there's a large political economy that would probably not change all that much, although western resources are withdrawn. but i think there have been more sordid war trying to generate sources of revenue as international resources strut down. in that context, it is important to remember that the war is not going to die down. the americans believe the full front of the fighting. to discuss civilian icing police for the past 10 years or so much effort in so much money to me seems simplistic. i will contextualize just like

the anp, when the american military are responsible for the invested money into this force in its original idea being traditional, try posts, policing force. not necessarily related to this day. that's important to remember. we point out in the report that the anp is not the first experiment. i tend to argue that it goes back to 2001 to the beginning of the military intervention because a lot of the act tears in kandahar were former commanders, former militias, the

northern alliance. so there's a sense of continuity they are. and you know, a number of experiments. when we talk about the anp, the afghan government authorizes in 2010. that's when the presidential decree was signed after a period of intense negotiations between the

because it made so much oversight by government forces, generally when you stand up forces in areas where there's a sort of beyond government control, that is where the problems start. it is difficult to monitor them and all sorts of issues arise,

but this is the contradiction itself. it stood in areas where there's no government control. for it to be effective, it needs stronger oversight. the criteria of selection was stored as simple because the first experiment were joined afghan military force that was implemented in 2009 of the african public protection force, was on the run for your and that was discontinued for a variety of reasons. the military was not happy about that. there was too much central control, too much bureaucracy. so from that, the idea was they

should've expanded. so the u.s. military do special forces and tried to do on an ad hoc basis in the south primarily, but it didn't have government control over it and i think that was the beginning of the problems within the afghan government and military because of karzai because he didn't have control over it and empowering local commanders was seen as a problem and legitimacy's. we do have a comparison with the three cases because it offers a way for us to do it in geographical areas. briefly on fine and, would make

the point early on as an historical research and so we look at these armed groups and in the 90s in post 2001 because the security structure, where the people they came to power and how do they manage their forces and many of them avoided the disarmament program. they had means of collusion. what happened is over the years, going back to the early 1990s, it is very fragmented security environment commanders that are

working at cross purposes. each one was undercutting the others. it was very difficult because they didn't know who to trust because their agendas were different. we all wanted to control this because it's a mean of resources. we talked about the various agendas involved are expanding for karzai and controlling for local power. it was important to control it. so the findings indicate that injecting these kinds of resources to do further fragmentation and the improvement in security or have government authority because that was one of the main rationales to let the central

government to the local level and that is the reason why they call it that. and baklava and we job a very different conclusion. if you go back to early 2001, when the taliban and my, you know, the under out these comment district in the south, most of the commanders that took power belongs to islam. they had very close links with the taliban in, so they simply changed the allied with the americans and with the forces.

that because of the dominance of the national police, the pashtuns and the islami commanders and was a way of renegotiating the government for the commanders. insert it in the am the inconclusive and a series of conclusions and almost created ghettos for the center of town. you had government forces and then you had a lp, which were in villages completely. one couldn't go to the other area. lastly englanders, there is succeeded in pushing back the insurgent security, but preserve

the power, which is totally the opposite effect and references were made to the minister of interior at the time of the way of empowering his own networks. just very briefly, i think it is important to mention there's a lot of talk about the aid he committed human rights abuses. but we also looked at the recruits themselves, how they were endangered in how the communities were endangered because in a contest of environment, they say i am at the government. you just become for the taliban. one of the things that we kept reminded by specially isaf in terms of alp's success was because it was heavily targeted

at the taliban and i'm a six times more than the anp, which points to their ability as something we need to keep in mind. we talk in terms of pressures on why people join and pressure from commanders within different forces as well as economic reasons. i think with that, i will come to the end. one of them is not to expand the program further. there should be stronger oversight and support and that brings us back to the earlier paradox i mentioned that it stood up in areas of government control. the important thing and i think this was pointed out in a number of interviews that patronage to the ministry of interior to pay

recruit because that is where the dynamics are created with the dependent the end patronage. and lastly, integrate alp into the police and the ansf. and with that, i lend my presentation. thank you. >> thank you very much. the way this is done here, because we have cameras in the room and because we want to capture your questions on television, if you want to ask the question, we ask you to move to one of the two microphones on either side of the room. when you ask your question, we would like you to state your name and affiliation and i would also appeal to everyone who asked the question to be brief. we would like to get as many questions as possible. and so, now is the time. please move to the microphones. and when we take advantage a

couple of minutes while people are moving around the room, to ask -- so i can ask the question when i exercise my prerogative as the chair. my question is today it was revealed or announced that the united states will relieve 9800 military personnel after the withdrawal of u.s. military forces at the end of 2014. but i want to ask the three experts on the panel who have been concerned with the transition process what they know about this and whether they think this is adequate and how this'll be implemented. quick responses and that we would have to question. >> i think that the numbers are consistent with the commander of fort isaf has long proposed as insufficient for a regional proposal throughout the country. it will of course limit

coalition engagement to the ministry and the capital region as well as to four other regional knowns to provide both training and oversight of different police capabilities. >> the only thing i would add to that is what is going to be really important is defining the mission of those troops and making sure we will use them to the best effect and yet we get money from where i'm sitting it is important that policing is given its importance and not. >> michelle. >> the only thing i would add to that is first of all it is positive that we have fewer numbers. fewer numbers means less opportunity to get in the way, but it does force us to focus and be strategic in our engagements. the other thing is i think we need to be very careful that we

look at how do we want to monitor and oversee our investment with a more consolidated presents. obviously we have less eyes and ears on the ground. i noted this that i was shocked to the degree to which people in kabul had so little visibility on what was going outside on the ground. that is a huge difference that i had noted from before and that needs to be addressed as we look at the force posture for the 9800. >> okay. i would like to take two questions. so is the first person to ask this question can the second person asked a question and that will break in on the panel respond. >> can you hear me all right quiet >> thank you. i have one question. >> the microphone is for the

television. >> two questions regarding the alp -- [inaudible] formerly with the nato forces in afghanistan. to the panel, but i didn't hear is any mention of corruption and the elements and how it is going to affect afghan police and helpful affect afghanistan affect afghanistan in the future. i say that probably the greatest enemy to the government of afghanistan right now is the issue of corruption. the police perception analysis, which was done by the undp two years ago indicated less than one third had any confidence in the security forces. transparency international has rated those 143 f. in an, 143 out of 145. the question is i did not hear that as a factor in the future. i would like to know if you first about think it is a

problem and if you do how it should be addressed. regarding the alp, what i am interested in and i often wonder how well the members of the alp are vetted. how do we know what their loyalties are? how do we know the loyalties are not predominately local rather than national and what is going to happen if these get sticky in afghanistan. my question is i didn't see in your recommendation in a discussion of the alf and i wonder if that is a possible recommendation. >> thank you for the questions. >> thank you. my name is very go power saw. my question from george mason university. my question is about the e-mail and police forces regarding culture and values in afghanistan you mentioned. what are the challenges? thank you. >> thank you very much.

let's turn to the panel for a response. who wants to take that on? would probably have to admit we had this huge conversation in their meetings about corruption, so we are probably all talked out on that subject. i will turn it over and we can go down the line. >> thank you very much. absolutely you are completely right to call this out on corruption. i think from the work i have been doing, where i think the corruption is by building institutions. one of the things we were trying to do in the institutional reform agenda is to tackle the minor issues of a human resource policy by merit instead of people paying for their jobs and try to set criteria for jobs. it is going to be a long process to get from where they are now and everybody buy into chad to get you people doing things on merit. the other thing is actually how the money flows. that is sent and we have more immediate control on it of

course it's a very blunt instrument to turn off funding and corruption for you fight to control technically, but you haven't really. one of the things we were working very hard on and is still proceeding is to try and the ministry onto program budgeting. you actually have a financial accountability mechanism that is lacking because at the moment, you haven't even gotten a mechanism whereby you can start asking difficult questions. so that is where i was start tackling it. >> can we ask for a response on the alp questions? >> in terms of recruitment, of course the document, the alp guidelines put a lot of emphasis on local communities, local councils playing a role in

identifying recruits, vouching for them. and then there is a process that should be guided by afghan government institutions, including minister interior and the intelligence to make sure that they are not members of the insurgency, you know, they are not track users and all that. but in a lot of cases, recruitments are not necessarily done on an individual basis. the recruitments are done through commanders. i mentioned the name of one commander and work out. he was approached at the time around 2009 because there were no recruitments. pastures were simply not coming forward. so he brought 500 of his men, you know, of his own networks and stood them up as a local

police force. so that tells you a lot about the vetting and all of that. one other example of how they are questionable. i interviewed two young anp recruit in 2012 and i asked them what they were doing before and they said they were members of the taliban because the anp was also alongside the reeducation programs. a lot of recruit that were reintegrated for the taliban found themselves in the am peak. so when i asked them, when you go back to the taliban if the government couldn't pay her and they said of course he could. it's complicated on the local level. there are economic reasons. pressure from local commanders come insurgency. so i mean i hope i have answered

your question. >> michelle, do you want to comment on the women's issue? >> yeah, and very happy to comment on this one. thank you for great question because not only have a look at this from the other the afghan national police, but also a parallel project and women in security globally that at what we do and how do we integrate women into security institutions in traditional societies. with the anp, the tsutsumi a very interesting phenomenon. when we initially set up a force structure, women were distributed across the force structure in pretty much a percentage basis as part of the implementation of u.n. security council resolution 1325 commitment. and there was not a lot of thought given to the operational imperatives that drive women in the am p.

and it wasn't working very well quite frankly. interestingly enough, as we started some of the high-end police units, particularly those in the police units, the s.w.a.t teams who were the first unit who were really trying to do evidence-based operations and critical internal security cases. those commanders, the ones that logic would tell you would be the last should be asking for trained afghan women police were begging for trained professional afghan women police. and on derek cash deals, on the organizational structure, they actually did not have the slots for them to the degree that the regular units did. so i think what i've seen on this and the trend i have seen is that the units have matured and as they've become more capable and the commanders have become more focused on evidence-based operations and getting them through, those are

the units of where women are having the most success. those are the units where the women are getting the greatest acceptance. and i think we are going to see that on a very, very slow gradual level, but we as an international community need to be very sensitive to this. interestingly and unfortunately, we haven't always taken advantage of the situations when they have occurred. we have that reallocated slots, will. but that is where i see it getting now and i saw no change to that when i was in kabul and i was in trouble in the first district chiefs of police was appointed. but i didn't see a change in the trend. >> thank you very much. we have a small amount of time. we have three questioners, so i would like to take all the questions we have remaining and

then we will have to panel respond. >> thank you so much. i came recently from an period up until recently i worked with united nation peacekeeping mission and were now. i just have a few comments in a question and i will be very brief i'm not. first of all, thank you for organizing such forums to actually discuss the important issues to find a resolution especially for the policing of the afghan people and at the same time the democratic process going on. my own personal observation because i've had the chance to vote for fsr in the bombing region where i had the chance to find out the problems that related to the policing. one of the issues which is

always discussed and equipped to domains, which we always try to share that with the relevant authorities. it looks like there was a lack of coordination between the relevant authorities at the kabul bible, which nobody paid attention, especially when the security transition to base. where mr. conny kaman promised $50 million to boost the security services and forces. but unfortunately, none of those promises was fulfilled. the same happened with other security transition and unfortunately mr. conny had a transition asked. on the other hand, and i've personally seen the creation as

a problem that creates an ethical problem between the people and my question is what is their international community had fulfilled the promises that were made during the transition process. actually, the research was done before the transition takes place with mazar-e-sharif and the rest of the province is. but none of those promises were mad and actually the lack of trust between the people and the government was created and i think that is going to create a big problem in the future. thank you so much. >> thank you very much. stacked high, i am from the state department, that this question is my personal capacity. i want to tease out who it is that will be providing the civilian policing oriented

assistance and capacity building. since nato's mandate does not include civilian policing and nato members are explicitly oppose to expanding that direction arguably assistance will be sufficient. so is that the e.u. mission? is that the u.n. or an opportunity to expand the secretariat to include more explicitly a civilian policing oriented advisors as opposed to the ones that have the military background. >> thank you very much. i'm looking forward to the answer to that question myself. >> i am with the talk radio news service. i wanted to ask president obama's decision to keep less than 10,000 troops in afghanistan in order to support infrastructure. i just wanted to ask how you speculate that would affect the p.

thank you. >> thank you very much. good questions. how should we do this? should restart from the other end of the table and work her way up and i think we will have run out of time. john then, do you want to take a shot at any or all of those questions? should we start with michelle? >> not to be fair, but i think actually sean and catherine are the two best to answer that lasker. i think we did address to some extent the 10,000 number and how it will impact. i personally believe that dropping the number to 10,000 or below will force greater focus and will also force greater autonomy on the afghan side. quite honestly, my estimate is based on the most interviews i've done this january and the time i was spending a country in

late 2012. .. as well as occasionally festivals for the army to be able to provide power projection

worldwide. that doesn't mean it automatically gets support. while there are and requests for additional resources, the international community doesn't always support those. it is still rather substantial and significant because it is not only provided through the nato funding but the police and again, 30 separate non- u.s. bilateral agreements to provide resources. somebody picking it up beyond nato. the department of defense does not want to take ownership in the police development

especially as it is with the law enforcement capabilities. nato on the military side has built up to a security institution and security force. it has to stabilize the nation. there are efforts that look at the civilian side of nato and the cooperation of europe to take on an increased role but are in fact looking at the international vehicle to coordinate those activities. especially given the myriad of the players that are there. finally with regards to the

truth numbers, the position is that the troop numbers are consistent with the plan for a regional presence is well as capital presence that will provide the needed under the resolute support. >> i want to amplify something because the report talks about a couple of recommendations in the state department role and also the international police coordination board. absolutely essential that it be strengthened if not just as a coordinating body across the international police donors and it is standing here even as we sit here today. it is now up to 40 plus.

finally we make a strong recommendation and every part. but doing the technical training and equipping and continuing training advising and assisting mission the state department needs to take a role in creating an objective and creating an assessment framework and providing oversight that ensures the u.s. government rule of law programming at large or law enforcement related programming connects to the police development so that we can get a greater coherence. >> i agree with the view that a

lot of expenditure did take place but not perhaps in the way that the doctor made people hope that it would but i do think that also there is a lack of assessment or capability of doing the needs assessment. so when you are looking at coming up with these figures and what they are for and what they are doing with it you are looking at the plans that would allow you to do that in a coherent way and that is a problem when the expenditure gets a signed and how that would happen. but when you talk about the police themselves. they disconnected you mentioned between what is going on in the provinces. and in fact very is a report in the development of the police that says it urgently needs a body within it and there is a one-stop shop for the provincial

police forces to go to say we need to discuss these problems and get the team inside of the ministry to look at the solutions where at the moment there is nothing there. they are trying to find somebody interested and there isn't a coordination. in terms of who will do this it is really worrying. everybody hopes the icp be will be able to do it. having run it, i don't think it's well. as i said, i managed to borrow -- only in dollars off of the japanese government and it took me five months to get my hands on it and when you start to run it in that sort of way, you've got problems and my successor has been looking at hemorrhaging the staff that is nothing to do with his agenda and the way that he's running the organization

that the australians and canadians that have been very stalwart finished up the police programs. and he came under the staff and the idea that you can go from that position and put his organization at the heart of it i think we genuinely don't think it is. there's also the issue when people talk about coronation they say they be leaving coordination that they don't want to be coordinated. and as of again that is a challenge. i think it is time that this coordination in the international community belongs to the ministry. that's what we do in every other country that we do the development work. there is a group in spite of the ministry that decided the priorities between them an theny have the negotiations and come up with the program. it isn't perfect but that's what

we do everywhere else and that is what we should be doing now. i think there is a role for ipcb to help support the team. it means different staff would be experts in the program management is and help build the capability and then they could fade away and they would have the capability built and so would have been basically the way the identif identify yang oe need or the project and going into talking to them to say how are we going to do that and you end up with other people on the ground being contractors over local organizations that so we do in the rest of the world and i don't think it should be different to transition the program support in that sort of model. >> i would like to thank the members in the audience and the panelists for some excellent presentations and invite a round

of applause. [applause] and we are adjourned the inspector general today released initial findings examining the treatment of veterans at the va health care facilities. ththe reports of hospital administrators at the phoenix facility significantly understated by three months of time the patients waited for their primary care appointment. the report also said 1700 veterans using the hospital were kept on unofficial waiting lists for it while the initial report focused on the phoenix facility, it said that scheduling practices are systemic throughout the administration. we will hear more about the

investigation into the inspector general's findings tonight during the affairs committee meeting. they called the top officials from the veterans affairs department to testify about the delays and revelations that they destroyed secretly twists. that is scheduled for 7:30 and we will have it live on c-span2. the house this week takes up its third of the 2015 spending bills the commerce committee is to send a science. the appropriations pall policy d from capitol hill.

give an idea of what's in it and how much is the congress proposing to spend? sputnik they are proposing $51.2 billion on the commerce justice science bill list of ndn acted the spending level and really like you said that this is a wide-ranging spending bill in the department of the justice and thjusticeand the science age the national science foundation. this truly is a wide-ranging bill. >> i want to ask about the gun issue because when it came out of the peace it says that it advances the democratic gun provisions turned asid aside sos that mean that the date of the cne amendments? >> not at all. the majority of the time when we have the appropriations committee took this earlier this month and because of the recent shootings at santa barbara in california, we are expecting to see many of the same amendments

that we saw in the committee in addition to perhaps the new ones. >> you said that nifty cq breaks down the obama request for the agency and the link to the chart at roll call. the chart shows that the department's national oceanic atmospheric administration getting a fair chunk of the money and also with the patent office as well for the national institute of standards and technology. you said this was less than last year, but is it the same in terms of percentages? >> it's about the same but one thing that they are looking to do they want to cut about 24% from the climate research side of the oceanic atmospheric administration they want to move a lot of the funding to the weather satellites, so an interesting shift. they are definitely opposing some of that and want to see the money go to the climate research and we will see what happens on

the floor. >> there's also the issue of the medical marijuana and law enforcement may come up. >> there's an interesting conversation with lawmakers in california looking to back this on the floor. as well as some of the most liberal members who are looking to include a provision that would bar the justice department from prosecuting medical marijuana users who have a prescription for it in the states it's legal and this is a measure or a provision that's been brought up in previous years and it was turned down in the committee. but it didn't be increasing poll numbers for the legalization of marijuana a number of supporters this would get on the house floor something is we will be watching. >> one of the group says the heritage foundation and the peace they post online writing about the spending on the bill they said that congress should also require nasa to expand to

provide space transportation and rockets and they point out that the proposed budget has farms fs established for food items for the trip despite the fact they have no current plans for the expedition. when the groups that together a piece like this does it have an impact? >> absolutely so we will be watching to see how many of them break and support a measure. >> this is the last appropriations bill for the subcommittee chairman in virginia. what will his legacy be in the bill and the overall appropriations process? >> you're going to see a lot of provisions particularly related to violence which is something that has been an issue in his northern virginia district. he also cares deeply about the science funding and he is proposing the high-level of funding for the science foundation in the nations history so he is going to step

out and defend those programs from some of the more conservative republicans who would rather see the money spent elsewhere. >> in the appropriations spending for cq rollcall you can follow her at tamar. >> beginning obeginning on the g bill falling to 6:30 p.m. votes in the house. watch live coverage on c-span.

yesterday donald trump spoke at the press club about politics and building the brand. mr. trump the creator of the television series the apprentice and the celebrity apprentice considered a run for the republican presidential nomination in 2012. this event is one hour. >> good afternoon and welcome. i'm an adjunct professor at the george washington university school of media and public affairs can't form or international bureau chief for the associated press and the 107th president of the national press club. the national press club is the

world's leading professional organization for journalists committed to the future through our programming with events such as this while fostering a free press worldwide. for more information about the press club please visit the website at press.org. i would like to welcome the speaker into those of you today attending the event. at the head table includes guests as well as working journalists who are club members and so if you hear applause in f the audience i would like to note members of the public are attending so it's not necessarily lack of evidence. it's not necessarily evidence of a lack of journalistic objectivity. i would also like to welcome our c-span public radio audiences. you can follow the action on twitter using the hash tag #npclunch. after the guest concludes weibel have a question and answer

period and i will ask as many as time permits. now it's time to introduce the head table guests and i would like you to stand briefly as your name is announced. from the right, the president of the club of dc. thank you for bringing in so many important alumni to the luncheon today including four at the head table. her projects and washington correspondent for the record. contributing editor for the globalist, matthew, president and ceo of the strategies and the guest of the speaker. the washington bureau chief for the bank rate and the former president. ivanka trump for acquisitions for the organization into guest of the speaker. jerry, the buffalo news washington bureau chief, the chairman of the national press club speakers committee and past

president. the organizer of today's event, thank you very much. the senior vice president of the trump organization into guest of the speaker natalie, breaking news reporter for usa today. the senior associate editor for the washington editors in the npc membership secretary. [applause] whether in real estate, sports or entertainment he is a consummate dealmaker. the real estate's ba span on the

world. the latest projects. millions know him in his television program. you're fired is surely one of the most quoted phrases of all times. he's also an author of several best-selling books including how to think like a billionaire. he's also flirted with politics suggesting that the dropping the idea of a presidential run in 2,002,000 as a third-party cande anin as the republican candidat. most recently user is a possibility he might want to hear a bid to buy the nfl buffalo bills.

he's been a company of his own brand. he's been highly successful in business and part because he's made managing central to this policy. if the concept of journalists never considered a few decades ago and today though many journalists make an attempt to heed the advice that he outlines in the 2008 book chapter, and i quote, you are literally your own brand whether you have a business or not. if you are serious but what you're doing and take responsibility for building your own brand. trump is here today to tell about the building of the grant and let me say your brand i am convinced helped generate the sellout crowd today in the national press club including people standing in the balcony and it did so in a matter of days. ladies and gentle and please join me in welcoming to the national press club mr. donald

trump. [applause] >> thank you very much. this is a great group. so if it's sold out so fast that the first question to ask is why did you raise ticket prices? and that is all branding. the $25 is cheap but he said it's the same whether it doesn't sell at all or if it sells like crazy so i think they are going to revisit the bag. it is an honor to be with you. i will tell you this, that our country which i loved very dearly is in serious trouble but the old post offic post office g right down the road on pennsylvania avenue is not. it's going to be spectacular. we are building something that is going to be amazing and spending $200 million. and when it is completed in a very short period of time probably about 18 months it will be one of the great hotels of the world and you will have it

right here in washington and it is going to be really something. we are building projects all over the world. you know about miami and that was another thing. we like to fix them and make them great and gets the right ones. he has 800 acres in the middle of next to the airport. tiger woods won the tournament a year ago and he was there again this year, hurt his back unfortunately that he will be back i hope. we had tremendous success and we rebuilt it and it's been an incredible thing and i just got back and it was sort of interesting. we were in the middle east and somebody said a very wealthy person was smelling the air. and it was like a gasoline smell or an oil smell and he said i love that smell. it means money.

the environmentalists don't like you have it and i happen to be in my own way an environmentalist. i've gotten many awards but we can't go to the extent where the country suffers or the country is suffering very greatly. so we get to know people all over the world and we have a lot of fun. when i spoke with the national press club they asked me what i think about branding or what makes branding so special it is so important and there are a lot of things. it started with me very early on just by having success. that sort of creates a total bit of a brand, and then i did a number of buildings i started with my father in brooklyn and queens we had good success and i had some good success just a little bit in sports you have confidence for the rest of the round or if you get a homerun. when you have a early success it

gives you confidence and i had a lot of early success. i had a wonderful father that loved brooklyn real estate. he loved brooklyn and he spent a lot of his time there. he never wanted to come to manhattan and he loved queens and brooklyn because that's what he knew. and i learned negotiation from him and contractors and how they could rip you off if you don't know what you're doing as there is nobody smarter than a contractor that can't read or write. these are geniuses and you can imagine what's going on because you see what's going on in the country. i hear that the website is up to $5 billion. now, i do websites and of course, $3 you hire someone or some one in committee can be young or old and i got in trouble. i said you hire some young guy

and they said what about older people and i said you can high hear anybody to do a website and i have some of the best websites in the world. you can look at every one of my projects as a website. some of them are very complex and cost peanuts if you know what you're doing so we are up to almost $5 billion it's obviously a very, very sad thing. so in terms of branding, you have success, whether it is many, many jobs that i've dealt, that's what happened about 20 years ago, i built a building at fifth avenue and 57th street it's called trump tower and it's been tremendously successful in my adult the rights and i have the right to call it tiffany tower. the world didn't know much about trump and perhaps it was a

better place if you think about it, but had the right to do something and that was college tiffany tower because i got that right. and i had a friend that is a very smart guy who said what you think about calling the building tiffany tower? he said when you change your name to tiffany, college tiffany tower. so i gave up a very valuable right and i called trump tower and it was a success and many other buildings all over new york and been all over the world were doing some incredible things in the middle east. we have a magnificent hotel that opened recently and they've been just tremendous and successful and perhaps it gets better and better but i think it all began with the great success of the

tower. best location in new york, most visible building, the highest rate retail space anywhere in the world. gucci is my primary tenant and nowhere in the world do you get like the one block and i've always heard to tiffany location is the best location, and who would have thought that someday i would have to tiffany locati location. it was exciting and random house was the publisher and it was called the art of the deal. and it became the number one best-selling book on "the new york times" list for many months and almost a full year and i remember on the fictional side of his bonfire of vanities and these were the oaks the whole year. it was a great honor and it had a lot to do, it was great to

have a number one selling book and it turned out to be probably according to everybody's accounts, the biggest selling business book of all time great it is better than a business book that sold like the art of the deals that it is a great honor so that is branding and then i had the apprentice and the apprentice was interesting because mark was hot at the time, young and smart and renting the skating rink which as you know they took eight years and couldn't get it open. i got it open in three months. that was a pretty well-known thing. [applause] that was pretty well known that tells you about the government and i'm talking about all of the government, but that was a disaster. it wouldn't open and my daughter here that is so wonderful i wanted her to go ice skating. she's here with us today. she kept saying do you think i will ever be able to go ice skating because it's been eight and a half years.

so i said can i build it for you please and i go down and watch and have three or four units and 300 or 400 people sitting there doing nothing for years. so i took it over and it is an interesting story so when the city design database went to a refrigeration company from miami. they hired -- and they do refrigerators but they don't do ice skating rinks so they recommended what's called free on that goes through a copper pipe and there is my old if you have like a pinhole it doesn't work because the gas is escapes. they put this beautiful copper piping down and the tubing would be all over and go back and people would say okay it wasn't working. ..

and the tubing is not copper that costs a fortune, it is robber. we put the tubing down, and then i will never forget. the surface is so massive. we had cement mixers backed up all the way to harlem. we did one poor all the way back to harlem through the park, and i had it builds in the months after eight and a half years. believe me, most of it was demolition. so things can be done. you know, if you look at government and if you look at

what happens. so we are at though link. cbs slid -- there were having their for nellie of survivor. they built the village in the middle of the rink, and it was live television. he said, i would like to see donald trump. is that possible? cell we met. i have an idea that i want to do, but will only do it if it is you. and it turned out to be right about that. fifteen copies of the apprentice, and all of them failed bid they fell like you never saw. don't you love it when your opponents failed? add do. i don't know about you. i am not sure our country does. but 15 copies. mark cuban, a total failure, last afford to nights, the steward, richard branson, tommy hilfiger, but all these guys.

fifteen counties altogether, and they were all off. mark said to me, you know, i would love to do. i had a hollywood agent says. represented with the biggest, and he said to but don't do it. i said, it's too late. i shook hands with marc burnett. what difference does that mean? it's hollywood. a handshake does not mean anything in hollywood. i said, eyes should cans. i can do it. he said 97 percent of the shows on television fail. i did not know that. of the ones that make it, they don't make a big. in the history of television and has never been a business type show that worked. i said i still have a problem. i wish i would have been this before. it means a lot. i don't want to do it. do you think i can get out of it be shipped by hand. you're right.

we did it. the show opens at number ten. and knew how big it was because the head of nbc television and the head of nbc called me up. i never met him. he said it was 7:00 in the morning. he called me up. he said hello. i just wanted to wish you happy birthday. i have never even spoken to this guy. he is showing weakness. you have to remember. then i get a call from the chairman of nbc, a fantastic guy he says, happy birthday. is anything good? in message to my it's of great. who was that? that was the chairman of nbc wishing me a happy birthday before you did. so i knew that i have a big hit.

and it went on and on. and the interesting thing is that was in the age of friends. fell last year france. i am just saying to myself, boy, this is something. i'm telling you something about branding. you have to take risks. the end result of the story is the agent called me. he goes, mr. trump, would like to see you at your earliest convenience. about what? i think you're entitled to a commission. the number one show on television, and i honestly think am entitled to a commission. i said, he did not want to do the show. he told me don't do the show, break the deal. what are you talking about? by the way, what kind of money are you talking about? with $3 million be fair? jim, you're fired. i fired him. as the last ever heard about the guy. anyway dalai it is all about.

i am watching over here, and this guy, buffalo and is is doing great. that's good. but i'm seeing these questions, hundreds of questions. a couple of them i said, please don't ask that question, but i'm looking at them saying to myself as some watching that all of that kind of success to a large extent is about winning. the other qualities. i have great feelings of compassion for people. back you can have great health care he had people that have

compassion and know what they're doing. but i was thinking to myself as i was looking at all of these numbers of questions about, one of them was. it's about winning. vince lombardi was a great coach i will never forget. i was in a room with one of his players, four times the size of vince lombardi. at a club. sitting with a player. the play was full of bravado. all this sudden, a small guy and stature wharton. this football player was petrified, petrified. he looked like he was ready that of our attack. in know what happens to mcentee have seen it all the time murder in washington the law when you know when they don't get away with being tough. when you when they could be as tough as they want.

it's about winning. , you look at branding and what's happening and i told you the story about trump the art of the deal and the apprentice and all tell you today you have twitter and facebook invested ramp and all of these different things that are some amazing. i have millions of followers, millions. i don't do press releases and more. , a press release put it on twitter. it so great. it's like owning the new york times without the losses if you think about it. millions of people watching. and if i want to say something had just put it out. all of a sudden i'm reading stories about it. it's really fantastic. i love it. 3:00 in the morning. country is going to hell. we need leaders. i keep saying the same thing. it is largely true. so you look at the united states but. let's look good branding. we have not had a success in

years. where have we had a success? i mean, i wrote down just a few things coming down. we have nothing. the veterans of ministration catastrophic, benghazi, catastrophic. russia -- i mean, and 80 percent popularity in this country. they did not even like him a year ago pvc is so house what the united states. we are fighting. another country wants to comment. they love russia. we send in our pollsters. that is not well. they want to form with russia. we are involved in all of this. is and you're supposed to be involved? they don't want to anger russia. we get it. why is it as? but then you have china. the all-time curse -- and i love politics and have been studying politics. despite what he was saying, i

never said i was rebelling. i never did. everybody thinks -- may speech in new hampshire years ago. we could not have made a speech in new hampshire, everyone said was running for president coachella wasn't thought. i don't know what happened to mitt romney. look like he was going to do fine. i love what i'm doing. i love building the old post office, terrell, panama, all of these buildings that we're doing i just love what i am doing. it's why i do it well. was the secret to success? love what you're doing. i would prefer not run. and the only person. i'm a private company, no one knows what i'm worth. for says no, nobody knows. some people say 2 billion, 2 billion, 4 billion, so accurate. they have no idea.

and the only candidate in history. people say to you think trump is really rich? on the only candidate in history that files a financial disclosure statement that was not running. think of it. he will never run because it does not want to reveal his finances. hey, i'm so proud of what i've done. one of the reasons i think a rocket can tell you this better than me is we won for the old post office. every developer wanted. but, i mean, obviously it's pennsylvania avenue, an amazing building. the zoning restrictions. that was in the teenage. but one of the reasons is because my financial statement was so strong. the want to makes sure it gets down. they did a very professional job

. you had people who could not have handled the. we really are going to do a fantastic job. or like it was going on and see the country, just tell me i read a couple of other things. china, russia, i've always heard the big kirsten this country is china and drescher unify and get together. they just made while the biggest deals of a mate. china, our great friend -- by late july have great respect for china, many chinese friends live in my buildings, all over the place. 30 million, 40 million temecula suppose to dislike them? like them very much. i have more oligarchs living in my building -- i bought a house in palm beach. $40 million. i fixed it. i call it -- can you have a

$40 million fixer upper? that's what i have. i bought it as a real-estate deal. he fell on very hard times. and the house was sold by the bank at a bankruptcy auction. i pay $40 million. i sold it for $100 million. i sold it to a russian who then announced his wife is suing for divorce some of the house and just $14 million in the proceeding. a look at it when i see that. and i said to myself, where is the united states doing well? site you have iraq, we spend $2 trillion think of this number, not even a number that you -- honestly ten years ago you did not hear the word

trillion. we spend 2 trillion, and more importantly thousands. some people say who cares? i care. destroyed. and what we did is took this country and so weakened it. it was always iran and iraq. in no, it was -- they had -- well, we destroy their country we spent $2 trillion shell's chief of thousands of lives, tens of thousands of wounded warriors paths. china is buying their will. things we are truly the dumbest people on a. buying a big portion of their royal, being controlled by iran, which i set a long time ago.

when i made the statement because it looked to me like it was going down the tubes first, we are at war, but will said what a terrible thing to say. now you call and that won't even take our phone call. think of it. an interesting thing happened in afghanistan. no one knew that afghanistan has tremendous minerals and tremendous wealth and minerals. i thought this was a country that did not have that, but they have tremendous wealth. well, we are fighting over year. on the other side of the mountain china is brilliantly taking all the minerals. we are fighting here. china is taking minerals. and i said to myself, how is it possible that we could be so stupid? interesting thing happened the other day reading the front page of the new york times. we can make a deal with japan from agriculture. think of this.

japan will not allow farmers to put food and sell food in japan. i like the japanese to. like everyone. very interesting. the fact of their leaders are much smarter does not make me dislike and. makes me respect them. i am reading this article in japan won't let us think about putting our food and japan. millions of cars pouring in this country tax-free made in japan and then saying, who are our negotiators? if i was negotiating i would say , fellows, take our food and love it. love our food. and the food is peanuts compared to will we're talking about. peanuts. you say to yourself, how is it possible that japan might have the nerve to say they're not

calling to take small potatoes, farming goods from the united states farmers. everyone admits that. it is great product. we're not taking a product. we're selling millions of cars. look at the size of these massive car companies because of the united states. so much food pouring into japan. it would not know what to do with it. so i said to myself why aren't we smart? we used to be brilliant. we used to be a brilliant country. we aren't anymore. we are foolish country, i don't country. we have leaders that either not intelligent or -- there is

something wrong. maybe it is lobbyists. i hear they are so powerful. maybe we have to do something about that. maybe japan and maybe a middle eastern states -- look at this. i heard a number today, since 1931 we have more oil reserves in this country in terms of storage reserves. think of that. and yet the price is at an all-time high. did i say a good thing? yes. high wind. i will tell you that the very basics of that i that prices come tumbling down. here we have and are buying from opec and buying from saudi arabia also of great relationships of the people. they cannot believe by the lead because they are friends of mine, how stupid we are. they tell me. hey, donald, we are getting away with it.

you're right. saudi arabia is making, think of this, billion dollars a day, billion a day, so much money what they're doing there is unbelievable. you looked at our airports, your airport here, your airport would party and kennedy and newark and lax and los angeles. they are like third-world country airports falling apart. they have floors inside that are sold go and when they fixed and they don't fix them with to arouse a which of the terrible, rip them out and put down often -- and the floor. they fix them with asphalt. in the main terminal they put black asphalt from our road, and next year road. the road is falling apart, the bridges are falling apart. in china there building 24 bridges, most of which are bigger than george washington bridge. just massive bridges, massive construction.

we don't even know it. the president of china comes over and we have a state dinner for monitoring and. he is laughing all the way back to china. it is all branding. when you look at the things that are going on we are spending tremendous amounts of money. president karzai, as you know, our president flew into afghanistan, and president karzai who is getting sacks and sacks of cash, 50 million in cash. i mean green. and i want to no, who is the soldier delivering the gas? can you imagining? they're carrying satchels of cash because they're paying now tribal leaders and warlords. it is incredible. i want to know who these people either doing this. karzai said i've won't meet with the president. so you have the president of the country who spent i guess close to a trillion dollars.

the land. and the president does not have the decency to come and pay his respects, even to just shake his hand. i say to myself, that is very bad branding because when you get right down to it, that is what we're talking about. that is pretty bad. it is pretty sad. he looked at libya, syria, the line in the sand, the famous line in the sand, not that it should be done are we should be involved, but you don't say we're going to do this or that and then they do it and then you don't follow up. and by the way, i don't want them to follow-up, but you should have never made the statement. we are in very, very serious trouble. i just ask you, what positive thing has happened to this country in the last ten years? and that includes bush. i am not a bush friend, believe me. he got us into iraq.

i think obama should have gotten a sell-off faster. and i am not a fan, and anyone that knows me knows that. but what has happened -- i mean, can we set the economy is booming? no. unemployment, no. massive unemployment all over the place. if you start looking for a job they take you off the and a plumber rolex you got that, massive unemployment. we don't make products and more. jeff anomaly well. and the city itself, is in the sabah, shame. we have tremendous potential, tremendous potential. we have power over china that you would not believe. china sells their products to us that no tax, no tax. and yet they manipulate the

currency so that our people cannot compete with their product. we make better products than them, by the way, but we cannot compete because of the manipulation which is in the history of the world there has never been a better or smarter currency manipulation than that done by china. all you have to do is say come up folks, it is going to end, it is going to end now, and if it does not we will attack sunday that every product to sell in this country will be its 45% tax . the number should be 48%. he would not even have to do the tax bill is everything was stop. the same thing with japan. it is the same thing. it is so simple, but we do not have the right people. i assume they're diplomats. they are incompetent. we have incompetent people running the country. now, obamacare is having a

devastating effect on the country. you know, they say whoever becomes president, 2016 is going to be a catastrophic year for the economy. all of the problems of obamacare and other things were delayed until 2016. someone will have a real problem they better get smart. republicans better get smart. they will inherit a mess like never before ever ever. as a good news is that we have tremendous potential with proper leaders, tremendous. we can turn it around so fast. we're sitting on energy as is bigger than all of them almost, massive amounts of dollars coming end of the ground. we do not use that. even the keystone pipeline, i don't even care that much about it. i think bill the because it is jobs and goods and all that, but we don't need canadas of kamal we don't need anything from anybody.

build it anyway. it is jobs, environmentally good and should be built and it is amazing that it has not been billed. obama is having a hard time with it. some of the people that don't want it to be built up people on wall street. i know. you know why, they are invested in oil and gas and don't want to bring down the price. it is not that they are a great environmentalists. this they are invested heavily in oil and gas. they don't want the competition. he gave a lot of money to the democratic party. we have to be nice to him and others. a very, very sad thing. i would said that i am proud of this country, but i would say that if we don't act quickly it is going to be very, very hard to bring it back. we are very, very far out on a

limb. something has to take place, and it has to take place quickly. our people have to be taking care of. in order to take care of people when the wealth. we don't want to cut social security, medicare more medicaid i am different from a lot of republicans. it is peanuts compared to the kind of numbers you're talking about for new or doing. have to take care business back from china and other countries, we have to take a back. it is about winning. we have to start winning. i searched everything. we have not had one good story about this country being great for years, and it is about time that we started getting the good stories. we can do it, but ian need proper leaders.

with that, i will take some of these killers questions that i have been viewing. let's go. go ahead. thank you. thank you very much. [applause] i already had one node, why are we showing mr. trump the questions in advance? we don't. he was sitting next our share of the speaker's committee who was trying to organize the cards. we will ask the questions. and know that mr. trump cannot wait to answer them. let's go right into politics. you have flooded -- i think that is the right word. you have floated several times of the possible run for the presidency. why have you never run? >> again, i did not flirt. people were asking me to run. i never wanted to. finally i just said i'm not. i did not flirt. people wanted me to run. a real see what happens in 2016.

i want to see what's going on. this country is in serious trouble. i did not flirt. i probably -- i love what i am doing. i would rather do what i am doing that do that, but i also love more than what i am doing and more than virtually anything else other than family which includes nine beautiful of soccer who is here, i love this country. aid to see what is happening. a final see the right person i will do something in 16, as sure as you're sitting here. thank you. [applause] >> do you think chris christie is too damaged to be a viable presidential candidate in 2016? if not, who is the best gop candidates? >> well, chris is a friend of mine and a good guy, but he has to get this problem cleared up. yet to get that cleared up amended as to come out good.

obviously it was foolish. i have spoken to him about it. it was a crazy set of events that took place. and i would say that chris, and i will say it to anybody, has to get that whole thing straightened out and behind him in which case he would be a viable candidate. certainly he has been devastated by it and hurt badly by it. you just have to look at the polls. at some point it will come out. there are many people looking. certainly would be viable. >> to you regret questioning president obama's secession? >> not even the little bed. i don't regret it. why would i regret it? the came out with a bucket back the was not published.

you remember the famous book. it said the young man from canyon. he -- was offered -- i offer him a tremendous amount of money. added now want to see his marks. i just want to see place of birth. there are three things that could happen, and one of them dead. he was, perhaps, born in kenya. very simple. okay? he was, perhaps, born in this country. said he was born in kenya because if you say you're born in kenya you got eight and you get an ecologist, and people were doing that. perhaps he was born in this country -- and that as a big chance. or who knows? maybe it was all right. i offered $5 million to just see the records. i tell you what, he would have done a great job. there are people in this country please don't give up, please don't give up on the whole thing. i hope that it is laundered%.

a lot of people are questioning the birth certificate, questioning its authenticity. i do say this to my offer $5 million to see some basic records, not the marks, not the this, nothing to largest basic things out applications to colleges. i would love to see what is put down. why didn't the man take $5 million for is favorite charity? now, then was not reported by the prices sometime just prior to the expiration date of that offer i raise the offer of 50 million, 59 for charity, pick your charity, $50 million, let me see records. i never heard from him. i would take it. i mean, i would take it. i would give it to chicago charities to all sorts of charities. they can use the money. it is one of those three things. either it is fine for in my opinion they're is a very good

chance he was born here and said he was born in kenya because if you were born in kenya you got in the college's and you got aid a very simple. >> perhaps elantra would like to answer this, will the new d.c. hotel be like? >> thank you. well, thank you, everyone, for welcoming us here. we all intend to spend much more time in d.c. personally have been down every week for the past year and will continue to come down as we start the development of the old post office building. this is an asset that i don't need to describe to anyone. it said some pennsylvania avenue at one of the great addresses of all time. it is a landmark building, the likes of which one could never replicate today. unfortunately, it's full potential as not been materialized for a long time. we are going to change that.

we're trying to develop a super luxury hotel, 2702 rooms, the largest volume of any of the luxury hotels and all of d.c., unbelievable meeting space, spas, restaurants go and really bring in tremendous amounts of life and vitality to pennsylvania avenue and to obviously the hotel itself. we love d.c. we love this building. for many, many years, for decades my father has been looking and waiting and exploring various opportunities in d.c. when he came here he wanted to do it the right way with the right location but the ride development. that is the old post office building. we are incredibly excited the reader will start construction sin and be open in 2016. [applause] >> 2016, for the next inauguration. [laughter]

thank you. we appreciate your coming here and sharing a podium with your dad. a few more questions, strong, because i think as the more you are being so elucidating we're getting more questions. what would you do if you were dealing with president prune? >> well, and negotiation the primaries saying that you have to do is to get the other side to respect to. president spurgeon does not respect or like president obama. you have a problem. i am not sure that is a problem that is easily solvable. russia does not respect. they see that we have been greatly weakened both militarily and otherwise, and he certainly does not respect president obama. so what i would do would be, as an example, i own the ms.

ms. universe. i wasn't moscow recently. i spoke indirectly and directly with the president who could not have been nicer. we had a tremendous success. the show was live from moscow, and we had a tremendous success there. it was amazing. but to do well you have to get the other side to respect to, and he does not respect our president, which is very sad. >> we will turn to sports. you said, you are interested in buying the nfl buffalo bills. i hope we have that correct. yet even spoke with the nfl commissioner about the possibility. do those conversations give you any sense as to how intense the bidding for the team will be? >> no idea. i have no idea if i will be able to pare react will keep it in buffalo. we had a great discussion.

buffalo news is a terrific paper they're treated as fairly. we are going to put in a bid. if it is not the right bit -- i just want turnberry in scotland. i buy a lot of things, but by then if the prices are reasonable or fair. i don't know what is going to happen with buffalo. if the price is not right then i won't get it done that will be ashamed of not getting it every level before stem the pay to much. if i did i would do a good job and think the people in buffalo already like me. i have a great relationship with the people of buffalo, but we will see what happens. it is about price. don't allow many bidders there will be, but we will probably put in a bit and see how that goes. >> one more sports question. do you feel some nfl owners must hold a grudge against you because of your involvement in the u. s fl or because of casinos bearing the trump name?

>> i did a great job. i came in way late and got a team for peanuts. a very small price. it was a failure. people don't know that. it became hot and people started seeing it. i came on the basis that you go to fall football. amelie doing it if it will be first-class football. i consider spring football not to be first-class football. of the get it never worked in the spring because a television audiences in the spring -- i have learned a lot about ratings to the apprentice. television audiences appears in the spring, really just disappears, and i said to them, i will do this, but i want to make sure -- so what i wanted to go to the spring and when they wanted to get to the spring, i think the opposite are not too many of them that remember that. six or seven, but i think they gained a lot of respect for me.

i have been told by a couple of them, it was amazing the job i did. i at lawrence to sign a contract, one of the great linebackers of all time. i actually think they respect what i did. so i don't think that -- see that as a problem. we got out of atlantic city five years ago. we sold. our timing was good. our timing was very good. essentially i am not too much into gaming. would i go and? yes. if i did an nfl team would. >> do you ever worry about your brand becoming damaged? what could damage? >> i don't worry about it. if it happens it happens. it is interesting. the beautiful thing -- and again we will go back to twitter and facebook in is to grant. someone says something about me that this falls to my will hit them hard. a lot of times they disappear.

it is amazing. these wise guy reporters prole members of the national press, but some of these real wise guys trump filed for bankruptcy. excuse me, buffett is use bankruptcy, kravitz disease bankruptcy. it is a tool. it is just a tool. when i used to, i buy a company, throw it into a chapter cannot negotiate the elevons and all the problems if it really comes out, good company, petro files bankruptcy. it also have these other guys. i let people know it is not right what you are saying. they attacked my hair. it's mine. come here. would anybody like to inspect? is there a nice woman that would like to inspect it? no, it is actually my hair. you where the worst hair piece i have ever seen. what a horrible way. i don't. of course, it when people don't

want to the -- and they want to keep going, they just -- but i would like to defend myself. the beautiful thing about the new media is that you actually can if you have enough followers, and i certainly have a lot. you can sort of protect. it is interesting. sometimes i will be attacked and then i will attack back really viciously and never hear from that person again. if it is not a famous person they continue. what to they have to lose? was attacked like by share. she did not like my politics. i hit her so hard that she still does not know what happened. it is the last i have heard over. i don't know. rosie o'donnell as got around. the worst ever did was to attack donald trump. i have a young woman of ms. usa to had an alcohol and drug problem and was going to be fired. they came into my office to get the final blessing.

it was a news conference which was packed. i met the girl pitch was nice. said, don't fire her. you will destroy her life. it is never happened where we fire the winner. it will take her crown away, fire her, humiliated or comanche already has a problem. rosie o'donnell, who is see to give someone a second chance since. i get a call from a to tennant tonight and said, did you hear about rosie o'donnell? no, i have other things to do. and they told me about this. and i hit her like no one before, and that was it. she goes around telling people, that was a mistake. you know, when somebody attacks you, attack them back. get it stopped. it is so important. in my opinion it is so important. so that is the way that it is. go ahead. text question. [applause] >> a personal question, a

personal question, mr. trump go what do you do for relaxation? >> the build buildings. you know, it's funny, to you ever go away? because camino, i do a thing in dubai, but we are doing a massive job, phenomenally successful. i was installing doria doing something big and ireland were brought a lot of property. that is the relaxation. when you love what you're doing, as someone said you will take a forced vacation and go some beach and can use your phone, it would not be good for me. it would not be healthy for me. so what i do and what are really like doing is working, and it has been a lot of fun. you know what, the great thing, i put a lot of people to work, thousands and thousands of people work for me to my health care, education. they're not bored about obamacare because i take such good care of my people.

but so many different people are working because i love to work. that is really the thing i like doing the most. [applause] >> we are almost out of time. but for the last question we have a couple of housekeeping matters. i would like to remind you about our upcoming events and speakers. tomorrow dr. ben carson neurosurgeon and author. june 11th hollywood writer-director in night chaumont will discuss his off-screen campaign to close america's educational achievement gap. we will have other ones before august 1st. we just finalized the president of republic of our room. discussing peace, security, stability of the central african region and oil investments in the country. next i want to have for the first time that i can recall a double presentation of our brand , the national press club mud.

[applause] >> a round of applause our speaker. >> thank you all for coming today. there were also like to thank national press club's staff. yes. realize the last question. and jerry always reminds me of that because i skip over the script. what to think the national press club staff for organizing today's event. for our last question -- and we have two minutes. if he had the power of fire one person on the planet who with b?

>> this is such an easy one. but i've won't do it. i won't do it. too corny. we are a great country. we have great potential. let's live with that potential and let's make that potential come true. we need but fantastic leaders. we have the people in this country that have the potential to be fantastic leaders. let's look use our great minds. we are smarter than anyone. we can do what nobody has ever done before. we need great leaderships. and we needed quickly before it is too late. thank you very much. thank you, everybody. [applause] if you would like to get a copy -- [applause]

if you would like to get a copy of today's program please check out our website. thank you all. we are adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

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[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> the veterans affairs department inspector general today released a report showing hospital administrators and a phoenix facility significantly understated by three months the tiny patients waited for their primary care appointment. the report also showed that 1700 veterans using the phoenix hospital were kept on unofficial waitlists. while the initial report focused mainly on the phoenix facility, and said that the inappropriate scheduling practices are systemic throughout the veterans health administration. we will hear more about the investigation an inspector general's findings later during a house veterans affairs committee hearing. the committee has called top officials from the veterans affairs department to testify about the delays and revelations that the va destroyed seeker

weightless spirit a house hearing is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. eastern today. we will have it for you live here on c-span2. after that we will continue c-span2 book tv in prime time coverage leading things off with author and poet maya angelou who passed away at her home today. it will take a look back at her appearance of the 2002 los angeles times book festival where she talked about her book a song flying up to heaven. later the first on gun control from the annapolis boat festival then the discussion on charity hosted by the tucson festival books. book tv tonight on c-span2 beginning at about 9:30 p.m. eastern. >> one of the stories that resonated with me was the moment when they are dithering about

whether not they need to inject c water and said unit one. and it is a matter of the -- the clock is ticking. they're just about down to the wire. and yoshida, the plant superintendent, who, in the end, would have to make the final call knows it is desperate and the need the water in there quickly. meanwhile everybody wants to say and the officials and japanese government officials were all kind of hemming and hawing. an order for more of the supervisors that the government has not signed off on the set. well, he has already started. and so he basically calls one of his staff people over and says, okay. i will give an order but ignore it. he very loudly proclaims so

everyone in tokyo can year, you know, halted the sea water injection when in fact they didn't. to me that was a human element in that story in which in japan where a knowing the rules and kind of acting on their own is not rewarded. here was a moment or a guy knew that if he did not act things would go even worse than they were going. >> more about the tsunami and resulting meltdown at the fukushima nuclear power plant saturday night at 10:00 eastern part of book tv this weekend on c-span2. >> minnesota congressman was one of the featured speakers at a conference hosted by the campaign for america's future. talk about college debt, access to education and the ability of unions to organize. this is 25 minutes. >> all right.

q c-span. we are going to start this conference. good morning. >> good morning. >> come on. we are a bunch a populist. let's have that again. good morning. >> good morning. >> that's better. my name is roger hickey, co-director of the campaign for america's future. i want to welcome you to this new populism conference. unite a growing majority of americans who know that the economic game is rigged against them. we are using the political system to make the economy work for all americans. i also want to welcome all the people who are now watching across the country on c-span, and our future, streaming video at the nation's. welcome. you are all part of this growing

new populist movement. if one of those media goes down switch over to the other one. my campaign for america's future will welcome you in a few minutes in a more thoughtful way, but we are going to move this conference along by keeping interactions brief so that you can hear our great speakers. and the first speaker i want to introduce is a truly great american comeback carson keith ellis and. [applause] [applause] keith ellerson was first a community activist and civil-rights lawyer elected four times the represented the fourth congressional district running as the can that of the democratic farmer labor party, a

name that reflects the great midwestern tradition of populist history in america. he is also the co-chairman of the congressional progressive carcass. the cpc -- go ahead, plot. [applause] this cpc has done many great things. among them the fight to preserve and expand social security, but he is going to talk with us today about their greatest achievement. the better off budget. now, economists tell us that that budget which would invest massively in job creation and economic growth would boost gdp by three -- almost four per cent unemployment by an additional four and half million jobs or so as jared bernstein would tell us later, if you want to reduce inequality and reduce deficits you have got to make sure that

everyone has a job with decent pay. keith is also -- thank you. [applause] keith is also the author of this new book. i recommend it highly to everybody. my country to is of the. my faith, my family, and our future. go get it at the bookstores today. so please welcome keith ellison. [applause] >> thanks a lot. thank you. thank my dear friend wherever he is, really working hard somewhere. also as a a pool who has put in all lot of hard work and thank you to everyone he made this thing come off. it is often said, you have to speak truth to power. we say that, right? and we admire people who do that you know, i think the power already knows the truth.

[laughter] think about it. do you think there are no where that if they privatize social security that wall street will make a lot of money? he think he don't know that? you think the multinationals are unaware that if the trans-pacific partnership is passed into law that it is going to give them a chance to make all lot of money and disemployed a bunch of workers? i mean, the power knows that if we slash and burn the budget that the support that americans depend upon to get into a better economic situation will be there, and people will be left on the rhone to fend for themselves and to work for a pay that these people care to offer. so what if there are other huge ocean of excess workers out there looking for an opportunity that just means that people who

do have a job better watch their mouths about talking about unions. right? that just means that the people who do have a job better not complain about whether they lose their fingers or toes or did incurable diseases while working because you better hang on to that job. so speaking truth to power is so important to. the fact is, we need to speak some truth to our own folks. we need to speak truth. you need to speak truth to your cousin who listens to rush limbaugh all the time. you need to speak truth to your sister thinks she is not into politics. you know who i am talking about. you know somebody. we need to talk to our people about the situation that we are in, and we need to talk to our people in a systematic, persistent, intelligence, scientific, and part filled way.

the names of the game today is populism. what is happening now in our country is that the oligarchs are thinking that they are going to use their superior dollars to control the political scene. ..