host: that is it for washington journal and we will be back tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. eastern. enjoy the rest of your day. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

.[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy visit ncicap.org] >> good morning. it's saturday, april 6, 2024. israel's military says arrows

and serious violations of its own policies led to the killings of seven aid workers in gaza as the political pressure coming from washington for immediate cease-fire in the ongoing conflict increases. that's just one of several big news stories we've been following this week. but we want to hear yours. what is your top news story of the week? you can call us if you're on the republican line at 202-748-8001, democrats can call in at 202-748-8000, independents on 202-748-8002. if you'd like to text us, that number is 202-748-8003. please be sure to include your name and where you're writing in from. on social media, we're at facebook.com/cspan, and on x at @cspanwj. here in "the washington post," it says the u.s. approved more

bombs to israel on the same day of the world central kitchen strike. the biden administration signed off to thousands more bombs despite the killings of seven world freddie kitchens employees. and the transaction demonstrates the determination to continue its flow of lethal weaponry to israel despite monday's high profile killings and growing called for the united states to condition such support on greater protection for civilians in the war zones. a u.s. citizen was among the dead. president biden was heartbroken by the tragedy and was insistent such event never happen again. they were providing food to hungry civilians in the middle of a war, he said. they were brave and selfless. more reaction from the administration this week came from secretary of state antony

blinken who told reporters about his review of the report on its attack that resulted in the killing of world central kitchen aid workers. >> i received the report in gaza a few days ago. we're reviewing it very carefully. we'll be discussing its conclusions with officials and humanitarian organizations in the days to come. it is very important that israel is taking full responsibility for this incident. it's also important that it appears to be taking steps to hold those responsible accountable. even more important, it is making sure that steps are taking going forward to ensure that something like this can never happen again. mr. netanyahu said that israel will be making further changes to its procedures, to make sure

that those who are providing assistance to people who desperately needed in gaza from protected. we're going to be looking very carefully at what those steps are, how it achieves better decon netflix, better coordination so that aid workers are protected. same time, as israel pursues any military operations against hamas, it has to prioritize the protection of civilians. children, women, men, losing their lives. their safety has to be a priority in military operations need to be designed around their protection, not the other way around. so we'll be looking at all of this in the days to come and we'll be as i said, assessing fully the report on the world central kitchen incident and looking to see not just what

steps are being taken but the reports that follow from it. >> thanks, everybody. host: and the associated press has details of that report that secretary blinken just referenced there saying the military it dismissed two officers and reprimanded three in drone strike in gaza that killed the seven paid workers saying the officer mishandled critical information and violated the army's rules of engagement. the findings of a retired general fees investigation into the monday killings marks an embarrassing admission by israel which face growing accusations in key allies including the united states of not doing enough to protect gaza's civilians from its war with the militant hamas group. the findings are likely to bolster wide step -- that's just

one of the stories that we've been following this week. the florida supreme court ruled on the abortion ban there, allowing a abortion ban to move forward. there was also the march jobs report which exceeded expectation with more than 300,000 jobs. and there have been even more states -- more swing states pulled and news about campaign 2024. we'll start with cynthia in melbourne, florida, on our independent line to see what her top news story of the week is. good morning, cynthia. caller: good morning. my top news story is the aid

story and how the american media has put forward, you know, the fact that israel has apologized for what they've done to the aids over in palestine. but why haven't we put forth the attention on the killing by israel of all of the palestinians? america must realize that israel politics have creeped into our congress, our presidential policy, into our military policies, all of this is affecting how we treat people in other nation. netanyahu has made a fool of president biden.

they are destroying america. all these or channels have got to. so blinken is a disaster. he's a disgrace. thank you. host: i want to point to an article in "the guardian" about that increasing pushback here in washington to the ongoing u.s. aid to israel. nancy pelosi joins house of democrats in urging biden to halt arms to israel. bernie sanders ramps up pressure to the white house. children there are starving. more than three dozen congressional democrats, including nancy pelosi, the former house speaker and a key joe biden ally signed a all letterto the president. in light of the routine strike to the aide workers, it is

unjustifiable to approve these weapons transfers. it was signed by pelosi and 36 other democrats including representatives barbara lee and alexander costa cortez. -- ocasio cortez. -- host: next up, we have vincent on the republican line. what's your top news story of the week? caller: good morning. since you brought up pelosi, where was she and the 36 democrats when biden blew up, killed a whole family of a wrongful drone strike and and

american citizens still up? where was the outrage when that happened? at least israel, netanyahu, at least they came forward and stood up and apologized and took drastic actions against their own people for doing this mistake. i'm a combat medic. i was in war. war is horrible. there are casualties, unfortunately. and it's sad. but it happened. but this so-called you called her up, pelosi and the left-wing democrats and the terrorists, biden is funding iran. it's not a secret. who funds the terrorists? but where was that outrage? and i'm going to get off now, the very fact that israel came forward and said look, we made a mistake.

we're wrong. we're going to fix it shows how much, how out of the way they go to not kill innocent citizens, but that's being polled on them by hamas who hide behind the palestinians 90% of which also -- thank you for this. have a good day, america. thanks. host: the text message from roseanne in san diego. of course the most serious news story of the week is israel's attack on the world central kitchen humanitarian aid workers. totally unacceptable. not one more nickel bomb, bullets, netanyahu, israel. ben is a republican from florida. what is your top news story of the week? caller: good morning. it is related to former president trump so-called hush money trial. this is one of the four that i've not paid much attention to prior to generally speaking, the media started paying much more

attention to it when the federal trial started falling apart and then he got caught up that scandal. so this one may move forward prior to the election. and yesterday, they filed a motion that the judge recused itself -- motions get filed all the time but when you into the facts about this, his daughter -- the judge's daughter has direct financial interest in a company called authentic campaign. it services exclusively democrat clients. i think it would be a step in the right direction if the judge would recuse himself just how fairness. if you take a look at some of thee conflicts of interest, it really is shocking. host: thank you, ben. x supported in several of the legal cases this week,

headlining it trump trio of court losses. this is an article from earlier this week. three judges this week rejected attempts by former president trump to toss out or further delay his criminal cases delivering a blow to the g.o.p. frontrunner barreling closer to his first criminal trial. on thursday, the florida judge overseeing trump's classified documents case rejected his bid on grounds that he is immune from charges because of the presidential records act. earlier in the day, the judge overseeing his georgia 2020 election case rejected a motion from the legal team to dismiss the case on first amendment team. on wednesday, the judge overseeing the 2016 hush money case denied a hail mary attempt to delay the start of his case which is currently set to begin on april 15. trump's legal team has tried to push off his four criminal indictments until after the 2024 presidential election or dismiss

them altogether. next up, we have john in bridgewater, new jersey, on our line for republicans. good morning, john. caller: thank you. good morning. it's got to be the border. host: what about the border? caller: well, what about the border? biden's walked away again. he could do executive orders that trump did. this is outrageous what's happening at the border. and the media, all of a sudden -- we've got 10 million illegal immigrants floating around in this country. nobody knows who they are and where they are. i mean, come on! can you respond to that? host: well, i'll let the former president trump actually respond to that in just a moment, john. but if you'd like to call in

with your own top news story of the week, the number for republicans is 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. and independents at 202-748-8002. earlier this week in green bay, wisconsin, former president trump was talking about the border crisis and incoming migrants telling voters that president biden is a threat to democracy. >> it is not just ridging in -- bringing in massive crimes and massive problems, we've never had a country like this. hey, we've been here a long time. we've love our country a long time. we've never seen such disrespect, even though china talks us to like we're children, they never talk that way to me. look no further than the small town of whitewater, wisconsin. does anybody know whitewater? after being inundated with biden

migrants thibs town is a budget shortfall of over $400,000. the public school are straining with new migrant students who don't speak a word of english. the migrant crime, it's a new category of crime. and their town is becoming a hotbed of cartel activity and drugs that nobody's ever envisioned before. a vote for trump is a vote to save wisconsin and is a vote to save your country. [applause] this country is finished. if we don't win this election. and i heard somebody say the scholars say it, two or three days ago, said if we don't win this may be the last election our country ever has. and that's where we're going. because joe biden is a threat to democracy. he's the threat to democracy. host: and "the wall street

journal" has the story that says trump leads biden in six of seven swing states according to a "wall street journal" poll. biden trails in most battlegrounds that decided 2016 and 2020 elections. and the poll of the elections main battleground says trump holding lead between 2% to 8% points pennsylvania, michigan, arizona, georgia, nevada, and north carolina on a test ballot that includes third party and independent candidates. trump holds similar leads when voters are asked to choose only between him and biden. next up, jerry is in livingston, tennessee, on our line for democrats. good morning, jerry. caller: yes, ma'am. thank you for taking my call this morning. the feller was talking about the border. -- this is just legislation. my top issue is people, i wish

we start talking about the issues they're talking about voting. like social security. we've been trying. look what had to them? i wish they would show what would happen if they lost their social security? what would happen to them tomorrow? they will be devastating. there's truth to him. i think it's time to do a health care bill. war is bad and this and that. but talk about donald trump's going to open the border up, the legislation is trying to close it and joe biden will sign it if the republican house will bring it to the floor. it will pass unanimously. it will pass in the senate. but donald trump said no, don't vote. vladimir putin told him. but the problem with the border is donald trump will open the

border wide open and won't do nothing about it. but social security. i want you to do an episode on what would happen if people lost their social security. women are going to suffer. but you people have a good day and thank you for taking my call. host: thanks for calling in, jerry. jerry mentioned several issues that could become relevant, social security and health care among those. and this week, president biden did an event with bernie sanders, senator from vermont to talk about lower drug prices. president biden and this is a story from "the hill." they joined together wednesday to highlight the administration's effort to lower health care costs along with the senator's recent win in pressuring drug money to lower the prices of some commonly used. sanders lamented for the past 20

years, not much has happened in that time. here's a portion of president biden's remarks about efforts to lower health care costs from that wednesday event. pres. biden: it will cap prescription drugs starting in 2025. it's already the law. i say these things, you think he can get it done? already the law. and your drugs will not cost you -- you will not have to pay more than $2,000 no matter what the drug costs. many of you unfortunately know, and your parents, some of the cancer drugs costs $15,000 a year, combined, combined and not having to pay a penny beyond $2,000 a year. [applause] and the drug companies will still make a lot of money.

i want to cap it for all americans, not just seniors. host: the economy. we had jobs numbers this week. here's coverage of that on the front page of "the wall street journal." hiring keeps growing at a brisk pace. the u.s. economy added 303,000 jobs in march, far above the expected 200,000. jobs grew at a brisk pace in march, but wage growth was contained confirming a belief among economists that u.s. employment can keep expanding without expanding inflation. u.s. employers added and seasonably adjusted 303,000 jobs in march. the labors department reported on friday, more than the 200,000 economists expected. the unemployment rate flipped to 3.8% versus february's 3.9%, in line with expectations. average hourly earnings rose 4.1% from a year ago.

the smallest gain since june 2021. investors have been on edge over economic data suggesting the federal reserve interest rate cut might not be imminent. the strength on friday's reports feeds into those concerns. it stirs worries of inflation and more because it leaves the central bank comfortable on interest rate. next up for your top news story of the week, ron is in kansas city, missouri, on our line for democrats. good morning, ron. caller: good morning. my top story, and i can't believe this guy continues to lead the polls. i mean, he's a self-admitted molester of women and was conflicted. he's filed six breakup sis -- bankruptcies to match his six defer. s. and yet his supporters say he's a great businessman.

