o- host: this is "washington journal" for sunday, 16. last week the u.s. supreme court struck down a federal ban on bu stocks, declaring that the ms alcohol exceeded its authority when it banned the devices,uctor guns to fire more rapidly. the ruling puts the future of hands of

lawmakers, just months before the november election. to start today's program, we want to hear from you. how important are gun issues to your 2024 vote? republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. 202-748-8002. if you're a gun owner, there's a line for you 202-748-8003. if you'd like to text us, do so at 202-748-8003. sure you can also post a question or on facebook, at football.com/cspan x @cspanwj. the that decision on thursday. from npr, here's more. president trump ordered the ban in 2017 afte gunman at a las vegas concert used multiple guns modified by bump stock devices to kill 60 people and injure 400, all in the space of 11 minutes. the subsequent regulation banned bump stocks on the grounds they transferred

legal semiconductor weapons into illegal the supreme court's conservative super writing, justice clarence thomas said the semiconductor rifle is not a machine gun because it doesn't fireically. bolstering his opinion with six diagrams illustrating stocks work, thomas noted the a.t.f. regulation was a the agency's previous position. and president biden spoke at the everyt a gun organization, a gun violence prevention earlier this week before the supreme court decision was announced. here are some of president biden's comments from that event. >> that's why last december i established the first ever white house office of gun violence prevention.

we got first-rate professionals there, overseen by my incredible vice president. who was a pretty fierce prosutor, as well. coordinate the government effort to reduce gun violence in america, about how important this issue is to me to you, and to the entire country. [applause] you're changing the nation. you really are. you're changing the it builds upon the dozen of exec to reduce gun violence, more than any of my cracking down on guest guns, gun trafficking, so much more. folks, we're not stopping there. it's to do what i did when i was a senator, ban i mean it.z;

>> four more years! years! president biden: who in god's name needs a magazin 200 shells? >>obod right. i was when i was campaigning when i was a senator, going through the wetlands of meet all the people who were most upset with me, fishermen i came across a guy who he was fishing and said you want to take my gun, and i looked at him and said i don't want to take your gun, you're allowed to but i want to take away your ability to use an assault we how the conversation went. he said what do you mean i need that gun. i said if you need 12 to 100 bull that's you're the lousiest shot i've ever heard. and to his credit, h me and said, you have a good point. but think about it.

they're weapons of war. iden on tuesday. according to new done earlier this month looking at cultural 2024 election, when it comes to guns, it says perhaps no topic divides voters more deeply ole that firearms have in american life by overwhelming margins. biden's supporters prioritize gun control over gun rights and say gip does more to reduce than increase safety. roughly eight 10 biden supporters 83%, say the increase in begins in the u.s. is at least somewhat bad for society. by clarger margins, donald trump rs express opposing views to all three measures. unde divisiveness of the topic, americansagree about whether gun violence have a major national separate survey, 68% of democrats and d independents say gun violence is a very bigbl 27% of republicans and repuan leaners.

former president trump spoke at a n.r.a. event last month. here are his comments during that eve >> from the very first day that we take back the whiteeve we are going to have the four greatest years in the history of and it's hard to believe, when you look at what's happening right now, with the inflation and the bad economy. one of the greatest, i'll just say scott, one of the great prognosticators on wall street, one of the se on wall street, he said the only reason the stock market is doing well in all of the polls. if trump wasn't leading in all the polls, and win, you're going to have a collapse like in 1929. so just remember, he said it, but i said it too. i really believe it. i believe it. that's the only thing that's doing well is the stock market. it's doing well because we are doing well. we are a great stock market. if it didn't going to be very bad time, i think for our country. but to achieve the future you to march into the voting booth and you have to tell

crooked joe biden, joe, you're doing a horrible job, you'reresident, like the apprentice joe, you're fired you're fired. and let there be no doubt, the survival of our second amendment is very much on the ballot. you know what they want to they're going to, oh, if they get in, our country is going destroyed in so many ways, but the second they'd never get anywhere, and we need t forgetting about even going hunting and all of the things that you do, we need it for safety. because the bad guys are not giving up their gunned, you know that. the bad ones are not giving their guns. oh, they will be so happy. if the biden more years, they are coming for your guns,00% certain. crooked joe has a 40-year record of trying to rip firearms out of citizens. he's always wanted to do that. an host: this morning we are hearing fromou about how important our gun issues are to your 2024e. republicans, your line,

202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. and if you're a gun owner, call in at 202-748-8003. we will hear first from rob in new york on the independentline. good morning, rob. caller: good morning. i can't believe we're having this talk again. you guys have wasted a lot of the last couple of years. why don't you talk about refusing to prosecute attorney general merrick garland for come the of congress? that's the most important story. when we don't have a legal system anymore, what does it matter? you can have all the guns you want, but when the government has f-15's and f-16's, what chance d to stand up against those clowns? joe biden, if there's a puppet, eat of anything. host: rob, do you have thoughts on, does vote? are you going vote in 2024? caller:te. i'm never going to vote for another democrat after the way i've seen these people leave the borders open.

we're all a border state. host: how do gun issues factor into 2024? ller: well, the second amendment says infringed. that's pretty language. you know why they're socks and all this other garbage, we have guns to stand up against the tyrannical government, and we have a tyrannical government. so that's why they want to take your guns away. you awhu're not allowed to criticize right now, younow? our government is just evil, and it's sad for me to say that becausd i'm kind of sorry that anybody serves in our military just, all we do is go to other countries and steal their resources and for what, just so our economy can have big, booming numbers for lockheed and general die natural and i can all the rest of these clowns that find more and more lethal ways to kill people. we'll go to peter in dallas, also on the independent morning peter. caller: good morning. i'm on the oh, apologies, good

morning. caller: calling about this bump stock. this guy is talking about his military guy. peoplere dying. all the republicans do is make it to get these guns to kill peopl why? why is so important for theses and all the other weapons to easy to get? republicans and donald trump they are axis of evil. these are evil people. should never be allowed anymore. donald trump belongs in prison. republicans have no love for this country. republicans are embedded withst organization in this country. donald trump and i hope on july 11 marchan send him to prison, thank you. host: joe from massachusetts calling on the independent line, good morning joseph.

caller: good morningspan. i'd like t supporter of president donald trump. hopefully he'll get back on't agree on everything he said, bu the baby out with the bath water. he's f amendment. i think there are racist elements in's so many guns in america. 330 in america. when i live in texas, i grew up in new in texas in 1994, there was 260 million guns in america. texas alone has 60 million guns. that's 1994. out of that, five out of the 10 most violent city in texas. houston had the fourth highest murder rate per dallas, number five. san antonio was i think fort worth. new york city, people talk about how tough new york city was. when i lived in new york city in

1987 they averaged 2,000 a year. 400 murders. new york city have one of the strictest gun laws. you get two years in reichers for guns. new york city was ranked 15th per capita in murder in the nation. new york city was basically the same city because they have one of the strictest gun laws. most of those guns came from virginia. and i point out why say -- i got a work in texas. roblem. just like drugs alcohol, other stuff, i addiction. people are addicted to guns. i used to go to the meet in oklahoma city relays, tulsa oklahoma, oklahoma city, every year. the civic same had the gun show in oklahoma state.

