Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 12062017 20171206

He continues with the Florida House speaker Richard Corcoran who discusses the impact of Hurricane Irma on the states finances. Host good morning. It is wednesday, december 6, 2017. The house and senate returning today as they were to stave off a Government Shutdown that would begin just after midnight on friday. Unless a spending deal of is reached, we will talk about where negotiations stand in this morning, but we are less than a week away away from a december 12 special election in alabama. Republican congressional leaders split on whether to support republican roy moore and after steve bannon rallied support last night for the former judge who has been accused of Sexual Misconduct, we are opening phone lines to republicans only in this first hour to hear from you about your support or opposition to roy moore. Phone lines are open and republicans who support roy moore, 202 7488000 is your number. Those who oppose, 202 7488001. Alabama republicans with any opinion on roy moore, 202 7488002, we especially want to hear from you this morning. You can catch up with us on social media, on twitter, on facebook. And a very good wednesday morning to you. Republicans only in this first hour. We want to hear about your support or opposition of roy moore. As we said, former white house strategist, breitbarts steve bannon was in alabama last night rally support for roy moore. I am not from alabama. This will be decided by the good men and women in alabama next week. But the whole nation, and the entire world, is watching. Because this is a referendum. This is a referendum, are we going to take this country back . Are we going to return it to its former greatness . Are we going to lead a bunch of elites that have alerted this country over the last 30 or 40 years, are we going to allow them to win . No you have a man that i think has integrity and honor. He went to west point, he served his country, he served his day, community and his nation. He does not need any long introduction. He has never claimed, like donald trump, that he was perfect. If i remember correctly, he made his International Reputation on putting the 10 commandments up. The 10 commandments. [applause] basis of the judeochristian west. What does it tell us . Man has fallen, and man is imperfect. Host we will show you more from the event last night. Here are the headlines, wall street journal, donald trump, senate and gop divided on roy moore. Talking about the conflict over roy moore when it comes to the president , and republicans in congress, the Senate Republican, the National Senatorial Committee withholding their support and Financial Aid for war more. The Republican National committee has moved back into that race. Here is the president yesterday when asked about his thoughts on roy moore. President trump thank you very much. We do not want to have a liberal democrat, believe me, we want strong borders, we want to be stopping crime, we want to have the things we represent and we do know what to have a liberal democrat that is controlled by nancy pelosi and controlled by Chuck Schumer, we do not want to them in alabama. Host that was the president yesterday and of course questions about roy moore being asked on capitol hill yesterday. Mitch mcconnell, after Senate Republican much meetings, discussed him as well. I would hope that judge moore would resign, in other words withdraw from the race, the obviously is not going to happen. If you were to be elected he would immediately have an issue with the Ethics Committee which they would take up. Yeah . [indiscernible] talk toill have to senator gardner, but my expectation is they will not get reinvolved. Elected,is [indiscernible] based on a 1969 Supreme Court decision, we would have no option but to swear him in, because apparently the Supreme Court held that the only criteria are to meet the constitutional standards. As a member of the senate i have already predicted what would immediately begin to unfold, and we will see what happens if that happens. Host that was some of the discussion about roy moore in washington and at that rally last night. We want to hear from only republicans in the first hour of the washington journal. Republicans that support roy moore, 202 7488000. Republicans that oppose roy moore, 202 7488001. Alabama republicans who have any opinion on roy moore, 202 7488002. Susan colling from flagstaff, arizona on the line for those republicans that oppose roy moore. Caller hi. Host good morning. Caller i am opposed to roy moore. Im a victim, just like those teenage girls. I have been raped over 20 times. And i have been sexually abused, just recently moving into a group home. After six days of moving in, i have been sexually abused by a member already four times. And they are doing nothing about it at the center. I am opposing him. Host is there anyone that you can reach out to in your situation there . Caller yes, i am traveling in an ambulance right now because im feeling suicidal about my insecurities. Host you are in touch with somebody who can help you in that situation right now . Caller yes, i would never commit suicide, i know there is a purpose to life. My purpose is to run for president in 2034. I knowt saying that exactly how these girls feel. And i am sure it could not be just girls, could be guys too. People take what they want and they think they do not have to give anything in return. It is completely the devils work. Host before you go, we have a onemonth rule between when people can call us on this program, will you do me a favor and promise he will call back in a month. I want to talk more about your platform for running for president down the road, we promise to do that . Caller yes i will. Host good luck. Think you for calling in. Jared is on the line for those who support roy moore, in maryland. We are talking to republicans only. Good morning. Caller good morning. For me, the moment that they put the victims names in the attack ads on roy moore, that is where they lost me. I do a lot of pro bono work with victims, but you cannot, there you canhing that accuse someone who does that, but it is a hit job when you put their actual names in a state that actually does not have a high population. Some of these people were outed as victims. That is when they lost me and that is when it became strictly apolitical job. In that case i am a republican at the and of the day, and we do need the vote. He was chief judge of alabama and his reputation made it through the process a dozen times. It just smells too much like a political hit job to me. Host didnt make a difference when the names were in news reports before they were in attack ads . Ok. Jan on the line for those who oppose roy moore. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are you . Host i am doing well. Go ahead. Caller yes, i am a navy nurse retired, desert storm and a vietnam. I have counseled and i have been with many people who have reported abuse, men and women. Men. Women obviously, than i believe them and i think when people speak about abuse we need to believe them and also followup. I believe that we have ignored for years and decades, peoples complaints of abuse and we need to hold perpetrators accountable. And that is from the president down. If you are unfit for duty, you are unfit for duty and we need to vote them out and resist. Host you say resist, are you a republican . Caller yes. Host do you think Republican Leaders are doing that, Holding Members accountable . Caller no. I think the gop is cowardly and they are not doing their job, not standing up, not doing the right thing. Host that is jan in virginia this morning. One member who saw his career come to an end over sexual assault, or Sexual Harassment allegations, the former now member of Congress John conyers. Who is facing a rising chorus of voices demanding he step down because of Sexual Harassment claims. He retired on tuesday from his seat that he held for more than five decades, reporting from usa today. They called it a swift and crushing fall from grace for a civil rights icon and the longestserving active member of congress. Saying he was finalizing his plans for retirement, conyers said he would endorse his son to replace him in congress, and in a statement yesterday he did not describe his actions as a resignation, but said his decision was immediate. Plenty of reporting on that story yesterday. We are talking about roy moore and republicans only this morning, asking your opinion. If you support or oppose roy moore. Lines for those who support and lines for those who oppose, we want to hear from alabama voters, a special line for you. Good morning. Caller yes, thank you for having me. Excellent topic this morning. Second, i wanted to say that roy moore is the best, he has the highest reputation for a for anyr and integrity man that has run for senate as long as i have been alive. The fact these women come out of the woodwork 40 years later, he has already had over three or four office positions and not a mention or a people of anything, even remotely peep of anything, even remotely. So it is a total hit job from the democrats, probably Hillary Clinton if i had to take a guess. And second, the hit job, it was Gloria Allred showed her face. Host do you think the Washington Post and the other papers who have reported, do you think they are all in on this . Caller absolutely. The post without a doubt, and Mitch Mcconnell, the spineless coward that he is, he said he predicted this, he means he was scheming for this to happen, along with the Washington Post and the democrats to take this guy down. Host andrew in maryland. Francis also supporting roy moore, republican from North Carolina. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host go ahead. Caller yes, i support roy moore. I think it is a hit job. He has run for so many offices and nobody has ever come up with anything and you go 40 years and you do not say anything. A man has proven he is innocent, and man is innocent until Proven Guilty and that is what i believe. We just had a man in North Carolina that was in prison and they proved that the lady was lying. They have had to release him. And all the time women they will lie on a man. Why didnt they come for before now . You run for office, he was a good judge and all of a sudden i do not think it is a thing, but the democrats are wanting to stop him. They have done all kinds of hit jobs. I do not believe anything the Washington Post says. They are all for democrats. The news media. They support the democrats. You cannot hardly believe anything that anybody is saying anymore. It just makes you sick, the way that they treat people these days. I just do not believe all of this stuff about men. I worked for a company for 38 years and i was never harassed, no way or no form, and i worked along with men. I do not believe it. Carolinancis in north this money, some tweets yesterday from some highprofile republicans. Mitt romney tweeting roy more in the u. S. Senate would be a stain on the gop and the nation. Victims are courageous heroes. No majority is worth losing our honor and our integrity. Another republican, jeff flake agreeing, from arizona and is saying that a victory for roy moore is no victory for the republicans and the nation. Jeff flake tweeting later in the day, country over party. Among with an image of a check that he wrote for doug jones, the democrat in the race. In response to the check and image that was sent out, another republican sender and a colleague said the donation is a bad idea, it is possible to be against both partialbirth abortion and child molestation. Happily most americans are. As we said, steve bannon in alabama yesterday, had plenty to say about mitt romney and statements he has made about roy moore. Judge roy moore is a graduate of the United States military academy at west point. [applause] judge roy moore served his country in one of the toughest wars we ever had, the it non. Vietnam. He went over there for his country, state and family. Mitt, that is honor and integrity. Mitt, while we are on the subject of honor and integrity, you avoided service, brother. Ok. [boos] here is how it is. College deferment, we can debate that, but you hid behind your religion. You went to france to be a missionary while guys were dying in rice paddies in vietnam. Do not talk to me about honor and integrity. [applause] and now im going to get personal. You ran for commander in chief, you had five sons, not one day of service in afghanistan and iraq. We have 7000 dead and 52,000 casualties, and where were the romneys . Host steve bannon yesterday. We are talking to republicans only, less than a week away from the Senate Special election on december 12, next tuesday. We want to hear from republicans only, do you support or oppose roy moore. We have a special line for alabama voters, we especially want to hear from you this morning. Alabama republicans, 202 7488002. Lee roy is a republican in california. Good morning. Caller yes, i am calling about roy moore. If he gets in there i am switching parties. The gop now is the grand old perverts. Grand old pedophiles. They have a special place in hell for people like roy moore, steve bannon, and donald trump. They are child molesters. They are going around to the high schools and kindergartens, and in Shopping Malls, looking for little girls. L. Ey should burn in hel host did you support donald trump in 2016 . Caller no. Nobody in california supported him. He is a racist like roy moore. Roy moore was a segregationist. He is for slavery he is a child molester. A grand old pedophile. Host who is a republican that you would, whose leadership of the party that you do support . Caller i like romney, i like romney. He had integrity. White racist. Int that is leroy california. John is in pryor, oklahoma on the line for those that support roy moore. Good morning. Caller good morning. I do support roy moore. In my stolen . Still on . Host yes. Caller some of your guests myll my thunder stole thunder on it took a while for these women to come forward. Ive never heard so many people call in and it not only accuse roy moore of being a pedophile, but they seem to want to lump our president with it as well. I am not sure i understand where that is coming from, because i do not believe our president has ever been accused of being a pedophile that im aware of. Probably at worst he may have been guilty of some locker room talk, but it seems like to me that there is a piling on effect here concerning this, these sexualharassment charges. It seems like everybody has one now. Everybody has a me too. I have a me too story too. It does not define my life. And i have not spent my life thinking about the person that sexually harassed me. Uh, you move along. And i know that is going to really aggravate some people. I must say, the gentleman that called from california, i do not believe he was a republican. Be that as it may, i totally disagree with him and i totally disagree with the washington journal continuing to allow people to talk about it there. Ill end we have a fire emergency going on in the building. We will get that taken care of and we will get back to you later in the morning. Announcer washington journal is having technical problems. We will show you a discussion about security threats in north africa while we address those. [chatter] good morning, thank you for joining us at state panel, were lucky to be joined by such esteemed experts on the region and im eager to hear their thoughts on the developing threats. I will start by introducing everyone briefly and then asking them for some open remarks. Programses are in the before you and i am eager to hear what theyre going to say. I urge you to look at those biographies for more information on their backgrounds. To my left, a Senior Research fellow for counterterrorism at the National Defense university. A Senior Analyst for tunisia at the International Crisis group. Fellowleft, a research for the crown center for middle east studies at brandeis university, and an associate fellow at chatham house. I will ask the panel to go in that order and address opening topic questions. I was wondering if we could talk about foreign fighters, the trends you are seeing and specifically what are the implications for algeria . Thank you very much. I and the, counterterrorism fellow at the National Defense university, so were actually a part of the u. S. Professional military education program, which means i actually have to start all my comments by saying nothing i say represents the department of defense for the u. S. Government. I should also say that having a portfolio for counterterrorism, i worked trends regionally so sometimes i am in Southeast Asia and sometimes in south africa and i have been did in asia as part of this research, but i do not consider myself a regional expert, so that should be taken into context. My comments will focus on foreign fighters and what next in the implications for north africa. Basic numbers, according to the u. S. Government we have all heard this, about 34,000 foreign fighters that travel to syria. Turkey has higher numbers. 