ballot, but the same time, it is a >> were going to leave the last 10 minutes of this discussion live to georgetown university where attorney general loretta lynch will be speaking on criminal justice reform. by thebeing introduced dean of the school. >> through this series hosted by the georgetown institute of collects and public service of our mccourt school of public policy, we have the opportunity andear cabinet secretaries senior white house officials as they reflect on their tenure as members of the obama administration and the political and policy issues that have nation over the course of these past eight years. these distinguished public

who engage in dialogue with our community, sharing successes and challenges as well as articulating their remaining goals and insights for the next administration on a range of issues including national security and foreign policy, the economy, climate change, health in the political climate in washington. we are pleased to welcome attorney general loretta lynch, who will engage in conversation martin.hel three weeks ago, we were privileged to host the attorney general here to address the epidemic of opioid use during opioidional prescription and heroin epidemic awareness week. michel, as many of you know, has

partnered with us on an ongoing series on race and america. it is a pleasure to welcome both back to campus. exit interviews which will take place over the course of the next semester, we will also host companion events who have women and men alternate points of view to foster a diverse range. this evening, our series will turn to focus on criminal social justice. understanding and exploring ideas of justice has a strong resonance with any university

community, through the formation of our students, the inquiry of our faculty, and the responsibility we have in promoting the common good. it is the egos, the characteristic spirit of the university to seek the betterment of humankind, to a more just,d inclusive, and fair society. as a catholic university, we have a unique commitment to this if those two sustaining and supporting the unique elements, understanding and responding to the challenges of justice in our time. we can see our commitment come in the words of the 20th superior general of the society of jesus, acutely aware of the grave injustices in our world. he helped provide a deeper moral framework for responding to the injustices of our moment in history in a speech he delivered

in 1973, he called on educators our contexts to undertake rigorous self-evaluation and two above all make sure that in the future, the education imparted in jesuit schools will be equal to the demands of justice in the world. we have embraced his challenge, his commitment to a faith that does justice to being a university that addresses the social justice challenges of our moment. as we come together this evening, as we approach the conclusion of president obama's second term, this is an opportunity for us to reflect on the responsibilities we have as a nation and as a university community in responding to the demands of justice. it is a pleasure to be with all of you and a privilege to have with us this evening attorney general lynch to share with us her insights.

again, i want to thank you all for being here for this important conversation this evening. now, i would like to invite from ourrsch georgetown university politics student advisory board to the podium to introduce our distinguished guests. rachel. [applause] ms. hearst: good evening, everyone. thank you also much for being here today. my name is rachel hirsch, and i am a second-year master's student in the mccourt school of policy. member of thes a geopolitics student advisory board. when i started just over a year ago, i could not have imagined how far i would have come just one year later. the best heart of geopolitics is being able to engage students in thoughtful, important, ofningful conversations

politics regardless of what side of the aisle you stand on. we are able to provide students with unparalleled access to leaders in government and axes he would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere. it is in this spirit i'm pleased to introduce our moderator this evening, michel martin, the weekend host of "all things considered" on npr. martin came to npr in 2006 and launched a talk show that aired on npr stations nationwide from 2007 through 2014. martin joined npr from abc news where she served as correspondent to "nightline," reporting on such subjects as the congressional battle, the u.s. embassy bombing, and the aftermath of hurricane katrina. martin reported for the abc newsmagazine "day one" winning

in italy for her coverage of the campaign to ban the use of landmines. before joining abc, martin covered state and local politics for "the washington post" and national politics and policy for "the wall street journal." our guest of honor this evening is attorney general loretta lynch. loretta lynch was sworn in as the 83rd attorney general of the united states by vice president joe biden. president barack obama announced his intention to nominate ms. lynch on november 8, 2014. ms. lynch received her a.b. cum inde from harvard college 1991 and her jd from harvard law school in 1994. she joined the united states attorney's office located in brooklyn, new york, the city she

considers her adopted home. she forged an impressive career prosecuting cases involving narcotics, violent crimes, public corruption, and civil rights. in 1999, president clinton appointed her to leave the office as united states attorney. while in private practice, she performed extensive pro bono work for the international criminal tribunal for rwanda. as special counsel to the tribunal, she was responsible for investigating allegations of witness tampering and false testimony. in 2010, president obama as ms. lynch to resume her leadership of the united state's attorney's office in brooklyn. under her direction, the office successfully prosecuted numerous cases. a. lynch is the daughter of

police officer and public library in. a quick reminder to join the conversation today on social media. we are at geopolitics on and twitter. without further do, please join me in welcoming michel martin and attorney general loretta lynch. [applause] >> welcome. >> thank you. >> welcome. thank you all for coming. to see me. [laughter] and the interest of transparency of full disclosure,

i think it is appropriate to let everyone know that we do know each other. we did go to college together. we were not hanging out at the club -- not that we could afford it. just to let everybody know, we do know each other, but this is a professional conversation. we will be talking about policy, and i have never really had a chance to talk to you about your work before, so this is a treat for me, and i appreciate that. i think everybody knows that after a very interesting process, you began serving as attorney general at the end of wasl last year, and that six years into the administration, and i was interested to know what they told you your mandate was when you arrived. how did they want you to use this time? i have to say what is particularly exciting as to be here in october and it was about two years ago this month that i began having conversations about being in this position. was extremely important for

me as i talked to people about this position was that we were so committed to making sure that of this two years administration were as productive as any two years in any portion of the administration, that's when i came in, there was still a tremendous amount of work to do, both to accomplish and to institutionalize, and those are important rings. was very much the mandate that i talk about with people when i talk about this position, and it was how i viewed it. i was part of the department of justice, and i have been looking at these issues of how we make our criminal justice system more fair, more open. i had been looking at those issues for some time, and i think things go in cycles. i have seen the pendulum swing that and forth. how do you create a system that really is accessible to people? how do you open up the legal system overall to people? to have a chance to work on that for any time was tremendously

exciting for me. in martin: i am interested how you spend your time. i spoke with eric holder in the spring here in georgetown. as you know, he had a couple of students at doj. he told me when he first served in the justice department as deputy, he spent 80% of his time on criminal justice. he said when he came back as attorney general, he spent 80% of his time on terrorism. how do you spend your time? is a mix.it i find it hard to put into s because every day, we touch on different things. although you are right -- you do still always do that, but i want to make sure that i am giving attention to my priorities. certainly, it depends. it shifts.

there are times when it is 80% to almost 100 percent terrorism. there are times when it is 80% to almost 100% police and community relations. that was one of the things i staked out as one of my priorities before i was even sworn in. it has really become i think one of the leading issues of the day and it encapsulates so many issues about not just criminal justice but justice overall and not just the criminal justice system but the legal system and not just people's connection to the courts, but people's connection to government writ large. all of that, i think, is being played out in the arena of community-police relations. to that end, you riotslive on the job when

in boston happened following the death of freddie gray in the back of a police van. i would like to know how you view it recognizing that the issue looks different to many people. fromnch: people come different places with different perspectives, but you are right -- the day i was sworn in was the day of freddie gray's funeral, and that was the first violence in boston. my first briefing with the president was on that situation after i met with my team on it. it has been an important issue, and i think it has been the lens through which we will see so many other issues. for me -- particularly, having been in new york, as you know, a diverse community. a lot of issues there about policing, community members, the minority community. when i went to baltimore the second week, what struck me most were inseparate people terms of their reactions.

people do see incidents very, very differently, but how united they were in their goals. everyone i met in baltimore was ultimately after expressing a great deal of pain and frustration and anger from whatever their source was -- ultimately, they all came out and said, "this is baltimore. this is my city. i love this city and i want to make it better." for me, that helped frame those issues. i always felt that where you find common ground and a common allegiance in something like that, you can build communication and that's how i have tried to run the issue going forward. ms. martin: we have such limited time we are going to focus on a few key pillars. i want to ask you again when you look at this problem how do you raiment? is it one primarily of communication? is it one of police misconduct? is it something else? about it firstk

as an emotional issue because it connects people. i talk about frustration and pain. i talk about generations of mistrust and i frame it in the context of because of the fact that we are able to see so many painful incidents of law-enforcement-civilian interaction, many resulting in death, that it is a painful time, but i frame it as an opportunity. i also like and it to the civil rights movement when the advent of thevision coverage police dogs in selma and in birmingham showed the world and the rest of the country what the minority community had been struggling with for generations, and it allowed the country, i feel, at that time to reach the disbelief over the issue and actually get to work on it. i think we are similarly at that point here where we are past the point of trying to establish that there is a problem, there is mistrust, there are concerns. everyone sees it now, so we are

now at a point where i frame it as an opportunity. an opportunity for community members to advance the discussion and an opportunity for law enforcement to own this issue because you have to own it. in every conversation i have, accountability is the key. but for law enforcement to own this issue and make progress. it is ann: but opportunity to solve what problem? a frayed to solve trust, the broken bones of trust. the minority community in my experience -- and i have been a prosecutor now for over 20 years -- wants to have a positive relationship with law enforcement. nobody wants to be in a situation where when you feel you are in harms way you have no one to call. that is the upshot of the pain we are seeing -- the pain and frustration we are seeing. it's the combination of people feeling targeted but also that

there is no one there for them, that there is no one in their court. that is a healing i have always believed no one in america should have. i frame it as a complete breakdown in many instances of the trust or, at least, a fraying of trust between this relationship. today, you announce a plan on the nationwide collection of data on law-enforcement interactions with public including the use of force. i would consider this news. we are covering this is news, and it is relevant to our conversation. i would like to ask you to briefly explain this initiative and why now. ag lynch: when we talk about numbers, it is not the most exciting thing, but in talking about law enforcement interaction -- law enforcement and citizen interaction, if you do not have the data, it is hard to prescribe the problem and find a solution for it. -- for example, law

-- deaths ofeaths civilians at law -- at the hands of law enforcement. are they on the rise? are they consistent with where they have been before? does this simply reviewing the same problem, you get more clearly, or is there really an increase? the validity, when a situation does not result in death, those types of situations lead to mistrust also. a lot of the issues that i talk to anple about come down issue of respect, acknowledgment of and vigils. nonlethal use of force also, finding ways to track that, to ask how people are interacting, how law enforcement is interacting with the community. there is a statute that requires us to collect data on deaths in custody and where working on the format and the logistics of getting that up and running. we have started reporting it here with the federal government. but when it comes to nonlethal use of force, the things that

can have just as corrosive and effect, there is no statute requiring the collection of that data. we spent a lot of time working visibly with law enforcement and tribal law enforcement, i would say, to try to come up with national, consistent standards to gather this nonlethal use of force so we can look at all the types of interactions that go on between law enforcement and community members. one of the things you want to know is if you do see a situation where one part of the country and one police department is having a rise in complaints from civilians about the way in which they are treated at traffic stops, for example, you want to know how that compares to last year or the year before, what is going on to lead to this, and you also want to know what is happening with officers. is this all at the end of a shift? it is almost sort of like an

epidemiological approach. we collect health data, for example, but collection of data is part of it. what happens after that data is collected? what do you envision? we're looking for ways --ag lynch: we are looking for ways to make it as possible. the statute that requires us to collect the data on deaths in custody basically says the lead doj has to keep it, but like i said, we are exploring ways to and it publicly available available for researchers. the expanded collection will be essentially -- we are calling it a law enforcement portal. it will be a computerized system where departments are reporting the same information, using consistent standards so we are all talking about the same thing. ms. martin: what has also occurred on your watch also is the deaths of police officers in

baton rouge. of course, dallas, five officers were killed, ambushed during an otherwise peaceful protest that they were attempting to guard. dallas, by the way, has been considered a leader in community policing. even since those incidents, others have occurred. i cannot even enumerate how many just over the last few days. the first reason is that it seems the something i think people in law enforcement understand is dangerous, which is a domestic situation, and intimate partner situation, something they talk about within the profession but perhaps other people outside of it do not -- how do you balance that? you are the chief law enforcement officer of the united states, and these men and women who served our serving under you. i would like to ask you how you are balancing their needs, fears, and concerns with those of the community for also expressing the needs, fears, and

concerns? ag lynch: i think you have to own knowledge those concerns, and it is an opportunity to honor the people we have lost, the civilians and law havecement officers we lost. by using their deaths to have these conversations, to talk to each other rather than at each other, to acknowledge that law -- ans meant is a incredibly difficult and dangerous job, but at the end of the day, law enforcement and the millions have the same goal -- to get home alive and to have a safe community. those are the same things we all want. from a law-enforcement perspective, we spend a lot of time providing support, training, and how to do with active shooters. we provide support by way of grant money to hire police officers, provide a lot of support to focus on community policing. we find the community policing

model is one that creates that partnership. the way i balance those is by acknowledging that there are genuine feelings of pain and frustration on both sides. in my view, you cannot have a real debate and real discussion by not acknowledging that everyone has a point of you and you have to bring it to the table, but there are commonalities. at the same time, we have to acknowledgment community members do understand that law enforcement have a dangerous job. they just do not always want to be perceived of as the danger. so having that conversation or facilitating it was what i try to do by bringing community members and law enforcement members together. what do you think this administration has added to that conversation? i'm sure if we 10 years ago were to stop random people on the street, they would say the same thing. they would say it is a dangerous job and they respect the job,

and they are tired of being viewed as a target. in the spirit of full disclosure, i come from a policing family. people who have followed my career know this. sure you've stopped law-enforcement officers who say they do not get up in the morning to do a bad job. i'm sure they would have said that 10 years ago, so what is the value add you think the obama administration has added to this. value hasi think the been getting people to work together as opposed to just having these different talking points. you're right that people have made these statements and believe them, and a shooting occurs or an incident occurs or a use of force occurs, and it all falls apart. my goal has been to take people who are angry.

and tell them that i need them to form a youth advisory council, a civilian review board. i thinksomething that has been done sporadically but not with the focus and intention -- and attention we are bringing to it now. i've been gratified of the reception i have gotten to those ideas from community members and law enforcement alike. speaking of trust on the other side of it, it is not a secret that this is an election year. --has been very tense and what word can i use? pick one. a very fractious year in which other communities are expressing a lack of trust in other sectors of law enforcement, specifically your department. data dump wikileaks indicates -- and i know there

are issues around how this information was arrived at and i know people take issue with how this issue was arrived at, but let's also be honest that as a prosecutor, as a journalist, we often get information from people who are not our favorite people. having said that, one of the information that was revealed suggested that a member of the clinton campaign in response to a concern about hearings said that he had been in touch with his doj folks and that there was a hero -- hearing coming up. was it appropriate for anyone it to be having those conversations? that issue was about a lawsuit that appeared to be pendant for some time and appeared to be about a request for publicly available information. to make those requests, and i do not have any more news for you on that one. that you haveven

a candidate who has expressed publicly a lack of trust, the issue with communities is they do not offer police the ability police themselves. now you have a candidate saying he does not trust this level of the government to investigate itself when it comes to matters pertaining to sensitive political issues. that is an issue of trust. how do you address that? ag lynch: i'm not able to speak to specific candidates be because of -- because of my own restrictions. i always say there is an issue of trust about any institution. the way to resolve it is to look at their body of work, look at how they carry themselves, look at how they comport themselves. whereas you might not always agree with the results of something -- i mean, there were plenty of times in my old job in brooklyn and explain to people

why we were not going to bring a case or why we were bringing a case and deal with their issues , isquestions and concerns look at how you comport it yourself. i am tremendously proud of the work the department of justice has done in the years i have been affiliated with it. it is staffed by a dedicated body of people who spend their time focusing on digging up every issue they can find to come to conclusions about if something is a problem or how to best protect people, how to best andnd the government certain issues and certain policies. if it is my institution or any other institution, what i would say is look at the body of work. look at how they comport themselves. look at the influence they have had on public ms. martin: is that the de

advice you give to the person holding your position or overall? ag lynch: i think both. so many areas of public life, it is important to me as the attorney general of the department focus on the most important thing that we do, protecting the american people. we do it, thehat tax program, the environment, we prosecute people, we defend the government, policy issues like we are talking. and every single larry, i am trying to make sure that certainly people listening to me, we focus on doing the right thing. that has been the direction that i have gotten since i was a young lawyer joining this department and it is the best advice i have ever gotten. this is a cabinet agency named after an ideal. that means something to me.

how we carry ourselves and what we do. talking to the young lawyers and the department, i will say to them, justice is more than the cases we make, it is the people we hope. the headlines, in that person's life, when they have had the most difficult thing happened to them, that is only going to happen to them once. how you deal with them, how you interact with them with them forever. i asked them to think about that. you mentioned, there are so many issues that people want to talk about. immigration is certainly an issue that is of concern to many people. and we do not have time to get into all of these issues but i do want to turn to a stupid question. before we do, i want to ask you -- a student question. before we do, i want to ask you, it,take a very, dare i say i see youroach when

speaking publicly about these issues. tonal and hows you say it and some is what you say. who would you advise the person stepping into this chair for the next administration to address the fractious nest, the ugliness the uglinessess, that people are experiencing over the course of this year. ag lynch: everyone has to find their own voice. hopefully it is not without acknowledging the pain and frustration i have experienced talking with people. i have sat with family members that have lost their loved ones at the hands of the police. i have sat with children. i have a set with police officer's families that have sat downdown -- have with police officer's families that have been cut down. if we are going to order those

lives, all of those lives, we have to say what can we do to move forward. as i travel the stanford, as i have been fortunate enough to be ile to do -- this country, as have been fortunate enough to be able to do on the community policing, you meet with people who are fractured relationships with the police. wherety that was baltimore was last year, where ferguson was two years ago. they made the decision that we are going to have a better relationship. not perfect but we are not going to let this defeat us. successor, to my find your own voice but never give up on the american people. never underestimate the ability a people to find a way out of very difficult, very painful situation, into one they can make work for themselves. that is really our only option. we can sit here in despair, we can easily do that. we have an obligation to the

communities in which we live, the families that we are raising, the children that we are raising, to move this needle forward. it can be done, i have seen it done. i have seen people come back. people in los angeles can sit with their police department and talk about the positive relationship they have been able to engender, not on every issue because again nobody is perfect, working through these issues, but if people in l.a. can do that and find things to use as examples for other communities, then this can be done. were afraid to talk to a police officer can say i have opened my arms and my doors of my business to the police and invites them in. and they have done this on their own, this can be done. turnartin: i am going to to questions now. have a number of questions from police community relationships but i am going to turn to other issues if that is ok and if we have time of the end go back to those.

there are so many things we want to. maybe you can come back and talk about more things. the first question i have is e abraham, a fresh person. national coming out day was this week. how would you characterize president obama's impact on lgbt to rights? as well as moving forward against hb2. two people know what that is? north carolina, the public private facilities act? you can work that in. this is an area that i am proud of this administration for moving on this issue. you cannot have a country, even one as great as ours, it lives up to its ideals and what we stand for if you are deliberately excluding a class of people from one of the most

basic and fundamental rights that we have, and that is the right to marry. the right to have a family. i really do believe that how we structure our families is up to every individual determines that. and the way in which i think that this administration has been able to work on that issue is one of great pride for me. i am particularly proud that the department of justice has such a role to play. my predecessor eric holder decided that as a matter of law and policy, the department would no longer defend the defense against marriage, defense of marriage act. we began working towards policy ways that we could within the doj enable people who have all different kinds of families to have every benefit that a family is supposed to have. and so i think you cannot -- it is as simple as injustice anywhere is an affluent to justice everywhere.

treat measured by how we people with others want us to exclude or hold back. two, it was to hb meaningful for me because that is my home state, north carolina. to see any stage resort to using the law, something that i have aen proud to use hopefully as means of moving things forward, to go backwards in time, state sanctioned discrimination -- ms. martin: mind if i read something that you said in may? you announced that they discuss -- the justice department was filing a complaint against north carolina. this is the bathroom in public buildings. , the transgender people, instead of turning away from friends and neighbors, let us learn from our history and avoid repeating the mistakes of our past. on the obvious and repeated lesson, that state

sanctioned discrimination never looks good in hindsight. it was not long ago that states including north carolina had assigned keeping people out based upon a distinction without keeping people out based on a distinction. it sounds like the commitments that you bring to this, strictly very deeply, others do not make that connection. we talked to many people in the state to support the bill would do not see the connection. what do you see that they do not see? i amnch: what i see it -- not going to speak for them. is that thesesay are your friends, they are your neighbors. we're talking about more than the bathroom. basic talking about the right to privacy and dignity that everybody takes for granted that your own state is saying that you do not have. in so many situations, i asked people to put themselves in other people's shoes.

being confronted over your very identity, imagine you are being denied. how they would handle that. there are people who feel that that law is one that protects people. that is certainly the way that was cast. perspectivehe other is never helpful because people will often look at something -- they look at something in a different way than i do. there are instances where all of us do. and if i can sort of understand where they are coming from, i can see if we can find some common ground. ms. martin: we have a question from ellie. you want to stand up? how do you think donald trump's proposed muslim ban will affect justice in the united states? ag lynch: i get that question a lot. [laughter] reason i giveonly a disclaimer that i do not comment on either candidate is that the department of justice

has to be independent and stay out of politics. when i can say is that in so many areas that are important to the doj, we have found it more useful and productive work with every community. in particular, when i have been in this chair, the attorney general, or in brooklyn, i find that engagement with the arab -- found that engagement with the arab and muslim community was the best way to protect them along with other citizens under my review and make sure that people, particularly young people, are not sliding into dangerousand situations. we rely on communities. see something, say something. asking people to do that about family members. if you see someone living in an online world of radicalization, we want you to say something so that we can intervene and cap that cord before it turns into danger.

we are talking about situations where muslim americans have been targeted, they are the victims of terrorism here and around the world. we have seen the backlashes. whenever you have public incidents, you see, for example, bullion of muslim children -- bullying of muslim children, particularly girls who are worried the hijab -- wearing the hijab. engagementtructive to be much more helpful and much more constructive. is a differentre question, coming up different, austin, a freshman. are you still with us? hello, austin. austin wants to know, if you think that the election of judges and prosecutors -- i said the election of judges and result in problems and if so, what is the alternative? ag lynch: there has been a lot of discussion about that over

the years. it comes up in the context of the citizenry in general, it comes up in the death penalty in particular. there have been a number of studies that look at differences in how penalties are imposed and how sentences are imposed. that is primarily at the state level. and frankly, it depends, really. a conjunction of the judges of the prosecutors and the defense system. i think it is hard to say. i think we have certainly seen elected judges that are outstandingand do work. many states are going to put a pointed. even in a system of appointment, you have to make sure that you that is asem inclusive as possible so you get and diversetive governmen judiciary. a system that is open and not

close to the way that an election is. i think that while there has been a lot of talk in statistics about that, whatever system a state has, to me, it is more important that the system be as open as possible because my having different voices on the bench, the same way that we have different voices as prosecutors, then i think you are working towards ensuring fairness. ms. martin: would you take a personal question? he is a law student. how are you? question do you have for a young black woman about to enter the leased east diverse profession in the country? how can we get to the positions that you have achieved. say for anyoneld but especially to young black women entering the legal profession, welcome. we are waiting for you. [applause]

we are waiting for you, and we want your voice and we need your voice. , because we are a very reactive profession, the respondent, for the most part, to clients and issues, is behind other professions when you look at statistics for minorities and for women. and so what i would say is that as you enter the profession, the very first thing you should do, however, is find the thing in this profession that you love to do. it ultimately you have to be fulfilled and happy. things that many you can do. as a lawyer. i've never regretted it, for a moment. that is why i say welcome to you. find the thing that you love, and try different things. the advice i always give, particularly young women, young

people, members of minority groups trying to advance in a system that seems closed, find a mentor, that is great. i have found works is finding a way in which you can get involved in a major project. join a team, work on things, find an area that no one else wants to fix and be the person that fixes that area. find a problem and bring that problem to someone above you along with the solution. look for the areas that conditionally have been pathways for people without some of the issues that you see. i think rooms are becoming -- law firms are becoming more responsive but they are reactive. when they become responsive for diversity is one clients insisted on it. i have clients that insisted that there be women of color on the team. law firms take note.

for thoseo look situations as well. for me, i found public service thewhat i loved to do, and benefit was, in the office i chose to go into, there was so much work to do that everyone was thrown in, have a chance to shine. be different but there are opportunities i do not let anyone take your voice. your own thoughts. ms. martin: a question from matthew, who is a senior in government. matthew, are you still here? hello. ag lynch: everyone stood up, matthew. you have to stand up. [laughter] all of the with mistrust, what can people do to support law and order without exacerbating racial tensions? looknch: everyone has to

to see the situation that they find themselves in. there are so many things that people can do. speaking out about the issues, supporting law and order. people that raise issues and concerns hold a mirror to those of us in law enforcement, let us you have goode intentions, you think you're doing a great job, but it is not being perceived in that way. that is something that we have to know. find the thing that you can work issue ofat is the concern for you. i have been in meetings, whenever we would travel to different cities and talked about community policing, i always met with high school students because high school students, they tend to have the greatest amount of contact with law enforcement as they are walking around and hanging out. forth, walking back and in public spaces, areas like malls, the have a lot of interaction with security forces in general.

that perspective is important to me and i would say to them, do officers?ny police what would it take to get to go a police officer? i ask, what is your biggest concern? join something that does that. it does not have to be joining a huge commission or something that is victim shall we. people often make -- big and showy. i tell people to go to the police department and say, i want to set up a system where we can see what kind of training you get. can we see today's of the police two days of the police academy? those things do work. while this is a global issue, it is very local, very locally felt . that is where the solutions start. ms. martin: no one has asked a question about terrorism, so i am going to. mentioned earlier, your predecessor talked about how much of his time in the post

9/11 environment was spent on terrorism. the country is different than the years immediately following 9/11. you prosecuted many accused terrorists. who planned a bombing of the federal reserve. the government's own watch for these al qaeda style attacks but government is- still on watch for these al qaeda style attacks but what we seem to see now are these lone wolf attacks. what changes has the justice department made to adapt? reality. it is a new we are focused on the large-scale planned attacks. we do see what is happening in europe and in paris and in belgium, and we are concerned about that. we see what has happened in the u.s.. note, the focus has shifted in the u.s. to people who are, for whatever reason, vulnerable to a tremendously powerful online presence that

thes this ideology into cloud and into the hearts and minds of people searching for things. we see individuals acting on their own or with one or two isis people in the name of or other groups. so they are more inspired by. those are more difficult to detect. we tend to focus on the engagement with all types of communities, with asking individuals, if you see a family member drifting towards this, to let us know and alert us. oflook for patterns behavior. it is a balance. it is always a balance. to do this in a way that does not infringe upon civil liberties. and privacy interests, because that is very important in this country. we have had situations where we have not gotten that balance correct so we need to work on that also. again,till a matter of,

engaging with overseas partners and sharing information with them on what might be going on both overseas and here, learning if individuals are contemplating certain things. the challenge is always, how far do you go when you have an individual who wants to carry out an act, and how far do you let them go with this? i was talking with high school students about this want. we had a case in brooklyn -- bucket list wants, -- about this once, the case in brooklyn. is this what you really want to do or are you just talking? people will do that, also. we walked back line as well. i told the students, you should want to, do you really do this? i understand the concern, you do

not want to pull people into this. we want to make sure that it is their idea. and a lot of things that we do, in terms of how we investigate those cases, it is something that we take very seriously. of our biggest concerns. it makes it more difficult, it is something that we work on along the clock and still focus on tremendously. ms. martin: what would you consider your greatest success while in this position and what are the areas you would like to have made more progress in? you can answer that question looking at the administration on the whole. where do you think you have fallen short? ag lynch: i do not know right now if i can make that evaluation. my issues thate i think will be tremendous hallmarks of this administration and i do think that the advances

in lgbt rights are tremendous and reflect a growth in us that i am very proud of, as a department in the country. that is something that i think will be one of our greatest successes. i think for me, you always think that you want to be remembered for, but you cannot control that. i hope that people will think to move the needle on community policing and things that could lead to positive change. that work is not done. i do not view it as something we were ever going to finish this year because these problems are generations old and generations in the making. i think we have left a framework where this work can continue. i do not do that as a failing or a regret, that we did not solve that problem. that is a part of the human condition, in my view. ms. martin: when i had the privilege of speaking with madeleine albright at the

beginning of the obama administration, i asked what was the first lien the president should do on taking office. she said", obey. -- close guantanamo bay. that is still on the list [applause] . -- list. [applause] ag lynch: that wasn't it is something the president is committing to doing and the people of work hard on that. there are statutory issues that have gotten in the way in terms of how you could manage that and that has been a frustration. has not prevented this administration from working out ways to transfer individuals -- that has not prevented this administration and working out ways to transfer individuals that do not need to be there anymore. working with countries on ways to not only accommodate those individuals from guantanamo,

work on rehabilitation programs for them. that is also something i consider to be a success story. operate in a context. we all operate, particularly in this town, in conjunction with other forces. and so there are a number of things that we may not have been able to do to the fullest extent that we would have liked to have done, but we have made tremendous progress on all fronts. ms. martin: we do have a couple of minutes, so what about immigration? it is one of those very difficult emotional issues. issue, aan emotional complicated legal issue. shared authority. are you comfortable with where the administration has landed? ag lynch: i think this administration has worked long withard to try and come up comprehensive immigration reform, and they were close to getting it done, and it did not work in progress, for a variety of reasons. did notn, that is --

work in congress, for a variety of reasons. and again, that is something with overlapping jurisdictions, it landed in my lap during my confirmation hearing. even though it is not entirely a doj issue it became an issue during my process. have raised the issues and cap on the forefront of the issues of families, the raise of your people -- the issues and kept on the forefront of the issue of families, the issues of people, what kind of people we want to be. people here?come people who choose to come here. justice is a great place. how do we make that as open as possible and as safe as possible for everyone in a way that is responsible? i think that, frankly, grabbing that issue and engaging congress on it and what was a robust and

actually productive discussion is something that i think is something this administration is proud of and should be proud of. it did not work in terms of statute for a variety of reasons. again, that happens. the president moved on his own. that is where we got involved in court fights over that. the issue right now is pretty much stuck with the injunction. i think that is unfortunate. we have expressed that view in the pleading. we felt this was a policy that was legally defensible, legal and appropriate for the time. it was a lot of us flexibility to deal with individuals -- it would have allowed us the flexibility to deal with individuals that needed to stay and needed to move, took into account of the resource strain on agencies. .gain, it is not over people will keep fighting this fight. keep raising the issue. now when they do so, they have to do it in the context of

looking at everybody impacted by the issue. ag lynch: -- ms. martin: ms. martin: ag lynch: i want to acknowledge her a wilson, -- ms. martin: i want to acknowledge tara wilson, the first year law student. what legacy do you hope to leave when you leave office? i believe you started to touch on it. ag lynch: thanks for that. i hope to leave a legacy of bringing law enforcement and community members together, to have hard discussions but discussions ultimately that connect them. i hope to leave a legacy of protecting the american people from all sorts of dangers and issues. and i hope to leave a legacy having improved our criminal justice system by carrying on with things that ag holder started, doing things on my watch that have worked to make our system more efficient and more fair. we support the clemency project, for example.

working within the parameters of the smart on crime initiative that ag over set agth that lets us take -- holder set forth that lets us take a new look at how we handle narcotics cases that look at the lateral consequences. so we can hold people accountable and not destroy lives and families. i hope to be remembered as the attorney general who did treat justice is not just the cases but the people that we have helped. ms. martin: before we let you go, thank you for joining us today at everybody appreciated the opportunity, but because this is an exit interview and you are new, how is it different than you envisioned? ag lynch: you never know what to think when you go to any new job . a lot of policy, a lot of discussions. a lot of times spending the

department stays out of political wrangling on issues even though we are responsive to congress, oversight issues. we try to be as responsive as possible but not beholden to politics. people have different views on success -- not be pulled into politics. people have different views on our success. ms. martin: is it what you thought it would be? ag lynch: i did not have preconceived notions. [laughter] things.: so many it has been in many ways what i the opportunity to really have a voice on important issues, to really make a stand and make a statement on transgender rights, on lawrence forstmann, policing issues. i was hoping that it would be that and it has been that. in that respect, it actually has been what i thought it would be. martin: what is it like being the first african-american woman to be the chief law enforcement officer of the

united states? lynch: you get the car that way. it's been a great way to bring together so many things i've worked on. the fact that i have been in law enforcement for over 20 years and the fact also that i have spent a lot of time talking to members of the minority community, not just as a prosecutor, but as a member of that community. you get to bring together all aspects of your personality and your experience. i'm grateful for that. mr. martin: before we go, what is your charge to these books here today? leaders. your future so proud to see the project that one of your classmates had instituted of of givingg our staff, your staff members an opportunity to live their

dreams. if you haven't read this wonderful project, it's called unsung heroes.-- " oh what your charge them? this is a wonderful world. you're going to walk at intuit within a lot of gifts come a lot of talent coming out of opportunity. people will tell you how to use them and that you have an obligation to use and all of that is true. what i would say is you do have that responsibility. but what i want all of you to do is to find the thing that you love the most and do it with your whole heart. and you will find not just personal fulfillment, but a way to thisg back institution, to your community, to the country, to the world, in a way that is going to be positive and it will move us all forward. generalin: attorney

loretta lynch, thank you so much for speaking to us. ag lynch: thank you. [applause] i did need to mention there will be another conversation with another perspective in a couple of weeks. thank you. announcer: next, a north carolina u.s. senate race between richard burr, seeking a deborah ross.d whoould be pivotal to controls the u.s. senate. >> it is so important that you hear directed from the to families and loved ones who are suffering from the effects of hurricane matthew. my thoughts and prayers go out to you. running for the united

states senate because washington isn't working for you. i've traveled the state and i've heard your stories. i've heard your struggle. paychecks areur not going as far as a used you and i know that you are worried about saving for retirement and your kids education. -- and iw congress know what congress's failures have meant for your family. senator byrd has been in washington for more than 20 years. for himselfd out and for the special interests. he has voted to raise his own pay but voted against raising workers' pay. that way. have to be we can change washington by changing who we elect. i grew up in a small town. my father was a doctor in the air force. my mother was a preschool teacher. they taught me the difference -- the importance of doing what's right and looking out for our neighbors. i work a lot on our hard issues and haven't that down.

i would love to earn your vote. burr.tor: mr. ag lynch: my thoughts go out -- : my thoughts go out to the people of north carolina. why to thank you for the opportunity to have this debate. i've been there for 22 years. my focus has always been the people of north carolina, to provide them the best constituent service. in the past year, and we have yet to completed, we have given 26,002 hours to north carolinians of the united states capitol. handled 45 case -- we 500 cases where people had problems with federal agencies. we answered over 37,000 phone calls -- excuse me, handled over 37,000 pieces of mail and 15,000 phone calls. best, buted to do my

i am ultimately up to the judgment of the people of north carolina. i've also had a focus on the policy side. i focused on education and health care and agriculture and energy and national security and veterans. these are all important to north carolina. at the proudest is the most recent bill i've passed, to create a 529 account for those families that have disabilities in the family. and we break down finally this penalty that the federal government puts on a disabled person and we allow them to seek whatever god enabled them to achieve. take you. moderator: i want to begin with the presidential candidates you have each endorsed. much of what you have been able to do in washington will depend on who wins the white house. ross, you said hillary clinton is prepared to do the job. but in a recent poll, north

carolinians by double digit margin more said they found donald trump more trustworthy than hillary clinton. why do you think so many north carolinians simply do not trust hillary clinton? faith in i have great the people of north carolina and i've been all over the state. all it takes is a rough business and it is very difficult to that yout the traction are looking for. one thing i can tell you is that hillary clinton is prepared to be commander in chief on day one. donald trump has demonstrated particularly this week that he is singularly not qualified to be our commander in chief. on the natural -- national security front, he has talked about having brush a hack our computer systems and it is very disturbing to me what we have

learned about these tapes. senator burr has stuck by donald trump during all of this and i think that that shows a lack of judgment. what i want to do is get up every morning and work for the people of north carolina every day your and you can trust me. i think any lack of judgment as a decision to put top and special access programs on an unsecure server where our thinkcan access the i poor judgment is one one chooses -- when one chooses to lie about e-mails to the american people and to lie about things like that ghazi wherefore americans lost their lives. i'm the son of a presbyterian minister. when summit he asks for forgiveness, you grant it. defend not going to donald trump, what he said or his actions. i have spoken out quickly and

loudly when i disagreed with something. choice, i look at our it's not close for me. i'm going to support my nominee. i'm going to support donald trump. ms. ross: senator burr has toe even when donald trump has crossed the line. what is best for the people of north carolina is a government that keeps them safe, that cares about their everyday problems and that works every single day at their job. i will do that for the people of north carolina. jonathan: you are not only a donald trump supporter, but a donald trump advisor. last week, you are named to his advise -- national security advisory council. officials,oup of top

like michael hayden, who said that trump would be the most reckless president in american history. can you say, as the current chair of the senate committee that you have no concerns about donald trump handling nuclear codes? senator burr: i have concerns about both candidates. but i have more concern about hillary clinton because of her lack of judgment, the way she has handled her official business as secretary of state. let me remind you. i have criticized the donald trump. criticizeds not tiller for anyone of these acts. i don't blame you go into this. i sus it did he want to talk -- i a rubberstamp --

don't blindly go into this. i assess it. the 2005 video with his lewd comments about women and we've seen women come forward say that they were touched her kiss to buy donald trump without their consent. trump has denied those charges. you honestly stood by him come as you just did. you say he asked for forgiveness. that you consider the behavior that donald trump described in that video to be sexual assault? -- if inurr: in fact fact he did it, that is sexual assault. i take him at his word. he said he didn't do it. now let's address how many members have abandoned him. five republicans publicly since the news came out friday out of

54? there are many republicans in the united states senate that stuck by him. the three sure that we accurately describe what has transpired. so much forank you the question, jonathan. i want to be clear and it's been on the record that i believe that the way hillary clinton handles for e-mails is inappropriate. madeas said so and i have it very clear from the beginning of my campaign that i think she did not do well by her e-mails. donald trump is an entirely different matter. donald trump has encouraged people to hack into our e-mail servers. talked about the nuclear codes, as you mentioned. and he has bragged about socially salting women. i completely understand forgiveness. you can forgive somebody, but you do not trust that same

with the awesome responsibility of commander in chief. donald trump is not qualified to be president. senator burr: i think she just said donald trump is allowed to act into our e-mail system. the next leader will have to decide how we are going to secure america's infrastructure, both critical and from the standpoint of our top-secret back bones. hillary clinton has already proven that she has a disregard for it. i'm not sure how you can be critical and not be explosive when you see what she said. jonathan: let's turn now to health care. bill clinton recently referred to aspects of the affordable care act as "the

craziest thing in the world. world." will be one insurance option in the marketplace. cross and blue shield raise premiums by 32%. they say there will be another increase this year. my question to you is two parts. first, if you had been in the senate in 2009, would you have obamacare and what would you do to fix it now? ms. ross: the affordable care act clearly needs to be fixed. but it's much better than what we had before when insurance companies could deny you coverage for pre-existing conditions and women were denied the same rates as men. senator burr would like to completely repeal the affordable care act and turn it back to the private insurance companies and we know a kind of service you got at that point. he has also taken more than a

million dollars from the insurance companies, so it is not a surprise that that would be his solution. let me tell you about a man i've met in troy, north carolina. he couldn't get health insurance before the affordable care act. it was $1400 a month. after the affordable care act, he got insurance care and his wife was able to go to the doctor. he found out that he had advanced prostate cancer. because he had insurance, it saved his life. recently can't go backward and our state legislature has a lot of the blame for the rising health-care costs because it refused to extend medicaid. and we need to fix it. but we can't -- but we can if we were together. jonathan: but if you had been in the senate in 2009 when it was voted on, would you have voted in favor of the formal care act. ms. ross: i would have voted in favor of the affordable care act because his is better -- because --is better than it is

because it is better than it was before. senate in in the 2009, i would have rolled up my sleeves and try to make our health care system the best. senator burr would have turned it over to the private insurance companies. senator burr: let me just say, jonathan, obamacare is run by private insurance carriers. it was never the federal government that took the risk. it is blue cross/blue shield of north carolina, one of the last one that covers about 60% of the state, that was the only choice. president obama said, if you like your plan, you get to keep it. the reality is that the affordable care act is no longer affordable for an increasing number of people. this week, the administration started sending to beneficiaries

whose insurers had left a notice that said you either need to opt out of the a formal care act or assign youent will your carrier, your private sector carrier. government-run health care is already here and it's called obamacare. byrd doesn'tator like obamacare, but he also wants to have the private insurance companies be in charge. we need to get a handle on this. we need to give consumers more choice. we can have consumers have choice with nonprofits, with co-ops like they've done in other states. but we also have to recognize north carolina general us and we did not do its job by extending medicaid. and senator burr's answers are all in the private sector. jonathan: the shooting death of keith lamont scott sparked massive protests in charlotte

last month. let's turn the -- turn to the issue of race and policing. you understand the that drove those protests and do you think there is a systemic problem in this country of racial bias in law enforcement? senator burr: jonathan, i think i do understand. riots,up at a time where when i was a young boy in winston-salem, happened. this is very different today though. it is for a different reason. and the trust with law enforcement doesn't exist. responsibilityty , the community leaders and law enforcement has to reach out to those neighborhoods that could possibly feel disenfranchised. building a school and building a health care clinic isn't enough. we've got to go into these neighborhoods and create jobs. we've got to find a pathway so these kids get a good education.

we've got to make sure come up when they look down the road, they dig hard because they know that employment is a real opportunity. -- most of the cities we have seen this problem, they have huge unemployment and no jobs. jonathan: but is there a problem with race and law enforcement? senator burr: i think it would depend department by department, city by city. but i don't think people get into law enforcement to carry out any personal bias. so i would have a difficult time believing that. in the case of charlotte, it was african-american officers. i'm not sure they are going to show a racial bias. this is such an important question, not just for charlotte, but for our entire country. we've seen incidence of conflicts with the african-american community and

our law enforcement all over the country. right after the incidents happened in charlotte, i was on the phone with leaders in the community with members of the clergy and the citizens. sure that lawe enforcement and the african-american community work together for the safety of everybody. i have experience working on racial bias issues. i worked on one of the most comprehensive anti-racial profiling laws in the country. and i did it with the head of with theay patrol and secretary of crime control and public safety. we also need more community policing, where law enforcement in the cumin -- law-enforcement and the community were together. i worked on those issues, too. senator burr voted against funding community policing. we need to bring our communities together. jonathan, there is

a rule of law in the united states. it's absolutely crucial that we follow it. there is a process of investigations. we've got to ask our citizenry let these investigations take place. the rule of law in america means we are going to hold someone responsible when they do something that is wrong. lifetimeis she spent a standing up for criminals. not for victims. but for criminals. jonathan: what was your reaction when you saw the video of mr. scoggin shot? senator burr: i actually found it -- of mr. scott getting shot? it onr burr: ashlee found -- i actually found on part of law enforcement. when being asked to drop what is in your hand, you drop what is in your hand. in aleppo alone, more

than 100,000 children are trapped. hundreds have been killed, more are getting killed every day. does the united states have a moral imperative to do more to stop the slaughter of children and their families? do youecific actions think the united states should be willing to take? syria is the crisis in something that has been in tractable for a while. haveve tried to be able to cease-fires with the russians and the syrians and that has not been successful. ultimately, for the syrian people, we will have to come together as an international community and stop what is going on in syria. but what we've got with the refugee crisis can be dealt with by having no-fly zones over syria. making sure that we have good vetting programs that protect

our people, but also let people in when we know that they are not going to be a threat to the united states. been to a refugee camp in jordan after the iraq war and seen the devastation. we need to make sure that we work together as an international community to stop the slaughters in syria, but also to make sure that we take care of the refugees. jonathan: should u.s. ground forces be on the table to deal with the humanitarian crisis or to go after isis? we need to go after isis. we need to do that primarily , workingtrikes and with u.s. ground forces, with our allies on the ground to take back territory. in syria, i think making sure that there's no-fly zones in order to protect of the refugees are folks that would become refugees would be a good first step. senator burr: i called for same zones three years ago from the obama administration. they said they couldn't do it.

300,000ve seen is over syrian women and children killed. they've been killed by chlorine barrel bombs dropped by the charlotte side and most recently we think russia. only one person appear has sat across the table from bashar side -- from bashar al-assad. i know him to be a ruthless man. but this is genocide. and america has never stood by and watched genocide and not react to it. create safee to zones for these children and women can go to bed at night and be safe, leverage our middle eastern partners who have 30,000 physical troops to maintain the physical security and use our air power to tell the russians and the syrians, fly anywhere in anywhere near here and we will shoot you out of the air.

ground forces should be on the table as it relates to the removal of isil. ground forces are not needed in safe zones because we have been offered 30,000 gulf state troops to handle the physical security of those safe zones. we need to make sure that we deal with the syrian conflict in syria. senator burr has talked about his position as the head of the intelligence commission -- committee. but have in that position doesn't necessarily mean that he has done everything that he can to make people in syria safe and to make us safe. to shut downened the department of homeland security over a spat with the president about how we deal with immigration. he also hasn't always made sure that we deal with isis in a direct way. last week, the u.s.

intelligence committee named russia as responsible for the recent hacks of the democratic party. donald trump has made clear he doubts that finding. you are chair the senate intelligence committee. who do you think is right about this? your party's nominee or the 16 agencies that make up the u.s. intelligence agency? senator burr: i will limit my answer to say that the director of national security has made a statement in that he named the rush and's and i will stand by what statement he has made. jonathan: so what do you think should be done if russia is behind this? senator burr: this is not the first time that the rush and cyber actors have played inside the united states. they've done it with data. they've done it with intellectual property. but he it is not limited to them. it is iran. it's north korea. it's china. you would think that we would have a punishing sanctions program and maybe some type of

offensive action against them. favor of theas in iran nuclear deal. about $51 billion in the hand of iran, the world's largest funder of terrorism and a frequent hacker within the united states. you are the vice-chairman of your -- dianne feinstein said a couple of hours ago, the chair of your committee, that you can only conclude that the russian government is interfering with the goal to elect donald trump. [laughter] senator burr: jonathan, the department of homeland security has looked at every election and therethe country is no ballot boxes that are connected to the internet. they have assured every state that, from the standpoint of the vote count, they are confident that it can't be intruded in in

any way. the reality is that they have gotten into 22 states where they have done something with the voter files, but not infiltrated that information. says thesehat she hacks of the democratic party are an attempt to interfere with this election. you are talking about the hacks of the democratic party, i'm not sure that the director of national intelligence has specifically addressed who is to blame for those. director klapper, in his statement that was released, was referring to the intrusions into -- thection board's election boards of 22 states. i think this is a broader problem about our relationship with russia and vladimir putin. we talked about syria.

is clearly flexing its muscles, interested in getting back into a situation similar to the cold war. , we've seene seen problems with syria with not being able to have a cease-fire. we've seen cyber threats. and we have also seen russia's incursion into the ukraine. what we need to do is be strong and tough with russia. on fa means cracking down known cyber attacks, then we need to do that. absoluted trump is the worst person to deal with that issue. he is enamored of vladimir putin. and senator burr has endorsed donald trump and trust donald trump to be the president and the main person who negotiates with the rations. that is simply not making us safe. senator burr: let me just say that hillary clinton is the .rchitect of the russian reset

she is known who talked about resetting our relationship with russia? where has a gone? it's gone south. just like the foreign policy of the united states in the middle east when she was secretary of state and she counseled with this president. it was combined, their efforts, that led to the challenges and the problems that we've got in syria and iraq today. we will take a short break for a public service announcement. ♪ so many call north carolina home. living here puts you in prime adventure territory. miles of enjoy 300 pristine beaches and some of the world's forests and mountaintops. broadcasters in north carolina are proud to provide high quality, free, quality air programing that educates,

informs and entertains. it leads the nation on educating the public and businesses about the uses and value of broadcasting. through the north carolina association of broadcasters, about 300 members of our local community and our state by connecting viewers to their world here in the north carolina association of broadcasters educational foundation is proud to make tonight's debate possible as a public service to the local community that they serve. before we get to the next question, i wanted to clarify something you said. u.s. intelligence community statement said "in the u.s. intelligence community is confident in the rush and government directed the recent copper mize is of e-mails. it seems the statement is directly talking about the hacked e-mails. was referring to director klapper's release, where he addressed specifically russia's involvement in the

election process. i don't think that release had anything to do with the e-mails or the political parties. jonathan: but my question was about the statement of the u.s. intelligence committee and the 16 agencies saying that the hacking of the e-mails was done by the russians. do you agree with the intelligence community or do you agree with donald trump? senator burr: jonathan, i am not at a point where i can comment on that. i'm not sure that the reports you read are from a -- official sources. i cannot remember whether this administration has released anything about that and i'm bound and protected under classified information. jonathan: it was a joint statement from the director of national intelligence. let's move on to the next question. ms. ross, when you lead the north carolina aclu in the

1990's, you raised a bill -- you raise concerns about a bill that would "make it harder people to even reintegrate into society and start over and could lead to vigilantism." campaign says that you want to protect sexual predators. ms. ross: that's politics. the fact is i voted 18 times to strengthen and update the sex offender registry. i've always been for the sex offender registry. bill set i of the helped him draft it. view seen him on tv. there's no question that i'm in favor of the sex offender registry. and i have a strong record of protecting women and children. i was a leader in domestic violence reforms. upntroduced a bill to their

a rape kit backlog. senator burr on the other hand voted against the reauthorizing the violence against women act and he voted against the bill that would have funded the sex offender registry. and output my record of protecting women and children of against his any day of the week. jonathan: but didn't you say it would make -- this bill would make it harder for people to reintegrate into society and start over? you were opposed to this bill. ms. ross: when this bill was like a goodered, lobbyist, lawyer, legislator, you have to look at the locations of the bill. bill is working. the law is working. like i said, i voted 18 times to strengthen and up date it. and raising issues isn't the same thing as opposing the bill. senator burr: jonathan, the

reason this is difficult for my opponent is because she was the lead lobbyist for the aclu. role, she did make the statement that you read. on to say, inent the burlington times in 1995, just because you know some but in your neighborhood is a sex offender doesn't make you safer. and then she went on in 1997 to will have an unintended consequence and it won't protect your child. let me just say this. the one thing we need is transparency. government is not going to protect her children. it's going to be parents and the community. and when there is a sex offender in the neighborhood, we have an obligation to share that with that neighbors. with the school, with local officials. i believe that north carolina understands that she has been hersed to this because words and her actions don't

support her claims. ms. ross: i think 18 votes definitely are clear actions. and i find it disturbing that senator burr doesn't believe my but he isactions, willing to forgive donald trump admitting that he as assaulted women. senator burr seems to be fine with that, voting for him and having him as our commander in chief. those are actions, my friends. on toan: let's move government spending. the national debt has doubled since president obama took office in 2009. defense spending and entitlement programs are the prime drivers of our debt. are there any cuts or changes to those programs that you would be willing to consider to get this debt situation under control? theross: when i served in

north carolina legislature, we had to balance the budget every year. some years, we had surpluses. some years we didn't. like any family, if it was a year when we had a deficit, we would cut programs and we would sometimes have to raise revenues. and so the federal government is going to have to deal with the debt that way. so there are programs and redundancies in the federal budget they can be cut. fraud andso waste, abuse. i have worked on those issues as a state legislature. we need to do three things to get a control over the debt. first of all, we need to make sure people have jobs that pay good wages. because when they do, they pay taxes. they stimulate our economy, and we have more money in the system. we also need to look at programs we can cut. hurting essential government services.

and then, if we need to raise revenues, we need to be honest about it and do it in a fair way. senator burr: jonathan, yeah, we do have a debt problem. underbt has increased this president as much as every president prior to this president. we are just shy of $20 trillion. you can't cut your way back to fiscal sustainability. let's look at what we have done while we were in congress in the last three years. we put in budget caps. trillion.1.2 part of that now we realizes secret -- sequestration on the military. we will have to go back and rethink that. then there were things even the president proposed. let's merge agencies together. maybe put the commerce department and the labor department together. maybe the department of energy in the apa together. the president proposed it. i offered it and the democrats would not let it come up.

you've got a understand that there is a rich history, even with my opponent, ms. ross, of taxing and spending as the answer and not necessarily looking for efficiencies in government. congress hasn't been able to put together a sustained budget over a long period of time. congressother way that and washington are not working for you. senator burr's idea of how to deal with tax policy is to cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires, which would result in having to increase taxes on average working folks. for good going to pay schools, good roads and all of the important things that government does. i would put my budget balancing experience of against his any day of the week. i had to do it for more than 10 years. jonathan: another flashpoint in this race is the house bill 2, the so-called bathroom bill.

you said this is a state issue. you said it was far too expensive. recently, you said we should go back to where we were. bottom line, should transgender individuals in north carolina be able to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity? senator burr: i don't think so. what i've said is that i think the charlotte city council tried to fix, find a solution for a problem that did not exist. north carolina general assembly did what a state legislator can do. they passed a law and the reversed it. i can't change that in washington. the president tried by dictate to expand this to the country under title ix. and the courts looked at that and said you can't do that because this is an education title for equity in women's sports. it didn't fit. that, afterhope this election -- clearly we are

not going to get done during the general, but the assembly and charlotte will reverse and saws and go back and rethink whether this is a good policy. but here's what i would suggest. include the people in charlotte in this decision. let it be a ballot initiative if in fact the local leaders want to do it. ms. ross: i've been opposed to 2 because it discriminates. hass a federal issue and it hurt our economy and our good name. senator burr said he did not discriminate and was not a federal issue and would not hurt our economy. wrong, wrong, wrong. i've been all over the state of north carolina and the economic devastation has been extraordinary. wilmington has lost the film industry. high point is losing many vendors here at they are going to las vegas. i even went to lexington for an event and heard that house bill

2 had to be repealed from a member of the chamber of commerce you said, before house bill 2, they had a new industrial park. people were coming in calling every week. after house bill 2, completely gone. everybody needs to be safe in the bathroom. has been a bad2 bill and senator burr has not shown any leadership since the beginning to deal with this issue. jonathan,rr: well, i'm not here to defend the governor, but north carolina has the fourth large -- fourth fastest-growing growing economy in the country. ofr years ago, we had one the highest and implement rates, more people on extended unemployment. the governor came in and said we are going to change this and they have. and we've got one of the lowest unemployment rates today. we are still attracting business every day to north carolina. investment in north carolina. fourth we've got the

fastest-growing economy. we missed have missed a few people like pay paul. it's their loss, in my summation. jonathan: so you don't think this bill has hurt the economy in north carolina? senator burr: based upon what i see and the economic data, we still attract investment and we still create jobs every week. another question to you. you have been in congress for two decades, 23 years, as you pointed out. your opponent has criticized you for taking millions of dollars from special interests. you are just one of three against the voted stock op. my question to you is how do you respond to ms. ross's allegation that you basically used your position to cash in? senator burr: it's a lie, quite honestly.

she has claimed that my personal wealth has grown phenomenally. let me share with you -- when i left the private sector 22 years ago, my retirement account was switched over to an ira worth a little more than $200,000. today, it is worth $258,000. not a track record of investment many of the people in this country would follow. that my wife created her own business with a couple of partners. it is a very successful real estate business. she has done very well. when you look at our net worth, hers is 66% of our debts of the total net worth. we share jointly 26%. and i have 8%. is shet ms. ross did attacked my wife. this is the first time in 22 years -- 24 years to be exact, that my family has been brought into a campaign. i'm proud of my wife. i find it disgusting that anybody would question her

success. and i think quite frankly my wife deserves an apology. well, senator, i have the must respect for your wife and i have the utmost respect for women who work and make -- more money than their husbands and support their families. that's one of the reasons why i am an opponent -- a proponent for equal pay. question, jonathan, it is a factor that senator burr was only one of three senators who voted against a ban on insider trading for members of congress. and he called that the brave. he also voted seven times to raise his own pay. but voted against raising the minimum wage and voted against the lilly ledbetter fair pay act paycheck act.ss

that doesn't help north carolina families and it certainly doesn't help north carolina women. most people earning women -- most people earning women -- earning minimum wage are women. you can count on me to stick up for north carolina families. [sigh] burr: jonathan, the fact is i've never voted for a pay raise. as a matter of fact, i have authored bills. one of them that i was a cosponsor on in 2009 is the reason that we don't have -- that we haven't had a pay increase since 2009. the reality is, when i went off the amendment prior to that, harry reid did not let it come up. the democrats raised the pay of congress. jonathan: ms. ross, on the issue

of immigration, a year ago, governor mark rory signed the sanctuary cities law that block any municipality. you support comprehensive immigration reform. but until or less that passes, do you support cities that don't want to help the government enforce immigration laws? ms. ross: our immigration system is broken. and congress has not addressed it. it compromises our security. it hurts our economy. and it breaks of families. i would have voted for the immigrate -- governance of immigration reform they came in several years ago. senator mccain voted for. many supported it. it would have secured our borders, made sure there was a fair, tough half to citizenship,

and it would have helped our economy. supported by the north carolina farm bureau, the north carolina chamber of commerce, and our tech communities. but senator burr voted no. u.s.ur suit -- as your senator, i will make it a priority to solve the immigration issue so we don't have spats among state legislatures and local governments. senator burr: we've tried desperately to put together a coalition that can have common immigrationnsense reform. it starts with fixing the legal system. i think mr. trump has talked about that. republican and democrat members of the united states senate. we just haven't had the platform to take it up. with fixingwe start the current system, we can get onto fixing other things that need to be broken, individuals who have not committed a crime should have a legal status that

is temporary. individuals that want to seek citizenship should have to leave the country and do it like everybody else and then come back in. but i think it's safe to say that there's no pathway that i can support that provides amnesty to anybody who came here ill legally. jonathan: i want to move to our last question which is to both of you. if the presidential nominee of the opposing party wins the election, what issues would you be willing to work with him or her on? on what issues would you be willing and able to work with the donald trump on if he is elected president? ms. ross: that's a great question. i want you to know that i have worked across the aisle in my political career. when i served in the state house, i served when democrats were in charge, republicans were in charge and the house was equally divided.

in i got my bills through all of those scenarios, more than 90% of the bills i got past had more than 50% of the republicans voting for them. as far as mr. trump, i know he is tremendously interested in new for structure. that is something i have a background on. i was a municipal finance attorney, helping cities and counties get roads and bridges done. i would roll up my sleeves and work on the issue in the united states senate. senator burr has a 95% record of voting with his party. the only time he seems to want to split with his party is on things like the stock act. i feel like i can work with -- worked across party lines. i have done it before and i look forward to doing it again. hopefully with my colleagues in the senate. jonathan: mr. burr, on what issues will you be able to work with hillary clinton on? senator burr: i'll give you the

list. let me just say this. it is illegal in law, even for congress, to trade on insider trading. reason why i opposed the stock act. north carolinians did not send me to washington to duplicate existing law. that is what the stock act today. i've worked with hillary clinton. she was a member of the united states senate with me. i look forward to working with her on health care. she will have her hands full because obamacare will financially implode in the next 17 to 24 months area i look forward to working with her on the economy and jobs. number one issue that america needs. we have americans who want jobs and can't find them. i think it's safe to say that i will work with her on national security because the threat the faces our country and the world is too great not to find a bipartisan approach to make america a leader in the world. certainly, the most

important thing that we should always work on in a bipartisan way is national security. we all care about the people of north carolina and we all care about the people of this country. and we must come together to work on national security, defense and foreign affairs in a bipartisan way so that we have a strong country going forward. jonathan: that concludes the questioning portion of this debate. we now turn to closing statements. 90 seconds to each of you. ms. ross: thank you so much for tuning in. and i think you heard tonight that senator burr and i have very different visions for the future of north carolina and how we would approach being a eunice -- a u.s. senator. burr, it's ok to vote against a bill that bans against insider trading. north carolinians are

looking for is a change. i been all or the state and i've heard your truck -- your struggles and i know you are frustrated that washington isn't working for you. i want to go to the united states senate and make sure that your everyday struggles are taken care of. i will be a different kind of senator, one who listens. and i won't back down or sellout when things get hard. i will put your interests first everything will day. and i hope very much to earn your vote. thank you so much. senator burr: jonathan, it takes a lot to commit with the atmosphere in washington today to run for office. i think ms. ross for doing it. i am reminded of a conversation i had with my dad six years ago. i had come back from an intelligence trip. he was in the hospital. i said, dad, how are you doing? he looked up at me and said two words -- i'm sorry. sorry for what?

he said i fought a war so you wouldn't have to go through this. my dad was the last child. he had all of his brothers and sisters serving in war when they became of age. mistake duringe basic training. who could swim, he raised his hand. he ended up in the south pacific. maybe that's why he became a sister when he came back. i realize what my dad was telling me was life is not about sacrifices. it is about responsibilities. a didn't see world war ii as sacrifice. he saw it as a responsibility. the reason i am running for reelection is because i want to make sure that the next generation inherits what i inherited, which is an online --

unlimited opportunity. need your vote. if i have an earned it tonight, i hope i earned it over than -- iron it over the next three weeks. thank you. jonathan: that concludes this debate. i want to thank mr. burr and ms. ross for participating. this public service program was brought to you by the north carolina association of broadcasters educational foundation. inc. you for watching and good night. -- thank you for watching and good night. ♪ ♪ ♪ i like calling north carolina home. >> so many call north carolina home. living here which are in prime adventure territory. ofidents enjoy 300 miles pristine beaches and some of the

nations old oak grove forests. broadcasters in north carolina are proud to provide high quality, free, over the air program that educates, informs and entertains. the north carolina association of broadcasters leads the nation in educating the public and businesses about the uses of broadcasting. over 300 radio and television members support our local community and our state by connecting viewers to their world. carolina association of broadcasters educational foundation is proud to make tonight's debate possible as a public service to the local communities they serve. ♪ announcer: that was the north carolina u.s. senate race, one of six in the u.s. senate rate it a toss up by a number of polling agencies. over on c-span 2, coming up in can a few minutes, you

follow more of the house and senate races going on in this tiny 69 action. on c-span.ow here we will take a look at the wisconsin senate race with russ feingold. he will be in a rematch with ron johnson, who he lost his seat to in 2010. we will have that live right here on c-span at 8:00 p.m. eastern. we will turn to nevada tomorrow night here in joke -- joe heck faces catherine cortez mastro, a race to replace harry reid that race in nevada. -- that space in nevada. onhelle obama centered donald trump your i will take your calls right after we hear from first lady michelle obama. followed by donald trump's remarks that he made at a campaign stop today in florida. here is a little bit of what he said.

mr. trump: now we address the slander and libel's that were just last night thrown at me by the clinton machine and "the new york times" and other media outlets as part of a concerted coordinated and vicious attack. coincidence that these attacks come at the exact same moment and all together at the same time as wikileaks releases documents, exposing the massive international corruption of the clinton machine, including 2000 more e-mails just this morning. [cheers and applause] you -- these claims about me, of inappropriate conduct with within our totally and absolutely false.

and the clintons know it and they know it very well. are all fabricated. they are pure fiction and they are out right lies. these events never happened and the people send -- said the meekly fully understand. you look at these people and you will understand also. preposterous. we already have substantial evidence to dispute these lies and it will be made public in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time very soon. the republican presidential nominee speaking about the allegations against him of

sexual assault. go to have his remarks in their entirety coming up in about 35 minutes here on c-span. we'll also be taking your calls. first, michelle obama -- mrs. obama: while i would love to pretend nothing is happening, that would be dishonest and disingenuous, like this was all just a bad dream. this is not something we can ignore. not something we can sweep under the rug as just another disturbing footnote in a sad election season. because this was not just a lewd conversation. this was not just locker room banter. this was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior. and actually bragging about