expired. >> you have been watching question time wrap. former chair and ceo of equifax richard smith testifies about the company's massive data breach. today tuesday, he's before the house energy committee. wednesday, he'll take question from the senate banking committee. live coverage starts at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3. also tuesday, defense secretary james mattis and joints chief of staff chair general joseph dunford will testify at a house armed services committee hearing on military strategy in south asia. live coverage starting at 1:00 p.m. eastern. all those online at c-span.org or on the free c-span radio app. >> the c-span bus is traveling

across the country on our 50 capitals tour. we recently stopped in annapolis maryland, asking folks what's the most important issue in their state. >> hi. i'm xena. i live in annapolis, in maryland, and i teach at sta john's college where we're filming now. and an issue that a lot of us in maryland are concerned with is our heritage, the heritage of slievry, and the heritage of the civil war. i'm sure many of you heard, there's a statue of the justice who wrote the dread scott decision that was taken down in front of the state house. my real concern is how do we have conversations about our past? and here at st. john's, we read frederick douglass. we read the dread-scott decision, speeches of lincoln, and try to have real conversations with one another about the issues and different points of view you might have on

them. i suppose that's one of the things i care about most deeply, is how can we as americans, how can we as marylanders have real cobsations where everyone is respected and also some real understanding can be reached about issues which really matter for our heritage, our history, and what's happening today. so that's what i'm hoping for, is not just fighting, not just arguing, not just power struggles, but real communion conversations and building real community. >> my name is javon, and i believe that a major issue in the state of maryland is incarceration. most importantly, when people come out of prison walls, i believe that employment and housing and just the support system is very vital to people staying out of prisons and keeping recidivism down. i believe that if the people who are formerly incarcrated get

employment, something substantial to their families, that will keep them and the state safe. >> hi, i'm the president of st. john's college. i think the issue that is most critical for us to address today is the issue of civil discourse. at st. john's college, we offer young people the opportunity to sit around a table and to discuss in our seminars the most important issues pertaining to what it means to be a human being. what human flourishing is, what it takes to have a flourishing society. and i think if we all had the opportunity to do that, to sit around the table and look each other in the eyes and first address one another's humanity and then begin our conversation with important things, it would be a much stronger nation. a better society. and we would come much closer to

finding solutions to the problems that we face. so i encourage everybody out there to think about that model of civil discourse to address each other first as human beings and then ask tough questions together. >> my name is ethan. i'm a junior at st. john's college. i'm a student supervisor at the metro art gallery, and currently at the metro art gallery is the lord of nature, and my job and responsibility at being a student supervisor is to teach people about the art and get them involved in the workshops we offer here at st. john's and to the community of annapolis. i think it's important for somebody to understand art, because you understand history, literatu literature, and the culture of the art you're looking at. and i think it's really important because if you can understand history, you can understand yourself and where you want to go in the future. >> voices from the state, on c-span.

sglool sorry sanders was sasked about yesterday's mass shooting in las vegas. she spoke to reporters for about 15 minutes.yesterday's mass shos vegas. she spoke to reporters for about 15 minutes.about yesterday's ma in las vegas. she spoke to reporters for about 15 minutes.yesterday's mass shos vegas. she spoke to reporters for about 15 minutes.about yesterday's ma in las vegas. she spoke to reporters for about 15 minutes.yesterday's mass shos vegas. she spoke to reporters for about 15 minutes.about yesterday's ma in las vegas. she spoke to reporters for about 15 minutes. >> good afternoon. our thoughts and prayers today are with the victims and survivors in las vegas and with the people of puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands. where massive storm recovery efforts are ongoing. the president will be flying to puerto rico tomorrow to view the devastation. and he will assure the people there that we are with them 100% today and for the long haul. puerto ricans have shown incredible resilience and we're fully committed to helping them rebuild their lives.