53,000 with an additional 11,000 women and children. The reason why is it such a difference is due to a definition of what is a foreign fighter. Do they make it to syria or are they turned back in turkey . You see some difference in the numbers reported from north africa as a result of this. Officiale 40,000, estimates from a north african countries, to me this is tunisia, libya, egypt and algeria. About 7500. And that is into sending order, and the academic estimates, not the official estimates, are somewhat higher. They go to between 10,00013,000 from these five countries. Ok, lets start with a 7500. Of the 7500 foreign fighters officially from these countries, who traveled to syria and iraq, about 1600 or 22 have already returned home. And these are official numbers from those countries. Comparatively speaking, 22 is a very low number. The Previous Panel mentioned the returnees in the mid1990s. We have as many as 70 of those from algeria actually returning directly home. Other countries, about 80 return to specifically their home credit 22 so far is their home. 22 so far is not bad. But you have to say, maybe they did not return to home countries, but to the region. Maybe they went to sinai, maybe they went to libya and if you broaden that out there is about 900 foreign fighters who fought in syria whove already return to libya. And about half of those are from north african countries, there is also a significant saudi population. So right now you are looking at about 2000 foreign fighters who have operational experience in syria and iraq who have already returned in north africa, in this five countries i mentioned. Algeria,ically on generally speaking as i mentioned before, a foreign fighter returnee is quite low. Official numbers right now coming out of algeria are around 500, the academic total, that is around 1100, with about 300 killed on the battlefields in iraq. An additional 200 fighters in libya. That is compared to 7000 algerians who fought in afghanistan, so actually these are again relatively speaking quite low. Algeria is one of the few countries that has reversed course when it comes to the trend in foreign fighters. Most of the time what you see is consecutive conflict after consecutive conflict of what we call Facilitation Networks where recruitment networks, the numbers getting larger and larger. In algeria they have gotten smaller and smaller, of course because of the national tragedy, the massive conflict that took place. That is not to say that all jerry a has not had issues with Islamic State recruitment. Arrestedservices have and disrupted a number of recruitment cells. I was there in may and they are just arrested somebody who is actively recruiting about three and two people on facebook. And they had busted it in downtown algiers. This is what is interesting about recruitment in algeria, is that it does not seem to me like the Islamic State are competing for the same recruits. Aqim seems be using traditional family and social networks to recruit people, while the Islamic State has gone online. As a result you have a different type of recruitment and a different profile, to the extent we can even go with profiles of recruits. I find that interesting. Um, also, a couple things about algeria, since ive been asked to talk about them, i think we heard it from the Previous Panel but given its historical experience this is a country that is very worried about foreign fighter attorneys, because they were a huge part of the civil conflict. They have laws on the books that have made it you legal to go to another conflict, to travel from the 1990s. They reinforced it quickly in 2015 and they worked very quickly to shut down the Facilitation Networks, so i think the comparative area to the other countries in the compare so i think to algeria to other countries in the region is a missed a number misnomer. I want to talk about the likely impact, because historically foreign fighters have returned home to establish local terrorist cells, they have participated in smuggling rings and they have helped finance other conflicts. This is, we already see examples of this throughout north africa from the dash and foreign fighter attorneys. In addition, you can track specific attacks that are linked to their attorneys the returnees. There is a cells outside of iraq have conducted about 510 attacks and about 120 of them took place in north africa. Returneesn fighter have participated in 50 of the attacks. These are real terrorist operations. 15 for north africa. Host thank you for bearing with us this might come a fire emergency in the building that has now been resolved. We return to our discussion that we are having this morning about roy moore. We are talking to republicans only in the next half hour of the washington journal. Whether they support or oppose roy moore, and a special line for alabama republicans. Roy moore, 202 re mor 7488000. Oppose, 202 7488001. And alabama voters, since they will be the ones deciding this next tuesday, we want to hear from you, 202 7488002. We will continue this discussion with lou, who i appreciate you waiting during that brief pause. Highland park, illinois on the line for those that oppose roy moore. Good morning. Caller good morning. Ive have been listening all morning and i hear people who are criticizing women who did not speak up during these past years against roy moores elections. I think there is a simple answer for that, he was a judge already. And he sat on the Supreme Courts in alabama. How many people are going to publicly oppose, not only a judge, but a Supreme Court judge in the state in which they live. I think it is part of the victimization process, fear. If you are keeps people from speaking up. Host thank you for calling. Charlie is in ohio, the line for those that support roy moore. Go ahead. Caller yeah, i support roy moore. I heard his speech on television and i just want everybody to know out there that the 1960s. In when i was a young man he told me, he said the only way the Global Market works is when you balance out the buying power throughout the planet. In other words, people, americans are going backwards in wages so the rest of the world can catch up. That is the only way a Global Market works. The my computer better wake up and you better stick with donald the onlycause he is chance you have in this mess. Host americans waking up to several editorials today in National Papers about roy moore and that vote in the Senate Special election in alabama. Here is the Editorial Board of the wall street journal, judging roy moore is the headline. Republicans have an unusual political problem in alabama. They write the candidate may win. Senator, he is a will be hanged around the neck of every senator and dispirited gop voters. It would also go far to discredit steve bannon, the former white house aid who wants to mount a primary challenger to every Senate Republican other than ted cruz. He backed roy moore in the primary and he knows a defeat in alabama of all conservative places to persuade republicans elsewhere that he cares more about blowing up the gop. They write a gop victory in alabama may be more costly than to feet. Defeat. One more for you from the Editorial Board of the Washington Post, two parties, to messages. Two messages. They refer to john conyers decision to resign yesterday. Republican support roy moore. And next to the lead editorial, a cartoon focusing on roy moore and the president. Take a look at that as we go to ronnie in michigan, on the line for those that support were more. Who support roy moore. Caller thank you. I believe the rehabilitation. I believe, first of all climbed believe the acquisitions i believe the accusations of the women. By believe that a man has not done this activity for 47 years. And i do believe in christianity, give him another chance. He will work out good. Thank you. Host before you go, if you believe the acquisitions accusations, you trust him to make decisions in the United States senate and vote on social issues that are important to you . Caller i believe the man is rehabilitated, like i say, and i think he is very sorry for his past. He denies it. As long as he denies it, what can i do . What can i say . I believe he will do a good job. Host if he denies it, why do you think he is sorry about it . Caller well, you cannot admit it and expect to be elected. That is why deny, deny, deny. That is what the law says. As long as you deny, they cannot do nothing. Host what makes you think he is sorry about it if you think he did it . Caller you can be sorry but not admit it. Like i say come i believe he did these acts, but i think he has rehabilitated himself. Host thank you. Jan writes on twitter that the fact that he was banned from a girlsor creeping on says it all for me. Leaving this decision to the voters of the state of alabama. We are talking to just republicans this morning about roy moore, the Senate Special election happening next tuesday. We are asking republicans only, do you support or oppose roy moore . Give us a call like tyson did in california on the line for republicans who oppose roy moore. Go ahead. Caller thank you for cspan. I am in hawaii. Aloha. And i think the fact of the matter is facts. There is the grouping picture, there is conyers in his underwear, those are facts, something that happened so long ago when it is ultimately disputed by the, by the where it happened, the lights were on, people were coming back from the plantss, none of that wouldve happened, but glory all right needs to be held responsible for all of these, for these fabricated lawsuits that hurt and many others tend to publicize themselves and get themselves publicity for. There is no hard evidence and that is the fact of the matter, and i think that is why cspan is so really brilliant and why appreciate it so much, because they are unbiased. They give facts on both sides. There are no pictures, there is no facts. So the voters of alabama will judge him, but you know the acts fell with Harvey Weinstein and am glad it did, because men need to respect women. God bless america. Thank you. Host following up on the last statement, time tweeting this morning that a silence breakers have been named times person of the year. We will let you take a look at the video tweeted out from Time Magazine. Those are the pictures of some of the silence breakers that are being featured by Time Magazine them as theing person of the year. Talking about roy moore and the upcoming special election on tuesday. We are talking to republicans only, do you support or oppose roy moore . Angela on the line for those that support. Go ahead. Caller good morning. How are you . Host a little busy this morning with a fire drill. We are back. Caller yes, i was on the line holding when that went off. [laughter] host thank you for calling back. Caller thank you. I will be as quick as i can. Lots of folks trying to call. I am not sure i want to say what i was going to say, because you told the city i was in. I was raped as a teenager. Pregnancy that i took to term and then had to place the child of for adoption. On the other side of that, when my son was in college, forgive me it ofcused of hugging someone or something. I do not know. He was devastated. He was he didnt eat, he did not sleep, he suffered from severe anxiety. In the end it was found out that it was false. That it was not true. So i have been on both sides of happenede, and nothing to this young woman who said these things, nothing. My son could do nothing in response. He had to stand there and take it even though it was not true. So being a person that was raped, my son does not even know this happened to me, and to turn around and see someone do such a thing, to falsely accuse another person of mistreating them is a travesty to me. Again, i am sorry, i did not think it would be that emotional host i appreciate you sharing your story. Do you think this National Conversation that has been happening, did you it to a larger conversation than the alabama race, do you think this discussion on Sexual Harassment and assault has been good for the country, some of these major figures caught up in this . Caller i think it is helpful, but i will tell you honestly, even before the incident happened with my son i have heard women and there are parts of the story that have to ring true that do not for me. A lot of ladies, with a lot of women, it does not ring true because there is an element there that only someone with experience that would be there and he would know it was true. And a lot host can you explain what that is, what you listen for when you hear the stories . Caller it is hard for me to explain, but there is a ring of truth that comes into it. There are details that someone who who suffered through that would have. In their story. They wouldnt sugarcoat it, they would not blow over it. They would Say Something to the effect, oh, that happened to me. It is not that simple. When it really truly happened to someone, it is devastating. I was devastated. I was an 18yearold girl. Then i turn around and i say the opposite thing happened to my son. Is sois so much it imperative to have the truth, because it was assumed that my son was guilty. And he was the one that had to prove his innocence, and it is wrong. And everybody found out that this young woman lied. It was false, not even true. And my son had no recourse, that is so wrong to do to men. It is so wrong. To innocently to accuse the innocent on such an issue for whatever reason. I personally believe that this stems from Mitch Mcconnell, i do, because of the stands he took stance he did before the election. That the gop people who were so antitrump in the beginning, and he was not even my first choice, trust me on that, but they were against him immediately. They have always had something against him being the president , which is why on the day of the election i finally did have to vote for him, because of the way that they tried to push him aside and i really think this is where this is coming from. I am not saying he did not do these things, i know i am taking up a lot of time and i am sorry, i am not saying he did not, but the proof needs to be there. Forcing a man or woman in any case to prove their innocence, that is not the way it works. Host thank you for sharing your story this morning. Republicansear from in the next 15 minutes or so in we want to continue this conversation with republicans about roy moore ahead of the special election, but a very busy morning this morning on the washington journal. Including the continuation of our 50 capitals tour, that will be happening in our 9 00 hour. We are at the Florida State capitol in tallahassee and we will have a conversation with the speaker of the Florida House of representatives, that will be Richard Corcoran joining us at 9 45 a. M. There is a bus. If youre in tallahassee, get down there and see the bus. It is a great vehicle to check out. A lot of information about who we are and we would love to reach you in tallahassee. Back to your phone calls this morning. Carrie in alabama on the line for those supporting roy moore. Good morning. Give us your perspective from alabama. Caller first of all, i do not know if the charges are correct or incorrect. But i do know this. Roy moore is a conservative. And he will vote to confirm conservative judges to the u. S. Supreme court, he will vote to confirm conservative judges to the appellate and district courts, which i think is equally important to the u. S. Supreme court. Doug jones, the democrat nominee, said during the primary that he may not have voted to confirm neil gorsuch if he was in the u. S. Senate. He also said he might not have voted to confirm Jeff Sessions to be