races that are already emerging? we have got to: work hard to make sure that they continue to succeed. there are eight republican seats. alabama was of course a seat that we recently picked up. and all of those eight going to be in play. we have candidates today in every one of those eight seats, with the exception of mississippi, where i have talked to some very strong candidates. all of them are strong potential states. having said that, obviously the state of nevada is a big pickup opportunity for the democrats. arizona very much in play. but i would not discount any of the other states. we have really good candidates in all of them. is, a former two-time governor of tennessee,

governed with a very pragmatic approach. >> "washington journal" continues. are taking your calls this segment for it again, democrats can call (202) 748-8000.republicans , (202) 748-8001.and independent s, (202) 748-8002. us what policy issues are on your mind as we take a look at some of the other headlines, from today on the front page of the "new york times," it says gop senators are pursuing the author of a file on trump more than a year after republican leaders promised to investigate russian interference in the presidential election. two influential republicans on friday make the first known congressional criminal referral in connection with the meddling against one of the people who sought to expose it. senator charles e grassley of iowa, the chairman of the adiciary committee, and senator lindsey graham of south carolina, a senior committee member, told the justice

department that they had the reason to believe that former british s[u. christopher steel -- spy, christopher steele, lied to federal authorities about his contacts with reporters regarding information in a dossier. democrats and raised stakes of the partisan battle over the investigation into mr. trump, his campaign, and russia. alan is calling in from eastlake, ohio on our independent line. good morning. what is on your mind today? tuned in, andjust the conversation was on north korea. i did not know how deep it was into north korea, but i know there is some speculation about president trump and maybe not being mentally stable enough. i hope he is not mentally stable enough. [laughs] who is we need somebody

unstable enough for north korea. i think we should own it. i think we should do anything we can do to own it. my name is alan, and i want to own it. host: if you are talking about you, that would -- about obliterating it, that would result in the loss of countless of lives. are you nervous about that? not likees, i would that it i have a grandson. you look at world war ii, when you have a leader in office like north korea -- i do not think the united states is really free -- but i think the united states is one of the few nations in the world -- i mean, you see these people, these guys walking around dictating to people, i think the united states should say after we learned our lessons from hilda, we will not do it again -- hitler, we will not do it again. we do not want to hurt you, but

humanity is what it is. and we have to do whatever we have to do to own that country. we do not want to go there if we do not have to, but if we have to, we will, because we are the united states. host: other headlines, from the "wall street journal" today, the murder rate is declining in the u.s. the two biggest -- new york and los angeles -- are at or near the lowest level of deadly violence in modern history. in new york, murders dropped to 690, a number not seen since 1961 -- 290, a number not seen since 1961. in los angeles, below 281. seven of the largest tent cities

in the united states saw declines in for a 17, according saw final and one data yet. caller: good morning. i wanted to speak about marijuana, something i had not heard discussed by anybody, including all of the callers this morning, and that is regarding marijuana extracts. it is an issue for me because i live --an office -- not i work in an office building that is right across the street a cannabis candy manufacturing plant, and they recently started the extraction , and we have had a number of people in our business, industrial business park, including several from my andbuilding, become ill,

nobody is able to explain why. we have talked to health officials, we have talked to different -- i have written to the department in the state of california that is supposed to take care of things. for example i had an employee, a secretary, who on the way from -- 50 feet -- from walking to our building to her car, she became ill, and at lunchtime she threw up. we are not sure if it is butane, we do not know what the chemicals are, but no one is addressing this, and we have not heard it discussed anywhere. this is an operation with millions of dollars of equipment, and this is not one of the kids in their basement blowing up their mother's house.

but there are issues out there where the regulators are not even aware of some of these things, and so when they talk about health and safety, that is where i think the focus should be on. there are things that are just going through that are not being addressed by anyone. host: all right, other headlines, politico reports that someone is eyeing the office of attorney general, should jeff sessions leave it. closea chief pruitt told friends he is interested with rumors swirling that jeff sessions could depart the administration. the two members of the house from caucus calling on the former alabama senator to resign. pruitt is quietly positioned himself as a possible candidate for the job.

