Democrats impeachment inquiry and how could impact congressional races in 2020. At 9 00 a. M. , the american syria. Ative editor, james host good morning, everyone. The 12 Democratic Candidates are swearing off in another primary debate. Elizabeth warren will be placed in the center next to joe biden. He will we will kick off the conversation with your thoughts on Elizabeth Warren even if she is not your candidate now, could you support her in the primary or if you are a republican, could you support her in the president ial election against President Trump . Yes or no. If you think you could support Elizabeth Warren for president , 2027488000. If you say no, 2027488001. You can join the conversation on twitter at cspanwj or tell us on facebook. Com cspan. If you text us with your first name, city and state, we will take those responses as well, 2027488003. Lets begin with the latest polls. This is from real clear politics. The average shows Elizabeth Warren just two percentage. Oints behind joe biden matchups. Pothetical joe biden beats President Trump at this point in this point of the race. 51 to 40 . Elizabeth warren with 49 and Bernie Sanders follows from there. Here is Elizabeth Warren recently talking about why she is running for president. [video clip] i got here today because i an an america that is not america of expanding opportunities. I see an america that just keeps working. Better and better and better for a better and better slice at the top. When you see a government that works great for the rich and the powerful and isnt working for anyone else, that is corruption pure and simple and we need to call it out for what it is. An america that works great for giant Drug Companies, but not for people trying to get a prescription filled, that is corruption. An america that works great for tont Oil Companies that want drill everywhere, but doesnt Pay Attention to the Climate Crisis bearing down upon us. That is corruption. I have got good news, i have a plan for that. Host Elizabeth Warren last month talking about why she is the race. Together, these candidates capture the support of more than half the democratic primary voters. In the latest poll, joe biden, 32 . 6izabeth warren at 22 , up. Oint caller the reason i will tell you all about supporting her, number one, i like what she is saying about the Drug Companies, for the rich to pay more taxes and i would like her to talk. Bout Senior CitizensSenior Citizens in this country right now i dont have food to eat. School children at in rural areas, hostiles are leaving. I want to hear her talk about this and about crime. One more thing before you cut me off. I believe she is qualified. I will tell you why. Women run the household. Home, they are just like the doctor, the judge, the jury, the lawyers, and they run the household expense. They can do it and america, wake up, this woman can do this. Men cannot do all of this. It is a woman running the household. Host will you be watching tonight . Caller yes, i will. I hope people out there are listening to me for her to speak about these items i just said. Speak up, america. It is time for a woman to run this country. It like i just said, women do it every day. Host i want to show you and others, you might be interested in this Washington Times piece. Warren connects with feminist voters on universal prek and childcare. Lets go to donald in pittsburgh on the air. Good morning. Caller good morning. I say no for several reasons. As a prior caller, i think she is a little misguided. Never ran aprobably household other than the stigma attached to her of being pocahontas. She is the queen of being disingenuous. I am concerned this country ds toward ash leans toward this country leans toward socialism. I am looking forward to the tonight. It is important for our country to hear out these democrats and sit down about what they are saying. The reality is, i think Elizabeth Warren doesnt have china,vitas to deal with the foreign issues we have right now, she is an empty suit. Host who is your candidate . Caller my candidate is donald trump. I am going to be a loyal trumpster. I know he is taking a lot of heat for his pullout in syria, but i dont think anyone would 50t to sign those letters to parents if special forces were overrun. Time we get out of these unending wars. I think he is doing the right thing. Host why do you think she is not authentic . Caller she is not authentic for a couple reasons. She is preaching to us about giving up our wealth, however, she is a multimillionaire. I am still beating a dead horse ut her fake ethnic to city ethnicity. She was a consumer advocate back in the day, i appreciated that, but she switched over to this socialist mantra she keeps going, the rich are bad and they have to pay more. I want to ask her, what do you think the rich do with their money . Toy reinvest or give it charity, giving it to the government is not in our best interest. Host good morning, john, you could support Elizabeth Warren for president. Caller i will support anyone who will defeat the despicable character in the white house. I will support Elizabeth Warren, but i have a warning for her in any other democratic nominee, i am a 64yearold white male and i want them to know there are millions of people like me who will vote against trump. Once the new president is sworn in, do not think we believe what you said on the campaign trail is possible. We are not voting for you, we are voting against trump, so you will have to prove you are capable of being president. This current president is so bad, i will vote for any democrat rather than him. That does not believe mean i believe in him in them or what they are espousing during the primary. Host what do you think about Elizabeth Warren and the last caller who said she is not authentic or has an authenticity problem . Caller i dont think she has an authenticity problem at all, i think she has a realism problem. I think her programs are not areistic, i think they aspirational. It is fine with me as long as she defeats trump. She should not think i am a supporter of hers. Bideneaning toward joe because i believe the people in florida, the people in wisconsin and the people in pennsylvania who caused us to have this president will be persuaded to vote for him over the current president. Int recent frontpage story the Washington Times had the headline warren feels heat at front of race over authenticity. Here she is recently talking about her plan if she becomes elected president. [video clip] taxt is time for a wealth. N this country your first it works, 50 million, free and clear. You feeling relaxed about that . Good. In to sense ch two cents. Cents for every dollar after that. Cents on the top 1 10 of 1 in this country. We can provide universal childcare for every baby in this country, all of them. Universal prek for every threeyearold and fouryearold in america. Everythe wages of childcare worker in this country. Ake College Tuition free truly level the playing field, put 50 billion into historically black colleges and universities. A two do all of that with cancelealth tax and Student Loan Debt. Host Elizabeth Warren talking about what she has in mind if she wins the presidency. Could you support her. Jesse in virginia says no. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are you . Host what do you think . Lifelongy father was a democrat. I am africanamerican myself and like a lot of African Americans my father voted democrat. As long as i have lived, there has never been a single democrat policy that benefited me or my family. A lot of policies have directly harmed me and my family. Look at trump with historic decreases in black unemployment pulling us out of these unending wars, supporting gun rights, his policy are not the policy i back and you look at Elizabeth Warren or any of these advocate for socialism, gun control, that last snippet about taxing millionaires and taking money from them for all of these lofty goals, they have been proven false again and again in multiple countries. There is no reason to advocate anyone who bases their policies off of the socialist agenda, so i cannot support warren any more than i support sanders or any of the democrat front runners. Host on facebook, emily tells us i am a moderate democrat and dont agree with a lot of her policies, but i agree with her more than the current president. We are taking your comments. F you like, you can text us just include your city, state, and first name. You can send us a tweet at cspanwj or post on facebook. Com cspan. In some president ial 2020 campaign news, former new york mayor michael bloomberg, who was in this race, but got out talking to allies about running for president as joe biden struggles against Elizabeth Warren. Good morning, cspan. Trumpk in this day of exhaustion, because he is exhausting. He has completely exhausted this country, people throw up their hands when they see him on tv. My whole family is like that. Breath of fresh air. Everything she says makes you think it could be possible and when you think things can be possible and you have hope, that is what you want for the for the country. You dont want people rolling their eyes and hiding their kids every time he is on the tv. I think any one of those standatic if they can up to him, you know he is going to say terrible things and find something about all of them and tease him about it, so they have to be strong and ignore the bully because if you dont give him air, you cant breathe. Yes as well. U say good morning. Caller yes, i support Elizabeth Warren and i am not like this previous caller who says he is an africanamerican and voted democrat. I know he was an africanamerican. The other thing about him about trump, Elizabeth Warren they say she is not authentic. They putauthentic and him in there and look what he is he has done since he has been in there. I have one other thing to say about the front runners Elizabeth Warren and joe biden, me being an africanamerican, which is important to me to look at joe bidens record and joe biden record, the 1994 crime put 1 in 4 black american men in jail. Those men he put in jail dont have a right to vote. That is very important to look the otherish africanAmerican People, especially those in South Carolina who look at joe bidens record look at the 94 crime when hemendment the anita hill, Clarence Thomas all of those things, he is trying to run on the coattails of president obama. Dont look at obama record, look at joe bidens record and vote for Elizabeth Warren. Thank you. Host as you know, Elizabeth Warren has said she is with a burning when it comes to medicare for all. Take a look at the hill article this morning with the headline support drops for medicare for all, but increases for public option. The Kaiser Family foundation favored poll medicare for all proposal in which americans would get there insurance from a single government plan. 47 of those surveyed said they opposed medicare for all an increase of two Percentage Points from september. By eightn has grown points. Elizabeth warren has not endorsed all of what Bernie Sanders has said on medicare for say she has pivoted away from it. An interview Elizabeth Warren did in 2012, she was interviewed. Y a new england host she is asked about medicare for all. [video clip] a lets look obamacare for second. Would the Affordable Care act be better according to Elizabeth Warren . I think there will be a fight in congress, but what it will be over is if the benefits in the act are ones we are going to be able to hang onto. Scott brown and mitt romney made it clear they want to draw battle lines. In massachusetts, this turns out to have significant impact. We have coverage, but there are a lot of things in the Affordable Care act that are not here as state law. Young people being able to stay on their Health Insurance republicans want to get rid of that. It is an extension. Health care caps. This is for people who have cancer, other very expensive medical conditions or people who have longterm chronic illnesses. Federal law says an Insurance Company cannot decide to toss them off insurance. Seniors are being covered for more and more cost of health care and that tone not whole will be closed. Republicans want to appeal all of those repeal all of those. I want to know what your philosophy is. Singlepayere health care, far lower administrative cost would be the senator warren prescription, would it not . I think you have to stay with what is possible we really need. O consolidate gains the most obvious solution would be universal singlepayer health care. Make sure everyone is covered i wrote that with two, that is exactly right. The point is what we have got to do is we have got to move in the direction of getting families covered and bringing down the cost of health care. Host that was Elizabeth Warren in 2012 when she was running for u. S. Senate. Bernie sanders sat down with abc to tape an interview where he is asked what is the difference between you and Elizabeth Warren. Every american has got to make his or her own choice about the candidates and Elizabeth Warren has been a friend of mine for 25 years and i think she is a very good senators. There are differences between elizabeth and myself. Elizabeth has said she is a capitalist through her bones, i am not. The situation we face today of the greed and corruption existing in washington and the corporate elite level where you have massive amounts of pricefixing in the Drug Companies where we are the only country in the earth not to guarantee health care. In the fossil fuel industry, you have countries with billions of profit every year doing what . By the way, destroying the planet. I think business as usual and doing it the oldfashioned way is not good enough, it is not regulation. We need a political revolution. I believe i am the only candidate who is going to say to the ruling class of this country, enough with your greed and corruption, we need change in this country. Elizabeth is a friend of mine, she will speak for herself. Elizabeth considers herself to be a capitalist through her bones, i dont and the reason i am not is i will not tolerate for one second the kind of greed and corruption and income and wealth inequality and so much suffering going on in this country today. Host Bernie Sanders sitting down with abc this week. Could you support Elizabeth Warren . If she is not your candidate in the democratic primary, could you support her in a general election matchup and if you are a republican and dont support President Trump, could you vote for her . Ray, you say no. Who is your candidate . Donald my candidate is trump and i say that for a very specific reason. He has proven himself a leader great s done especially among africanamericans and a previous caller called Elizabeth Warren a breath of fresh air. I would use a different type of air. Hot air, mostly. She is one of the chief sirens of socialism. Socialism does not work. You can tax the rich, but what happens to the jobs . Unemployment will go. Kyrocket say