♪ host: good morning. it is thursday, january 18. tensions with china. u.s. foreign policy has grown as a priority for voters according to a new a people. -- ap poll. how important is foreign-policy

in your 2024 vote? has your opinion changed over the past year? phones are by party. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can send us a text at (202) 748-8003. include your first name and your city. we are on social media. facebook.com/cspan, or x at @cspanwj. welcome to washington journal. let's start with the ap poll. more americans think foreign-policy should be a top u.s. priority for 2024. it says in this time of war overseas more americans think foreign-policy should be atop focus for the government in 2020 for.

a new poll shows immigration rising with the public. four in 10 named foreign-policy topics and a question that asked people to share up to five issues for the government to work on in the next year. it says that long-standing economic worries overshadow other issues but the findings point to increased concerns about u.s. involvement overseas. 20% voiced that sentiment versus 5% a year ago. take a look at what it looks like visually. here is the percent of u.s. adults who want the government to work on the following issue in 2024. the economy is the highest one. as far as changes goes, foreign-policy coming in at number two. the change between 2023 and 2024. the other one that had a big change is u.s. involvement

overseas, which is very related to that. another article here is the washington post. it says the u.s. navy carries out new rounds of strikes against houthis in yemen. the u.s. navy launched a new round of missile strikes against houthi militants in yemen, targeting a dozen sites and a growing campaign meant to stifle repeated attacks on commercial shipping in the red sea. u.s. forces carried out the strikes on 14 missiles that the houthis had loaded to be fired. the missiles were on long trails and "presented an imminent threat of merchant vessels and u.s. navy ships and could have been fired at any time." let's look at what national security council spokesperson john kirby said yesterday at the white house. he fielded questions about

the response to iran's actions last week. [video] >> the president set a private message was delivered to iran about the houthi attacks. could you talk about that message? >> no, i cannot. >> what was communicated to the houthis? >> that was the same question you asked. as the president said, it was a private laurent and i need to leave it at that. i will leave it there. the message was delivered. publicly we have made clear our concerns about what the houthis are doing. we will continue to take action. in the context of the red sea attack this administration is issued 500 sanctions -- 500 entities have been sanctioned in the last three years. iranian. >> a quick question on iran's

foreign minister who spoke earlier today and said the security of the red sea is tied to gaza. everyone will suffer [inaudible] all fronts will remain active. do you have a response to that? >> to take it in a couple of pieces there. if you look at the 32 some odd attacks they have conducted no, the ones our targeted at ships that were identifiable -- sometimes they launch a barrage and there are multiple ships and you're not sure what ship is being targeted. let's look at the majority of the 32 or you can identify the ship being targeted. not a single one was destined for israel. they were all destined for other ports with other bits of commerce. the argument that this is about the warden gaza, they are just driving the stakes through a straw. there's nothing there. as for the resistance

continuing, i've said it many times. we have national security interests in the region, significant interests. we have moved additional military resources at the president's order to make sure we can protect those interests. we mean what we say. if you doubt it, look what happened a few nights ago. host: that was john kirby at the white house yesterday. but question for this morning is how important is foreign-policy in your 2024 vote? the numbers are on your screen. daniel in washington, d.c. republican. caller: good morning. as a jewish-american i feel that we need to contingent our military and economic aid israel . that the israeli government --

the apartheid treatment of palestinians, and atrocity against the jewish person in israel is not more than atrocity against the palestinians being committed in gaza. our foreign policy of the united states needs to be peaceful. we have aggression all over the world. we have military bases in hundreds of places. as a jewish-american i am regretful that support for israel has not been demanding that israel make peace. now that we have seen this horrible mass murder in gaza, nobody can justify

killing thousands of children. there is no way. i am horrified. i am terrified of the arab world's response that israel things it's immune from in some way. america has to stop giving aid and this double-blind dunk at the pretending we are supporting not killing civilians. we are supporting killing thousands of civilians. there is no way around it. host: as a republican how does that affect your vote? caller: i don't want to kid anybody to think that the trump administration was not going to war. they went to war with iran. they called out b-52 bombers. they murdered the general.

i do think the democratic party is doing much better -- don't think the democratic party is doing much better. america needs to stop becoming the arms merchants of death. our whole government policy is a fraud. nothing but how to sell arms all over the world. host: when you think about your vote for 2024, where does that leave you? caller: god forbid we allow donald trump to get anywhere near an office, and the congress who participated -- congressmen and senators who purchase a paid in the insurrection -- participated in the insurrection need to be forced out of power. why should they be sitting in congress next to congressional officials, senators, who voted to block the democratic election of 2020?

this country is in deep trouble. host: how are you going to vote, daniel? will you vote democrat or not going to vote? what are you going to do? caller: it is interesting. the republicans have called the democratic party democrat. you understand how linguist excel used to diminish people? it is the democratic party. you journalists need to correct these idiots when they go democratic senate, democrat convention. it is democrat party, america. host: got it. rob in port crane, new york. independent. caller: good morning. how much was wrong with that last conversation? this is really low hanging fruit. the l.a. thing i care about as far as foreign policy is the depopulation going on with the pfizer drugs.

those covert shots are killing millions of people -- covid shots are killing millions of people. look at the expose about the depopulation forecast. the new zealand whistleblower. he was in charge of new zealand's covid vaccine database. host: david in st. paul, minnesota. democrat. caller: good morning, mimi. love c-span. you are my favorite host by far. i was calling about the conflict in gaza. joe biden running into 2024. i'm 34 years old. military vet. i joined the military under obama. voted for obama. then left. i supported the whole military,

patriotism, everything. being in and now being out and seeing the actions of our government, i find it interesting how much force we are willing to use against people because they look different. what i want to compare this to is other genocides that have happened. if you look what happened in china with the uigers, and back after the soviet union collapsed and that whole soviet fighting and killing each other, those were genocides. what is happening now isn't genocide -- is genocide against the palestinian people. i hope you can ask your next question. carlos jiminez, born in cuba.

