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♪ host: good morning. it is saturday, june 1, 2024. armor president donald 34 felony convictions following a new york jury verdict this year. republicans and democrats are folding the case's outcome into their political campaign and political fundraising. we want to hear from you. does the trump conviction impact how you will vote in november lines for republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000.

independents, (202) 748-8002. if you would like to text us, that number is (202) 748-8003. if you write in that way include your name and where you are writing from. we are on social media, facebook.com/c-span and on x @cspanwj.the headlines are covee conviction of former president donald trump in the newspapers today. "the washington post" has the headline, trump seeks verdict. one day donation haul of $53 million as the ex-president plants use the case to drive up pport. at the associated press it says that trump tried to move past his guilty verdict by attacking the criminal justice system. donald trump sought to move past his historic criminal conviction on friday and build momentum for his bid to return to the white

house with fierce aacks on the judge who oversaw the case, the prosecution's star witness, and the criminal justice system as a whole. speaking from his namesake tower in manhattan in a symbolic return to the campaign trail, the presumptive republican presidential nominee delivered a message aimed squarely at his most loyal supporters. defiant as ever, he insisted without evidence that the verdict was rigged and driven by politics. here are some of those comments. former president trump on how his supporters are viewing the charges against him. [video clip] mr. trump: i could go through thboess person the city and find things that in theory -- let's indict him. let's destroy his life. i am out there and i don't mind being out there because i am doing something for this country. i'm doing something for our constitution. it's very important. far beyond me. this can't be allowed to happen to other presidents.

it should never be allowed to happen in the future. is far beyond me. this is bigger than trump, bigger than me, bigger than my presidency. the people understand it,oll cae out, "the daily mail" is the out, done last night just after the verdict, where i am up six points. six points from what we already were. we were leading fairly substantially. we are up six points in "the daily mail." maybe "the post" says something differently. people understand what's going on. host: the biden campaign has this verdict as well. from the communications director saying, "ameust witnessed ased, desperate, defeated donald ramble about his personal grievances and a lie about the american justice system,wa

with one obvious conclusion. this man canno president of the united states. unhinged his 2020 election laws and spiraling fro criminal conviction, trump is consumed by his own thirst for re and retribution. he thinks this election is about him, but it's not. it's about the american people. lowering their costs, protecting their freedoms, defending their democracy. thats what joe biden and, harris are fighting for. donald trump is sowinghatackingd fighting for the only thing in the world he gives a damn about, and that is donald trump." does the trump conviction impact your vote? we will start with larry in caldwell, new jersey on the line for democrats. caller: good morning. just to make something clear, former president never stood up to testify on his own behalf in any of the court proceedings.

to partlf his campaign slogans, lock him up. thank you. host: shirley in orangeburg, south carolina also on the line for democrats. caller: good morning. i am so glad that dona got what he is supposed to get. i hope that he getsoc i don't ever want to see him wants a president that lies all the time and did all of these ugly things that he has done? i know i don't. he goes to church with the bible upside down. all he do is lie. other people take the fall for him. i'm not going to nobod and i there for donald trump. i thank you. host: bill in georgia on our line for independents. good morning. caller:

thank you for taking my call. yes, i would just like to say first that this has not impacted my vote. however, i wasn't planning to vote f tmp to begin with. wh i would like to take time out to thank the peop onew york, the jury, and theisict attorney, and the judge for proceeding over this trial. i will say this muc donald tru ieel like has made history. wl be the first president ever walk away with a felony. it took a while for him is level, but he should pat himself on the and congratulate himself, along with his family, to say i did sothg no other president has been able to do. i have achieved thisreat felony, and i will appear in

court on july 11 to find out my verdict. i think that should be a great day. and all his supporters and the good guys at fox news, because now they have something to really brag about. host: franklin, indiana on the line for republicans, good morning, nate. caller: yes, good morning. let me say this is insane. when you really think this out. we have someone running for president that legally cannot carry a pistol,■r'z ok. but he can be the president as a convict. there is nothing in the law that says he cannot be president in prison.

it is likely, very likely, that he will be sentenced to prison. ■think about this. he cannot carry a gun but we are going to hand a nuclear shotgun. host: were you planning to vote for president trump? has this conviction, changed how you are planning to vote? caller: i didn't vote for him and 2016. i did in 2020. no, i'm not going to vote for him. host: is it because of this? or was that already your plan? caller: that was already my plan. but the insanity of this. going to send the president who holds a nuclear shotgun, you gan 80-year-old mas revenge on his mind? i have kids and grandkids and that concerns me.

that isig concern for foreign countries. our ales enemies to think that we have a president that can destroy the whole world. someone who is 80 years old with revenge -- his mind could go. host: i think we got the point. kelly in birmingham, alabama on the line for independents. good morning, kelly. caller: no, i'm not going to vote for trump. i didn't vote for him in 2016 or 2020. i think that the man is a complete fraud. he came to the campaign in 2016 an accomplished businessman that has already bankrupted six times. he was sued countless times in new york city for not paying labor for vendors. he narrowly escaped two

impeachment trials. now he is caught red-handed again committing another felony. the man is completely unfit intellectually, emotionally, psychologically. he is a threat to the united states. the only reason he is here is because of fox news. host: long beach, california on the line for republicans. helen, did the cvi impact how you are planning to vote in november? caller: it does. i was kind of waffling on to vote for trump or not vote at all, but after this i'm voting for trumpecause it has exposed the biden administration and congress for recognizing the legal system, and i will support that statement with an article that i read last night written by a professor of political science from the university of toronto.

he did write, even though he is anti-trump, that politicians have been increasingly recognizing the legal system to destroy their opponents which is reminiscent of what a talker sees -- autocracies do and dictators do. you tromp up charges and he removed them to jail or prison, with his opponents. iran does, china does. these are not democracies. apparently, the united states is not a democracy anymore. here is an example of what the professor wrote in the article which convinced me that we need to block biden. he is leading us down the wrong path. he is taking us away from our republic origins into autocracy, which is dangerous by

weaponizing the legal system. ken starr went after bill clinton when he was president and the democrats in congress sa■ the affair, the sexual relationship with monica lewinsky, is a minor offense. starr wanted receipts for perjury, witness tampering, obstruction of justice. we go down to trump and hush money, and it is still a minor offense. a relatively minor offense. i want to follow up with what you are saying with the article in the washington examiner that has a similar line of argument. does the guilty verdict change the race? an opinion piece of byron york says, nearly all the republicabp is a better choice for the white house then president joe biden will see the guilty verdict

against trump in new york as deeply unfair and a deeply politicized. alvin bragg, the democrat who was elected district attorney in manhattan on a blo authority to bring the case. the biden donor who served as the judge in the case had the authority to run the trial as he saw fit. the jury, drawn from a borough of new york that went for biden by 84 point 5% to 14.5% in the 2020 presidential election had the authority tothe trial is ov. an appeal, which many experts think has a good chance of overturning the verdict, won't happen until next year when the 2024 election is long over. in the immediate future trump will be handled as a new convict under supervision -- facing sentencing. commentators suggest it is unlikely he will go to jail, but he has been convicted of 34 felony counts each carrying a maximum prison sentence of four years. the political fallout of the

verdict is already underway. it goes on to say that a number of polls have shown that a small number of potential voters, it is not clear how many, say they wouldn't vote for trump if he was a convicted felon. will they carry through on that in 2023? many observers thought indictments would harm or sink trump's political hopes and that didn't happen. we will have to see the impact that the conviction has. let's get back to your calls. marion and marietta, georgia on the line for democrats. caller:e you doing this morning? i am very concerned. not only concerned about the convictions trump had -- host: can you turn down the volume on your tv? let us know, will this conviction change the way that you planned to vote in november? caller: yes, ma'am.solutely. i'm an african-american.

i don't have nothing against donald trump other than the fact how many went to jail, felons -- host: we still ou to turn down the volume on y, deborah. caller -- can't work. host i'm going to go tohe next caller and see if we can t ck to you later. robert in marina del rey, california on the line for republicans. caller: yes. i would like that i think at this point in history it m op an opportunity for robe to m, but i get the feeling the media is so fractured and polarizing, fox news, msnbc, cnn, they

wouldn't give kennedy the time of d the time right for a third-party or independent , because sick and tired of donald trump and disappointed in joe bid you have two candidates polling -- the way you are planning to vote in nr? caller: i voted for trumpce. i didn't think that he shouli t- host: what about now with this conviction? what you think you are going to do? i am hoping that kennedy gets a fair shake and becomes part of the equation and discussion moving forward. that is what i'm hoping will happen. i think most people look at the

two major candidates and say, is there someone else we can vote for? is there an alternative? host: alfred and win of easter, georgia on the line for democrats. good morning -- in buena vista, georgia on the line for democrats. good morning. how does this conviction impact how you might vote in november if at all? caller: the conviction didn't turn how i will vote in november because i wasn't going to vote for donald trump to begin with. i realized the first time that he ran for president he wasn't nothing but a scam artist, but the american people thought he was more than what he was. i was going to vote for joe biden anyway in november. i feel like if the american people don't vote for joe biden they will make a bad mistake. donald trump will destroy america if they let him get back in there. host: next up we have peggy in jackson, tennessee on the line

for independents. does the trump conviction impact your vote? caller: i am voting for mr. trump. he han anyone in this world. biden is running us down a road that we will be under communism. with trump and his women, that is no one's business than him and his wife. i have seen nothing like it. i am 80 -- 80 years old and i've never seen anything like this. someone would want to be elected again so bad they would destroy a man and his family. i just don't see it. god's is going to take over and he is going to see what's going to happen. that's ongoing to say. bye-bye, and you have a blessed day. host: david in louisville, kentucky on the line for republicans. caller: good morning. how are you, ariel? host: good, thank you.

caller: if anyone wanted to have an honest conversation instead of picking both parties apart, if someone has done something that someone has done something bad. joe biden has to preach no one is above the law. the democrats want to preach no one is above the law. i guess joe biden should turn himself in for the sexual assault of tara reid,covering u0 over the laptop oesn't exist, the russian disinformation. joe bidencutor would be fired inkraine. they should turn themselves in. hillary clinton should turn herself in. if no above the law let justice fall where it falls. if you go after your poli them, those same people who preach nobody is abo law is not held to the same dards. i mean, if they are honest w emselves they will look at boes and say, hey, you

know, what about this person over here? no, people want pick one side i don't like biden but i kno biden doesn't do certain things. oesn't control gas prices were food prices. host:raws the trump conviction ange what you were planning to do in november and anyway? caller: no, not at all. none. i don't think it is going to change. before trump ran for president -- it is funny how the country didn't have nothing bad to say about the guy, his family, or nothing until he ran. j3when he ran everybody startedo hate. the hate came out the last term -- the last 10 years is when the hate really started in this country and it started changing. before that we didn't have all this. i would like to go back to the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, because that is what the country used to be and will probably not be what it used to be either.