i went there the same time they meet, because the civic center walked the samewe practiced our events for track taking up too much time. there's a the drug culture. mexico was a safe place. you look at all the south american countries brazil, venezuela. host: all right, got your point joseph. we will go toichard in missouri. he is a gun owner. good morning caller: good morning. how are you today? ho thanks. caller: yes i'm very for the right in the second amendment the punctuation really matters. if you remember back in the old days, when people used to get out territorial prisons, they were given a six shooter $20 gold piece and a horse. one time it was constitutional for everybody to maintain. amendments being taken away, which, of course, the constitution says you can't take away from the constitution, you can only add to it, with 2/3 of

the support, correct? soith that being the case, on a simple possession, there should not up in america white the equal protection of the law, theof the land. host: what about 2024, richard? where does it rank in terms of issues that aremportant to you? caller: i think it's very important, ruling that the second amendment protects mis pass was violated the supremacy clause proves that. be protect thetion is the supreme law of the land, then that ruling was unconstitutional. host: let's hear from frank in cincinnatihio, calling on the democrats line. good morning, frank. caller: hi, so i'd like tma four dispassionate arnt your listeners tell me what they

thin ok, should we limit the rights of 99.9% of americans because .1% are totally insane homicidal maniacs? hear in cincinnati, we had someone drive a car into oktoberfest and kill few years ago. the problem is the way people think. it is not the weapon, it's the way people think. that's my first statement. i don't think that we should limit the rights because of a vast minority misuse automatic weapons. any argument that a person might make, notomatic weapon. when i have a talk with people, i say why? why can't they? and eventually they come down to they're indiscriminate killing machines that is likely to kill innocent people as anyone else. so then ask why are there two armories in state in this

union full of theset to be potentially used against u.s. citizens? if they are indiscriminate killers, why do we have them? why do we get them to other countries to use against their people if they're morally wrong, why do we have them? he government has them, why can't citizens them? i've never had anyone ever give me anument that can defy either one of those to good. i would like anyone on t left to tell me one country that's not turned against its people sooner or later. all governments their leadership role with their people. they break with theird they have to be re-established. host: frank, you said you a democrat or

republican line. but i am a republican. my argument i don't think is republican or democrat. host: where do gun rights issues of importance for you in terms of the 2024 election? i think it's important to the right as abortion is to theair statement. host: but you personally, how is it going to -- how are gun issues impacting how you vote? caller: if a democrat were to say i am for the secondn9 and obama did nothing or to supplant the second that regard. we talk about the bill of rights. i'm not off subject, just moment.

we will not give the federal government that much power. we had a king, we're not going to have a king again. and john hancock said, look, you guys, get together, write someththat balances this thing out that people will vote for, so we can ratify this. and they came bk with the bill of rights, hoe, for the purpose of limiting -- 40 individuals for the purpose of that's what the second amendment is about. these given to individuals to protect them from intrusive government. to see it any other way, to say let's get rid of all guns because of a .1% or even 2% of the population, do you think eir weapons? no. host: all right, we got your will go on to tim in new york. he is a gun caller: morning. i'm 73 years old. i've hunted all my life. i've owned weapons since i was a

young kid. i just these assault weapons, something has to be done. i don't know what it isot a politician. i'm just an citizen, and i think assault weapons war. they were devised and built to kill people, and that's exactly what they do. and when they pass this bump stock deal to quit making them, that w a now they've rescinded that, kill people faster or something? i don't understand it. but i feel that, you know, when bill clinton passed the assault weapons ban in this country, there was basically over assault weapons owned by theer and they were a weapon built for

war, vietnam, you know. and since the assault weapons ban has come off, there's a four million in the general public's hands now which i'mnt person. i do hunt. but these weapons, i don't li for hunting. they're made for killing. it's a shame we can't come to some kind of agreement on things. whether it's registering leak a pistol permit. am a pistol owner. i have several pistols. and i believe in registration. i believe in background checks. i think we should have a national background check for every weapons that's sold in this country. i don't understand why we can't get that pass, but that's

neitherfo their. to say. host: tim in new york, a gun owner. from the associated press, this article talking about the lewiston maine shooting. hasn't decidedn's mo closely watched congressional election this is years guns will be on his mind ads he casts his ballot pretty sure he won't be the only one. a 47-year-old father shot five times at the lewistong that bash and grill shooting. it was the deadliest mass shooting in maine' history. he was rushed to the hospital. he still can't use his right arm. the article says in the aftermath of a blood-soaked tragedy in which 18 people were killed and many more were wounded at two separate crime scenes dryer has state enact new gun control laws t. is against the back drop that and main's second congressional district will consider the political three-term congressman jared golden. we are talking with morning about how important gun

issues are to y 2024 vote. you'll hear next from bill in florida cliblican line. good morning, bill. how important are gun issues to vote? caller: good morning. gun issues are really not to keep my gunned. i don't care who's in office. i have a right to defend my home. if somebody breaks in my house i have a right to defend myself. as far as all these bump stocks and assault weapons, if you take the rifle and paint it camouflage, that's an assault thing. it's semiautomatic they put clips in. knyou clip? it's so ridiculous with these guys. they have no idea what they're talking about when they talk about weapons. another thing, all these shootings, just about all of them, were c by people that have mental health problems no mental health they don't work together. i remember one instance a lady

her kid because she left her weapons out. i think it was in new york. this kid had known mental problems for years. for years. nothing was done about it. and that happens i'd say at least 90% of the shootings these people have mental problems. and they're known ahead of time and nothing's ever done. we need more communication between the mental health people and law enforcement. thank you. st city, new jersey calling on the democratsw important are gun issues to your vote? caller: i mean, i think it's kind of important. ultimately i reached the point of exhaustion. there's so many shootings. any parents, i've never had guns in the homgrowing up. my parents in the later years have decided they're gun people. i guess they protect themselves in their suburban understand it. yeah, i guess i don't get it. in terms of my parties are so polarized, i don't th swing

either way. but guns or whatev tool. what i really detest is is gun culture in this country a that you don't like the government and you're going to protect your is silly. we have nuclear weapons, ta a gun impacts that. so it's mostly just a source of great stress within my relations with my parents more than anything. it's less about the voting. but yeahg and i hate it, so that's it. host: in georgia on the independent line. good caller: good morning, c-span. i'm going to give you a total independent vie of the whole mess. guns are irrelevant. they the disconnect between the brain and the bullet. and in the 27 amendment there ain't mentioned of brass ammo. after this amendment was

adopted. now, it is regulated, you can only boy up a certain because after that they call it a weapon of mass destruction. start lowering the bar on are doing the mass destruction? they're all brass ammo. death. we can turn it over to the in put microprint on the bullets and on the shell casings and trace who is selling thisff to the criminals, which are putting 50 -- you can the little cones all over the place when you have one of these sh ammo. y'all, get your mind off the ammo, which is already there. that subject and stay there and do something, we can stop all this. but as long as we want to keep talking about something that i irrelevant, which is too without ammo, you can beat yourself about the head, but

problem. we got to regulate the ammo. thank you for letting me come on. y'all have a good day. ho: frank in new york, a gun owner, good morning. how important ars to your vote? caller: real simple. let ndilitary have the a high-powered weapons, and the average person shouldn'twed to buy them. it's that simple. thank you, bye-bye. host: greg in texas on the democrats line. good morning. caller:g. i just wanted to comment on this. i'm going say this to people. when they blame the government for what's going on in this country about guns and all this, it's not the government. it's the people thatuns the government that's out here, that's trying to blame the. wasn't for the government citizens wouldn't have no rights and that's what these people trying to from you. when it come down to is not guns, it's not the problem. this country was built on violence. that's why every time you turned around a black person go out there and steal a piece of candy, black person get a chicken, they give them a felony, so they c't vote,

can't have arms and guns. but they go around telling y to have a gun in your house. these people broke all laws out here, that so-called to want run this country like thedll the western movies, and you'll see is being run. the abuse i've been through with t gun, allowed to have guns in the back of their cars, they made a gun rack and protested against th let themheso t7g with wear rights but the blacks had gun stopped by the police and got harassed and shot and killed. so this this is the one-way thinking. these people out here, they don't want the government to do for other people what it do for them. it's not our government, and these people that blaming government. give me time like everybody else. give the people that's blaming the government, the people here mad because other people, the government is protecting them, these people don't want the government in your life. these people want to do the like all these spring breakers was out there shooting on the beach shooting and stuff, and the police caught him and put him

on a mug shot. come to find out he had a fake wig on and fake mustache. they took that off the tv. now they set it up to go shoot up a concert, and then find out guy. you didn't hear about that. instigating stuff, and then they blaming it on people of color. they give us felonies for listen to me they give us felonies from day one, ever since i was a kid. they abuse you and cops will tell you to run, and you don't run. they want to shoot these people. host: got your point, greg. last month during an event, vice president kamala asked about gun control efforts. here are some of her remarks. vice president harris: i would ask this question when did i my every time, and over 15,000 kid showed up, by the wa auditoriums in overove w also tell you themselves standing in line for hours not for a rock concert, but to literally witness something like