i like republicans i can come into the country and thrive. i have been contacting my rep and the white house, senators, everyone, about the need to stop this violence. and, i have gotten nothing from them. one of them said my wife is jewish let me worry about this. i don't care who is doing the actions to the palestinian people or their religion. i don't care of their muslim, buddhist, christian, agnostic, or scientologist, it is wrong to kill people because of where they were born or what they look like. host: how does this affect your vote, david? caller: sorry. i rambled. i voted for joe biden and 2020. not that i wanted to but trump was not a good option. through the biden presidency he

has kept up the terrible trump border policies in the south. he's giving unconditional aid to israel. joe biden has held these zionist beliefs. he said it is from his father. we will not change his mind. i cannot vote for joe biden. host: what are you going to do? caller: i don't know. probably vote for my state reps who are in the dfl. in minnesota we have a couple of reps who are continuously posting israeli propaganda and talking but how we need to kill palestinians. the dsl party has not done anything about it either. no one is calling out those guys. host: you are thinking about leaving the top of the ballot blank? caller: maybe not blank. i'm not going to vote for trump or biden as a stance.

biden can win meet back. if he cuts off aid and starts working to a place where palestinians can live in an equitable society and the israelis don't fear their house getting blown up or where they will eat or if they will have power or clean water or medical access. host: that is what he would do to win you back? caller: yup. host: ray in aurora, colorado. independent. caller: how are you this morning? host: i'm doing well. caller: i'm affiliated with the libertarian party. at the root of our general beliefs as far as foreign policy goes we believe very strongly in non-interventionism. another way i like to put it, neutrality. the problem with foreign policy

as enacted by the united states is as some of the callers have mentioned we have been deeply involved. we have been pouring money into many a conflict. all these bases another forms of military installations all over the world. this idea that somehow that the united states is going to be able to shape the rest of the world, it is completely ridiculous as far as we arened. it is funny that you mentioned at the top foreign policy and immigration. i find those two to be interconnected because when we have these kinds of interventions, like historically in south america back in the 20th century, you have so many people displaced as an unintended consequence from these countries. it is only natural that many of them end up migrating over here

especially. i think we need to push for non-interventionism. we need to be neutral. we -- i think a good start would be not only cutting off aid to israel, but basically just cutting off aid to any conflict outside of the u.s. host: do you have a candidate you are supporting? caller: i am keeping my eyes on the libertarian presidential race. looking recently at the iowa caucus, chase oliver seemed to take the top. ultimately& it will come down to who will get that nomination at the national convention in d.c. host: got it. taking a look at facebook. here's what matthew said about

the foreign policy aspect of hi vote. "is important. the competent administration has wasted billions of dollars on ukraine while aowing a record number of invaders into r country." e says, "not at all important. over 20 years of w wh two dumb dumbs with bush and oba. imagine 20 years of minding her own business for a change in how much better off this country would be." diane says, "it's extremely important. i'm grateful we have a president who is experienced and able to rebuild the alliances trump destroyed." speaking of the former president, he was campaigning in new hampshire tuesday. he talked about his administration's foreign policy record. [video] >> these are the same people that ran afghanistan into the ground.

i was taking everybody out of afghanistan but we are doing it with strength and with dignity. we were coming out. they were afraid of us. they weren't doing anything. i spoke to abdul, the leader of the taliban. we had a rough conversation. after that conversation not one american soldier was kilter 18 months. then you had that disaster by biden where they took the military out first. you take the military out last. do you get your people out first. do you get your equipment out and then you come out. they took the military out first. we had this people telling us about wars in the middle east. you don't need wars. we built the strongest military in the world. we defeated isis. 100% of the caliphate. salomaine gone. we created to save nation. we did not have one terrorist attack in four years. i never said that because i don't want to have it and then

we have an attack. we did not have one terrorist attack. iran was broke. i told china. i told all the countries that if you do business buying oil from iran, the purveyors of terror, they would give billions and billions of dollars out the hamas, the hezbollah. billions and billions. anybody that does business with iran, you are not doing business with the united states. we will put a tariff of 100% on all your goods. everybody said i guess we're not doing business with them and they were broke. host: going to columbus, ohio. marcus. hello. caller: hi . love c-span. i have been a democrat all my life. i served in the marine corps for six years. i don't think i've ever had -- i

don't know if you call it a political reckoning as far as what is happening right now and joe biden and the administration supporting the genocide happening in gaza. it is something that has come around over the past few weeks . i served in the military. i started looking into south africa's case at the international criminal court or the criminal court of justice. just looking at the facts, looking at the arguments from south africa versus the arguments against israel -- from israel, it is pretty cut and dry. i don't know how joe biden and

his administration can continue to do this. i don't know how other democrats can support joe biden right now. this is not to say trump is better. i think that's the more that i research trump had a lot to do with moving the capital from tel aviv to jerusalem. allowing the netanyahu government to be more and more violent. not accepting any possibility of a two state solution. then you get to joe biden. he continued on into this point where 25,000 people are dead. there are no hospitals that work. talking about the election months from now, how many palestinians will be dead by

then? it's hard to think of the election while the genocide is still happening. host: i understand your feelings on that. has that changed your opinion on how you want to vote though? what do you think? caller: honestly i want to leave the country. i don't like this place. as far as voting, i don't know. cornell west, i saw him speaking. i don't know. it is hard. if you care about human life, we have to stop this genocide. host: marcus mentioned south africa's case against israel. this is cnbc that said the case against israel has global support according to the finance

minister. that was a hearing last week at the international court of justice in the hague, netherlands. lawyers laid out argument alleging that israel's war on gaza constituted genocide. israel strongly denied the accusation, contending it had a right to defend itself in response to the october 7 attack by hamas fighters that killed 1200 people and took about 250 hostages. robert, clearwater, florida. republican. caller: i think -- then key for taking my call. it is not right all these people come over here. some of them are terrorists. some are mexican mafia. everybody is killing people over there. we have to stop them at the border. they should have never did that with the border. now we have terrorist coming over here on the roads and stuff