yes. Ck, you why is that . Caller i am a supporter of Bernie Sanders, first and foremost. Get the primary election, i will support Elizabeth Warren. Like a lot of Bernie Sanders supporters, we have a bad taste in our mouth toward Elizabeth Warren. The fact that she had the chance to support bernie, clearly, she is not in line with hillary sheton and the fact that stayed out of supporting bernie until the election was over and burning clearly was going to be the candidate and she supported clinton, of course. She is in line more with bernie. That interview you just played showed the similarities are there. Bernie does himself a disservice for not indicating he is not against capitalism totally. He is against capitalism that is unbridled. I have a good amount of friends and we argue a lot who are progressives. They supported Hillary Clinton. Hillary clinton 30 years ago would have been considered a republican. Which a supporter of wars progressives would not go for. I think bernie could have been president had Elizabeth Warren supported him in the primary prior to wading toward the end. A lot of people, like myself, i believe, clearly think that is the case. The last thing i want to say is i am glad the real africanamerican who got on and spoke referenced that other guy who he claimed was not an africanamerican. I am a white guy and i could not say that. You have people calling in on a line here that is a democratic line and they are really republican and 80s too bad that happens. The last thing i want to say is this democratic debate, i have brought this up before, should not be done by cnn and msnbc, it should be done by cspan and the last thing i want to say, franklin roosevelt, would they consider him a socialist . He was a democrat and people want to give away their social security. Lyndon johnson was a democrat. Host i have to leave it there for it i have texts from viewers. Elena says i could not support senator warren, it has been proven taxing the top 1 100 would not remove the debt. She is saying two cents to expand government sending spending. They need americans to keep more of their hard earned money and liam for massachusetts i believe republicans want warren to be nominated because they think they can beat her. The only one who can beat trump is biden. Says i like elizabeth. Her position on medicare for all scares me away. Those are thoughts from social media this morning. We are talking about weather or not you could support Elizabeth Warren in an update on the impeachment inquiry on capitol hill. Front page of the New York Times has the story about the testimony of fiona hill. She was there for 9 to 10 hours and she told lawmakers former National Security advisor john bolton referred to giuliani as a hand grenade and he did not want he part of a deal what referred to as a drug deal whaten the ukraine and giuliani was trying to have transpire. Julywhat they report 10 meeting that included mr. Sans lynn and the special envoy for ukraine. Rick perry and two ukrainian officials. The purpose was to talk about technical assistance. Ukrainians were equal to eager to set up a meeting. Mr. Bolton was trying not to commit to the meeting. Mr. Sans lynn got agitated and let out there was an agreement with mr. Mulvaney that there would be a meeting if Ukraine Group the as the bolton pulled misses hill aside and instructed her to go. When she got downstairs, mr. Sans lynn mentioned the Ukrainian Energy firm hunter biden was on. She asked mr. Sans lynn why he ld be discussing this giuliani was involved in discussions about a possible meeting. The encounter was reported to mr. Bolton, who instructed her to report the issue to john eisenberg. Along with his lying about the drug deal. It was uncertain what the white House Counsel did at that point. Also on this front, prosecutors in the wall street journal, prosecutors probe giulianis work in ukraine. This is from the Southern District of new york, the u. S. Attorney investigating giulianis work. That is some news this morning on that and you also have usa today reporting on this weeks impeachment inquiry and the deadlines. It giuliani has the deadline today, given a document a deadline of today. To have appeared pressed the Ukrainian Government pursue two politically motivated investigations. There is also a wednesday. Eadline on thursday, Gordon Sondland will testify and friday, rick perry faces a subpoena deadline for documents related to ukraine and today, the Vice President also facing a deadline to turn over documents to these committees investigating impeachment. Back to our conversation. Lets go to john in florida, you say you could not support Elizabeth Warren. Tell us why. Caller first of all because of taxing the rich as the individual set earlier. Everyone would be unemployed. If you have all the money in the world, it is useless. These younger generations, misguided individuals that want paidpport her, getting 400,000 for per semester, i am not going to support biden. Any connection to obama and it is a bad taste in my mouth. I support trump. I am a veteran, i am a Tea Party Member and these guys, i would vote for my jack russell before i would get any of those democrats in. Host charles in pennsylvania, you say no as well. Caller yeah. I dont think any of the democrats are going to make it. What really bothers me about it is they want socialism and you cannot have it. Second of all, where are they going to get all this money . They are not telling the people where they are going to get the money for free health care, free college and people who dont want to work, they are going to pay and turn around and get rid of the host you lost your train of thought, charles . We will move on to greg in new hampshire, you say yes to Elizabeth Warren. Caller yes, i do. Host you have to listen and talk through your phone. Caller okay. I say yes to Elizabeth Warren it keeps the Foundation Going with the book of john. Withd it goes along scripture. Getting confused because you are listening to the tv. You have to listen and call talk through the phone. Jordan carney joining us on the phone to talk about sanctions on turkey. What was announced by the white house yesterday . What is their move on the situation in syria . The president announced yesterday he was going to be implement thing sanctions on turkey including the ratcheting of tariffs and Vice President pence came out shortly after that saying he was going to be leading a negotiation for some sort of ceasefire or end to turkeys military operation within syria right now. Host what is the reaction from capitol hill . Republicans and democrats . Guest you had a some republicans before this announcement who have been very critical of the president s strategy, had leader mcconnell come out and said he was concerned about strategic calamity within syria, there is cover the of how much now that he has outlined what his plan is. Enzi graham has been very critical of the strategy and came out and gave a pretty big statement in support of the sanctions of trumps thinking and say the administration deserves some time and space to implement that. We will see if his republican colleagues echo him. We had a Speaker Pelosi and Senate Democrats immediately say these sanctions arent enough, we deed we need additional legislation and some sort of that says we disagree with the decision to pull back u. S. Troops, put us on the record disagreeing with that. Host how quickly could we see that resolution on the house floor . Guest we have not gotten indication yet from pelosis office or steny hoyers office on how quickly that will move. You had Speaker Pelosi and senator rand yesterday indicating they want to move quickly and hoyer previously indicated may be some sort of syria legislation could happen this week, next week, very quickly, but we have not seen a definitive timeline from House Democrats on how fast they will be able to move. Jordain carney, thank you. Guest thanks for having me on. Host craig, you say yes, you could support Elizabeth Warren. Caller yes, i could. I find she has a good format and foundation to stand on. She is wealthy, but i think it has someone that it takes someone that has financial backbone ofeep the the presidency alive and not false ideologies. Host lets go to carla in missouri. Use a no. You say no. Caller i could not possibly support Elizabeth Warren. I think she is unrealistic. I guess you could say i have a me. Rtarian streak in there are senators and representatives serving now that would make better president s than Elizabeth Warren. None of these people, she is so unrealistic. She is a one issue person, wall street. What does she know about Foreign Policy . Most of her callers are one issue callers, they have one problem bothering them, so they are very selective. The the New York Times has state of the race, take a look at individual contributions, joe 22ith 22 million million. Bernie sanders with 36. 2 million. The hail reports Elizabeth Warren is leading joe biden in iowa, new hampshire, that is the ll. Com. M and thehi there is this story from bakersfield, california, Elizabeth Warren, 70, flaunts her fitness as a Democratic Candidates health becomes a debate issue. Lets go to tim and floater, you say yes. Good morning to you. For Elizabeth Warren. I think she will make a great candidate for the presidency and i am for her because socialism is really just capitalism for the poor. And she headed up the Obama Committee to investigate credit card companies, they sent me back 1600. I am a black man, a prolife democrat and i never made more than 10 an hour. She is in the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt who called socialist highminded and honorable citizens. As to her lack of experience on the international stage, i would love to see her pick someone for Vice President like general even to gok or maybe west interviewed on cspan. In iowa, you say yes. Caller yes all the way. I am a black 84yearold mother of 9, married for 63 years and i have run our household and Elizabeth Warren can do a good job. Anybody but trump. Host lets go to florida. Good morning to you, caller, your name. Constance, is that right . Caller yes, good morning. From cradletograve, many states are to be liberated in the u. S. I cannot vote for elizabeth. Arren in my previous country, i spent time there every winter. We have 29 value added tax to fund it is impossible to all the promises Elizabeth Warren gives. Host that is the argument republicans are making, including sebastian talked about his concerns about the increasing support for socialism. [video clip] political one grouping in our country that has come out of the closet as socialists. Childshocking to me as a of those who escaped fascism and communism that according to the annual poll of the victims of communism memorial foundation, an amazing institution here in d. C. , every year they do a pole yougov. In their last pole, 52 of american millenials wished to live in a socialist or communist america. This is not funny, madam, it is not funny, it is deadly serious caused this ideology has estimated 100an million souls in the last century and people like alexandra ocasiocortez, people Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren wish to realize it here and we cannot let them. The ebastian at votersan gorka at the summit. Charlie, brooklyn, massachusetts. Charlie says you could support Elizabeth Warren. Yes. R i have known her for 10 years, she is dead set on doing the things she has said. I will give you a few examples. In spite of massive lobbying by to create theaged Consumer Finance protection overu, which has returned 12 billion to people across the by the banks who had cheated customers as one of the callers had just said. She knows how to get things done, she is totally honest and very fierce and tenacious about doing it and she spent the last 30 years working on the problems she is talking about now, why people go bankrupt because of attic will expend his that are sudden and losing jobs, she is definitely a bright, new kind of candidate, which i hope people take the opportunity to look into and find she is one of the great hopes we have in our current time. Favorable view of Elizabeth Warren. The previous caller with an unfavorable view. Her favorable rating is 36 while her unfavorable is higher at 36 . Compare that to the former Vice President s 31 . Bernie sanders unfavorable numbers much higher, 37 versus favorably andm you can see the president s unfavorable and favorable numbers as well. Terry in fredericksburg, texas, you say may be. Why is that . Trey. sorry, it is whereone of those things i dont know enough about anybody. I dont have any 32yearold working nights we are just trying to survive out here. We wanted to support somebody, but nobody speaks to a lot of the people trying to keep our i kind ofd move lost where i was going to go. Host i will end this conversation with the New York Times number. They have a piece in the paper today about facebook spending and collectively, the 19 current democrat candidates for president have poured 32 million into facebook trying to reach people like terry, Younger Voters and older voters a lot alike. When we come back, our next guest became a whistleblower during operation desert storm. We will discuss how the effort on impeachment could affect races with steve israel. Rand paul offers a critical look at socialism. He will be as guest on book tv afteruest on book tvs words program. How citizens can promote social and political change. In resistance at all costs, ssel. Hy kimberly stra q awill be on cspans program. Ronan farrow on the efforts by others to stifle his reporting. Amaryllis fox recounts her time as a cia operative in life under color. Bill bryson with a detailed authorization of how the body works. In no stopping us now, gail collins looks at how americans attitudes toward aging women have changed. Look for these titles in bookstores this week and watch for many of the authors in near cspan 2. Book tv on Congress Returns to capitol hill today after a two week recess with House Committees working on impeachment increase against President Trump, legislation to lower drug costs, and curbing the including air force secretary nominee barbara barrett. Watch live gaveltogavel coverage of the house on cspan and the senate live on cspan 2, online at cspan. Org, or listen live on the go using the free cspan radio app. Washington journal continues. Host Patrick Eddington at our table, gulf war whistleblower and currently a Research Fellow institute. Thank you for being here, lets talk about your story. Why did you become a whistleblower . Guest those of us who have been through this experience, when you look at whistleblower cases, a lot of commonalities come out and there is a new book, crisis of conscience whistleblowing in an age of fraud. He takes you through these cases. What you find with most whistleblowers is they tend to be very interdirected. You tend to have a loyalty essentially to a higher purpose or calling. I have spent 26 years in