About to tell me. Not a trick question. I raise the question because your testimony that was submitted to the committee talked a lot about home grown violent extremists. In an and classified f. B. I. D. H. S. Joint intelligence bulleting in may, 2017, it found that white supremacist extremism poses persistent threat of lethal violence. Went on to say White Supremacists are responsible for more homicides from 2000 to 2016 than any other domestic extremist movement. Seven members of the committee joined me in writing a letter to you and attorney general barr explaining our concern about whether the fbi and department of justice were taking adequate measures to combat white supremacist violence minimizing the domestic terrorism threat. The term white supremacist, white natiolist is not included in your statement to the committee when you talk about threats to america. Theres a reference to racism which i think probably was meant to include that, but nothing more specific. We live in a world where the neonazis and white supmacists are taking lives in many places. White supremacists murdered 51 muslim worshipers in new zealand. Supremacists murdered muslim worshipers in a mosque in canada. Theak creek wisconsin, emmanuel africanamerican iniscopal church charleston, south carolina, the tree of life synagogue in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, and poway massacre in california. The reason i raise this, theres concern that this is not taken as seriously as it should be as one of the real threats in our country. There is concern as well that the f. B. I. Has now changed its definition when it comes to racerelated crimes. They have created a new category for what you trump raciallymotivated violent extremism. It used to be white supremacist incidents. Could you explain to me why there was this change, whether you consider this a serious threat, and what you are doing about it . I ask you this in the context of a National Conversation that is taking place every single day and this presidency about the issue of race and incitements to emotion and violence by the people who are using race as a motivator. Sir, let me first unpack your question and little bit. Needless to say, we take domestic terrorism or hate crime regardless of ideology extremely seriously, i can assure you. And we are aggressively pursuing it using both counterterrorism resources and criminal investigative resources, and partnering closely with our state and local partners. In just the last little while we involving, for example, the coast guard lieutenant who is planning an attack on elected officials and tv anchors in this area was that motivated by a white supremacist belief . Dir. Wray i think it would be a version of that, certainly. Our focus, you asked about categorization, our focus is on the violence. We, the fbi, dont investigate ideology, no matter how repugnant. We investigate violence. Any extremist ideology when it turns to violence, were all over it. In fact, you dont have to just take my word for it, just in the first three quarters of this year, we had more domestic terrorism arrests than the prior year, and it is about the same number of arrests that we have on the International Terrorism side. I ask you to clarify that. I dont know if were talking about the same thing. When you talk about home grown violent extremists, i talk about domestic violent extremists, are we talking about the same thing . Dir. Wray no. So we use the term home grown violent extremism to refer to people already here in the United States who are inspired by different parts of the Global Jihadist Movement to commit terrorist acts. Ok. Dir. Wray we use domestic terrorism to refer to a broader array of threats ranging from anarchist extremism to different raciallymotivated extremism, different kinds of environmental extremism. So the point i am getting to, the reason i quoted the unclassified report, if it is violence that motivates the fbi investigation, what we have here is a statement in this unclassified joint intelligence years ofat between the 20002016 come the white supremacist responsible for more homicides than any other domestic extremism movement. I see the distinction youre making, home grown versus domestic, but let me ask you, can you quantify either one of them for us . Dir. Wray in terms of the haver of arrests, we through the Third Quarter of this fiscal year had about give or take 100 arrests in the International Terrorism side, which includes the home grown violent extremism. This year. Dir. Wray this year. But we also had just about the same number again, dont quote me to the exact digit, on the domestic terrorism side. And i will say that the majority of the domestic terrorism cases that we investigated are motivated by some version of what you might call white supremacist violence, but includes other things as well. Sen. Durbin i think this is significant. I do not want to diminish the work youre doing when it comes to the home grown domestic terrorism, anyway, whatsoever. Not at all. I understand that is a serious threat to the United States, and 9 11 is Proof Positive of that. But what you have just said is significant. If the number of people arrested this calendar year when it comes to this extremist conduct is about equal between those who are inspired by foreign actors, isis, al qaeda, whatever it might be, and those inspired by White Supremacy or at least some version of race that is the way i heard you say it. Please clarify. Dir. Wray let me clarify. What i just gave you were the number of arrests. Thats not necessarily the same thing as number of investigations. Thats