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part of c-span 50 capitals to her. as always, we take your calls, and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning. it is monday, april 9, 2018. congress returns to capitol hill after a two-week absence, the senate reconvenes at 3:00 p.m. the house will hold a pro forma session today and will meet tomorrow afternoon to legislative business. we will be with you for the next three hours on the "washington journal." we begin discussing the role the new national security advisor will play in the trump administration, on this, his first day on the job. let's hear your thoughts on the former u.s. ambassador and fox news commentator by giving us your call. .epublicans, (202) 748-8001

democrats, (202) 748-8000. .ndependents, (202) 748-8002 you can also reach us on facebook and twitter. a very good monday morning to you. john bolton's first day on the job coming amid a growing crisis in syria after a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel held town east of damascus. here's the front page of "the wall street journal." warningt trump president bashar al-assad in vladimir putin of "a big price to pay" for the suspected attack with chemical weapons. that comes amid news overnight of a missile attack in syria. ofia is accusing israel tearing out an overnight missile strike on a major airfield. it is suspected the united states will be behind that

attack. reports, saysters to israeli warplanes carried out the attack. one israeli military spokesman said he had no immediate comment. the reporter noted that the russian defense ministry says they conducted from lebanese airspace and they shot down some of the missiles that were fired. reuters back to "the wall street journal," noting that with everything that is happening, bolton faces o a middle east baptism by fire. that story notes that president trump's new national security adviser enters the white house this week facing an immediate response toloping a the suspected chemical weapons attack in syria that have killed dozens. john bolton, who has served as american ambassador to the

united nations, state department official under two presidents, and the fox news commentator, is known for advocating muscular military responses to advance u.s. interests, and will play a key role in helping president trump to decide whether or not to strike bashar al-assad. it notes that mr. bolton's reactions to pass trikes in syria. over the years, mr. bolton has taken different views on the u.s. approach to syria. in 2013, when then-president barack obama threatened to launch a military strike against his regime after using sarin gas, mr. bolton opposed that move. " i think the notion that a limited strike, which is what the president seems to be doing, will not created turned effect," he said on fox and friends at the time. last year, as president trump repair to launch cruise missiles mr.nst president assad, bolton said any military strike had to be part of a larger strategy to counter russia and iran.

we want to hear your thoughts this morning, taking your calls about john bolton's first day on the job. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. (202) 748-8002. more about what this could mean going forward. here's the front page of "the that thetimes," noting chemical carnage has muddied plans for u.s. exit from syria. meanwhile, the crisis in the middle east is not the only issue that john bolton will have to deal with. this story from "the washington korea" noting that north has informed the united states in talks that it is willing to discuss denuclearization at their upcoming summit, according to a senior administration official. the message comes as the countries prepare for a historic meeting between president trump

and north korean leader kim may.un, probably in a date and location hasn't been announced, but they are directly talking, the story notes, and that u.s. officials have not said when and how the communications had taken place, but they held multiple direct contacts. coming amids questions about how john bolton will advise president trump when it comes to north korea. many commentators are pointing to john bolton's past statements. this column from "the wall street journal" from this past february 28, the legal case for striking north korea first is the headline, by john bolton. he says it is a necessity of self-defense, leaving no choice of means and no moment of deliberation. we will go through his previous comments on various issues, including north korea and the middle east. we want to hear from you.

republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. lily is up first in illinois, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning this morning. it is going to be sunny, but it is cold. ahead.n hearing you, go caller: yes, i just want to know why, whether we are independent, whycrat, or republican, wouldn't -- my comment is this. in, whether wel are independent, republican, or democrat, on the lines, why we do not and why c-span and even npr a lot of times have a slant against the president or any of

his decisions, and mr. bolton is very qualified, and he has already been shot down in all the newspapers and all the news whenever you read one of his statements it is usually either partially read are taken out of context, or it is not given a chance to survive. every country, listens to us, every country listens to what we are saying, and if we are fighting in america each other how are we going to win the war and other countries, because they know if they disturb us here between the parties are not support our president, as a nation, then we are never going to get to where we need to be in the world it is betweenher a farmer's daughter or any decision the president makes is already shot down and never

given a chance to survive? if we don't stand together, we are not going to survive on any world stage,ny because they know they have already disrupted our country. you: we are going to give and our viewers a chance to hear from john bolton himself. there are plenty of c-span archives of different appearances over the years. we started with his appearance at cpac back in february of this year where they were talking about north korea and what the upcoming talks will mean. 2018,e is from february, talking about the threat in north korea and the u.s. relationship with china. >> i think the real pattern of chinese behavior is incredibly aggressive and assertive. they are building bases on rocks and briefs in the south china sea that only good day are only three inches above water. they are today mapping the seabed of the indian ocean and

they are not doing it to find fish, they want to know where they can put their submarines when they develop an undersea fleet. this is a very aggressive development, and tomorrow we will talk more about it, but what we require is a comprehensive american strategy. the president has raised the issue of chinese violations in their obligations under international trade agreement and there are a sea of intellectual property and discrimination against foreign investors, that's an important aspect, but we need a political and military strategy. we need what we had in the cold war, a linkage so that all of these issues are together and if china wants to know how we will treat them it depends on how they behave. now think president trump has convinced both north korea and china that barack obama is no longer president, which is that single most important thing that he could do.

[applause] >> but make no mistake, as cia said, north korea is tohin a handful of months having the capability of dropping thermonuclear weapons on any american city they want. hastrump administration very hard decisions to make in the very near future. if china really believes what they have set for 25 years, which is that they don't want north korea to have nuclear weapons, now is the time for them to act. and if they don't act and act responsibly they will cause a lot of problems. host: we will show you more from that appearance in february, with john bolton and his other statements over the years, as we talk about the new national security adviser on this, his first day on the job. here are some of his background before he took this job. was previously a senior fellow at the american enterprise institute and the fox news commentator, as will as an

advisor to mitt romney's presidential campaign. he served as ambassador to the united nations in 2005 and 2006, the undersecretary of state for arms in 2001 through 2005 and was the u.s. attorney general back in the 1980's. he graduated from regale university as well, getting his bachelors in law. we want to hear from you, your thoughts on the new national security adviser. deborah is in tacoma, washington, a republican. go ahead. caller: i think it's a great move, and i'm really excited puttingsident trump was him in this position. as far as -- can i say anything i want? because i want to bring up -- of get, oureekend -- we andident gets chastised,

what we have going on with the other agencies. the only news media that i listen to his fox news. but we appreciate that, want to keep the conversation focused on john bolton this morning. mark is in westwood, new jersey, a republican. go ahead. caller: yes, thank you. i just want to say that i am not happy about john bolton being national security adviser. he has proved that he has very poor judgment by advising george w. bush to preemptively attack iraq stop that basically got us nowhere except a loss of blood and treasure, it was a terrible move, and now he will be advising the president to attack north korea, to attack anywhere he sees an issue, his whole

response is always military intervention for i am very unhappy about the world's worst diplomat now becoming national security adviser. ricky. host: john bolton thoughts on invading iraq, "usa today" had a reason right up, in his past statements on various issues focusing on that topic. john bolton joined other administration officials and expressing confidence that saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that iraqis regime,lcome the u.s. noting that both those predictions turned out to be incorrect. but bolton still believes the invasion was the right decision. "i still think the decision was the right decision," he said in 2013. he says he thinks decisions after that were wrong, although "the worst decision was the 2011 decision to withdraw forces." eileen is an lazy, washington

for democrats. go ahead. agree with the other republican that just spoke, because he isn't good for our country. i don't think this is the right thing to do. and i don't know where trump gets his -- you know, his people from. prewitt burning money that isn't his -- host: are you specifically concerned about john bolton? war, i blame on him. all this stuff that is going on. i don't get it. we used to live -- under barack

obama, under every president before, even george bush, george -- to me, bill clinton they were all, they kept us safe. this president is just going haywire. host: las vegas, nevada. independent. good morning. caller: good morning. first of all, mr. bolton should be held for war crimes, and so should the united states governor for crimes committed with russia and the united states, the two biggest criminals. occupational forces, by , who arecountries starting generations of genocide and war crimes. that shouldperson be behind bars for crimes and if you want

to put him back into office that is because in israel they created world war iii. that's the only reason. the creations of israelis are by china 4000 years ago. host: baltimore, independent. go ahead. caller: the last color just stole my flyer. israel.he is a tool for swampite house, that deep -- host: whitey is a that? what in his past makes you say that? caller: look at how israel was established. it's world war iii. far as trump, i worked with trump, i was a democrat but i changed my party to republican

-- not republican but before,ent, like i said when trump said last week about pulling the u.s. troops out of israel, last week he said this or the week before that he will pull the troops out of israel -- host: he was talking about syria. caller: out of syria, out of syria. and what happens? all of a sudden we have another syrian attack. what happens if the u.s. ever leaves israel? they will be on their own. host: that is joe. david is in madison heights, michigan. democrat. go ahead. caller: thank you very much for taking my call. i think bolton is a mass murderer of the military. he started the war in iraq, which was all lies. criminal be tried as a , like the previous caller said, and we do need to build the wall

in we need to build a wall around the white house to contain the trump swamp. bolton fits right into that swamp. thank you very much. host: we are talking about john bolton, the new national security adviser. getting your thoughts on his first day on the job. more on that "wall street journal" story, baptism by fire. president trump has found a like-minded pugilist who's not afraid to use military might to advance u.s. interests surround the world and has advocated toppling the governments of iran and scrapping the deal. asphen hadley, who served president george w. bush's national security adviser, says his rhetoric could drive u.s. allies to the bargaining table and strengthen washington's negotiating position. president had gotten where he is on north korea by being hawkish and this reinforces it.

it got him a lot of criticism but it got china's and north korea's attention. lines, if you are a republican (202) 748-8001. (202) 748-8000 if you are a democrat. (202) 748-8002 if you are independent. talking about the threat of radical ideology and what it means to the united states. >> too often, our diplomats fall prey to the idea, whether it is the irish republican army or any terrorist group, there's a humanitarian wing of hezbollah, there's a political wing of hezbollah, likewise, with the muslim brotherhood. it is one organization motivated by one ideology and to me that is the fundamental issue. to understand as the obama administration did not, what we are fighting here is not a

concept like violence, we are fighting a radical ideology that grows as of islam, political islam, that ideology detests western civilization and america in particular. ideology,create the we may not like having to deal with it, but if we don't acknowledge what we are fighting we will never prevail. host: getting your thoughts this morning on john bolton, the new national security adviser. james is in pittsburgh, independent. good morning. caller: good morning, guys. thank you, c-span, god bless your viewers. some of them are scholars that i love listening. here it is, man. i don't want to fight no more, i am 52, i was in korea, my grandfather was in world war i, i studied more.

i think it is a very bad idea and i don't want to get involved. ,e shouldn't be burning bridges we need to work on our plans and focus on things and set of killing each other. and it a rich man's war will be the little guys fight. , and look what happened in vietnam. going to be something that is really stupid that doesn't need to be done. host: leo is an illinois, republican. your thoughts? caller: yes, thank you, c-span. thank you for allowing us to know what's going on in this country and the world. i have a comment about john bolton. we cannot continue to engage in

awning any country on suspicion. there must be an investigation ,o determine who is responsible because right now there is no due process of law and we have a that demands see whytcause we are proposing a un-sponsored investigation where the russians and the chinese and the europeans are going to participate, because that is what we are doing right now, that's what's becoming of this great nation. we should stick to due process of law, it is important. host: the president yesterday tweeting about what happened in syria over the weekend.