government either full or parttime service between the national guard, the cia, 10 plus. Ears on capitol hill and so on i take it deadly seriously, i will until the day i die and that is what drove me in that circumstance because it was very clear during the war there was an amount of intelligence flowing out of the theater in the early days of the conflict potentialated chemical agent attacks had taken place or alarms had been going off. I was working at the equivalent imagery Headline News operation at the time, very. Uick turnaround reporting every time during that war, that six week period these reports , we would call the headquarters in riyadh and asked the question is this real . Every time, we would be called false alarm, dont worry about it. In the rush of the conflict, you dont have a chance to go back and look at these things and the war ended relatively quickly seemingly without a lot of american casualties and i went on with my career and my life and it wasnt until my wife wound up doing a rotation to the Senate Banking committee and they were investigating iraqi dual use exports and their illnesses to these reported heavily in 1992 and basically telling the Banking Committee our alarms went off. I am left with a circumstance where after my wifes first day on the job, she brings home the preliminary staff level report issued 1933 and she hands it to me and says read this, i think. E got gassed i read the report, about 50 pages and it was anecdotal, but there were an awful lot of anecdotes. , do wet me to thinking have a coverup here . Did something actually happened . And no one else was going to take a look at this because the agency had issued assessments saying no chemical agents ever deployed to theater, no one exposed. If anyone was going to take a look at this, it would be between me and my wife. Me going into classified databases to essentially recreate the classified record hurried my investigation was totally unauthorized, completely off the books. It was something i did because i was a desert storm era veteran and i felt these men and women were probably not getting the truth about what happened and as it happened, they were not getting the truth. Host when you say you did your own investigation, why were you doing your own investigation . What did you think or how did you know what to do with the information you were going to find . Great the cia gave me training as an analyst, so i was able to utilize that to my benefit. I have always been a scholar by bent and predisposition anyway, but i understood the agency, i understood where i needed to go to get access to information. I also used tradecraft along the way. I made sure the door to my office was closed. When i went to sources, i did it utilizing means that would ensure the likelihood of me being detected doing that were minimal. Host how long did it take you . Guest i started this the day after my wife handed me that staff level report and by july of 1994, i had put together a 55 page powerpoint. I had hundreds, maybe thousands of documents on my computer. Intelligence. Of i was utilizing available Public Information including what the Banking Committee had been finding. By the time i got done assembling all this data, it was clear to me that veterans probably had been exposed to chemical agents possibly through attacks, but more than likely through a lot of the bombing that took place in that 6 week period that essentially released a lot of agents and other debris that formed a large downwind hazard plume over American Forces in saudi arabia and again, when i finally did surfaced this with my frontline manager, he completely freaked out, was extremely concerned. Host what do you mean by frontline manager . Guest within the agency, you wind up having Different Levels of management. The frontline would be someone known as a branch chief, in charge of anywhere from 62 a dozen people and from there, the Division Level and beyond that, group and directorate level, that is a rough estimate of how the structure worked 23 years ago when i was there. My branch chief was mortified i had done this, but he was terrified i had a pretty decent case something had gone awry. I was promised this would be. Nvestigated by experts the problem i knew was those same people were the ones who put their names on a report that none of this had happened to begin with. By november, we learned from a source that essentially they had picked somebody to debunk what forward. That put me in a foul mood, i was not happy with that, so i did something outside of agency culture, i forward. That wrote a letter to the editor in which i accuse the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff of covering this stuff up. I did not identify myself as an employee and i get and i did not lose use classified information. From the Agency Cultural standpoint, i violated every taboo you could think of. It took a few months before the lightning bolt came down, but my manager brought into ash brought me into his office and said did you write this . I was in a flippant mood. I said yeah, i wrote it. I know you all did not take it seriously. That changed the dynamic at that moment. Host when did you become a whistleblower . 1995, i hadpril of gone through a series of what i would call dog and pony show internal briefings at cia with differing levels of managers and folks where it was clear despite my ability to take material out of the library that showed potential Health Effects from lowlevel exposure to chemical agents, they were not going to go and review all the available data and revisit this issue in a serious way. Due to bedeutsch was nominated to be the next director of Central Intelligence, i smuggled 100 classified documents and took them up to the Senate Intelligence committee and i laid all this stuff out on the table. It was a bipartisan meeting with staff, probably a little bit different than what we are seeing with the ukrainegate episode today. I had taken postit notes and labeled the key documents and my basic pitch was i dont believe folks at the pentagon are playing straight with the American People and veterans about this, please quiz him on the basis of this material. Make a real effort. Within days i learned instead of ciag that, they had called to say do you know one of your people came up here with 100 documents and try to pitch this on us . I got the sense i was being subjected to a counterintelligence investigation and that told us it was time to go and we needed to think about and exit strategy. That is basically between april, may of 1995 and execute that strategy. Host what was the exit strategy . Guest my concern was that we would not be on the street. Do this,tleblowers they wind up losing their jobs, their homes, things of that nature, so we structured it in a way that my wife wound up leaving in 1996, went to a defense contractor that was still privately held so you did not have shareholder pressure and the public buys that would result buzz that would result. I began writing my first book about this entire episode. I was approached and did work with staff on a president ial president prejudice sherry advisory committee. He absolutely believed we were correct and was subsequently fired because he was raising these issues. We neededcame clear to do something more dramatic, phil sheen in managed to get in touch with us. Tell you will everything but i want to drive , so that wasto cia how it happened. A restaurant in fairfax county, virginia, and spent the better part of four hours going over our story. Officialyou have the did you have the official whistleblower status and protection . Guest from the time that army intain Christopher Pyle went 1971 to reveal surveillance, which is kind of the beginning 1998e modern era, up until there were nor statutory protections so we were two years after my wife and i did what we did that the first legislation in the Intelligence Community, whistleblower protection act was passed. In that legislation, there was no real protection. It gave you a pathway to report things but there was no statutory bar to retaliation. Marginally,improved but as my friends at the Government Accountability say, we need vastly stronger protections. We need a deterrent in protection to discourage people, whether it is the president of the United States for a manager cia, that the panda tour penalties should be 10 years in prison and a 1 million fine. Host you became a whistleblower the day you set down with the New York Times. Questions and comments about his story, being a whistleblower, republicans, 202 7488001. Democrats, 202 7488000. Ndependents, 202 7488002 we are also getting his perspective on the impeachment inquiry. Rodney and madison, iowa. Caller if whistleblowers are so important, barack obama prosecuted a different whistleblowers and slapped gag orders on about four of them. Can you explain that . Guest a great question, you are correct. His administration did more to persecute whistleblowers prior to any other administration. Things abouty president obama that have pointed us and i voted with him because i bought the line about change, and i forgot the key lessons i learned in my over 30 years in washington mr. Obama campaigned against the surveillance state and the patriot act, the section 502 act. He ended up embracing both of those, and the same thing with whistleblowers. In 2012, the Obama Administration implemented what 19, a mores ppd formal process for whistleblowers to bring things forward. Even that process, i think my friends would agree, has been anything but ideal and effective. What we have seen from President Trump on this issue looking to out this individual or group of individuals, that is contrary to the law and what the act says. I get the president s frustration. He is not happy, but we need to have these provisions in place so that folks can come forward without fear of being fired. Host what are the formal procedures that were put in place . Has been a while since i reviewed the details, but in essence it creates a stance in which whistleblowers can bring these issues up, and if an Inspector General is involved in this and there are concerns about whether that Inspector General has been taking the allegations seriously, it is possible to take it to a next level with an external review panel. This happened in the case of nsa ig george ellard. The allegations were found to be credible and he was reprimanded. There was subsequently an appeal to the pentagon and an official overturned the ruling, which is one of the reasons why a lot of us have problems with the system as it is. Host you mentioned one change, but what others would you like to see . Johnson is one of the senior Staff Members and when i worked on capitol hill, he was in the house intelligence. It was a brownbag lunch where we were picking his brain about things that would be good to do, and i had some ideas, but he said, it doesnt matter how much you tinker with the law. There is no substitute for number engagement. That has stuck to me. Host what does that mean . Guest members have to care about whistleblowers and be engaged. Chuck grassley is a good example. It has been almost a year ago that senator grassley revealed the Central Intelligence agency had been monitoring the tinued acacia and communications of whistleblowers , and i have been shocked that neither the house or Senate Intelligence committee have gone to battle stations over that, because it is that kind of illegal domestic surveillance that laws were created over 40 years ago to prevent. This has not been a conversation for senator schiff or chairman burr. Host President Trump, let me show the viewers what he had to say the socalled whistleblower, the call was crazy, frightening, completely lacking in substance, this is a big lie. Read the transcript. Guest i dont recall the whistleblower using that phraseology. Basise know so far on the of testimony that has so far been given, and the snippets that we have so far from state department and other officials, is that the substance of the allegations were valid. Founds what mr. Maguire when he evaluated the complaint several months ago. I understand the president s frustration. He feels like this is supposed to be a generalized court proceeding. Impeachments do not fall into that category. Of concerns about how House Democrats have been handling this. Host samuel is in up or mar bro, maryland, independent upper marlboro, maryland, independent. Caller i just want to make a comment to your guest. 1981 to 1985. Rea they were giving out shots for soldiers to take and they didnt give any reason. I would just like to say to your guest, i appreciate everything you are talking about because it just shows that the corruption in our government is so far gone that you cant even trust anyone in the government. Oute i served and then came and retired from a Transit Company behind you, i have noticed a lot about veterans who in turn are always sick. V. A. , youto the local see a lot of veterans in these programs, and some of the programs that are in the v. A. Doesnt really help. I appreciate what you are saying. A friend of mine served in the gulf war and she lost her hair, and the v. A. Could not determine why, but when she found out they were gassed, that is the reason why, she had two miscarriages behind that. I appreciate you coming out and telling the people, the American People how corrupt our government is. Guest i appreciate your sentiments, and thank you to your service, and to your friend as well. Longtunately, there is a history of federal government experimentation on military personnel. I ran across a thing called xfiles112, and sounding name. It was a chemical and biological warfare Experimentation Program carried out basically on a global basis, approved by president kennedy. When you look at the other instances this has happened, western gas experiments on western personnel, in the gulf war they were giving folks shots of the anthrax vaccine which had never been approved, and they were passing out a drug used to that is andition excess of an enzyme in the brain that controls motor skill coordination. When you give it to someone who does not have that, you are playing with their life. This was done ostensibly to protect veterans against potential threats, but they were guessing and did not have good science to back up what they were doing. You had veterans exposed to this cocktail of stuff. That has made trying to get a single diagnosis for these folks very difficult. Host mark in lexington, kentucky wants to know do you have reason to believe our intelligence agencies have substantial political factions, leadership,olitical beholden to parties . Guest i think everybody who works anywhere as an adult has political opinions of some stripe or another. Orn people go to work at cia the office of the director of National Intelligence or the state department, i dont think people stop being what they are politically. Serveou take the oath to the American People as a whole, your responsibility is to set