objectively whiter than africa and haiti, those are the people that he wants to fill america with and that has really left a bad taste in the mouth of both republicans and democrats. yeah. we want to bring in now a member of the judiciary and foreign relations committees, democratic senator chris coons of delaware. obviously want to talk about the looming potential government shutdown coming up, but first what do you make of the homeland security secretary s testimony yesterday? how did you perceive it? well, mika, that was a remarkable hearing yesterday, one in which a secretary, a cabinet member who was actually in the room kept saying that she didn t know things that we all know to be true. the idea that secretary kirsten nelson couldn t confirm that norway is majority white. couldn t confirm she knew what sort of obscenities the president had used and what they meant suggested that part of being a loyal cabinet member is not being truthful, even in sworn testimony before a sena
authoritarians globally. they re now using fake news as justification for jailing journalists, 262 jailed just this past year. that s a record. there are few moments that stand out in the first year for donald trump as far as violating constitutional norms or pushing boundaries in a terrible direction. one is enemies of the press. the other is when he s questioned the legitimacy of the judiciary. for you, what are some of the gravest dangers you ve seen over the past year, not just using the term enemies of the press but what are some of the things that cause you the gravest concern? some of the things the president says talking about the crowd size or whatnot whether it is true is relatively trivial, but some things are not as trivial. to talk about our elections
his rhetoric and his character or about his policies and ideas in your mind? i m a conservative and i vote conservative. take, for example, health care. i voted some 30 times to repeal and replace obamacare. if people expect me to change my vote simply because i have disagreements with the president on an issue like that, they ll be disappointed. same is true with tax reform. i do think that a president ought to get his or her nominees by and large unless they re unqualified. i think the president with regard to the judiciary named a good supreme court justice. there are issues that i diagree with the president on policy, certainly on trade and nafta. we shouldn t get out of it. on the travel ban, i think that the current iteration is constitutional, just not wise. so, some of these things just don t come to a vote in the senate. but i ll disagree with the president when i think he s wrong and support him when i think he s right. but a lot of these things are congressional initiative
being rigged or, you know, widespread abuse in our election system. that has real consequences. talking about the federal judiciary in the way that he has. that s not good either. so, these kind of things do make a difference. they do have consequences that will outlast the presidency when you erode trust in our institutions. one of the biggest problems over the past year is the president referring to anything russian as a hoax. and it wasn t. russia did try to intervene in our elections. it was pointed out the other day in the pres that there was not one cabinet level meeting on the entire year how to deal with that issue and make sure our elections in the future are sound. so, i think that that is a big, big problem. senator flake, it s willie geist. it s good to see you this morning. you ve been one of the few republican voices to step out, granted you re not seeking re-election in arizona and speak