attorney general. And the other thing to me that is just a fact. If doug jones is elected, that puts Chuck Schumer onevote closer to be in the majority leader in the u. S. Senate, which i think would be a disaster for the country. So i could not support him for that reason alone. But host would you support, if roy moore is elected, the ethics investigation that Mitch Mcconnell has promised will follow if he is elected and seated . Caller you have got to prove something, you know. Instead of just having charges, you will have to prove something. And i imagine there may be an ethics investigation, there probably should be a lot more ethics investigations on a lot of different issues, as far as members of the u. S. Senate are concerned. Host ok. Janice, goalabama, ahead. Caller yes, good morning. Host good morning. Caller around here, we tried to say that a person is innocent until there is proof. Things thell the Democratic Party has done over the last two years, that we have found out about, i have no doubt that they are behind a lot of this. A mannot believe that could stay this clean for 40 years, not a word ever that and then all this comes out a month before the election. We do not believe it. And yesterday, the other the had aput an ad on lie and it in it. He said roy moore had been banned from a mall. Owner,lked to that mall or the guy that ran the mall, he said already that that did not happen. He said there had been men that had been banned from that mall, but roy moore was not one of them. Moorenot vote for mr. In the other election, i voted for Luther Strange. But this time we will vote for roy moore. We do not believe in abortion and we cannot have a democrat in there. Thank you. Host and in some of the reporting on the mall and what happened back when some of those accusations were made, the snopes website looking into it, was he banned from a Shopping Mall . Representatives say they do not have a record from the timeframe in question, but there have been interviews with those that you saidsaid those who that happened there. Jerry writes, i have no doubt that roy moore will win. Bobby says ask of those that want proof if they want him investigated. About 10 minutes left for this discussion on roy moore with republicans only. I want to let you know about other news going on around the country and in washington dc today. What is happening in washington dc impacting the world at large, the Jerusalem Post this morning with the headline, Donald Trump Tells regional leaders he intends to move the embassy to jerusalem. He called the leaders of israel and palestinian authority, jordan and egypt yesterday to inform them of his intentions to move the American Embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem, 22 years after the u. S. Congress called on the white house to do just that. What he did not say however was when the move would it take place, something that could provide Maneuvering Room for him to tamp down anger on the highly we expect to hear more about that topic today from the president. Looking to the west, California North of los angeles, more wildfires there. Here is the from paint page times. Los angeles blazes out of control, forcing thousands to flee. There is the picture of the firefighter out of the burning apartment, where the fire has charged 55,000 acres charred 55,000 acres. And also of those impacted. We spent a lot of time yesterday certainly watching here on capitol hill the Supreme Court, it became quickly clear on tuesday that Justice Anthony kennedy holds the key to whether the First Amendment protects a colorado baker who refuse to create a wedding cake for a samesex couple and kennedys pivotal role makes the outcome uncertain at this point, the Washington Post reports. The justice gave both sides cause for hope and concern yesterday and it should not be surprising, they say, because it represents a conflict between two principles that have been dear to kennedy during 30 years at the core, recordation of gay rights and protection of religious beliefs. Yesterday for those who are watching, you saw several of the comments made by both sides, lawyers and of those that support both sides at the Supreme Court, some of those who came outside the court before the cameras include the couple who were refused the wedding cake for their samesex wedding ceremony. One of those, one member of the couples david mullins, and he spoke yesterday. This is not about a cake. This has never been about a cake. This is not about weddings, it has never been about weddings. No. This is about freedom. Freedom for lgbt people who live full lives in public and not in constant fear they will be denied basic service in businesses, fired from their jobs, or lose their homes just for who they are. When people live in a world where they can legally be turned away, they feel rejected. They feel unsafe. They feel like they do not belong in our society, simply for being born different. Unless society chooses to embrace their rights, some of them multiply choose to remain hidden. Cut off from the world and who they really are. To this day, charlie and i have experienced cake shop is a persistent memory, the memory of the mortification and humiliation doesnt just go away, it is always there the next day when we walk into a business, wondering if the same thing will happen and maybe we should just pretend we are not gay and are not married, just to be safe. And the next time somebody harasses you on the street, a little bit of the wonders that maybe you deserve it. But you dont. We dont. Nobody does. That is why we are here today, to stand up and a show everyone and ourselves that our freedom is worth fighting for. Host and if you missed any of those statements made outside of the Supreme Court you can watch them on our website, cspan. Org. Also stepping before the cameras yesterday was jack phillips, the colorado baker who refused to create the wedding cake for the gay couple. Im here at the Supreme Court today because i respectfully declined to create a custom cake that would celebrate a marriage in direct conflict with my faith teachings on marriage. I offered to sell the two gentlemen anything else in my shop, or create a design on a cake for any other occasion. For that decision, which was guided by an established set of religious beliefs, i have endured a five year court battle. It has been very hard on me and my family. There have been many tears difficult [indiscernible] ive had to stop creating the wedding arch that i love art better love. Ive faced Death Threats and harassment. It has cost us much of our business, so much so now we are struggling to make ends meet and keep the shop afloat. It is hard to believe that the government is forcing me to choose between providing for my andly, and my employees, violating my relationship with god. That is not freedom. That is not tolerance. I am profoundly thankful to the United States Supreme Court for taking my case, and i hope and i pray that they will confirm the freedom of artists to express themselves in ways consistent with who they are. Host again, if you missed any of those statements, cspan. Org is where you can go to watch them in their entirety. That case expected to be decided next year. Back to your calls in this first segment of the washington journal, asking republicans only about the upcoming special election in alabama, do you support or oppose roy moore is the question for republicans around the country. Teresa is in san pedro, california on the line for those who oppose. Caller i am not far from the fires. I can smell the smoke from my backyard, although it is about one hour away. Away. A, two hours host is there a chance he might be evacuated . Caller no, i am far enough away. The Fire Department is down the street. Host stay safe. What are your thoughts on roy moore as a republican . Caller that is a tough one. I think may be a lot of this could have been settled if the yearbook was examined, possibly verification. Ure that might have put a lot of peoples minds at rest on the accusation alone. And it is hard to prove something from 40 years ago. Is a shame they have to go through this, although with the political times it is hard to say it was not fabricated somewhat, by the other political party. They have gone to some pretty their fightures in for their candidates. Although, i guess if i had to i would have chosen the gentleman that was going to put in, the ryden, the military gentleman. In, the military gentleman. Host who is that . Ok. Got you. We have someone online supported roy moore. Go ahead. Caller i was support roy moore. I do not know much about him, but with what has been going on around trump since he has been president , i just know it is a democrat and in the media backlash, they do not want any more conservatives in power than what they have right now and they cannot afford to get more conservatives. They are struggling the way it is. And they are just trying to keep him out from making any conservative decisions. There. Er he gets in and that is my opinion and i watch, i do not watch too much of these night shows anymore, but you can see those shows, they are against conservatives as much as they can be. Just by the way that they talk on the shows at night. I do not watch them hardly at all anymore, because of that. And that is about what i wanted to say. Host we appreciate the call. We have a republican on the line for those who are approving roy moore. Caller good morning. Host good morning. Caller i just want viewers to know whether roy moore is guilty or not, i do not know, but i am 74 years old and this is the first time i have ever mentioned that i was molested at the age of 16 by School Teachers. A sunday School Teacher and a principal. I have never mentioned it. Did not tell. So the American People can understand why a woman, 40 years ago, could have been touched or raped or whatever. And it wasnt told. I have lived with this. I can tell you the shoes i had on, the dress i had on, and what it did to me as a child. I can relive it every day. So american men and women, it does happen. Thank you very much. Host thank you very much. Host thank you for sharing your story. Annie, marietta georgia. Caller what an emotionally charged topic we are on today. I will try to keep this together. I am completely opposed to roy moore. Experience was just described by the lady from tennessee. My heart goes out to anyone and has had everyone who this happen to them and did not tell anyone. I did not tell anyone and it happened to me over 30 years ago. I have been a member of this party my entire life, since i was 18 years old. This is the week that i have to admit to myself that this party no longer represents my values. It hurts my soul to listen to , there needs say to be a court of law, whatever, but then in the same breath, they say, but we know Mitch Mcconnell is doing this. The dems are behind us. They dont know that more there is no court of law that has proven either side. Abused,an that has been those women, their stories are in so true to me. Because you did not tell back then, you just didnt. It hurts my soul, for my family values, my party that is supposedly the party of faith, to turn their backs on women the way they had. It started with trump, and it is a slippery slope. I just dread to see what the this party will reach an vote for, just so they can have an r in the congress. That is it. Thank you. Host up next, a couple members of congress will be joining us today. First, congressman al green will join us to discuss his articles of impeachment against president voice]]oping to get a vote on that on the house floor. Then we will speak to representative ted yoho about north korea and its Nuclear Weapons program. In the 9 00 hour, the cspan 50 capitals tour continues with the bus outside the state capital in tallahassee, florida. Richard corcoran will be joining us onboard the bus. We will be right back. This weekend, on American History tv, on cspan three, saturday, Yale University historian join freeman on alexander hamilton. When washington became president in 1789, he made hamilton the nations for secretary. In that post, hamilton structured a National Financial system and pushed to strengthen and empower the national government, wanting a fierce clinical battle against those who wanted a far less powerful national government. N, jamesefferso madison were his foremost opponents. Abouturday, the film inappropriate behavior in the workplace. You are new on the staff. , i makeere on the staff a lot of the decisions. I am the one that picks up evaluation reports, i sign threeday passes, leave, and a word of advice, if you want to get along with the staff, it would be beneficial to you to be nicer to me. Historian Daniel Feller on president Andrew Jacksons effort to challenge and cripple the back of the united dates during the 1830s. No president before had said anything like this. Other president s had warned americans against entangling foreign alliances, they had warned americans against sectionalism and excessive partisanship at home. Jackson warned them against control of their own government by, in his words, the rich and powerful. American history tv, all weekend, only on cspan3. Host congressman al green is back at the desk, democrat from texas, author of articles of impeachment against President Trump. He intends to force a vote on impeachment at some point today. Explain how you intend to do that, when this will all happen . Thank you. Please allow me to say, i love my country, i dont do this with any degree of solace. This is not something that i came to congress to do. It is being done because i believe that the president is truly unfit to hold office. I can say more about that at a later time. Question, atr your or near the 12 00 hour, we will go to the floor and present a privileged resolution. This will be a resolution to impeach donald john trump, president of the United States of america, for high misdemeanors. When that resolution is presented, that means i will read it and give notice to the conference about what the intentionality is. Once it has been read and the notice has been given, then the speaker decides when the actual resolution will be read again. And he decides whether there motions made to your table the resolution, to send it , or there may be a motion to vote it up or down. My hope is to have a motion to vote it up or down because i will support impeachment. If the motion to table is made, i will oppose that, because that would prevent us from having the vote to actually impeach the president. They moved to table would be antithetical to this. A motion to send it to committee would be antithetical to this. I dont want to see it go to committee, tabled, i want to see it voted up or down. Causingow that this is a good deal of consternation. For those that suffer consternation, you have my regrets. I am a person who travels the road less traveled. I know that this is a bumpy road, it has a lot of curves, has a lot of potholes full of racism, bigotry, hatred. I have traveled this road. I dont encourage anyone to join me. Host impeachment on the grounds of high misdemeanors. What specifically . The president is unmindful of the duties of his high office, the dignities and pieties thereof. He has brought shame and dishonor on the presidency, brought ridicule. He has, under the guise of political correct this, has espoused words that do more than insult. He has caused harm to people. By way of an example, he called a member of congress performer her lawful, ethical duties, a wacky person. In doing this, this member has received a lot of animus, a lot way,te has been thrown her to the extent she has taken extra precautions. Occasions, he has said things that impact other people. When he said they were very nice people among the bigots in charlottesville, the kkk, antisemites, those who preach and teach hate but he said that. He aligned the presidency, the majesty and dignity of the presidency with hatemongers. When he did this, my dear friend, he allow those people there shouting blood and soil to go back to their jobs with some degree of comfort knowing that the president had aligned himself with them. When he did that, those people went back to jobs working in restaurants, people go in and buy food. People that they had this hatred toward. Loan officers. People trying to get loans probably encountered some degree of difficulty because of how they looked or