Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Post State Of The Union Preview 20180130

Posted by the Washington Post, this is just over two hours. Hi everybody. Thank you for being here. Excuse my appearance. Hi, everybody. Thank you for being here. We are eager to talk to kellyanne conway. Were going to talk about starting with the state of the union. A year ago, the president gave first speech to the congress. In the days that followed, or a number of controversies that created a more polarizing. Nvironment im wondering, what can the president do for the deals. President is working the president is working on this speech, its a reflection on the past years accomplishments, but also the accomplishments not as just checking a box, a todo list, but really what is the nexus between what has happened and your own life on to or your own business or your own aspirations and how is that a framework for working together in 2018 . I would point out a few things. Theyre pretty recent. One is about two, three weeks ago now, the president held forth for 55 minutes, uninterrupted, undeterred, unscripted with a bipartisan, Bicameral Group of legislators in the cabinet room. It was quite unexpected. I think mainly by the media, the press pool, who were covering it, and by all accounts were pleased to have that kind of transparency and live, again, unfiltered and unscripted exchange between the president and the legislators. Thats good for transparency, accountability, democracy, really. And its that kind of conversation we need to keep having. That particular issue was about that particular meeting was about immigration and you see an openness and a flexibility by this president very recently on the daca recipients, the dreamers, he will address that tomorrow in his speech, immigration will be one of the major five or six points covered. And i would also go back to august 21, when the president came out with his afghani policy speech. His policy speech about afghanistan. A little bit of a diversion from where he was during the campaign, having consulted with those on the ground and his jens and National Security team. I know you wrote about it at the time and were criticized for saying the new president , new President Trump on afghanistan, new strategy. But indeed it was. I want to show those examples of openness and flexibility. It will be bipartisan in tone and content because thats the only way to function in this town. As a democracy. We saw during the Government Shutdown, very unfortunate, that folks wanted a Government Shutdown, you saw to reopen the government, you literally needed 60 votes. You needed bipartisan cooperation. We were very happy that Many Democrats came around, bucked their party leadership, and voted to reopen the government a week ago. Philip you talked about immigration which is going to come up in the speech tomorrow. The white house has a framework. Thats been previewed in the last couple of days that does include something for the dreamers. A legal status for the dreamers. Is that a red line for the president . Is he committed to seeing some sort of legal status for the hundreds of thousands of kids who are here without documentation. Kellyanne the president has said that indiana fact the framework currently includes resolution for 1. 8 million. So it would include those who never availed themselves of that after president obama took action in 2012. So it actually anticipates and includes those who never took the action, in addition to the roughly 700,000 who did. Theres also 25 billion for enhanced security at the border. We are a nation, the president will talk about how a sovereign nation must have physical borders that we as a nation have spent billions of dollars over many decades helping other countries secure their borders and protect their sovereignty. And he believes and has successfully won on and is governing on enhancing security at the border. That includes the wall and other security measures. But that also i would say that is his red line. Hes always made that very clear. But again, i think its just a great symbol of how cooperation, discussion, can be had on the same issue with two very divergent priorities. I think if you look at the conversation in the past several months, if fat year, when the democrats talk about immigration, they basically have been talking about the dreamers, the daca recipients. This president put out a 70point plan a few months ago, you can all go and read it. He talks about meritbased immigration, an end to the visa lottery system. Obviously Border Security and now daca recipients. Philip as his political counselor, how do you help him manage and navigate the currents in the Republican Base right now . Breitbart has take to calling him amnesty don because of his immigration framework. How does he manage being compassionate with the dreamers and coming up with some sort of legal status for them . While satisfying his base that is very hardline on immigration . Kellyanne thats not a conversation we have very frequently for a very simple reason. Hes the president of all americans, including the millions who didnt vote for him. Thats something he said on november 9 in the wee hours of november 9. On election dayplus. Election nightplus. Yes, the speech. He changed that. He added that when we were up in the residence. He added. That he said it at the hilton. He said, im the president of all americans, even those two didnt support me. And there are more than a few of you, i believe were his words or something thereabout. And you have to take that very seriously as president. Because its just like with the tax cut and jobs act. So people were lied to. That it couldnt pass and if it did it would only help the wealthy and people now see its helping folks, upwards of three Million People already, 274 companies, employers have taken action as of this morning with the last count i saw. And youre talking about a direct investment in your workplaces, your work forces, raises. Obviously bonuses. But also Capital Investments in skills training, education for your ploles. The broader communitys being communities being invested in and things that have been seen as the province of the other party, i think thats ridiculous. Everybody thinks about child care and everybody thinks about wellness of their employees. But youve got many companies, many job creators, now, employers, taking action because of this tax cut and theyre saying. That theyre saying because of the tax cut we are doing x, y and z. There are plenty of people who are going to benefit who dont support the president and arent, quote, part of his base. The president s base is the entire country. Because hes president of the United States. And ill gesk you the best example. I have many good examples because in addition to working on the big issues of the day like tax reform, infrastructure, immigration, i tend to have some things in my portfolio that i can legitimately refer to as nonpartisan issues in search of bipartisan solutions. And when i go around the country meeting with grieving families or talking to Law Enforcement officers or Health Professionals or Faithbased Community leaders, i dont ask them how did you vote, are you registered . You just cant care. When youre serving the country and i do think people who feel that way are the ones who should serve in government. Philip todays a busy news day, as every day is, has been for the last year. The Deputy Director of the f. B. I. Has stepped down. Hes going to be formally retiring in a couple of months but he stepped down immediately from his position. I am wondering, is the president celebrating . He had so much to say over mccabe over the last few months, criticizing his leadership at the f. B. I. Im curious how the white house is responding to that. Kellyanne ive not personally seen the president react one way or the other. I know our press secretary on my way over here was saying during her briefing in the press Briefing Room that the white house had nothing to do with that decision. And that you have to refer your questions, to i guess, mr. Mccabe and the f. B. I. Philip but the president had criticized his leadership personally. Kellyanne ive also read in the paper, maybe even the Washington Post, that conscious your twitter feed, that mr. Mccabe had planned on retiring at some point. So i would again its not a surprising move. I guess if you read the Washington Post or phils twitter feed, as i do. Weve seen it before. But in any event, thats what Sarah Sanders has said and that is what is occurring right now as the news is breaking. Philip another story today is that the House Intelligence Committee has put together a report, a memo rather, suggesting that the f. B. I. May have relied on political motivated or questionable sources to justify one of those early requests for secret surveillance warrant in the russia investigation. This is obviously something the house committees going to have to decide in the next couple of hours, but should that memo be publicly released . Do you think the public deserves a right to see it . And do you think it should necessitate any further changes in the leadership of the f. B. I. And the d. O. J. . Kellyanne when it comes to the f. B. I. , let me make very clear the president want to quantico, i believe it was in deerks and he has great respect, as he has said, for the rank and file. There are about 25,000 or so employees at the f. B. I. Youre talking about a few people who are in charge of an investigation and what we see thats been made public. I dont have any special knowledge obviously. On that. You see its been made public. Some very disturbing statements about the now president. We expect people have political points of view. They support who they support in the ballot box. Someone gave money. At least one attended the president s political opponents Victory Party on election night. NonVictory Party, i suppose. But that aside, we believe in transparency and accountability. So this president would err on the side of transparency. I hope that the legion of people, including in the media, who have been covering russia and the investigation for over a year now, and the president s made very clear that theres no collusion, theres absolutely no collusion. He calls it a hoax. An excuse for losing an election. But more importantly, is the transparency and accountability piece of this that if those two are in charge of this memo, and ive not seen it obviously, those in charge of that feel that it is ready to be released to the public. Im not sure what would need to be redacted or not. Then they should make that decision. Philip does the president think that that the message is that youre talking about is that evidence that the Law Enforcement community was working against his campaign . Kellyanne the Law Enforcement community is a very large group of people. We should never generalize as such. As i say, its whats been revealed now, after the fact, and ironically, i guess through the course of the investigation that was really targeted at him and his campaign, which i was the manager for the winning part and i can tell you that the idea that i would ever have to go to moscow rather than North Carolina or michigan to help guide the campaign is foolish. And i dont you know why anybody would think otherwise. On this particular discrete matter, lets let the committees decide what they think is best based on what they know. This is a president who has talked about prosperity, security, transparency and accountability being his three Top Priorities and he will talk about those tomorrow night in his state of the union. In fact, hell talk about a safe, strong, proud america and i think that the word proud is very important too. Because whether its this president telling the country to dignyify all career types, to have invested millions of dollars through the department of labor into skills training so that we are not as a nation telling everybody, you must go to a Fouryear College, you must get a degree, a Fouryear College degree, where we hear from employers and governors from both sides of the aisle, all the time that theres a labor shortage supply of carpenter, welders, the folks i grew up with in south jersey. I grew up outside of camden in philadelphia. Most people i went with went for as certificate and were able to support themselves the next day practically. This is somebody who is trying to say to america, be proud regardless of what your choice of career is. We want to find things that bind us together as a nation. And he will talk about that in tomorrows state of the union. Philip he probably i assume is not going to talk about the russia investigation and the state of the Union Address. But thats the shadow that sort of hangs over the work hes doing as president and Sarah Sanders said today at the press briefing, its about time everybody wash russia fever out of their systems. A real desire to move past. That the president himself last week said he was looking forward to testifying under oath with Robert Mueller if indeed hes asked. And im wondering, as one of his advisors, considering his history and his past during his time as a businessman of exaggerating details and saying things that are not true, and there was this one deposition that he gave in 2007 where he had 30 misstatements, do you worry at all