Transcripts For CSPAN Washington 20240704

Coming up on waington journal, we talked about camping 2024n the future of the Republican Party. Jesse burns, Senior Editor of th hill, previews the week ahead on the campaign trail. Also, we discuss veterans and military issues. Washington journal starts now. Host it is washington journal for august 7, a poll asked respondents about overall confidence in the u. S. Military. There were fluctuations over several decades, current results show that americans are less likely to express a great deal or a lot of confidence in the military. We will show you those results. To start the program, we want your thoughts on your current level of confidence in the American Military and tell us why you have confidence or do not have confidence. Republicans 202 7488001, democrats 202 7488000 and independents 202 7488002. For active and former military members, 202 7488003. You can use the same number to text us this morning. You can post on social media at facebook. Com cspan or cspanwj on twitter and you can follow the show on instagram. The poll shows the level of confidence that americans expressed over several decades. They asked if they had a great deal of faith, quite a lot, or very little. For those saying a great deal and quite a lot, it started at 60 of those expressing that sentiment. That was back in 1975, following an increase in the 80s, a peak in the 90s over 80 , close to 90 , then dropping with peaks again in the to thousands, 2004, 2009. Then a steady decrease of that level of confidence, saying they had a great deal or quite a lot down to 60 . That is from gallup. They provided a context of why the valleys happened, publi perception of the u. S. Military fluctuated dcally in those the aftermath of the cool for and 9 11 were followed by mitary. In confidence in the the latter of the surges ushered inn era of elevated confidence lasting nearly two decades. Another the u. S. Is withdrawn from iraq and afghanistan, confidence in the military has blic. Nued to decline among the clin across all Party Identification groups with republicans the most likely to express the confidence and independence independents becoming the least likely. The poll tracks about the great deal or quite a lot of confidence level in the military amongst political party. As it currently stands, 68 of republicans expressing that sentiment, 62 of democrats and 55 of independents. When it comes to the confidence level in the military, give us your thoughts as we start this morning. Call the lines, 202 7488001 republicans, 202 7488000 democrats in independents 202 7488002. For active or former members of the military, especially if you want to offer your perspective, 202 7488003 is the number to call and you can use that same number to text us this morning if you wish. Starting off in mississippi, independent line on this level of confidence in the military. Go ahead. Caller good morning. I wanted to make two points. First is that in previous generations, especially going back to world war ii, the number of people who served was large. It was a considerable part of the population who served in the military and was a veteran. I am a millennial, my generations and generations beneath me, it is small, tiny percentage of the population who serve in the military. The other thing i wanted to say is i think wars, winning and losing them, may have some effect. But mostly, it has to do with the fact that spending is getting out of control and has been for a while. We are gearing up for a cold war with china and it is getting very expensive and i think people are worried about the deficit and budget and i think where as in previous times we did not concern ourselves with the military when talking about the budget, people are asking if we are spending too much. Host we continue on, in michigan, independent line. The confidence you have in the military, go ahead. Caller good morning. I do not have that much confidence in the military being used as it was like world war ii and previous. We seem to be sending the military to do chores. We look for places to go to send people as if we were expendable and i do not appreciate it because they hold a life so cheap. Host do you think in that context the military should be decreased in size or changed in effort or what they are used for . What changes would you like to see . Caller i think most people in the world would like to live in a peaceful environment and i think america looks for wars because for some reason, the government seems to want to control the population. We are being used for tools. We keep people out of the battle, introduce our own. They are like rented cops. We do not seem to be held in much esteem by the government as far as promoting long life and happiness. Host the hill had a recent story taking a look at the pentagon reacting to this poll, writing that the press secretary when it was published said he was not in a position to address the why behind the decrease in confidence and maintained the Defense Department will try to earn the confidence. Popularity ebbs and flows over time, we do not take public trust and confidence for granted. As an all volunteer force, we know we have a responsibility to congress and the public to ensure they have an understanding of what we are doing to defend the country, how we spend taxpayer dollars and how we deploy the resources we have been entrusted with. That is part of the statement from the hill, you can add that to the mix as well as your own thoughts on the current level of confidence in the military. North carolina, fayetteville. Joseph, you are next up. Caller the way this country is set up, the way the government is set up, we were never meant to have a standing military. We were meant to have militias, that is what fought all the way through the revolution. This whole thing with the split government now, it seems like theres a lot of people, independents, republicans and some democrats who would not spend a bunch of money on the military. I joined in 1983 and at the age of 49, i got sent to iraq during the obama administration. Most of the people that join the military are doing it because they want to, not because the School System or their parents want them to do it. It is not because they got trapped or anything. For people to say they dont like the military, dont trust them when they are not doing it themselves. You have got civilian control of the military and most of the people in government have not served. It is disingenuous when people say they do not trust the military. They want a militia to defend the country, it will be hard on our allies. Host you said you served in the military, do you encourage others to serve, whether it be your children or others . Caller my brotherinlaw and a in the marine corps when i was active duty. You are hearing people talk about how they dont trust the military. Host joseph in North Carolina giving his military background to give his thoughts this morning. If you are a current or former member of the military and want to share your perspective, you can call the line 202 7488003. The wall street journal took a look at shortfalls when it comes to recruitment for 2023, when it comes to the army it is 15,000 short of 65,000 member goal. When it comes to the navy, 10,000 short of 38,000. Air force, 3000 short of 27,000 goal. Marines, 33 thousand target has been met. That is the breakdown of recruitment. If you want to take a look, there is a story at the wall street journal. From colorado, independent line. Caller good morning, how are you . Host fine, thank you. Caller thanks for taking my call. I am a libertarian. As far as the military goes, at the root of it all is the way the military has so many bases established throughout the entire world. What we really need to do is shut down every military installation outside the u. S. And bring everyone of them home. What good is it for them to defend a country if they are not actually in this country . Host in montana, independent line. Caller good morning. My confidence in the military is very, very low. We use it to make america be number one, that is what we do. There is a reason we have bases all across the world, but other countries do not have bases, why is that . We use war in the military to boost our economy, you look at every recession around that time , we have a board to boost the economy and the military praise on the poor folks and people who need to go to college because we will get you to college, go to the military. Turn your life around, go to the military. These people need help like poverty relief or Mental Health instead of having to go to the military to get these things. I do not have confidence in the military because i think war is bad. Look what happened with 9 11, we used in a way of patriotism. We got hit, it was bad, it was sad. People were getting smart, too smart. They were thinking about more equality, we wanted things. The government and military new that, so we went to war to keep people dos ill and focused on capitalism. That is the way it is. Host the Reagan Foundation did its own survey, taking a look at military issues released back in december. Amongst those questions for this poll, they showed a 48 percent overall confidence, a great deal of overall confidence in the military and 33 as well have some confidence. When it comes to the great deal of confidence, 50 said they had a great deal of confidence to keep the country safe, 44 had confidence the u. S. Military could win a war overseas, 42 percent said it would deter foreign aggression, 35 said they had a great deal of confidence the military would act in a professional and nonpolitical matter. That was done december last year. In florida, good morning. Caller good morning. I am glad you guys have me on. Theres a lot of ground to cover when it comes to the military, but there are ties involved with the military as well as the United States. I hear a lot of people talking about Different Things which i cannot cover on, but what i can say about the military is just like the u. S. Dollar, there is a term called in god we trust. Those terms should be taken to heart and a lot of people have different mindsets on that. There is a part that is spiritual that is connected to that term. Beckoned the old testament, joshua and his men who were militant were servants of god, so they had ties to god and even being 300, they were able to destroy time and time again different militaries that were antichrist or antibiblical. Host how does that relate to the current use of the military leader confidence in it . Caller those terms, once again, when you are separating people who are natural human beings, fleshly figures, and you separate their contributions, if i may say, or attributes to the spiritual realm which has to do with gods influence, you separate the protection of god in the military as well as in the United States. It has a domino effect and a lot of people have free will. Repercussion and consequence. Everybody was always emphasizing everything carnal instead of connecting to spiritual. Host john in louisiana, republican. Caller i called on the wrong line, i am retired military. I spent 28 years in the air force and of been retired just about that amount. The way i see things, back when i was in the air force, we had the cold war and i was in the Strategic Air command. We had a mission day in and day out. It gives you purpose. I toured vietnam and was in desert storm, so ive seen the combat side of the operation. Now it seems like the Senior Leadership of the military is not as good as it was when i was there. They do not have a daytoday mission. It is hard to maintain readiness when there is not a threat. They still are needed because you do not know when the threat is. The threat right now is china and russia trying to get back together as a soviet union. But that is not something the military can wrap their arms around because the job was to break things and kill people. The mission of the military is fuzzy now, i would say. They do not have one we could say like in the cold war, the soviet union, the nuclear thing. But i tell you what i live at the air force base where there is a huge retiree population. A look at the young people as i go in and out of the base a lot and it is good to see them stepping up to the plate and joining the military. I always ask where they are from and if they will make a career out of it and the vast majority, yes, they are. So that does make me feel good. But the leadership has to be in a place where they actually lead and inspire as opposed to being a bureaucrat. I think the Senior Leadership is just a bunch of bureaucrats. Host what role did you serve in the military . You may have said this, but what did you do . Caller i was an air force pilot for 28 years. I was a pilot, then at the end of my career as a pilot, i flew for Delta Airlines for 20 years. Host former military talking about his experiences, relating them to the current confidence level. If you have military background, current or former, give us a call. Text us if you want, anybody can text us on the line. You can call the other lines. It was the House Freedom caucus recently holding a forum on the topic of the military, a member talking about the idea of playing politics with the military, particularly with democrats. Here is a portion. [video clip] the challenge we face as a Republican House as we are dealing with an executive branch and administration that truly does not understand or does not agree with what should be the ultimate purpose of the military. I would say the sole purpose of the military. It is to be the most is effective, lethal, fighting and killing machine so no one wants to challenge us. That was the case before this administration, but this administration told her military the purpose of the military was to fight climate, the climate was the greatest threat to the country. Behind that, the greatest threat was racism in the military, white nationalism, whatever that is. Trump supporters in the military. They perpetrated this Relentless Assault on the very fabric of our military, the very purpose. That was reflected with the ndaa s we had to vote against four times last year. It was a bill that was weakening the military and taking our focus on what the purpose of the military is. I want to congratulate my colleagues for helping us put back focus of what the military is about. We attacked the social experiment, attack diversity, equity and inclusion, attacked climate extremism, attacked funding for abortion, which never happened until the Biden Administration and attacked funding for transgender surgery for military members, members put by colleagues. This is a great step for the country and the military. Host that was from mid july, if you want to go to our website and check at those comments when it comes to military and political matters, you can do that. Robert in florida, republican line. You are on. Caller unfortunately, we are only as strong as our leader and i have no confidence in our leader at this time. Host how does that relate . When you say you have no confidence in the military because of President Biden, what do you mean by that . Caller he is weak. On the stage of the whole world, he looks weak. He makes us look weak. Host how does that impact the military specifically . Caller because he is the commanderinchief. If you are commanderinchief if your commanderinchief is weak, our military cannot stand up to the commanderinchief like they want to. We have good people in the military but they cannot stand up to the commanderinchief. Host ted from oregon, good morning. Caller good morning. I just want to say the only thing i have heard this morning that has got any kind of iron to it is my fellow air force veteran down in louisiana. I was in the civil engineers, i was active duty for six years, two months, 12 days and a wake up. I went into the air force reserve after that, i absolutely think to myself there is only one point in a mans life when you are either going to man up and do it or not. I used the u. S. Air force for a reason, i was a plumbing specialist. If theres one thing i know about a pilot, they do not want to be outside in an outhouse. To let everybody know, ive heard all kinds of things this morning. There is only one man i can really side with and that would be my friend down in louisiana, the pilot. I think to myself, i have heard all kinds of things this morning , from young and old and there comes a point in a young mans life you are either going to do it or not. I think everybody that i know that did not join the military at my age said i was going to do that, and i say you are one of the could have, should have, would have. People have falsified their military record to try to get the benefits i have received is a veteran. If there is anybody that is 18, 19, 20, 21, do not waste your time. Join the military, see the world. Have a great day. Host democrats line from hawaii, hello. Caller how are you doing . I served 21 years active duty in the navy, i am a retired navy chief. Our military has always been strong and remains strong because of the men and women and leaders they serve under. That is it. I agree with both of the air force personnel. Our military is strong and will always be strong. Take care. Host former military, you can add years to the mix if you are active or former. Call the line that best represents you. The Reagan Foundation survey talked about confidence in the military. When it was taken november 2022, 50 of those that said they had a great deal of confidence was down from 57 november 2021. 