last night, thousands of our fellow citizens endured what the president has rightly called an act of pure evil in las vegas. the president has ordered our flags to half staff and to further honor those lost in the attack, we will hold a moment of silence on the south lawn at 2:45 eastern time. the president will visit las vegas on wednesday to grieve with the friends and family of the victims, to offer his support to those recovering from their wounds, and to thank the courageous first responders. in the coming days, this attack will directly impact communities all over our country whose residents were visiting the entertainment capital of the world to attend a concert. one man, 29-year-old sonny, had traveled from tennessee to las vegas with his wife heather. when the bullets began raining down from above, sonny shielded her from danger, selflessly giving up his life to save hers. they had been married for just over a year. others risks their own lived to save people they had never met. mike of philadelphia laid on top of students at the concert to

protect them from the gunfire. they're 20. i'm 53, he said, and i have lived a good life. lindsey and her fiance fled for cover during the attack, and immediately returned to the scene with their pickup truck to help transport the wounded to nearby hospitals. gale davis who was attending the concert with her husband said she owes her life to a brave police officer who instinctively served as a human shield protecting her from harm. sadly, multiple police officers, both on duty and off duty, were among those killed or injured. what these people did for each other says far more about who we are as americans than the cowardly acts of a killer ever could. the gospel of john reminds us that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for a friend. the memory of those who displayed the ultimate expression of love in the midst of an unimaginable act of hate will never fade. their examples will serve as an eternal reminder that the american spirit cannot and will not ever be broken. in the days uz head, we'll grieve as a nation, we will

honor the memory of those lost as a nation, and we will come together united as one nation under god, and indivisible, and with that, i'll take your questions. >> can you tell us a little bit about how the president first learned about it and your engagement with him, his own personal reaction today? he also said in the oval he might spend more than a day in las vegas. was he referring to a couple days there? >> we're still finalizing the details of the travel that will take place. we know for sure he'll be there on wednesday. beyond that, we'll keep you guys posted. as the arrangements are finalized in terms of activities this morning, the president was briefed early this morning by general kelly. and has been updated regularly and constantly throughout the day and will continue to, as new information is provided by law enforcement officials. >> have you had a chance to talk to him about his own how he dealt this? >> i have seen him today, and i think he, like most of america,

is saddened and certainly his heart and compassion goes out to those that were affected. jeff. >> sarah, many times when these horrible massacres occur, it leads to questions about gun control. has this particular massacre made the president think anything more about pursuing tighter gun laws such as background checks to prevent massacres like this from happening again? >> look, this is an unspeakable tragedy. today is a day for consoling the survivors and mourning those we lost. our thoughts and prayers are certainly with all of those individuals. this is -- there's a time and place for a political debate. but now is the time to unite as a country. there's currently an open and ongoing law enforcement investigation. a motive is yet to be determined, and it would be premature for us to discuss policy when we don't fully know all the facts or what took place last night. jeff.

>> on that, do you believe, or does the president believe that this is a moment, that this is a time when this should not be a political discussion, it should be a policy discussion. does he believe he could bring something new to the gun debate that has been, you know, i guess, a lock in traditional politics for so many years. >> today is more a day of reflection, a day of mourning. a day of gratefulness for those who were saved. and i think there will be certainly time for that policy discussion to take place. but that's not the place that we're in at this moment. but certainly, i think there is a time for that to take -- to happen. >> before he was elected president, in some 15 or 16 years ago, he did have a different view on guns than he had during the campaign. does he believe this is something that he could lead a bipartisan effort on at some point? at what point would that be appropriate? >> that's something we can talk

about in the coming days and see what that looks like moving forward. one of the things that we don't want to do is try to create laws that won't create or stop creats of things from happening. if you look to chicago where you had over 4,000 victims of gun related crimes. they have the strictest gun laws in the country. that hasn't helped there. when that time comes for conversations to take place then we need to look at things that may have the real impact. matthew. >> on puerto rico, can you tell us a bit about the president's aims for his visit tomorrow and do you expect any tension given some of his comments over the weekend? we have several stops that we'll put out this afternoon in terms of specifics op that trip. we are going to be spending

significant time in puerto rico meeting with first responers as well as the storm survivors. we'll put out the details of that exact schedule later today. >> some of his comments over the weekend like folks wanted everything done for them. do you expect that to come up in any of the conversations? >> i expect the focus to be on the recovery efforts which we're fully committed to. the top priority is to help those with the lives basiced as we work together to rebuild their lives. that's going to be if focus not just in the conversations tomorrow but the focus since this began. >> who wants everything done for them? >> i haven't talked to him specifically about a defined of who they might be.

we've got over 12,000 federal staff on the ground. 64 hospitals out of 67 are par lshlly or fully operational. 14 are,000 back on the electrical grid. 45% of the customers in puerto rico have access to drinking water. eight commercial airports are operational. 65% of gas stations are open. all of these things we're continuing to push, continuing to move forward and will be part of that effort. >> does the president believes what happened to amounts to an act of domestic terrorism? >> we're still on a fact finding mission. is this is ongoing. it would be premature to weigh in on something like that until we have more facts. we'll leave that to local law enforcement to make those determinations. >> over the weekend this was pointed out the president was sharply critical of the mayor of san juan. other than your comments on

friday morning, which she criticized for saying this was a good news story in term of dhs getting supplies out to areas. what was she doing that prompted such criticism from the president? >> right now our focus is to bring the mayor into the cocoordination efforts. this administration as well as other members on the ground have reached out to her. we hope she will join with us in those efforts and be part of things. >> is he reimbursed the government for his seat on those flights or is there a deadline when you expect him to do that? >> i'm not sure on the time frame for that or whether or not it's already taken place. we'll keep you posted ong that. >> given what the president said about secretary of state

tillerson's outreach to north korea over the weekend. does the president still have confidence in him as secretary of state? >> he does, yes. >> it's a very sad day in this country as you mentioned at the top. when he goes out to las vegas he's going to meet with first responders and families of the victims that were impacted by this. what's the message to each of those groups when he goes out there? >> look, i think it's very simple to say that his goal is simply to be there to show the support of people from around the country and to stand united and not only this act of evil but all acts of evil and i think that was clear in the president's remarks today and something you'll see from his visit on wednesday.

>> is it the stated position of white house that you're trying to get back to talks or have you given up? >> no. bringing back americans that have been deat a titaped. those are types of conversations this administration was willing to have. beyond that there will be no conversations with north korea at this time. they are free americans still detained if north korea. >> lines of communication with pyongyang. that's what you're using. >> that would be the only reason for us to have conversations with them at this time. >> did the president believe diplomacy is not worth pursuing in north korea. >> there's a difference between talking and putting diplomatic pressure. we still believe in putting

diplomatic pressure on north korea. now is not the time to have conversations with north korea. we've encouraged all of our allies and partners to do more and we're going to continue to keep all options on the table when it comes to that. >> you talked about how now is not time to get into a gun control debate or talk about policy. after the orlando shooting, the president that day was out on twitter talking about policy. he was talking about his travel ban. when, for example, chris murphy said it's time for congress to get off its ass and go something -- >> i agree that congress should get up and do something. it's not specific to that but i think congress has had several months of doing lit and we'd like to see legislation come through. >> what would the president like to see congress do? >> we haven't had the moment to have a deep dive on the policy part of that. we've been focused on the fact that we had a severe tragedy in our country and this is a day of mourning.

a time of bringing our country together. that's been the focus of the administration this morning. >> that day he was talking about the travel ban. >> there's a difference between being a candidate and the president. >> before last night's massacre the bill was advancing through the house. it would make it easier for people to buy silencers. hillary clinton tweeted about it this morning. she said imagine the deaths in las vegas if the shooter had a silencer which the nra wants to make easier to get. does the white house have an issue on this piece of legislation? >> i haven't spoken to the president about that specific issue. i don't think that is something that would have changed. i think before we start trying to talk about the preventions of what took place last night, we need to know more facts. we're not at the point. it's very easy for mrs. clinton to criticize and to come out but

i think we need to remember the only person with blood on their hands is that of the shooter and this isn't a time for us to go after individuals or organizations. i think we can have those policy conversations but today is not the day. >> any policy the president considers to be out of bounds on the policy debate we'll have in the next few weeks. can you articulate what his position on gun control is? >> the president has been clear he's a strong supporter of the second amendment. i don't have anything further at this point. i'll take one more question. >> it would give a permit exemption to the jones act. would the administration consider a permanent repeal or

exemption? >> i don't think that's something that's necessary at this time. we could have that discussion then. something that we don't feel like is necessary today. i wouldn't imagine that would be something needed. does the white house have some concerns about that. >> we certainly support religious freedom and ask that congress also support that as well. as you all know behave a moment of silence taking place on the south lawn momentarily. with that i'll close and again i think we ask collectively that everyone across the country keep the people both in las vegas and in puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands in our prayers.

thanks. flags are flying at half staff at the u.s. capitol for sunday's shooting victims. two congressional candidates talking about the american-arab anti-discrimination committee. a discussion about u.s. south korea relations and north korea's neek here program.

it's bragts to you today by your cable or satellite provider. we're going to go into our next panel, our next discussion. one of the candidates texted me about