vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? on this vote, the yeas are 58, the nays are 36. the nomination is confidence. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made afned laid pongt table, the president will be immediately not i note the absee of a quorummified oi note the ay notified of the senate's action. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that senate mb a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minute us 00. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it

adjourn until 010:00 a.m. wednesday, january 20. following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. further, that following leader remarks, the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each until 12:30. further, that the senate recess from 12:30 until 2:15-to-how for the weekly conference meetings. at 2:15 the senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to h.r. 4038, with the time until 2:30 equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: if ness no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand standadjourned under the previous order following the remarks of senator durbin. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i want to thank the majority leader for giving me an opportunity to say a few words before me adjourn this evening.

mr. president, some months ago in the midst of the debate on the nuclear agreement with iran, i came to the senate floor to remind my colleagues of some recent history, other negotiations undertaken with troubling regimes that turned out to serve our national security interests. i reminded my republican colleagues that john kennedy negotiated with the soviet union during the cuban missile crisis, saving us from nuclear war. i reminded them that richard nixon negotiated with the chinese on normalizing relations, even while that communist regime in china was providing weapons to the north vietnamese who were using them against american soldiers. i, of course, reminded them that ronald reagan negotiated with the soviets while the communist nation had thousands of nuclear weapons pointed at the united states, was occupying eastern europe and was supporting troubling regimes around the world. let us also recall how many on

the right in the political spectrum savaged then-president reagan for negotiating with the soviets on nuclear arms. let me read an excerpt from the january 17, 1988, "new york times" about the opposition eerily familiar to what we have been hearing in the debate on the iran nuclear agreement. the opposition reagan faced in negotiating an arms agreement with the soviets. and i quote: "already right-wing groups have mounted a strong campaign against the i.n.f. treaty. they have mailed out close to 300,000 letters opposing it. they've circulated 5,000 cassette recordings of general bernard rogers, former supreme commander of nato, attacking him. and finally, they're preparing to run a newspaper ad this month savaging ronald reagan as a new nevada i will chamberlain, gullibly predicting peace for

our time. conservative "washington post" columnist george will said in a 1987 "newsweek" column of negotiating arms agreements with the soviets -- and i quote mr. will -- "reagan has dramatically advanced the moral and psychological disarmament of the west by emphatically siding with those who emphasize the role of i had ogee and hence the radical difference and dangerousness of the soviet threat." the conservative "national review," may 22, 1987, had the following cover title concerning reagan's negotiation with the soviets. quote -- "reagan's suicide pact." whale opposed by some -- while opposed by some at the time, few in this chamber would look back today and say these negotiations were a mistake or the agreements that were reached between reagan and the soviets didn't actually serve long-term american national interest. mr. president, so here we are today with the fulfillment of an

historic, at least the first stage, of the fulfillment of an historic agreement between world powers and iran that has effectively eliminated that country's ability to build a nuclear weapon, a weapon that could have threatened our close allies and the world. you see, only a few months ago, after this agreement was reachet differently. you see, after only a few months, this agreement has been reached and iran has met its critical commitments. it destroyed its only source of weapons-grade plutonium by literally pouring concrete into the heart of this reactor. it shipped 98% of its low enriched uranium, at least 25,000 pounds, some 12 tons, of this low enriched uranium out of their country. and recall, thanks to the

interim agreement, iran already had shipped out all of its more dangerous highly enriched uranium. it dismantled and removed some two-thirds of its centrifuges, thousands of its centrifuges, and it has allowed international inspectors unprecedented access to its nuclear facilities and supply chain. simple question -- to the critics of the iran nuclear agreement, today is iran closer or further away from the development of a nuclear weapon? answer -- further away. there is no other reasonable conclusion. do you remember the speeches given by prime minister netanyahu and many of the critics of this agreement? they were telling us that iran was only weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon. now, by consensus, we believe they are at least one year away from developing a nuclear weapon if they completely walked away from this agreement.

and so without a nuclear weapon, iran is not the same kind of threat to the middle east, to israel or to the world. all of what i've just said and reported has been verified by international inspectors. do you recall ronald reagan reminding us, trust but verify? we verified. and the agreement gives these inspectors continued access in perpetuity. in a few months iran has gone from a breakout time of a nuclear weapon of a month or two to at least a year. quite simple, under president barack obama's iran nuclear weapons agreement, their program has finally been brought to a halt without firing a shot, something no previous administration had been able to accomplish. that such a difficult task was accomplished is a testament to the tireless work of our former colleague and the current secretary of state, john kerry. and his team. i think of all those who worked

so hard on this for so many months to achieve it. tough diplomacy has also brought home a number of americans that were unjusted held in iran. these -- unjustly held in eye rafnlt these americans had not even left iranian airspace before many of the republicans running for president unleashed another wave of worn-out rhetoric criticizing the president's effort that led to the release of these americans being held prisoner. they also failed, incidentally, to offer any substantive alternative approach. and let me remind the naysayers that it was ronald reagan who traded weapons to iran for seven american hostages being held by iranian terrorists in lebanon. not a handful of nonviolent sanctions violators but reference to what was then our archenemy who had only recently held more than 60 american diplomats as hostages for 444 days. by the time the sales were discovered, more than 1,500 missiles had been shipped by the

reagan administration to iran and only three hostages released. they, in turn, were replaced, sadly, with three more in what then-secretary of state george schultz called a hostage bazaar. mr. president, i have met families of those held hostage at various times around the world and i can't say what i would do in each case if i was president in those heartbreaking situations. but i do know it's far easier for these republican presidential candidates and critics of this administration to armchair the secretary of state or president than to actually make the tough decisions that brought these men and women home back to the united states. mr. president, while i applaud the nuclear deal and release of the detained americans, i'm under no illusions about the iranian regime. i believe there's a faction in iran that wants iran to integrate into the global community and reject iranian belligerence in the region.