what their religion was. But it is bigger than members of congress. Host the president unlikely to get impeached by this congress, we are not sure that you can even get a full vote today. Why do this . Guest there will be a vote. The vote to table is still a vote that likes to impeachment. Host you will get people on the record. Sending it to committee. There will be a vote. I want to make that clear. The mostid that, honorable question, why do this . The honorable answer is this. When rosa parks took that seat on the bus, im not sure, in suspect that she did not think that she would end nvidias racism that night, but she knew that she was doing the right thing. By doing the right bank, she started a spark that would start the civil rights movement. Black did not have to surrender seats in the front for whites in the front. Sometimes you just have to do the right thing for that reason, more than any other. When you are doing the right thing, you have a good deal of that you may not be judged properly by the people who are your contemporaries, but those who look to the vista of time will judge you properly. Housebefore he takes the floor today, congressman al green with us. Taking your calls. Starting on the line for democrats. Leland, North Carolina, a democrat. Go ahead. Are you there . We will go to our line for independents. Malik in arlington, texas. Guest how are you this morning . Iowa have a couple of comments and a correction for the representative. Caller articles of impeachment, will that discuss anything about when devin nunes met with an individual at the white house where he did not negotiate with the white house in a private room to give out information . Guest i have no information about that in the articles of impeachment. Caller what about President Trump handshaking president erdogan, after he sent his Security Forces out in d. C. To attack u. S. Citizens and Peaceful Protesters . No, sir. Im sure there are many things i dont have any articles. What i have done is provide his own words, such that people can understand how he insights hatred and hostility. Also i wanted to correct year earlier, when you said charlottesville, you said they were bigoted, they are actually nazis. Flag, andd a foreign they pledged allegiance to adolf hitler. Host we have your point, malika. Guest i will not differ on what you said, sir. Host eric, white plains, new york. Also an independent. Caller thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. I want to make a comment and i will end with a question. Im an africanamerican and i voted for donald trump. I know this will come as a shock. The reason why, i think the democrats took the black vote for granted. Whensaying this because you look at any major city in america, baltimore, chicago, atlanta, black on black crime is just off the hook. But i do not see our leader talk about it. They only get mad when it is a white man who killed a black man. Donald trump was voted as the president of these states. Donald trump was not voted by russia. He was voted because democrats and republicans are so out of touch with us. Do you understand what we want . Do you think it is so urgent to impeach donald trump than to take care of what is going on in our Africanamerican Community . You for your call. I believe there is an urgency. I believe the framers of the constitution provided a remedy for a president who commits misty meets misdeeds. This demeanors main misdeeds. The remedy is impeachment. This is not about democrats or the actions or inactions of democrats as it relates to crime, or republicans and their actions or inactions. This is about democracy, about government, about government by the people, for the people. It is about our republic and what franklin said when he reminded us, we have one, if we can keep it. I plan to do all that i can to keep the republic. I understand that these high misdemeanors are creating harm within our society that may be very difficult to care, if not impossible in some circumstances. Host want to talk about your partys leadership reaction to these articles of impeachment. Nancy pelosi last month during an appearance on cnn. Lindsey graham says that if you and the democrats take the house back in 2018, the first thing you will do is impeach President Trump, is that true . No, i believe that what we do , we have a responsibility first and foremost to unify the nation. Second of all, you cannot go down any that were the facts of law. If it is there, perhaps it will come out in these investigations. The left of the party is so annoyed with me for not impeaching president bush or going into iraq, what could be worse than that . . But the fact is we have to be saying what this means to people in their lives. Somebody has some facts that comes forth about President Trump, but the chips fall where they may. But it is not someplace that i think we should go. Again, i dont want to dampen anybodys enthusiasm for what they believe, because a lot of people in the country think that President Trump should be impeached. Our election is about meeting the needs of the american bille, stopping this tax right now, which is an insult to the intelligence of the American People, and assault on their financial security. That is what we should be talking about. Host that was nancy pelosi net last month. The she want you Going Forward with this vote today . Guest first, the immediate knowledge that i have Great Respect for the leader, and there are good many people who share that view. There are prominent people, i might add. That is not a view i have not heard from many quarters. But it is not about them. It is not about the republicans or the democrats. This is really about our country, justice. It is about what george mason called to the attention of the framers when they were devising article four, section two of the constitution. It was not whether a president could be above the law and he should not be it was whether a president could be above justice. All laws have to be just, but some laws are not come as was evidenced by the civil rights movement, some of the laws that perpetuate segregation. It is really about justice for people in this country who are being harmed by the fax. The facts are these. The president has said things that have incited hatred and hostility among the American People. Andrew johnson in 1868 was impeached for the high of saying bad things about the members of congress. He was impeached, article 10. You cannot, as president be unmindful of the high duties, the dignity of associated with the high office. What he did when he retreated those three tweets with reference to what we will call muslims in england. Incited a lot of hatred. Us ins not only impact this country, it impacts our relationship with our allies. He has brought shame and dishonor on the presidency. I have no quarrels with what others will say, i have respect for them, but it is not about them. Host we talk about the president s duties in the constitution. The chief Law Enforcement officer in the country. The president s lawyers have argued in the rush investigation that the president cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief Law Enforcement officer. Do you agree with that view . Guest this is what they have done, and other lawyers have, too. They have gone to some great law schools. Lawnt to Thurgood Marshall school and i had the privilege of having otis king as my professor. We learned a president can be impeached for his high crimes and misdemeanors, which is a political action. Only the house of representatives has jurisdiction over the impeachment process. 435 members, each will have a vote. This impeachment is something that any member of the house can bring before the body. High crimes and misdemeanors. So these lawyers, a good many of them, tend to conflate criminal law, and the judicial aspect of the law, with the political aspect. In the house, we deal with the political side. If they want to get the president indicted for up traction of justice and want to use the judicial process, let them do it if they like to. But the political side in the the president s, committed an impeachable act when he fired comey, went on national tv in prime time and indicated that he was thinking about the russian thing when he did it. The house of representatives can impeach the president for that. All of the investigations are great if you want to bring criminal charges. But i would give this admonition. Be careful about putting all of your eggs in the basket of , because, atges the end of the day, if there are no criminal charges brought, are you still going to say the president should not be impeached, or the dastardly deeds he has perfected . I think not. I am not one of those who believe we ought to outsource the investigation. It is ok that it is done, i welcome it. But i think the Judiciary Committee has an obligation to the American People to fulfill its mission, its duties. The Judiciary Committee all to be looking into this for the purpose of ascertaining whether the president committed an impeachable act. Louisville, kentucky. Stephen is a democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning. I want to first start out by saluting the patriotism, courage, and eloquence and wisdom of congressman green, and people like him in my party. For, assi i have no use far as im concerned. I think she is a wimp, quite frankly. With all of the stuff happening in north korea, with the man this way is trying to ride on the cage overseas, we have every right to want something done about this issue, first and foremost. Let me just say that i am a democrat, but i do care about the health, safety, and welfare of my country, and i put that number one. I would also like to point out something, if i could. I dont want just impeachment, i want indictment. This man has committed crimes for many years. We all know in our hearts he has. I smelled the two bit scoundrel all over him when he was running. I knew he was evil. I just do not understand how people can sit here and talk about all of this. He has donehe with pardoning arpeggio, roy moore, supporting this pedophile, not to mention that he is they are talking about he is trying to fire mueller, someone who is doing the job that the republicans in the house and senate should have been doing to begin with. Host we have your point. Congressman . Guest honest people can have differences of opinion. Without making this about speaker pelosi, i think she is an honorable person. I do not have a quarrel with her at all, or anybody else. As a matter of fact, if people vote against the impeachment resolution, i will not be offended by that. I wills 4341, understand, and we will go on. But i understand and will say that the lady is correct about the assessment of the president and what he has said and how it has impacted us. Let me give you an example of something he did before he became president. The central park five. Five young minorities accused of doing some very ugly things to a white female. They were convicted. By the way, the president was one of the big cheerleaders pushing that. Spent money to have ads. After they were convicted, there was a finding later that they were not guilty. The president never retreated, never said that he was wrong, spent all of that money, never recognized the fact that they were found not guilty. Some people would say, they were probably found not guilty on a test technicality. Not so, my friend. They were found not guilty based on dna evidence. They were not the people who perpetrated the crime. The president stood his ground on something that he now knows, or should know, was an inappropriate position. Host michael on twitter wants us to talk about how high of eight hurdle impeachment and conviction is. Guest impeachment is in the house, conviction in the senate. Goes forward, it will have a trial. If two thirds of the senate say, by their judgment, that the president should be impeached pursuant to the articles from the house, then the president would be removed from office. The senate could also decide that he cannot hold any other Office Related to the government in the future. In terms of the standard in the house, a majority of the members of the house voting can cause the president to be impeached, which means indicted, sent to the senate. Similar to indictment but not the same thing because its political. Host evansville, indiana. Charles is a republican. Good morning. Caller representative green, thank you for your service down there in houston, texas. I know they took a hit in a hurricane. Guest thank you, sir. Wackyr i do not believe is an impeachable slur, racial. Im a bipolar vietnam that, have been called worse. Have been called worse. I think President Trump as adolescent behavior. Several president s have ignore the middle east for so long. It has become a turmoil. At least he is putting more troops over there and taking care of the north korean situation. Thank you for taking my call. Thank you, sir, thank you for your country. I dont think we can ever thank you enough. Candidly speaking, i dont think we have properly accorded you the banks that you deserve. In terms of being called worse, i have been called a lot worse than wacky. I grew up in the segregated south, the southern segregated south. The rights that were recognized by the constitution for me, friends and neighbors, denied me. Nvidiasat discrimination looks like, i know what it smells like, sounds like. I even know what it tastes like. This, i speakf from the point of view of understanding how words can impact others, how they can insight others. Emily dickinson reminds us that a word is dead. When it comes from the president , the chief executive officer, the high magistrate of the United States of america, when it comes from the mouth of the president and you say wacky congressperson, there are other people who will take that language and see it as a license to do harm to do to someone. Do harm to people in ways that we cannot imagine. We all need to have additional security now. We dont need the president in people to do dastardly deeds. That is what this is about. I thank you for your service to your country. You are a person to be properly honored and recognized. Anita in san antonio. Line for independents. Caller good morning, congressman. For salute your bravery fighting this. I do think that he should be impeached. I think he is totally unfit to be president. I dont think he is just wacky, i think he is mentally unstable. He has the Nuclear Codes and a lot of power and he goes on twitter and insults other Nuclear Powers, like north korea. There are so many things that bother me about him. His misogyny, his xenophobia, racism, the way he divides this country. Way, he has only a third of the support of the American People right now. A third of the American People are deciding for everyone else. That bothers me. He lost the popular vote. I think he was installed by russia. I dont think he won the election fairly and squarely. Guest thank you you have triggered a thought that i have not shared. It is this. , toave allowed our civility allow the president to perpetrate this hateful incivility. Now that hasandard been imposed that is quite onerous. Here is the standard. The president can call a senator a candidatean call running for president , as he but if we tell the truth about the president , if we speak truth to power and decide him properly, we are somehow not being properly fickle. For example, if i call the president a bigot, there would people say, a member of congress should not call the president a bigot, notwithstanding all of his actions that would indicate that that in fact is what the president is. So he has the authority now, seems, to use his incivility to our detriment, because we have to maintain a level of civility that is antithetical to the best interest of the people of this country. Like it or not, we have elected a bigot as president. Host we want to get to kathleen. Los angeles. Line for republicans. Thank you for waiting. Good morning. I am calling from california. I am a black american woman. I voted for President Trump know, you say some fancy words this is rhetoric, this is opinion, this is not fact. Data is fox. Facts. You say its not about democrat or republican but the democrat ofty has had the support black america for five decades. My people, we do not understand what politics is. It is about power and economic wellbeing of black americans. I am assuming you were elected the economic wellbeing of black americans. I just came from skid row in los angeles. There are rows and rows and rows of black men on skid row in los angeles. For five decades, the democrats have had the loyalty of black americans and democrats have keptd democrats have black americans are uneducated, illinformed, incarcerated, and poor. That is why on mandate for trump, we have all of these black americans calling in giving their opinions about trumps personality. For blackke 228 years americans, for the average black family to catch up to the average white family. 228 years. We have been in this country 500 years. We built america. Our ancestors built america along with white americans. Host we have your point. We want to give the congressman a chance to respond. Guest thank you. I dont differ about the role of africanamericans in making America Great. I dont differ with you in the notion that the Democratic Party has not done all that it can and should do for a loyal constituency. It, but it mention would not differ with you if you had said the Republican Party ignores democrats. One takes us for granted and the other ignores us. I will not differ with you on those points. I would also add that you are right, democrats are loyal, loyal americans. We are the ones that made cotton king and America Great. Here is where i would share some information that you may not be in favor with. The facts are that the president did say that there were some very fine persons in charlottesville who were neonazis, klansmen, bigots, not thepremacists, kind of people who will make America Great again. The facts are that the president has called a member of Congress Said that professional Football Players are sobs. B is a dog. He called them mothers these professional athletes dogs. That is not acceptable. Fine people among those neonazis in charlottesville is unacceptable. Sending out that tweet about the muslims is unacceptable. He will tolerate the kkk to a greater extent than he will islam. That is on its of the mole. This president has committed high misdemeanors. Andrew johnson was impeached or less. Articles of impeachment will be brought against him today. Host i know you have to go. Before you do, how is houston, are you getting what you need . Guest well, no. The state of texas is not. Florida is not. Certainly, the islands in puerto rico are not. Bentcongress seems to be on returning billions to oflionaires, at the expense the least, the last, the people that really need help right now. There seems to be a notion in congress that the very rich need more, need to do more, and that the very poor can do more with less. It seems to be a belief that if you give money to people at the fulfill aow they will social responsibility, obligation to make sure it gets down to those at the bottom. If they were really sincere with this legislation, they would have included raising the minimum wage. Raise the minimum wage to a living wage. They could put that in this legislation, making the minimum wage a living wage. You want to make sure the money gets to the people at the bottom, make the minimum wage a living wage. I dont find favor with what they are doing. Texas is still suffering. You ride the freeways, you think things are great. But you go into the communities and neighborhoods and you see people with their homes still got it, you see the problem. You mentioned people i represent. Near my office, there is a place where people are asking for help. I pulled up and stopped. The man said to me, thank you for what you are doing for the articles of impeachment. A lady at a church, as i was leaving, not a very rich person, said this is the right thing to do. I represent those people. I thank you. Host congressman al green will be on the floor around new today. Watch his efforts later this afternoon. Up next, we will be joined by congressman ted yoho to discuss the rising military tensions with north korea over its Nuclear Weapons program. Later today, the 50 capitals tour continues with the cspan bus outside the state capital of tallahassee florida this morning. We will be joined by Richard Corcoran around 9 45. Sunday night on afterwards, goldstar father khizr khan recalls his immigration from pakistan to the United States in his book. He is interviewed by caliph under congressman jimmy panetta. This is a common trait, two things that are common among authoritarian mentalities. The audience can draw the conclusion. One is they dont like the free press. Free press criticizes them. Second thing is rule of law. They do not like judges, rule of law. Me such aad given perspective of not having any Civil Liberties to having all of these dignities. As we speak further, i will tell you what a moment it was one i went to take the oath of citizenship. I wish every american would at least read the oath of citizenship. And its so very much speaks to the hopefulness, the dignities enshrined in our constitution, bill of rights. Sunday night at 9 00 eastern on booktv. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Television Companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Washington journal continues. Congressman ted yoho joins us now, republican from florida, serves as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on asia and pacific. We are chatting about the latest and most successful test from north korea to date. Can you put that launch into perspective, what does it mean for the threat facing the u. S. Homeland . Glad to. St we have seen an escalation of icbms. This is their third successful launch. When you start perfecting that technology in an icbm, the next up is to put the Nuclear Warhead on there. This is something that we see them going down this path. It is not something they just started, something they have been working on for 20 years, but it has certainly escalated under kim jongun, something the whole world news to be involved in, not just america. Host are we being continually surprised by missile launches, test, how good is our intelligence to know exactly where north korea is . Unfortunately, being such a closed society, intelligence is hard. Boots on the ground, satellites, things like that, that we can monitor the stuff, but it is hard to get people in or out of there to get the on the ground intelligence gathering that would be so vital. Withg that, we have met several defectors that have come out of there. Ho is the highest level defector that we have had, we had him on the hill. We also met with him in south korea. Host what is the best option right now when it comes to north korea, how close are we to a shooting war . Guest it is hard to gauge, it is a serious, real threat. It is something that we cannot do on our own. We can put sanctions, as the u. N. Did, 16 countries came on unanimously saying we need to play sentience on north korea, but we cannot do it alone. China is the big player in this. 90 of the trade with north korea. Then you have india and the philippines. It has to be a World Community coming together to bring north korea to the diplomacy table. To invite the caller to join the conversation with representative ted yoho. For the next 25 minutes or so. The congressman is a german of the subcommittee on asia and the pacific. Talking about north korea this morning as folks are calling in. The idea of a military strike against north korea, in your mind, is that something that is possible, is that a nonstarter . We have had people talk about what the reaction would be from north korea, the number of south koreans that could die, not just from any sort of nuclear attack, but from conventional arms as well. Where are you on that . Guest all options are on the table, and they have to be, to play a strong hand, to get people to come to the diplomacy table. Nobody wants war. I was born in 1955. It seems like we have been in war or some form of it since i was born. Through sanctions and the international community, bringing an end to the development of the Nuclear Weapons on the korean peninsula, that is our best option, to bring the pressure on the kim regime, so they come to the table, so we can have a diplomatic solution to this without war. Host the president recently on his trip overseas to asia, was that successful, in your mind, when it came to this issue specifically . Guest it really was. I was there right before then. We had the opportunity to meet with President Trump, we briefed him on some of the things that we saw and heard. With the american presence going back into that area, instead of the strategic patience of the previous administration, where they ignore the area. You can go to the bush and clinton administration, which has allowed north korea to become more aggressive in their development of Nuclear Weapons. Since President Trump has come back, he has gone ahead and put north korea back on the state sponsor terrorism list, which is something we have been advocating since february. Host why is that important . Guest it is important because it is a pariah state. It shows the World Community where you stand. You choose to do business either with north korea or the United States. This is something to say, we are serious about sanctions, we want to ramp up the sanctions, and we want the World Community to buy into this. This is not something that will be isolated to the korean peninsula, or the asiapacific region. This is something that will affect the whole world. This is something all nations need to come together. We are in the 21st century. There is no need to have nuclear wars. Lets put the pressure on their where tim johnson will see his only option is to come to the table. Host ron is waiting in san clemente, california. The line for republicans. Caller thanks for accepting the phone call today. Congressman, let me bring a couple of issues to your table. 1996, there was talk about reunification of the peninsula of korea between the north and south, hostilities were at an alltime low. Havingre talking about people visit from south korea to north korea. Now we are in a situation that seems ridiculous. Why would we not want them to kia, hyundai cars there or or whatever else they want to manufacture, and why cant we do the art of the deal here and kim jongil toth make a nuclear trade with his program and start trading with this guy. He has to feed his family, he has to feed the people of his country. The talk is that they are all starving. But when you look at the things on pbs, it shows a pretty functional society. We may be going down the wrong road here. Host congressman . Bring up some valid points. That is what we try to do, the World Community, especially south korea. Go ahead and work toward reunification. That is why they built the Industrial Complex over there right at the border of the dmz. During thatpened time when kim jongil passed away and kim jongun came in, we see the escalation of the Nuclear Threat with the six Nuclear Bombs that he has done needed since he has been in office. A 17 Nuclear Icbms he has launched to date, just the seer. Working with them to try to build that reunification, what we are seeing is kim jongun is going down the path of nuclear armament. This is something that we have to bring. Again, the World Community together. We talk about reunification. Of southa group koreans that believe in reunification. I asked the question when i was over there with moon jaein. Do you see north korea becoming more like south korea in unification . He says no. Does that mean south korea has to become more like north korea . Where do you have a tradeoff . Where do you get to a point where you can agree we will have this form of lifestyle. Kim jongun is a dictator, very 143 topas killed over level people, including his own uncle. We saw what he did to auto warm beer otto warmbier. Starkville, mississippi. Jerry, go ahead. Caller hello, mr. Yoho. I agree with you that diplomacy is actually a way out of, in order to deal with north korea. Is of the things that probably not talked about is a Nuclear Strike that happens on american soil. All of the area within the Nuclear Strike would be unusable. Also there is no Early Warning system in order for people to know that a Nuclear Missile is coming in the direction of the United States. Currently, i dont think united dates states is ready for a Nuclear Strike. Talking nuclear, i think we need to go more to diplomacy. Before anything military actually happens, i think diplomacy is the measure in order to take care of north korea. Guest i agree with you, jerry. I appreciate your call. With a nuclear weapon, you dont have to be close. You just need to be close. It can do a tremendous amount of damage. A nuclear bomb detonated in the atmosphere would cause a huge theto knock out a lot of electronics, gps, telecommunications that we are so used to in this country. Life would change for a while in that area. That is why its so important to put pressure. We need china on there. That is why we have the bills in the Foreign Affairs committee that have increased the sanctions to put on north korea. I think you will see the president come out with some more this week, putting more ,ressure on them, north korea but also on china and the banking industries. We had a report were there were 146 Shell Companies doing business in hong kong that were funneling and laundering money for north korea. We have to bring these to an end to get north korea to the diplomacy table. Host you talked about china. Mrs. Harrington on twitter wants to know how much russia is involved when it comes to north koreas economy. Guest russia is being more involved with buying oil, coal, things like that. Russia needs to come to the table. They want to see a diplomatic solution to this. China and russia are asking us mill tooff with the mill operations we are doing in south korea, japan. Host the joint exercises. Guest these are things we have done since the 1960s. This is to show that we are serious about what we are saying we will do. Our actions will be dictated by kim jongun. Strike see a preemptive but they need to see that we are serious, all options are on the table. Jeanne, jackson, michigan. Line for democrats. Go ahead. Warer yes, i was a korean vet. Korea was divided after world war ii because the russians divided east and west germany. In 1953, at the peace talks, let the founder of north korea dictate the terms of the ceasefire we had. That is where all of these problems stem from. They could do like russia did with east germany. When east germany became a liability, they pulled out and let it go back to one country. The United States created an artificial south and north korea , and it is time like we did like vietnam, let them go back together. Has been no threat to us at all since the end of the war, since they were one country again. It is time to stop trying to dictate to the world. This is not the 1950s, 1960s where the United States can do whatever they want. Times have changed. We have to change. Host thanks for the call. Guest you are right. North korea, after the war, they dictated that kim jongil did that. Since then, a lot of people dont know this. Was a growing economy, becoming very prosperous, but then they had the famine, they became self sufficient, they want itsalso efficiency. In that process, they had a famine, a lot of people starved to death. Then kim jongun gets in there and his focus is on the Nuclear Weapons program. You are right, vietnam today is our 16th largest trading partner. Ho, we talk to tae young the hopes that kim jongun had, that south korea and north korea would reunify like vietnam, but the way they want to do that was to break our allied with north korea. South korea is our sixthlargest trading partner. We have a packed that we signed in the 1960s that we would be a military protector of them. We need to honor our agreement. That is why its in so important to bring these world powers together so we can have a diplomatic solution to this. Thank you for your call and service in korea. The a lot of focus on upcoming Winter Olympics in south korea especially that news. This is the sports section of usa today talking about russia being banned from the olympics. What are your concerns about security of u. S. Athletes in south korea, in just about two months from now . Guest im concerned about americans everywhere in the world today. There are so many hot zones around there. Anyountry wants to have kind of a terrorist attack on their country. Especially one that involves multinationals. You will see it very well protected, win the game start. Congressthat something is looking into in one way or another, something you are confident in these agencies . Guest the agencies are handling that, they have their own protocol that they go through. As far as any bills that have come up, im not aware of any. Host jerry on the republican line. Go ahead. Caller i think we are being too easy on north korea. Obama went over there and bow down to these people. I think that should end. When he shoots a missile out of the ground, we should blow it up for it sees daylight. Guest i appreciate your comments. Again, the last eight years was a change in Foreign Policy for the United States of america. We had a policy of strategic patience. A good example of that is in the South China Sea, we used to do navigational operations in international waters. Under the last administration, they did peaceful passages unaware the warships just passed through. That allowed china to become emboldened, allowed north korea to become more emboldened because they thought america was taking a backseat on the world stage. That is why its so important we have a president that has a strong message. Most people know where he stands. Have reinitiated those operations in the South China Sea to show that we are there, as long as well as with the military to military operations with south korea and japan, and we will continue those. They need to know america is serious that we are not taking a backseat. Host if we wanted to, could we shoot down these missile test . Guest you would have to ask somebody in the dod but as far as i know, we have a pretty good record of at least tracking them. There are other weapons out there that are not talked much about that would do a good job. Lets hope we do not get to that point. Richard from south carolina. About 10 minutes left with the congressman. Caller good morning. Three questions. We saw this north korean missiles shooting. When theyhappens start shooting bullets and everything across the border into south korea . What happens if we actually take down a missile that is flown across the peninsula to keep it from a beheading japan . If one will be short and hit japan or go into the sea. Three, it is all about cheap labor. Tpcc, it ispacific, all about cheap later. Start caring more about these countries and what he is doing to these people. It is more about cheap labor. If it was about the country, we would have taken him out years ago. Guest again, i think part of the reason we have done nash not done a lot is we dont like to meddle in other areas. We have a tracker to do that in the middle east and hit is that worked out well. As far as north korea and a soldier thats affected, that speaks so loudly to the conditions in north korea. When he has intestinal parasites in the 21st century, we treat our animals better than that here in the United States. As far as them shooting into south korea, unfortunately, if that continues, there will be an incident. That could be the spark that ignites a flame. Then you are talking about cheap labor. That is one of the things that north korea depends on. They form out their citizens as slave labor basically. All of them goes to the kim regime to keep up their nuclear tests. They are running out over 100,000 people to different countries. Insia is a big one, places the middle east using them, china. We have a commitment from these countries to stop doing that. That is the modernday slave trade. You are right. Come to aneeds to end. Hopefully, it is a peaceful one. Host how would you rate secretary of statetillersons efforts when it comes to north korea, should he be secured concerned about his job security . Everyone should be concerned about their job security, including you and i. I think he is a standup guy, i think he is the secretary of state we need at this point in time. I personally feel he has done a great job. Unless he decides to step down, i dont see anything else happening. Host you dont think these reports that we have seen about the president considering a replacement are credible, do you think guest i would not worry about it. We have heard reports of the attorney general on the else but he is doing his job. As far as Rex Tillerson come he is wellliked, wellrespected. When youre in a room with him, this is a man who understands world politics. He is a commanding person when he is in the room. Very much the executive. I would like to see him stay on. Host john, ohio. Line for democrats. Wondered, what happens to us when american dollars are no longer the world currency anymore . Great question, something we should all be concerned with. I dont know what else you would go to. Bitcoin . I hope not. The american dollar has been the standard for so long, it would uproot societies all over the world. This is something that we would definitely fall back, as far as leadership in the world. That is why its so important that we show a strong force, that people know that we are back. But also that we need to get our fiscal house in order in this country. Going back to admiral mullins, a few years ago, he said the theret threat to america, were a lot of other countries or were a threat, but the biggest threat to america is our debt. This is something we have to get under control, something we are well aware of. Until we handle mandatory spending, we will not get it under control. This is something that we are very cognizant of year, talks are going on. Now we need action to bring mandatory spending under control. Appened in 1950, by the time the u. S. Got troops over there, the area was all that was left. Run by vicious dictator, as much as any that existed. Right now from the standpoint of missile technology, theyre theyre still at the beginning point of having a threat to the United States. They havent been the last missile they launched from all it ve heard, the didnt survive on the reentry, hat is just another phase they have to go through testing to get to the point where the warhead can he survi survive. Theres also targeting and several things they still have they, but in the meantime, dont have to be that accurate to cause problems. Incant shoot it down except the ascent stage and coming for it leaves room problems. Were blind on Missile Defense because there were years it done. Being one last thing, i completely support what President Trump is the tone has to be changed, we cant keep doing what weve been doing for the number of administrators, both republican and democrat, ictator and his folks need to understand that were serious about this. Earlier someone asked what about russia and china, you have a country in russia that just got the winter om olympics because as a nation, olympics, d with the the chinese china, regardless of how fine their business suits are, it is a communist country. Host take your point. Congressman respond. Guest im glad you brought up china and russia again, they say a y are helping bring diplomatic solution, yet in february of 2015, one rocket was launched to put a satellite in space for north korea was a chinese rocket, giving them technology, launchers are assumed to be Russia Technology and has also Given Technology when apart, ukrainian scientist that had rocket needed to feed their family and selling that information to north korea, we know that as a fact. You brought up another good point, how far can we as a nation or world wait until north korea perfects this. When north korea runs ads on ou brought up t. V. With america blowing up with a nuclear bomb, you know, you have to take somebody when they keep threatening over and over again. Gain, our actions are going to be dependent and dictated by kim jongun. Aggression, it will be a sad day for north korea. Host before you joined this to ing we were talking congressman al green about bringing article of impeachment today, floor of the house what are your thoughts on those articles and what you think will happen today . It is a stunt, no basis for that. You know, i brought up wanted to bring up impeach oment president obama, every party not want to go after the president. A stunt . It guest no, he was not faithfully executing the laws of the land of the constitution. Following thep is constitution, so i think mr. Green is way off base, i dont basis for that, he was right in saying congress the sole responsibility defining high crimes and misdemeanors, but i name some crimes, you know, misdemeanors, thats a very loose term. It should be when heres continual usurpation of power of the constitution or breaking the law. If you look at president obamas actions on 20, 2014 on, november or 2015, he signed the executive amnesty to the people, ive million that was overstep of the executive office. Him tell people not to enforce laws that were institutional laws we should enforcing, those were things that hurt this country. Host last call in the final lou, line for independents, go ahead. Fresh s, i was a sophomore in college when douglas t trum an fired mcarthur, he wanted to go beyond th parallel and china was attackingthe japanese them during world war ii, so interfered. Ot have harry truman fired douglas mcarthur, we were shocked out of our minds. We came to school the next day could not believe what he did. Host mary lou, bring it to out of ere running time. Caller well, im just wanting to say, actions have consequences. Guest they do. Caller also, harry truman took jews and sat them on top of the palestinians, now today . Our problem host question for you at the end. Uest mary lou, you are absolutely right. Harry truman did do that, again, are a loti know there of praying people out there, lets pray we dont go to war nd have the strong belief that the war is not going to solve anything. Japan, ook at germany, south korea and vietnam, were at wars with all these korea just outh because of the korean war and countries are our largest trading partners. What that tells me, if we trade companies afterwards, why dont we trade and put the war to the side and work on trade, i think everybody works out better. It. appreciate up next, our 50 capitals tour today around later 9 45 this morning, well be heading to florida to the statee to talk to House Speaker there. Until then, it is open phones on the washington journal, any policy issue you want to talk about, lines for republicans, democrats, in pendents, start calling now. Well be right back. By the time i came back to he district or shortly therefore, both uncles were sent to prison. Of sexual onvicted assault and the other armed robbery. For part of my childhood i can it was my mother, her two sisters, my grandmother and in the house on 13th street. Q a,nday night on cspans haleany wright, from wilmur talks about growing up in ashington, d. C. And being the clerk for sonia sotomayor. I think the pull that the ustices are looking at is really small, if you are a viable candidate, you went to a really great school, you have impressive people willing to speak up for you in the form you commendation letters, clerk for one of very small number of judges that routinely clerks to the court and so for a person of color, particularly African American or get into that pool, there are so many obstacles to that, it is it becomes a real hurts and i think it because perspective of diverse law clerks is so important. My clerks said there was a case, i felt like i saw something that because of my experience that someone else didnt see. Q a, sunday night 8 00 eastern on cspan. Washington journal continues. Host its open phones on the washington journal, any Public Policy issue you want to talk about, call in now. 2027488001. Democrats, 2027488000. 2027488002. As you are calling in, want to negotiations that are ongoing to avert Government Shutdown, a Government Shutdown would take place at midnight on friday unless Congress Comes to an agreement us to talk about where the negotiations stand, ere joined by sarah ferris, budget reporter for politico, joining us on the phone. Sarah, what is the latest on the efforts to pass what were hearing might be some sort of continuing resolution to keep the government funded . Uest speaker ryans plan to have this stop spending pass in the house this week, those egotiations are literally happening as we speak. Im standing outside a meeting caucus e House Freedom was meet thanksgiving morning trying to decide whether or not to support this bill, a socalled clean spending bill, nothing attached to it, except funding government through the 22nd, they are meeting with speaker ryan in the next hour that second ter meet nothing two days with speaker ryan, Freedom Caucus a decision come to about whether to support this, this is important because if this group of conservatives get onboard with the plan, speaker ryan has to go to to pass this to pass this spending bill. Really things are on the wire, we have the house really needs to pass this bill in the next 48 hours or so to get to the Senate Passage vote,iday so were Holding Tight trying to see what the Freedom Caucus will do. De to host what are concerns of the Freedom Caucus and you have any of the vote ow count at this point . Are they leaning one way or the other . They started whipping the vote count clean cr earlier this had a lot of undecided, the count wasnt looking good, to postpone a d meeting that would have set up the vote on this. Afternoon. Happen this we are hoping to get Freedom Caucus says they will have a before 3 00 meeting with the rules committee. Hings are happening kind of last minute here, but it does sound like the Freedom Caucus is concerned about getting rolled democrats, they are worried speaker ryan will be forced to deal with democrats anyway, they need to have support in the leaderof Senate Minority Chuck Schumer, he has to sign on to this or it will not pass, the Freedom Caucus trying to make a lastditch effort to have influence over talks and running up to the wire. Host as we get down to the ire, if there is some sort of shortterm continuing resolution, at this point, what issues other policy might get wrapped up into some ort of yearend deal besides simply just funding the government, keeping the lights 2018 . R going into guest there isnt evergrowing ist of policy issues likely going to make it to the december 22nd bill fthat is the path the decides on today. We have not only massive package disaster nes and supplemental funding, considered house do by many republicans, that is almost certainly going to get attacked. We have Childrens Health funding, that has been out through september 30th, we have some key security, reauthorization policies, the list is just ever growing and republicans just cant seem to agree on what this cr. In they are still fighting over what to do with this cr. Putting out nt their position yet, they are watching House Republicans they on this to see if can get votes to carry thisso their own. House democrats will probably this if they cant get conservative votes. Host before you go, we heard of rescheduled meeting at the white house with Democratic Leaders and the is ident, perhaps tomorrow, that still on, what do we know about it . Guest yes. As well as eaders, House Speaker, paul ryan, senate Mitch Mcconnell will meet with President Trump tomorrow, make or break for talks. G the house will likely voted on stopgap bill, this meeting will friday deadline, this is really for the longerterm spending bill, they to decide how much money actually spend in fiscal year we to not know how much will go for defense and ondefense program this, is major source of stall, of why the spending talks have been so many months. This is a really crucial moment, we will hear for the first time democratic and Republican Leadership are on board with the same amount of about g and likely talk the other simmering political issues like immigration and could land on the spending bill. Host a complicated program. Sarah ferris, you can read her work at politico. Com. Your time this morning. Guest thanks for having me. Host it is open phone on washington journal. From you about Public Policy issue on your with starting in idaho ted, line for democrats. Ted, good morning. Caller good morning. I kind of agree with a lot that President Trump is i think that kind of verstepping his bounds and i agree with them launching articles of impeachment and hes got the trial ban through, some through and ing some things, i guess, because spending too much time on this terrorists are already over here and really nothing to do about it. That is the job of the president. Thank you. Host the congressman who will be on the floor today, pushing articles of his impeachment, al green, he was on earlier, talked to viewers. He is congressman, one of the houston, texas,m and in houston this morning is patrick, on our line for republicans. Go ahead. Caller yes, essentially looking situation with donald trump, you know, im kind likes to look t on social media, just came in from work, about to go to bed, i saw a little type range that quotes the president pops up people egations he has writing tweets for him. We can kind of tell hes in a with the impeachment thing when he said sorry, when he said patrick in houston, texas. What he was playing there, speaking of texas, the ews out of the white house today, First Lady Melania Trump and second lady karen pence, traveling to texas tomorrow, december 6, as the hite house said continue efforts in assisting those affected by this hurricane season. Corpus ir arrival in christi, they will participate in a meetandgreet, with first of hurricane rt Harvey Recovery efforts. Rockport and other stops along the way. The white house releasing that this morning. Well look to that event tomorrow. Ill is in washington, line for democrats, bill, go ahead. Caller well, good morning, thank you very much. A message for the American People, there isnt that doesnt us think there is too much money in politics. Money taking corporate and corporate funds and this big off. Ut is to pay donors im suggesting to all americans, this is not a party thing. To save democracy, if we dont do this, were going to lose it. Hey have to call their representatives up, their congressmen up and let them know they will not vote for them if one more penny of corporate money f. They get enough of these kind of phone calls, the politicians will change over night, i guarantee it. Hey will probably get more voters, more donations coming from clean money than from politicians. Thank you for your time. I really appreciate it and i people get up an to the plate and do this thing. Know that iticians they hire them, now they can fire them. Thank you for your time. Jose, rogers, arkansas, line for independents, go ahead. Morning, sir. Host good morning. Caller can you hear me . Host yes, sir. Morning, thank you for taking my call. I want to say thank you for caller of theirst would, the way you say it to her, you encouraged her, you knew it, you man, that t and kind is what i want to say. That. Appreciate caller you pretty smart. About mr. Green, i dont have my call never went through, people the reason why voted for trump. So low r the congress, they are in denial. War, tired thf games and lack of respect for the incredible. Know, disappointed, disappointed. I just want to say thank you. Merry christmas to all and thank kindness for the lady. County, ve, kendall line for independents. Steve, open phones, go ahead. Caller good morning, everybody. Kind of like to speak to the armed chair warriors out there of north korea. Interested in this since the president brought it up and so what it turns out, korea has four generating generating each station, i mean, between the four generating plants, they Nuclear Power plants. Would s kim jongun, i oneet scud missiles at each of those four stations and blow hem into obliteration and that fallout would go around the 90 thern hemisphere and kill of the planet. O you people worrying about Nuclear Weapons coming over ere, they have spent fuel throughout Nuclear Power plants, what are you going to do about that, kids . Host you trust our leaders take seriously . Do you trust the president and secretary of state in efforts when it comes to north korea and generals, as well . Caller i love the comment before, you are a beautiful being. This president that this guy in the office that the lowest of this country put in office, the fool, the coward, the fraudulent boob in the office, the orange anus. As host lets dispense with the name calling, can you answer the question . Caller push the world possibly situation, im a third grade chess player, all i know that if im caught kim jongun and youre going to step forever, wipe me out if i want to get back at you, im going to destroy nuclear 200 miles, within that is nine minutes with one scud missile. Ost steve in illinois this morning. Keeping you updated on other news around the country, this story from the Washington Post, number of people caught trying to sneak mexico has der from fallen to lowest level in 46 ears, according to the department of homeland security. Statistics released on tuesday nd they offer the First Comprehensive look at how Immigration Enforcement is changing under the trump administration, Washington Post reporting during the governments 2017 fiscal year, 30, u. S. Border 310,000 arrests, a ecline from the Previous Year and fewest since 1971. He figures show sharp trop in apprehensions after President Trumps election, possibly reflecting the deterrent effect wouldbe toric on border crossers. And we have 20 minutes left in calls ones, taking your for democrats, republicans and independents. Foras in dayton, ohio, line republicans. Thomas, go ahead. Aller host go ahead. Caller i only had one thing to say. Im a veteran, 27 years, been to and all this good stuff. Got to do is sit down and talk and say what can i country, but not what you can do for me. Own are in there for their political moves and it is a lifetime job for those people. Working and do something for the country instead of what i get out of it. Have to say. Thank you very much. Jorge line for democrats, calling in, is it truth or consequences new mexico . Yes, uhhuh. Host go ahead. Caller hello, want to give my on the Supreme Court wedding cake case. Believe that the baker hasnt lost his First Amendment right to free speech. Believe that he had the right to or should have made the cake it was on there that produced under duress or signed a cross, but still produced it. All right, as we said, if you missed the statement, busy day outside of the Supreme Court court. Side the supreme if you missed statements at the microphones yesterday from both cake maker and the couple who is at the focus of this case, you can go back and watch our website aton cspan. Org. Updated to keep you about another key issue facing congress today, specifically in house, the house of a resentatives voting on legislative package that includes both expanded gun ights and new rules on gun restrictions to explain it all, were joined on the phone by dumane, reporter for mcclatchy. House of at the representatives is voting on the and how this got to floor. Guest well, the house is voting on actually a package of three related to gun ssues, the first is called concealed carry reciprocity act, of the ive Priority National Rifle Association that would allow conceal gun carry valid across state lines, every state has different standards by which conceal carry permits for firearms are issued and just like a drivers license, permits would be recognized from state to state, they currently are not transferable. The other two pieces of legislation in this package is the fixed nicks bill, the National Information for criminal background check system. That federal background check system currently doesnt have in of the mechanisms needed place to prevent firearms from getting in the wrong hands, problem we have seen in some of the Mass Shootings in and years. Hs this would create a variety of Enforcement Mechanisms to make agency te and federal are complying with the law, that is already on the books, make guns dont get into the wrong hands, the third require he department of justice to release opinion on whether bump accessory to make assault rifles more lethal are more severe ct to criminal sentencing. Thats of course an accessory shooter in las vegas dozens of e out people at a outdoor concert. Issues that are important to both gun right supporters and for new gun restrictions, how did this package of bills come together put together . Hey guest yeah, so republicans have wanted to move the concealed carry reciprocity act for months there was Republican Leaders intending to move this on the after the august recess. The shoot nothing Las Vegas Made complicated to move any legislation that could be perceived by critics of expanded access and gun loosening of gun restrictions, you know, a public going to be relations nightmare, if you will, with Bipartisan Coalition around strengthening background concern about the legality to bump stocks. Leaders guided packaging, latter two bills, oncealed carry act would perhaps make this legislation more palatable, would perhaps moving a e optics of bill that is such a priority of the nra, which is so reviled and demonized by democrats and members on the left, most democrats. Moderate some democrats who will vote for the package, gun owners, they are red states and rural communities. That thet very well be bump stock component and background check component are good deal,ake this a something worth voting on, but vast majority of democrats are convinced that this is a of deal and theres plenty outrage to go around. I think we will see mostly party vote this actual. Host when does the senate take up this legislation . Guest the senate doesnt have a john cornyn, number two republican, wants to move the background check bill, which he is the chief sponsor in the senate, he wants to move that quickly. Actually thinks he could get unanimous consent agreement and having roll call vote on this, which might be correct. However, this cannot move with the concealed carry reciprocity act. Not enough support for that, democrats are not going to ut up 60 votes needed to overcome filibuster, those bills would move separately. Is nt seem likely the map there to conceal carry component. Dumain, covering for mcclatchy. Thanks for your time this morning. Guest thanks for having me, john. Host well be heading to tallahassee, florida, in about minutes, as our cspan 50 capitals tour continues. Bus is a live shot of the outside the state capital of florida, well be joined by of the state house there. Until then, open phones on the washington journal, any public to talk sue you want about. Robert, what is on your mind in greenville, North Carolina, independent . Caller yes, i think on this tax ill, that donald trump keeps saying its not going to help donaldlieve me, any time trump says, believe me, thats a lie. He should show his taxes to the American People before the passed and if it is not going to help him pass the bill, help him, s going to dont pass the bill. Donald trump and his free cheat them and how, are screwing the American People. On the tax plan, tom to impeach, has this column in todays wall street page, this the op ed tax plan puts another knife into merican democracy, he writes, deep down investors know when patriots put country ahead of everyone benefits. Tom styer leading the effort to President Trump, he will be at the National Press club on y, watch that at noon cspan. Org, and of course, if you miss it, you can go back and it later. We keep everything on our website for you to do that. Is in knoxville, tennessee, line for republicans, go ahead. Thomas, i can hear you, go ahead. Hello. yes, larry thomas. Kindly hurt being a republican. Ive been a republican all my life. Years old. Years sxoeld ive been a republican all my life. You, thomas, i can hear keep talking through your phone. Caller okay, thank you, sir. Going to health and against us retirees cut our g and retirement, causing retirement insurance, theyre going to cut it and cut my edicare and ive got Health Issues and he dont give a dam about nobody, but himself. Thomas in tennessee, reminder, turn down your television when you are calling have a conversation through your phone, it is the easiest way and best way to make this work. Lynn, in high point, North Carolina, line for democrats. Lynn, go ahead. When yes, im wondering forest trump will implement russia that the Congress Passed and tom snyder for president. Host okay. Did you have Something Else to add . Know when the to sanctions are going to be implemented against that was through congress. Host all right. That is lynn, North Carolina. We pointed russia, this story out earlier. Russia banned from the 2018 olympics, front page of the wall street journal, International Olympic committee 2018 ding russia from the Winter Olympics for doping games in the 2014 sochi, it would prevent athletes neutrally by invitation only. The ruling, wall street it nal calling unprecedented pounding against a cheating used of drug in sports. John, silver spring, maryland, go ahead. Emocrats, caller yes, the republican to the core. Upt deologically bankrupt, turned the tax code, intended, how we express our values of society government, and the things we value and the things a weapon turn into against political opponents and have completely sold our country to money interest. You. Host matt in milton, indiana, independents, go ahead. Caller hello. Good morning. Good morning. Im a radio host for brain injured people. Brain injury, i survived. Democrat or epublican, my society, as i call it, were more interested of hy the medical aspect dropping everything that we have about saving our lives directly, you know, ive surgeries in the last 10 years and i couldnt have had without my medicare and medicaid. I got a little bit, see how they think. It is a tough situation on all us. Host appreciate the call, matt, youre going in and out there, to dominique, in pennsylvania, line for independents, go ahead. Caller hello, i want to ask a Supreme Court aw, constitution and bill of rights. When do we question when these just completely being trampled and being over . Can i read Supreme Court law to just explain host explain to me how you that question. Caller well, it seems like others see this is. Circus, the circus it and there comes a time when you hallenge jurisdiction of nothers conduct these people in position of responsibility are taking complete advantage of we have can people and no source or way to speak to them, either. Host when it comes to member conduct, this story this morning from the hill newspaper, just minutes ago, 0 another woman says, al franken kiss her in ibly 2006, according to a report, the woman is accusing the senator of forcibly kiss her, the woman was a former democratic the essional aide said minnesota democrat attempted to a taping of owing his radio show. An interview the woman had with between me and the door and trying to come at me and kiss me, it was quick and brain had to work hard to be like, wait, what is happening, i new whatever was happening was not right and i ducked, reporting from politico and the morning. Spaper this also, on member conduct, we showed you this story earlier, john conyers, longest serving member of the ouse of representatives resigned yesterday, facing growing chorus of voices emanding he step down because of Sexual Harassment claims. Esterday on the house floor, congresswoman Sheila Jackson lee read a statement for john conyers, here is her reading that statement. Ive been in the forefront of movement, been s a champion of justice for the in essed, never waivered commitment to justice and democracy. I am proud to have been part of have been istory, i privileged to be a founder of the Congressional Black Caucus nd represent the United States congress by being seen. Pass as indicated, the law dealing with Martin Luther king holiday, violence against women act, extension of Voting Rights act. Have led the fight against mandatory minimum hoping to reverse devastating incarceration rates for African Americans and poor people, tried have led the sal healthcare law, hr 676, every Congress Introduced hrhave 40 to study reparation for and appreciate the colleagues who joined me. For detroiters, im proud we able to accomplish, hundreds of millions of dollars in federal l Grant Funding for southeast michigan to revitalize our great city, ttract rich talent and return to us prosperity. This presenthat in environment, due process will not be afforded to me, i was great woman, my mother, to honor women. Hired was mployee i mrs. Rosa parks who worked in my ffice for 22 years, my great honor to work alongside some of he most honorable staff on capitol hill and detroit. Ive stated my position on the allegations. Worked with both women and men, given totality of the circumstance, of not being of due process in conjunction with Current Health onditions and to preserve my legace negood name, im retiring. Host congresswoman Sheila Jackson lee reading a statement for now retired, resigned member conyers, ss, john saying he will endorse his son in congress. M a few minutes left in open phones on the washington journal. Been wait nothing sarasota, florida, susan, what on your mind . Caller yes, i think there is nother issue at play in the alabama race. Andidate jones, convicted church of blowing up a and murdering four little girls. Who, are people in alabama ask anyone who go after lansman, may be a racial issue involved here. Host why do you think that, susan . Aller because i think some people in alabama just resent the fact that jones convicted klansmen of killing four little black girls. Host what evidence of the this have you seen seen, is this something you heard from news reports or where you see that . Caller no, my own ark sessment, candidate is against law and order and not prolife prolife when he actually went over after people girls rdered four little nd put them in jail, but he convicted the klansmen who did t, some peep nel alabama recents he went out klansmen and ut them in jail and that has a lot to do with why some of these people are so strongly against him, to say he doesnt care about lives and doesnt care about law and order, it makes no sense, it makes no sense at all. Fort all right, joan, worth, texas, line for independents, go ahead. Caller yes, good morning. Host good morning. Caller i called about taxes, but i would like to comment on callers statement. Host go ahead. Caller one thing about roy just in alabama, he was barred from the bench twice for constitution. The is now as a senator, he going to have to say he will uphold the constitution, which didnt in the state of alabama. Ow on taxes, a lot of the calle allers, im not being biassed or prejudice, sounds like majority of callers calling probably tax plan are senior citizens, ive heard a ouple comment they are on medicare. This tax plan is not being paid hi there will be huge slashes to medicare and to stand up for kids, they havent othered to pass the chips program, so youve got thousands, millions of childre no health ave nsurance and as of now, 15 states cannot provide healthcare to children in their state. Comment, fair is fair. You know, if youre going to tax cuts to e millionaires and corporations, lowest of king the the low to people that cannot protect their self. Seniors and children. Host tammy in hagerhill, line for republicans. Tammy, go ahead. Caller yeah, i want to make a comment on a general comment on, it would not matter, do nottrump supporter, i think hes perfect, but he most efinitely is better than the other candidate that we had. No matter what he does, the still whining over the election and would never be i think hes tried from st even with pulls within our own party, to straighten the mess up that was of obama. Ght years and i want to make one comment maker and, wanted him to make the cake. He has every right to refuse to make that case based on his own onvictions, which goes much higher than the courts of this land. And, when i walk in a place and a sign that says not that shirt, no t says no shoes, no service, im not going in and say, im not wearing a shoes, you are going to serve me anyway, i will go to the next place that would serve me. They dont want to do that, they dont want to accept what they believe they want to cram it down your throat and say, im not only am i going to do it, that e going to believe what i do is okay, too. That is just not right. Ut the democrats will never, the media, never in history has a president been disrespected, makes me want to support him even more. Like i said, i do not think hes perfect, but nobody on the other liberal side is giving him a chance. They have started from day one, talk show you hear, any latenight show, they show fist it wasnt for making fun of our president. Coleman, line n for independents. Open phones. Are r hello, john, how you . Host doing well. Caller yes, i hope i dont get as far as a few things. Hello. Host im listening, kenneth. Caller yes, a few things, not time. Up too much you know, by you guys being where you are and having a voice those who can call in, i mean, is there any way you guy consist make a note to ask these congressmen that you guys bring purpose ow what is the of them opening up the congress or house of representative with prayer . I dont understand why do they so divided theyre some en it comes to for people, help thanksgiving person or helping that person, why do with prayer instead allegiance andof go on about doing business of eing disruptive, like most of them do whenever theyre not in power . Too, i think ing, you guys do a super job, doesnt straight upguys are the middle and thats it. Thank you. Host appreciate that. Jay is in alabama, line for republicans. Talking to republicans in the first segment f washington journal about the roy moore race. While i have you, since you are yourbama resident, what is thoughtos that contest . Caller well, i think there has out a lot of misinformation there. A lot of people talk about roy kicked off the bench and he doesnt support the onstitution, but the fact is that he was actually trying to alabamas constitutional right to define things, for example, what marriage, what constitutes a marriage in alabama, thats a the right to define a marriage wasnt given to the federal government, left to the states and the state of alabama had a law defined what arriage was and so when samesex marriage was as some people say, made law of the land, it conflicted with the state definition and that is stood up for. He wasnt trying to go against constitution, he was trying to support the constitution. Was right u think he in doing that, jay . Right in think he was going with what he believed was thing. Ht now whether you think it was right for him to defend the states rights or think it was wrong is a matter of opinion. I dont think he was wrong. Host jay, you talked about what he believes. You believe the allegations that have come out against roy moore . Caller i think among other incrediblye timing is suspect. Whole rd to give them a lot of credibility given that now it is40 years and going to be highly contested now ion, but theyre just coming out. I think he deserves due process ike every other citizen of the country. Host jay, do you think it would have been highly contested election had the allegations not come out . Caller absolutely. Election, y important i mean, its we have one, republicans have buffer of one vote . Host 5248 right now, jay. Caller couple votes, then. They can secure couple seats in senate, then that is real good move for the democrats, agree . T you host that is what democrats are trying to do to narrow that majority. Well see what happens on tuesday, when that election happens. Special election, Senate Special election in alabama. The seat that was occupied by Jeff Sessions, appointed to attorney general, Luther Strange was appointed to that position, position, until the special election took place and were at the end of that process. Applevalley, california, line for democrats. Caller yeah. Ahead. Go caller yes. John, ive got a simple comment to make. Know, both republican and democrat party, they are ive been a w, registered democrat all my life the generally vote for person, not the party, and just inis a mess what is going on this country. I hope they just clean it up, the swamp,ing, drain sides. N both i dont know where this country or this world is going, i correct it pe they and clean it all up. Host tony, our last caller in segment of washington journal. Now until the house comes in at our cspan 50 capitals tour continue, were in city of capital tallahassee, joining us on the speaker of the house of richa corcoran. Us. K you for joining guest great pleasure. Host one of the many state houses around the country that rocked by allegations of Sexual Harassment, misconduct can you explain how tallahassee has been dragged nto this National Conversation and how you as speaker of the house are dealing with it . Well, right now theres one individual senator thats several charges against him. How we dealt with it in the we e representative side, passed toughest, strongest oural harassment rules into house rules and what we did, we training way back, almost a year ago, had those tough rules and weve look, you cant change uman nature, but you can curb behavior, by putting rule necessary place and letting veryone know this is deemed sexual harass sxment weville zero, none, zero tolerance for great improvement in the environment in the house of representatives. Needs to takeenate the same steps. Host the senator is senator six women said he either touched them inappropriately or inappropriate comments. Can you talk about how the investigating or those kind of claims and how takes . At process its certainly something we focused on in the house of congress, ives in explain how it works in tallahassee. Guest well, they are under going, two routes they are going on right now. Hired attorney out of tampa to investigate some of the in addition to that, ules complaints in the Senate Rules Committee seeking they are working on those, what will the rules committee is going through the process, they are investigating, have investigating any anonymous complaints that come forward. They will come back with reports ultimately it looks like they are adding to rules committee, they will have master find or not find probable cause, i think there is clearly probable cause. Make recommendation of what to o and looks at this point, heading toward expulsion and have full floor vote shshgs it vote that level and have on expulsion fexpelled, he will be one of the first city members in legislature expelled in who knows how long, decades. Process work nothing your mind and expulsion and claims, what point do you should resign when up claims come guest well, thats a good question. I certainly, on after reading and llegations understanding the circumstances was one of the first people to his resignation, i think it should be immediate. We had that, before him, an engaged in Sexual Misconduct in the senate, resigned in probably 24 or 48 hours, another allegation against a city psc, Public Service commission that utilities had allegations against him, he resigned in two hours, i think you have those kind of allegations and you have them lots of e, but by people and sadly, if you look at what is going on with john florida, why is Harvey Weinstein can be everything, matt Walter Cronkite awards, everything. This official should be held to igher standard and be quicker to resignation path are still in office, still fighting and it is but i think we have ought tonto arena, you live up to that expectation, if you dont, were not talking or two e allegation allegations, were talking about myriad of allegations. Think the time for those folks to resign. Host why do you think it is comes to when it politics . Is it just the win lose nature the two Political Parties clashing or is there Something Else . Guest well, i think that in you see a lot of folks are people that have been in office for decades and i entitlement s mentality. Elected officials no longer recognize they are serving is le tis a great honor, it not their office, it is just a title they occupy for the benefit of the people. And unfortunately, weve gotten past that, what we need in ashington is term limits, we have them in florida and its made a huge difference. Blood comeat and new necessary and recognizes great honor to serve and it is behave better,le govern better and represent the people better. Ost what is term limit in florida . Guest eight years in the house, eight years in the senate. If you are a senator, probably 0 of state senate, house members who serve eight years term limited out and ran for a eight to t and served ten years there, most senators 18 years or for longer. Host how long do you have left your term . And im down to one year then i go back to a citizen. Host do you find it hard as house to the implement the changes that you want to see to lead in the way want under that restriction, under that ceiling that you are hit . To guest no, i dont. I think the limitation of not able to do transformational bold stuff is on the individual membership themselves. Is challenge for every elected official. Class cted in 2010, the was extremely talented, one in gabe,ess, congressman matt one ambassador, we all sat down said this, is our moment in time to do something great for the state of florida and rolled most boldest agendas, passed largest tax cut history, passed the ost bold pro parent, pro teacher, student educational reform. We have gone out and chased and policy we know will make a difference in peoples lives. When you do that, may not get them, if you get some of them, you have made a difference. Host talk about hurricane neflorida, where you are, what you still need from government. Guest well, you know, as we seems fortunately, it like fema is a hurricane behind, e need resources that are promised and pledged to get them quicker and sooner. Level, what we have done, immediately following irma, most devastating hurricane we had, it hit almost the entire tate, all 67 counties, we put together a select committee to look into as good as florida is deal with it we every single year, and as good as we are and prepared as we there are improvements that can be made. What we saw with this one, which coming out of our select committee and recommendations say, lets take and extend toroad georgia to have anotherar terial exit and progress after the storm. Looking at hardening ransmission lines, we had basically 60 of people without power, that was restored days. Gly in less than 10 but having said that, how can we do it where we have less power down, what one consist we take underground and how do we do that and afford it, we are looking at what to do with nursing home residents, we had a by absolute criminal negligence on behalf of a nursing home, how do we ensure power, gasgenerators, storage . Those things are coming out of select committee, we will look session. The nice thing, were number one going around 50 states, number amazing f the nation, given our size, Third Largest state in the union, number one fiscal health, 10 billion in taxes in the last seven years, 5000 regulations, almost 4 billion in reserve, all of that go out and do things that make lives of our itizens better after a catastrophic event like irma. Host 4 billion in reserve after irma . Guest correct. Nd not only that, we have a staterun private Public Partnership citizen insurance of last resort for folks that cant get it in the free or private market. They have almost their 7 billion in reserve, cat fund, fund for these event system 25 billion in eserves, a lot of that in fairness is because we havent had a serious storm in about a decade. And now at built up those funds will go down, but ur state reserves, we maintain that, give or take 4 billion every single year. Expect theuch do you changes that youd like to see implemented coming out of this do ct committee, how much you think that will cost the state of florida to do in the come . To host well, you know, it will wont. The simple answer to that, we have the reserves, weve been prudent, been great protectors of the taxpayer money and so because we have reserves, what is more important, making sure lives of citizens are rotected and better. The underground hardening of our infrastructure for hour lines, money, extending our sun coast parkway to eorgia, having that fourthar terial road will cost money, we have Transportation Trust fund, potentially, obviously putting regulation on the Nursing Homes or having them to compliance will cost some money, but all of these talking about ng having gas reserve, issues of etting gas in to our harbors during the hurricane, if we had a huge gas reserve we could keep n middle of the states in protected area, that could cost money, the things will make it o the next storm is better prepared and citizens will get back to their lives as quickly as possible. The house of representatives is coming in now. Special thanks to our partners florida, ssee, comcast, down there, stay tuned raleigh, xt stop in North Carolina on the 50 capitals tour. We take you live to the floor of the house of representatives. 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