aside your predilections and political beliefs and withhold the constitution of the United States, and present information in a factbased way. I have seen a lot of what i would call Conspiracy Theory mongering. There is a deep state coup against the president , so on and so forth. Saying, we had democrats the fbi was the antichrist and they were handling bob mueller as the Second Coming and so on and so forth. When we get into this environment where we have police did pull heated political dynamics, it is difficult to obtain political objectivity. Mr. Comey made some mistakes along the way. Mr. Mccabe did the same. To idea that either was out get Hillary Clinton or donald trump is a little bit of a reach based on the evidence. Host what is your view of the whistleblower in this impeachment inquiry, and his complaint, of his his crossreferences . What did you make of it when you read it . Guest when i went over the nine page memo, it was clear to me that this was someone who was probably a subject Matter Expert and knew theraine dynamics and history. It was also clear it was someone that had a great memory, was meticulous at note keeping and keeping track of interactions with individuals, so while the account was largely secondhand, it struck me as being credible. Now that we have literally multiple witnesses coming forward not in the open session that i would like to see, but we have had multiple witnesses come forward and validate everything the original whistleblower was saying, it is troubling and it is a real problem for the president. I dont just mean in a political context, i mean in a substantive context. Host greenville, texas, robert. Caller good morning. See thefreshing to whistleblower process working the way it should. In this age of where everybody claims one news outlet or ,nother is presenting fake news the whistleblower process is refreshing, because we are actually sing the truth behind a lot of what goes on seeing the truth behind a lot of what goes on. It is factual and would never be brought forward if it did not if it failed the smell test and approve test, and it is refreshing. One thing i have learned about this whole complaint he brought forward, about two and a half years ago i called in to cspan to say you need to start looking at following the money with Paul Manafort and his affiliations in eastern europe, and how it was affecting the contributions going into the trunk campaign. He has been trump campaign. , but ineen convicted the whistleblower complaint his name came up again about helping defend him. I think he will come back around on this thing in a big way, and the money, if you follow the money, this whistleblower, you start with pretty quote quote quid pro quo. There is more quid pro quo than meets cia. It is meets the eye. It is not just about military aid. Guest the biggest problem i have with this process the democrats have engaged in is it fundamentally veers away from the watergate model. When that process began february 1973, it was after a number of convictions related to the watergate scandal itself. The idea was we were going to have an open, upfront process. It was passed unanimously. Leadingsome of the Senate Appointed to that panel. The late howard baker, republican of tennessee. They wound up staring this process in such a way that it guaranteed that when they got done with it, there was not any doubt about what had actually gone on in the course of watergate, any of the individuals involved. I think the mistake the democrats are making now is not following that model. I get the idea that you want to do potentially depositions to get information and you need to. Et documents, all of that need an overarching resolution passed in the house to make this thing rise above the partisan character it has now. We need a clear commitment from folks on both sides of the aisle that they will appoint responsible people to do an overall inquiry. The way the democrats are doing it now, it could come back to bite them. With do you have concerns adam schiff leading this investigation . Guest i have massive concerns. The only time he has shown any issue in whistleblower issues was last month when he offered the resolution with respect to mr. Maguires report. I have fundamental concerns about the House Committee have any kind of lead role in an impeachment proceeding because it can feed into this idea, some of our callers have alluded to, about political factions within the Intelligence Community conspiring with likeminded democrats, at cetera. I dont think that is necessarily what is going on, but as drew weston has noted so perfectly, politics usually is not about facts and reason but about perception and emotion. We need to get away from this perception that this process is not legitimate. That is my big concern. Host concerned that the whistleblower first met with staff on the Intelligence Committee . Guest that is not my concern. My concern is larger and that normally the way it works now, the whistleblower is supposed to go to the icig or their parent ig and make those concerns known, put them in writing. Once that happens, the ig is supposed to notify the committee that that has happened, that there is an urgent concern of real moment. Mr. Maguire did not do that initially, so i do not blame mr. Schiff and the committee for being aggressive on the front end of trying to shake that complaint loose. For the most part, within the entire whistleblowing community, you do not get a lot of guidance about how you are supposed to go about this. There was a specific office attached to the office of director of National Intelligence, whistleblower advocate office, the office was shut down and the guy who ran it was run out of government because he was doing too good of a job. There is not a lot out there, as a general rule, to tell somebody who wants to bring things forward, this is how to go about it. I dont blame the whistleblower for trying to reach out to the committee. And Pelosi Committee for allowing this process to get this far without an authorizing resolution. Host rose, new jersey, independent. Caller i wanted to commend this gentleman and i would like him to comment on the fact that we biglooking at there is a dragon in the cave called the pentagon. 23 ind cspine that 23rd on cspan that unaudited accounts they are refusing to submit for inspection, and the retiring ig for afghanistan could not get accounts he ordered. Who is responsible for going in and breaking this wall and seeing what is going on with corruption . Guest thank you for the question in your concern. This entire issue of runaway Pentagon Spending has been with us literally for decades. Folks in washington have wanted to have a comprehensive audit of pentagon accounts for a long time, and some of the audits have revealed tens of billions of dollars that never should have been spent. I will go back to wet log what logaid, johnson said, you have to have members who are willing to get in and do this. Nowhe cold war era and even in the socalled war on terror, taking on the National Security establishment, for a member to do that it is risky. Erahe cold era cold war you would be soft on communism. Now if you question that you are soft on terrorism. We have to have members that are willing to do that. There are a few who have shown a willingness to do that, but unless you have ranking members and are willing to get in turn over rocks and find out what is wrong, you will not go anywhere. Host john in marion, new york, democrat. Caller i am a vader vietnam veteran and i started volunteering at a v. A. Facility since i was diagnosed with parkinsons. Guys and iow other like to help them, especially with parkinsons because if you got it, you know it. It is that kind of thing. Years, i seele deteriorating pretty bad a lot of the units i was going to and i had to speak up about it. What happened was i got blackballed. Nothing really much came out of it. Didnt really address what happened. That was beside the point. The biggest thing was there was no improvement in the complaint about the care. , do you have a recommendation . , myt i think clearly initial recommendation would be to reach out to veteran service organizations, whether it is the american legion, veterans of foreign wars, talk to them. Get involved with their officers who work with the v. A. , raise those issues. When i worked for Vietnam Veterans of america, we would have quarterly meetings to get issues resolved. For those of us of a more libertarian persuasion who have concerns about government control of health care, the v. A. Is the poster child for being careful what you ask for. It is a dicey situation when veterans go in and there is no control over the staff. Overw those scandals take where veterans died waiting for treatment. In a marketbased kind of system, it would be less likely that would happen because folks would be able to choose where they go. Tohoo they try to go to oneans to place. You need much more authority and capability of the v. A. To improve the quality of health care for veterans and their access. Host raymond, michigan, democratic caller. Caller i am curious. What are your viewpoints on snowden as a whistleblower . Guest i will just simply repeat what i said before, all charges against Edward Snowden should be dismissed with prejudice. His travel documents should be returned to him and he should be able to return to the United States unmolested. Thes responsible for passage of legislation in 2015, past and direct response to the revelations snowden made about illegal, warrantless government surveillance. We got another dose of reality this last week when they released a Court Opinion they had been holding onto for a year but showed under the phis amendments act, the fbi had been conducting backdoor searches against the stored data of americans that as far as i am concerned, should not even be stored on government servers. Snowden did all of us an enormous service by bringing this to light to begin with. He looked at the whistleblowing mechanisms in place at that time and understood the imperfections and problems in them. One of the documents he leaked was from the nsa ig in which they openly talked about president george w. Bushs Illegal Program. Reporte ig is issuing a on an Illegal Program and has taken no steps to shut it down, it makes it easier to understand why snowden chose not to go to the nsa ig. Host were you concerned with your safety when you brought this information to light, and where their circumstances where you felt threatened . Guest i knew my job was at risk. When they found out they had the counterintelligence Investigation Underway friends would call us saying security is coming around asking about you when patrick conscienceet his override his secrecy agreement. What the cia was saying keeping this secret is more important than your personal values, moral or religious valleys. Obviously, i was not content to fully abide by my secrecy agreement because i took those documents to capitol hill, but that is a real problem. I was worried about that aspect and worried about my wife and how she was looking at this. In every way that matters, she was the braver one. Whos the crazy, angry guy was not going to put up with his fellow veterans getting the shaft. Herife, even though i asked at least three times, do you want to quit, she said if we do, we are no better than they are. Host florida, republican. Caller thank you for your service. Andlieve in whistleblowers it is sad we have a whistleblower community. I have two questions. How do you square the box toward the constitution of being able to confront your accuser with a whistleblower system that we have . The second one, you frowned on the deep state conspiracy stuff when you yourself was confronting the deep state covering up stuff from the public. We have the Intelligence Community, which usually is the judicial community, doing the impeachment in secret and not in front of the American People. We had mr. Klapper in front of Congress Lying about communications, and he got promoted. There is just a lot of stuff going on in the government that shouldnt be going on that doesnt conform to the constitution. I think there is a deep state because bureaucracy has gotten big, and good at covering up their own butts, you have the Text Messages from page and stuff that was revealed on the policy toward miss tromp, i trump, the way the whistleblower system is set up, there might not even be a real person if the ig and mr. Schiff and his staff is just working together to bring a whistleblower complaint because he is never exposed. Host lets take that point. , one of know the lawyer the lawyers representing this individual. When we did our whistleblowing, and although we have gone our separate ways with respect to Edward Snowden, if there is one thing i will tell you, if mark zane says he is representing somebody and that is a living person, that is a fact. A second person has come forward on the basis of what we have. I agree with the caller that the lack of a truly transparent process is problematic. It is not like what you get in an article three court. It is an inherently political process. That is why you need to have more safeguards and a reliance on the watergate example, that that special select committee and everything they did should be serving as a roadmap and a model for what they are doing now, and unfortunately it is not. Host should the whistleblower testify publicly . Should we know who he or she is . Guest i dont believe it is necessary in this circumstance given the fact that that person ultimately is not the one with the maximum direct knowledge about what the president was or was not doing. We have a whole other cast of characters involved, whether it is the former ambassador to the ukraine or the former ambassador to the eu, and further down the line. One of secretary pompeos senior aides is scheduled to testify. More people are coming out of the woodwork. I amnitial whistleblower sure was able to point staff and committees to that individual. Have come forward now who have direct knowledge. Originals the whistleblower still have her or his job . Guest that is a good one. So far, i am aware that is the case. I would like to think of something that radical happened, the lawyers wouldve said something to that effect. Theiring is for sure, life will never be exactly the same. The day may come where their identities are revealed. Given the extremely vengeful nature this president has demonstrated, for their personal safety it is important for these individuals to remain anonymous and they will fade into the background as we get more to the people who had direct knowledge or direct interaction with the president. Host Patrick Eddington, thank you for your insight. We will take a break and come back and talk to steve israel about the latest on the impeachment and how it could impact congressional races in 2020. Later, we will look at political implications of the syria decision. We will be right back. On q a, American University