and certainly a large number of eyiranian people feel that way. but there are deeply troubling hard-liners in iran as well. they continue to support some of the most troubling groups in the region -- hezbollah, hamas, the aassad regime. they continue to imprison their own people for wanting more freedoms and they threaten israel, our closest ally in the middle east, and the region's broader security. i hope that recent events mark the beginning of a gradual change away from these hard-line policies and we can continue to work with wiser voices on solving shared challenges such as afghanistan and syria. but until then, the administration has wisely maintained sanctions on iran for its support of these terrorist groups and human rights violations. i also strongly support the most recent sanctions related to iran's ballistic missile test announced by the obama regime. and the world will have ongoing intensive inspection of iran's

remaining nuclear infrastructure to ensure there is no treating on the agreement. mr. president, it's always easy to threaten force or simply say troubling regimes must bow to rhetorical demand. it's another thing to actually use diplomacy to reach these goals. let's not forget the price in lives, treasure and regional unheefl that the iraq war -- unheefl that thupheaval that tht us. to end iran's nuclear weapons program is remarkable and worth the risk. we remembered follow the words of president kennedy -- let us never negotiate out of fear but let us never fear to negotiate. mr. president, on behalf of senator cantwell, i ask unanimous consent that privileges of the floor be granted to the following individuals with the committee on energy and natural resources, francis bri van cleave, a democratic fellow, through

december 31, 2016, stephanie mcgoldrick, a democratic femme low through democrat 31, 2016, and betsy rosenblat, a democratic detail eye, through december 31, 2016. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until >> so the senate has gaveled out. earlier today members confirmed a judicial nomination for the district of minnesota. tomorrow work turns to a bill that prevents syrian and iraqi refugees from being admitterred into the united states -- admitted into the united states unless they pass background check and are deemed not to be a threat to u.s. security. the house passed the legislation before christmas, but the white house opposes it. procedural vote to advance the measure takes place on wednesday with 60 votes needed to move forward. follow the senate live here on c-span2 when members return on

wednesday. >> tomorrow on "washington journal," adam green of the progressive change campaign committee looks at the role progressives will play in the 2016 campaign. then russell moore of the southern baptist convention's ethics and religious liberty commission, discusses conservative christians and what issues are important to them in 2016. and after that, rachel cohen of the american prospect examines her recent story on planned parenthood and the future of the abortion debate. thursday will mark the 42nd anniversary of roe v. wade and we'll take your phone calls, facebook comments and tweets. "washington journal" is live every day at seven a.m. eastern on c-span. tomorrow testimony from attorney general loretta lynch on president obama's recent executive action on guns. she's joined by legal officials and gun control advocates at a

hearing held by senate appropriations subcommittee. see her remarks live wednesday, tomorrow morning, at 10:30 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> iowa governor terry branstad's announcement that he wants to see senator cruz lose the iowa caucuses and sarah palin's endorsement of donald trump, a busy day two weeks from the iowa caucuses. joining us from des moines is katherine lucy, thank you very much for being with us. >> great to be here, thanks. >> walk us through how both of these developments unfolded. >> yes, a busy day, obviously. earlier today the iowa governor, terry branstad, who traditionally does not make any kind of endorsements in the leadoff caucuses here in iowa did a press conference with reporters at a conference about, for renewable fuels.

so ethanol. it's a conference dealing with that industry. and he said that iowans should reject cruz because cruz supports phasing out a federal standard for the fuel. when he was directly asked would he like to see cruz defeated in iowa, he said, yes. so this -- not an endorsement. he's not making an endorsement, oh, but, he's sending a pretty strong signal who he doesn't want to see elected here in iowa. >> is this as much an issue about the renewable fuels for iowan voters or the larger issue of ted cruz and the republican party? >> you know, i can't see inside his heart and mind, obviously. officially, what he is talking about is his concern about renewable fuels. that said, branstad certainly is someone who identifies more with the establishment wing of the republican party here which really hasn't coalesced around a candidate, and there is quite a bit of hammering about the fact

that trump and cruz are battling it out here to win the caw at the moment. >> will governor branstad endorse anyone before the caucuses on monday, february 1st? >> as far as i know, he has repeatedly said he will not make an endorsement, and he did not say anything different today, so i'd be surprised if he did. but, i mean, we're in a very weird year, so i guess it's not impossible. he has not traditionally endorsed. >> and, catherine lucey, after days of speculation it's now official with the endorsement, sarah palin supporting donald trump in iowa. does this in any way effect the caucuses? >> well, that's a big question, and i think we're going to have to see how it plays out. i think endorsements only mean so much. obviously, she's somebody who has support and interest here, and, you know, trump is hoping this will kind of push him over the edge. i think it's going to continue to be a tight race between, you

know, cruz and trump here as we go into the final days. >> you are following the candidates on the ground across iowa. what are you sensing in this republican field? >> you know, i think there really is a lot of frustration and anger and people who really want to see a change. and so i think both, in different ways, both trump and cruz are tapping into that. i mean, the thing that's different about them and i think will be interesting to see on caucus night is they're drawing some different audiences. so cruz has a more traditional caucus campaign, he's spent a lot of time, you know, trying to reach out to churches, to pastors to build a very traditional and, you know, impressive ground operation whereas, you know, trump is holding giant rallies, huge events and is really pulling in lots of people who don't traditionally participate at all in these events. so his success really is

predicated on getting new people out to the caucuses. >> and, of course, as you well know, political experts saying there are essentially three, maybe four tickets out of iowa. so right now who is that third candidate? >> you know, the more interesting thing going on right now in iowa is the race for third or the so-called, i guess, establishment race. right now rubio, senator marco rubio appears to be in that third position. he is coming in third in the polls. ..

and in addition to the three or four, there is the expectation. someone could come in. there's a little bit of that going on. far better than people think. >> covering the presidential campaign and the iowa caucuses specifically writing for the associated press joining us from des moines. thank you for being with us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> and now a live look in iowa at a rally about to begin for donald trump. earlier today sarah palin endorsed mr. trump, and we expect mr. trump to announce that endorsement at this rally. watching live coverage for now here on "chasing news".