44 said confidence rose to win a war overseas compared to 2021. It was the same both years for 2021 and 22 when it comes to the idea of a confidence level in deterring aggression, then acting in a professional and nonpolitical manner. 35 said they had a great deal to not do that, 40 saying that november 2021. That is from the Reagan Foundation taking a look at matters of the military. Jeffrey in North Carolina, republican line. Caller good morning. There are a couple of things i want to reiterate, i think the gentleman said he was from florida, about the confidence in the military because joe biden is president. That is very untrue. We are grateful to have a leader such as himself to stay positive and get his whole administration involved with a very highrisk type of position. You are talking peoples lives and deescalate wars. We do not need a war. We have so many troubles going on that pertain to the military and pertaining to future elections. The expresident s thinking to have this person put in that position again, with everything he is caring to to personal involvement and feeling about government, very dangerous. What you do have a something that should not be overlooked or undermined, it is unfortunate, he said about White Supremacy and racism. It is in the military, in the schools, every aspect of the United States. Until people start understanding and pushing the beauty of being in the military, protecting your freedom, you will have more of the next generation willing to commit their lives to want to fight for this nation. When you hear the tragedy, people will say they fought in wars and now they are homeless and cannot get medical treatment from the v. A. , it is so damaging. They are walking among the streets mentally damaged. Host in georgia, democrats line. Caller how are you doing . I am a retired first sergeant, i spent 20 years in the military. The reason why recruiting goes down, it fluctuates. It depends on the economy. When the economy is great, recruiting goes down. We are not trying to recruit everybody, we are not trying to recruit white supremacists. If youve got a background of being a skinhead, we do not want those types of people. Why . When you are on the battlefield, you have to trust the guy that is right next to you because he is your best friend. He is covering you. When i see people talking about we need to withdraw from the european peninsula and somehow everybody was in the United States, we could protect the United States, no. America is central to world safety. If there was no america, could you imagine what russia or china would be doing right now . People would be suffering and suffering. We have the best military in the world and i do not see it changing. Host we will continue with these calls for the next half hour. If you want to tell us about your level of confidence in the military, 202 7488001 for republicans, democrats 202 7488000 and independents 202 7488002. If you are current or former member of the military, call us at 202 7488003. Text us at that number as well. Post on social media sites, too. You heard from a republican congressman, here is the democratic congressman and army veteran on the house for last month when it comes to the idea of politics and military policy, he laid blame on republicans. Here is a portion. [video clip] i proudly served to combat tours in iraq and i know the human cost of conflict. The landscape we face is as serious as ever, from a war in europe to significant stress from china. This body has a crucial decision in front of us, one that will have ramifications for my young boys and many generations of americans to come. When we choose to be patriots, continuing the 60 plus year precedent of coming together in a bipartisan manner as americans to keep our nation safe . Or will be give in and give up, feeding the ground of our democracy to a small group of extremists willing to hijack our nations security for their own narrow, selfish political gain . So many of the foundational challenges our military faces from declining trust in the institution to significant recruiting challenges for all services can and must be directly attributed to this introduction of inherently partisan divisive rhetoric into what should be a sober and bipartisan discussion. If i hear one more colleague, especially one who never served a day in uniform, use the w word, which i will not use on the floor, then struggle to define what they mean by it, i will lose it. Every time i hear that, i think about the phases of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and guardians in harms way as we speak. I think about the 4000 young cadets i have the political representing the privilege of representing. I have been here less than a year, but ive never had a single military family, veteran or servicemember ever bring up this issue. Zero times, never. What they bring up over and over our veterans and military families because they are proud of the service they have done and are doing. They are part of the military today, proud of the work to make it better and proud of our country. It is our job to remind them that we are proud of them and we will have their backs. Host you can find more of that on our website. From her Facebook Page this morning, confidence in the u. S. Military to do their job should never be questioned because they do their job. They do the missions they are handed. I do not see this as a lack of confidence in military, more a lack of leadership. They are the best in the world. Facebook. Com cspan is where you can post, twitter feed cspanwj. From washington, d. C. On your confidence level in the military. Caller thanks for having me on. I am a retired intelligence officer, air force. I did iraq, afghanistan and bahrain and i am currently stationed at the pentagon right now. I am retired, but the problem we are having now is culture wars. We cant recruit likely used to. I will give you an example. My current boss is a threestar general, she has these town halls. When she came on board, the first thing she talked about is how gay she was. For 40 minutes, the first 20 minutes was all about her lgbt miss lgbtness and how she wanted institutionalize that in the military and i think that has no place. I do not care if she is gay or not, but she talked about it over and over. The second town hall, she talked about how proud she was to be lgbt and she talked about it for the first 20 minutes. She gave the same speech last year at the National Intelligence university. When there more focus put on lgbt or culture war issues, the less likely people want to stay in the military, want to join the military. The focus has to be on the military main core missions, fighting and winning wars. I just think it is a big problem and it happens over and over again. She is a female, threestar general. Weve had three female intel chiefs in the pentagon, that is the intel section at the pentagon. Only 26 of officer corps in the air force is female. I think that is part of the culture wars. They are trying to push this agenda of we need more women or more blacks are more latinos in the military when that may not be the merit. We should hire on merit, but that is part of the culture wars and it is hard to fight those things when we are not focused on the primary mission of fighting and winning wars. Host vermont, independent line. Caller good morning. Former military, i am independent. My confidence is medium. I think we ought to bring back the draft and not those that do not want to go military, do something in this country. We have national guards, they should not go overseas. The military, one guy is on the front lines and seven in the back. Talk about proud and stuff, all of the cities, hitchhiking between bases in uniform. We were proud to wear our uniform and people loved us. The 800 bases around the world, they are predicting corporations. The marine corps was part of history but it was the Royal Marines before we were a country. They were protecting corporations then. The military complexes just destroying us. Host joe, independent line. Caller good morning. I want to jump back and talk about this freedom caucus. That is what is wrong with the military right now. Those people are trying to kill the military. It is ridiculous. It makes me of course they are in cahoots with trump, could likely be in cahoots with putin. I do not think those people should be messing with our military. It really makes me scared. People need to think about that. Tommy tuberville, grow up. You are not even a man. You were probably never in the military or have family in the military. I do not know much about you other than you were a football coach. But this is not a game. Maybe for trump it is. But i just God Bless America and Everybody Needs to worry i used to be a republican for 45 years. Not anymore. They do not make sense. It is not the gop, it is not the grand old party anymore. Host npr picks up a recent story about how senator tuberville his disagreement with pentagon policy on abortion is affecting plans for families, they are petitioning Senate Leaders to intervene on their behalf. Members assigned a petition delivered to the office of Senate Leaders should or and Mitch Mcconnell schumer and Mitch Mcconnell. The nonprofit dedicates engagement within military families, the senator is creating huge logistical headaches were hundreds of people in and around the armed forces by holding up military confirmations and protest without positions confirmed. Families with children find themselves between stuck between homes and school districts. It was senator tuberville last month talking about his hold on military promotions, explaining why he is doing that. Here is a portion of it. [video clip] democrats say my hold is unprecedented, so i will say this. There abortion policy is unprecedented. We are here to make the law, not the pentagon. Anyone who calls themselves prolife needs to stand up and be counted right now, my party included. Democrats are destroying the kitchen sink. It does not bother me. Ive been called everything anyway. It just makes me that much stronger to hear people complain about this, knowing that deep down somewhere there is a soft part in their heart for 4000 5000 unborn babies that will never breathe life. The more joe biden attacks me, the more i am convinced i am doing the right thing. It seems like my colleagues on the left will do anything to change the subject and distract from the issue at hand. The white house even attacked my football record. My wife did the same thing at times. It is ridiculous how this thing has gotten out of hand. Theres been very little conversation, little dialogue and that is what this place is supposed to be about. Host robert from connecticut, independent line. Caller good morning. In my opinion, we should reinstate the draft because we are not getting the brightest and most educated in the military. Obviously, increase their pay. That is my opinion, thank you. Host in new york, democrats line. Caller good morning. You just showed a guy who is a senator from alabama who cannot even name the three branches of government, so there you go. I have confidence in the military, mainly because over the years, there has been more diversity and inclusion. They have included women, they have lifted dont ask dont tell and included gay people. They integrated the military going back several decades. I think part of the issue on the bases, especially in the red states, who 24 7 show fox or host are you there . Ann . It looks like we are having some issues with our telephone lines, if you want to call in and try to get back in as far as the conversation is concerned, it is republicans 202 7488001, democrats 202 7488000 and independents 202 7488002. If you are a military family, active or former, call us at 202 7488003. You can use that number to text us. You can always post on social media, that is facebook. Com cspan or cspanwj. As we hammer out the technical issues, i want to play President Biden, who responded on attacks on senator tuberville, his hold on the military. He did that an event in washington, d. C. Last week. Heres a portion. [video clip] the Republican Party used to always support the military. Today, they are undermining the military. The senior senator from alabama who claims to support our troops is now blocking more than 300 military operations with his extreme political agenda. The first africanamerican to lead any branch in the Armed Service to be the next chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, that is who i nominated, he is waiting. Admiral lisa french eddie, the second woman in the navy ever to achieve the rank of fourstar admiral, who chose to make history as the first woman as chief of naval operations. Ive nominated other outstanding leaders of all backgrounds, we need them. Tens of thousands of americas daughters and sons are deployed around the world tonight, keeping a safe from immense National Security challenges. The senator from alabama is not. For the first time in more than 100 years, we do not have someone confirm to the marine corps. By the fall, we may not have the chairman of joint chiefs of staff. We may not have military leaders for army and navy. This partisan freeze is already harming military readiness, leadership and morale. Freezing people in place. Military families who have sacrificed so much, unsure of where or when they can change stations, unable to get housing or start their kids in a new school. Because they are not there yet. Military