host: thank you for your call, david. we received on friday the first statements from president biden in response to the trump conviction and the "ap" has a story. biden called trump's claims on hush money convictions reckless. joe biden condemned trump's unfounded assumptions as reckless and dangerous, breaking his long-held silence on the presumptive nominee's criminal woes as trump's nearly three dozen felony convictions injected a new element of uncertainty into a volatile presidential campaign. here are some of those comments from the white house on friday. [video clip] pres. biden: the american principle that no one is above the law was reaffirmed. donald trump was given every opportunity to defend himself. it was a state case, not a

federal case. it was heard by a jury of 12 citizens.12 americans . 12 people like you. like millions of americans who served on juries, this jury was chosen the same way that every jury in america is chosen. a process that donald trump's attorney was part of. the jury heard five weeks of evidence. after careful deliberation the jury reached a unanimous verdict. they found donald trump guilty on all 34 felony counts. not only will he be given the opportunity as he should to appeal the decision, just like everyone else has that opportunity. that is how the american justice system works. it is reckless, dangerous, irresponsible for anyone to say that this was raked just -- rig do just because they don't like the verdict.

our justice system has endured for nearly 250 years. it is literally a cornerstone of america, our justice system. the justice system should be respected. we should never allow anyone to tear it down. it is as simple as that. that is america. that is who we are. that is who we will always be, god willing. host: that was president biden speaking from the white house on friday. we received a comment from ed in connecticut who said in a text message, the verdict against president trump has left a sick feeling in my stomach for america. the justice system has been anev. i have only campaign for one other president in my life, and that was reagan. trump will now be the second. jackie in stratford, connecticut on the line for democrats. good morning. can you hear us? caller: yes. host: does the trump conviction

impact how you are planning to vote in november? caller: i want to say as a democrat, if biden committed these crimes i would be totally for his conviction. full stop. thank u. host: melissa in las vegas on the line for independents. good morning, melissa. hi, melissa. can you hear us? caller: yes. because of the trial's outcome, monday i'm going to go on the website for our state enroll as a republican because i will be voting for trump definitely. host: what about this made you make that decision? caller: the activities, the way the whole trial --it was just wrong. i'm now going to vote for trump.

host: thanks, melissa. tennessee, the line for republicans. good morning. caller: i am definitely voting for trump. this trial was so rigged. you have a judge who donated to trump. you have a d.a. who ran on taking trump down. you have a jury full of democrats. i don't blame the democrats on the trial. they kind of did what the judge put them in a box to do. ey choice. they put a gag order on trump the whole time. in other words cohen can talk about trump all day long and he can't defend himself. it was so wrong that democrats with half a brain ought to be upset about this. i saw on the fake news the newscasters were wetting their

pants they were so happy. they take a man down that was probably the best president besides reagan that we've had. look at the four years of trump and these three years or four years of biden. it is like night and day. goodness gracious, i can't believe how much democrats hate people. i got one other thing to say to you. you was on last week and there was a republican wct democrats nuts and u the republicans haved all kinds of names on your show and you don't never hang up on them. that's all i got to say, but trump will probably be the president and people thinks he is going to take over. if you would have done that he would have done it the first four years. it is completely the democrats are freaking out and hin that. host: clyde in toledo, ohio on

caller: good morning. doing well, thank you. caller: my name is clyde. for the people by the people what happened. by the people, for the people. what happened? have we not learned? the great empires of the world. greece, egypt, rome, they have all fallen. host: keeping it on the trump conviction, will it change the way you are planning to vote in november? caller:b$ is make me realize our system is not right! if we do not keep trump out of office it will be a nuclear shotgun. the worlwi end. host: marion in florida on the

line for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. i am an attorney and i followed the case closely. this entire case is a huge sham and legally absurd. people should listen and read the writings of jonathan turley, andrew mccarthy, legal scholars. alvin bragg literally ran for d.a. on the promise to get trump. he was funded by george soros. his predecessor d.a., the doj, and sec looked at this and didn't see any legal violations. only when trump was announced for presidency did they bring this case. this is a bookkeeping issue. trump's accountant wrote down illegal expenses in their internal business records. most of this would be a

limitations on that had run. so, alvin bragg contorted this i felonies. it is legally absurd. anyone who has bqóeen paying attention knows it is legally absurd. he could be subject to over 100 years in prison. hillary wrote down the dossier of legal expenses in 2016 and her campaign got fined. if anyone cannot see that this is the weaponization of the justice system against political opponents they are not paying attention. this is what happens in third world countries and banana republics. it is a scary day in our country. i was already voting for trump. now i am much more motivated to vote for trump and get anyone i know to vote for trump, because if we do not trust our legal system and judicial system we

are not america anymore. that is what makes america different. we don't go after our political opponents and try to put them in jail. host: next up is shell in atlanta, georgia on the line for independents. caller: yes, good morning. thank you for taking my call. i want to say i completely agree with the caller from florida. a couple of things that i would like to point out. you asked if this would change my vote? yes. how am i going to vote? i'm going to vote for donald trump. the question would be, why is this? one thing that happened yesterday that people should call themselves attention to is this. after the vote was rendered a lot of the commentators came out and discussed it. what did president trump come out with on the very next day? our president said how we will

help bring the war in israel to a close and with the hostage swap and how we will help rebuild. if you know anything about media training, you give another response to a previous response to get a response. i don't see how anyone could not see that this is politics at its core. yes, i'm going to continue to vote for president trump. i'm so sorry with what's happened to our country. i think we kind of have a group of citizens who don't pay attention to detail. they don't pay attention to policies and procedures. i just wonder what is going to happen to us? the last thing iour youth. a woman is no longer a woman, a man is no longer a man. what brought this on? a lot of it s to do with politics. i thank you for taking my call.

we have a comment from x. there is no evidence president biden or the federal justice department had any role aunching or running alvin bragg's prose. bragg is a locally elected official who doesn't report to the federal government next come bradley in clear fork, west virginia on the line for democrats. caller: yes, good morning. i have been a democrat since i was 18 years old. i a vietnam veteran. i called about a month and a half ago and i got slammed off. i want to repeat that i'm not that you cut me off on,at i because i don't think that you understand the word. it started with a b and ended with anit was not downgrading w. i said men or women. you warned me. when i came back with it i

couldn't figure out why you did it. host: can i get you to answer our question today about whether the trump convictiowi you plan n november? caller: i just wanted to repeat what i'm saying. anyway, i was really aggravated. to the point, i am a democrat. i am from west virginia, as you see. the gentleman from kentucky and the lady from florida hit the nail on the head. couldn't do no better. ok? now, the thing i'm is where i've been a democrat i'm going to change. i was debating to change from independent to republican. this but the nail on the head for me. me and my wife will be republicans as quick as i can sham, like the other two people said. it is a sham. it is a disgrace to america.

i will be voting for him if he goes to the pen. i did when obama run because he wa one woman was talking about all the stuff between kids going in ro that, that happened in obama. obama started all this. host: since you are calling from west virginia, i wonder if i can ask you about news this week about west virginia senator joe manchin announng he, as well as you,■ plan to leave the democratic party. joe manchin filed as an independent. joe manchin of west virginia offial friday and registered as an independent. joe manchin, who flirted with an independent presidential bid earlier this year, said he is not running for senate reelection but leaving the party would give him flexibility to change tack and run for senate or west virginia governor as an independent. what do you think about joe manchin's decision?

caller: thank you for bringing that up. that was the last thing i was going to bring up. that is the reason i'm changing, because he changed too. this has been going on. if you didn't know it, governor jim justice changed from democrat to republican after he got in the governor's mansion may be a year after -- maybe a year after. he changed his party and everyone raised cane. i have been disgusted with the people is changing democrat to independent or republican, and most of them are changing to republican. i commend joe manchin and jim justice for changing, because the democrat party, i hope you e off anyway. sucks. it is horrible. i thought you had me blocked

listen, you have a great day and i appreciate you holding me on. like i say, the gentleman from kentucky and the lady from floor to hit the nail on the head and i took the hammer and i hit the nail on the head. you have a beautiful smile looking at you. host: thank you, bradley. on tin independents, good morning, brian. caller:uld like to start out sag that donald trump got everything he deserved.for years and years he has broken the law and the law finally caught up to him. these people who want to vote for donald trump, i just ask them, do you think it is ok forr military men and women losers and suckers? do you think it is ok for donald trump to go out and rape women and admit on tape that he grabs women's crotches? you say that this is a guy who should be in washington, d.c. running our country?

he does nothing but call people names like a first grader. you think that he is president material? folks, just go out and do haof t donald trump has done and see whaphe deserves everything thate has got because of the fact that when he was president of the united states the attorneys in the white house clearly told him not to continue doing the things that he's doing or he will go to prison. he ignored them, and he has done what he did. now he is facing the music and you guys want to blame everyone but donald trump. joe biden had nothing to do with donald trump raping women and committing crimes. host: i'm guessing that this conviction doesn't change much about your plans for november? ller: no, ma'am. donald trump has been a crook his whole life.

he is against every race in the united states. i am surprised that i hear the blacks are going to vote for him. the whole thing is is he goes around and lies and says he was the be pif you look at the econf the last 13th presidents, he was seventh, not first. i don't know where people think that his economy was better. yes, the economy right now is not as strong as it should be, but the th our -- host: we are going to try to keep it focused on the case this morning. vern in garden grove, california on the line for republicans. caller: i am a big c-span fan. i tell you one thing, i enjoy the show. i try to watch the news on the right. you know whatchannels i'm

talking about . then i try to get the other si's totally different. do you agree with me on that? host: i'm will impact how you plan to vote in november based on what you are seeing in the media and in your own decisions? caller: it will.let me say, donu know, i am not much foring ladies' crotches and that brings stuff up, but what did he do the first four years? i think he did wonderful things. being the brilliant man he is, i think that we should throw him in jail. i really do. host: vern, would you feel comfortable voting for trump even if he did face prison time? caller: i would. uld vote for him because when he is in jail he will get a lot of rest. a lot of rest that will make him better in the future.

with all his rest he can kick back and everyone seems to be on his back. if i can say one more thing, i love your news set because it looks like you are riding in a little boat. host: elizabeth, the line for democrats. caller: morning. i don't know how things got so complica bforth. i'm confused. i was a democrat for years. i voted for trump in 76. 76 -- 2016. boy, am i going back. i did and i got a lot of people mad at me. i don't know what i'm going to do like bobby junior. i've told you that before. i would like to give him a chance. i morally can't vote for schloc.