an important distinction. Sen. Durbin the fact that your department would make an arrest, it is with the belief that a crime has been committed. The point i am getting to, we are in a tense moment in American History on the issue of race. Were having a National Conversation that we havent had in a long time about racism and the reaction, what is acceptable and what is not. And what i am asking you, from the f. B. I. Point of view, and what youve told me, is we ought to take care, as seriously as we take foreigninspired terrorism, there is a domestic terrorism under way in the name of race that is as threatening in some respects as the foreign terrorism. Thats the way i hear it. Dir. Wray yeah, i dont know that i think the greatest terrorist threat to the homeland is the homegrown violent extremist. I will say sen. Durbin foreign inspired . Wray which is the foreign inspired jihadist inspired , violence. That does not mean by any stretch of the imagination that we dont take domestic terrorism, including hate crime committed on behalf of some kind of white supremacist ideology extremely seriously. And weve had a number of very significant arrests. I mentioned the coast guard one. But we had militia members in cleveland stockpiling explosives to build part of had cesar sayoc, involving the package ied. We had the rise above movement where we arrested eight different people on federal rioting charges. One of them fled to el salvador and we got him back. We had the tree of life synagogue shooting, the attack outside the synagogue in san diego. We got a 29count conviction and life sentence related to the charlottesville matter. So make no mistake, our local and Law Enforcement partners are all over this. Sen. Durbin thank you very much. Announcer cspans washington journal, a live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up, julie radnor was Kaiser Health news discusses the differences between medicare for all and the public option. And we talk with the producer of the New York Times podcast, the daily. Watch live at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on tuesday morning, and be sure to catch podcast week all this week on washington journal starting at 9 00 a. M. Eastern. On wednesday, we welcome the host of global dispatches. On thursday, the podcast host of ill tell you what. And on friday, the host of congressional dish. Here is a look at our live coverage for tuesday. On cspan at 10 00 a. M. Eastern, a look at the rehabilitation of violent extremists, from the u. S. Institute of peace. Then, the federal tobacco st. Louis president on Monetary Policy and the economy. At 2 00, andy parker father of a slain, tv reporter in roanoke, virginia talks about his immunity for Internet Service providers after video of his daughters death was posted online. On cspan2, the indian ambassador to the u. S. At the heritage foundation. That is at 11 00 a. M. Eastern. At 12 30, the Senate Cyber Security Caucus holds a discussion on the cyber risks and threats facing the health care industry. Larryning us today, oconnor, the host of the examining politics podcast radio inwml washington dc, good morning. Guest good morning. Host how would you describe your podcast . Guest there is such a heightened interest in american politics now. Minute byis paid on minute conversations in washington dc and around the country. Tose conversations translate sidelines of soccer fields and kitchen tables. We like to be a daily clearinghouse of all the topics everyone is talking about. Focused andbe host undermining my own authority on the podcast but it is not really about me. It is about the conversation. I try to make it interview centric. I bring in different pundits, journalists, policymakers, elected officials, and we have them all come in for various interviews and draw information from daily events and politics and policy through those interviews. Our listeners really capture what is going on from the horses mouth and from conversations we have rather than a guy with a microphone pontificating about what he believes. Host as you talk in your interviews, what point of view politically do those usually take . Guest my point of view is centerright, i should say rightcenter. Im a conservative man and talk show host. At the Washington Examiner, our brand is straight news, conservative views. Our editorial pages take a rightcenter perspective. I always try to lead with facts and then draw opinions from those facts. An important ethic in terms of how we communicate ideas and positions. I will take things from all sides of the equation. Last week, full analysis of the democratic debates, we have plenty of democrats. I had Leslie Marshall on. Observers, congressmen, from the left, from the democratic perspective, because that is important. Even if i disagree with them, by the way, that is an important part of what we do here. We have reached a point in this country where it is almost a unicorn idea that people with opposing political ideas perspectives can have a lively and informed conversation. It is important to me and the Washington Examiner that we display that and put it forward that we disagree but we have to get something done through our words, not through any kind of vile, vitriolic rhetoric, sadly that we see so often. Host how often do you produce a podcast . How do you determine the content . Where can people find you . Guest this is a daily podcast. Many podcasters work weekly or biweekly but we do a daily download. I am a radio talk show host in washington on wml. I also have a separate program in los angeles on kabc radio. That is five hours of content. I usually talk