continues. host: always glad to be joined . >> expert on all things congress joining us today to talk to arouse sexual misconduct on capitol hill but first i want to get your reaction to reports of the expected resignation by

senator after 10:00 on the heels of john conyers resigning over allegations is this us sign of fundamental shift on capitol hill?. >> i think we are at the tipping point towards what many members are describing is zero tolerance. what precisely they have zero tolerance for is still a little vague but and that he harassed or while he was a member of congress but in the case of senatoras franken and believe all those allegations to date so now when the seventh woman came out yesterday and alleged he

tried to forcibly kissed her in a radio studio about a decade ago with it minutes always been who had discussed this before hand a terrific story by "politico" said he has won more misstep we will call for his resignation so last night was 32 or 33 of the 48 had called for his resignation. >> this comes as the house administration committee is prepared to hold a hearing to discuss the changes so explain what that process is now and what the criticisms of the process. >> to take us back kid history for a moment 1995 with a contract with the mayor tad of platform itt tells the republicans the

first promise on the openingse day that they would apply workplace labor and civil-rights laws apply to congress that isco the rest of the country's so within two weeks virtually unanimous support applied 11 of these laws to congress but the challenge was who should enforce this? they did not branch inxecutive forcing these so they set up its ownfi office called the office of compliance. >> host: so the congressional accountability act. >> it should be noted that the vast majority from what we know has not been entirely detailed in the last 15 years they have paid

out $13 million installments i do have the numbers your 256 cases the only a couple involved sexual harassment really, really know of one at one with them as a republican from texas so few are aggrieved it is too burdensome the coz you are required to spend 90 days of mediation to work out an agreement with your boss with the office of compliance if you exhaust that process if you are still dissatisfied then you can take your complaint public and then you can sue for damages if awarded the law is clear individual law is not supposed to be held liable the treasury.

>> why was it set up that way?y? but in light of what is happening?. >>. >> that was the deal that was cut. members of congress to be honest about what to be held liable and their fear was didn't want it used as a political weapon this statement was something from for - - frivolous complaints and they wanted the right to to be adjudicated outside of the executive branch. so yes now was discussed

mostst was workplace safety and racial t discrimination the capital is a big complex with many people who have nothing to do but helping them to write legislation there are of janitors or constructiond workers and that was the focus of much of this to protect those people and the idea was a member of congress should not be held personally liable if somebody placed a hazardous desk in the way of a door during a fire drill. >> host: david hawkings has been talking about this editing stories well over 20 years a great person if you have questions or comments aboutex congress and sexual misconduct with the reporting process.

what specifically is the house administration committee looking at? are theree some bills that will change the process?. >> this is a second hearing the seattle think they have talked about where they want to go they do know going into the election year they will need something less opaqueo to change the rules of member could be held personally liable having to do with personal behavior not necessarily in general or as a member of congress in his or her official capacity but personally. federal think there is

legislation and yet they do get the sense that the republican leadership is keenly aware of it could be a problem for them if they don't move quickly. the of course, over a the holidays it would be right to expect there'd be more members misbehavior come to light hard to believe that out of five under 35 lawmakers before that we know about today that there is only for? republican house member from texas who had a complaint so far the leadership does not ask him to resign but mr. conyers now senator franken whose resignation may have been today and a freshman house member who allegedly propositioned one of his staffers during the campaign

>> host: the line for democrats from the bronx. >> caller: i just want to say president trump had way more so why would he go for roy moore? the residents is the same i understand why he would do that. if he is not yet elected he should go against him to shows people he is not that way. >> host: that special election is happening next tuesday. >> exactly right to introduce roy moore into this conversation but whitman in alabama's say when he was a young district attorney in his thirties he touched at least one of them and mitch mcconnell the

republican leader had shifted his position recently after saying he is not fit to be in the senate he has changed a little bit to say the people of alabama should decide if he is fit but if the people of alabama do send him to the senate the senate ethics committee will launch an investigation straightaway. >> host: stay are back for a second so what does that mean how that investigation is conducted and what do we find out?. >> we don't find out much often. the senate ethics committee to be on this has not been a veryryen active panel in recent years and though last time they issued a review from a senator was six years ago. it was of -- quite a while i believe it was johnson from

nevada to also had some florid scandal actually he was accused of having an affair withfe the chief of staff wife and financial improprieties to cover that up but that was a long time ago now weo, believe this will give busy if senatoren franken will stick around they have promised to investigate him and robert menendez from new jersey just survived a mistrial on a corruption case if he is not to be retried in the prosecutors have not decided then if roy more would be elected they would do that. your question is how much do we know? occasionally they have public hearings often the press pays attention if

they have private meetings we camped outside the door to see who was coming or going or who they're talking to do butut generally with roy moore they would interview the same women who have complained to the washington post to build a case and decide for themselves if they are c complaining. >> host: in north carolina republican line. > caller:. >> now we have new mexico line for democrats go ahead. >> caller: good morning 2.0 that my between childhood and adulthood -- adulthood a female can consent to sexual intercourse but the boy is often tried as an adult.

>> host: bring your comment to congress. >> but there should be laws enacted that children are adults. >> host: do you want to comment? now we have the of line for democrats in virginia. >>nk things for taking my call with the sexual-harassment it means something very simple describing the word when you have the employee to have sex we say that congress may and sexual harassment is very simple but you have to describe what that is. people will deal with sexual harassment but if it is

somebodyim you have to see it every morning it is very disgusting but the republicans complain about roy more -- roy moore they say we don't care if donald trump did this but it is so disgusted to me to say that roy moore was mitch mcconnell say?. >> and to bring up an issue of the editorial board was talking about today how republicans seem to be dealing with roy moore democrats are dealing with allegations of improper behavior whether conures sort of franken if in fact, he decides to resign that

now the rnc is supporting him. >> so toin this point that is clear that is a very strict antibiotics standard to enforce even if south franken decides not to resign he would return to work thinking he would be ostracized to some degree viet on the other side so far the republican leadership does not seem to have taken quite as of phatic but the third congressman the leader who was slow off the mark for critics would say asking him to resign now say that democratic party has pulled campaign support for him but yet on the republican side to date absolute no

repudiation of roy moore or of calls to resign. >> host: making use of your historical knowledge remind us. >> the chairman of the senate finance committee in the seven and a principal author of the last tax overhaul bill 30 years ago and he was a sexual predator. and had been for years there were rumored and report of his on the staff and reporters and lobbyists but ultimately the senate ethics committee spent a couple of years a investigating these charges and came out with a very very comprehensive report alleging in laying out evidence against a

couple dozen of the women and mitch mcconnell was the leader of that investigation for the senate ethics committee when the report came out it was clear the senate was prepared to expel him this is the fall of 1995 he decided to resign instead. itit is good to bring up probably the most famous case in modern times of a sexual harasser in congress pushed out of office. >>nt now space for independence and texas. >> caller: as far as packwood goes i had a beer with him right before all that happened. >> host: how did that come about. >> caller: i don't know i used to get paid to drink beer he was just sitting at the barber crow we had a conversation right before that happened.

but that is beside the point. the bible like to bring this back to constitutional resolutions andrs the first is self removal second representatives are elected every two years of they should be removed by the people that elect them and senators are supposed to be removed by the legislatures so it would be easy to remove those senators by the state legislatures the senators are representatives state and the other thing that i brought up one week ago was the accusations against roy moore there is a

web site loaded with all of the facts of the bleak negative and accusations against him and if anybody could find any mistakes and that website mooreturthus.com mooreturthus.com think those senators that came out was the shaving process that you talked about?. >> absolutely. that is part of it that they can defend themselves if they are innocent and if they are not they should crawl away in shame. >> one of the distinctions they think you're getting and between how member of congress should be punished versus somebody in the private sector is that the employerss of a member of congress are their constituents so there is

some reluctance historically and even in this case for members of congress to overturn the results of the election to say the people of minnesota may have voted for all franken but essentially we will trumpe that to kick him out but that being said the constitution does say that the house and the senate are the sole judge of the qualifications of its members that has been subject to much litigation over the years to prevent members actually chamber of commerce would refuse to swear in a member that actually got to the supreme court once in the late '60s a congressman from new york city who was in personal turmoil not showing up for work spending time on an island in the caribbean, the

house refused to see him he did that to the suprememe court and said you cannot keep him out of office not showing up but only not being qualified orr the right age or the citizens so since then for recently some of you may remember the case of the democrat from illinois when barack obama was elected president the seat became vacant essentially the senate seat was up for auction whoever gives me the most political money your help in the next campaign youna get the senate appointment. he got the senate appointment there was suspicion he made a corrupt bargain the senator originally refused to see him then they backed down and barack obama said i don't want this tarnishing

my opening days of congress he denied he had done any of this week he agreed not to run for reelection the ethics committee investigated and did find he was not to retrieve full by the terms he got the appointment so there are means for the senate and the house to take extraordinary measures in extraordinary cases but not without political risks and constitutional rest. >> host: we had questions for you sat down when it came to el franken what he will say and when he will say it the twitter page said senator franken isch scheduled to deliver a speech from the senate floor and 11:45 a.m. eastern you can watch that on c-span2 we will see what he says in a statement. >> it will be fascinating to

watch. >> host: space for republicans go-ahead. >> caller: up most of the party is to get rid it of donald trump. by sacrificing some of their own will help that happen some of these senators especially like offering gin or conyers they seem to be the weakest link so they will sacrifice these people to ultimately get to getting rid of donald trump. so thiso raises the question how important are the senators that they can be gotten rid of that quickly? what is going on there as far as i am concerned. >> that ist, an interesting point is theas case of

mr. conyers and senator franken to have a very reliable democratic district in teach right in the suburbs no question the democrats can hold that seat in a special elections similarly if he resigns as the democratic governor in minnesota and the governor has a point to a temporary successor to serve until the special election next year and it seems likely based on reporting yesterday that the governor would appointeu the lieutenant governor her last name is smith to fill up the senate seats so it would stay in democratic hands through the next election although live period there are some circumstances republicansth could make that competitive. you are onto something that

tribalism is such that both parties are wary maybe doing the right thing ethically that would cost them politically but they're more willing to do it and take a harsher line on ethics and behavior if they think it will work for them politically. >> host: the lieutenant governor from minnesota. >> l we would like 2.0 the hypocrisy going on i think he is valuable to the democratic party and to throw him under the bus just because they are rattled about how this looks. what is a look like it? to me as a democrat i want him

to stay on the job. we need him in the senate. he is coming now and has apologized and dealing with the situation showing character versus mr. trump and his administration who is chairing the countryis around end of part it is hypocrisy on steroids. >>an host: has any members of the terror credit caucus made thatio point? you mentioned two-thirds have come out of the of membership to say he needs to resign as anybody need to lung negative saying that he needs to stay on? even mentioning senator mendez he was the first yesterday who said no-no no-no he should stay to let the ethics process play out. of franken has kept a low

profile in the senate he tried to work very hard to come his reputation from "saturday night live" and only this year he positioned himself for a more prominent role nationally to take an aggressive tone to question some of the trump cabinet nominees i should mention before rigo that mr. trump's own behavior with women is not without some scrutiny but there is a defamation federal lawsuit by one of the w women that alleges she was groped by donald trump who has taken her case to federal court this suit settled think is going away anytime soon so i think there will be a system that treats people in different ways but the system will keep an eye on that.

. . . . eliminated from congress, booted out by the congress, and they went back to their home state, they be re-elected? guest: yes, they could. they could. okay, so the people decide, in the end, the people decide? uest: in the end, the people decide, yes. it doesn't happen often, i can't somebody lly think of who has been driven out by come back, a has couple have tried, a congressman traficat was m onvicted of bribery and corruption. he refused to resign, the custom is that when you are convicted crime, you resign rather than force your colleagues to kick you out. went through the motion of requiring his colleagues to kick federal nd went to

prison and filed for re-election vote.t 12% of the host: david hawkings cover its newspaper, ll

>> subcommittee will now come to order. before i begin my opening statement i want to make a general announcement to member about the