"pruitt is very interested," a person close to him said. rick is calling from austin, texas on our republican line. what is on your mind today, rick? caller: i want to talk about what is going on between the u.s. and north korea, but i really specifically want to talk about donald trump and what he is doing. it really seems like a lot of people are assuming he is making bad decisions for everyone, but i believe he is making decisions for the people. you know, with all of the presidents, we are no strangers to hate, but with donald trump, we are also no strangers to love. from him, a commitment, you would not get this from any other guy. i want to make you all understand that hopefully he can -- he is never going to give you up, he is never going to let you down, he is never going to run around -- host: ok, we're not going to get rick roll ed today. myler: thanks for taking call.

i have been following the midterm elections. is really interesting. i think the democrats have a chance of taking over the house and maybe the senate, so i think policy wise, it is really going coming outerything of the administration. i do not see the wall happening. i do not see infrastructure going on. slownk this will just anything down. i have never seen so many people, like if you look nationwide, i read a couple of articles, of just how many people are running for these seats. now me, i just want what is best for the country. i would like to see infrastructure. host: david, let me ask you this -- do you think that things like if the structure have a greater chance of becoming law if congress remains in republican control with a republican white

house? probably, maybe. therehard to tell because are some aspects of the deficit hawks. i mean, we're really starting to -- i do not mind racking up deficits for infrastructure, but we are expected to get up there now, and there are parts of the to,blican party that wants you know, the social wher welfae programs, they want to put an programe the c.h.i.p. is in battle right now. i do not know. i think the kids should have health care. and i am from utah. utah is not exactly a democratic state. there are certain things we can reach across the aisle from, stuff like that. as an independent, i want to see things move forward, but i think

, if the democrats come in, this is just going to stop. i think anything that comes out of the administration, guest, they will say no. up, they will say down. strategically, it is probably the thing to do. host: all right, let's take a look at some other headlines on the front page of today's "washington post." the president is seeking $18 billion for his border wall. the trumpet administration has told lawmakers that it wants $18 billion over the next decade, laying out for the first time detailed financial blueprint for the president's signature campaign promise.

host: jacqueline is on the line. calling from philadelphia on our republican line. hi. caller: hi. glad to talk to you. i wanted to ask a question about marijuana. i think that what we are talking about here mostly, if they legalize it, that anybody could get it. is that correct? host: they have research is on amounts, but some states have legalized it for recreational. what would you like to see happen? caller: i am not a young woman. i have called in before. i'm scared because when i was young and i had a screaming, crying three-month-old baby that was colicky, what would stop a 22-year-old woman from saying -- let me put some marijuana in its

bottle? i never thought of that before. if it is legal, i guess that would be legal. , or that make sense to you am i -- you? is that a concern to municipalities could outlinaw that. caller: it sounds like you just get it pretty soon like whiskey or beer and put fear in a baby's bottle. it was done. i'm a member when i was younger, a mother used to rub whiskey on a baby's gums for teething. it is a frightening thing to just put marijuana in the baby's bottle when you want to sleep. host: michael is calling on the independent line. yes.er: hi. the president, sorry,

but the secretary of causing i doas long as he is up, not think there is any future for the gop's. if you look at how isolated they become, the united states in the world, he was supposed to be what,t iran, but guess every country spoke in favor of iran and said what is happening is internal. think if the gop wants to continue as a party in this country, they should apologize start theng trump and process of impeaching him. thank you. host: all right. in other news, also on the front page of the "washington post" today, the clinton charity is once again being probed by federal authorities. fbi has been

investigating the clinton foundation for months, april that had been dialback amid tensions between justice department prosecutors and fbi agents. host: tommy is only line, calling from oklahoma on the republican line. caller: good morning.

i would like to make a comment about giuliani, speaking of investigations, while we are investigating donald trump, maybe giuliani has some kind of connection to his cyber security company that he is now heading. there needs to be an investigation, like a private eye, but now it is this other deal. i was wondering if he has his fingers in some of donald trump's businesses, and then a lot of things with the russians that we are not aware of. i have tried to ask a lot of people. oklahoma is a very biased as far as being democrat or republican, and they just laugh off things of that nature. host: explain why that might concern you. why are you asking questions? caller: as i think donald trump is a lot deeper in his businesses that have done things to, you know, work this is still

with the russians or some other -- worked business deals with the russians or maybe some other country after th under the tabl. he always has his group, and he does not speak to the american people and things of that nature. i am wondering, if ronald reagan -- he had alzheimer's while he was in office, and it was overlooked. sort of, nancy reagan ran the country for quite a while. i am hoping that does not happen again. i am concerned about these things. and it is not that i am a democrat and crazy, it is that i am concerned about our country, and donald trump has the button to push. --t: some other news today president trump is apparently walking back plans on welfare reform. he has been telling advisers that it will likely be impossible to advance legislation this year to reduce welfare spending, a priority he previously embraced, backing house speaker paul ryan

and a number of conservative activists. host: michael is calling in from oxford, florida on our democratic line. caller: first, on the issue of i was a former probation officer here in florida and in ohio, and believe me, i met with many people who were convicted felons. as far as the policy in regards to marijuana, personally, i would like full legalization of marijuana. thate seen the devastation actually the drug policy on it does to families. it is far more destructive than the drug.

tobacco is legal, alcohol is legal, the three of those, marijuana, is the far least. one more issue, if i can, the rollback of drilling, even our governor, rick scott, and our legislators, this is something in the state of florida, we do not want closer drilling. look at the devastation that was done to us with the deepwater horizon. going full on fossil fuels now, it is actually going backwards. i personally want to see trump gone in any way possible, but he just looks backward. he is not in a variety -- in reality. forward inooking terms of jobs. the automation is coming. we have got to deal with that. he looks back like it is 1950 or something. everything about this man, plus -- he is mentally unstable. i have no doubt in my mind, going back to my years as a

dealtion officer, i have with mentally unstable people, and i try to tell people that. host: some other headlines, cbs news reports that the cdc is holding briefings on how the public can prepare for nuclear war. the centers for disease control and pretension has scheduled a briefing for later this month to outline how the public can prepare for nuclear war. it says "while a nuclear detonation is unlikely, it would have devastating results, and there would be little time to take critical protection steps. despite the fear surrounding such an event, planning and preparation can lessen deaths and illness," the notice about the january 16 briefing says on cdc'sc's website, -- website, which features a photo of a mushroom cloud. asher is calling from florida. caller: it is kelly. riledady kind of got me

up when the guy was praising on trump a little bit, and you said herickrolling unbelievablere. here. dems andlievable, you li you wantbtards. -- libtards. you want to bring in more muslims are you that better watch fox news and get informed. c-span, you are left-leaning lib tards. host: all right, mark is calling in. what is on her mind today, mark? caller: yes, i am calling -- i am sorry. pardon me. what the lady just said, i have to disagree with her to an extent, and it goes back to the

marijuana situation. when i was a young man coming up here in missouri, i lived along the mason-dixon line, and it was about 50/50 black and white in my school years coming up, and there was still a lot of that hatred on both sides going on. among us. with all theember things going on after the vietnam war and all of that, that we seemed to come together. me and my white friends along , whichr black friends just happen to be as we were sitting and smoking marijuana. we came together. it seemed to us we were doing something "illegal." it brought us together and we

realized how much we really are mothers and sisters -- brothers and sisters and all the same. this leading up to the north korean conflict with mr. trump. i think we need to send someone , mr. kim jong-un. extend an olive branch, and maybe that would be a marijuana joint. host: hannah is calling from new york city. what is on your mind today? caller: [indiscernible] host: can you try that again? i cannot understand you. caller: [indiscernible] host: having some trouble with the line. we are going to go to wayne calling from pennsylvania on the democratic line. caller: i have watched you on

msnbc. that woman you had on, whatever. everybody has got an opinion. i'm not going to say no more. this is ridiculous. fox news, my foot. you keep on doing what you are doing. you do a good job. god bless you. we have got to get democratic control. this is outrageous what is going on. i will say happy new year and god bless you. thank you for what you do. you and greta are my favorites. the rest of them, so what? whatever. next, we will take a closer look at how veterans programs may change in 2018 with nikki wentling. rudenstine will be here to discuss the history of the pentagon papers case and its relevancy today. stay tuned. we will be right back.

>> for nearly 20 years, "in-depth" has featured the best nonfiction writers. this year, we are featuring best-selling fiction writers for our monthly program. join us for our first program sunday at noon eastern with the author of several national security thrillers. our special series sunday live from noon to 3:00 eastern on book tv on c-span2. today, american history tv on

cspan3 takes you to the american historical association's annual meeting in washington, d.c., for live, all-day coverage. historians and scholars talk about civil rights in 1968, watergate, and the rise of partisanship, commemorating civil war reconstruction in national parks, and the new birmingham civil rights national monument. live coverage of the annual meeting today on american history tv on cspan3. c-span, where history unfolds daily. 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. >> "washington journal" continues. host: