thank you for being with us. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

-- it starts back to when the father of wyatt earp, most well-known, his name is nicholas.

he was basically left his family. .emporarily in illinois he heard about the gold rush in northern california. he went back to the midwest. he ventured down to southern california. and he got for the san bernardino valley. he found that one day he would come back to san bernardino. we will visit the san bernardino history and railroad museum and talk about the importance of the railroad to san bernardino with the historian vice president. located in the 1918 santa fe depot, the museum contains many objects related to the railroad history. construction was completed in 1918. it replaced a wooden structure approximately 100 yards east of here that burned in 1960. why the depot was built a lot larger than needed was because they decided to house the division headquarters at this

location at that time. >> watch the cities tour on c-span 2. working with the cable affiliates and visiting cities across the country. announcer: road to the white house coverage continues with donald trump addressing a crowd of supporters in charleston, west virginia during his first campaign rally since he became the first president nominee. desired tobout his reduce big list -- businesslike rations -- business regulations. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the next president of the united states, mr. donald j trump. ♪

donald trump: oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. [applause] donald trump: west virginia. [applause] donald trump: oh, this is beautiful. thank you very much, everybody. i actually wish the primaries were not over. it is so fun this way. i want the primaries to keep is done.t everybody

i am the only one left, that is ok, right? right? [applause] donald trump: yeah, it ended two days ago. 3, 4, 1going 1, 2, after another. we had a great time. i have never done this before. am i doing a good job? [applause] i will tell you what, you heard me the other night, i was not thinking about you, i was thinking about the minors all over this country. we are going to put the miners back to work. minest the minds open -- open. coal country, what they have done. and how about hillary clinton?

i was busting her three or four weeks ago. [booing] i am going to put the miners back to work, and she said i out oft the mines business. and then she tries to explain her statement. that is tough to explain, wouldn't you say? very group of people, one of the miners in particular was not happy with her. it was on exactly happy. so it would be have, who is a miner in this room? stand up? you are all standing up anyway. you are amazing people. and we are going to ta abuse. we are going -- and you can count on it. you can count on it, 100%. 100%. and you knew that because i just had a whole, it is irrelevant like but i think it was

the highest poll i ever had. three people, so i could have waited. i would have waited another week, i would have been happy. i was not going to come to get a . they say, you do not have to calm because, you know, the contest is over. you are the nominee of the republican party, congratulations. butre going to be so happy the nominee, you can come to we have 32,000. this only hurts -- does that mean the place of be packed? does that mean people will be standing outside? we have as many as you have. [applause]

so you have like 15,000 people in the area, thousands outside. we will notify the people of west virginia, we don't even have to do anything. there is no way, we are going to have fun. we are going to have fun, right. [applause] there has always been something about west virginia. i have always been fascinated by the minds. i love construction, i love the whole thing. i can tell you more about caterpillar. i love that business.

i always been fascinated by the mibes and the courage of the miners, and they love what they do. and i was talking to some other people. i say, why don't they move, go someplace else. but you can't really go anywhere else. you cannot get a job. they are going to everyone else. sending jobs to mexico, china taking our jobs, japan. they are all taking our jobs. that is all going to change very rapidly, i promise. [cheers and applause] but the minors do not want to leave anyway, you want to stay here and open the mines. we will open the mines. coal.hear, trump days

yes, i do. -- trump digs coal. the whole sequence, the engineering, the safety, all of this stuff taking place over the last number of years, especially the last 10 years. and all of it getting safe, and advocates safe, they are taking it away from you in a different way. i think you are amazing people. watch what happens. if i win, we will bring the miners back. [please stand by]

donald trump: bobbie went and called me a year ago. he won the olympics, won the panem games. minde, i really made up my , i never met him, but i know him. he is tough, really bizarre. good combination. that is the country needs. and he calls me up, and i recognize his voice. i was three or four months away. he said, i hope you run mr. trump. you run for president, you are going to make this country great again. and he is an expert on talents. he is talents. and he said, i hope you run.

i have not made up my mind yet. i love your number, and let me call you back if i decide to run. he said, you have my support, commie back. a lot of time goes by, and then i am winning and winning and doing really great. but it is a rigged system, i will not say anymore because i won. now i do not care. i don't care. it is a rigged system, but you have got to knock them out, do not worry about the judges. story.ll, i tell that you knock them out and you do not have to worry about the judges. >> i won by so much. indiana -- mine from i said who would be a good endorsement?

he said while bobby knight would be the greatest endorsement you could get. but i doubt you could get bobby knight. i said i think i can. so i'm sitting at my desk and i'm looking through all this put it under a pile stuff. and i'm sitting at my desk and i look and i called bobby knight and he picks up the phone and we are just about ready to go to indiana, and he goes, i've been waiting for you to call. said that is right bobby, are you going to endorse me? . i'm going to endorse you, i will see you next week. we went into an arena out like this. i will tell you the place like crazy. about a month and a half before, i was 10 points down. then i went once. without bobby.

we were like two points up. then i went to the final 45 days, i stayed there. and i watched his horrible, buty ads done by people -- for the most part, bad ads. theycame to my office, asked me for a million dollars, i said i'm not interested. and then they advertise against me. can you believe that? welcome to the world of politics. so i'm looking at one out after another, and i said to my people, there's no way i can win. spent $9 million or so. they had thousands of these ads in indiana. i called my people i said there's no way. ads, all night of

-- negative ads to drum. anda one in a landslide -- we won in a landslide. it was amazing. and bobby and all th guys they were incredible. that was an amazing endorsement because he is revered in indiana. and outside of indiana they know will bobby knight is, because he so thatally speaking -- was great. then a couple of weeks before that, i won new york in a landslide. and new york is good. the nice part about new york as they know me well. saying never trump? you know why it is never trump? because i'm going to stop the gravy train for all of these people that are ripping off our country. so never trump.

by the way, a lot of these never sayingre calling me up mr. trump we admire you greatly serve me want to join the campaign. i say didn't you do a horrible ad against a weeks ago? you know what, politicians, they can do that. so now it has really caught on and everyone is happy. ago we had two weeks five. we had maryland with, which was unbelievable. pennsylvania,d, where the minors are there. the minors there are absolutely dying for work. and they are great people. they are great people. i don't know if they are as good as the west virginia miners, what do you think? i don't know. i don't know who's better.

they are dam good, but they are great people and dying for work. i was in pittsburgh, and i was around pennsylvania. 71 pennsylvania, we won connecticut, and in connecticut i won everything from wealthy people to the poor areas. womenwith man, i won with . media is the most dishonest group of people. but boy, they are killing me with the women. and i think i'm doing great. every state i have one with women. i wonder if men and women, i have one with rich and poor, highly educated. , we haverican-american one with every category.

then i won indiana. then there was all of a sudden like they just had another. they cannot stand trump winning. and they cannot stand the fact that a person that has never done this politically before, and a person that is self funding his campaign -- i don't .ake the contributions and by the way for the general election, i'm going to help raise money for the party and they will work with us. the democrats are going to raise $2 billion. can you believe that? this is politics. $2 billion. we are helping to raise money for the party, and we are going to get a lot of other people elected with us i will tell you. so it has been amazing folks. it has been amazing.

i really wanted to come here. thanks a lot west virginia. by the way, i have a team of people that were so great, and they were so disappointed that i won earlier. soy wanted to win right now they get credit. i said hey we just pick up all the credits. i'm just glad to be here because i love you people. these are real, real people. you made this country great. remember that. they didn't have ridiculous regulations that put you out of business. they didn't have ridiculous rules and regulations that make it impossible for you to compete. so we are going to take that all off the table folks. and you better do well, and you better compete. and make me proud of you.

so i got a fantastic endorsement. a little while ago. west virginia call association just endorsed me -- coal association just endorsed me. let's put it this way. it was between me and hillary. and we affectionately call her crooked hillary. it was between me and crooked hillary. and you know how long i sat how longtheir own -- it took? about 20 seconds. people. fantastic if i can have chris,.

i guess chris is going to represent bill. chris, come on up if you would please. thank you very much. i love this. it is probably a hat. or it is probably a hard hat. i love hardhats. it is a hard hat. [applause] >> thank you thank you. mr. president. of the best coal that myn the world, knee cleanness and say this: the wish, we are so pleased to you the best of luck.

and we support you in the best way that we can. thank you. >> thank you. [applause] [applause] >> nice. i will put it on. [applause] >> thank you everybody. that is great. does my hair look ok? give me a little spray. you know you are not allowed to use hairspray anymore because it affects the ozone. you know that right? whend you mean to tell me

by the way look it really is nice right. give me a minute. in the old days you put the hairspray on and it was good. today you put the hairspray on and it is good for 12 minutes. as they wait a minute, if i take hairspray and if i spray in my apartment which is all sealed , you are telling me that affect the ozone layer? yes. i say no way folks. no way. that is like a lot of the rules and regulations you people have in the minds. i want to thank you folks. that is an honor. believe me, it is an honor. i get elected, you're gonna see what happens. it's going to happen fast. you are going to be back to better than ever before. means all kinds of energy.

we never want to be in a position like we were in before. where we were literally controlled by people, opec and others, but we were literally in the hands of the people. not going to happen again folks. so congratulations. i want you to save your vote. you know you do not have to vote anymore. save your votes for the general election. forget this one. the primaries down. save your vote for the general election in november. and we are going to show you something, and then you're going to show me something. ok. thank you. we will talk a little bit about trade and jobs. we will talk a little bit about the borders. are you big order people? -- big border people? everybody once a wall. we will have the wall. we will have the wall. we will build that wall.

wall"nting "does that wal built i must tell you, besides a fox was on television last night and he apologized, and i accepted his apology. i thought it was very nice. did you see a? -- it? honestly. , i thought it was very, very nice. former president of mexico, and i thought it was very nice that he apologized. that is good. because we're going to have great relationships not -- with mexico.

but we need a strong border. last week i got the endorsement from 16,500 border patrol agent. history that the they have ever endorsed a presidential candidate. that was an honor. i will tell you. very important. the country is in trouble. not only the minors, not only in oal, but i think your industry has probably been hit harder than maybe anybody. but many industries have. the overregulation of our businesses is destroying families, it is destroying jobs, it is destroying businesses. and it is really hurting our country. in a sense it is destroying our country. we're going to change that. when i came down the escalator

, and i came melania 16th, i said come on we have to do it. it is not something i really wanted to do. doing this takes guts. like you have. but, it is a different kind of guys. i don't think i have your guts. i don't think i have that to be honest. doing that took a lot of courage. i have this great company, this great business, this great family. it is hard work. i've been away for a week, and the four speech of the day. it is 28,000 people including outside folks.

the media won't report that there. they won't. and we didn't really have to beer. you didn't really have to be here either because the race is over. but you wanted to be here, and i wanted to be here. but i came down and i talked about basically two things. and illegal immigration. you know what, it was a pot of gold. i get it -- hit a nerve because the country knew how out of control the illegal immigration was. they knew how totally out of control. me they knew mostly from because i been talking about it for years, they knew from me, they knew how bad our trade deals are. we have the worst trade deals may be ever negotiated in the history of mankind. other than not, they are

wonderful deals right. these are the worst deals. let me tell you something. administration of which hillary was definitely a part, she was a part of almost everything. almost i say, not everything. terrible. terrible. i didn't think the people of west virginia thought like that. that is terrible. you should be ashamed of yourself. terrible, terrible people. administration approved what they called nafta. which has single-handedly taken vast amounts of of our businesses in a particular manufacturing businesses and brought them into other countries. i want to tell you, i live in new york, and i know new york in

new york state well. it is a great place with great people. but i toured upper new york state and i went to sarah hughes, -- syracuse, and i went to albany, and we were getting crowds like you wouldn't believe. i was rebuilding after building, and some of these buildings are really big, empty. businesses left years ago. same thing that you are having. businesses left years ago in a move to mexico and they moved to other places. frankly, china took businesses and everything else. the statistical charts. i have these statisticians that love stats. i would rather be a coal miner than a statistician. but they are good. and after about 10 different speeches, in different states, i

realized, they are all the same. i didn't even need my statisticians. because they were saying manufacturing jobs down 50% from 10 years ago or 15 years ago. all the same. the population down. median income way down. many people in this room have not had a pay increase in 18 years. and you are working hard. in some cases to jobs. and you are making less money. it is not going to be that way anymore folks. 18 years, you are working hard on to jobs, you are making less money. not going to happen. nafta, happening is again i think it was probably the worst piece of economic development. these are people that make these

deals that are even take -- either taken care of by the contributors or donors, or they are stupid. it is stupid -- it is simple. they have no common sense. but i think their non-competent. i think they are much smarter. the politicians are not stupid, they are smart. they took care of one of their donors by allowing this deal to happen. he said what do you mean? think anybody would allow that deal to happen. and they took care of their donors. i gave money to the foundation, i think that maybe they will use this property. i didn't think there can use it to fly around in private jets. and a lot of people gave money to the foundation, but some of the money given you take a look, what was given for the money.

the whole thing was a scam. our whole system. let me tell you, our system is broken. it is badly, badly broken. are notn't fix it, we going to have a country left folks. we are not going to have a country. and crooked hillary whether you look at the e-mail, remember this. fanie sanders, and i am no of bernie sanders. although he does have one thing right. offnows we are being ripped entree. that is one thing he is right about here he can't do anything about it, so he has no plan for. but he knows we are being ripped off entree. entree. on trade. i know it are being ripped off, and i will fix it.

but when you look at what is i have been talking 3-4 months ago, i saw that 1400 people were laid off. they announced we are firing these people. ever i went, they had carrier people. they said where my carrier people. the guy was not nice about it. he was not nice. it looked like an upper middle management guide. that the cell phone going. we would be another statistic. it would be happening all over. , makeill move to mexico

their air-conditioning units, of which i buy a lot. i'm a trade person, i buy a lot of different things. they will sell them back to the country. no tax, no nothing. the whole weekend is unemployment. that is all we get. all we get is the destruction of families and people's lives. we get nothing. believe me, i am a really smart guy, i would to the wharton school of finance. unite have to go to high school, we get nothing. everybody in this room knows it. i watch these conservative people. they do not like what i am saying. they do not like it, because they want free trade. free trade only works if we have smart honest people on our side. we do not have that. we are getting beaten by every single country. everybody that does business with us needs us.