distinguished professor of history alan kraut looks back on policies at managing immigration. Current ways of nativism, antiimmigrant sentiment, xenophobia is not different from the past, and while it seems to us to be peppered with acts of violence and ferocity, there have been other acts of violence , antiimmigrant riley its riots before the civil war, antiimmigrant riots in the 1880s. There have been a lot of moments in American History when the antiimmigrant sentiment has been translated into true ugliness. Watch sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on q a. Thinking about participating in cspans studentcam 2020 competition but you never met a documentary film before . We have resources to help you get started. Andk out Getting Started downloads pages on studentcam. Org for video information and links to the cspan library. Teachers will find information on the teachers information page to introduce your students. My advice to anyone is to find a topic you are truly passionate about and pursue it as much as you can. We are asking middle and high schools students to present a Short Documentary on an issue you would like the candidates to. Ddress in the 2020 campaign cspan will award 20,000 in total prizes, plus a 5,000 grand prize. Go and start filming the best video you can possibly produce. For morestudentcam. Org information today. Washington journal continues. Host joining us is steve israel , former congressman from new york and head of the political chair for democrats from 2011 to 2015. What do you think are the ofitical vulnerabilities this impeachment inquiry for democrats . Guest of course, it depends on the district to represent, and the same holds true for republicans. Lets stipulate that impeachment is one of the most serious and sobering votes any member of congress can vote on. You would hope that political calculations are excluded, but it becomes no surprise to anybody that every member of congress and the senate will, as part of the decisionmaking process, analyze how it will affect them politically. If you are a democrat in one of the 30 districts that elected a democrat, but also elected President Trump come of that equation becomes more complicated. If you are a democrat on the Upper West Side of new york or chicago and everyone cannot wait free to cast a vote on if you are in a district Hillary Clinton won, it is more difficult. They will make the decision based on the evidence and what they believe is best for the country, and the calculations and analysis they apply to the next election, no question about that. We haveheard host heard the speaker say that when pressed about holding a full vote in the house, she has responded by saying she is not required to and republicans are nervous about that vote. How do you respond . Guest it depends on what kind of district you represent. Colleagues mer i talked to my former colleagues on both sides of the aisle almost every day and i think i get the unvarnished truth because i am not there. I can just talk to them about their thought process. There is a lot of anxiety on this. There are republicans who believe impeachment is completely unwarranted, who know they have to vote against impeachment but are legitimately concerned that on the other of that vote and the election, more comes out, another whistleblower emerges. That vote looks pretty bad. There are democrats who represent districts President Trump won handily worry about whether that revs up a primary against them, or loses crossover republicans. There are Different Levels of anxiety depending on the district to represent. ,hen you look at the districts there is a district in minnesota currently represented by collin peterson. President trump won that district by 30 points and if you are in that district, you might have concerns. Max rose in new york city, President Trump won by 10 points. In new mexico, congresswoman taurus small, 10 points. In those districts for democrats, it is a tough political vote. You would hope they would put the politics on hold because of the gravity of a vote like this. T should the speaker of speaker of the house be concerned about concerns that she has not held the full vote in the house, and we hear republicans complain about closed door depositions and the process for them. How do you respond . Guest i was with congressman adam schiff last night in new york city. We spoke specifically about that issue. At these closed door depositions, these hearings, republicans have absolute equal time. They attend the hearings and if they are on the committee, they get to ask questions, look at evidence. This is not one party shutting the doors and not allowing the other party to participate. Secondly, this is an investigation and in any investigation, when you are interviewing witnesses you do not want to publicize what one witness said because another can socalled square the story. He want to be able to fairly and adequately interview witnesses, get information, compare that to other information you received. This is how grand jurys operate. They do not have an open session and a vote. This is a similar process. It is an imperfect analogy, but it is a similar process. Host david in albuquerque, new mexico, republican. Caller i am concerned that the tape that was playing about biden intimidating the russian president to take off the prosecutor from his son, that is the concern, and america is not dumb. We know what intimidation is. That should be the focus of this investigation. Shift, schiff, why dont you say anything about all those things he is making up, all those lies he was making up . Guest you say lies that he made up, i think you might be referring to the one instance he paraphrased the recording or the transcript, the edited transcript of the recording, and paraphrased what President Trump said. He acknowledged he was paraphrasing. You call that made up, you call that a lie, but it was clearly reflecting the conversation that was summarized and memorialized in that memo. Impeachment is going to rile up emotions and if you are a hard left democrat, you cant understand why the president has not been impeached by now and if you are a hard right republican you cannot understand why the democrats are getting away with what they are getting. The constitutions of the United States of america which gives Congress Oversight responsibility that was exhausted by republicans when they had the majority and had concerns about president obama, that oversight responsibility should not be lessened because there is a democratic majority. President trump is building a case for obstruction. He tweets and goes on television and talks about refusing to allow people to cooperate with this investigation. He would be better served politically and morally by saying, i have nothing to hide, lets move on. Host was hunter biden wrong to serve on that board and should his father have done more to stop him from serving . Guest he did this interview last night on abc and he owned it. He does not believe there was an ethical lapse, but he made a mess judgment. That family misjudgment. That family has gone through torment. They have lost members of the family tragically, beau died recently. One thing i have learned is that human nature and family relationships are a big deal. Maybe Vice President biden should have said in the middle of this torment, i am concerned about you serving on this board, you should get off. What he did say was, i hope you know what you are doing, and there was never a conversation about ukraine that company between the two. Political lack of judgment . Maybe. Was it an ethical problem . Evidence, and the conspiracy theories have been theunked by the ukraine, wall street journal, unequivocally. Host politically, as this impeachment inquiry and ukraine story stays in the headlines, is the former Vice President vulnerable when his son was making 50,000 to 80,000 a month serving on this board . Guest i think President Trump believes that joe biden is vulnerable. There is no question that President Trump and his campaign has in my view, rightly concluded that joe biden is his greatest threat and a general election primary excuse me, in a general election. They needed to dig up whatever dirt they could to take him down. By my republican friends in congress that these were to be an october surprise, but october 2020, not october 2019. Because of this whistleblower who emerged with concerns about the phone call, and even john bolton, no liberal democrat, the issue kind of blew up. Now it is in fact part of the narrative and that serves donald trump pretty well. If he can talk about joe biden instead of his issues, he owns the narrative. Host john, Hot Springs National park, arkansas, democratic caller. Caller hello. I wanted to ask about the common connection between Vladimir Putin and donald trump. Is a big fanutin of trump and trump is a big fan of putin. The connection between the two i dontms to be have any proofp. Utin proof. Putin is one of the richest men in the world. They say he has over 200 billion. I dont see how he could make that money as president of a country no bigger than california. Oceanon the others of the , he is wealthy too. I believe there is some connection and maybe some Money Laundering going on. Like i say, i cant prove it, but that is a feeling i have always had. In someng trump does way or and other benefits russia. Guest i love hot springs, and i served with your former member of congress, mike ross. He was a good member. On your question, one of the deep concerns i and every american should have is this have the policies of the Trump Administration and the behavior of the Trump Administration wittingly or unwittingly empowered Vladimir Putin . Trump won thed Electoral College and Hillary Clinton won the popular vote and Vladimir Putin won the world. We are castigating our nato allies. Russia has established a bold footprint in syria which it never had. There are rising assaults on democracy, liberal democracies across europe. The russians are advancing militarily in the north, in the arctic. They are penetrating. They have disrupted our elections. It is clear they have disrupted our elections. They have us screaming at one another. The end result is that democracies and democratic movements and the United States seem to be weaker against russia then it was in 2016. That is what this impeachment is all about. Thes not about investigations as to the role of deutsche bank, etc. , but impeachment has to arise that one judgment, have the interests of the United States of america been harmed, undermined, or damaged by the conduct or activities of a president . Host samuel in chippewa falls, wisconsin, independent. Caller thank you for taking my call. I was stunned when chairman shift gave a parody for the beginning of impeachment. One other thing i would like to say, my wife has worked for the mentally disabled for 30 years. She is making 50,000 a year and is doing more good than joe biden ever did. Guest first of all, your wife deserves to be far paid far more. That parody, i understand how that would irk you and it was based on the record of the call. Now it has become a distraction. Let me say one other thing on this. Democrats and republicans have responsibility for this over the past several years. When you have a process like this that can become highly partisan, the side on defense has to go on offense so they will level whatever charge they can. They will attack you for the choice of Breakfast Cereals you may have made. When the republicans were investigating president obama and head multiple and redundant hearings on benghazi, it was democrats who went on the attack and tried to discredit republicans, that is what democrats were doing now. We learned last night, i have the republicans in these private interviews complained about leaks, but they do not sit for the entire hearing. They run out and give interviews to the media and complain about leaks, which is a leak itself. Advisedes would be well to be deliberate, sober, methodical, and we should try in a partisan environment that heightens over impeachment, to defuse those anxieties to the best of our ability. Dy is if adam schiffs paro should nancy pelosi change the process of this whole house vote . In thethere is nothing constitution that requires a house vote. Shallply says congress have the power to impeach a president for high crimes and misdemeanors. There will be a vote, make no mistake about that. If the committees that are involved in these investigations make the judgment that there are articles of impeachment that should be presented, they will do so. There will be a vote in the house of representatives. Every member of congress will be required to cast a vote for or against the impeachment, and if that vote prevails, it will go to the senate where every member will make a judgment as to whether the president should or should not be removed from office. Thee will be a vote if committees make the determination that there were impeachable offenses and that determination has not been made. Host hot springs, arkansas, shirley. I would really like to know the truth about one thing, and it is bothersome. I watch soap operas and this whole thing is beginning to look like a soap opera to me. I know that when mr. Adam schiff , i up and read that letter called you eight times, i am not going to call you again, i will call you, dont you call me, why didnt those republicans jump up , grabbed the letter, and read it to the whole world . ,he next thing i want to say sometimes i turned it over and told thenews and it whole thing about joe biden and his son and Hillary Clinton getting information about President Trump. They say adam schiff was getting money from the ukraine. On russiawatched that today, rt . Caller yes. They tell the truth all the time. Steve israel . Guest rt is an apparatus of the government of russia. Amplifierchanism and supported by the russian government that attempts to change minds and influence opinion in the United States. I am always happy to come on cspan. You will not find me on rt. I dont think it is credible. Host brian, wallingford, connecticut, democrat. Caller your name suggests the country of israel to me. Move, the total amateur move which of course is all about money, Donald Trumps an to go into erdog , our direct to kurds allies lost 11,000 souls in helping us wreck isis. The idea that the amateurish move that this guy has done, and he has done a million amateur moves since he got in, the whole business with the ukrainian quid pro quo is only one of thousands that can cause him to be taken from office. I just wanted to have you, given the name israel host we lost brian. Carol in catskill, new york, independent. Applaud this young man. Impeachment, with but the whistleblower, i dont understand why it is necessary. President trump comes out when the ink on the Mueller Investigation was dry, trump came out and said ukraine, i want you to do me a favor. You talk about, all i hear about his hunter biden. What about a