These are my children here. [laughter] given the indictments today and the evidence of meddling in our 2016 election from russia, do you think the president has taken that issue seriously enough . Out romney i did point that russia was a geopolitical adversary. Put a there stick stick in our i every chance they get. I agree with the president that they did not determine the outcome in our nation in any way. But what they have done is unacceptable and i am glad they are being held accountable. I believe without question that russia is trying to interfere with the principles of democracy and that has to end. How would you deal with that legislatively . Year, when last there have been things that i disagreed with, i pointed them out and i would continue doing that. People know where i stand and that i have been critical when there is something that i disagree with. Or example, i felt his comments about charlottesville were of that nature and that is why i said what i did. The 45 tariff on foreign goods and did not pull out of nafta day one. He has adopted many things i think make a lot of sense for the country and i will support him on those policies. But where we disagree, i will point that out also. Should states go that far with weapons . I will let the states make that decision for what is best with their own state. Each date including our state ought to consider the widest array of options. Find out where there is common ground. To protecty need to their students. I have grandkids here in utah. Not tell people what actions would be the most effective. I have not seen proposed legislation with regard to guns that would have prevented the attacks that have occurred. Passing legislation that might make you feel better but does not do anything is not in our favor. I am not in favor of new federal legislation on the gun front. At let us have states look protective measures, securing building sites, essentially with Police Patrols or voluntary volunteer patrols or intervention teams to step in where there has been a setting where a student may have said or done something frightening. What about enhanced background checks . Someone else considering jumping into the race says he views the process with you as a coronation. Im going to every single county. Today i was in ogden, lehigh, marriott, and utah county. 10 or so i am going to different towns and cities across the state. I will work it hard. The Convention Round with the caucus process. I doubt anyone will work harder to get this nomination and to win the election then i will. Someone said today that you are not really from utah. That is a fair question. I remind people that i had the occasion of attending college here for three years and i also came back for the olympics which was a marvelous experience. After our campaign and my private sector work was finished, we decided to make this our home. We moved here fulltime in 2014. About 10 years that utah has been our home. Our first son was born in this town. We love the people here and have had great experiences here. I think the people of utah know that i am a utah person at heart. It is really funny. The i go to other parts of country, and when i ran for president , people what all assume i was from utah. Out here, some people wonder. [indiscernible] the president has indicated tois looking for a path citizenship for the dreamers. I was more conservative than that. I opposed the dream act. President obama put in his put in place his provisions. When dreamers rely on those provisions, we have to recognize that we will honor the commitment made by a prior president. Togree with the president find a way to have these people state in our country. Stay in our country. I think the Lottery Program is illconceived. Governor romney, you mentioned the possibility of enhanced background checks. What would you favored . What would you favor . Thatere is legislation senator hatch is promoting. It calls for enhanced ground checks. I think there has been circumstances with psychological issues and the like. That is one piece of legislation at the federal level that may well have had an impact on prior attacks. It is one i will study. It that made the decision for you to reenter public life and run . I had not intended to do this again. Me innator hatch called if iry, 2017 and asked would endorse him and i said yes. And when i was coming to washington a couple of months later for a board meeting, he asked me to get together. I thought he was going to ask me to raise money for him. Hemet in my hotel room and handed me a memo suggesting that i should run for senate because he had decided not to. It was a three page memo. The first time i had given any thought to it whatsoever. I thought he was running. My wife and i began to think about it. No way andwe said other weeks we said yes. I just happened to believe that i could fight for the people of utah. And with the challenges in the world, the more people of sober judgment we can have in washington, the better. That . T month was that i made the final decision . When the senator spoke with you. I think it was february or march of 2017. Governor, you talk about bringing utah values to washington. What will you personally bring . One, i believe by virtue of the relationships i have with senators and the administration as well as my Life Experiences that i can be more effective in helping to promote good average, ifthan the you will come a junior senator. At this thing time, there are things i care very deeply about. Low taxes, low regulation, less government. And i am more of a budget hawk than some of my republican candidates. Had you think Mitch Mcconnell has done as a majority leader . A tough job. Ng and now that he has a republican president , i think you have to mitch inll done, getting the pieces of legislation through that the president promoted. Rewrite is quite an accomplishment. He also brought in the repeal on the individual mandate of obamacare which was a death blow to that approach. And he has been able to keep our government operating. Know how he is running it, day to day. But this has been a year of accomplishment for the Senate Senate and senator mcconnell deserves credit for that. Would you consider your own leadership role . A Junior Senate and senatr mcconnell deserves credit for that. Senator does not play that kind of role. I hope to be a leader among my colleagues by virtue of my persuasive power but i am not in line for a leadership post. [cheering] we want mitch ] this morning on cspan, washington journal is next. And then an interview with Vice President mike pence and later a hearing on election security. In an hour, we will look at president trumps infrastructure plan. And with mark hearing on elen security. Scribner. In our spotlight on magazine series, in these times contributor doug had one doug henwood. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016]] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] host on washington journal, the sweeping indictment of 13 russian nationals charged in a massive scheme to interfere with the 2016 president ial election. The indictment part of the investigation by special counsel Robert Muellers team and announced yesterday by Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein paint a picture of a campaign to damage democrat Hillary Clintons campaign and to boost Donald Trumps bid and the russian reached tout