this, right? and i'd ask every time, raise your hand, i'd ask the students, if at any point between and 12th grade you had to endure almost every hand went up. i'd also say to the press all take a look at this. studentsur hands up. it's bone-chilling. all of that to say that when i believe that, first of all false choice that's been perpetuated including in this town thatvor of the second amendment or you want to take everyone's guns away. in favor of the second amendment, and i believe we need an assault weaponsround checks. we need red flag laws. right? given how our young leaders have this, growing up in california, the closest thing i had to an active shooter drill earthquake or fire drill right? drills happen like consistently, and

thankfully we gun violence, very different issue. when our young leaders start voting in theso many of these issues, i believe we are going to see a sea change how we address because our young leaders are very practical and to want see things done. what for to us figure it out. they're going to do it. they're going to do it. host: we are hearing from you, gun issues to your 2024 vote? on facebook, we are getting don't even make my list. i'm more being able to see merry christmas. the constitution is what's important and the right to bear arms is in the constitution. let's he clearwater florida, on the republican l good morning, charles. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i want to say this before i get'm a black man.

i've been a republican since 1972 voted for dickus at the university of michigan. with that said, i've always say that when i listen to people talk about this gun whether they're civilians or politicians especially, you can know absolutely nothing aboutiranyone knows that an ar-15 a .223 cartridge can kill a squirrel.n or medium sides fox or. but because the ar-15 is modeled after an m-16 and m-4 military style weapon, tca an assault rifle. understanding even today that stands for armor lite, not assault rifle. started telling this lie about war on our streets. and he kept saying that over and over and over. you say itdou enough, on which

enough, people believe it. when i lisp to your callers they've been brain washed and haven't done their homework, and people nee their homework before they engage in this, especially our gentleman made a great point changing magazine in five six seven, you know, 10 seconds, depends crack this. i just t get -- the other thing about the response is, i've said for years that the people who are doing these mass shootings are men between 18 30. have sexuallythroughout their drugs. they have mental health issues. so they report, how does a first r go to aurora, colorado and show up at ae. theater where a man shot 70 people and he walks out standing up. he would have looked like swiss cheese. standing up, rooking all crazy. host: when it comes to the

election, where do gun issues fall for you? caller: i don't think it really matters. i think the real is 2024 issue is going to the economy, one. foreign policy domestic policy illegal he key issues. abortion comes in. and then guns is further down 10. but the first is going to be the economy, that was charles in florida. let's go to robert in newark, ohio, on the i line. good morning. caller: thank you. country boys c more seriously, the problem on people, people kill people. the problem is in theuman heart. i thank god for eternal rightsthe shadow of death. every day of father's day, happy father's daya[épud love rob, snowflake. host: that was robert. reminder to our callers, make sure

your background. let's hear from leeth charleston on the democrats line. good lee. caller: good morning. i think it's very important to have for your family home, it doesn't i think what a matter of intimidation, and they do. why would i want to go carry a gun like our officer and everything out in the street and bore tray this image other than just tryingdy. because i have a problem. lot of people who really basically retarded, and we're talking about the color of law here. we've got a bunch of people ruing around, walking around in suit coat dresses, and youown culture of unbounded. it is the speaker

he's got plenty of work. i just think we need to get rid of these people who are against the united states of america. host: where does the issue of guns fall when it comes to your 2024 vote? it doesn't matter. i have three, but i keep them ne but i don't need it in the streets. what do i need for, other than if i have an agenda to kill some people. i just think with the leadership we have now is doing good. we don't need any other radical person that walks around with his fists out saying oh, we're going to fight for america, take our country back. ted states of america. what is he about? host: richard in north carolina on the morning. how important are gun issues to your vote? can i ask you a question? host: go ahead. caller: can you tell me why we've never had a war on our

land? hello? host: why do you think? caller: it's because we have guns and they can't invade our sh well, 15 million people later and the democrat party soldiers in. people better be prepared. the war is here, and it's fixing to come up. keep your guns and keep your ammunition. thank you. bye. host: robert in california on the independent line. good morning robert. how important are gun issues to your vote? caller: morning. can you shut morning america for me. host: go ahead robert. caller: i've never had a gun. i've voted. but i think we should all just try to get along better in this world, because there could be other people watchin or something. we have just look ridiculous shooting at each other with guns and stuff. host: you're going to vote in 2024, in november? caller: i've never voted.

i'm just irre and i don't think guns are important look really ridiculous shooting at each other and stuff like that. host: let's go to bradley in michigan on the democrat line. good morning, bradley. caller: good thanks for taking my call. guns are very important to me and most individuals other than our politicians they're scared to legislation. would like to make the point where people say it un a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun. uvalde had 300 good guys with guns and they couldn't stop the one from slaughtering the innocents there. i think people that are into these guns so heavy are pretty much cowards that have to hide behind their b guess it's a sad state of . host: garrett in oakville, i'm sorry, west virginia on the republican line. good morning garrett. how important are gun issues to your vote?

caller: well there's a lot of people make a lot of different points points i just want to say why the liberals want toake our rights and keep all their rights? it's just when ramaswamy during the debate give all the people on taiwan an ar-15 and basically everybody laughed at him. but it's true. they got to learn to protectse we won't have to protect everybody in the world. that's all i got to say. host:g about how important gun issues are to y vote. on facebook, jim says next to t with hunting and everything to do with protection of life and personal property. let's hea georgia on the independent line. good morning, tim. caller: it's jim. doing well. caller: looking at the wrong thing. guns are inanimate objects.

no more dangerous than a pen, a pencil a piece of pa it's the people that are the problem,henow is that the system is not punishing people that commit crimes. there's many of them being released. for all sorts of reass. it depends on the politics of the attorneys general and legislature and the country, we that if you just controlled the people better the criminals make punishment sure, that will reduce the number of problems. until then, the sdment gives us the right to bear arms, among other things, in order that the people can defend themselv against a federal government that gets out of control.

host: i think we lost him n. february, former president trump spoke at another n.r.a. event. it was the great american outdoor presidential forum happened in pennsylvania. during it, he highlightesome of his work on gun policy. here's his remarks. administration also petitioned the supreme court to overturn new york new york city's unusual transporting hand gude home. they want to do bad things, and you got to keep handgun at people. understand thee think it may be tough. it's really survival. we have 7 guns are out there. not i'm innocent people. ina landmark indicate two years ago, the courtirmed the right to self-defense does not end when you step outside the confront door of your house. that was all things we got

but under crooked joe biden your second amendment is again under siege. biden has implemented a vicious zero tolerance policy. do you know what that is? it's not good. of independent fire arms dealers if they make a single minor error a little tune i error they're out of imposedl brace rule, which to acceptabler guns are certainee klimt. you knowd to do it, i don't know. as everybody doing it as per demand? who in the country has done it? by the way, this is a hell of a big building. it is packed. this is a big building. -- wait. e, too trying to get in. big arena. ban all private gun transfers in the united states wi the stroke of a pen.

let's ban them all. under a trump administration, all of those biden disasters get ripped up and torn first week, but maybe my first day in office, ok? my first. host: the supreme court assault is coming out on friday. the majority opinion was written by justice clarence thomas. in today's "washington post," on the opinion page from the editorial board, they say the only problem is that justice thomas was point out the 2008 issue way. in fact, it raft a reversal by the before the las vegas been more or less the same, once that justice thomas arctic rated in his opinion. this history shows w go when this is left up to the bureaucracy and courts. it would be relyudges to parse a

90-year-old statutory text. that is the surest way to alleviate a gun stock ban that so manyes really watch. consistent is through the law.er 10 minutes left. let's hear next from a gun owner. jersey. good morning tom. how important are gun issues to ur caller: well, they're very important. fascists and communists and bomb krzyzewskis and nazis -- and bolsheviks and nazis, they want to take a next thing you know they want to take away something else. and realize why our founders who wrote into the constitution? passed without us being guaranteed these rights all of these rights.

thank you. host: that was tom in new jersey. let's hear from nebraska in republican line. good morning jerry.: i think when i was in sce the guys carried guns to school. nobody even thoughty're talking about n the internet and all these games that they have stuff no affecting the kids. need to enforce the laws we got on the books. we'll find out how well they enforce laws when they sentence hunter biden for buying a gun illegally. we'll find out how well the laws are enforced. thank you. host:t on the democrats line. good morning james. how important are gun issues to your vote? caller: it's not in the top 10 to answer the question up front. i thk itself is too politicized. when i was growing up, there was guns all over the place. we were told not to touch them. our parents put us in our place

when it came to guns. we didn't have lock boxes and all that. it was in a cabinet, but not locked, and you were told not to touch it. now we don we don't have the discipline that we had before.ear into everybody, whether it be they started it off, here, but they started off saying they all got guns and that made the public think that oh my god, a gun a gun, gun, went on. now, if ar-15, good for you. i persononone. i was in the military for years. i've got guns. that's something i don't need. it's a thing that you have as but i think that it's b polarization has pulled peopleo far that the man that was sitting at the bar next to another guy have disagreed so much that now they're not friends. and that's what' dividing our country. you're never going to get to a solution, because you're just going divide, divide divide. and then we can get what we

i appreciate you allow me to have thel the behind the scenes staff that are taking the calls and doing all the work, along with you doing the work t. means a lot to us. i think we have a bigger voice right here or this tv set than we have in congress right now. even though we i think the truth comes out. and i would note since i've been i haven't heard one female came on,ing and that bothers not getting engaged, because it is a topic that there's going to be no solution f we should hear from all genders. what's going on? we marry oh, women are going to be so upset about abortion, and yes, they are. they should beortion. but where do they stand on gun rights? i want to hear it. i want to hear where they stand. does it matter to them much. i appreciate your time. host: that was james.e independent line. good morning, sam. caller: good morning. i'm a second amendment believer,

but i think that we misconstrued a lot of what it was meant to be. if you read thect to ensure the militia that meaning that the direct threats were against our country or states or whatever. standing militia that's in turn going fight our own amendment. about, number caller: anyhow, and the other thing i was going say the gentleman that was on earlier that really doesn't knowis guns even though he says he in 2023, this is not a hunting round. it is meant to do a lot of damage to make sure the person gets hit with one round that he's not able to continue as a combatant in war time.

they do individual. anyone who's ever spoken to who work in the approximate award. when tragic event happen, if you gut one of them on the floor they should not even be legal civilians at all. thank you so much for having me on. host: a couple more comments how important gun issues are t vote. joe says very. if they support anypow them. the incident like the one in houston, texas. we'll hear next from monty in garlan texas, on the repu rhine. how important are gun issues? caller: probably about a three.he economy and our spending. but i'll say this first of all, you can put a gun on a table and you can leave that gun till the earth ends and it will nody

or harm anybody until a human being picks it up. onhing, the guy from connecticut, spot on. thank you. host: and our last call for hour, ron in maryland calling on the democrats line. good caller: good morning. thanks for c-span. i don't own guns but my use my tail. once we got people all over this protect go after next? nucleared to have nuclear wns also? i gist think, i was in the military for 20 years, and i think these military-style weapons, if you want to use the military-style weapons, join the mi about a high school, they should have had a everybody to serve for two change

some of these people that never been in the military that want to own a military-style weapon. that's all i hav say. well, one other thing, too. i think more kids, if killed by gunned today, that's my understand best number oneby gun today. that's the number one thing that kills kids in this country t ie military-style weapons and i think what the supreme court did is ditely wrong. the bump stock that you add onto your gun, and automatic weapon is when people leave trigger and it shooting until all the ammo is out of it. i don't understand the reason they voted the way t that is it for our first hour of today's "washington journal." next, we are going to an critical news of the day with demo caiazzo and republican strategist john feehery. the program we are going to be joined by institution's senior

fellow and foreign policy research director michael hallahan -- michael o'hanlon and he will discuss the 20 24 g7 summit and the state of global democracy. we will be right back. ♪ >> thishe house is out on a district work period. the senate is in session come working on judicial nominations. the u.s. district in d.c. courts. on tuesday, boeing ceo dave calhoun testifies before the permanen investigations after a whistleblower's allegations of safety and quality conú7trol problems at boeing. at c-span's campaign 24ig wpresident tennessee's26 date representative justin pearson, and independent candidate for president cornell west. tcek livwork app or c-span.org or on-demand any. c-span yr unfilter>> since its founding

in 1992, the innocence project has been responsible for getting hundreds of wrongfully cmieople in the united states out of prison. day," attorney and innocence project director christina joins us to talk about the history, the organization, and some of the clients they have successfully represented over the years, including bitumen convicted of killing malcolm x in 1965. >> the original trials in the nighttime 60's, another gentleman said he was the shooter and committed the crime with two other people he refused to name. the jury refer -- rejected that information come about what we that law enforcement ated his statement and corroborated his assertion that, who are our clients, you know, had committed this crime, but that information was withheld. >> innocence project executive director christina swarnstonight at

8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's "q&a"q&a" and all of our podcast on the c-span now video app. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back to the next hour. we will talk campaign 2024 and the political our two guests join us caiazzo, a democratic strategist, and john feehery, a republican strategist. e guest 1: thanks for having me. guest 2: we will start with some political news and thajohn, what impact, if anything will that have on biden's process and campaign? guest 2: well this destruction for the biden campaign, right now, it well, this ctgn, right now, republican say you can bor this. i think the bigger issue, from awhat is going on with this computer that everyone told us was not legitimate, was a russian plant, and actually turned out to be a legitimate

thing? and all the stuff in the his talk, that not true but turned out to be true, what are theschat? it certainly drives republicans crazy that the specific things with the specific gun the real story. host: joe, from a democrat angle, do you have any insight on an impact it might have on a caes as you know come at the very ende ballot. he's notr the day-to-day operations of the white house. president has been abundantly clear where he and his family stand oni think republicans will continue to make this, you know, someart of the narrative frankly because, you know donald trump is facing 34 felony convictions. they will as a way to level the playing field. host: and another conviction, former president trump is convicted in that new york city

hush money case, and according to yahoo! news, there is new polling that comes out and says the headline is after trump's cabinet conviction, biden for the first time 10 months not by much. any impact this might have come gu look, most americans do nowant to vote for a convicted felon for president. he is in fact a convicted felon. that is what he will have to wear every day of thispathey will talk about this relentlesslyay to start to fire up their base to it does is remind swing voters that, in fact, donald trump is a convicted felon. guest 2: i don't think it is the best thiany presidential candidate, to get convicted. it is not something anyone should be proud appeared i think i system. i think that's how republicans look at it. president basically use this as a way to raise a lot

of money, and hpr race, not quite come but almost, because ofhis campaign of it. i would not say this is a good look for american democracy. ultimately, we should look for voters to decide and not have judges have trumped up charges so to speak.i do think by anpresident has got some energy from this whole campai, and every time there has been a new prosecution, his pulse have gone with republican voters. so i think it has galvanized republicans and unified them in ways that i don't think democrats have spared. i think the whole polling on the conviction i think for independent voters, they see this as baseball. i think one of the rote. i'm not sure that is a good thing, either. guest 1:a moment here, every time donald trump spends a large time, he's off the campaign trail'

tweeting less crazy things, and he is reminding present -- how disastrous his presidency was. now ck on the campaign trail, is additions that make this country great, things like the judiciary and the intelligence community, as h style of campaigning, i think that will certainly start to remind the american voters exactly who donald trumps, you know second term would look li win, and basically what he was able to accomplish inst: john, you mentioned voter turnout. came out this week on thursday, the thon access to abortion pills. e driving the election? people paying attention to? guest 2: well, on the republican side, the big issues come every time i talk to members of congress or people incampaign, they care about immigration, number one, inflation, number two. put those back-and-forth. crime is an issue. those are the things that get republicans kind of i think democrats