"many dead, including women in children, in mindless area of the track, area of atrocities on lockdown, making it inaccessible to the outside world. president putin, russia, and he forn are responsible backing the animal assad. big price to pay." "another humanitarian disaster for no reason what wever." several tweets yesterday about syria, one more thing that president obama crossed is dated redline in the sand. morning, no tweets yet about syria, the president choosing to focus on china and u.s. trade issues, saying when a car is sent to the united states from china there is a tariff of 2.5%. from china to the united states,

it is 25%. does that sound like free or fair trade? it sounds like stupid trade, going on for years. we will keep watching his twitter feed this morning. this is the time when he is usually pretty active. in the meantime, donald in san antonio, texas. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i have listened to you every morning and ideas thank you -- sometimes i am angry with you, bringing john bolton in, i don't understand why they are bringing john bolton and, we don't need to go toward nomura, we really don't, and i'm sick of everybody coming in that keeps blaming the predecessor in office for these problems. we will have these problems the matter what president comes to office. we need to stay out because it boltonour war, and john

makes sure we go to war in that country. part, can't people see we aren't solving any problems? we went over there to get rid of it to tater and did nothing but cause chaos. secure these countries -- we will always be in a war. bolton, especially this morning, i am surprised to hear republicans calling in, what planet i wake up on question mark host: let's hear from another. miami, florida. go ahead. caller: thanks. we are in syria because of the last president, and the republicans are coming in because we have to clean up the last guy did. but anyways, what i wanted to say, the chemical attack --

whose interest with that [no audio] -- i would say -- iran and north korea have been playing monkey in the middle with us for the last eight years. whenever north korea was building up, iran started to rattle their saber. and vice versa. so now when we are looking at north korea, all of a sudden this chemical attack athens, why ? we have to find out who really did the chemical attack. bernice in new york city democrat,. go ahead. caller: yes, i'm calling in regards to mr. bolton. i believe mr. bolton is the architect of the chemicals of mass destruction, and i believe that trumps coalition, the

russian, the iran, syria, and china, it is his only focus. he is a mold for the radicals. i believe he -- host: why do you think that? what his background makes you think that? bannon been in and -- and trump said by the time the americans get back -- we won't want to back. he is doing a very good job of making sure that prophecy comes true. he dropped in as a mold for the coalition of a deprived country that he seems to adore. host: bernice in new york city. you can't join the conversation at (202) 748-8001 if you are a republican. (202) 748-8000 if you are a democrat.

(202) 748-8002 if you are an independent. one take from "the national review" entitled "john bolton isn't dangerous, the world is." "we should not exaggerate john bolton's aggression -- to be a hawk is in to see war as a first resort, but a realistic option, an option that ideally makes diplomatic overtures more urgent and effective. as the most powerful nation on the face of the earth, we should not conduct our diplomacy as we fear war more than our potential foes do." if you want to read his column, it is in "the national review." "the new york times" editorial taked with their after john bolton was named national security adviser. "yes, john bolton really is that dangerous." accelerate is an american alienation, certain to

accelerate american alienation from its allies and the rest of the world. congress may not be able to stop his appointment but should speak out against it and reassert its responsibilities under the constitution to authorize when the nation goes to war." they also wrote, "the good thing about john bolton is that he says what he thinks. the bad thing is what he thinks." he was with john about the iran nuclear deal. this was from february of 2015 at a speech here in washington. >> i have saved the best for last, iran. it is a state sponsor of terrorism. it has been since 1979 the largest source of financial support for terrorists around the world, and is on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. it is on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. the obama administration is looking to reach an agreement

with them on their nuclear theons program, abandoning basic premises of an acceptable agreement that the europeans have pressed for for over a decade that iran would have to give up uranium enrichment, that there enrichment capability will be legitimized by this deal, and the substance of this deal when we will finally see it announced is simply a deal that will try to maximize the amount of time we have to find out when i ran violates this agreement. that is what this oils down to. i think this will be destabilizing all over the region. i think other countries will accept that iran is on an inevitable track to nuclear weapons. they will try to get nuclear weapons as well. regionready volatile will be even more dramatically at risk. host: getting your thoughts this morning as john bolton begins his job as the president's

national security adviser. d.c., independent. guest: how are you doing? host: doing well. guest: one of your previous llers blamed barack obama. -- did absolutely nothing about it. ofia is a puppet state russia. donald trump is a puppet of russia. it coincides. i have no faith in mr. bolton's abilities. he is unstable just like the president. cabinet,ing at the they are untrustworthy because they have been fired, removed or under investigation. thank you and have a wonderful day. d.c.,mike also here in

also an independent. go ahead. guest: as it pertains to the new national security agent, public service don't do it for the pay. i am truly an independent. you have to give anyone who serves our nation an opportunity to succeed. we have to just look at their deeds and today's reality and today's reality. having him come into office today for his first day, we have to give him an opportunity to succeed. the second thing, i think the media is really biased in a lot of things. i say they are biased because i am not sure what the process is, but i think they want to show donald trump is ineffective by not having a staff. i hear a lot of nonsense going on. i think we need to give the man an opportunity. host: how long are you willing to give him, and what results do you want to see? guest: when you have someone who

never ran for public office initially, and he is getting into the congress and senate and wants to have change, his own party doesn't support him. as an independent, it is a calling to see that the parties -- appalling to see that the are doing this. we need to support him. i am really focused on some of the things that are going on. the way he tried to implement the tariffs may not have been ideal, but we have never had any other president since i have been alive in the last 15 years to do the right thing for the american people. we have to do the right things for this president. host: indiana. go ahead. guest: i appreciate c-span. i think john bolton is an awful choice. inis like putting tarkin charge of the death star kind of

thing. if you look at the iraq war, we went in there to make bush and cheney a bunch of money, and now we have this big tax increase that is going into military spending. this is just going to the contractors. these guys are just wrapping up war so that the -- ramping up war so that the defense contractors can make a bunch of money. host: on twitter, john bolton is not a team player, and a dangerous road that appeals to trump. a lethal duo. nsamost belligerent characterized by lies, bluster, and ego. what could go wrong? in,: if you want to call republicans (202) 748-8001. democrats (202) 748-8000.

independents (202) 748-8002. callers focusing on who the president has surrounded himself with. a lot of focus in recent weeks on the president's epa administrator, scott pruitt. referringgton times to him as the embattled administrator of the epa. republicans expressing their concerns about various aspects of scott pruitt's recent conduct, including his living arrangements in d.c. and his security detail that travels with him around the country. here is lindsey graham on abc's this week yesterday talking about scott pruitt and whether he thinks he should leave the job. [video clip] >> i think he has done a good job. i am looking to see what the oversight committee is going to say. administrator epa

and change the locks, you have got a problem. that doesn't look good. i like scott. he has been a good job being the epa administrator. the congress has an oversight role here, and we will see where this goes. >> doesn't it look like he is engaged in questionable behavior to you? >> i don't think you could get a room for $50 a night. an update forget you on that story and see what happens this week as congress returns. the senate is back at 3:00 p.m. today on capitol hill. forma today in pro at 11:00. legislative business begins tomorrow and the house at 2:00 p.m. virginia,t in independent. your thoughts on john bolton? guest: good morning. -- caller: good morning. i appreciate the chance to comment. i express the appreciation for

work by gender mcmaster. he was a wonderful strategist. it is a shame that he is leaving, particularly since his replacement is mr. bolton, who has led this country into a quagmire in iraq and throughout the middle east. what his motives are, i think others can determine. i don't think this is a good move for the country. i wish the president would reconsider his decision. unfortunately, he likes to surround himself with folks who go along with whatever his impulse of the day is. thank you for the chance to comment. thank you, general mcmaster. host: talk about his motives. what do you think his motives are? caller: if you go back to the bush administration when he served as the u.n. ambassador haley there is a question in my mind as to why we got into that war. was it oil?

was it a genuine belief that you could install democracy in the middle east in place of what saddam hussein had been doing? i believe under the first bush administration we learned the lesson that if we got into iraq, the likely outcome would be iran would be more powerful, and our allies would desert as. with the obama administration eventually inherited was that scenario. john bolton along with the former vice president of the u.s., dick cheney, gave us that. host: good morning. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. turned on your television. we give john bolton a chance the same way we gave trump a chance. host: give him a chance to do

what? caller: destroy this world. host: you think that is where we are going? caller: that is exactly where we are headed. host: scott is in georgia, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: doing well. caller: i am glad you got me. , fox five.olton guy you got me now? host: i am listening to you now. talk through your phone. turn down your tv. caller: this john bolton guy from fox news, you have to be kidding me. it is just a bad recipe for anything, for our country to have this guy and trump t ogether. guy rightlike this

it ishat is on the tv, scary. that is all i have to say. i think it is a bad move. host: we are talking about john bolton for the first hour of "washington journal." several different stories in various newspapers about his first day on the job. donald trump's third national security adviser. the headline from the new york times, national security adviser for a powder cake presidency -- keg presidency. his views are not mistreat for anyone who follows him on twitter or fox news. sees no virtue in subtlety. therein nuclear deal must be ripped up. their talks with south korea could be a plant propaganda stunt.

how do you know the north korean regime is lying? he answered on fox news, their lips are moving. bolton more from john back in 2007. talking about the north korean peninsula, we will show you that in just a second as we go to randall in alabama, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i would just like to make a couple of comments about mr. bolton. america, everybody in knows that this guy is a zionist warmonger. he knows two words, israel and war. everybody knows, i don't know why they think, everybody knows that they have genie oil, which is a conglomeration of incorporated, dick cheney, and rupert murdoch of fox news.

and: bring us to today the first day at the white house. caller: this guy is a mistake. i hope donald trump is bringing what heo expose him for is and getting him out of our political process once and for all. host: now, john bolton in 2007 discussing north korea and their nuclear program. [video clip] >> i don't think north korea will ever voluntarily give up nuclear weapons. i think kim jong-il sees nuclear weapons as essential to survival. i think he is perfectly happy to talk about giving up weapons and promised to give up weapons, and he has done that before and has economic in unleashing benefits. i think he is about to do the same thing. host: that was john bolton in 2007.

you can watch his many appearances on the c-span network on our website c-span.org your -- c-span.org. gus in louisiana. good morning. caller: we go around the world, grab everything we want to put our convictions on. we are wasting our lives. most of them up there couldn't go to war. i am a veteran. we need to stop the bullying around the world. thanks for my comment. from california, independent. your thoughts today. lamb,: thank you, brian for being one of my personal heroes. if one were getting ready to go to war, john bolton would mostly be a member of my cabinet

because if you look at the , h.r. who are leaving mcmaster on friday, the huge peoplef staffers and ought to take notice to huge events like that. this is a cabinet and a president, which is gearing up to go to war. most likely with north korea. i think a summit with kim jong-un without the kind of background work that needs to be done first would be an absolute disaster. boltono you think john is going to be able to tear the president for that summit? do you think they want that some fail if going to war? caller: i think you hit it right on the money when you it is fair

to set up for a failure. it is an excuse and a precursor to go to war. more importantly would be the chemical attack syria and the consequences thereof of an an anredible -- thereof of incredible series of policies there. we have so many different flashpoints going on. this is just against america's best national interest. it seems like we're making a bunch of decisions that are not in america's best national interest, then make us less safe and not more safe. host: you mentioned the now departed national security adviser, h.r. mcmaster. his last day on the job last week.