to the life of me, i cannot understand. this goes back to reagan or the federalist society's war on public education. because this country -- our education system is so out of whack now. you have to go into debt forever to get a secondary education. so for the life of me, that should be the head story every week. we're on the verge of re-electing this degenerate abomination of a human being and people better wake up and smell the coffee because when this man talks, and when he says that crazy stuff, you better believe it. once again, thank you for the forum. and i wish i had a dollar for every republican that calls in

on the independent or democrat line. and y'all have a wonderful week. host: ok. ron mentioned the high cost of education in his comments. coming up, we are going to be talking with ayelet sheffey of insider magazine and she will be talking about the high cost of college, as well as student loans. next up, we have steve. caller: the fentanyl that's coming into the united states that's killing thousands of our kids. i don't believe anybody in the united states that has been affected by it. i've had a daughter. my girlfriend's had a son.

this is a -- if we don't get this border under control, we're just not -- we're not going to have no kids left in our country. host: you referenced your daughter. would you feel comfortable sharing a bit more about how this has affected your family? caller: oh, it's -- when you have a child die, i don't caring who you are, it's devastating to have one of your kids die from a drug overdose. she died because somebody slipped it in her drink. that's all they had to do. is get ahold of the fentanyl pill. it's everywhere. if they don't like somebody, is slip it in their drink and kill them, you know?

we got so much death out here that's happening over -- and look at all the deaths that's going to happen when the diseases start coming in here. why they don't vet these people and -- that's coming over here the illegals? we got to get this under control. this administration is the cause of it, that we have right now. host: i'm sorry for your loss, steve. thanks for calling in. next up, we have dennis in toledo, iowa, on our line for democrat. good morning, dennis. caller: yes. i'd like to remind the republicans that it made national news in iowa, a republican state that -- by it,

illegal that look for a republican farmer and it was trump who was president at the time. he sure did protect her. and how stupid is trump? he comes to iowa to campaign for president but he made news in iowa about the republican governor because he didn't support him. that's my comment. host: gary is in kennon dale, texas, on our line for independents. good morning, gary. caller: i have three quick points. you can certainly filter through the maga cause and listen to the fake stories about immigration. trump is the one who killed immigration. anyway, moving on with the economy, one of those march numbers, so congratulationsing to me for starting work again on

the march 5. so i'm one of those people. host: congratulations, gary. caller: very, very, very happy. host: how long were you out of work before you started your new job? caller: three months. there were so many interviews and every time i got into an interview, it's like you're overqualified. and finally, i got into anesthesiology which i'm in the medical field and they took a chance on me and came in and i've been there now since march 5. really, really happy. making about $75,000. thank you, president biden. great job. let me move on to the story. so, come november, what the country hopefully will move forward as a democratic senate in congress because we need

judicial review. so hopefully, eileen cannon is the first judge hopefully that will be impeached after the november election. we cannot judges who are not qualified sitting in the public seat making decisions like this woman. she is not a judge. she is a person who was put in place to do what she's doing. so, impeachment has to be the focus of the judicial system after the november election. federal and state judges have to be held accountable starting with eileen cannon. she has to be removed from the bench. so, that's my top story. i hope that everyone chimes in. i'm an independent. doesn't matter whether you're a republican or a democrat. this woman, along with other judges who are making these decisions towards this man has to be removed from the bench. thank you.

host: a little bit more information about what was just referenced related to judge eileen cannon. here's a story from politico. tensions flare between special counsel jack smith and judge eileen cannon applied delays and uncertainty over donald trump's classified documents case. a strained dynamic between his prosecutor and his judge has intensified. special counsel jack smith is frustrated after several confounding rulings and lengthy bouts have threatened to derail his case against donald trump for stashing secrets at mar-a-lago. next up, anthony, in buffalo,

new york, is online for republicans. what's your top news story, anthony? caller: yes, thank you very much. i just want to talk about the facts. everybody's talking about person opinions. i just want to talk about the facts. the facts are at least here in buffalo, new york, you know, four generations in the tree landscape industry, this has been the worst year in our history as far as business. and, you know, that says something. i mean, that's a fact. another fact is -- host: anthony, if i can just pause you for a moment. why is business bad? are you not finding customers? are you unable to hire? what's making business bad? caller: well, when you get a

senior citizen, they've got to decide whether they pay for medicine or food at the end of the month and can't afford to pay for the dead tree that's in their house and they're putting their home and their life at risk because they can't afford it. that's a big problem. that's a huge problem. and it's never the history -- four generations of business, heard something like this. on a global thing, on trump's watch, you know, putin would have never done something like he's doing now. and then north korea, during trump's watch, you know, he stopped blowing off missiles. and iran, when we dropped the bomb on this general's -- they didn't retaliate because they knew better because trump's a man of his words and he knew he meant business.

and this thing with -- hamas. if you look globally, all the things are happening around biden's watch. they never happen on trump's watch. as far as locally, our business, our best years were during the trump administration. but these are facts. they're not makeup things. and like you said, the fentanyl has become the number one killer. i'm a u.s. army combat engineer during the desert storm era and i lost some brothers to that because they got injured during combat. he was on pain medicine, ok? and then when he took him off pain medicine, your body gets addicted to that painkiller and i lost a brother who was also u.s. army during desert storm, desert shield. and that's a shame that we're allowing these open borders to

bring this fentanyl and now it's become the number one killer over heart attacks or diabetes. it's crazy. it's absurd. this is a fact. host: i'm so sorry for your losses, anthony. thank you for sharing your story. next next up is laura. caller: every time i hear republicans explain about the border and the fentanyl, they don't stop and remember that it was a wonderful border bill. it's waiting to be passed. donald trump told mike johnson to not pass it and it sit. this would have given more border patrol, more fentanyl, you know, decreasing, amount of

fentanyl coming in, the process people more quickly so they weren't roaming around the country waiting to get in. and donald trump is the one that killed this bill. and it's just so frustrating because no matter how many times people say that, the republicans is in one ear and out the other. they want the border control, then they need get online with the republican house member and make them bring out this bill to be signed. and that's all i wanted to say. host: thank you, laura, for your call. elizabeth is in maine on our line for democrats. good morning, elizabeth. caller: good morning. thank you so much for taking my call. and condolences to the gentleman and any parent that's ever lost

a child. i don't care how old to fentanyl. it's horrible. it's an epidemic and i just wanted to -- i am calling from maine and i just want to shift gears. i'm not looking to be divisive when it comes to being democrat or republicans or independent. we had a pretty big nor'easter in maine this past week. we had about 675,000 people without power and currently, there are still -- we're going on day three, 150793 according to the website are still without power. it's in the 33-degree range

right now. and so i'm just calling people to please urge them to continue to pay attention to the way that our climate is changing. we need to be paying attention to this because it doesn't matter if we're a republican or democrat, independent. if we're facing droughts or if we're facing floods, this impacts our livelihoods, our businesses, our futures. host: thanks for your call, elizabeth. a bit more on that nor'easter from the associated press. this is a story from yesterday an april nor'easter heavy wet snow knocks out power to hundreds of thousands. the storm brought snow, rain, and high winds downing trees and power lines and leaving nearly 700,000 homes and businesses without power at one point. a woman was killed by a fallen tree in a new york city suburb

and a second woman died in a new hampshire fire caused by the weather. two feet of snow is expected in the northern part of new england. by thursday evening, wind gusts of 50-60 miles an hour in coastal areas and inland, according to national weather service. -- that was a story that was updated by the associated press yesterday. vincent is in tulsa, oklahoma, on our line for republicans. good morning, vincent. caller: hello. host: what's your top news story? caller: question 820 was on the legalized -- legalization of marijuana in oklahoma and i voted yes to legalize. i don't think we should be getting those cards anymore but

i don't think it's ever going to happen again and it is frustrating. but i guess trump is in a state where it's not legal and i don't know about delaware. host: ok. i don't know either. let's move on to diana on our line for democrats. caller: hi there. i was raised a christian. i still pray every single day. and it seems to in that the top 10 nantz of christianity is love. how did they hate each other? host: a comment from our text messages. tony in florida says israel

admits errors that resulted the killings, referring to the killings of the world central kitchen aid workers have disciplined soldiers because for than we did when we killed the aid worker and children in afghanistan. yet this is being used as a means of condemnation for them. war is obscene and messy. next up, we have brad in brooklyn, new york in our line for temperamental good morning, brad. caller: hi, good morning. tanks for taking my call vment. caller: america needs a boogeyman. we have all of them bringing fentanyl into the country. ronald reagan had a war on drugs in the 1980's. that resulted in actually never stopping the flow of marijuana

into this country. how about americans take some personal responsibility and stop using fentanyl? instead of blaming biden and everybody else. thank you vment. host: next up, we have lisa on our line for independents vment. host: that's ok. caller: he called them hostages. we all know that the capitol was lock down that day because we let him certify the elect roll votes that day.

he says we're going to take the country back. when is the january 6 -- the man that was at the capitol that day, we found tout later was looking for obama's home and he was going to kill him and he couldn't find his house. trump put on social media obama's address at the time the guy was looking for him. and they said none of this would ever happen under trump's administration like our soldiers or whatever. and there was -- f.b.i. intelligence come out and said that putin had -- on ours' heads and trump never asked putin --

[indiscernible] and for people to praise him, i just don't understand it. i really don't understand it. he's got gag orders because he's threatening judge's daughter. and the judge said it was great and people still support this man. host: thank you, rachel. speaking of support for trump, politico had some fundraising numbers about the trump campaign that they raised $65.6 million in march which ally hopefuls eased concern about his fundraising. these are according -- this is according to figures provided to politico. this means with that money, they ended the month with $93.1 million in cash on hand. trump's allies hope the amount will ease concern about his fundraising and the cash deficits he faces against

president biden. the figure which covers a number of fundraising vehicles that will all have to disclose their activities to the federal election commission later this month outpaces the $62 million that trump raised in march of 2020 when he was running for re-election. biden's political operation has yet to announce it. in february, the biden and the democratic national committee raised $53 million and ended the month with $155 million in cash on hand. next, we have jim in lancing, michigan, on our line for democrats. jim, what's your top news story of the week? caller: this is not the top news story. in fact, it is a story that's been reported a little bit.

there's a lot of complaint from the republicans about fentanyl crossing the border into america. what they don't talk about are the thousands of weapons that are being sent across the border in the opposite direction, falling into the hands of gangs and the cartels who need those weapons to protect their fentanyl. this is coming from the united states and yet the nra says nothing about it the republicans say nothing about it. i guess they don't want to disturb the flow of their campaign funds. and the gun manufacturers are not talking about it. in fact, very little is being said but i've heard a few reports here and there. thank you. host: thanks for your call, jim. let's move on to another jim in

sanford, new york, for our line for independents. good morning, jim. caller: yes. good morning. i came to realize what maga actually stands for. it stands for many angry gullible americans. and as soon as everybody sees the truth of what's going on. ok, well, thank you very much. host: thank you, jim. eileen is in st. petersburg, florida, on our line for democrats. good morning, eileen. caller: good morning. well, i live in florida and the big news for us is the two amendments that the judges are allowing to be put on the ballot this november. and that's good news for me as a democrat because that will hopefully bring floods of new voters who are pro abortion and pro marijuana. the two amendments will legalize -- voting to legalize recreational marijuana and to

legalize abortion in florida. and i personally do take marijuana medically for my glaucoma and as a senior, it really does help. there are restrictions -- not restrictions, bit does cost like hundreds of dollars a year to renew it. and the big problem is if you're smoking in your backyard and your neighbors don't like the smell of it, it'll offend your neighbors. you know, guns don't offend the neighbors but i guess that he's afraid that marijuana will. and i'm sure that he'll make it very difficult to buy the recreational weed and make it more difficult than it is to purchase a gun. and one last thing. all this talk about the judge's daughter being biased from the republicans being complained about it. i've never heard anybody