that he could be putting himself in a position are we might perjure himself . Kellyanne the question of whether or not the president testifies in mr. Muellers investigation really is a question for his attorneys, of which im not one. Im a fully recovered attorney. Im not his attorney. I know that mr. Dowd, ones his attorney, did say that he has not decided whether the president will testify and hell let everyone know when that decision is made. I know his other attorney also said publicly that that decision will be made at another time. But weve also said from the beginning and ill repeat it here today, that the president has said, the white house has said, weve all said that everyones cooperating, that weve turned over loads of documents. People have testified for many hours and so everybody is complying and cooperating. But when my colleague says today, time to wash russia fever out of your system, i think were going back to a lot of the promises that were made that this presidency wont last, youll find collusion, the election will be nullified. We were promised we would see those 70,000 votes in those three states that donald trump won as president fairly and squarely, that somehow youre going to see there was some nefarious activity in those and those vote would be turned around. Just go back to what everybody was saying a year ago. A little bit crazed. None of that has come to pass. But we do have an investigation. Everybody sees it. Everybody knows whats happening. Folks sometimes i guess get details that maybe shouldnt be made public from whatever sources. I dont know. We are fully cooperating as a white house and the president s attorneys, his personal attorneys, have said hes fully cooperating. Hes also said he looks forward to it coming to an end. But in the meantime, were cooperating. Philip theres inherent risk for anybody in talking to the f. B. I. And recounting some of these details. Especially if youre the president of the United States. Where a lot has happened. And to be able to recall all of that, he doesnt know what other people have been telling mueller in their interviews with him. Is there not any concern at all about whether he could be caught up somehow unintentionally saying something thats not true . Kellyanne youre asking me questions that are really for his counsel, not his counselor, his counsel. Theyre very happy that i wake up every morning and see more americans benefit directly from legislation and to be frank with you, i just think in the span of one short month, i dont understand why, one can ask former Speaker Pelosi when shes here, but i dont understand why the democrats voted against en masse a tax cut that is literally benefiting their constituents now. And i dont know why then they voted to shut the government down. Those are the kinds of things i work on. I dont understand it. Maybe someone will ask. I dont know what the strategy is other than just saying we obstruct, hold the stop sign up, when you have a president who is saying, i want to work across the aisle with you on immigration, infrastructure and another big piece of the president s state of the union tomorrow, where he will talk about hes a builder. He wants to rebuild this nation. You do that in a bipartisan fashion. You do that by saying roads and bridges and our infrastructure, our technology, these are the fact that we dont make anything anymore, build anything as a country, like that, major big public works projects, that is bipartisan. The air Traffic Control system was designed for a time when we had roughly 100,000 passengers a year. We now have close to one billion. I dont know what is partisan about that. But the idea that the president permittingthe process down to two years, you see other countries that do this, you get to comment publicly. You can criticize the proposal, but you dont have 10 or 20 years to do it. Philip well get to the democrats in just a second. I want to pin up one thing on russia before we change topics. Which is that reports over the weekend, first in the New York Times, but confirmed by the post and fox and others, by that President Trump ordered the white House Counsel to fire mueller as the special counsel back last summer in june. And a number of white house officials said that he had never contemplated that, including you on august 6. Im wondering how we should make sense of that. When the president talks about firing mueller, is that an order . Is that a directive . Is that him talking . What do we make of that and how do we square everything there . Kellyanne thats never been discussed with me, is what i try to say on tv and its never been discussed since i believe mr. Cobb has said publicly, the president s personal attorney, thats never been discussed since hes been there. You have to look at his exact quote. Hed just gotten the job. I think he and general kelly arrived around the same day or week. It may have been missed that he got there too. Im not aware of those discussions. I would like to point out that when interviews like that, when you show the president many times saying ive not thought of doing, that im not doing, that its never used to refute the allegations in the news. Its always used to show wow, look at that, that must not have been true. And by the way, the Washington Post reporting was a bit different. I read both articles. It was a bit different than the New York Times reporting. In terms of there were a couple of key strokes different there. So people will have to assess which one think they is more spoton, if either. But as ive said, the main point is mr. Mueller is there. Hes investigating, hes been doing that since may. Were now into practically february. The white house is fully cooperating. And we respect the process. Philip i want to talk about the midterms coming up. One of the roles you play is helping the president sort of think through the political strategy. You were his Campaign Manager of the winning campaign. And were going to hear next from nancy pelosi who i think would like to take back the house and feels quite bullish that the democrats are going to be able to do that. And so my question for you is, what are the odds that democrats can take back the house and what do you and what does your party need to do in the next 10 months or so to prevent that from happening . Kellyanne sure. I think that obstruct, resist, hold up a stop sign, Donald Trumps bad, were not donald trump is a strategy. Its a Campaign Strategy that failed in 2016. So its not necessarily the best strategy for any election. At the same time, we are well aware of the historical trends. We are well aware that the party in power, particularly in the white house power, do suffer grievous losses in offyear elections and first midterm election. President bill clinton did in 1994, i worked on the contract at the time. Gingrich came in, historic gains in the house and senate. At that time. And the same thing happened to president obama, of course, in 2010. So both of those gentlemen, president clinton and president obama, suffered losses in the house and senate. But then were successfully reelected. What i think is different this time, two things i think is different, eyes are wide open about the historical trends. One thing thats different is if you look at 1994 and you really look at 2010, which i think we can all remember, is that at that point people were trying to run, they were trying to justify their vote for the Affordable Care act. Otherwise known as obamacare, a time when people were getting nervous about it. They were worried about keeping their health care. They were worried about being able to keep their doctor. Or keep their plan. Which they were promised and wasnt true. They were worried about the loss of benefits, loss of jobs, loss of hours. And then of course the reduction in quality, access, they started to hear more about it. Took a lot longer to pass the Affordable Care act. Obamacare, than was originally planned. And so you had members, democratic members in the house, who voted for it. Then trying to defend that vote. This is different this year. Because the centerpiece of the domestic agenda was this tax cut. So the republicans who voted for out thereme, will be tax cuti voted for a is bringingns apple 20,000 jobs to the u. S. It is repatriating billions of dollars of wealth. Look at the 274 companies and counting that have made direct investments because of the tax cut i voted for. And that is benefiting members in my particular state. So i saw recently the generic ballot had been cut in half in a couple of these polls from plus 12 democratic to plus six democratic. That will go back and forth over time. Always does. But i think that knowing what the headwinds are for the party in power, when you think about how these members will run on something, defending something, or crowing about something, really bragging about something that they think benefits their constituents, that plus the Regulatory Framework having been improved. You see everybody from the franchisees to Small Business formation, to larger employers, to job seekers, feeling very bullish. The confidence numbers are up. The unemployment is down. Those metrics end up mattering to folks. Manufacturing confidence being up. 200,000 new manufacturing jobs or so created. Those are all big numbers. People know their 401ks are fatter, their retirement security. The 529 education investments expanded through the tax bill. Developing our own Energy Resources in alaska. So there are Different Things people will see over time that will be helpful. The other thing that is a wild card, two things i think are a wild card, frankly. One is the continuing retirements. I said this to several weeks ago. Philip continue today. Kellyanne continue today. We had retirement, another House Republican chairman of the Appropriations Committee, mr. Frelinghuysen from new jersey, retired. So no one knows where these retirements will end. There seem to be an awful lot of them. Thats one thing. The other thing, is Everybody Knows about the october surprise, which just seems to me in this very fraught environment, where there could be sort of election day surprises for people. Folks are being called out right, left and center for their behavior. Their terrible behavior and allegations of behavior and worse than behavior. By current and former employees philip that gets to what i wanted to ask you about next which is, what is your assessment of the mt. Me too movement . What sort of im the Metoo Movement . And what sort of impact do you think this will have politically . The democrats seem to think it will work in their favor and result in more and more women voters turning against this president and against the Republican Party to elect democrats to office. Political power . Kellyanne any time people who feel like they are powerless or inferior to a superior, who is treating them poorly, particularly i guess certainly in this case in a sexual way, thats a very positive thing. Ive been talking about it for years. Ive been treated that way myself. I try to talk about it on live tv on october 9, 2016, nobody cared because of who my candidate was. Ive been treated that way. I do want to say something, any time somebody can speak up, male or female, these the way theyve been treet, i think thats very positive. I believe in due process. I believe in people feeling they have a voice and not being powerless. But let me just correct, because i think youre conflating a few things here. The Metoo Movement started after you had this just slough of allegations, revelations about harvey weinstein, for example. Id have to say that seems to me that was the centerpiece of it at the beginning. So i dont want to conflate five Different Things into one question and one answer. At the same time, i think we have to have a larger conversation about the Workplace Environment and it does seem to me that the Metoo Movement cannot be based on a womans political beliefs or where she works or who she is or whether shes in media or hollywood or professional sports or shes a conservative. It simply cant happen. I dont feel comfortable explaining to my three daughters, and my son, frankly, that it all depends on who the victim is and where she works or what she wears or what her politics are. That would really be a terrible, terrible message to send, particularly to our youth. So i hope we have a larger conversation about respect and the workplace and the work force. So far i dont see that. , i am listening. Women who have ever been on the receiving end of that, i am 51 years old, so i have definitely been on the receiving end. What i want to tell you on a very serious know is, every single time that happened to me, ashamed,aid, i was like it was my fault even though it clearly wasnt. I dont want you to look at those men as powerful and intimidating. Ashamedi want you to look at tr who they are, they are weak and pathetic. They are weak and pathetic to in aupon someone who is position where that person feels like they cant speak up or defend themselves. [applause] i just want to get one thing on the record, which is the super bowl is this sunday. Underdog. On are you going to watch the game with President Trump . We were very happy to have the patriots at the white house in 2017, but there is no reason they need to come back again. [laughter] now i am