, victoriaalveaux , and fpher murray michael higginbotham. watch live tuesday at 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span 2. an overcast day here in washington. september 6 is the day that lawmakers return to our nation's get back to legislative business. right now and august, as they usually are in their districts, we will take a look where kelly enjoyeds today, really taking a look at the modern .ailroad -- model railroaders debbie wasserman schultz says thank you to cbcpac.

from debbie wasserman schultz. and we go out to india know where this is downey and state fair season. governor mike pence with a simple response on iowa's fair versus indiana's. says governor pence, it's better. no a look at advertising for hillary clinton and donald trump. >> in hillary clinton's america, the system stays rigged against americans. in, illegalees come immigrants convicted of crimes get to stay, collecting social security benefits, skipping the line during our border -- the line. our border open is the same, but worse. under demo chum, the border is secure, are families safe.

donald trump for president. of course i am double trap and i approve this message. >> i am hillary clinton and i approve this message. decide to run for office, i will produce my tax returns, absolutely. >> what is your tax rate? >> is none of your business. >> he pays>> very low taxes indeed and pretty much nothing. involved inply dealing with rush and oligarchs. >> either he is not anywhere near as wealthy as he says are there is a bombshell in. much of taxes. donald trump's taxes. look atr: and we will this from today's washington journal. joining us at the table now is brian katulis. he's a national security senior fellow at the center for american progress action fund. thanks for joining us. guest: good to be with you, paul. host: we're here to talk about the foreign policy plans and agenda of hillary clinton and

donald trump. what do you see is the difference between the two of them? hillary clinton and donald trump in the foreign policy area. guest: this is a stark contrast here. for the first time in several generations, we actually have a real divide where donald trump has a much less optimistic and very negative view of america and where we are. in the world whereas secretary clinton projects a view of confidence, of engagement, of strength. donald trump has a fixation, a strange fixation with autocrats like vladimir putin and russia whereas secretary clinton places a premium on our allys and our values and working with countries that are also democratic. there really is both in terms of tone and substance a stark contrast and the biggest emphasize is just her experience and knowledge compared to his lack of experience and his poor

judgment. i think he's demonstrated that sfrl times in the last few weeks on a number of issues and i think there's a real choice here for america when it comes to foreign policy. host: as a national security fellow for center for american progress, what do you see as the biggest threats facing the u.s. right now? guest: right now, obviously the threats that many of us think about from the islamic state and isis and terrorism are at the forefront. but there are other issues, frankly, paul, that we're not talking about in this election as much. in part because donald trump has downgraded the quality of our election. you know, instead of debating whether president obama created isis or hillary clinton, we should be talking about what's the next step in the fight against that. but some of the other threats that we're not talking about include cyber security, with the hack of the democratic national committee that we've seen over the last couple of years on a regular basis, hacks done by

state sponsored entities or individuals. that's one. second and quite obviously, global climate change. why was the hottest month on record that we've ever seen and it comes from the heels of a detected of very high temperatures. and i think president obama and secretary clinton has recognized this to the factor. donald trump denies that it's even a factor. that's another challenge that we're not having a debate about what to do next. host: phone number is at the bottom of the screen for our guests. we are with brian katulis, a national security senior fellow for the center for american progress. we look forward to your phone calls in just a couple of minutes. and we'll take a look at a piece of tape here from donald trump speaking about hillary clinton's foreign policy. donald trump: in short, hillary clinton wants to be america's

angela merkel. and you know what a disaster this massive immigration has been to germany and the people of germany. crime has risen to a level that no one thought they would ever see. it is a catastrophe. we have enough problems in our country. we don't need more. host: donald trump hitting hillary clinton on there with refugee policy. what's your reaction? guest: this is a great example of how donald trump offers some sort of vague criticism without any reference at all to what her actual policy would be on immigration and refugees. and then he doesn't offer an alternative. it's similar to what we've seen on other fronts. he has secret plan to defeat isis but he never tells you what it is. so again, when i talk about downgrading the quality of our debate and.

of of my friends are republicans agree with this is that we have some real issues of keeping america safe. we're just not debating them because donald trump offers a bunch of conspiracy theories or vague criticisms. host: having you here gives us the chance to dig into the details of hillary clinton's policy on refugees. what's her policy? guest: i think she recognizes that from an interest standpoint and a value standpoint that there's something we need to do to help refugees either from syria or other places, but it shouldn't solely be about us. i think her position would be how do we look at this period of time that we're in in the world and find some sort of way where americans can accept a limited number of people who are vetted to come here. people who are experiencing threats to their lives. and i would highlight people lining the -- like the translators who work in afghanistan who are at risk.

and she would have a much more measured approach would certainly abide by strong vetting of those individuals. but the emphasis would be about getting partners and allies to accept some of these. and i think the last thing i would say is that when you hear her talk about foreign policy questions, the biggest resolution, i think, to this crisis is to solve these conflicts whether it's syria or libya or other places where people are coming from. and i think working with our partners and allies to make those places more stable so they don't feel like they need to flee those places would be key on it. host: our guest has a master's degree in princeton in international affairs and brian katulis is advised u.s. policymakers on foreign policy. he worked at the national security council at the state defense depept during the bill clinton administration and he is here to take your call. first one from arthur. by the way, do you have a direct

role in the clinton campaign? guest: i am one of many informal advisors who offer her views but i'm here speaking in my own capacity with the center for american progress action fund. so and what we've seen over the last few months is because he is such a strong record knowledge, there are a lot of people that want to join whether it's democratic and republican. a lot of people are concerned about trump but i'm just an informal advisor in what i say here and not for the campaign. host: got it. arthur, you're on with brian katulis. caller: yes. more lling about who is qualified for -- to be our president as far as foreign policies are concerned. i think hillary clinton is more qualified. she has the experience. she's been there. donald trump has never even handled a -- and never even been

in the service period. and other thing i would like to say, as far as him telling all african-americans to vote for him, this man is a racist and a bigot and he want us to vote for him? and the people that he's got in his campaign running his said gn are racist and he point black on live tv that african-americans were inferior and they were superior and we were nothing but -- and he is trump's an as far as campaign. i think any african-americans that vote for donald trump got to be sick in the head. host: all right, arthur. going to hear from our guest, brian katulis. anything you want to react there? guest: what arthur says is really an important part of how we project our image around the

world. and a lot of the things that donald trump has said about various communities and how people from those communities feel about that in america is a part of our engagement with the world. i travel maybe once or twice a month overseas to the middle east to europe, to other places and people have been watching closely how donald trump has talked about us as a nation. and one thing that i think secretary clinton has been strong is is talking on the value of pluralism that our greatness america comes from the diversity that we represent and projecting that and how we engage with other countries. i think it is essential and donald trump, when he vilifies certain communities like muslim-american communities, he undermibes our abilities to keep americans safe, our law enforcement agencies and others have been working for years. and it's nearly 15 years after the 9/11 attack. to detect threats and work with these communities closely and when donald trump vilifies some of them, it actually undermines

our ability to keep americans safe. host: let's try another republican caller from oklahoma, karen. caller: yes, talk about racist, that last man talking about blacks that want to have a better life is an uncle tom. wow. and he says trump's a racist. you know, they -- i don't know -- they claim that trump doesn't have a plan on the refugees. he has a plan. and that's the -- to make sure when they come in that they'll go according to the american way. you are wanting to bring more people in more $20 million in debt and you're bringing these and you are bringing these people with no jobs and no homes and no food, let's take care that went 22 of them a day are committing suicide. or old people, let's take care

of them so they are not deciding between eating or taking their medicine. on the ground in syria, how does phillies things? the only thing she can teach us is how to lie and be corrected and steel out of the white house when they leave. a man at a fundraiser, where is the media on that? democrats and their beating up old people. calling.nk you for other priorities other than refugees. guest: i think a lot of those priorities if you look carefully at secretary clinton passes agenda, the whole campaign, a speech about the economy, and a top priority is creating jobs for americans and rebuilding our infrastructure and doing these sorts of things that i think is essential to make america strong.

we need to be strong at home to be strong abroad. a couple of things karen said are very important, needing to honor our veterans. how we talk about our veterans, who i think many are facing a difficult situation at home, and have lost their lives, honoring their sacrifices, no matter their background like we saw with donald trump, we did not see the level of respect to a soldier who had fallen in our sos over the last month or in comments by donald trump. ae last thing i will say at what karen said overall, it points to a challenge we have as a country and if hillary clinton is elected president, no matter what, i think america needs to try to come together and build a consensus at home about what is the right way to strike our balance in foreign policy.