the column today in the washington post focuses on h.r. mcmaster's final address as a public official at the atlantic council, noted mostly for being tough on russia, which it was. indid about the west's action on russian provocations. the formulation of which mcmaster overstocked and that trump has repeatedly told the truth about these murderous regimes and oppressive doctrines. it was about much more than russia, it was more global. fromision so far removed trumps values free zero some approach to the world that it came across as a call to action for everyone else who may be called upon to defend democracy. revisionist and repressive powers are attempting to undermine our values, our

institutions, and our way of life. we are defending our way of life, preserving our free and open societies. we must be confident and active. we cannot be passive. nick is in illinois. line for republicans. go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i am 25. i was born in 1994. there is a lot i probably don't remember about the bush administration. i am the st. louis cardinals fan. hated by just about everybody. he is doing a good job. that is how i know bolton is doing a good job. without the democrats, we don't go into iraq. we don't go into desert storm without the democrats. we don't going to vietnam if we don't have the democrats. twice't nuke japan

without the democrats. we don't have world war i and world war ii. we don't have slavery and jim crow if we don't have the democrats. it is amazing what all of your callers forget. virginia, line for democrats. caller: i agree with that last caller on institutional american ways, how they fund it and go to war. republicans mainly. i am glad that i am independent so i can choose either way. my point would be, there is a good thing going with bolton filling that position because that way donald trump can focus on china. we need china on our side. if they want something from us, intellectual property, whatever they need it for, i'm sure donald trump is good in that area. we need him to focus on that and

maybe make a deal with him trade wise. whatever they want, we can provide it as far as intellectual property. they may not have it. technically, we are probably even with them. we need them on our side. let bolton handle the other ideologies of the other nations that are not paramount. they are paramount in war. that just freeze donald trump -- frees donald trump. he is more experience in that area. market withs on the china. if we do some fair trading and keep them on our side, all else, hopefully we can reach a deal with russia. they are so close with syria it is a danger to involve russia

and syria together. if we go into some kind of war, it is right next to russia. host: thank you for the call this morning. on the issue of china, the president already tweeting about the issue of trade with china. here is one of the headlines in today's papers about the comments over the weekend. donald trump promising a win for friendly trade. the u.s. and china will reach an future." for "a great larry kudlow, the top economic advisor for the president, was on fox news sunday, asked if the president was bluffing when it came to tears. here was the response. [video clip] >> he is not bluffing. there are a number of tools at his disposal. people are saying trump, trump, trump. this is a problem caused by china, not caused by president trump.

he is there to fix the problem. if you have talked to the president as i have, he regards himself as a free trader. as do i. his argument, and it is a good one, you cannot have free trade, per growth around the world, unless china brings down its various, opens its market, and stops this technology steel that they are doing -- steal that they are being. host: in that segment, talking about john bolton and his first day on the job as national security adviser. we want to hear your thoughts. republicans (202) 748-8001. democrats (202) 748-8000. independents (202) 748-8002. lori has been waiting in nebraska. democrat. caller: technically i'm not a amocrat -- i guess i am democrat. i called in on the republican line. i can never get through on the democrat line. host: you are on the democrat

line now. caller: i am an old school democrat. i have been a democrat since 1979. they were different back then. they were the working man party. i think you get john bolton a good chance. i think donald trump has done a good job. i think most of the average americans like me are all behind. everybody i talk to in nebraska are all behind donald trump it i have to say about c-span. i have been listening to you guys since, how long have you been on the air? host: several decades, about 1979. caller: not too much longer after that, i have been listening. i think you have gotten by a spirit i cannot understand -- gotten biased. i cannot understand how you got like that. you used to be so even keel. obama did a lousy job. i voted for bush.

he did a lousy job, too. i voted for reagan. i think most democrats think like i do. host: line for republicans. go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. you have a caller call in about john bolton and hoping donald trump exposes who he is or what he is. you can take a look at all of the impact he has, campaign contributions and who he has endorsed for candidates for congress, and he has alan kissinger for the illinois , allent, money for him is collecting money for this free syria pac. what we don't listen to or investigate is the fact that could the rebels have done this attack to keep america in the game? just yesterday, trump was saying

we are pulling our troops out of syria. why would russia or assad do that the day after he said that? i think there is something going on. place,coming into funneling money to the congressman. host: what do you think john bolton does on this issue? us getting into an extended conflict. i see the american congress,m the congressmen that are all for war making a lot of money now. that is ridiculous. i lived in syria for five years of my life when i was a child under assad. i can walk out openly with no fear for my life.

i have friends from syria that have been disbanded from their country because of what is going on now. we have to stop the money that is going to the embedded rebels. rebels.e not vetted host: do you think we should support the assad regime? caller: i think we need to keep our nose out of it. what would we do if we had rebels invading our country to overthrow our country? what would we do as a country? we would fight, what we? wouldn't we? we would. americans need to think about that. there is a country, a sovereign nation that is under attack by a ,ameless, let's say terror terror organization. they have no land, no politics. host: what were your thoughts on

the chemical weapons attack last year? caller: i am not going to rule out that assad could have used them a couple of years ago, but i am a strong believer that the there was a bulgarian reporter last week, i will have to look and see exactly where , they foundi saw it a warehouse in rebel held territory that was a chemical weapons manufacturing plant. why aren't we investigating that? even if it is a rumor, why aren't we looking at the possibility of the people we are giving money and arms and training, could it not be them? host: that is jason in illinois. annie in north carolina, democrat. caller: good morning. thank you for allowing me to

speak. i just want to say, sometimes, i am 72 years old, and i have been around a long time and seen a lot. my husband died in vietnam. i just want to say, what we should start doing before we vote is look at a person's history. john bolton's history has taught us who use -- who he is. donald trump sister, if we had looked at his history, that donald trump's history, if we had looked at his history, there is no way we would allow him in the white house. we think that man is going to change. when you get to a certain age, you are not going to change. whatever you speak, you believe. if we had done that, we would not be in the problems we are in today. we have a man that is disgracing our white house, and he is bringing people in that is not

qualified to do the job. they are all about money. they don't care about us. host: in terms of who is coming in and leaving the white house, this story from politico yesterday about the national security team staff shakeup. the national security council spokesman said he planned to leave the white house, a move that would leave president trump without one of his earliest and sharpest vendors of his america first policy agenda. anton intonn brought the administration, and he spent the majority of his term serving for h.r. mcmaster. he plans to join hillside college's conservative outpost as a writer and lecturer. he said he will forever be grateful to president trump to serve and implement his agenda.

your thoughts on john bolton and his first daay? caller: i have a few comments about bolton. i remember what we have done in the past about war. he is a warmonger. he loves to go to war. donald trump is selecting people that align with his views and basically play like this is a kingdom, and he is the king of america now. he just wants to do whatever he wants to do. he doesn't want to go to congress or speak to anybody that might have a different view. i remember last time, the general physician cap he was donald trump was strong enough to serve another four years. what happened next? he was selected to run the v.a. without experience. i have listened to this program for many years.

i noticed that a lot of republicans call and claim to be democrats, and then they go against obama, and a lot of things that the democrats have done, yet they claim to be calling on the democratic line. they simply are republicans. best to do our encourage people to call in on the lines they identify with. we trust our viewers will do that so we can have this conversation in an open way as much as possible. rockdale, our last call in this segment. up next, we will be joined by roll call's jason dick to discuss the return to capitol hill this week. later this week, our 50 capitals tour continues in idaho as idaho governor butch otter will join us on board the c-span bus.

we will be right back. ♪ >> tonight on landmark cases, katz vs. the united states where charles katz was recorded by the fbi on sunset boulevard in los angeles. the decision in this case ultimately expanded americans rights to privacy under the fourth amendment and forever changed the way law enforcement officers conducted their investigations. rosen,sts are jeffrey president and ceo of the national constitution center in philadelphia, and jamil jaffer, founder of the national security institute and director of the national security law and policy program at george mason university's antonin scalia possible.

join the conversation. -- law school. join the conversation. we have information on our website for background on the case. we have a link to the national constitution center's interactive constitution and the landmark cases podcast. c-span, where history unfolds daily. created as aan was public service by america's cable television companies, and today we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington, d.c., and around the country. see's that is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. -- c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> "washington journal" continues. host: on mondays, we like to

take a look ahead at the week in washington. jason dick joins us now to do that. the main focus this week will be on the house and senate in the committee hearing rooms. take us through the highlights of the week. guest: probably the biggest highlight of the week will be mark zuckerberg's appearance before three committees. on tuesday, he will appear before a joint senate committee. it will be a giant room to see mark zuckerberg testify. it will be his first testimony in front of congress ever. he is a relatively young man. this is kind of a big deal. on wednesday, he will appear before the house energy and commerce committee. this is in direct relation to the revelations that people's

data on facebook, the company that he heads, was shared with cambridge analytica. up to 80 million people may have had their personal data shared with a political research firm with ties to the president and the mercer family. this will be a high wire testimony. host: c-span will be covering that testimony. viewers can watch that live on c-span this week. check our network for the coverage times for that. who are you most interested in seeing? zuckerberg before the committees markeing question zuckerberg before the committees? guest: the democrats, some of these premises -- privacy issues. they like to portray that they are in think with high-tech,

obviously silicon valley. mark zuckerberg is heading one of those leading firms. this is a company that touches billions of people. people like dianne feinstein, who is from the san francisco area, the judiciary committees top democrat. how is she going to approach some of these questions? everybody is going to want to get their pound of flesh from mark zuckerberg. we will have a story on roll call later this morning talking about how zuckerberg has been preparing and his approach to what might be some uncomfortable questions. host: i want to point to a great story on the week ahead in com,ress at rollcall. congress returns with eyes off the floor. take us to the preparation by zuckerberg and how is trying to

frame this ahead of this questioning. guest: there were reports that he came last night. facebook has a pretty large in-house lobbyist and communications team. they have also obtained outside counsel. they want to make sure that their client, who has this multibillion-dollar company and touches the lives of a lot of people in a very casual way and a business-oriented way, does not come across as the way he has been caricatured in the past. we have an aaron sorkin movie about the social network. that is the image a lot of people have of him, that he is maybe a little callous. it was not long ago that there was a little image rehab where people were talking about is this potential 2020 contender. that may be a little out of reach at this point.

