c-span's road to the white house political coverage takes to you the candidate events. >> my leadership cut taxes 19 times. and cast over 800 vetoes. we balanced the budget every single year and we kept our schools first in the nation. my leadership will end the obama era and begin a new era of american prosperity. >> there's a mess up in washington, they created the mess, they gave us a lousy foreign policy, gave us a lousy budget and they've given us a lousy recession but the wonderful thing that's happening is in the grassroots. people are beginning to realize that the problem is too much government. we need more personal liberty.

>> if you are prepared to do what it takes to make sure that we change direction, not just the presidency, but the congress, the bureaucracy, the judges, the policies so that the entire system gets on the right track so that america can give our children and grandchildren a more prosperous and safer and better future. this is how big the gap is. >> follow the candidate as they meet with voters. >> wonderful. nice to meet you. yes. thank you. thank you so much. make sure jose knows how to fine me. all right. thank you. >> take a picture. >> use our website to view recent video from the campaign trail and read the latest postings from the cane, political reporters and other viewers from social media sites at c-span.org/campaign2012. and coming up next here on

c-span 3, "washington today" a simulcast with c-span radio. we'll get updates from the campaign trail, congress and the white house. a simulcast of c-span radio "washington today" program next here on c-span 3. >> plus podcasts. all free with the c-span radio apps. ♪ >> we're going to ask you many things today, hopefully you came prepared to know a great deal about fast and furious. the important things that i'm going to ask today are what can you do to bring this to a close? what can you do before the i.g. completes her investigation to allow the american people to see change that tells them this is no longer going on and it won't go on in the future? >> so that's how the hearing began with chairman of the house

oversight and government reform committee. the republican from california posing questions to the attorney general eric holder the two squaring off today over tissue of fast and furious. eric holder calling this a political issue. welcome to hour one of "washington today" here on c-span. also on capitol hill a former executive of the collapsed brokerage firm mf global said he warned jon corzine a year before the company went under about some of the risks of making large bets on european government debt. the chief risk officer for the company told the subcommittee he raised the concern in october of 2010 just as the company's bets on the european debt approached $4 billion. he was let go a few months later and mf global then went under. in political news the associated press puts it this way. the kind of surprise twist you might see on donald trump's reality tv show. instead of taking place right in

the middle of the republican presidential race it's happening right now, something you might see on television, republican officials saying donald trump has endorsed mitt romney. we heard the announcement earlier in the day. newt gingrich campaign thought the endorsement was going to go to newt gingrich. in fact the campaign leaked earlier donald trump would in fact endorse the former house speaker in what was a seven minute ceremony in las vegas, an event with mitt romney and donald trump, the endorsement took place as mitt romney said he didn't expect to be with mr. trump in his hotel room. well, let's begin with the story about eric holder squaring off today with republicans on a house committee demanding that the justice department turn over those documents. now at the start of the hearing, the chairman told the house oversight government reform committee that it's necessary for the justice department to produce the information that the committee is requiring. the attorney general saying he will consider the demand but said with one exception, the department was inclined to

follow long standing tradition of withholding internal documents about congressional inquiries in order to prereceive the ability to get candid advice from top officials. there was one exchange with congressman dan burton who announced yesterday he's retiring. i think you've been hiding something here. you taught give us the documents. it appears you have been stone waul walling. here's another exchange as questions are posed to the attorney general. >>lissening to the answer you had from the former chairman, it seems to me when you see that folks did not follow policy, did not follow your directives, and we're here 13 months after you found out that an agent was murdered for policies that you did not support, and we find out you've not fired a single individual , we find out that

you have not rebuked any staff members. heck you haven't even put a letter in people's personnel files saying that on their watch acted and an agent was murdered. that is absolutely absurd from this side of the dais. so i ask you, why have you not taken steps? >> well -- >> to make sure this doesn't happen again. >> i have taken steps. certainly with regard -- >> you told people you were mad, you were upset. that to me is silly. you've not taken action. you've not fired anybody. you haven't changed policy because it's clear you didn't enforce the policy before. you didn't even know -- you're saying you didn't even know about it. so it strikes me as incompetence in terms of management. >> i'm not sure you understand how the justice department works. i didn't express the fact that i was mad or thought it was silly.

i issued an directive. the attorney general of the united states says this policy, this kind of technique is inappropriate and should not be followed. we're still in the process of trying to determine, the inspector general is trying to determine where this policy originated. we know it started probably in the atf office in phoenix. approved by the u.s. attorney's office in phoenix. exactly who the people were who actually approved the technique, we're still in the process of trying to work through. but that's not all identify done. i've made personnel changes with regard to leadership position. we've moved people around. we instituted a series of policies now that i think were designed to make sure that that doesn't happen again. >> so an agent was murdered and you're actions is to move people around. that is simply to inconvenience people not rid them of federal employment. >> well to the extent that we

find out who precisely was involved in this or who gave that order i can assure you unless there's some truly compelling circumstance those people will be removed from federal service. that's not all we've done. we're in the process of investigating that murder and the people who were responsible for it will be held accountable and i expect that you'll hear something about that relatively soon. >> relatively soon. 13 months later. >> no. these matters -- >> it's 13 months after the fact, sir, that's what i'm saying. at what point are you going to take action >> as soon as we're in a position to make arrests and hold people accountable, put them in a court of law and try them with maximum charges. these are not cases -- >> is that likely this year? >> i think that's likely this year. >> is it likely in the next six months? >> yes, i think it's likely in the next six months. >> you could see that happening this quarter? >> when does this quarter end? >> march 31st.

>> possible. >> possible. okay. 13 months later we have possibility of somebody actually being punished for an agent being killed. this is absolutely absurd. mr. chairman i yield the balance of my time. >> it's not absurd. it takes time to build a case you can take before a jury with a high standard of proof, convict somebody, hold them accountable. you don't want to go into court and put yourself on a time limit and at three months say let's take whatever we got and go into court because critics say we're not acting fast enough, lose the case and people responsible for this act are not held accountable. we go into court when we think we have cases ready to go. i'm not putting pressure on people in that regard other than to do it as quickly as they can but as thoroughly as we can so we can bring the best case we can. >> after a few days, just some of the questions you heard from congressman patrick mchenry.

and attorney general eric holder taking questions on the fast and furious program that led to the death of an american who was involved as a border patrol officer along the u.s./mexican border. this is "washington today" heard coast to coast. the federal reserve chair ben bernanke defending the bank's decision to hold interest rates at record low levels. he'll do so for the next three years saying interest rates will not go up until 2014 at the earliest. it took place during a rather contentious hearing that happened on capitol hill as fed chairman was taking questions before two different committees including the house budget committee. one of the questioners was congressman mike simpson a republican from idaho. during the exchange he was challenged by a couple of members including paul ryan who was a wisconsin republican saying that the fed's move would risk higher inflation, hurt growth but ben bernanke

disagreed. he said prices have stabilized and spiking in 2011 and the dollar have shown no signs of weakening. let's go to part of that testimony and questions. this is mike simpson, republican of idaho to ben bernanke, the fed chairman. >> i've been a member of this committee and the chairman has also for eight years. we've had economists and other experts come and tell us we have a structural deficit problem that is unsustainable and we need to do something about it. so far we failed to heed the warning. we're now at a situation where i think if we don't heed the warning there's going to be consequences that nobody is willing to accept. the sad thing about it is that both parties, republicans and democrats want to demonize one another no matter what we do to try to address this problem. we call democrats tax and spend liberals and they show us pictures of paul ryan pushing grandma off the cliff. unfortunately that doesn't solve the problem. when everyone in this room,

everyone listening to us and everyone on this committee knows what has to be done. we've had several commissions that looked at what needs done. they all say almost universally that you got to get the $4 to $6 trillion in savings if you're is going to have an impact. we all know that we've got to restrain discretionary spending. we all know that we both to get entitlements under control. we all know that we need a pro growth tax policy instead a 19th-century policy. we all know that. we might have some differences of exactly how to do some of these things but we all know the problem exists and we know we need to come together. if we don't solve this problem all of these other things we talk about won't matter, are they? >> that's correct. it is, i think, striking that

when the u.s. debt was downgraded by s&p last summer, it was more about what they cited was the political concerns about the ability of the congress to work effectively to make progress, so it's easy for me to say. i recognize that politics is a tough game and there are a lot of disagreements in congress but obviously more that can be done to show cooperation and collaboration on this very important issue. we all agree on the issue as you say. >> i was surprised that this last, first of january i was in new zealand and australia and the philippines. talking with officials there and business there's i was surprised that they are really watching congress. they are worried about congress's inability to get together to solve this problem because they know that the problem is going to extend to them if we don't solve our problem here. and i was surprised that they follow us as closely as they do. let me ask you, do you believe

that the general assumption that we have to get the $4 to $6 trillion in savings is the right number or a number that will stabilize our deficit and get us tringt direction. you could explain to us because it's hard to explain to the public what potentially could happen if we don't do anything. what will happen to this economy if we don't take the steps necessary to stabilize our debt and if we put it off for another year and another year as we've been kicking that can down the road for. >> the $4 to $6 trillion number congressman was a number talked about for the next decade. the idea was achieving that would stabilize the gdp debt ratio and i was supported of going, when we were discussing these issues, we the country, we

were discussing these issues last summer. so, yes. you know i think a very substantial additional attack on the deficit is needed but the other point i would make is that the $4 trillion, the $6 trillion is about the next decade. the biggest problems we have are beyond the next decade. they stretch out into the next 20 or 30 years as entitlement costs in particular begin to rise further and as our demographics begin to move, i guess some would say adversely. one thing i would urge you as you think about these issues is not just to focus only on the ten year official budget window but think about the longer term even beyond ten years because what we see, an. example is that social security reform that was done in the early '80s which is phasing in. not all phased in yet, 30 years. the more time you give people

the slower the process, the more warning, the more likely it will be successful both politically and economically. you need to look beyond ten years. in terms of the implications for the economy, the good scenario, when the economy recovers we have higher interest rates, we have higher borrowing abroad. we have slower growing economy, slower productivity gains, et cetera as i discussed in my testimony. the bad case scenario which ultimately will happen if we don't change this trajectory is analo fwmpb ou smp -- analogous what's happening in europe. changes will need to be made but in a much more chaotic, rapid

and disruptive way than doing it in a way of a long term thoughtful way. >> the chairman of the federal research testifying before the house budget committee taking questions from members including congressman mike simpson, a republican from idaho. you may remember a news conference last month following the fed's two day policy committee that ben bernanke saying a third round of bond buying might be necessary. the fed has purchased billions of dollars of treasury bonds in the open market. it's to drive down interest rates and encourage bore roger and spending by consumers and businesses. silicon thinks the fed could announce more bond buying. that will take place in march. coming up, more of your calls and comments on the debate on capitol hill, should federal workers' salary be frozen. the debate took place yesterday. it passed the house. likely to be dead on arrival in the senate.

we'll have more on that coming up later in the program. i tweeted this out earlier in the kay. circus circus isn't in the heart of the las vegas strip. that's the words of politico. the political circus moves center stage. the 2012 primary has become p.t. b barnum. she was talking about the endorsement of donald trump. some call him donald. speculation he was going to endorse newt gingrich. official today in one of his hotels in las vegas he was endorsing mitt romney. here's how the event unfolded mid-afternoon in las vegas. >> thank you very much. it's a great honor for me. as everybody in this room knows our country is in serious, serious trouble. whether it's opec, the opec nations or china, or virtually anybody that we do business with

throughout the world, they take advantage of us, they laugh at us, they can't believe their good fortunes. ideal with these people. they can't believe what they are getting away with. so we really have an opportunity to do something great for the country. and just a little while ago i didn't even mention this, but the cbo chief in washington announced that unemployment is going up. to 9.2%. by sometime in january. so it's going to go up and the growth rate is going to be at about 1%. this just came out. not good news. it's my honor, real honor, and privilege to endorse mitt romney. [ applause ]

by the way, this is a great couple. you look at this couple. [ applause ] but mitt is tough. he's smart. he's sharp. he's not going to allow bad things to continue to happen to this country that we all love. so, governor romney, go out and get 'em. you can do it. >> thank you. [ applause ] >> there are some things that you just can't imagine happening in your life. this is one of them. [ laughter ] being in donald trump's magnificent hotel and having his endorsement is a delight. i'm so honored and pleased to have his endorsement. i'm looking for the endorsement

of the people of nevada. [ applause ] donald trump has shown an extraordinary ability to understand how our economy works, to create jobs for the american people. he's done it here in nevada. he's done it across the country. he ones that our economy is facing threats from abroad. he's one of the few people who stood up and said you know what? china has been cheating. they are taking jobs from americans. they haven't played fair. we have to have a president to stand up to cheaters. we believe in free trade and free enterprise but we don't believe in people who cheat day in dean day out. >> from las vegas, donald trump endorsing mitt romney, and a lot of speculation over the last 24 hours as to who donald trump was going to endorse. one local station in las vegas said the former house speaker was going to receive the donald trump endorsements.

"new york times" confirmed that it was going to be donald trump, politico and the associated press all told the same thing but within 12 hours the headline was different, we heard it this afternoon, mitt romney getting the endorsement of donald trump. and there's a quote from a political story that quotes the yahoo! news washington bureau chief. when the history of the 2012 race is written, i cannot wait to read the chapter that explains why donald trump got to play a starring role. he's joining us now. thanks for being with us. >> my pleasure. >> so i don't even know what to ask you about this. >> exactly. my tweet that you just read there, i grew up in the new york city media market. right. donald trump, new jersey casinos and new york media mogul and his divorces, that has been a part of my entire upbringing and i watched all of that unfold. so it is a bit shocking to see him at this level of presidential politics today. >> let me ask you in term of the

timing of this, because clearly the statement that mitt romney made yesterday and in his full context he was saying he does care about the very poor but there's a safety net and there's problems in the safety net he wants to make sure that's taken care of but his main concern is the middle class but that one line not caring very much about the very poor has been getting a lot of attention and then appearing in a ballroom with donald trump. how does that play out >> even during that event with trump in the ballroom, you saw romney joke a little bit saying i've been very lucky and been successful. not as successful as this guy, pointing to trump but sufficiently successful. people would say it's a lot more sufficient mitt romney's success he's had. certainly when the president is out there, this morning at the national prayer breakfast picking up on those comments you just cited from mitt romney not being concerned about the very poor, his policy is much more focused on the middle class, you

know, the president immediately played on those comments at the national prayer breakfast this morning and romney gives this image of standing next to a billionaire in the afternoon. it's a bit off. your initial question to me sort of, i don't know what to ask you about this because this endorsement doesn't matter. this won't have a big impact. i can't imagine this swing one vote one way or the other. i think it was helpful for the romney campaign because of that line he had yesterday and that was just on a loop for 24 hours all throughout cable news. it was the dominant story line of the campaign and that is far more damaging to him. that's now off the radar screen a bit. so now all day long they've been able to move to the trump story. the romney campaign was happy they were not in another 24 hour period. >> nevada, this was called trump's buffoonery.

rachel maddow took a staff vote and said should we cover this. they said no. the white house dinner referred to donald trump as a carnival barker. >> this is a side show. no doubt donald trump generates a lot of clicks online, a lot of interest in him, he's a celebrity, he has a show on the apprentice. he's a forceful character. he knows how to work the press real well. it has nothing to do with his import or impact in presidential politics. but he did with all that birther talk last spring he did for the white house's hand and the president's hand in actually putting out the birth certificate again and claim that as a success. he did have some sort of impact on the dmafrgs. but donald trump's detriment at the end. day which i think he was rather

dismayed about, to his advantage, i think, summed one in that white house correspondents dinner. let's go the substance of what we'll see in nevada. new poll showing mitt romney is 18 to 20 points ahead in nevada. it's a caucus state and a different way to collect delegates in nevada compared to what we saw in florida where it was winner take all. >> we're back to proportional, because it's caucus, it's in stages. so this is sort of county level, precinct caucuses and they will have a state convention later on. mitt romney won this state back in 2008 when he was running a failed presidential bid. ron paul did quite well in this state and actually his poll numbers surprised me a little bit today that he's still in the back of the pack there. that gingrich, gingrich is still in that poll in the second place slot and i wasn't necessarily expecting that because the

history of ron paul. the other thing, one of the things that i suggest that gingrich is -- even though he's 20 points back in that second place slot, his supporters are the most enthusiasticing right n now. this is mitt romney's contest to lose on saturday. it's mitt romney's nomination to lose in the long run. he's got to start racking up win after win after win in february where there's a lot of friendly turf for him starting with these saturday caucuses in nevada and amassing some delegates so that when they get march, by super tuesday where romney will have some fertile ground, mitt romney has a delegate lead that shows he's all but the nominee. i would add this, steve. the other thing that i really think is important about this weekend. this is the state with the country's highest unemployment

rate. this is where the real pain of the economic ills that the country has gone through is most acute, in this state. i think that, watching how these skpinds to that climate clearly they place the blame on president obama and to some success there's no doubt that that resonates with nevadians. but it is where you kind of really want to see their feel your pain ability so that when romney is painted as this out of touch, you know, millionaire that the democrats are eager to paint him as and then when fellow republicans say i don't know if he's the strongest presidential candidate out there, that may not resonate with nevadians because they want somebody who can relate. >> one last quick question. sharon engle endorsing rick santelli. she's the former senate

republican nominee who throats harry reid. does that make a difference? >> she's run before. never successfully and bailed on her house race. i don't think it makes a huge difference but brings tea party support. brings a signal that rick santelli is still in this thing. that may have a bigger impact endorsement today than the one by donald trump. >> thanks for being with us. we're being simulcast on c-span 3. this is "washington today." more presidential politic, beginning back on the campaign trail. also in las vegas and taking aim at the comments that mitt romney made yesterday morning on cnn with soledad o'brien. here's how newt gingrich responded. >> nothing is better for somebody who is poor by getting a job,