to 58 guests per day depending on the cycle. We curate the best of those interviews everyday for 3040 withe podcast put together the best and most informed interviews i have conducted on radio and i preface it with my own opening specific to the podcast. I talked about what happened today. How we approached it. Reactions. It is relevant to the 2020 election. We take the focus of almost everything in the cycle now with huge ramifications for the election. Not just the road to charlotte for the rnc or to milwaukee, and then to the general election. Every day we get ready at 6 30 p. M. Eastern and people can get it at apple podcast, google, and that our website. And ifur guest with us you want to ask him questions, call and let us know. 202 7488001 for republicans. I 202 7488000 for democrats, 202 7488001 for republicans, 202 7488002 for independents. Weet us at cspanwj mentionedor, you current day events. The shootings of the last 24 hours, how do you look at that and what do you think you will be talking about from that perspective on your podcast intro . And show . Guest we are waiting for the president s remarks at 10 a. M. Eastern and that will have a big impact on the conversation. As a radio host, i deal with this anytime we have a horrible event like this, it is challenging, obviously, because so many times people want to immediately jump into the politics of it. I find that horrific. I am a father of children. I like to put myself in a position of what those families are going through. I wish we could have a moratorium on politicizing events like this and trying to draw grand political conclusions, especially in our new cycle, when so much info we get following these events becomes ingrained into our public psyche and we find out a week later it was not accurate. To have we are going much conversation today about gun control. That always seems to loom Something Like this happens. As you have seen already, there is the idea that in some way, political rhetoric and our National Political conversation about various policies in our country is in some way mad men andof these horrible, people ask. I think it is a disservice to the American People and people who all positions one way or another on the issues. There are hundreds of millions of people in america. We all have different political ideas. We feel passionately about them. We are not picking up arms and slaughtering innocent people in the name of those politics. To suggest that political positions and political ideas should not be discussed because somebody might be inspired to do something violent is a horrific idea. Im going to try to have that conversation. When people want to bring politics into it, i will maintain the importance of our First Amendment. By the way, i have heard republicans talking about violent video games and that videogames had something to do with this. I protect the Second Amendment and i protect the First Amendment too. There are tens of millions of people who enjoy video games without ever getting violent. I think to suggest that there is some sort of direct connection to violent art and entertainment and these horrific acts is misguided as well. I always lean toward freedom and liberty and isolate those people who have Serious Problems and give them the help they need so they cant do others harm. I think that is the solution going forward. I hope we have that conversation. Host the president mentioned in a tweet talking about general issues but bringing up the idea of background checks as a possible way forward, where do you think that falls, especially from the point of view of conservatives or republicans or what have you when it comes to background checks, when it comes to guns . Guest we will see how that conversation goes and what the president is proposing. Most of the people who are strong advocates for the Second Amendment are not against the idea of a background check. The way it ist on simple needed. Whether it is a legitimate or secure way. False positives are not the standard of the day. That said, i wonder if we often walk down this path of feeling like we have to do something. This is such a senseless act of violence, what we saw in el paso and dayton. I think our initial reaction is we have to do something without stopping to say that something that we are going to do, what did it have to do, would it have prevented what happened in el paso and dayton . I havent seen a whole lot of these recent Mass Shootings that we have seen that would have been prevented by background checks. Listen, i am open to have that conversation to see what the details are and to see if we can make a difference, great. Who doesnt want to make a difference in trying to solve this problem . Host several brought up the idea of president ial rhetoric on these type of topics, how do you weigh into that argument . Sad and think it is despicable that politicians try to blame their opponents for some senseless act of violence. I think it was beto orourke, who not only blamed the president but fox news as well. It is really insulting, frankly to so Many Americans who support the president and watch Fox News Channel that in some way that they are one statement or one tweet or one Television Program away from being a mass murderer. It polarizes us even more. In washington, d. C. , james hodgkinson, who was a Bernie Sanders supporter and he loved Rachel Maddow and he loved msnbc. He took up arms and shot, almost killed represented steve scully duringhot congressman the softball game. I was not shouting up and down that we should condemn Rachel Maddow and that Bernie Sanders inspired this violence. That