ivanka trump and little donald . What about her shoe connection in china . In the United States in the white house right now. You talk about the debt is overblown. No one talks about the money that was spent on his golf trips every week. Every weekend he is going on his golf trips. He said in helsinki right with the group next to him that he believes putin over our cia information. Evangelicals say they want a right to life, the people in syria are getting slaughtered. What more do you need . Why man tells you himself he should not be president of the United States. What more do you need . Host steve israel . All, itael first of seems that the whistleblower is actually less critical and vital now that we have a memorialized summary of the call. We dont know whether there are actual recordings. We dont know whether the summary is 100 accurate. , we dontellipses know what might have been said during that. You have a pretty damming summary of that call where the president of the United States has withheld vitally needed military funds to ukraine, saying to the leader of that country do us a favor. That speaks for itself and it speaks volumes. Greta, if i may i want to talk on what the caller raised in terms of syria and the prior caller who got cut off tried to raise with respect to the president s decision to abandon the kurds. I served on the Armed Services committee and the appropriations defense subcommittee. I have been to iraq and afghanistan 15 times. I have traveled around the world and met with very brave americans who are protecting our interests and their allies. I dont care whether you are a democrat or republican, National Security has to withstand certain values. One of those is we dont abandon our allies. We dont abandon people who have been with us in the fight against isis and we do not leave 1000 american soldiers in the fight when we pull out based on a quid pro quo between the president of the United States and president erdogan. President trump had a call with erdogan and then he said we are going to get out of Northern Syria. He was advised thomas universally not to do that. He was told the decisions would be catastrophic. He said he trusted his gut. We are seeing members of isis on the loose. We are seeing our friends who no longer trust us. They are allying with bashir alassad. Allies around the world now believe that Vladimir Putin is a better bet for on alliance than the United States because the United States does not keep its word. No matter what happens with impeachment, that is the most catastrophic impact of this presidency with respect to Foreign Policy and National Security. We whenham, can we get Lindsay Graham and nancy pelosi on the same issue they are right. Host west springfield, michigan, republican. Caller if you and your Party Members feel that russia affected and influenced the 2016 election that got donald trump effect why didnt they the 2018 Congressional Elections that allow the democrats to take control of the house . Did they take the year off waiting for 2020 or were they not effective enough . On your comments about the , president reneging obama with the ukraine and the Missile Defense incidents when he became president was a betrayal of that agreement. Host lets get a response. Partysrael you said your believes that russians somehow disrupted or influenced the 2016 election. It is not my party, it is the department of homeland security, the cia, the fbi. ,t is nonpartisan agencies professionals who protect our security every day who almost unanimously if not unanimously reached the judgment that the russians had a very sophisticated, pervasive intelligence operation in the United States. Particularly on social media. As to your question on why they did not do it in 2018, they may they may have tried. It is harder to affect congressional districts that it is to affect one nationalized election. Host a democratic color come our last. Go ahead. Caller thank you for taking my call. Does isng that trump benefiting russia,. I dont understand why the democrats in congress are calling him out on that. Are not calling him out on that. He could be a russian spy as far as im concerned. The thing he did with china, that benefited russia. Youre putting russian farmers to work and putting hours out of work. With the ukraine that benefits russia. They were having a problem with us supporting ukraine with them taking crimea. Syria, that benefits russia. It does not benefit turkey, and benefits russia. To end byl i want asking what you are looking for as we get closer to the november election for congressional races. What are you looking forward to making thedemocrats house and possibly taking the senate. It is rep. Israel an uphill path to take the senate. I am a house guy and i am looking at a battleground of 40 districts that were represented by republicans that democrats 20 and 30 districts that have a it democratic representative but also elected donald trump. Those are the universal battleground districts. Democrats seem to be running strong in those districts. In the presidency im looking at seven states and 25 counties in those states. They will determine who the next present and is that president is. Host we thank you for your time this morning. Rep. Israel thank you. Break. E will take a we will talk about the political implication of President Trumps decision of removing troops from Northern Syria. Here is a look at what is being published this week. Senator rand paul of kentucky offers a critical look at socialism. He will be a guest on book tvs afterwards program. John kasich, former Ohio Governor and 2016 republican in itsal candidate up to us. Cost. Sistance at all she contends that overzealous critics of the trunk administration pose a threat to the rule of law. Trump administration pose a threat to the rule of law. Ronanatch and kill farrow details the efforts made by others to stifle his reporting. She recounts her time as a cia operative in life undercover. I detailed examination of how the human body works in the body, a guide to occupants. Looking at how American Attitudes towards aging women have changed. Look for these titles in bookstores the coming in the coming week. Congress returns to capitol hill today after a twoweek recess. House committees working on impeachment inquiries against President Trump, legislation to lower Prescription Drug costs, and curbing the outsourcing of u. S. Jobs. On Senate Continues work executive and judicial nominations including the air force secretary nominee. Watch live coverage of the house on cspan, and the senate live on cspan two. Or listencspan. Org live on the go using the free cspan radio app. Washington journal continues. Host james ansell, the editor of the american conservative is here to talk about the president s syria decision. What was your reaction . Mr. Antle i agree with the president , i dont think it is in u. S. Interest to be in syria. I think the military objectives that were achievable, destroying the caliphate of isis have been achieved and that in the long term it serves our National Security interests. Buffer turkey remains a nato ally you and the character of the turkish regime has changed since the cold war days. The kurds, that was not something politically achievable for us. The devil is in the details and the implementation of this was done very quickly, very chaotically, and in a way that maximized the likelihood that the turks would move in and attempt to annex this kurdish territory. The current spot with us against isis, they are not a treaty ally the kurds fought with us against isis, they are not a treaty ally. They were seeking territory and security from isis. It was an important fight for us, we regard isis as a threat to the United StatesNational Security that wanted to deal them a serious blow. They were growing and gaining in territory. Ofiously the trustworthiness the u. S. With prospective allies takes a bit of a hit. Doesnt present us with any really clearcut solutions. Reinserting the troops is what someone like to do. I think it would be a disaster. That does not mitigate the fact that there are bad things going on in that area. Host why would it be a disaster . Mr. Antle now you have fighting going on. Do you want to have u. S. Troops fighting who are technically a nato ally . Our presence there host lets be clear. Fighting a nato ally. Fightld be joining a where Syrian Forces backed by the sheer all aside are fighting turkey and we would then be on that sidedly join now. Mr. Antle that is one of the reasons i think our involvement in syria was so wrong. There are a lot of people who wanted us to be involved in the Syrian Civil War writing against multiple sides fighting against multiple sides. This is not a clearcut case of good guys or bad guys. Thiserting the troops at point, their presence for a while made it too high a price for turkey to do the things they were doing. We were certainly deterring turkish action by the decision to move the troops. Having moved to the troops and the turks having gone and it is completely different. Host what does the president s decision say to our allies . A uture conflict where should they trust the United States with this president . Mr. Antle this is not an anomaly for the kurds. A very badave had experience at the end of the persian gulf war under president bush the first president bush. Rightk president bush was to not move on to baghdad. The kurds had National Aspirations that they hoped our military intervention would advance. The same was true with our military intervention against isis. In syria a lot of people who have worked with the u. S. Have come away with this kind of experience. It is a very transactional relationship. That is the criticism that is frequently made of this president s handling of Foreign Policy more generally is that he is very transactional and he refuses host we are talking about the president s decision to withdraw troops from syria. Your reaction, comments and questions. Republicans 202 7488001. Democrats 202 7488000. Ndependents 202 7488002 you can also text us if you put your first name, city and state. 202 7488003. We are talking with the editor of the american conservative about the present upon decision president s decision in syria. We will go to marry in las vegas, a democratic caller. Good morning. Caller good morning. I have been sickened by what is happening to the kurds and now we will probably have to airlift our men at of syria and that hasnt happened since saigon. Unilaterally everyone is in acting this or that with no authority or no credentials. Ivanka and jared jared, they could not Pass Security clearance, they are out there making money. She went to china to get voting machines, that is scary to me. It comes back with trademarks. We have a make a buck president in office. I am concerned about william barr. He misled the American People and ahe Mueller Report lot of people have not bothered to read the executive summary of that report. Host lets stick to the topic. Mr. Antle there is a lot there. Things toe of the watch with regard to the syria decision, Congress Never authorized this intervention in the first place. Now they want to weigh in after the fact, they could have always this clearly complicates President Trumps relation with Senate Republicans. This is happening with the backdrop of an impeachment inquiry where his relation with Senate Republicans is very important. There is a high likelihood that the house will vote to impeach therefore that would kick it over to republicancontrolled for theor a trial president to actually be convicted and removed from office you need 20 republicans to vote to do that. With the Current Senate numbers that seems like a heavy lift and unlikely to happen. Have situations like this where there is such a strong disagreement between Senate Republicans and the president Vice President pence is much more ally with Senate Republicans on this issue and Foreign Policy more generally than the current president is. Does that move the needle on impeachment . Maybe with a timeline that this will be so far in the past by the time they are voting it wont but you have to raise the question. Host lisa in kentucky, democratic caller. Caller thank you for cspan. Can you explain to me why we that helped usrs fight against isis on the field to die . That heyou explain takes troops and sends them to of allrabia to back mbs people, you have to be kidding me. Explain that to me. Host lets let him respond. Mr. Antle having the 2000 troops go to saudi arabia certainly complicates the president s message that this is about and the endless wars and shrinking our footprint in the middle east. There has been bipartisan criticism of how the president has handled u. S. Relations with saudi arabia particularly following the khashoggi murder. The president has been reluctant to criticize the saudi government. Even though it is the conclusion of those who looked into this that the government was at a minimum complicit if not responsible for the murder. Syria, the to initial mission was the destruction of the physical caliphate. The original mission was not to support an independent kurdistan in syria. That does not mean the conditions of the u. S. Withdrawal had to be done in a way that maximize the likelihood of kurdish casualties. It did not have to be done in a way that had these optics. Is unlikely that end are under any circumstances it would happen cleanly or without negative consequence is. That is why you have to hesitate to intervene in these situations in general. When you do there are often no good solutions. It did not have to be done in this way with this timeline. There could have been a beginning of setting better conditions for withdrawal in april and may of this year. Which countries benefit from the United States reducing our footprint in the middle east . A lot of people argue this will create a vacuum others will fill. I think the likelihood is that if others try to fill this with less economic means they will find the same level of imperial overstretch that we did. The soviet union did not benefit very much from its involvement in afghanistan. Our involvement in afghanistan has reached a point of vastly diminishing returns. Certainly because the president has been criticized a great deal on russia. Everything from the Election Interference Campaign to the perception that he is too close to putin in general. That is a criticism that he will hear. Clearly the president has attempted to position us against iran in the region. Prosaudi andmore antiiranian line within the middle east. Critics are going to say that other bad actors are going to fill this void. I think it is pretty clear that involvement in the middle east to the extent we have been has spent down political and military capital rather than building it. Host lynn, independent color. Your question or comment . Caller thank you for taking my call and thank you for cspan. As a conservative conservative how to you now, given the way this whole situation has devolved, recommended