think a partisan. Now im going to get an epics violation for promoting the eagles. Foles feel that nick is right. Called back up. Great things happen. I think the super bowl is a the super bowl brings america together. Thank you very much for being here. We are going to hand things off now. [applause] [crowd chatter] [applause] good afternoon and thank you all for joining us today. We are so thrilled to have house pelosi,ic leader nancy who is also the one and only woman ever to have served as the speaker of the house, which makes her quite literally the most powerful woman in american history. And ms. Pelosi in politics anyway. Karen and shed like that job back again this year. So before we get started i want to remind you guys our audience in the room and those of you who are watching online that if you have any questions or comments, the hashtag is postlive. And i will try to get a few into the interview. But first of all, i would like to talk to you about our topic today which is the state of the Union Address. We know the president is going to be talking a lot about immigration. He put out a framework of the deal that hed like to see last friday. It involves expanding the number of dreamers who would get protection. It also includes some money for his wall and some pretty radical restrictions on legal immigration. So hes got sweeteners in there for the left. Hes got sweeteners for the right. Is there a deal to be had, and especially a deal to be had in time to protect these 700,000 to 800,000 young immigrants who are looking at essentially, you know, a pretty steep deadline in february . Ms. Pelosi well, of course there has to be a deal to be had, an agreement to be reached. One of the republican members who has a bill, mr. Hurd, described it this morning. Lets discreetly deal with the dreamers and some security and then if we want to go to the other subject of fuller comprehensive Immigration Reform and all that entails, thats a bigger subject that takes more time. But for right now, if you really do care about the dreamers, there is an agreement to be reached. It has been presented and seems like the president is right there and then hes not. Its really discouraging because what hes put forth in this framework is really not in keeping with what immigration has meant to america. We are a country of immigrants unless we were blessed to be born as native americans. God bless us, our country for their contribution to our success. But immigration has been the constant reinvigoration of america. Every immigrant who comes here with hopes and aspirations to make a future better for their children and their families ascribe to our what our founders had in mind, that every generation would take advantage, would take the opportunity to make the future better for their families and therefore for our country. So when they come with that hope, determination, courage, and optimism to make the future better, this immigration makes america more american. And thats not what happens in the president s bill. Karen but you mentioned there will be democrats are open to resources for Border Security. Ms. Pelosi yes. Karen does that mean democrats have come around to the idea that the president can get some money for his wall . Ms. Pelosi we are talking about Border Security and what is that . In other words, we all have a responsibility and we recognize it to protect our borders. Every country must do that. That means north and south in our case and others coming in other ways but especially the two borders. And so we had been receptive to saying what it is what is it the Border Patrol has i wont say wish list but what theyre suggesting to meet their needs and that actually is what we have in some of our legislation. And that is commensurate god bless you and appropriate to what the number of people we are trying to protect. Another bill when there was a bipartisan bill in the senate that was agreed to and it had more money for border but it also gave a path to citizenship for 11 Million People in our country. This is a much smaller number. The commensurate Border Protection in keeping with what the Border Patrol has said they need. Karen so wall money is not a dealbreaker for you . Ms. Pelosi what do you mean, mowing the lawn, the grass where a lot of people have kind of come through unsuspected . There are many things about Border Protection. And if theres some physical structure so be it. A 2,000mile wall that costs 25 billion which by the way the mexicans arent paying for [laughter] ms. Pelosi and by the way, if you know anything about the region, its a community with a border going through it. Families go back and forth. Children go to school. People buy their groceries. They visit family and friends. It is to put a wall there is to in my view, ineffective, too expensive, almost immoral. Karen and ms. Pelosi immoral. Karen one area that a lot of people think there is potential for bipartisan agreement is on infrastructure. Ms. Pelosi yeah. Karen the president has talked about sums of money. He really hasnt put a lot of details into what he would like to see. What are you going to be listening for tomorrow night on that . Ms. Pelosi well, the president has always talked about infrastructure, but its also just as with immigration been a moving kind of target. We had thought that when he talked about infrastructure, and the first meeting we had in a bipartisan way with the president of the United States a few days after his inauguration last year was that 1 trillion to be invested into infrastructure. What they have come up with now is this mini plan which is like 200 billion. Thats over 10 years. 20 billion a year. It doesnt even come close to what we need. We have trillions of dollars, according to the society of civil engineers, trillions of dollars of deficit. Just think what it could mean for america if we made a real commitment, that 1 trillion put forth building roads, bridges, mass transit, highspeed rail, broadband, Water Systems. Some of our Water Systems are made of 100 years old made of brick and wood. They really need to be replaced. Its a health issue almost. And so with all of that, school construction, it could help grow the economy all over the country, create goodpaying jobs and, again, the care and feeding goes with the jobs that are out there so it would also stimulate the economy in many other ways. Create jobs in the building, sustaining commerce in the process, improve the quality of life in terms of the investments in infrastructure which takes cars off the road. Done in an environmentally sound way. The president s proposal meets none of those standards. In fact, it puts some of the burdens on states and cities, way. Municipalities, state and local governments which he has just slapped in the face with the state and local tax reduction in that tax deduction. Hes saying to them, you will get less resources and, by the way, you have to raise taxes if you think youre going to get some we are going to have some collaboration. And by the way, some of the money that you already put up for infrastructure, thats not any longer going to be counted in all of this. So its a really bad deal for state and local government instead of build america bonds where the states and local governments take over and now, one other part of it is a problem, and i pointed this out to the president a year ago, is you cannot expect to put forth some mini program, that subsidizes the private sector to build the infrastructure now weve guaranteed their loan and now theyre going to build it, own it, and charge tolls. So the taxpayers paying twice. Getting back to your question. Yeah, there is a way to do this. Infrastructure really has never been a source of partisan disagreement. Weve always found our way because Everybody Knows that this is important to our country. Again, its to create jobs immediately and really to promote commerce, improve the quality of life, to move product to and from market. Especially where time is important in terms of perishability. We really need to do this and weve always understood it and now theyre coming up with this is another example, immigration bill and this bill, as a tax bill. Let us give you this little thing while we do this other problematic stuff but youll be attracted to the fact we have this little goody in there for you, a little goody in the tax bill while it gives a banquet to 83 of it going to the top 1 . President eisenhower recognized this as a National Security issue, the interstate highway issue as a National Security issue connecting us and, again, on immigration. We will give them citizenship in 10 years, 12 years, but at the same time we will upset the rest of our immigration so the little teaser and a big problem in all case. The three is. Immigration, infrastructure, intelligence will be the third one. In california on st. Patricks day we always have the three is, the italians, the irish, and the israeli just for sake of literation. Alliteration. And right now with infrastructure, the problem with intelligence i dont know if youll get to that. Seriously undermining our country. Karen well, i would like to ask you about that because you between your time on the Intelligence Committee and your years as leader where you have been read into every crucial intelligence question, i dont think theres anybody in congress who has had as many years of dealing with highly sensitive intelligence issues as you have. What are the implications and the ramifications Going Forward of this fraying we have seen between the executive you know, between the executive and the Intelligence Community . Ms. Pelosi well, its not between the Intelligence Community. What is happening now is massive politicization of intelligence, and we have to protect the Intelligence Community from that. What is happening right now is that the chairman let me put this in context. I have served longer than anybody in history and i dont know if anybody will ever catch up to me because i started in the early 1990s as a member. Then, i had the ranking position. I am so proud of adam schiff. And isnt he doing a beautiful job in his role . [applause] ms. Pelosi eric swalwell, another member of our committee. And im very proud of all of the members. The speaker and the leader have the privilege and the responsibility to deputize, to name whos on the Intelligence Committee. Its not people run. Its a personal appointment. The chairman, the Ranking Member, speaker, leader. As well as the members of the committee. And i think we have tried over the years to honor the fact that this is about our security. In the old days when i was there first it was about force protection. It still is, how to protect our forces to avoid conflict but when we go in to make sure then, all kinds of multinational issues. Of course, terrorism. But this is really seriously a serious responsibility. The speaker has appointed somebody whos totally irresponsible, politicizing the process and really it should not be happening. For example, right now hes talking about releasing a document, releasing a document that is predicated on another document that was put together on the basis of total misrepresentation. Its like the wrapup smear. Let me do a terrible document. Now, let me write a report on it and release it feathers to the wind as people see it. Now, as you said, i have seen most of the underlying documents i can tell you that the memo that they reference is a misrepresentation. Karen this is the steel document. Ms. Pelosi if i would say whats in it i cant talk about whats in it. Underlying documents i have seen, this document that their staff, the republican staff alone we usually do things in a bipartisan way. What they put together is false, misleading, misrepresenting. And now theyre doing a memo on top of it. Its a wrapup smear. This is bad. Now were going to tell you about it, and now were going to release it which is highly unusual. I hope tonight they dont vote to release it, but if they do, then we will have a the Ranking Member has said adam schiff, that there will be an attempt to mitigate for the damage they are doing putting out there. Wed rather not any of it go out. But that the president has said, do you think hes read the underlying documents or even the memo or the memo on the memo that theyre going to put that out . I mean, really, this is about our National Security. This is about protecting sources and methods. This is about the integrity of our intelligence. It should never be politicized. And thats what theyre doing. And nunes is really a stooge for the white house to do all of this since were spending time together, i thought we wouldnt waste any of it with any nicities. [laughter] [applause] karen you mentioned the vote coming out in the house today. There is also a vote coming up in the senate on an abortion bill, one specifically that would outlaw abortion after 20 weeks. What is Mitch Mcconnell trying to do . Its a procedural vote. Its not a vote on the underlying bill. What do you think Mitch Mcconnell is up to here . Ms. Pelosi i think hes up to practicing medicine which as far as i know he has no credentials for. [laughter] however, this is this is saying to doctors what they can or cannot do and what is legal if they do. This is about the health and wellbeing of the mother. We shouldnt be going down this path. But its a bone