-- a schmuck. i can't. i'm sorry, donald. you blew it with me purely bubba who called in, people like that scare me. no democrat i know is full of hate. on the freight of the people who follow trump like tub or villain fans. they scare the hell out of me. -- like tubberville or vance. they scare the hell out of me. everyone have a great day. host: does a trump conviction impact your plans voting in november? caller: of course not. all of these republicans and independents who call in and say that they are going to vote for ■ztrump, they are living in another universe. i can watch cnn or nbc or msnbc and i know that i'm getting the facts.

i am getting the straight story. when a democrat does something bad they are on them just as bad as they are when it is a republican. if you watch fox news or newsmax or whatever, it is like anothert universe. i am using air quotes, all of these christian republicans, have they ever read the sermon on the mount? i don't get it. another thing that disgusts me is that not are nazis, but every nazi in this country is going to vote republican. host: vince in orange beach on the line for republicans. caller: how are you? host: doing well. thank you, vince. caller: the mantra that the

democrats have that if trump is reelected it will be thenddemocy for democrats is the inability to use abortion as contraception. of democracy is actually the weaponization of system agal opponent. that is called fascism. that is what the democrats are. everything else is a huge joke. so, good luck, kids. we are in a banana republic and i regret it. host: we have deborah back in marietta, georgia on the line for democrats. let's try itgacaller: i was talt donald trump, i didn't vote for him in 2016 and 2020, and i won't be voting for him now. i am heartbroken because it is not democrats and it is not republicans. ■2it is the people who have a

messed up mind and see things that aren't right. they would allow someone to use reverse psychology on them knowing that donald trump is not a man of his word. donald trump is all about donald trump. for all of the people who believe donald trump is good -- but believing in donald trump is not for the people, not for the unitedtates. the only change in the system is because of donald trump. we never had a problem like this. the charges with donald trump, how many people who have felonies can go get a job at mcdonald's, walmart, anywhere? but we have a man with 34 counts who will be sitting in the white house? come on, that's not right. host: tina in kansas city, missouri on the line for democrats. morning.

it is not going to change my vote. biden has been doing a great job. my family and friends will be voting for biden. jxjust like the other caller sa, we do not want a convicted felon in the white house. that is a bit much, you know? if it was aocconvicted and had y against him they would not want to have him in the white house. it's a matter of common sense. so, no. it won't change my vote. i will be voting, and so will my family and friends, for democrat. we are going to ride biden on out. thank you, have a great day. host: wayne on the line for republicans. caller: yes. i would like to say this.

in the bible it says good will be called evil and evil will be called good. this is all evil. yes, i love donald trump in the past what he has done forlook w. he has built the wall. he has done everything he said he would do. he did it. donald trump is the best one -- best president i ever came across. ■óhe brings this country -- he s a businessman. businessman. he knows his business is this country. that's why -- the united states a business. everything he says he's going to do, you know?

let me tell you something else about donald. if he says he isoing to do it he is going to do it, i promise you that. he said he would fix this with israel and gaza. he will fix this, i promise you. he said he would have had this thing fixed from day one. and he would have. i trusted donald trump. yes, i will vote for him again. host: wisconsin on the line for independents. caller: good morning. that was a perfect trial. never in the history of jurisprudence has a trial been more perfect. all of the jury talhistory in ta trial like that has never been as perfect as that trial. now, the jury listened to a lot of eyewitness testimony. they had to shift through

mountains of paperwork and listen to a judge who gave them the instructions. the jury was made up of republicans and democrats how do i know this? how many democrats read the "wall street journal"? i would say zero. many of e jurists read "the wall street jrnthat tells me thy republicans. they had to make a decision. members of this jury had to make a decision and they came to unanimity. amazing. ■ú■íthere was not one hold out. not one jurist. host: has this outcome changed your plans for november? caller: no. this jury had to put up with the smell coming off this rotten defendant. he continued to fart all through

-- host: kings mountain, north carolina on the line for republicans. caller: how are you doing? host: doing well, thank you. caller: you are a strong lady to sit here and listen to this. host: we appreciate all our callers. caller: i want to say a prayer for the democrats. i can't believe they think this trial was legit. there has only been so many leaders to put their opponent in prison and they are all communist. you can say what you want about donald trump. whether he fondled women inappropriately, talked inappropriately, but let's get down to the basics. who contributes the most money to the democratic party? george soros. that man swore to bringre he di. he is the biggest contributor,

fundraiser, for them. they vote for george soros. they are voting to bring down america. you guys can say what you want, but if you look through history the only people to put their opponentincommunists, marxists. if you want to vote for a marxist, communist country moved to one of those and leave america alone. we are proud and it will be held for people to take this country away from us -- hell people to take this country away from us. host: brenda on the line for democrats. caller: thank you for taking my call. everyone keeps talking about how the trial was not legit. it was legit. it was his peers, like me, you, some of the people calling in trying to discredit him. donald trump is now a felon. we don't trust a felon in our

office with all of our top-secret documents. then we are going to turn around and they want to say how we are trying to interfere. what did donald trump do? to keep michael cohen in prison so he couldn't write a book about donald trump. to me a long arm reach all the way to new york trying to keep a man imprisoned just to satisfythat is interference in r justice system. ok, he was supposed to build a wall. where is the wall? and mexico was supposed to pay for it. no. ever since he has been in office we were supposed to change everything the way we used to do things just to appease one criminal. no, it's not fair. it's not right. thank you. host: one of the republicans who attended the trial in new york was the ohio senator j.d. vance.

he said that the verdict would only animate voters ahead of november. here's a portion of an interview on fox news. [video clip] >> you were there. shk it was last week. how are you understanding this as a guy in ohio now? what are the people in ohio feeling? >> looki, jesse, i have never heard constituents so frustrated angry at what they've seen. not the 2020 election, not the . this has activated republicans. you see alvin bragg and criminal prosecutors. they have a spring in their step today. i think they will realize what they've done has backfired terribly. one thing that i will say, jesse, and i'm hearing from co all over ohio who are frustrated and angry. they are saying, how can we help? they feel so powerless, which i understand.

the sham prosecution is happening in new york far from ohio. the answer is, get involved, jesse. go to donaldjtrump.com and support him, donate to him, and vote for him in november. the thing that we've learned is that these far left people don't respect anything but power. that is the only language they speak. the only way for us to fight back successfully is to elected donald trump in november. host: back to your calls with gerald in ohio on the line for please turn down the volume on your tv. caller: yes, that is a scam. what happened in court. first of all, first of all, the judge's daughter works for biden . yesterday when biden left his conference yesterday he had a smile on his face, so he is

guilty of that. so, he had something to do with it. second, second, the jurors, that is not the way you vote in jurors. so -- host: has this outcome changed the way you are planning to vote in november? caller: no. it will be the same. host: well, thank you for your call, gerald. gerald mentioned the idea that the judge's daughter works for the biden campaign. i am trying to find the ar thatn debunked by fact checkers. it seems there was a tie to a company that she used to work for at■" will try to get an artn that. john is in arlington, virginia

on the line for republicans. caller: i don't know, the banana republic thing was actually january 6. this trial is something that is concerning to a lot of people, because they stretched a misdemeanor into a crime without really saying what the crime was. there is a long article apparently in "the new yorker" that i heard a discussion on on the potus channel yesterday. they go into all this stuff. the trial really wasn't the best thing to be the basis for whether trump should be the president or not. i think what the basis is is his in action on january 6 hour and a half. not really doing anything to stop the attack on the capital.

i don't like biden. i think he is us into world war iii with the russians. i just -- and i am not sure robert kennedy is great either. i frankly don't know who i'm going to vote for. which is too bad. there should be a legitimate choice for people. right now, i don't think there aood. host: don in sacramento, california on the line for democrats. caller: hello. i am telling you, i am hearing all -- host: let's keep the language clean. the line for independents. good morning, william. caller: good morning. host: does the trump conviction impact how you are planning to vote in november?

caller: no. i am politically homeles before and after there is no change. i don't plan to vote. however i am seeing a pattern trump. it is positioned for donald trump to come in as the hero on his white horse in november. i think if we pull back and let our need to win, our need to be right, our need for victory, we can perhaps understand each other. we hear a lot of calls between democrats and republicans sharing disrespectful comments. if we were to discuss not our differences but our needs, i think that we could get to a better place and bring back civility to the conversation and realize that the person who will save us is us. it is not that donald trump will come in and save us. i wbreak free of this pattern, because it has been playing out for centuries now.

i just wish we could stand up and rise above it. host: our caller earliewas speaking about the judge's daughter in the case in new york. here is an article about that from the bbc and has been reported in multiple places. it is true that the judge's daughter democrats. she is the predent of authentic campaigns, a firm that has worked on digital fundraising advertising for democratic clients, including mr. biden and a top critic on capitol hill who led the efforts to impeach him. this prompted ump to push for the judges removal in the case. they -- the panel determines the matter before the judge doesn't involve either the judge's relatives or the relative businesses,hether directly or indirectly. with that established the judge

declined to recuse himself from the state. under one of the gag order's that trump was barred from speaking about witnesses, jurors, lawyers, the prosecution and their family, but not precluded from speaking about the judge or the manttan district attorney alvin bragg, the lead prosecutor. next, we will finish that segment of the show. next, we have mariana campero with the center for strategic and international studies to join us to talk about this weekend's presidential elections in mexico and what that could mean for cooperation with the u.s. on the border. later, for our weekly spotlight on podcasted segment, we will feature political reporter tom lobionco on his 24 site podcast. we'll talk about the campaign news including the fallout from the latest trump verdict. ♪

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commemorate the 80th anniversary of d-day when u.s. storms the shores of normandy. watch our all-day coverage beginning at 6:30 a.m. eastern weather ceremony from normandy featuring a speech by president biden. then live on washington journal, your calls reflecting on and remembering d-day. at 10:00 a.m., join us fceremond war ii memorial in washington, d.c.,d by a ceremony at the d-day memorial in bedford, virginia, at 11:00 a.m. eastern. for the rest of the day stay with us as we continue to commemorate d-day with a look back at past presidential speeches and other special programs. watch c-span's all-day coverage marking the 80th anniversary of d-day starting live at 6:30 a.m. eastern on thursday on the c-span networks. ■z♪ >> in order. >> c-span celebrates 45 years of

covering congress like no other. since 1979, we have been your primary source for capitol hill, providing balanced, unfiltered coverage of government. taking you to where policies are decided with the support of america's cable companies. c-span. 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. welcome back. we are joined by mariana campero , a senior associate for the america's program at the center for strategic and international studies. she is based in mexico city and here to talk with us about mexico's presidential elections and u.s. relations. welcome to washington journal. guest: thank you very much for having me. host: mexico has a big election coming up this weekend. can you tell us about it? guest: indeed.