when do we send troops and when do we not? please to have this in different something i personally try to do is work with some of my friends who are more conservative think tanks and institutions, trying to rebuild an argument of a common sense and purpose for reaping a safe at home. host: let me get your reaction in thee lead story washington post today. immigration overhaul is one parts -- one policy goal. one area where i think immigration is important is some of our economic strength here at home, some of the more skilled technical workers we have had in our high -- in our industry, have come in on specialized recess. reminding ourselves that a lot and others in the

world, they created many jobs by individuals who came to america because they saw america as a begin of innovation. i understand why people feel the way we do and how they are linked politically and fears and concerns, i think we're in a different era, we need to manage it wisely and take care of our people here at home, but we need to be open to the idea that we need to reform the system. is not clear it the practicality of it, even some of his foreign policy advisers say his ideas, is not clear you could actually implement them. hillary clinton has an idea to keep america connected to the but in a way that keeps america safe. a more detailed proposal on how you strike that balance. democratic caller. morning.ood

thank you for c-span. i'm 89 years old and i have been in two wars. i served all over the pacific four times. i hear people calling it to you. not one of them, the black sea or the mediterranean. right into the beast, the persian gulf. , where ist to say donald trump talking about $400 million? the guy pays taxes, you pay taxes, the people calling in pay taxes.

and we have a man talking about $400 million of our money, iranian money, and banks in europe. says that everything will be .ine my good friends in america, donald trump does not pay taxes. you are paying taxes. he is really neat -- leading you down over a ditch. the ditch is getting bigger, not smaller. he went down to louisiana, did he bring toys? they had nowhere to put the toys on. thank you for your service and the wars and again come we need to recognize and honor people like you who served our country in such a way.

what i was saying earlier about has reallytrump brought our level of debate about foreign policy issues to a much lower level than i think we would've had if there were a different nominee for the republican party, i think your party helped crystallize that, that we have serious issues in the persian gulf and very serious challenges with iran despite a nuclear deal that i think was one of the most important accomplishments of the inma administration preventing another war in the middle east and preventing iran from getting a nuclear weapon. iran still place a role in other parts of the middle east where civil war in yemen and in syria these days. i think secretary clinton has outlined a pragmatic vision where we would push back against the negative role that iran has terroristn funding

groups and we kind of structure in the middle east secretary clinton is better poised. host: we will talk to brian katulis for another 45 minutes or so. james and twitter wants to know who is the largest contributors to the cabinet? guest: we have a range of the two readers and we can -- and you can go on --we had a range of contributors and you can go on the website. we have foundations and corporations that provide support. the key is there is a mix. i come as an analyst had been there 11 errors -- i come as an analyst have been there for 11 years. .t is great we offer our own analysis. give or take whatever people

want to hear. it is an important question. you can look on our website. host: let's go to david in virginia. caller: i was fascinated by brian's comments on the tank tanks and institutions coming together to find common purpose. it may be think about the common purpose answer is an administration in office and was the candidates are now down to a president elect. the common purpose in the national security environment is provided by intelligence. this is david priest, good to see you brian. i am curious, what are your thoughts on the use of intelligence in election campaign? there is unprecedented attention on how each of the candidates will use intelligence, even in the campaign briefings himself, and how you think they will play out during the transition itself? from a man is coming

like you that has just written a book. will how thisore will shape our dialogue. there was obvious concern, even donald trump's closest personal ties, given his expressed affinity for russia, and many of his advisors making millions of dollars working with russia, ukraine and other places about how he would use classified intelligence that he just any getting last week. you would know more, david, he gets not what the united states gets, he gets something that helps him understand what is going on in the world and it is on par on what secretary clinton receives as well. the biggest concern that many people have is donald trump seems to be operating at such a deficit of knowledge and a base of knowledge about what is happening in particular quarters of the world.

he has a lot more homework to do then secretary clinton. i think it is unfortunate. the second thing, you know, the intelligence community works very, very hard to get the best information possible to the commander in chief president of united states, and members of congress. any time these issues get caught up in our politics, it is a risky thing. trying to preserve neutrality, independence is essential to help our leaders and possible future leaders to make the best decisions available to them. host: david, tell us more about what you are writing? about thewrote a book president's book of secrets. about how the national security discussions claim out -- the discussions come out.

candidates are even talking about these intelligence briefings is very unusual in the history of this. guest: that is correct. any time he sets of issues -- because we are dealing with very sensitive issues and it gets caught up in our politics. it is not a good thing, i think, for the broader interest of trying to keep all americans, of different backgrounds, party affiliations, face -- it is important keep it strong. let's talk about isis and hillary clinton's plans for dealing with isis. we will start with a clip from her national security speech back in june and then we will talk. [video clip] >> over the past year, i have laid out my plans for defeating isis. theird to take out stronghold in iraq and syria by intensifying the air campaign and stepping up our support for arab and kurdish forces on the ground. we need to keep pursuing diplomacy to end syria's

civil war because the conference are keeping ice is alive. oureed to lash up with allies and make sure our intelligence services are working hand-in-hand to dismantle the global -- to dismantle arms to the terrorists. and we need to with new the battle in cyberspace -- and we need to win the battle in cyberspace. [applause] strengthenwe need to our defenses here at home. that, in a nutshell, is my plan for defeating isis. host: brian katulis, cannot work? with: we are seeing it hillary clinton say it is cut for the clock. seeing clinton say it is cut from the same cloth.

what i think you hear from secretary clinton is a sophisticated, multilayered strategy that isn't solely about how many booths we put on the ground, or what america can do, but at its core, how do we build alliances and partners in the region? the only way we are going to defeat a force like isis, and i know this from my work in the middle east, and i traveled a quite regularly, when we have our partners, whether it is jordan or egypt, or the united arab emirates. countries like this that are on the front lines with us. we see in northern syria, progress with isis because of the partnerships we have built with the kurds. clearly, i think every time an administration changes hand, when a new president comes in, the quite often build their policies on whether predecessor did. even when you had the presidency change parties from george w.

bush to barack obama, he picked up where bush left off. i think secretary clinton will do that. her strategy is quite similar. she has a more robust view on what we like do in certain areas, like syria. she has called for a no-fly zone, but has been cleared that it would be a no america flies down. it would be one that will be built in partnership with the coalition. she has emphasized that such a no-fly zone in syria would not be in the entire country, but in a particular part to actually keep syrians safe. choi mehta to the refugee question, so you don't have this flood of millions of refugees. we can do it all. -- we can't do it all. what i see in the middle east is we need to reinforce partnerships with traditional allies whether it is israel, egypt, or jordan.

that is an essential part of the game plan. host: active calls in just a moment. clinton's foreign policy buspar canker? donald trump is not the only front runner. inlary clinton is coming with her share of criticism. this is from a couple of months ago. the critiques are not always consistent. issues like trade, she will break markedly with mr. obama. random,mp's policy seem --it is hard to see how clinton's approach is much

better. this is from trevor 10. any reaction? guest: my first reaction is that it is not a surprise to me what the next president's foreign policy would look like. all of the people and america, including donald trump, who says america is weaker and does not matter, and for all the people overseas that say america's power declined, i see that. . people are deeply concerned about what the current president and next president might do because we have seen and unrivaled -- an unrivaled global power. america is still seen as a standard measure of all of this. it is not surprising to me. not having the benefit of hearing the pacific -- specific criticism.

we are part of the debate. i think that demonstrates that american foreign-policy matters, including donald trump. , and the key is how do we use it to build partnerships around the world? host: akron, ohio. independent caller. thanks for holding on. caller: thank you. , shery clinton's policies can't even take care of the united states. y'all justeals and let her go on and go on. she is making deals around the world and we don't know nothing. yell keep everything in secret and you won't tell nobody until it is too late. you don't know who they are, what they are. cats runningn see around anymore. why is that? you don't assimilate them.