that they throw to their base and its sad. I grant people their position on where they are on these issues. I come from an Italian Catholic family. A little more conservative in their views than i am on some of this. I think theyre coming around but nonetheless, the but to go into Something Like this, again, if somebody is doing something wrong right now, a doctor, they go to jail. So this bill in effect really has no effect except its a showboat. Karen well, id like to turn to my favorite subject and i suspect one of your favorite subjects which is the mid terms which are looking pretty good for democrats. You have its always difficult for the white house the first go round in the mid terms. You have a historically unpopular president and right now ms. Pelosi yeah. [laughter] karen right now the generic ballot of would you rather see a democrat or republican in your seat, the real clear politics average on that polling has the democrats up by eight in the house. So that looks like you guys are in pretty good shape. So my question is, what keeps nancy pelosi up at night . Ms. Pelosi oh, eating too much chocolate during the day. Actually, the tax bill is really the dark cloud that hangs over the capitol. The fact that the republicans rushed through this tax bill, ions of dollarsll of impact on our economy with no hearings, no expert advice as to what it the impact will be on our future. A bill that is 83 of it goes to the top the benefits go to the top 1 . They sell it middle class tax cuts. 86 million families will be paying more in taxes as a result of this bill. Nearly trillion and a half dollar tax break for Corporate America unpaid for and permanent. Adding nearly 2 trillion to the national debt, as you when you put in interest on the debt, the debt service there. Again, robbing from our childrens future, and then is why it keeps me awake, using it as an excuse to say we really cant spend too much money on the domestic budget because we have this deficit, a deficit they created. And by the way, which they said, oh, its going to pay for itself with all this growth. If we do then we have money for the domestic budget. If it doesnt then you shouldnt have done it in the first place. Thats coloring our negotiations on the caps. Karen well ms. Pelosi but for that i thought we were close to a solution, the tax bill, it has put a little fear of the lord into some people because if we have a cap agreement it will increase the national debt. Karen its gotten predictable these mid term election seasons you will see a lot of yourself on television in the Republican Campaign ads. Weve already seen one in pennsylvania quite recently. And one of the arguments that they are making in the ad is taking issue with your use of the word crumbs to describe the, say, average 1,000 people will the average household gets in their pocket from this bill. I notice that you just used the word goodies rather than crumbs. Ms. Pelosi either way. Because its not a question of 1,000. Its a question of the billions of dollars the bank that they that they have put for the top 1 . I dont begrudge anybody their success, their wealth, their achievement. God bless you for that. I saw a cartoon. The cartoonists always have, its middle class, like a little mouse, piece of cheese on the mousetrap and then the fat cat is just waiting for that middle class person to take that. This is unconscionable they would have 83 of the benefits going to the top 1 . So thats my point is its not what it is. Its what it isnt. And what it is for the banquet of money at the top, the extraction of money but trying to sell it as something you just should just be so glad to get, no. Our people deserve bert. Deserved better. We could have had a bipartisan discussion on tax. Yes, you want to lower the corporate rate, what makes sense . Karen so ms. Pelosi but they didnt want to engage in that because they were afraid of it because it would give more benefits to many more people and that was not their goal. Their goal was trickled down economics. If it trickles down, that would be good. If it creates jobs, that would be good. If it doesnt, so be it. Thats the free market. Thats what they tell us. Karen well, so whats going to be critical for you guys in this election are having the right kind of candidates in the right kind of districts. And you have 23 districts out there where you have a republican incumbent member of congress in a district that Hillary Clinton won in the president ial. Ms. Pelosi you want to talk politics . Ok. Well, first, let me get to your first point. Yes, they always like to im so proud to come from San Francisco. Im so proud of our San Francisco values. But that seems to be what they like to do a cable car, lgbt, all of that. Thats how they put this all forth. I saw come from away, the play, and they sing make me a channel of hatred, love, despair, hope. Thats the anthem of our city of San Francisco. Its the song of st. Francis, our patron saint. And yet they want to characterize my city in a certain way and identify a candidate with me and that and were really proud of who we are. Now, some of these candidates ive never met. Its really important for these candidates to come from their communities as this candidate did in pennsylvania that you referenced. But it is important because your title and your Job Description are the same, representative. Youre not representing my district and im not representing yours. Job description. Representative. Title, representative. So your point, karen, was exactly right. There has to be a connection between the candidate and the district and the districts make those decisions. The history is on our side in terms if the president s number go below 50 its a bad year. The next year will be bad. I always say, tell me where the president is the november before the election and ill tell you if the door is open for us. If the president is under 50 of the well, lets say the republicans when clinton was president , his numbers went down, they won. Bush, his numbers went down, we won. Obama, his numbers went down, they won. Its not despositive of the election. There are many things going on and you have to be strategic coldblooded in terms of your decisions as to where you allocate your resources. But you never underestimate your opponent. Never. You dont overestimate them either. Right now i have never seen in all my years in politics more enthusiasm at the grassroots level, wanting to take responsibility to run for office, to support friends. That taking responsibility gives us opportunity. So, again, 9 1 2 months until the election. 10 1 2 months until the election, whatever it is, it is its not today. If it were today i think overwhelmingly we would win. Its not today, but we do have to make sure we have truth. We say to each other, this is about authenticity to the candidates go out theyre not running against donald trump. Theyre running theyre presenting themselves what their hopes, dreams, what their purpose is for being a candidate. Why they would want to go to congress and what they know about the subject and judgment they have and how they think strategically to get the job done and how that attracts people to them. So this is personal between the members and their districts the candidates and their districts. It has nothing to do with somebody whos not from their area. Karen and youre not a big fan of , as much as you have the reputation as ardent liberal, you are not a big fun for litmus test, whether its on issues of abortion, whether its for getting people to declare whether they would vote for impeachment of President Trump. Are you concerned, though . You have all these potential 2020 president ial candidates out there and they do seem to be sort of speaking up on the single payer is another issue that looks like it could be becoming a litmus test. Is that a problem . Is 2020 and where the party is on some of those issues a problem for some of your 2018 candidates . Ms. Pelosi no. I appreciate its certainly something that should be reviewed. But heres the thing. Our party is a democratic party. It has a lot of vitality, diversity and the rest. As i said earlier, its not for us to say, you should be the candidate and this is how you its about what they can attract to what theyre talking about. So my i get credit for oh, you kept the party so unified. I dont. I shouldnt deserve that credit. What unifies the house, senate democrats, better jobs, better pay, better future, is our unity about the Economic Security of americas working families. Whatever differences we may have on some of the issues, tactics, we are unified about that is our value system. About respecting our responsibility to meet the needs of the American People. Americas working families. And to do so in a way that makes sure people all participate in the prosperity and growth of our country. And also, i think my responsibility as leader is to be unifying but not just in my caucus but in the country and to be unified transparent, have transparency and openness. How lets do a tax bill. Lets do an immigration bill. Lets do an infrastructure bill. Lets do it openly so people can see what the choices are. And then, also, again, you know, issues like impeachment and the rest. That will take its course. But its not a unifying thing for the country to go down a path at this point, in my view. But overwhelmingly i think the american a lot of people in the public have a different view on that and if i were out there i might, too, but i have a different responsibility here. Transparency. Unity. Bipartisanship. Thats why we come here. We dont come here to be doing party work. We come here to do honor the values of our country. And, again, that is to try to in the solutions you choose when you have some options to bring people together. Karen so jack on twitter asks if you get that gavel back next january, whats your top priority . Ms. Pelosi well, first of all, its not about me getting the gavel back. I just want the democrats to have the gavel back. And really the American People to have the gavel back instead of the what motivates people to do a tax cut. Who motivated that . They shouldnt have this gavel. So its not about me. I think right away we would do something to, again, lift up the American People in terms of their Financial Stability and Financial Security. And part of that Financial Security is access to Quality Health care as a right and not a privilege. Some is to have a fair tax agenda so that they can, again, participate in creating growth. Youre not going to have growth in the economy unless you have Consumer Confidence across the board in the great middle class and those who aspire to it. So it would be an agenda that we are putting together in our better deal, better jobs. Its about a Job Initiative that creates growth, that generates goodpaying jobs, that increases the paycheck, that lowers the cost, lowers the cost of prescription drugs, lowers the cost of your communications each month and the rest. So it would be about jobs and it would be about growth. Karen and we have time for one last question. I want to ask you, one thing we are seeing this year is just extraordinary numbers of women stepping up to run for office. Ms. Pelosi isnt that exciting . Karen at every level. There was Something Like 75 women whose names are in the mix running for governor. Women when they run for office would they have a different set of challenges than men do so what would your advice be for women candidates as they step into this arena . Ms. Pelosi well, what my advice would be is what it has always been because when i came to congress there were 20 12 23 women. 435 members in the house. 