liberties. The American people know that this is not the right direction. We're moving in a far left socialist direction.

We need to focus on economic growth, on reopening the economy safely, on ensuring kids get back to school, and commonsense policies, which is not what we're seeing from Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.

BARTIROMO: All right, let's turn to Governor Cuomo.

You are obviously representing New York and have a pinned tweet right now out saying you are calling for the arrest of Cuomo and, of course, an impeachment trial as well.

His lawyers fought back yesterday. They took it to the mat. Here is one of them, Rita Glavin, on that -- on that presser we saw yesterday. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RITA GLAVIN, ATTORNEY FOR GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO: He is 63 years old. He has spent 40 years in public life. And for him to all of a sudden be accused of a sexual assault of an executive assistant that he really doesn't know doesn't pass muster.

He needs to be treated fairly. And this would become, if you accept this report as is, without giving him the evidence, I tell you that is irresponsible and a new standard for impeachment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARTIROMO: New standard for impeachment, Congresswoman.

Yes, two systems of justice is what they're going with, which is, of course, what we have seen against President Trump for the last four years. Your thoughts?

STEFANIK: Well, it was a shameful defense.

Instead of focusing on the legal aspects, they chose to shame multiple victims, including a New York state trooper who was sexually assaulted and sexually harassed.

Look, this was an independent investigation conducted by the New York attorney general that the governor asked for. Governor Cuomo asked for this investigation himself. He said he had full faith in this investigation, over 175 witnesses, over 74,000 pieces of evidence. The evidence shows that he broke federal law, state law.

In addition to the sexual harassment and sexual assault, there was illegal retaliation against the victims. In addition, Maria, this is not just when he was governor, but there have been instances where he sexually harassed women when he was HUD secretary. That's been out in the media as well.

He needs to be impeached. The Democrats in Albany have been slow-walking this up until this point. We have reached a breaking point. We need to make sure that there's equal justice under the law. And whether you're the most powerful elected official in New York state, laws apply to you just like they do to every other New Yorker.

BARTIROMO: Well, look, he's wanting more time.

Is the time situation on his side? What do you want to see happen next week? Because his lawyers are saying, look, the A.G. released everything to the public, making the public make its own assessment, without his legal team having the right time to go through everything.

STEFANIK: Well, the governor does want to use time as his ally. He is digging in, and they are looking for any opportunity for him to cling onto power.

Again, they have been effective at bullying Democrats in the state legislature for years, not just the past few months. That's why it's very important to have the state Assembly and state Senate start the impeachment hearings with alacrity, as quickly as possible.

And the New York -- New Yorkers have spoken. Over 75 percent of New Yorkers do not believe -- they believe he should step down. If he doesn't step down, they believe he should be impeached.

So, this is crystal clear. But we cannot allow Democrats in the state legislature to slow-walk this. Every voter needs to hold their state elected official accountable for how they move forward on this important issue.

BARTIROMO: All right, Congresswoman, it's great to catch up with you this morning. Please come back soon.

Thanks very much, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. Thank you so much.

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