spouses forced to take critical career decisions, not knowing when or if they can apply for a new job. A growing cascade of damage and disruption because one senator from alabama and 48 republicans refused to stand up to him. Host more of the available on our website, albert from facebook saying the lack of confidence starts with the commanderinchief and his disastrous exit of afghanistan. Let us hear from kentucky, democrats line. Caller i have got confidence in the military. It is a slap in the face for people to say they do not have confidence in the military. We have got all these graveyards with fallen soldiers. What theyve done for this country. It is pitiful that people would even think the military does not have confidence to carry out their duties. I have got a brother that is passed away now, he did what he could do. I have got another that was in the military, he is still living. And for that. When these people run these surveys saying we do not have confidence in the military, what happens next . We go to communism. Thank you. Host stephen is joining us from kentucky, independent line. Caller i would like to say that we all of our troops. First of all. But we do not believe and what our troops are fighting for is the right thing with the militaryindustrial complex. Like somebody said earlier, it is like we are fighting for corporations. If we were to join the military as an american, we do not feel like we are going to fight for freedom like a lot of people put it. We feel like we are going to fight for the interests of corporations. That is all they would like to say. Host this is jim on the republican line from florida, hello. Caller i would like to make this comment about our military and the United States. I was seven years old when world war ii started, 11 years old when it ended. The japanese made a remark, we have woken up a big giant, a mighty giant. These other countries do not want to wake that giant up again, that is all i have got to say. Host from new jersey, republican line. Caller vietnam was my error. I was a refugee, it was tough to remember my experience as the soviets were coming in and the experience as the north vietnamese were coming in. War is a horrible thing we have to get through, but we have to use our heads more than just our bodies. In vietnam, if you go in the jungle where the fighting was going on, you saw no racism, none of the things you see back at home. We should keep in mind the military function is to defend or attack. For that to happen, it you need people who wear the uniform to remember you are wearing the same uniform, every guy, indications you are all alike doing all these things. Any differences between you are relevant, but we do not put it that way. Weve injected the issue of the gays in the military, injected issues of race and the military because we never taught people your uniform defines you in the military. Weve never taught people you are part of a team and together, you are defending everything precious to you back home. The military is being used and abused to serve all sorts of political motives, like the thing with abortion. It is incredible how ahistoric americans are. Host democrats line. Caller good morning. I grew up in the military, born into a navy family. Then we got switched over to the air force. We sister was born in japan, we lived in guam. When they came out into the civilian world, there is a stark contrast between the way things are conducted on a military base and the general population. But that is not what you are asking, you are asking about confidence in the military and i am confident. I was on a military base for a long time. My mom did not want us going into the vietnam war. There was a lot of push for the cultural shift. But there are issues with the military ships, i saw a piece on the ship building. We need to catch up. China and russia have military drills, we had to go out. This is a report this morning that we had to be there for that. I think there are cultural issues that impede that, but they do not hinge on the workings of the military. I think it is well staffed. There might be a point where you need to institute the draft. It is dangerous out in the world and you need a strong mita and you cannot have things that war it down. The training is important. I have confidence in the litary, i want that to continue and should do everything to support it. Host after this program at 10 00 this morning, the Hudson Institute is hosting a forum to look at the future of the u. S. Military, talking about increases in defense spending, building a stronger military and other topics featuring former officials. That is 10 00, you can watch it on this network or the app. Later on, the white house hosts a backtoschool cyber safety summit. That is on strengthening the infrastructure and Lessons Learned from districts recently hit by cyber attacks. 4 00 this afternoon is where you can watch it. Later on this evening, 6 00, journalism professors talk about the dangers of deserts and the way to improve access, especially in rural communities. You can see that at 6 00 this evening. From delaware, republican line. Caller good morning. I have Great Respect for the military, i am from a military family and i can tell you it starts with the top. There is disdain and disrespect for those 13 soldiers that lost their lives in afghanistan. They were not mentioned at the first day of the union, they were not mentioned at the second state of the union address. As far as biden is concerned, he did everything just right, that is shameful. I do not even know what to say. We have spy balloons going over, china is setting up a military base in cuba. We have a lab in california they found last week. The influx with illegals from china coming in, what will it take for people to wake up . We need to be aware of the whole picture. It is absolute disrespect for the military to have all these other issues and knock it down to the core. It takes us six years to build one warship. China and russia feel emboldened to go ahead and surround alaska or be out in those waters. Our president Gone National television and let the whole world know we are low on munitions, we are low on oil, munitions. What leader would do that . That is putting us in harms way. They are all listening and watching this country crumble and fall apart in his scary. Everybody better start waking up to the fact they are buying farmland by military bases and it goes unnoticed. Host next in indiana, independent line. Caller good morning. I come from a proud military family, my great uncle served during world war ii, my husband served in the navy, my cousin served in the air force. What i would like to speak on is the senator holding up these promotions. These men and women worked their rear ends off. They sacrifice, they put themselves in harms way. They are dedicated to serving our country and i understand there is culture war going on on both sides using the military, which is disgusting. If you want to fight this battle with antiabortion prolife issue, which i am prolife, that is fine. Do not use our enlisted men and career military men who have earned the right to be considered for promotion to do that. Right now, they need leadership. They need leadership at the top and that is being threatened by one man in the senate. We my chance to speak, have a blessed day. Host in michigan, independent line. Caller good morning. I wanted to talk about President Biden. Every time he speaks and you see him on tv, at the end of whatever he says, he always says god bless our troops. As far as i know, ive heard reports he is the only president in the last hundred 50 years that had a child that was active duty military member, who died of brain cancer. It will always be a question whether that cancer was caused from burn pits, which many of the military are suffering cancer and other medical problems because of burn pits. So to question this man fit to be commanderinchief i find terrible. I was raised in a military family, i have got uncles, a brother that was military for over 20 years. He will always be President Biden, commanderinchief, even when he is retired. To publicly speak as people do on this program so disrespectful , there are young people who listen to the program, kids are home for the summer. That is not the way we should be talking about our commanderinchief. Host in florida, independent line. Caller my issue i have the utmost respect when it comes down to the military. I resent it a few years, i have uncles, my dad was in it. My issue is people using it politically. Do not put the military in any type of political game. In regards to holding up promotions and all of that, it is dead wrong. The senator in alabama, if he wants to hold of the military money, we need to hold his money up. He shouldnt get paid until he decides he wants to drop this whole thing. He is getting paid, the military is not. The militarys job is 100 more important than what he does. I am pretty sure he has not done much. I am very passionate, so i do apologize. Host the last call for this segment and thank you to all who purchase a pity. Two guests joining us this morning, we will next hear from the ethics and Public Policy center henry olson on the central political fallout from the recent trump indictments and other things related. 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Cspan gives you a front row seat to have issues are debated and decided with no commentary, no interruptions, and completely unfiltered. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Washington journal continues. Host we welcome back to the program henry olson. Thanks for giving us your time. Guest thank you for having me. Host the ethics and Public Policy center, what is that . Guest its a center think tank in washington dedicated to judeochristian principles on american Public Policy and my role is to write and debate. I also write in the Washington Post twice weekly. Host how do you approach Republican Center politics . Guest i approach politics from a sense of human dignity. Im looking for republican politics that seeks to interpret the american founding and the american principles and the dignity of all human beings at the pure and as a pure come i look at the numbers and follow them where they seem to be leading whether that means good news or bad news or no news for the people or the principles i hold. Host a recent column of yours can you elaborate on that . Guest lets posit 2024. He has three indictments whole of which are likely to come to trial during the election year. He is said to be likely to be indicted in georgia on a fourth case and given what we know and how prosecutors have applied the evidence in those cases, it would be shocking if he wasnt indicted with respect to what he did after the election in respect to the georgia election. Your nominee is not going to be out on the campaign trail trying to get votes, hes can it be in a courtroom trying to save his skin. Thats not a good place for your nominee to be. Then you have the financial situation. In 2020, the Biden Campaign endemic to campaigns raised nearly 3 billion. President trump raising money but he spending it all on legal fees. Imagine its august, 2020 and your candidate has not been on the campaign trail because he is defending himself and all of his money is not paying for Television Ads but for legal fees to keep him and his friends out of jail. Is that what you think was going to be joe biden . I think not. Host aside from the mechanics of his legal issues, what about the issues themselves and how it impacts other candidates . Guest what i would ask any republican voter President Trump did not win the popular vote in 2016. He didnt win the popular vote in 2020. If you believe fraud was in the campaign, he still did not win the popular vote. It was less of a loss in certain key states. The road to victory runs through people who rejected him twice. It runs their people who didnt want to vote for him in 2016 against Hillary Clinton and people who didnt want to vote for him and 2020 against joe biden. What makes you think these issues raised in these cases will make them change their mind in 2024 . That seems to be unrealistic. Between the mechanics and the substance, this is a person who is very much not likely to beat joe biden despite joe bidens high levels of unpopularity. Joe biden is less popular today than President Trump was at a similar point in his presidency. The idea that somebody less popular than President Trump is a favorite in the election should cause every republican voter to sit up and say what are we doing . Host we will hear the stories about the potential rematch of this. Why do you think that is and what is the former president hold that much sway . Host its been clear theres a certain segment of Republican Voters that adores him because they feel that they are being mistreated by the american system and they want somebody who will fight for them area i often have agreement with that position. They are being mistreated but the question is whether President Trump is an effective hero for them and the question is can President Trump continue to get into the white house to continue that battle . There is evidence to say he is not as effective as he could have been in these not likely to get back in the white house. Host our conversation with henry olson continues until 8 45 a. M. And if you want to ask bastions, 202 7488001 [indiscernible] democrats 202 7488000 and you can text us at 202 7488003. The president received indictments on january 6 but i want to ask you better recent column looking at january 6 and you write that it was republicans that saved democracy in 2020. You talk about competing narratives. Guest the reigning narrative is that it was donald trump and republicans who sought to overturn the election and it was likely democrats to save the election but lets look at what happened. Yes, it was donald trump and his small coterie that tried to overturn that election. But the people who actually have the power to do so were uniformly not exclusively but largely republican. Republicans controlled the state legislatures and all five of the key states. They were asked by the president and his henchmen to overturn that either directly by calling legislation session and appointing republican electors contrary to the will of the people in every single one of them refused. In an in an treaty from the president of the United States, usually you say yes but every single republican said no. Look at the republican governors. Two of the governors in those states were republican. Both of them said no. Look at republicans who were secretaries of state who oversaw the election, all of them said no. Take a look at the republicans who were his judicial employees including people of the Supreme Court who could have interviewed intervened judicially. Or the Supreme Court in texas they filed a lawsuit to intervened to get the electoral votes of five other states overturned. All of these justices that now. Then you have what happened on capitol hill where a number of mike pence per could have said yes but he said no and republicans could have acted in lockstep and try to overturn the results. The overwhelming majority of the senate and large numbers of republican congressman said no. Its clear that had republicans and even a few republicans during this process, bowed to pressure and said yes to the president , we would have had a constitutional crisis in our democracy would be even weaker. Host so the indictments came down last week and it was the president over the week and responding to that making the case about the possibility still winning. Let me play we had to say and get your response. [video clip] we always put America First and respond to our enemies who unleash leftwing lawyers and marxist prosecutors. These are dishonest people, bad people, deranged government agents and rogue Intelligence Officers to try and stop air movement. Remember the 51 intelligence officials that lied about the laptop . They said the laptop, russian disinformation, they all live. 51 of them light and it wouldve made the difference of about 11 points in the election. They live. Every one of these many fake charges filed against me by the corrupt biden doj could have been filed 2. 5 years ago but they didnt want to do it. They wanted to wait right until the middle of an election and they waited until i became the dominant force in the polls because we are dominating everybody including biden in the polls. Then they filed them all, everyone one of them at essentially one time including local das and ags and other cases right in the middle of the campaign where we are leading by so much and it will not make any impact because every time they file an indictment, we go way up in the polls. We need one for indictment to close out this election, one more indictment and this election is closed out, nobody has a chance. We have already defeated the republicans. Host there is the case the former president makes so whats your response . Guest there are some nuggets of truth in that pile of something that he just uttered. By and large, thats he is not leading the polls against joe biden. Is running very well. On wednesday, he was at 43 and biden was 44. He is leading republicans by large margins. Thats true before and after the indictments. By and large, the fact is, the president has committed acts which are arguably illegal. Thats what a court of law is meant to do. They could have filed them 2. 5 years ago . They couldnt be does something called an investigation that requires time to bring forward evidence that could actually stand up under scrutiny. You dont bring a case in court based on rhetoric and heated tweets to bring a case to court based on a mountain of evidence and that requires time. This is a typical outing of the president taking a couple of truths in building a mountain of falsehoods. The Republican Voters of this country have to decide is this the man they think will beat joe biden and the need to ask themselves in the weeks before election or earlier next year, why do i think that . I think anyone who thinks about it as opposed to reacting emotionally will realize that people who arent like me are the deciders and people will not change their minds on the basis of this. Host henry olson is joining us for this conversation. We start with candy in california, a republican, good morning. Caller good morning. I just had one question. If trump is reelected, our country is in for a downfall, dont you agree . Guest if trump is reelected, i think there will be problems with respect to the ongoing conflicts. This will be a guy whos likely to try and pardon himself given that unless he is entirely acquitted on every one of the several charges, it will be sometime in the appellate process and he will likely try to pardon himself. Its a big argument. Thats just problem one. I think the sort of mentality that he will have going in will be one that will assure that the boundaries of the law with respect to staffing and Civil Service are pushed and the boundaries of the law with respect to executive powers will be pushed and that will be the focal point of the first year, not things like the budget or can we fight china or things that are the normal focus of president ial politics. Host richard is in georgia, democrats line, hello. Caller good morning, mr. Olson, as a veteran, i find it hard to believe that this President Trump [indiscernible] where are the people in america going to realize that there is such a thing is something called ethics in america and a belief in the true relation of a fair and honest book that came that took place in 2020. Do you believe that American People will wake up and realize that this guy is not right for the country nationally or internationally . He tried to deal with nato and all. Guest i think a majority of americans already think that that donald trump on did not win the popular vote in 2013 and many people who voted for him in 2016 did so reluctantly. He did not win the popular vote in 2020 and a majority of americans voted for joe biden and another few percent did not vote for either candidate. The polls show that he has 45 of americans who support him and like him, a majority did not and this is the thing i think Republican Voters need to ask themselves. Its pretty clear that the opinion has been firm for seven years and a majority of americans dont want this person in the white house. Are you going to ask them to change their minds and what will you say to make them change their minds . Will you say more of the same and doubling down . That doesnt seem likely to produce a change in attitude. Host what do you think of the current field of republicans . I dont know if they are stand out yet but as far as the attempt they are making and the impact it might have . Guest at the center of republican opinion is to say i like trump and i think he was unfairly treated during his presidency and i think hes being unfairly treated now and you may disagree but thats with the center of republican opinion is. Who will they decide . They also like the contenders. There was a New York Times poll that broke the republican electorate into these groups and people who like trump and were open to other candidates like ron desantis and donald trump. They liked both candidates but they are choosing. That doesnt mean in january they will be choosing trump and thats where the battle is, getting first people who like to santos or tim scott to decide that they do like these people and then say whos who i want . We will find out in january and february what they decide. Host before we go to the line, ron desantis did a recent interview release this morning and he talked about President Trump and his campaign but talked about the election and why he thinks it ended the way it did. Let me play portion of that and get your response. [video clip] the issue thats important for Republican Voters is why did we have those mail in votes . Because trump turned the government over tofauci and embrace lockdowns and they did the cares act which funded the mail and balance across the country. Donald trump signed that bill that funded the mailin ballots that all the republicans have been concerned about. Also with the censorship of the hunter biden, that was Donald Trumps fbi that was working with that. He didnt have control over the government so as a nominee, we will not let them run circles around us and if there are ballots in florida vallow harvesting in nevada, we are going to do it as well. We will not fight with one hand tied behind our back. I think all of those issues were very problematic but at the end of the day, donald trump help facilitate that whole set of circumstances. Respectfully, you did not clearly answer the question and if you cant give a yes or no, how of course we lost. Trump lost the 2020 election. Joe biden is the president of the issue and what people in the media and elsewhere, they want to act like this is the perfect election. Host thats the case the governor is making, what you think of his arguments . Guest i think hes right, it wasnt a perfect election. There were couple of cases where democratic justices overruled the clear language of statutes to try and count ballots that they and everyone else knew would likely favor joe biden. It was an unusual election. Its one thing to have mailin ballots but another to have dropped boxes to try to jerryrigged an entire Voting System on a partisan basis, of course people will be suspicious. Ive written many times over the last couple of years that these things didnt affect the course of the election enough to say that donald trump lost and there was no substantial mail in fraud theres no substantial in person voter fraud. The reason why donald trump lost was because donald trump lost. Its because the majority of americans dont want the man. Host surely is next in illinois, democrats line. Caller yes, i would good morning, cspan. I would like to bring up a subject that nobody has touched on. Its about the politicians who think that its ok to back up classified or declassified documents home with them when they are no longer in office. None of it should be taken by any Government Official whatsoever including a former. This is an embarrassment to our country. It should be filed away in the government archives where it is safe and locked up. These papers are needed in the future. What could these politicians possibly ever need them for . I think that the government and the Supreme Court should make it a law that none of these documents should be taken out of the government and put in the archives with no exceptions. That is my opinion. Thank you very much, cspan. I love you. Guest i agree, they shouldnt be doing it and i think there should be much stricter procedures for segregating the classified information from the nonclassified information. President biden was found to have classified documents from his time in the senate still in his possession. Vice president pence, a lot of these things are apparently comingled with things you cant take home in these busy people like you and me, they dont literally check their boxes when they are moving and people take these piles and stick them in a box and people across all levels of government. If its a classified document, it should be put in a separate pile. Host the january 6 indictment, these are the charges, conspiracy to obstruct and defer the United States, instruction of obstructing a professional proceeding. Overall, what do you think of the strength of those charges . Guest question is likely we have heard the prosecutions case. We have not heard the actual basis of the defense. You have to look at indictments like the high watermark prosecution. They are there to make a i think there are factually strong case. The question is legally, was the counting of the Electoral College official proceeding as one of as was intended under that act . Was it trying to disrupt an official or intend to be a ceremony or public counting of the electoral votes . Defrauding the voters each of these things the special counsel is trying to do is a novel interpretation of the legal statute. Will that hold up under the appellate process . We know when he tried to do that with respect to the virginia governor, he obtained a conviction and the unanimous Supreme Court said you put the law in a place that it doesnt apply and they returned that conviction. It could be better if the country for the country if they stretch the meaning of these laws so far from there legislative history that the court will say regardless of the factual case, this law doesnt apply to this case. Thats what the rule of law does. It would be a shame if he stretched the rule in a way that the rule of love would produce with many people in the country with c is an unjust result. Host former President Trump is look for a change of venue. What do you think about the ability of the former president getting a fair trial . Guest with respect to people, change of law, the trial is where the illegal act allegedly of heard which means washington, d. C. The jury pool would be drawn from people who are residents there and donald trump got four or 5 of their vote. The odds are the jury pool will not have a single trump supporter. We know opinions about donald trump or polarized and deep. The question is, can somebody who actually has voted in these elections who cares about donald trump and whatever, put those feelings aside . Certainly in front of a judge and being asked, number of people will say they can but can they . It will be interesting that the maybe the only fair trial he can get is from people who have never voted in their lives because they obviously would not have been moved so much as to render an opinion as to whether he should or should not be in office. Its an odd but perhaps fair result with respect to the trial. I think he will get fear appeals but the same is true for florida. His florida case is from a venue which at least half of the jury pool voted for him so can they put their feelings aside and convict him if there is evidence . It runs both ways with respect to fairness. Host our conversation continues with lou in tampa, florida, republican line. Caller good morning. I respect you very much. First of all, they are circling the wagons in d. C. They literally dont want trump to talk and protecting america and spending a lot of money in ukraine and they dont appreciate that because we are the world policeman. The media loves this stuff with trump. They will have fantastic ratings with it. One more thing, the judge that has seen trump at the end of august, she works for the boys. Wasnt she with the clinton or obama cabinet at one time . Isnt there a discrepancy of a conflict of interest there . That way trump could not get a fair trial. Im just asking the touching, thank you. Guest there is a lot in there. I dont think any of the judges were in the cabinet and i dont know whether the judges were part of the administration. I havent followed that. I think there is a prurient interest in President Trump that affects all factors, media and nonmedia actors that makes this particular political story the equivalent of an electrical an electrical accident, you cant avert your eyes and we are in year eight of dealing with the look you lose l lookieloos. Caller when i got on the phone, it was different you can tell i am a female. Im curious as to why republicans especially republican men, want to take medical intervention away from women. Im curious. The other thing i would like to mention is that just like all of the republicans, you give trump an excuse after excuse as to why hes done the things hes done. You have to stand up and say to yourself, this man is totally responsible for all the acts he himself has committed. Look up the number of people in his cabinet and have been his followers who are now behind bars. The easiest way to describe trumps that he is a reprobate. He is a warmonger and adulterer and a liar and hes a thief, hes a collude or and he also insided [indiscernible] i dont know of any person that could stand up and support a person who doesnt know jesus. He never prayed. He has no idea how to say second corinthians because hes never picked up the bible. He has no idea. You guys have given him many excuses. I dont want to hear excuses. All i want you to do is tell the truth. The man is crooked. He does not need to be in politics. He never needs to be in the white house again. Host thank you. Guest there are many republicans make those arguments. The question is whether the majority of Republican Voters will agree with them. I dont think its a close question that they will disagree with those and reendorse the president. Thats the debate going on. Back in my youth, some people go to bars and i was a political consultant. People tend to be sorry for what they didnt again times. You dont win election five months ahead of time. If you are trying to persuade people who have been loyal to the president for good reason, thinking he is on their side or that he has been unfairly attacked even as they can knowledge he is far from perfect, you dont convince those people overnight. It happens over time and we will see. Well see where they come out over time. With respect to republicans, that is an ongoing debate within our party and we will see who wins the argument with the Republican Voters when they actually have to be serious about their decision in january and february and march when they vote. Host what do you think about the republican interest on capital hill only of the president s dealings with china were other countries in light of his son hunter biden . Guest the more we hear about hunter biden, the more troubling it is. We now have somebody who was a Business Partner of hunter biden this is joe biden participated in phone calls that were designed to produce business for his son hunter. The argument is he didnt collude to actually change Public Office but if he was on those phone calls or he met with hunter and business clients, that at least gives the illusion of access. Ask yourself if a republican president republican senator were doing that, for their spouse or their child, would your reaction be nothing to see here . I doubt thats the case. I think there is something to see here. Host is it productive for House Republicans to look into these matters . Guest i think its absolutely productive. We are looking at the president of the United States and his admittedly troubled son in some way interacting where the main course of the sons business is not his particular expertise on the subject matter but his relationship to his father. I think that is very troubling. Im not saying that joe biden is corrupt. If you are a democrat and you had these facts about a permanent publican, you would want to investigate to see what was going on and i think thats what republicans are doing. They need to conducted soberly and fairly and not bombastic late or enthusiastically. These facts if they came out on a republican, you bet there would be an investigation i think the same should be true with the rule of law. Host do you think the investigation is being done soberly and fairly or bombastic late . Guest i think the conservative media is engaging in bombastic rhetoric that undermines the investigation. If i were james comer, i would have public hearings and otherwise try not to make releases of information on a leaked basis. The way media and politicians work these days, thats difficult. We saw during the impeachment investigations where rather than treated as a sober investigation, there is constant leaks and clearly not for republicans designed to embarrass the president. I suspect james comer staff thanks whats good for the goose is good for the gander. I think you would have to recognize as republican that the relationship between the Republican Party and the media is not the same as with the democrats and whats good for the goose may not be good for the gander when youre trying to come to the truth. Host fred is from maryland, republican line. Caller good morning, you are my favorite. Good morning, true journalism is dead in america. There is no Fact Checking the sources no two and three times. If you did a story years ago on this t withhe dems working as operatives for the democrats and them using the media as operas for the government, if you did a story on that you mightve got a Pulitzer Prize but nowadays, they give it away like its candy. There is a perfect example of abusing the power. They were going after anything trump to get the distraction off whats really going on. You are one of the ones that i feel is right down the middle but you would lose your job if youre on the others. How can we turn this around . There is clearly election interference going on and there is no end in sight. How can we get out of this . Guest i think its if the president is nominated, its hard to get out of this. If you have a republican who is not the president was nominated, then its incumbent on that person to vote model and follow through the sort of country we want which is we are going to hold people accountable regardless of political persuasion. We are going to talk about whats important for the country and we are going to, to the extent there is misuse of government power and promote one partys agenda or personality is we will route it out. But we will do it according to the rule of law and we will do it in a way that is fair and not in a way where we will railroad somebody. We will do it in a way that wins the day to look at a reasonable case for this. One of the problems is that we have not been seeing that with President Trump throughout his time. We now know there were a lot of things accepted his gospel truth five years ago by democrats in the media were in fact not true. He did not collude with the russians. He did not have an embarrassing tape in a Moscow Hotel Room that was reported. There are many things that were accepted as true that were not true and no one has faced consequences for it. This is why people were fans of donald trump say if they can spread lies, why should we be limited by the truth . I think thats not an unreasonable argument but it is one that carries consequences that are not good for the Republican Party or the republic of the United States. I would hope the next nominee is someone who can model both justice towards people who acted improperly and justice with the respect of fairness and genuine respect for the rule of law that people can say this person is changing course. Host larry in North Carolina, independent line. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] in my opinion, this started several years ago. It started with Hillary Clinton and trump. Because of that, many of the people that worked with the clintons put the kibosh on the newly elected president. It continues today. When will it stop . I just dont understand how the democrats can look at it and not see this. I am an independent. I am concerned. Im watching this happen and i didnt vote for the man. This continues on and on and thats why most of the people are saying we are voting for him because they feel hes been wronged. When we look into Hillary Clinton that started this nonsense is when things will change. Guest what the end and pendant voters talking about is democrats reacted in an unprecedentedly vitriolic way to his win. They argued that it was the result of russian interference but it wasnt. It was a result from people who didnt like both candidates and deciding they would hold their nose and vote for trump or hold their nose and vote for hillary. Thats why she lost. They tried to convince electors to abandon their pledges to their states. Its not quite honest. Then you have people like rashida tell you be to impeach the president before he was elected. There were literally asking the question should you impeach donald trump when he was in office for less than we weeks and the majority of democrats said that when literally there was no impeachable offense. Thats the sort of vitriol that did start when he was a candidate and intensified when he won the election and intensified even more when he took office. Republicans said that was not right. To that extent, republicans are right, it wasnt right and its can tripping factor to the hatred and polarization that has sapped our nations politics and democrats need to ask themselves, are they can tripping factor for the conflagration before them and i think the answer is even if they are not the decisive factor, they are an important factor and if they care about the country over party as we continually heard, they need to act accordingly. Host lets get one more caller. Caller mr. Olson, i appreciate your comments against the vitriol thats been out there. One thing thats in incumbent upon you and cspan is to remind these callers that President Trump is innocent until Proven Guilty and the government needs to prove their case against him. I think people should be corrected when they call in with the vitriol and an assumption of guilt. You mentioned the unpopularity of donald trump and thats been built through a complete Smear Campaign which includes things like accusing him of trashing veterans who john bolton said he did not do too i am a retired cpa and i know about the things they said he denies tax returns. He did nothing illegal. I did stuff like that for my clients. Its a complete trashing over seven years and i think that produces the majority of people who are expressing dissatisfaction with him, thank you. Guest when it comes to the legal case, donald trump is presumed innocent. You should not go in as a republican and say he therefore is innocent. You should not go as a democrat and say therefore he is guilty. What we need to do is believe in the rule of law and behave in a legal manner. We need to look at the evidence many to look at the law we need to ask if the facts meets the law beyond reasonable doubt. If you can say that in fairness, then whether you like them or not, convict them and if you cant say that in fairness whether you like him or not, then you need to him. You need to acquit him. I would like to see people in leadership positions make that clear call which is that this is not a matter of high school chattering. Its not gossip. This is really important. The fact is, there is evidence that suggest the president may be guilty and we havent heard from the defense. And nobody in the media are not making a careful analysis of the precise legal charges. I think it is incumbent particularly because of the passions this men and genders that those of us who have responsible decisions try to act responsibly and say he may or may not be guilty. There are people that are but by and large we are seeing the same sort of this behavior on all sides, are you for or against him and thats not how would should work . Host you have a new pot cast . Guest its called beyond the polls with henry olson. We interview guest from left, right and center and the ideas to get the information in a deep way that you are not getting from the media. They tend to ask the question of who is up or down but we will ask who, what, where and why. Host the senior fellow from the ethics and policy center, thanks as always. Guest its wonderful to see you. Host we will soon talk with allin jaslow, the head of the iraq and afghanistan veterans particular when it comes to military actions from senator tommy taber. Thats coming up but before that, open forum and you can call and give us your thoughts, republicans 202 7488001 democrats, 202 7488000 and 202 7488003. We will take out calls will take those calls when we come back. Cspanshop. Org is our online store. Browse their latest collection of products, apparel, books, home decor and accessories. There is something for every cspan fan. Every purchase up support our nonprofit operation so shop now or anytime at cspanshop. Org. Cspans campaign 2020 for coverages your front row seat to the president ial election. Watcher coverage on the campaign trail, with announcements, meet and greets, speeches and events to make up your own mind. Campaign 2024 on the cspan networks, cspan now our free mobile video app or anytime online at cspan. Org. Cspan, your unfilled your unfiltered view of politics. The cspan bookshelf broadcast feet makes it possible for you to listen to all averse podcasts that feature Nonfiction Book see you can discover new authors and ideas. We make it convenient for you to listen to multiple shows with authors discussing history and biography and Current Events signature programs about books, afterwords book notes and q7a. You can find the cspan bookshelf feet on the free cspan now video mobile app or where you get your part cast and on our website, cspan. Org podcasts. A healthy democracy doesnt just look like this, it looks like this where americans can see democracy at work and where citizens are truly informed and the public thrives. Get informed straight from the source on cspan, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. From the Nations Capital to wherever you are, you get the opinion that matters the most which is your own. This is what democracy looks like. Cspan, powered by cable. Washington journal continues. Host if you want to participate in open forum, call 202 7488001 four republicans, 202 7488000 democrats, independents 202 7488002 or you contact status at 202 7488003. The wall street journal looks at the legal case against President Trump with the generally six indictment. His attorneys attorney appeared on in all five sunday shows and addressed the request on the day the electoral votes were counted. [video clip] we spoke with former prep Vice President mike pence and asked him about your assertions made this past week that all the president did was ask him to pause the certification on january 6, 2021 and he told me flatly thats not what happened. Your response . Thats not what i said but thats ok. What is it that you believe happened between the president and the Vice President and you have any fear the Vice President will be called as a witness in the case . No, in fact the Vice President will be our best witness. What i said is the ultimate ask of Vice President pence was to pause the camp and allow the states to wait in. That was my statement. What i said is consistent with what Vice President pence is saying. The reason why Vice President pence will be important to the defenses the following he agrees that john eastman who gave legal advice to President Trump was an esteemed legal scholar. He also agrees there were election irregularities, fraud and unlawful actions at the state level. All of that will eviscerate any allegation of criminal intent on the part of President Trump. Finally, would Vice President pence the leaved is that these issues needed to be debated on january 6. He openly called for all of these issues to be debated and objected to in the january 6 proceedings. President trump on the other hand believes, following the advice of john eastman who is a legal scholar that these issues needed to be debated at the state level, not the federal level. There was a constitutional disagreement between Vice President pence and President Trump but the bottom line is, never in our countrys history has those kinds of disagreements been prosecuted criminally. Its unheard of. Host thats from the sun shows from the sunday shows yesterday. Democrats line starts is out this morning. Caller good morning, there are still people calling in, complaining with their disagreement about Vice President harris, the only reason she got her position is because she is black and she is a woman. I want to answer a rhetorical question. What are the qualifications of the previous Vice President before her . People should think about something before they say it. Thank you. Host thomas and marilyn, republican line. Caller hi there, ive called before. I was a senior military officer and a behavioral therapist. Its not just recent stuff but i think there is this test is this idea that if you can explain your point well enough, there will be some insight and people will say good point. I think we know we need to go behavioral whether we are democrat or republican. If they are truly unhappy over policy and they believe that mayorkas is in agent, all that can be understood is impeachment. The idea of making a good enough point, i want to say that the idea that james comer said we need to have an ironclad case before they bring impeachment because of the border, it will not make a difference when people have that much vitriol. What they respond to is a behavioral consequence. Its the same with trump, not the idea that up i can make a good enough point we have gone beyond the idea of negotiation and people are now responding to behavioral consequences. There is no goodwill left. Host carl is in michigan, democrats line next. Caller good morning. The previous get you had on reminded me of newt gingrich. He made it comment about no russian collusion. Paul manafort went to jail and was pardoned by former President Trump. Host ok. Bob in North Carolina, independent line. Caller good morning, im happy to be speaking with you this morning. I have a genuine concern about our country. Have we gone beyond host are you there . You cut out a little bit, keep going. Caller i have real concerns about the wellbeing of our nation now that we are a divided people, particular politically. They say if you take a frog and put them in a cold pot of water and you gradually boil it, am i still on . Host you are. If youre listening to yourself and the television, that may be a concern. Guest i will mute it. If you put a frog in the cold pot of water and toilet and the temperature rises, he will not jump out. We are like the frog in the pot. The temperature is rising on us as a nation. We are a house divided against ourselves. As there adversaries watches on the outside, what do they think . Will we be able to unite once again as a people . America has a history of having been a united people. If you go to the cemeteries today, there are no conservative graves or liberal graves or different kinds of people, they are americans and they have died to this nation. We are very divided now. Im very concerned about that. The sources seem to be making they are making hay out of this thing. We are divided and the fact that we argue against one another all the time. This rhetoric and hatred and civil disobedience we are going into now, growing gun violence in these other things happening, you know what i mean . Host we got your point. This is eric in palm beach, florida, democrats line. Caller thanks very much. I love when you are the host and i am a cspan fan. This could be different. Its sort of a comment and a programming request. Maybe you can comment or pass it along. I think there are three troublesome terms that come up repeatedly in our dialogues and our programs and all. I will name the three and i will suggest that at some point, we can have a highly credentialed University Level Political Science expert settle and clarify these issues. What is the conservative, what is the liberal and more than those two, what is socialism . By socialism, i think its nonownership of anything. You dont have corporations in capitalism and businesses producing their own goods and marketing their own goods and setting their prices. This is under government control entirely. Socialism i think its convoluted and thrown around and misunderstood and we just point fingers and use these terms and names. I would love it if there could be a great expert on dealing with this in a nice Program Block segment hour. I dont know if you can Say Something or that could be passed around. Host i work with a team of people who are always open to suggestions. I wrote them down and i will take them to them and see what happens, how about that . Caller thats wonderful, i will be tuned in and thank you for todays open forum and your great guest. Host lets hear from pete on our independent line from alabama. Caller how are you doing today . I thank you for letting me in on your socialist party antinational station. My question is, i wonder how many dogs obama has had since hes been out of office . Host we will go to frank joining us from kentucky, independent line. Yes caller , yes i want to as the folks out there, what you think about the next president who complains about the jury pool and complains about the potential judges on his cases. Maybe he shouldve thought of that before he committed all these alleged crimes. Host we will stop you there. Axios had a story posted yesterday. It takes a look at the 2024 president ial candidates and how fast they are burning catch as they raise funds on their effective campaigns. On the top of the list, 109 is tim scott. Ron desantis at 40 as far as taking in and spending is concerned. Right under that, 39 is donald trump. William heard, goes on from there. Joe biden at this point being president , factoring that at 8 as far as the amount of cash being raised and being spent. You can find more context at axios if you wish. We will hear from joe in new jersey, republican line. Caller hello. I enjoyed your last guest. I was hoping to be able to ask him a question. If the people who would normally vote for trump would are voting for him not so much because he is trump, but because he is antiwashington dc swamp, i think when you look at the amount of money spent on the political campaigns that is given by places like Silicon Valley and wall street, i think when you see that still, even after all this time, our southern border is still open. They announced they were 65,000 fentanyl debts due to drugs coming across our southern border. Whatever happened to bipartisanship . Whatever happened to compromise in the congress . They cannot get anything done about this problem. What if there are other things besides washington, d. C. Is like a little enclave of rich people that seem to care more about the prospects for their political parties, rather than helping the people in this country. The citizens of the United States. I mean, you have the k dream lobbyists. Five of the 10 richest counties in the United States surround washington, d. C. That includes loudoun county, a Bedroom Community for the washington, d. C. Swamp people. These are the things i am interested in. I am interested in people who are interested in helping the people of the United States, rather than political parties. That is the reason why i support trump. One last thing, the last two republican president s were minority president s. They won because they got the vote, the electors votes, rather than the popular vote. Host ok. Lets go to robert in arkansas, democrats line. Caller yes, i want to talk about your last guest you had on. I listen to him talk about hunter biden and Hillary Clinton. I asked the Republican Party, never talk about donald trump had 10 patents out of china. He has never been an investor in anything. All you hear about is jim jordan bringing people in saying these whistleblowers being found out. They going to jail once they get caught. It is ridiculous what they try to down biden. At least he is trying his best for the American People. Trump only talk about himself. He is only in for it for two things. Money and power. Host you may be familiar with the cable Channel Court tv. Steven brill is the founder of it and makes the case in the editorial pages of the new york page about letting the world being able to see the proceedings regarding former President Trumps january 6 trial. He makes this case in part, saying federal court rules do not allow cameras in any credible criminal trial no matter which side of this trump case you may be written for, you should want those rules to be suspended so this trial can be televised live. The last thing our country needs is for this trial to become the ultimate vice of spin game in which each side broods for a team online. Much of that would still happen, but imagine how a quiet and sure to be riveting presentation such as the rules and decorum of federal court, not the algorithms of facebook and twitter, might temper the National Mood when a verdict is announced. At the least, it will make people more informed about what could be the single most important activity their government will conduct in their lifetime. Again, this is the case from steven brill, you can read it on the website of the New York Times. Lets go to ronald in long island, republican line. Caller good morning. I happen to hear that ramaswamy. I was so impressed with him. He is so smart. So smart. However, i think that the only appropriate thing the only fair thing is for trump to become president again because he was robbed in the previous election. It was so dishonest. Such a dishonest election. And would have been so refreshing if somebody like bill barr, for example, he had the opportunity to say yes, indeed, the selection this election. Changing rules election. Going against the constitution as far as state election laws and federal states were concerned. This just was not right. We have heard from the former attorney general push back against the election, the one specifically you are saying. Caller well, but the thing is, he never said that the election was stolen. He was just on the border saying that there was dishonesty in the election. Host what he said was that there was no widespread election fraud. Caller but it would be so refreshing if you would have said, yes, donald trump actually did win this election. But, it was stolen from him. And, feels we will not have a Fair Election in the United States unless we have voting on paper. They have it in france. They have 37 Million People who vote. Host ok. Got your point. David is next in missouri, independent line. Caller can you hear me . Host you are on. Caller i just wanted to respond. Two points. The previous one idea came up. It was so true. The republicans are very interested in investigating hunter biden. As the previous caller said, trumps children were in the white house ivanka trump was the only American Woman to get that licensing deal in china. [indiscernible] my last point is, are the republicans and independents everything they are complaining about the indictment being democratic, always remember something. The january 6 hearing is where most of the charges from the indictment came forward. Everyone who testified in those hearings were republican. They worked for trump. They worked specifically for him. There was no democrat testifying in those hearings. All of these charges came from republicans, saying this is what donald trump is. When you say it is a democratic hit job or bite and hit job, republicans testified. Republicans made these charges against donald trump, not democrats. Host andreas in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, democrats line. Caller yes. I would just like to comment on donald trump. He know how to play america. This man has been in the news for the last seven years. Every day, more than anyone or any incident, any war, he is constantly in the news. He no how to play america. Now, if i could make this comment, it is going to sound critical. He is a very selfish, selfcentered, egotistical individual. He was in the most powerful seat in the world. He just did not want to give it up. Host ok. Lisa and alabama, independent line. Caller hi. I reside in alabama. I am a former republican, now independent. I have a question. One is, fully appreciate the courage and the bloodshed by our troops, which ensures freedom to speak out against u. S. Military policy without government retribution. Also, had he had the courage to visit redstone military base in huntsville to explain to the Service Members they are he is upholding promotions. The last thing i would like to say is, i have a Campaign Slogan for trump, which is ash i am actually against trump. Which is belittle, denigrate, swine and bags. Thank you very much. Host that is lisa in alabama. Speaking of the president ial campaigns of various participants there, we are taking time to go through which candidates are and where they are going as they make their case for the white house in 2024. Jesse burns of the hill joins us. Thanks for your time. Guest good to be with you. Host lets start with President Biden. Several states he will visit heading towards the west this week, tell us about the states, what he is doing and why he is visiting. Guest he is heading out west to salt lake city, arizona, new mexico, pitching the biden economics agenda he has been on the road before, using the white house to go and make this official trip, touting his agenda in office but also to assert the Campaign Rally for himself, touting the investments through the inflation reduction act, the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Different elements he has been able to do with an office, we expect him to do that over the next several days out west. Host what is your take on if this message of bidenomics that he is selling as he goes to these states is making any impact on his campaign . Guest i think it is too early to tell whether it will have a huge impact in the areas he is visiting. Arizona, new mexico are traditionally bluer states. Utah, not. Having that opportunity to go out to western states that specifically do not see a lot of president ial visits is key. Also coming on the heels of this huge heatwave that has ripped the entire country. I think there is a lot there he can connect with voters to try and pitch what he is trying to do. At the same time, we have seen Vice President harris take on a more public role the last several weeks. Really getting out there, getting in front of voters and trying to tout what the and ministration has done thus far. Host what is the political calculus from the white house and putting the Vice President more in a public role this way . Guest both the president and Vice President have struggled with approval ratings. Oath have been underwater in terms of approval both have been underwater in terms of approval. I think the white house is trying to get her out there, get her more face time, have her be more comfortable on the campaign trail with these official events. Going to philadelphia tomorrow to talk about infrastructure. She will be in chicago later in the week. Having these opportunity to connect with voters is key for young voters to stay engaged. That is the coalition the white house needs to keep engaged heading into 2024. Host we saw a fresh round of indictments against former President Trump last week. Where is he headed this week . What is the message he is selling in light of those indictments . Guest we saw his campaign over the weekend. His lawyer, hitting all the major sunday shows, pushing back against this latest indictment. He will be in New Hampshire tomorrow, giving a speech. We expect him to continue to rail against this indictment. We saw over the weekend when he was in South Carolina really not holding back. We have seen him continue to post on his social media platform, continue to rail against special counsel jack smith, also the judge. Trying to push to remove the case of otc or try to delay this trial, if it comes to that. These are the mechanics across the board, effort to push back on the latest charges. Host we have seen previous instances where charges would come, fundraising would follow. Is that the case this time around . Guest we have not seen a ton of fundraising these last few days, at least. Traditionally, that is what we typically see in the last quarter former president let all of let all of his rivals in terms of fundraising. Specifically, the campaign has really a lot of the money has had to go to the former president s legal fees. There is millions of dollars that are having to go towards lawyers in multiple different states and jurisdictions, trying to defend him on state charges, to federal indictments and now potential fourth indictment in georgia looming this month. There is a lot they need to continue to keep the campaign commerce full. A lot of that is having a public presence and trying to make the case it is worth donating to defend the president. Host several candidates on the republican and democratic side also running for the office. Is there anything of note as far as where they are traveling or the impact they are having as far as these campaigns are being made . Guest we have seen several. We have seen tim scott going to the border, Chris Christie going to ukraine. Several nikki haley has been crisscrossing iowa and New Hampshire. Later this week, we will see the iowa state fair. Former Vice President mike pence and others, we can expect to headline that event. You are really trying to make their case, meet voters, do the retail politics that is essential to any kind of movement in these early voting states. They have a real challenge. Former President Trumps indictment hangs over this primary. He is also dominating. New hampshire, he was up 14 points in the latest poll. That is something that is very difficult for ron desantis, mike pence and others who are trying to make inroads. They have not seen a lot of movement yet in terms of polling. Host jesse burns is the Senior Editor for the hill. Here to talk about campaign 2024. Inc. You for your time. Thank you for your time. Guest thank you. Host next, a conversation with alson jaslow, the ceo of iraq and afghanistan veterans for america on the top issues facing veterans. We will have that conversation when washington journal continues. Since 1979, in partnership with the cable industry, cspan has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress. From the house and Senate Floors to congressional hearings, party briefings and committee meetings. Cspan gives you a front row seat and how issues are debated and decided with no commentary, no interruptions and completely unfiltered. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. If you ever miss any of cspans coverage, you can find it anytime online at cspan. Org. Videos of key hearings, debates and other events feature markers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights. 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Listening to programs on cspan through cspan radio just got easier. Tell your smart speaker, play cspan radio and listen to washington journal daily at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. Important congressional hearings and other important Public Affairs events through the day. Catch washington today for a fastpaced report of the stories of the day. Listen to cspan any time. Tell your smart speaker, play cspan radio. Cspan, powered by cable. Washington journal continues. Host we are joined by Allison Jaslow, the ceo of iraq and afghanistan veterans for america joining us from North Carolina. Thank you for your time. Guest thank you for having me. Host tell our viewers about your organization, what it does and how you are funded and supported. Guest we are we represent over 425,000 members. We are a National Nonprofit that is supported by the generosity of those who believe that we need somebody fighting in washington and nationally on behalf of the newest generation of veterans. Host you recently had an exchange with senator tuckey tommy bill. Talk about what led up to this exchange. Guest the exchange took place i do not think, i know, because as we approached august recess, i felt a sense of responsibly responsibility to make sure he had to speak to them. The people whose promotions are being held up our post9 11 generation veterans still serving today. If you are in the military, there is one office that has spoken out publicly. You not have incentives you do not have incentives to speak out. Folks still serving today rely on advocates like myself to speak up for them. Unfortunately, senator tuberville has had stacks with his colleagues in the senate. He has not really had to speak to the folks whose livelihoods were being compromised by this hold. Host with that in mind, here is the exchange. [video clip] thank you. Many of us are frustrated on promotion, we represent the post 9 11 generation. I am curious of what you have to tell them about why they are promotion. [indiscernible] their livelihood. [indiscernible] host there is the exchange. A little bit then from the followup. After that exchange, did you hear anything else from the Senators Office . Guest not at all. As you can hear, he was dismissive. I can tell you, if you are the servicemember or family of a Service Member whose promotion is being held up or the troops who do not have the leadership they need right now, i do not know if that is what you want from your elected leadership. Host according to statistics, about 260 nominations of Senior Officers being held up. That number going up to 650 possibly. If that were to take place, what happens to force readiness . Guest the cascading effects are hard to quantify. The uncertainty when it comes to leadership in our military, it is not good for National Security longterm. We need to be focused on preparing for threats right now. The troops serving today, whether in the marine corps that does not have a comment on or a fleet with the Naval Academy who does not have a superintendent right now, across the military, we do not have topdown guidance that our troops depend on based on how the military is structured. It is a topdown organization. Right now, there is not only uncertainty but even the acting leadership in place right now does not have the Proper Authority to make decisions and respond to National Security imperatives. The longer the list goes on, the more we should be worried about how our military is degraded and how it is going to compromise our National Security. Host specifically what is he calling for and why is he holding up nominations because of it . Guest i think he is frustrated the department has stepped in post roe v. Wade to look out for our troops and families as it relates to them being able to have the access to reproductive care they need. He has a personal disagreement with that policy and the administration taking action. Instead of trying to pass a law to prevent the dod from doing what the secretary or taking the actions the secretary did is unfortunately pulling a stunt that is compromising not only our National Security, but individuals lives. The men and women sacrificing so much more than so many other americans. Host why describe it as a stunt . Guest because, there is a way he could business. I think many of his colleagues have said this and are frustrated. I wish more of them would speak out, especially on his side of the aisle. He is a legislator. He could pass a law if he does not like with the administration has done within his authority. That is a way that as a legislator, he should respond to a policy that he does not like. Instead, he is using his authority to hold a promotions hold up promotions. Arguably, not in a way that is super defensible. Host our guest with us until the end of the program at 10 00 if you want to ask questions about the recent actions of the alabama republican senator or other issues when it comes to veterans, you can call us on the lines. Special lines today. 202 7488000 for active and former military. If you want to give your perspective, if you are a military family, call us at 202 7488001. All others, 202 7488002. If you want to text us your thoughts, 202 7488003. Where do we go from here is the question, if the hold still continues, the impact on the military and a way to resolve it if it has to be resolved within congress . Guest in present time, we are in the august recess. We are in a holding pattern. I do not have all the answers in terms of where we go from here. It is unfortunate that one state senator can hold up the promotions in this process. I would also argue that for those who think there should be negotiation going on, i do not know if it is a tactic we should validate as a tactic that can be deployed in the future, whether around this specific policy or other policies. More than anything else, we need senators to do the right thing if they have a disagreement with the policy or want to push a personal, political agenda in congress, they should put forth a law and use the legislative process the way it was meant to be used. Stunts like this, candidly, should not be rewarded with even the smallest of negotiations. I hope he senator wakes up at a certain point. Host does your Organization Plan a more targeted response towards senator tucker bill at least a former campaign of some type . Guest we are going to keep an eye on this. I cannot speak to a former campaign or tactics that might go down the line. We will keep an eye on it. As a leader of an organization that represents those in the crosshairs, i feel a sense of responsibility to be a watchdog and do our job and keep the pressure on. Host even before your current position, could you account for us your military background . Guest sure. I went to college on a rotc scholarship. Being in the army was my dream. Deployed in 2000 four. Shortly after, i became a Second Lieutenant of the United States army to iraq. I went to iraq during the search for about 15 months and served a little more than four years before getting out into thousand eight. Host Allison Jaslow, our first call comes from mary, las vegas, democrats line. Caller good morning. I support our military. He should just go back to being a coach. Why people like vote, people like tube or bill into office is beyond me. It is despicable. What he is doing is holding the promotions until there is no election and he can put the people he wants to put in instead of taking care of business. This is not a democrat or republican issue. This is an american issue. He is acting against our military. I do not know the Republican Party is unrecognizable to me. They have an autocratic agenda. They are following a cult leader who is determined to destroy our democratic republic. People better start listening to other voices other than fox news and newsmax and maybe listen to some scholars. Read a couple books. Read the trump tapes. There are so many books and how this party has been corrupted by a cult leader. I am afraid for our democracy. Host ok, mary. Thanks. Ms. Jaslow . Any response to that . Guest you know, i would say more than anything else that this is not personable personal. Senator tuberville was elected by his constituents and has every right to have personal, political views. He needs to make sure that he presents in the best way of an american senator. His background and office aside, he needs to do right by not only our United States military, but the institution he has been elected into and do business the right way. Host from our independent line, this is john. He joins us from new york. Go ahead. Caller pedro, i wish you got this one woman on here with her own point of view. There is nobody here depending on what is his name, tubervilles point of view . He represents a large constituency, probably half of america. You do not have anyone there defending him. You have one woman pushing her agenda. It is like a free infomercial for her, which is most of your segments. Host one of the reasons we post we host these people like themselves is so people like you can ask her questions. Go ahead. Caller the demographics that you are proposing have the 640 promotions. Before i give you any credence, did the 640 promotions that you are proposing in the democrats what are they . Are they fair . Do you have any people can i look at the demographics, that would affect my decisionmaking. Host any response . Guest i would say two things. First, sir, this is not just my point of view. An overwhelming member number of our members support the defense stepping in roe v. Wade to make sure servicemembers and their families have access to reproductive care they need. All the nominations that are held before the senate are public. If you go to the senate website, you should be able to look at not only the level of promotions, but the names of those sitting before the senate to be confirmed. Host from darrell in North Carolina. Independent line. Go ahead. Caller good morning. Your guest. First, i want to thank you and commend you for what youre doing for veterans. I come from a family that has served in every branch in the military. I disagree with you explaining what senator tupper ville is doing. Is it not true that what the senator and many other senators are it has been a longstanding process going all the way back to the civil world civil war that the United States government militarily will not support abortion. That is what he is objecting to. For you to say that all he needs is a deal to put forth, that is not a true explanation to those who need it most. This is an important issue. Im very sorry, as most military people are, that this affects our Senior Leadership. As a veteran and longstanding member of the military, there are not positions that are not being filled. Yes, it is affecting these senior personnel, but can you be more truthful in explaining the total issue . This is not just a one sided republican issue. This is a democratic issue who supports abortion. I listen for your response. Thank you for your service. Guest thank you, sir, for you and your families service. It is unfortunately a common occurrence today that families are serving disproportionately along with the rest of the country. I appreciate you calling in and sharing your perspective. Too few know veterans like us into many of us are related to each other these days. To answer your question, i do not believe part of the story is being left out here. I think the department of defense has pretty consistent policies across the rest of the federal government when it comes to reproductive care. I think the department of defense has acted in line with an overwhelming majority of the American People, as well. I know this is a complicated time when it comes to the intersection of National Security and social issues in our country. But, i do not believe that the department of defense, the secretary of defense and the administration are out of step with the American People on this or the military at large. Host there was a recent oped from peggy nance who serves as the head of the concerned women for america. She wrote about the defense of senator tuberville, she makes this case saying, what is his crime . She is he is using travel reimbursement for military members to get abortion. Until President Biden stops this illegal use of funds, congress produce military expenses to the appropriations process but never authorized travel reimbursement for military personnel abortions. As a mom of a young man who will be an army Second Lieutenant, President Biden is disregarding the law and using that money that showed should go for military readiness to satisfy his political agenda. How would you respond to that . Guest a senator putting his personal agenda over security. He does not need to be acting out in this way. He has a personal, political agenda which would not make him unique in the United States senate. He is definitely choosing to use a tactic and put that agenda above National Security. He is compromising National Security. It is a choice and he does not need to be doing it. Host james joining us from buffalo, new york. Democrats line. Good morning. Caller how are you . Thank you for being i know we are talking about a lot. Can we move to the major richard start at door other things like that that will benefit veterans . I know you guys are working on it. I am wondering we had enough votes in the congress and senate, but they never brought it up even though they were supposed to. Is this going to pass or what . Guest the major Richard Starr at . I cannot tell you if it has passed or not. There is a significant effort in washington, d. C. Among a number of military Service Organizations to advance that legislation. It is a complicated time in congress, where there is hard to get a lot of attention around anything other than spending bills or passing the ndaa. We are going to keep at it. Host another thing currently being the pact act. A veterans veterans are being particularly encouraged to apply for it. Can you explain what it is . Guest we are approaching the one Year Anniversary of the pact act. It was passed to help get care and benefits for veterans who were exposed to toxins during their service. For my generation, commonly that looked like burn pits. For previous generations, it is things like agent orange. Essentially, if you apply for benefits or express your intent to the ba to apply for benefits, by the ninth of this month, you can get retroactive benefits to august 10 of 2022. That said, because the bill has been passed even if you pass that deadline and you are concerned you have a Health Condition as a result of toxic exposure, the v. A. Has been resourced in a way that can hopefully get you the care you need and you have earned and deserved. Host i wldxtend that igility to post 9 11 combat veterans. It would at 23 burn pit and toxic exposure related conditions to the list of service esptions. Can you explain what a burn pit is . Guest i can speak from personal experience. During my second deployment, i spent close to 15 months sleeping in a camp adjacent to another camp that was essentially called affectionately called camp trashcan. I am not sure what was burnt in camp trashcan. The smoke was thick. It was thick enough it would descend onto our encampment and infiltrate our barracks. Nobody knew what was in it, but it was Strong Enough smoke and persistent enough everyone left that particular deployment worried about what cancer they make it in the future. There are many Service Members who had to oversee the burn pits and had more context on what was being thrown inside of them, whether it was fuel they burned on top of trash and debris, or other chemicals. To basically get rid of them in a wartime environment, unfortunately, we rationalize a lot of things in war because of the nature of what war is and the need to communicate. Unfortunately, a lot of events during the Wartime Service because burn pits were used to it rid of all kinds of things without question have been exposed to who knows what kind of toxins. At the end of the day, we want to make sure if it did happen whether deployed in iraq or afghanistan, on the flipside of your service, if there is a condition the results of those exposure burn pits you would get care from the v. A. Host four eligibility, is it just for people who worked at the burn pits themselves, or were in the proximity of them . Guest if you were exposed to toxins. So, as long as you are able to make a case you were exposed to toxins, whether agent orange in vietnam or you lived near a burn pit in iraq like i did. If you were exposed, the v. A. Will see your claim and hopefully validate that whatever condition you are coming to the v. A. With his presumed to be tied to your toxic exposure. Host this is from robert in South Carolina. Go ahead. Caller yes, maam. I am a new caller, but also a vietnam vet and a post iraq vet. I did 20 years in the military. I support all the female veterans. They are the same as the males. They should not have to hello . Host you are on, keep going. Caller they should not have to justify their health care. They served right beside the males. Why, why, should you i appreciate what you are doing but you should not have to justify for the females. They are soldiers. For desantis to say these soldiers, i do not want to hear that crap. If you were for the soldiers, you would be for all the soldiers, not just the males. I am a vietnam vet. Having my brother die in vietnam and another one of my brothers died in the va hospital and me not having cancer, to have a senator say i cannot help the females . I am sorry. There was females in vietnam. There was females in world war ii. I do not care what they do with their body. Their health is what matters here. Host thank you. Guest thank you so much. For your service and your families sacrifice, but also part of my lifes work has been making sure that we change the face of veterans in america today, to make sure Women Veterans are more seen and recognized the way that you so readily do. I appreciate you using your voice to speak on our behalf. Thank you so much. Host republican line from michael in pennsylvania. Caller yes, good morning. As an active duty member, not necessarily a republican or independent, but i am curious. Certainly, while you are waiting for a promotion, you are still doing your job. Maybe you can explain the importance of them doing promotions and why they are unable to do their job while waiting for the promotion. I will hang up and wait for your response. Thank you. Guest yes, a few things. Of course, folks still do their job. Anybody would want to get the pay for the job they are doing. That is the first piece. The second piece is, for some of the most senior positions where they are doing active negotiations with other military officers from foreign countries, they are limited in the ability even if they are doing the job that has the authority of the job, if they have not actually been confirmed. There are broader impacts. They picture the uncertainty around it, it has devastating impacts as well. It is not as cut and dry as some people want it to be. I think big picture, we need to think about overall readiness, whether it is just not having a leadership in the military we have right now or frankly, if you are close to retirement, do you want to deal with this nonsense anymore . Do we lose some of our best and brightest because they are tired of politics these days . We should not be asking people to do a job at a higher pay grade and not give them the pay for it, especially if they are Service Members. They are not getting paid wall street salaries to start with. The least we can do is ask the people we depend on to keep us safe and secure at home the least we can do is half their backs and make sure they are getting the pay and support they deserve. Some of our elected leaders in washington, whether it is advocates like myself who hold those leaders accountable, too. Host when it comes to issues regarding female members of the military, i want to ask you about a recent executive order signed by President Biden. It would amend the uniform code of military justice by transferring key decisionmaking power from commanders to specialized independent military prosecutors in cases of Sexual Assault, domestic violence, murder, child abuse and other serious offenses. I want to know what you are thinking on how this would change what is done within the military because of this executive order. Guest it is important to note the executive order is a product of a law passed in congress. The Biden Administration is merely following through on what Congress Asked it to do. This is something i had a personal evolution on myself. As somebody who is a former officer, you fall into the uniform code of military justice. I think it helps us keep good order and discipline, but swift justice especially on smaller offenses within the ranks. Over time, i have had to recognize what faults it can have when it comes to some of the most serious offenses. I think this move to take the most serious offenses out of the chain of command to have independent prosecutors, whether military Sexual Assault or a murder or greater crime, it is worthwhile to move it out of the uniform code of military justice chain of command to make sure in any biases of a commander are not at play for these most serious offenses. Host as far as the independent body, who would that be comprised of . Guest i cannot speak to the specifics today in terms of how it is sorting itself out. Host robert is next in utah, democrats line. Hi. Caller yes. I am wondering if allison is familiar with the ga are. It was the grand army of the republic. They were Union Veterans from the civil war. They had a stranglehold on politics right up until shortly after world war i. I think it would be good if she would investigate how they leveraged themselves. In order to do that, you will need all veterans, not just afghan and iraq. You are going to need all veterans. I would encourage her to do to work closely with all veteran organizations and that is pretty much it. I served from 1971 to 1980. Thank you. Well guest well, thank you for calling in and for your service. I agree, the more we can lock elbows and fight together, we should. This particular issue at least when it comes to what senator tuberville is doing in the senate is relevant for the post 9 11 generation of veterans. Yes, no different than robert who called in earlier today any veteran who can raise their voice beyond the right side of the issue, the right side of our National Security, the right side of our troops, is worthwhile. Host from dennis in south dakota. Go ahead. Caller thank you very much for taking my call. I am a veteran from the vietnam war. I was in the philippines when the vietnam war was going on. I am paid up for life with the american legion. Ok. Since 1984. Ok. Here is the situation. The burn pit was brought up by biden. Ok . It is the pact act. Ok. We have a representative of south dakota against that. I will not tell you his name. Ok. I got a couple more things to say. Anyway. We have got an expresident right now. I do not think he really cares about our military that much. He just wants to get into power. We see what happened on january 6. Ok, one more thing to say and i will leave it go. Tammy duckworth had lost both of her legs in the iraq war. She is in congress. She is from illinois. She has had she serves her country after she comes back from the iraq war. Dennis to guard was the governor of south dakota. Ok. Host thank you, dennis. Do you care to respond to any of that . Guest i think i think dennis for not only calling in and staying up to speed on the issues, but it is worthwhile to make sure that people know that the pact act is as important as it is, was not supported unanimously. I think it is worthwhile shedding light on those members of congress who did not support it. We have veterans dealing with cancer, veterans who died from cancer. It should be known as to what elected leaders actually stepped up. At the moment, when we ask them to make sure veterans got the care they deserve and frankly have earned for their exposure to toxins and there are those host we are approaching the twoYear Anniversary of the pullout of afghanistan. Thinking about it, what do you think about the Biden Administrations management of that . Guest listen. When anybody looks at the withdrawal itself, it is hard to say it was managed well. I will say from personal experience i just saw a buddy of mine who is at the Naval Academy now, but was a marine during the withdrawal. Unfortunately, i know this is a political show. I know there is a lot of Politics Around the afghanistan withdrawal. I would encourage our viewers if they are recognizing the anniversary to remember there were people who lost their lives during the withdrawal. There were people who had to oversee it, commanders, other members who are probably still recovering from the trauma of that expense. Whether you agree with the withdrawal or not, whether you have opinions on whether it was managed well or not, remember that there are people whos lives are impacted, whether members on the ground with their loved ones at the end of the day, i can have my own opinions about the decisions of politics. I feel a sense of responsibility to make sure we do not lose sight of the people impacted by this decision. Host republican line, darrell in kentucky. Caller yes. I just heard your comment a second ago. People that was left behind in afghanistan, there were 13 American People left behind. That was under joe biden. And, we lost a whole lot of military over there. Helicopters, everything. 85 billion we lost over there. We did not recover nothing. I regret having those people got killed for nothing. If this was under President Trump, trump would never have let that happen at all. [indiscernible] President Trump support them, he helped them out and build the military up. Host ok. Paul is in connecticut, independent line. Go ahead. Caller good morning, nice to hear you both. Military background, almost four years in the navy, 1972 to 1976. My opinions are strong based on my service and interaction with veterans my whole life. Both my parents were veterans. Having served, mom received the short end of it at the v. A. Because she was not serviceconnected even with zero waiting as soon as she reached medicare age, of course. They tried to push her out. Ms. Service at the highest degree. My attitude is, we have a lot of military order that has overtaken civilian thinking. As you have mentioned, we have civilian control of the military. When it comes to harms committed by the indifference of management and officers in the service regarding harms committed, you mentioned the burn pit legislation. That extends all the way back even to my service. Why cant our lawmakers require that the v. A. , just as they were forced into the duty to assist when veterans file claims, why cant we force them into disclosing the areas in the pockets of contamination, such as the widespread exposure in the media to the camp lejeune poisonings . Why cant we have that, where there is a database where there is an obligation or the v. A. To inform veterans that even the lowest distinction, listing people all through the officer corps, why cant we force them to have a database oh, by the way, the duty station you served at, there are x number of your mates and comrades that have been poisoned. Host got the point. We will let your we will let the guest respond. The amount of transparency a veteran can receive if they have been exposed to such things. Guest big picture, what you are getting at, something we advocate around a lot to the toxic exposure. To convince folks that they either need injustice, that they feel injustice and rather our government should more proactively seek out individual Service Members or veterans and make sure they have the information that can empower them whether it is their Broader Health care, but to help get Clean Service record in the case of folks kicked out for homosexual behavior. Host we have about less than a minute left. We started this program today talking about confidence in the military. There was a recent gallup poll saying 60 of those expressed a great deal or quite a bit of confidence in the military. What do you think about that figure . Guest i think the military is an institution as an institution still has more trust and confidence many other institutions in america. Though the headlines are that trust and confidence in the military has decreased in recent years, i would note that thankfully, many of our fellow americans had a great deal of respect and confidence in military veterans and those who served. But, trust and confidence is earned. Hopefully, once we get past this current political moment we are in, i have every reason to believe the trust and confidence in the military will increase a little more again. It is not below 10 of were congresses, right . [laughter] host Allison Jaslow is starting us. Thanks for your time today. Guest thanks for having me