23 women. I was determined right from that day that we would have it as a priority to elect more. On the democratic side 65. The republican side are up to 20. But we made a decision to do that. A third of our caucus is women. Half of our caucus are women, minority, lgbt. I am very proud of that. But heres the thing and the best advice i got when i ran for office and i say this to women all the time. Be yourself. Know your power. Be who you are. You may see other people that you think, id like to be that. Forget that. Authenticity is what matters. Who you are, your sincerity as to why. Share your purpose. What is your vision . Why are you running . What do you know . Know something about your subject, whether if its about climate, education, womens right to choose, health issues, whatever it is, the economy, know your subject. Show your vision. Know your subject so your judgment is respected. Think strategically. This is how i think i can get something done. If you show your vision, your knowledge and your plan, you will attract. You have to connect. Thats why i say, show them what is in your heart. And its hard. This is not for the faint of heart. And so when you are making the decision, weighing the equities, weigh how important it is that you make this decision to run because nothing is more wholesome for our political process, for our government or any aspect of our economic and social life than the increased participation and leadership of women. [applause] karen unfortunately thats all the time we have today but thats a great note on which to end. Leader pelosi, thank you so much for being with us today. Ms. Pelosi thank you. [applause] karen and im going to hand things off to my colleague, libby, who is going to lead the next discussion. Ms. Pelosi thank you. Byebye. Did i say kennedy is doing our response to the president . [applause] [laughter] i hope you know i have the questions in advance and i made sure that i share them. I shared them. I asked for them. She wont give them to me. I shared them and it libby hope you know i have the questions in advance and i made sure that i share them. I shared them. I asked for them. She wont give them to me. I shared them and its going to be really fun. Good afternoon. Thank you so much to all of you being here. Oh, man, fireworks are starting already. Im libby case, our on air politics reporter here at the Washington Post. Talking about communications in the trumpa a congressman eric swalwell, representing 15th district in california. Airi fleischer under president bush. Now he runs his own Strategic Communications firm. Hi, ari. Chairwoman of the Democratic National committee. \[laughter] im a local girl. Libby she also of course managed al gores president ial campaign. How did that turn out for you . Swinging chairs. Libby hey, it aint over until its over. And david urban, former Senior Advisor to the trump president ial campaign and serves as president of the Continental Group here in washington. Thanks for being here. And david urban, former Senior Advisor to the trump president ial campaign and serves as president of the Continental Group here in washington. Thanks for here in the room and watching online you can send that questions, use postlive and well get to some of those later on. We have some talkers here so we will try to keep this answer a little bit brief. What do you want to hear tonight from the president versu let me remind the audience both here in the room and watching online you can send that questions, use postlive and well get to some of those later on. We have some talkers here so we will try to keep this answer a little bit brief. What do you want to hear tonight from the president versus what you expect to hear tomorrow night, congressman . Swaulswaul i hope he speaks mr. Swalwell i hope he speaks to the millions of americans who are not feeling the thrust of this economy. Theres no denying the stock market is up, unemployment is at near full employment and the g. D. P. Hovers around 3 . There are so many people i talk to, who i grew up with, live in my district who couldnt weather a 500 emergency. Car tire going flat, washing machine going out, kid going to the emergency room, people are not saving more. Theyre going deeper and deeper into debt. How does this tax bill reach them and help lift their hopes and dreams . Libby do you hear that message . Mr. Swalwell i hope so. Thats who he needs to talk to. We know who is benefiting from this tax plan. I think a lot of Americans Still want to know how is this going to help them. Libby ari. Ari i want to hear normal. I want to hear [laughter] [applause] libby what does that mean to you . Ari i want to hear what a president does . Unites the country. The Trump Presidency has been a fascinating one to watch. Hes got so many accomplishments and good things he has done and has the potential to do but every time he moves the ball down the field he gets a penalty flag for unnecessary roughness. Its the spontaneous moments that get him. In a moment like this when you are talking to 30 million, 40 million, 50 million americans, unify. I am convinced the American People when they elected donald trump knew they would vote warts and all, mexicans are rapists. There is a settlement with a porn star. [laughter] ari the reason is the American People hate washington so much, thinks this place is so broken, they didnt care. They wanted to send somebody who would get things done so they sent a disruptor. Now hes entering the phase of his presidency where he needs less disruption and more getting things done. They didnt elect disruption for disruptions sake. They elected the disruption to get things done sake. Thats what he has to deliver on. The president promised to come to washington, drain the swamp and end politics as usual. Hes been an unusual president. I totally agree with my colleague here. I think tomorrow night the president gets an opportunity to tell the American People what hes accomplished over the last year. Of course he will tout his tax plan which is not very, very popular. I also believe the president will try to recast himself as a different reality tv star. Someone who has knowledge about the world. Hes going to brag about his trip to davos. Hes going to give us a lot of dazzling numbers to show he has made a lot of progress and jobs, stock market. Hes going to take credit for a lot of things. The question tomorrow night when he finishes his speech and gets back to the white house and starts tweeting, what is the president what is the lasting impression we will have of this president . Is he still going to be the dividing chief or come across to most americans as the commander in chief . I dont have a lot of expectations for this president because every time i think the president has hit a new milestone to reset try to reset his presidency, hes gone back into form and the question is, will he return to the donald trump, the populous firebrand on the campaign trail in 2016, or the new president that wishes to unite the country . Libby david. David i get the easy part, right . I get to clean up after ari, donna and the congressman. I think youll see an aspirational donald trump. I think it will be a shining city on the hill kind of speech. The president will do real well. As you recall last year when he came, went up to the hill and spoke to the congress, he had that kind of speech. It wasnt a state of the union. It was an aspirational speech. After the speech was done, everybody most pundits said, wow, what a great speech. And people wanted to see him govern like that. As ari said and has been said, the president was elected to come to d. C. To break some china and shake things up because i can tell you the folks on the campaign trail are none too happy with the current state of play. Its tough to be a disruptor and then a uniter at the same time. Its a very difficult fine line to walk. The president s entering a phase i think in the presidency now, as most people will acknowledge, if you will get things done on daca, this incredible offer, path of citizenship for two close to two million folks, something i will point out neither president bush, president obama, president clinton, even offered to do because they couldnt get it done in their own caucuses. I know in the Republican Congress is not popular, not popular amongst a great deal of democrats. I think it must be a pretty good bill if both parties dont like it. Well see where it ends up. At the end of the day an aspirational speech. Something people will say, that was a great job. Lets see what happens wednesday. Mr. Swalwell i thought three weeks ago was the best day. He let the cameras in. I thought thats who he elected, lets come up something on immigration, ill sign it. But as ari said, he cant put two good days together. Two days later we saw what he said and felt about these african countries and the deal that they brought to him blew up. I still think congress can collaborate but we need somebody at the white house whos going to take the deals that we come up with. David would you vote for the plan as it stands now . Mr. Swalwell the aguilarhurd plan. David would you support path to citizenship for close to two million folks, solving the daca problem for a wall . Mr. Swalwell i would vote for increased Border Security which would include a wall but not to cut legal immigration. That was never on the table and now the president wants to libby you want a more narrow more david two million folks that stand to become citizens, what would you say to those folks . Mr. Swalwell that were not going to bring you in and kick out your family members who have already david when they show up libby does the president address this head on . Does he pitch his immigration proposal and then donna the Government Shutdown is likely to occur again. Libby and then a deadline in march for the dreamers. Two big deadlines coming up. Ari your colleagues on the right are upset about this proposal as well. Mr. Swalwell graham and durbin took him a deal and he said you make the deal, ill sign it and we saw libby i want to swing it back to the communications here to a second. As you mentioned the president during his joint address had a lot of successes by the metrics of a president ial speech staying on message, staying on the teleprompter and within that same week big news broke about his attorney general during the Campaign Meeting with the Russian Ambassador to the u. S. The attorney general recusing himself from the russia investigation. So how long lasting is this state of the union bump and can it all be destroyed wednesday morning with the wrong tweets . [laughter] donna tuesday night. Ari it wont be that fast. Libby he seems to be a morning tweeter. Ari they corral their message with the various inputs. International, something goes wrong, something happens at a domestic agency, its uncontrollable. The problem with President Trump is of his own making. He too often creates his own problem Going Forward. He doesnt stay on that role. This is where i agree and i say this as somebody out of frustration because i want him to be successful. On policy theres a lot of donald trump i like. In terms of the nature and the way hes conducted his presidency theres a lot i do not like. And this is a big part of it. President s have to have that discipline to stay on message. If he had more of it hed have a much more successful presidency. If he did, last point, the 10 democrats in the 10 trump states up for reelection would be under massive the reason they wont vote is because hes not popular. If he can get up to 50 nationally it will be a sea change in washington because those 10 democrats have to vote for him. Libby we do anticipate infrastructure coming up as an issue those red state democrats would love to get behind. Donna there are also 23 members of congress that won in districts where hillary carried. We also know that theres a lot of politics in 2018. I want to talk about the weather. The forecast tomorrow is light winds with the possibility of snow. Im a weather woman so i should talk about weather. There is another cloud that continues to hover around this presidency and that the trumprussia investigation and the question is, will he talk about that tomorrow . David of course not. Why should he . This is about government. Donna this is not nonsense. David yes, it is. Libby lets let donna go. Donna once upon a time, if a Foreign Government interfered we would both complain about it. Ari agree. Donna with an election coming up in less than 200 some odd days, we understand what issues we need to resolve. If you look whats happened in europe, they have built a firewall against foreign aggression, interference. What have we done . What have we done on capitol hill . Yes, this is something the president should be concerned about because he should be concerned about the health of our democracy. Libby i would like to hear from the congressman. Do you want to hear democrats talk about russia tomorrow . You have been on the intel committee. You have been behind the scenes. What does joe kennedy talk about tomorrow . Mr. Swalwell what the president could say is we are going to put together an independent Commission Just as we did after pearl harbor, after weapons of mass destruction, just as we did after september 11 and i wrote the bill with the republican support that would do that looks at issues not bob mueller is looking at but secure the ballot box in 2018 and 2020. Most believe russia interfered and we need to do something to not let it happen again. Ari its not waiting for the congress to do. Hope the f. B. I. Folks are out on their toes. David im sure they have done this and the n. S. A. Has been leaning forward and the c. I. A. Has been leaning forward. If america is sitting home waiting for congress to act on this, then we have a long time. I would not donna but we need president ial leadership. Mr. Swalwell i thought the libby the news of the day. We saw the f. B. I. Deputy director Andrew Mccabe is stepping down. News out today. Phil rucker said that earlier. What do you do from a communications standpoint . Will that overshadow tomorrow night, ari . Ari no. The number of people in america who knows who the f. B. I. Director is nobody. The Deputy Director, this is washington news. What is important is we have an f. B. I. We can have faith in, trust in. I do think the investigation of hillary has raised a whole lot of issues that have not been adequately addressed including the fact now we learn hillary was sending emails to barack obama as president. When the comey investigation came out they took obama libby this seems like your Communications Strategy of pivoting the ari i am allowed to have my opinion. Libby in terms of communication strategy, is that something democrats need to do . Do you move to hillary ari heres why i objected what donna is saying. You were 100 right. Outside Russian Election interference. An attack on one party is an attack on all parties. But face it. The whole issue of a russiatrump collusion