rtramepw wiit strategic and international studies previews this week's g7 summit. "washington journal" is. -- is next. >> the resolution is adopted. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the republican-led house yesterday voted largely along party lines to hold the attorney general, merrick garland, in contempt of congress for refusing to hand over audiotapes of president biden's interview with special counsel robert kirk related to that classified document investigation. this morning your thoughts on this vote. holding the attorney general and contempt, do you support it? (202) 748-8000. if you oppose, dial in at (202) 748-8001 you can also text with your first name, city, and state at (202) 748-8003.

or foe's on facebook or on x -- or post on facebook or on x. the attorney general did handover transcripts of that interview that the president did with special counsel robert her but republicans say they need the audiotapes. here is the chair of the house judiciary committee, jim jordan, of ohio, on the floor. [video clip] on page one the special counsel said spit -- president biden willfully obtained and disclosed material when he was a private citizen. joe biden not only kept information he was not allowed to keep, he shared it with people who were not allowed to get it. on page 231, the special counsel told us why president biden did this. he said, president biden had small -- strong motivations for

proper procedures for safeguarding the classified information in his notebooks. he decided months before leaving office to write a book, a book for which he got paid $8 million. so we have motive, eight million dollar motive, elements of the crime knowingly keeping classified information knowingly disclosing classified information. despite all this, special counsel robert hur declined to recommend prosecution for president biden because joe biden is a sympathetic well-meaning, elderly man, with a poor memory. the special counsel said mr. biden's memory appeared toe single ticket limitations both at the time he spoke to the ghostwriter in 2017, as evidenced by their recorded conversations, and today as evidenced by his recorded interview with our office. committee needs the audio recordings to determine whether the justice department appropriately carried out justice by not prosecuting the

president. host: the chair at the judiciary committee, jim jordan, republican of ohio arguing republicans want those audio recordings. in congress -- it is not just republicans in congress, media outlets have requested the audio. do you agree with the chair of the judiciary midi and support this contempt of congress of attorney general merrick garland? if you do, dial in at (202) 748-8000. if you disagree with chair jordan and you also oppose this contempt of coss the attorney general was before lawmakers recently up on capitol hill and talked about this contempt of congress threat. at the time, this is what he said. [video clip] >> nothing will deter me from fulfilling my obligation to uphold the rule of law.

fulfilling that obligation and ensuring that the stice department respects congress' important role in is why we have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the committee gets sponsors to its legitimate request for information. that is what i have provided the committee with special counsel hur's report, why the special counsel testified for more than five hours, and why we have gone beyond precedent to provide the committee with the transcripts of the special counsel's interview with the president. but we have made clear that we will not provide audio recordings from which the transcripts that you already have were created. releasing the audio would chill cooperation with the department in future investigations, and it could influence witnesses answers if they thought the audio of their law enforcement interviews would be broadcast to congress and the public. in response, certain members of this committee and the oversight

committee are seeking contempt as a means of obtaining for no legitimate purpose. sensitive law enforcement information that could harm the integrity of future investigations. this effort is only most recent in a long line of attacks of the justice department's work. host: the attorney general arguing why the justice department should not hand over those audio tapes. do you agree with him and oppose the contempt of congress vote yesterday that happened in the house? the attorney generalveerdi that justice department's need to protect, he writes in his statement that was issued yesterday, the need to protect its investigations and a substantial amount of information we have provided in the committees. the hill newspaper reports thatmemo saying that the attorney general cannot be prosecuted for contempt over the biden-hur

audio. that is what happens next, that this contempt of congress citation goes to the district of columbia's attorney general forf the attorney general. the olc a legal advisor for the department the justice department, wrote that no administration official has been prosecuted for failing to comply they subpoena when the president has claimed executive privilege. that is what president biden has done. executive privilege over these audiotapes. a call from pittsburgh, you support the contempt of congress. go ahead. caller: good morning, gretchen. tell you the truth, never going to work, gretchen. i'm sorry this is all -- host: go back to the contempt of congress. caller: well, i don't know

gretchen, i'm sorry, i got to let you go. host: that's all right. carlos and pasadena, texas, you support the contempt of congress. caller: yes, i do. i believe garland is totally disingenuous. he is treating this interview with the president very differently than the way he is treating the very similar interviews with people that support republicans. host: in what way? caller: well, look at what is happening to the aides of trump or to trump himself and the way that his appeals for release from prosecutions that seem to

be orchestrated from the white house fall in deaf ears as far as attorney general garland is concerned. host: so are you referring to the trump administration officials that have been held in contempt, that were prosecuted for this? caller: yes, they are -- i believe some of them are actually in jail right now. host: yeah. caller: so yet, garland, saying, oh, i cannot it might damage somebody. well why did that not appeal to requests from these people that are in jail right now? host: ok, let me read from the new york times the house's attempt case now goes to the u.s. or in washington to

consider whether to prosecute the case under federal law contempt of congress as a misdemeanor charge that carries a fine of 100 to $100,000 and jail of one month to one year little chance prosecutors will move forward with a criminal charge. it was written that the agency has long held the view that the criminal contempt of congress to register not apply under the constitution to executive branch officials wh once a president invokes executive privilege. the president also cited executive. footage -- executive privilege and opting not to move forward with others. but the justice department has acted on contempt cases. in the last one it involved the

january 2021 attack on the , and one is serving a four-month chris -- prison sentence after a conviction on the contempt charge, and steve bannon who will report by july 1 to serve his four-month sentence on the charge. bill in medford, massachusetts you oppose this contempt of congress vote. good morning. caller: well, one guy can allow 20 million people to come over because they are all going to vote democrat, and nothing going to be done there. then of course, we have all the information on the 2020 documents and the dominion voting machines, all the people around the world want an audit

done on the 2020 election. can i ask you, how come that is not going to be done? it is hanging over america's head and will for the rest of its existence. host: how is this related to the contempt of congress vote? caller: because everything that the democrats do is to create a one-party consulate. they have infiltrated every aspect like the school boards and everything. it is just another show of how the democrats, which they are communists, they want one party only. and everybody around the world looks up to america. there should be two parties like everybody is saying. it should beemocrats republicans, and the police party in between. host: all right, i am going to

move on to randy who is in kentucky, opposes the contempt of congress charge. caller: hi oppose the contempt charge because i trust the attorney general of the united states. i trust all democratic they have not lied. they have not stole. menendez stole, but he is in trouble with the democrats. we do not like stealers or crooks. the republican party are nothing but crooks. jordan ought to spin his four months in prison. you know. if you think that republicans are right, you are a fool. thank you very much. host: jane in pennsylvania

supporting the contempt of congress. hi. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: good morning. caller: going to be hot in pennsylvania today, i heard. the reason i disagree, i mean, i am in support of the contempt of congress because it appears to me that ireland is not doing it -- that garland is not doing his job. he is letting everybody in the world in our borders. he is putting our country at risk. he does not do anything to stop it, and neither does biden. host: this contempt of congress though is about these audiotapes. caller: right well, that is just another lie that thcrats want to cover up, just something else. he is a horrible, horrible person and he needs to be

arrested and thrown in that jail in new york. host: the washington post this morning, holding garland in contempt in connection to the biden documents case, the vote passed initially with 216-207 third time and a dozen years that a sitting attorney general was found in contempt by a majority of house members, an indicator of the rising partisanship in washington and how that partisanship has increasingly been aimed at the nation's top law enforcement officials. until 2012, a sitting member of the president's cabinet had never faced such a sanction. since then, it has happened a handful of times, mostly to attorneys general who came under fire for the department's handling of politically charged cases. webster in hamden, connecticut you oppose. caller: i oppose. host: tell us why. caller: well, all of these hearings and stuff that they are

