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tv   Key Capitol Hill Hearings  CSPAN  April 15, 2015 2:00am-4:01am EDT

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new. and it certainly is not unique to the administration currently in power. yemen is inherently unstable. it has multiple militia forces and jihadist forces at work. towns have been taken and retain and transferred. terrorism and brutality have occurred. and we may very well, there are our movements to bifurcate the country as it once was. the instability in the region is not the fault or responsibility of any administration. our question really has to be how do we respond when there are no good options? how do we do the least harm? how do we try however indirectly to effect outcomes positively?
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i don't think it is very helpful. >> thank you, madam chair for holding this hearing. i want to say at the outset i have an honor flight coming in shortly. i have somebody from bangladesh here. i was clair of this committeehair of this committee a while back. i went to yemen and mr. connolly is right, there have been problems there for years. but i would argue that they certainly have gotten worse under the administration and you know it was this administration that claimed that yemen was a success story and clearly it has been anything but that. when we were on our way over there, there was an -- a terrorist attack on a graduation at the military barracks and over 100 new soldiers were murdered by terrorists.
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so it's been going on for a while. but the problems in yemen are just incredible. i think the thing that is particularly disturbing is the iranian involvement there and around the region. it's four or five capitals now in the region that are controlled by the iranians. so it's a very dangerous situation. i look forward to the testimony. i won't be here. i'll certainly review that testimony. thank you for being here, mr. ambassador. >> thank you. good luck with that hanonor flight. it is always very emotional. we'll recognize mr. deutsche after the minutes with his con sent. we'll go to mr. higgins of new york. >> thank you madam chair for holding this important hearing. you know, another trouble spot in a region that is -- that has pervasive trouble. there are no good options here for the united states. obviously, we have a great interest in trying to influence stabilization in that region. so i'm very curious to hear the thoughts of our distinguished
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panelists today. additionally, it was announced that the u.n. security council imposed an arms embargo on the hoothie fighters. and that resolution which is legally binlding pro hiblts the sale of weapons to three named hoothie leaders former president and its son. i'm curious as to what if any impact that resolution will have relative to the die namic that is going on in gem enright now. thank you very much for being here. >> thank you sir. excellent question. mr. wilson of south carolina. >> thank you madam chair. thank you for your leader ship on this issue. ambassador, i just can't imagine a more extraordinary time for you to be serving as the deputy assistant secretary for the bureau of near eastern affairs. and, hey, i want you to succeed. but i am obviously very concerned about the evacuation, what this means for the security of the united states and our allies. obviously i'm concerned about
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libya. the murders of benghazi with the rise of isil, failure to have a status forced agreement with iraq which leads to the destabilization of iraq. the regime in iran which has an ideology of death to america doej israel. that is their plan. and as they move ahead with the nuclear capability, also building missiles to include an icbm which can only be interpreted as a threat to the american people in american families and then finally of course very concerned about chaos and civil war in syria, the purported red line of the president which simply did not have any life and credibility. but, hey, i still want you to succeed. i look forward to working with chairwoman for your success. thank you. >> thank you, mr. wilson. >> thank you madam chairman and ranking member deutsche for
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holding this very timely hearing. thank you, mr. ambassador, for being here today. i think it's safe to say that quick deterioration of the situation in yemen took many people here in washington by surprise for many years. yemen was held up as an example of counter-terrorism cooperation and it looked as if a political agreement might be achieved in the aftermath of the arab spring. the united states port approximately since the trance in addition 2011 to support counter-terrorism, political reconciliation, the economy and humanitarian aid. now we face a vastly different landscape and have to revise our assumptions and expectations. furthermore, we risk being drawn into another iranian backed armed con fwlikt in the middle east. i like to hear from the witness how we might have better detect detected the on coming rebellion and what would have been done to prevent it. what the u.s. role is and the conflict between the parties in yemen and how we're cooperating with regional partners and what the prospect are for a solution to this conflict.
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i'm also very concerned with the plight of the civilians one of the poorest countries in the world and chaos disrupt an fragile economy and provide access to food water and medical care and like to hear from you and what we're doing to alleviate the humanitarian situation. i thank you very much and look forward to your testimony. i yield back. >> excellent questions. thank you. doctor does not need to address the panel now. so we'll go to miss manningg of new york. >> thank you, chair and ranking member for assembling this hearing and our distinguished ambassador for joining us here today. on january 21st, a fragile power sharing deal with the elected group in yemen fell apart and the hoothies began seizing control of yemen. the actions were troubling because of the hoothie's power an immediate dissolve of the yemeni parliament. besides the complete disregard for a democratic principles, the
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hoothies have close ties to iran which is seeking to expand the influence in the middle east. on march 26th saudi arabia and more than 10 arab partners began arab strikes to weaken the strong hold and reinstate president hadi to the presidency. while i'm supportive of arab solidarity and intervention here, i'm deeply concerned about the possibility of a large humanitarian crisis in yemen and look forward to delving into these issues this afternoon. i yield back. >> thank you. miss frankel of florida. >> thank you madam chair. mr. ambassador thank you for being here. >> well, we've heard some of our -- my colleagues here describe iran's support for the hoothie forces as another iranian takeover in the region. and so i'm going to be -- i'm interested in your assessment of
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that. given that they've been seeking recourse for decades now with strong ties to the former regime. i hope can you put iran's involvement in yes, ma'amen in this broad -- yemen in this broader context if you would. i would just add to the question is what extent is iran controlling events in yemen? is it more than funding supplies, weapons, or are there iranian forces actually directing action in the country as we've seen in syria and iraq? >> we were all the warmup group for our lead. >> thank you for calling today's hearing and allowing us to address the recent troubling events in yemen.
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welcome back. following the deposition of the long time roll in 2011 the u.s. supported inclusive transition process via national dialogue aimed at rebuilding the country's political and governmental institutions and bridging gaps that between groups that have had a long history of conflict. yemen's first newly elected leader president hadi made clear his intentions to cooperate closely with the united states. hadi's government is a partner in counter terrorism cooperation and operations. yemen, the poorest country on the peninsula needed support from the international community. the united states has long viewed yemen for al qaeda terrorists and potential for recruitment by groups given the dire economic conditions they faced. in fact u.s. department of homeland security considers this the affiliate most likely the al qaeda affiliate most likely to
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attempt transnational attacks against the united states. and while the national dialogue was initially viewed as successful, the process concludedconclude ed in 2014 with several key reform not completed. the government continued to face deep opposition for yemen's northern tribes mainly the shiite iranian backed rebels over the past year. in coordination with tribes and military units still loyal began increasing the territorial control eventually moving in to sanam. they were long thought to use the existing relationship to undermine the hadi government. they're well trained well funded and experience fighters having fought the yemeni government and saudi arabia in 2009. now much is written by experts and analysts about how deep iran's connection goes. some argue it's overblown and that while they welcome iranian support, they're not an iranian proxy as hezbollah is. others suggest the united states has not in the past recognized
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how deep the level of support provided by iran is or what iran's real motives are in supporting the hoothies. perhaps the fullest extent of the involvement remains unknown. as secretary kerry said last week, there are obviously supplies coming from iran, he said. there are a number of flights every single week that have been flying in. we trace those flights and we know this. we're well aware of the support that eye rain is giving to yemen and iran needs to recognize that united states is not going to stand by while the region is detablized or while people engage in overt warfare across lines. the most troubling question i think to scam continue to day is whether the conflict in yemen has become a symptom of the larger power strug until the gulf. the saudi led military intervention is now in the third week. the u.s. has been providing resources and support to our regional partners engaged on the ground. i would point out this is yet another example of why we must act in the closest of security cooperation with our gulf friends to koirnlt all of iran's
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destabilizing activities in the region. i was pleased to see reports this morning indicating the united states has step up our support inspecting ships bound for yemen in search of arms. similarly, to day's 14-0 vote by the security council to impose an arms embargo is a welcomed step and a needed show of unity from the international community. iran is in turn responding setting a flotilla to the gulf of aiden. last week on social media, iran's supreme leader attacked saudi arabia and the defense minister tweeting the youths have taken over the affairs of the state and are replacing dignity with bar bare ti. as members of congress, we are often asked by our constituents why the u.s. should be involved and what goes on in the middle east. they tell us years of conflict will not be solved by u.s. intervention. yes, ma'am sen a clear example of what is in our national interest. question not allow groups like al qaeda which try to attack the united states in 2009 and 2011 and in 2012 to take advantage of
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chaos in yemen. we need the yemeni government that is going to be a partner in our counter-terrorism and regional security efforts. finally, the people of yemen have suffered long -- have long suffered under dire economic conditions. the population is more than quadrupled in the past 30 years. conflict is only making humanitarian situation worse. saudi arabia is delivering medical and humanitarian supplies but it is necessary for the international community to continue to support the people of yemen. we have seen all too well how quickly the humanitarian crisis can slip from the front pages of our papers. ambassador firestein, thank you for being here. given that the u.s. personnel has been evacuated, we look to you to tell us where u.s. policy toward yemen currently stands. will we continue to see increased level of involvement in the saudi led intervention? how can the security council resolutions pertaining be enforced and can there be a military solution to yemen's internal crisis? we look forward to your responses. appreciate you being here and i
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yield back. >> thank you very much, mr. deutsche. excellent statement. and we're so pleased to welcome ambassador gerald firestein the principle deputy assistant secretary of the bureau of near eastern affairs. previously, he served as our ambassador to yes, ma'amen from 2010 to 2013. so he knows this area very well. he has served in several different postings throughout the middle east including as deputy chief of missions in islamabad and deputy council general in jerusalem. thank you for your service, mr. ambassador. we look forward to your testimony. and may i point out your lovely fiancee sitting behind you. welcome. does she know the hours that you put in every day in your job? she might want to reconsider. mr. ambassador? you're on. >> thank you so much madam chairman. madam chairman ranking member deutsche, members of the committee, i greatly appreciate this opportunity to come before
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you today and review recent developments in yemen and the efforts that the united states is undertaking to support the government of yemen under president hadi and the saudi led coalition of operation decisive storm. that is aimed at restoring the legitimate government and restarting the negotiations to find peaceful political solutions to yemen's internal conflict. during the week of april 4th to 11th i travelled with the secretary of state to saudi arabia and oman. as part of the consultations we met with president hadi and members of his team. the saudi ministers of foreign affairs, defense and interior, the minister of foreign affairs as well as other senior officials and the ministries of more than affairs and defense and the omany minister of state for foreign affairs and his deputy. in all of these engagements, we
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found a broad degree of consistency and to bring decisive storm to a rapid and successful conclusion. to establish that no party to the internal conflict in yemen will be able to achieve its objectives through violence and coercion and to set the framework for a return to negotiations leading to a clear, verifiable commitment on the part of all parties to the conflict to implement agreements and complete the political transition on the basis of the gcc initiative, the conclusions of the national dialogue conference and applicable u.n. security council resolutions. there is also a broad agreement among the leadership and yemen's neighbors that yemen should not be allowed to become a low customer for foreign intervention that destabilizes yemen or threatens the security and stability of yemen's neighbors and the region at large. madam chairman as you know, a
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conflict in yes, ma'am sen enormously complicated and has roots that are largely per oakal and locally focused. yemen, the poorest country in the world with a long history of weak central governance as for many years struggled to meet the needs of the diverse constituencies and address their grievances. the failures of governance led to the fall of the previous regime in 2011. reflecting significant engagement by the united states and international community, the gcc initiative was put in place to help yemen transition to a new more inclusive government that will be responsive to the needs and aspirations of all yemen's communities. the tragedy of the current situation is at the political process that they established in 2011 was achieving success and we and they had reason to believe that it would lead to a more open, democratic and prosperous nation that was the goal of the yemeni people. regrettably that transition has
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been sidetracked by the movement aided and abetted by asal and his allies who decided they would seek to achieve by force what they are had been unable to accomplish of the negotiating table. we hope it's a temporary delay. to the best of our understanding, they're not controlled directly by iran. however, we have seen in recent years significant growth and expansion of the engagement with the hoothies. they see opportunity to expand the influence in yemen and threaten saudi and gulf arab interests. iran provides financial support, weapons, training and intelligence to the hoothies and the weeks and months since they entered sana and force the government first to resign and ultimately to flee from the capital, we have seen a significant expansion of iran
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yan involvement in the dpesomestic affairs. we're particularly concerned about the on going destabilizing role play by former president sava who since his removal from power in 2011 has actively plotted to undermine president hadi and the political transition process. despite u.n. sanctions and condemnation of his actions he continues to be one of the primary sources of the chaos in yemen. we have been working with our gulf partners and the nant agency will community to isolate him and prevent the continuation of his efforts to undermine the peaceful transition. success in that effort will go a long way to helping yemen return to a credible political transition process. finally, the dpeeestabilizations are beneficial. the deterioration at the political situation in yemen has provided new openings for aqap to regain the ground that is
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lost in recent years. only to the efforts to the u.s. and yemeni governments to combat it. only through a negotiated resolution of the on going political conflict and ultimately to eliminate aqap threat to yemen the united states, and our friends and partners aren't world. thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you this afternoon. i look forward to answering any questions you may have about the situation in yemen and our policy responses. >> thank you so much, mr. ambassador. and you're certainly an expert in this area. and i note that it's important not to minimize iran's role in yemen or the sectarian nature of this conflict as i believe the administration seems determined to do. the administration has so far provided only limited logistical support to the saudi led
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coalition. we waited to give them the intelligence that they needed for example, to know exactly where to hit. and the administration is hoping for a political solution without also having our own comprehensive strategies in the region. so we're essentially outsourcing our yemeni policy to the jcc and iran. gcc and iran. the gulf countries. aren't we in conversations with iran about the situation in yemen? or with hoothie rebels? and what is our plan if the hoothies refuse to accept a political resolution? >> madam chairman we believe that the iranians are well aware of our views and positions in yemen. we have been very clear in articulating that. as far as the hoothies are
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concerned, we have expressed an interest in establishing a dialogue with them going all the way back to frankly the time that i was still there. up until now they have declined the opportunity to engage with us directly. nevertheless, we have been able to communicate with them to pass messages to them through various intermediaries. and again, i believe that the hoothies are fully aware of our views and the positions that we've taken on their issues going all the way back to the early years of the 21st century. >> thank you sir. you testified that current conditions in yemen are beneficial to al qaeda and the arabian peninsula and that isil is an emerging presence in yemen. how large of a presence does isil have in yemen? what kind of pressure are we applying against them? and now that our embassy is
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closed, our -- all of our personnel have been evacuated our intelligence capabilities have been severely restricted what kind of intelligence can we collect without a presence in country and what insight do we have into the various factions? >> it's a very good question. in terms of isil, it's extremely difficult for us to have a clear applicant of the extent to which they are a factor there. as you know, they claim credit for several attacks on mosques earlier this year. this was the first time that isil has an entity emerged really in yemen. we would still consider aqap to be by far the larger and more significant threat. we have heard some yemenis and others speculate that what we're seeing is a return perhaps of
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some yemeni fighters who were in syria or iraq who have come back to yemen and are now operating as isil but i think that that is something that we couldn't confirm at this point. in terms of the complications, there's no doubt that fact that we're not present in yemen at this moment and that aren't able to maintain the level of communications and dialogue and the daily interaction that's we were able to have with yemeni counter parts while we were there and while president hadi's government was in place, certainly is a -- an obstacle to our ability to continue to conduct operations. >> thank you, sir. now state and dod provided a variety of capabilities to yemeni security forces including
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some sensitive equipment such as night vision goggles. with the closure of the emphasisbassy and special operation forces from yemen, it's much more difficult to monitor the use of such equipment. what do we know in the u.s. government about the current status of the equipment that was previously provided to yemen? have they fallen into the hands of hoothies al qaeda and the arabian peninsula isil? >> we haven't seen any direct evidence that those items of equipment that we had provided in the past have been taken by the hoothies or by other lctions elements. there is speculation in the press. we don't have independent information. >> thank you. and we've seen reports that coalition forces have he massed along the saudi-yemeni border and that some saudi forces
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already on the ground in yemen. do you expect to see gcc coalition ground forces in yemen? and what would egypt's role be in such an effort? what role would the united states play in such a scenario? >> based on the discussions that we had with our counterparts in riyadh and in abu daby last week, i think at this point in time what we understand is that they don't have any current plans to actually have a ground presence inside of yemen. they are as you said moving forces to the border. we believe that that's a largely for defensive purposes. and they are clear that this is something that they would consider if they see the requirement. but right now we haven't seen anything. as for the egyptian role, those discussions are on going. and there have not been any
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commitments that we're aware of on part of egypt to participate in any ground activity. >> lastly you testified that humanitarian situation was already dire in yemen before this crisis. and that malnutrition bad sanitation, no access to water, internal displacements, they're all rising internal concerns. what is the u.s. doing to work with saudi and the rest of the gulf council nations to prioritize the transportation of water, essential food and fuel, humanitarian supplies like medicine and to the country and via air and sea ports? >> one of the fundamental items in deputy secretary lincoln's agenda with our partners in riyadh and abu daby was to
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precisely encourage them to urge them to ensure that humanitarian access to yemen was possible. i think that the latest information that we have is that the picture has improved somewhat. it remains very serious. nearly half of the population in yemen right now based on the estimate that's we've seen is food deprived. so this is a very serious situation. we're doing a better job i think in, getting some of the humanitarian supplies not only food but also medicines and other essential humanitarian goods to yemen. the internal distribution is extremely difficult because of the various military activities that are going on around the country so the movement has become complicated. and probably the most
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significant concern that we have right now is the availability of fuel which is essential not only for the movement of goods and people but also is essential in order to provide water and also bread because the bakery is run on propane gas. without propane they can't bake their bread. so this is having ripple effects throughout the economy and making the humanitarian situation that much more serious. >> thank you again for your service, sir. mr. deutsche of florida, the ranking member is recognized. >> thank you madam chairman. you mentioned you just got back from the region. you don't see -- think the saudis see this campaign as an open ended one. do you think there is a military solution? you said that they don't have
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plans to launch a ground war. do you envision the situation in which saudi or coalition ground troops would go in? >> under the current set of circumstances, no. they are looking at various scenarios. but they've been very clear with us that that's not where they want to go. and the history in yemen is not favorable for more than ground forces. i think that saudis are well aware of that. i do believe and based on the conversation that's we have the saudis do not believe that there's a military solution to this conflict. they understand as we do that ultimately the only solution is to bring the parties back to the negotiating table and their intent is to try to demonstrate through the current military activities that a military
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solution on the part of the hoothis is not achievable. and, therefore, they need to return to negotiations. >> there was -- there were two -- so far anyway, two stories with respect to iran in yemen that have arisen today. one reports that iran may be trying to censor air missiles to the hoothies and the united states is stepping up our inspections for ships bound for yemen. first on that one can we expect to see greater u.s. involvement as the conflict drags on? >> i think that at this particular moment our intent is trying to support the saudi coalition and our partners. and so what we're doing is aimed at empowering, facilitating and enhancing their capacity to take on this mission.
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and in the situation of the shipping, we will be taking very careful look at and examining very closely efforts to violate the embargo. of course, we had the arms embargo passed to day by the u.n. security council. but we also have long standing arms embargo on iran and any effort on the part of the iranian's to export weapons is a violation of other u.n. security council resolutions. we'll be looking at ways to make sure that embargo is enforced. >> and iran allegedly released some draft of the peace plan today. can you comment on that? >> well, i think the comment that we have on that is it's ironic that the iranians have put forward a peace plan that encompasses the four points that we were actually trying to
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implement whether with iranian encourageme in. t, blocked the negotiations and created the humanitarian crisis that we're confronting today. and so i think from our perspective, if they're serious about their peace plan in the first instance they should stop sending weapons to the hoothies and they should also give their advice to them that they should be returning to the peace talks and the negotiating table. >> that would be sound advice. has this become -- or does a risk becoming a proxy war between regional influence between the saudis and iranians? >> i think from our perspective i would say that yemen is a unique situation for the saudis. that this is on their board border.
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it represents a threat in a way that no other situation would represent. and while, of course, there is concern in the gulf and we heard from our partners in the gulf about the situation in syria and iraq and also the concerns about developments in lebanon i think our sense is that the perception of the situation in yemen is different and more threatening. >> and again my last question. what do we make of the iranian flew flotilla that has moved in? >> again weeshgs tracking it. the iranians claim that they're only there as part of the larger international effort to prevent piracy and been in the red sea. we'll be keeping a careful eye on it. we also have significant forces in the area and we'll be
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tracking. >> thank you. >> thanks. >> i just want to help. they're just misunderstood. thank you mr. deutsche. mr. wilson of south carolina. >> again, thank you mr. secretary. and i appreciate you and i have something in common in that i have two sons who served in iraq. one is a physician and another is field artillery and i know that you've had a son serve there. and then with your background, what a distinguished background. as i stated from the beginning, i'm just so hopeful for your success. i believe sadly, that as a safe havens are created throughout that region and into central asia and north africa that the american people are at risk. and so we want you to succeed. and with that in mind, and you referenced it a minute ago, and that is that what impact do you believe that administration's nuclear negotiations with the regime in tehran have had with
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the support of the iranian government to be provided to the hoothies? >> thank you very much, congressman wilson for your kind words. in terms of the relationship or any correlation between the nuclear talks and the situation in yemen or more broadly in the region i think that our perspective is that -- is that what we have achieved by establishing the framework for an agreement that of course we hope is completed by the end of june that this is something that will contribute to regional security and stability. and that -- and that certainly one of the things that we discussed with our friends in the region and i think that president obama when he meets with the gcc leaders in summit
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in a few weeks will also make clear that despite the negotiations on the nuclear account and despite what we hope is an agreement to block any further iranian effort to acquire nuclear weapon nevertheless the other concerns that we have about nuclear -- about iranian activities including in areas like yes, ma'am ven not changed and we will continue to pursue aggressively a program of confronting and challenging any iranian efforts to destabilize the region. >> and i see actually a direct relationship of the negotiations and what's going on in yemen. and that is untruthfulness. the iranian regime indicated that they have no presence, no support, no interest whatever and that is correctly pointed out and the ships appeare
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coast. but with proven untruthfulness, i just can't imagine that we would be placing faith in regard to their now -- or denial of developing capability while they're building a missile system. they merit very close observation and i don't think that it's the intent of the administration to place any faith whatsoever in what the iranians say. the important thing is to establish a very tight system of verification that would enable us to see if in fact the iranians are cheating or otherwise violating the terms of any agreement that we might
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reach. so i don't think there's any trust or faith involved in this. >> well i appreciate your concern there. and what impact do you believe that the depletion of yemen's oil reserves as far as 2017 will have on the hoothie relationship in the region? >> i think more broadly, of course, one of the issues and one of the things that we as united states we're working on along with our international partners was the effort to try to provide yemen with a foundation for economic development. we recognize that it's the failure of the government to provide for its people, the failure to provide any kind of economic horizon or any optimism for the future is feeding into these issues not only with the hoothies but with aqap and other violent extremist organizations. and so one of the things as we
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go forward not only to try to resolve some of the outstanding political issues but also to work on these economic issues and to provide for future. having spent three years in yemen, i can say that i was always optimistic that given an opportunity yemen could actually develop and provide for its people economically. unfortunately, the political situation and security situation have undermind their ability and our ability to really build that kind of a future. >> well, i appreciate your service there. i know it must be very distressing to you to see the current conditions. but your service means a lot to the american people. thank you. i yield back. >> thank you, mr. wilson. thank you to your family for valuable contribution of keeping our homeland safe, thank you. >> thank you madam chairman. thank you, mr. ambassador.
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first i'd like to ask you as much as you can share in open setting, will you speak to how the current current conflict has impacted our counter terrorism efforts within yemen? you mentioned in your opening remarks that aqap is taking advantage of this opportunity and my question is do we have in place alternative counter terrorism plan that will continue to disrupt aqap and isis operations what's the relationship of these three groups on the ground are they coordinating during this period of unrest how are we protecting american security interests? >> it is a challenge. and certainly in the efforts that we have been making over the past several years with the support of president hadi and his government, a lot of our cooperation or a lot of our
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effort was dependent on cooperation that we are receiving from the yemenese. that enabled and expanded our ability to act effectively against violent extremist organizations. that of course both because we're not physically present in yemen now and because of the overall collapse of the government of yemen, that kind of cooperation is no longer viable, at least for the moment. what we are trying to do of course, to the extent possible we will continue to use our own independent means to gather intelligence and to try to understand what's happening in yemen. it is not as effective or efficient as it would otherwise be. so our effort is really, you know, part of a return to a
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political negotiation and hopefully the restoration of a legitimate government in sanaa to be able to resume the kind of cooperation we had earlier on. in terms of the interactions of the various extremist organizations, very difficult to say. we really don't have much of an understanding of isil or what their relationships are, who they are. it is possible of course that they're simply people using that name because they believe it adds a certain amount of veracity to what they're trying to do. in the absence of any presence on the ground, ability to really collect intelligence it is difficult to say. >> and in light of the current situation in yemen, are there any changes that need to be made to the administration's fy '16 request for yemen to reflect
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these realities or reflect adjustment in the policy goals for yemen? >> it is something that we are looking at and i think that we will adjust. i mean obviously our hope would be that if we can get the situation stabilized and get the political process going again, that we would be able to return and that we would be able to continue i am plenting the kinds of programs we were trying to achieve that were aimed at economic growth and development as well as supporting democratic governance, and the opportunity to try to build solid political foundations for the society. at this particular moment we can't do that, but it is hard to predict where we might be in six months or nine months from now. >> thank you. and my final question, the united nations reports that yemen relies on imports for 90%
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of staple food. we can surmise as a result of the conflict that there will be disruption in that, and obviously the world food program reports that 10 million people, 42.5% of the population were already unable to meet their food needs. what are we doing to be sure food gets to the right places, that transportation is permitted, that medicine is getting in and are we tracking it do we have some oversight to be sure it is getting to the people who need it because this has all the makings of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. >> yes, sir. again one, of course the united states is and has been traditionally the largest donor to world food program unicef and other international organizations that are providing humanitarian relief to the yemeni people will continue to do that.
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there has not been any interruption to support for humanitarian assistance. secretary lincoln during his visit to riyadh had at the top of the agenda encouraging our partners in the gulf to make sure they made accommodations to allow for humanitarian relief supplies to reach yemen and our understanding from what we are seeing over the last several days is that in fact the flow of humanitarian goods into yemen improved. ships carrying wheat arrived at yemeni ports. icrc, and unicef and others have been able to get relief supplies in by both ship and plane over the last several days. so we are seeing improvements on
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that side. the internal distribution as you pointed out, the internal distribution remains problematic. understand that for example truck drivers are very concerned, unwilling to move because of the fighting in the country. there are fuel shortages that complicate that and so internally we're still seeing difficulties getting the necessary supplies to the right places. it is something that we're discussing with our partners in the humanitarian community and we'll see if we can improve it. >> thank you. i yield back. >> thank you so much, mr. cicilline. dr. yoho. >> thank you madam chair. is it feierstein? >> feierstein. >> good, i am satisfying you both. what warning signs were present prior to the fall of the hadi government?
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what did we see, did we know this was coming or was this kind of out of the blue? >> the situation with the houthis has been complicated for a long period of time and we have been in a situation when we had the initial uprising, political uprising in 2011 and 2012, the houthis were part of the opposition to the saleh regime, there was strong desire on the part of all of the political groups in yemen to see if they couldn't bring them into the political process. i think there was a broad understanding that the houthis had legitimate concerns and grievances about the way they were treated over the years there was a hope that they could be accommodated through the negotiations and implementation of the gcc initiative in a way to make them part of the larger political fabric and that was
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really the main effort for a long period of time. unfortunately, low level conflict continued through that period between the houthis and some of the other elements, some of the conservative sunni elements of the society and that flared up last summer in an area north in the northern part of the country near the traditional houthi area. >> let me interject here. what you're saying, i think what i am hearing the houthis didn't feel like they were involved sufficiently in the hadi government, didn't have enough input? >> they weren't technically part of the hadi government didn't have any seats in the hadi government. they were part of the larger political process participants in national dialogue conference and implementation of gcc initiative. >> okay, the appointment of the
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vice president sufficient to satisfy what they're looking for as far as representation and the other part of that question does the appointment of mr. baha as vice president, does that weaken the hadi -- president hadi's effectiveness if he were to go back into power? >> the appointment of cal add baja was one of the elements that resolved the first confrontation with the houthis last year when they signed an agreement and they approved the appointment as prime minister. yesterday or the day before yesterday when he was named as vice president they objected not because they have any concern about him. he is somebody that i think is universally respected inside
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yemen but because they objected to the process that led to his appointment. but we think that he is someone who is acceptable to all of the elements of society. we don't think that it would undermine the legitimacy of president hadi's government. in fact it accomplishes something that president hadi had been encouraged to do for a period of time. >> do you see him with the resolution of this conflict do you see president hadi coming back and running that country? >> i think both the united states and more broadly the international community see that the legitimacy -- >> see him as a legitimate president. >> what exactly the format might be that would bring him back to sanaa is negotiable. >> all right. >> if there's some other format that would be acceptable to the yemenese, it would be acceptable to us. >> we have known the iranian influence with the houthis has
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been there a long time. have you seen their interference in this conflict more prevalent than it has been in the past? >> yes. >> you have seen a step up. >> yes. >> do you have any feeling that there's increase of that activity due to the iranian nuclear negotiations that we are going through, have they been embolden more? >> we believe that there are a number of factors that are feeding into iran's sense that it has the upper hand because of its engagement elsewhere in the region, because of the weakness or disarray within the sunni community, the iranians may be involved. i think our sense is that the iranian nuclear negotiations would not be a factor. >> i find it interesting that the iranians stepped up their involvement and have taken over four capitals, we see a big influence of them in venezuela.
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all this time when they have been under sanctions are supposedly struggling internally, yet we see more influence. in fact just purchased that missile defense system from russia for $800 million. doesn't look like a country that's in financial constraints or having difficulties making this presence. i think for them to step forward, show this kind of leadership in that region certainly not the kind of leadership would i want to see, i would think the influence we have with saudi arabia would be stronger. what are your thoughts on that? >> certainly i think that what we would like to do is see, you know we have the nuclear agreement now. i think our view is that potentially that could contribute to regional security and stability. certainly the support that we are providing to saudi arabia and the saudi coalition and operation decisive storm is an important element important opportunity for us to
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demonstrate to our friends in the region that despite the nuclear negotiations and framework agreement our commitment to their security and stability is not effected and that we will continue to confront and challenge iranian activity where we see it playing a negative role in the region. >> ambassador feierstein i appreciate your time. i yield back. >> thank you, dr. yoho. miss meng of new york. >> ambassador, i thought when the campaign started, the saudis were smart to brand this as a panarab effort. with the rising of civilian casualties, can you give us a sense of the perspective of this on the arab street today? >> it varies and i do believe that broadly on the arab street i think there's a great deal of support for what the coalition
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is trying to accomplish in the sense that it is appropriate for the saudis to take a leadership position in confronting iranian malign intent. within yemen of course the situation is a little bit different and the concerns about some of the civilian casualties is obviously and understandably much higher. one of the things we are trying to accomplish in providing support to the international coalition is precisely to help them avoid those kinds of civilian casualties and make sure when they're going after a particular target that they're doing everything possible to
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make sure there's no collateral damage. >> my last question. appears that turkey and pakistan backed off their initial support for this operation. can you speak about that and do you foresee the new found arab coalition working effectively together beyond yemen? >> i think for turkey and pakistan the issue is more complicated. i can speak a little bit, more familiar with the situation in pakistan than in turkey. in pakistan you have of course a long border with iran an important relationship between pakistan and iran as well as an important and long-standing relationship with saudi arabia and so for the pakistanis this was probably a situation where they didn't see frankly that there was a good way forward for them to participate.
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they had been very clear in saying they would be absolutely committed to supporting saudi arabia if there were any kind of threat to saudi arabia specifically, but in the case of yemen a little bit more complicated for them and probably something that politically inside of pakistan would have been extremely difficult. >> thank you very much miss meng. >> mr. desantis my colleague from florida. >> thank you, madam chairman. i think it -- this is important topic, i am going to get to this, but we just got news over the wire that the president is planning on removing cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. now, this is something that is although outrageous for us, something that i think we expected, i think it was baked in the cake, but i think it is really, really troubling when cuba hasn't done anything have given no concessions haven't
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done anything on behalf of their people, they're arresting more people repressing more people since this change. they have harbored somebody on the fbi list of most wanted terrorists. nothing is being done. this is just a pure unadulterated concession with absolutely no basis or grounding in facts. and i was happy to lead a special order on the floor last night with some of the post 9/11 veterans who are in congress and the two countries that we seem to have better relationships with now iran and cuba. the question is what have we received in return for that, mostly it is us giving concessions to these countries and i think foreign policy based on the idea that we're going to be dancing with dictators is not a foreign policy that is going to succeed and i think it is really alienating us from a lot of our allies and tragically i
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think is leaving people who are fighting for freedom in places like cuba completely in the lurch. this is not the last we talk about this, i know, but it is really, really disappointing. sorry about that, ambassador. i know that's not your cup of tea, but something that we work on on this committee and i know that the chair woman especially has done it for a long time. did the state department approve president obama's remarks in september when he announced the campaign against isis and cited yemen as a success? >> i'm not entirely sure. >> do you know -- i know there's a lot of discussion back when bush was president about approving the wmd passages. is it standard that that goes through state when president makes a major speech about foreign policy or is it just kind of state has to respond to
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what the white house said? i am not clear about how the process normally works. >> i think as a matter of principle it is up to the president to decide how he wants to prepare his speeches. >> once the statement was made and yemen was cited as an example of success, were there concerns in the state department that were raised about that given the actual reality on the ground in yemen at the time? >> i would say that the record of our activities in yemen from 2011, 2012 until quite recently in terms of the effectiveness of our unilateral actions against aqap as well as the cooperation
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and the ability of the united states to partner effectively with counterparts in side of yemen was positive. and as a result of what we were able to accomplish together we saw a number of positive developments. in terms of taking some leadership elements of aqap off the table and also forcing aqap to change its strategy when the political crisis came in yemen in 2011 aqap was able to take advantage of that and increase its territorial control to the extent they were actually declaring areas of the country to be an islamic caliphate not unlike what we see with iraq and syria these days, and because of
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our cooperation primarily our cooperation with yemeni security forces, we were able to defeat that at significant loss of life for aqap. as a result of that, they changed their tactics, they went back to being a more traditional terrorist organization. they were able to attack locations inside of sanaa and elsewhere, but the fact of the matter is that we were achieving progress and our ability to pleasure them and to keep them on the defensive as opposed to giving them lots of time. and remember in 2009, in 2010 we saw aqap mount a fairly serious effort, the underwear bomber and also the cassette tape effort to attack the united
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states. after 2010, they were not able to do that, despite the fact that their intent was still as clear and strong as it was before. so while aqap was by no means defeated and continued to be a major threat to security here in the united states as well as in yemen and elsewhere around the world, nevertheless i think that it was legitimate to say we had achieved some success in the quite against aqap. unfortunately what we are seeing now because of the change in the situation again inside of yemen is that we are losing some of the gains we were able to make during that period of 2012 to 2014 and that's why it is so important that we have the ability to get the political negotiations started again so that we can re-establish
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legitimate government inside of sanaa that will cooperate with us once again in this fight against violent extremist organizations. >> great. my time is expired. i appreciate that. there was a lot there. i yield back. >> thank you, mr. desantis. i look forward to watching the video of your remarks along with our other vets last night. congratulations. i wanted to ask an additional question so the members can as well. because of its gee graphicographic location, yemen is close a short boat ride away from africa. very unstable. we have got -- do you worry about the -- were the movement to take place that the houthi rebels, isil, whatever faction of terrorist organization could very well move their troops a little boat ride away and be yet
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in another area where they can control that land and destabilize an already troubled region? >> we certainly worried a lot about linkages between particularly the aqap in yemen and shabab in somalia. we know that shabab was sending people to yemen to receive training. as you say quite correctly, the distances are very short. we are talking about from yemen to gentleman bud ee, maybe 20 miles by sea. so it is very close by. and it is something that would be of concern to us and again as part of our efforts against both
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aqap and al shabab, it is something that we were trying to monitor and defeat aggressively. >> well, i do worry about it and we have a lot of american personnel, embassies, consulates, we have a presence throughout that region so that is a worry some future development perhaps. thank you, mr. ambassador. mr. deutsch? >> one more question also. with the coalition focused as it is on the houthis, and since we lost at least for now our counter terrorism partner in the yemeni government and military, is there -- what pressure is there, to the extent there is any, on al qaeda and isis as well? >> we of course to the extent we can, it is more limited now, to the extent that we can we will
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continue to engage aqap unilaterally in order to try to disrupt or defeat any threats against us. when secretary was in the region, it was an issue we raised with the saudis in particular and urged them as part of their effort to go after aqap targets as well as other targets so we can continue the pressure. >> can you tell us how that was received? >> they agree because aqap is a direct threat to their security too. >> have we seen that happen? >> i can't say for certain, a, whether we have given any targets to go after, whether they have been effective in servicing those. >> thank you. >> thank you so much mr. deutsch. dr. yoho.
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>> thank you madam chair. just kind of a follow-up question. with the administration coming out, saying it is a success over there back in september still touting that as of march 24 or 25, how can we be that far off. you explained the counter terrorism portion, but to have a country taken over while we are sitting there, it feels like overnight, the marines have to take the weapons with them. i don't understand how that happens, how we can be that disconnected? what are your thoughts on that? is it just denial or is it -- i don't know what it is. i am confused because before you answer it its counter intuitive claim, says it enrages republicans, i am sure it enrages a lot of people.
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i am kind of baffled. >> it was very frustrating. we again i think that if you go back to where we were a year ago successful conclusion of the national dialogue conference, which was really the last major hurdle in completion of the gcc initiative, houthis participated in that participated in constitutional drafting exercise which was completed successfully, and we were in the process of moving through all of the requirements of the gcc initiative that would allow us to complete successfully the political transition. i think there were a combination of things. one, that there was a view on the part of the houthis that they were not getting everything they wanted.
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they were provoked by saleh, who never stopped plotting on the first day of the gcc initiative never stopped trying to block the political transition, and there was to be frank, there was a weakness in the government an inability on the part of the government to really build the kind of alliances and coalition that would allow them to sustain popular support and to bring this to successful conclusion. so i think that all through this period there was a sense that we were moving forward and that we believed we could succeed in implementing this peaceful transition, yet always knew on the margins there were threats and risks.
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unfortunately we got to a point where the houthis and saleh, where they reached the last moment to interrupt the peaceful transition it was bad for them, it would mean they wouldn't get everything they wanted they saw that time was running out for them and decided to act and unfortunately the government was unable to stop them. >> i appreciate it. it just concerns me extremely a lot that we are calling this a success and missed the mark, way past the mark. if we're missing this, what else are we missing in our foreign policies. can i ask one other thing? we've invested $900 million since 2011 roughly. it doesn't seem like we've gotten the bang for our buck in foreign policy. in your opinion how would you direct foreign policy in a country like yemen to where we get the results we want?
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>> that's a good question. what i would say, in a place like yemen we have to recognize what the limitations are in those societies and accept the fact that if we are going to make a difference it is going to be a very long term investment on our part. it is unfortunate that yemen has taken a turn that it has taken. i don't think that the situation is irretrievable. i think with some effort on our part, part of the rest of the international community we can get back on track. i would hope that we would then stay with it and help the yemeni people achieve a good outcome. they're good people. they're, you know, they're people who probably deserve a
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lot better than they've gotten, it would be good if we could be part of that success. >> ambassador, appreciate your time. madam chair thanks for the indulgence. >> thank you, dr. yoho, mr. ambassador yemen is a quickly moving terrain. we would appreciate if you can keep the subcommittee abreast of developments. we don't have to have a formal hearing, we can have a meeting in one of the meeting rooms. thank you for being accessible. lots of moving parts. we would like to be abreast of every development. >> thank you. >> thank you, sir. your testimony was excellent. with that, the subcommittee is adjourned.
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on the next washington journal, congressman jim
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mcdermott of washington, lead democrat on the ways and means subcommittee on health discusses repeal of medicare payment formula known as the dock fix, and challenges to the president's health care law. then congressman james renacci of ohio discusses bills on the house floor, including prospects for tax overhaul. after that, our spotlight on magazines features justin whirlen on his reporting of the shooting of a man in south carolina and the relationship between police departments and communities of color. washington journal is live every morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. you can join the conversation with your calls and comments on facebook and twitter. this weekend, cspan cities tour partnered with comcast to learn about the history and lit
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rather ee life of saint augustine, florida. >> ponltd deleon may or may not have been searching for the fountain of youth. a lot of people said he was out for additional property for the king of spain and kol onization attempts and gold which is decidedly true. we know once he came ashore after searching for good harbor took on water and wood. this area presents one of the few fresh water springs in the area around 30 degrees 8 minutes. and is also location of the 1565 first settlement of st. augustine, 42 years before the settlement of jamestown and 55 years before pilgrims landed on plymouth rock. >> the hotel was built by henry morrison flagler. he is a man who is little known outside of the state of florida
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but he was one of the wealthiest men in america. he essentially had been a co-founder of standard oil company with john d. rockefeller. he was a man who always wanted to undertake some great enterprise. and as it turned out florida was it. he realized that he needed to own the railroad between jacksonville and st. augustine, too, to ensure guests could get to his hotel conveniently. so clearly the dream was beginning to grow on flagler. he was a man who had big dreams. he was a visionary. >> watch all of our events from st. augustine saturday at noon eastern on cspan2 book tv sunday at 2:00 on american history tv on cspan 3. now our campaign 2016 coverage continues with a
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discussion on the entrance of hillary clinton and senator marco rubio into the presidential race. from washington journal, this is 45 minutes. >> already a busy week on the road to 2016. here to break it down boston globe political editor and katherine lucy based in iowa where hillary clinton is heading today and tomorrow and katherine lucy, want to start with you. who is hillary clinton meet white golding with, what are the events she's appearing at? >> she got out to iowa as fast as her scooby van could carry her this week. clinton is making a clear choice to stay away from bigger cities, bigger rallies or events. she's in small towns doing much
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more intimate gatherings. she's going to be touring a community college today meeting with educators, students. tomorrow she will be at a produce business and doing a business round table and beyond that, i think they're expected to be doing more private meetings with lawmakers, democratic activists. the goal in her campaign has been clear about this, they want personal interactions, regular folks, small towns. she's trying to set a tone here. >> and trying to set a tone in tweets about the road trip as well. here is one from earlier this week. road trip. loaded the van and set off for iowa, met a great family where we stopped this afternoon. many more to come. there's a picture of the family there. hillary clinton's second chance now to make a first impression. how does a person who is so well
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known sort of reintroduce themselves? >> oh, it is going to be very difficult. you can argue it is the greatest challenge ahead of her when it comes to seeking the nomination. a quinnipiac poll came out last week that showed 90% people had favorable or unfavorable opinion, just 5% of iowa voters in the poll say they have not heard enough about her to make an opinion. just 5%. compare that to the rest of the republican field you look at anywhere from 27 to even 55% or 54% of survey respondents saying they didn't have enough information to make a decision about a republican candidate in the race. there's very little wiggle room for her. i think part of what the road trip is supposed to do, it is supposed to reintroduce her as a new hillary clinton, metamorphosis to a kinder woman's woman in many ways. >> on the front page of the bods globe, iowa voters examine
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alternatives to clinton. she hopes it will renew the focus. katherine is based in iowa. as you talk to political watchers veterans who watched so many campaigns come through iowa, katherine lucy, what are they saying will make a successful roll out here, a successful visit to iowa in the first couple days of her new campaign? >> well i think clinton's people are probably talking to the same people i am i think there is a real sense that people want to see her come in talk to people, go to diners, go to coffee shops. do the kind of sort of low key retail politicking that iowa caucus goers expect and demand from their candidates. i think in terms of this approach, i mean that's what i am hearing. activists say they want to see her, and there's been some anxiety on the democratic side the past few months, because compared to the republican field where you have a huge field of
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candidates, there's less happening with democrats and they want to get going. they want to see candidates, they want to talk to them, vet them, even if it is hillary clinton, and they've met her before, they want her out here. >> and we are happy to have our viewers join the conversation as well. phone lines are open. republicans can call in. democrats, independents. take us to new hampshire, a gathering of republicans scheduled for this weekend in new hampshire, tell us what's going on. >> absolutely. friday and saturday nearly every republican presidential hopeful will go through new hampshire for the state party leadership
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summit. at the crown plaza, which i hear is lovely. 19 speakers signed up for this. the only two not on the list ben carson and rick santorum. every other person on the speaking list, all 19 of them republican presidential hopeful. two solid days of speeches rick perry kicks it off friday at lunchtime, marco rubio jeb bush hit friday evening, and scott walker closes out saturday night dinner. >> and marco rubio announcing his campaign for the presidency yesterday. want to show our viewers a bit from that announcement. >> yesterday is over. [ cheers and applause ] and we are never going back. you see, we americans are proud of our history but our country has always been about the future
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and before us now is the opportunity to author the greatest chapter yet in the amazing story of america but we can't do that by going back to leaders and ideas of the past. we must change the decisions we are making by changing the people who are making them. so that is why tonight grounded by the lessons of our history but inspired by the promise of our future i announce my candidacy for president of the united states. [ cheers and applause ]
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>> and that announcement coming in marco rubio's home state of florida. here's the miami herald front page story on it. candidate rubio calls upon new conservative generation is the headline there. we're talking with our political experts, sheer a center of boston globe, and catherine lucey. the phone lines are as usual this morning. republicans, democrats, independents. george in louisville, kentucky. good morning george. >> good morning. nice to hear from everybody. i'm just hoping that this doesn't get too negative. i hear the smear campaigns will be out in mass. it started with the lee atwater campaign in '88.
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and i just hope if hillary is hit with a lot. i think the benghazi ordeal is a scandal. there was no stand down orders. i think most of the lies are coming from the right wing crowd and i think we have to -- i am tired of hearing about negativity about other people. i want to hear why we should vote for somebody opposed to trying to smear someone else. if hillary gets smeared, i hope she fights back with everything in her. i am tired of these smear tactics from the other side. thank you very much. >> pick up on republican reaction to hillary clinton's announcement, the video and now van tour to iowa. >> to the question i don't think anyone can expect no negative campaigning in the next year and a half, that's unlikely given the times we are in. there's been lot of interest on
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the republican side about clinton, when she will get in and certainly there has been criticism and negative commentary about her before this. now that there's a candidate in the race, the huge republican field can really focus on her a lot more directly and they probably will. >> and we should note that hillary clinton will be in monticello iowa later today. watch that appearance on cspan2 at 1:15 eastern time, 12:15 central out in iowa. speaking of the ability to see presidential candidates, a tweet from jodie as we have been having this discussion. she writes iowa is the only state one can talk to presidential hopefuls. should choose a new first state each election. go to paul waiting in in chesapeake, virginia. paul, go ahead.
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>> caller: yes, a couple of comments. one, a question. are any governors looking to get in the race instead of senators. some of these senators are young and we just went through eight years of that. the second question is hillary claims to champion the middle class. 12 years in the governor's mansion of arkansas eight years in the white house, then secretary of state. my question is what does she really know about the middle class? thank you. >> if you want to take the first part of that on govern ors or those jumping into the presidential race. >> you have 21 possible republican candidates running a few are governors, scott walker is looking seriously polling well in early states.
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former florida governor jeb bush is another candidate potential candidate with executive experience. he's also polling well in the race. candidates that aren't polling well former new york governor to name others that are considering running for president. >> catherine, do you want to pick up on the challenge of hillary clinton relating to middle class americans? >> that certainly is what she is setting out to do here. she's going to be here trying to talk one on one with real people. saw the tone she was setting in her video, she wanted to connect with everyday folks on their problems and their concerns looking to the future. and i think one of the things she's going to be talking about she said on her website, she wants to be people's champion. in terms of how she will frame this, i think it will be i understand your concerns i am
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going to fight for your concerns, and i think that's one of the ways she will approach this. >> catherine i should have you follow up. you had a recent story in real clear politics about another former chief executive on the campaign trail martin o'malley. >> absolutely yes. former maryland governor has been in iowa several times recently as he ponders a 2016 democratic bid as well and he has been received well here. i have seen him do a couple of events. he is definitely offering a progressive message, talking a lot about income inequality raising minimum wage, you know financial reform in terms of oversight of banking and people are responding to that so i think he has a message that people are interested in, and i think also democratic activists here and other early voting
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states want to see options they don't want to just have a coronation, so to speak, of hillary clinton. >> and hillary clinton so far ahead in so many polls early polls we have seen. catherine lucey do they matter? >> the polls matter, obviously clinton is a favorite at this point, but the thing that's interesting, you know, almost a year out from the iowa caucuses is that surprises can happen and these are states where if you put in the time, if you are really making rounds, if you are meeting with people that people are going to listen and they're going to, you know, give you a shot. the caucus participants want to vet the options and they're first in the nation. they'll give anyone that comes
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in here a look. >> one of the polls on the democratic side of the ticket, hillary clinton ahead by 40 points in north carolina to her next closest challenger potential challenger vice president joe biden. o'malley with 5% to clinton's 53% in that public policy polling poll. do polls matter at this point? >> not really but not for the reason you might think. yes, it is early. what they measure by large portion is name identification and hillary clinton as we discussed is extremely well known. just looking at the nature of the field on our side, even if you have nine candidates vying actively in iowa caucuses in new hampshire primary that means the winner will only get between 15 and 17% of the vote, maybe 20% on election night if they really have a blowout. when you look at numbers that
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small, it is extremely hard to judge this far out how well a candidate can do. >> happy to take viewer calls and thoughts. any topics related to 2016 for the next half hour on washington journal. david in waldorf, maryland. line for democrats. good morning. >> good morning. seems our politics has become some type of perverted theater. any politician that doesn't raise millions and millions can't run. any politician that says anything against israel even if it is true cannot run, rand paul, who i am not a fan of, he has said some things that made common sense how america should free itself from its relationship with israel and the media does not give him due time
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like they will clinton or rubio or jeb. someone needs to talk about that. kennedy when he said there are forces that want to enslave america, we know three weeks later he was killed. so americans need to stop being transfixed with the theater and get down to the truth. >> catherine lucey, first part of the question talked about fund raising expectations. what are the expectations on hillary clinton after her announcement over the weekend? >> i know that obviously she's getting right into fund raising, they're starting right away, are going to raise huge amounts of money. the thing with these races on both sides and we have seen this the past few cycles, there's so many vehicles for fund raising and spending in terms of candidate committees and outside committees, huge amounts of money can come in in a lot of
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different ways. it is going to -- as every presidential, probably the biggest spending presidential. she will have ample opportunity to raise and access funds and yeah, it does create a certain kind of race, absolutely. >> shira center on the caller's second points on maybe foreign policy in general or israel policy specifically as they will factor into the presidential contest and primaries. >> right. so i think especially in the republican field, you're going to be hard pressed to find a candidate that doesn't describe himself or herself as a partner and friend of israel. it will be the same on the democratic side. republicans particularly have been emphasizing america's relationship with israel more and more over the last decade or so and i think the current negotiations in iran will keep the issue in the forefront at least through summer until we figure out the details in early
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august, which is conveniently around the time of one of the first debates. >> don up next in redding california, line for independents. thanks for getting up early on the washington journal. >> i hope i have a little bit of a cold hope i can do this. marco rubio's entrance slogan or his slogan yesterday was a new american century, and which is kind of interesting. i thought maybe it might be a shoutout to the military industrial complex going back to the draft of the project for the new american century where neocons wanted to get military spending back up to reagan era levels. i wonder if he might be reaching out to them a little bit. thanks. >> catherine lucey on the new american century slogan.
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what do you think marco rubio is trying to refer to here? >> obviously the slogan could have a number of meanings. the most basic one i think is that he is trying to frame himself as a new face a new voice, and the future in the republican party. and that will contrast him with other folks in the race. certainly that's going back to our comments earlier about hillary clinton and can she re-invent, can she sort of reposition herself, that is a contrast for her. rubio is new and presents new ideas and i think her critics will say she represents the past. >> el paso, texas up next, the republicans where gina is waiting. >> i am a former democrat i was voting for hillary in 2008 i was disappointed when she didn't win the caucus in iowa, came in
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third against john edwards and barack obama. we learned since then john edwards has been a disgrace. despite that history, how can iowa convince the rest of the nation that they're convinced hillary should be number one when they tried to convince us that she wasn't good enough, and she wasn't what we needed because we needed hope and change. she was supposed to be the one for hope and change now but she wasn't the one then, so if the democrats didn't want her then, why would they want her now? i think it is kind of hypocritical that the democratic party is trying to convince us in polls that she's a formidable candidate when they convinced her to drop out of the race since day one. >> katherine lucey, another caller with concerns in iowa
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being the lead in the primary season as iowa always is. can you talk a little about it from your perspective on the ground? >> iowa gets a lot of flack for being first, having this kind of intimate access to candidates, and this kind of voice in the nominating process. i think a lot of activists and politicians will be candid, they're lucky but they would also say that they take the process seriously and that this is a place where candidates can do a kind of one on one retail politicking they can't easily do in bigger states with bigger media markets. so clinton can come here and really, you know have these experiences with voters that maybe it would be harder to do in other places. to this election versus 2008 democrats now and then, i mean it is a different election it is a different field of candidates, and there were a lot of iowa democrats that liked
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hillary in 2008. she did get a lot of support in the caucuses even though she ultimately came in third and there's a lot of people here who are excited to see her and do think this is her time and are, quote, ready for hillary. so i think there are folks who feel ready for her, and people who want to see options and want to wait awhile and figure out what's out there. but they're committed to the process here. >> and the boston globe shira center same question to you about new hampshire perspective on the ground. new hampshire a state in 2008 where hillary clinton briefly took back momentum during the democratic primaries. >> yeah, absolutely. after her horrible loss in iowa as the caller mentioned, third place in the caucuses came to new hampshire and rebounded, defeated barack obama in the new hampshire primary by just a couple of points there, and it really propelled her and
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extended the democratic primary. you could argue several months beyond that. it changed the dynamic of the race. you want to talk access the race. voters of new hampshire, because the state is so small i think really have an incredible access to candidates that maybe is on par, even more intimate than iowa voters given the size of the state. there's an old joke about a new hampshire voter undecided and wavering about a candidate saying what, i only met him or her twice. that's the way it goes in the small state. check it out on c-span 2 starting at 9:00 a.m. the boston globe sure to have plenty of conch from that event as we. back to the calls. line for democrats you eesh an with shira center and catherine
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lucey skblk what i was calling about was the smear campaign. you have one that hillary is going to face. what about martin o'malley. with his extra affairs that he has with women where he had to have an affair covered up by his father-in-law. what about that? thank you. >> catherine lucey do you want to pick up this? you followed martin o'malley around a little bit. >> i can't speak to a smear campaign or those allegations specifically. from what i saw here he was well-received in iowa. no one was talking about any such allegations at any of the events i've been at. and i think he's got a lot of opportunity here. >> lee, virginia, line for republicans. lee, good morning. >> caller: thank you for taking my call. my question is this. the 2008 election kind of showed
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the faceoff between the old card and both the democratic party and the republican party first obama and clinton and then obama and mitt romney. so my question is as we go into the next election, who is likely to potentially upset in the democratic party clinton the same way that barack obama did? is there a candidate out there with the same kind of name recognition and charisma and potentially momentum that could provide the enthusiasm that obama provided? >> shira center, you want to lead off? >> absolutely. certainly by this point in the 2008 cycle even when hillary clinton looked like the front runner, we knew barack obama was looking at the race. he was very serious about the race. might have already announce his
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exploratory committee. we knew about this maybe even a year ago at this time in the 2008 cycle. this time around there is no one specifically on the horizon who has that kind of national following, that kind of charismatic leadership who said they're interested in running. to only candidate who already has those qualities is elizabeth warren and she says she does not want to run, this is not in the future for her. she would be the only person i think hillary clinton could potentially be upset by in the primary. it is notable if you look at a lot of hillary clinton's messages over the last couple of days, she's talking about a lot of the things that elizabeth warren talks about a lot, revooig the middle class, huge themes that elizabeth warren has been talking about for years. >> does that answer bill king's question from twitter who asks
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even if they don't run or if they do, will they push her positions fut left as many of us do not believe she's left enough? >> i don't think bernie sanders with all respect to the senator from vermont, i don't see him having a huge impact on which way hillary clinton goes. elizabeth warren is the party's populous populous. you see hillary clinton echoing the tones already. >> we want to hear from our viewers about the next 15 minutes or so. we've got shira center and catherine lucey. if you're not meeting with candidates right now, we'd be happy to hear from you this morning on "the wall street journal." in the meantime we'll go to one of those swing states, ohio. yolanda is waiting on the line
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for republicans. good morning. >> caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. no. i just wanted to give me comment that i can't believe when i hear people say it's her turn, it is nobody's turn. aren't we to pick the most experienced, the one -- it just bothered me. i keep seeing white water e-mail scandals and especially benghazi, that bothers me a lot when i see clips of pictures of the guys who lost their lives and then hillary answering questions saying, what difference does it make? i just don't trust her. i'm sorry. we need some fresh new faces, i think. >> catherine lucey if you want to pick up on that, both the trust issue and how the clinton camp reacts to comments like it's her turn. >> yeah, i think the clinton camp is trying to get as far away as possible from the it's her turn type messaging by doing
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things like driving to iowa in a van, doing her first events as small, you know, intimate meetings with voters. they are being very clear that they want her to -- that she wants to earn every vote. that she's going to fight for every vote. they are trying very hard to get away from any suggestion that she is taking this for granted that she expected this. they are sort of comparing us a lot to her campaign for senate in new york where she did a big listening tour and met with tons of people and convinced you know that state that she was the right pick for senator. they say she wants to work for it like that again. >> and you mentioned that van already, the name scooby is the van. scooby scoots clinton to iowa named scooby because it reminds
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clinton of the van in the series. >> i think if it looked like the scooby van, we would have a much easy time to find her. >> why is it so tough to find her? is that on purpose by the clinton came pain? she's shown up on social media occasionally. >> yeah. looks like they're trying to keep this trip low key. they're not sending out tons of twitter pictures of her on the road with people. they've done one or two things. she appeared to go to the chipotle and not tell anyone who she was and order her, whatever it was. >> there's the picture. >> shaken burrito bowl shira center your thought on the low key nature and having to catch hillary clinton on security cameras here. >> it is interesting.