it will be an interesting time to watch out he response. is he going to show up in a hoodie and gray t-shirt? probably not. he will look probably like you and i this morning. if he shows up in a hoodie, that would be the image of the day. host: outside of those committee hearings, a lot of confirmation hearings going on. who are you watching this week? monday ismany ways, almost illustrative of the rest of the year. the house is in a pro forma session, treading water. the senate will be getting in this afternoon to confirm or consider a district court judge. that is in kentucky. that will just be to keep the forest going. to the realing matchup thursday, mike

pompeo, the director of cia will get his confirmation hearing from the senate foreign relations committee to be the next secretary of state. rex tillerson has resigned. there will be some uncomfortable questions about his own views on war and torture, also to old wounds and new. host: what about the person selected to replace mike pompeo at the cia, gina haspel? agent who is a career has been with the cia for decades. qualificationshe , she has been associated with some of the less flattering parts of the cia's history. her possible involvement in a cia black site with enhanced

interrogation techniques. a confirmationet hearing, we don't know when that will be yet. host: we're talking with jason dick, the editor at roll call. republicans can join the conversation, (202) 748-8001. democrats (202) 748-8000. independents (202) 748-8002. budget to the balanced amendment to the constitution. on thursday, the house will consider a balanced budget amendment to the constitution, which would require a 3/5 vote to spend more money than congress takes in. there would be some exemption. you could not count debt service on some things. this is something that is probably a long shot to get passage even in the house. a lot of people on both sides of the aisle will say we have

dollar tax5 trillion cut last year and a $1.3 trillion spending bill. we had our opportunity to rein in deficit spending recently. this is seen mostly as a show about to say we are serious, but it is an open question of how serious it is. host: what is the history of these amendments? his is not the first time it has appeared. guest: they show up periodically. theas usually been on republican side of the ledger in the last couple of decades. they usually fall short. even if they passed one chamber, the house is most likely, the senate would be really long odds because of the 51-49 margin.

it would have to be ratified by three quarters of the states. this is a lengthy process. it does not seem to have a lot of momentum. a lot of people kind of want to just get serious and do their jobs in washington are saying this is the week we are supposed to be considering the budget resolution? why don't we try that first? they are supposed to turn that in by april 15. host: will they hit that date? guest: not even close. they will not even get that on the floor. host: congress is back. what do you want to talk about today with jason dick as we study the week ahead in washington? is in montana. go ahead. caller: my name is curtis. host: curtis, go ahead. caller: i think john bolton is a

choice, very honest, and transparent. i think that is what the trump administration needs right now with what he is faced with with china and north korea. i have a comment on the audience you are reaching. i have been watching you since you started, and your audience has changed. they have become very vicious. i think that is what has bush c-span to biasd that has been showing. even the weekend programming has leaned to the left. that is what i have interpreted c-span has become. host: appreciate the comment. we do our best not to have a bias here. we create a form and allow you to express your opinions no matter what side of the aisle

you sit on. john bolton's first day of the job, donald trump's or national security advisor. take us through what you see his first day looking like. guest: he will certainly know his way around the white house and the federal bureaucracy. he was the u.s. ambassador during the george w. bush years. no one is disputing his qualifications at all. he is incredibly knowledgeable. the approach is somewhat concerning to people who are worried about some of the more delicacy in its he has made statements hecose has made about iran and north korea. he has just arrived today. we should probably give him time to move into his desk. host: the story from the wall street journal, bolton faces baptism by fire in his first day on the job. ethel in new mexico, line for

democrats. caller: you said talk about things coming up this week? host: what is on your mind? caller: i want to talk about the border wall. i don't understand why we are focusing on mexico when we have the border in canada that is really insecure. we have more people coming come forth countries into vancouver -- foreign countries into vancouver, montreal. what are we afraid of? are we afraid of the people from south america or terrorists? host: what is congress saying about that? this is one of those issues they will be talking about a lot. lindsey graham was on the sunday programs talking about the immigration proposals they think they can get another crack at.

any immigration overhaul, whether it is protecting the daca program, and adults and kids, or any kind of enforcement measures, the wall is going to come of. -- up. there was some question whether the president would be able to reprogram dod money to put money on the border wall. that remains to be seen. there is some question whether he could take money from the corps of engineers budget. the nose out jim mattis would feel about that? we have national guardsmen the point to the southern border. this is something president obama and president bush did beforehand. they cannot arrest people coming over the border, but they can provide logistical and intelligent support.

the wall is probably not going to break ground anytime soon. this is something the president wants. host: i want to come back to the national border. --bc's this week this talking about the national guard, here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> that is where we get our statistics. the200% increase with seasonal uptick and the caravan, which is an annual event, they all trended in the wrong direction. the problem is that while there was an improvement, it is a comparative improvement. that has nothing to do with the alarming trends of border crossings we are seeing. we don't have the capacity to address that problem. that is what the president needed to address. >> we know the national guard cannot legally apprehend anyone crossing the border. what can they do?

>> the president put out a memorandum directing his cabinet to not catch and release but cash and detained. that is a big difference. the guard can do whatever the federal government is authorized to do. we have chosen to augment the customs and border officers who are so well-trained. host: jason dick, can congress do anything, democrats who disagree with this move? is there anything they can do to block it? guest: that seems to be unclear. if it was troops, yes. although the present has authority -- president has authority in the case of an emergency to deploy active duty military. is they president did are asking to enter into an agreement with the governors of

those states that are affected and deploy national guardsmen, of which the governors would still be the commanders in chief. jerry brown california not exactly golf buddies with the president these days. don't do see, republican in arizona. greg abbott, republican in texas. women candsmen and come from other parts of the country, but once they are in those states, the governors are in charge. this is becoming more of a state thing. mechanismow the exact for which congress could insert itself into this, but it becomes tricky when you have a governor who is saying, sure. i will have the guard set up drone surveillance and things like that to help out the agents. host: republican in the go-ahead. epublican, go ahead.

caller: i find it interesting that when barack obama used the information with facebook, it was marvelous, brilliant, innovative. it was just the best thing since sliced bread. when president trump used it, the world has come to an end. everybody has to investigate. i think there is such a double standard that people do not believe anyone anymore. if you can take the same basic facts and with one person it is beautiful because you believe in them, and the other person it is terrible because you don't, nothing is ever going to get done well. guest: one of the issues that is a little different about this is that itincident was done without the permission of people on facebook. putting in place

safeguards that will allow you to know who is getting access to your information. the issue is that cambridge analytica access this data from facebook without the permission or knowledge of the up to 70 million people. host: in virginia, republican. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. vigilantes will eventually take care of all of these things. individuals down there who spent great doesn't money while they don't do anything while they are not down on the border taking care of problems that are taking place. those people going down there, the law needs to be changed so that the military has the capacity to arrest and do whatever needs to be done. the civil war and the impending civil war in our nation, the democrats and republicans at each other's throats on a

constant basis, and the double standards that are just too much to be true is shocking, and we help that some -- hope that somehow we can get beyond all of these dysfunctions. i think the gdp of the united states is lying. host: on the issue of what rick was looking for, giving more freedom to the national guardsmen to do law enforcement, is anyone looking to provide that through congressional action? guest: they are not. there is a good reason that the military has been prohibited by statute from domestic law enforcement. to ates back 19th-century statute that was passed under the administration f ulysses s. grant, the

president cannot use the military as his own domestic law enforcement. this has never worked out well in those countries that deploy the military in an autocratic fashion. the reason this law was passed is that there were concerns that grant, the leading general of won the civilwho war and accepted lee's surrender, would punish the south. there was this concern that grant would deploy the military in his own favor to the south's disadvantage in the 19th century. there is a good reason we have this law on the books. it is to make sure there is a separation of power. iden'ts -- president's power is checked. host: we will have a new member

of congress this week. guest: we have a new senator from the city, -- mississippi. resigned as the chairman of the appropriations committee. he wanted to see the on the this bill signed into law. he has leave. his appointed successor is a former democrat, sydney smith. the agriculture and commerce commissioner down there. officeholder.wide she is well known in mississippi political circles. she will be sworn in on the floor today, and then we will be back to full strength, 100 senators. host: issue looking to hold that seek long-term -- seat lo

ng-term? caller: she is. she says she will run for the seat in 2020. senator will run as the senior senator for reelection. he seems to have the easier path. it is more jumbled on the special election cycle there is a democrat that has run into the race. he is going to run in the special election. chris mcdaniel, a former state senator in mississippi, ran in 1998.he cochran it was particularly nasty. there were questions about his tactics and the future of the republican party. mcdaniel was also thrown in for the special election. it could be interesting in this is it. host: we also lost a former

senator last week. what do you remember about daniel akaka? guest: i felt strongly about writing the obituary, not because i knew senator have to -- akaka, but because on c-span when you are watching the senate, the roll call always started with mr. akaka. it is this reminder for people akaka had been in the senate since 1990. he was this gentle figure, chairman of the veterans committee, always seeing as a junior partner to daniel, this powerful democratic senator and his colleagues. they represented hawaii since hawaii was a territory.

akaka was, as he said, he was a workhorse. he was always able to find a way to work with colleagues. it is difficult to find anybody to say anything bad about him. it is this reminder of the passages of some of these cycles that we are going through of cochran leaving and akaka dying, it is a different generation we will see. host: for democrats, go ahead. i just had a question. i was listening to your show and wondering, all these people coming and going from the trump administration -- [no audio] tony?speak to what, we lost tony. we don't know what he wanted you to speak to. guest: i can take a stab at it,

which is that the turnover in the trump administration is remarkable. john bolton is the third national security adviser in roughly 15 months. we will have a new secretary of state soon, less than two years in. these are jobs that grind through people. you are always on when you represent the present, work in the white house, cabinet secretary, stressful jobs. there is a lot of time you are not spending with your family. is unusual, this amount of turnover. the way people are being dismissed the at twitter and so forth is unusual. the senate, mike pompeo's confirmation hearing this week, gina haspel as well, and a new v.a. secretary has been nominated, the personal physician to the present.

it is unclear when they will get a hearing. he is a one star admiral in the navy. he is a navy doctor. he has been nominated to be a two star admiral. it is unclear whether he will be confirmed as a two star admiral, which requires signoff from the senate, or whether the v.a. nomination will proceed first. you cannot hold the two jobs concurrently. will he retire first and then go into his confirmation process as v.a. secretary? if he does as a one star admiral instead of a two star admiral, he gives up quite a few benefits. it doesn't seem like this was particularly well thought out. host: can he hold his military rank and serve as secretary? guest: he cannot. there are very few positions where you can keep that active

military position, national security adviser h.r. mcmaster was able to keep his rank as a general and was promoted. it was another one of those situations where it was are saying, who is making these decisions? we are happy to do it. this is what the senate does. we need a clearer sense of direction. in a midterm election year, it is more important. they would preferably like to do something besides just the personnel business. occupies mostat of their time from now until november. host: just a few minutes left with jason dick. michael from indiana. go ahead. geter: i don't see why you these people up there in washington, d c, and they don't solve nothing. it is a simple deal on the border.

we don't need a walk. just make it illegal. americany is an citizen unless you come through the border legally. that is stupid. it is the same with the national debt. it is going to kill us. there is nobody exempt. dang -- if you are a millionaire you only have to pay 250. if you are a billionaire you pay 1% of your billion dollars. the national debt tax. , 1% tariffe tariffs national debt tax. the national for debt in 10 years. >> thanks for the call. >> thoughts on the suggestions? articulate --t he

he is articulating that there is a frustration about the debt. why isn't congress addressing this, why do they just keep passing legislation? instead of making hard decisions. the answer is that it is hard. it is hard to make decisions about money that affect people. any kind of time that you are reducing the debt it involves paying for somebody we are spending money that we need to go into debt for in order to finance -- whether it is a tax cut or building a bridge or financing a b-2 bomber. nobody wants to give up what they have. sacrifice -- congress is not in a sacrificing mode right now. host: the current national debt is -- and counting. that is from u.s. debt clock.org. that works out to about $64,000 per citizen. mike, independent. go ahead. caller: thanks.