complain about clarence thomas and he's on the supreme court. go, iowa. host: thanks, eileen. she referenced the amendments in florida. the abortion side of that from a story in the associated press. the florida supreme court up hold the state's 15-week abortion ban but as eileen just said, voters will soon have a say. the florida supreme court on monday cleared the way for the state to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy before many women know they are pregnant while also giving voters a chance to remove restrictions in november. the court reshaped by ron desantis ruled 6-1 to uphold the state's ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, meaning a ban on six weeks could soon take effect but under a separate 4-3 ruling, the court allowed a measure that would go to voters that would enshrine

the voters in the execution. the court fees decision could be pivotal the presidential race and congressional contest this year by dragging abortion rights to the poll. another article about that decision on the abortion ban is here in bloomberg law which says that florida's impending abortion ban leaves a care vacuum in the south. six weeks into pregnancy will be unavailable in the southeastern united states starting next month after the florida high court ruled monday. the state's constitutions right to privacy doesn't protect abortion. i'm just going to scroll down a bit. reproductive health groups praised the decision allowing voters to decide on the proposed amendment which would need approval on 60% of the voters to be adopted. until that vote and depending on the outcome, the six-week ban will be detrimental to abortion

access and maternal health. both patients in florida and surrounding states like georgia and alabama who have flocked to florida in the wake of near total or complete abortion bans after the u.s. court and overturned roe v. wade in 2022. next up, let's move on to maria in new hampshire on our line for republicans. good morning, maria. caller: good morning. thanks for taking the call. i'm really just mostly concerned. i think it's interesting many of your callers have specific issues that they address. i think we definitely want to take a look at some judges. i think we should all be concerned when a judge rules against an individual over a $500 million for a crime that wasn't a crime according to the banks that approved the

evaluation of the home. and when a bank approves and sends out their people and says hey, we do agree with this evaluation, that does take lot of the i guess -- a lot of the respondent off the person who also evaluated the building. we should be concerned about some of those judges. we should absolutely be concerned about this border crisis. allowing 5,000 a day to have joe biden take some sort of action to me, it's problematic. you know, we're basically saying i can only bleed this much before i put a band-aid or before i go into triage. and i find that problematic that people don't really pay attention to all the little nuances. it's easy to blame trump for all the issues we have.

joe biden is definitely a flawed character. and how blind we are and refuse to acknowledge that tara reid also had a claim and as a matter of fact, not only did she have a claim to prove that claim, her mother called many years ago on a show similar to yourself. she was a caller and addressed some of these issues that what happened to her daughter. and so i don't know -- i don't know if it's lack of news. i don't know if they're going through different news. donald trump is not perfect and when we talk about hate and the poor woman who is just really frustrated about hate, you know, i sat here and listened to many on the democratic and independent and even on the republican side talk hate about people who vote for trump. it's not about supporting donald trump. it's about going with the person who ultimately just seem to

align with your political, personal and moral compass. so both are flawed. both have serious issues from a human being, a moral standpoint. but i just have to pick the best of the two and at the end of the day, i'm never going to choose biden. he really is, you know, a troubled person and does. host: i got your idea. let's move on to david on our line for republican. good morning, david. caller: good morning. that lady right in front of me was 100% correct on everything she said. it amazes me that the number of democrats call in and blaming trump on the border, they must have been in a coma the last three years. biden is the one that opened the border up. he can close it can right now. he can do it by himself. he doesn't need anybody to do anything. he invited them in, if you remember. they come in wearing biden

t-shirts. so, trump has nothing to do with this. and i understand that democrats hate trump. but he's actually the best man for the country right now at this time because biden has screwed this stuff up so bad that it's going to take trump to get it going. y'all have a good day. host: thanks for your call, david. ann is in st. petersburg, florida, on our line for democrat. what is your top story? caller: hello. good morning. how's it going? happy saturday. i'm just calling. i just have a couple of points. whenever i call, i ask the same questions. i ask about how we are all going to react and what is going to happen when trump loses. that's the question thatphobe's really thinking about and i

think we really all need to think about and also, i am just being up to the point that i hope that everybody gets out and vote and make smart decisions. because i see what's going on in the congress and i just can't believe it. just what happened this week. it's just threatening the speaker, oh, i just don't see anything getting anywhere. but anyways, i just called. i just want everybody no really, really think about those two points. think about who you're going to vote for and really, really think about it and think about what's going to happen when trump does lose. host: thank you. next up laura this spokane, washington, on our line for republicans. good morning, laura. what's your top news story of the week? caller: well, where i have a

problem, an issue is i hear constantly this morbid twisted hate of other americans in this country. and the reason for that, i believe, is the hatred from so many of the democratic politicians and bureaucrats, ok? what i see are people out in our streets carrying nazi flag, hamas, isis, trying to kill and murder and assault and destroy jewish people and christians in this country. and yet, they want to help hamas. all hamas has to do is surrender. it's over. and israel, i mean, the idealogy that are being inflicted into this country because of this morbid hate against the right side are historically up to 14

years. the purr various -- purveyors of genocide, enslave. , and yet, we have politicians and people up there calling our people, this nation, you know, all this horrible stuff which is in their backyard, you know? and i hear it's people that don't bother to look at what it is that they think they know. they don't know. they listen to media. and they don't bother to follow up. for example, the border bill. that border bill did next to nothing for the border. it did a lot for paying off a bunch of people that are bureaucrats, parasite politicians, you know, whatever. but it did nothing. h.r.-2 was brought up by the republican and it was an excellent bill. i read it. and just like every other bill,

it's all nuance underneath all that stuff is some kind of trick presented by the democrats. and this hatred of -- host: all right, i think we got your idea. let's move on to demi in tennessee. caller: good morning. host: can you turn down your tv a bit? caller: yes. host: what's your top news story? caller: i'm talking about the economy and what needs to happen as we move toward the election. a lot of people have been blindsided about joe biden's economy policy. joe biden has brought the economy where it is today. if you go back and look back in 2020 when trump was still president, the economy was starting to take a downfall. a lot of people need to realize

that if we change administration, traffic is going to look out for his millionaire friends. he does not care about america. he cares about himself. it's always me, me, me, me. he don't care about anybody else except for himself. if we don't -- if the democrats and the independent voters don't go out and vote for joe biden, we're going to let a terrorist back into the white house. and we don't need that in america. host: thank you, jimmy. hakeem is in elizabeth, new jersey, on our line for independents. good morning, hakeem. caller: good morning. hi. i want to talk about israel. israeli still has to defend

themselves. however, don't the palestinians have the right to defend themselves as well? if a bully is going around smacking people and kicking people and terrorizing people, somebody says hey, i'm going to step up and fight back, well, don't they have a right to defend themselves? now, if you look at what happened from the very beginning of the movement is whatthe ziond [inaudible] . what i'm saying is that today israel is with the military up

to their neck. they have the strongest army in that region. the palestinians on the other hand have a military blockade. it is illegal to send any military aid to the palestinians. the palestinians, who are the victims, are sent food. food is dropped on them. this is a humanitarian mission. host: thank you for your comments. coming up next on washington journal, ayelet sheffey, senior economic policy and higher education reporter at insider discussing the rising cost of college, financial aid, and federal student loans. later in the spotlight on

podcast segment we will talk about the week's top stories with greg sargent of the new republic. his podcast is called "the daily blast." we will be right back. ♪ >> american history tv exploring the people and events that tell the american story. american history tv series congress investigates looks at historic congressional investigations that led to changes in policy and law. this weekend, the truman committee headed by harry truman examines the national defense program during world war ii and whether there was waste and corruption in defense contracting. all lectures in history, rhetoric professor brandon kirby on the election of maybe till

mobley and her wet fits -- efforts to bring attention to the murder her son -- murder of her son, emmett till. exploring the american story. watch american history tv every weekend. find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org/history. >> book tv, every sunday on c-span2 features authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. had 9:00 p.m. eastern, john o'connor looks at bigfoot's place in american culture and lore with his book, "the secret history of bigfoot." on afterwards, annie jacobson shares her book, "nuclear war," chronicle link the sequence of events following a launch of a nuclear missile.

she's interviewed by national security analyst joe sorensioni. find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at booktv.org. >> next week is the opening of the impeachment trial of homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas, only the second cabinet member to be impeached by the house. wednesday, house impeachment managers led by mark green delivers the two articles of impeachment to the senate, refusing to enforce laws. the senate will be sworn in as jurors. mitch mcconnell says the chamber is effected about whether to dismiss or kill the impeachment charges. live coverage wednesday on c-span2, on c-span now, our free

mobile video it, and online at c-span.org. >> washington journal continues. host: welcome back. we are joined by ayelet sheffey, senior economic policy reporter at insider. welcome to the show. guest: great to be here. host: you cover higher education and the cost of college. it has hit $90,000 or more at some schools. that is a wild number. what factors are driving the increase? guest: i think what we have been seeing in the recent headlines is the sticker price of colleges is going up. colleges are reaching $90,000. some are looking at the six-figure threshold. when you look at the cost of college going up one of the key things we can point to is there has been a steady trend of increased. when we look at the pandemic, prices were high.

inflation. we are continuing to recover from that. colleges have to account for that in a lot of ways. part of that is wages. staff, teachers are looking for wage increases to account for the higher prices. i think colleges are responding to that by raising tuition. another key thing we are seeing when it comes to these high prices across the board is state and local governments are not investing into state colleges as they once were. the public universities are not getting the funds they once were from the state and local governments. this accounts for the tuition increase we are seeing. it's important to remember a lot of students don't pay the full sticker price for this tuition. that does in taking out student loans which can be harmful as well. host: what is generally included if you get a $90,000 a year college tuition bill or the cost of all?

guest: when we are looking at the sticker price we see on tuition, that's typically everything. not only the cost of attendance but room and board, the courses that accompany what it takes to go to a university. obviously, students might have different needs when it comes to what they are looking for. what they are paying for. they might not be using resources colleges offer. there's a lot of resources people are paying for when we are looking at tuition but it definitely varies across the board. host: not all students are paying this. how much is generally covered by financial aid? who is actually paying full price? guest: when we look at who's paying full price they tend to be the wealthier, higher income families that can afford that. that is because the people who apply for student loans or scholarships or grants are people who tend to be lower

income and can't afford to pay $90,000 a year to attend college. when we are breaking this down and looking at income level, that also determines how much financial aid a family can receive. host: a clip from insider where it says in one of the pieces universities are quick to note that very few and usually only the wealthiest students actually pay the sticker price. more top schools not guarantee they will meet the financial needs of all accepted students. the institute for higher education and policy found for families and the lowest income bracket the net cost of college, which takes into account grants and scholarships amounted to 148% of their annual household income. that sounds impossible for most people. guest: it definitely is. that is a huge percentage, especially looking at the other costs people have to afford. most cannot shell out that money

for a college degree. it can be really difficult for people in the lower income brackets. guest: what -- host: what does it mean for diversity? guest: that's a concern a lot of people have. we are looking at the changing value of higher education. especially for the lower income students who might come from communities who have less resources that raises questions as to can campuses be diverse, can they be inclusive if they charge such high prices. that is why we are seeing efforts to reform the higher education sphere in terms of switching from student loans to grants. financial aid you don't have to pay back. and, the push for increasing the pell grant and free community college. i think this is why we are seeing a lot of push to reform higher ed. a lot of students cannot afford these huge high prices. host: what are these prices doing to the willingness of

students to even want to go to college? guest: that is really what we are seeing. it's an interesting trend. a lot of people in gen z and younger people are questioning whether going to college is worth it. i think we are seeing a lot of students realize they don't really need to shell out thousands of dollars in college tuition to get a college degree. there are so many jobs out there that are no longer requiring a college degree. students can choose to go to trade schools. they can attend certificate programs. they don't need a higher education to earn income and be successful later in life. i think that is why roosting also a decline in enrollment. students are questioning whether it is worth it to pay so much money for college degrees. host: i want to get into student loans. i want to let folks know we have special phone lines for this segment. if you're a high school or a college student and you want to

call in, the number for you is (202) 748-8000. if you are a parent of a student, the number is (202) 748-8001. all others can call in at (202) 748-8002. our text line is (202) 748-8003. i want to go to this news about people heading to college. americans are picking colleges not knowing if they can afford it. that is because there was a problem with the system that calculates financial aid. can you tell us what happened and how it's being resolved? guest: there has been a lot of issues and a lot of concerns over the past couple of months. this started with the education department's efforts to overhaul the application. it's been burdensome and difficult to navigate.