but you want to go over there and take care of their country and our country is falling apart. host: let's go to our guest. guest: i hear your concerns and your anxiety. many people feel the same way. if you look carefully at what hillary clinton has been saying about our role in the world, it is to try to get others around the world to pull their weight. key toted states is a all of this, but our allies need to take care of a lot of these challenges. --t you are saying there americans all around saying, what about all of the burdens we had here at home? if you look at the agenda, you get from hillary clinton, you get the domestic policy, economic agenda and foreign agenda, you have an approach that is complete. and reviving our economy and continuing the process of trying to expand inclusive prosperity is so that more people, after

the great recession in 2008, 2009, we have had a revival, but not everybody has felt that. if you look at her speech that she gave in michigan earlier this summer, she has a template that isn't about solving the world's problems, but it is a world view that says, america is stronger when we are engaged in the world and we are safer when we are engaged in the world and striking the right balance is key. host: tell us more about her policy toward russia. what would that look like? guest: what i said about continuity between the two administrations --what is interesting is she left her position of secretary -- as secretary of state 2013 and a lot has happened with russia and their dangerous actions. she is a pragmatist and seeks to try to work with russia when we can and where we can. withwas trying to explain

the isis five, she will probably have a slightly more robust revocation,russia's whether it is in ukraine, her response to syria would be slightly different. it is a matter of tactics. one of the things i would emphasize, i talked about cyber security as being a big issue. we have had multiple acts. backanalysts traced that to moscow and russia. we have seen what happened in advance of the democratic convention the summer and the hack over there. one of the issues globally will be cyber security, and clearly, the evidence demonstrates the trail to a lot of the problems we see here at home and in the world with cyber security come from russia and a little bit from china as line others. you will have a much more -- she has learned from the experiences sitting across the table from russian negotiators to negotiate

a nuclear arms decision. she knows how to deal with these guys anyway that her opponent clearly doesn't demonstrate. host: we have steve from charlotte, north carolina. democratic caller for brian katulis. hi, steve. caller: hi. hillary clinton's foreign-policy is a reason why i am not voting for her. there are a lot of us quite disappointing and her. we can go on and on. seeing her the neo-- host: what are you seeing? caller: the continued intimidation of both the chinese and the russians. i understand that they are trying to keep the excuse -- they are trying to keep the se n

lanes open. putting the missiles in poland. we can go on and on down the list. it is strong-armed, neo-real politics. basically, we say one thing and beef up the military. it is getting pretty old for a lot of us. host: brian katulis? caller: there are a lot of democrats that share that view and we heard that in the primaries. again, my personal view is that i don't think hillary clinton fits into that category of neoconservative, especially in the last will of years and if you look at a record as secretary of state. her record has been trying to elevate diplomacy first. we saw that with iran. it is the best example. ,here were a number of voices

including within the democratic party, that were saying that we might have to go to war with iran. she was the chief command that initiated the diplomacy. that only the diplomacy with iran, but the diplomacy with global partners like china, russia, to impose sanctions regime that not only got around to the table, but to make a deal. the other thing i would say is when you compare the alternatives about hillary clinton versus, trump, i, as a progressive, who believes diplomacy should be first in the other tools of national power, you got a better --when you can to donald trump his luster against our partners and allies. withlose alignment dictators and others. i understand a lot of the mistakes that were made under the bush administration. and even some of the most under the obama administration.

and hillary clinton, you have a potential candidate can strike the right tone. host: the voice of rotors commentary -- clinton must not revert back to the u.s. foreign-policy status quo ground in the theory that military intervention hold the key to prosperity. it has brought little and the way of either. the u.s. forces have been engaged in the middle east. militancy in a stability have increased, not decreased. "talk" applied to hillary clinton? things are archaic -- these labels are archaic. neocon, things that are used to describe foreign policy camp. we are in a different political moment in the best demonstration has been a collapse of the republican party on national security. it's fragmentation did not occur with donald trump winning his

party nomination. it began earlier. it started with the mistakes of the iraq war and the different camps that have emerged even with the bush imagination. i don't know what people mean "hawk.y say "talk." -- '" enronas saying about the peace when she was secretary of she quite clearly was hawkish about diplomacy as the first tool. if you look at other cases where with diplomacye first. there is a need to build a new global consensus in a consensus here at home about u.s. engagement. we have to have a much more consider debate and dialogue than we have been able to have a donald trump. host: jerry from georgia. caller: thank you for taking my

call. host: you bet. caller: i don't think steve is a democrat. is,omment -- my question does he think that europe would look like -- what does he think europe would look like without nato? donald trump was to get rid of nato. hillary clinton wants to strengthen it. i can't imagine what europe would look like with donald trump and vladimir putin in control? another thing i would like to wantthe gop and the trumps to take the country back, and they want to make america great again. what they really want to do is oppress people again. kkk, in mya new opinion. that is my comment? host: that is jerry from georgia. what you hear from donald trump in terms of nato? voicing, a, i see a

very big criticism and a downgrading of the tie with allies like nato. it is make them nervous. the events of the last couple of years, russia's support of a far right wing nativist political party in countries of europe have really disconcerted a lot of our allies. i don't think donald has offered a clear formula beyond this message of, we might not stand by you. you have to pull your weight somehow. alignment with vladimir putin, is really a historic thing and a very dangerous thing for american interests, first and foremost. for decades during the cold war, and after the cold war, the u.s. worked, whether it was a republican president or a democratic president, to strengthen the transatlantic relationship with a european allies.

allies today,pean they are under severe strain now with refugees and russia under vladimir putin that is pressing the buttons and presenting the security challenges. to donald trump come in as presidents, and even as a candidate, even if he is not elected, some damage has been done in terms of the nominee of a major party in the united states aligning himself with vladimir putin and grading our allies that have been with us for decades -- and degrading our allies that have been with us for decades. my concern i have with a lot of my friends and -- and republican party have written letters and said donald trump is actually dangerous, yet they are sitting on the fence right now. that is a bad thing in the long run, even if hillary clinton is elected president because we need to rebuild the fabric of

internationalism at home in a practical way, not in a militaristic way. if those people sit on the fence and we see that with members of congress, paul ryan issued his own national security plan. it is an attempt to distance themselves from donald trump. and distant themselves from their own record on certain issues. what i think needs to happen is they need to try to figure out if they can rebuild at the center of bipartisan support for foreign policy. host: letter from brandon. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. what i'm interested in hearing about is a strategy for iraq after isis is defeated? because it seems like the more critical role and i have not heard hillary or donald trump's solution for what will happen to iraq after isis is defeated. guest: brandon, that is a great

question. we have been looking at that and are think tanks have as well. ae of my partners has issued report that you can find on our website that is based on withrch in the region people and the region and also with our military to look at these factors, because it is clear to me. if you look at the facts of the face ofr, isis has been military blows and retreat in certain parts, a big problem will be in a northwest city. the main point of the report that my colleagues put out was to look at what happened after the military campaign. a key part of it is how do you actually help iraqis feel stable in their own communities so they are not running across the border? iraqintails working with partners of various strengths in their government to make people feel like they are safe.

a big part of it is trying to get the parties there either in iraq or those countries that are engaged in a proxy war in iraq and syria to use the resources, not to destroy, but to try to build and make the country itself or stable. host: last couple of calls, sadie, silver spring, maryland. hi, sadie. go ahead, sadie. caller: yes. i don't think hillary clinton would be good as president. i don't think she was good a secretary of state. host: how come? caller: that judgment. bad judgment and having that server in her basement and using a separate e-mail. fored to be a contractor

the federal government, and even i had to go through a cyber security training and a record-keeping training. everyone does. it is done every six months. i know she did, too. judgment and will continue with the same policies as president obama. trump would bed better. he would at least renegotiate these trade agreements whether it is nafta or the transpacific partnership. on illegal immigration, i think donald trump would be better. and i think he would bring that cap to america. i don't think he is dark and dangerous, ok? i don't believe that. and i'm african-american. i'm independent. and my vote is for donald trump. we need real change.

host: sadie, thank you for calling. she began with that bad judgment line. what is your defense of that? guest: her record is the best defense. when she said in a situation room with president obama and the other members of the national security team, and they had a tough decision about what to do about osama bin laden. she made the right call their. asia and the at asia policy, and the attempt to rebalance u.s. priorities with asia and away from other parts of the world, i think she has got the right template thre. of theu look at the fact transpacific partnership trade deal, she has come out against it because she looked at the details of it. at her core, she wants to keep america strong at home and create jobs here. again, she wants to figure out

if there is a better way to help american workers first before we exposed them to a lot of the more challenges that might come with the asia trade agreement there. sadie is entitled to her own view. i respectfully just disagree with it. whatever you think about particular aspects of e-mail or other things, if you look at the big picture, she has demonstrated fairly strong judgment. and has a really good record of secretary -- record as secretary of state. host: last call from lynn from san antonio, texas. caller: good morning. i have three things to say. i noticed that your gentleman knows where trump's money is from -- money is coming and that his advisers are their money from, but he

doesn't know where his own money is coming from. president obama and clinton have messed up the middle east beyond all comprehension. you talk about iran and their deals as if it was something to be proud of. paying ransom for hostages was never a good idea, even when reagan did it and i am a republican. wasn't a good idea then. it isn't a good idea now. and they will continue it and call it a different name. it still stinks a matter what you call it. and everybody is so afraid of donald trump and what he may or may not do. and all of that. but i remember, and i am old enough to remember, some of the peace and prosperity during our -- eisenhower and ronald reagan. i read eisenhower's biography.