over 500 billion dollars per year, trade deficit with china. we are losing $58 billion per year with mexico, that will not happen anymore. we will balance things out. we will make it fair. wall, now iut the like them all. you know, after you win, you like everybody. i like them. so is is you exist on, this one, this when you go is that i love them. they are my best friends. me, ihey will come up to was a donald, you know you will .ot build a wall explain to me why. i'm a really good builder. that's what i do. it is good. we have a president who can rebuild our infrastructure without having across over 10 times that was supposed to cost. you ever see these jobs where

they were going to cost $100 costing and then to $1.2 billion. do you think somebody made a couple of dollars on these jobs? contractorssy these . they are smart people moving into mansions in florida. that is the good life. only in america. we will stop it. we will. we have to rebuild our infrastructure. we will not let that happen. so, here's what i will do. i've been watching for six years. for six years, i have been watching our government talk about how they will not let businesses moving in. they will have low-interest loans. they will not have money. they have a low interest loan, then they will move. they took low-interest financing and then, they move anyway.

for six years i have been watching. this is too complicated and does not work. i will tell you what works, you explain to the head of carrier or nabisco, you are of $2.5 billion. you know what that does to michigan? do know that does to the auto industry? that was two years ago. now, it is working out for them. nobody talked to them from our country and said you cannot do that. there have to be consequences when you do that. all those thousands and thousands of jobs. they will now build it much bigger. they will build it much bigger. are we stupid people? here is a solve the problem. you solve the problem by informing these companies. we'll use the carrier example. every single air-conditioning unit that you make and comes across the board to the souls of the united states, now come with a strong border and not a week border.

every single air-conditioning unit that you make, comes across the border come you will pay 35% tax on that. if you inform them before they leave, they are not leaving. if they leave anyway, do you know what will happen? will make a lot of money for the country. why support, leave this country. go to mexico, build cars, trucks and parts at one of the biggest plans the world. sell those to the united states, pay no taxes, then, leave all of these places empty. that is not going to happen anymore. we are not the stupid people anymore.

[applause] trump: when they sell a car, and that car crosses the border, why not? nobody is stopping them. take that car and drive it over the border. what is happening with that is a disaster. illegal immigration. why make these products, seldom to us, let go of thousands and thousands of great workers, and why should they be able to settle without a tax? i'm a conservative. conservatives hate me for suggesting that you would tax somebody. i love you too. i really do. this is so easy. this is so easy. -- only do itople by myself.

they talk about being presidential. it is not presidential, when the president calls up the head of an air-conditioning company. it is so much fun for me. not take vacations. i'm not like obama where he takes air force one to hawaii stays there for a few weeks and plays golf. back, flies air force one. a boeing 747, then, he has a news conference and talks about the carbon footprint must be saved. give me a break. [applause] it's crazy. you what will happen is the following. i'lls a mr. president, call you back. he will then hire lobbyists. they cannot get to me. they will hire special

interests, they cannot get to me. hillary, they will get hillary on the foreign staff. hillary will pay them millions of dollars. so, what happens is they will call back. we are not leaving the united states. we cannot let them leave. by the way, the one place where we are selling homes is in china. china can use that, but we cannot. here is what we're going to do, we will be the smart people. we will be the really smart people again.

we have rebuilt china. we have a country where the roads, hospitals, the transportation, the airports, they are third world. you go to places in the middle ,ast, you go to chuck -- china you see planes ago 250 miles per hour. you see our trains they go slow on tracks that are 100 years old. we are more like a third world country. we will change it. we will change it. up, i usuallynd say we will leave here, you will go home, you'll start winning. you will vote. i will come back. in november, and vote. that will be the greatest vote you ever cast. the vote was supposed to be on

tuesday. to getcan say stay home twice as many people in november. we have to win. we have to win. we cannot take hillary clinton anymore. we have enough of clinton. was given to us by clinton. that was a clinton deal signed by clinton. it has been the most instructive thing. we cannot take anymore of this stuff. it is another four years of barack obama. you cannot take it. you will have your mind blown 100%. and, what she said, recently, two weeks ago, i asked if she made a mistake. when she says she will close the minds-- the miners in the

, she comes here two days ago, she is begging for your vote. she says she does not really mean it. but, those are her true feelings. those are her true feelings. she did not have a teleprompter for once. that is when she said that. it's why she use the teleprompter. she uses it because she cannot make that kind of mistake. i don't have a teleprompter. it's better that way. it's better. so, here is the story. we all had a good time tonight. considering the subject matter. country is in trouble. the subject matter is bad, but come the subject matter will be good. we are going to make america great again. it is going to be good out there. [applause] i will be here again

before november. we have to take care of the other people outside. can we let some of them in time? let them in. i want to thank them for being here. they probably think this is a recording. here it is though. start winning again. we do not win anymore. i love you too. people are wild here. west virginia. [applause] trump: john denver was a friend of mine. he was a good guy. we do not win anymore. we will start winning again. we will win with our military.

been pushed sos far behind. remember this. west virginia has a massive number, disproportionate to every other state of veterans. we will take care of our veterans. we will take care of our veterans. [applause] we will take care of them. they are our greatest people. we will take care of them. they have not been taking care of in many cases, illegal immigrants are taking better care of than our veterans. that will not happen anymore. it is not going to happen. winning with our military. we are going to knock isis out. [applause] we are to take care of our veterans. our educational system is going to get so much better.

it is a disaster right now. we are getting rid of common core. we are bringing in real education. we are going to repeal and replace obamacare, which has been a disaster. we are going to protect and cherish our second amendment. it is so important. we are going to have strong powerful borders. we are going to have the wall. mexico will pay for the wall. believe me. and, we will let people come into our country. we will let a lot of people come into our country, but they are going to come in legally. legally. [applause]

we are going to make great trade deals. we have the greatest business people and the greatest business minds in the world. we will use our great business people to make our trade deals. they are dying to do it. they do not want money. they want toplay, do it. they love their country. some are nice, some are not so nice. i have the backing of the greatest business people in the world. they want to do it. they want to see america be great again. we will take these horrible trade deals. they are made by people that have absolutely no right to be dealing with the top people of china, the top people of japan, these are political hacks. we're going to get rid of them. we are going to make unbelievably good trade deals that bring jobs and money and economy -- economic strength back to our country. [applause]

so, you have to remember, in november, it seems a long time away. it is not far at all. be back, probably more than once or twice. this is a very important state. this is a very important state. you come your family, your friends, you will all get out to vote. i will tell you, you will look back and say it was the single greatest vote you ever cast. america will be great again. we will be america first. we will win, win, win. you'll be very proud. work in thele who minds, get ready, you will be working grass off. thank you. thank you. thank you folks. [applause]

♪

>> donald trump campaigning and west virginia. 34 republican delegates are available. the polls open on tuesday. nebraska also holds their primary on may 10. coming up tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern time they are in talks about the presidential race, and the presidential agenda. you can see his interview tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. here is more with zeke miller of time magazine.

>> if, according to the chairman of the rnc that unity is the only path to victory for the gop , how did they get their? zeke miller has been looking into this. in this weeks's edition, thank you for being with us. first of all, what did you get from him over the last few weeks oats -- spending time with him? how does he do with the trump nomination? >> his attitude for the last few months -- he made peace with the mind, he hasin his the feeling that there is very little that he cannot do. he feels he will be bloomberg are those of the outcome. he will probably not get a lot of the former or latter, he has made peace with whatever happens. >> as you know, there has been a lot of monday morning quarterbacking, should they have done something sooner to bring

down donald trump? if that is the case, what should and the role of the party chair? zeke: they talk a lot about the rnc about republican pundits. the answer from the rnc is that there are supposedly neutral in the process. that he put me was stupid opinions in the stupid bucket. that is a reflection of how he views it. >> news on the republican convention. we know know that the former president george bush will not be in attendance. the 2012 loss, the republican party is doing a lot of soul-searching. growth andnched the opportunity project. donald trump seems to be the polar opposite of what they were recommending. zeke: yes, we call that report the autopsy.

how they lost, what they need to do to fix it. the party is trying to reach out to latinos and african american voters. reaching out to women and younger voters. they are turning it into a one year of every 6-8 year round. they have done a very good job of that at the rnc. were they struggle is with policy prescriptions. they identified that early on. it lead to things like things comprehensive immigration reform. they had a lot of those discussions. they have seen their base moved very far away from that report. maybe, you could argue that ted

cruz would have had a stronger rejection of the policy focus. certainly, donald trump is not taken that report to heart. and 2008, you had the merger of the mccain apparatus. we saw that in 2012 with the romney campaign in the rnc. what can we expect from the donald trump organization and his rnc staff? the: the first thing they are working on is getting a joint fundraising agreement out between the campaign and the rnc. that will allow them to raise coordinated funds. typically, that is what they are nervous about, because they have to fund it this year round ground operation. the one thing the parties looking for, as well as expansion funding. those of the two big priorities over the next few days. for the trump campaign, they will be trying to exert their influence over what that will

actually look like. this will be somewhat of the donald trump coronation. cleveland, they want to make any littlea lot of republican r party convention has not look like in a long time. business goingof on. they want to make it a little more fun. host: just a week ago, we were talking about possibility of a contested open convention that is now out the door. >> certainly, but that won't mean there aren't some serious fights. there are a lot of delegates at the convention were not donald trump supporters and some are even outright of that never trump camp and pledging to fight on on things like the platform. donald trump is sort of out of sync with the existing republican party platform. it will be interesting to see if you will try to change that. ted cruz's race successful in

getting some of his diehard supporters onto the floor, even as donald trump delegates as well as onto the key convention committee rules, platform credentials, that they can still put up a fight particularly trying to force donald trump to stay to the conservative side of the party. if they want to, they can cause some troubles for him. it won't be that real competitive -- contested bitter fight, but it won't necessarily be smooth sailing, either. >> speaking of senator ted cruz, based on his harsh words tuesday before dropping out of the race, does he support donald trump? does he come out and endorse him? >> talking to people close to him over the last a were to, they have been very clear. he is not in your close to being able to make that determination. certainly more of a possibility before the attacks on mrs. fatherand senator cruz's

and the closing days of the campaign. it will be a long ways before ted cruz is in that position of being able to endorse donald trump, if that ever comes about. he is looking at his own political future, even his withdrawal speech, he seemed to indicate the fight won't die, comparing himself to ronald reagan in 1976. ronald reagan came back four years later as the republican nominee. if he has his eye on that, not endorsing donald trump maybe the more beneficial political play. >> does the party come together or does it remain splintered? >> some of the voters in the party will come together. but the question will be, will it be enough? donald trump told me yesterday when i spoke to him on the phone, he was saying 99% of the party will get behind him. it will not be that high. is 90% enough? is 85% enough? that will be the test of the "republican establishment."

rest of then the country, a lot of them will fall in line certainly because of the hillary clinton, the boogie man affect that is very real within the republican party base. he is going to loose some voters and have to find a way to make up for that among independents. zeke milleriebus, of time magazine, his piece available beginning today on newsstands. thank you for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >> this morning, mike allen interview the rnc chair and you can see that program tonight at 8:00 eastern. on american history tv on c-span3. >> we're here to review the major findings of our full investigation of the eye domestic intelligence, including the: tell program and other programs aimed at domestic targets. fbi surveillance of law-abiding citizens and groups, political abuses of fbi intelligence, and

several specific cases of unjustified intelligence operations. cox the 1975 church committee hearings convened to investigate intelligence activities of the cia, fbi, irs, and the nsa. saturday night at 10:00 eastern. d tom charlese husted on a plan he presented to president nixon to collect information about antiwar and radical groups using burglary, electronic surveillance, and opening mail. jobs uptaking black bag until 1966, have been successful invaluable, particularly in anders involving espionage has helped us again was something that have given the revolutionary -- they needed to have the authority to do. >> and just before 7:00 p.m. -- >> came and said, you were .hosen

they asked her, where are our parents? and she said, you see that smoke? there are your parents. holocaust survivor recalls her family's expense in the piedtos in nazi-occu camps. this was part of the united states holocaust memorial museum's first-person series. at 8:00 on lectures in history -- >> anarchist in alexander berkman broke into frick's office in nearby pittsburgh, shot him twice, and repeatedly stabbed him. berkman, however, is one of the great failures in assassination history.

not only did he fail to kill frick, he also undermined the strikers for whom he was professing sympathy. because in many ways, public opinion saw this outburst of radical violence as a discredit to the union movement. >> robert childs on the labor and social unrest at the turn of the 20th century. sunday morning at 10:00 on road to the white house rewind, the 1968 presidential campaign a former democratic governor of alabama george wallace. for the complete american history tv we can schedule, go to c-span.org. the washington post reporting today the u.s. added more than 60,000 jobs last month. new government data showed this morning the weakest case of hiring in seven months. though the unemployed rate held steady at 5%, the data provided in unexpectedly downcast signal about the nation's labor market, surge of americans --

construction and manufacturing all but stalled. the labor department revised downward job gains in the prior two months by combined 19,000. president obama will be making remarks on the economy and the jobs number is released today at the start of today's white house briefing set to begin at 12:05 eastern. we will have it live for you on c-span. more about the state of the middle class on this morning's "washington journal." the fiscal health of those who consider themselves in the middle class including salaries, job security, economic mobility, and savings. our conversation on america's middle class continues. we want to introduce you to jim tankersley. and aaron currier. currier. we have been using the pew research poll this month. how you define the middle class?

there isn't a really universally accepted definition of the middle class. in our research, we have looked at the whole income distribution and maybe take that middle income section. potentially, the 40 percentile, the 60th percentile, look at that middle chunk. it differed research is going to look at it in different ways and some research even just to find it waste on the way that people self defined most americans believe that they are middle-class. host: do you consider yourself to be middle-class? >> great question. i suppose i do. host: what is the median income in the united states today and win erin talks about the 40 to 60, what is the range? guest: just north of $50,000 he year's median income. it has been basically the same the last couple of years, someugh, i expect based on nongovernment statistics we have seen, it is going to go up in

the last or that we looked at. we are starting to see it go up a little bit. that then we're talking about this fascinating because the band around the median income it includes a smaller amount of income than most politicians talk about for the middle class. you think about president obama, keeping the bush tax cuts for the middle class. that was a to $250,000 year by obama's own definition and ended up being more than $400,000 a year. that is way outside the span. we're talking upper 20, a pretend percent. -- upper 10%. when we define these income bands, we're looking really at a much smaller group of americans than the politicians. host: the pew research center used basically a 40 to because one of band person or a family of five, here in washington, d.c., would you

$50,000 and a family of four middle income? guest: no. host: what about in alabama? guest: yes. i believe the median income in alabama is the lowest in the united states. the cost of living is a big part of this of what we think about as the middle class. the median income around the d.c. much or areas some of the highest in the country. so to be the median income in loudoun county is really not middle class any definition of the country. to be median income in several counties in alabama is to be in the any definition country. it is all relative to where you live. some of that is mitigated by the cost of were you live. much more expensive to have housing and amenities and other areas of d.c. but some are not. i think that is where we see some of the disparities being

borne out in the selection about the way that people who feel middle-class around the country perceive the economy working for them. host: what are some of the issues that the middle class faces today that you found in your research? guest: in many ways, it is like a perfect storm if you think about families financial security. we have been talking a lot about income and income is the definition of the middle but in the reality, who think about a family's balance sheet more holistically, what we would also want to look at is, is there income sufficient to cover their expenses? what kinds of savings do they have? what does their debt look like? when you take that more comprehensive view, you see that a lot of families are really walking a financial tightrope right now. experienced significant earnings gains in the last decade, expenditures have continued to increase like housing and transportation step families don't have any cushion of savings and have very little well.

what our research is showing is that dynamic stretches of the income distribution pretty high, so this idea financial precariousness is not limited to people in the bottom of the income distribution. it is much, much more universal. this is much more of a kitchen table issue. host: how big is middle-class? what is the population would you say? as the population of the unit states is 320 million, this metal band or this middle income class -- any guesstimates? i think it is a must impossible to say. it comes back to who defined the middle class. you look at the polling and it is probably more than 100 million americans, silently with some reason, think of themselves as middle class. if you look at the people, would you ask people what middle-class income is, if you extrapolate out from that, you're looking at a lot more. --the other hand, within the

if you're looking at one quintile of households and how big the middle class is, that is not nearly 100 million. closer to 60. host: has the so-called squeeze on the middle class changed, gotten worse over the years? gotten better? particularlye interested in whether the recession was some kind of a turning point. an analysis we have done, it looks like it really wasn't, which is not to say the recession wasn't hugely impactful for a lot of people. for those who became unemployed, experienced foreclosure, who lost significant amounts of money in the stock market, obviously, the recession was a huge bump in the road. ifn you look longitudinally, you take 20 years of data and look at income trends, expenditure trends, savings trends, recession really shone a spotlight on financial precariousness, but it is a want caused it. families have been struggling financially for a long time. host: this is one of the charts

from the pew research center. in 1971, 60 1% of american households were in the middle class, so-called middle class. that is down to 50% today. where you see the gross is -- growth is in the highest incomes. gone up from 4% to 9%. guest: there is no question we've seen a widening out of the income distribution over time and a widening out of the wealth distribution over time. similar research we have conducted that looks at economic mobilities, trying to think about how people change their position on income distribution over generations also shows that those who are raised in that middle quintile, there are about equally likely to rise up or to fall down or to just stay right in the middle. host: jim tankersley? important to think

about the store the middle class has gone through over the last 15 years at least. from the and of the level, the stock bubble in the late 1990's, which was the last sustain growth and median income we have seen in america for quite some time, from the end of that, what you had was incomes not rising for most americans the way they have been experiencing. and they borrowed more money to keep up their consumption patterns. they were helped a bit by housing bubble. when that burst, the recession was sort of the stopping of the music. you could not borrow as much. they could not -- their incomes started going down instead of stagnating. what we emerged the recession from was a middle-class sort of laid bare as having been in this more precarious position and maybe we have realized in the early 2000's. not great job creation or wealth creation because so much of it had been on paper with housing. people lost a lot of what they had.

middle-class homeownership is down after the recession. middle-class stock ownership is down, business ownership is down. notle-class incomes fell just in the recession, but in the recovery in the first couple of years, and have only stabilize over the last couple of years since then. and like i said, they may be starting to go up finally, but that is a sustained and difficult period for working americans that have a lot of reasons behind it. we think about the frustrations they're feeling now, it is not just, oh, the recession is bad, it is things were actually pretty bad before that. 0's were pretty but economic decade for most americans. they were spending money they do not have and now they have to pay it back or at least have to stop borrowing. we're seeing the situation with her frustrations are boiling over. let's take some calls.

we're talking about a mac is middle class. what your life is like in the middle class, how you define it, etc. the bottom -- the numbers are on the bottom of your screen and you can also participate on twitter or facebook. lively conversation going on there. mike is in chicago. mike, we're listening. caller: good morning. thank you for having me. i appreciate what "washington journal" as for the country. it is the best news program on tv and i enjoy watching every single day. i just want to say, regarding ms currier's, about the class being part of the social identity. yes, it is. what is middle-class? ice to define myself as a middle-class individual. i was born in 1982. taller thanmuch they are, even though i still

call myself middle-class. i guess their source -- sort of false class dismissed. the increase in expenditures with mobile communications, , iings, the recession believe that 40 years after my parents were born and i was born, i am worse off then we started this new century. host: what kind of work do your parents do and what kind of work do you do? caller: my parents were both in the military before they went to wall street. my wife is a veterinarian and i am a consultant. we are worried about the long-term job market. it is changing more to contract work and wages are not going to get any higher, especially -- i lived in florida when the recession hit. i'm in chicago now. i grew up in new york. i have lived all over.

i saw with the recession did. i know how employers reacted. betweene relationship labor and capital change. i am worried. -- i joke andelf say i'm probably the poorest middle-class person out there. host: if you can give us an idea of the income you and your wife generate. over sixe take in just figures. we're holding off on having kids. my wife is a couple of years older than me. we're worried about the long-term thing. we thought chicago would be better. i mean, what they're trying to do with manufacturing here is good, but it is not doing anything for wages. it is not doing anything to help individuals get the help they need to stay in the class they are. i know a lot of friends who moved to northern indiana because they can no longer afford to be in this area, which is a middle-class area. area.oved to a poorer

listening to everyone's comment on c-span, my heart goes out to everyone suffering and i hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that things change. host: thank you, mike. erin currier, what did you hear? guest: i think what mike is getting at, we have done some public opinion polling about whether it is a term that resonates with americans, whether they feel they can still achieve the american dream. what we heard loud and clear was that what americans to find as the american dream is their children being better off than --, or being better off than their parents, and being able to have some personal agency and to sleep well at night, to be able to pay all of your bills with income you have coming in, set a little aside for savings. americans do not believe the american dream is about being rich. they don't even really believe it is throughout being middle class -- really believe it is

about being middle class. but financial security, being able to be in control of your own destiny is a really big part of the way americans believe that our country is structured and should be structured. and the more that that feeling disintegrates, that it feels like difficult to getting ahead, that wears of people's ability to think about the american trim as being achievable for them >> said.e with what erin the ship contract work is important with this because it is that feeling that goes beyond income, the feeling of stability. i know that money i'm bringing an today will be there tomorrow and that is something that i hear a lot when i'm out in the country talking to folks about the economy. not just that i'm not making the money i want, that i am worried about my job being there tomorrow and having it not outsourced or contracted out. host: jim tankersley, a lot of people say, well, the median income in america has risen

dramatically since the 1970's, 1980's, and the stock market has nearly quadrupled. things are good. median income is about the same today after you adjust for inflation as it was in 1990 nine. that is a fairly striking statistic. it is just reality. there are a few researchers out we shouldclaim that use different inflation deflator's, we should be thinking about this differently and people have gotten ahead a little more. but all must know it disputes the idea since 2000, the median income has flatlined or gone down. disputesmust know one since 2000, the median income has flatlined or gone down. since 1989, we have seen a must a doubling of the size of the economy. it is not like there wasn't money to be had. we have just not seen the spoils flow to the typical american

worker. host: ann in new port richey, florida. you have to turn down the volume on your tv. otherwise, we get that feedback will ste. if you get through on the line, turn down the tv. john is in fairfax county, virginia. john, tell us a little bit about yourself. caller: how are you doing? i am retired. make about $60,000 year. my wife social security added and pay several thousand in tax. if they need to raise it a couple hundred more, i would be glad to do it because everybody wants something, but nobody wants to pay for it. what i would like to say is the baltimore newspaperman, he nailed it when he said nobody ever went broke underestimating

the intelligence of the american people. in that regard, between 6:30 and 7:00 this morning, y'all ran trump telling the west virginia folks, "you haven't had a raise in 18 years. your living on the same income level is 18 years ago." this is the same guy that went on record saying when he was asked point-blank, when you raise the $7.50 minimum wage that has been stagnant for decades, he said, no. the american people are suckers. if they vote him in, i'm going to laugh my buttoff. it to theging political in a moment. this is a column by john thierry these do work -- used to work for former minority leader bob michaels, so he is a republican. and he writes about donald trump, he has a clear message on

the economy that resonates. screwedlass is getting because the political class is looking out for their interests rather than for the broader interests of the american people . from being open to increasing taxes on the very wealthy to expressing concerns about trade deals, promising to protect social security, donald trump is standing clearly that he would change the direction of the american economy. we did not invite y'all to talk about politics, john, obviously brought up his comment was political, but i would like to get your comment on the tenor of the campaign and some of the issues that are being discussed economically. to talk aboutppy politics. if you are writing about the middle class right now newspapers, you're writing about politics whether you like it or not and you're certainly writing about donald trump. i think john kerry nailed something about trump's message ry now theier

something about comes message. they needed to be of the reach out to more working-class voters who felt left behind by this economy. they had all of these ideas how they were going to do it. extra childhuck -- tax care credit. trump came along and he nailed the message to the middle class, just not one republicans didn't want to do because it goes against a lot of their core principles. he said trade deals have gotten the best of you. republicans have been very historically a free trade, free market party. he said immigrants have been hurting you. at the same time, republicans have been trying to reach out to more hispanic voters and having --ig intraparty fight to do what to do about immigration. his tax plan includes in a norma's tax cut for the wealthy -- enormous tax cut for the wealthy. you are trump has nailed this message,

the middle class. the question is, whether the republicans can stomach that within accordance with their party principles. i think that is some of the big fight with the within the party between speaker ryan and trump a real wrestle over what republicans stand for and how can markets really help evil or do you need a different or populist approach that trump is espousing? i will tell you who feels left out, the business community. they want immigration, entitlement reform, and they feel like they are being left on the sidelines of an election where is populist anger and middle-class focus that is really dominated. host: h let's go toarry in pennsylvania. good morning. you consider yourself to be middle-class?

caller: yes, middle-class all my life, except when i was younger. but i am 80 years old. i've seen a lot of changes over my lifetime. is,uestion for your powell do they see a correlation between the rise of middle-class people and the rest of the world , and at the same time, hours. does it have anything to do with free-trade? i've knocked around the world a little bit and seen some very poor countries after the second world war, but they are no longer poor. is that a good question for you to handle? host: let's see what erin currier once to say about that. caller: we have done quite a bit of research looking at whether there is a difference in economic mobility between the united states and other countries.

on the whole, what the research shows is that there is an that in fact, when you think about the chances of someone in the united states being born in the andom of the income, rising, it is less likely to occur in the united states and even in canada and in many western european countries. that probably has to do with a lot of different factors that have to do with our social safety net, education system, but the other piece is that the income distribution in the united states is so much wider than in some of these other countries, that it takes a significantly larger increase in absolute dollar gain for people to move among the different rungs of the income ladder. a lot of researchers joke that if you want the american dream, you need to move to denmark. host: is the middle class larger in canada than ours?

guest: i don't know the answer to that, but we did look at what could be differentiating the united states and canada in terms of the economic mobility. one thing we did was think maybe canadians maybe they believe that the government has a different obligation to its population and we do in the united states. public polling did not reveal that difference. canadians define the canadian dream very similarly to the way americans do. there was no discernible difference in the public attitude toward government responsibility to support a quality of opportunity. very much believe there is a role for government to play in helping everyone about the economic ladder, especially people who are working hard and playing by the rules and doing all the right things. >> western europe uses the term middle-class. criticalnow it is as

-- critical of a part of their discussion as it is for hours, but i would like to take something from that wonderful question from the caller. it is true that in these technician, or decline of the theican middle class over last corner century has coincided with a massive rise of poverty for millions of people around the world and that the opening of global markets and advancement of technology has absolutely help, and the liberalization of economies in china, we have far fewer poor people in the world today than we did a quarter-century ago. that is amazing and every -- something everyone should celebrate. true that that is a necessary trade-off. there is no reason to look at the distribution of global income and say that money had come from the american middle class or the western middle-class to go to those people. is ifmple counterfactual

america had taken some of that money away from the very rich and giving it to the global poor, that would have been just as efficient as a transfer. there's lots of good economic research on this. suffice it to say that free trade has a role to way in this. this is a huge point in the election right now. the rules of free trade, the way free-trade has been conducted i think has absolutely contributed to where the money has come from and where the money has gone. we should not be confused by saying just because the middle class has stagnated in america, that is the only way people could get out of poverty globally. >> carrying courier from a study that you did recently. the state of american family finances. many families are unprepared to deal with unfinished -- with financial emergencies. over the course of the year, most families experience financial shock.

lost incomes they do not car repairs,ch as a pay cut, illness, or injury that could cause significant strain. these events are often costly. the typical household spends $2000, have a months income on its most expensive financial shock. , theuch a shock occurs least expensive solution is for families to return to their liquid savings, funds that can be accessed quickly. many households have very little savings in the typical household cannot replace even one month of income through easily accessible funds. this is the perfect storm i was referencing earlier. what we are trained to do with our research is think beyond income. income is a really important metric for understanding where a family falls in the overall , but it is not sufficient if we want to understand whether they are financially secure.

our research has been looking at lots of different metrics including incidents of financial shocks which and research we have done shows that 60% of americans experience an unexpected financial shock in the last 12 months. costs $2000.hock most families don't have that kind of liquid savings on hand. when they are experiencing a financial shock in addition to fluctuations in their income, fluctuations in expenses, it leaves them in a precarious place. they don't have the savings and they don't have the wealth. it becomes a cycle of not having enough and being constantly stressed and nine. >> the april job figures are out. bureau of labor statistics. on rate, 5%. .obs added, 160,000 jobs give us a quick assessment.

>> a quick reaction is that is lower than some economists expected. it is still a decent number, a good number. it is less than the sustained rate that you would want to start seeing continued wage pressure coming out. the unemployment rate being at 5% is a good thing. it probably has farther to fall, frankly, to bring people back into the labor force. the tighter the labor market, the faster wages go up for everybody is the general rule of economics. much job creation as possible. growth has been very low. we can't expect to be adding 200,000 jobs a month in perpetuity with growth less than 1% annualized recorder. it is a way of saying this is not a surprise. it would to me set off a small amount of alarm about is the

economy needing a little more juice to get back to that place where we can have a comfortable wage growth we are just going to see set in? >> robert, maryland, thank you for holding. you're on with our guest talking about the state of the middle class in america. >> good morning. the one thing -- i might pipefitter -- i'm a pipefitter. i am watching the construction by the amountated of cheap labor coming across the southern border. you can't get on a jobsite if you can't speak spanish. you can look at the classifieds, you see that all over the place. the politicians inclusive -- increasing these visas bringing in more cheap labor, they are doing everything they can to hurt the middle class with those two items alone. the politicians are forcing companies to do these things because they are taxing them to death. in the state of maryland, they

are taxing me a flush tax. right now, i am paying for the rain because i have a rain tax. they are pushing the companies out. there are so many different tentacles to this thing. you are pushing companies out of the country in order to make profit. the politicians and all of the regulations are what is killing us out here. look at paul ryan. this guy is pushing these h-1b visas to bring more cheap labor in here. to sit there and say there is no inflation, i go to the drugstore once a week. a loaf of bread is two dollars. that is ridiculous. you and to yourself to be middle-class? >> this year, i made under $30,000. there were better times. like i told you, i'm a pipefitter. we put me -- pipes in the ground. the way they push the labor down

, bringing these illegals into this country. we run a $19 an hour job down to $15 an hour. it has gotten so bad. things are -- it has got to stop. >> that is robert and water, maryland. general, the complaints about immigration resonate most in the construction industry in the following way. have had an absolute job loss in construction compared to the previous session levels. that has nothing to do with immigration. that is the burst of the housing bubble. we have seen, and this is because of immigration, an absolute job loss for native ron americans within construction. there are a few nativeborn americans working in construction than there were before. on the other hand, when i talked andeople who run jobsites

carpeting firms, they say we would love to hire english-speaking nativeborn americans to do this work, but we can't. they won't work for the wages that we are offering. the caller is right. wages and construction or any that see a large amount of competition will fall so that there are more people for if you are number of jobs. wages will fall. the research on whether immigrants hurt actual median wages for typical americans tends to find a very -- fairly small effect localized mostly to people without high school degrees. even that is controversial. all of that said, the frustrations robert is expressing are exactly the frustrations you here on the country and that is absolutely correlated with the riser donald trump. working-class americans, particularly working-class american men who feel frustrated

about taxation going up and government regulation intruding upon their ability to make a is the sweet spot home run fastball for donald trump. i think robert has articulated very well the frustrations that are behind that. >> englewood, california. ray, good morning. tell us about yourself. >> good morning. i'm an african american male. i was born and raised in california. followed my childhood dream, got into the aerospace andness as a designer worked in the industry until it died. because of the aforementioned regulations and what have you. c-17 flew out of long beach a year and a half ago. i went down to see it. to my point, i said, what could

i do say to my fellow americans to describe the situation i think we are in? you have to go back to when i was working in aerospace. i would go on job assignments cumberland,up in maryland. there was a position across the border in west virginia. i can't tell you what i did. guard that iity became acquainted with who would walk us to our car at night. we got into a conversation about america and where it was going. she said something that i will never forget. she said, mr. davis. we live in america. i know, they have the classes, poorich, middle-class, and . she says the way things are going, you're going to look up one day and there is still going to be the rich, but there is only going to be the poor and the puddle.

i chuckled. what are you talking about? she said you heard me. wait forthe people who something in a mail to save them before our theth folks who used to be in the middle class but now, it is a rat race. one fork in the road and you are in a ditch. ,he rich, she says the rich they have money. they can hang in and hold on. that is how i feel it has transparent -- transpired for me. i was doing quite well in aerospace. we all know how that ended in california. i bought my first house at 23 years old and that is the only thing that is saving me. living in englewood, you hear about this football team moving back. that is what i'm went to get by him. i will sell my real estate when it spikes.

i have got to leave the state. that is the only way you will have any sort of quality of life when you retire. >> radian angle inglewood, california. what do you hear? >> that reminds me of survey work we did where we asked people if they felt like it was more important to be financially secure or to move up the income ladder. they werericans said just more interested in financial security, financial stability. i think that underscores all of the conversation we are having today, the idea that families still feel like they have that kind of stability. more than trying to get ahead, a lot of americans are trying to tread water. his comment about retirement security resonates considering research leave -- shows that one in five americans don't think they will be able to retire. they don't have any plans for. they don't think they can afford it. >> from a washington post article that you wrote in 2014.

the stock market is soaring. the unemployment rate is finally retreating after the great recession and the economy at a to 21,000 jobs last month. all of that growth has done nothing to boost pay for the typical american worker. average raise -- wages haven't risen over the last year after adjusting for inflation. real household median income is still lower than it was when the recession ended. make no mistake, the american middle class is in trouble. could you write that? >> i think the figures would be different and i would be marked a mystic. i would love to point out that, i think you will have skipped it this. that story was about aerospace in california. california, and the decline of a rocket plant and a town waiting for something else to come along and replace it. very much like what our caller just described. downing was not at lucky enough to get an nfl team.

today, the situation looks better for the middle class. it doesn't look right. it is nowhere near where we thought it would have been after a typical recession. we didn't have a typical recession. we have seen little bits of wage growth like we talked about. we have seen sustained job creation over the last year and a quarter since that story ran. we have seen a bit of a take up, although not a time, and consumer confidence, people's optimism. rating is obamas going up. we are still not in a good place. when you look at the long view, it is rough area even looking at the longer view of this administration, i talked to vice president biden about this a couple months ago. they asked to be judged on how well the middle class is under their watch. by the judgment, they have failed. the vice president said it is a fair criticism, and we think we would have succeeded more if

congress had passed part of our agenda for the middle class. the typical american family still makes less today than they did when the recession started. that is mind-boggling. >> margaret in dover, new hampshire. good morning. >> i think the gentleman stole my thunder when he talked about the rich, the poor, what i was going to name my book was the house, the have-nots, have-nots, and have. >> give is a quick snapshot of your life. >> i'm the daughter of a swedish 17igrant who came here at and the -- by the time he was in his 50's, we had a nice business and with a fifth grade education, was on the bank board. i have a university degree. i have been a social worker, a

personnel director, a union organizer, and i have spent my life, early life as a republican . i am a big fan of bernie sanders right now. >> do you feel as secure economically today as you have throughout your life? >> this is the worst. i have inherited a home after taking care of an elderly mother for a decade. it needs paint, the chimney cleaned, all kinds of work. i need a car. it goes on from there. becauseer myself lucky i can have three good meals a day. and a roof over my head. >> cairn terrier. courrior.

>> a lot of our research has focused on how people if they come from a low income background are able to move up into the middle or even be on the middle. the things most impactful for that movement included things like post secondary education, even the neighborhood in which someone lives, and also having a second earner in the household. think asomething that i lot of americans field and used to be the case. they can recall their parents being able to survive with one earner and a stay-at-home parent and they were still considered middle-class and could take vacations and the research more and more is showing the need for that second earner, that second source of income coming in to a household to move a family of the income ranks. , a of these pressures across post secondary education, a need for more than one income, point

to the challenges so many american families are facing as they try to get by. >> have you done better than your parents? >> that is a great question. whether i amon financially secure just like everyone else is focused on whether they are financially secure. >> have you done better than your parents? >> i would love to ask my parents that question. i think i have done as well as my parents. my parents worked really hard to make sure that both are -- both their voice to go to college. they did for us to go to college. i feel incredibly blessed my that. my father is probably laughing at me. i have written a couple of articles about how their generation has destroyed america. my parents personally have and wonderful in that regard. my dad is a lawyer, my mom is a librarian. small town, oregon, solidly middle-class, upper middle class in our town. is ank they have a son who

newspaper reporter and a son who is a tenured professor. i think both their boys would say we are doing as well as her parents had hoped for us. rareo think that makes me among the kids i went to high school with. had many of their parents better paying manual labor jobs in town that allow them to have a solid middle-class living and several of those kids are not able to do as good, good paying work even know they are just a skilled with their hands as their parents. this is a constant research frustration of mine and question. what happened in america that the talents of those classmates of mine aren't utilized in the same way as the talents of their parents. that is another part of the middle-class identity that we have. it is not just am i making as much money as my folks, it is do i have the same sense of fulfillment from the work that i

do being valued that they have? >> this article and jim tankers .ewspaper this morning by jacob obama unlikely to meet his goal on manufacturing jobs. what percentage, how many manufacturing jobs have left the united states? and in what time period? >> that is outside of the scope of our research. i want to take a stab at, especially based on what jim just said is this idea of upward mobility across generations. what the data on that makes clear is that the vast majority of americans do have higher income than their own parents did. 80% do. thatyou look at whether increase in income is enough to move them to a different wrong of the economic ladder, that is where the story becomes more of a glass half empty and we see a

full fifth of americans have higher family incomes than their parents did but have actually fallen to a lower rung of the income distribution because others around them might the having larger income gains. whetherthink about people today are better off than their parents, it is important to think about both of those things at the same time. not just whether people have higher levels of income, but also whether they have made any progress claiming the income ladder over a generation. >> elaine in eagle river, alaska. hello, lane. >> can you hear me? >> are you middle-class? >> i would say so, we are. >> what is middle class in eagle river, alaska like? >> the earlier caller mentioned a loaf of bread being two dollars for a loaf of bread. up here, it is six dollars for a loaf of bread.

the amount of income you need appear is higher. what i would like to bring to the table, some optimism. my fan -- my husband and i have been married almost 23 years. we started when we first got married. anyone, if you have heard of dave ramsey. he has a program, a baby step program for what he calls financial peace. that is what we did. we didn't make very much money when we first got married. i was in school for physical therapy. was making $1600 a month as a second lieutenant in the military. lived according to the principles, very similar to the dave ramsey financial peace university.

is so true. it truly works. the government is not going to solve our personal problems. it is us taking personal responsibility and maybe not having that five dollar latte and saving. it does pay off. i just want to bring some optimism to the table. the middle-class is very achievable, but we have to be intentional with our money and with our lives. the bulk of entitlement program spending goes toward the middle-class. this is the center on budget and policy priorities. article in the washington post. -- we have done some research looking at this with interest on which portion of the budget is mobility enhancing and how much of that investment gets spent at different parts of the income distribution.

because of the tax code, particularly around things like the mortgage interest eduction and incentives for putting money in retirement accounts and other very smart mobility enhancing type investments, what we are left with is that the vast majority of low income americans don't read any of the benefits of that mobility investment. middle and upper income americans get the vast majority of those tax benefits. one of the things we would love , particularly a group of bipartisan advisory board members to our project had suggested was thinking not about whether the government needs to spend more money to enhance economic mobility, but maybe just think about the ways in which that money is targeted so that lower income families who are the ones who are the least likely to experience economic mobility over a generation are receiving more of that mobility investment.

listening. >> good morning. for the benefit of young folks, millennials, so we can get a better perspective, could your panel please compare and contrast obama's first seven years compared to what reagan's first seven years? these same people who are complaining about the economy, they are the people that voted for obama twice in a row. the lady from new hampshire, i don't feel sorry for you. i worked my but off. i have two jobs and i drive for uber. i'm not a sham to say that it i was taught don't have a kid unless you can afford to raise a kid. don't get married in less you can afford to provide for your wife and whatever. >> do you consider yourself middle-class? >> yes. i worked my but off.

>> have you done better than your parents? >> we got the idea. >> have you done better than your parents? >> yes. my dad is retired military. do you think you have had the same opportunities as your parents? >> we are all given the same opportunity. that is what the united states is all about. >> we have to leave it there, add in fayetteville, north carolina. we have 30 seconds to put a final period on this conversation. >> i am struck by the range of people that we have heard from today. the frustrations, despair, and the optimism. oft is a nice cross-section what i hear from middle class folks are in the country. >> aaron curry are with pew charitable trust. thank you for being on the program. eastern,nder that 8:00

thechair talks about presidential race, the parties present to many, donald trump, and the gop future agenda. you can see this morning's politico interview tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span. during the interview, he remarked on a donald trump tocco fleet and recent comments by house speaker paul ryan and mr. trump about working with each other. >> you saw yesterday donald trump picked -- tweeted a picture of himself digging into a tortilla bowl, a dollop us are cream in it. >> i didn't see it, i heard about it. i had other things to deal with yesterday afternoon. happy to go says tomorrow. the besttocco bill -- talk was omitted trump tower. tacos are made tower. >> he is trying. [laughter]

understands that building and unifying and growing the party is the only way we're going to win. i think he gets that. >> what did you think when they told him about the tweet? >> i had other pressing matters that i was dealing with that were more important than the tweet. >> what are your plans for the convention? wax it makes things simpler. we don't have to worry about three separate headquarter .otels programming is going to be something we were -- we will be working through. there are a lot of things that are already done. the stage is done. there are things that have to happen. we moved the convention of seven weeks to july. certainly, when we're talking about an open convention, it seemed like i was a genius for doing that. now, we just have to get cruising and get going.

i think paul is being honest with how he feels. i think he is going to get there. he wants to get there. it is just that -- he just wants some time to work through it. supporting this morning that the meeting on capitol hill next week is expected to go ahead. do you expect paul ryan to be there? >> i do. i talked to him multiple times yesterday. he says he is not there yet, but he wants to get there. >> after speaker ryan made his comment that he is not ready on -- s double eve >> i had talked to him one already that day. i spoke to paul ryan multiple times this afternoon.

>> you are pretty good. i can't lie. what was his moody? -- his mood? was, what do i need to do? my view is just relax and be gracious. and i will talk to paul. >> you can watch the entire politico with rnc chair reince priebus. >> i helped both countries with , anr constitutions agreement on key issues. state are very

anxious to meet with you when you ask for a meeting. >> discussing his memoir, the envoy. extremists exploited. we corrected it toward the end of the period. by building up iraqi forces. to bring about security and violence is way down. escalated and then we have isis now. >> sunday night with eight eastern on c-span's q and day.

-- q and a. >> here are some programs to watch for. this saturday and sunday, book -- our two day coverage features panel discussions on hip-hop and literature with the author of know what i mean, reflections on hip-hop and race and gender. as panels on diversity and writing programs. p.m., -- examining the integration of thomas jefferson. most blessed of the patriarchs. at nine, author of good for the money, my fight to pay back america, he

discusses how bob benmosche revived the company after the financial crisis. was interviewed by bethany mclean. >> he thought he was the only person -- the company didn't think it was going to happen. certainly the american people have no expectation this was going to happen. to had to be a little crazy take this on. and he was the right kind of crazy. live picture here in the white house briefing room, waiting for president obama to open the daily briefing with remarks on today's economic numbers. it is the weakest pace of hiring in seven months.

jobs gains and the prior two a combined 19,000 jobs. for the prior six months the u.s. has maintained robust economic growth, even though the rest of its economy was stuck in seventh gear -- stuck in second gear. after president obama makes his remarks we expect secretary reportersst to answer questions as he does on a daily basis. live coverage of the president, expected here shortly on c-span.

again, we are waiting for president obama to come out and make remarks on the economy .hortly the economy and the department of labor. reporting today that the unemployment rate is stuck at 5%. jobs were added in april, the weakest pace of hiring in seven months. we will tell you about some of the other program we have coming up tonight. tonight at eight eastern here on c-span, republican national committee chairman reince priebus will have his report on mike allen. san festivals from antonio, los angeles, and virginia.

american history tv on c-span3, it is wrote to the -- wrote to the white house rewind. houseis road to the white rewind. that is programming tonight across the c-span networks beginning at eight eastern.

waiting for president obama to come out and make remarks on jobs and the economy. while we wait for the president, yesterday was cinco de mayo. the white house held a celebration for that event. here's a look. gentlemen, -- >> hello. i am 17 years old, a senior in high school in denver, colorado. i'm here with a group that houses latinos for citizenship. and also voter registration. honored to be here at the

white house for the cinco de mayo celebration, which celebrates our mexican heritage. ago, ifew months couldn't imagine i was going to be here. i am grateful for them for all to protect us from struggles every day. my mother was only 14 when she moved to the united states. -- when heame from was 19. we are all citizens. both of my parents would be policy announced by president obama.

and we are thankful for the president for taking this apart instead. , itparents of u.s. citizens would be good for many families. help my parents get steady jobs and let our family live without the constant fear of being separated. i am a proud citizen of the united states. i am doing my part by pricking my -- by making my voice heard , by vote.ay i can this november i will be voting in my first election. it is equal to any other person.

my vote counts the same as .nyone else is -- anyone else's it doesn't matter the color of their skin. i do have one regret. that we won't be able to vote for a third term for president obama. god bless you mr. president. yous my honor to introduce to the leaders that fight for our families every day. the president of the united --tes, barack obama president of the united states barack obama and vice president joe biden. [applause] president obama: hello,

everybody. >> four more years. four more years. president obama: let me just say, in addition to the constitution michelle will not allow that. demaio -- feliz cindco de mayo. this is one of our best fiestas of the year. i want to thank -- for not only the introductinon but for being an example of what the young leaders can do for tyhhe future. we are so proud of her.

we have a couple of guests i want to make sure to mention. representative joaquin castro from the great state of texas. i know your parents are proud of you and we are proud of you. i want to thank our special guest chef, johnny hernandez. and margarita recipes are all the way from -- and give it up for our outstanding performers. [applause] i was thinking of coming out and playing. but i decided, maybe not that are not spoil the party. we all know the story of cinco de mayo, 154 years ago the french were the strongest army of the 19th century and marched on the tiny town of --

built equipped and hastily patriots, andf they thought of the opposing forces. later, americans and mexican still celebrate cinco de mayo. baseballbarbecues, parks, folks are enjoying music, food, good times with family and friends. had a chance to speak with the president of mexico about our shared work comp in advancing the prosperity and security of americans and mexicans. i wished him a happy cinco de mayo, and he wished me to do the same to you. so i am doing my duty here. it is a reminder of not only the holidays but the incredible bond our two countries share.

on my final cinco de mayo at the white house, in the company of i wanttraordinary group, to remind everybody of everything we got done. have been busy. president obama: our economy lost nearly 700,000 jobs and the 10%.loyment rate hit several years later, in april 2016, our economy added 100 60,000 new jobs. that makes april the 74th consecutive month of private-sector job growth in america. over that record streak, our businesses have created 14.6

million new jobs. wages have been rising in an annual rate of more than 3% this year. the unemployment rate is growing, unemployment is falling, and wages are rising. as, as a global economy, many people are aware, it is not growing as fast as it should be. we're seeing -- in japan and europe area there are folks who are -- and europe. there are folks that are still hurting. we have to do everything we can to strengthen the good trends and guard against the dangerous trends in the economy. if the republican congress joined us to take steps that are pretty common sense, then we can put some additional wind at the bags of working americans. they should invest in their , the roads, their

bridges, their schools. some of you joined me when i went to flint this week. it is the great example of the kind of work that needs to be done. back to work with youth multiplier effects across the started working with the infrastructure that would make us more productive. congress should raise the minimum wage. it will probably help those individuals that are getting a fair paycheck. to level the playing field for american workers and a crackdown on foreign competition, they newld past -- should pass trade agreements. and congress should promote growth and job creation, which includes closing the loophole 10 simplifying -- the loopholes and

simplifying the tax code for everybody. too often corporations take advantage of -- often at the expense of middle-class families. if they were getting out of paying their fair share of taxes, that means the rest of us have to shoulder that burden. i put forward plans repeatedly to do exactly that. " polls, make sure everybody's paying their fair share, which would not only give people greater confidence in the system, that would be good for our economy. make sure the families and small businesses that don't have fancy lawyers economies are being treated as the same as big corporations who do. i think it is fair to say congress will not act on a big tax reform plan before the election that would shut down some of these loopholes. but what my administration has been doing is looking for steps that we can take on our own to make the tax system fair.

in recent months we have seen just how big a problem corruption, tax evasion have become around the globe. thesolid happened with release of the panama papers. we have seen the degree to which both illegal practices of tax avoidance, that are still unfair and bad for the economy, as well , inllegal practices that some cases, involve nefarious activities continue to exist and to spread. so combating this type of of this tax evasion has been a priority of mine since i took office and part of our ongoing efforts to make sure the economy works for everybody. levy give you an example, here we made oursked -- tax fair and the wealthiest americans are paying their fair share.

that let them shift their address abroad to avoid paying taxes in america. we have taken several steps to make sure our tax laws aren't enforced, including leading efforts to crack down on offshore invasion did that is the result that individuals have come forth to disclose, along with interest and penalties. today we are building on those efforts. hurt -- you heard from treasury the we want amplify what you told in detail. to verify and report who the real people are behind corporations that set up accounts at those institutions. one of the main ways companies up a taxes is by setting bunch of shell corporations and making it harder to trace where

money is flowing and what taxes are open. you have to step up and get that information. thate plugging a gap exploits the assets. the treasury department and irs are issuing a proposal to make hide behindn't anonymous shell companies formed inside the united states. these actions are going to make a difference. they will allow us to continue to do a better job of tracking financial flows. doing the things that ordinary americans, hard-working americans are doing every day. that, we are not going to be able to complete this job unless congress acts as well.

we are calling on congress to pass new legislation that requires all companies formed inside the united states to thert information to treasury department's financial crimes enforcement network. that is going to help law enforcement better investigate and prevent financial crimes. i'm calling on congress to provide justice department with additional tools to investigate corruption and monday launderers. the senate in particular. -- m cohen on the senate, in particular senator rand paul, who has been quirky on this issue. these trees actually improve law enforcement possibility to investigate and crackdown on offshore tax invasion. we are going to need to cooperate internationally, because tax evasion and tax , money laundering is

in a global financial system. if we can't cooperate with another company that makes it harder to crack down, if we can combine the actions we are taking administratively with the new tools that i am asking congress to provide to the , these department actions will prevent tax invasion. they will prevent terrorist financing, and it will most important me uphold a fundamental principle of the economy. by the same set of rules as everybody else. i'm going to take a couple of questions with that. >>'s your now the incoming president -- >> what is your reaction to donald trump becoming the nominee of the republican party.

and do you think [indiscernible] president obama: with respect to the republican process and mr. trump, there is going to be plenty of time to talk about his. -- his stance on various issues. he has a long record that needs to be examined. i think it is important to take seriously the statements we made in the past. most importantly, and i speak to all of you in this room as well as the american public, i want to emphasize the degree we are serious and this is a serious job. this is not entertainment, this is not a reality show.

this is a contest for the presidency of the united states. what that means is every candidate, every nominee needs to be subject to excess -- subject to exacting standards of genuine scrutiny. it means that you have to make sure their budgets add up. answer the -- answer to a problem and they have details on how it would work, and if it is completely implausible and would not work, that needs to be reported on and the american people need to know that. if they take a position on , or haveonal issues the potential of upending our

critical relationships with , or wouldtries potentially break the financial question. that needs to be reported on. the one thing i'm going to be looking for over the next six that the american people are effectively informed about where candidates stand on the issues, what they believe, making sure their numbers add up , taking sure their policies , and candidates to what they have said in the past. i'm confident our democracy will work. that is true whether we are talking about mr. trump or ms. clinton or bernie sanders or anybody else.

what i am concerned about is the reporting andh information starts emphasizing the spectacle of the circus. that is not something we can afford. and the american people, they have good judgment and instincts. as long as they get good information. side,k on the democratic we will let the process play itself out. you mentioned the delegate math. i think everybody knows what that math is. senator sanders has done an extraordinary job raising a that arege of issues important to democratic voters, as well as the american people generally. i know that at some point there is going to be a conversation between secretary clinton and

bernie sanders about how we move toward the convention. of the good news is despite the fact that during the course of primaries everybody starts to get a little shifty, sometimes even more with the staff them with the candidates themselves. there is a pretty strong consensus on the vast majority of issues. there is some disagreement about tactics, disagreement about political strategy or policy nuance. both secretary clinton and bernie sanders believe every american should have health care. both candidates believe we should be raising the minimum wage. invest in our infrastructure and put more people back to work. candidates believe we

should pass a comprehensive immigration reform policy that makes sure we are in forcing laws and improving our legal immigration system and make sure our borders are secure, but also that we continue to enjoy the credible boost that you get from attracting talent from all over the world. both candidates agree we should be prudent in terms of how we use our military and we should care for our veterans when they come home. 95% of thelook at issues, there is strong agreement there. you don't see the same kinds of divisions between the two democratic candidate to remain that you have been seeing in some of the republican debates. yeah? mr. president, what the speaker ryan's comments say

about the state of the republican party? well, i thinka: you have to ask speaker ryan what the implications of his comments are. there is no doubt that there is a debate taking place inside the republican party about who they are and what they represent. their standardbearer at the moment is donald trump. -- not just republican officials, but more importantly republican voters are going to have to make a decision whether this is the guy who speaks for them and represents their values. republican women voters are , is thathave to decide

the guy i feel comfortable with representing me and what i care about? who historically makingen concerned about and that budgets add up that we are responsible stewards of government finance have to work? mr. trump's budgets those will be questions republican voters, more than republican officials, have to answer. democrats, ie think we have run on what we are for, not just on what we are against. for the last seven and a half years, we have been pretty clear about what we believe will help working families who are struggling out there. and although it has been

difficult to get through republican congresses to get those things done, the truth is that they continue to be prescriptions that would really help people. you know? making sure that families get paid sick leave and family leave and early childhood education. that would help families. raising the minimum wage would help a lot of people. rebuilding infrastructure would put that to work a whole bunch inguys in hardhats and gals hardhats that need to work. now is the time to do it. to feelnt democrats confident about the policy prescriptions we are putting forward and the contrast, i

think, will be pretty clear. i will leave it up to the republicans to figure out how they square their circle. take two, i'm going to more cases. just but mr. president, what is your message to democratic voters -- >> mr. president, what is your message to democratic voters who may be hesitant to vote for the democratic front runner because of the ongoing e-mail scandal, and did you see on the trump's taco bowl tweet and what is your thought? nosident obama: i have thoughts on mr. trump's tweets. as a general rule, i have no thoughts about mr. trump's tweets. i think that will be true for the next six months. votesms of the democratic coming up, i'm going to let the ballots andtheir

try to metal -- meddle in the few primaries that remain. we will know. it will not be too much longer. >> not long before your nuclear world summit when you had world leaders here, [indiscernible] i'm wondering what that says about the nation's capitol, having the transit system closed for 24 hours and having a number of safety related problems. andwhat can your ministries what can your administration do if republicans are standing in the way of a bill -- what can your administration do if republicans are standing in the way of a bill? president obama: this is a somewhat self-interested question, i assume, because a bunch of folks here take the

metro. but it's just one more example thate underinvestments have been made. look, the d.c. metro historically has been a great strength of this region. investedtime, we under in maintenance and repair, and the steps to being taken now -- i will refer to the department of transportation, but i can say obviously safety comes first, and we want to make sure safety concerns are addressed. the broader issue is we have ridges. we have roads. .e have ports we have water mains and pipes, , that sufferflint from neglect. and in many parts of the

country, we still rely on systems that were built 30, 50, in some cases 100 years ago. reason we have been neglecting them is not we do not know how to fix them. it is not because people have not been aware of the need. we have known for years now that we are a trillion or $2 trillion short in necessary infrastructure repair. i talked about this when i came into office. we still have to do more in terms of investing in our nation's infrastructure. the problem we have is the republican congress has been really taking on this problem in a serious way, and the reason is because of an ideology that says government spending is necessarily bad. i wasaddressed this when in flint. that mindset, that ideology, has

led to us not investing in those things we have to do together. you know? as you point out, this metropolitan area in the nation's capitol is actually doing really well. it does not matter how big your paycheck is. you have been taking the metro and it is suddenly shut down for a month, and now you are stuck in traffic, trying to drive to work instead. you can't build your own metro system. you can't build your own highway. you can't build your own airport. we have a specific problem with under investing in infrastructure. by the way for, us to do so. interest rates are so low and

there are so many construction workers and contractors underemployed at the moment that you can get jobs done on time, on schedule. it would give a boost into our overall economy because we know when we spend the dollar on we actually get a bigger bangs for the buck -- a bigger bang for the buck. suppliers, food trucks, everybody is doing better. it gives a huge boost to the economy. it lasts for a long time. think about investments we made in things like the hoover dam and golden gate bridge or metro. it is a good thing to do and historically, it was not and should not be partisan. but if we have a mindset that says whatever government is doing must be bad, then these are going to be the results and

is going to continue to get worse. it is already tough in poorer communities like flint. we are seeing these kinds of infrastructure problems spring up in communities all across the country, and it does not distinguish by race or by region. everybody needs roads. everybody needs airports. hopefully, this will prompt a conversation. the last thing i am going to say about this. this is a good example of making sure the candidates are speaking to this issue. as you go into the presidential election. i put forward specific proposals for how i would pay for additional infrastructure investment. the numbers add up. is -- howe question

do the remaining candidates for the presidency in 10 to tackle this? how do members of congress intend to tackle this question mark what is the republican agenda for infrastructure? do they have one? how do they pay for it? do they pay for it by cutting medicare or medicaid? bethey do, that needs to fleshed out and the consequences for working families needs to be explained. all right? thank you, everybody. >> [indiscernible] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] secretary ernest: all right, and happy friday, everybody. i do not have anything in addition to that. i am happy to take any questions

that remain. hopefully there are not many. --going back to the campaign bernie sanders -- [indiscernible] proportional numbers based on the results in the primary. how does the democratic party, the president of view that model? ernest: there are rules that govern the conduct of the convention. apparatus thate can follow the guidelines. the party convention is in accordance with the rules and also reflects those who purchase theight in caucuses across country. the president has a lot of confidence in the dnc chair, debbie wasserman schultz, to navigate this process and ensure it reflects the interests of

democrats across the country. >> on the issue we talked about yesterday in syria -- both russia and syria are saying their aircraft were not and there were no coalition aircraft in the area. do you have any more recent intelligence about where that threat came from, who was responsible? youetary ernest: i can tell that the department of defense and the intelligence community are continuing to look at this situation. draw clear conclusions about who exactly was responsible for this incident. what is true is that regardless of who was responsible, there is never any justification for carrying out a strike that targets innocent civilians.

particularly innocents who have already fled their homes to escape violence. and unfortunately, there is a long track record of the assad regime doing exactly that. so, we are going to take a look at this particular incident. it is obviously an incident we take quite seriously. but we take quite seriously the other incidents that we know have been perpetrated by the assad regime against civilians. you know, this led shed that we have seen inside syria is weonishing -- bloodshed that are seen inside syria is astonishing and tragic. and too much of that is on the hands of bush are al-assad and members of his government. that is why we have made a al-assadse that bashar needs to leave power and a political leader inside syria can assume power and unify the

country and bring an end to the chaos and violence. >> there is an august deadline for the political transition in syria. what exactly is the u.s. threatening to do if that deadline is not met? thatthe white house feel the president has credibility behind any kind of threat given his reluctance to strike if you years ago? i am not awaret: of any threats issued. i think what secretary kerry and others have laid out is a framework for carrying out painstaking political talks. havehose politic talks been undermined by the propensity of the assad regime to carry out attacks against innocent civilians inside syria. opposition leaders are understandably reluctant to come to be table with people who are, at the very same time, authorizing military assaults

against their constituents. not seen asthma progress in the political talks as we would like to see. that we have been able to organize proximity talks is an indication we have made more progress than we have in the last five years, but we are still a long way from a kind of political agreement that we need to see. erdogan, moving very closely to the prime thester -- very quickly to prime minister from resignation. i'm wondering if the president has any concerns about that much power for the turkish presidency given the concerns about press freedom? josh,ary ernest: obviously as i mentioned yesterday, the united states and turkey are nato allies. we have worked effectively with

the turks to expedite some nter-isilof our cou campaign. turkey has given the united states and other members of our coalition access to military sites in turkey that have made our military campaign even more effective against isil. we have seen turkey make other progress securing our border with syria that has blunted the flow of weapons and foreign fighters across the board in syria. both of those things of beneficial in our efforts to degrade and ultimately destroy, isil. that has not prevented the the unitedes -- states or even the president of the united states -- from raising concerns about situations in which the turkish government does not seem sufficiently committed to protecting the basic universal human rights of their people.

by the way, in shrines in the turkish constitution. these are rights that the united states advocates for around the not hesitatedo raising concerns, even when those concerns and volvo the actions of a government with which the united states has an important alliance. and that will continue. even as turkey works through political disputes, through this political turmoil, the united states will continue to stand by our ally. we will continue to work with them to carry out a military campaign against isil. and we are not going to hesitate to publicly and privately encourage them to live up to the rined in thensh turkish constitution. jeff? >> [indiscernible] about nuclear

successes boosting economic development. do you take that seriously? secretary ernest: the administration is obviously aware of developments in north korea. .e watch them that makes the situation a little unusual. we are aware of the risks posed by north korea's effort to develop nuclear weapons, and nuclearlity to deliver weapons. the united states has worked with the international community to counter those efforts. as a result, north korea has faced increasing isolation, which is saying something, because they were pretty isolated by the end of last year . and that trajectory has only gotten worse for them. and we know it has had a

negative impact on what is already a rather weak economy. our efforts have targeted those elements in the north korean economy that we know benefit .orth korea's weapons programs and our concerns stem from the fact that those programs are inconsistent with her obligations. those are not just concerns the united states has raced. those are concerns raised by countries like china and russia and japan.orea the international community is serious about holding north area to account for their destabilizing and provocative behavior. -- holding north korea to account for their destabilizing and provocative behavior. there is a path for north korea to come out of the wilderness. but it will require a demonstrated commitment to ending provocative actions and the nuclear i think the financial a. -- the korean peninsula.

>> [indiscernible] secretary ernest: i know. he will talk about that tomorrow, though. [laughter] that is the good news. >> [indiscernible] secretary ernest: i can try to give you a sense of what he is thinking. i will try. upo think -- i looked this before i came out here. this is the third time the president has delivered a commencement address at an hbc sends taking the oval office. so, the president, in delivering the commencement address, that is the third hbcu since taking office. the president will address a couple of themes. first, the president will acknowledge the unique opportunities these graduates have had to attend one of the s in the country.

this means they have been exposed to passionate faculty members and the community of nurtureds that has there in eight ability and empowered them with skills and experiences that can benefit our e ability- their innat and empower them with skills and experiences that can benefit our entry. howard students have been given a great gift, but they are also assuming a great responsibility. the president will touch on that. the president will also observe that howard graduates will be entering an economy and a society that is undergoing a series of profound changes. , and changes are not new

the sense that the changes did not just starts. ofs is actually the class has had a view of these changes throughout their lives. theyow they use the skills have gotten in the course of this high-quality college education to confront the tremendous demographic, economic, and technological changes our country is facing right now is a question each of those graduates will have to answer for themselves. the president is hopeful they will answer that question in a way that is, you know, good for the country and is consistent with the significant responsibility they now have. finally, i think the last thing -- the point out is

opportunityjoys the to give these kinds of speeches, but also explore the issues on the minds of students across the country. he is delivering tomorrow is an important one and one he is looking forward to. the president will have an opportunity to flesh out these themes at commencement addresses he will deliver at rutgers and the air force academy later this year. >> [indiscernible] it comes to the administration, agencies, funding, etc.? i have a factst: sheet here.

i think the highlight is the present's fy 17 budget weeks to hbcu's.en funding for the president's budget proposes $85 million in mandatory funding for hbcu's. an president also proposes additional $244 million in discretionary funds for title iii. i think the other thing i would acknowledge is the president has proposed to expand the program program. this does not just apply to african-american students, but it does substantially enhance the capability of middle-class families, those families trying

to get to the middle class, to send their kids to college. and the present's proposal for 2017 reflects the continued commitment to the expansion of the pell grants program, which i think students have used to afford a quality education at howard university. what was the money -- what was the number after 2016? secretary earnest: i do not have that number in front of me. >> [indiscernible] and i wonder what does you think about it and whether this is a risk to the president's trade agenda? secretary earnest: i am not particularly surprised by it.

her views on this topic are well-known. but it does not really change .ur strategy the truth is, secretary clinton and many other leading candidates for the presidency oppositionxpressed to trade promotion legislation -- this is essentially legislation that paves the way for the end of the tpp negotiations. in spite of her opposition to that legislation, the administration worked effectively with democrats and republicans in the house and senate to pass that bill. a is act is, passing tp bigger challenge than getting congress to ratify tpp. the conflict is a procedural one. which is tpa had to overcome a .ilibuster effort

tpp only requires 50 votes in the senate to be ratified by the united eight senate. -- the united states senate. the second thing -- this is more important -- tpa is rooted in a philosophical argument about giving the president of the united states the authority to negotiate a trade agreement that is in the best interests of the u.s. economy. that requires us to essentially the a strong case that congress should trust the president to get this done and give him the authority necessary to complete the negotiations. now, the we have completed the negotiations, the american people and members of the united states congress and evaluate the terms of the agreement and judge for themselves about whether or not it is good for the economy. there willingness to do that? we have a very strong arguments

make. the tpp trade agreement would taxes in cutting 18,000 that other countries impose on american products. highpp agreement includes and enforceable standards when it comes to enforcing our environment, protecting human rights, and protecting labor rights. those are the kinds of values areen proposals that included in the tpp agreement, but those do not just reflect our values. they reflect a commitment on the part of this president to leveling the playing field and giving american's nieces and bettern workers and even -- and even better opportunity to compete in the world economy. as the president made the case he"the washington post," wrote an op-ed basically arguing if the united states refuses to

engage in southeast asia and produce a set of economic and when china comes to write the rules, they will not insist on high environmental standards, able not insist on lofty human rights or labor standards, and that will only further disadvantage u.s. businesses and u.s. workers when they are competing with business in southeast asia. it is significant because southeast asia is home to some of the most dynamic economies in the world. from an economic come a ,,rategic -- economic strategic, and values perspective, with the wisdom of congress to approve that tpp agreement that the president negotiated. >> the chinese believe

[indiscernible] that an agreement with the u.s. and other governments -- from december [indiscernible] it were a market economy -- --t would china have to do do you have the same assessment oft china after the 11th december should be treated as if it were a market economy? mr. earnest: understanding about this is rudimentary, that those kinds of assessment are reached the commerce department. for would refer you to them a sense of our current economy.t of china's i would also refer you to them to enter the question whether or not they are considering changing that assessment. question, secretary

carries that there would be consequences if russia did not meet the deadline which is insurance -- which is in trying in that -- there isto be saying no prospect for the talks even camps --eep bombing -- mr. earnest: i think with secretary kerry is pointing out presidentssia and putin himself have publicly advocated for a political transition inside syria. putin has acknowledged this is an important priority. and failing to meet that deadline will have negative

consequences for everybody involved. russia, based on the degree russia has invested in syria, that they care deeply about the outcome. they have a lot riding on this. maintains a military presence inside syria. syria is the only country outside the former soviet bloc where russia continues to have a military presence. are protective of it and concerned about what is happening in a country so they can protect the foothold they have a net country. -- in that country. failing to succeed in politicalg a transition is not good for the russians. i am not saying the united states benefits from that. it has negative consequences for everybody who is concerned about the widespread violence that we

have seen there. the point is the international community is focused on meeting this goal, and that is a priority and it is something that president putin demonstrated he is invested in, and he has put his own credibility on the line here. he has made clear he is prepared to use his influence to bring about this political transition that benefits russia, the syrian people, and everybody who is involved. it will be important for russia to use their influence to try to advance these talks and bring them to a constructive conclusion on the timeframe that has been laid out. the united states is prepared to and it will be important for russia to make clear they expect the astonishing to do their part as well. at the end of the day, it is

a syrian regime. would you rule out any measures against the syrian regime if they were to -- his deadline? let menest: let me say take on one part of your country -- question, which is that when the president was meeting with countries, he made clear to them that it is helpful for them to use their influence with the opposition groups and other relevant parties to try to bring about this political transition. it is not just the russian government we have then pressing, but we have been pressing all the parties. we have been using all of our influence with the opposition groups, but also our partners who influence the opposition groups to present in the same direction here.

what was the last part of your question? >> to address the problem of israel -- why not take action against the syrian regime? mr. earnest: because the president has made clear there is not a military solution that can be imposed on the situation in syria. other officials have come and it sends that sounds like a cliche, but is a core principle and should be a lesson that we learned in 2003 that trying to overthrow a dictator in the middle east has long term and mostly negative consequences for the united states and our national security. to say nothing of the cost that would be incurred if we were to undertake that kind of action. the president would have to deploy tens of thousands if not more than 100,000 u.s. troops on the ground that would cost a lot of money, and that would mean

the military would sustain significant casualties. and all that would be done without a clear exit plan. we cannot lose track of that whent historical context evaluating our options. the president certainly has not, and that is why we have pressed so forcefully and with such tenacity on the successful completion of the political talks. and we have got a long way to go. but that continues to be our focus. ok. -- they wereent blocking these -- mr. earnest: i think he was pretty gentle when you consider these are tax treaties that have been waiting for congressional approval -- i wrote this down -- i think there is one treaty in

particular with switzerland that ratification by the united states senate since 2011 the tax treaty that we have for switzerland from 2011 awaitinga rating of -- approval. is fromwith luxembourg 2010. the benefit is simply we know use thee companies that and what ever the adjective of luxembourg is -- [laughter] mr. earnest: their financial system, we know there are people

who use the financial systems in switzerland and luxembourg to invade -- evade taxation and in some cases to even hide their resources, because they are the result of criminal actions. i do not know exactly what the senator paul would have with not moving forward with these agreements that would allow her officials to combat those efforts. concernsr paul had that these treaties would personaln americans' tax data. i am wondering what the white house and the administration has -- the concerns that senator paul has. mr. earnest: he is not raising concerns on too many middle-class fame was that are using the financial system in luxembourg to hide their assets. i'm not sure whose concern senator paul is speaking up for.

maybe he can collaborate on that. middle-classis not families in kentucky that he has in mind. >> with this legislation on tax shelters, has anyone from the white house reached out to the congressman or the committee or senator hatch about letting this move forward this year? mr. earnest: there have been conversations with members of issuess on a host of loopholes financial that entities used to get around our tax code or to evade sanctions or store the proceeds of illicit activity. this is a priority that the president has made here, and we have made a lot of important progress, and you saw the administration announcing actions today that be effective

in bringing greater transparency to our financial system. -- points -- we taken have already taken points administratively. we had been in touch with congress about measures and we will continue to encourage them to pursue them. does that make sense? >> are you saying -- [indiscernible] mr. earnest: i am not suggesting there's more coming today. are in touch with congress because there are things they should do as well. the panamaextent do papers released affect the timing? mr. earnest: the roles announced today are rules that have taken at least a couple years to put together. the nature of these rules is they apply to extraordinarily complex financial transactions. had to combts through the regulations and are nothat there

unintended consequences for the roles that are being put in place, so they were country and just about this. there's no denying what they will do is during much-needed transparency to our financial system in a way that will allow or make it much harder for people to evade carrying their fair share, but also make it for criminals and other people to evade u.s. sanctions. you were working on this in a week and ended up animal papers speeded up, or did this have to do specifically to the panama papers? mr. earnest: i would refer you to treasury on what dreck impact that the panama papers have had. this was in the works long before the panama papers have been reported. >> are you ruling out any action or official military action against syria or action against russia if the deadline -- mr. earnest: the point i am

making here is there are negative consequences for everybody if that deadline is not met. everybodyother way, engaged here with the possible sad himself has a vested personal interest in meeting the deadline to bring about a political transition inside of syria. this is not a situation where the united states eats to be threatening people. this is not a situation where we need to be coercing people. we will encourage them to use the influence they have to bring about this outcome, but we will not do that and the standpoint of asking people to do the united states a favor. everybody involved has their own vested interest in seeing the deadline met, and we will continue to press hard to see that that happens. gets is a deadline, and it to the point of a deadline if it

keeps going. you are not -- needednest: if we do not in august, we can go down that line of questioning. >> you are not ruling out anything, is that accurate? mr. earnest:mr. earnest: that would lead one to conclude there might be some kind of military available to is the united states for solving this problem. there is not, at least not one that is consistent with our national security interests. there is one that would lead us to a years-long commitment to syria that would put tens of thousands if not more than 100,000 service members at risk, and a whole array of consequences that has a negative impact on our national security in the long-term. >> [indiscernible] it is not entertainment, not a reality show, although a huge

number of americans are very interested in what donald trump has to say. whether they agree with him or not. the president also reiterated he does not think he will be president because americans have good judgment. given that he is now the republican nominee, potentially, does that mean that way more americans have bad judgment than the president originally anticipated? no, i think the president is merely asserting his confidence that the process that we use to choose the president of the united states is often a source of controversy, often messy, is often frustrating, but it is a process that has served our country well. it does not mean the president election'swith every outcome, but there is a process that gives american people the enormous influence in choosing

the future juror of our country. and that is what it means to be a democratic government. it is a process the president is committed to, and the president has confidence in the ability of american voters to take the process various seriously -- seriously, to engage in the debate and allow all that to inform the choice they make at the ballot box. we can tell from the remarks that he is itching to get out there on the campaign trail. does the president believe that the house and the senate are in place for the democrats? yeah, there obviously is an aggressive campaign that will be announced by individual candidates all across the country, and those will be important contests. is optimisticdent about democratic prospects up and down the ballot this year. iran, does the

hand-pickedon have insiders to push the message to sell the message of iran deal to the public, and the characterization that is out there that has been reported that the administration misled the public in a manner as well, how does the administration respond to that characterization that the public was misled in the selling of the iran deal? mr. earnest: i have not seen anybody produce any evidence indicating that is the case. i recognize there might be people who are disappointed that they did not succeed in killing thesean deal, and maybe unfounded claims are the result of sour grapes. the truth is that the administration, the direction of

the president, engaged in an aggressive campaign to make a strong case to the american people that the international agreement to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon strengthens the national security of the united states. we made a strong case that it strengthened the national security of israel, a strong wouldhat killing the deal actually make another war in the middle east more likely. clear, hesident made ran on this in 2007 and 2008, that the most effective way for the united states to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon was strong, principled diplomacy, and he was right, and he executed carrying that outcome despite the entrenched --imism -- opted visit opposition. the president is proud of our success in completing that agreement because of the positive impact that that has

had on u.s. national security in short term, and the prospects that it enhances for improved posture for the united states around the world over the long term. i ame characterization speaking of came from a profile on the u.s. national security advisor ben rhodes. i am sure you have had time to digest it. do you disagree with some of the characterizations that were in that profile? mr. earnest: i do not know if he said it was misleading in there anywhere. it was rather long, so i missed it. the administration is quite proud of the fact that we made a fact-baseds a bold case to the american people that the international agreement negotiated by the team to prevent iran from obtaining a completed,pon was effectively implemented in a way that enhance the national security of the united states,

and that will be an up or part of the legacy of this present and a promise he made during the campaign, a promise he kept as president. >> top concert is the president that the much talked about 67 consecutive months of net job gains might also end up his watch, given the -- mr. earnest: 74 consecutive months, which is -- >> 67 overall. mr. earnest: 67 refers to? >> total. mr. earnest: you are putting the decline in government jobs on the president's chat here. >> if you want to use the 74 figure, that is fine. mr. earnest: you know the private sector is important to our economic recovery. >> how concern is he given the relatively tepid growth in april that that might also end on his watch?

mr. earnest: the president feels good about the economic growth we showed in april, and it is consistent with the trend we so the president is pleased about the direction of the u.s. economy. there surely is more that could be done that would ensure more families across the country are enjoying the benefits of that and our economy would be even stronger and even more durable than it already is if congress were not locking some common sense for proposals that would strengthen our family further. the president has talked about how investing in the infrastructure would be good for the economy, short-term and long-term, because it would create jobs and generate the kind of economic wildfire that would ripple across the economy in a positive way. but what is also true is that there are some headwinds that enate from overseas

that the united states must be prepared to weather. the u.s. a is the envy of the world. this is the most herbal economy -- most durable economy in the world. it is why the president believes congress should vote to make important investments in our infrastructure. it is why the president leaves congress should expand funding for job training and education programs that would ensure the next generation the skills and training they need to continue this economic strength our country enjoys. he not take it for granted. and failing to invest in the fundamentals is the surest way to break that streak come in the president is determined not to let that happen. >> you mentioned the worldwide or international headwinds. domestically our workforce participation rate is 62.8%. what has the president done to stem the tide? we heard jason suggest because

more americans are retiring, because we are graying, the number will shrink. what is the president doing to combat that? mr. earnest: that is true, this is a direct function of the longer-term trends in our society which is that as the baby boomers age, they will retire. that is going to put more strain on our workforce. that is all the more recent making sure we have educated workforce, that we are investing in research and development that could boost the environment for businesses that are looking to capitalize on technology and innovation, to bring new ideas, and new products to market. the president made a reference to reforming our legal immigration system. we know the brightest minds that other countries have to offer are not interested in

coming to the united states. why would we not create an opportunity for entrepreneurs whoscientists and others are looking to start a business or grow a business to come to the united states? that would be good for our comely, create jobs, by definition, and would continue the strong business climate we have in the united states where people are given an opportunity to pursue new ideas and get an education that will allow them to succeed. the president leaves there are a number of things we could do, and comprehensive immigration reform that enhances the national security but streamlines the legal immigration system is another option. >> to the best of your knowledge, has anyone in the current white house staff that interview in relation to the ongoing investigation into secretary clinton's e-mail server? mr. earnest: i am not going to

talk about ongoing investigations. it is apparent in the newspaper that that some people are willing to do this. the fact is that people who are leading the investigation are professionals, committed to getting this right, committed to doing this by the book and making sure they are not influenced my political systems -- considerations, even in the highly charged political environment in an election year. i will do my best to help them bywhat they are trying to do giving them the space they need to conduct this investigation in a way they see fit and that is consistent with the where the facts lead them. what they have results they are prepared to discuss, we can take a look at that. >> have you been interviewed? not going toi'm comment on the investigation, but there is no reason to think that i have been. >> the sentiments of the political shakeup in turkey, happening as the crisis in

iraq and both of these dates are critical. not thinku this is such a big deal or have an impact on the strategy, and what is he drooling to mitigate that -- doing to mitigate that? mr. earnest: there has been no impact on our ability to advance our campaign against isil. we have received cooperation from turkey in last months on a range of issues. our campaign has benefited from that. even as we have intensified our cooperation on a set of counter-isil issues, we have not refrained from raising our concerns about turkey's fidelity. and we will continue to make those concerns known both in public and in private when

appropriate. >> are there specific discussions happening around what to do -- [indiscernible] mr. earnest: they are quite different situations. there is always people in the government who are engaged in contingency planning, so i am confident that is taking place at some level. when it comes to the situation to support continue the efforts of prime minister a unify the country, and we believe that is the most effective way of direct to confront the threat they face from isil. obviously, the thing that both of these countries have in common is that they are sovereign countries with sovereign governments. we respect the sovereignty of same way we in the

expect our partners to respect the sovereignty of the united states as well. tot we can do is we continue support these countries as they confront the significant challenges that are having a heat that blazing effect on - are having a destabilizing effect on politics in these countries. the widespread migration crisis, the violence from isil, that has had a negative impact on syria's neighbors, and that does not make an effective political resolution in turkey and iraq more likely. i would argue that is yet another reason for the united states and the rest of the international community to continue to drive toward a political transition inside

syria, that resolving the turmoil in syria will have a dampening effect on the destabilizing impact that syria has had on its neighbors. i do not want to belabor the point, but i want you to go back to a question you are asked yesterday about intelligence briefings for presidential candidates. you seem to leave us with the impression that you were not willing to give mr. trump the same benefit of the doubt as you would secretary clinton in his ability to handle -- responsibly. was that the impression you meant to give? we heard from the president this morning about his concern with some of mr. trump's rhetoric that it could threaten war have the potential of offending critical relationships with other countries.

should the american people have any concerns with this particular presidential candidate receiving our nation's most classified information? mr. earnest: mr. earnest: the impression i intended to leave yesterday was the decision on what material to present to presidential candidates nominated by the two political parties will be made by our professionals in the intelligence community. i did offer an opinion about secretary clinton that was rooted in her service as secretary of state in the obama administration. she is somebody who undeniably served closely with the president with distinction, and she was critical to advancing a number of policy priorities, including the international agreement to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. that required her to handle sensitive information and to use it in the course of her job to

advance our nation's interests. that is what she did. but ultimately, the decision tout how and when and where give the candidates these briefings will be made by professionals in the intelligence community without regard to partisan considerations. in terms of the american people, they will have to make up their own minds. that certainly is true when it comes to deciding who to vote for. decisionsms of making about providing sensitive information to individual candidates, i think the american people can have confidence in our intelligence professionals to make that decision. >> it is my understanding these briefings have been done as a courtesy by the sitting president. courtesy, than a

more of a long-term preservation of our national security. but they are authorized by the sitting president for the candidates for president. there is no law requiring it. the president could use his discretion to give or deny these briefings to any presidential candidate. is that correct? mr. earnest: i'm not sure the specifics of the law. what i can say is the director of national intelligence has indicated he is prepared to move forward at an appropriate time, probably after the convention, with giving intelligence briefings to the two major party nominees. the director has assigned that responsibility to one of the career intelligence professionals in his office. and the president has confidence in those professionals and their ability to determine how and when those briefings should take place. i will give you the last one and then we will do the week ahead. >> [indiscernible]

invited by the white house next month. mr. earnest: i don't have an update. i know there has been discussion about the potential of prime minister --the prime minister visiting washington and the white house. i don't have an update on those discussions at this point. >> [indiscernible] it has been quoted quite a number of indian politicians in the u.s. is the u.s. willing to share that information with the indian government and send money back to india? mr. earnest: let me tell you a couple of things about this. the rule that was announced today by the treasury department applied to a very specific group of l.l.c.'s. it would have an impact on that specific group. i know it is not uncommon for the united states to reach

transparency agreements with other countries in terms of sharing this information. those are typically reciprocal agreements. i don't know what kind of agreement is in place to govern the conversations between the united states and industry -- india. i encourage you to check with my colleagues at the department and they could provide information. >> f-16's to pakistan. the state department [indiscernible] wanting to buy the f-16's. do you think this will have any impact on u.s. relations with pakistan? mr. earnest: what i will say is something you have heard me say before, which is that the united states has an important counterterrorism and national security relationship with pakistan. we value the kind of cooperation we get from pakistan. we have found that cooperation and official to the national security of both our countries. president obama has worked hard,

even in challenging circumstances, to cultivate an effective working relationship with pakistan. we believe preserving that relationship and nurturing that relationship is beneficial to the national security of the united states and also pakistan. let me do a week ahead. on monday, the president will attend meetings at the white house. on tuesday, the president will welcome the ncaa champion women's basket wanting to the white house. will on the team and a 2016 ncaa championship. on wednesday and thursday, the president will attend meetings at the white house. on friday, the president will host the president of finland, and the prime ministers of norway, sweden, and denmark for a leaders summit. this event follows the convening of nordic leaders turned the president's trip to sweden in 2013. this will highlight america's

continued commitment to european security, transatlantic trade, and the promotion of common democratic values. ofthe evening, the president first lady will close the nordic leaders for a state dinner. on sunday, next sunday, the president will travel to rutgers university's new brunswick campus to address the 2016 graduates at the 250th anniversary commencement cemetery -- ceremony. rutgers is one of the oldest universities in the country with a long and is the most history of advancing research and preparing students with skills they need to succeed in the new economy. additional details about the president's trip to new jersey will be available next week. i hope you have a great weekend. and happy mother's day to all of your mother's. >> have a great week. >> white house press secretary josh earnest finishing up today's white house briefing. president obama opened a briefing today with remarks on the economy and taxes.

we will have that for you later on the c-span networks. another economic-related story from "the hill o." the treasury department is poised to approve a plan that would significantly reduce benefits for hundreds of thousands of current and future retirees. if the cuts are approved, they would be the first reductions the treasury department signed that allowedft -- them to cut benefits. republican national committee chair priebus acknowledges it will take other republicans, including speaker paul ryan, time to meet and get used to donald trump. this comes a day after speaker ryan publicly said he cannot back mr. trump right now. mr. priebus sat down for a one-on-one tribute with mike allen. the r.n.c. also talked about the party's minority outreach plan. [applause]

>> thank you for coming out this morning. we had reince priebus with us, looking forward to a conversation with him looking ahead, talking about the convention and about november. i would like to thank bank of america for continuing to support these great conversations. bank of america is here. we really appreciate our partnership with bank of america that has taken us all of the country to talk about the most important issues in politics and policies. thank you to bank of america for being a great partner for many years now. we appreciate your support. welcome all of you. we will be taking your questions. i have the twitter machine up here. hashtag your questions and they will pop up for me.

now without further into, chairman priebus. [applause] mr. chairman, thank you for doing this. mr. priebus: this is off the record, right? [laughter] chairman, we are going to start with a gift to the guest which we have never done before. cnn, whichfile with was done before tuesday, they asked you how you were feeling about how the primaries were going. and you said i am not exactly pouring baileys in my cereal. thanks to my colleagues, a little president for you, mr. chairman. mr. priebus: excellent. now where is the lucky charms and bowl? >> there you go. [applause] thereiel points out

are two, one for you and one for your nominee. who is the one person in washington who has a harder job than you? mr. priebus: maybe my chief of staff. >> your job is to elect donald trump president of the united states. that makes you feel how? mr. priebus: look, we have said is along whoever our nominee , we are obviously here to support the nominee. i think we are as prepared as we have ever been. the r.n.c. of today four years ago, i think mitt romney would be president. staff, we have gone from a committee that was in disarray to a committee that has raised over 75 million more dollars than d.n.c. just the cycle. hundreds of thousands of people in the field.

5000 people going through six weeks of training. and $100 million makeover in our data operations. to keep thered senate, keep the house, and when the white house -- win the white house. i would rather take a few elbows being thrown than the director of the f.b.i. interviewing your top aides and potentially the democrat nominee. mr. allen: take us behind the scenes. tuesday night, you were in milwaukee. the spent the night in your bed, which he rarely do. tell us what happened when you decided and tweeted donald trump was the present of nominee. mr. priebus: i said he would be. obviously, kasich was still in the race. presumptive nominee, you still need to be at 1237 to be the presumptive nominee. no one else is running, so obviously i think it is safe to say at some point, he is going to be the presumptive nominee. let me tell you where we were. we had planned a fundraiser in

milwaukee. obviously, those are kind of family members to me. they have been helping me since i have been chairman of the wisconsin party. the pfister,nto which you have been to. i had heard rumors about the potential of ted cruz dropping out in the afternoon. i did not go out of my way to confirm any of it or make any phone calls because sometimes there are times you don't want to be in the information loop on things like that, because once you are in the loop, if something leaks, you're one of the people in the loop. we will find out soon enough. i did call my chief of staff and say, what if ted cruz actually drops out tonight? what do you think of that? we talked a little bit about it. i don't think it is going to happen. went to the fundraiser. and sure enough, when the

cellphone starts buzzing. a few buzzes is one thing. when you get like 15 in a row and you don't want to look down at your phone when you're talking to people but you pick it up and realize i guess the rumor was true. went back to the house in kenosha, which i had not been to in a very long time, which was nice. and that was it. i made some phone calls. obviously talked to donald trump a couple of times. andink he did a nice job was very gracious in his speech that night. i think we need more of that. being presidential, 30,000 feet, gracious. i'm hoping we will see more of that. mr. allen: does cricket hillary cap as presidential? doneriebus: i think he has an effective job of labeling. i think she does have a history of being crooked. she has a lot to answer for. heroes families of dead in benghazi to answer for. she has a tenure as secretary of

state to answer for. i think she has a lot of material for us to cling on to and use. mr. allen: what is he like behind-the-scenes? mr. priebus: far more gracious and personable than i think you see at rallies. i have never had a problem behind the scenes. i have never had a situation where something was said by him that was not followed through. interaction has been extremely positive, which made the system rigged stuff so out of place for me compared to what was being said personally behind the scenes. mr. allen: does that bother you that there is one donald trump behind the scenes and one different on camera? mr. priebus: i think he said it himself. there is going to be a time to shift to general election mode.

i think that is the way he sees it. i think that is the way he feels about it. now the general election is starting. and what you saw on tuesday night i think is going to be more of what you see in the future. and really, the person you saw on tuesday night was the person i got used to dealing with on the telephone and in-person. electioneneral approach is the type of approach i had been dealing with for six years. the recidivism issue, the next morning he is on television -- mr. priebus: i'm sure it is going to take some time. to get into general election mode and out of primary mode. mr. allen: is there anyway in cleveland, the rules could be used to nominate someone other than donald trump? mr. priebus: i see we have some

rules experts in the crowd. my personal view is it is highly, highly doubtful. as i said before, the rules committee of 2016 writes the rules for the convention. i don't write the rules. the r.n.c.'s relet the convention is fairly limited -- role at the convention is fairly limited. the r.n.c. is basically a caretaker, an administrator of the convention. mr. allen: you are saying is unlikely but not impossible? mr. priebus: nothing is impossible. like i said, i have said this many times. highly --and i will add another one -- highly unlikely. mr. allen: ben sasse are had a agobook post a few nights calling for a draft of an adult conservative challenger to trump. he predated it with hashtags "we

can do better" and "give us more choices." mr. priebus: i think the amount of time, energy, money, and also it is a guarantee to elect hillary clinton. i think when people start to take a breath and let some of this stuff calm down people will understand the supreme court is too important to let differences in theions and choices primary get in the way. republicans say there is no way to guarantee donald trump will nominate conservatives to the court. mr. priebus: i think the smart thing for donald trump to do would be to release five to 10 says of people he would here are 10 folks i think would make great supreme court justices and work with people to come up with that list.

i think things like that would be helpful in kind of recalibrating some people's minds as far as, what is this about, why do we need to support the republican nominee? i think we are going to get there. i don't think -- maybe some of you did. but i don't think too many people thought that tuesday and wednesday would be the end of ted cruz and john kasich. people -- and i would say in paul ryan's case, he thought he had 30 more days. there was this meeting planned next week, by the way, something the media is not really talking about. there was a plan to start having meetings on capitol hill. paul ryan and leadership were planning that meeting with donald trump. in their minds, they are thinking we have another month to talk about this, to get

comfortable. and all of a sudden, you have cameras interface saying, what do you think? i think paul is just being honest with how he feels. i think he's going to get there. he wants to get there. he just wants some time to go through it. mr. allen: politico is reporting this morning the meeting on capitol hill next week is expected to go ahead. do you expect speaker ryan to be there? mr. priebus: i do. i talked to him multiple times yesterday. he wants it to go forward. he was being honest. he says he is not there yet, but he wants to get there. so yes, he will meet. mr. allen: after speaker ryan made his comments he was not ready to jake tapper, how quickly did donald trump call you? mr. priebus: well, i had talked to him already once that day. but i have talked to donald trump and paul ryan multiple times yesterday afternoon. mr. allen: donald trump called

you within minutes. mr. priebus: uh -- [laughter] mr. priebus: you are pretty good. [laughter] mr. priebus: i can't lie. i would not lie anyway. he was not furious or anything. he was just like, what do i need to do? listen.i said my view is just relax and be gracious. i will talk to paul, and we will try to work on this. overlyof like don't get hot either quickly. i know paul really well. i know he's being honest. i know how he feels. i am comfortable with the idea it is going to take some time in some cases for people to work through differences.

and so, we talked about it. we talked about it multiple times. they are very comfortable with sitting down with donald trump. it may be at my office. it may be somewhere else, but we are going to have that meeting and start the process of unifying. mr. allen: jake scarborough said yesterday for him to vote for donald trump, trump would have to change some of his positions or emphasis including the idea of restricting the entry of muslims or forced deportation. do you sense with speaker ryan that it also will take some change in position? all, i ams: first of in agreement on the ban coming in. i put a statement out on that already. it is not something i believe in or our party believes in.

i believe our party is the open door. our party is the party of freedom and equality and will remain such. mr. allen: are you going to be able to convince donald trump? mr. priebus: it has been like three days, so not quite there yet. when we get the speaker on board, we both get into some of those details later. mr. allen: do you hope to persuade donald trump that the republican party should be the party of the open door? mr. priebus: yeah, and i think he believes that. i'm going to work very hard on making sure some of these issues are discussed and talked about and understood. and i am confident given my experience so far with him, that he is going to have an open mind to some of these issues. mr. allen: mitt romney said last night when he announced he would not support donald trump, he set

i see way too much demagoguery and populism on both sides of the aisle. do you agree? well, i guess everyone has their opinion. one thing i have learned quickly , every person -- mr. allen: do you think there is too much demagoguery? mr. priebus: there is plenty of it. i certainly believe -- listen. i think there is plenty of it. whether there is too much of it is a result of what people have been served up in this country. people feel cheated. they feel like they are not bringing enough money home. they feel government has not been doing its job or has been too big in many cases. sometimes get the result -- you sometimes get the result you build. that is sort of what has happened across the country. mr. allen: in the primaries, what is the biggest thing learned about republican-based primary voters?

mr. priebus: something people don't report on a lot, which is their incredible enthusiasm in the party. we have record turnouts, 70% higher among republicans, 30% lower among democrats. over voteradvantage registration in battleground states we have not seen in 25 years. in the first quarter of this year at the r.n.c., we raised more money than in any first-quarter in the history of the r.n.c. we were raising more money in the first quarter than we raised in 2012. it is ok. you do what you have to do. it is only to focus on the drama, which i get because people are interested in the drama. they are not interested in the mechanics. but mechanically and because of the enthusiasm in our party and 17 serious candidates, you have a result that i think has built

us into a machine that is going to be able to compete very well in november. mr. allen: what is the biggest thing you learned about the press during the primaries? think there is so much of it and there are so many people, a lot of talented people, online, traditional, that almost nothing breaks through. if you have a really good story that you are really proud of and think you have done a great job, very difficult to break through because there is so much. i also believe into many cases -- in too many cases, it is all about click bait. it is all about the headline. in many cases, i'm not worried about the copy. i am worried about the headline because the headline does not match the reality. you take the group of articles about the r.n.c. meeting in

april. all of you that wrote articles about how there is going to be a rules fight that erupts, not you all, but the people watching this, i think you owe everyone an apology because it is ridiculous. there is no rules fight. it is 54-2. it is that kind of stuff where you bogged down organizations and give anait answer for things that are inaccurate. it was inaccurate. there was no rules fight. it was smooth sailing. mr. allen: some of the stories said you were prepared for a rules fight. we want to welcome our c-span viewers and thank c-span for carrying this life. please shoot us your questions. do you agree with donald trump that beating hillary would be easy? mr. priebus: i don't know he said that. [laughter] mr. allen: he said in indiana 48 hours ago i have not even

started yet. now i will start focusing on hillary, and it is going to be so easy, so great. [laughter] mr. priebus: you know, look, i don't think anyone would have trump in this fashion would have taken out 16 other candidates. he has certainly defied the odds. personally say -- i don't think it will be easy because i think raising the money, building the ground game, having the data, targeting voters. the truth is our party is a great midterm party, but we have a hard time winning presidential elections. it is nothing new. it is not like this just happened. in 2004, it was 1:30 in the morning and our still fairly popular president had a tough time putting away a horrible

candidate as far as salability in john kerry. we know what happened in 2000. 1996 was not good. 1992, clinton lost six primaries initially or something like that. obviously, there was ross perot. bush 41 was a very popular president. last time, we won with relative ease was 1998 -- 1988. i think it is a difficult task but we are up to it. we have a big upside. i know there are perils, but i also know there is an upside. mr. allen: how does having a soon-to-be presumptive nominee effect the formal r.n.c.? mr. priebus: i think clarity has been helpful. there is no one else running, so therefore there is not this daily unknown which i think has been helpful. i think it has been helpful on the money side, too. mr. allen: will trump bring some

of his own people into the r.n.c.? mr. priebus: there is no mechanism for it other than me agreeing to it. that is the only mechanism for such a thing. i don't know what the myths is about. someone has to issue a key card. someone has to get out the keys. mr. allen: would you do that? mr. priebus: sure, but there is not going to be any layering that would be different from what happened when i was chairman under the mitt romney nomination timeframe. in the case of mitt romney, brian jones was in our building and ward baker were in the building. but they were not saying what to do or not to do or sitting in on our meetings. there was a lot of trust that we knew what we were doing. i would say so far, we see that same approach with some of the folks on the trump campaign. they have no intention of taking over anything.

mr. allen: you will remain in charge? mr. priebus: 100%. there was never any doubt. susan: -- mr. allen: the night of the indiana do you agree this is donald trump's party? >> no, it is the party's party. he will remain the republican party of the open door freedom, opportunity, a quality. our platform remains -- i believe our platform will remain the same as it is right now. we will remain continuously. i don't buy into that. here is the chief strategist of the rnc tweeting that this was 100% not true. a company story in the new york says says sticks said -- six members wered