theuld like to say that building of the border wall in the national guard troops being sent there, that have no authority to do anything. is a very dangerous situation. it puts our national guard in danger. they can't be weaponize. they can't defend themselves. one of it is all just donald trump's wasting our money deals like he wants to have a parade for the military and blow millions of dollars. he blows $3 million every time he goes to mar-a-lago. one lady said that nobody can believe anything anymore. we have got the liar in chief in the white house. he lied about the cub scouts, boy scouts. praising them. he lied about the size of his

inauguration crowd. trudeau andstin spewed numbers he had no idea about with our relations with canada. i would like to see a program what the people are asked they think about donald trump spending our money. thank you very much. certainly the deployment of the guard, depending on how many people are down there, this is another thing that the military has to do. we are involved in two wars. iraq and afghanistan. another possible war in syria. troops are deployed all over the place. possible tensions in korea. if nothing else we have to keep defending the demilitarized zone. -- just one the more pressure point on the military. the cost of the parade is,

despite whatever it's merits may be, it is relatively small within the whole of the defense department. every little bit seems to count. when you have people who have been to ploy to afghanistan five , it starts to get old. people start to wonder if this is the life to me -- the life for me. the wearing down of the united states military. when you continually deploy people, it is a strain on them. host: time for one more call. from maryland. republican. caller: thank you. i have two comments. in 2016 iocrat, elected president donald trump. -- reason why is that he is his policy makes sense then

democrats. for the wall, i think he has a point in my view. i can give youis examples, if i open my door, i can't accept everyone in my house. border to finda out who is coming in and out. i don't think anything is wrong with that. thesecond question is for person is -- for the previous person who called, i would say the military is very important. without military the world without -- would not be able to stand their own country. the last one, i would say this, north korea. north korea is trying to destroy our country.

which is america. i don't think is nothing wrong with president trump to stand firm to say no, enough is enough. host: jason? guest: one of the things that presidents usually find out is that despite all of their careful planning, something always comes up. something very inconvenient and expensive and time-consuming. forh korea could be that the administration. i'm sure that john bolton wanted to talk about places like north korea and iran. today, he is talking about whether or not -- who bombed in retaliation for a potential serial -- syria chemical weapons attack. the sort of foreign policy headaches come up. domestic headaches come up. we are starting to see these are

the kind of issues that every president has to deal with. we're going to see how the with the who is now cabinet he wanted, how he would react in the situation. guest: rollcall -- host: you can find him at jason j deck. next, more of your phone calls. it is open phones until the top of the hour. phone lines are on your screen. you can start calling in now. discussll be here to amazon's impact on the u.s. postal service, as well as efforts at postal reform. later, our tour continues at the capital city of boise. the governor will join us aboard the c-span bus. we will be right back. ♪ announcer: tonight on landmark

cases. charles katz, a bookie, was tape-recorded by the fbi while tting -- the supreme court's decision in this case ultimately expanded americans rights to privacy under the fourth amendment. and forever changed the way law enforcement offices -- officers conduct their investigation. jeffrey.s are .nd jamil founder of the national security institute and director of the national security law and policy program. both at george missions university law school. watch tonight and join the conversation. follow us at c-span. we have resources on our website for background on a -- each case. campania and book.

a link to the national constitution center's interactive constitution. the landmark cases podcast at c-span.org/landmark cases. tonight on the communicators. cyber security and the internet's impact on democracy and voting. would --lactic center it is their target. as you expect. you also see a commitment from ceos of utilities across the country. to address that in partnership. with the department of energy and the dhs. significant decline in internet freedom. in particular, this year we have focused on the increasing number of governments who are manipulating the internet for their advantage. announcer: when it comes to the implementation of china's cyber security law, we have severe concerns that it might be -- including requiring of inspection of hardware and

source codes that are not typical of the regulatory regime. >> watch the communicators on cyber security heard tonight at eight eastern. washington journal continues. it is open phones on the washington journal. republicans can call in at (202) 748-8001. .emocrats at (202) 748-8000 (202) 748-8002 . -- the purported gas attack on a rebel held district east of damascus.

syria and russia have accused israel of that missile attack on the air base. happened at arike major airfield. they originally had said that the united states was behind the attack. that two israeli airplanes carried out their strike. the israeli military spokesperson had noah mayer -- immediate, -- had no immediate comment. syrian and defense system shutdown five of the eight missiles. france was not involved in the strikes according to the defense minister. this is all coming on the first day on the job for john bolton in his role as the president's third national security adviser. that is what we talked about in our first hour of the washington journal today. another key issue that john bolton will be dealing with is

the upcoming talks tween the united states and north korea. -- talks between the united states and north korea. the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. officials said they did not know when and how that measurements was delivered. but u.s. and korean officials have been in direct communication. some of the source -- stories we are talking about this morning, we want to hear your mind. rob is up first. from new york. a democrat. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. i am upset over the performance of this president because it seems that he takes until 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning. every friday afternoon he is on a plane and down to florida. ,f you look at the time spent

it seems very strange. he does not have a sense of history. he does not have a sense of global history. -- when georgeto w. bush went into iraq, at one point he was asked about sunni and shia. he did not have an answer. he did not know there was a difference. yet, we invaded iraq. this president is 10 times worse in ignorance than george w was. for going into iraq. by the way, if i remember whoectly, he hired bolton put us into iraq. yet he campaigned that he was against the fact that with you -- that we went into iraq. this man has no sense of study. he does not read books. he has got no sense of history.

we are in a very dangerous place with this president. in terms of his awareness of what is going on in the world. host: chuck, reston virginia. caller: good morning. we have trump and bolton. a fine blend of idiots. it looks like hitler's mustache but painted white. you have to go back and painted black. -- p's problem is stormy daniels. problem is the trouble he is in. he has all this nonsense. he knows he has been a criminal. his thing is -- he comes in with all this different things, he wants to

stop war, anything to get people's mind off of his problem. he should not have been stupid enough to run for president in the beginning. host: in baltimore, republican line. caller: good morning. after listening to the last two people. -- host: you still with us? caller: i am a republican. i voted for donald trump. two issues. representative nunez has been pushing for a lot of thermation, a lot of democrats are holding back. the indication that they could very well be corruption in the high levels of the barack obama administration concerning russia. russia probe. thing ihat, the other am glad bolton is in there.

unfortunately, barack obama, i voted for him, he was a weak president. on geopolitical issues. he played the race card on a regular basis. barack obama had associated with -- very much a racist. you don't want to hear that. host: why did you vote for them -- for him? sincerely, i thought race relations had improved considerably in the united states. that minorities and black people were given much more the runities for jobs, for office, i thought it was time for a black president. things would get better. .arack obama divided us talked trash about this country and foreign countries. i am sick of it. he played the race hustle all the time. one of our councilmembers --

referred to -- as 90's. -- as nazis. i'm sick and tired of the hatred and racism from the left, from the democratics. immigrationng of enforcement, here is the front page of the san antonio express-news today. is theon the border headline. the trump plan is similar to those of his predecessors talking about the president's decision to work with governors. the story noting some of the operations where national guard troops were sent the border, including operation jumpstart. george w. bush sending 6000 troops to the border. barack obama also sending national guard troops to the border during his time in

office. john is in new hampshire. a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. just to go back to what the previous color had stated, there was a tea party that divided the country. it was not the president. oft to speak on behalf bolton, this is just my opinion. -- it the most dramatic is going to be a decision that will affect this country for years to come. he trump, as a president, says at first i was with him, but as time went on -- escalated. i cannot accept this guy. host: what was the tipping point for you? when -- i have to

say, it was when he started to the things in his life. -- his issues with china. he is cozying up with china. then he says he has had a trade difference with china. that just doesn't agree. they are not going to do it, don't do it. bolton,u mentioned john the criticism that he has received, here is to tweets from two different democratic members of congress. from hawaii, trade wars are terrible, but actual wars are much worse. bolton starts monday. a democrat from california, john bolton is a dangerous proponent doctrine change, that has led to billions wasted on

endless wars and billions of lives needlessly lost. with bolton as a national security adviser, congress must move immediately to limit trump's ability to use military force. charles is in new jersey. independent. caller: good morning. i appreciate the talk. with -- thes canadian border and the mexican border. i don't know why they don't put more border patrol down there. to start with. think the national guard should be down there until they can secure the wall. we have to stop these people from coming in here. know, i have got a fence around my house. my fence is made for good neighbors. that is all i have got to say. host: the headline from the washington times, the national guard to stop jumpers at the border.

there is a picture of some national guard vehicles and equipment deployed at the border on friday. wayne is in a little town, pennsylvania. a democrat. caller: hello, how are you doing? host: doing well. color -- thatast gladcaller, i would be so and our praise the lord the democrats take over. this is just beyond compare. without me using bad words. you just heard the fox tv viewers that call-in and that is exactly what they are. they have got real strong opinions here to i do too, but i'm not going to let into it. i just hang the phone. he is a simpleton. i wanted bernie sanders.

that is who i wanted. i don't want what we have got. host: why did you want bernie sanders? bernie sanders stood for the working person. the people who don't have things. here, going to drain the swamp. look what he has got in there. look how many people he has went through. he don't know one day what he is going to do to the next. oh my. i just, i just pray. host: do you think bernie sanders is going to run again? caller: i would like to see it. i don't know. what is that woman's name? up there in massachusetts. i can't think of it.

elizabeth warren. i would like to see her. i have nothing against hillary, she stood for health care stuff. and president trump. we are not going to touch social security. we're not going to touch health care care. we're not going to touch medicaid. look what went on. i know obamacare was not worth a out, but don't just throw the baby with the wash water. you tried to do what you can't fix it. these pharmaceuticals are way out of hand. they have got to make a living. they don't have to charge the kind of prices they do. my mom is in the doctors hospital. it was something. she passed away. they took care of her. health care is an issue. host: thanks for the call.

omar is waiting in indiana. independent. caller: good morning. i am going to make a constructive criticism of c-span. if it was not for the fact that you have -- you allow callers to call in and give their opinion, i would consider c-span almost like the fake news that our president crotch grabber talks about. only because you guys let people talk -- call in what i not put you in that category. but i would put c-span in the category of one-sided news. or our side only. or our view only news. host: why would you say that? really because you never go outside the box. your range of opinion with the guests that you have is usually between a and b. lamy given example. all these attacks on the iranian nuclear deal. the flaws that are in it. i get 10% of my news from television.