are motivated byrtion. i think that is the number one thing. i think that has made some republicans, in some states he would not think of, like texas and florida, a liit i think a loave passed constitutional amendments on abortion, putting the issue i do think this is not a surprise. personalities of the two candidateslso will inspire voters or turn votersbiden's age is something people don't like to talk about, but it is a and, you know, trump is going to make some people nervous. [overlapping conversations][laughs] on the democratic side. the kitchenable issues everybody votes on, right now, it is inflation and immigration. joe do you think, how do you see the candidates and mishandling of these issues that are important to voters and are going to be driving turnout, are they doing a good job? guest 1: i think over the next

months, we are going to be able to see the contrast between e -- between the candidates. donald trump famousl "build that wall." he controlled congress, the years of his presidency, and there was absolutely no action taken. den had a bipartisan bill out of the senate. the white house in the senate were both on board with it. former president trump get on the phone with mike johnson, and says "the immigration bill is d.o.a.." biden last week had to issue an executive order on the matter, because congress would not act. when it comes to the economy donald trump's game plan is to cut taxes for the medical wealthy, cut taxes corporations, and essentially continue to apply prsure to this country. it is interesting, because he's agenda and is very strange, you know economic populist kind of an approach is not what it is. when it comes to president biden , he has gone through leaves and

bounds to address poverty good there are 15 million more people working today van before the president took office. i know we care aboutinflation issue, and that absolutely is a problem, that is putting the working in this country under an incredible amount of pressure. the good news is it is peak. not to say there are not lems to solve, but we are certainly going the right way. and the bidera has also made it abundantly clear that nobody should make -- nobody m under $400,000 a year will ever see their taxes go up. i think when it comes toimmigration and when it comes to the economy, you know there is a starki think the largest difference here is when it comes to health care, right? den has been an a credible supporter of the affordable care act and of a woman's right to choose. donald trump is the polar opposite. going back to 2015, his ca "repeal and hat? the a formal care act provides incredible accesso people who need it. when it comes to freedom

of choice, he sa pointblank, the best thing i ever did was overturn roe. i think that's all you need to know on the issue. when push comes to shove, it will be clear who is the candidate who cares about the country. joe b is willing to go and debate donald trump. host: are talking with joe caiazzo, john about campaign2012 four an political news of the day. both are strategist, and both have a background politics and working on campaigns. if you have a question or comment for them, younow. the line for republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. john, former president trump was on the hill this week, talking wi members of congress in the gop party.the message he was sending was un out lingering issues within the party. where does the gop currently

stand when it comes to supporting trump? guest 2: talked to several members who were in the room of the two meetings, and they were pretty pumped. think the fact that mitt romney and mitchcconnell were with trump kind of shows you the level of unity right now that seems to be with the republicans. would have thought that the conviction, i would have t back trump but this -- it is as unified as i have seen it since 2016, there were just a lot of republicans who did not ntor trump. i think they are kind of on board now. was such that whenever he talksthis other stuff, i think trump understands he has to have a unified party. he's trying to w 's also trying to leveragehe tand i think the party is pretty unified, given kind of all the stuff that has been going on. the members i talked to are pretty pumped about thengs , and trump is in much better shape than he was. host: and joe president biden

is trying to have been some lingering concerns, things like age. how does he fall when it comes to support from his party? guest 1: i think that joe biden has the full support and the full enthusiasm of the democratic party voters. and i think that was made really clear in the democratic presidential primary. biden did not have a significant opponent. not this major campaign infrastructure set up, yet joe biden did incredibly we is the number of votes cast for primaries, in most cases, ed the votes that obama got in 2il situation. i think democrats really understand what is ati joe biden has made it abundantly clear he is with the working people of thisis where the democratic party is on the issues. host:versation. we will hear first from greg north carolina, calling on the independent line. good morning, greg. caller: good morning.

i want to say something to the democratic strategist. so on the economy, i just can't the stuff that is coming out from the. the consumer price went up to 3.2%. everyone knows that inflation is getting worse. all you have to do is walk in the grocery st the democrats continue to spend money. a lot of people are angry about the student loan bailout stuff. there are some angry taxpayers out there. and you continue to spend money, with athere's just no common sense anymore. you don't seem to be able to reel anything back. and you are saying all these things come even this morning you are saying all t things, and there's no way that things are getting better. e that argument, because things arews that, so i just want to hear at y thanks for your

question fit i want to fully acknowledge that, you know, i'm not skirting the point that pele are under an immense amount of pressure, but i think it is important to look at the numbers here, and the numbers bear out the fact that today there are more people ever before. unemployment is at a 60-year low. corn pollutioncore inflation is down from its peak, and the address those issues. in terms of spending, atof the day, the republicans control congress, and they control the purse strings at this point. i do think it is important to understand the top of these corporations are not paying their fair share. rewe effects of the trump tax cuts, where they essentially gave a get out of these corporations. part of thplatform is talking about the fact that corporations and the mega-wealthy need to pay their fair share. host: let's hear from john in south carolina on the democrats line. good morning, don. caller: yeah.

referring last one, things are getting better, because if were not getting betterthe democratic party, just like be mess to straighten out. the republican party just don't want to take the black eyes, yet but with this felon that's going to become or try to become president of the united states is a margaritaf our whole entire democracy -- of our whole entire democracy. how can we have a criminal, known criminal, not just from the past deal in his court system, but prior to come of the way he has done people in this country? how cahost: john. i will go to the house prices have been out of control, all prices are out ocontrol, and people are feeling

the huge pinch on that.the governmentpending is actually making prices worse and it is making dollar less valuable, and people are sick of it. they are sick of having to pay these high prices. in the problem with inflation,the bag, it is kind of hard to tamp down. i think the secretary is trying an approach, a subtlei'm not sure if it is going to work. this is the primary issue outside of illegal immigration thpld about much more sohan any and this is the thing that come outside the when people, how will they make ends meet, how they pay their groceryust like "i don't want to stick with joe biden. it's not good for me right talking about working-class voters, the working class voters are extremely concerned that if we keep going down this path they're n continue to, they will make huge cuts of their own budget, and want

people to make huge cuts of the government's host: janet in kingsport, tennessee on the republican line. good morning, dennis. caller: good morning. host go ahead. you are on. i would like to know if one of these two guys can year america was a democracy, while i grew, america is republic. never heard democracy until the last five or six years. i would just like to know when it was we lost our republic. guest 2: i think democracy is a short-term for constitutional republic.the idea of having a democracy where people get to their elected officials, you kno what to do, and have their desires be ignored. i've been around a long time. as long as i have been around

washington, we've been calling our constitutional democracy, a constitutional republic is a shorthand for democ i is correct. host: joe, do you want to jump in? guest 1: yeah. this is a challenging question, because i'm not exac with the question is good i think, you know, american people have a huge say in the direction of our government. the direct election of our congressman matters. i mean, you knownot really sure much more to add on that. host: ok, we will go in new jersey, calling on the independent line. good morning, lewis. caller: good morning everybody. joe, you are a good guy. i've been listening to you for a long time. guest 1: thank you. [laughs] caller: you felony convictions should be overturned. the judge, his charges to the jury, unconstitutional. as far as roe v. wade being overturned i really think that is a good thing, to leave it to

the states. this way, if you want abortion in yourtate do what you want, ok? and as far as the economy they should just raise $20 an hour for the minimpeople have lost t i do, biden is not in control. good day, sir. guest 1: thank you for your questions. i very much appreciate you being a long term fan. [laughs] but, you know, on the matter of the $20 an hour wage, it is imperative that people too long, we put the needs of corporations way ahead of working peopli think it is high time, and i'm being properly compensated through their pay and thr be when it comes to the other issues, i think it is clear that joe biden is in charge when it comes to the economy, joe biden has made to try to make us go and rebound and rebuild on thels of covid.

when it comes to capping the cost of prescription drugs, when it goes to passing the monumental infrastructure bill, which is an incredible investment you're on the matter of choice, look, the american people overwhelmingly believe a womahas the right to choose. i think if yous overturned, you are entitled to your views. is a conversation to have, democrats are going to win we saw it in the midterms them and we will see it this year john, one former president trump was on the hill, giving those meetings, he said that hiick, "probably in the room" during those meetings. help him the most on a ticket and what2: well, these are the big s, and i think ultimately what he wants is someone that makes him look like a leader, who trusts his deputy, who makes him seem like somebody who is confident in his team. you know, as they out there

possibilities, j.d. vance from ohio is someone who has a blue-collar kind of approachhe wrote a book that is pretty famous. tim scott, african-american, ran for president, real smart, who ran on tax policy. another who ran for president. itement. marco rubio ran for president from florida. i think there has been some talk e might be leaning. nikki haley come a lot of my more liberal republican4] friends would love to have her be the nominee, because he think that would unthi think the party is already unified, but there has been some talk about her. you want someone that is going to be able to talk to some excitement to the room, but not necessarily

overshadow the president. the vice presidential candidates tend notl candidate is that much. but they can hurt them-. you saw dan quell and george h w bush committed not help thatmuch -- you saw dan quail and george w. bush, it did not help that much. when george bush picked dick cheney, if there was a percepti that bush did not have for policy. kamala harris, not s as energizing the base for the democrats. another one, elise stefanik from newshe has worked in the white house she is very smart and knows how to go viral on social media. a bit younger to the party as well. so we will see. it is a great mystery as to who think

there are a lot of who want to be pdy is&w7 at watcd >senthecth.

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host: manchester missouri, calling on the republican, good morning. caller: lied to hear the previous made a couple of points. i will vote for donald trump. the gentleman before was right about the history trump, con

men, what have you, he made his way in the business world with previous dealings. people talk about trump did not accomplish pretty had his own party fighting against him the whole time. he was put into office in 2016. the biggest trouble he ran into was the covid situation at the end of his tenure. i do not think anybody was prepared to handle that. thoughts. i am v strongest on immigration and has been all along. obama had 15, 18 years ago. it is interesting how that tide has turned and that story has turned. hunter biden, the economy has been a way overspending, has devalued our currency incredibly. thank you. host: that was rick from missouri. from "the new york morning, the article says of the 23 remaining cases, half a dozen

of them potentially to reshape significant parts of american society. it talks about some of those , still to come, decisions about whether mr. trump will face charges on whether he tried to subvert thether the mob that attacked the capital may be prosecuted under the federal obstruction law whether emerncy rooms and states restrict abortion, whether the government may disarm people under the domestic violence restraint order. three cases on how the first movement applies to socialplatforms, three cases seeking to limit the power of agency, the effort to undo the purdue bankruptcy settlement that would members of the wealthy family and a challenge to laws set to make homelessness a crime. let's hear from artieng only democrats' l ine. caller: i'm calling because it

is an embarrassment to our when we have felons who cannot eventhat is all i have to say. host: jerry in kentucky on the in. caller: i want to back what the gentleman in the bible. proverbs 6:16, 19false witness that speaketh loud. e know? thank you, c-span. hope everybody have a great day. host: jesse in michigan calling in on the democrats' line, good morning. caller: goodng. my name is jesse. i am 92 years old. i have seen a lot in my life. i was born infor me, it was a living -- go ahead, jesse. caller:i am still on. host: could you turn your television down in the background? caller: absolutely. can you hear me now? host: i am still hearing your

tv. can you turn it off? there you go. caller: back. let mehost: on the democrats'-- host: are you there caller: i am here. i want to speak my opi go ahead, you are on. caller: i was born in mississippi which for me was a living hell. in mississippi as a black man, you did not have a name. n-word. [television in the background] i want to finish my thought. host: off? host: some issues. you have to keep the television down. it is hard to listen to your television with a delay and the show live when you are on alet's hear from south dak morning. caller: good morning. everybody is bashing trump.

but do you know what? en guy is horrible. he is absolutely horrible. us. he does not have to be doing this for ourhe is wealthy and he truly cares. th i watched joe biden say, "come on and they have come on in. 10 million, 12 million, drugs, fentanyl. luting. i am 61 years old. it is crazy. e speak. he is an embarrassment on the world stage is.upset. inflat 1.4% when trump was in there. now it is like a percent or 9% -- 8% or 9%. mortgage are like 8% now. to make it? all they wan to do is pay off their student loans. you know what? his. we should not have to be paying

off all of these other people so biden can get some votes. joe biden, his son, and his brother took in millions and millions of dollars from russia ukraine, china. you know what? i pray to god that comes out because this is a bad .why do you think china and russia are doing these wars together? it is just really upsetting to watch all of these wars. these wars were not started under trump. i sincerely mean that. s so upsetting. people, the not even tell people what is going on, so people need to wake up. thank you. host: spokane washington, on the independent line -- kendra in spokane, washington, on the independent lineer: i just think we do not have enough balance in our nation. the left are too far left and

the right are too i think the american people have had enough of thechaos of eed a new face. the derepublicans want to take away women's rights. there is no balance. i get not discriminating against people that are gay. gay, but i did not go prancing around in my underwear a pride parade. i think that needs to be secured by police officers and no one be arrested for indecent exposure heir underwear. it is too crazy on the left sideright side is too -- they want to ban aiotely. i do not believe in abortions but even i went against my own are you going to vote in the november election? caller:ally want to vote because i do not like the candidates. i am upset about it.

host: we will go to the democrats line. caller: good morning. how are doing well, thanks. caller:i watch every morning. i think you are beautiful. a few comments. talking about fferent people doing different stuff. they talked about mr. trump and all this stuff. nevada, for example. he asked it? he was sweated. said do not die. everybody talks about how much he likes america. this back to the nevada thing. the other thing is we all as amboerything. we don't want and work to make things better. nobody wants to give credit where credi think we should stop all the fighting and who

is getting things done for the country and we would be better off. that is what i would like to thank. thank you, have a great day. david in texas on the republican line, good morning. caller: good morning. yes, ma'am. i just got a question here. it is about ukraine and russia know there is no way on god's green earth that ukraine is going to defeat russia. that war has been going on for 100 years. they need to bring them to the table so we do not have to keep footing the bill for them people. other died, you know, when the war started. that is all, you know. mething needs to be done about that. is ay. they need to bring them to the what they want.

and let them be free. comment. host: in yonkers, new york, on the independlient kay. caller: good morning. i know john and joe left. john said the american economy is bad and everybody do realat. one thing i wanted to ask john was about the industrial nation in the world which one is doing better as we speak. i would like to think the united states. thing most people do is theynscience and the people. the people do need to get the truth. the fact is the united states is still doing better than mostour laws and principles are being abused. a talking point today is everybody thinks they follow the

crowd. the fundamental is we follow our laws, what do we have? what are we basing this society on? just radicalism and these kinds of things? moment and look at the direction we are going in and if this is what we want for our cnt infighting and badmthing, and athings would not get us anywhere. i think the present presidency needs to be given a chance to see what will happen. i vote on different sides of the aisles. i voted for president reagan, interest rates were 17%. you could make $1000 a year.

he balanced the budget. the economy was good. there was a surplus. george bush came in, a bankruptcy in the midwest. obama came in from a wrecked and balanced the country back. president bush came in and look what he has done for us. i do not understand what is going on and what people basing their points and view on. host: we got ywe are going to get in one more call. we wil line. good morning mark. caller: good mornhappy father's day to all those fathers out there. i ami would like to discuss the immigration problem that we are having. i think both sides are wrong. i think the democrats need to understand we are allowing in many drugs and criminal people,e

on. the republicans n we need people in this countr to deport millions of people. that is not going to happen. we need to work together and find a way to have these individuals registered for and have them pay a fine over the course of several years. to strengthen the border. we need to recognize that to stop the flow of drugs and criminals. if w nations and see what they are doing, they do not individuals to come in. can i have specific laws and rules in order to become a citizen. we need to look at them and see how they are doin's look at israel. of these years? they have very laws. we need a national language that we all speak. keeping multiple languages here is continuing to keep us divided. together if we cannot understand each other. even china was able to unify

under one language after having multiple languages the 1950's or 1960's that they unified under mandarin. let's look at the rules of other countries. inkn ink both sides enjoy having this ins on because it keeps us divided and allows individuals to continue to run on these platforms. one other thing i seek we could all agree on is we need to have termhe senate and congress. friends will say we do have term limits, it is called elections. but republican or demothe presidency has term limits. why notgovernment have term limits? and that includes the supreme court. thank you. again, happy father's day, and thank you for taking my call. host: that is it for today's open forum. next, we are going to talk with

brookings institution foreign policy research director michael o'hanlon. he will join us and discuss the g7 summit and the state of global democracy. we will be right back. ♪ ivering unfiltered congressional coverage for 45 years. here is a highlight from a key moment. [video clip] >> the distinguished -- au[lgentlemen from california. >>i think my colleague for today, my firstborn will be married at 5:00. again, the chamber praying this is not one more time when i m event of young children to get married in faith, and idealism. the veto is an act oficism.

we know how we are going to vote. s' the veto and let me love my son guest 1: [applause] -- and let me love my s[applause] >> weekends bring you booktv featuring lates nonfiction books they argue parents needt education and regain control over public schoolhe psychedelics in mental health treatment and with twhat's "booktv" every weekend on c-span two - every weekend on c-span2. >> ♪ >> c-span's online store browse through the latest products, apparel, baccessories. there is something for every c-span fan. every purchase helps support our nonprofit operations.

shop now or anytime. >> "washington journal"nu: welcome back. joining us to the 2024 g7 summit and the state of global democracy is michael o'hanlon, brookings institution senior fellow and foreign policy research director. good morning. joining us. we are talking about thesummit that happened this past week. remind our viewers what the g7 is and the membership. guest: originally the world's seven biggest economies and democracies in terms of form of government. it is the united states and canada from north america, japan, britain france, germany and italy. there was a time when it included russia. do normalit is not a democracy anymore and for specific sectors.

it is four european countries, two north american countries, and japan.there is a lot of talk about whether membership should change korea's economy is larger than italy. like poland and spain. india is now the world's most populous country and has had a lot of economic success. you could imagine this could broaden. for that reason, we also have the g20 which is more representative of the full range of c throughout the world, not just the western big, traditional large market onomies. the g7 sits as a smaller group in which they cans unencumbered by huge numbers of participants. it is meant to be an inner core of like-minded allies. almost all of them nato members except for japan where we have a separate treaty. there is also the security side embedded in the economic framework. host: the members you just mentioned met in italy last

week. what is the purpose of the summit? guest: the prime minister of italy hosthat is just because it rotates. the idea is not to have any one particular host dominate proceedings pretty probably get extra influence on the agenda is crucial and president zelenskyy of ukraine joined the s year because a lot of the discussion was about ukraine. you will recall about $300 billion in assets that russia owns are held in western financial in g7 countries, most in europe. agreed we are not going toscate russia's $300 billion at this point, but we are going to start using interest billion to essentially underwri lveto ukraine so that ukraine will get additional $50 billion in assets by the end of this year,

they say. that will be the timing. the way in which that loan will be underwritten or paid off by the interest earned russia's $300 billion in frozen assets. that is a pretty nifty way out of what hasissue for a long time. people felt there was no moral reason not to take that russian money because russia is causing all that damage to ukraine in an waggression. on the other hand, if we start people are not going to want to hold their money in western so, there has been a real reluctance to take this money. the compromise now is to use the innot give them back to russia. in fact, there is a statement to the effect that russia will only get its money back when the war ends and russia his help compensate ukraine for the aggression. for now, it will be this agreement on using the interest. the single biggest idea that came out of the meeting. again, president zelenskyy was there also is a show of support for the g7 from his country. host: met with

president zelenskyy. they held a press conference. they also long-term ukrainian support agreement. what canhat? guest: well, the uni said even though president biden may only be presiden months that nonetheless we are going to go ahead and make a i guess seven months, sorry, make a deal that would hopefully be respected by future presidents, will be at least two over a 10-year stretch. therefore, biden cannot lock anybody into this and cannot court and the money, but the implication -- and the money, but the implication is we will give ukraine support. no new treaty that would oblige americans ome to ukraine's defense, we are not going that far, but we are saying we we have your back for the long haul. and by the way, one thing you will p other american politicians are probably not going t i do not believe even dold than enthusiastic

about the long-term commitment to ukraine. it is hard to disagree with the basic idea that we should help ukraine survive as a nation for a decade. ys within his power to give a long-term commitment at a time when vladimir putin is watching us have a hard time agreeing to million aid package that did not go through until a couple of months ago, watching ukraine be a contentious issue on the campaign trail. goal is to go as far as biden can go without having congress appropriate funds in this agreement but send a rhetorical and diplomatic message that the united states has ukraine's back. ly does that encourage and strengthen the ukrainian people but it gradually chips away at putin's arrogance that somehow time is on his side and russia's side when we think about how this war will end. that was the goal. just how well it will have

worked remains to we are talking with michael o'hanlon about the 2024 g7 summit thatif you have a question or comment for him, you can st calling in now. 202-748-8000. democrats, 202-748-8001. independent, 202-748-8002the countries you together. they can come to consensus on a lot of issues. but israel is an exception to that. what happened at the g7 in terms of the middle east, what ishappening in the middle east? guest: in these meetings, the goal is to disagree behinded doors and present a face to the public that is more unified. of gaza was to show s fire is prime minister netanyahu's.

the basic idea is to stop fighting right away to allow humanitarian aid to come in at scale. and then to initiate discussions between hamas andwould make the cease fire permanent if possible so that the war would not continue.that would not be the initial goal. the initial goal would be to simply have talks. then the temporary cease-fire could be extended as long as the talks were shown progress. that is my basic understanding everybody is willing to tweak various elemthere needs to be some kind of vision of the long-term asthe united states and many friends in the region ieve there should be a two-state solution, that the paleinians should get their own country. that has beer a long time. prime minister netanyahu has not been an enthusiastic suor that policy. hamas has rejected israel' right to exist outright. the two way away from being able to envi en though

countries in the region support that and the united states has supported that vision for decades it is pretty hard to get the parties to agree to it right now. therefore, that maybe the real reason they do not want thee they know it would push them to negotiation and a long-term settlement neither one is enthusiastic about. communique was supportive of we have cal lined up with questions for you. we will start with raym in seminole, florida, on the democrats' line. good morning. caller how are you doing? host: doing well, thanks. caller: wanted to say that was horrible watching the g7 with biden, and i am a democrat, to watch him wander off the i felt so bad former loamy -- erloni. she is the host. she had to keep everything going.

one point gave her a nudge like, can you go get him? guest: that is not what happenbiden was apparently flocking off to speak to someone and news organizations with an agendadecided to make him look like he was a senile man talking to nobody. it was disinformation. you and i were victims trying to sell newspapers or try to make biden look bad. i'm not here to defend biden should be running for i think he is too old. but this it was an example of him showing absdness. this was him going up to greet others not shown in the footage. host: we will go to stephen in connecticut on the independent line. good morning. hi, michael. have been following you since the iraq war like a fan boy. about drones, petersburg and it was a precursor to world war i. you saw the gatling gun entrenches being used.

in ukraine i have read that th to 400 drones a day. we are doing research with drones, through forests. they have attacked drones. even ukraine is starting to have early ai drones. is the u.s. army prepared foy of this? guest: excellent question. usually slow in the u.s. military to adapt to new technology. to give one example, thanks for your long-standing support. i have been in washington about 85 years. at the congressional budget office, the military services were designing the joint strike fighter. it was in the research and development stage. we are still building the f-35 today. that is a 35-year acquisition we are nowhere near it yet. that defense often builds weapons. od news is the pentagon has created teams war in real time

and discern the most important battlefield lessons and get those over to the office of the under secretary of defense for acquisition as well as parts of the military services involved in building weapons. , air force marine force, space force. system is moving along, as well as the development. sometimes there are innovations ukraine comes up with before we do. certainly, ukraine has battle tested them before we have. it i have various kinds of funds that and be moreof money millions as opposed to the billions used when buying big big you can be partly assured. you are a keep asking the question because we are never fast enough. with this kind of technology you have to be. host:to circle back

quickly on the earlier caller tapr biden at the g7. this headlinebiden was giving thumbs up to skydivers, not wandering in viral g7 video. let's go to florida on the independent line. good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. when the ukraine war began a couple of years ago, the first weekend, secretary of state blinken was on the news shows saying our goal is to blunt the advance, i distinctly remember, we were going to blunt their advance. what exactly is our goal here? evevery week, i listened exactlyunderstand what is the goal of states in very specific terms. in world war ii, our goal was unconditional surrender.

e most disturbing thing to me is it to accomplish for our interest. that is guest: excellent question. i think the has been to help ukraine survive, to make sure russia could government and maybe even take the wholentry which seemed to be putin's goals at the beginning. then to make sure ukraine could hold off 80% of its land it was still in control of when the russian onslaught rsed. then we started saine liberate all the territory they originally controlled from the breakup of the soviet union through 2014 one putin first started his attacks on ukraine and sold the peninsula as well as fostering violence in eastern ukraine. r goal is still in theory to help ukraine all its territory and develop robust defense. as you implied andvery realistic.

we wantve ukraine one last chance to build up offensive ear. they probably will not have the opportunity to mobilize the larger military they would need to try this year. year, they are more defensive with russia on the offense gaining grouthe goal is still to help them get back all of their country which is about 18% of their territory which is held by russia. i do not think that is an adequate goal. even though it would be nice to see that happen,fallback. i think most peopl idea not to think in terms of world warin war roughly along the lines of where they are today although it would be nice to see ukraine ge some land back certainly no worse and then have some kind of robmsecurity arrangements. a lot of peopleavor ukraine joining nato, i' kind

of anchor that would help ukraassistance and maybe direct promises of combat help or assistance if russia attacks again. becoming the unstated set of goals. some are more frequently articulated than others. presiden allowed to try to liberate all of its territory. ing for that. but it does not strike youor the earlier caller or most strategists that i know as being a very likely scenario. if that is the in for a very long war. i think we have to do a serious reassessment next ythe newly elected president weather biden, trump, or else, should in early 2025 reassess what goals we can realistically ukraine achieve and adapt our policy accordingly. i think that is in the the idea of complete liberatn is probably not going to happen. host: let's f mary in

florida calling on the republican line. caller: good morning. just calling to say about the g7 summit and the pictures that were shown of president biden looking away from the camera you are saying he did no everyone is seeing. guest: caller: i think most definitely, saying he was complement in the skydiver, he could have done that off-camera. the other leaders were looking straight at the camera. this president turnedit is not his firstimthis president is senile. he is not doing t making up and lying like he has done for many years. i been interested in politics for many years and i have heard his very tall taleshe is not a truthful

person and was. he is not doing good to this country. ing any good. he is hurtingpossible. there is russian ships off the state where i live. there is many people that should not be in thising, raping our citizens when they should not even be here. thank you. guest: i could go through that but let me say two things. we will have a chance to assess both candidates in two weeks because the debate is coming up june 27. we do not have to clique was real. i'm qu confident president biden was not wandering aimlessly. but i have already said i wish neither wa they both are old and i would rather see a younger but i did not think either is senile

and i think wei would also say while i have had my differences over the years with president biden, i personally think he is an honest man. politicians may tell tall tales or stretch the truth. i do not agree with all of his raritiesi do not agree with the decision to pull out of syria. i am criticisms but i think he is yoopportunity to make the opposite statement. host: this headline in thepolitical e.u. edition says the g7 2024, the gathering than a display of western power. guest: clever writing by politico. these six leaders, lame ducks or not, still have more power than politico you, or me, oanyone else.

they are still in office and running the sure, the british lose office this summer with elections in about three weeks. olaf scholz in germany is not likely to have the tenure of angela merkel, what he is still chancellor of ge has a 50/50, maybe 45/55 chance to win the presidency and is president of the most powerful country on earth for the next seven months. headline but a little bit of a low blow. host: let'frank in johnson city tennessee, on the independent line. good morning. ca good morning. i have a couple of simple comments to make. is ukraine situation, i do believ states has been queuing that areao come into now since about 2008. it does not look good.

as a matter of fact, you mentioned russia stole crimea.i guess you could call it that, but i do not r came influence what difference is that going to make to us? i think the united states just resources of the area, including russia. this will be my final comment. as far as palestine and israel, they have been fighting each other for i think at least 3000 this is so deep in their dna that i am of the let them have added. do. happy father's bye-bye. guest: happy father' way jews and muslim for 3000 years because islam is only

a religion, 1300. your point is wellhas be a long-standing conflict. i wish we could have some leaders around in the 1990's. they seemed genuinely in sharing the land and a solution in a way we do not see now. that is the extent of my comment. kraine and russia, i do not think the united states is after russia's orgh we would like to see the world economy benefit from bo countries' products and we would like to see ukraine able to state afloat. mentioned something where we probably could agree. there is a long history of this conflict and a vladimir putin developing a grudge against ukraine and the west. going back to the 2008 nato summit in bucharest when nato members invited ukraine hypothetically some day into the alliance but did not extend a formal invitation or timetable i think that was a counterproductive policy. i am not blaming us for putin's

aggression. but i think we left ukraine half pregnant back because we said we wanted them in nato interim protection and no timetable. i think there were m along the way. probably a different kind of worked better and been less likely to create this kind of russian reaction. blame putin at a moral for the aggression. uld have to worry more about nato countries being vulnerable. th as -- war fo. i take your point. in the broader sense, i am not worried if the battle lines freeze where they are. it would be unfortunate á?putin to be rewarded even slightly for the aggression. point of view, we can stabilize the conflict and make sure ukraine survives as a country. those two goals are probably for the good of american security. wet cessarily need to see every inch of ukraine liberated. host: let's see if looking at one more call in. we will go to dolores in maryland calling on the

democrats' line. caller: good happy father's day to all of the fathers out there. calling because i was going to talk about someone who is not allowed to have guns now. aside frockg7ings, basically. zelenskyy did notme up with lines about biden's. he was going to hold up the military aidause get them toteions. it seems they are being punished. tin wants trump back in because he will let him do whatanother thing, on october 7, it seems not like anything i heard of before with any attack on

israel with mercenaries in ukrainems like their signature attack is killing and raping and hostage taki was wondering if maybe hamas somehow was connected with those mercenaries. i know they had a group. it seems like something they would do and not necessarily something hamas by itself would do. lastly, one thing about israel and st be doesn't mossad go in and take out ham tactically and strategically instead of carpet bombing innocent civilians?it seems in a shorter time, they would have been able to go and attack specifically hamas.

with the intelligence agencies able to scan and get whoever i, they have that type of technology to tactically take out hamas. those are the only three questions i have. i will stand by and listen. guest: i know we are short on time so i will answer the last piece. evh israel does have very good special forces and even though they have been used on a number of operations, it is very difficult fighting the infrastructure hamas has builtthe number of are often co-located with civilian i doot condone everything israel has done. israel has not carpet bfor they have been willing to use large weapons against buildings that may have s but also have civilians living in them.

i think israel has made tmistakes by not drawing a line correctly in favor oecpr life, even when it might have increased troops and allowed certain hamas fighters to get away. i think israel needed to be more realisc thand they are not going to destroy hamas altogether. they need to weaken hamas as a figh ability working with the international community long-term to make sure hamas does not reconstitute. those are realistic goals. just like we had to learn we could not destroy al qaeda. destroy al qaeda as a fighting force and organization that can plana moret of objectives of what it can do to hamas. i think they are close to where they need to be and can realistically be already, which is why i also support the cease-fire proposal, just like the g7 leaders h brookings fellow in foreign policy director michael o'hanlon thank you for joining us today.

guest: thank you. best wishes to all. host: that does it for today's "washington journal." thank you to everyone who called in and our gueste rest of your sunday, ll of the fathers and father figures out there. ♪[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captiinperformed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]