that the u. S. Maintain its integrity and move forward . Mr. Antle clearly the United States is going to have to use other leverage point it has with turkey to try to deter turkish behavior in the region against the kurds and do what they can do to minimize kurdish bloodshed which i think are options that are limited but not nonexistence. Prevent isis captives from being unleashed all over the place which is a Real Security interest in the u. S. And a security interest of the region. Things that cannot be undone, the question is what can you do moving forward . In general, removing our troops from this region where they are only going to invite future problems and escalation of the conflict and fighting on behalf of other compromised political factions in the region i think that is a bit objective. I dont know if it was well served by the way the president did this by coupling it with what is going on in saudi arabia optics look athe lot more like saigon that president obamas 2011 drawdown in iraq. Chris from paterson, new jersey, republican. Im calling on the republican line but i am more of an independent. Im voting most likely for sanders or tall see gabbard because of their antiinterventionist rhetoric. This entire conflict as a whole has been misreported. This is not a withdrawal. I believe the department of defense reported it as a restructuring of the forces there. Though they are abandoning the kurds in Northern Syria this territory was seized at the end of the syrian war by those when the territory was sovereign syrian territory. As you can see now because of u. S. Forces leaving to allow the turkish to enter in to the Northern Areas they are making a pact, the kurds are with the syrian government. Which tells me this is less of the on a whim that people describe it as. Trump just decided this on a whim, and more a planned calculation. As the u. S. Forces were leaving the northern area, not wanting to alienate a nato member which we have a large airbase in in turkey, you see them making a pact with syria. What is not being reported is syria has the same military that has fought off isis forces and the majority of the territory. The kurds are making a pact with them. U. S. Forces are at this very moment trying to block the Syrian Military from coming to the aid of the kurds, which would only allow the turks to capture the territory the kurds now hold and carry out an ethnic cleansing. We need to facilitate the alignment of the Syrian Military and the kurds and not continue to have them at war with each other. It doesnt benefit anyone in the region and only hurts the kurds. There was a lot of advocacy dating back to the Obama Administration of the idea we should get involved in syria and simultaneously work against and ite assad regime does not seem possible to do. Host should the white house extend an invitation to the turkish president . That was something that was reported would happen soon. Do you think it should happen . Erdogane i dont think should go to the white house under the circumstances. I do think that obviously a lot of communication in back channels and between the u. S. And turkish president need to happen and a turkey need to be itsuaded from its current would compound the sending of the long wrong message to be an honored guest at this juncture. Host manchester township, new jersey. Joan, independent. Forer thank you, cspan taking my call. , to theion is Republican Senate do the republican senators foresee what is going to happen with isis and how they escaped and what are we going to do at this point as far as airports and security for large cities of the usa . Host lets take that. Her point being what can lawmakers do on capitol hill to ensure that these isis fighters do not make their way into the United States. Part ite for the most is unlikely these individual fighters will make it here. The real problem you have is if isis gains in strength that it might have some capacity to begin engaging and that kind of planning and carrying those things out again. For that it is better to be strengthening airport security, strengthening border security, strengthening security of the u. S. Physical homeland rather than trying to police outcomes in faraway countries. Andainly it is a concern most Senate Republicans do not agree with the president s decision. Host we are talking with the editor of the american conservative about policy in syria. We are involved in the syrian war, our presence israel otherwise we would not have had to remove troops. We have lied to the kurds since 1990 the one when we look 1991 when we left them to suffer gas attacks from saddam after kuwait. We are lucy pulling the ball on charlie brown. On the republican line, go ahead. That having all of our troops all over the world is centuries now it seems just ridiculous. Out any troops that we can from whatever country it is that we are protecting their borders, constantly putting our troops at harm, put an end to it all. We have treaties with japan and other countries where if someone attacks them we are forced to protect them. It is just ridiculous. Everybody cant claim the president did this on a when. It takes months to plan this out. It was not just one day sitting down and saying i am going to pull troops out of syria today. Host do you believe that it did happen that way . Certainly the president has wanted to do some version of this for quite some time. I dont think the National Security professionals who are constitutionally subordinate to him are blameless. He has called for withdrawals in the past and instead of presenting options there has frequently been a lot of foot dragging. The president is not blameless because some of these are political appointees who serve at the pleasure of the president and he has chosen people like john bolton who dont actually agree with his underlying foreignpolicy views. In his business experience it did not really matter whether you agreed with the bosss opinions, your job is to carry it out. It is not like that a government. Having people aligned with you on your team is important if you want these goals to be implemented successfully. There were some planning and proposals before hand but it is very clear that the exact circumstances of what is happening now, this is sort of a selfinflicted crisis. Host from illinois, independent. This looks more like a diversion to make. Is in a lot of heat and all of a sudden he says he is going to pull troops and here we are talking about it. Every day its a different story. Its a diversion. What is going on is we have a president that is not getting paid, we have questioner that is not getting paid and they are doing something subtle behind the scenes. We have a lot of assets after world war ii. Germany,apan, half of a lot of assets around the world. We have 12 carrier fleets. , our assetsg on now and our fleets they want to go down to five fleets. What is going on . I believe they are selling us out and they are getting found out about it and here we are talking about moving troops around. Mr. Antle i think it was Meghan Mccain who called it a form of way the dog. The dog. Certainly with the impeachment going on that is a criticism that will be raised. I would argue given Senate Republicans reaction to this if anything it marginally deteriorated the president s position on impeachment. It is not very good impeachment insurance. The Senate Republican caucus with a few exceptions like rand paul is a fairly hawkish group of people, more aligned with the george w. Bush Foreign Policy than the America First trump Foreign Policy. I do think trump wants to show that he can deliver on some of his agenda items while democrats are pursuing impeachment and that will be part of their messaging. We are focused on doing various things for the American People and democrats are investigating theaching and given composition of the senate, wasting everyones time, that will be the argument. What legal action can Congress Take to stop u. S. Troop withdrawal from syria. Mr. Antle congress could have approved it in the first place. Various congresses have reversed that basic order where it is supposed to be Congress Authorizes than the president implements and oversees the military operation as commanderinchief. Now we are letting president s unilaterally commit forces to countries without congressional involvement. These things become unpopular wants to come in and micromanage. Certainly congress can pass resolutions. Many of them nonbinding, expressing a sense it does not agree with the president s decision. It could use the power of the purse and refuse to fund what the president is doing. That becomes very difficult. People are unwilling to jeopardize funds going to people who are in combat situations. That congress has and could enforce over the president. Congress did try to end u. S. Participation in the war in yemen by passing a bipartisan resolution but the president vetoed it and they did not have the numbers to override the veto. Host new jersey, pat, republican. Caller i would like to know if you have any insight into where a sod is and what he is doing and what the nato members are doing to forestall this action by turkey. It is going into another country where it has no business being. What is their justification for this and what can be done to stop it . Mr. Antle it certainly raises questions that we have been reluctant to entertain about the nature of the nato alliance. Countriesit includes like Great Britain who have been close allies to the u. S. For years. In a large variety of circumstances. When you look at a country like turkey a lot has changed since the cold war and the commonality of interests that were there, does that still exist . Is turkey deserving of the same allied status at this point as Great Britain . I think that is a question worth asking. This will over time become a question that other nato governments will have to confront. I dont think any will want to move in and work with turkey on this. Assad in syria has used this instability to strengthen his position. He came out ahead in the Syrian Civil War but he has proved to not only be ruthless but to be a survivor in his own right. Is a very complicated situation that the International Community has attempted at various points to resolve. Resilientven pretty and difficult for any kind of resolution for outside forces. Host from pennsylvania, independent. Caller i have three questions. Does trump know who the kurds are . Aware they have been by far our best fighting allies for at least two decades now . To callsquestion is, ago trump said the guide the guy said trump planned this. Troops toplan for our be trapped between the turkish army and the kurdish army . Mr. Antle who are the kurds . Certainly that is a question, does the president actually have the knowledge of the region to be making some of these decisions . That is a criticism. I think it is an odd criticism to say that a person who does not have a not a lot of knowledge of the region should not be involved in solving all of its problems. The kurds allied with us in the gulf war. They were very important allies to us in the fight against isis. And it wasy ally always going to come to a point where what we were willing to do to advanced kurdish National Aspirations. I think other president s might have handled it more adroitly but i dont know that other president s would have been willing to make a commitment to establishing kurdistan in Northern Syria. Host one more call. Florida, republican. Caller the president not only did he throw the kurds under the bus he also through our armed forces under the bus. Creating a big morale problem for the armed forces. These soldiers, sailors and marines have been fighting with the kurds for the past 20 years. They formed bonds with them and they looked out for each other. They became friends. This is really bad for our armed forces. Trump is treating our armed forces like the French Foreign legion. Host you were shaking your head, do you agree . Mr. Antle people who have father alongside the kurds are going to not like this decision or at least they will not like the method in which it was carried out. Seeing whatt like is happening to the kurds now that the turks are moving into Northern Syria. I do think that even though the president this was sort of a chosen crisis at this moment i do think in the long term it was not tenable to have 50 u. S. Troops being the buffer between turkey and the kurds. At the moment it did increase the price of turkey doing anything to hurt and was did to the kurds. I dont know if that solution would have held indefinitely. Perhaps it would have been done less chaotically by someone else with another president would have been faced with the same choice. Host james is the editor of the american conservative. You can follow him at theamericanconservative. Com. We will returnck to our question, could you support Elizabeth Warren for president . If you say yes 202 7488000. If you say no 202 7488001. Sunday night on cue and day. American University Distinguished professor of history alan kraut looks back on policies on managing immigration. I would argue the current wave of antiimmigrant sentiment, of xenophobia is not different from what we have seen in the past. While it seems to us to be peppered with acts of violence theree loss ferocity have been other acts of violence. Antiimmigrant violence in the. Period before the civil war, antiimmigrant riots in the 1880s. There have been a lot of moments in American History where the antiimmigrant sentiment has been translated into true ugliness. Watch sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. The house will be in order. Cspan hasears and been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the Supreme Court and Public Policy events from washington dc and around the country so you can make up your own mind. Created by cable in 1979. Cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Washington journal continues. Host whether you are democratic, republican or independent we want to know if you could support Elizabeth Warren in the primary or a general election. Take a look at the recent poll numbers on Elizabeth Warren. When it comes to the polling average in this democratic primary contests, joe biden leads with 28 , Elizabeth Warren behind by two Percentage Points and Bernie Sanders at 15 . In a hypothetical matchup between democrats and the President Joe Biden beats out President Trump 51 to 40 while elizabeth wore it comes in at 49 compared to President Trumps 41 . This is what Elizabeth Warren had to say about why she is running for president. Senator warren i see an america that is not an america of expanding opportunities. I see an america that just keeps working better and better for a better bigger slice at the top. Thatyou see a Government Works great for the rich and powerful and is not working for that is corruption pure and simple and we need to call it out for what it is. America that works great for giant Drug Companies but not for people trying to get a prescription filled. That is corruption. An america that works great for giant Oil Companies that want to notl everywhere but does Pay Attention to the Climate Crisis that is bearing down upon us. That is corruption. [applause] i have good news. I have a plan for that. Warren on whyh she is running for president. Fox news recent poll shows that she and the former Vice President together captured the support of more than half of democratic primary voters. 