Editor’s note: What follows is an excerpt from Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie’s new book “Trump: America First: The President Succeeds Against All Odds” which will release on Sept. 29 (Pre-order here on Amazon). In the book, Lewandowski and Bossie provide an inside look into President Donald Trump’s presidency and his reelection campaign.
The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Democrat congressman Jerrold Nadler of New York, subpoenaed Corey in August 2019. It was supposed to be the first big impeachment hearing of the Mueller Report era. And when we say big, we mean wall-to-wall coverage on every TV channel. Big…
We were already inside… As former Hill staffers, we knew how to navigate Capitol Hill without walking through the front door.
The networks had fallen victim to what many people have done when dealing with Corey: underestimating him. To do so, however, is at your own peril. Congressman Nadler would learn that the hard way…
Corey had run through mock questions fired at him from a team of killers for hours…
Corey’s outstanding attorney, Peter Chavkin of Mintz Levin, worked with White House counsel to clarify executive privilege and how that privilege applied to Corey…
The Democrats on the committee—and the liberal left across the country—were counting on what old-time TV fans might call “a Perry Mason moment.” They were hoping Corey would collapse under the glare of the klieg lights…
Congressman Nadler began the questioning by recognizing himself. After a long-drawn-out, rambling speech about the unfairness of executive privilege, the congressman finally got specific. Referencing the Mueller Report, he asked Corey if he had met with the president on June 19, 2017, in the Oval Office.
Simple question, right?
Wrong. Corey had watched Robert Mueller testify. He had seen the leeway and privilege that the Democrats had afforded the special counsel. And even with all the coddling, Mueller had begun just about every answer he had given to Congress by asking the page number of the report on which the question was based. He would then start flipping pages until he found the corresponding reference. Anyone who watched the special counsel testify that day could rightly assume that he’d lost a step or two.
“May I have a copy of the report to follow along?” Corey asked.
Given the fact that each member of Congress had a time limit of only five minutes to ask questions, you might be thinking that Corey was trying to run out the clock on Nadler…Okay, fine, he was stalling. It was part of our master plan. If Mueller had been allowed to reference the report, why shouldn’t Corey be afforded the same consideration?…
“Stop the clock!” yelled congressman David Cicilline, the Trump-hating liberal from Rhode Island…
“He’s filibustering!” Nadler complained.
A staffer put the report in front of Corey, but it turned out to be the wrong one. By the time they got the right Mueller Report to him, you could have gotten up, made yourself a sandwich, and come to the conclusion that there was no chance of the hearing getting any smoother.
At one point during the hearing, the congressman from California, who had just dropped out of the race for the Democrat nomination for president, began accusing Corey of being ashamed to read quotes from the report out loud. Eric Swalwell is a pompous, arrogant TV hog who is always looking for his fifteen minutes on Maddow.
“President Swalwell, I’m very happy with what I’ve written, but you’re welcome to read it if you’d like.”
“Are you ashamed to read it out loud?”
“I’m not ashamed of anything in my life, Congressman. Are you?”…
Next up was congressman Hank Johnson of Georgia, a Democrat who feared Guam would tip over if the United States stationed eight thousand soldiers on the island. He likened Corey to “a fish being cleaned with a spoon” before accusing him of being too squeamish to deliver a message from the president to Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“Why did it take you so long? the congressman pressed. “You chickened out.”
“I went on vacation,” Corey said. “I took my kids to the beach, Congressman. That was more of a priority.”
Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat congresswoman from Texas, tried to—well, we’re still not entirely sure actually. It was definitely some kind of angry lecture…The rest of the Democrats all had their rehearsed lines hoping to rattle him. It did not go well for any of them. Corey was as cool as a spring day in New Hampshire.
As televisions in disappointed liberal households across the country snapped off, the legend of Corey Lewandowski grew…
Corey was so much in control that he even managed to tease a possible Senate race during his break from testimony. Members of Congress noticed and addressed him about it during the hearing. You can’t put a price tag on that kind of advertising.
David Bossie is president of Citizens United and former chief investigator for the U.S. House of Representatives. Corey Lewandowski was President Trump’s 2016 campaign manager and is now a senior advisor to the president’s reelection campaign. Their new book, Trump: America First, will be released September 29.