having to me, it does not have any merit on trying to run this country. because all they are doing is just wasting our taxpayers money. we know it, and everybody that calls in nose the same thing. i have never in my life seen anything in politics like this. it all started i guess in 2016 when everything that the republicans do, you know, is right, everything the democrats do is wrong. so maybe both democrats and republicans got to take a look in the mirror and see what is going on. but just to have these useless hearings every day, that does not add up to anything as far as i am concerned. it is just our taxpayers money being wasted in washington while they sit up there and talk about the court systems are crooked politicians are crooked, the president is no good. well, who is gin all right, webster's

thoughts there in hamden, connecticut. in washington today, the supreme court will be issuing decisions in the remaining cases that they have yet to decide. there is a big list with just a few weeks left cases to be decided. big ones include the immunity claim made by the former president in his two cases dealing with abortion, one the abortion pill and the other emergency procedures. other cases dealing with guns, a bump stock case, as well as whether or not those who are accused of domestic violence have access to a gun. homelessness case, as well. those are some of the bigger cases that folks are watching, and we will be watching here on c-span, as well. if you missed any oral arguments i mentioned, you can find them on our website c-span.org. and across the street from the supreme court, the former president will be on capitol hill today meeting with house

republicans this morning. off campus, about a block off of buildings, because this is being titled as a campaign event, so he will be behind closed doors with house republicans to talk about a potential 2020 five agenda in the first 100 days. that is according to speaker johnson. then he head across the capitol and meet with senate republicans around 12:30 p.m. eastern time. we will talk about that visit more here on the "washington journal" coming up. across the seas today, president biden is in italy for the g7 summit meeting with several leaders there. on the agenda is more aid to ukraine. president biden meeting this morning with the leaders of italy and france, as well as japan and others of those g7 countries. and then he will be holding a news conference later today with

the ukrainian president, mr. zelenskyy, and we will have coverage of that. go to c-span.org c-span now. there is the president with the italian prime minister from earlier today. we will also talk about the g7 summit and what is on the agenda on the "washington journal" later this morning. right now, we're talking about this contempt of congress vote against the attorney general yesterday. andy biggs, republican of arizona on the floor defending yesterday congress' role in the special counsel investigation and their demand for the audiotapes of mr. biden's interview over the classified document investigation. [video clip] >> but they don't want the audio recordings to come forward. why is that? odd, isn't it? because the doj admitted in court filings two weeks ago that they actually did alter the transcript. they claim it is just filler

information, may duplicative words. there are blank pauses in there that were not noted in the transcript. that is why an audio recording is important because the transcripts do not reflect the important verbal context such as tone or tender or nonverbal context such as pauses or phases of delivery, all which went into the decision by mr. hur not to prosecute a crime he said was committed. that prosecutorial discretion is under review by our committee legitimately and constitutionally. host: andy biggs, republican of arizona, arguing for those audiotapes. only one republican disagrees with his party yesterday, david joyce of ohio, the leader of the mainstream gop group on capitol hill voted no. he said after the vote, according to the washington post, that as a former

prosecutor -- this is new york times, he cannot support a measure that would further politicize our judicial system. that was david joyce's comments why he voted no while the rest of his party voted yes on contempt of congress. we are getting your thoughts on this mode yesterday. let's listen to the other side of the aisle, new york democrat dan goldman speaking against this contempt vote. [video clip] >> this precedent that you are setting is one that your own former president and cabinet secretaries repeatedly violated in the last administration. in 2019, the former president famously said that he would defy all congressional subpoenas and then he did just that during the impeachment inquiry. the state department refused to turn over a single document. under your precedent here with

attorney general merrick garland, who has provided everything that you have asked for except for the audio recordings of an interview with president biden and the special counsel, you are moving into dangerous territory. there is no legitimate legislative purpose to require the attorney general or department of justice to turn over audio recording of an interview which they have already turned over the transcripts. i hear my colleagues on the others of the aisle use explanations such as demeanor evidence and character evidence. that is all well and good if you are considering whether or not to prosecute president biden but that is not the job of congress. host: cg against this contempt of

congress charge on the attorney general. he notes that the attorney general, the justice department has handed over everything else the republicans have requested including the transcripts. the new york times says he has produced more than enough documents, that is what mr. garland argues, in excess of 92,000 for the republicans, and contended that the attorney general had been too deferential to the gop's demands. that was nadler, the ranking democrat on the judiciary committee, arguing he had already been too deferential to the gop. mike in woodstock, virginia, what do you say on this debate? you had heard from several lawmakers. what do you say? caller: thank you, first of all for being on allowing me to comment. i agree with the democratic representative that just spoke and kudos to the republican

representative who stood up -- as you said, former prosecutor here the former president 45, many times i call him by the number, many times for just about everything he claims executive privilege. so what is different for 46 talking about a special prosecutor about classified information? why wouldn't that be executive privilege? this also brought up just a moment ago and democratic representative, how many persons in the previous administration refused or just did not appear to congressional subpoenas? not to mention the former president associates or during the january 6 house hearings?

so to spin back and forth is just as was stated by a previous caller, a waste of taxpayer money and the american people's time. i have called the speaker at couple of times and said flat out, this congress has been pitiful in terms of events and positive structural legislation or working with the senate on the bill that included the border, china, and4y ukraine. and how are they focusing? is this the example of governance? it is just very, very disappointed. lincoln said a house divided cannot stand divided we fall. so if -- many people do not

understand that the preamble of the constitution is part of the constitution because it is signed at the bottom, the above document. and in the preamble, many people when i ask them what is the first three words, of course, we the people. what could take down our republic? we the people. if we do not get together in a constructive way, we are actually being destructive. look at putin. he has the navy down in cuba. is that because the former president and he had had some sort of -- i don't want to say plan because that is not fair, but does this come at a time when we have just appropriated much money for you craig? of course, the g7 meeting is right now.

with the advancement of in the stated goals of the former president in terms of policy whether it is abolishing the justice department or some of the other things he said about the executive branch functions, yet, i do not hear anybody with an outcry, and in most states cut -- states, if you are convicted of a felony, you cannot vote or hold a public office -- host: alright. i have got to leave it there. cynthia has been waiting in pompano beach, florida, supports this contempt of congress charge. caller: good morning. i feel like i am living in a different universe. how blind and naive do they

is. are they watching what has been going on. you have an attorney general that is not holding -- no one is taking accountability. if we have a president that might be compromised mentally you can not tell that from transcripts, how it has been altered or things left out. i have taken care of family members that have had unfortunately, this problem we see this every day would we watch the news. the american public has the right to find competent president able to convey messages and hold major decisions in our country and our

life in its hands. it is crazy that he thinks he has the right not to allow us -- people are accepting this? we are like blind sheep. i just cannot believe we have come to this point where we are just following and accepting this nonsense. it is ok to go after, put navarro for contempt but he can say he does not have this congress. congress has a privilege. it was written down for our protection, and we have the right. host: all right. joe in tennessee also supports this contempt of congress. caller: good morning.