would be wrong. I dont know why it is equally not equally wrong for people to say the same thing about President Trump and his reporters supporters. Host Larry Oconnor joining us. He is the host of the examining politic podcast and a radio talkshow host in washington, d. C. Our first call comes from ron. You are online with Larry Oconnor. Go ahead. Theer has he ever read , does hearthur gelb know who that man is and how far you fall for him . Thank you. I missed the last of it. Host arthur galb was the name. Gelb was his name. Guest im not familiar. Host we will go to the republican line. Good morning. Caller you are talking about bringing politics into this disaster, how about beto orourke yesterday, he called the president a white nationalists. I will bet now, he wont be able to be elected a dogcatcher. Im so sorry, i missed the last part of the question. Host he referenced beto orourkes statements about the president as far as calling him a white nationalists and went on from there, saying he would not probably be elected a dogcatcher. I think that was a statement. Guest oh, i see. I missed the dogcatcher reference. Of whitehis whole idea nationalism and i am seeing calls for the president to condemn White Nationalism, this is politics. People are playing politics. The president has been condemning White Nationalism isn he ever whenever he demanded to condemn White Nationalism. Why must one condemn something that one has never endorsed or participated in . When someone says you are a conservative, you should condemn racism, i have never participated in racism so why should i be forced to condemn racism . We can actually figure out how to solve problems in this country. It is frustrating to me. Listen, i think youngest woman omar madengresswoman the same statement when she was asked to condemn al qaeda and condemn 9 11. It is frustrating when the same questions are raised and it is suggested that unless, on demand, you condemn the thing i demand you condemn, that you are in some way part and parcel to it, at what wade in what way do we have a substantive conversation when we force people to condemn things all the time. . Host this is a tweet asking you directly, how can you call yourself a conservative when your party raised the debt limit instead of reducing it . Guest it is a great question. By the way, many conservatives have been condemning the republican and Democratic Party about spending. Part of lot i was the Tea Party Movement during the obama years and it was what we lead with. I was disappointed and frustrated when speaker of the house boehner campaigned on pushing back on all of those things. It in a position of prominence and importance. T pushinggned agains back on those problems and it continued to get worse. Youhe tweeter said, how can be conservative when your party does this . I am a republican. If my conservative ideas and values run contrary to th what the Republican Party is doing, i call them out on it. I have a serious problem and we speak about it often. Is it a nonissue when it comes to republicans on capitol hill . Guest i think that anybody who has the majority on capitol hill loves to spend money. It is good for business and it is good for their constituents and their district. They are not keeping and i on the future, sadly. I have to say, we have been warned about the debt problem and the spending problem for about 50 years, now. Certainly my adult life, i have been hearing conversations from capitol hill about that. We keep saying and hearing it is a looming crisis and it is hanging over us. The whole house of cards is going to come tumbling down. It seems as though, as long as the economy is booming and people are working, everyone whistles pass that graveyard. I wonder what it is going to take for people to take notice of this and do something about it. Sadly, in politics today, nobody wants to be the person to say we have to stop this spending, we have to stop that spending, we have to stop the spending. As soon as you cut spending, you are alienating some powerful constituency and you are facing a death sentence for your political career. I think most americans were frustrated by that. We dont elect people so they can continue to get reelected. Choices,bold, tough even if it means you will lose your job. You are not hired to be a lifetime congressman or senator, you are hired to do your job based on what you campaigned on. If i can continue on that basis, i have had great admiration for nancy pelosi and the democrats in 2010, when they voted for the Affordable Care act, a whole chunk of them knew they were going to lose their elections. They knew they would lose their majority but they went ahead and made their vote because it ended up they ended up believing it. I wish republicans would make those bold, daring vot announcer cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that you. T coming up tuesday morning, julie radnor was Kaiser Health news, discusses the difference between medicare for all and the public option. And we talked to the producer of the New York Times podcast the daily. Watch washington journal live at eastern. And the sure to catch podcast week all this week starting at 9 00 a. M. Eastern. On wednesday, mark leon goldberg. On thursday, the podcast cohost of ill tell you what. And on friday, the host of congressional dish. Next, radio free asia president libby liu on news programming in asia. Sia and southeast radio free asia is a private Nonprofit Corporation mandated to broadcast to china, to bet, north korea, vietnam, cambodia, laos, and myanmar. 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