and they understood who he was. and he was able to make it work for him. he was never charged in any criminal case. it is interesting to have that background sort of in the raev ewmeror as we go into this impeachment situation where he is being called to account and there is a public reckoning and in some ways even though he's president, he is not able to make things go away as he once did. >> watch featured authorities this weekend and every weekend on book tv, on c-span 2. campaign 2020 coverage continues. we're joined from des moines, iowa by presidential candidate tom steyer. good morning and welcome to washington journal. >> good morning, how are you? >> very well. let's start, why do you want to be president? >> what i really -- i want to do

some things. i think first of all, there are two big things that have to happen. one is i believe we have a broken government that's been purchased by corporations, and that job one is to get that government back of, by and for the people. and as somebody who spent ten years fighting and beating those corporations, i know that we can do it, and we need to restructure d.c., including having 12-year term limits for congresspeople and senators. and secondly, we absolutely have to deal with our climate crisis. i've said it's my number one priority that i declare a state of emergency on day one. do it from the standpoint of environment justice, create millions and millions of good-paying union jobs. but we have to do it, get on it, and on it on day one. if we do those two things, take back our government so we can get the progressive policies that americans want, and control our climate crisis, i think

we're going to be in great position. but if we don't we'll be in trouble. >> focusing on that first point of yours on fighting corporate corruption, how do you think your background as an investor, entrepreneur, helps you do that best? >> let me say this, bill, so you know. i've spent ten years putting together coalitions of american citizens to take on unchecked corporate power, take on oil companies over clean energy, make tobacco companies pay their fair share of medical costs, force utilities to move to clean energy. for ten years i've been doing this, and we've never lost. so i believe that my background as an organizer, as a grassroots person fighting these corporations successfully for ten years is the first part. as an investor i understand the economy and what drives these corporations in a way nobody else running for president does.

and i believe that fact, a, will let me beat president trump because he's running on the economy and i think he's a fake and somebody has got to go into tee tail and show he's a fake and failure as an economic president. but also as president, i have the experience and exterties to understand what's driving these companies, to know we need an innovative corporate sector. but they can't write the rules under which they'll operate. >> joining us this morning from des moines, the caucus is six days away, what do you see as your path to the nomination? >> well, bill, there's a morning consult poll out this morning about the four early primary states, which are eyeway, new hampshire, nevada and south carolina. in that poll, it has me at 17%

in third place. so my path to the nomination is to do well in the four early primary states, to build the momentum, because those numbers have gone up virtually every day since i got into this race in july, to build that momentum into super toous. so this is really just a question of doing what i've been doing for the last seven months, which is seeing as many people as possible, making my case, letting them see who i am, and then riding that momentum. >> we'll give you a chance to hear from some of our callers. open up phone lines for your input. we've been talking this morning

for the past week and a half about the senate impeachment trial. you're on the trail and may not get a whole lot of chance to watch the trial zefl, but what are your impressions so far and how much is this coming up from people on the campaign trail? >> well, let me take you back a little bit. i am the person who started the need to impeach movement. ov overeating and a half million signed the petition, and those people called and wrote and emailed their congress people saying please do the right thing and hold this corrupt president accountable. and i believe those eight and a half million people really are what dragged washington, d.c. into seeing this is a matter of right and wrong. this was about the deepest patriotism and proetecting the country. what i want, believe those eight and a half million people are demanding, is televised hearings

with the administration officials under oath in front of the american people be explaining what happened so that we can make up our minds. to me, what matters here is the court of public opinion. what the american people think. so i believe this will be a farce and a coverup unless the administration officials like john bolton get in front of the tv cameras and let the american people hear exactly what happened so we can decide exactly how corrupt this president is. >> tom testeyer, our guest. go to lin in nigh ak, new york. you are first up. republican line. go ahead. >> caller: i'm sort of in awe because to me the process of the impeachment has been, you know, at first glance, you know, the american people we actually don't know enough about the legal issues, and you're so suede by the emotion of it, the

political democratic/republican business of it. but in the last two or three days, to hear and learn more about the law, more about what the constitution says, more about this seriousness of removing somebody from office, the office of the presidency, i'm telling you, i'm almost happy that nancy pelosi and the congress jumped the gun and with their anger let's admit, the whole nation is polarized. the fact that they rushed ahead and then held it, it got confusing to the public. and i really can say in the last few days, especially ken starr and frankly even seeing the chief justice sitting there, that we're in a court, we're not in a political arena. it's not the senate or the house. they're sitting there as if they

are the court, and it put a seriousness in it. and i believe the right thing will happen, and i'm not sure that this reaches the level of impeachment. and -- >> tom steyer, very different view of the impeachment than yours. >> you know, actually, i thought that was a responsible, thoughtful point, bill. i think what lynn was saying was, i understand for the first time in the last few days how serious this is. this isn't about partisanship. this is a court, where the senators and the chief justice have sworn to uphold the law and the constitution. and that's exactly -- actually she's saying something that i agree with, which is, let's take it extremely seriously. let's bring the facts of the case under oath in front of lynn, the republicans, the democrats, and the independents, let the american people see the truth and make up our mind in this absolutely serious

proceeding, to hold the president accountable just the way every other american citizen is held accountable. this is exactly what the founders wanted, what the people who wrote the constitution wanted, to let the american people make up our minds about our deepest values when they're under threat. now in my mind it's a foregone conclusion that president trump has done snogs something wrong. but i know the court that matters is lynn and the other citizens of the united states and i want them to be able to see for themselves what happens so they can make up their minds, so we can decide together exactly what happened and what we should do about it. >> what do you make of some republicans saying that should be made by the voters in november this year? >> if mr. trump isn't removed from office, then that will definitely happen. but there's something else going on here, which is the founders gave us impeachment and removal as a way of dealing with a

corrupt president. i deeply believe we have a very corrupt president, that this ukraine incident is part of a pattern of behavior that he's engaged in since his first day in office, and this is a different statement about protecting the law, protecting the constitution, and to standing up for the system for democracy itself that says, no one is above the law, no one gets to break the law on his behalf in this case, to the -- and to disadvantage the people of the united states. there's a right and wrong here, bill, that we have to stand up for. if the rich and powerful aren't suspect to the law, then we don't have a law. and that's exactly what this is about. does the president have to obey the law or can he do whatever he wants the way a king would? and that's really -- >> "washington journal" live every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. you can watch online at c span live. we'll take you to the capitol to hear from the republican lear