do you hear me ok? thank you for taking my call. the lady was talking about themaybe they ought to give the democrats the book so they can read it and understand it. how many people sit around and waved the palestinian flag inside our congressional offices and they are like idiots? merrick garland, i thought nobody was above the law. who is supposed to be taking care of the law when the law is breaking the law? joe biden can take years of these classified documents and write a book and make a million dollars off of it and he was not even the president come on people, wake up. this is a weaponized justice. thank you. host: all right joe there in tennessee. the g7 summit today, and the world news section of the wall

street journal says the g7 faces a fractured political landscape. the nations, u.s. canada, france, germany, italy, japan, and the u.k. have warm support for ukraine in its battle against russia, providing kyiv with billions of dollars in military and humanitarian aid. that is one of the top issues for this group as they meet today and tomorrow. ukraine, china, and israel also on the agenda. that is the wall street journal's reporting. the new york times reporting this morning, at g7, biden will push for using broken russian assets to aid ukraine. they will announce more money for ukraine from the g7 countries, and the money will be used -- the money will be from the interest on frozen russian ts aid the country of ukraine. there is the leaders meeting in italy for the g7 summit, all

lined up for what they call a family photo ahead of their meetings. then mr. biden hold a news confence wukrainian president, mr. zelenskyy later today. go to c-span.org for our coverage of the g7 summit. politico story on the gathering of these is that this looks more like the last supper than a g7 summit because many of those leaders that you are seeing on your screen are facing reelection or snap elections and are facing opposition -- threats from the opposite party in their own countries or domestic crises back home. political headline, six lame ducks, meet this g7 class of 2024. the italian prime minister leading the way there. chase in germantown, maryland good morning to you.

we're talking about this contempt of congress vote. caller: thanks for having me. first of all, the gentleman fromwoodstock, that was excellent points he made. i really appreciate that. as for the contempt, i wish you guys had a line for lack of care. i am apathetic to it. i feel that, yeah, why not, give them the tapes, player card. i find it rich that jim jordan who has his own contempt of congress, is trying to lead the cause. as for the justice system itself we have a justice system a president whose own justice system charged and then proved without a reasonable doubt that his own son committed crimes, and he is going to get the book thrown at him, i hope.

frankly, i don't care. i am a liberal, and it does not bother me. what i will say is, as for congress itself, it is pretty apparent that regardless of who is in charge, their role has largely become an oppositional investigatory branch, more so than a legislative one. that is pretty heartbreaking for me, just because our country needs them to go to work and not waste our taxpayer dollars. finally, i do have to say the first gentleman from connecticut labeling us liberals as communists, come on, man that is highly, highly extreme. i find that offensive. i am not a communist. i will never go down that hill, and i'm sure the vast overwhelming majority of democrats will tell you the same

thing. again, i think everybody and keep doing your duty to the country. all right, chase there aceboo job? former president trump claimesidents have full immunity. mary in st. paul, minnesota, you oppose. caller: i do, o though it has no role except to punish president biden i want to say that it is unfortunate that we have a man so eloquent and dignified and learned as mr. garland who is being put against the wall and battered, when he handles himself so very well in explaining why it is important not to give the tapes over. he does not want to have the tapes as just another weapon and i say weapon in the way this word is now being overused, but

he does not want to have something more to say against mr. biden's age for the very fact of only the numbers, not the wisdom. two people talk about the fact that this age comes with a degree of wisdom in most people, not in the ones i call the names constantly and are very much offended indicating their offense of being offended with personal names, but in the way that one does go hopefully wiser and older. mr. biden has not shown himself to be ineffective, not at all. not even in the last two weeks with the amount of traveling the amount of working he has done, and if one would think about the facthat when he talked about his son having been found guilty, he did not immediately try to find a reason why they were wrong. that is the only thing that i

unfortunately, our previous president will do, constantly whine and complain and never admit wrong under any circumstance. yes, i am product mr. garland for not turning them over, and they would be indicated to simply indicate look how he talks if he makes mistakes, and everyone is aware that president biden has overcome speech impediments since childhood. thank you very much. host: to west virginia, brett in charleston, supporting this contempt of congress charge against the attorney general. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i continue to marvel at this mentality i am hearing from the left that it is all about trump no matter what we discussed always comes back to trauma. but here is an attorney general -- this is essentially the

argument he is trying to make, and you actually quoted jerry nadler for moment article where he literally made this argument. well, we have given you everything else. now imagine with me that you are under investigation by law enforcement, congress, by any investigative body, and they ask you to turn order -- turn over items a-j and you give them items a-k, and they said, well, where is j? you say, i have given you everything else. with that work for any of the rest of us in this country? absolutely not. so we have spent the last, i don't know how many months, listening to the left incessantly lecture us about how no one is above theawd they actually managed to railroad a former president in a

heavily democratic district with a tainted jury, a partisan jury in a totally partisan judge, and they say we have such great faith in our judicial system. and now when the democrat attorney general has weaponized the doj against people who disagree with this administration, when he was asked to turn over subpoenaed constitutionally subpoenaed evidence, and he does not, and they are satisfied with, well, we have given you everything else that argument about turning over the transcripts and not the tapes, does that sound familiar to anyone who knows history over the last 50 years? that is because president nixon attempted to make th argument and he failed there, too. host: want to get your opinion -- i think we have heard your

point, i want to get your opinion about congressman matt gaetz's criticism about the section yesterday, put on the floor by speaker mike johnson. he says this merrick garland contempt vote is the lowest of low energy action from congress, the worst thing going on right now at the doj is what they are doing to donald trump. instead of demanding videos of joe biden centering, republicans should demand the evidence of coordinate love affair against a leading contender for the presidency. -- instead of demanding videos of joe biden stuttering, republicans should demand the evidence of coordinating against the leading contender for the presidency. caller: he is not wrong. this is low hanging fruit. we have a doj who just recently sentenced a prosecuted and got sentenced a 75-year-old woman with health problems to two years in prison for praying

outside an abortion plant. that is the mentality we're dealing with here, so when we hear these democrats call in talking about we have to unite and cannot be divided well, we are not the ones who left the principles on which this nation was founded, they are. the democrats are. host: we will leave it there. let me go on to gina in kentucky, opposing the contempt of congress. caller: hi, you know, i really cannot understand -- jim jordan, marjorie taylor greene, and the whole crowd up there, and it took seven times for them to put in a speaker and they have changed speakers like everything. so they think they are organized? i do not think they are. i understand that the media would want those tapes, but i also understand that we are

headed for communism if that crowd gets in. because if you do not have respect for the law you do not have respect at all. know, can you imagine if you was appointed by the president and then you convict his son? you know, that is pretty tough. i do not realize -- you cannot realize that the president stood up and said he would not pardon his son. you know, and that he would have to serve his time. i have never heard donald trump say he was going to serve his time, or if his sons got in trouble, he probably would pardon them. and jim jordan is not one to even talk about the law because he has been subpoenaed several times. why don't they hold him in contempt of congress?

and good to see you back. host: milton in taylor, michigan, your thoughts on this contempt of congress. caller: i think he should have been removed a long time ago because he is destroying our country by lightning -- by lieing. as joe biden, not quite as much. but i'm concerned about it. i felt that every taxpayer in the united states should stop paying taxes to those idiots -- until those idiots start doing something for us. they're always fighting each other using taxpayer dollars, running back and forth on jet airplanes, laughing and having fun on tv like they some kind of queen or something like kamala harris.

and right here on the border in our own country, they might lose this election this time because of their own stupidity -- host: who is they? caller: democrats. because of their own stupidity they will lose this election this time. but they are getting ready for the next one because they got 30 million people coming across the border that is going to be democrats. host: all right, we're talking about the debate and vote yesterday in the house to hold the attorney general in contempt of congress. that is our conversation here for the first hour of the "washington journal." a little bit more from the floor debate, this from democrat jamie raskin of maryland, talking about the -- arguing against this contempt resolution. [video clip] >> our colleagues invite us today to become the first congress and the history of the

u.s. to hold someone in contempt for complying with our demands and their target is the attorney general. attorney general garland gave us the special counsel's report on president died and in full. he made the special counsel available to us in the committee for hours with testimony that he answered all our questions and provided the full transcript of the president's voluntary five hour interview with the special counsel, all 250 pages of it. the whole world can read president biden's interview and answers at edited -- unedited. they want to hold the attorney general and contempt for not turning over the audiotape of the interview that we have the verbatim transcript of. why is that important? encase you have lost the thread of this madcap wild goose chase an impeachment investigation. do they think the holy grail, the 118th congress come evidence of a presidential high crime and misdemeanor is lurking in the pauses or the background throat

clearings and sneezes on the audiotapes? of course not, they know there is no high crime or misdemeanor to be found because they spent the last 17 months and millions of our taxpayer dollars looking for it, and it simply does not exist. they literally do not even know what they are looking for anymore, so why do they want it? they're hoping that in the five hours of president biden's testimony, they can find a mispronounced word or phrase or a brief stammer which they can then turn into an embarrassing political tv attack ad. get it, america? that is what this is about. host: congressman jamie raskin talking against this contempt resolution, saying that it will be used as a campaign at and noting that he is arguing this is related to the republicans impeachment probe into president biden. what do all of you say? amelia in georgia, good morning. caller: good morning.

i definitely oppose, and i will tell you why. raskin stated this, all they want to do the president oral speech and turn it into something else. my opinion is that we have really lost it in this country. i listen to my republican friends, and when they call, all they do is repeat after each other. they repeat what they hear a conservative media, and it is sad. everything is excuses, excuses excuses for the republicans. jim jordan was subpoenaed, he never showed up. trump has never presented his taxes. they accuse biden and the family

of this and that, but all of biden's taxes have been there in the public. we're still waiting for trump's taxes. the sad thing is that everything is based on lies. host: let's stick to the topic let me ask about the argument made by one caller who said we should hear those as americans before the election to determine whether or not we believe president biden is mentally fit for the job. how do you respond? caller: ok, the transcript is word for word. they are questioning president biden's mental status. i suggest they pay attention to trump rallies and see how many times he goes off of script in his mental status failing. all they want to do -- because everything that is in that transcript is everything that

biden said, what is the purpose of the oral? and they need to be paying attention. they really need to pay attention to what our leaders from other countries -- they are very worried that if trump gets back in office, we're going to lose our democracy. i do not think a lot of people know what it is to lose democracy. you have got to pay your pension, because to lose democracy -- you have to pay attention because to lose democracy is very bad. host: we go to virginia, a caller in support of this contempt of congress. caller: i do support it. merrick garland is a democrat partisan bureaucrat. he is not a member of congress. congress or elective representatives, they are the

ones who should decide what they hear and what we hear. we elected them to do that. very simple. we heard this last lady and many others, many congressman, say that everything said was in the transcript. we do not know that to be true, and that is why we want the audiotape. it is a long hill tenant of law whenever people destroy, hyatt, altar, do other things to evidence to make it different that it can be -- that they do not provided for nefarious purposes because there was damaging evidence in it. they could clear this whole thing up, that good old democrat transparency that they always talk about, and they could just shut everybody up. host: got it.

as a reminder, former president trump will be on capitol hill in washington d.c., today, meeting behind closed doors with house republicans in the morning. then he will meet with senate republicans in the afternoon. the washington post says speaking to show unity trump will meet with gop lawmakers on capitol hill. we will talk more about that coming up on the "washington journal" this morning. ron in greensburg, pennsylvania, opposing this contempt of congress sanction. caller: good morning. i do generally oppose the release of the tapes, but what irks me is when i heard representative raskin, or others say t toss -- the cost of this to the taxpayers is $20 million. i have the national debt clock on my phone, and the amount of time i have been on hold waiting to talk to you, it has gone up

by $37 million. so that is a disingenuous argument. we just need some honest dialogue, you know? that is what got me to call in. i just oppose the release of the tapes, but to say how much that committee has wasted, the taxpayer dollars, it is laughable. host: is it money well spent though? do you think it is? caller: i don't know. i am not prepared to answer thquestion. but $20 million is nothing. it goes up $100,000 every four seconds. if we were talking about $20 billion to ukraine, that is real money. host: ok, sorry, did not mean to cut you off. mark in california, supporting

this contempt of congress. caller: morning. what i am concerned about is that we have 50% of the country that gets a certain amount of information, and the other 50% get another line of information and vote in favor of that. it is because we are getting the wrong information, somebody is. but you cannot always have two opposing points of view that can be resolved. host: tie that back to this contempt of congress. caller: ok, first of all, there was a study done when i was in college where they looked at how people on one side viewed fouls against a team in a football game, and they found that those that support the team they are

there to see were in favor of these fouls that were called, and the opposing team were against. you could see it. they did not see the things it took place on the field or they saw them in a different way. so the question is, how do you rectify this? i think that people need to be confronted with the actual truth. here there is a search for truth because they want to report on an issue regarding the mental abilities of the president. i think everybody should be able to see that. most of this has been on tv, and i watch it from a multiple -- multitude of stations, left and right. when i see president biden being singled out for things like turning around and shaking hands and there is no hand there, you do not know what is going on in his mind.

he may be trying to tell his staff someone is supposed to be behind me. you can interpret that as being mentally deficient or you can say biden knew what he was doing and he is showing his staff that there is nobody here to shake my hand. so i think that by releasing the information and letting people see the truth about what was said, they can come to their own conclusions. we do not need everybody else interpreting it, we just need to see the truth. host: ok, mark's thoughts there in california. this is a headline in the washington post to share, how republicans used misleading videos to attack biden in a 2 4-hour period, deceptively edited videos known as deepfakes republican attacks against the president. in paris, president biden, who

had 81 is a couple decades younger than many of the veterans he honored during thursday's d-day commemoration in normandy, found his age and fitness in the spotlight clips circulated online to paint the picture of a physically and mentally challenged commander-in-chief. it became the latest example of the fast threat of politically damaging manipulative videos, highlighting how the politics of misinformation and conspiracy theories do not stop at the water's edge and seem certain to continue through november. peggy in michigan, opposing. caller: i was a good christian person and just to be honest, and so far did not give the committee everything and i do not know why i called because i

stutter and people sometimes do not understa me. i still remember what happened at the trump rally locke her up. and over the last eight years -- host: all right that is peggy in michigan. ronnie and south carolina opposing the contempt of congress resolution. caller: hey i would like to make two comparisons on the subject of biden's stabilitythe thing that happened with garland yesterday. look, all this madness going on about biden's competency, have they looked at or heard trump's latest speeches? he is talking about boats drowning, and sharks, and he told constituents he don't care

about them, he just wants their votes. he has people falling out, and he says, look at me, i am sweating. what kind of leader is that? he wants you to put bleach in your blood. that is not competency. and on the garland thing, they did not hold barr in contempt for many blading the mueller report. and look at jim jordan, he is still in contempt. he will not go -- he did not go before the j6 committee. did they hold a vote to hold him in contempt? ask the foreign leaders how together together biden was at the d-daleion? and trump would not even go if the rain was going to mess his hair up. so he did not go to the cemetery in france when he went over there about three years ago. host: mattie in michigan,

opposing the contempt of congress charge. caller: good morning. i oppose it. i think that the republicans want to enforce the law, then they need to follow the law. if anybody wants to think of somebody being mentally incompetent, has anybody listenedthe last 4, 8 years what trump would come out with, making fun of handicapped people, making fun of john mccain. saying on national tv you can grab a woman by their privates and they like it. that man is a loose nut no competency whatsoever. host: that doesn't for our first hour of conversation here on the "washington journal -- that our first hour. next, vance ginn discusses yesterday's inflation report and the biden administration's

economic policies. then jared huffman discusses the formation of a new task force to combat the project 2025 and genda spearheaded by the heritage foundation that would serve as a conservative blueprint for a second trump presidency. and juliegrace bruxie meeting with house and senate gop leaders and members later today. >> american history tv saturdays on c-span maga exploring the people and events that tell the american story. we will visit the national world war ii museum in new orleans and tour the malcolm s forbes are conic artifacts gallery and the new interactive oral history exhibit. at 7 p.m. eastern, watch american history tv's new series historic convention speeches

featuring notable remarks by presidential nominees and other political figures from the past several decades. this week, the 1960's piece by the democratic massachusetts senator john f. kennedy in the 1980 speech by democratic massachusetts senator ted kennedy. at 9:30 p.m. eastern on the presidency a discussion on the book remember the first lady, a combination of biography and historical themes and highlights on our nations first ladies influence the country. ore the american story, watch american history tv saturdays on c-span maga and find a full schedule on your program2 guide or watch on t c-span.org/history. >> book tv every sunday on c-span2 features leadingnfiction books. at 8 p.m. involved in their children's education and regain control from the teachers union for public school curriculum. 10 p.afterwords trippi

looks at that use of he's interviewed by the politico health care reporter. watch book tv every sunday on c-span2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at book tv.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: vince ginn is joining us from austin, texas this morning, the former chief economist at the office of management and budget during the trump administration and tst or -- prosper podcast. let's begin with what the federal reserve decided to do yesterday which is making the front pages of the national newspapers. the washington post said hold rates as inflation plateaus and inflation is improving the prices are still growing faster than normal and the economy is slowing but not enough to convince the federal reserve it can take its foot off the brake.

what do you make of that strategy? guest: it's good to be with you this morning. i think the strategy is right on. inflation remains elevated. it's too high for americans across the country and although it has moderated from the 9% we had a couple of years ago down to about 3.5% today, is still higher than the 2% inflation target the federal reserve would like to see. there is a lot of work to do so i don't think they will be able to cut rates anytime soon. it may be until september which is what jerome powell mentioned area that may not be until next year. expect your home mortgage rates, your car loan rents and other interest rates cost the economy to remain higher for longer because inflation is remaining higher for longer and the economy has not been able to keep up or grow faster to bring down prices because that's what

we need is more economic wrote and a lot of the policies by biden and even the federal reserve are keeping supply from growing as quickly as they could be otherwise. host: there was some good economic news, corporation rises which excludes volatile food and energy items posted their mildest gain since 2021 and rose .2% from april below economist expectations. is the fed steering this economy as best it can? guest: that's a good point. excluding food and energy, americans all buy food energy so we can talk about that growth rate year-over-year but people need to buy things and they would like to see the rate at 2% so we are almosthigher than what they would like for the inflation rate to be. some of the cpi measures like

for food that you buy at home will increase by only 1% year-over-year. that is a good sign but if you want to go to a restaurant, that has increased 5% year-over-year and hard and if you add that average weekly earnings which you make for a week and you adjust that for inflation over time, they are down 3.9% since january of 2021. that's why many americans even though the numbers look at on the surface, there is concerns out there about the economy. host: the biden administration and the fell reserve, do they deserve credit for bringing inflation down without causing a recession so far? guest: i don't think so. a lot of this was generated because we had a a lot of inflationary pressures from 2020 where congress spent a lot of money and they ran up deficits and the federal reserve increase their balance sheet by $12

trillion. they put a lot of money into the economy and supply was being restrained from the lockdown and the high taxes and high spending that was going on and many people did not go back to work for a while so that constraints apply. you also had demand increasing at a rapid pace with new money creation see you had a huge when you think about government, d.c. were the ones that cause the inflation now they are trying to cure the inflation and what's problematic is that we have congress and biden still having too much government spending, too high deficits and the federal reserve is not cutting their balance sheet fast enough to bring inflation back down. i'm still concerned there is too much inflation out there. before we give them too much credit, i think we need to give them a lot of fault of the situation we have today and not doing enough to bring inflation down and support more economic growth. host: former president trump will be on capitol hill today talking about the 2025 agenda should he get another term in the white house.

there is much focus on the former president's tax cuts that happened during his first term. what is the impact of those tax cuts on the government's revenues and our economy today? guest: great question. the tax cuts and jobs act, big part was cutting the corporate income tax rate from 35% down to 21%onomic growth, repatriation of some dollars in other countries they were sending their profitability back to america. a big part of that was the individual tax rate changes were cuts across the board. no matter what income level you were, there was a reduction in your income tax and those expire in 2025. there were other measures like the state and local tax did touch and that it -- that will expire in 2025. other measures are expiring as well. if the tax cuts and jobs act

expire, everyone will see a tax hike and this goes against would biden said going back to president george herbert walker bush saying read my lips no new taxes. biden said no new taxes under his administration but that's what would happen if the trump tax cuts expire. that will hurt economic growth and bring down revenue over time. the trump tax cuts in 2017 revenue was still hitting record highs and over the course of the first two years of the trump tax cuts, we saw that revenue did not go down by as much as what they expected. it's still too high which raised the deficit but deregulation also contributed to more economic wrote and more revenue that came in. you also so the people were dropping off these government safety nets and people got jobs and wages weoi up faster than inflation. that contrary it is less spending in certain areas.

those things are positive about the economy so my concern is the trap -- the trump excesses fire, we will see less economic growth and more hardship for americans at a time when they are already struggling. host: the bloomberg headline recently -- how do you respond? guest: there is a lot of modeling out there and looking at different assumptions of what they put into thosmodels. when you put junk in the models you get junk out. it doesn't incorporate or include the faster economic growth we will see that brings in revenue and incentive to be able to get back to work and start investing and across the country. while i would say that the trump tax cuts will have a cost in the short run over time this is another key point of why we need

sustainable budgeting on the spending side. spending is the problem, not tax revenue as we see record highs and revenues and we need to have more economic growth. if you don't extend the trump tax cuts, will not get more economic growth. it will be hurtful to the economy and hurt the overall budget picture. we are in a dire situation when it comes the fiscal crisis put on by too much government spending by congress that's not going to be a tax cuts problem. it's a spending problem we have to get control owhile we see different reports showing different estimates let's remember the true burden on taxpayers is from government spending, not on taxes. let's get spending retraining -- restraint and get taxes going and there's a way to bring in more economic growth by reforming taxes and reducing the burden on americans across the country who need that right now. host: vancegwynn at the office

of management and budget during the trump administration and we are talk about in nation and the economy anymore want to get your thoughts on that this morning. rib it -- republicans dial in at democrats, (202) 748-8000 and independents (202) 748-8002. you can text us and join the conversation just include your first name city and state that (202) 748-8003. rhonda is up first in freehold new jersey, democratic caller. caller: good morning america. my beautiful country. mr. vance, i totally disagree with your tax proposal. it's already cost the american people $8 trillion and we know 80% of that money went to the top 1%. that's only about 500 people. it's absolutely insane.