tomorrow mexico will make history, because for the first time we have two women as the leading candidates. whomever wins on sunday, mexico will have its first woman president. which would make us the first country■ in north america to have a woman president. not the first in latin america. brazil, argentina, chile, nicaragua and many other countries in latin america have had women presidents. the two leading candidates are two women in their 6■i0's. the front runner is basically■óa woman that was handpicked by the current president, lopez obradoh . the opposition candidate is a woman from indigenous origins called xochitl galvez. claudia, the front runner, she

is much more technocratic than charismatic. she was born to a jewish european middle-class family. she kept a copy of karl marx at home. she has a phd. she's an environmental scientist and engineer. ample experience as a politician. she was the first female mayor of mexico city and the first jewish mayor of mexico city, which says a lot and a country where, you know, we still have the idea that mexico is 90% catholic. -- 98% catholic. claudia started in 2000 when lopez obrador was the mayor of mexico city. since then she s demonstrated

capacities. she's very competent but she has been more than anything very loyal to lopez obrador. she says she will continue with portly -- importantly, he trusts she will protect him and his family in case of potential prosecution. the opposition candidate, she is to me the mexican american dream. she comes from dirt poor indigenous background. as a little girl she sold tamales on the streets of mexico city to pay for her college tuition. she was accepted in o best mexican public schools. she's also a studied engineer.

she then became a businesswoman. she is a tech businesswoman. ■■pgshe was a very successful businesswoman and started her career in politics in the year 2000 with president fox. she was in his cabinet. personality wise, they are totally different. xochitl is charismatic, fun. she dresses with the most beautiful indigenous glass. claudia is very stiff. she doesn't have the oratory nor charisma of lopez obrador. that is why she promises thatng. her government will be a continuation of lopez obrador. host: you cowrote a piece for the hill about this issue.

mexico will elect its first female president, but which one? even though lopez obrador is not on the ballot, you did write about how much this election ci■[volves around him. why is that and what is his legacy, particularly as it comes to u.s.-mexico relations? guest: perfect. let me dividthwhy is he so impoe elections? since he was elected president in 2018, lopez obrador has been campaigning in order to get a second term. however, the mexican constitution bands bans reelect. in order to continue the fourth transformation he needs another six years. he was unable to get a lot of the things he wanted to do pas

sed by congress or the supreme court. what he's asking now, anfo this he has given -- he has spent a lot of money. entitlements have basically quadrupled under his watchlion 0 billion. basically, 25 million mexican families receive a direct subsidy for entitlement. not from the mexican government. he was careful tla entitlement, these subsidies as money coming from me. basically he is trying to assure that claudia, his successor, wins and that morena, his party, gets a majority in congress to

change the constitution and be able to pass all the reforms he has been unable to pass. the second part of your question is his legacy vis-a-vis the united states. kimberly, i believe that under this administration the relationship between mexico and the united states has soured. mainly because it started with president trump. one president trump -- when president trump called them racist and bad hombres. that caused resentment and in mexican trump threatened a 5% tariff on mexican goods if lopez obrador did not do something to

curb migration. that was a bad start in the relationship. coming from this leftist tradition -- a mexican leftist tradition in which they have always resented the united states. they don't see united states as this incredible economic engine where mexico has flourished, but rather as the imperialistic power. they have always supported cuba. that is the framework in which they see the united states. remember when president trump captured the top military official in mexico which was an ally. he asked trump to send him back to mexico to be prosecuted here.

the moment the general arrived in mexico he was free. there have not been a lot of cooperation regarding drug trafficking or organized crime. as a result we have seen organized crime has grown and they are controlling more parts of the territory. . host: we wiquestions about the g election. our line forub (202) 748-8001. for democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can text us at (202) 748-8003. i am wondering why you think that the americans should care about the outce what are the ket mexican president will be addressing in terms of

u.s.-mexico relations? guest: i think the stakes are really high and this election. whoever wins and by what margin will really determine the kind of country that mexico will be for the next decade and the type of partner united states will have south of the border. i say this because if claudia were to win margin with a qualified majority, it is most likely that the morena party will put pressure on her to continue what they call the fourth transformiowhat this meay using the state and a much bigger role in the economy. they will push back the energy

reform that was passed in 2016 which ened t energy sector the competition anded foreign companies to invest in mexico to help mexico drill oil in the gf mexico does not have e technology. our oil company is basically bankrupt. if -- that's important because united especially now that united states wants mexico be a partner and decouple from china, for mexico to be the good economic partner mexico will need a lot of clean, cheap, and enough energy in order to have the manufacturing capacity to help the united states. that is one issue. the other issue i think is security. as i said, under lopez obrador

and his policy of hugs not bullets or organized crime, organized crime has been ravaging the country. to give you an idea, there have been more murders under this administration than at any president. from 2018, the day that amlo started, there have been 70,000 homicides. 100 people have disappeared. crime is not only affecting homicides for politicians for people involving organized one of the world's highest in -- organized crime is not only no longer only involved in illegal

parts of the economy such as drugs or migrant flow, they are starting to impact the legal part of the economy. th in trade and avocado growing or tortilla selling. they are extorting small businesses. if small businesses don't pay them a quota to get protection from them they will either burn locale. s really, really -- in order to push back at organized crime they have to have -- host: before we get to calls i wanted to ask about one issue that's very important for many . the biden has a plan to shut down the border,

but as it says in abc news article it needs mexico -- nbc news article it needs mexico's help. they helped unveil a series of executive actions president biden could sign but it will likely have to wait for the outcome of those elections tomorrow. speaking of the issue of immigration, is there a candidate on the ballot you think wo likely to help the u.s. when it comes to the issue m/ immigration? guest: none of the candidates have really spoken a lot about immigration. for a weird reason immigration is not top of mind in mexico. despite the fact that mexico is not only an origin country but also now -- a transit but a destination country. so far, lopez obrador, no matter

who wins tomorrow, the next president will not be inaugurated until october 1. president biden will still need amlo to cooperate up until office. so far, amlo has been smart in using the immigration card as a bargaining chip because he knows that biden needs him for that. it is the number one political issue in the united states. amlo has cooperated with biden as well as with trump. mexico is receiving deportees or mother countries, -- from other countries which is not part of international law. a country usually receives their own nationals but not nationals

or mother countries. mexico is cooperating in that regards. we are deporting a lot of migrants ourselves. there is a lot of migrants that are literally camped on the mecan side of the border just waiting to get the appointment to be able to cross the border. i think mexico can do much more than that is why you see that amlo is playing with the card. if he lets a certain number of migrants arrive at the border and then he helps. he stops helping and then it's a push and pull. so far mexico has cooperated. not as much probably but he has. host: we have lots of callers ready with questions for you. 's start with reno in phoenix, arizona on the line for independents. caller: good morning ladies.

good topic. i have some good friends from mexico. i've already earnest of -- ernesto. we talk politics and stuff. acapulco has been having killings of the political figures. they are in danger all over the place. my question was what will be the the remedy or what she thinks we need to do? my friends tell are prioritizing -- they are prioritizing other countries over mexicans into letting them into united states. god bless her. be safe down there. i will take off the air. guest: i'm sorry. i did not hear the question very well. whatsecurity? host: the first question was

what can mexico do to improve security? he specifically mentioned killings in acapulco. the second question was whether or not other countries are getting more preferential treatment in terms of entry to the united states over mexicans. guest: ok. in terms of security i think that mexico will need a cooperation with united states -- a lot of cooperation with united states. mexico has organized crime. the demand for drugs comes from the united states. mexico also receives a lot of the armaments. armament that is much more sophisticated than the armament the mexican military has. also we need to cooperate in curbing the flow of money. e don't deal with those three issues, curbing or trying to push down thec@ power of

organized crime in mexico, one. two, controlling arms south of the border. he money. i don't think we will be able to ovthe second is if i think that other nationalities get preference over mexicans? honestly don't think so. i -- as up-to-date the united states has a program with mexico -- as of today the united states has a program with mexico for temporary workers that is bigger than with any other country, at least in latin america. of course, a lot ofwant visas to enter united states legally -- the united states legally but they are not receiving those visas. i don't think it's particularly

discriminating against mexicans. it is part of your immigration reform or immigration situation. host: donna in elk grove village, illinois, on the line for democrats. caller: good morning. host: what is your question? caller: i think it is terrific that women are going for these positions of power. it's about time we had women in power. as far as mexico is concerned, i would like to issue an apology for donald trump for what he said and the names he called ■gmexicans in the past. not everybody believes that. we have received a large population of mexican immigrants in our city and we don't have a big problem with that.

we are getting federal helpour . i feel bad that trump said all these nasty things about mexican people because they were untrue. host: i want to give mariana a chance to respond. i want to look at this article in the wall street journal pointed out that trump allies have drawn up plans for what they call an unprecedented immigration crackdown that his allies are joined of detailed proposals diplomat the presumptive republican presidential nominee's plans for an unprecedented immigration crackdown, including an effort that would deport asylum-seekers to other countries according to people involved in the effort. i wonder what the commentary or narrative is about a potential second trump term in mexico.

has that come up on the mexican campaign trail? guest:■z let's assume for a secd that trump wins the presidential election. if the past is any guidance of how he will govern i think he will be much stronger than biden in how he deals with mexico, which is good and bad. trump, as you remember and i was was mentioned earlier -- as was mentioned earlier, one of the first things he did was to threaten mexico by iosing■ a 50% tariff on mexican goods if mexico did not cooperate. that really sort of -- presidents respond to power and there was a powerful threat and he probably believes it. amlo reacted.

amlo reacted immediately by helping united states -- for member title 42? -- remember title 42? member the remain in mexico program? those were a response to that threat. i believe that trump will be able to get more out of mexico because he -- amlo will not have the leverage that he has or the next president, either claudia or xochitl, they will not have the same leverage that amlo vis-a-vis biden. bide needed amlo to curb miation because he was unwilling to threaten mexico with tariffs or threaten mexico with analyzing x echo -- nalizing mexico on energy or

other issues. whomever the president is in mexico, they know that trump will be serious if mexico does not cooperate. host:he usmca. that refers to the.si want to pt that. mexico is the united states's largest trading partner, becoming a lot of partner in 2023. the growth was driven by a number of factors, including the u.s.'s protectionist stance on china and th u.s. mca, a 2020 free-trade agreement between mexico, the u.s. and canada. it is set for renegotiation and bang 26, bringing it under the -- in 2026. mexico's fluctuating compliance with the terms has been appointed contention between lopez obradorpresidents donald e

biden and the new mexican president will inherit that issue. can you tell us a little bit about where the two candidates stand regarding trade with the u.s.? guest: absolutely. so far both candidates, even claudia, understand that the usmca for important trade agreement that we have and are lifeline to mexican economy. the mexican economy basically group over the last six years between 2% and 3% thanks to the u.s. economy. 90% of our economy basically exports to the united states. they understand the importance of usmca. i believe that claudia will

continue the energy policies of lopez obrador, which are in breach of the usmca. the mexican energy reforms opened the sector to competition. what amlo did isp anex and the utility company in mexico, cfe. it is likely claudia is the next president and if she doesn't change her attitude towards energy, that review of usmca in 2026, it is likely that will be a sore point. the other point in which mexico is in breach is in corn, which is an important issue to the united states. especially to a lot of your farmers. in that sense echo is in breach