32 , aen coming in at three point increase since september. Elizabeth warren is gaining on him, she gained six points but she is that 22 . We are asking all of you, would you support Elizabeth Warren . We will go to darlene in gold hill , oregon. Caller i would support Elizabeth Warren. Womantime that we have a in the executive offices. For me that is very important. Her perspective is going to be a little different and frankly she is a well educated woman and the things she wants to happen in our country are the things i want to happen in our country. I would like to make one comment. I believe President Trump did this turkey host lets stick to the topic. We will go to gary in oregon. You say no. Caller thank you for taking my call. Warren has a problem with speaking to troops and when she speaks she has her microphone and she is screaming and yelling. The people i listened to cannot stand to listen to where she is that and what she wants to do. Trump in that donald the debate with the biden or her will clean their clocks. At tonights debate 8 00 eastern time she will be center stage next to former vice President Joe Biden. Patrick in st. Louis, missouri, you say yes. Caller thank you for taking my call. I would support Elizabeth Warren. Buttigieg,port pete andrew yang, bill weld even. Is, the man we have in the office right now is a malignant Narcissistic Personality Disorder suffering from that. He is out of control. He is putting lives in danger. Now its going to be our lives in danger, people are dying in syria right now. Host who do you like the best in the democratic field . Which candidate are you leaning towards. Caller i really liked mayor pete, i do. Been a that he has heemen, he has been has been somebody who has served this country, he has been over there and he knows what is going on. I think cam and Amy Klobuchar together would be a great ticket. What concerns you about Elizabeth Warren . About theam concerned way she panders. She will pander to trying to pull the boat and that is kind of scary to me. I would rather have someone who has principles that stands for america. Right now we dont have it. Host annie in west mississippi. You say yes as well. Caller yes, i could support Elizabeth Warren. , think she is very energetic some of her policies i dont agree with, but she has some good ideas and i could support her. Host david in california, david says no. Caller i would say no based on her lack of truths. She lied about being a native american, she claimed she was fired as a teacher. She does,elling like her attacking rich people. She is a millionaire herself. I dont understand where she is coming from. Host who is your candidate . Caller tulsi gabbard. She is the only one who wants us to pull our troops out of different places where they should not be. When i hear a congresswoman saying only 12 americans died in syria, 12 is too many. Host russell from massachusetts. Your view of Elizabeth Warren. Caller i believe she is one of the better candidates. I say this only because being in massachusetts we have a republican governor and i can assure you that there are not too many other places around wherever republican governor could work with democratic senators. Our republican governor baker came out and condemned his own republican president ial personality, donald trump. The thing that i have with this and i hear a lot of people calling in about lies, i can tell you this. As a full blood native american in our culture if you are consumed by your community or your counsel as native american you are native american. Have heree reality we that a lot of people are not talking about. I have sat down with Elizabeth Warren. I know this is what Robert Mueller was talking about, people dont realize our president came on national tv yesterday and said we have 55 Nuclear Warheads in turkey. Who comes out and says less . Says that . We were pulled out to let Russian Troops in. Host we will stick to our question. California. N jose, you could support Elizabeth Warren . Caller yes. If you watch and hear donald trump he does not think she is going to win because he is going after bidens son. That is why he is going after biden and not her. I definitely think that Elizabeth Warren, i would vote for her. She comes across sometimes a little too shrill and she gives away too many things. Capitalist, is a but the other thing is trump has towers in turkey. Lets not forget that. Thats why he pulled out. Host who is your candidate . Caller Elizabeth Warren. Im going to vote for her. Old and think he is too he is not up for the fight. She is definitely up for the fight. When trump comes after her he is going to come after her as a socialist, you watch. Thank you. Hold on, ken. , i want to bring our viewers to the house side. Jim jordan talking about the impeachment inquiry. Trying to remove the president we elected and only a handful of people know how this whole thing started and who this person is. That seems to be a question that needs to be answered. I would hope you all would push for that. Why we dont know who this individual is and can determine the credibility that he or she may have i think is a fundamental question. [indiscernible] rep. Jordan we have had 30 hours of testimony and we are heading into our fourth interview. It will be another eight to 10 hour day. Each individual offers a distinct perspective. If chairman shift if adam schiff decides to bring in mr. Bolton we will have questions for him. [indiscernible] at this point it is far more than a wiggle blower leak whistleblower leak. Rep. Jordan you dont think the American People have the right to know the person who started this process to try to remove the president of the United States 13 months before an election . You dont think they deserve to know that . Dont you think we deserve to know how this all started . The individual that started it all . Got a readout from a call between President Trump and the ukrainian president , writes the memo the next day and uses terms like scary, frightening, crazy, and weights 18 days to file a complaint. Who is the first person he sees . Adam schiff. You dont think the American People have a right to know who that person is . We are talking 330 Million People in this country, we are talking about removing the president of the United States based on that complaint . The first person he talked to his adam schiff . I think the American People would like to know. You think he has no right to anonymity . He has a right to protection. He has no right to anonymity. The American People that we all represent, they have a right to know. [indiscernible] i think he got a subpoena this morning from mr. Schiff. I believe he did this morning just like yesterday with dr. Hill. Is there anything that concerns you about the behavior of the president . We can talk about what happened in mr. Volckers the transcribed interviews rules which are different than the subpoena deposition rules that are in effect for todays interview. Mr. Volcker was clear, no print folk low. No quid pro quo. Trump anded what mr. The ukrainian president said on the call. No quid pro quo whatsoever and the ambassador confirmed that. We cannot talk about what took place in the other interview. It seems like the democrats want to talk about certain things. [indiscernible] we have called for the release of the transcripts all along. We have called for doing this in the open so that the 300 something million americans can see what is going on. We have to go. That was jim jordan getting ready to go behind closed doors to continue with depositions. Assistant secretary of state george cant has been subpoenaed and he will testify today. Mr. Jordan suspects it will be an allday testimony. That is what is happening on capitol hill. Happened yesterday with fiona hill and continues through the week. Cspan. Org to follow along with that. Reporters are camped outside of the closeddoor testimony trying to get reaction from the members of congress that are participating in it. Back to our conversation with all of you. Can in michigan, you could not support Elizabeth Warren . Caller no i dont. In havinginterested the first woman president. Think it is Elizabeth Warren. She misrepresents a lot of things and we have had too much of that already. My selection would be told the gabbard. Tulsi i have read her plans and they dont amount to much more than saying i will tell them not to do that. I am not sure there is any depth to them. Host liam from california, you say no as well. Leo from california, you say no as well. Caller the first time in 30 years i have tried to get through and make it. I am a republican in the first place. That isnt the reason i would not support miss warren. I think there are stronger candidates in the Democratic Party i could support. Which i heardard the other gentleman just say. I think she is more coherent and has a Better Foundation under her. She is more straightforward. I respect her and the way she presents herself. She has an understanding of the world situation that is not all smoke and mirrors like miss warren. Mrs. Warren built her entire public life and the foundation of her life she climbed the ladder in a way that to me is suspect unfortunately. They are both strong socialists, i am not a diehard capitalists. I am totally opposed to the socialist agenda. Host terry in indiana. You could support Elizabeth Warren . Caller yes, i would. Now i am a bernie supporter. I would support Elizabeth Warren if she was the nominee. Host and why . Caller first off i think a lot are running along parallel with bernies. I have followed bernie for quite a few years and i have watched him and i understand what his plans are for america and the future. The future of our children and grandchildren and that is what is important to me. Warren,e that elizabeth would except a lot of bernies advice. Host linda in bloomfield, missouri. You say yes. Caller good morning. Warren support elizabeth as Vice President with biden for president. He has experience and she has some good ideas. I think that is a twoperson job. The Vice President should have a job also. I think she would be a wonderful one for our environment, for education, but i think mr. Biden has the knowledge of the office and Foreign Affairs and i think that coupled with host linda in missouri, did you vote for president obama twice . Caller yes i did. Host and you voted for Hillary Clinton in the last election . Caller yes i did. Nick nick from illinois, you could not support the senator from massachusetts, why not . Caller i could not supporter but i think she will be the nominee. I think it will be joe biden and Elizabeth Warren. If i could, i just watched karl rove on fox news. Karl rove just said that joe bidens son did what he did not by himself, with john kerrys longtime business associate. Karl rove just dumped that on the Obama Administration. I will get to this real quick with Elizabeth Warren. I am ave nothing, millennial and the democrats are pathetic. Host from Chesapeake Beach , maryland. Caller i wouldnt mind her being the nominee, i am more of an andrew yang kind of guy. She has a lot of the same features as bernie like the other two callers said. I wanted to vote for bernie a long time ago when he ran for years ago practically. I think he should have one. More of an andrew yang kind of guy that i would not mind seeing Elizabeth Warren win. Host lets listen to Elizabeth Warren talk about her plans. Warren it is time for a wealth tax in this country. [applause] your first 50 million, free and clear. Are you feeling relaxed . Your 50 millionth and first dollar you have to pitch in two cents. [applause] two cents, and two cents for every dollar after that. Here is the question. The top 1 10 of 1 in this country. What can we do with that two cents . We can provide universal childcare for every baby in this country. All of them. Universal three k for every threeyearold and fouryearold in america. Wages of every childcare worker in this country. Make College Tuition free for everyone who wants to go. [applause] truly level the playing field. Two 50 billion in historically black colleges and universities. [applause] that with a two we canalth tax, plus cancel Student Loan Debt for 95 of the full. Was in iowar warren last month with those remarks. According to a recent poll she is in the lead in iowa and new hampshire. That does it for our conversation with all of you. Thank you for watching. We will be back tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your day. Announcer the head of the Pentagon Office is speaking live today five of the china security conference. At 1245 time eastern on cspan, online, or listen live on the free caller cspan radio app. And, the president s decision to withdraw troops from syria. Officials discuss the latest developments. That is also here on cspan. Follow cspan as Congress Returns to capitol hill today after a twoweek recess with House Committees working on impeachment inquiries against President Trump, legislation to lower Prescription Drug costs, of copying the outsource u. S. Jobs. Secretaryair force nominee barbara barrett. Watch live, gaveltogavel onerage, of the house and cspan, cspan. Org, and using the free cspan radio app. Announcer a new cspan poll Shows Americans support a variety of changes to how states control conduct elections. A small majority agree president ial candidates should be required to release their recent tax returns to appear on the ballot. While only 26 of republicans agree three quarters of democrats and 57 percent of independent support the idea. There is greater partisan consensus on passing laws that require people to show government issued ids before voting. 78 ofl indicates americans support such voter id laws. This includes significant majorities of republicans, democrats, and independents. In addition to requiring candidates to release their tax returns and passing voter id laws, majorities of americans also favor making election day a national holiday, randomizing the order in which candidate names appear on the ballot, automatically registering all citizens to vote, and allowing people convicted of felonies to vote after they have served their sentences. You can dive deeper into the numbers at cspan. Org. Ceo michaeloups corbat talks about the banking industry, global economy, and brexit. He spoke at the detroit economic club. [applause] betsy thank you very much, steve. Good afternoon to all the dec members and guests today. It is my privilege to be your presiding officer today and introduced todays participants