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on the one hand her campaign could have totally overplayed this taking selfies from every gas station but they didn't. they wanted to keep it totally low key. it remind me during mitt romney's campaign when he went on the every man's tour and bragged about getting $4.99 hamburgers and flying southwest all the time. they don't want to look like they're overdoing it. and instead it looks a little more national. if you have a reporter call the manager of chipotle and asking for the security footage, then taking a selfie with the staff making a burrito bowl. >> jim is up next in tom bean, texas, line for democrats. jim, good morning. >> caller: am i on? >> yes, sir. >> caller: okay. what i wanted to share with you was, you know, all of the women i talked to, republican independent and democrat they
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all love hillary clinton. now i don't understand that. i'm a man. but then they say, well, the republicans, they've got the white males. i'm a white male. all my friends are white males and all my friends are democrats. where are they getting the story that they've got the white male? and then you think about the hispanics. you think about the african americans. i mean you talk about the say shans even. they all love hillary. it's going to be a landslide, man. >> catherine lucey if you want to pick up on the voting blocks that the clinton camp is trying to court her and specifically the female vote. >> yeah. i mean obviously in the weeks and months leading up to this announcement, clinton has been doing a lot of first speaking events and has really been talking a lot more about gender equality, about equity in the workplace, about issues that
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particularly matter to women. and that's a contrast to 2008 where she didn't really at least at the get-go, talk about those things as much. certainly that's going to be a much bigger focus in her campaign appealing to women and some of the issues that are important to them. in terms of whether it will be a landslide, i think we'll all have to wait and see. >> and catherine lucey quick question from instagram please ask the reporter if hillary will take questions at the events in iowa and will they be staged like was revealed in 2008? what do you know about taking questions at those events? >> i do not know if she'll be taking questions at this events. they are -- there is going to be press at you know one event -- at least an event today and an event tomorrow. i would assume there will also be a variety of unscheduled stops and things like that. i would think she'll take questions from some of the people she's meeting with
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because she's doing sort of round table discussions. so in the community college today she's doing a discussion i think with the educators and students. tomorrow she'll be having some sort of business round table. so i got to think that's going to you know, create the opportunity for people to ask her questions and share with her their concerns. >> we've kbt a couple of minutes left be catherine lucey and shira center. if you want to ask them questions about 2016 we'll try to get to as many calls as we can. jimmy is in panama city florida, line for independents. good morning, jimmy. >> caller: good morning. i have a quick comment. why would anyone vote for someone who would -- all over themselves. i am clinton supporters. and we've done well with them. and for a woman it's not problem with me. i think she would be a good president and i'm going to vote
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for her. thank you. >> hey jimmy, are you still with us? shira center do you want to pick up on any of jimmy's comments there? >> you know i didn't quite hear what he was talking about -- >> referring to on the natural disasters? >> yeah. so, you know obviously, gosh we know just here in massachusetts trying to get federal funding for the huge snow in boston over the february has been a battle for the governor here. so obviously it's an important issue that doesn't just affect tropical states or the plains states. it is something that the neck occupant of the oval office will have to set a lot of policy on. it directly affects a lot of citizens in a way you wouldn't expect. >> do you want to talk about chris christie and maybe some of the thoughts abhim dealing with natural disasters and of course the hurricane in new jersey? >> yeah, absolutely.
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chris christie's presidential campaign is probably not gotten off to the start he would have hoped. but he's coming to new hampshire today. he's coming back again later this week two times and he's doing a sere rose of town halls something like nine different public i vents where we're meeting and greeting new hampshire voters. this is really chris christie's prime venue. he's familiar louse for doing them in new york, famous for his tough talk and getting flack from that as well. we're going to be showing people from new hampshire what that's a really like. one of the things he's going to talk about is how he handled the sandy crisis. he got good reviews for how he handled the hurricane a couple of years ago. i think one of the things he's going to say is you know this is a huge part of my record and as a kwal occasion to be commander in chief of this country. >> back to dayton, ohio where david is waiting on our line for democrats. go ahead david. >> caller: good morning. i would like to remind the people that it doesn't really
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matter who you elect as president if you have a do nothing congress. we've got 47 members of the senate who claim they're going to be there forever no matter what. you're going to get a president who is only going to be able to issue executive orders because you have a do nothing congress. thank you very much. >> catherine lucey do you want to pick up on how congress plays into the presidential campaign messages here? >> well i think certainly, you know, in iowa and a lot of states, there will be an effort you know with both parties to try and build their numbers in congress. iowa had a really -- democrats had a tough year last year. they lost a senate race. they lost -- they're now down to one of the four house seats in iowa. so i think one of the messages that clinton is trying to push is that she will help with party building and that she will be here to help democrats build up
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their berj and be competitive, whether that helps them regain ground in congress next year or takes longer, that remains to be scene. >> do you want to jump in on this. >> sure. >> getting an upfront seat to congress here in washington, d.c. at the newspaper roll call. go ahead. >> absolutely. i think one of the most undercover themes of the obama's presidency is his relationship with congress and how bad it was. part of that is because he was only in the senate for a few years before he ascended to the oval office. he didn't quite have the basis for relationships that his number two vice president joe biden had. and that's why so many times over the past six years you would see barack obama try to make the deal but in the end he would send joe biden to carry out the details with mitch mcconnell or john boehner. hillary clinton is difference and she in terms of her relationship with congress would probably have a better one. she did serve a full time plus in the united states senate. but also her family has been so
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ingrained in politics, in democratic politics, she has built relationships, the clintons have fund raised for so many members still in congress right now. they've worked with them on many issues. her husband work with many of nem in the '90s. it would be a different relationship between a democratic president and a republican congress than the one we've seen over the last few years. >> shira center joining us from the boston globe newsroom there in boston. let's head to new bed ford, massachusetts where crystal is waiting on the line for democrats. go ahead. >> caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i wanted to make a comment about hillary and how she is going to be bashed and we all know she's going to be bashed because she is hillary. and i just wanted to ask a question. how come nobody is talking about senator cruz and his wife having obama care?
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>> thank you. >> do you want to ping up on that, whether ted cruz in particular or the affordable care act in general? >> yeah, obviously senator cruz has been a key critic of the affordable care act, president obama's health care overhaul. i saw him here in iowa recently and he was talking about his situation. his wife has take an leave of absence from her job where they had been getting their health benefits. they're now deciding how they could get coverage for their family. one option is to get coverage through his job as a senator which i think technically means going through the exchange system. but it's essentially just getting the coverage a senator would get under any circumstance. he said it was not clear yet what they were going to do. they were still deciding. >> let's go to frank in augusta,
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georgia, line for republican. frank, good morning. >> caller: hello, yes. i want to make some comments about hillary. number one, when hillary was in the white house she came up with this horrible health care plan that was even worse if it could be, than obamacare. after the white house she ran for senator which she did nothing, absolutely nothing as a senator. then after that of course we know she became the secretary and did nothing there. what i am so tired of hearing about hillary is all of these people when you ask them, what has she done they tell me what she's for. she's for the middle class. he doesn't say has what she'll do for them. she's for this and that but doesn't have a plan. she's done nothing as the first lady. done nothing as a senator. done nothing but hurt us as the secretary. so if she gets bashed, it's for
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her lack -- what's the word i'm looking for. that she should not be a president. i can't get the word. but i am so afraid that if we get hillary in the white house she will finish destroying this country that obama started. >> shira center what has been the clinton camp response to comments like that and discussion about hillary clinton's record? >> yeah, well they've first of all mentioned her breadth of experience. her time in the united states senate as a united states senator from new york they also mention her time as secretary of state. they call her one of the most qualified candidates to ever run for president. i'm sure the caller who just called in would not agree with that assessment. in terms of her accomplishments as secretary of state, they talk about a lot of her work with women and girls, start small businesses across the globe.

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