and blocking people from going across the streets. especially the old people. they have to wait four hours for them to clear the way. they should start locking them up as far as i'm concerned. host: here is nbc news about the latest audit immigration deal. congressional leaders meet at the white house as optimism on immigration deal grows. speaker mike johnson called the meeting productive while insisting president biden agreed to sensitive policy changes at the border. chris. lafayette, california. independent. caller: hi. good morning. i have to say with the 2020 for election -- 2024 election because biden messed up on the israel and palestinians, i will

go for cornell west. i feel that's the thing. the fact that he backed netanyahu's assault on palestinians did not go well with me. i do not like that. i feel it is not good. it makes me sad. i feel like biden is the worst president on foreign policy. i don't like that. host: did you vote for him last time, chris? caller: yes i did. this is my first time i will not vote for a democrat. i voted for obama in 2012 and hillary in 2016 and biden in 2020. this time i'm not. i feel like the democratic party

does not represent me on the israel-palestinian issue. host: all right. let's take a look at a bipartisan group of senators hosting families of american and israeli hostages at the capitol yesterday. here is foreign relations given nature ben carson -- committee chair ben cardon. [video] >> this is day 103. i had a chance to visit israel and meet with the families of the hostages. it was an incredibly emotional moment for me. it really brought home the unimaginable horrors that the hostages endure every day and their families endure every day. i made a personal commitment at that time as our government did that every everything in my power every day to bring the

hostages home safely. since that time we have met with leaders in our own country. met with the family members who won many occasions. we have met with the israelis. we have met with leaders in the arab world. we continue to do that every day. we just acknowledge the courage of those that are with us today, the family members for making it clear that you will not rest until your family members are home and they will not be forgotten. we say to you the same thing. we will not rest until the hostages are home and we will not forget our commitment to bring them home safely. we thank you for always being willing to bring us together so we can strategize and do everything humanly possible to make that a reality. host: checking in on social

medi this is fromn on x. "if we had troops on t ground it would be more important to me. i have faith in joe biden and his team but i would l know what donald trump would do about gaza and the palestinians. darn it. the media does not want to ask that question." i assure you if he came under washington journal we would definitely ask him that question. earl from california. democrat. caller: i am concerned about the candidate that will most encourage a strong dollar so we will have valuable treasury notes so everybody in our country and the world will want to invest in america. host: who do you think that would be? caller: i don't know who was all running on the democratic slate in california primary. i will have to investigate that.

we will have to pick one of them. host: what about joe biden? what are your thoughts on him? caller: well, joe is pretty good but he's old. he does not seem to have any new ideas. he might be the only one left on the california primary ballot by the time i get to vote. if that is the case i will definitely vote for him. host: tom in michigan. caller: thank you for taking my call. it's amazing how out of touch so many people are. this whole war never would have happened had trump still been in office. you can say what you want. trump shot iran down -- shut iran down. that clip you showed is exactly why we have a problem with biden . biden undid all of that.

we have been supporting that war through buying oil to support iran to become the terrorist nucleus in the middle east. that is the problem. nobody recognizes that is biden 's problem. biden also undid all the border security that we had with trump. when you step back and you listen to all these people that hate trump and they say -- why do you hate trump? why do you hate him? host: staying in michigan, detroit on the independent line, anthony. caller: good morning. foreign policy is very important. it's a bad situation. it is definitely genocide in

israel-palestine-gaza. 70 people killed so fast. how many children? it is all over social media. you can't really hide it. that is really at the crux of the united states's entire foreign policy in the middle east. our backing of israel. that has been a problem for us. it has gotten us into a lot of wars we should not have in the middle east. can ukraine, that is -- and ukraine, that didn't need to happen. it was based off of economic interests. was ukraine going to be aligned with nato and the eu or more aligned with russia? it goes all the way back to 2014 this group of people running biden's foreign policy. secretary deputy victoria nuland. the national security jake sullivan. antony blinken.

these are amoral people. they are lawless and reckless. host: as an independent have you decided what you are going to do for 2024? caller: probably vote for the green party. jill stein. i think she is running. i don't agree with everything but she's right about palestine. write about our reckless foreign policy -- right about our reckless foreign policy. host: joe from baltimore, maryland. the line for democrats. caller: hi. hello? host: you are on the air. caller: foreign policy is very important to me concerning ukraine and all over the world. as far as the voting, i will try to vote for a democrat. what's happening in palestine and in israel is an atrocity. the question i have now and i

would like to have a comment on is the border. if you can't secure your own border and you have people coming the way they are -- now that they shouldn't come but do with the right way. what they are doing now, the way they are doing it is ridiculous. you cannot -- how are you doing? host: you have to talk into the phone and put your tv down. caller: as i was saying -- host: you were talking about the border. all right. we will move onto hear from speaker johnson. he and other congressional leaders are the white house yesterday. he spoke to reporters after that meeting. [video] >> thank you all for being here. we had a productive meeting of house and senate leaders.

the president was very forthright. i told the president what i had in saying for many months. we must have change of the border. substantive policy changes. we documented 64 instances where the president took executive action or his agencies took action to create the current catastrophe we have at the border. it's a national security and humanitarian catastrophe. i articulated that in the meeting now. we understand there is concerned about the safety and security and sovereignty of ukraine. team mecca people have the same concerns about our own sovereignty and safety and security. we talked about the elements to solve this problem. we passed our bill and it has critical elements. it's a historic restoration of the romanian mexico policy. the end of catching relief. performs to the broken asylum and parole systems. we are not insistent on of particular name but we are

insistent that the elements have to be meaningful. the house is ready to act. the legislation has to solve the problem. that is the critical point. we understand the necessity about ukraine funding everyone to say the status quo is on acceptable. we need the commander-in-chief, the president of the united states to show strength on the world stage. not weakness. we cannot continue with the current status quo. we understand the importance of what has been needed. when i met with president zelenskyy last month right before christmas he said the necessary ingredient is the proper weapons systems that they need. there are certain things that are needed to ensure they can prevail. when he does questions answered about the strategy, about the endgame and the accountability for the precious treasure of the american people. we understand all these things are important we must insist that the border be the top priority. i think we have consensus around the table. everyone understands the urgency of that and we will continue to

press forward. i want to thank my colleagues for being here and everyone for their time today. host: dylan and sturgis, south dakota. republican. caller: good morning. i'm a disabled vet from vietnam. during woodstock we lost 350 guys. all this seems like a lot of nonsense. i hear these young veterans talk. we were drafted. anyway, i wish that they quit talking about the shutdowns all the time and get it together. that speaker should be worrying about the rest of his group to get it together and quit having

these scares about shutdowns. there are a lot of veterans out here and sturgis --in sturgis. a lot of disabled veterans. i appreciate c-span. host: have you decided how you are going to vote? caller: yeah. i think i will go with not biden , that's for sure. i will vote for the old man. when he was president we were not having all these scares about shutdowns and all this. take avis money, -- he gave us money, too. he did not give us cell phones and nikes. i will go with trump. host: let's go to the independent line. andrew. good morning. caller: good morning. foreign policy is very important to me.

it is just as important as taxes and spending. all the issues going on right now, the war in gaza, the war in ukraine and other lesser-known little skirmishes like between guyana and venezuela and in africa. am interested in foreign policy as a relates to -- it relates to trade policy. that is why we are having the immigration issues we are having right now. foreign policy is very important to me. just as important as taxes and spending. host: marshall. brooksville, florida. pendent. caller: i was saying the foreign

policy is important but the policy here in the united states has gone by the wayside. what they are doing is concentrating on israel and gaza and hamas. let me tell you, we have a lot of problems here in the united states. we are sending so much money overseas. what about the retirees on social security? their medicine or their food, they have a choice. why can't we concentrate on the people here in the united states? yes, the border is very important. i want to know how we can afford to spend money on these people that are coming across when we don't have the money for ourselves to take care of ourselves. yet he's letting that border

open. if the border stays open, i'll tell you. people are going to have to do stand they will pay for all of this. every one that comes across that border we will pay for, the taxpayers. not biden. not any of the politicians. it will be us. the politicians ain't worried about their money. i'll tell you what. the people on social security, the people on social security, veterans, people and disability, it will hurt them a whole bunch. they have to do something about this. they have to stop this border. host: let's take a look at the senate majority leader chuck schumer. he spoke to reporters after that meeting with the president. [video] >> thank you very much. it was a good meeting and a positive meeting. there is a large amount of agreement around the table that we must do ukraine and we must do borders. there was tremendous focus on ukraine and an understanding that if we don't come to ukraine's aid, the consequences

for america around the globe would be nothing short of devastating. within a year we would be on our back foot doing all kinds of things that we would not want to do. that it was essential -- there was democratic and republican agreement -- it was essential we help ukraine. we talked about the border and how it is so important to deal with the border. the president said over and over again that he's willing to make -- to move forward on the border. we said we have to do both. there were a couple of people who said let's do border first. we said we have to do both together. in the senate -- let me make one more point. the only way we will do the border and ukraine or either of them is bipartisan. you cannot -- cannot do things with one party in a divided congress. anyone who says any party that says do it my way are no way, we

will not get anything done. i think there was broad agreement in the room that we had to do this in a bipartisan way. speaking in the senate, we are making really good progress. i'm more optimistic now that we can come to an agreement on border and ukraine in one package, along with aid to israel, along with humanitarian aid for the palestinians in gaza and helping indo-china. i'm more optimistic we can come to an agreement. i put the chances greater than half now and that is the first, i can say that. we hope to fund the government this week. if we can come to an agreement -- we have not come to an agreement yet in the senate -- move quickly on the supplementals very shortly thereafter. host: senator chuck schumer from yesterday. we are asking you for the next 15 minutes how important is foreign policy in your 2024 vote. christian says this on x. "very important. support ukraine. support israel.

help maintain a strong nato." a text from michael in south rolina. "empathy for the people who do not look anything like me are the main reasons i'm voting f president biden." another text says, "after the border and economy all these endless foreign wars ranabt number three. the current conflicts or any ty o measure our current policy is going in the wrong direction." elizabeth, randall town, maryland. democrat. caller: good morning at thank you for having me on the show. foreign policy is as important as thomistic policy. -- domestic policy. biden has been despicable for not calling for a cease-fire in gaza. we need a cease-fire desperately. we've had a chance to do that since october. he has not done that. he's big on supporting israel

with billions and billions of dollars. the people of gaza us starving to death -- are starving to death. israel is committing genocide and gaza. -- in gaza. if biden calls for a cease-fire in gaza, israel would have stopped fighting medially. biden is just■b despicable in my opinion for not calling for a cease-fire in gaza. host: who are you going to vote 424? -- for in 2020 for? -- 2024? caller: i'm not voting for biden for his foreign policy. i don't like the money for ukraine. now biden is starting a war in syria and iraq. host: would you vote for the republican nominee? caller: no, never. i will never vote for trump. i dislike jump immensely. i will vote for a third party.

host: the front page of the wall street journal with this picture and headline. "children of war search for shelter and gaza rubble." palestinian children make a temporary home inside a building damaged in israel's bombardment in the something gaza strip. israel is under pressure from the u.s. and withdrew some troops from gaza. gerard in south hadley, massachusetts. democrat. caller: how are you doing? i have listened to all these people that seem to be talking about -- talking back and forth. it seems the foreign policy issue is a big issue. they seem to forget what started the war. the bombing of those israel people. the israelis got killed. they retaliated. i know they retaliated a little further than what they are but

they have been living in that situation for decades. nothing has been resolved. the u.s. has put pressure on israel recently to stop the palestinians bombing in the southern section and not to get them killed. no country wants to bring them in to immigration, and to those areas. our borders that switch quickly from their to our borders, our borders have had protection against some of these laws. they have been destroyed by the congress. congress is the one that has got to back those bills. they need to work together. it is very hard won some of the issues are built-in to help the situation to get more security down there and they are not giving the money to do it. the last thing is that our country has several

insurrections in congress -- insurrectionists in congress that are preventing congress and working together. those people should not be allowed to hold office the way say. they should be removed from office and they should have been at the time when the legislation was put through, they would have been shot. host: pat in bastrop, texas. independent. caller: hi mimi. thanks for taking my call. i'm a veteran as well. my congressman was behind mike johnson when they were just talking on your video. i believe we should send -- we could stop hurting people we should send marines down to the

darien gap. it is not a populated area. with the provision of the panamanian and colombian government. go down there and stop people from coming from south america. slow the trickle of all the immigrants coming to the country. if we did that we could help save people because they had hurt traveling all the way up from south america to the southern border. that might be a chance to help the problem a little bit. host: how far are you from the border in bastrop? caller: about 200 miles. host: are you seeing any impact in your community? what are you seeing? caller: well, my community, they

play a part in the regular society. it is a fact of life. host: who are you planning on voting for in 2024? caller: i will vote for joe biden again if he runs for president. anybody but donald trump. donald trump is a criminal. host: got it. let's go to roger, a democrat in fort wayne, indiana. caller: good morning c-span and thank you for taking my call. foreign policy is high on the list for me as far as the election. democracy is never one for me. standing up for democracy. i want to make a comment or two about all the conservatives,

maga, calling in and lying and pretending like they have no hand in any of the wars america has been in the past 50 or 60 years. america's foreign policy actually has been driven by conservative foreign policy. the vietnam war. all the wars america has been in is because you conservatives hype the country up until told us we had to go to these wars. take for instance the iraq war. y'all told us iraq at weapons of mass destruction. we still ain't seen them. yes, trump is a conservative. the iraq war and afghanistan war is because of conservative intelligence and israeli conservative intelligence. from that information we went into iraq and afghanistan.

now you guys are trying to act like it is all democrats' wars. stop lying. to the guy that called asked and told you to ask us why did we hate trump so much, here's my answer. i used with meyer trump. i used to respect trump back in the 1980's. when obama became president i saw how much he hated a black person. then when he became president he showed his real heart. he showed he hates anyone and everyone they don't say he's right on every freaking thing. yes, i hate him because he hates me. the question is why does trump aide everybody -- hate everybody? host: let's go to jess in tennessee, independently.

-- independent line. go right ahead. caller: staying on foreign policy, i look at it as foreign policy is important. take the covid. you look over at putin, he's taken ukraine. foreign policy is very important. host: what are your thoughts on ukraine? should there be more funding for them? caller: yes. anybody that has looked at hiorhitler took poland. nobody did anything. then he took france. come on. host: all right.

thomas in lakewood, washington. democrat. caller: good morning. i guess i will start with israel. israel is complicated because netanyahu had hamas's attack plans before hamas attacked. then he funded a monster qatar. -- hamas through qatar. when he finally attacked, the idf did not show up for 12 hours in some parts of the country. a country the size of boston. they did not get the army there. that looks more to me like an

arson than a fire. there is issue there. talking about ukraine. we should send ukraine as much money as they need to defeat putin. going on with the border, i am from the same hometown as speaker mike johnson. we are from shreveport. this guy is an embarrassment right now. he recently said he talked to donald trump and donald trump is running the party. he should have integrity, honesty, and honor when he's running, when he's the speaker of the house. he's the speaker of the house for everybody. they should take the deal right now that the republicans in the senate negotiated.

he should take it and run with it. i don't know what his problem is. if he wants to be a sycophant for donald trump. he should do what is best for the country. they have really tough border security policy that they can if limit right now -- implement right now. for some reason he wants to be political and not give biden a win. host: this is what was said on x about how important foreign policys the vote. "very important. i would reluctantly vote for biden because trump would be worse. he would probably commit to bombing the idf and call it a coalition." this is ray in washington, d.c. "as a left-leaning independent

o votes democrat will holding my nose, i believe joe biden's ign policy may cost him the 2024 election. i do not believe trump will be better. in fact, probably worse. biden is losing a huge space by ignoring genocide in palestine." morgan in fullerton, california. independent. caller: good morning c-span anchor morning america. -- and good morning america. we have a $900 billion defense budget in this country. they are always looking for a place to spend it and bring more profit back to unfortunately the conservatives of this country. the gentle men about the conservatives starting the wars, i'm a vietnam combat veteran with a fairly strong case of ptsd. i am against any, undeclared wars which used to be the policy of the united states. we did not spending money until we declared war.

we have problems in our country, no question about it. host: where did you see combat, morgan? caller: in vietnam. the late 1960's and early 1970's. host: who are you thinking about voting for in 2024? caller: well, i will hold my nose and vote for joe biden, although i'm no joe biden fan particularly. i think we need to stop the career politician movement in this country and put term limits not only on the president but on everybody in the senate and the house as well. two terms and you are done. that was the original founding of the country. host: let's talk to diane next in sugar grove, illinois. democrat. caller: the foreign policy. these people are all complaining about us spending money over there.

they don't realize that if putin takes ukraine we can go into a world war. that is why the democrats are trying to stop this. we can't just let it lay. the border i understand is bad. i understand that, but this all started years and years ago. then it escalated when trump got in. he let it go crazy. now he is pulling the strings of everyone in the congress, and the house. that is why nothing is getting passed. in israel, they didn't start this. the palestinians started it. why is everyone against israel because palestine started it? genocide is terrible, terrible, terrible. we need to watch the foreign policy.

we cannot get into a worl war. that is what trump is trying to do. he is trying to get us into a world war to put dirt on the democrats' spaces. host: thank you to everybody that called in. we will have open forum later in the program if you were not able to weigh in on the subject for any other -- or any other subject. two members of congress will join us to talk among other topics efforts to give the government funded. we will first hear from florida republican carlos gimenez. later, a different perspective from wisconsin democrat gwen moore. this week, watch c-span campaign 2024 coverage as we are on the ground in new hampshire and the final weeks of campaigning

before the first in the nation primaries. here the candidates closing arguments, watch voters meet the candidates and experience would dislike on the campaign trail. watch on c-span network, c-span now, or online at c-span.org/campaign2024. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. american history tv, saturdays on c-span 2. exploring the people and events that tell the american story. at 7:00 p.m. eastern we continue with the series "free to choose," which originally aired in 1980 by milton friedman. mr. friedman and his wife were advocates of free market principles and limited government intervention in the economy and in social policy.at 8:00 p.m. eastern on lectures in history, university of houston political science professor brandon rotting house on

presidential scandals and how public reaction to them has changed over time. and at 9:30 p.m. eastern on the presidency, paul carter, author of the book "richard nixon: california's native son" delves into his california roots for a deeper understanding of his journey from a law practice to the white house. and watch our new series "historic campaign speeches" where we look at past campaigns to hear from presidential candidates making their case before voters. first, a 1996 speech by senator bob dole, followed by senator john kerry's speech at the new hampshire rally in 2004. exploring the american story. watch american history tv saturdays on c-span 2 and find a full schedule on your program ide or watch online anytime at c-span.org/history. washington journal continues. host: welcome back. we are joined now by

representative carlos gimenez, a republican from florida, member of the armed services and homeland security committee. also the committee on u.s.-china competition. representative gimenez, thanks for being with us. guest: my pleasure. host: the congressional leaders met with the president yesterday at the white house to talk about border and foreign aid. where does it go now? guest: the ball is in the president's hands and probably the senate. i think we house are pretty strongly behind the speakers position that any talk of helping ukraine, israel, etc. also must include some concessions by the president to secure the border. that is the chip that we have and i think that is the chip we need to play. the american people have seen that the chaos happening at the southern border, they want it to stop. i'm solidly behind with what the

speaker is trying to do. host: are you willing to make concessions on the border, or are you hr2 and that's it? >> i think hr2 is >> needed. the president wants what he wants for additional money done for the border. that's not what we want. we don't what the chaos, we don't want the hundreds of thousands of migrants flowing into the united states every month continue, and we need the president to follow the law. the law says if somebody's asking for asylum in the united states from a foreign country, they either stay in that foreign country or they are detained until a court hearing. that determines whether there asylum claim is valid or not. that is not what is happening right now at the border. the law says you pardon parole on a case-by-case basis. right now the biden administration is ringing on a masswe just need the law to be

followed. i'm in favor of funding ukraine and israel. i do believe that we need to stop and also believe that ukrainians are fighting for their freedom, and we also should secure the border. host: you did mention that you do support supplemental aid to israel and ukraine. but is a delay in coming to an agreement damaging ukraine's possibility of victory against russia? is it damaging israel's ability to fight hamas? guest: it is, but the delay in trying to secure the border is damaging us and security of the united states. in our prime objective is lawmakers, i swore in over to protect the united states of

america, and that is with the president needs to do but he is refusing to do so. i believe what is happening at the border is happening on purpose because we've had plenty of witnesses come before us in our committee and talk about what is it that we need to do to secure the border? it's not that complicated and they told us time and time again and the secretary what we need to do, and they refuse to do it. i personally believe that we need to help ukraine and israel, especially israel. we need to secure the border because we took a note to uphold. host: and if you would like to call in and ask a question of representative gimenez, you can do so. democrats, (202) 748-8000. publicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. going back to ukraine, cnn had a

headline about this war must not become frozen, zelenskyy's warning that ukrainian troops face shortages and weaponry and aid. what is the endgame here in ukraine? where is this going and what do you think is going to happen over the course of the year? guest: that is what we've asked the president, what is the strategy, what is the endgame, what is victory going to look like? i believe they had a meeting with the president yesterday with a number of my colleagues asking those questions. i wasn't privy to that meeting, i don't know how those questions were answered. that some of the questions that a lot of my colleagues are asking, what is the final strategy? what i believe is the endgame is getting obviously russia out of that territory that they gained a couple years ago when they invaded ukraine.

ukraine restoring that, at least that. i know that russia's is also occupying crimea, that is a question for another day. the number one goal is to make sure that russia does not overrun ukraine and claimed victory and actually obtain victory over ukraine because then i believe that it does lead to a more unstable world. putin will then look around the neighborhood and see what is next, and that is something that we can't tolerate. we can't tolerate even what is happening in ukraine. like i said, i support ukraine funding. we are not spilling american blood in ukraine. they don't want american troops to help them, they say they can do it as long as we support them. we do need to support them, get the -- but again, the president also needs to secure the southern border and protect the united state host: and the house homeland

security committee is scheduled to hold a second impeachment proceeding today on dhs secretary mayorkas. from your opinion, what has he done that would warrant impeachment? guest: well, he's allow the southern border to be overrun. this a couple of things he's done. by allowing the southern border to be overrun the way it is and we have over 2 million migrants allowed into the united states since joe biden took over the presidency, he has endangered the security of the united states. he's also enriched the mexican multinational cartel control of the border to the tune of billions of dollars. billions of dollars. and finally, he's failed to control the flow of fentanyl just killing tens of thousands of americans. i believe it is the number one cause of death for americans between 18 and 49 years old.

all of that falls squarely on mayorkas' lap. host: democrats are saying that is a policy issue, not an impeachable offense. guest: it's not just a policy issue. this is endangering the united states of america. he's violating a law. like i said before, when you are seeking asylum, when you come knocking at the door of the united states and you are seeking asylum, the losses two things. one, you either stay in your country, which is what president trump was doing, or if you are allowed in, you are detained until you get your hearing. that is not what is happening. the second thing it says is that if you are paroled in the united states, it is on a case-by-case basis. mayorkas is doing it on a mass basis, violating the law. he is putting americans in danger, violating the law and violating his own protect america and he's doing it on purpose. so those are impeachable offenses.

on top of that, he's putting american lives in danger every day. hundreds5é of americans are dyig every day of fentanyl overdoses and he has done zero, nothing to stem the flow because he's got all his customs and border patrol agents to busy processing all the people that are coming through because of his failure to control the border. host: let's talk to viewers, john is up first in minneapolis minnesota, independent. caller: good morning, representative. first of all, i looked into your background a little before making this call and i want to say to you, thank you for your long service as a firefighter. that is a very honorable job. my first question is you are on the armed forces committee, to do you know the numbers of deaths involved in the huthi attacks on commercial ships?

guest: i don't. we really haven't had a briefing on the attacks on commercial ships. caller: so as far as we know, it is a. ok, ok. and i heard there were some navy seals that died off the coast of somalia. that seems to be 200 miles or less from yemen. i'm just wondering, where those boys working in yemen? i know you probably can't say because that would be very classified, a grave danger to national security. so i'm just going to move onto to the next point. guest: i know how they died, and they died in an interdiction of operation. and i know it was very tragic the seals and their lives have been put at risk.

for their families and the men who give their lives a couple days ago. caller: very brave men. it's been about 100 days in gaza and there's been about 30,000 children said. is about 100 per day. and in the west bank, there's been about one a day. i just want to know, why is this sustainable that they are killing 300 people per day in the gaza strip, and do we have any numbers on the number of hamas they have killed and captured? not just palestinians, i mean actual hamas. host: done, we will get a response. guest: i don't have the actual number. i haven't had a briefing on what is going on in gaza for three weeks or a month, so i can't give you a number.

i know there's a number of people who have been killed in the gaza strip during this operation, and i do support israel's right to defend itself but i also believe that the only way that israel will avert this in the future, what happened october 7 is for hamas three totally wiped out, to no longer exist in order to secure a future for israel. it's not going to be easy, sometimes we don't like to see the images that are coming out, but that is what israel has to do in order to protect their people. the israeli prime minister and the members of parliament and israel, they take in and of to protect the israeli people. this is what they have to do in order to do that. host: let's go to greenville, alabama, democrat. good morning. >> good morning. i have two questions.

first of all, i'd like to know how president trump maintained the presidency after all the women he molested. disrespecting churches everywhere he goes. and my next question, like the mexicans is being treated on the border. at's my question right there. thank you. guest: look, i really didn't understand the first question but i will answer the second question. i am an immigrant myself, so i'm not anti-immigrant, but i also believe that one of the things that makes this country great is the rule of law.

we just can't have our borders wide open to anybody who wants to come into the united states to come in. we need laws. have laws on immigration and those laws need to be followed. if not, you will see what is happening at the southern border continue to happen and i think the american people are not in favor of what is happening at the southern border right now. i certainly am not, even though i am an immigrant myself. i came in legally, there was a process, we followed. i think that is what has to happen in the future. host:'s first question was about former president trump disrespecting women and judges. have you endorsed anybody for the 2024 nomination? guest: yes, i endorsed the president some time ago. i support president trump, i believe he is the right person to steer america in the right direction. i gladly supported him into 20/20 and i will support him again in 2024. host: we have a question for you

on text from mark inda who immigrants are employed in the u.s.? he says congress passed a law protecting corporations from responsibilityor spreading covid to their employees. freddie you stand on that? guest: look, the reasons why migrants are coming to the united states is because they know they had a really good chance of getting through the border and once they get here, they have a good opportunity to be employed. a lot of these migrants are here seeking a better life. i don't blame them for trying to come to the united states, i blame the administration for having a wide open border. the process needs to change. so yeah, i believe in verifying, we need to do that. the corporations can only employ people who have some kind of a

work permit. that in itself will stop the flow of migrants coming into the united states, if they know they can't get employment coming in here illegally, that will stop the flow. i do believe in e-verify. i do believe that we need comprehensive immigration reform. we can't even talk about copperheads of immigration reform until you secure the border. the whole issue that everybody that is here right now legally, illegally, etc. can't even be looked at until he secure the border. we need to secure the border and then we can have that conversation about the immigrants that are here. they don't have legal status, what are we going to do with them and how can we resolve the problem that we have? we can't even have that conversation until he secure the border. host: michigan, republican. caller: good morning, how are

you today? guest: i'm doing well, how are you? caller: good. i was just calling about the eagle and the -- illegal immigration. if we have laws on the books, how does that not -- why do we have to keep going over the same old-same old situation? is that mean american people or american citizens don't really have to abide by the laws? because illegals can just come in and not abide by them and get a free ride? guest: that's part of the problem, that's why we need to abide by the law. that's why one of the things i said is that the migration that is happening right now is violating the law and we should be a country of laws. that is why i guess we are impeaching secretary■í mayorkas, because he's not upholding the

law and it is his duty to uphold the law. and so i agree with you in that. now, there's also the issue of executive privilege, and executive orders. and i believe that congress has given way too much leeway to the executive branch to interpret laws and to initiate executive orders. that kind of runs counter to what the will of congress is. the supreme court has said the only way that we have too i guess arbitrate these differences is through force or through impeachment and i frankly don't believe that opinion to be true. i think the supreme court was set up to be the arbitrator of the differences of the will of congress and the administrative branch. this is my second term, but i figured out pretty quickly that we've given way too much

authority to the administrative branch. the power to issue rules that run counter may be to let the will of congress is, i think that is a huge problem that we need to take out here in congress and kinda start to tighten that up so that the will of congress is actually carried out by the executive branch. host: and michael in grand rapids, michigan, democrat, good morning. caller: yes, hi. i would like to talk about the propaganda of the border. republicans keep using the border as a hammer to pound our entire country that the open border exists. who says the open border exists? the republicans. fox news, newsmax. continuously promoting the border is open. so that is one major reason why

they are coming, the republicans are telling them they can. one more thing. how can we solve the problem? it's easy. hire more judges. why aren't they being hired? because the republicans don't want to hire more judges to solve the problem. it is their tool to work our minds a little bit. and again, you said follow the law, congress is responsible for the laws? what i they doing about the laws? the democratic party, all they are using it is is a hammer. host: we will get a response to that. guest: first of all, we just passed a resolution condemning

the president's handling of the border. we got 14 democrats to join us. most of those have seen the border, they know that the border is completely out of control and all you've got to do is go down there one day and you will know that the border is simply out of control. i've seen it myself, i've talked to border patrol agents. the policies the administration is pursuing are completely wrong and are leading to this crisis that we have at the border. the crisis at the border is not make-believe, it is real. those images that you see every day on the news, they are real. is it endangering america? it is. are we enriching the multinational mexican cartels? absolutely. and also we are destabilizing our neighbor, mexico, because those multinational organizations with the money that they get from human trafficking actually control the southern border and is

destabilizing our neighbor down south. so the one thing i do agree with you want is that we do need more judges, absolutely be more judges. when you get into the united states and you are paroled into the united states and you are i believe a cell phone and some monetary assistance as you walk in, they will give you a court date. that court date in some of these cases is eight to 10 years from now. so you are allowed to be in the u.s. eight to 10 years before your court date. so we need to process them a lot quicker, a lot faster so that they can get are they eligible to stay or are they not eligible to stay? we need more judges to get these cases heard so that we can find out whether those asylum claims are valid. host: we have a question for you from mimi on x who says "what is the greatest threat to america?" guest: there are a number of

threats to america. i'm not going to say which one is the greatest threat to america. i mean, the threat of china. the greatest existential threat to america right now, i guess i will answer it this way. i believe it is the communist chinese party. the communist chinese party, their goal is to be the greatest economic power and greatest military power by the year nine, supplanting the united states of america. i don't want my children or grandchildren living in a world dominated by the communist chinese party. you see what they are doing, what they have done in hong kong, what they are doing to some of their own people in china, uighurs are a great example of that. the threat that they pose to our allies in taiwan. the threat that they pose to their neighbors and the entire region. and finally, the threat that they will ultimately pose to the rest of the world. so even though i said i don't

know, actually, i do. it's the chinese communist party. but you can't ignore the other threats. we had a threat at the southern border, we have a threat of russia's invasion into ukraine. we have a threat of hamas, hezbollah threatening israel and destabilizing world peace. so there's a number of threats, but i think the number one threat is the ccp. host: eric, independent in port tobacco, maryland. good morning. >> good morning, i have a comment and a question. first of all, i'm an just like you. i came to this country almost 20 years ago legally, following the law. i'm in law enforcement. and i love this country, i would give my life for this country. and i'm an independent.

i don't support a party, i support a candidate. and it comes to the border, i completely agree with you. the border needs to be secure. and i'm extremely disappointed with the biden administration and the way they handled the border, absolutely. they know what has to be done, but a question was asked about the bigger threat. i think the biggest threat we have in america today is extremists on both sides. you had the extremists on the left who want open borders completely. but on the others you have the extremists on the right who do not want any compromise. this doesn't work without compromise. so if the left and the right are not able to compromise, to find a solution, we are not going nowhere, absolutely not. so now my question is to you,

because you seem like a very smart man. i don't just understand how you can back donald trump after january 6 and not understand how you can support the border and after all, he is a racist. and all the signals he gives to the white supremacists. i don't understand why you are supporting donald trump and not nikki haley. me, i'm -- nikki haley. thank you very much. guest: i support the president. i know the president, i've known the president for some time. he is not a white supremacist, he is not a racist. i know what is in his heart is what is best for america. there is no doubt that when he was the president, america was in much better shape than it is today. i support the president, i will

gladly support the president and i'm very proud to support president trump. he is what is right for america, we need to correct the ship, and i believe that the one person that can right the ship is trump, so i will support trump. i have supported trump and i will continue to support president trump. host: a question for you on idaho, he says the senate has a bill that republican senators say is the strongest border security ever. yet the house will not take it out. why is that? are you leaving our border security use it as a political tool? it looks that way. guest: actually, it's the other way around. house resolution two is actually sitting in the senate right now. there's nothing sitting in the health has come from the senate. th border protection bill is hr2 that came from the house and we pastored some time ago.

actually, my colleague is a sponsor of that, and so he has got it backwards. it is ultimately sitting on their desk, it is not their bill sitting on our desk. host: representative carlos gimenez, also a select committee on u.s.-china competition, thanks so much for joining us today. guest: my pleasure, have a good one. host: later in a half hour we will be joined by wisconsin democrat gwen moore but first, more of your calls after the break. the numbers are on your screen. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. we will be right back. ♪ announcer: book tv every sunday

on c-span 2 feature leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. at 8:00 p.m. eastern, vanderbilt university law professor with his book "why flying is miserable anhow to fix it. he aues the problems with the airline industry today can be traced back to the deregulation of transportation sector in the 1970's, and at 10:0p.m. dent rgan's office of management and budget director david stockman shares his book "trumps were on capitalism" we looked at the economic policies of the trump administration and how they were a failure. he's interviewed by gina smiley. watch every sunday on c-span two and find a full schedule on your program guide, or watch online anytime at book tv.org.

>> it has been three years since the january 6 events at the u.s. capitol heard. since that time, close to 300 individuals have been charged with a crime by the u.s. justice department. because of the sixth amendment to the u.s. constitution and subsequent supreme court decisions, defendants have a right to an attorney and when necessary, paid for by the taxpayers. one of those defense attorneys involved in the january 6 trial in the united states district court of the district of columbia. she's a graduate of dkeaw school in des moines, iowa. > defense attorney care and west -- book notes plus is available on the c-span now mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. unfortunately we are having a technical problem with washington journal. while we work to fix that, here is michael waltz and a