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♪ ♪ >> what a crowd. thank you very much, everybody. such everybody. such an honor with the snow coming down. hundredshundreds of people still outside trying to get in. we will go ahead. first of all, congratulations to the iowa state basketball team. [applause] what was that all about? adjourned on the game and said while. the shouldn't be that good of the game. at the end of the game i said who one. it's a great achievement. been carson, bad accident, some of the staffers were dirty bad. then, he'sthen, he's a good guy. hopefully they get better. say a prayer for them. we have had an amazing time today.

all over iowa and we have been here so much. you are much. you are going to be so sick of me. tell him to go. we have had an incredible time. we've had a really good week the debate last week. who knew about these debates? it has been fun and interesting,interesting, and i have been treated some are fairly by the moderators are not under percent. some of been very fair, some of the not so fair. look at all of the prospective air. that's a lot. it's like the academy awards. we have had -- it has been an amazing experience that started on june 16 when we came down the escalator. i said let's go. my wife is been so supportive and wonderful.

you're going to make america great again. and you know what you think of it i've never done it before, never been a politician thank goodness. i have done jobs and put people to work, tens of thousands over the years. thousands of hispanics the love me. i'm leading with hispanics, which i knew. and we came out and that that particular opening when i opened and so i'm going to for president i gave up a lot of different things including telling our friends at nbc no more apprentice. that's hard to do. they wanted to do it so badly. steve burke,burke, fantastic executive came up to my office and said come on. you're not going to run. do it. i was pretty sure. i was pretty sure. it really is a tough thing to do.

if you are successful you will never run for president. you will never really run for politics. i built a great company. tremendous numbers. he saw the filings. the press was going to look so closely. zero, he is actually going to do it. then when i signed your life away and i sign that they said well. never filed aa financials. maybe he's not as rich as everybody thinks. i filed a financials. you did not hear a thing about it. where they looking. almost a hundred pages, the biggest report i've ever filed with the sec and it showed a company tomorrow phenomenal company very little debt, tremendous cash flow, the way it is supposed to be. the reason i tell you that

is that is the kind of thinking we need now 19 trillion in debt. you saw the horrible budget comeau horrible horrible budget. so we went along and a lot of things have happened and thenin the polls came out, which i love. new ones came out. i'll tell you right now. some big ones coming out. it has to be pretty good because i see the response. with all the people still trying to come into this building, this is a very nice barn. but with all of the people still trying to come in,in, you see what it is. we have something special. it's a person that i thinki

think is a spectacular person. very special to me. the polls came out and some of them, 38 percent for trump, 20 percent per 2nd. i don't even mention names. i'm going to be nonconfrontational today for a change. 21 percent for the 2nd, 11 perc. some of them are actually 01 pe. is very weak on illegal immigration. they come as an act of love.

[inaudible conversations] >> thank you. >> thank you. [inaudible conversations] >> usa. usa. usa. usa. usa. >> thank you, everybody. thank you. thank you very much. so we had another one, big one come out. go ahead. you can get them out please. you can take them out now please.

never fails. all right. thank you. thank you, darling. maybe, darling. maybe you could be quiet while they take you out. you know, i have to be careful. if onto rough they say he was too rough.rough. when a moderate a nice they say what happened to trump. is not tough enough. you can't win with these people. they always show the crowd. the only way they show how big are crowds are. get them out. get them out of here. all right. south carolina just came out. thirty-two for trump, 18 for 2nd, 11 for 3rd. great. florida leading by a lot. all down in the dumps. georgia just came out, 33 percent. that's 33 percent.

hard to believe. fourteen, 15 people. 33 percent. connecticut, tom brady. i love tom brady. 18 percent, 2 percent maryland just came out, maryland, great place. 32 percent to 15 percent to 11 percent to 9 percent and then they sort of phase out. ever hear of a place called iowa? i love this. even cnn doesn't reported. cnn does the poll, probably poll, probably spend millions. they never report their poll. thirty-three for trout, 20. no one talks about it.

there cnn. you spend a fortune on polls and don't report your own. i'm winning by a lot. they have have no excuse but they keep reporting other polls. gravis just came out 34 for trump, 28 for crews. bpp, 28 for trump. it's a little closer. quinnipiac poll, very respected, 31 for trump, 29 for crews. cnn 33 to 20. i think we are doing better. i can say i just want to do well in iowa. i want to win iowa, folks. look, i love the people, the evangelicals a been phenomenal. nationwide him winning. i don't know if you know that i a lot. by doing really well with the tea party.

these are the numbers. numbers. but i think we are doing even better than the polls. there's this thing, they call out come are you going to vote for trump? very tough immigration policies. he wants to destroy obama care and replace it with something a lot better. a lot of people will pick up the phone and hear different things. and they get in the booth and say trump is my man. a lot of people are saying we're going to do better. we will see. you have to get to caucus, go out, do it. otherwise we all wasted our time. one of the groups, it was incredible. _different places. itnew line different places. it was so cold, one little group, despite global warming. it was so cold. wind chill below zero, and

people are standing outside for hours trying to get in. and you here the announcers call will they show up? i don't know much, the people been standing there for four hours in the cold war the heat because they stood out and he during the summer and during the fall,, tennessee, texas, 21,000 people. no matter where we go, but they stand for hours and hours to get in. why don't they go vote? why don't they go? it's an amazing thing. why would somebody wait for hours,hours, for four hours and then we don't take two minutes to vote. here is a little more complicated because the caucus system is a little bit different. here is what i have to say violent. there is a movement to move iowa to the back of the pack. you know that. you will still see me but not other people.

i'm loyal to a fault. i give you my word, i win. they are not touching iowa. this is an amazing tradition. thistradition. this is an amazing tradition. they are not moving iowa back, and they are movingo2ñá#

wait a minute. this not a good deal compared to the other.