-- mexico is in breach, but the u.s. is a breeze regarding automobiles. -- in breach regarding automobiles. ambassador tye has not been willing to the rules of usmca and call for a panel to resolve the dispute. host: u.s. trade invested or type -- trade ambassador tye. chris from san antonio on the line for republicans. caller: thanks for taking my call. i live in south texas. i have seen the cartel down here. i have seen the rapes and murders. porn start is not about the love but the cartel killing and raping people is above the law. we other cartels are causing problems in mexico.

we know that all these immigrants coming across are having to pay $10,000 a person. what can the united stateshelp f mexico? you mentioned it, they are extorting people. they murder people. now they are getting drugs. what do you think united states could do to help? guest: remember what the united states did with columbia? something called plan columbia. it consisted of the united states giving not onlyon intellg columbia really fight organized crime. they were able to eradicate crops. they were able to reduce columbia's positioning in the cocoa market significantly. then other presidents came.

this was started by -- other presidents from columbia came and the cooperation did not continue. i believe for mexico to really be able to reduce the power of organized crime mexico cannot do it alone. we don't have toney or the armament. we don't have the political will. there are many states in mexico in which local governments cooperate■. openly with organizd crime. there is no other way to really try to attack this problem or at least reduce it without u.s.-mexican cooperation and trust. we have built a lot of trust our organizations. our intelligence organizations, are militaries. we need to do a -- our militaries. we need to do a better job curbing the inflow of drugs and

armaments and money. host: will on the line for democrats. call: thank you for taking my call. when america was going to the problems it had back when we had nevada and it was becoming a developed area for business as well as for gambling the people stepped in who were businesspeople and they cleaned it up. now, government had to do a lot of work prior to. is mexico ready to do that kind of work where they can cleanup their problems with the cartel? that's important. can you talk about that issue? guest: thank you. i don't know why my audio was not very good. i apologize. host: the question was whether or not mexico was ready to do the work on their end to address the cartels for the

business community and government, the mexican government to address this before any u.s. involvement? guest: of the two candidates i believe xochitl hasto openly in her campaign said that she will have a very combat of approach against organized crime -- combative approach against organized crime. she has criticized the policies of this administration. she said so far the bullets heavily landed on citizens. she will really tackle the issue. it is an issue affecting every single mexican. in that regard, also she embraces the united states. she is not resentful of the united states. i don't think she will have the sovereignty issues when dealing with it. i believe she will be much more

open to cooperate with the united states and recognize mexico cnot do it alone. i think claudia would have much more problems in really cooperating with the unitates in mexico. she will have to be very careful in because of the resentment of the unite states -- united states. host: john and simpsonville, south carolina on the line for independents. caller: hi. good morning. i'm curious on how is mexico handling the problem with the chinese bringing their electric cars to be manufactured.

this is going to affect the u.s. economy. also the cartels chinese companies. are they extorting them? how is this all working out? can you give me some insight on that? guest: thank you. it is true that two years ago -- four years ago chinese investment in mexico has been one of the fastest growing investments in the country. is important that we put this in perspective, because according totq the ministry of the econom, chinese investments in mexico now amount to $4 billion. that compared to $250 billion from united states.

although it is the fastest growing country investing in mexico, the numbers are very small. it's important to put that in perspective. that, yes. chinesepanies have seen mexico as important destination for their factories. particularly, at least so far what we have seen is basically investments in electronics. investments in furniture. in furniture factories. investments in parts. that was triggered when amlo announced he wanted to build this mega factory in mexico. a lot of his suppliers of parts started to announce they wanted to come to mexico. chinese investment is in mexico. very little.

so far they are only in electronics like televisions or low-level electronics. furniture and auto parts. mexico is importing chinese electric vehicles like the byd or other brand. i am in mexico city now. i'm surprised to see a lot of these vehicles on the streets of mexico city. host: what about the question about whether or not the chinese companies are being harassed by the cartels and the way you were mentioning other mexican businesses? guest: no. this extortion i was talking about is basically affecting the very small mom-and-pop shops throughout mexico. like a tortillas dance or the big avocado extorted -- tortilla stands or the big, cut out

exporters -- avocado exporters. i have not talked with any factories that are being extorted. host: let's get to a few more calls. john in texas on the line for republicans. caller: good morning. i lived in guadalajara from 1995 to 2000. travel to mexico when it was a safe place to travel. my wife is there. we go back every year. people are scared. my en masse will not go out at night -- in-laws will not go out at night. mexico has become a narco country. there are thousands of american manufacturing branches in mexico. if we push too hard the cartels can shutdown those and the economy will crash. that is basically what i believe we are putting up with the cartels. we are letting them get cheap labor in mexico.

that is the price we have to pay. if we don't do something soon, f@mexico is a failed state and there's nothing we can do about it. they are making too much money off of it. thanks. host: what is your take on that? guest: i don't think that mexico is on the verge of becoming a failed state. it is true that organized crime has grown. however, if you look at the mexican economy it is the 11th economy in the world. we are a manufacturing powerhouse. of course are thousands of american manufacturing facilities in mexico. there are also thousands of manufacturing facilities from europe, from southeast asia.me'. now we have the headwind of nearshore. in addition, mexico has a very

flourishing and growing and booming tech sector. there is an entrepreneurial ecosystem of young kids creating incredible companies. they are actually solving a lot of the problems we have been unable to solve. there banking. they are ensuring the uninsured. they are offering services -- insuring the uninsured. they are offering services to mexicans who were completely ignored. we tend to see the negative because those are the headlines. we don't see the full story if we only focus on that. i live in new york but i come to mexico city. my family is here. i am not afraid to go out on the streets. mexico city is a very, very booming -- it is one of the top destinations in the world for travel right now. it has a booming art scene, a

booming foodyou see people on ts walking with her dogs and their children -- their dogs and their children. every language is spoken on the streets. mexico is home to the biggest american diaspora in the world. i believe 1.5 million americans live in mexico. host: one more call just or we run out of time. kerry mechanicsburg, pennsylvania, the line for democrats. caller: hi. very interesting what you are talking about. is it true that the mexican government tried to steal our gun manufacturers because a lot of the cartels -- our guns are being smuggled across the border going south. we worry about what is coming up from south to north. should we be more concned on

what is being smuggled from -- to mexico? we should not be arming the cartels without guns. would that help? guest: absolutely. i believe -- you see it. you see it in the killings that occur. when you see the videos of organized crime in mexico, they have armaments that is 1000 times better than the mexican military. not only guns but they have tanks. they have serious equipment. it mostly comes from united states. if mexico and united states were to cooperate in making sure who buys what armaments and not allowing the heavy guns and heavy equipment to be sold

freely, that would certainly help the mexican military control a little bit more. host: that have for questions. thank you so much. mariana campero is the senior associate for the americas program at the center for strategic and international studies. we appreciate your time today. guest: thank you so much, kimberly. host: in about 80 minutes in the weekly spotlight on podcast segment we will teacher tom lobianco the latest campaign news including the fallout from the recent trump verdict. first, open forum. your chance to weigh in on any political or public policy topic on your mind. you can start calling in now. the numbers are on your screen and we will be right back. ♪

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of america's cable companies. c-span. 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. host: welcome back. we are taking your calls about whatever news or political issue you want to discuss this week. one of the big stories came out of the white house just yesterday. it is reported in the new york times that biden endorses a plan to free israel's captives and end gaza's fighting. declaring hamas no longer capable of carrying out a major attack on israel, president bideset on friday it is time for a permanent cease-fire in gaza and endorsed a new plan he said israel offered to win the release of hostages and end the fighting. president biden described that plan for a cease-fire and

hostage steelffhere is him giviw of the three stage plan. [video] >> the first phase would last for six weeks. here's what it would include. a full and complete cease-fire. withdrawal of israeli forces from all populated areas of gaza. the release of hostages, including women, the elderly, the wounded in exchange for hundreds of palestinian prisoners. american hostages would be released at this stage. we want them home. additional remains of hostages killed would be returned to their bringing some degree of closure. to their terrible grief palestinian that's terrible grief. palestinian civilians would, return to their homes including in the north. humanitarian assistance would search with 600 trucks with aid

into gaza every single day. with a cease-fire that ate could be safely and effectively distributed to all who need it. hundreds of thousands of temporary shelters including housing units would be delivered by the international community. all that and more would begin immediately. immediately. during the six weeks of phase one, israel and hamas would negotiate the necessary arrangements to get to phase two, a permanent end to hostilities. i will be straight with you. there are a number of details to negotiate to move from phase one to phase two. israel will want to make sure it's interests are protected. but the proposal says should negotiations take longer than six weeks the cease-firentinue s negotiations continue. united states and qatar would

work to make sure negotiations youoi agreements -- all agreemes are reached in phase two or are able to begin. there will be in exchange for release of all remitting ling hostages, including male soldiers, israeli forces will withdraw from gaza . as long as hamas lives up to its commitments the temporary cease-fire will be the cessation of hostilities permanently. finally, phasea major reconstrur gaza would commence. any final remains of hostages who have been killed would be returned to their families. host: that was president biden speaking on friday. we are ready for your calls.

margie in pennsylvania on the line for republicans. caller: good morning. i -- all that about the cease-fire is fabulous. with the emphasis on hamas. what i was concerned about w it was on was like president biden could hardly give this talk about our wonderful justice system with a straight face. when i heard that i googled the situation and found that since they have been keeping records since 1989, 2547 people have been released because they were incarcerated illegally. that is only the ones that can afford to keep fighting for their release.

i found it very disingenuous. i wanted to bring that out. it is not a perfect justice system. thank you. host: thank for your call. denise in akron, ohio, the line for republicans. caller: yes. i am calling because i want to put a figure out there of $30 billion. that's how much the mexican cartel made last year bringing illegal immigrants into our country. this is being funded -- host: where did you find that number? caller: it was done by a guy who does a study on immigration, todd bensman who worked for the texas border patrol for 10 or 20 years. that he went to work for immigration studies. he has been studying with joe

biden has been doing to our border since hbecame president. we have george soros, oneworld. you have mark zuckerberg. you have the catholic church of the united states. you have united nations. they are all funding this movement to bri iegal immigrants into our country. eyet money per head. classes in mexico that americans are teaching these immigration -- illegal immigrants what to say. they call them asylum classes. this is another big point that's always in the back of hd. the democratic party acts like eyare so much about women and children but they are allowing all these women to come up through mexico, through the

border to be raped, killed, sd into slavery. l ey are doing is making anotr slave class which ended under president lincoln. they are tina blind eye to that. i wanto say building 10,000que-footomes by sending eichildren up here to work and claim asylum. 10,000 square-foot homes all through guatemala from their children coming up here and taking -- host: we will end at the --it ere. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748000. independents, (202) 748-8002.

andy in texas on the line for republicans. caller: hello. m eye o dashcam eye on -- am i on? e ird of the populatone thd ths going to vote democrat. th lves one third of the population independent. i'm not anndependent. i'm a republican and i have no one to vote for. i guess i will become an independent. i am not going to vote for a felon. that's ridiculous. stick that in my face. i'm in the third bunch. it is their fault. it is the -- if it is their fault if the democrats win. host: go ahead, jean. caller: i will be voting for trump no matter how long he's in

nk it's terrible. it is the biggest crime, what they have done to this family. how they have persecuted them all. they are nothing but business people giving people lots of jobs. trump does not have to do what he's doing. is trying to save our country. they actually stole the last election. you can't tell me that censorship and all those intelligent guys light and said it was russian disinformation about the hunter biden laptop. there is no way you can tell us the election was not stolen. if you go and watch 2000 mules you will find out exactly how they did it. these people do not want -- they are living on another planet. they don't know what's going on in this country. they say everything is great. the economy is great. the seniors out here are really getting hurt.

that is all i have to say. host: thanks for your call. joe in west plains, missouri, the line for republicans. caller: in the price of things. i do a lot of painting. paint has gone through the roof. spray paint, paint to paint your house. everything is so expensive. i don't know why. if a president wants to help, go to these companies and so you have to take a 5% or 10% price reduction in your products. on the trial, i think a lot of those -- 34 counts. hould have been dismissed. they should have been hung jury on some of those counts and charges. some of them you are guilty but to come back in 10 hours that

they processed 34 charges. they are all guilty? that don't seem right at all to me. i think the jury was tainted. they were all democrats. it was a fix. host: morgan in pennsylvania on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for c-span. my god, these people, i swear. trump is a criminal and a liar and corrupt his whole life. ■÷he is getting what he deserve. what he needs to do is humble himself and maybe things will get better for him. king david had to humble himself when god disciplined him for his adultery. trump is not supposed to humble himself with the corruption and evil and adultery? the man cheated on all three of his wives. give me a break. he deserves everything he is getting. he deserves yt first of all, his christian

followers need to tell him what the bible warns about using the bible for monetary gain like he did. adding anything to the bible is blasphemy. he is going to reap what he has sown. thank you for c-span. host: robert in maryland on the line for independents. good morning. caller: how are you doing this morning? i would like to say inelection t there to run as an independent president. my campaign started out doing very well. all of a sudden, they shut me down. they shut my campaign down. they would not let anybody into my website. host: who are they, robert? who is they? caller: the democratic party. this is where i'm coming from. we all need to come together and

be safe with each other. we all have to live in the world together. what i was trying to do is i have programs -- if you get every star on the flag, i had a program set up forthe world has. we all have to come together and get along. we are a split nation. i was coming in as an independent to pull us altogether. that is what i wanted to do. they don't want independents. ■hthey don't like independents. it might take an independent president to pull us altogether so we are not a divided nation. that is what i had to say. host: thank you. ricky in flushing, new york, the line for democrats. caller: good morning. i wanted to say two issues.

first, the friday result. i believe it was morgan who spoke before. trump has been a criminal from day one. from years ago. years before he started even running for president. i think it enabled him while he was president to be more corrupt. yes, he got what he asked for. n it. -- you lie in it. the second thing. th the war that is going on between israel and pakistan -- not pakistan. host: the palestinians? caller they started the war. it is likeomne coming

to shoot up your house. you go back and shoot up their house. now you are the one who ishe problem. it doesn't make any sense. nothing makes ansense. host: thank you for your call. thomas in humboldt, texas on the line for independents. caller: good morning, america. i wish to pray for allhe people hit by the tornadoes latelyndll of the red states and blue states also. as far as israel and palestinians, they lived oint for 400 years before world war i. they all got along. you can look that up. i wanted to ask you about the numbers at the border and is mexico currently helping america at their southern border? as far as meat and gas prices, that is up to your states. you have to talk to your congress members and meet

producers in your state. the president has nothing to do with your chicken and gasoline prices. they can bring it to congress to explain what is. listen, please get along and talk to each other. christmas is coming at all these other holidays are coming be kind. take care. host: thomas was mentioning prices. the fed's preferred measure of inflation came out yesterday, the pce. here is a story on cnbc. the personal consumption expenditure price index excluding food and energy increased .2% in april and was up 2.8 percent year ago. the headline, pce rose .3% and .7% respectively in line with estimates personal incomes increased .3% on the month matching the estimate while spending was up .2%.

this was about what analysts expected around when interest rates may start coming down. the pce including the volatile food and energy category was 2.7% on an annual basis. the fed's preferred pce reading over the more closely followed consumer price index, which the labor department compiles, the commerce department measure accounts for changes in consumer behavior such as substituting less expensive items or costlier alternatives and have a wider scope in the pci. on the line for democrats, good morning. caller: good morning. i am in the doctorate's chair -- dr.'s chair. after any five and it's to go. the lady who called a minute ago is the problem with the country. they are so racist, these old white women.

host: we don't make attacks like that. republicans, good morning, lori. m one of the older women, but i am not a racist. i just wanted to say -- that took me aback when someone said that. i wanted to say i think what happened, 34 counts, 34 felonies, it energized. i don't think they are calculating the percentage of republicans that don't go out to vote because they have to work. i think trump -- the former president trump, i say our presidentiden. i think the pollster and other ones, i don't think they are calculating that. i think they're just focusing on the independent.

i believe in unity and everyone should get along. as far ason, we did have that problem years ago. i laughed to my sister in colorado 25 years ago saying mexico is releasing people out of prison and all of the other -- i won't say the horrible whatever that was. i think opening the border was also a very big thing for many states.maybe not new jersey as much because we are very strict opposed to new yorky. that is all i have to say. hopefully, everyone can be neighborly. i don't know. that's it. host: gary in jacksonville, florida on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning, kimberly. the only thing that has happened in the last few days is justice has been served. convicted tax fraud, tax cheat, the entire trump family.

now he is a convicted felon. the trump supporters can't stand it. the only thing that's happened is the justice system has finally caught up to trump. they can't deal with it. finally the chickens have come home to roost. jerry in hiawatha, kansas on the line for indian -- on the line for independents. caller: so much misinformation. the democrats talk about the unanimous guilty verdict on trump. it was four jurors out of 12 that had to agree. once again the democrats -- host: where are you hearing that, jerry? my understanding was the verdict was unanimous. caller: because that is the narrative you all are pushing. ma'am, you yourself said january 6, the j sixers were armed, and

that was false. you have a good history of presenting things that aren't true. caller: can i ask where you got the information about decision i can look it up as well? host: -- caller: well, i am just a postal worker and farmer in kansas trying to make it. i don't keep track of everythit. why don't we google it or something? the next show you bring it up. while you are at it, why don't you talk about the democrats talking about this russian collusion? that went on for four or five years and it wasn't true. but no one says we are sorry, we made a mistake, that wasn't true. then you say trump had election interference. what about the democrats that ignored the hunter laptop? let's talk about some facts.

joe biden took money from china, russia, iran.let's talk about menendez sewing gold bars into his tote and then he blames his wife. why isn't he in priso why aren't there 34 felonies against him? you have so much information on this show where people say t gas prices are the fault of the president. joe biden stopped the drilling in our country. we had gas at $1.14 shortly before trump went out of office in kansas. biden says we shouldn't have anger and hate. you may think that i have anger and hate, but i have no more than joe biden has. when he says that he protect jee men had their to you torches, now he supports hamas because he is just ignoring what terrorist

group did by going into israel and killing the jews. he s we support the jews, but at the same time he threatens to take the money awayanyway, if these things were happening to joe biden, and they won't because the judicial system, we won't prosecute him because he is an old man who can't forget anything, and said we won't go against hillary because no attorney in their right mind would prosecute her. these democrats get on your program and say, oh, well, he had a jury of his peers, president trump. why wouldn't they let him change the venue? why did they put a gag him? talking about slavery, they did a lynching of president trump. that is what they did and i don't understand why you democrats put up with it. you are nothing but a bunch of -- host: thank you, jerry.

i wasn't perhaps defined, perhaps someone else can come of the reference about four jurors. own, south carolina, the line for republicans. caller: ok, what i had to say to start with is they are not called democrats. they are called demon-crats. that is what they are called. they are a bunch of demons that take money in their own pockets and take away from the average american that has no way of supporting themselves, but the demon-crats will come across and say oh -- and say ok, we will do this for you and if you vote for me i will do that. let it all go into their own

pockets. that is number one. two,ed whenever trump was in that court, that was not a jury of our peers. that was a jury of the demons. host: let's get a couple more calls before we have to go to our next segment. southfield, michigan on the line for democrats. go ahead, nisi. caller: i wanted to make a comment yesterdawh podium he sad dna -- i mean, nda. nondisclosure agreement. he said that yesterday at the podium. he could have went on the stand and]/ stated $35,000 that he was giving michael cohen was

under a nondisclosure agreement. he stated that. you have a blessed day, love. host: willis in louisville, kentucky on the line for democrats. caller: yes. i am a democrat. i don't understand the republicans following trump, you know, supporting him? he is a communist, he wants to be a dictator. if he is president again we will lose everything that we ever fought for and all of our wars, our freedom, and all that good stuff, you know. i don't understand republicans. i'm a good, strong democrat and proud of it. that is all i have to say. thank you. host: thank you for your call and thank you for everyone who called in for the open forum segment. next is the weekly spotlight on podcast segment featuring

political reporter tom lobionco and the 24sight podcast including the fallout from the recent trump verdict. we will be right back. ♪ announcer: features your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington live and on-demand. keep up with the day's live events with floor proceedings, white house events, the court, the campaign, more your fingertips.f you can stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and find scheduling information for c-span tv networks and radio, plus a variety of compelling podcasts. c-span now is available at the apple store and google play. scan the qr code to download it for free today or visit c-span.org/c-spannow.

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america's cable company. c-span, 45 years and counting powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are joined by tom lobionco the cofounder and national politics reporter for 24 sight news. welcome to the program. you also have a podcast, the 24sight podcast. tell us about it. more broadly, 24sight news and its role heosystem. guest: it is a scary time in the industry right now. my colleagues, we all work together at the messenger and the messenger it shut down. we decided that we are going to cut out our own reporting, our own sub stack, and we are building this based on subscriptions. i am covering the white house race, warren covers congress --

the same stuff we have been covering for years and years. our senior producer does the podcast for us. the incredible -- they are incredible, formally of vice news. we don't have to change marjorie taylor greene and i love it. i started reporting 24 years ago. the reason i started reporting is because, for my adhd brain there is always something fascinating going on, i am always learning something. when you spend every day writing about marjorie taylor greene tweeting you are not learning anything. we are back to learning things. we had a great scoop a week ago on paul manafort back channeling to the trump campaign. we got the podcast. come check us out, 24sight.news. we are building it from the ground up. host: what do you hope to

accomplish with the podcast. who is your audience in mind? guest: we haven't done an audience study yet. we are building this thing. host: who do you want to listen to it? guest: if you are interested in what is really happening right now. not the stunts, not the showmanship, but where the country is right now. what are the attitudes? i hope that you will listen, because we had a great podcast a week and a half ago with a pollster for joe biden and chri matthews of bellwether research. we go deep on these things. she was talking, chris matthews, we used to work together in indiana.

you see the numbers go all over the place on where black voters, ÷zlatinos, how are they moving. she had an excellent pif you los of these polls, it is a hard demographic to get accurate information on because you have a lot of people -- pollsters professionally put in test questions to make sure people are paying attention. what they find is you have a lot of, especially younger folks, just filling out the questionnaires to get the gift card at the end. not answering the test question. it' information on this demographic which could easily decide the presidential election. host: the argument that she was making was a lot of the results

in the polls were being dismissed weren't answering the test question properly, meaning that the picture of that particular demographic of younger voters and floaters of color wasn't being accurately captured? -- and voters of color wasn't being accurately captured?guest: yes. part of the reason we go to 24sightngs a little clarity. if you were sitting down and you're looking at a poll joe biden is winning suburban women demonstrably. the next poll saystrump is winna vote. then we put long, 45 minutes or so not too long, a car drive. and we bring some clarity. apt ask you about the week which is -- i have to ask you about th big news question

of the week which is the transfer to. how do you see this verdict and how it might shape the election? guest: elections are stories. you have protagonists. you have antagonists depending on where you stand politically. this brings a lot of clarity to thei have been covering trump se he descended the golden escalator may or june of 2015. one of the things that has been tough with trump is that there are so many stories around him that it's hard to remember a single one. this just became a singular narrative. certainly, with biden and his team in particular, they have been looking to escalate on the national stage and make this a referendum, a rarity in the to make it a referendum and

that. certainly among republicans and amongst the hard-core maga s, there is a belief that the deep state -- but in terms of just the raw impact of it, i think it crystallizes in the campaign. does this get through to people who are so-called double haters? rfk junior voters for instance? i think jill stein is running again for the green party. does this get through to the voters, to the double hater vot to the people who are really disengaged in this battle? that is the big question i'm watching for. in terms of the raw impact, it is a singular storyline now. host: i'm sure that folks will have a lot of questions for you.

we will take those in a moment. i will remind everyone the number for republicans is (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents (202) 748-8002. can you talk about there using it to their advantage or trying to at this point? guest: for trump it is clearly a fundraising play. this has been a running team throughout his third race for the white house, the need to pay these legal bills. if you look through the republican primary, one of the things that he was doing that he last eight years or solawyers. lawyers that he has fired throughout the cases, new lawyers that he brings on, millions and millions of dollars. host: 53 million dollars looking

at "the w said that he raised ae guilty verdict. it has been one of biden yes. if they can hypothetically overcome the cash advantage that biden and the democrats used to have in the first couple of months of the year, potentially that gives them the power to craft a new narrative. i'm not sure, though. i'm not sure in this race in particular -- it is see how much money is being spent in this presidential. i'm not sure that money changes perception. in politics, we talk about earned media versus paid media. earned media is you get a news story written. people engage better with earned media. people know what aadvertisement. they say, ok, maybe.

one reason why trump was so powerful and 2016 is because he dominated earned media. there were moments where i remember watching his empty a -- empty lectern more than the other candidates. other candidates trying to build name id with the voters, invaluable. i'm not sure that money actually changes perceptions here. it is more like a barrier to entry. you hawsve to hit a baseline to stay in front of people. in terms of moving the needle, i'm not sure it does that. host: talk a bit about biden. he has been working on his outreach to black voters this week. what do you think is behind th perceived lack of enthusiasm by minority voters and young people for biden? guest:■ you know,c"anecdotal sun talks with younger folks,

disappointment. that it is not immediate change. not immediately promises being delivered. just a general disappointment in bidenq0. that things are not turning out the way that they had. but i'm not sure -- and i was texting with one of our republican sources about this yesterday -- i'm not sure that this tthis is very similar to wu saw with never trump republicans in 2016. it is not that they instantaneously became hillary clinton voters. that they stayed home. people, the philadelphia campaign stop, he goes up a couple of days ago and you could not have time to that story. the producer on thestened to thd

revealed that trump used the letter in-word. host: this is a producer who worked with trump on the apprentice who had come up until now, been bound by a nondisclosure agreement about speaking about what he had seen. he had an article in slate pretty much the moment the nda expired saying that trump had used a derogatory term for black people and many other accusations. guest: the article published, what, thursday morning? biden is in philadelphia. this is his argument. the campaign's argument is, black voters, what would be better about trump? trum' campaign's play is going

-- they play up what i would argue is the pop-culture aspect of it. i don't know what moves things here. it is hard to tell. what moves things now is tiktok, frankly. host: which is fighting a ban in the united states. ruth in illinois on the line for independents. caller: good morning, everybody. to the podcaster there, did you know joe biden stood up with not stood with the grand dragon? the guy who was in charge of all the kkk throughout all of america? he stood with man all his

life. he gave his him when he died a few years ago. host: who are you referencing specifically? sean thurmond? caller: yeah. guest: i don't think he was the -- host: no, i don't believe he was the grand -- caller: for 50 years he was the grand wizard, i mean dragon. host: if i can get to your larger point,been brought up bee biden's relationship with strom thurmond, who was well known to be a racist the vast majority of his career. guest: biden's old and he has been around a long time. there are a lot of southern democrats when he started out back in the 1970's -- you still had a lot of old southern democrats who were clearly racist. they supported segregation for

years. supported the old jim crow laws. these shifts take time. you can judge things based on his actions. one of the things that republicans go after, biden was trying to restore access to minority voters. this is one of the big battles at the ballot box. if you look at, in terms of after 2020 trying to reduce mail-in ballots, the use of absentee ballots, the battles in the states early on, the biden administration made that a civil rights push to have access to votes. a classic civil rights push, frankly. mike in maryland on the line for republicans. caller: good morning how are you doing. podcasts reveal new information

about the media that doesn't always push. are you familiar with rumble? guest: yeah. caller: some of those podcasts promote formatn real-world news. eyilitary tribunals on officials. do you think that thereb÷ is any truth or relevance to spreading that information to the mass media or is that still a podcast piece of information? does that have legs of truth to you? guest: i don't know about the military tribunals. any ones in specific? caller: do you remember a few years ago congress was having a debate if military tribunals could be done and if it was legitimate and legal? do you remember that debate in congress? guest: remember the stuff around detainee torture years ago. general, here is what i would recommend for everybody listening. i told my friends, civilians

back home who are not in politics, the rear friend in my group that is stuck in politics -- i am the rear friend of my group who is stuck in politics for life. check wikipedia. i understand that some people do not like wikipedia. the reason that myself as a reporter who has been doing this for a couple of decades now like it is because you can find your primary source information. you can click through and find of the articles that they are citing. often, people use the internet archive for things that have been removed, like old webpages ion. we say in journalism, if your mother says she loves you check it out. trust but verify. google it. i don't know about that when offhand, but i would say in generaalways check these things out. check me out. if i say something, you know, look it up.

make sure. host: martin in chicago, illinois on the line for independents. caller: good morning. hello, america. to your guest to his asking how people could be better informed, i would think that watching c-span would be the way to be better informed. a lot of the colors call in but they obviously don't watch c-span. like hillary clinton, how she was prosecuted through obama's presidency. the minute that they gave republicans control of every branch of washington, d.c. they didn't hold one hearing on hillary clinton. you don't waste political capital on an innocent person. republicans, when you can't tell if you're being kind, you are a mark. you have been a mark for a while. president biden with senator robert byrd, senator biden convinced him to stop being hateful. get that through your head.

anyway, you all have going, keep it up. host: do you have any response? guest: c-span. host: i will go to another caller. william in lansford, pennsylvania on the line for republicans.ller: robert byrd ia democrat for the last caller who just called in. anyways, why don't you talk about -- diary. since c-span told us recently that it's make-believe, like the hunter biden laptop. do you have any questions or answers about that? do you not believe it? is that false information? guest: which diary? caller: ashley biden's diary

where she said joe biden showered with her. guest: i don't -- i will go back to what i said eaienformation. that is what we do for a living. the hunter biden stuff in 2020 was hard to verify. i worked on that during that election. we ran our checks to the extent that we could. it's what we do with all stories. i would say, try to verify what you can. if you cannot verify, -- we don't run with it as journalists. that is not the rule for everyone.certainly not for twitter, x, youtube, what have you, but as a professional journalist you can only run with what you can show to be correct. in general, i don't know about the diary, but just research. just research. host: speaking of research, one

of our producers was able to look up the claim about joe biden being pictured with the grand wizard of the kkk. this is from reuters. an image on social media makes the claim that joe biden was pictured with the grand wizard of the kkk, a white supremacist organization. the ima makes the further implication that the democratic party should not be trusted. it was fact checked to not be true. that this was not a real image. guest: this election in particular, campaigns are about information, pushing information one way or another with stories you can tell. it is so easy to make photoshop whatever and tell someone. there is a parity account on twitter that is like a grandmother from suburban philadelphia -- you put a photo of allegedly her grandkids

getting married at mar-a-lago in the bathroom where the classified documents were. it is photoshop, it's fake, but it's so easy to do right now. read snoops. snoops is a bedrock of information. host: ralph in boston, massac-3husetts on the line for independents. caller: to the caller asking earlier for us to pray, where does it say in the bible that it is ok to ju thing where he goes island and gets accused of sexual misconduct multiple times, always gets the support from antonio brown, do you know what i mean? guest: yeah. trump was in photos with epstein and ghislaine maxwell. caller: yeah. guest: that was real.

that one was real. host: let's hear next frosat, le line for republicans. caller: hi, tom. could you please put on your podcast larry sinclair? that was the man having sex with barack obama. guest: oh. caller: do you know what i'm talking about? guest: im probably not going tot him on. there are a lot of holes in that story. it doesn't seem to be correct. i tried to check them before we bring them on. i don't think larry sinclair is a good one for us at least. host: buffalo, new york on the line for democrats. caller: good morning. i have some facts about donald trump. during the 2016 election, david duke, the former grand wizard of

the ku klux klan was campaigning for donald trump. when the media found out donald trump said i have never met the man. you must have forgotten about the interview that you did with none other than the former grand wizard of the ku klux klan, david duke. guest: i do recall a number of white supremacists saying they support trump. the thing with trump is generally, and he did dine with the neo-nazi white supremacist, and kanye west who is -- kanye. he has had connections in the past, but it generally comes around to either denouncing them later or saying that they never happened. it is always adjacent. i should note that he is not

campaigning with david duke now. he has not been campaigning with, at least overtly with, white supremacists. although there are a good number of white supremacists who like trump. alexander city, alabama on the line for republicans. good morning, an -- good morning, annettee. caller: he may have said the n-word. i am clutching my pearls. tens of millions have already done so. i'm asking, are you aware that there is a hush-money payments for washington politicians? it has been in effect since 1997. so far, spent $17 million of our tax pay her fununds. host: where did you get that information? caller: i look it up.

all i put in is hush-money payments in washington and it comes right up. it is not on a s program or nothing. it is a fact. i didn't know if he was aware of it. it is both sides. democrat and republicans. if they get sexual harassment charges against them -- host: did you want to respond to that? guest: i don't know about this. what is amazing to me is that there are so many scandals that we have been able to verify over the years. when i started out i was an intern in frederick, maryland when the d.c. madam been two years ago. -- happened 22 years ago. in general, for callers, for everyone listening, as reporters we love to rely on court documents.this information that is tested.

if you give information it is under the threat of jail or fines for perjury. there are plenty of -- politics and sex scandals have been going on forever. i would say look through the court records. go to court listener, it is a great resource. host: chris in florida on the line for republicans. go ahead, chris. caller: i really wish that you guys would literally have objective people that■■! were nt just -- people who have trump drainage syndrome. this guy is obviously a never trump are. robert byrd was akkk member. biden did give his eulogy. the diary that he is unaware of and you are unaware of as well, i guess you are unaware that the person who tried to sell it was

sentenced to jail. i guess you are unaware that the fbi raided his place of business and home to get it as stolen property because ashley biden left it in a halfway house when she was in rehab. i guess you are unaware that ashley biden confirmed that was her diary. it is also available online. that my father showers with me when i was a youngprobably inap. somehow, you don't know any of these things. host: tom didn't say that he didn't know about it. i believe you said that you had looked into these claims? guest: yeah. the internet is filled with a lot of bad, exaggerated information. hyperbole and whatnot. ai has given us shrimp jesus.

when i have checked these things out before, they generally don't check out. sometimes it takes longer. i cannot, as a reporter, write on things that i don't know enough about. the internet, the inter-webs, rumors, sadly. it wasn't always that way. the inter-webs,. host: pennsylvania, the line for democrats. go ahead, crystal. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say that there are two points i want to make. what trump did and was found guilty, that is number one. from a place where he was born and raised people found him guilty and i agree with that.

another point i want to make is i've been a democrat all my life. i still am a democrat, however for the first time i will be independent. because of the war -- it's not even a war. because of the genocide in israel and palestine. i don't agree with biden on that and i will not be voting for him this time. that is the way i feel. i don't care how many democrats hate me, disagree with me, try to convince me otherwise, i just can't vote for him and that is the way that i feel. day. thank you. guest: that is a big dynamic in the race right now. two and half years ago if you thought about the big international story that would dominate everything was russia

starting the first land war in europe since world war ii, invading ukraine. that is still clearly an issue, but the october 7 war. it is extremely pivotal in this race, absolutely. i have heard that a lot. we had the protests at the white house under. -- at the white house center. a lot of people are worked up with a lot of passion on both sides. good morning, alicia. caller:ood morning, you two andtom, you have a nice smile. guest: thank you. caller: what is china doing in mexico? what does he have to do with the cars? what is china doing with the

panels? oh dear, i have three things. maybe you will think of it. doing some of that in america? give us the scoop on that. how did biden make a deal -- host: let's take the china immigration items first. e of our previous guests was talking about the mexican elections and more chinese immigrants coming into china and more trade investments from china to mexico. i believe you are referencing that, alicia? caller:ust generally talking about, what is chinac= -- what business does china have with the electric car? host: i think i understand.

that was related to the previous guest talking about chinese companies coming into mexico to start making components for electric cars. guest: interesting. host: while we are on the topic, can you talk about the role that china is playing in terms of the narrative in the selection? guest: number one, it is huge. china and russia in the social media space are thriving a fairly unified message. the israel-hamas stuff going on on platforms tiktok and x.com, formally twitter. i remember one of my sources told me years ago and i keep my eyes on it, if you're building these high-end components which

china in particular has been doing for years is going into africathe rare-earth minerals that you need. again, you think about global superpowers, you may call it soft power in terms of making investments and mining various nations, but china's involvement frica on rare earth minerals and too it is a combative stance against taiwan because taiwan is of course■v i believe the massie -- the biggest manufacturer of microchips in the world. china is a huge player. what is interesting, you look at

china versus russia, china in its dealings with the u.s. has tended to 0fnot be as aggressive as putin and not aslear that ner one wants biden to win the election. if it is rfk junior or trump is another question. they definitely don't want biden . russian experts talk about this like chess. you don't kill the opponent in chess. you take them off the board. that has long been the position, espeplaces like russia, to take the u.s. off the board as a superpower. host: i want to circle back to the point that an earlier caller ■émade bringing up a fund in congress for sexual assault claims. it took a bit but i found something that i beliewere refe. this is fromorg

looking at this issue. it is one of the sites that you can go to to investigate such thing. has $17 million in taxpayer money been spent on settlements for congress? no. that includes payments for other types of settlements as well as payments on behalf of employees other than members of congress over a 21 year period. i'm going to bring up more detail on this. amid a me too fight over brett kavanaugh, some readers inquired about how much federal money has been spent settling sexual harassment claims lodged against lawmakers. the $17 million figure mentioned by some and treated as fact in viral posts on social media is incorrectly cited. it's true that the federal office of compance in a 2017 report said between 1997-2017 it

reported more than 260 settlements and awarded totaling more than $17 million, but the cases include more than just complaints of sexual harassment and don't only relate to claims against members of congress. you can find more information on factcheck.orthere were several r articles talking about that particular claim. lea, anderson, south carolina, republicans. go ahead. caller: good morning. my question, and i am not asking in a rude way. when i hear mr. biden speaking to a group of african-american people, it is as if he is speaking against the other half of the population, white and what have you, as if they are the bad people.

they are not on maga either. he speaks to african-american people almost as if they pulled them from the fields for a they are now educated, they own their own homes, businesses, etc. what do you thinkis of americann citizens that still believe the fake promises and lies that mr. bi■4den tells them? thank you. guest: i will tell you,sparks ts going on electorally. i don't know exactly. i mean generally speaking there is disillusionment, that is the concern among democrats.

something that trump republicans are playing on. in terms of sheer numbers, i'm not sure how to quantify that. the general sentiment of disillusionment is a concern the selection. host:?m■+ 10 in new york on thee for independents. i may have mispronounced the name of your town. i'm sorry about that. tim, are you there? i guess we are not going to find out. belleville, illinois on the line for democrats. caller: yes, good morning. i have 3 points. it won't take long. the first thing, it's amazing how people call. i am a democrat, a conservative democrat, an african-american. it's amazing. host: quickly, if you could turn

down the volume on your tv and make your points quickly because we only have a couple of minutes left. caller: i was saying that it's amazing how people don't think biden can take a brush erase the wars in other countries. that is one point. the second point is, i don't think we will ever be unified in this country. we were getting there at some point in time, since maybe the 1960's. we were going in a good direction, slowly, but in a direction of the united united states. i have come to■zhe point, and i want to know what he thinks, about separating this country. i am really ready for us to separate the country. host: let's let tom respond. guest:, it happened once and it wasn't great.

i mean, the reason that we are together as a country historically is because we couldn't pay our bills. the colonies in the revolutionary war, afterwards, people couldn't establish a monetary systei remember in thee were stories about vermont wanting to secede. there have always been these fractures between the states, culturally, immigration, different immigrant groups come in. i have a lot of friends who still have friends that say irish need not apply. there has always been strife. i don't want a civil war. no. whew. host: let's go to eric in new york on the line for democrats. caller: good morning.

thank you so much for c-span. every morning i look, i hear what peoplei've done so since you started, really. it is empirical that i see a difference in the callers. i don't subscribe to maga, but part of what made americans feel good about their country was the fact that we don't -- we have computers in our pockets run by algorithms that give us more foot first -- more foot we first searched for and keeps doubling down. creating a body of politics. a fellow who works hard in the fields i believe in kansas who called democrats demon-crats? that is born of ignorance and

following his nose into his phone telling him things that ring so true to him. i wish that he would put his phone down and, like in some churches, turn around and say "god be with you." for look into someone's eyes in person and get to know them in person. it is a very different experience. this country, the product of this country's diversity. i believe that america is a model for the world, frankly. now that we arene world thing, but we have shown and i believe can show how we can get along together. thank you. guest: yes. steve jobs changed the that we interact as humans. for good, bad, and all other ways. the supercomputers in our pockets are a very new thing. they drive a lot of this discord that we have in the country. no doubt about it.

you are entering with your news site and podcast i in with so many different sources. how do you think about communicating across different audiences in a way that people might believe you or take you seriously? guest: i go back to the associated press style. if you historically look at journalism, a century or so ago, the, the response was that we need to have credibility. onally, we have developed these things. iry to be dispassionate in my writing and in my reporting and in my writing. it is not a philosophy as a reporter to saat think.

it is to find that information and try to present it in as clean of away as possible. news, we stick close to the 15 to 20 inch story. you keep it clean, tight, focus on what is verifiable,om all ofy back. people like this. people like good reporting. that's why we are doing it. host: people of the digital age, a 15 to 20 inch story refers to the length of an article in an old sl newspaper. tom lobionco the cofounder and national politics reporter at 24sight news. i appreciate your time today. and thanks to all of our callers who gave us their time and perspective this morning on "washington journal." we will be back tomorrow with

another edition and more opportunities for you to weigh in. i hope everyone has a great weekend. ♪

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