also, i am sick and tired of the republican party using donald trump as if he is the former president. he is the former guy. the fact that our congress is meeting with him today instead of the administrators to help us get immigration across the table , take care of american issues, they need to work for the trump campaign because that's all they do is work for donald trump and take poor people's money. host: are you working for the trump campaign? guest: no, i'm not working for the trump campaign and i hear the your concern. the $8 trillion was actually in in reese under the biden administration. there was an increase in the short term under the trump administration as well which was too high, about $7 trillion but that was during the trump tax

cuts, it was a result of excessive government spending, not the trump tax cuts themselves.higher interest rates have been during the biden administration , not during the trump administration. there was lower inflationary pressure during the trump administration and there was during the biden administration consubstantial he lower and there was a lot of deficit spending in 2020 during the lock downs other things and the cares act that congress passed but that was not part of the trump tax cuts. we need to be able to separate these things. there was too much government spending during the trump years and there's been even more under the biden years that we've got to get control over. this has been a bipartisan problem, republicans and democrats when it comes to excessive government spending that i hope we can get control of quickly whether be trump or biden, let's make sure spending restraint is a part of this for now but for the longer run and i think we have to get back to

deregulation. when you look at the fbi see what the fed is doing andothers who are regulatory and use these of the budd administration area they had come out with a slew of new regulations that hurt americans in the financial sector and otherwise that are keeping us being as prosperous as possible and less economic growth. we need to take a look at these things especially when we do about the fbi see and see how we roll back these regulations. you do that and we can unleash the economic potential of americans across the country and ultimately bring down the . host: james in providence, rhode island democratic caller. caller: thank you for the call. vince, i appreciate you talking about your point of view about the economic for the u.s.. we are on top of the world. i don't know where you see that we are struggling here. i am a working man and i work just as well and i'm doing fine.

i may have to spend my cuts in food or bills but i'm doing fine. people have to manage their money as well as congress. congress didn't do so well when donald trump was in office. now that biden is doing well everybody wants to darken his cloud. he is doing well and i'm voting for him, thank you for the call. guest: thank you for the call as well and i appreciate your remarks. there are a lot of people doing well but there's an awful lot of people who are suffering across the economy. about half of americans according to a recent post shows they believe we are in a recession. technically speaking, we are not in a recession. there were other measures that are out there. forars. that's still relatively low 's up from

3.4% a few months ago. that's an increase in the unemployment rate. when you typally get more than a 0.5 increase, it indicates you are going into recession. the unemployment rate and jobs measures out there are lagging indicators many the economy slows down first and then businesses start to let go of workers. this is a big concern for me. when you dig into the other numbers like household employment, it's only up 0.3% is nonfarm jobs were up 3 million so there is a huge diversions with headline numbers. this means that there are jobs being added but many people are getting multiple jobs and people are getting part-time jobs. part-time jobs over the last year are 600,000 were full-time jobs are down 200,000. this is not a good situation for many americans that want a job. even when you have 270 2000 jobs

added in may, we saw the 40,000 of them were government jobs. i want people to prosper. government jobs, the government doesn't have any money, nothing is free and it comes from the private sector. the shift going on across the economy were private sector workers are paying for government workers government workers are up about 3% -over-year where the private sector is only up about 1.5%3 that means government workers are growing at twice the rate at -- as private sector workers. this is a concern along with the inflationary pressures and in my view, i would say that what we need is less government. we need to get control of our deficits and debt and regulations out there and that will allow for you and many people to be that are off in the future. host: how do you look at our deficits and debt? guest: they are major probledeficits this year is expected to be around $2 trillionwe are running

trillion dollar deficits per year and we are paying interest on the debt meaning payments on thet from the nearly $35 trillion of national debt. we are paying $1 trillion per year which is more than we spend on national defense. we've got to get something done here and i think that comes by restraining government spending. i say we should spend more than just no more than population growth. that's where the money is coming from as the taxpayer and that will allow for more growth in the economy. in the meantime, we need to be cutting our spending. we went from $4.8 trillion when i was in the trump white house and 2019 to about $6.8 trillionw. that's a $2 trillion increase in a short time. that's why we are running massive decits across the economy so we got to cut government spending first and then start to slow the growth rate over time and then we can get control of our deficits and

debt and bring about more economic growth which will also contribute to more increases of revenue and reductions in deficits over time. that's the only way out of this. even during the 1990's during the clinton administration, the republican congress came in and made sweeping reforms and they restraint the growth rate of government spending and at the same time, we had more economic growth we ran a budget surplus for four years in a row. we can do that same thing again. i'm hopeful we can rein+ in government spending. host: you can do that again without looking at social security and medicare? guest: i believe those will be on the table. republicans democrats don't want to talk about it but when need some major reforms as we have a lot of people who are retiring and a fewer number of people paying into the there is not an account in my name at the irs and says this money is for you.

my money is going to retirees today. i think at some point, we need to find a way off of this scheme that's out there of this redistribution that's happening. you have private savings account in yourd to talk about whether we should force people to save in general. whenev there was supplemental income, the social security was not meant to live on and now people are living on that area i don't blame that at all. this is the incentive that's been put in place in the same thing with medicare. we need more opportunities for people to pay directly for health care and it will bring down pricesnment system and this will help the budget tremendously. i agree we need to do something about social security and medicare but that will get people upset and i understand that. for the good of america, we got to get back on track because we are way off track today. host: john in virginia, independent. caller: good morning. can you explain the difference

between our economy and an economy like russia? it seems in both economies the government has complete control. government gets control by creating jobs or losing jobs in our economy. can you explain why the government has so much control over our economy? guest: a great point. you have russia and there are major differences. russia is a socialist economy where it's a top-down government approach. communism runs it in the political side of things is similar to china. you have these government top-down approaches that are happening. in america, one of the beauties has been our system of free-market capitalism where instead of a top-down approach it's been a bottom up approach. unfortunately, what we've seen over decades, nearly a century now is that we have more and more government involvement across the economy. you think about health care and

$.60 of every dollars coming from you through medicare and medicaid and other measures out there. look at education, $.90 of every dollar is spent. manufacturing, there is this industrial policy going on in america. i think we are on this road to serfdom where we have too much government in the economy and that's one reason why we have slower economic growth. we were running three or 4% growth rate in the reagan administration andow they expect to have only 2% growth rate. if it's that slow, you will see higher deficits because you are not bringing in as much revenue as you otherwise would we need to raise taxes in order to cut the deficit and debt. it's a bad idea because then you slow economic growth andrevenue in the process. our systems are very different than russia and china. that's a blessing but we are moving too far in that direction

and i'm hopeful we can start moving back toward free-market capitalism. if we do that, we will let people -- prosper. host: benjamin is next. caller: thanks for taking my call. there is one stat that is very concerning and that's the median wage in the country is going down. the regulation he's talking about, deregulating our economy what we want to see his fewer and larger firms in more smaller firms because that will contribute to the median wage and the wealth of our country. that's my comment. guest: thank you for those comments.

what we want to look at is both sides. who decides how big is too big for business, what is too small? there is a lot of discussion now by the biden and the federal trade commission along with the department of justice which has been overly active in trying to bring down -- bring about these antitrustases and break apart businesses, reject mergers and y say there's too much concentration of businesses in certain sectors. who decides? it should be up to the consumer. the consumer should be able to decide that if we don't like this company or they had too much money or profits, stop going there. you have a lot of consumer sovereignty i don't think we give ourselves credit for as consumers. we don't need big government to break these things up because when they do, we will always see the side effect. a french economist said we have the scene versus the unseen.

we see prices are too high and can't keep up but the unseen is that we should be able to act on our own accord as consumers and choose where we want to go try to make the best decisions possible. unfortunately, you have bigger government whether it's breaking up banks are breaking up different businesses and creating too much money by the fed and overspending by congress and the fbi see -- you see you have a concentration of income and wealth that's driven by government action, not by pre-mark -- free-market capitalism. i think it's important for us to reduce the size and scope of government in every area of our lives that way we have more liberty, more economic item that means more prosperi don't want to be russia or china. i want us to be america and allow for us to have as much freedom and prosperity as possible. deregulation is a big part of that. and whether that's for business we like or not, we should be able to make those ch not use big

government in the process. host: andrew is watching, democratic caller. caller: good morning. my argument with your guest today is we do not have a spending problem. we have a revenue problem. this trump republican surrogate is proposing that we extend the tax cuts for the super wealthy and the corporations once again which will lead to massive debt and deficits in this country. what this guy is proposing and i'm glad you brought it up, how are we going to bring down the debt and deficit? he proposes to go after the entitlements. social security, medicare, medicaid. on top of that, trump has said if he's elected, he will get rid of obamacare. these guys are basically bank robbers. they will go to where the money's at and that's the entitlements. all you trump supporters, all you independence who are concerned about the price of gas

in the price of bacon and eggs, you let these guys in and you will be lucky if you don't lose your pensions cuts to social security and medicare and medicaid. you will pay through the nose because these guys are interested in giving tax cuts to the super wealthy and the corporations. that's all they care about thank you. guest: thank you for your comments. i'm not a trump surrogate. i did work there for a year and what i will say when he was president, if what we are seeing now is that people can afford a lot of items you're talking about, that's through the big government socialism under the biden administration. what i hope is that we get some return to free-market capitalism that comes from government spending less. the government is about 25% of gdp. that means one out of every four dollars is by government meaning

you the taxpayer are either paying today through taxes or in the future with higher taxes and inflation which is a hidden tax. we have a situation already were government is too big. i understand your concerns about the trump tax cuts and other things but remember that those trump tax cuts were for everyone getting a benefit and research has shown that everyone benefited across the board. it did not go all to the top, it went across the board and everyone seen the benefits of those tax cuts and if those are allowed to expire next year, we will see major problems across the economy and across income levels especially those at the bottom of the income spectrum. i want everyone to do as well. we talk about income inequality where they say the upper income is making more than the lower in and that's true. we are also seeing they are growing together. they are both increasing over time is just that the author --

the upper income grows faster than the lower income. if we are getting everybody to a group -- to improve across the spectrum, why is that a bad thing? inflation i was going way too fast so average earnings, median earnings are not able to about with average weekly earnings and are not able to keep up with inflation and this is been a major problem. i hear your frustration i've been hearing and across the country but i think we are looking at the wrong problems. we don't hava revenue problem we have a spending problem and i would get -- we see this across the country. we need sustainable budgeting and less regulation and less money printed by the federal reserve. that's what we will see. host: the former chief economist of the office of management and budget with the trump administration of the host let people prosper podcast. thank you for the conversation this morning. guest: thank you, it was a pleasure. host: we will take a break and when we come back, we will be an

open orem, any policy or political issue on your mind, you can start dialing in lezz california democrat congressman jared huffman talks about a new task to combat project 2025 that looks at the agenda for a second trump presidency. axios congressional reporter previews the former presidents visit to capitol hill. we will be right back. ♪ >>an history tv features historic convention speeches. what's notable remarks by presidential nominees from -- and other political figures in the past several decades. senator john kennedy new frontier speech this saturday at the democratic national convention. >> the new frontier which i see is not a bed of promises. it's a new set of challenges.

it sums up not what i intend to offer the american people but what i intend to offer them. >> senator ted kennedy's 1980 convention speech after his loss to president jimmy carter in the primary. >> the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives in the dream shall never die. [applause] >> convention speeches saturdays at 7 p.m. ory tv on what c-span's live campaign 2020 were covered of the 15-18 and the democratic national convention august 19-22. ♪ >> tune into c-span's live coverage of the 2024 national political convention starting with the republican four-day event in milwaukee july 15. next up, the democrats convene in chicago taking off august 19. stay connected with c-span or an

uninterrupted and unfiltered glimpse of democracy at work. watch the republican and democratic national conventions lied this summer on c-span, c-span now and online at c-span.org. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. powered by cable. ♪ >> >> c-spanshop.org is our online store. browse through our latest collection of c-span product there is something for every c-span fan and every purchase helps support our nonprofit operations. shop now or anytime at c-spanshop.org. ♪ host: welcome back to the "washington journal." we are in open form for the next 30 minutes in any political or policy issue on your mind, start

dialing income republicans (202) 748-8001 democrats (202) 748-8000, an independents (202) 748-8002. we will take your thoughts on facebook. calm/ c-span and onx and you can also text with your first name, city and state to (202) 748-8003. we will get your thoughts in a minute but joining us and them from capitol hill is congressman jared huffman, democrat from california. you are here to talk about projecth is being spearheaded by the conservative heritage foundation. they are coming up with a blueprint for a second term for the former president, the trump presidency. wise a task force needed to combat project 2025? guest: thank you for havini think the task force is needed because most americans don't have time to wade through a nearly 1000 page extreme right

wing manifesto which is what project 2025 is. they don't have time to hang out in the fever swamp of steve bannon's blog and a podcast to find out who the senior trump officials are and what they are absolutely planning and the unthinkable event donald trump should return to the white house. our task force will spotlight the extreme agenda so everyone has a clear understanding of what it is and why taken seriously and also to prepare congress for that unthinkable and i don't think it will happen but if it does and if we are facing this agenda in a second trump presidency, we have to be ready. host: your response? guest: that's pretty typical of

the kind of screaming extremism you here. it really drips of unhedgextremism and that's what project 2020 -- 2025 is. what's scary is these are the most senior people inside donald trump's inner circle. they will have senior positions in a second trump administration should he somehow win the presidency. we need to take this seriously. when he says things like we won't be stopped, i don't know about you but i think most people begin to feel uncomfortable with that kind of authoritarianism, the heavy handedness. it's a preview of what we would see in a second trump presidency. host: is the biden administration planning for a second term and coming up with an agenda as well? guest: of course. i think president biden will win. i think he will be reelected. i think democrats have an

excellent chance of having majorities in both houses of congress. please do not mistake the need to understand and spotlight this agenda with any lack of confidence in that. you need to be clear eyed and ready for these scenarios and you need to make sure americans understand what is at stake and why it has to be taken seriously. host: what concerns you about a second term of the trump presidency? guest: everything concerns me. if you read project 2025 and most people won't have the time to do it so our task force will tell them what it is, what it means and why should be taken seriously but it covers just about all of the key pillars of our democracy, the things that it our democracy strong that give us a pluralistic secular society. you are talking about attacks on checks and balances on executive power, invoking emergency authorities and old morality codes from 100 years ago in order to go after women's reproductive rights and rollback

protections for the lgbtq community. is to dismantle the federal e and install political loyalties throughout throughout government. and to do a lot more that's very alarming. if you care about democracy, if you care about church and state separation and individual rights you need to understand this agenda and take it seriously. host: on tax policy and spending, we just heard from our last guest who was conservative that the former president tax cuts in 2017 helped grow the economy which then brought in more revenue he argued into the federal government. he believest should the white house be run by the former president that the tax cuts should be reenacted or renewed. and that they will focus on cutting spending of the federal government. your reaction? guest: my reaction is that we need to decode that for the american people.

they talk about cutting spending in order to do even more of these reckless tax cuts for ri folks and corporations. what they are talking that is going after social security and medicare. i think that should be deeply alarming along with all the other things we've been talking about what project 2025. host: what will your group the republicans say you're using taxpayer money, what does that mean? guest: i have been pleased at the response. we have broad representation from the different caucuses on our democratic side that you would think would have an interest and deeply concerned about project 2025. the pro-choice caucus leader, the equality caucus, the labor caucus, the hispanic and black caucus and my dear friend jamie raskin and i represent the congressional free caucus wish defense church state separation. these different interests are at the table and i have colleagues coming out of the woodwork's wanting to be part of this.

there is a hunger to tell this story and make sure that members of congress and the american people understand just how draconian and extreme and dystopic this agenda is. we need to stop it before it gets legs. host: are you using taxpayer dollars? guest: i am a member of congress. i'm using taxpayer dollars to talk to you right now technically. this is what we do is public messaging and public policy. this is at the core of what we are supposed to do. host: congressman jared huffman democrat from california, we appreciate some of your time this morning and it's a busy day on capitol hill. we look forward to the next time. guest: thanks for having me. host: we are now in open forum. we are taking your thoughts on policy or political issues. just heard froe you can respond to him at previous guest as well. jesse in florida, republican, good morning. caller: yes ma'am. two things i want to talk about

one is i do not believe tax rates are what we have a problem with. i believe it's tax policy. it doesn'tr what the rate is corporations and very r people can use loopholes to essentially pay no taxes. when you have a billion-dollar corporation that is paying no taxes, it's not because the rates are what they are, it's because the loopholes are there and they take advantage of them. in response the last guy you had on, i think he's right in that you will never sell guys like me who are conservative on biden. but you can sell guys like me on the danger associated with donald trump. i do not support donald trump and i think i will be forced to vote for joe biden.

host: why do you not support the former president? caller: because he is a crook. look at what he did in the document case. anybody who did that does not deserve to be in any government office. i've been associated time and i guarantee you if anybody i ever knew did anything close to what he did with those documents, we would be in jail. host: what is the difference between what he did and what president biden did with classified documents? caller: the difference is that i don't really know what documents biden had. i know that trump had nuclear secrets and he spoke to the australians about it. i know he hid the documents. it's just a world of difference between those two. i do not believe either one of

those could have been able to get classified documents out of the security system. certainly we couldn't do that. know what's so mixed up with the system up there that congressman and vice presidents and presidents are able to get by with classified documents like they do. host: tom, democratic caller, open for them. caller: good morning and thanks for taking michael. the previous guest you had had an economic role in the trump administration. i wanted to refute some of the things he said. he was really talking about removing regulation and i want to remind the callers the viewers that trump was very proud, i think he had a media event where he had pages and pages and stacks of regulations he cut. part of that regulation he cut

was responsible for the train derailment in east palestine ohio. it's what that did to that part of the country. those are trump voters and they were the ones that were impacted. if we rollback regulations, we will get back to a place where robber barons at monopolies and it wasn't a 40 hour work week, there wasn't overtime and there was an occupational safety. i wanted to mention that and i do echo a lot of what a few colors back said about what another trump present a look -- presidency looks like and peeling back a lot of the entitlements that trump voters and supporters are enjoying now. thank you for your time today. host: more of your calls coming up in open forum. first, joining us this morning is the congressional reporter with axios to talk about the former president's visit to

capitol hill. why now? guest: the former president and gop leaders are looking to unify the conference in the event he does win in november to get an agenda together and try to get the fractured caucus to come together ahead of election season. host: where will he be meeting with them and why is that important and who will attend when house republicans gather with the former president behind closed doors? guest: this will be his first meeting with the full house conference since he was in public office since january 6. he will meet with the capitol hill club at 9:30 a.m. to discuss the path forward and their plans to take back the majority or retain the majority on the house side in november and then he will meet with the senate at 12:30 p.m. where it will be mitch mcconnell's first time meeting with him since the former president was in office. it will be interesting to see how that plays out given their former dynamic.

on the house side, they will probably talk about their policy agenda they would like to see next year on the senate side host: host:, similar discussions. on the house side, people are getting ready there. marjorie taylor greene is heading into the meeting. there she is heading into the capital building. official building as you noted. there is mike mccall as well congressman and he's heading into meet with the former ent. this is taking place at 9:30 a.m. eastern time. the medias lined up outside of the building. what do you expect this to be like on capitol hill today? guest: it will be interesting. as there since he was in office and i've talked to trump critics who are going tod and some of who won't in here out what he has to say. i don't think there'll be a ton of policy discussions, the main things they would like to do next year should they hold onto

the majority. we will see the reaction coming out. they are kind of in mixed expectations of what he will say and how pivotal it will be. shortly after the meeting, we will talk to them and have news updates at that time. host: of those that you call trump critics, who will not be attending these meetings today and what did they tell you? guest: there is a handful of moderates that will not go and they told me they've got work to do and they will be focusing on constituent work. the vast majority of the conference is going to be at the meeting. host: you mentioned even senate minority leader mitch mcconnell will be there in the meeting as well. what did he tell reporters yesterday about his attendance? guest: he said he will be there and is the first time they will have been in the same room since donald trump was in office and he told reporters yesterday that having been a critic in the past

that they have been at odds and he will support the nominee in november. host: what else is the former president up to in washington today? guest: he's going to meet with both conferences and next week speaker mike janssen -- and mike johnson will talk about their plans at mar-a-lago to take back the majority. a lot of time with gop leadership in the next few days. host:there a concerted effort by the republican leadership to focus on 2025 and the agenda? will we learn anything about their plans? guest: we will seek what comes out of the meeting. i know speaker johnson has spoken with president trump and steve scalise is talking about the reconciliation process which would allow republicans if they take both chambers to be able to filibuster on what their main priorities will be early next year so they can hit the ground running in the event they win. host: you can follow her

reporting at axios.com or on x. more reporting from her today on the outcome of this meeting and what happens behind closed doors. we thank you for spending some time with us this morning. guest: thanks for having me. host: we are in open form and george in maryland, an independent, good morning to you, what's on your mind? george and marilyn, independent, are you there? we are in open forum. you can talk about the former president's visit to capitol hill or talk about the economy or taxes. these are previous conversations we've had this morning and we also talked about the contempt of congress vote that happened yesterday in the house along party lines. howard saulsberry, south carolina, good morning. caller: how are you doing? i have a lot to talk about but i

know my time is limited. there is a lot of things going on now that they tried to make it seem as though trump really doesn't have his conference together. we know that biden is definitely on the money. i've seen old people before and people in the right mind. this lady is 97 years old and she is a whip. she articulates with you. she keeps up with what's going around in the world and that's great. i want the republicans, the maga republicans, not all republicans. democracy is still the number one issue. if you ever hear a republican talk, they will not talk to you about abortion. they will not talk about getting hearing aids and insulin and all the programs that the biden administration put together for the people. the only thing the maga

republicans want is they just want to deregulate everything if it doesn't go their way. they just want to go head-on and cut, cut, cut to get to the rich. wñ tonisinhe