the education department wanted to overhaul this but during the overhaul it resulted in a lot of technical glitches over the past couple of months that have hit colleges and families especially hard. the education department was two months to even getting the forms and applications to colleges. not only will colleges be in a time crunch to calculate financial aid for families, but for students they will have much more limited time to figure out how they will pay for college and make a huge financial decision because of this delay getting the financial aid letter. there's a lot of concern has to the lower number of families even submitting the financial aid applications because of these glitches. it is something the education department is working to fix but at the same time it is causing a lot of stress for people who are seeking financial aid for the fall semester. host: looking at the story in

the washington post . biden administration cancels $1.2 billion in student loans with a new repayment plan. this was on wednesday. the administration began emailing within 150,000 student loan borrowers enrolled in his signature repayment plan, that their debt of $1.2 billion has been canceled. the latest effort by the administration to tout the success in providing debt relief as the campaign heats up. this was from back in february when the letters went out. the debt relief policies have been met with a mix of praise and frustration. activists applauded his target approach. the administration has forgiven 138 alien dollars in student loans for three point -- $138 billion in student loans. they continue to implore guidance to do more despite a loan forgiveness preamp before the supreme court. president biden announced this

safely in -- save plan. can you talk about the plan? who is eligible? what would happen? guest: the education department announced the safe plan. -- save plan intended to make student loan payments a lot cheaper for borrowers. the administration is working on this in a couple of ways. there are a couple of provisions they are if limiting. that includes -- implementing. that includes a shortened timeline for student loan forgiveness. borrowers have to make 20 years of qualified payments to get student loan forgiveness. what the administration is doing now is shortening the timeline to his fewest 10 years for borrowers who originally borrowed $12,000 or less. that's a really significant reduction. that is the latest and a result of this new save plan provision.

any borrower and the federal direct loan program can apply for the program. the education department will calculate for them the multi-payment that makes the most sense for them based on their income. also to keep in mind they will be upcoming provisions this summer to the plan. this is ongoing and borrowers continuing to apply to the program. host: almost a dozen lawsuits in gop states have been filed to block the save program. what is their argument? guest: they argue it is unconstitutional and an overreach of the education department's authority. they are making the connection to the original student debt relief plan shot down by the supreme court. they are saying it's the same situation. biden does not have the authority to limit the plan and get student relief to borrowers again. they are hoping to block the plant and overturn the relief of

the borrowers. host: the special numbers for the segment. in high school or college students, (202) 748-8000. parents of students can call (202) 748-8001. everybody else, (202) 748-8002. let's start with a college student, april in council bluffs, iowa. what is your question? caller: restoring vagrancy protection rights for student loans would solve all of these problems. can we get that done? guest: that is definitely something administration has been working on improving is the bankruptcy process for student loan borrowers. they released guidance last year for a form. it's been a slow process. borrowers have been slow to get relief in court. this is ongoing and a lot of advocates at democratic lawmakers are pushing for this process to be made easier.

host: for the people in the audience who are not familiar, remind them how bankruptcy court typically treats student loan debt. guest: back in 2005 under president -- under president biden they made more difficult by requiring the undue hardship, which requires a barber to prove in court they are a spirit sing such an extent of financial distress that they can no longer pay off their loans. they made a good-faith effort but they need to get it discharged in court. historically this is a difficult standard to prove. very few borrowers have gotten rid of their debt in court. that is why we are seeing this push from lawmakers and advocates to make the process a lot easier and let borrowers demonstrate they have made a good-faith effort and cannot pay off their debt. they should get it removed and vikram c. host: -- in bankruptcy.

host: good morning, ron. caller: you guys always have the greatest topics, the greatest folks to come on and discuss them. this is the absolute greatest show on tv at this point in time. biden is trying to forgive these loans. we are one of the few nations -- you can go to europe and get a masters degree and it won't cost you anything. just some hard work. i'm not going to hold anything against the student because they want an education. i was not able to get that much of an education. i had to stop going to school and start working my butt off to help support my family. i did not have the option to get a higher education at that point in time. i'm not going to hold it against

a student that was to go out and does everything they can to get an education. these folks that are really complaining about the student loans being paid off, you know, we need to do something with our education for our kids. we are having to import most of our smart people because we do nothing for our children's education. it is just too expensive. please folks who are paying these bills for their past education, there's an 89-year-old lady still paying on her education. it is ridiculous. host: i wonder -- how old are your kids? caller: my son is 24. host: what was his experience and your experience as a parent dealing with the cost of college is if that was the choice they made? caller: the problem i was having

mostly -- number one, i could not afford to help send my son to college, because i'm still working away trying to pay my mortgage and everything. he's working full time just trying to help everything around here. basically the same as me with my parents and stuff. we wasn't wealthy. the thing he wants to do is go into plumbing. there's really no colleges in the area you can go take these courses at. that would mean him going out of state. host: i want to let ayelet respond to the point you were making. i will bring up some numbers from nerd wallet. ron referenced hearing about older people who carry student loan debt. nerd wallet breaks down student loan debt and what ages -- how it is broken down by age group in terms of the amount held. just like ron was saying, among

people 62 and older there is outstanding more than $109 billion in student loan debt held by 2.7 million people with an average debt per borrower of 40,600 $626 -- $40,666. even amongst groups like people 50 to 61, 6.3 million people with more than an average of $44,000 in debt per borrower. what are your thoughts when you hear numbers like that? guest: i think it is a huge issue older people are dealing with such big student debt burdens. it brings up the issues with the student loan system. the reason these older people are having -- continuing to have debt later in life is because the interest capitalization on these student loans. interest rates are high on these loans. if you cannot consistently pay

your principal balance interest will accrue and exit difficult to even touch the original balance the borrowers took out. this is what we are seeing with a lot of older people. they can't touch the printable balance. the valance is growing more than the amount they originally took out. it can have devastating consequences if they fall behind. they can lose their social security benefits, federal benefits. it's a pressing issue right now these older people are continuing to have this burden. host: a question from x. this is from jszinc. as someone who has a sister with a degree in myself never having one i would urge people to get a degree. my observation is that little piece of paper makes your life a lot easier to further yourself in the society system. not an easy world to begin with. guest: i think that calls into question how people are valuing

higher education. there is still a valued to a degree, getting that piece of paper and showing it to your future employers. i think there is obviously a value people have and there continues to be of value when you get a degree. you go to college, you get a successful career. often times, the degree might not payoff. people might not get a job in the degree. they might be have too much debt. they might not be able to afford to go to school in the first place. it really just calls into question where higher education is going when it comes to the costs and how people are looking at it in terms of the workforce. host: a few more numbers before we get back to calls. total federal student loan debt is up to $1.6 trillion. about 92.5% are owned by the government. total federal student loan borrowers, 43.2 million people. if you look at private student

loan debt, 7.52% of all outstanding u.s. student loans as of september of 2023. total outstanding private student debt is $130.8 billion. alan in wisconsin on the line for all others. caller: good morning. i appreciate ayelet's work on this topic. a comment and question. the first caller was right. the founding fathers called for uniform bankruptcy rights in the constitution. they were being hit badly by british banks and merchants. this is only being taken away from student loans. this is an unconstitutional precedent here. we have seen the effects of this. i have to quibble a little bit with what ayelet said. divided administration has not made it easier to discharge loans in bankruptcy. the first year the program she's alluding to somewhere between 50

and 500 at the most people out of 200,000 people who declared bankruptcy got even any sort of relief. we are talking far less than 1%. this one other point i want to make. the new york times reported currently 60% of student loan borrowers are repaying on their loans. that is absolutely false. i looked at the data myself. when you count the people on deferment, the people making zero dollar payments, 80% of all federal student loan borrowers are not making payments on their loans today. my question is, when 80% of the people are not paying can we not all agree this is a completely and catastrophically failed lending program? host: let's let ayelet respond. guest: i think there are a couple of things we are seeing when it comes to people not

paying off their student loans. there is a 12 month on-ramp period. this happened as the education department was preparing to transition borrowers back into repayment coming from the payment pause. resumed an interest began to accrue in september, payments due in october, borrowers had this 12 month period where they will not be reporting to credit agencies negatively if they don't make payments. interest will still accrue during this time. it is not complete relief but it is relief from the education department when he comes to credit reporting. that can be a factor as to why we are seeing all the student loan borrowers not making payments on their student loans. this is a difficult system. borrowers have not been able to make payments for years. it does call into question the efforts to reform the student loan industry, make it easier for borrowers to pay off their loans and make it less expensive in the first place. host: i'm trying to find data on

people taking advantage of the bankruptcy program or the changed rules around discharging student loans and bankruptcy. could not find any overall data. i did find an article from a couple of weeks ago from cnbc that says student loans are not easier to discharge in bankruptcy. attorneys say it is life-changing. the fight administration's new -- biden minister asian's policy -- biden administration's policy is making it easier to walk away from debt. we have gotten forgiveness for a number of clients under the new changes. the discharge is life-changing for them and their families. in the fall of 2022, the department of education and the u.s. department of justice jointly released updated bankruptcy guidelines aimed at making the process for student loan borrowers less arduous. previously, it was difficult if not impossible for most people

to part with their education debt in a normal bankruptcy proceeding, as you were telling us earlier. let's go back to your calls. jim in pennsylvania on the line for all others. caller: i wanted to ask your guest if she can explain to us -- i'm 78 years old. i remember freddie mae and fannie mac and all that. can she give us a synopsis about how it went from there over to the government and the government now has hands on every thing? it seems the government gets involved in anything in this country and it goes to -- it turns bad. that was one of my questions. the other question is, all these sports they have on campus here in pennsylvania, these colleges here like penn state. they are getting millions and billions of dollars into their sports programs.

why can't they take some of that money and use it to pay off some of the student loans? the only reason why the biden administration is doing this is to get the young people to vote for him because he is so far behind with the young voters these days. revamp the whole system. ok. america needs more teachers. we will give the teachers free tuition. we will pay for you to become a teacher. host: let's let ayelet respond to your questions. first, whether government is involved in the student on business, and then this idea of schools spending so much money on sports teams rather than students. guest: for the first question what we are seeing is the government initially -- this started near the lbj era, they

wanted to expand education by offering more scholarships that offering student loans to students. this industry group as they got -- grew as they got lenders involved. it was a profitable industry for them to give student loans out to students to expand higher education. it really boomed into this huge trend were more students were not able to finance higher education on their own. they contracted these federal servicers to work with the government in order to really get higher education access to students. right now there are currently five major federal student loan servicers that run the federal student loan program. there's a private industry as well. the government became involved in this because of that mission to get higher education to the states. that made it into this huge

trillion dollar industry a lot of students are paying into. host: next up we have charles and merchant bill, new jersey -- in merchantville, new jersey. caller: when they get out of high school they should never trade. a basketball player, football player, the track player, they make the schools thousands of dollars. they work for you for four years. you should put them in the college and make sure they are able to go to college. when our young children get out of school you pat them on the back and they go to jail because they don't have a trade or know nothing. it was set up to hurt people. host: i want to read a comment we received via text message from richard in broken arrow,,. students should pick a school the student can afford, the degree that has an upside and

income potential. looks like we lost it. income potential. engineering degrees are an example. political science and liberal arts degrees likely will not pay for themselves. evaluate before you go and seek a degree that is worth it. another comment from scott in massachusetts. "i went to a state college in the mid-1970's. in 1977, a cost around $250 a semester. my mom feel that the financial aid application, basic education opportunity grant, and my was basically free. if you can't afford a private college, a state college gives you a great education." that's a good point because you were talking about how that changed in terms of the costs of state college. guest: we are really seeing a change. tickets ago what the tuition cost was when we had people

looking at state colleges and universities. private universities are not left out of this tuition increase. students are finding it is extensive to get degrees at these schools. it definitely comes down to how much financial aid and scholarships and grants they can receive to get these degrees. host: for people who have this idea in their mind of state college being a much lower cost alternative, give a sense of how different that is in terms of the cost of state college versus now. guest: sure. when people are saying it was a lot cheaper, even senator elizabeth warren said she was able to get her a college degree for may be under $1000 per semester. this has really changed as colleges have found not only they can charge more but they have to charge more to account for inflation for the economy

and wage increases to pay their staff and their teachers. this has hit students hard because of the changing economics these universities are facing. host: ron in philadelphia and is apparent -- a parent. caller: good morning ayelet and kimberly. thank you for this topic. i am a grandparent of a student who was going to college in pennsylvania. two things -- three things i want to point out. one is the transparency her parents. -- for parents. when i got my degree parents are more involved, etc. as a parent you are in a quandary of what to do because of some of the regulations and policies put in place over the years. number two, there's a trigger that goes off to college that raises the tuition annually.

there is no accountability in my mind to the universities or colleges to have a transparent process in order to increase their tuition or financial situation. i think there needs to be some kind of understanding with these universities that would bring transparency to the process. you don't know why they are going up. you don't know what they are paying. we can say some generalities. host: what are your other questions? a question about transparency and what were the other two? caller: transparency and the fact the parents are not involved as much as they should be, and/or the caregiver in paying these fees and why that has happened over the years.

guest: i think transparency is definitely a big concern a lot of people have right now when it comes to these high costs colleges are charging. what colleges do make an effort to do is release their yearly financial report which offers some sense of how they are spending their money and why they might need to increase funds. that can often be vague and confusing for people who are paying sticker prices. especially for parents who might be helping send their kids to school and struggling to figure out how to afford rising tuition. you are right. we are seeing an issue with transparency across all these college campuses. i have advocates have called for -- i know advocates have called for transparency in the higher education sphere. that will be something to follow on the road as we see tuitions increase. host: our phone lines again for high school and college

students, (202) 748-8000, in case y'all are up early on a saturday. for parents, (202) 748-8001. all others at (202) 748-8002. the other's category we have dave in northport, new york. dave, what is your question? caller: good morning. you were talking about -- if you don't have enough money to go to college it's a problem. i have a job that doesn't require a college degree. i am competing in every difficulty against the flood of illegal immigration. i know that's a different topic. do not try to get a job that a college degree. that is the only thing separating you from the hordes of people flooding into the country. if you do default, if you cancel the loans, i'm curious where the

money -- for a person to get the loan they have to borrow it from someone. the people that lend the money, how big a hit are they going to take on their loan if all these students default? what the government -- are they going to print the money and give it to creditors? is that going to be a major hit on the capital base that lends to money to begin with? just curious about that. guest: sure. if a student does default on their loans, they are not making the payments. interest is continuing to accrue. the education department pays these federal lenders that service these borrowers' student loans. the money is still coming in even if a borrower does default. these servicers are getting -- they sign a contract so they are getting their loans paid. when we talk about people defaulting on their loans we are also talking about interest

capitalization. a lot of the times they are defaulting because they are either not making enough income to pay off their loans, not making monthly payments for whatever reason, interest is continuing to accrue. that has massively contributed to the 1.7 trillion dollars student loan crisis we are seeing now. there are multiple factors when it comes to talking about student loan defaults. it can be consequential for borrowers and for the government as well because of the spiraling debt load. host: more data here on student loan defaults, which refers to a period of missed payments. most enter default effortlessly 270 days or nine months past due. private student loans typically enter default after three missed payments, typically three months. to can soon as after one missed payment. below are the most recent cohort default rates among borrowers who default within a couple of

years of entering repayment. the rates have plummeted since the pandemic payment policy expired in september of 2023 also froze default proceedings on federal student loans through september of 2024. the rates for public nonprofit colleges, 2.3%. private nonprofit colleges, 1.7%. private for-profit schools, 3.1%. foreign schools, .5%. the total default rate on student loans, 2.3%. melinda in the villages, florida, on the line for others. caller: yes. i wanted to talk about the interest rates. why don't they just cancel the interest rates, the students catch up? the interest rates the government is charging is like loansharking rates. anybody else who could charge that much gets arrested but the

government can get away with this. i don't see why nobody addresses that issue. guest: interest rates. the tricky thing is they are set by the treasury. you can't just decide with the interest rate is going to be. that depends on the yearly treasury notes that come out. unfortunately, those are continuing to increase and there has been a push from some democratic lawmakers for the government to enact would essentially would be a 0% interest rate on student loans. they were pushing that coming out of the pandemic to give borrowers some relief as they entered repayment once again. this is really difficult for some borrowers. the interest rates since they continue to increase, especially on parent plus and graduate plus student loans are the highest federal student loan interest rates. they can make it difficult if a borrower is not consistent on their loans to pay off their principal balance.

this is definitely something that the cause of concern for borrowers. advocates as well in terms of addressing the high interest on these loans. host: marion in grovetown, georgia, on the line for others. caller: let me give you a scenario. republicans have been saying we should not have to pay for student loan forgiveness, because a lot of did not go to college so why did they have to pay. there are 218 year old children. one says i want to go to college and takes out a loan. the other one says i don't want to go to college but i will take out a loan. both of them don't do very well. the one who took out the loan for college realizes they could not cut it. they could not make a living. the one who had the business he started also did not do well.

why is it that only one of them can declare bankruptcy? it seems they are both trying to better themselves. both basically are trying to start a job. they are trying to do a business. whether you are going to college or doing it so you can get into business. i don't understand the rationale we should not be letting students declare bankruptcy. it seems to me we should if the other one can. thank you. guest: i think this really plays into the arguments we are seeing about the bankruptcy process for student loan borrowers. the process was made difficult a couple of decades ago to basically make high standards for borrowers to discharge their debt through bankruptcy. this is why we are seeing these efforts from the education department and from some lawmakers to make the process easier. it's definitely a slow process.

it's an ongoing process to implement reforms and get courts to account for these reforms. it is definitely something we are seeing slow movement to expand bankruptcy rights for borrowers. host: the yummy in new york and is a parent -- naomi is a parent in new york. caller: thank you for having this program. i woke up and i saw it and i was excited to actually hear a little bit more about this. i have a couple of concerns about the student loan issues. number one, as a parent -- i have two adult children. i was graced that i was able to provide them with an education. i was not one that was privileged as much as they are. they were privileged because i worked my entire life to get to

where i am today. i have been a registered nurse for more than 35 years. i advanced into a nurse practitioner role. host: what were your specific questions for ayelet? caller: my question is, how are we going to help the students who have these outrageous loans that are continuously being challenged with not being able to, number one, get a career job that they have actually studied in? there is very little entry-level positions for students coming out of college and they are struggling to pay back these loans. host: let's let ayelet respond to that. guest: we are seeing multiple efforts to see help with student loans. what are the range of targeted forgiveness programs we are

seeing. we have the public service loan forgiveness program for students -- graduates who pursue a nonprofit or government work. then they can get their students forgiven after 10 years. there are other programs that allow students debt relief for various types of careers. that is one effort we are seeing on this front. more broadly we are also seeing an effort to reform the way the higher education system works. state and local governments are doing that by expanding the opportunity for apprenticeships for jobs that don't require a college degree, and plummeting more grants instead of student loans. there are efforts on the local, state and federal level to make the higher education system easier. it will take some time. host: jill in elkhart, indiana, and is apparent. -- a parent. caller: thank you for having me on the show and bringing the

subject up. i agree a lot with the previous callers. my daughter just graduated. she is a physician's assistant but has to get her degree. it cost her $300,000. as a parent we took out some of the loans. she has others. we are talking about the interest rate earlier. as far as i would be willing to pay back, i am paying back the loans but to give the parents or the student some grace to the interest rate. my payment -- i'm only paying $200 towards my principal for the balance for the loan. i will be paying that for a very long time. she will too . is there something we can

petition to the treasury department to lower the interest rate or i might have to find another source to pay that loan back? maybe go to my bank and they will charge me 2% or 4% interest versus 7%. host: thanks for your call, jill. guest: thank you for that question. what you mentioned is really important. a lot of parents are taking in student loans to help their kids get an education. i have spoken to parent borrowers as well who are struggling with this high interest rate for their kids' education. this is something in a borrowers of all ages are dealing with. it is something lawmakers are concerned about. the education department is working to minimize interest capitalization as well. this will deftly be an ongoing trend people will follow. host: that is all the time we have for now. thank you so much, ayelet sheffey, senior economic policy

reporter at insider. thank you for your time this morning. thanks to everybody who called into this segment. in about 30 minutes greg sargent will join us to talk about the top political stories of the week and his podcast called “the daily blast." we will take more of your calls on your top news story of the week. the number for that are for republicans (202) 748-8000 -- (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. we want to show some moments from a ceremony at duke law this week honoring the late supreme court justice sandra day o'connor. here is chief justice john roberts speaking about the former justice's work before being seated on the court. [video] >> i met justice o'connor 43 years ago at the department of justice where i played a very minor role in helping her

prepare for her confirmation hearings to join the supreme court. she was on the bench for every one of my supreme court arguments. occasionally showing little regard for all had done to get her there. [laughter] and later we sat next to each other on the bench for what was for me a very special six months. we served -- six month we served together on the court. i can say with absolute certainty what justice o'connor would've told me about speaking tonight. keep it short. justice o'connor knew the power of directness. that included direct engagement with people. i certainly felt that she felt she had a responsibility as the first woman on the supreme court to show she could more than keep up with the boys. i think she also felt a responsibility as the most powerful woman in america to be out there putting your best foot

forward and promoting the values that help define our country. that was a perfect fit, because sandra day o'connor's personality and disposition was to be out there in the world, engaging with all that was there. it is just that in 1981 that will became a lot bigger. instead of just telling you about what all that meant, let me show you. born in 1930, sandra day o'connor group on the lazy b ranch in arizona. she went to stanford for college. here she is as an undergraduate in 1950. she enrolled in law school starting that same year and became a member of the law review. you can easily pick her out of the -- pick her out. of the two women in the class she is the one on the right. here's another photo at a 1951 boot court competition. she's the only woman in this picture.

next to her is classmate william at tranquil -- william h. rehnquist. the gentleman at the podium won the competition, beating rehnquist and o'connor. he did not become a supreme court justice. [laughter] 46 years later, moot court -- they present together at a moot court at stanford law school. for the law school students, let me assure you justice o'connor's expression is not a look you want to see from counsel table. [laughter] the future justice o'connor became an unpaid assistant county attorney and then followed her husband to germany during his army posting. they made a splash on the evening social circuit and as lawyers on their return to phoenix.

she was appointed to the arizona state senate in 1969 and one election and then reelection. she became the first woman majority leader in any state senate across the country. when she became a judge in 1975. here she is upon her confirmation to become a judge on the arizona court of appeals just four years later. that summer, john and sandra helped host chief justice warren burger when he visited phoenix. she was captured in his famous picture on a houseboat unlike powell two years before it became -- they became colleagues. justice o'connor looks very happy. there are many pictures of her looking happy. chief justice warren burger looks positively jolly. [laughter] so far as i know this is the only picture in which he looks jolly. [laughter] >> crossing tendril continues.

-- washington journal continued. host: we will be taking more of your calls on a topic we discussed earlier, your top news story of the week. we have people on the line. for others who want to call in, go ahead. republicans, your line is (202) 748-8000. democrats, (202) 748-8001. --republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, we will start with (202) 748-8002. john and california on the republican line. caller: good morning. my question is yesterday when the jobs report came out biden said they are making more jobs. the l.a. jobs he's created is more government jobs -- the only jobs he has created is more

government jobs and more green card holders are getting jobs over american citizens. also, you guys are holding the water for biden. all he does is lie, lie, and very deceiving as a human being. the republican party wants to close the borders. yet the democrats want these people in to vote. who is going to pay the price? you democrats and republicans will pay the price for all this unnecessary spending for our children and grandchildren. i appreciate the time you gave me. host: we will go to gilbert in birmingham, alabama, independent line. caller: good morning and things were taking michael. i appreciate c-span so much.

my topic is the environment and the climate. the devastation taking place weekly. the forecast this is supposed to be one of the worst hurricane seasons coming up. what are the chances of the statue of liberty being struck when night within 24 hours at a 4.8 magnitude earthquake in new york? mankind has got to realize there's only one earth. democrats and republicans, the whole world has got to -- humanity has to save this earth. we best take notice. thank you. host: stan in grants pass, oregon on the republican line. caller: i'm a little on delay with you.

i agreed with the gentleman talking. in 1972, my boss was coming. you are my boss. no,. it was interior secretary. i was upset because they were cutting back on funds back then. could not have people in the yard, in the fields. fire season is coming and there will be fires coming. i would like people to look at the little county of curry. the fire that started last year, i was talking about it. it blew up through 199. southern california was closed. the forest has not been taken care of before it comes down the road. it's been all burnt up.

i was born to protect every square inch. it has become so corrupt. for 1963, i was seven years old, caretaking for a 6'4" guy who had a stroke. i took them for the -- took the -- i took him to the bathroom. i wiped his -- i was told by him i was not welcome in the yard. when i seen jfk, what happened to him. look what's going on. people hate each other. host: ok. thank you, stan. louanna calling on the independent line. caller: i would like to see soma develop a system in this country where we have parity of justice for the different groups of

people, especially the division between justice for the socioeconomically -- host: can you turn your television down in the background? caller: i'm so sorry. my god. -- socioeconomically, the difference between the groups you have money and those who don't have money. that is the issue. we have people who commit a single crime that is not even considered worth $1000 to go to jail for five years and people who commit crimes who have to pay $100,000 for the crime but they never go to jail. our justice system needs to be

revitalized and give what the constitution said, equal justice under the law for everyone. host: next up is diane in ohio calling up on the democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. what i want to concentrate on is the fact that number one, they keep talking about how terrible people coming from the border. number one, according to the cato reports who were on the show last week, they did not talk about this in particular, but according to that, they said 90 plus percent of the fentanyl coming across the border is from white americans bringing it over. and these people who keep calling in and talking about how terrible the drug trafficking

is, they evidently don't know what they are talking about. number two, because of the economy being better than anywhere in the world, it is because the migrants who are doing jobs that nobody else wants. otherwise, we would be really poor, and worse. and if trump ever gets into office, it will be three times that amount. and i have calculated it. number 2 -- number three, when it comes to also the drugs, the state alone has a lot of little areas where the cartel is and the white supremacists are working with them. in fact, last year we had a guy that killed two people and then injured a third person and

dumped them in this county. he was from a cartel and he admitted it. and he had been in prison before and came to this country during that time trump was in office. not biden. biden is the best thing that the united states could use at this time. and i do not care what anyone else says. if trump gets into office, we are going to have another soviet union right here on this world. goodbye. host: ok. up next on the republican line is bob from virginia. bob? caller: yes. in terms of colleges and student debt and all of that. the federal government gives billions of dollars to colleges and universities every year. and the outgoing presidents received millions of dollars and

give boilerplate speeches from colleges and universities each year. it kind of taints the system a little bit. in terms of sentinel, it -- fentanyl, it should not be getting across the border. it does not matter who did -- you brought it. you can say somebody did or did not do it. the problem is the border is open. and, to make it persuasive, 32% of americans think that the border is secure. what kind of information is that? that is all i have to say. host: fred in vermont coming on -- calling on the democrats line. go ahead. caller: i just want to clear up a few things about the border bill that i keep hearing. first of all, immigration has been a problem for over 30 years. it did not stop when trump

became president and restarted when biden became president. that is all a fallacy. numbers have been high for a long time. where they hire during covid, yes. people say that they read the bill and some of them have not because it was the toughest border bill that would have passed in the last 30 years and included -- it was a gift, a christmas gift for republicans. republicans said we should take it and declare victory because all of the things they had been crying for were in the bill including more judges to speed up the trials of people coming over, cutting it down to six months. more border patrol officers, and you had money in there to fix mr. donald trump's wall. and this whole thing they start saying about 5000 people crossing. that is not 5000 illegal immigrants crossing in a day. that is 5000 encounters which

includes americans coming back from mexico, mexicans visiting. people coming in for reasons and truck drivers going back and forth to work. it is a high number and all this says that if we get to this number we can shut the border down completely for a day, not letting anyone in or out. all that is is not allowing 5000 immigrants to flow in a day. you know, this whole thing, people need to understand facts/ if that border bill was passed it would have lowered immigration quickly. and, mr. donald trump knows that which is why he put pressure on the party to stop it. that is a fact. people can split it anyway they want. but that is really all i have to say. host: ok. james in milford, new hampshire.

republican line. james. caller: good morning. my evaluation of the way we are going is that it kind of looks like the democrats are the dark side of democracy. they are attacking the constitution and the bill of rights and the supreme court and certainly trying to make sure that trump does not get on the ticket to change things. and one other thing, no one has addressed the fact that all of these illegals coming in and defending it the biden's established 20 lcc's and they had around 100 of the suspicious activity reports, but has anyone address the fact that our -- are

they collecting five dollars ahead from the immigrants based on the cartels and that is all i have to say, thank you. host: david in l myra, new york -- elmira, new york calling on the democrat line. caller: i am a democrat but my father was a republican, and i am so shocked at how simple the republicans are and how they follow a man that can be accused of raping a woman in a department store, cheating on his wife when his wife is pregnant, lying and cheating on his taxes, trying to undermine our government and calling heroes to people who try to overthrow the capital and destroy the democracy. trump is evil. there are earthquakes going on in the world and these are all signs of god approaching. for the republicans it will be

too late. because when god comes, they are sealed. the book is closed and they will stay with trump for the destruction of the earth. and this day is coming very soon. and i cannot believe that they are this stupid, republicans that they follow his lies and stand there and say everything when he has a speech they listen to everything that he says and they go yes. and nod. the republicans, i think most of them are the simpletons of the world. it will be good when god comes, because they will stay here for the destruction. that is what i have to say. thank you. host: ok. mike in chesapeake, virginia. calling on the democrats line. caller: i am calling and i think c-span the time to speak about this. 400 years of slavery and 20

years of jim crow. the problem that america has is this thing calling people white. god did not create no white people or black people and there are people of color and then again donald trump is telling you who he is. they say if a man tells you who he is, listen to him. he wants to be a dictator. what he did in january 6, he told those people he will meet them there. he is the worst thing, worse than the mafia and is unbelievable. he wants to be a dictator. open your ears up and listen. he wants to be a dictator like putin, that is his pride. and stop this thing about white people. they know they are not white, when they look in the mirror and brush their teeth and they can see that they are not wife. that is what they do. once america understands that.

we will get along and love and respect one another. there is no supreme being of a race of people. stop the law. there are no white people. look in the mirror you will see were not white. who would be white with blue eyes with blonde hair. thank you very much c-span. thank you. host: athens, georgia calling on the independent line. caller: good morning and how are you? host: i am doing great, what is your comment? caller: i have a couple of comments but welcome to the table, this is my first time talking to you. i love c-span, but these republican members are resigning to sway the majority numbers in the house of representatives in favor of hakeem jeffries and that is something you need to be aware

of. the illegals coming across the border. there is a number of reasons why they are allowing that, but the most nefarious reason is that they want to make the american citizens eventually become illegal once the chaos starts to ensue. once they take the benefits from tens of millions of illegals who have come into the country. greta had a segment about a month ago referring to the first day of c-span and they were asking for donations. how do i donate to that cause and is that still going on? as another note, i am sorry, go ahead. host: you can absolutely still get -- still donate and go to c-span.org and there should be a doughnut -- donate button on the homepage. caller: to my fellow callers i am going to donate $100 to this

precious institution that we have called c-span, created -- we have on average around 10 to 13 million watchers on c-span daily. if we can donate, you do not have to do it tomorrow, but if you could donate $10 to c-span they will not have problems. you know much -- you know how much you love c-span, let us get the donations in and keep c-span great. nice talking to you and i will talk to you next time. host: have a good one. ok, we have time for a couple more calls and we will go next to earl in indiana on the republican line. caller: yes, ma'am. the trouble with this country right now is hatred. you cannot survive on hatred. i just hear people that have no

idea what they are talking about. what did christ say, the last thing on the cross? forgive them father, they know what -- they know not what they do. that is what we are doing. they say it is the last day, they are trying to run trump into the ground but the man has the gumption to stand up and take the abuse that he has taken, that people have no inkling about what is he about. you cannot judge a person because god says you know -- you do not know what is in another person. you go by this act -- by their action and trump stands for this country. he did not destroy it the four years he was in there, they destroyed him, or tried to. host: daniel in albuquerque, new mexico. calling on the independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. top story for me would be joe biden's trans day of visibility.

it is an example of joe biden and democrats attacking american traditions. why easter sunday? the day that jesus christ was raised from the grave? you know there were witnesses, it was not a theory. remember that. host: ok. the last call is going to be virginia calling from ohio on the democratss line. ms. prelogar: everyone is -- caller: everyone is so dissatisfied about the united states and it is the best country in the world. thank the lord instead of having hatred. i love the economy. i am doing better because industry is much better for the old people, at least we can earn a little money so we can buy our groceries. i love the economy, it is doing great. thank you, biden. host: that is it for this segment.

thank you to everyone who called in. next we are going to do our spotlight on podcast segments and we are going to be joined by greg sargent of the new republic will talk about the top political stories and his podcast "the daily blast." >> next week on the c-span networks, the house and senate return from the holiday break. tuesday lloyd austin under secretary of defense michael mccord in the chair of the joint chiefs of staff general charles brown, jr. testify before the senate armed services committee for the fiscal year 2025 budget and future defense programs. wednesday, houseman a jurist event -- deliver articles of impeachment against alejandro mayorkas to the senate. on the same day the secretary will testify before house and senate appropriations subcommittees for his department's budget. on thursday the japanese prime

minister will address a joint meeting of congress. also, fbi director christopher wray testifies before the house appropriations house -- subcommittee for his budget. watch next week live on the c-span networks or c-span now, our free mobile video app or c-span.org for free scheduling information or to watch live or on-demand any time. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington, live and on-demand. keep up with the biggest events with live streams of floor proceedings and hearings from congress, white house, campaigns and more from the world of politics, all at your fingertips. you can also stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and find scheduling information for the tv networks and c-span radio

plus a variety of compelling podcasts. it is available at the apple store and google play. scan the qr code to download it or visit c-span.org/c-spannow. c-span now, your front row seat to washington anytime, anywhere. >> nonfiction book lovers, c-span has a number of podcasts for you. listen to best-selling nonfiction authors and interviewers on the afterwards podcast and hear wide-ranging conversations with nonfiction authors and others who are making conversations. booknotes+ feature fascinating authors of a wide variety of topics. it takes you behind-the-scenes on the nonfiction book publishing industry with insider interviews, industry updates and best sellers lists. find all of our podcasts by downloading the free c-span now

app wherever you get your podcasts and on c-span.org/podcasts. >> washington journal continues. host: we are joined now by greg sargent, a staff writer for "the new republic" and host of "the daily blast." thank you for being with us. guest: thank you for having me on. host: tell us about the podcasts, what do you focus on? guest: we do national politics and we do an episode every single week day lasting around 20 to 25 minutes. so we will pledge that they are mercifully short and what we tried to do is we pick a big event or a trend or something happening and find the right asked to provide -- guest to provide a truly informative perspective. we pledge that you will always learn something when you listen

to this podcast and what we really try to do above all is retain a fair amount of death -- depth while also making it fun. host: when you are looking at these issues you take a political stance? guest: it is from a liberal perspective, unabashedly. the whole concept behind it is it is possible to have a point of view but also approach material in a fair-minded way and one that takes seriously opposition arguments. host: you are doing a lot of segments every week there is a lot going on. how do you drill it down into which topics he will talk about? guest: it depends. we try to grab onto something that people are thinking about but we feel that there is a hole in the coverage, something missing or has not been said, a perspective that needs a full airing or someone who needs to

be heard from. it is not really all that formulaic. it is pretty open-ended. we could do a senator one day, a house member another, and academic on a third. or maybe a former government official who has direct experience in a particular area. we really try to make it informative and the threshold is that you learn something. host: you noted that the episodes are short, around 20 minutes east and released monday through friday. is there a benefit to having a format like that as opposed to a longer weekly segment? guest: yes. i think that if you do a weekly or biweekly podcast people would feel that 20 or 25 minutes is not enough and they would want something more thorough. we try to give people something they can listen to every morning that will give them a fresh perspective on stuff that is

happening around them at that moment and stuff that they are reading about. by doing it daily we can really kind of hit singles rather than homer's although we tried to hit homers. and we try to say something of interest each day, maybe not the last word on a topic but something that will leave people informed. host: who is your target audience or who do you want to be listening to your podcasts? guest: the immediate target audience is probably mostly liberals. from a fairly wide spectrum of people on the left. from leftists all the way to centrists. but we are certainly also trying to talk to right of center people who are approaching these things in good faith who want to hear our point of view on stuff. we have actually had maybe one time we had a republican

lobbyist who had a different perspective from me on what is going on in congress but a great deal of expertise and knowledge. and so, we are going to be do more engaging. it is only a few months old, we started in january. we will be doing more engaging with right of center people. we have also had sarah longwell who is a podcaster herself but also a republican pollster. she is part of the never trump movement, but we do really try to reach right of center people as well. host: you said that you want to de-segments of the podcast to be educational. what else do you want the listeners to take away from it. when they finished, what do you hope they took away from the episode? guest: what i really try to do is to reach for some kind of depth on an issue. it is not just factual but

analytically may be providing a breakthrough for people, even if it is just one breakthrough. you just aim to sort of have one conceptual scoop, and you've probably heard that phrase. one moment or several what they think i did not know that and that is an interesting way to deepen this topic. host: for those who are not already listening, where can they find it? guest: at thenewrepulic.com. spotify and apple. host: we want to talk to our viewers and we will bring them in. greg sargent is joining us talking about political news of the day as well as his podcast. you can start calling in. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002.

greg, one of your recent articles looked at former president trump's legal battles. what are you watching or what do you think the public should be paying attention to with everything that is happening? guest: with trump's legal battles you mean? well, i mean that is the big question. there is a lot to keep track of. i guess what i am really paying attention to is what the timetable is looking like and how the cases are faring. and trump's efforts to delay pretty much everything until after the election. one thing that i am particularly focused on is trump's explicit suggestion that he will essentially let himself off if he is reelected and can control the justice department again. i think that is a basic fact about what is happening right now that is still to some degree misunderstood and not covered enough. host: also this week, polling

came out from "the wall street journal" showing that trump is leading biden in six of seven swing states. you also talked in one of your episodes about support for former president trump. what is -- what factors or data should be be keeping an eye on as we get further into the election year? guest: i guess i would strongly encourage people not to place too much stock in any single pole no matter how much they like what it tells them. so, you can get a lot of different stories about this election right now from different polls, we had a very high quality marquette pollster in wisconsin with biden leading by several points. we had an emerson poll with biden up a little bit. a lot of them are showing trump

ahead in the swing states and the national polling is a bit of a different story. it seems to be trending in biden's direction or maybe not in a very obvious way, but i think that "the new york times" analyst who is definitely not somebody who overstates biden's chances has said that the national polling seems to be moving in biden's direction. but again, i would advise liberals as well not to look at the national polls only and say that things are going great. look at the state polls and the polling averages. look as as much data as possible and really just reserve a little bit of judgment about each because there are tons and tons of data and there is no reason to either freak out about or get too excited about anyone poll, whether it is state or national. host: we will get to the

callers. the first up is terry from minnesota calling on the republican line. caller: good morning. you speak of polls i cannot help but wonder, you say they do not pay any attention to them, you will vote for who you vote for. guest: sorry, go ahead. caller: i also think that i disagree with your assertion on the polls. the problem is what we are seeing in real life in real america, not cot in the political drop -- not caught in the political drama of your area, journalism. we see high prices, interest and wars, a border that is open and all of that stuff. you can talk all you want about trump's cases. you are talking to nobody anymore.

i do not think you guys understand that. guest: i would contest that. and there is plenty of data that shows you are wrong about that. there is a lot of data that shows that a solid majority in the country take the cases against trump very seriously and thinking committed crimes. i do not know if those get seen by some people out there. but they exist and they are real. and i would certainly not discount what you are saying about high prices and immigration. i would 100% concede that trump has the advantage right now on both the economy and immigration. there is no denial about that. but i would suggest that in the same spirit it does not do republicans any good to ignore polling that shows clear concern about trump's legal situation. host: next up we have anna from north carolina on the republican line. caller: good morning.

i just am commenting about all of the cases that trump has against him. my question is whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? everybody has him already guilty and i want to know why it has taken so long for all of this to come out? nothing would've happened if he was going to run, i guarantee you none of these charges would have been brought against him. it is just to keep him off of the ballot and everyone that is saying that our economy is great right now, they must live in a millionaire world because i sure do not and we are not seeing it. i want to thank you for your time. thank you and goodbye. guest: thank you for the question. i guess what i would say to that is it is worth keeping in mind that these cases against trump

our proceeding under the watchful eye of judges. they have juries involved and these are juries of your peers. they are handing indictments and grand jury's. this is not the deep state but americans on grand jury's. judges are authorizing things like the search of mar-a-lago because they were persuaded by evidence that there is probable cause that crimes were committed. and it is really important to not forget that the legal system has judges that are overseeing it all throughout and there is a trump appointed judge overseeing right now the prosecution of trump for national security documents. and that americans are making a lot of these decisions on grand jury is about trump's indictments. i am a little puzzled about how trump supporters seem to disregard that. i do not understand why they do.

it is a way of saying that the legal system itself is hopelessly corrupt, but it is not. if you pay close attention to the cases they are proceeding in a coded -- accordance with the rule of law. host: one of the recent podcast you did is looking at aileen cannon and the case against former president trump. what specifically are you watching about that case or what is going on with that judge. the caller just brought up judges and what is happening. what do you see happening there? guest: one thing that is very clear and this is not me talking, i am not a legal expert. but many legal experts have pointed out with almost -- with a great deal of unanimity among all of them. and we are not just talking about liberals. many legal experts have noted that aileen cannon seems to be

taking an approach which really kind of disguises what seems to be a string of rulings that can only be seen as putting this on the scales of trump and i am watching to what degree she tries to that concealed. the most recent decision i think gave jack smith a little of what he wanted because it did not dismiss the case. but as many have pointed out it also reserved for her the ability to essentially tip the trial or the case towards trump in a way that cannot be appealed later. i have encouraged people to dig around and read up on that. what i am really looking out for is to what degree that she will be explicit about putting her thumb on the scales and whether she will actually try and temper that with decisions that seem a little more balanced? host: rick in new york on the democrat line.

go ahead. caller: hello. yes. i would like to talk a little bit about immigration and actually wore. -- war. i am not a hawk and we -- i do not believe in going to war needlessly in iraq and vietnam you have central american countries declaring war against the cartels. if i ever saw a perfect use for the u.s. military to support someone it would be the government of ecuador, who is attacking the cartels. and if the countries in central america were to follow that lead we would see the problem on the sauber -- southern border disappear because people want to live in safe areas. they are leaving their areas because of the issues with the cartels.

so i would support the u.s. army working with the military of those countries to fight against the cartels. and the second thing i would say is that i would like to see the u.s. army help guard the aid going to the palestinians. you know, we are dropping equipment and food out of airplanes right now and i would like to see a full division regarding the aid that is going to starving children in palestine and i think that would solve a big problem also. thank you. i appreciate it. guest: thank you for the points. on the cartels, i think one of the problems we are facing is that republicans are talking about sending in special ops teams and so forth and even

bombing cartels without mexico's consent. and i think that would be an act of war. so in terms of cooperation, i mean i guess that is always an option. but it is worth pointing out two things, there is an incredibly aggressive effort underway right now to combat the cartels by the u.s. government. it is a tough thing to do and a tough battle for sure. one of the things that actually helps the cartels are the immigration policies. and, not necessarily biden's " open border." one thing that actually hurts the cartels is creating more legal pathways for migrants to get here so that they do not put themselves at the mercy of some of these criminal operations. and right now we have under biden, he is letting in tens of thousands of migrants per month from countries like cuba,

venezuela, nicaragua and haiti through a parole program which relieves pressure on the border because it allows the migrants a legal pathway to get into the country without coming to the border and trying to sneak in and they are vetted and they have sponsors in the u.s.. and that is the type of program that really takes the prey off the table for cartels because then they do not need smugglers anymore to get in. on the palestine stuff, i have to think that biden is going to have to use leverage to a much greater degree than he has. i expect in the coming days and weeks that the democrats will crank up the pressure on him to do that. if they do not, and they might not, if they do not it would be an absolute abdication and disaster politically and morally and substantively. the government -- the democratic

party has to get tougher on using leverage to try and getting paid to workers and people who need it. host: joe in dayton, ohio. republican line. caller: good morning from a sunny day in ohio. we agree that you are not an attorney. we still have a constitution in this country and it is not a fascist country and donald has due process of the law. -- the donald trump has due process of law. the judge in lower manhattan is corrupt in the bragg case, the reason being the number one lead witness is michael cohen, a two time liar, just represented -- reprimanded three to four weeks ago by a federal judge because he got busted for lying in the

letitia james case that trump is going to win in the appellate. this calvin bragg case, trump is going to 100% be found guilty because donald trump cannot enter any evidence to prove his innocence. the reason being, if you look at the court docket donald trump subpoenaed stormy daniels. he has different evidence and the judge refused donald trump that evidence. that is not due process. he put a gag on donald trump which affects his first amendment rights. the judge's daughter is an advocate for adam schiff's political campaign. she has raised $90 million off of it. they are biased against trump. he is going to lose the case but he will win an appellate and that is called due process. or the supreme court. all you people want -- you

people do not want donald trump in office. you people would hang donald trump because you do not like the color of his socks. guest: sir, do you think it was wrong for donald trump to incite a mob to attack the capital yes or no? caller: let me answer that question. he never incited a riot. sir, again, we will agree to disagree. he said "peacefully and patriotically protest." guest: ok, sir. if you wanted a peaceful protest then why after the mob was rampaging and when it was already violent and attacking cops, why did he send a tweet out saying that vice president pence had let the country down and let his supporters down. if you do not think he knew he was pointing the mob, which again was already violent at his vice president then we are looking at very different

realities. caller: nancy pelosi and mayor bowser denied his request. it has all been proven under oath. it has all been testified under oath and why did liz cheney avoid those facts on the january 6 committee and she did not want to show that. cassidy hutchinson lied under oath saying that donald trump tried to commandeer the limousine. guest: ok. so kevin mccarthy who was the republican leader yanked off several republicans who could have been on the panel. there was a real opening for republicans to have a presence on that panel. and he decided to pull them off. if i were a republican voter i would be upset about that. host: we will go to leslie in new york on the republican line.

caller: yes. i went to vietnam under a lie for the incident can -- created by lbj which was falsified and i consider the democrats treasonous. joe biden is like another aaron burr. donald trump did not order anything to go into d.c. on january 6. the only person that died was ashli babbitt. i have been in combat and these cops were whimps crying about how scared they were. you have to be in a real gunfight. i am a retired history expert and i know criminals when i see one. joe biden is the biggest threat to our democracy and worse than aaron burr and general wilkinson in the early 1800s. all i see is a bunch of criminals trying to persecute a man so he cannot get in office. guest: well, again i would point out that the indictments handed

up were handed up by americans. grand juries of donald trump's peers and they were not handed up by anyone else. as for biden's crimes, robert hurr took a deep dive. he was appointed by donald trump originally as u.s. attorney. and he said explicitly in his report that he could not find the evidence necessary to show corrupt intent or to convince a jury to convict. i would encourage everyone who is listening to read the report word for word and then after you read that, ask yourself how it is possible that such a thing could have been written if president biden had committed so many crimes. host: greg, president biden and president trump are the respective nominees for their parties.

but rfk jr. is also running and you wrote a piece recently about the announcement of his running mate. you point out that she has someone who is largely unknown. why did he pick her? and what impact did it have on that ticket? guest: clearly the money was a big factor and her youth as well. she seems to be really bought into the mythology around rfk. the money will be exceptionally helpful, i believe in getting rfk on the ballot in many states. and i would say right up front that i think people be in the ballot on a lot of swing states. i think anyone who is thinking otherwise, it does not look that way to me. it looks like he will be a factor. i think his support might be a little inflated because he benefits from a two-fer because

his name recognition is high and has a positive association with the kennedy is. even as he enjoys those things, a lot of those things or most people i would say, the vast majority do not know his full range of positions on vaccine denial and so forth. and now january 6. and so once his positions get filled in for people maybe the positive side does not really weigh as heavily anymore and his support deflates. what i would certainly not dismiss him as a factor. he has a real effect especially among young voters. my belief is that democrats should take them extremely seriously. host: diana from florida on the independent line. diana. caller: yes, i want to tell this gentleman that he has lost all credibility. the migrant situation, the

economy and all of that is going to finish joe biden. nor is trump telling hamas to stop and share the food that they stole from the eight trucks and nobody is telling them to stop and surrender the war. we should support israel. donald trump is innocent and he wants to restore the country the way it should be. and democrats change the rules to let that woman bring her case. it should not have been brought. donald trump did not tell people to attack the capital. the judges in 90% of these cases are corrupt. the juries in 90% of these cases are democratic. the grand jury that -- juries are 90% democratic. they are fighting to keep kennedy from the ballot. you have lost all credibility and you must live on another planet because you are not seeing what everyone else sees. guest: i am not sure what you

mean by everyone. democrats have won the last three national elections in a row. and i would concede that 2022 was a bit of the mixed bag because the republicans won the house. but they predicted a when of a rep -- win of around 60 seats and they only got a handful and it was a dramatic underperformance. the democrats have won in two dozen special elections around the country. if you are not looking at those elections and saying to yourself people seem to be voting for democrats in them that i am not sure what reality you are looking at. host: we are going to portland, oregon on the democrats line. caller: hello. listen. one thing that is really bothering me about all of this is when we have to listen to donald trump talking about the

border. and, talking about all of the criminals and rapists and murderers and bad people coming over the border. maybe a few are good people. for one thing, god made everybody. donald trump is no better than anyone of them. let's remember who the number one criminal in this country is. he can talk about criminals coming over the border, he is a cheater, a tax fraud, he is a charity fraud. not to mention, a murderer. not to mention a rapist. i mean, he has the biggest criminal there is and he is worried about people coming over the border? 80 some indictments? are you kidding me? he should not be the moral clarity guy of our country for sure. joe biden is honest. he has done so much for this

country. donald trump did one thing when he was in office. further very richest people. he lowered their taxes by billions of dollars and did nothing for anyone else. and yet these people in years, he says that he wants to take care -- to take away social security and medicare. and give you a little money and let you be on your own. really? and you will vote for him? if one senior votes for him they are out of their minds. you wants to hurt everyone but the super rich. and why the republicans keep falling on their sword for him is beyond me. guest: well, you said a lot. i absolutely agree that trump's demonize asian -- demonization

of migrants is appalling. he is conflating migrants with violent criminals day in and out. in the most heinous ways you can imagine. he is exploiting and cherry picking isolated crimes which are terrible to smear large classes of migrants and immigrants indiscriminately. it is hateful and disgusting. as public conduct it should be disqualifying. but, he has a lot of support out there in the country. and i do not think anybody can deny that. in terms of what you said about him cutting taxes for the rich or assigning corporate tax cuts and the republicans continuing to fall on their sword for him, you can link those points together. i think a lot of congressional republicans understand that trump is able to pass these pro-

plutocratic policies while having an aura of being pro-working-class because of his kind of manner and look, he does break from orthodoxy sometimes on trade and so forth. he is not exactly the same as a paul ryan style republican. when it comes down to it, he does and we saw this when he was in office, he outsources economic policies to the plutocratic ring -- wing of the economic party and managed to persuade the republican base that he has pro-worker in the process. one reason that the republicans keep falling on their sword for him is because he is skilled on that. host: greg, you wrote a book in 2018, almost 6 years ago called "an uncivil war."

it was almost six years ago. what has changed since the book first came out? guest: that was a long time ago and i think i got a bunch of things wrong and i will be the first to admit that. what has changed? well, democrats won the house, presidency and senate for one thing. when i was writing that book republicans controlled everything. but, a lot of things have not changed. i think the threats to democracy are every bit as real now. and i think that maybe in some ways republicans have -- some congressional republicans have done the right thing on this. they stepped up and passed by a wide margin reforms to the law that governs how electoral votes are counted that trumps tried to exploit -- that trump tried to exploit, possibly criminally. there have been serious efforts

at reform and some trump proofing of the system. but, his movement is still out there, and he is essentially calling on it to be openly contemptuous of democracy and all kinds of ways. so, ultimately i do not know what we do with that except just to defeat him at the ballot box. and the trials that are unfolding, presuming that they unfold in keeping with the rule of law and are legitimate and the prosecution is handled well, hopefully there will be accountability there as well. ultimately, it is really on the american people step up and say no to the threats of democracy. host: brian in fulton, pennsylvania. republican line. caller: it is funny they speak of democracy but they have done nothing but pollute democracy.

they -- when i say own, there are no liberals left. it is the left that really is running the show. they control most of the news media. they control academia. they control hollywood. and i do not think they will be fully content until they go for the police departments nationally and federally, and locally. and on take over the military. i believe in my heart that there are no liberals left. i consider myself a republican and i believe we have a republican government. i do consider myself somewhat liberal. coming in november this is a binary choice, trump or biden. it is the lesser of two evils and clearly in my mind, trump is the lesser of two evils. he wants are border defended. i think we have every right as a nation and as a citizen, i feel

that way. the left, not liberals. there are no liberals left. the left has devalued citizenship, our currency. people need to wake up. there are probably two places on this earth right now that we should be involved with our military. one is on our border, clearly. we have to defend our nation. number two is haiti. what is going on in haiti is an absolute disgrace. i appreciate this gentleman being on and i wish him well, what i wish his party no good because this is a binary choice that is good versus evil and the left is people and they will not be thrilled until they get the military and the police on their side and then you do not have nothing but total control. and that is what they want. they do not believe in liberty. they believe in equality.

so if we are all equally miserable then that man will be happy. thank you. guest: well, thank you for the kind words. i would just pick up on what you said about the border and note that president biden endorsed the compromise that a lot of republicans in the senate supported and many republicans privately and some ported -- publicly described as the toughest border security bill that they would ever bet -- ever get. i know trump says that is not true but he is lying and it is true. the bill would have done a lot to secure the border and it would've spent enormous sums on securing the border and on processing asylum-seekers faster including faster renewable -- removals. that is why a number of people on the left hated the compromise. but a solid block of the democratic party supported it. and so if the whole democratic party is all leftists then you

have to wonder why they supported this bill which would have secure the border. and if -- really in a serious way, i think from a conservative commentator and i know people dismiss it because he is a never trumper. if everything revolves on whether you support trump or not than i do not know where we are. people like him said it was a tough border security deal. i would ask republicans to explain why it is that donald trump ordered the republican to kill this bill while explicitly saying in his own words that he wanted this because he wanted an issue against biden. i do not know how you look at that situation and conclude that trump is a better one on the border. host: just a few minutes left with greg going next to christina in illinois calling on the democrats line. caller: hello greg. i am excited to speak with you.

i do not know exactly where these people are getting their reality, especially the ones that trump said go peacefully. i do not have internet, i am blind and i do not use it and i am kind of happy. i do not want to be blind but i am happy i do not have to listen to that crop. it changes every other week and now we have it got into him saying go peacefully and everything and do not cause trouble and all of that stuff. we heard what he said. the hatred that is in america has only gotten worse. i mean i am a blind widow. i am on social security. i do not make a lot, just not even middle-class. the way that people spend money nowadays and then they blame it on biden or blame it on this or that when the whole thing is

people do not understand that you buy only what you need and you put off what you want. we are spoiled rotten. americans are spoiled rotten. and then they think that one guy can wave a magic wand and cure it for us. that is impossible. we have got to grab ourselves up and pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and stop wasting money and get out of credit card debt. and live more within our means. i am hoping that at the end of the show that you will give your podcast thing. i do have a google mini with spotify that i think i can pull up your program. guest: well, you can pull it up. it is at newrepulic.com. it is called "the daily blast"

and if you just google the name and greg sargent you can find it. you can find it on apple or spotify. if you have the capability of getting to those. and all of the episodes are there. and there are ads but you can still listen and you can become a member of course which we would love. and then you do not have to listen to the ads. we try to keep it civil. you know, a lot of republicans who are on today asking me some pretty tough questions and so forth and that is good and fine. and so, if you like this type of way of discussing politics than this podcast will be for you. and i hope that you come and check it out. host: we have time for one more quick call with ronald in myrtle beach, south carolina on the democrats line. ronald. caller: good morning greg and c-span. i appreciate you all very much.

this is sort of a dare or to see if we can get something different going on with c-span and podcast. let us see if we can try and get this gen z group, nothing but gen z and y going on. i do not want to see what my age has to say. maybe we can educate them, and even go to high schools and whatever and have some sort of contest and give them a trip to florida or the super bowl or something to get them engaged. i would like to hear younger people on this screen talk. and i know that your podcast is based online or maybe to get the kids involved in the podcasting. i would like to hear what the kids would say. thank you. guest: you raise a very good point. with a lot of online content

there tends to be a bit of a skew towards an older audience. one thing we have tried and we have not done enough of this is that we have done some and we will do more, we have tried to bring on young democrats who are not well known to the national press who have a lot of interesting things to say about what is going on in their state, who are really a new generation of politicians. we have had several of those people on and those have been lively episodes and these are not people that you hear from often on the podcasts that focus on national news or on mainstream news programs. so the point is well taken and we need to hear from the younger generation a whole lot more, and we are trying to do that and we will do a lot more of that. host: greg sargent, a staff writer with the new republic and a host of "the daily blast"

podcast. you can find his work at newrepublic.com. thanks you for being with us. guest: thank you so much. host: that is it for washington journal and we will be back tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. eastern. enjoy the rest of your day. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]