you have to know what the liars are lying about. i get 90% of my news from reading. iaea, 10ow that the separate times, has said that iran is adhering to the nuclear deal. 10 separate times. they have approved of it. why can't c-span get a representative from the iaea on to question them about the nuclear deal? host: if a representative were to come on we would be happy to have them on. we would -- we have talked about the deal quite a bit. do you think is going to last the trump presidency? caller: listen. iran has the united nations mission in new york city. can you get someone from iran so we can get the other side of the story? you know that there is two sides to every story. caller: i promise you, we do our

best to give you as many sides of the story as we can. you toate a forum for talk about it. i appreciate the constructive criticism. we will work on it for you. randy is in iowa. line for democrats. caller:hi. golly. after listening to your colors, -- and listening to you yesterday. i was watching a program of kennedy's daughter. and reflect in what is going on in this conversation today. want toal overview is i apologize to the kennedy family for the radical right that killed the dream. that killed people that had dreams for america of being a better place to live and less hateful. i wants to get to the point that

what was coming up to the election of neck and what really hurt humphrey, there was a recording between lbj and dirksen. basically, lbj turned -- told dirksen that he did not want -- heing getting into said it was treason. what it was, it was henry kissinger that had made a deal with the north vietnamese, which had been at the table in france about settling the war, settling differences in vietnam. they wanted to postpone that --t like reagan did the iran releasing the hostages for rake in. there is -- for reagan. there is so much deception and it is so troubling that i am afraid we are coming into a political assassination. a season of political

assassinations at some point in this country. it is very sad and disheartening. issue in the election, we will return to that again this coming sunday. we are going to be talking about conservative politics in 1968 and what you talk about will be part about that discussion. kennedy, to kathleen to talk about liberal politics in 1968. an ongoing nine week series that we are doing on the washington journal. on 1968 america in turmoil is the name of the ongoing series. thanks for watching that. watch it again. we are just about halfway through that series. if you missed any of them, they are all available at c-span.org. ian is in oceanside, new york. caller: good morning. somethingtalk about but then the guy -- i would like to remind everybody at the iaea,ior,

nine years later, everybody was worried. even hillary and everybody. they were saying he is not letting us see what we need to see. and -- in usicit going into iraq. kurds. they gassed the i also want to touch on syria. right now, they are surrounded. 90% of isis is going on. all of a sudden, assad hits them with chemical weapons. it could be the tail wagging the dog. you have to watch and be very clear that russia and a side would wipe them.

i am no friends of either of them. you have to remember. they were hit by israel. israel will take care of iran. just like they did with north -- a host: that was the and in new york. our last caller. host: kevin gosar to talk about amazon's impact on the postal service. capitalss morning, our score continues in idaho. we will be right back. ♪

>> investigations. our guest to discuss this case rosen, president and c.e.o. of the national constitution center in jamil jaffer, nd director of the national law and policy program, both at george mason university

antonin scalia law school. watch "landmark cases" tonight conversation, our hashtag is "landmark cases" and follow us at c-span and we have our website for background on each case. companion rk cases" book, link to national constitution interactive landmark on and the cases podcast at c-span.org/landmarkcases. >> "washington journal" continues. segment h week in this of "washington journal" we take a look at how your money is at federal different program. this week president trump helped pick our topic with a series of tweets about amazon and impact on u.s. postal service. joining us at our desk for this discussion is kevin kosar, who reform in his al role as vice president of public policy at r street institute. is one of the re president's recent tweets on this topic.

saying, i'mpresident right about amazon costing the united states post office money for unts of being $delivery boy. costs, hould pay the plus. many billions of dollars, post office leaders don't have a or do they? is the president wrong in his post ism of this amazon office deal? guest: well, the particulars are does ite correct, he surface larger issue, take one of the particulars. for l service is not paid by taxpayers, paid for by folks who send the mail. appropriations each year. instead what happens, mailers ay postage that amount to $70 billion a year to keep the place in operation. ow the bigger issue is the matter of large shippers and large mailers making deals with service.l and these deals, the details are available.blicly long-term trump's

trope about washington insiderism. know about o we amazon and this deal, how long it has been around, how much this?ade off is there a way to get freedom of information act for it? applies to postal service as a whole, but carries agency can nd any use aigence tow withhold if you write to the postal service and say, you want to see the deal, you will get a saying no. back we don't know about amazon or deals her big companies with the postal service, we don't know what they are paying nd ultimately don't know if they are lucrative. host: how long has the post deals, been entering into maybe not just amazon, when did they start doing this? year, i'm not sure which it's been going on for a long time and brought the postala service a lot of revenue. 10 years ago, the postal service was hard he in the parcel

did $1.5 billion in thenue, out of budget back about $70 billion, small revenue stream. now postal service revenues are stuck at then about $70 billion, raking in billion in parcel revenue. the rest of the lines of businesses are dying. talking about u.s. postal service, the relationship youramazon this morning in money segment of "washington journal." phone lines, republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. kevin kosar is with us this r street hat is the institute? guest: we're a electric six-year-old think tank here in washington, d.c. work in a variety of areas, riminal justice reform, postal reform, technology policy, we're areas, we have having a es and we're

good time. host: talk about your background and how long you studied postal issues. guest: in 2003, i started work at congressional research service. boss, iituation, i had a was brought in, he said, hey, would you like to work on postal policy? so, boss, two years later he retired and i became postal policy. host: kevin kosar joined us a few times to talk about post moving eform efforts through congress, we'll talk about that in the segment of "washington journal." workers, ostal that number.is come back to the package delivery that the postal service does, 5.7 billion pieces in 3.7 billion pieces just five years earlier. is this a place where the post money?is making guest: well, it's hard to tell. you would think why shouldn't it be easy to figure out, you know, revenue minus cost equals

whether or not you have a profit. the postal service is a massive how prise and figuring out to attribute cost to whether it is paper mail versus parcel, way complicated than you might expect, especially in a time of rapid growth. parcels they of are carrying has quinntupled in years. host: talk about the biggest expense for the postal service. how viewers how much the postala service maid in fiscal year 2017. 69.6 billion, 72.3 billion, net billion, what do you attribute the loss to? certainly it's revenue stagnant, hard for any stay profitable when hasre main line of business not grown. mail volume actually fallen by in the past decade. parcels are the sole exception

there. means postal service has been in relentless financial crunch. the amazon criticism from the president, five or six tweets in the last few weeks. has the president ever gotten deals that olved in get negotiated between big shippers and postal service? guest: oh, no, no. it's a very bureaucratic process laid out in federal regulation, plays zero role whatsoever and i presume never actually seen the details of any arrangements. host: so who are the people that actually make the arrangement? postal service sit down with big shipper, big mailer and they come to an gets sent which then to postal regulatory commission. host: what is that? guest: an independent regulatory body whose job to keep an eye on he postal service and what it is charging people for postage. it looks at it and says, does deal comport with law and the law is rather vague, and if

postal service and company go forth. host: post will service hasn't said much about the deal with amazon. said anything about it? guest: i have not seen details released. this is not unusual. should say, there is something sketchy going on. the postal service deals with none of them ss, publish deals because why would dow that in the private sector. do you have to rise to in terms of shipping to get one of these separate deals post office? guest: you have to be moving a lot of parcels, typical mom and og e-bay or running a small business, they're not going to get the volume size. what the volume threshold is, i don't know honestly. have have other deals that been made, any made public, do we know what the arrangements generally look like? no.st: they haven't been made public. ut there have been long simmering allegations about

whether the postal service was frequently , accusation came from postal union, workers feel like they re bearing the brunt of carrying more stuff, process more stuff and not necessarily in the termsnefits of more revenues coming in. host: kevin kosar here to answer questions. phone lines, republicans, democrats, independents and a workers,ine for postal 202-748-8003.line david up first in dennison, texas, republican. go ahead. i've got three or four questions, really just questions. ou said the post office wasn't getting taxpayer funds, but they're running huge deficits. understanding they are getting treasury loans they can't repay. guest: correct, the postal can borrow up to $15 billion total from the treasury maxed out that borrowing back in 2012. caller: okay. there's talk of question about, well, they're not really costing

money.vernment any the only people i see, only packages, believe me, we get amazon, i like that, only ones i see being delivered are from amazon on sundays. hard to believe that there is an efficiency there if practically all service being done on sunday is only for amazon. one, i hat with another know i will get cut off at some point here. he secret deal you just to.rred my understanding of the way these things are supposed to in other 've seen it areas of where there was competition being regulated by government, they can't, if i understand this right, they deal.have a "amazon" they would have categories if you are this volume, you get his deal, that would be available to anybody that can match the volume, which means it shouldn't be secret or you verify that kind of thing was happening f. they ruly had a volume set, only

amazon could reach that gives singular another monopolist monopolisticapability and one other thing along that line, people talk about amazon, there been other companies that are huge and been complaints all through history. believe me, i'm a free market guy. i've listened to folks talking in t it and the difference how amazon is the first company, n fact, they could think of that has been operate over decade without making profit, hey are doing it based on capital on cap rate and their ability to raise money for practically for free, not to happen to be doing big parts during practically zero interest. they want to ry point to and get involved in that, all you got to do is watch and see what et happen necessary anticipation. down, wiperive prices people out, run them out of business and come back, does

nybody think the prices aren't going up later after that type of thing, after that? david, thanks for the questions, a lot to cover there. is t: first, amazon interesting because it has is able d itself so it to use any private shipper that use the postal service and that is just smart. hat it does in fact, mixes and matches. in some places finds postal service to be better to use and other laces uses shippers. it is kind of cobbled together of shipping ety companies out there, arrangements that are working remarkably. ones to startirst basically guaranteeing two-day deliver and he making that the the exception. deliver d to same-day nesome locations, way ahead logistically of other companies. host: one question when you were having a conversation with the caller, you mentioned postal

service maxed out borrowing limit. happened when they ran loss in fiscal 2017? guest: well, they do have a on ty good supply of cash hand. so they're not having to turn off the lights, but no, can't the treasury and borrow more, last i checked, million in cash. that is a cushion to get them through. hollands what happens once that out? guest: turn out the lights without a congressional rescue. there has been legislation worked on, postal policy takes a long time to get through congress, all stake holders want something different and often can't assemble in a way that everybody happy. not clear if a postal bill will make it through this year. castlebury, florida, line for democrats. ahead. go caller: i get a lot of my done because i'm handicapped and i really don't

lot of shopping. all kinds of packages that out are are checking it ed, it will be ups or ex ground or u.s. er and it comes by post office. i don't understand that. i will take my answer off line. guest: all right, thanks for the question. yeah tis confounding, isn't it? shipments s is that will be moved different segments parceledvement will be out, so to speak to different companies. so the postal service is really do what is ned to called last-mile delivery. they have a couple hundred carriers, they go to people's houses and

businesses everyday regardless. easy for companies to hand it off to the postal service at the end. unusual to have two and three different companies handling the parcel hands.it reaches your host: bill, west springfield, massachusetts, line for democrats. go ahead. caller: yeah, hi, i was ondering, some guy said amazon raises revenue for the post office, like it was a good thing. it means nothing if revenue is creating a loss. i'm self-employed. million dollars worth of revenue, but i was losing 10% n it, i would go out of business. nd what bothers me most is he mentioned that the numbers are being kept secret, you can't as to t the numbers whether or not what the price is and so zon is paying forth. when i hear something like that, all i think about is something going on. i just don't think it is right

numbers.get these guest: yeah. the numbers, even if the numbers released, how the numbers is a whole matter unto itself. again, a profit should be cost, in simplest terms. how do you define cost? allegations that the postal service is attributing to letter and catalog and other sorts of mail costs. keep swirling st around. when numbers get reported out that show the postal service, of $20 tell you that million in revenue for parcels, they had 13 billion in cost. magnificent profit, but people ask the question, how are attributing cost and that is something that hasn't, the data and argument hasn't been taken the public and obviously president trump are not satisfied. host: here is another number and where the president got this number from? this is from his march 31 tweet