we gave them a rack. we not the hell out of iraq, we decimated there armed forces and for years, for decades they would fight, fight, fight. there were the same. and now we gave them the 2nd largest oil reserves in the world. now they are going in the human. if you look at him and that will you syria. a lot of good things will happen if i get in. they get syria. yemen. they did not want yemen. you ever see the border? there going to have a rack, a ran, yemen, syria, everything. we have created this. stupid leadership. really stupid leadership. when i started i said, we

have to do something about it. i am representing you. some people i know in their nice people, and some are bad people, but they have no interest in the country. i have interest in their company or countries they are representing. these politicians will do exactly as they are told. me, i'm going to do the right thing. when the biscoe moses plan i'm going to talk them out of it. it is going to be easy. [applause] i started and talked about the border. i talked but after paris

hundred and 30 people killed. i told you common core is dead and second amendment, we are going to protect the second amendment, we are going to protect your guns. in paris in los angeles where you have the two maniacs, she came on a fiancée permit. she was totally radicalized. maybe radicalized him, maybe he was already that way. they have to start thinking. we have a president who won't even talk about the term. he won't even mention anything to do with what we all know is going on, and you cannot solve the problem few don't talk about it.

couple of you and you and you, three or four people in that room in paris as an example. move over. wish you had a couple dozen the race. very, very big and second amendment. after paris and then to an extent into a pretty big extent california what happened is the poll started coming in. the family of john wayne, love john wayne.

the most beautiful letter. we would like to endorse you. a strong guy. we need strength in this country. withering away with political correctness. nonsense. nonsense. can't say merry christmas anymore. they don't have any christmas displays, the signs merry christmas. merry christmas. let us say merry christmas, happy holidays. people like to see it in stores don't put it up anymore. they are withering away. had no idea it was going to work this way.

i want to keep it that way. one thing before i introduce our incredible person just comeau one thing i have spent almost nothing, and i'm in 1st place by a lot. not bragging. i spent almost nothing. some people have too. i'm in 1st place by a lot. jeff has been $77 million. the reason i bring him up command spends a fortune on ads against me. you people have all seen it before. but go with everybody. he wants love everybody. unless you are stupid you want everybody to love you. so much money has been spent.

79 million, i spend nothing. i say to myself, it's amazing. as an example, education. number 28 in the world. we spent the least and had the best education. sweden and norway and china and others are the best. and i told you we are going to get a localized. watch.

you just watch out. i will tell you this, you can't educate your children through bureaucrats in washington. that is what happens with common core. when the parents take over, when the parents around the schools and love those kids and pupils and even when there kids graduate they are committed to the schools, education. you can do so much better in iowa and they can possibly do telling you what to do in washington. and some of the things that your kids are made to study are an outrage. we are outrage. there going to bring them back and it's going to be great. what happened essentially as i started looking in all the sudden things changed.

they know i will do great with china and japan and mexico, killing us and trade and that the border. we will build the wall. mexico will pay for it. they make a fortune, and all of those things, but now we are focused on security. all of the polls by the surgesaid trump is not by a little bit, by many, many, many percentage points on isys, the military, the vets , we are going to really take care of our military. it will be big and strong and powerful and no one will mess with us. so it has been a real focus. i just want to say a couple words, this is a person who i respected for so long, an incredible husband and family and somebody that

when i heard that she was going to endorse the hour so honored. you have no idea how honored. i would like to bring up sarah palin. [applause] >> thank you so much. it is so great to be in iowa. hear from alaska. lending our support for the next president donald j trump. this is in the be so much fun. i you ready to make america great again?

we all have a part in this. we all have a responsibility. looking around at all of you. farm families, you rock and rollers and holy rollers. all of you work so hard. rock the cradle. now our causes one. when asked why i would jump in, and she has won over some friends who are running and i have endorsed a couple others in the race of support. i was told, one left and right, you are going to get beat up. shoot up and speed up.

i like you guys haven't tried to do that every day. yeah. send me. i'm still standing. so those of us who have gone through the ringer make respect to even more. here in putting your efforts in reputation for putting relationships on the line to do the right thing for this country. you're ready to make america great again. i am here because i know is now or never. my minutes and when it because we believe in america and we love our freedom. if you love your freedom think of that. think of that and know that

the united states military deserves a commander-in-chief who loves our country passionately will never apologize for this country. a new commander-in-chief i will never leave our men behind, one who will never line the families of the fallen. a minute because just last week we are watching our sailors suffer and be humiliated on the world stage the hands of iranian captors in violation of international law because of weak kneed capitulate or in capitulated in chief has decided america will lead from behind. and he who would negotiate deals with the skills of our community organizer,

deciding that america would apologize is the enemy sends a world that they capture and we kowtow and then we bend over and say thank you. we are ready for a change. we are ready and our troops deserve the best. a new commander-in-chief his track record of success has proven he is the master of the art of the deal. one who would note to negotiate. only one candidate's record of success proves he is the master of the art of the deal, beholden to no one but we the people, how refreshing. perfectly positioned to let you make america great again. i you ready for that?

no more pussyfooting around. our troops deserve the best. you deserve the best. he is from the private sector, not a politician. in the private sector you actually have to balance budgets in order to prioritize to keep the main thing the main thing, and he knows the main thing. keep us safe economically and militarily, he knows the main thing and knows how to lead the charge. troops hang in there because help is on the way because he better than anyone is known for being able to command fire. are you ready for a commander-in-chief? are you ready for a commander-in-chief who will let our warriors do their job?

ready for someone who will secure our borders to secure our jobs and homes? ready to make america great again. i am here to support the next president of the united states donald trump. now eight years ago i warned that obama's promise fundamental transformation of america was going to take more from you and leave america weaker on the world stage and that we would soon be unrecognizable. that is the one promise he kept, but he did not do it alone. a member of the gop command is very contested competitive primary race thought trump's candidacy is

not just the tragic ramifications of the trail of the transformation of our country, but he has exposed the complicity on both sides of the aisle that has enabled it. well, what trump has been able to do, which i'm glad about. is going rogue left and right. he has been able to terribly off of this idea of the system with the way the system works. i want you to understand how the system works and has gotten us into the trouble we are in. the permanent political class has been doing the bidding of the campaign donor class which is why you see the borders are kept open for them.

