[Camerota:] FBI Director James Comey faced four hours of questioning in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He revealed new details in the now-closed FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop.
[Sen. John Kennedy,  Louisiana, Committee On The Judiciary:] Was there classified information on former Congressman Weiner's computer?
[James Comey, Fbi Director:] Yes.
[Kennedy:] Who sent it to him?
[Comey:] His then-spouse Huma Abedin appears to have had a regular practice of forwarding emails to him for him, I think, to print out for her so she could then deliver them to the Secretary of State.
[Camerota:] All right. Joining us now is the senator asking those questions, Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. Good morning, Senator.
[Kennedy:] Good morning, Alisyn. How you doing?
[Camerota:] I'm doing well. You got some new information out of Dir. Comey there that we hadn't previously known about how Huma Abedin would send these emails from Secretary of State Clinton to her husband in order for him to print them out. And that prompted Sen. Lindsey Graham to ask Director Comey should somebody be prosecuted for sending classified information to Anthony Weiner, and then Director Comey said there's no Anthony Weiner statute. So what did you think of that whole exchange and information?
[Kennedy:] I appreciated Comey's candor. He was he was forthcoming, he wasn't apologetic. Look, it's no secret. Comey doesn't get invited to many parties on Capitol Hill. He's about as popular as cholera. But I respect that about him. I mean, the impression I get of Comey is that he's going to do his job and he doesn't much care who gets mad at him. I questioned him at length about Sec. Clinton's email scandal or circumstances whatever you want to call it. He gave me straight-up answers. He answered the yes and no questions with yes and no. I also pressed him pretty hard on the investigation about Russia's interference with the last round of elections.
[Camerota:] Yes, and so on that on that note what did you learn? What was new that you learned yesterday?
[Kennedy:] Well, here's what I hope I learned, and I say that because I didn't get a chance to ask him this straight-up. I ran out of time. But what I wanted to say was look, this issue about the interference in our election has been raised. The American people get it. Not every American reads Aristotle every day but they know something's going on. And now the FBI's involved. They've announced they're doing an investigation. Comey and his team have got to they've got to turn over every single rock every single one. They've got to let the chips fall where they may and after they conclude their investigation, whatever it is, they can't just do a press conference and say OK, we're finished, never mind, nothing there, or here's what we found and we're going to in terse, cryptic terms. He's got to call a press conference and say to the American people this is what happened. This is who did something wrong. This is somebody who didn't do something wrong. Here's what we plan on doing in the future to stop Russia from doing this. We'll never stop them completely. I mean, this goes all the way back Russia tried to it's well documented interfere in the Nixon- Humphrey election.
[Camerota:] So
[Kennedy:] They tried to interfere in Ronald Reagan's reelection. They're always trying to screw with our elections.
[Camerota:] But do you think there was something different in the 2016? Do you have any doubt in your mind that they did interfere in the 2016 election?
[Kennedy:] There's no doubt in my mind based on the briefings I've had that they did interfere. There are two questions, though, that have to be addressed by the FBI. Number one, what was the extent, if any, of staff on presidential campaigns interacting with Russian agents? That's number one. Number two, OK, the Russians interfered. Did they influence the election and how do you know that? How do you quantify that? And really, number three, what do we do about it in the future?
[Camerota:] And so, given that you think that James Comey should come out and make a statement based on whatever they find, am I to then extrapolate that you think that it was within his purview and his right and good judgment that he did make the statement about Hillary Clinton's email and that he did send the letter to Congress on October 28th that she now credits for her loss?
[Kennedy:] Well, you know, I wasn't in his shoes. I don't know what I would have done, but he explained he thought he had two doors, disclose or conceal. He chose door number one. He's unapologetic about it. He explained this thinking. I don't think anybody would know what they would do until they're in those in his shoes. It was a tough call. But I will say this, this is my impression of Comey and I don't know him. I met him for the first time yesterday. He loves his job, he cares about the FBI, and he just doesn't really care who's mad at him and I like frankly, I like that about him. I mean, he's an equal opportunity aggravator up here and that's a pretty good that's a pretty good qualification for working on Capitol Hill as far as I'm concerned.
[Camerota:] There you go. Susan Rice, the former national security adviser to President Obama. You would like her, I understand, I think, to testify in front of your committee. She does not want to. Will you subpoena her?
[Kennedy:] You know, it's not my decision to subpoena her. I think she ought to testify. Now, if she's lawyered-up you know, if her lawyers tell her not to do it I'm sure she's going to listen to her lawyers. But I'd like to know. I'd like to hear her side of the story. There are generally two sides to a story. I haven't prejudged the situation. I want to hear what she has to say.
[Camerota:] Yes. Senator, I want to ask you about something else that's happening the country right now and that's, of course, the flooding. There's been storms throughout the Midwest.
[Kennedy:] Yes.
[Camerota:] Missouri has had flooding, as has other states. I know that you have a plan to, I guess, cut down on flood insurance abuse? What's happening?
[Kennedy:] As you know, FEMA runs the National Flood Insurance Program. Actually, they don't run it, they're in charge of it. They hire some private insurance companies to operate it. The private insurance companies hire consultants to help them lawyers, contractors, engineers. Most of those consultants do a pretty good job, some of them don't. Some of them try to screw people. There's been evidence introduced in federal court where engineers have changed reports, where lawyers have been dilatory. The head of the Flood Insurance Program for FEMA testified in front of our banking committee. I asked him look, these bad actors, why don't you fire them? I know they're a minority but there are still some they're firing. He said I don't have the authority unless they're criminally convicted. I said OK, we're going to give you that authority and that's what my bill does. My bill says that the FEMA director of the Flood Insurance Program can pick up the phone and if there's a bad actor out there working for an insurance company that has a contract with the Flood Insurance Program
[Camerota:] Yes.
[Kennedy:] and the director thinks that they are committing bad behavior or fraud, he can say you're fired and they'll have a right to appeal. If people buy flood insurance and they flood, they ought to get their money. It's just -it's just that simple.
[Camerota:] Well, that sure makes sense. Senator John Kennedy, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY Chris.
[Kennedy:] You bet. Thanks, Alisyn.
[Cuomo:] All right. The president is set to sign an order today allowing churches and other religious organizations to become more politically active. Is the order going to face a legal challenge? We debate.