n this topic, the president saying, while we're on the ubjects, it is reported u.s. post office will lose $1.50 per package for each package they amazon.for failing "new york times" reports size of the company's lobbying ballooned, does not include the fake "washington lobbyist, the a president said, and should register. if the post office increased shipping e, amazon would rise by 2.6 billion. this post office scam must stop, must pay real sxoft taxes now. guest: yeah, that figure came op edwall street journal" that was published last summer. that relied on analysis been by citigroup. that analysis, funny enough, for it terror ng months and months and a week it. i got my hands on josh barrow, a sharp business

writer for business insider taking issue with that number, which again, is the question of like whose numbers are right and what i thinkost, but that is where trump got the number. host: do you have a number in that you think is right? guest: no, i'm trained to look data before ess opening my mouth. i know it is unusual in this no, i do not. host: tom in hollywood, florida, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. i want to point out a few things commenting people aren't thinking about things like why would you, if you had a were doingerate, you business with, why would you tell everybody what your deal is with them? businesses typically keep these things secret. they two, possibly when entered into this agreement with more , the numbers were

favorable to, people don't realize much mail and parcels are going on aircraft, airlines this een raising rates more last year possibly on cargo, as well, so that is a factor. factor with the -- all the vehicles. hey are like mr. kevin kosar said, huge organization, have lots of costs. they have been making an effort, trying to get a handle don't believe the numbers losing $1.50 per parcel, contract n't enter a like that, i don't think they would be that foolish. if the numbers are secret, where are they getting that figure from? host: mr. kevin kosar. uest: you raise a good point, tom. these deals get reviewed by the postal regulatory commission up as you well know and pointed out, what happens it can ntly, you know, go either way. if there is excessive bad that r for many months, will drive up transportation

costs in one way or the other. fuel costs rise in or imagine something like an airline strike or something like that. you never know how complex deals are actually going to play out. is an important point. host: who does the postal report to?commission caller: congress. that is about it. regulatory ependent body, they have five commissioners that top. it t now one seat is open, is presidential appointee, some folks in town who watch postal wonderings, will trump put somebody up for this spot and will this person come on parcel?to grind host: if the president wanted to, could he sit in on one of meetings, in which they vote or review one of these deals that may come through the postal service? guest: that would be not sure if that would be legally allowed. host: kevin kosar with us for next 10 minutes on "washington journal," taking

your calls, talking about amazon and postal service. mark, alexand dria, virginia, independent line. ahead. caller: i'm curious, we were discussing the post office money, it is true the post office was forced to fund for 75 years, they were funding retirement for aren't even born yet? if that is actually the case, that cause the post office, the postal service to be in the red? guest: good question. rumor, which lar has a whistle of truth, but true.actually so no, the postal service did not have to fund 75 years worth benefits for d unborn postala workers. enhancement act did require the postal service to prefund urrent employees, future retirement benefits, the same

way it prefunds pensions. was a good concept because this aimed to protect postal sure they got e their full benefits and make sure taxpayer dids not have to service, butpostal the service, but the execution was terrible and that is on congress because it wrote a very aggressive 10-year nt schedule, a payment schedule that the postal service couldn't make after paying into the health benefits fund for three years, the postal service defaulted, haven't put a nickel in since then. from wind mills, why did the postal service need it is rofitable, when mandated in the constitution? guest: it is not mandated in the constitution. thing in the constitution, congress is give power article 1, section 8, to post roads and post offices, but doesn't say we have that e a postal service, is why, if you go back to days of ben franklin, you might be a lot of to find out the post offices of the days

were taverns, people ran bars get a postmaster license and do postal business through there. bigger point is valid one, prior to 1971, the postal service as a general and taxpayer dollars did flow nto it, support general service. 1971, recreated as government corporation that was supposed to self-funding. host: when postal service got into the package delivery business, did you think it was a good idea? caller: uest: we didn't see it happening really, they had been in packages since 1913 and been share had always small and hadn't been a big deal. they also weren't known as being it, the rly good at tracking system wasn't great. complaints about packages the way.eat up along then the e-commerce era hit and kaboom, from a player to major player. host: anybody saying they do that? guest: certainly.

not least private shipping companies got to be concerned government entity move nothing and gobbling up market share and subsidies that might helping them do that. they complained about it, i don't think anybody in congress attention, they love it, they love the fact that parcels can get to people service.he postal host: 3.7 billion pieces of delivery in 2013, five years later, 5.7 billion pieces year. fiscal year last barbara is in ohio, an independent. go ahead. morning.ood does your guest have any information on the post master salary and bonuses? guest: sure. master general salary bonuses, those are in icly reported each year the postal services annual report that is published on their website. you google postal service financials, you would see their scroll eport and if you toward the back, you could see megan brennan's compensation.

give the i can't exact number, it is not extraordinary. c.e.o. of a he private company of that magnitude, what the post master paid is s getting poultry and certainly doesn't get stock options because postal office is government aigence and he there are no stock shares. host: line for postal workers. on the line wait nothing hofman, north carolina, independent. ahead. caller: good morning. reason i'm calling, i'm hearing tuff about this rate commission. these board of governors as they were actually called when i in the post office and i worked in the post office for 36 was , the post office basically run by them and what time the as every postal service would say, we need a rate increase, this i'm to five-cent stamp, a candy bar was $.05. candy bar cost now?

that is one example. to gettal service wanted into electronic mail when it first came out and the board of down, they ut them shut them down. the same thing with fed ex, they came out, it ps was fine, as long as they were not carrying first-class mail. well, they t with, can carry express mail, okay. the postal rate commission or board of governors, which i recall, they are responsible for in, not ion they're only that, ronald reagan made overostal service pay back cost illion a year toward of benefits and that's one of the reasons they never make a of governors oard will not give them the money hey need and their fees and ronald reagan's deal with -- i it was, over $300 million every year they had to put out. okay. one other issue i have forgotten, but --

host: david, you raised a few us, we'll let kevin kosar take them on. guest: thank you, david, for that. interesting point about the board of governors. yeah, they have some discretion postal operations, but one surprising fact, there are no overnors presently. postal service had a ghost ship board it might han a year, be closer to two years. host: how did that happen? are presidential appointees, with term limits f. hey don't get through senate confirmation, no board, the postal service has been able to run itself. as different lines of business, yeah, the postal service wanted to try to get other stuff and the question is, should they be allowed to? with want them competing the private sector to provide something like e-mail? a law in 2006, which said postal service should stick to postal things. kevin kosar is with the r

street institute, public policy vice president there. his work, ck out rstreet rstreet.org, or on twitter at kevin receive kosar, appreciate the time. on "washington journal," c-span "50 capitals tour" continues. joined by idaho butch otter, stop number 27 of c-span "50 capitals tour," that conversation coming up next. >> tonight on "landmark cases," katz v. united states, where katz, a bookie, was tape recorded by the f.b.i., while bets from a illegal

telephone booth on sunset boulevard in los angeles. in supreme court decision this case ultimately expanded americans rights to privacy and the fourth amendment forever changed the way law enforcement officers conduct their investigations. to discuss this case are jeffrey rosen, president and c.e.o. of the national in titution center, philadelphia, and jamil jaffer, national security institute and director of the national security law and policy program. mason george university's antonin scalia law school. tonight ndmark cases" and join the conversation, our hashtag is "landmark cases," and follow us at c-span. and we have resourceos our ebsite for background on each case. the "landmark cases" companion book, link to the national onstitution center's interactive constitution and the podcast at ases" c-span.org/landmarkcases.

>> and it is stop number 27 on our "50 capitals tour," the bus is outside the capitol building in boise, idaho, joining us there to talk about issues facing idaho, ncluding trade and healthcare is the governor, governor butch term.now in his third governor otter, thanks for being with us, start by talking about issue that's forefront here in washington and that's some of potential ssues and trade disputes. how does that affect idaho? governor otter: right. well, i think it's going to, if the trade n up all agreements and get the enforcement that we anticipated negotiated, whether it was nafta or the rest of the rade agreements, the agreement thagreement orpus of is a pretty good idea.

good deal. years, we haven't been enforcing that agreement nd so whether or not the administration is going to scrap not too deal, i'm concerned about losing freight, state like rom idaho, where we export about $5 of everything from potato chips. to and i think the quality of the sustainability of the supply is what any customer is going to want, china or in new york city or wherever. o i think we can be competitive. host: somebody who has experience in washington and as you think this tariff talk is going to actually threats than e otherwise? know, i can't ou view into the minds, i've been out of washington, d.c. for 12

been governor of idaho. but six years i did spend there, a lot of sabre rattling going oespecially oming to grips with a tremendous issue and trade is a tremendous issue. and so in settle into ble to your position relatively think there is probably sabre rattling going on there, peter. talk about o healthcare. governor otter, you came up with that got hit by all sides, including fellow republicans. hat was your healthcare proposal and why was it not supported more fully? well, the tter: republicans that were against it more upset because it wasn't their idea, peter. actually it was a great idaho to get r to 2009, where we had he least expensive best

coverage insurance market in the united states. whole , probably in the world and when obamacare came along tthrew out all disciplines had, threw out all of the metrics that we had. ortunately, we saved our vendors and so we've still got a lot of competition in the idaho market, whereas some states have maybe just one counties in some states had none. going to we're continue to pursue negotiations with hhs and the in washington, d.c. to see if we can't come to some allowing these nonobama care pure qualified idaho.o go forth in one of the problems, peter, you once we get these certified by lans

washington, d.c., then you're going to see a lot of other on the same g thing. host: governor on thor, onqualified plans, would it be fair to state the state was offering healthcare plans a sense?down in governor otter: well, stripped down from what? maternity care, peter? you know, look at me. a lot of products, a obamacare redients in insurance policy that you had to buy whether you needed them or not. enlarging he idea of the risk pool with sufficient that you could have a fiduciary risk pool. out the s mandate went dinner, so did encouragement folks had to continue to get insurance. in fact, we had some 70,000

people drop insurance in idaho a result of getting rid of the mandate. wanted to why we offer some of these you call them stripped down plans, i allows a buyer to buy what they want, not what the to sell.t wants host: and why did the republicans state legislature pass this? overnor otter: well, they got all caught up in a couple of the asked for and had in i wanted to do, peter, our state insurance exchange and in the insurance market in like 2800 folks cost, re the highest those 2800 folks cost us around in order to a year supply them with healthcare and wanted to shift those from he insurance exchange and

market into medicaid. suspicion and it was erroneous suspicion, in idaho, expanding medicaid and we have not expanded obamacare.nder we did create our own insurance xchange, which gives us a leg up in some opportunitys that we're trying to fashion in market that the people of idaho want, instead of what the federal government wants to them. folks ink a lot of those were looking at ghosts and that is not unusual for the crowd in that.to do host: governor butch otter is in is our guest , he until top of the hour. to participate in the 202-748-8000 if you happen to be an idaho esident, 1.7 million idaho residents, and all others around 202-748-8001.