is about donald trump cooperated with russia to hack the d. N. C. Thats what conclusion is about and theres no evidence. Libby congressman, do you bring this up if you are joe kennedy or steer clear . Mr. Swalwell i wouldnt look backward. I would look forward and say we have a responsibility to protect our democracy and thats something both parties should be interested in. Libby how important is the state of the union . We can certainly bring your next point up. I want to know, is that going to make news this week . Are americans going to tune in and focus on that or are they going to be thinking about the issues . Donna they are looking at recipes for the super bowl. [laughter] david most americans want to know how your roads are going to get fixed, bridges, schools failing, thats what people want to hear about. Secure borders. Path to citizenship for these daca kids. I believe congress can get this done. You can sit down, as the congressman said, with the president in a room outside of politics. Unfortunately as donna and Everybody Knows, you heard minority leader pelosi up here talking about it. 23 seats to pick up to impeach the president. Thats the buzz, right . And a lot of bipartisanship may not get done. I think the president in his best interest to be aspirational talking about shining city on a hill, how we can make america better for americans. The rising tide, standard deduction 24,000. Libby how do you sell that . Id love to hear, how do you sell that . It doesnt sound like the president plans to do a road tour, take the message out there like we have seen past president s do. Although Sarah Sanders sort of punted on it said, we will let you know of our travel plans. Is that a missed opportunity, ari . Ari yeah. That part of the presidency perplexed me. Be normal. There are normal things people in this town do because its an effective way to connect with the constituents. The president s dial is so much through twitter and other means and i think only goes skin deep and hurts himself. I would love to see him meet the people who are getting the bonuses, pay raise, 15 minimum wage through the natural economy instead of a government dictated mandate. These are the ways the president can connect with people and broaden his base. Libby why not do this road tour . Donna its called message discipline. Once upon a time when you laid out the three or four pillars of your state of the union, what happened next was, you know, you go out there and you start selling your program. You sell your vision. This president has a hard time keeping his what i call his eyes on the prize. Part of the problem i think is if he goes out there he likes to rally his base. He likes red meat. He likes to return to that fiery populous who ran in 2016 and thats not a unifying president. Thats a president whos going to constantly campaign. When he campaigns he divides. Ari also not enough. No president can run on their base alone. David thats why youll see a pivot with immigration. I think the president wants to sign a deal, protect the daca kids. I think youll see a coming together. Libby does his team want that . David i do. Libby will it be different . David i think thats the perception. I believe they are not going to nobody is sending anybody home, right . I think youre going to see everybody wants a deal to get done. I think the same thing on infrastructure. These are great issues, not just for americans but they are great political issues because they require those 10 senate democrats, as ari talked about, senator manchin was on sunday, right, talking about sounded pretty republican to me. Donna he sounded like that last year too. [laughter] mr. Swalwell to support this innovation economy we have to move people around and have a 21st century roads, bridges, tunnels, green energy solutions. When the president came to Congress Last year and said i will invest 1 trillion in infrastructure, you know who stood up . The democrats. You know who stayed seated . Republicans. Heres the problem in his own base they dont support that. The second problem its a lesson my parents taught me. Dont burn a hole in your pocket with your first paycheck. The republicans spent nearly 2 trillion on this tax cut now we are almost unable to fund any infrastructure spending. Thats going to be a problem. Libby i want to hear from you about accountability. When the president goes out tomorrow night and talks about accomplishments but also looks forward, here are my goals. Here is what i aspire to do. How important is it that there is followthrough . Last year we talked about building a wall. Hasnt happened yet. Repealing obamacare. Hasnt happened. Tax cuts, that did happen. Is the american populous watching what the president does . Are they listening to news reports or really commentary reports in places like fox news who are giving him apluses when the followthrough isnt there . Mr. Swalwell i think this will be a check and balance election which seems quite simple. But i think what americans will be looking for is whether they have a congress that can collaborate with the president where it helps them and lifts them. Infrastructure, immigration are two areas where you can find cohesion. Whether there will be a stand up and a check on the president if he tries to follow through on the wall or the muslim ban or some of the other policies, i think it will be a check and balance election. I dont mind that he hasnt followed through on the wall. Quite frankly i am good he hasnt followed through on some of these hurtful policies. We shouldnt him over the head on that because that would hurt people if he followed through. Donna his best numbers came as a result of meeting with leader pelosi and leader schumer. And everybody i mean, the American People his numbers finally came out of the weeds a little bit. You saw the American People say, wow, he can work with the democrats, he can work with other people. I think it would i think the president needs to spend a third of his speech tomorrow night not talking to his base but talking to that mom and dad out there in america whos concerned still about their job security who want to know if this tax package will trickle down to them and if so will it help improve their job status, their wages, etc. If the president can reach that milestone, maybe and perhaps well see an improvement in his numbers. Libby ari, how important was followthrough for president bush . Do you see it has it changed . Is there not that level of accountability right now . Ari it is always important and important for president obama too. Support from the American People for a president is always driven by two factors. One, i like and i believe in the president. There is a personal element, a trust, a connection element. Even if they have no accomplishments. Theyre fighting for you, you believe in them. Thats important. Trump has that with his base. The second is accomplishment. Tax reform i present to you as one. I think as the year goes along it will continue to resonate positively as the economics pick up and wages will rise. President trump should get credit for that. Secondly, that comes with that, if he can get infrastructure and immigration done, thats a powerful three tax reform, infrastructure and immigration, way more than either of his predecessors got done. Thats potential for a lot of trust and base expansion through accomplishment. Well see what happens. Well see how the year goes. David the thing that looms large to use donnas metaphor, the government, we still have to keep the government open in a week, we have to raise the debt ceiling. There are two supplementals for emergency spending for disasters. And then you are going to get to daca and then you are going to get to infrastructure. There will be a great deal of fatigue in the congress in this town about spending money, about cooperating. There will be a lot of fighting going back and forth to get the things they need to do done. I mean, when i worked back here i used to work on the hill many years ago and we passed 13 spending bills every year. Subcommittee markup, full committee markup. Schoolhouse rock. Libby no worrying. Donna i remember those days. David government used to work. I think i believe this government can work again like that. People tend we go from crisis to crisis here and its become normal. Libby do you have faith it can return . Libby do you have faitn return . David i would hope it can. Thats part of Congress Responsibility to go through normal order. Take bills up, have hearings and markups. Its not sexy. Its pretty runofthemill, boring. Libby can the president have a david thats why the president was sent here, right, to break some shake things up. The Congress Needs to get moving. Take bills up and have hearing. Its pretty running mill boring life. Can the president have a voice . Thats why the president s sent here. Things up. Shake the Congress Needs to get moving. Been veryness, ive critical of President Trump when he said things like the shole he made. It works in both directions. Initially refuse to show up at his inaugural and tomorrow were hearing about democrats will boycott his state of the union. The atmosphere of washington that Everybody Needs to stop. From the congres congressman on that. Was at the inauguration. It was tough day. You took the first flight home. Manyter the treatment by republicans, after what i called president ent of barack obama at the state of the union, i dont have a lot of faith in confidence in my member of congress with regard to the state of the union. Im just going to let that go by me. Boycott has to stop. Im a former hill staffer. Respect the office of the presidency. I also believe it goes two ways comes to respect. Democrats topect hold moral standard and then to expressing one views. There are lot of member who are quite offended. Are americans quite offended by the president s remarks regarding those countries. The continent of africa, haiti salvador. Some of the members i know. You talked to few of them they up. Ded not to show there are some who will show up tomorrow. Up with other symbols to show these countries, of africa,continent we respect the continent. We love the people of africa. Of haiti. E people they will show that as well tomorrow. What does this do for town. How do you think the democrats need to comport themselves tomorrow and this week . Im showing up. A personals decision. Im showing up i want to be a check on the president. The role ofs congress. I want to see that i and there. Ues are areject you can make statement. Women will be wearing black in me too of the times up movement. I think those statements are important. Tolso dont think we want make news. We want to let his policy be should respond as vigorousal we can afterward. The president stick to the stript. Benefit him with his base or otherwise to go rogue . In off the cuff remarks. Conversation. What does it say about the presidency and what does it do his Political Capital not tomorrow night i agree. Going forward. The Trump Success if it will be successful down the road meaning the congress in 2018. Based on him be getting things done. Not just disruption. The American People took that elected him, because they thought he could. They thought a businessman going to washington in place of politicians, the businessman can get things done. Hes got to fulfill that end of be a successful president. Less of that unnecessary and more rhetoric normalcy is the future for trump. My teleprompter went out one year. I was there. The white house. Big print on the paper bring it in. Hydrate. Those diet coke. Hydrate so he look the part. President ist the bringing in several americans heroes. We all applaud. Like he did last year. We owe it to them. People that he will honor tomorrow night and pay people thatre admire that have inspired us with their bravery. This is ape that, to tuner marin americans in. Give him opportunity to make his case to the American People. Next day, well di dissect the speech. Say one thing. The resistance is growing. Of donald because trump. Tomorrow night for those who are still appalled at the election of President Trump, they get an opportunity to also go out there speak out. I want to make sure that people understand, there are millions of our fellow citizens who did the president who been waiting for the president to pivot. They have grown frustrated with this president and his policies. I expect that they will also a say when feature is over. With the democratic a benefit, is there to the president tweeting nexthing controversial day . I look forward to it. [laughter] i know you said that hes not midnight tweet. Of the morning i wake up. It looks as though he puts his the night before. Im looking forward to those tweets. Congressman, do you look forward to them . Is there a difference between strategy versus what it means to be a functioning congress and government. They bring anxiety for people. Y working i represent district on the west coast. Funny tothink its poke somebody who has Nuclear Weapons in the eye unless you have a strategy. A strategy to dealing with north korea this that, i maybe go along with it. Part ofelieves this is overall strategy. Will say for the first time north koreans and south koreans table goingat the to the olympics. This president has luxury road. G the can down the we should welcome that. Give him pass on north korea good thing. You one area well all be manyng about, that is how people view the state of the union. Im sure the president will tout numbers. Im looking george h. W. Bush record, 60 million. Followed by barack obama, 60 million following the tragedy and president obama his first year in office. Well see where the president will line up with the numbers game. Since were going to super bowl week, we just have to bring out this be reflection of Sarah Sanders . Remember last time there was press briefing about numbers yes, okay. Crowd sizes. Is that a reflection of the current presidency or is that a reflection of state of the union and the media environment now . Are low, inrs americans dont tune in. Has state of the union diminished its importance with era constitution. It remains central feature of our democracy. Tune inme for people to and see it with their own eyes what president does and say. Scripted and its on a teleprompter. Invented. Er were the stage craft of government remains important. Few thingse of the that unite us. We should watch. Obama. Ed barack i hope people watch donald trump. Instagram story and young people receive their news. In 1981, irget back will never forget when i was College Intern were actually friends. I like both these guys happy. O during Ronald Reagans there, duringas george w. Bush, it is so american. Forward to seeing the president. I continue to pray for this everyent as i pray for president. My grandmother taught us that as we were kids. Praying for john k. Kennedy. I look forward to commenting. To leave it there. Thank you so much to the panel. Really appreciate your time. Thank you. [applause] to hand things off to my colleague who will be doing our day. Panel of the thanks so much everybody. Good afternoon everybody. Crowd. A great los angeles i am ed okeefe of Washington Post. I Cover Congress pi spent lot of. Imes with those two thaek both for being here. Of westellie republican virginia. Senator angus king smart from who caucus with the democrats. Us here. Join one thing i learned, they may tickets. Eturn the they may have to order a reprint. Those can become very valuable. Editor. Y needs an you said Bipartisan Energy and concentration as ive seen in years, why is that and why is it happening now . Because then part daca issue has important aspects for beth sides. A genuine energy toward getting something done. During the brief shutdown with this common sense collins office. Which started back in 2013. Us. E was a dozen of or 20. Me there were 151 15 last time there was 35 senators. Everybody wants to be a moderate sudden. Which is kind of cool. Of course its an election year. I want to ask you about those a little bit. Im curious if you agree. A moment seems to be of cooperation that perhaps we havent seen in the last few years. So. Think in addition to wanting to get things done, i think theres a quickly overather the last week or so that a is a miseryhutdown journey on any side. It doesnt serve the public. Serve us as policymakers. I think that there was a realization that on both sides that this is a miserable lets tryere in and to figure out how to get out of it. Partisan. Been rather over the past year and years past. Leader, your leader mcconnell and others said theres going to be attempts this year trying to bridge the and find ways to work together. Beyond immigration, which is concern, what do you think you two think are potential foror cooperation across the aisle . I think infrastructure has promise. We dont know to pay for and the of it. D structures all of our states have a huge modernizing our transportation system. We have thousands of bridges that we need repairs. On rule and i worked broad band issue together. Theres a huge one for lot of us. States like new york, gillibrand on a rural broad band issue. With that as a sort of rallying cry, i think we can possibly do that. Infrastructure traditionally been bipartisan. I think we can carry that off. I think opioids is another one. Its greatest Public Health state in the history that i heard of. Your state one of the toughest country. This can yous across parties. This isnt really a partisan issue. States seem to be affected more by it. Thats an area where it doesnt seem to be want the major points of the president s speech. On it. He touches this is a place where we need leadership what else what you guys like to hear from him tomorrow night . Personally i like to hear obviously, a strong speech that uniting speech that with the realizations. Will talk about the accomplishment, principlely on the economy. Think well hear about the tax bill . Think we might. We were talking about deciding stand and dont stand and clap. You look around and you realize one standing. Y that has happened to you right . One of my favorite pictures is i sat with a whole group of republicans one year. I stood up and applaud. Only person. Its one of my favorite pictures. Are hardthe unions because of all of this when to stand and not to stand. Sitting to a conservative republican. This. Ent obama was like obama said we need to cut Corporate Tax rate. I said stand up man. Then i realized, this is a 32nd ad waiting to be made. For conservative to be standing out in the state of the union. Stood for obama. Its going to be the reverse night. W they did Joe Lieberman other when he gave george bush a hug. The textdont see until everybody else does. Whisperer. Ve a mcconnell andr john cordyn. Just go for your gut. Is there anything else he spend his huge prime final money uniting. R thing thats not uniting parts in it. Energy. It does go into the Economic Issues as well. For certain parts of the country mine and this is a big thing for us. Have talk about energy, we questions about Energy Shortages and all these things. A uniting. Ts theres parts that arent so much. I think Energy Dominance is something that he can talk about. Of its going to be tone for his first year he played base. Much to his this is an opportunity to turn the corner. Debate. Is immigration he can be nikes nixon to china. Has on the to do something that others failed to do. On thatized opportunity, it will sail through him. Hoping that he widens the rapture in terms of who hes talking to. It will bethat, effective. People go into these things wanting to feel uplifted and peel positive. He can do and resist the underring to japan people, i think it will be successful. You been in those meetings regarding immigration. Later today again, given whats the conversations who are inple month the room is there something he say or should say . Think the challenge is to focus narrow. Not comprehensive. Mmigration getou if the republicans greedy on and tie to do all inir agenda on immigration this bill its going to make it very difficult and it could be very harmful to the country and to a lot of people. If they keep it narrow, we can get a bill. Today was pulled out not narrow. Its a question of whether he youis willing to give or guys he likes to negotiate. Involved in these bipartisan conversations . On thism involved issue. Problem we got, we want a around canada. Coming acrossns being nice to us and offering free healthcare. Its go the lets be real here, if he does wall, i let us build a will tell my grandchildren, i do not know how he will resist the temptation. I would hope that he does it in a way that riles up the base enough, but does not so disenchanted everyone else. Is in it is settled issue at this point . I prefer the term, wall system. Everybody, very few people want a 2000 mile long and 30 foot long wall. I have spent time in a big and national park, down in other texas near the rio grande. That wall there, you are denying access to people of a beautiful river and if you put in the middle of the river, it is an environmental disaster if. If you put it on the other side of the river, thats an invasion. [laughter] theres some real practical problems. And i hope we can do something that makes sense, economic sense and i think its, i think you agree. Sen. Capito i do. Sen. King the idea of a wall from sea to shining sea doesnt make sense. Ed you, senator are involved in another sort of lowerlevel but important , bipartisan conversation right now regarding the rules of the senate. And whether or not or how to revamp exactly how senators and how their staffs deal with the issue of sexual harassment. Sen. Capito right. Ed this was sort of unanimously approved, that all of you would have to undergo mandatory training and then you guys are considering exactly how to proceed, otherwise. Rules. Youre working with democrats and republicans on it. Whats going on with that . Sen. Capito we are working with senator blunt, senator feinstein and others, were trying to figure out what we have to put in law, with the rules committee members. What we found when this broke out, is that the system that is not, that was put into place in the 1970s to file a complaint , to have to go to counseling for six to 30 days before you could move to step two and all of these kind of antiquated, and really negative two were there for person who feels like they have been violated and have a cause, it was really not it was something that we needed to change. We did change the mandatory training in december, and everyone has taken it by now. If you are a supervisor, you take it at a higher level. Then we get into the process. Whether you are paying for it with your congressional account it is transparent. Who pays for these things, what you have to report we need to settle this. When the report came back, we realized that many of us are unaware that we had us system that does not work, and that needs to be modernized. Have you both taking your training . Sen. King yes, you definitely all have to do it. Host online . Sen. King online. Sen. Capito many of our offices already has them to like that. Host is a resolution likely soon . King i would say, soon. King the house has a pretty aggressive agenda on it, in terms of reporting and transparency. The president won West Virginia by 32 points, the most of any state in the country. Is he still very popular there . Yes, he is. Part of it is because we are a states. Ig coal we really took it on the chin for the last couple of years. For a lot of people in West Virginia, it was like, nobody cares about me to riyadh my family had worked for decades to power this nation didnt hillarys a something e i am not surprised that he won best touch huge numbers. It was Just Announced before we came out today that the president is going to come to West Virginia for the, were doing the republican retreat in West Virginia. And the president is coming, i believe on thursday, to address the lunch. Thats no surprise, most, whatever party youre in, the president would come. I immediately got a text from one of my mayors of us all town, can i be your waiter at the luncheon, so that i can see the president . Theres still a lot of enthusiasm for him. Our economy has picked up. Optimism has picked up. For people who struggle to find a job every day and feed their families, this is really, the popularity of the president s economic policies are going to carry the day. Host hillary clinfon won your state by three points. Sen. King she won by three, barack obama won by 12. He has a lot of, maybe the. One of the things he said in the campaign is i could shoot , somebody on fifth avenue, it wouldnt affect my poll numbers and i think theres a lot too that. Hes still very popular. Host what is it specifically that maintains that popularity in your state . At least in the parts where hes popular . Sen. King i think its a perception that he speaks for the average american. Which is sort of odd that a billionaire from new york speaks for the average wouldnt affect my poll numbers and i think theres a lot too american, but he has managed to capture and we could get into a long deep conversation about this phenomenon, but a lot of it is that ruled people have been in many ways, left behind. In a whole host of ways. Our rural areas are aging. The economies have been really hard hit by globalization. I think he has really touched on that. Thats one of the reasons shelley and i, we started the Rural Broadband caucus in the senate. Its very bipartisan, john boozman of arkansas, heidi hite Heidi Heitkamp from north dakota, a lot of people are participating. Broadband is one of the ways the rural areas have been left behind. Can you imagine youre looking at a house and the realtor says its a nice house but youll never have broadband. You cannot have a business in maine, without broadband. An urgents infrastructure, which is why i hope that the infrastructure plan, what ever it is, has a carveout that identifies broadband just like airports and railroads. Host does that literally mean, that you have to dig for wires . Or do you just, areas in the country with a lot of wifi . What has been done to get it . There is no one answer, it depends on topography. In some places out west, you could have a tall wifi tower and cover a large territory. In maine, because of our, and West Virginia, you need sometimes a wire solution or fiber solution. In maine we have a terrific broadband network, but its the middle and the last mile that are the problems. Its like having an interstate highway with no exit ramples. No exit ramps. You can look at it, but you cannot get on and off it. That is where we need some support. Capito capito satellite too,s another technology that is coming on. It holds good promise for rural america. Host i want to ask you a few things related to the news. You guys, weve hit that point in the election year, where we will start to see issues designed to your colleagues on the spot. One of them is the nice, where you will be voting on a bill that essentially bans abortion after 20 weeks. It passed the house overwhelmingly in october. Leader mcconnell vowed hell bring it up as long as he has control of the senate. But its unlikely oto proceed to final passage. Sen. King it needs 60 votes. Ed right, and it doesnt look like it will get that. Here under the auspices of bipartisanship, you discussed these incredibly pressing, important issues. Im curious, whatever shoe, whichever foot the shoe is on, is that a good use of the senates time to be holding these kinds of votes when you know that 60 votes arent there for something and yet youre trying to put colleagues on the spot . Sen. Capito well, i will defend the leader on this, i think every leader, no matter if you are a republican or democrat, is going to have these kind of votes. We know this, i mean, we have been there long enough to know and we expect it. So i dont think, i may be going out on a limb here. I dont think theres any surprise here from Chuck Schumer that this is what Mitch Mcconnell, hes only bringing it up one night, were not having a big debate on it. We will, it will not pass. I will vote for it but it will not pass. But it has a lot of, we have some great members of my republican caucus, James Lankford in particular who is wellliked across the board, and works across the board very well, and this is a big issue for him not just legislatively , but personally as well. These things are going to happen. Sen. King one of the things that has surprised me as ive been there is theres a lack of appreciation or whatever it is that what you do to them, theyre going to do to you. I caucused with the democrats when they were in the majority and they took some steps and the republicans have done it. Thats one of the problems with the senate is the downward spiral where you know, they did it five years ago, therefore we can do it. Then you dream up something new and ugly and thats going to happen. For example, were about to lose the blue slip process in judges. Host i was going to get to that, next. Sen. King thats a process that requires some level of bipartisanship. Youve got home state senators who have to go along and tended to moderate. Whichever direction. If that goes away, i guarantee you, in four, five, six year the republicans are going to be really upset they dont have it anymore. And thats what i dont understand. When they make these changes that ultimately will be used against you. Sen. Capito well i mean, neil gorsuch is a good example. When the democrats were in charge, they moved the threshold down. Sen. King not for Supreme Court judges. Sen. Capito oh. Some circuitor court judges. Sen. King you did it for gorsuch. Thats my point. Sen. Capito but we havent, but oh, yeah, we did do it for district judges. Sen. King i say we im a member , of the Democratic Caucus but i didnt sign any oaths. [laughter] host yes or no tonight on that bill . Sen. King on the abortion bill . Well, i am in no, because i have done some homework. Ive learned that 99 of abortions take place before 20 weeks. So this is a solution in search of a problem. And that the abortions that do take place at 20 weeks or later usually involved some real serious complications and medical issues. Ive always thought that the place that the government ought to be is between a doctor and a woman. [applause] host and her are exceptions there are exceptions, and we are all we are one of only four countries in the world that allow this. Host one thing that caught my attention, senator cap the you gave an interview to a Radio Station in West Virginia, and you were asked if the democrats , try to play hardball again on keeping the government open, leader,enate majority Mitch Mcconnell, change the rules to reduce the procedural hurdle on legislation, from steve votes down to 50 . I thought your answer was interesting. That talk is getting more frequent and louder, you said. To be honest with you, i think the leader is considering what his options are here. Because the frustration is we , we cannot get the president s appointments through. Meaning it takes a little while for it to happen. I think were going to look into it and see what the possibilities are. Mcconnell is an institutionalist and doesnt want to go in this direction but hes getting pushed pretty hard. Are you saying he is more than ever seriously considering making this change in the rules regarding legislation . Sen. Capito now. I dont want to speak for senator mcconnell, he can speak a lot better for himself than i could. Not the legislation. Appropriations were stuck. On appropriations we can on appropriations we cant get anything done. Sen. King ive got an answer for that. Bill comes out of the Appropriations Committee with a supermajority, it goes straight to the floor. Sen. Capito we had some bipartisan. Sen. King and they ought to go to the floor. Sen. Capito i think, the main talk now is compressing the amount of time you have to consider certain district judges and circuit judges, instead of it having to be 30 hours, which doesnt sound like a long time, but if you waited into a weeks, it can be three days. I think there is a lot of rusher on senator mcconnell to be more welcoming to this, as you can see, and he has resisted. I think hell continue to do that for the exact same reason angus said. When the shoe ghones other foot who knows what will happen, with the majority, 5149 . You dont. But i know the pressure is building because im in the room when were talking about it. Host and it still comes up quite frequently, in your lunches. Sen. King it would be a grave mistake. For one thing it would turn , around and work the other way in some measurable number of years. Number two, i came to the senate, we had to get rid of the filibuster, it is undemocratic, all of that but i have learned and observed a couple of things. One, it really does require some level of bipartisanship. It requires some negotiation. The majority just cant run over the minority. And in the long run, legislation is better if its formed that way. Rather than, you know, the Affordable Care act was never fully accepted because it got no republican votes. I think the tax bill, we got no democratic votes. Its much better, you get better results and it forces and it it forces and cool the discussion down somewhat. One of the people that influenced me on this was karl levin, the great senator from michigan. I remember him standing up, and there was a moment in the Democratic Caucus in 2013, when they were really fired up to get obamas agenda through, we can only do it if we make this change. You know how in a meeting, the momentum sort of builds. Karl levin stood up and said, this is not something we want to do, because five years from now somebody could want to privatize , Social Security or privatetize medicare, youre not going to like it and you wont have any weapons left. Its, sir thomas moore, when a devil turns upon you and you dont have the laws available to protect you, what do you have left . Thats what were talking about. Host so, a lot of pressure, but it is also a reminder that everything is cyclical and congress, and it could go the riyadh real quick, as we wrap up here. Youre from a state that voted overwhelmingly from the president. Youre from a state that didnt. But lets flip it around. What is the thing that you most stongly disagree with the president on, senator capito . [laughter] riyadh real quick, as we wrap up here. Youre from a state that voted overwhelmingly from the president. Youre from a state that didntg that you strongly agree with the resident on, senator king . Sen. King i will go i most first. Strongly agree with him on trade. I think weve not really advocated for adequately, in favor of our country. Ive seen the effects of some of the trade bills in my state. And were asking, its hard for know go to a Small Company and say, you have to compete headtohead with a company in vietnam that doesnt have osha, fair labor standards act, e. P. A. , any of those protections, labor protections, but youve got to compete with them. I just dont think, that that makes sense. And i think that the president is right on wrangling those what he calls, onesided trade agreements to riyadh a think that is one place that i agree with him. Sen. Capito i think the thing i disagree with the president the most on is his tone. Is his, i dont mind the use of twitter, i guess weve all kind of gotten used to that. But seriously, when i read some of them, i go, are you kidding me . Are you really saying that . And its discouraging as a policymaker who is serious about wanting to get these things done, working with angus, its such a distraction. Because were not talking about how were going to build bridges and get wifi and all these great things weve talked about. Were talking about, you know, rocket boy and all these sort of terminologies that just distract from the real seriousness of what were doing. I love to laugh. We both love to laugh. I like a good sense of humor every now and then. But sometimes it edges beyond a sense of humor in my book and i dont think that serbs him well. I dont think it serves us well. And i dont think it serves you all well. Host do you know of any republicans, a lot of your colleagues say this to him. [applause] they have raised the issue with him facetoface, and not a Television Interview . Sen. Capito i tried to convince him before the election, the first time i met him. Im going to say one thing about the president that a lot of people probably dont realize , hes one of the best listeners i have ever been to in a meeting. Yes. He really listens to what you say. What he does with it is another story maybe, but he does listen in meetings, very, very the president that a lot of intently. And he gives everybody a chance to talk. So he was talking about somebody, this is during the campaign. Somebody that he was in a twitter battle with. I tried to tell him, this is what they tell us, a Campaign Consultant will tell you, if somebody is nipping at you, unless its something you really have to beat down, just ignore it. Sen. King dont make it into a twoday story. Sen. Capito ignore intently. It them a been i said all youre doing is , upping his twitter feed. Youre making him more important than, than he might be or get ting more of an audience. So, yes. I tried there, but it did not work. Im certain that his staff, it would be interesting to see a book of all the tweets never sent. [laughter] they are all saved in draft. Sen. King ive only met him once but it was a fun story. They took all the senators to the white house for a briefing on north korea. I guess i can say this in public. I had used the restroom. I said to the secret service guy, where is the restroom . He said over there in the little room. I went in, came back, and there was the president of the United States. Mike pence was there, i shook hands with mike pence and with the president. His one comment was, central casting, you look just like a senator. [laughter] king . . I went back to my office feeling pretty cool until my Communications Director gave me a column, the title of which ki . Was, central casting. Apparently he says that to everybody. Everybody. Host its interesting to see what we see tomorrow night. We appreciate you both spending time. Sen. King watch us, whether we stand or not to riyadh host i am going to, now. That is all the time that we have, thank you both for coming in. Thank you senators. [applause] host if youd like to view the clips of todays discussion or find out about upcoming programming, visit washingtonpostlive. Com. A reminder to make the post your destination for all your News Coverage on tomorrows each. We will have it Live Streaming on youtube, and of course, we will be live blogging and Fact Checking it live and in print. Thank you, everybody, see you soon. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] the president of the United States. [cheers and applause] announcer tonight, President Donald Trump gives his first state of the Union Address to congress and the nation. Join us on cspan for a preview of the evening, starting at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Send the state of the union speech, live at 9 00 p. M. Theowing the speech, democratic response from congressman joe kennedy. We will also hear your reaction, and reaction for members of congress. President trumps state of the Union Address, live on cspan. Listen live on the free cspan radio app and available live or ondemand on your desktop, phone, or tablet at cspan. Org. Announcer next, Georgetown University hears from lawmakers on civility. Speakers include representative Debbie Dingell of michigan, john delaney of maryland, and tim scott of south carolina. This is about 50 minutes. Hello, hello. Georgetown. The way you can tell you are at a catholic meeting, there is no one in the front row. And the audiovisuals never work. Thank you all for coming. Were delighted that you are with us. Mye