that is why they have been bloating budgets. that is why they see these lousy trade deals that got our industry special interest. we need someone do with the power and position to bust of the establishment, to make things great again. it is part of the problem. his candidacy proves as long as the politicals begging to keep the titles and perks and media ratings don't really care who wins. believe me on this. the proof of this, look at what is happening today, lady who would assemble the political landscape are attacking their own front runner. when the left ever come

after there front runner and her supporters? no, because they don't eat their own. for the gop establishment to be coming after donald trump supporters even with accusations that are so false, so busted. we, you, a diverse dynamic needed support base that they would attack and now some of them even whispering there ready to throw in for hillary over trump because they can't afford to see the status quo go. otherwise they will be able to slip off the gravy train. they don't want that to end. well, and then know what they are doing, they are not conservative enough. my goodness gracious.

what would the establishment now? is this conservative? illegal immigration that competes for your job. turning safety nets in the hammocks and his new voters coming on over the border and bequeathing our children millions in new debt and refusing to fight back for our solvency and sovereignty even though that is why we elected them and sent them as a majority to dc. if they are not willing to do that in our they did tell us that we are not conservative enough? now they are concerned about

this ideological purity? give me a break. until somebody mother republican conservative movement icon and hero and the trump supporter. she is not conservative. how about the rest of us? right wing better clean proud swingers. tell us we are not enough. coming from the establishment. yeah right. well, he being the only one that has been willing, the guest of where the issues that need to be spoken about and debated, the rest of some of these establishment candidates have wanted to duck and hide, they did not want to talk about these issues. they have been wearing political correctness kind of like a suicide vest. enough is enough.

these issues had to be debated. he brought them to the forefront which is why we are where we are today with good discussion, i good, heated, and competitive primary. we are angry, justifiably so. they stomp on our next and tell us to chill. we are mad and we have been had. they need to get used to it. this is more than just your basic abc, anybody but clinton. it's more than that. we are talking about a nation without borders, bankruptcies and federal government, they will never

be able to pay off. talking about the more reaganesque powers that come from strength, power through strength, them were talking about our very existence. wewe are not going to chill. it is time to drill baby drill down and all these folks accountable. elect new and independent commonsense solutions. the status quo has got to go otherwise we will just get more of the same. they can't be salvaged. it mustsalvaged. it must be savaged. and donald trump is the right one to do that. all you ready?

it is going to take the whole team. it is going to take the whole team. fighters in the house and the senate. so our friends who are fighters in the house and senate today need to stay they're and help out. they can help our new leader in the positions that therein. let me say something positive about one of those individuals. ran paul. going to tell you about the libertarian streak because he knows you only go to war if you are determined to win. and equip footing the bill for the nations for oil-rich that we are paying for the skirmishes that have been going on for centuries where they are fighting each other

like i have said before, let them duke it out and let law sorted out. we will fight for american interests. other nations, we have been footing the bill but we have not prioritized on domestic budget well enough to afford we are doing overseas. things are going to change under president trump. so we can be an unbeatable team with fighters in the house and senate. our leader, little bit different. multibillionaire not that there's anything wrong with that. but it is amazing. she is not elitist at all. i hope you get to know him more. what he has been able to accomplish. maybe this largess gets in

the way of the quiet generosity and his compassion, but if you know him as a person, and you will get to know him more and more, who he is as a person. it is not an elitist. we still are him on his hearers us on. he spent his life with the working man and tells us joe sixpack's, i worked very hard and succeeded. and he says i want you to succeed, too. and that is refreshing because as he builds things he builds big things that touch the sky, big infrastructure that puts other people to work. he has spent his life looking out and respecting the hardhats and the still took boots on the work ethic

that you all have within you. being an optimist passionate about equal opportunity to work, the self-made success of his, you know he doesn't get his power, his high off of opium, other people's money. they are addicted to where they take other people's money and their eyes getting to redistribute it and then they get to be popular people when they get to give out your hard-earned money. he does not do that. his power and passion is the fabric of america. woven by work ethic and dreams and drive and faith in the almighty. what a combination. are you ready to share in that again? that is what will let you make america great again.

new line of the bankrupt government to supposedly be looking out for you. no. i think your ready for that. i believe that you are ready to see that our vets are treated better than illegal immigrants are treated in this country. and you are ready for the tax reform he talks about to open up main street again command you are ready to stop the race baiting in the division based on color and zip code to unify around the right issues important to me or i wouldn't be endorsing him. strict constitutionality. unifying values and the time-tested truths. unifying values from big cities in tiny towns, big mountain states in the big apple to the big beautiful

heartland that is in between. finally, i want you to try to picture this, it is a nice thing to picture exactly one year from tomorrow former president barack obama -- [applause] he passes the teleprompters in the selfie stick and they agreed columnsthat agreed columns and all that change stuff and is gone back to chicago where sure he can find some community to organize again. there he can finally look up , president obama will be able to look up in there over his head and be able to see that shining towering trump tower. [applause] yes, barack, he built that. that says a lot. iowa, you say a lot.

being here tonight supporting the right man who will allow you to make america great again. god bless you. god bless the united states, and our next president of the united states donald j trump. [applause] >> we are going to give them hell. [applause] i just want to thank sarah and todd. amazing people. this is a woman that from day one, if i ever do this i have to get her support. she feels it understands better than anybody. on behalf of myself, my family, and the country country i want to thank you very much. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> and we are live in ames, iowa, catching a, catching a glimpse of republican presidential candidate donald trump wrapping up a campaign rally. iowa holds the nations 1st presidential caucus in less than two weeks. i will be monday february 1. to recap, earlier today mr. trump received an endorsement from former vice presidential candidate sarah palin. trusted conservative palin has a proven record of being fiscally modest allowing businesses to grow up to prosper.

tomorrow on washington journal adam green of the progressive change campaign committee more discussing conservative christians rachel:rachel: of the american prospect examines recent story on planned parenthood in the future of the abortion debate. >> tomorrow testimony from attorney general loretto lynch, joined by legal official remarks live

tomorrow morning at 10:30 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> and that may have some thing to do with why there is more interest in these candidates and the books. >> sunday night carlos lozada nonfiction book critic for the "washington post" discusses books written by the 2016 presidential candidates. >> everyone has interesting stories and their lives, and politicians who are so single-minded in the pursuit of power and ideology, particularly interesting ones. they are sanitized, vetted, there for minimum

controversy. >> controversy. >> sunday night at 8:00 o'clock eastern on c-span q&a. >> now aa defense department briefing about the ongoing military operations in afghanistan. reporters heard about the changes in progress made and discussed the challenges that continue for us and afghan forces, particularly in the southern part of the country. [applause] what we hope will be the 1st of a series of regular briefs to provide greater insight on our operations to support the afghan national security and defense forces. general, if you can here us we will turn it over to you. >> i can here you.

thank you for the introduction. good morning to those of you in washington, and thank you for making time to join me. what i would like to do is start by giving you an update with the situation, and then we will move to questions. i will start with the role of resolute support, the mission is train, advise, assist for the afghan ministry at the ministerial level and ounce of the afghan national army corps. we do that in four out of six cores. that is advising with contact roughly five times a week. itit is what we call level one train advise and assist. the other two,, and i will explain more about this, expeditionary advising is sending out teams that are based year to connect with those in conduct advising

on-site for a period days or weeks. i want to stress that resolute support has been in existence for a little over a year. it began on the 1st of january 2015. .. our assessment of their performance in 2015 said they had mixed results. whenever they can whenever they conducted deliberate planned operations they actually did fairly well. one of the important things is that they applied and learned lessons from one operation to

the next. they got better and the things they struggled with in one operation we saw through the next one but particularly their ability to integrate their air and artillery. where they had trouble and they didn't do so well was in response to crisis situations. when they responded to crisis the required more time to get forces in position and it required more time to stabilize the situation predated yet somewhat better across response but that remains one of their weaknesses and one of the areas they will have to continue to focus on into 2016. the taliban throughout 2015 did make some temporary gains but what they were not able to do is they were not able to hold ground than they were not able to govern. and in almost every case the afghan security forces were able to retake the ground that the taliban took weather was a roadway or a district center or a key terrain. the afghan security forces

bounced back and we took that and perhaps the best example of that is the fact that the afghan security forces retake the city of kunduz which is a city of over 300,000 people, in just seven days. this was a crisis response. it was a response to an unplanned incident but they did fairly well and seven days a secure city that size is not insignificant. we have traditionally referred to the fighting season here in afghanistan starting in may and ending roughly in the november timeframe when the snow and the mountain passages mix it difficult to travel back and forth across the mountains. that's really an outdated term and it's outdated for a couple of reasons. one is that the fighting really takes place year-round and i will point to the fact that the afghan security forces didn't wait until the start of the declared fighting season to begin to declare their operations.

they started securing operations in january of this year and it continue that throughout the year. so they have been very busy in their operational tempo as we refer to it has been very high, much higher than it had been in the past which is why they are going to need some time to reset and refit their force. so into the winter campaign things have definitely slowed down in the north, in the west, in the east, somewhat here in kabul. they continue to be busy in the south. i would characterize the security situation for the afghans in the north and east and the west as manageable. clearly there are still some challenges in the east particularly in manga hard. the south particularly in hell monde remains contested that we expected that. we expected for the taliban to hold onto what has been traditionally the heart of their support base.

most of that activity has been in central hell monde. central hell monde has been a contested area for many years and it remains. it has been a tough fight and we expect that to continue through the winter. we know control of helme on -- helme on remains a effort of the afghan security forces and not surprisingly the effort of our forces the coalition forces that are doing the to train and advise-and-assist with the afghan forces in helmand. one of the major efforts that will occur over the winter as already started in the rebuild of the afghan national army's too 15th corps. the 215th corps has responsibility for helme on. it is not one of the course where we have a permanent taa but as one of the areas where we do the expeditionary advising and that's ongoing as we. there are really three things at the afghan forces are focusing

on over the winter in helmand. they they're focusing on rebuilding the core in terms of manning, equipping, refitting their equipment putting through maintenance is needed in the training, retraining those soldiers once they have been reformed and ensure they are ready for the fight. this is more challenging because they are still conducting operations there. the afghan security forces have moved horses from elsewhere to afghanistan to assist. they're having some success with that but i want to stress it's going to take time for the rebuild of the 215th corps. we will assist as much as we can under the train, advise-and-assist authorities. looking at 2016 there are four fundamental things that the afghan security forces have got to do to be effective. the first is implemented force readiness cycle and the concept here is a three phase cycle where the forces will go through a training phase, where they are getting ready for combat operations and then operational days where they are in the fight

and then they will come out of that and go into a reset phase. during the reset phase soldiers will take leave, clinton will go into maintenance and the unit gets itself reset so that they can begin the cycle again starting with the training phase. the second is to reduce check points. president ghani has made this a major point of emphasis or they have so many checkpoints and they have too many of their forces strung out on checkpoints. there's an old military saying that if you defend everywhere you defend defend nowhere in this particular chair in afghanistan. they have too many forces on checkpoints than what they don't have is the ability to maneuver. what they don't have is the ability to respond to security crises when they arise so what we need them to do is to reduce the number of check points and move to strong points which are well defended and which will provide them an up available combat so that they can respond when needed. they have also got to make tough leadership choices. they have got some leaders that

need to be replaced. they have got some leaders that are but need to go. the afghan security forces are making these changes. they have made a lot of them in 2015. those mean leaders on the time to get established and they will need time to form their units but that's ongoing. i can tell you that in the 215th corps at the corps commander has been switched out. two of the brigade commanders have been changed out as have several key members of the staff. these are important changes and those new leaders are still going through the process of establishing themselves. we are very very impressed with the new 215th corps commander general boeheim. he is personally invested in turning around 215th corps and we are confident he has the support from the rest of the leaders in that formation that he will be able to do that. recruiting is another area of emphasis. currently the afghan national army is a shortfall of about 25,000 overall. they have established a goal of closing that gap over the next

six months. that will be a significant accomplishment for something that's got to be done so that they have the combat power to continue into 2016. afghan security forces continued to build capacity. in fact just last week they had their first four, 829 super two, i'll close air support aircraft that arrives. this will be the first four of 20 that they will have in the afghan air force. this is a significant increase in the capabilities to provide their own close air support. those aircraft should start going into service roughly in the april timeframe. they have also been the first time employed the amd 530 helicopter. emd 530 helicopters a allied reconnaissance helicopter semito the west little bird helicopter has use for recognizance. it's also armed with machine guns or rockets. they have had increasing success in employing the m. d. 530's for

the first opponent was a summer and they have used it with great effect over the fall. afghan special forces are increasingly capable. our assessment is they continue to improve. a couple of notable achievements here recently in the last 45 days afghan security forces conducted two raids at night using only afghan forces and afghan aircraft and on two separate occasions rated taliban that have been held is in some cases for over two years. in both cases the operations of rescued under the cover of darkness. they were absolutely no casualties taken by the afghans no prisoners armed and no damage to equipment. that doesn't happen by accident. that represents what the afghan special forces are capable of. on the conventional side they have had success in one recent example i will point to is the combined operation that occurred last week in takhar province.

to put this in perspective it's in the north just to the east of kunduz province and is on the border of tajikistan. during this operation a combined afghan elements consisting of conventional forces afghan security forces and that an air force infiltrated at night and maneuvered such that they got behind a taliban blind in the district to the net result of the operation was that 48 taliban surrendered and the population was very supportive of the afghan security forces. that particular district had it under control for two months. i bring this example up because it is something that perhaps you don't hear much of but again an example of the capabilities of not just these special forces but the conventional forces have and what that i'd be happy to take your questions. >> thank you general. we'll start with bob burns. >> hello, general bob burns from

the ap. a couple of questions related to helmand. can you tell us with regard to marcia with the battle for the american was killed and others were wounded, i have not heard much since then. what's the situation in marcia, is it under control and the second question your reference to the tune of 15th coordinating to be rebuilt retrained and so forth did that core collapse on the battlefield what happened to that court? >> bob let me answer the second part of your question first on the 215th corps and then i will go to marjah and helmand. the problems with the 215th corps were several. they had problems with equipment, maintenance and had problems with poor leadership. what we have found when units have an issue with attrition it can shoot 10 -- typically be

traced back to poor leadership. there are three fundamental things that have to happen soldiers have to be paid on time and they have got to be fed on time and they have got to be given leave when they deserved lead. if a combination of those things doesn't happen the soldiers will leave. sometimes they will come back. that obviously is no way to run an organization and so the fix for that is not sophisticated. it's pretty simple. having good leaders who take care of their soldiers, so that is why so important that we get the right leadership in the 215th corps. the leaders have been replaced. they are now going through the process of fully manning those units and once their mandate will go for retraining. matt began leadership is the key there. with regard to marjah and helmand central helmand remains a contested area. it's been a contested for several years and it remains so and that includes central

helmand and the margin district as well. i would like to provide a little bit of context for helmand what's been happening since the october timeframe. in october the taliban began an offensive and helmand parmer -- primarily focused on the central part of the province and at securing their support bases there and helmand. in early november the afghan security forces began encounter offensive to counter the taliban's gains. in nearly part of january the u.s. special forces team was conducting train advise-and-assist of an afghan special forces elements in the marjah area as part of that counteroffensive. i want to take just a minute to explain the train advise-and-assist role that our forces have there. we were conducting train advise-and-assist on the conventional side. we do have the core level and as i mentioned earlier that said the expedition are advising is going on in marjah.

with the afghan special forces that conducted down to the tactical level so that was going on in this case. i would compare the train, advise-and-assist role to perhaps a coach and a football team. and so the analogy would be that the coach is there forever practice. he is there for "he's not on the field. he's not throwing the football, he's not making tackles buddies there any scooching and that's what our forces do in the train, advise-and-assist role. they coach and that's what was going on here. when our forces are conducting train advise-and-assist they will assist with planning and assist in integrating intelligence support. they will assist in integrating your support. they can assist with helping with transportation but increasing the afghans have been providing transportation on their own. what they do though is a separate from the afghan element prior to the afghan element going on the objective said the

u.s.. advice assist forces are not on the objective. they will separate, they will go to an overwatch position are to go to the command-and-control location where they can march or the execution of the operation. >> so with sub pouring control of the taliban what percentage of helmand would you say the taliban controls today? >> bobby, to provide context on that afghanistan has 404 districts in total. we assess that right now the taliban have control of only nine of those districts. we assess they have influence in about 17 others. the area in and around marcia remains a contested area that's as far as they will go there. i do want to stress on the operations that occurred on the fifth and sixth at the time of u.s. forces there in danger of being overrun. in fact the total number of

combined u.s. and afghan forces on the ground during that incident numbered over 100 that's before the quick reaction force arrived the afghan forces were very capable force it about time with u.s. forces denied air support. facts we conducted 12 airstrikes between the fifth of the sixth of january in and around marjah in support of those forces. >> general, jim miklawzewski with nbc. can you explain if the u.s. forces in the train advise-and-assist role when they are forward-deployed with the soft forces how bad american soldier that was killed? was he actually, sounds as if he was actually involved in the fighting as opposed to overwatch. >> well, jim good to hear from

you. i will stress that afghanistan remains a dangerous place. he was in his train advise-and-assist role and he was in a situation where they received fire from an enemy element. they returned fire and the action that ensued one enemy soldier, one american soldier was killed, four afghan soldiers were wounded. >> been where the americans and the afghans ambushed, taken by surprise before there could be that separation between the afghan forces and the american forces which are supposed to be in overwatch? jus what happened? >> jim, i'm not going to get into the details of the tactics of that particular situation. we did have an american soldier killed. that incident is under investigation as is any incident that involves a casualty. we investigated fully and so we

are going to let that investigation play out. i will stress that the or is it was there, the american special forces team is designed to operate independently which it was doing a combined with the afghans they did have sufficient combat power on hand for the threat that they faced and they have sufficient airpower available to them throughout the operation. >> thank you. i wanted to ask about kunduz and the news reports out there this week that's close to punishing some of the special forces that were involved in the airstrike on the doctors without borders hospital. >> sure. happy to take your question. am i speaking with? >> sorry, tara copp from stars and stripes. >> hi tara. thanks for that question.

with over the bar to the investigation on kunduz i would refer you to the u.s. central command for anything having to do with the investigation. i can tell you that the adjudication on the individuals that are involved and that is still ongoing and so i won't comment on any particular individual that is involved. i want to stress that all these are american citizens. they are afforded due process and we need to respect that as those actions are adjudicated. >> a question on marjah. in the initial redoubts it wasn't clear to me, were they asking us -- were the afghan special forces part of the 215th corps or where they separate from the 215th corps? >> so the afghan special forces who are supporting 215th corps. as i mentioned the 215th corps in early november began a counteroffensive to counter the taliban's gains in helmand.

the afghan special forces units were working with the 215th corps as an integral part of that effort against the taliban. >> 215th corps or a subordinate unit? [inaudible] >> i can say that they were integrated with the 215th corps and working in concert with them. >> nancy youssef from "the daily beast." >> general i want to ask about the december 21 incident in which six airmen were killed outside of bagram. can you please help us understand the circumstances that led to their death? what was the mission they were out on when they were killed and also how was it that a motorcycle or suicide bomber on a motorcycle is was able to get that close to these airmen? and finally had have there have been any adjustments in terms of how u.s. personnel lead outside the wire in light of what

happened on the 21st? >> well, those u.s. airmen that were tragically killed that day were conducting a routine patrol in and around what we call the bagram general defensive area. and one of our missions is to patrol the general defensive area. we do that for multiple reasons. we do that to maintain contact with the local population and also as a deterrent to threats to the force. that's as far as i will go. that incident as well is under investigation. i will stress that we constantly whenever anything occurs that involves casualties we are always looking for lessons learned and applying those lessons learned. our operations here involve continual assessment so yes we have made changes in terms of the way we conduct operations. we want to learn everything they possibly can for many patrol especially those where we have

an incident, to make sure that we are learning the right lessons and providing the proper force protection and safety for our forces for the future. >> i'm having a hard time understanding why would special investigators began a routine -- routine patrol as you describe? >> well i won't go any further into the types of units that were conducting a patrol other than to say it was a routine patrol that had been done before. >> next joe from alpha roth. >> i want to go back to the firefight in marjah in helmand. a lot of questions are still not answered. why did it take more than three attempts to get the soldiers out do you see any increase in taliban's capabilities in helmand?

>> let me talk a little bit about the medevac. the decision to bring in medevac was a decision by the commander on the ground in the commander tossed his chain of command and makes a decision about what is the right time to bring in medevac. i can tell you that every operation here in afghanistan involving forces such plans the medevac can respond and make the golden hour standard. that's one hour from the thai medevac is called and to the time it arrives at the medical care facility. that was the case here and as i said is the case every time we conduct an operation. my first tour in afghanistan was in 2003 and that was the case in 2003. we never conducted an operation without medevac within a one-hour response time and oftentimes i was the driving factor on operations that we conducted. i also want to stress at the special forces team involved like in a special forces team

had two highly qualified medics. those medics are trained to provide lifesaving care. they did provide care to the wounded in this case and the one to did receive adequate medical care. >> just a follow-up, did you see any increase in taliban's capabilities? >> well, the taliban have definitely stretch the afghan security forces in this past year. they have conducted operations in unexpected areas particularly in the north. that stretch the afghan security forces. the taliban's goal remains the south particularly the helmand region. we think their activities in the northern attempt to draw afghan security forces away from helmand which remains their goal they have fought pretty hard in helmand this winter to maintain control of that area. again we expected that and that

remains a tough contested area. >> next to thomas watkins from agency france-presse. >> kai general. the 25,000 shortfall figure, i was wondering if you could perhaps give us some context around that, that shortfall of how many? how do the afghans plan on recruiting those vacancies and so on and secondly we get very frequent updated information from cigar -- cigar and i believe there will be tests done this week. there are frequent allegations of lack of dod oversight and i was wondering about the rebuilding efforts there around security forces but i was wondering if you have any general comments about that?

>> on recruiting, afghan security forces in total, the problem is primarily an afghan national army. the afghan national police are doing better epic routing and the national police a little bit different than the army in terms of how they operate. the army to national army. one of the challenges is that parts of the country aren't well represented in the army and that's an issue that they have got to address. as i said it's a six-month campaign to meet that shortfall. part of their challenge in manning is not just recruiting but it's addressing the attrition issue. so the way to look at this is the holistic issue of properly manning the force so if they can address the attrition issue that's getting the leadership to make sure that the soldiers are paid, they are fed and they get the proper leave and they are treated properly.

i will go a long way to retaining the soldiers that they have. one of the things that they are struggling with is what we would call reenlisting and that is going to be soldiers to recontact. once they fix their challenges and re-contract and that will help significantly as well. so it will take a combined effort with fixing every contracting, dressing attrition and recruiting as many as they can before the fighting season in 2016 starts to demand more and more of their forces.

>> i want to recognize my father because he had a strong reputation in the county and just before he was about to be introduced i extend my hand that i said hello senator i hear you are racists. the senators that to me is sound like a bright young man. what grade are you in? when you graduate from high school if you want to come to

washington and in turn for me, work -- come and work with me. ..

tonight on season into, a senate hearing on energy and commodities market. australia's newly elected prime minister visits washington d.c. and meets with president obama. later, the head of the u.s. missile defense agency within update on ballistic missile defense technology. >> at the senate hearing on the outlook for energy and commodities markets, analyst talked about the races for electricity, minerals, and renewable energy. they also discussed iran entering the oil market, this hearing of the senate, energy and natural resources committee is a one hour and 20 minutes. >> good morning. we will call to