he said he would threaten them with tactical nukes. in the world we are in, sometimes it is good to have people know that you are well armed and about to act crazy. it makes them think. thank you so much. host: final thoughts? guest: i disagree with that perspective. donald trump has been so out -- has been so out of the mainstream, you have seen so many republicans affecting from the party. when i hear the comparison between donald trump and dwight eisenhower ronald reagan, it is not even a comparison between apples and oranges, it is like apples and bicycles. he is so far outside the mainstream when it comes to support for russia, downgrading our allies. and then the lack of sort of consistent good judgment. we have a real choice in the selection and we have not had this choice in generations where you have one candidate that is

saying we need to stay confident, engaged, and strong with restraint, and you have another one that says we have to turn our backs on our closest partners and allies and cozy up to dictators. i think the choice is clear. we will see in november what happens and after november is when the work really begins. host: our guest has been brian katulis, national -- you can read more at americanprogress.org. thank you for sharing your thoughts. caller: guest: thank you. -- now theforce and foreign-policy agenda from donald trump. this is just over 45 minutes. phares,r guest is walid foreign-policy advisor to the donald trump campaign. thanks for being with us. how does donald trump see the world? guest: as we heard from his

speeches, especially his last speech, he wants to see an america that is strengthened, reorganized in terms of defining --fighting with the threat is coming from, and the friends as well. he wants to engage in the track of forming regional coalitions. he does not want to see america being involved in every single case alone. he wants us to be with coalitions, and to have a consensus by the american public if we want to intervene or not to intervene. there will be no principle of isolationism. how did you get involved in the top campaign? guest: i was involved in the mitt romney campaign. we had that experience in a number of republican candidates called on the previous experts of the last cycle, and that is how i met mr. trump and we had a long discussion. they he called on me in march to

serve as a foreign-policy advisor. host: we will put the phone numbers at the bottom of the screen, walid phares, one of trump's policy advisers. we will take your calls in a couple of moments. our last guest said not a lot of detail in donald trump's foreign-policy. let's start by talking about isis. what is donald trump said about his plans to defeat isis? guest: may i begin by saying that there are more details in mr. trump approach to defeating isis than in secretary clinton's, which remains abstract. going back to mr. trump, the most important point is to end isis as an organization, not just as it is right now, but as a future organization, mean fighting. as important on the ground, what is key in the fight against isis

is not just a military defeat devices. it is who is going to take over after isis? isis came as a result of a mistake the left -- as a result of a mistake we made we left iraq. post-isis is as important as how we will dismantle isis. host: trump spoke about his grading methods. here is a look at what he had to say. [video clip] only admitwe should into this country those who respect our values. [applause] in the cold war, we had an ideological screening test. the time is overdue to develop a for theening test threats we face today. i call it, extreme vetting. i call it extreme, extreme

betting. our country has enough problems. we don't need more and these are problems like we have never had before. [applause] in addition to screening out all members of the sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any hostile attitudes toward our country, or who beieve sharia law should over american law. [applause] those who do not believe in our constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into our country. host: walid phares, what is extreme vetting? real vetting and making

sure that the people coming in are not connected to any other organization that is aiming at the united states versus light vetting. individuals, to the united states to apply for immigration status. that is when we don't have a war in certain areas. what is important are two things -- 22 years, i have been an expert in immigration cases. i defended immigrants. if you have a population that has been pushed out of a country, you have a special case. wherewe should be chem -- we should begin is to solve the issue before they leave. that is the problem right now. in syria in the northeastern part of syria absorbed millions of refugees. where asked the children they want to go, many say home. -- the second policy

would be that no jihadists would come. the arab countries themselves have a lot to teach us on this issue. host: first call, raymond, dayton, ohio. hi, raymond. caller: hi. i spent 18 months in turkey back when president kennedy was killed. and i couldn't have enjoyed it anymore. they were wonderful people. carter had the hostages. in and he andes gets it all resolved in 24 hours. what goes on behind the stores, it is like cheney in mr. trump,

they never served. i want people who have served in our military. i can't stand this. reagan never served. granted mr. obama mr. clinton did not serve. it is try to end this. there should be some kind of love that requires a have served. they don't have a clue, the stuff they come up with. mr. trump, his comments about our military, our heroes, it's unbelievable, unbelievable that anyone would consider this man for president. stand, i'm sorry. thank you, sir. host: thank you for the call . guest: i understand. many people want the leader to battlefield and served

in the field. feeding the number of presidents that did not serve. i hope that we will be able to in the future, to a more exposure to candidates. host: howard, fort lauderdale, florida. caller: hi. i am not really a political person, never have been. the problems have been arising during this last year that have drawn me in knee deep. is thelieve that trump only option we do have because he really does want to put america first. i believe in helping anybody.

you are inhat if another country and it is that there and you want a better life, by all means, yes, i open the door and the border to that person to come in to better their lives. that person welcome to come over here and start trying to change the way we live to the weight they live, and make those laws. we have so many problems from people from other countries and our congress and in our whole development all the way up to the president. there is too many people trying to change the way we live. donald trump, i believe, is on the right track to put america back to way it is supposed to be. i don't know. but i think i'm right. host: all right, that was howard from florida. walid phares, let's talk about the critique of donald trump out there. one of the major headlines recently was a letter that

figure so national security figures signed and said they would be a quote dangerous president. what is your reaction? guest: it is not all, but most of the signing parties that i work with some of them. some of them i looked at their books and researched them. they have a different view of mr. trump against it or them dangerous because he is not going to apply the political principles. hillary that said that clinton -- they have not said that hillary clinton is dangerous. chiefe starts acting as a executive, i will anticipate that many among them, who i know well, when it comes to the principal issues in the region, -- ld it be thatry clinton has said

donald trump a soft. -- t: she was soft because russia was expanding mostly under her. let me talk more about mr. trump vision of russia. there is a fog about the issue. he is not about cutting a deal with vladimir putin. he is about being clearer what the russian leadership with our national interest. there are areas where we can cooperate. and secretarya clinton have talked about it. such as fighting the jihadist and the terrorists and the internet problems we are having. but you have to have a strong leadership and be perceived by russia as strong. when you put a red line in syria, what it means for the russian leadership is that they

would see us as weak. this would have to change under a trump residency. host: donald trump received his first national security briefing this week. what does that mean at this stage of the race? will that impact is policy moving forward? guest: it would impact any candidate's policy. important because they will give a candidate in reality on the facts on the ground to shape their own policy. that same day, he met with his own national security cabinet. he is going into the direction of being in the white house. host: back to calls. dave, republican call for walid phares. dave, can you hit the mute button on your tv, please? caller: ok.

i would not vote for hillary clinton because she has done so many things just terrible. she could not have done any more dirty work. [indiscernible] has gotten thousands and thousands of folks killed. donald trump is a man of his word. he doesn't have to lie. host: thanks for coming, days. mary? caller: good morning. i have some questions, not comments. i don't see any point to allow people to continue to disseminate information.

here is my first question -- what is the current vetting policy and law file for refugees who want to come into this country to apply for refugee status? please give me a detailed example of how you think the federal law that exist now should be changed? who changes it? the senate? the house? the president? who? what country did you come from? what is your religion? when did you come to this country? would you have been allowed into this country? and please give three examples clintonie the hillary has told that is affected u.s. policy, or domestic policy? host: why don't you start with your background. guest: born and raised in beirut. here for 26 years now.

statuses.several and being a professor at a university. as an immigrant, i have an interesting take on the issue of immigrants because i have served as well as an expert on political asylum and trying to help courts understand. that is vetting. mary, for political asylum, the vetting process which first begins with the administration, with the executive branch. they want to make sure that the case is strong. that is the key. that that person cannot be in if there is an area of the country -- and the questions are very, very strong. if you go to another area of that country, will you be safe? once we conclude that there is

no other place, cuba for example, they were against communist -- these are very clear cases. when you are coming from an ethnic conflict area, the government tries to do it, otherwise, it will be the defense lawyers. host: bob is calling from philadelphia. caller: how are you doing today? host: good, how are you? i am concerned about people who are not embedded taking on the show. is first guy, the whole find -- the fund is funded by the guy leading the hillary campaign. i had an opportunity to go to the website and there was nothing but slams against donald trump. pharese thing with walid and i don't see any political connection to him, which makes

him look better to me than the other guy. i wish that c-span would put out who is paying these people who you have honest guess because it helps form an opinion on how valid their opinions are. host: understood. any foreign policy our national security questions for walid phares? caller: he is correct that the united states has to be strong and has to put out -- look, we are not going to take it anymore. of being so nice is not working. we have to find a different way. i'm an american first guy. i believe a strong military prevents this kind of stuff going on around the world. we need a strong leader. thank you. host: thank you for calling, bob. let's hear more from hillary clinton with her speech back in

march. [video clip] ms. clinton: he is not just unprepared, he is mentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability, and immense responsibility. [applause] this is not someone who should code becauseuclear it is not hard to imagine donald trump leading us into a war just because somebody got under his very thin skin. [applause] we cannot put the security of our children and grandchildren and donald trump's hands. we cannot let him roll the dice with america. this is a man who said, that more countries should have nuclear weapons, including saudi arabia. this is someone who has

alliesned to abandon our in nato, the countries who work with us to root out terrorists abroad before they strike us at home. host: sharp critique their walid phares. what is your reaction? guest: these are talking points. the preparedness of an american national politician before they enter the fray of public policy, mrs. clinton, she was wife of a governor, then first lady. let's compare that stage with mr. trump who was a coo of a multinational corporation and in contact with many leaders around the world. obama was a local politician not with a lot of international connections. we would judge on one thing, which are the speeches they are delivering now working with many advisers, and that is a problem. claim that youo have more experience than the person who assert before.

what mrs. clinton is talking about that he cannot consider situations as they are. libya, or syria responding to trump, she was secretary of state when these crises began. how about nato? what has mr. trump specifically said about nato because he gets knocked a lot on what he has said about nato? what is his official position on nato? guest: a lot of things have been said, but very few things have said correctly. i meet with a lot of european lawmakers. there is a debate within europe between the eastern europeans, the central europeans in the southern europeans and the rest of europe on nato. they are very concerned about the huge bureaucracy in brussels. some of them are concerned about the russia pressure. some are concerned about the migrants. it is not that nato works perfectly before trump cayman.

he does not want to dismantle nato. he wants to reorganize nato. he was to reshape the organization of nato and address the leaders of nato in brussels and tell them at the financial level and secondly at the defense level. nato to start helping us against the jihadist and syria. host: we go to seaside, california. josh on the line for democrats for walid phares. thanks for joining us. caller: good morning. thanks for having me. is, what is in donald trump's family, the name was changed because of his -- ly's connection

host: where have you read that, josh? caller: i haven't read it. it was discussed at a meeting i was at. they said that the reason that father change trumpname from dunk to was because he was an officer in hitler's's administration. to hold ame ask you little bit and ask walid phares if you heard that story? guest: no. it is a very strange story. host: why do you bring it up? why is it important? caller: because he is really russia and some typee ex communist situations that is happening

within the world. trump willlieve that be allowed to represent the united states. with all of his character references, he is really, really and it, the way i see it. and hopefully we can find out a little bit about his family background. guest: let me take advantage of this question about russia. looking at those who are -- newt gingrich, mayor giuliani, they were a part of this pushback against the common threat. i don't think the culture of the campaign is coming to put over vladimir putin over our friends and allies. host: rose, republican caller.

go ahead, please. caller: ok. our country is in a mess. like i said before, i have been a democrat voter for many, many years. and this time around, i am going straight republican. i trust more in what they say than what i do of the democrats. having hillary clinton as our president, our country will be in more disaster. thank you. guest: while i agree with the caller and i think many other democrats --it is not about the party division line. it is a general feeling over the past eight years and what happened in russia, there is a feeling that the administration and hillary clinton is going to be -- they are not doing it right in terms of strategic choices. one of the choices is the iran deal.

we have a completely different view. we should've had our allies in the region as part of the deal when you sit down with a country that is deployed in syria and iraq, lebanon, and yemen. this has to be done. many of the directions taken by president obama needs to be changed. i think mr. trump will do so. host: talking about other parts of the world, libya, connecting libya devices because we know some bombing has begun. u.s. bombing has begun in libya. how the donald trump tunnel the situation there? guest: to connect with syria is very simple. and mistake was not to prepare -- what can africa. the work organizations. these organizations sent weapons

and volunteers. that is the chain of events. you are going to look at regional alliances. we have two very strong post allies of the united states that have the experience and fighting isis. that would be egypt in the new parliament, and tunisia. we have upgraded tunisia as an associate of nato. we need to have a plan for libya, not just to defeat isis and it is the same model as everyone else. we need to work with civil society, elected government and proctoring with them. host: how about asia, china, north korea? i have been speaking with many south koreans and japanese. we have expressed a lot of concerns because they have heard many speeches by mr. trump talking about, you have to share more. reality is on a strategic level.

there is no way to united states is going to be with any of the allies if they are under attack. we have to prevent that. we will prevent that in the relationship with them. you have to go to china and sit down with china because china has the key to north korea. all that what has been done by this administration with north korea, as south koreans told me, did not lead to a more vibrant north korea. milwaukee with walid phares who is a foreign-policy advisor to donald trump. caller: good morning, c-span. i have a quick was it oh. i was wondering if syria can be the new united nations for the middle east? question, but big is just my thought. i will take my answer off-line. thank you. guest: what he meant could lead to another question, which is what is the future of syria? now we realize with the civil

war, almost 400,000 people killed, there are areas in syria where we did not know if they were going to come into a complete, central authority. what would be the future of the kurds, the allies of syria, and even the sunnis? of a going to take the path of muslim brotherhood? it is a very good question? has mr. trump spoken on the future of mr. a sod himself? he does not think that the priority is to lead a military campaign against emerging -- against the regime. president obama had the opportunity in 2013 when the chemical weapons were used. now the russians are there.

his he is spoken about number one, taking care of isis first and making sure that isis is eliminated. making sure the migrants are back should they be the kurds, christians, or sunnis. and then discuss the future of syria. host: is donald trump and isolationist or an interventionist? are those terms do not apply anymore? -- do those terms on apply anymore? guest: functionalist, a function of american national interest and our alliances. we look at each case and see where and how we can do with the case. are we going to intervene everywhere we can. host: besides yourself, who else is on mr. trump team of for policy members? guest: i will not give you names, but the names are available on -- in public.

he has promoted five people. former -- we have have a and not just people from the military people who have served as lawmakers and national security defense in congress are joining mr. trump's campaign. host: you advised mitt romney in 2012. mr. romney has not only come out against donald trump, he laid out into him quite severely earlier this year. have you spoken to him at all? guest: no, we have not spoken with family circles, people close, people who have served under him. when he ran, i supported him with all the strength because we had an intellectual connection. and i hoped actually that he would have run again for mr. trump. but now mr. trump is the candidate, the nominee and i

have committed to him, i do support his agenda fully. for the part of the agenda he is pushing now, what is wrong with romney -- the disagreement is political. host: let's go to dorothy in marianna, georgia. hi, dorothy. dorothy, are you there? caller: hello? host: go right ahead. caller: i wanted to actually ask a question. host: sure, you are on the air. caller: i want to ask a question. first of all, i want to say we are at this time, no one in america is from america more than the indians that was here. at the time, there will always these foreigners coming in. who are the ones that are going to make the laws that people can sit down and say they are going to do harm?

i think putting donald trump with a level head he has not had throughout the whole time is putting gasoline on a fire. so i don't think donald trump is the answer to everything today. back in the day, people really need to open their eyes. back in the day when clinton, the husband was in office, i don't think no one can actually disagree they didn't have a good life at that time. so what makes trump, who i think is trying to get a dictatorship in america, the best candidate for america at this time? host: let's hear from our guest. thanks, dorothy. guest: i understand the point she is raising, but it is probably opposite. donald trump wants more freedom for individuals, not just political but also economic. he wants less intervention. interventionism

with individuals. he is more for freedom. that would clash with ideas of his opponent, who was to see a greater role for government. this is a debate that has been in existence for many, many years. mr. trump, his essence is that he wants americans to feel comfortable with each other, comfortable with the government. no suppression coming from government. at the same time, we need to reform economically and politically. host: teresa, republican from florida. good morning. caller: good morning. you are an excellent communicator, and i have enjoyed the program so far. thank you for taking my call. i am a woman who is college-educated, and i am voting for donald trump. host: how come? caller: because i believe in smaller government. i believe in a more efficient government. i think even though nothing has really been progressing, i think

we have been regressing in the last 15 years, what is clear is the government is grossly negligent. and as a woman, i have been so concerned about security since 9/11. to think our government has allowed millions of illegal immigrants to march into this country -- after that, it is just unheard of. i am a daughter of immigrants. i am all in favor of legal immigration. i think it is a very serious threat that we are so negligent. i worry about my daughters and my granddaughters and how they are going to be -- how their safety is going to be. i know it is complicated. i think what mr. trump does that is so cool is that he says something very outrageous, and we are all talking about it in

detail. like for nato. for many years we have heard people are not paying their fair share, and the united states is in debt, $19 trillion, and we are paying all this money to protect everybody. it has got to be fixed. we have to address it. we cannot control people. we have to talk about these issues, identify them, and fix them. this is america, we are great, we can do it. thank you for taking my call. host: thanks. anything to add? guest: as immigrants who are part of the public today, the policy it is unusual because you kissinger and many people who came at a younger age including secretaries of state, , so on and so forth. i look at it from three perspectives. number you have the legal one, immigrant.

i worked very hard to become a citizen, i engage in the society because i like the society. then you have the illegal immigrant. illegal immigrants are an issue of social, economic issues that we need to solve. these are one. and then the other one are those trying to benefit using the immigration system. i am concerned about that part. i think mr. trump is trying to focus on that host: what do you one. see as the biggest difference between mr. trump and hillary clinton in foreign policy? guest: foreign policy is not to look at the map and -- i mean the obama-clinton narrative is college level, it's sophisticated. but when you ask about syria or libya or for that matter the iranian deal, what are the alternatives? if it goes wrong, we will see of the time. mr. trump is trying to bring a different school. you have to go back to your point.

the more he gets national security briefings now hopefully in transition and after, the more he can answer questions. but he says there are other alternatives to what is been produced. host: what is the biggest national security threat to this country? guest: i think it is in ideology, not individuals. ideologythe idea -- can progress and influence the minds of individuals, the more we are in danger. the continuation, the growth of homegrown jihadists. but my point here is you don't fight in ideology with law enforcement and intelligence. you fight it with ngos. those that would shut down the internet to stop isis, i was that you don't need. you have to put in more reformers. put in more moderates. mr. trump said i will open my arms to muslim reformers. this is important. host: on to gaithersburg, maryland. are you there?

caller: i am here. host: pronounce your name for us. [indiscernible] he need to push a little bit. then they will be fine. and the thing for me that?i allowed to do host: go ahead, please. caller: i have from africa. my country is not working, that is what i am here. i want to thank america for my good things in my children. america and i, i have to tell you have to change a little bit. people don't change.

we take one time to find out if it is not good. i camehink the message to america from kenya, if it does not work you come back. , you can't do the same thing at the same time and is not working. that is my point. guest: he mentioned africa, give me an opportunity to speak about the continent. mr. trump has much regard for africa because many of these countries that we see the worst are going to be in africa. for example, the forgotten darfur. we do not see much of the obama-clinton administration work on darfur. there are other areas in sudan, nubia, the war in south sudan, somalia is still a problem after

eight years. not just obama, but the bush administration. nigeria. if the boko haram problem is not addressed, you have one third of a country that is reducing the largest numbers in africa going the way of syria. it would be 10 times the size of syria. and the countries of the south and somalia. africa needs to be on the foreign policy of the next administration. host: we have joe on the line from massachusetts, independent caller. go ahead, joe. caller: i have two questions. from the start of the syrian assad regime change policy, one of the underlying issues was the gas pipeline from qatar into syria into europe. what is trump's policy concerning the pipeline and will , be here any statement based on oil-natural gas in the politics concerning europe, russia, and

china from the trump campaign? guest: thank you very much or this question. we hear a lot about the pipeline politics. there is a lot of merit to understand that below the conflicts and positioning of many players in syria, iraq, the gulf russia of course with , its huge energy, what is happening in ukraine, has also to do with the passage of oil or other forms of energy. it is always influential in making decisions. a trump administration first of , all, it would act like an ambulance. first you have to face the -- save the situation and population from being destroyed as in the case of syria and iraq and other places. emphasis will be put on coming -- calm and down the situation so the situation of the future,

dictators in opposition this , will be negotiated in the conference rooms of international diplomacy. but ending a war, you first have to and the main reason of a war. which is the presence of a terrorist organization. in this case isis but there are others than isis. i am concerned that those who are replacing isis are not not necessarily moderates. when you have iranian controlled militia going into fallujah and now into mosul. this is the next war. that is why the next president should be wise enough when solving one problem, he or she should be thinking of the next and i hope it is he. , host: battle creek, michigan, republican. good morning, darrell. caller: good morning, c-span. i was wondering if you were going to take a position on mr. trump's administration? i hope so. i have seen you in a lot of

speeches, and i think you would be good for his administration. thank you. guest: thank you very much or that. i am serving very happily as an advisor. of course there would be transition, hoping he will win. he has many talents, many people in my field for national policy, foreign security. he will make the ultimate selection but thank you for your recommendation. host: what is donald trump's method each day, each week to pull in all of this foreign policy information? the news going on around the world, the challenges, the crises. how does he take it all in and absorb this and figure out an approach? guest: it happened i lived the previous cycle with the romney campaign. the world has changed. the world today could not exist then. it was the beginning of the arab spring. there was no mention of russia, and north korea was not as strong. we did not have half a million people dead in syria. we did not have this large

number of homegrown jihadi attacks in europe and here. so you can imagine what we call "war room" or situation room with mr. trump, that is not just one specific place -- it is very busy. it is briefing him as it president. it is happening. that is why you see him sometimes making those statements not just in the speeches, addressing some of the most evolving issues and dangerous issues. he is being prepared to become a chief executive and hopefully he will be elected. host: last call, melody, ventura, california. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning, thank you. my problem is mr. trump has no knowledge of foreign affairs at all. with what is going on with putin and the kremlin and his close ties to them, i have a concern about that. about the safety of america. do you see where i am going with this? host: keep going, melanie.

caller: i cannot wrap my arms man who is selling out, who has business ties, personal business ties with mr. putin. what is he going to do with the white house? he is our enemy, and yet his family members are hanging out with his family. i just can't -- host: thank you. we do get the point and you laid out a couple different points. guest: thank you. actually i hear this all the time. mr. trump does not have any massive interest in russia, let alone with mr. putin himself. even if this is the case, he has been a businessman. he has interests around the world including the gulf and , africa and asia, latin america but mostly in the united states. , that is where he is coming from. he is the ceo of a major multinational operation. but there is an aspect that citizens or viewers need to pay

attention to. he has acted for 20, 25 years in his capacity of the boss of this huge network, meeting with many public policy persons. he has met monarchs, presidents, prime ministers, ministers, members of various assemblies. he had discussed with them politics way more than his opponents before they actually came to the position of candidacy for president of the united states. he has the experience. he was not in government. president reagan was an actor. then he had the experience of leadership of the state of california which brought him later on. in addition to george bush the first, he was the head of the cia. he came to the white house knowing almost everything about the national crisis, and these are choices you are going to make. you may have more exposure as

mrs. clinton hands but the , judgments when it comes to be brief with the crisis as in libya and syria should give you food for thought. host: walid phares, thank you for coming along this morning and sharing your thoughts on the campaign. guest: thank you so much for having me. >> foreign policy, one of the topics on the sunday shows this morning for senator ben cardin who supports hillary clinton and jeff sessions to support donald trump. senator cardin possessive of that $400 million payment made to iran that the state department confirmed was tied to the release of u.s. hostages. and senator sessions talks about donald trump's plan for vetting immigrants entering the u.s.. >> catholic a ransom payment. what was it? >> this was announced in january of this year. secretary clinton was no longer secretary of state. this is undersecretary cary. clearly what was -- under secretary kerry. it was clear we had to pay this money. i think secretary kerry made it

clear that money would not be released unless the hostages were back home. what they are saying is no, it is not paying ransom. we won't do that. but we understand we owed the money and we will have to pay the money. we want to make sure our people are protected. host: a top iranian general said this money was for the freedom of the u.s. spies, and it was not related to the nuclear negotiations. if there is a perception here regardless of whether anyone was sees the word ransom are not, there is leveraging taking americans and getting something in exchange, isn't the perception part of the problem anyway? especially for our enemies? we had two more americans taken by iranian authorities since the payment. >> let's make it clear. whatever the iranians say, you can believe the opposite. they rarely tell us what is going on. america has a strong policy. the obama administration is carried out that policy that we will not pay ransom. it does increase the likelihood of an attack if you bring in

more people from dangerous areas of the globe. the american people clearly support an idea that if you can't vet someone from a dangerous area, they should not be brought into the united states. we don't have a constitutional right to demand entry to the country. we should admit those that make america better. have a chance to flourish here and do well and love america. >> those who are citizens presumably have that opportunity to flourish. the vetting program will not get to them. donald trump said let's have a test for citizens. >> i don't think we discussed that in any detail. the idea the u.s. people about their understanding of what a good government is. if you have two people, one that believes in the democratic republic like we have, one that has an ideology that wants to these a narrow view of how government should be run, at the accuracy, then why wouldn't you

not choose the one that's most harmonious with our values? >> i think we can ask some of those questions. we have to be careful and should talk to the lawyers and think it through carefully. >> tonight on human day, louisiana state university history professor and his story nancy eisenberg discusses her the 400 yeartrash: untold history of class in america." >> there were actually poor white ghettos in places like indianapolis, chicago. they were described in many of the same derogatory ways of poor blacks who are living in the city. that is part of our history that we don't talk about. we don't want to face up to the fact of how important class is. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. friday the robo call strikeforce met to talk about ways to protect consumers from

unwanted calls and texts. 32 other companies are taking part of the effort, including apple, google and microsoft. the task force has 60 days to come up with recommendations. this is just under 30 minutes. >> good morning. i was delegated. ms. cutler: okay, good morning everyone. for those of you i haven't had the opportunity to meet, i am allison cutler. chief of the consumer and governmental affairs bureau. a major part of my bureau's work is to help consumers stop unwanted robo calls and that's why we are here today. i'm delighted you could join us. we are pleased to be able to host the first meeting of the

robocall strikeforce, in the industry led group that has come together in response to chairman wheeler's call to give consumers better tools to stop unwanted calls. i look forward to working with you in my role as the commission's liaison to this group. this morning you will hear from several speakers about the importance of protecting consumers from annoying and and often fraudulent robocalls. first, chairman wheeler will speak about the steps the commission has taken to tackle this problem and ways the strikeforce can support this effort by delivering effective solutions for consumers. commissioner will then provide remarks, and then at&t chairman and ceo randall stephenson will conclude today's meeting. thank you again for being here this morning and now i will turn it over to chairman wheeler. mr. wheeler: thank you to all of you who have volunteered your time to spend the next 60 days

buckled down on this very important issue. it is significant that we have not just carriers, not just gateway providers, but also equipment and service providers here at this table because this is a challenge that is going to require everybody's commitment. i want to thank my colleagues for joining us today and i particularly want to thank mr. randall stephenson for stepping up to lead this effort. because americans are fed up. robocalls are a scourge.

it's the number one complaint that we hear from consumers on a daily basis. over 200,000 calls a year into the fcc or into our web-based consumer assistance platform to talk about this problem and complain about how consumers are being abused. americans have a right to be fed up with this scourge. it's an invasion of privacy and it is ripe with fraud and identity theft. the problem is that the bad guys are beating the good guys with technology right now. voiceover internet protocol,

calls from scammers in foreign countries rely on networks that aren't ready to deal with them. the ability to spoof a legitimate phone number is the down side to a digital environment. i also want to go back and reiterate that this isn't just a network problem. this is a community problem. this has to do with those who run -- who build and operate networks, those who whether and operate equipment, those who build and operate services. that is why you were at this

table. the profit motive has driven the bad guys to exploit -- no, the profit motive has driven bad guys to a level of technological innovation that exploits consumers by exploiting networks and equipment. it's not as if the good guys have been standing idly by. but this is something that requires everybody to pull together. and to have an urgency in finding solutions. so thank you to this group for bending to the task of proposing solutions within 60 days.

it is significant that the working groups are going to be meeting at least twice a week to keep to that schedule. but let me be clear. this is an industry group. we believe in multistakeholder solutions. and when the whole ecosystem can come together, it can produce good results. but without results, we'll be forced to look for other solutions. because this scourge must stop. so let's set some goals for 60 days hence.

authentication standards, number one, authentication standards for voip calls, including gateway verification, as well as for tdn voice. we know the standards bodies have been working on this. and working on this. we need to come to conclusion. the companies represented at this table are the same ones represented in the standards bodies. let's get to a solution. secondly, we've got a group that's going to be working on the tools to allow third parties to develop call filtering options. starts with open api's. but let's give folks the opportunity to get creative in finding solutions. thirdly, there must be

cross-carrier joint efforts to detect and stop the bad guys. maybe it's a do not originate list. maybe you'll come up with better solutions. but this is something that has to be multicarrier, cross-carrier, and a community solution. and we will set a goal for ourselves here at the commission. and that is tell us what regulators need to do to help you achieve those other three things. we've already said that there's nothing in the rules that prohibits carriers from offering call blocking, but if we need to do more, tell us. -- tell us where we need to do more.

let me just make one last observation and then turn it over to commissioner clyburn. as in any pressing challenge like this, perfect is the enemy of the good. the nature of software, as you all know, is start and continually improve. let's have that philosophy here. let's not sit around and wait for the ultimate solution. let's start solving the issues immediately. and then let's improve it tomorrow. and make it even better the day after tomorrow. so thank you to all of you, and randall, particularly thank you to you, four your willingness to

come together, to attack the robocall epidemic. you set an aggressive schedule, we're grateful for that. we look forward to the results in 60 days. so thank you to all of you. commissioner clyburn. ms. clyburn: mr. chairman, at 6:30 p.m. you're feeling pretty good this evening because for a change you're actually sitting down with your wife and children and grandchildren, enjoying a home-cooked meal with your family. we all know that you didn't prepare it, but that's not the point here. [laughter] all of a sudden you're interrupted by a ring. you get up, answer the phone, and what do you hear on other end? congratulations, tom wheeler. you've been selected to receive an all-expenses paid trip to the bahamas. now, that sounds tempting, i know, with all that's going on, but you hang up the phone, return to the table. but before you can stick a spoon into your favorite dessert,

the phone rings again. and on the line is a recording which promises to reduce your mortgage payment. not only has your favorite dessert melted, but you feel powerless to do anything to stop these countless calls and you're joined by thousands and thousands of others. the commission has heard loud and clear from them. they hate robocalls. during the first 16 months of 2010, as you mentioned, mr. chairman, the telephone consumer protection act related issues accounted for more than 175,000 issues with the fcc's consumer health help center. so we know that there's a problem. we know how much consumers dislike these cause and we know how frustrated the public is, because they assume that after they registered for the do not call list that all of this would stop. it did not, so now it is time to take more action.

last summer the commission took the first step by adopting a proposal that reiterated consumers' rights to control the calls they receive on both their landline and wireless phones. the proposal gave providers a green light to implement robocalling blocking technologies and reassured consumers that they do in fact have the right to say stop. that was followed by a series of letters sent last month by the chairman to all of you, the major providers, urging all of you to provide consumers with free call blocking services. so i applaud at&t and all of you for not only in joining in today's discussion, but for stepping up to the plate, enabling us to focus on real actions that will empower our consumers with robust robocalling blocking solutions, but we want to ensure that these solutions directly target the problem. the commission has a long history of prohibiting abusive

or anti-competitive user call blocking technologies, but consumers want real relief. i am optimistic today that this is the beginning of a real conversation that we will be able to deliver to consumers the change that they are clamoring for. so i again thank you, mr. chairman, for allowing me to say a few words. i'm looking forward to that invitation for dessert. but i want to thank all of you for being a participant, seriously, because the american people are counting on us to end these daily disruptions. mr. wheeler: thank you, commissioner. the question is whether you make it to dessert. ms. clyburn: i'm not sure how to interpret that. mr. pai: thank you. great to see you here at the fcc. like commissioner clyburn, let me paint a picture for you, one that accurately reflects my experience and hopefully all of yours as well. one monday night in the fall, the kansas city chiefs are

battling the dreaded oakland raiders at arrowhead stadium. it's a close game. you settle in to watch america's team during a clutch fourth quarter drive. but just before the snap and the handoff to jamaal charles, the phone rings. you reluctantly answer only to hear a record message claiming to be from the irs. and the caller says that you owe the government money and you'll be arrested unless you pay immediately. you hang up, angry at yourself, and you realize you're angrier after you realized you missed jamaal charles' romp into the end zone for a resounding chiefs victory. now, artificial or prerecorded calls, robocalls, as we all know them, are awful. they are unwanted, they're intrusive. many of them, like the recent irs-related robocalls, are a scam. robocalls and telemarketing calls are the number one source of consumer complaints

received by the fcc. i think former senator from south carolina, who i had the pleasure of meeting with last year, put it well. he once called robocalls the "scourge of civilization." that, if anything, is an understatement. the broad, deep and enduring dislike of these robocalls inspires our work this morning. we are gathered here at the inaugural meeting of the robocop strikeforce. this industry group has an appropriately intimidating name, and according to its charge, it will try to develop ways to prevent, detect and filter out these unwanted calls. i, like my colleagues, want to commend the folks who have rolled up their sleeves and committed to solving this problem. a number of people and organizations have already expended sweat equity in this effort and they deserve to be recognized. for instance, the federal trade commission's 2013 robocall challenge focused on the tech industry's intention on robocalling. and the app that was one of the winners of that challenge,

which was called nomorobo has now stopped over 126 million robocalls. it's one of the leading anti-robocalling apps that we have in the united states. second, the alliance for telecommunications industry solutions, the session initiation protocol forum, and the internet engineer task forces secure telephone identity revisited working group have been developing standards to reduce illegitimate caller i.d. spoofing. which all will help consumers be able to identify and to avoid fraudulent robocalls. in fact, spoofing is, a, if not the critical input that enables robocalling. so i think the work of these dedicated experts in particular is critical. last but certainly not least, i want to express my appreciation to all of you, to the industry participants, who are here today to form the task force.

and especially to at&t and our chairman, randall stephenson, for leading the charge. your efforts will help end, hopefully, this scourge of civilization. something that everyone, i think, other than rachel from cardholder services would applaud. i personally look forward to learning more about the scope of the problem and the potential solutions and i hope the participants will ponder a few questions as we labor together to stamp out these unwanted robocalls. for example, should we encourage congress to pass the bipartisan anti-spoofing act of 2015, introduced by representatives grace meng, barton and lance, legislation that would help crack down on foreign callers that prey on americans using spoofed caller i.d. for the robocalls? should the fcc take more enforcement action against unscrupulous telemarketters and known robocallers, given the tens of thousands of complaints we

receive from consumers each month? how can we make it easier for consumers to tell us about the robocalls that they receive and to make it easier for our enforcement bureau to track down and shut down some of those fraudulent robocallers? would it be help tolve carve out -- helpful to carve out a safe harbor for telephone companies seeking to provide call blocking for their customers? with this encourage innovation in the space? would creating a reassigned numbers database allow callers to avoid dialing wrong numbers by mistake? and would granting the petition of 51 consumer advocacy organizations to overturn the fcc-created exemption for federal contractors, close a potential loophole in our robocalling regulation? for my part, i hope that everyone here, government officials, industry representatives, consumer advocates, and others, can rally around the purpose that i've outlined this morning. and to borrow from former president kennedy, let every robocaller know, whether it wishes us well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden,

meet any hardship, support any solution and oppose any bought to assure the survival and the peace of american consumers. [phone ringing] it sounds like i may have won a cruise. if you'll excuse me, i have to take this call. but thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. wheeler: thank you for bringing us a little theater, as well as for threatening the nuclear option. [laughter] randall, this is your party. we're out of the game now. thank you very much for doing this. mr. stephenson: thank you, chairman wheeler. i really do appreciate you initiating this and in getting this going. i think the important. i didn't intend to create controversy right away. but i live in dallas, texas. allowing commissioner pai's characterization of the kansas city chiefs as america's team is unacceptable. [laughter] i do appreciate everybody that's here.

if you just look at the number of people that are here and being here on short notice is a really big deal. the 33 companies and organizations on this strike force, you represent the entire communications ecosystem and the fact that you're here speaks, i think, to the breadth as well as the complexity of this robocall problem. and this is going to require more than individual company initiatives and it's going to have to go beyond one off blocking applications to address this issue. robocallers are, as you heard the chairman reference, very formidable adversary. and they are notoriously hard to stop. and technology such as spoofing makes it easier for them to work around all of our various fixes and then to cover their tracks. so far we've been coming at this problem piecemeal and i think we can demonstrate we've had very limited success. because these robocalls continue to increase and to grow. so the strike force we believe is going to have to take a very different approach to addressing this issue.

and we truly want to deal with this with the entire ecosystem working together. i think that ecosystem is well represented. we have carriers, device makers, o.s. developers, network designers, and as you heard the commissioner speak, regulators and lawmakers are going to have a role to play in this as well. what we're going to have to do is come out of this session with a comprehensive playbook that we all go out and begin to execute. a lot of people like to portray this as a simple issue to address, and i think we all understand it's not. these unwanted calls span a very wide range. we have calls that are perfectly legal, but they're not wanted. things like telemarketers and public opinion surveyors, but then on the other end of the spectrum, we have millions of calls that are patently and blatantly illegal. and they're violating do not call registries or they're trying to steal identity or steal money.

this is where i think government's going to have a very important role to play. in parallel with the technological solutions, we're going to need regulatory and law enforcement agencies to go after the bad actors. shutting down the bad guys is a very important step in all of this and the going to be a powerful example to others. and i think our goal is not terribly complicated. it's real simple. we have to stop unwanted robocalls. while the easy to say, the hard -- it is hard to do. at chairman wheeler's request, members of the industry today have committed to doing the following. voit verification standards as soon as they are made available by the standard setting groups and we, this organization, need to drive the standard setting groups to accelerate our process. we need to adopt s.s.-7 solutions associated with voip calls. we need to work together with the industry, including every company represented in this room, along with the standard setting bodies, to evaluate the feasibility of a do not originate list. we have to further develop and

implement solutions to detect, assess and stop unwanted calls from reaching the customers. and then finally, we're going to facilitate efforts by other carriers to adopt call blocking technologies on their networks. so in preparation for today's meeting, the technical experts representing our companies have had preliminary conversations about both short and longer term initiatives. we're going to discuss those ideas in greater detail here today. we formed several subcommittees to tackle the issues and they're going to be led by technical experts ranging from apple, at&t, comcast, level three, nokia, samsung, sprint and verizon. the robocalling strike force has committed to report back to the commission by october 19, that's 60 days from now, chairman. the report will include concrete plans to accelerate the development and adoption of the new tools as well as solutions and to make recommendations to the fcc on the role

government should play in this battle. the fact that so many companies agreed on such short notice to be here tells you the seriousness we have about finding a solution here. i want to thank each of you for being here and for your leadership on this and with that, we're ready to get to work. mr. wheeler: thank you. allison, are you going to wrap this up here? ms. kutler: thanks to everybody. i think it was a great kickoff. now just a couple logistical announcements. this is the end of the kickoff public portion of the meeting. we will take a 12-minute break for strike force members back into the break rooms. there's coffee as well. and we will reconvene at 10:45 with the strike force for the working session of the meeting. great, thanks. [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] >> and the first presidential debate just over a month away

now. we heard about the preparations on the sunday shows today. from kellyanne conway and hillary clinton's campaign manager. >> what we are trying to do this week is get an assessment of where he really our state-by-state. i will be talking to the state directors and data operations to find out where we are in what they think we need. we will start deploying people who very talented in different states and bring them to the seven or eight swing states they plan on expanding to 10 or 11. we are working very closely with the rnc, whether it is political data fundraising. we have a great relationship with the chairman. talk to him daily now. we at the campaign are going to have sean spicer, the chief strategist of the rnc, to be spending time with us. he will be spending more time here. >> one final question on the debate. a few weeks ago mr. trump told ande did not like the day

he isn't sure by the moderators. is he now prepared to accept the moderators and dates chosen? >> we are talking about all the particular logistics about the debate. we are also doing debate prep in many different ways. it's very enjoyable pursuit for him. he's a natural communicator, a natural connector with people and these are fabulous opportunities to force a conversation on to substance. again, what i learned this week, the best week so far. i think donald trump is back in hillary clinton's head. that is where he needs to be, occupying serious real estate in hillary clinton's head. >> he is ready to accept the dates? >> we are discussing that. >> you are looking for someone to find to play donald trump in hillary clinton's debate prep. someone who will bring up topics your candidate probably would rather forget. have you settled on that person?

>> we haven't yet. it is very hard to find someone to mimic the reckless temperament and hateful instincts and divisive instincts of donald trump. preparing for a debate with him is a challenging task. secretary clinton is looking forward to the debate. i think you will see a real difference between steady leadership and a very reckless temperament. >> isn't that are finding somebody who is willing -- who knows larry clinton well who will say tough things to her? >> she has been in this game a long time. she is had a lot of tough things said her. that is not the challenge here. the challenge is finding someone who can re-create the kind of reckless temperament, the kind of hateful language and divisive language that has become trump's hallmark. we will get it done. we're looking forward to the debates. >> now another guest on abc's this week is green party residents of candidate jill stein. she talked about how her campaign is doing nationally.

>> it's only begun to come up on our campaign. with the cnn town hall meeting of the night. we are encouraging other stations to hold town halls because the american people deserve not only a right to vote. they deserve to know who they can vote for. for percent, 6%, 7% without any national coverage. this is percolating up from below, largely from a millennial generation that is locked out of their future right now. i am in this running not only as a medical doctor practicing political medicine, because we have to heal the sick political system. i am in this as a mother very concerned about the future are younger generation doesn't have. that is you was mostly paying attention. i think there are early adopters here. if they don't have a future, we don't have a future. theyare locked in debt, don't have jobs and are looking at a climate which is unraveling on their watch. just looking at the news of the last weeks, unheard of flooding

now in louisiana. unprecedented fires in california. heat waves. this is what the future looks like. because i am not captured by the usual suspects i have the liberty to stand up and call for importantly our main platform, which is an emergency jobs program to address the emergency of climate change. newre calling for a green deal that would create an emergency transition to monitor percent clean, renewable energy -- 100% clean, renewable energy. >> c-span continues on the road to the white house. >> we need serious leadership. this is not a reality tv show. this is as real as it gets. mr. trump: we will make america great again. >> ahead, live coverage of the presidential and vice presidential debates on these fan, the c-span radio app, and c-span.org. mom -- monday, september