>> chris: i'm chris wallace. the house of representatives set to vote on impeachment this week and the fbi faces fire from an inspector general's review of the trump-russia investigation. ♪ >> so many basic and fundamental errors were made by three separate handpicked investigative teams on one of the most sensitive fbi investigations. >> chris: the ig finding no political bias in opening the probe of the trump campaign, but laying out plenty of blame. >> it doesn't indicate anybody at the fbi who touched his, including the leadership. >> chris: will discuss the findings with former fbi director james comey, who says the report clears him. it's a "fox news sunday" exclusive. then, a straight party line vot

vote. >> i. >> no. >> the article is agreed to. the resolution is amended as ordered -- >> chris: sense a two articles of impeachment to the full house playing out of charges of abuse of power and obstruction of congress against president trum president trump. >> to use the power of impeachment on this nonsense is an embarrassment to this country. >> chris: we will ask pam bondi, a special advisor to the president, about the white house defense strategy, and we will discuss the democrats' case with house intelligence chair adam schiff. plus, we will ask our sunday panel what new fox poll's mean for impeachment in the 2020 rac race. all right now on "fox news sunday" ." ♪ and hello again from fox news in washington. this week, members of the couch though my house will cast one of the most consequential votes of

their careers, for or against impeaching the 45th president of united states donald trump. democrats are expected to approve two articles of impeachment on a straight party line vote, setting up a senate trial early next year. meanwhile, the inspector general of the justice department released his long-awaited report on the fbi's handling of the trump-russia investigation. in a moment we will discuss that in an exclusive interview with former fbi director james comey. but first, let's bring in kevin corke with the latest from the white house. kevin. >> reporter: chris, trey deals with canada and mexico, even china and a major domestic policy victory on paid family leave. normally each would be a headline in its own right, but the release of the long-awaited ig report and of course a party line vote on impeachment overshadow them all. >> today is a solemn and sad da day. >> reporter: it went as expected. at 23-17 party line judiciary

committee vote charging the president with abusing the power of his office over the ukraine scandal and obstructing house democrats' attempt to investigate him for it. the move now sets the stage for a full house vote this week or democrats currently hold 233 seats and would only need 216 votes. while new fox poll and suggests the nation remains split on impeachment with no change since early october. the majority of those surveyed believe he did abuse his power. >> the impeachment is a hoax, it's a sham. >> the president meanwhile remained defiant up buoyed by the fact that leaders of the g.o.p.-controlled senate have made it clear that if there's a trial, they won't remove him from office. and perhaps by the release of the long-awaited inspector general's report investigating fisa abuse and the origins of the russia probe, which found significant inaccuracies and omissions made in applications to surveilled trump campaign aid carter page,

inflaming the president's rhetoric that his campaign and indeed his presidency were spied upon. inspector general horowitz said he was deeply concerned that there were so many basic fundamental errors made by three handpicked investigative teams, though he said he was unable to prove any political bias. grace. >> chris: kevin corke reporting from the white house, kevin, thank you. joining us now, former fbi director james comey, director, welcome to "fox news sunday." >> thanks for having me. >> chris: you've been taking something of a victory lap since the ig report was released earlier this week. the question is whether or not it's justified. here are you in the inspector general michael horowitz answering the same question. >> do you think this is vindication? >> it is. the fbi has had to wait two years while the president and his followers lied about the institution. finally the truth gets cold. >> does your report indicate mr. comey? >> it doesn't indicate any one of the fbi who touched this,

including the leadership. >> chris: the ig says you should feel no vindication. >> director comey: may be a turns up on how we understand the word. what i mean is the fbi was accused of treason, of illegal spying, tapping mr. trump's wires illegally, opening an investigation without justification and being a criminal conspiracy to unseat -- defeat and then unseat a president. all of that was nonsense. i think it's really important that the inspector general looked at that, that the american people, your viewers and all viewers understand that's true, but he also from things we were never accused of, which is real sloppiness, and that's concerning and upset all along has to be focus on. if i were director i'd be very concerned about it and diving into it. >> chris: well, sloppiness may be a euphemism for what he is he found. one of his big concerns is the way the fbi handled the fisa applications and the warrants that allowed you to surveilled carter page, who was a former foreign policy advisor to the

trump campaign. again, here is what you said about the fisa process and what the inspector general horowitz said this week, take a look. >> i have total confidence that the fisa process was followed that the entire case was handled in and out of thoughtful and responsible way by the doj and the fbi. >> we identified significant accuracies and omissions in each of the four applications. seven in the first application and a total of 17 by the final application. >> chris: 17 significant errors in the fisa process and you say that it was handled in a thoughtful and appropriate way. >> director comey: he's right, i was wrong. i was overconfident in the procedures of the fbi and justice have built over 20 year years. i thought they were robust enough. it's incredibly hard to get a fisa, i was overconfident in those because he's right, there was real sloppiness. 70 things that should have been in the application or at least discussed and characterized differently. it was not accessible so he's right, i was wrong.

>> chris: you make it sound like you're a bystander, an eyewitness, you are the director of the fbi while a lot of this was going on. >> director comey: sure, i'm responsible, i was overconfident as director in our procedures and it's important that a leader be accountable and transparent. if i were so director i'd be saying exactly the same thing that chris wray is saying, that we are going to get to the bottom of this because the most important question is, is it systemic? are the problems in other cases? >> chris: one of the central issues is the role that the steele dossier played, which was awful research paid for by the democrats. what role it played in getting the warrants to surveilled page. again, here's your version and again, here's the inspector general. >> my recollection was it was part of a broader mosaic of facts that were laid before the fisa judge to obtain a warrant. >> and we concluded that a steel reporting played a central role

in the decision to seek a fisa order. >> chris: horowitz says it wasn't part, as you told bret baier, it wasn't part of a broader mosaic, he he said it played as essential role in establishing -- if he said if it hadn't been for the steele dossier the fa probably wouldn't have even submitted a fisa application that was then reviewed in april of 2016 -- or august rather, decided not to do it, they get the dossier, they do it. it wasn't part of a broader mosaic, that's what you said, sir. >> director comey: i'm not sure he and i are saying different things. one is report says is the fbi thought it was a close call until they got the report come up with that additional information in and that tipped it over to be probable cause. it's a long fisa application that include steel material and lots of other material, i don't think we are saying different things. >> chris: i think you are, sir, because he saying -- you're saying is part of a broader mosaic as just one element, he's saying it was the tipping point, it's what brought it over. that doesn't make it part of a broader mosaic, it makes it the centerpiece of the whole fisa

application and the ability to surveilled carter page. >> director comey: i don't understand him to be saying that, and i could be wrong with that. >> chris: i got his quote here. he says we concluded the steele reporting played a central and essential role in the decision to seek a fisa warrant, that it pushed the fisa proposal over the line in terms of establishing probable cause. i mean, he says what he says, words mean something. >> director comey: i agree with this characterization, i'm just confused -- i don't see the disconnect between the two of us and i'm sorry that i'm missing it. >> chris: you'll see a difference between this part of of a broader mosaic and it was -- it played a central role in establishing probable cause? >> director comey: it was one of a bunch of different facts that were simple to apply to the court. it was the one that convinced the lawyers that they had enough now with that added to the pile to go forward. >> chris: i guess the question is it seems that you are minimizing the role of the steele dossier and he saying it's a lot more important than you let on.

>> director comey: if i was, that i'm sorry that i did that, but i meant it was one part of the presentation to the court, it was not a huge part of the presentation to the court, but it was the fact, according to his report, that convinced the lawyers to go forward. >> chris: all right, then there's the issue of how reliable the steele dossier in fact was buried on january 6th 2017 and the trump tower, you brief donald trump on the president-elect about the steele dossier. that same month the fbi talks to steele's main russian contacts, the main person on whom he based the dossier says according to the ig report, quote, "steele misstated or exaggerated the primary sub source of statements in multiple sections of the reporting." director comey, not only do you fail to go back to the president-elect a president after january 20th and tell him, that reported brief you on? turns out it's bunk, but the fbi

goes back and renews it fisa application three more times and by this point, the fbi knows that the steele reporting is not credible. >> director comey: i think you're mischaracterizing both what the fbi knew and what mr. horowitz says in his report. they concluded was bunk, they's concluded there were significant questions about the reliability of some of the sub source reporting. that should have been included in the renewals. when i brief the president i briefed him on small part of it that i didn't know whether it was true or not, didn't care, i just needed him to know about i it. >> chris: i think you're mischaracterizing. steele -- rather, horwitz isn't saying that the sub source, the russian contacts was unreliable or was inaccurate, the russian contact said to the fbi, steele is unreliable because he misrepresented. steele misstated or exaggerated the source's statements in multiple sections of the report. he saying i told him one thing and he wrote something else.

the fbi knew that. >> director comey: that doesn't draw the conclusion that steele's reporting is bunk. this a number of tricky things -- are interviewing the sub source after all the reporting has become public so as a counterintelligence investigator you have to think is he walking away from it because it's not public and that has to go into your assessment -- >> chris: if it had become -- just barely, this is an january 2017, this isn't two years later. >> director comey: this is when it blew up, when it was published by whatever the outfit, buzzfeed was all over the news and it had become a big deal. >> chris: did you know all of this? >> director comey: all of what? >> chris: everything that we are talking about here. did you know that in fact the steele report was the key for probable cause? did you know that the fbi had talked to the russian contact and he said what steele said, if he had -- what he had told him was not true, did you know this? you're the fbi director. >> director comey: the report will speak for itself. i don't believe the fbi concluded that steele's reporting was bunk after talking

to him is sub source. as the directory are not kept informed of the details of an investigation, so no, in general, i didn't know what they learn from the sub source, i didn't know the particulars of the investigation. >> chris: this isn't some investigation, sir. this is an investigation of the campaign of the man who is the president of the united states. you have just been through a firestorm investigating hillary clinton, i would think if i were in your position i would have been on that, you know, like a junkyard dog. i would have wanted to know everything they were doing and investigating the trump campaign. >> director comey: that's not the way it works though, as a director sitting on top of an organization of 30,000 people people, you can't run an investigation that's seven layers below you, you have to leave it to the career professionals to do, to the special agents who do this for their lives and if a director tries to run an investigation it will get mocked up in all different kinds of ways given his or her responsibilities and the impossibility of reaching the work that's being done at the lower level. >> chris: and then there is --

last, the worst misconduct, in august of 2016, just two weeks into the investigation, the cia tells the fbi that it actually has a relationship with carter page, that when he has these meetings with the russians come he actually goes back and he tells the cia about it, but you never tell the fisa court that and in fact, in 2017, and fbi lawyer doctors a document. it is he a said carter page, he's a source and he puts in the application he's not a source. >> director comey: i have to take issue -- i'll answer the question but one of the predications of her question, the inspector general did not find misconduct by any fbi people. he found mistakes and negligence and oversight. >> chris: that's not true, in the case of kevin's line smith he was referred for criminal investigation. >> director comey: that has not been resolved, his business with a lawyer changing some email to a partner on the team. >> chris: you make it sound like it's not much. he >> director comey: no, it's very important. >> chris: not a source do not a source is a very big deal.

>> director comey: remember how we got here, the fbi was accused of criminal misconduct, i was going to jail, people on this network said it over and over and over again. inspector general did not find misconduct by fbi personnel, did not find political bias, did not find illegal conduct. inspector general found significant mistakes and that is not something to sneeze at. that's really important, but the american people, especially reviewers, need to realize they were given false information about the fbi. it's honest, it is not political, it is flawed. >> chris: would you agree that the fisa court was also given false information by the fbi? >> director comey: i think that's fair. the fbi should have included or at least pushed with a lawyer so they could make a decision information that you just said, things like that, that another agency -- not a source relationship but some sort of contact relationship. >> chris: i want to do to three less questions and one of them has to do with how serious what this is -- you've locked dominic talked a lot about mistakes or sloppiness.

horowitz includes three separate teams made significant errors in four separate fisa applications on one of the fbi's most significant cases. the investigation of president trump and his campaign. >> director comey: trump -- i have to keep correcting it. president trump was not being investigated, his campaign was not being investigated, for americans, two of whom were no longer associated with the campaign, were being investigated. >> chris: he was asked how he explained it, horowitz, here he is. >> it's unclear what the motivations were. on the one hand, close atomic gross incompetence, negligence, on the other hand intentionality. >> chris: gross negligence or the intended to do it -- they intended to lie to the court. you were in charge during a lot of this, sir. and in fact, you signed the fisa applications. >> director comey: sure, i think i signed at least two or three of them. he doesn't conclude that there was intentional misconduct by these career special agents. >> chris: he says it's one of two things and he can't decide. it gross negligence or it was

intentional misconduct. that's what he said. >> director comey: i've read his report. he said we are not concluding that there was intentional misconduct. >> chris: did you hear what he e said just your? >> director comey: i did, i don't know how the context is. >> chris: he was asked specifically, and he said gross negligence or intentionality. >> director comey: i'm sorry, he doesn't find it intentionality but that doesn't make it any less important. as director, you are responsible for this. i was responsive over this and if i was there i would be doing what chris wray is doing, figuring out how did this happen and is it systemic, because that's the scariest thought. >> chris: if you were still there and all of this came out and it turned out it happened on your watch, would you resign? >> director comey: no, i don't think so. mistakes i consider more consequential than this during my tenure in the important thing is to be transparent about it and then look to fix it and explain to the american people how you fixed it. >> chris: a couple of final questions, as you know, attorney general barr has been harshly critical of how the fbi conducted this entire operation. here's how he reacted to the

ig's findings of whatever you want to call it in the handling of the fisa applications. speak of these irregularities, these misstatements, these omissions, were not satisfactorily explained. and i think that leaves open the possibility to infer bad faith. >> chris: given the repeated errors, some would say abuses of the fisa process, does attorney general barr have a point? >> director comey: no. he does not have a factual basis as the attorney general of the united states to be speculating that agents acted in bad faith. the facts just aren't there. full stop. that doesn't make it any less consequential, any less important, but that's an irresponsible statement. >> chris: finally, here's president trump and there's how he reacted to the ig report on the fbi investigation. >> they've destroyed the lives of people that were great people. that are still great people. their lives have been destroyed

by scum, okay? by scum. >> chris: i would like your response to that and i like you specifically -- you said the other day where it is fbi lawyer lisa page go to get her reputation back? orders carter page go, the target of these fisa warrants and surveillance, where is he guarded and his reputation back? >> director comey: that's a great question. carter page was treated unfairly most significantly by his name being made public. his united states citizen and it never should have been made public and that's an outrage but that statement is just a continuation of the lies of the fbi. the fbi is an honest, a political organization. remember the treason, remember the spine, all of us going to jail, it was false information that your viewers and millions of others were given. my own mother-in-law was worried i was going to jail. i kept telling her it's all made up, it's all made up, don't worry about it but i couldn't say that publicly for two years. now i'm singing on behalf of the fbi, it was all made up and i hope people will stare at that

and learn about what the fbi is like, human and flawed, but deeply committed to trying to do the right thing. >> chris: director comey, people are going to have their reaction to what you said, but thank you for coming in, thank you for taking all our questions. >> director comey: thanks for having me. >> chris: up next we will discuss white house plans for defending the president with a key member of his impeachment team. former florida attorney general pam bondi joins us next. ♪

do you have concerns about mild memory loss related to aging? prevagen is the number one pharmacist-recommended memory support brand. you can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. ♪ >> chris: president trump has lashed out at the democrats' impeachment push, calling it an embarrassment to the country. but he adds it seems to be good for him politically. joining us now, pam bondi, a

special advisor to the president and a key member of his impeachment defense team. all right, pam, during the break you said you wanted to respond to director comey. >> pam: sure do. >> chris: go ahead. >> pam: sure do. the men and women of fbi deserve much better than what they had, much better than what they had an james comey. that man was fired in disgrace. he must've read at different report than we all right because he provided over the fbi in times worse than when j. edgar hoover was at the fbi. that man led the fbi and it's unbelievable. that steele dossier was essential to this report. it was fake, we know it was fake, and he says that his people did nothing wrong and first of all, he was the leader. he was the one charged with rating the president when in fact he was spying on the president. that guy needs a lawyer, by the way. i can't believe this. he repeatedly misled the fisa court, kleinsmith, as you said,

lied, doctored an email as well as the people refusing to provide the court with exculpatory evidence, meaning evidence that would clear the president. >> chris: okay, we went over a lot of that with him. on the other hand, and i want to move on to impeachment, but on the other hand, comey does point out that the inspector general found there was no political bias in opening -- not the fisa moran, opening the investigation and that it was opened on a legitimate basis and he points out all the president's talk about obama ordering the tapping of his phones, all of the talk about treason. if comey's response before his mistake, is the president was possible for his? >> pam: first of all, comey was spying on the president when he went to debrief him. yet they felt compelled to brief russia and putin, yet not the candidate and then the president-elect of the united states. >> chris: but you're not answering my question. >> pam: let me answer the

question about you saying that there was no bias opening the report. >> chris: i didn't say it, that's what the inspector general said. >> pam: john durham disagreed with that purity the inspector general can only look at doj. he can only talk to the people who would talk to him. in fact, he tried to talk to comey. he brought comey and, had to read -- comey kept saying he couldn't call, he couldn't recollect, so they had to read him back in his security clearance that he refused to do that because he didn't want to have to answer for all this. john durham says he disagrees with that because he has -- he can talk to outside entities such as the cia, many others, he can talk to other people, he can talk to other countries. so i think we need to wait and see, i would love to come back on her show after durham answers his investigation and by the way, he has a grand jury. so a lot of people need to be very, very concerned. >> chris: it that's a date, we will have you back on. let's talk about impeachment, let's talk about the senate trial. here's what senate majority leader mitch mcconnell set about working with the white house this week.

>> everything i do during this i'm coordinating with white house counsel. there will be no difference between the president's position and our position as to how to handle this. >> chris: democrats note that before and impeachment trial, all senators have to raise the right hand and take an oath to do impartial justice. how impartial can it be one mcconnell says that he "is taking his cues" from the white house? >> pam: so chris, go back to the house proceedings. adam schiff started those proceedings himself. hidden in the bunker of the capital -- hold on -- >> chris: wait, i'm asking about mcconnell saying he's taking his cues from the white house, please answer the question. >> pam: we weren't given a fair trial in the house at all. it now goes to the senate and these senators -- the president deserves to be heard, we should be working hand-in-hand with them. the rules of evidence will apply. these are the senators, who will

decide if our president is impeached, which will not happen, we should and will work hand-in-hand with them. these are some of the weakest charges out there, chris, you know that. originally bribery, all these things were thrown out. absolutely nothing. we wouldn't be doing our job if we weren't working hand-in-hand with the senate to clear the president of this charade, this sham that started with adam schiff, your next guest, and we are not going to let it continue in the u.s. senate. we will have fair proceedings. >> chris: let's turn to this week, when the house is basically certain to impeach the president of the united states. here is the chair of the judiciary committee, jerry nadler. >> for the third time in a little over a century and a half the house judiciary committee has voted articles of impeachment against the president. >> chris: i've read earlier interviews with you, you say the president is focused on doing the people's business.

but this is a stain. the president says it's not a good thing for your resume, so i'm asking you not on political talking points, but on the human level and i know you've been in conversations with him. how does he feel about the fact that he's about to leave the third president in american history to be impeached? >> pam: well, the president says this is difficult on his family. of course it is because during the week, chris, when they've delivered a disgraceful vote to impeach the president during that week -- these aren't talking points. this is what the president was doing. the work of the american people. usmca, the china trade deal, the work of the american people, combating anti-semitism by executive order. holding a summit on family paid leave, that's his focus. going nonstop for the american people. is this difficult? of course it is, and that's why the lawyers, we are all handling this impeachment sham and charade with the weakest of weak evidence now, as you said, going

to the u.s. senate. >> chris: i didn't say it was a weak case, i just asked you about the senate trial. congressman jeff andrew of new jersey, one of the two democrats who voted against the impeachment inquiry in the first place plans to switch parties and become a republican. are you in the white house, are you asking him to hold off so when he cast his vote against impeachment this week he casted as a democrat? >> pam: no. you know what, i have had no conversations with him, nor have i known of any of that. i heard that this morning, that he may change his party. he's probably changing his party, chris, because he knows what his constituents care about. they care about jobs, they care about the economy, they care about the safety of their community. all these things haven't been happening because of these sham proceedings started by her next guest, adam schiff in a secret room in a bunker. and republicans and democrats are seeing this and democrats alike, they care about what

their constituents want, what's important to this country. they know the president is not going to be impeached at all this money and time being wasted when so many great things, so many bipartisan things could be happening for our country. >> chris: okay, i have one final question for you. president trump tweeted late yesterday that we, "fox news sunday," should not even be doing an interview with james comey or with adam schiff. i want to put up this tweet. he writes both comic cast nbc and fake news cnn are watching the ratings tank. don't know why fox news wants to be more like them. there will all die together as other outlets take their place. only pro-trump fox shows do well. my question, pam, is does the president understand that it's the duty of a free and fair price to cover both sides of the story? >> pam: of course he does.

i think he so tired of hearing all these lies and frankly, i'm going to disagree with the president right now because i'm glad you had james comey on because you caught him in multiple misrepresentations once again, and i can't wait to hear from adam schiff next. he is the one who was abused -- the only one who has abused their power in this entire proceeding is adam schiff and i want to hear him answer your tough questions. he has lied ad nauseam about the president, about the involvement, subpoenaing phone records of his colleagues, attorneys and fellow journalists, so i can't wait to hear what he's going to say when you question him. >> chris: well, thank you very much for the promo, thanks for the plug. pam bondi, thank you, thanks for your time, please come back and we will have some more tough questions for you. >> pam: i loved you, thank you. >> chris: coming up we will discuss the democrats case for impeachment and what a senate trial would look like with house intelligence share adam schiff. ♪

this is a story about... doin' more... ...with less. doers need energy. and demand for it is expected to grow. so chevron's finding more homegrown energy, more precisely. digitizing the way we work with advanced data analytics helping us develop more productive wells. and we're exploring ways to use renewable energy in our operations. doin' more... ...with less. more data and precision... to help meet growing demand. that's going to get a lot of likes. chevron. innovating to meet the energy demands of today and tomorrow. beyond the routine checkups. beyond the not-so-routine cases. comcast business is helping doctors provide care in whole new ways. all working with a new generation of technologies powered by our gig-speed network. because beyond technology... there is human ingenuity. every day, comcast business is helping businesses go beyond the expected. to do the extraordinary. take your business beyond.

>> chris: coming up, house judiciary votes out articles of impeachment against the president for the third time since 1974. >> someday there will be a democrat president and there will be a republican house and i suspect they're going to remember it. >> chris: we will ask house i'm ládeia, and there's more to me than hiv. there's my career... my cause... and creating my dream home. i'm a work in progress.

so much goes into who i am. hiv medicine is one part of it. prescription dovato is for adults who are starting hiv-1 treatment and who aren't resistant to either of the medicines dolutegravir or lamivudine. dovato has 2 medicines in 1 pill to help you reach and then stay undetectable. so your hiv can be controlled with fewer medicines while taking dovato. you can take dovato anytime of day with food or without. don't take dovato if you're allergic to any of its ingredients or if you take dofetilide. if you have hepatitis b, it can change during treatment with dovato and become harder to treat. your hepatitis b may get worse or become life-threatening if you stop taking dovato. so do not stop dovato without talking to your doctor. serious side effects can occur, including allergic reactions, liver problems, and liver failure. life-threatening side effects include lactic acid buildup and severe liver problems. if you have a rash and other symptoms of an allergic reaction, stop taking dovato and get medical help right away. tell your doctor if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis b or c. don't use dovato if you plan to become pregnant

or during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy since one of its ingredients may harm your unborn baby. your doctor should do a pregnancy test before starting dovato. use effective birth control while taking dovato. the most common side effects are headache, diarrhea, nausea, trouble sleeping, and tiredness. so much goes into who i am and hope to be. ask your doctor if starting hiv treatment with dovato is right for you. ♪ >> chris: next week, the house, the full house, will vote on whether president trump abuse the power of his office and obstructed congress. charges that arose from a house intelligence committee investigation led by our next guest, chairman adam schiff, who is a frequent target of the president. congressman, president trump says that this is the weakest impeachment of a president in

history. he calls it impeachment light. here's what he said -- actually, excuse me, here's what you said during the hearings about the crimes he committed. >> it was a failed effort to bribe ukraine. a failed effort to extort ukraine. >> chris: but the president notes that none of that, bribery, extortion, is in the articles of impeachment. why not? >> chairman schiff: we charge the president with abusing his power, of bribery and extortion are a subset of an abuse of power. and frankly, abuse of power better connotes the full range of the president's misconduct, the pattern of his misconduct, his efforts to invite russian interference, his efforts to obstruct the inquiry into that invitation to russia to intervene but the most pernicious, his abuse of his power to attempt to get an ally to help them cheat in the next

election. sacrificing our national security, undermining the integrity of our elections. we think that abuse of power most accurately characterizes the sweep of the president's misconduct. >> chris: you also accuse them in the other article of impeachment obstructing congress by refusing to comply with subpoenas. but on friday, the supreme court agreed to hear cases where the house had subpoenaed the president's financial records and says that wants to hear and deliberate that case, so why is going to court and impeachable offense? >> chairman schiff: going to court is not an impeachable offense. stonewalling completely, refusing to comply with the oversight of congress, particularly during an impeachment inquiry, is an impeachable offense. indeed richard nixon was about to be impeached for a far less comprehensive effort to stonewall the congress of his day. if i would just say to my republican colleagues who appear to be on the verge of shirking

their constitutional duty, if they're prepared to say that the president of the united states can simply say no -- tie up the congress for years in litigation, it was going to have to accept corruption, malfeasance, negligence, misconduct in any future democrat or republican. are we really prepared to go down that road? in many respects i think this might be the most serious of the articles because it would fundamentally alter the balance of power and allow for much greater misconduct in the chief executive of the country. the last point i can make, chris, along with the actual stonewalling is the utter refusal to turn over -- to turn over the notes for example of ambassador taylor or his cable to secretary pompeo, all of these things are being withheld. there is no legal basis to do so and so yes, the president can sue all him once and delay tactics and he's repeatedly lost in court, but that doesn't make it any less an act of

obstruction. >> chris: president trump says that if the house, as expected, votes articles of impeachment this week and it goes to a senate trial, that he would like to call you as a witness. here he is on you. >> i think adam schiff is a deranged human being. i think you grew up with a complex for lots of reasons that are obvious. i think is a very sick man. >> chris: first of all, what you think of the president's psychoanalysis and if lawyers call you to testify as a witness on the senate floor, will you comply? >> chairman schiff: in terms of the president of foster's comments, i guess ali would say is this president does nothing if not project onto others his own misconduct. in terms of whether i'm a witness, i'm not a fact witness in any way, chris, and the president knows that. he also wants to call the speaker as a witness. this is merely his common tactic, and that is he can't defend his gross misconduct. he can't defend his abuse of

power. withholding 400 million military aid. >> chris: i just want to pick up on the one point of the fact witness because he would say that the contact to you or if the member of the staff at with the whistle-blower does make you a fact witness. >> chairman schiff: the fact that the whistle-blower did have contact with my staff doesn't make me a fact witness. but on the less, nor does it make this speaker a fact witness. this isn't about fact witnesses. there are in fact members of congress, senator johnson had a discussion with the president, senator graham had the discussion with the president about the withholding of aid. they'd be fact witnesses. we didn't seek to call them, we are not seeking to make a circus out of this but the president is, because he can't defend his gross abuse of his office. he can't defend withholding military aid from an ally at war. the damages done to our national security, all he can do is attack and sadly too many of the republican members are willing to debase themselves by doing

whatever the president asks. >> chris: finally, i want to switch to the inspector general report because you have waiting on that. in 2018 that you were the ranking member, the top democrat in the minority in the intelligence committee, devin nunes the then-republican chair issued a report talk about all the problems with the fisa warrants and the fbi case. you defended the fbi's use of pfizer warns to surveilled carter page in a lengthy memo. are you are discussing them. >> it's important for the public to see the facts that the fbi acted appropriately in seeking a warrant on carter page. they are not part of some deep state is the president apparently would like the public >> chris: after reading the ig report, which discusses 17 serious errors of omission, some would say misconduct, on the part of the fbi, do you still think that the fbi acted appropriately as you said there? >> chairman schiff: i think

this is consistent with the ig report that they were right to seek a fisa on carter page and there wasn't some deep state conspiracy. there was no spying on the trump campaign, there was no effort to, based on political bias, open investigation. it was properly predicated but there were there were none the abuses of fisa, which were not apparent two years ago. it which have become apparent now with 170 witnesses interviewed and 2 million documents were viewed by the ig. and i am glad that the ig made the recommendations that he has made in the fbi is going to follow them, but that wasn't apparent to us two years ago, but the most significant things i think are that corrective steps will be taken in terms of the pfizer process and that the ig debunk these claims by the president, by mr. devin nunes and others and this deep state conspiracy, improper investigation, it would've been negligent for them not to conduct the investigation. >> chris: i just got a minute left but at that time in 2018 is

that the fbi and department of justice did not, "omit material information." apparently you did not know at the time that in fact steele's main russian sources have told the fbi that he misrepresented what that russian source of said and that the fbi knew at the time that carter page in fact was acting as a contact, as an unofficial source for the cia. given what you know now, we talked earlier to director comey and he basically said i was wrong in what i represented back in 2018. are you willing to admit that you were wrong in your defense of the fbi's fisa process? >> chairman schiff: i'm certainly willing to admit that the inspector general found serious abuses of fisa that i was unaware of. had i known of them, chris, yes, i would have called out the fbi at the same time. but i think it's only fair to judge what we know at the time, not what would be revealed two years later, but yes, there were

very serious abuses of the fisa process, they need to be corrected, we need to make sure they never happen again. >> chris: chairman schiff, thank you, always good to talk with you sir. >> chairman schiff: thank you. >> chris: up next we will bring in our center group to discuss the ig report, impeachment, and new fox poll's on the state of the 2020 democratic race. that was still . i pulled up youtube. i kept watching videos over and over, i finally got to the point where i could make a stitch. and that's how knotzland was born. we make handmade bowties out of repurposed fabrics. because of youtube i'm an entrepreneur. it's been a crazy journey.

mike bloomberg's created on tover 400,000 jobs.ue leader. as president, an opportunity economy that works for us. tax fairness -- where the wealthy pay their fair share. education .. affordable college and high skill vocational training so people can succeed in the new economy. economic security .. lower cost health care and affordable middle-class housing. proven leadership on jobs .. to build an economy where people don't just get by, they get ahead. i'm mike bloomberg and i approve this message.

>> this was an overthrow of government. this was an attempted overthrow and a lot of people were in on it. and they got caught. they got caught red-handed. >> chris: president trump reacting to the inspector general's report on how the fbi handled its pro-trump-russia investigation and it's time now for our center group. guy benson of fox news radio.

it mo elleithee of georgetown university's institute of politics and public service. julie pace, washington bureau chief for the associated press and host of ap's new ground game podcasts. and townhall.com editor katie pavlich. let me start with you, katie. democrats are hanging their hat and terms of the ig report on his finding that the investigation into the trump campaign was legitimately opened, that there was no political bias. republicans on these repeated abuses or errors in the fisa process, who's got the better side of that argument? >> i think republicans do because democrats would be very concerned about what the ig laid out in his testimony and in his report. james comey continues to refer to these omissions as mistakes, sloppy behavior, but you don't admit information like carter page is an asset for the cia in a fisa application if you don't do that on purpose. if that is not something that you to forget about.

you also don't fail to take out information that christopher steele is connected to the clinton campaign through the dossier by mistake. these are things that were obviously calculated, the ig repeatedly kept saying i understand why people feel there may be some kind of bias here. inextricable why the 17 actions happen. the explanation for this as there was a group that was handpicked by andrew mccabe at the fbi, they all were engaged in this, not a single person said why are we omitting and doctoring information and lying to the fisa court to get this warrant. >> chris: i understand there are two parts to this report, that horowitz says there was no political bias in opening the investigation. he talks about problems with it -- big problems with the fisa process, but isn't it harder to argue that there was no political bias overall when you see 17 mistakes made by three teams on four separate fisa applications? >> well, you can say that -- the inspector general seems to say

that looking at what led to the fisa application was not politically motivated, that that was not based on any political bias. you can look at the end result and see that of the four individuals who were investigated, three of them either were convicted or pled guilty to some sort of a crime. you can also say that there were these serious problems and that the fbi should look out whether they were systemic, whether they were intentional or whether they were sloppiness. all of these things could be true. i think either side that tries to cherry pick the results of this and point to just what helps them is doing a huge disservice to this process. all these things seem to be true, or can be true and should be part of the conversation. >> chris: okay, let's turn to impeachment and apparent vote to impeach and the trial in the senate. julie, talking to your sources

at the white house, have they figured out what they want in a senate trial? is this debate, a long trial, witnesses, hunter biden, the whistle-blower, maybe john bolton. have they figured out whether they want the long trial with all of this spilling out, or a much shorter trail which basically they go over the evidence that's already been established? and what about this confusion as to who's going to be -- lead the defense for the president? everyone assumed it would be the white house counsel, now apparently the president is pulling people as he is won't to do. maybe we should find someone else. >> i think there are a lot of active discussions underway in the white house and republican leaders in the senate what this will look like, who will defend the president. the president of course said he would be okay with the short trial but also wanted a longer one. i think the key to this, the key between the white house and the senate leadership is that president trump doesn't just want acquittal through this trial, he wants vindication. he wants people to watch this trial six days a week and come

out and not just say i don't think he should be an issue -- remove from office, i don't think he did anything wrong. there's some interest on the senate republican side in just simply getting this quickly, just saying that we are going to work with the president and moving on but the president is pushing for more and to your about the white house counsel, this is kind of classic trump here. if this is a person who was seen as the lead lawyer here, but trump also looks at this as a reality television star, televised process, he wants the best person not just legally but also for the visual effect, for the televised portion of this. the big question -- and this comes up a lot when you see the second-guessing as who with the replacement be in there hasn't been a clear answer to that. >> chris: [inaudible] >> not a popular option i would say among a lot of percent republicans right now. >> chris: okay, we told you about new fox poll's on impeachment at the top of the hour. we also did some polling about the state of the 2020 race. we want to put those up. in a democratic horse race,

joe biden holds onto a solid lead, ten points ahead. this is national polls, ten points ahead of bernie sanders. elizabeth warren has faded to third, pete buttigieg and michael bloomberg in single digits, everybody else behind them. and democrats seem to be leaning more moderate to this point when asked about who's about right on the issues, biden and buttigieg lead the way and bloomberg does pretty well too. guy, what do those numbers tell you about the state of the democratic race in the state of the democratic electorate? >> joe biden just keeps trucking along, right? is all these flaws into gives bad answers, he's not great on the stump and certainly in debates he has occasional head-scratchers, let's say, of answers, but the electorate is looking at their options. the democratic electorate, and saying we think this is probably our safest bet to beat president trump at a lot of the polling both nationally and in swing states, crucial states, bears that out. what struck me is the democratic primary voters on sort of the

porridge test like too left, too right, or just right. also when it comes to the issues, joe biden has a double-digit lead on that question over both elizabeth warren and bernie sanders and if you break it out not just democrats but nationally, you ask all voters, do these people have the right ideas, bernie and warren are both at 31% who say yes we are good with that. that is less than one-third of the population's comfortable with the positions of warren and sanders. that's significant. >> chris: mo, i want to sneak you in, less than a minute left but has the democratic push to the left and the green new deal, medicare for all, has that kind of abated and are democrats focusing more on beating the president and being more in the center? >> i think if you look at -- excuse me -- multiple polls, you'll see the point that guy just made an the democratic electorate is not following the narrative that there's this huge leftward lurch in the party.

democratic voters tend to be more sort of center left than some of the party leaders are. i think one of the untold stories of this election so far has been the staying power of joe biden not just in the national polls, but in iowa and new hampshire, he is still there at the top. >> chris: they had an election in england and the head of labor, jeremy corbyn, lost in a landslide and somebody said after there's a difference between twitter and real people who go into the voting booth. thank you, panel, see you next sunday. up next, why are first amendment freedoms still make america special. ♪

>> chris: there's a museum about journalism here in washington called the newseum. it held its event this week, the celebration of the first amendment. i was invited to talk about the importance of a fair and impartial press. there was a lot of coverage about what i said about president trump's attacks on press freedom but not so much about my comments on bias in the media. so here is some of that. >> we are not participants in what we cover. we are umpires or observers

trying to be objective witnesses to what is going on. if the president or anyone we are covering says something untrue or do something questionable, we can and should report it but we shouldn't be drawn into the fight. we shouldn't be drawn into taking sides, as tempting as that is. we are not as good at it as they are and we are abandoning the special all the founders gave us in this democracy. >> chris: the museum closes at the end of the month after more than 11 years and more than 10 million visitors. but the freedom form says the museum will go on either end and the location or a new platforms and when it returns, we will be there. and that's it for today, have a great week and we will see you next "fox news sunday" ." ♪ you shouldn't have to live with pain. you shouldn't have to pretend you're fine.

you shouldn't have to be the ambulance. you shouldn't have to be thinking about the cost. you should just be focused on her. covered california can help you find a health plan that fits your needs and budget. because we believe you shouldn't have to choose between the life you've built and the care you need.

. today is the end of the road for the raiders and the coliseum. it is bound to be an emotional day that is less about the scoreboard than the history. what is next for the team and its plans? s plans? well, good morning to you and welcome to mornings on 2 on this sunday, december 15th. i am claudine wong. >> wow! good morning, everyone. i am frank mallicoat. happy sunday. rosemary is here! she is in black.