now governor otter, when you talked aboutt, you the economy of idaho and talked bout semiconductors and there is a large company in idaho, ome-grown, i believe, micron, what is that? overnor otter: micron technology was started by the arkinson brothers, who not -- ironically enough, come out of the same region of idaho that -- guy that invented the television tube you and i are enjoying certain amount of to right now, and these two brothers had gone to work and then companies decided to come back home and start their own company and product was a four-meg chip. of course, that was a long, was in ng time ago, it the mid to late '70s, they got and rolling and found a few other idaho guys, my

of the the founder company at the time was one of the folks that got included in that. there were other folks. a very t started out in humble and small way and then worldwide giant that had the leading edge on and technology and hits that level, why then everybody takes great of the , as did a lot foreign companies that wanted to compete with them and a lot of orporate and industrial espionage went on and they started stealing products from micron technology, that got us into a lot of lawsuits. but by and large, that company leadership d great from the community here in idaho worldwide.eat success and so, they're one of our big

leaders in exports. host: has that led to more tech companies coming into boise? governor otter: oh, my yes. lot of that, led to a great talent that has secured a permanent place, a retirement opportunity here in to work ascould come young engineer fresh out of the micron ity, the technology has been instrumental building a classroom, in major building right on the boise state university campus. three blocks from the lue turf, by the way, peter, and so they've kind of home-grown their own. a lot of high-tech in the valley right now.

the companies, we've got a lot companies, companies that at one time were on semi-conductor and folks in it is a good example. a lot of software companies in well. as host: the gross state product of idaho is 65 billion dollars a one of the fastest growing states and a large rowing hispanic community, correct, governor? governor otter: correct in you on let me correct the first one and that is we are in thetest growing state nation, not only in growth in terms of population, but growth terms of personal income. in the top two or three in employment, unemployment is at 3%, which means we've got roughly out of million or 700,000 people you were talking about, work of 844,000 people, about

are out of e that work. we've got a lot of jobs we can't fill. unemployment rate in idaho. idaho.-8000 for those in if you live outside idaho and ant to talk to the governor, 202-748-8001. governor otter, the state wrapped up recently its business and one of the looked at was y stand your ground laws. what happened? right.r otter: well, the stand your ground bill law without my signature. it, 's some problems in when i weigh legislation, peter, how much good and how much bad of message ifkind i decide not to sign it, but let it become law without my what kind of message can i send back to the legislature asking them to take next year andt it maybe improve it just a little bit?

i did, i actly what let it become law without my signature, but basically it says cuprotect your personal -- your person, your family and your property. you don't need to back off. will work in idaho, but like i said, there could be the vement and i hope legislature will come back next year under another governor and legislature because the legislature is all p for election in may in the primary and then november in the general. host: what are your thoughts and school safety issues arming security guards? you know, ter: well, n idaho, we have had security guards, we've had resource officers, which are local police in our schools. so we've had armed folks in the like i said, as a resource officer, if a child

-- a student needs to about some fficial problem at home, some problem in bullied, rhood, being something like that, they have official figure, law enforcement talk to about -- ou know, in idaho, we're -- we grow up with guns and we have guns. respect for i mean, i can't think of a home gune probably there isn't a and there may well be, but great ly you'll find adage, when the old i was growing up, very, very young, the same with my eight sisters, why there is never an unloaded gun. to be very, very careful when you use it and how we use it. if we were to arm folks in

janitors and teachers wanted to volunteer, then i think he would put them -- i know we would put hem through substantial training. host: some issues we've talked to governor otter about include taxes, stand your ground laws and healthcare. maryland, here is your chance to talk to the nation's governor. governor, welcome to c-span. the question i ask is you were 24,000 jobs, 24,000 unemployed in your state, you jobs that can't be filled. what are you doing to pair up or do yed with the jobs nationwide search to get the jobs filled? great job and me. larry hogan hi for what we've done in idaho, we've created two community colleges. in fact, one got a lot of national attention, the college

created daho, which we in 2009, opened the doors and we had 1500 students. is more like 30,000 students now attending that fastest-growing community college in the history of the united states of america. we just this last fall created another community ollege in eastern idaho and both of those institutions would give us four community colleges state of idaho. what we're asking is that for that need nies particular employees with particular skills or talents to to those colleges and help them set up the classroom experience, the learning them ence in order to get trained up. couple of years ago, i went back school at the college of western idaho that was 2009, and took aluminum welding for two semesters and i'll tell you, it

was a great opportunity for me to pick up a skill. always knew how to weld steel, i didn't know how to weld luminum and i learned an awful lot. classmates azed, my in that class were either for a job and looking and by the time they finished that first semester, they were getting job offers. a lot of those job offers were coming out of north dakota, of the oil and gas business there. them here a lot of in idaho. we've got a big manufacturing industrial complex right here in idaho. we make all kinds of farm equipment, all kinds of transportation equipment from locoshgmotiv es and rail cars, to little old n now plows and so we've kind of teamed up our workforce employers so ith that those employers can tell

work force, here is where we to put some of the ollars to train people for electricians or train carpenters or whatever else we may need. host: and about 33% of idaho -- question.otter: good host: 33% of idaho 8 billion annual budget goes toward education. governor, have you heard of idaho?, governor otter: totonia, yeah, t's in the eastern part of the state. host: bob is calling from bob.ia, go ahead, governor otter: great, good morning, bob. governor.ood morning, in thank you, this is bob district 32. losher.resents county commissioner meeting,

how conservative he is, he perfectly logical argument as to why idaho should the state ofid, in idaho provide affordable seemscare to citizens, it to me it is so logical, why can this not happen? is so much resistance, you said earlier you'd like to have ealthcare that the people of idaho want. this is what i want. of we want it, expansion medicaid and why can't that happen? don't have any guns in my house, no guns on the ranch. in totonia. governor otter: i don't know if that out loud. but i would tell you this, tom orkher has been a great champion for trying to do the right thing with expansionem of medicare in idaho, he

ouldn't get a corresponding agreement with the folks in with indiggent care that has to be supplied by the counties themselves. know, the counties indigent shows an up at hospital emergency room, $11,000 goes on property taxes on that ranch and then $11,000 catastrophic care takes over. an agreement in expanding of the last six years brought a different product to the legislature every year in order to take care of the gap.ks in tom wanted an agreement to get of catastrophic care program, we just couldn't get there for tom. has ld tell you that tom tried to do the right thing

every year. sounds like you're unhappy and disappointed with him, i am been a good tom has warrior frr the right thing to do in idaho. wayne is in schenectady, new york. wayne.ad, caller: how are you all? you, nor, i wanted to ask how is farming industry out there very well, is it doing well? and is there a lot of jobs for of work?ke that kind host: wayne, are you asking for yourself? everybody. for [laughter] host: all right. overnor otter: well, wayne, i ould tell you, i live eight miles from where i was born 76 years ago. n fact, my eight brothers and sisters live right here within well, wesure valley, as were raised on farms and ranches. the evolution that i have seen

generally as a result of of labor or the scarcity of labor. the innovation and the equipment, we don't have near farm labor requirements that have.ed to during certain seasons, fruit season, the grape season, the season, then we have a retty good increase, but our farm and ranch labor force has round. pretty stable year for instance, in the dairy industry, we're one of the, i number two or three in the nation for the production of byproducts like cheese and yogurt, we've got the yogurt plants in the world in twin falls, idaho, in valley.c labor force, whether

milking cows or feeding the on the e labor force daire is n the farms, stable, year round, not as seasonal as it used to be, that we've been very supportive of a reasonable legal immigration. we don't like the illegal it doesn't do any of us a service, especially folks that come in and have to shadows.he so we'd like to see a policy in the united states that provides for those to come in legally, even if they have to come in under ork visa for a while, while they work on, if they wanted to become a permanent citizen and have to learn english as a result of that, is our communication

idaho, as it is in the entire nation. hat i mean by that, a foreigny comes from a different country, woe don't necessarily let them here.the pesos we make sure they exchange pesos a solidlars, so we have currency exchange in. of communication for idaho is english, so our force, wayne, is pretty technology he continues to increase on the arms and ranches and as a result, the labor requirements on the farms and ranches is less but more permanent. ost: bill is in maine, you are on with idaho governor, butch otter. i would es, governor, like to know what happened to i can't orporation and imagine because i've seen him 40

maine.ago in ou know, what happened to him and his corporation? of cially the tornado part it? host: governor, you used to be president of that company; correct? of the otter: international division, yes. host: okay. were or otter: we supplying mcdonald's french in the -- their expansion why i around the world, think became president of centerplot international. 1979.was the centerplot company is doing well, thank you for asking. you see paul page, tell him hi for me. carabou, rations in and also, in another big french plant that we had there at that time. nd the company is doing well, it's about, you know, still a

private company, still owned by mr. simplot, god rest his soul, died at the age and six months and i think 2009.s and left a tremendous legacy, ut also left tremendous leadership group and a legacy of leadership, community taking.ent and risk in fact, the company just built a new, big world headquarters in downtown boise, as well as the center they call the jump center, jack's urban meeting place and it is kind of gift, certainly a lot of folks go and look, he's tractors, some of them -- some maye out of have come out of maine, the old diggers and that sort of thing. the company is doing well, it's

4.5, 5 billion dollar company right now. and very successful and by the way, worldwide. host: still supplying french mcdonald's? governor otter: oh, yeah. not as many as they used to, i crock, founder of mcdonald's and jack simplot 7 ke hands on the first million pounds that ray crock a frozen french fry. they came to caldwell, idaho, a in idaho, we had a company president, not at that he was food technologist by name of jim conrad, became president of the food division of the company and workeda few other fellas on creating this, what we call the mc-fry. 30 seconds by nine 30 second cut, 24% moisture, oil that was al supplied by mcdonald's.

and the it its taste nine 30 seconds by nine 30 certain hat gave it a crunchiness as a result of drying it down to 64%. unique and very revolutionary french fry at that time. mcdonald liked it and mr. simplot remarking when we the first trail car full of potatoes, he said, that is shipped time i ever one rail car to one customer. a day and led e o us, to the simplot company building several plants for the ole purpose of supplying mcdonald's, including plants tazmania, n canada, several other places. host: governor otter, what is our biggest frustration with washington? tell or otter: well, i'll

you, peter, there has been some flexibility, a little bit of softening and let me give you a couple ideas. frustration, they never listen. they come in with blueprint that maybe worked, will work in the district of columbia for whatever, for education, for almost anything else and maybe it will work in florida, some other state and county, some other metropolitan area. but this cookie cutter approach stringent had and requirements on the cookie-cutter approach allowed flexibility.le an example, as you know, peter, there was -- i don't know, maybe had a program based upon this, that there was a lot western 19 the states where most of the federal land, forest service properties are that wanted to an effort to

to take those lands over by the states. of momentum a lot because of the neglect, the had tee management that we and that grew really to a recendo during the obama administration that it wasn't that grew really to a crescendo during the obama administration. aere -- it wasn't a whole better during previous administrations, but it grew to a crescendo after jimmy carter decided they were not going to divest themselves in the late 70's of any more federal land. as you know, my 1976 that led to the sage rush rebellion at the time.

idaho has been successful in moving forward with becoming a sharecropper with the federal government. wehave identified acreage and our forrester's go into the federal force now. we set up marketing of those federal forests. and decidehe timber which trees to cut, where to build or improve roads for the transportation in and out. we are actually partners. we have seen flexibility in health care, flexibility during -- under the epa. i know that director pruitt has been under some pressure. zeke, and the, --

former governor of georgia are doing a terrific job. i believe they are doing exactly what trump said. they're doing exactly what the states need because when they have a problem in the federal forest in idaho, i hear from folks and they say, how can you help us or what do you think we ought to do? it is encouraging that we are at least asked to come and sit at the table and help come up with some conclusions. the frustration with washington, d.c. is that they are moving in the right direction, but it want them to move as fast as the other agencies and the department of health and human services. host: