>> live thursday on the c-span c-span, the u.s. house returns at 10:00 a.m. for general speeches. eastern, for consideration of legislation were new and operation of the faa. on c-span2 at 9:30 a.m., the senate continues consideration of cia director mike pompeo's nomination to be the next secretary of state. votesnate will hold two on the nomination starting at noon. 10:00 a.m. on c-span three, the senate judiciary committee considers legislation about the special counsel. in about one hour we would talk to in nebraska congressman. then congressman gerald connolly

of virginia on talks of north korea and its nuclear program. news deputy editor robin brought under on scott pruitt's tenure as head of the environmental protection agency. ♪ ♪ good morning, it is thursday, april 26, 2018. the senate reconvenes at nine: this morning. -- 9:30 this morning. we are with you for the next three hours on "washington journal." a near report from reporters without borders reflects growing animosity toward journalists worldwide. as we go through that report, we are asking viewers -- are you worried about the freedom of the press? give us a call.

republicans can call in at (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can also catch up with us on social media. a very good thursday morning to you. you can start calling in now on this question on the freedom of the press, as we take you through this new reporters without borders report. it has been published every year since 2002. a freedomgs indicate of reporters in 180 countries. here is the conclusions from this year's report. hostility toward the media from political leaders is no longer limited to authoritarian countries, where media phobia is so pronounced journalists are accused of terrorism, and those who do not offer loyalty are imprisoned. more and more democratically

elected leaders do not see the media -- but in adversary which they openly display their aversion. the first amendment has fallen in the index under donald trump, 1045. trump has reform -- referred to media as "enemies of the people," a term used by joseph stalin. the united states ranking just romania.uth korea and the world press freedom index, less freedom for the countries that are darker, more freedom for the countries that are lighter. the report notes it is a snapshot of media freedom based on an evaluation of -- and safety of journalists.

it is not an indicator of the quality of journalism in each country. this report came up yesterday in the white house press briefing. press secretary sarah sanders was asked about it. not, wouldnly would reject the idea that the president or this administration has halted freedom of the press. i think we are one of the most accessible administrations than we have seen in decades. i think by my mere presence standing up he or and taking your questions on about it is a good example -- unabated is a good example of freedom of the press. host: that exchange not the only time freedom of the press was brought up. we will show you more over the course of this first hour of "washington journal." republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. on the start with mark

republican line. caller: people lie all the time, make things up. they got plenty of freedom. it is not like any freedom in this country, believe me. the president, they are totally brutal with him. he is one of the best presidents we have ever had. in ohio, an independent. caller: i think we have plenty of freedom. i think what i fear is the death of journalism. we have too much attacking of our presidents, period. disrespect of the president. everything he says is taken out of context and blown up every time. i wish they held to a standard of journalism where they reported the truth, got out there and got the story, not

just reading off a paper. i hate it because i grew up in a time where even though it is black and white tv, there is a nightly news and they report the truth. they did not joke around or call names. it was something i always held dearly. i am sad to see that is gone now on the network news. host: when did it go? just since this president? during previous administrations? caller: the last 10 years. that is me noticing it. it is journalism where people worry about the story and fax, and do not just -- facts, and do not just say things. we want truth. we are the united states and we are supposed to be holding the

media accountable for the truth. meanwhile, they should have some self-respect about it, and i just think it is sad that there is so much going on that is good, and we are always dwelling. , nbc nightlyer news during the vietnam war, i remember it to this day how important it was, what they said, and i hung onto it. it was not a joke. it was truth. it was people off the air getting the truth, real journalism, and i miss that. host: tommy is in daytona beach, florida, the line for democrats. are you worried about the freedom of the press? caller: yes, i sure am. i think you have a lot of republicans who are just straight out hypocrites. , our presidenth

at this time right now, he loves the press when they are building him up and telling him he is the best thing since white bread. if really investigative journalism had been done properly during the election, this man would not be our president right now. and the press right now, the reason it is under so much hate and discontent is because they are just now finding out things they should have investigated beforehand. you run a man that has got dirt all over him like this guy does, what do you expect? what do you republicans expect? host: viewers might remember the story of a reporter with "the washington post," who served as andcorrespondent in tehran

in 2016 was imprisoned by authorities until his release in 2016. he wrote about this world press freedom index from reporters without borders this week. ine is what he had to say -- the report, there is very little to celebrate. it paints another portrait of the gradual erosion of one of free society's most treasured principles. the united states is not immune to these trends, while president trump has been vocal in his antagonism, calling journalists the enemy of the people. freedom of expression has been under assault for years. there is no law guaranteeing journalists' rights to protect sources' identities.

nation of the first amendment now ranks number 45 in terms of press freedom. if you want to read his column, he is a writer for the global opinions section in "the washington post." june is on the republican line. caller: i am not as worried about the freedom of the press in this country. i know all over the world, it is being tampered down and there is not as many freedoms in other countries. but over here, i am very concerned about the extreme polarization in our press. we have got newspapers that are sse becauseen ma people are just watching the internet. it is journalism, not so much the freedom of the press. journalism is just gone. we have got all of these extreme left-wing organizations called

universities pumping out these kids and brainwashing them all through high school and college. there is nothing out there bringing us back to the center, to our founding fathers, ideals and goals for the united states. we get, we do such and such overseas. you know, they are over there. we are over here. people are flocking to the united states because of what we have here, not because they want the same old thing they just left. we are not a melting pot. we are a salad. it is just so polarized. i wish we could get back to journalism. host: you started by saying people read newspapers less and the internet more. do you trust newspapers more? caller: i wish i could, but when i go to my newspaper, we used to

have "the virginia pilot." we would have people that would write stories and more and more, they are picking up stories from "the washington post," and other outlets. there was always some of that, but it is more now than usual. we have gone through it with about two to three ways of firing people in our local paper. it is down to a flimsy little thing. huntingburg,in indiana, on the line for independents. caller: i have been concerned about freedom of the press for a long time. we do not seem to have journalistic standards. it concerns me very much that we have so many journalists interviewing other journalists instead of being on the scene interviewing the people making the story. i do not know what you can do about that. i think freedom in the press has

been gone in this country for a long time. we are finally waking up to it and i am very glad to see that. i would hope for many other professions such as doctors, have guidelines with the ama and the bar association. those have kind of gotten corrupted. i just want to see journalists promoted that are really doing real journalism. .ost: thanks for the call cheryl atkinson is the anchor of "full measure." the series produced by sinclair television group, she had a recent column after the controversy arrested over the mash-up that went viral over sinclair anchors reading from the same national promotion. here is what she had to say about the state of journalism in the country. "the more worrisome trends to me re: national news personnel

sends their entire theme or viewpoints, shapes stories to reflect things that are not -- layer news stories with reporters' opinions and biases, uncritically use talking points from political and corporate interests, report unsubstantiated and sometimes false information, and use "consultants" without disclosing their conflicts of interest. extensively about how i believe these conflicts have woven their way into many national newsroom. nearly every theme or image that crosses your path in daily life was put there for an image, often by an interest who paid a lot of money to place it there. a critical thinker might ask, in whose interest is it to present sinclair promos as one-sided and negative?

who wants me to believe it and why?" amazingit is really that you have got so many people that called in on the show, mainly republicans, got their nose in fox and rush limbaugh and people like that. kellyanne conway came on nationwide television to say we are not going to deal with the facts. we are going to deal with alternative facts. these people living under a rock? they do not want to know the truth. that is all i got to say. host: a few tweets. dana says -- i am concerned the press has an obvious agenda. lizzie says -- the press has too much freedom. from robert -- i am more concerned about freedom of speech. james from north dakota, the line for republicans. are you concerned about the freedom of the press? caller: let me get this big rock

off me. i was under a rock. listen to all the networks and i have been a c-span junkie for 20 years. you have some really good calls. three great ladies that just called, and ohio lady, i agree with her, and the lady from virginia. i do want to say that i just , and i have got to say that i'm so grateful to be this age because i do remember being a kid until early junior high school, i remember brinkley and huntley and watching walter concrete with my dad, sitting on with myalter concrete dad, sitting on the corporate. -- carpet. peter jennings is when we began to see just a little bit of a

bias, but he was still a smooth guy and very classy. i even remember jessica savage. she got killed in a car crash near new hope, pennsylvania. example, yesterday, tucker carlson spent the first 15 minutes attacking joy read from the other station. is a black woman who has a show on saturday and sunday on msnbc. i watch it. i am interested in the left and how they think. his new story was 15 minutes attacking him -- her, and hers will be 15 minutes attacking him. can you imagine walter cronkite attacking david brinkley? host: you bring up walter concrete. he was being known for saying, "that is the way it is" at the

end of his newscast. as somebody said it today, how do you think it would be taken? caller: that is a good one. i don't know. this is my final point here. remember, the news is an example of how we are segregated. we are re-segregating along lines of housing. a real journalist name build a ship -- named bill bishop wrote a book called "the big sort." there is a segregation of news. you can find the news that fits your people and you can completely block out everybody else. c-span, i have been watching you for 20 years. you guys are still about the main place i go. back in bucks county, pennsylvania, they have a newspaper -- i go back-and-forth

to north dakota -- that paper, they spent most of their time obsessing over race. they call each other racist, racist, racist. the editorial page greases -- reaches to you. you.eaches to a lot of these journalists have become neo-puritans. host: why do you read that paper? caller: i do not read it anymore. i read it 40 years. we used to have something called current events in social studies and i used to cut out articles. i cannot read it anymore. it is so anti-trump and the people are really unhinged in pennsylvania. so glad to be across the mississippi where people do not wear their religion or politics on their sleeve. back east is nuts. you can have it. host: thank you for watching for 20 years.

here is more from that white house press briefing yesterday, further exchange with jim acosta of cnn and sarah sanders over press freedom. >> are you trying to say that this administration is a champion of a free press? ago, westated a moment support a free press but we also support a fair press. i think that those things should go hand in hand, and there is a certain responsibility by the press to report accurate information. there a responsibility on the part of the president? >> people in this room do that every single day, provide fair and accurate information. i support that. that is why i am here taking your questions. a lot of times, taking your questions in a tone that is unnecessary, unneeded, and does not further the conversation. we are talking this

morning about the world press freedom index put out by reporters without borders every year, for the past 15 years. this year, the united states fell again the 45th on the list of ranking countries by press freedom. behind romania, south korea, taiwan. coming in at 40th, the united kingdom. in light of the discussion that the publication of that list has sparked, we want to hear from you about your concerns on press freedom. give us a call. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. eddie is in arlington heights, illinois, an independent. caller: i was just trying to call and let you know that freedom of press is not free.

we have military soldiers who are willing to fight and die for that freedom, and i would hate to see our constitution and freedoms be trampled on by a bunch of tabloid journalists. any publication in particular that concerns you the most? caller: when it comes to c-span, you guys do the best, as much information as you can and unbiased. when i watch fox, i get the right side. when i watch cnn, i get the left line. i want to watch journalism, not a tabloid of who slept with who. i want to know what is going on. host: ellen on the line for democrats, from pennsylvania. caller: my father was a journalist in fort wayne, indiana. i grew up there in the 1950's when there were still two independent newspapers. -- in the 1970's,

i guess, it was bought out. thatss where i am going is freedom of the press depends partly upon a division between the news producing part of a newspaper, and the at producing part. my father used to call the ad producing part the little foxes. there was a pretty clear distinction between the two functions. , andch of print journalism not just print journalism but television, has become a conglomerate, has become a moneymaking proposition. and there is no freedom of the press in a sense, because what reporters do, what they focus on, what they say is always determined by the profit motive, the bottom line for the corporate owners of the newspapers.

i think that is the real problem . obviously, if you don't have a free, independent press, you do not have a democracy. host: why do newspapers in your mind, do it better than tv? caller: that is probably partly my age. i grew up reading newspapers. yeah, i watched the evening news, but there were like three networks and three channels. i think they do it better because -- they were able to do it better when we did not have a 24 news hour cycle -- news cycle. always, if you are reading something, you are taking more time with it, there is more detail. i read "the new york times" online now because you cannot get the physical paper where i live in pennsylvania, except on sundays.

there is really no substitute for that kind of in-depth reporting. you cannot get that on tv. if you look at tv journalism or the media on tv, you can also go back to huntley and brinkley and those people, walter cronkite, when there were limits on how many advertising slots you could have, when you did not have commercials every 10 minutes or every five minutes. there was more control over what could be advertised on tv. you could not have pharmaceutical companies advertising on television, for example. in so many ways, everything about the delivery of information and the delivery of the news has become, i think they call it monetized. it has become a matter of, how much money can we make off of this? host: here is what is in today's newspapers.

two stories we talked about yesterday, first, the arguments yesterday at the supreme court over the president's travel ban, the today" calling it travel ban having a better day in court. they gave the travel ban a better reception than it received in lower courts, raising the chances the court will uphold restrictions on travelers from five predominantly muslim countries. the story is by richard wolf, who appeared on "washington journal." said, the court's conservative justices appeared sympathetic to the administration's contention that hit has authority -- it has authority to limit immigration in the name of national security. also yesterday, we talked about epa administrator scott pruitt and the scrutiny he is faced --

has faced for ethics issues that have come up. he will be on capitol hill today . the headline -- "epa chief to face grilling on the capital." that is expected to happen at 10:00. we will be talking about scott pruitt and the questions he is likely to face, from 9:30 to 10:00, leading into that hearing. we will be joined by robin bravender to talk about it. that hearing, you can watch on c-span.org starting at 10:00 and it will air tonight on c-span 28:00 p.m. back to your calls as we talk about freedom of the press and your concerns. dorothy is in clinton, michigan, republican. caller: how are you? host: i am doing well. caller: i would like to say that i get a lot of my reading from

newspapers. as far as -- host: as far as what? we lost the call. steve in missouri. caller: i would mostly like to speak to these fox news watchers. this is the way they set it up. it don't take a rocket scientist to see this. they get a fake democrat on their to say a bunch of hogwash, like tucker carlson and hannity. you can see right through them. they just say ridiculous things to make the democrats say, we love abortion and we love all this stuff that they lean on. it is all just a setup. they are paid to talk that way. this has been going on for 40 years. because all these crybaby republicans, you hear them

calling in because they do not get their way on c-span. donald trump is the problem. he has been lying to us the whole time. they give him a chance, he is a most halfway through his term, and what do we get? a massive tax cut the ghost all the rich people, and a big old -- that goes to all the rich people, and a big old deficit. they have done nothing with us -- 4s. the republicans are lockstep behind us. host: what about those who watch fox news who are concerned that what you are describing happens with other, more liberal leaning networks? caller: i understand what they think. there is a little bit of bias. sure, they are going to see their point like when you watch cnn and stuff like that. they are mostly down to the

core, they are pretty close to 90% of what they are telling you is pretty good. all of these people go on the internet. i do not even have the internet. it is all a bunch of nonsense to me. you have got to browse around and read different newspapers and stuff like that. it takes common sense. this has been going on for 40 years. this is ronald reagan and the republican party that divided our country. i am not saying the democrats are perfectly right. i wish there was someone else to vote for. i will never vote for republican for the rest of my life. host: greg in maryland, line for democrats. go ahead. caller: i do not worry about the freedom of the press, because most of them do a good job. to point out that the university of maryland did a study on fox news and said that 70% of their news is nonfactual.

it irks me that they can get away with that kind of garbage. thank you. host: that is greg in maryland. more calls in just a minute. i want to let you know about some other happenings on capitol hill today, including the senate judiciary committee beginning to debate legislation aimed at providing protections to special counsel robert mueller. that is expected to happen at 10:00 a.m. this morning. we will show it on c-span3. for more about that debate and what to expect, we are joined on the home by alana sure of politico. what exactly what this legislation do? what protections would it give? guest: this bill would allow any special counsel, chiefly mr. mueller at present, to challenge obtain judicial

review from judges who would examine whether or not he was fired for cause, which is the only way you can legally remove a special counsel. host: who is sponsoring this legislation, and what is its outlook in the judiciary committee today? guest: it seems like the state forward to -- -- straightforward it just addse judicial review, but it is a contentious issue for the gop. there are two gop senators on this deal, tom tillis and lindsey graham. the big news of the day is that i or republican chairman of the committee, chuck grassley, is likely to support it. he has an amendment of his own he has been negotiating with democrats, all of whom support the bill, for some time. one version was released last night. it remains unclear, although there are beliefs that the democrats succeeded in getting

things they did not like out of the bill, it is unclear whether grassley will support the entire thing. "chuckhy described it as grassley's act of defiance?" guest: the president does not want the bill. he wants the ability to get away -- get rid of the special counsel, so it is unlikely to get a signature from the white house. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said it is not coming to the senate floor. he does not want to devote his party's time to such a divisive question. there are others in the gop who have constitutional concerns with the entire bill, including jeff flake, one of the strongest trump critics. host: explain some of the constitutional concerns that mike lee, with an op-ed yesterday about that same topic. guest: it comes down to giving the federal courts power to

review a president's decision-making process. there is the whole separation of powers thing. you have your judiciary, executive, legislative. this is executive -- essentially the legislative branch giving the judiciary branch -- executive branch more power. host: could there be mounting power -- pressure to get it through the senate floor, despite what mitch mcconnell has set about it? guest: absolutely. i do think, we call it chuck grassley's act of defiance. it depends on whether or not grassley can stay attached to the bill, which is determined by the amendment with democrats. you will have one of the most influential committees in congress supporting this will on

a bipartisan basis. host: we will find out today at 10:00 a.m. we are showing the hearing live on c-span three. if you want to read up about it beforehand, "politico" has the story. back to your calls in this first hour of "the washington journal," as we discussed the world press freedom index from reporters without borders just out this week, the united states dropping and the press freedom index to 40 fifth place. 45th place. the countries darker shaded have less press freedom, according to that index. give us a call to let us know your thoughts and concerns about freedom of the press. morris is in san diego, california, good morning. caller: not to try to avoid answering the topic of the day,

because i will in a second, i am more worried about the fairness of the press. it has been a long time since the press seemed more on a level playing field. watch foxar left -- i news most of the time, but i do watch msnbc and cnn as well because i like to know what the other side is thinking. you could watch them all day long and never hear the word "dossier." you never hear the word. i think it is really one-sided. people that called in and criticized fox news, that is the closest you can get to fair and balanced, which is there kind of cliche motto. -- and i watchod a lot of c-span, because you get both sides. i hear a lot of what i do not want to hear, but i also hear

the side i agree with. if you talk to a democrat, they words were left out of the first amendment of the constitution. it should of been freedom of press to have their own agenda, and they practice it all the time. he's press briefings in the white house, it is unbelievable. they do not talk about substantive issues. they speculate on the latest scandal in the white house and whatever that word is, palace intrigue, and so on. anything for a distraction. what it has come down to right now with bob mueller is he is out of ammunition, and donald trump will not fire him. the democrats are losing patience. they want trump to fire mueller because they will have something to complain about, why the investigation fell apart. we have problems in this country

, and a lot of people in high places in the justice department, fbi, cannot be trusted. they lie, are guilty of perjury. james comey is turning into howdy duty. -- doody. he needs to wake up and smell the coffee. host: here is the latest on the mueller investigation from "the wall street journal." they are looking to find out whether robert mueller has an open mind. the legal team, which added rudy giuliani, met with mr. trump in washington to discuss the strategy for negotiations with mr. mueller going forward. on tuesday, mr. giuliani met with mr. mueller's team to discuss the interview. they have a quote from him saying "the president is tell his if he could

story in front of a decent, fair-minded arbiter, the whole story would be over." dan for massachusetts, independent. caller: thank you for having me on. number one, i would just like to remind everybody that trump was elected by calling the press liars, by telling us they are not being honest with us. just a little reminder. he did it in almost every speech. you just had a guest on a little while ago that talked about empowering the special counsel even more than it already is. story, i readtle an article about that yesterday about empowering the special counsel even more, to make sure they keep attacking trump, who matter what happens. doesn't it seem odd that there is a real similarity with hillary clinton not getting

hired by the american people, but kind of an insurance policy that we have got good -- big government taking care of everything while the press goes out and says whatever they can about trump. we have big government to protect everybody going after trump. 2012, the national defense andorization act that was stated in the early 1950's about our government propagandizing domestically, in 2012, that was reversed under the obama administration. now the press, with the government, can collude together to lie to us. the act has been rescinded. under the obama administration,

our government has gained all kinds of new power, and what we are seeing is the government taking a higher position. the government with the other branches being more powerful than the president. host: karen is in scranton, pennsylvania, democrat. caller: thank you for taking my call. i think there has been a real attack on freedom of the press. i think there is a fine line between investigative journalism and tabloid journalism. i think a lot of the media has turned into a a lot of tabloid journalism, and i think it is a result of profit oriented companies who seek out sensationalism in their stories. there are news programs that i find very credible. happened to watch rachel maddow every day. i think she is an excellent investigative journalist.

there are many in "the new york times," "the new york post." we have a president who is a ispulsive liar, and his mo to instill into his journalistic that we needdies to believe what he says. i think it is sad. i really think that yes, freedom of press is being manipulated in the government, the federal government. i am afraid for our democracy, very afraid. host: alana is in phoenix city, alabama, a republican. caller: good morning. we hear all the stories and everything. these people, i remember tokyo rose. these people want to go out here and talk about freedom of the press.

i watch a lot of different stations. anytime there is a liberal or democrat on a program, i don't care whether it is fox news or if it is msnbc they will take one conservative. cat,will gang up like on a a pack of dogs. the girls come on fox news, you do not even have to -- liberals come onto fox news, you do not even have to know who they are. they are rude, they interrupt people, they show no class. all of these people are always yelling at journalists. i was in the military. i am almost 80 years old. i have always had documents, drivers license, stuff like that in my pocket.

they make excuses and call people racist. this person could not get the documents. that is the world's biggest lie. i have had identification in my old,t since i am 16 years and i will be 80 in a couple of weeks. they will not tell the truth that everybody, even if we work, most people work 40 hours a week , if you sleep 56, you still have 72 hours to do whatever you need to. the other thing you run into, they call people racist. if i call you a racist, i do not know you. i am the guy who looks like the racist, ok? it is like the old story, everybody else is anti-semitic. that was a big theme years ago. now it is racist. host: we are talking about the world press freedom index that

came out this week from reporters without borders. it has been coming out every year for the past 15 years, ranking 180 countries according to the level of freedom available to journalists. the 180th is north korea. south korea comes in at 43rd, two spots ahead of the united states. some news out of the korean peninsula this morning from the associated press. kim jong-un and moon jn will plan and inspect an honor guard together after kim walks across the border for their historic summit. officials said the talks on the southern side of the border in a village are expected to focus on north korea's nuclear program, but there will be plenty of becomes theen kim first north korean leader to be in the southern section of the border since the end of the 1950 to 1953 korean war.

from texas, an independent. caller: good morning. answer your to question about putting freedom in as an oxymoron. i am concerned about the freedom of the press. until age 20, i grew up in another country called mississippi. up to that point, i have never had freedom of the press to the degree that it exists. i guess a lot of you, a lot of your audience knows what the iron curtain is. i formed another phrase for living in mississippi, i call it the cotton curtain, because we never got unfiltered news either in the printed press nor and the media in general. and madeg was screened

our country look like a free country. of, we have a proliferation so-called reporters, journalists, etc., who are self-professed journalists on the internet. now we have so much information and we do not know who to believe. your network, i learn a lot from, primarily because you do not provide the last filter, which is opinion, whereas the rest of the press does. they are paid by commercial interests to tilt their information. a lot of the information we need to know as citizens, we do not get because the commercial and/or the people who assigned the ratings to each of these channels will allow for. everyone has his own agenda.

we depend on the government to lake and give us an -- leak and give us information so that "the new york times" "the washington post," which are supposed to provide the best news for all citizens, can give us. that is my concern. host: from texas, joseph is in caldwell, a democrat. caller: good morning. i agree with the last caller. pressthinking about the , it seems like the whole country is under a lot of confusion with everything that is going on at this moment in real-time. we can go back decades when things was beginning to seem

like they was getting better. 1960's, and ithe remember from an early age, the country was in a lot of confusion even then. we started to go on the right track, but it seems like the .edia, it interferes with us we are in a free country. host: what are we specifically confused about now? caller: for example, like fox news. they will give you a lot of negative facts on what is really going on in our country, as far elections. based on the information there

was no collusion, there was no help from the russians, and day by day we started getting information from other news networks like msnbc. they were giving me more information about the truth that was going on, even with the special prosecutor. i think he should continue until the very end, continue the job he has been appointed to do. we will see if the judiciary committee moves that legislation today to protect the special counsel. a few more stories on the 2016 election and various investigations, this one from the washington times." michael cohen said he will

fifth aoes assert his met -- his fifth amendment right to avoid self incrimination and an investigation involving his payment of hush money to adult film actress stormy daniels. times," jeff york sessions facing questions about the mueller investigation as well as the latest news on the cohen raid. fifth recuse himself if a connection were made between the cohen and russia investigations, but declined to say whether he discussed it with anyone in the justice department. here is more of that exchange with the attorney general. >> attorney general, last week i

sent you a letter regarding your from anyt to recuse existing or future investigation of any matters related in any way to the campaign for president. are you recused from the federal investigation of the president's whichey michael cohen, reportedly involves matters of campaign issues? >> i am honoring the recusal in every case, in every matter that comes before the department of justice. i committed to that in my confirmation hearing, and i have honored that and will continue to honor the. >> that includes cohen? >> that is the policy of the department of justice that those who recuse himself not state the details of it, or confirm the

existence of an investigation, or the scope or nature of that investigation. following the rules of the department, which i'm trying to teach all of our people to do, i should not answer that question. it would be inappropriate. >> i know the question was not a surprise, nor is your answer a surprise. recusal is not discretionary. is required by justice department regulations when you have a political relationship with the president, which you have already acknowledged, and the president has a specific and substantial interest in the investigation. host: if you want to watch that hearing in its entirety, you can do so on our website, c-span.org. back to your calls, this

question of whether you are concerned about the freedom of the press. eddie from massachusetts. caller: i am afraid of the press. it is scandal sheets, that is all it amounts to. they invaded the lawyer, the lawyer privilege for this person. $130,000, is that when a prostitute gets? has anybody thought about blackmail? has anyone thought that she is a criminal? blackmailing the president. host: dawn in alexandria, virginia, an independent. go ahead. caller: i would like to save it i listen to your 6:00 a.m. where youning program do the talking heads on the roundtables for the networks. i found that during the

electoral process, they were overwhelming them, they were in opposition of donald trump. i know fox came around to trump and initially, they were lukewarm with him. also during the electoral process, "the washington post," which is my main newspaper, they were overwhelmingly anti-trump. if you go back to any of their front pages during that period, you will see nothing but negative articles about trump. times,"he new york their sister organization in a sense, they were also overwhelming. "wall street journal" was lukewarm. the news hour, ever since they lost the last of their founding broadcasters, it has been a poor example of a news organization. they were overwhelmingly against trump as well.

public radio was 24/7 anti-trump. this was all during the election. when it was over with, it pretty much continues on to today. if there is one thing trump did for us, he demonstrated the fact that the news media is against -- is controlled in some sense, and is not free. in alexandria,on virginia. breaking news, all week we have been cracking the nomination of ronny jackson to head the department of veterans affairs, and the question he faced this week. bloomberg tweeting out this morning that dr. ronny jackson is withdrawing his nomination for v.a. secretary, saying that unfortunately because of how washington works, these false

allegations have become a distraction for this president, and the important issue we must be addressing his how we give the best care to our nation's heroes." today" -- it came from a two-page summary of the various allegations released by one of the democratic members on the committee that would have been vetting his nomination. doctors, physicians assistants, had arses insist jackson history of handing out sleep medication. patients reported being uncomfortable with his loose prescribing practices. colleagues describe instances of jackson getting drunk on duty. oklahoma,n woodward, line for democrats.

a few minutes left in this discussion. caller: yes, sir. i wanted to let you know that our freedoms are being, like the freedom of the press is in the constitution. i am worried about the lies the president tells to the people of the united states. i do not know why someone cannot do something about the lies and prove a bunch of things he says as lies, and try to go through some legal matters, go through the legal system and do something. i feel like he is becoming a dictator, like a third world country. i believe that is the way i think we are going. i worry about it, other people worry about it, and something needs to be done. it would be the judicial system, i guess. lawyers have to start out trying to prosecute. maybe the press can help. that is all i have to say.

it did not make a lot of sense, but i know how i feel and i know what i think needs to be done. host: tony in ocala, florida, on the line for republicans. caller: i want to educate the public a little bit. back in the 1930's, the rockefellers bought up everything. they bought up all the newspapers, news outlets, tv stations, they bought it all up so they could control the narrative. i want everyone to look up operation mockingbird. take five minutes and do that. -- cia op where they started to control the media and the narrative on a daily basis. that is why the news has lost all credibility, because the internet now has the citizen journalist that has exposed all of this. take a little time and you will understand. host: that is tony in florida.

alfred is in california, an independent caller. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i appreciate that. you know what? i have been watching c-span for a long time, and some of these individuals that call in, my thing is that in regards to the freedom of the press, i agree with one of the callers that nbc,that msnbc, cbs, abc, and cnn, they do not talk about the accomplishment that president trump has been able to do. it is always about scandals. it is always about other things other than his accomplishments. disgrace to is a the american people.

the american people want to hear about the economy. the security of our nation and border. host: alfred, our last caller in this segment. stay tuned. we will have a discussion with two different members of congress in the next hour. dont up, representative bacon of nebraska, and republican, a member of the armed services and homeland security committees. and later, we will talk to gerry connolly, a member of the foreign affairs committee. stick around for those discussions. we will be right back. ♪

>> sunday morning on "1968 -- america in turmoil," we look at the media's role in shaping how america experienced the events of 50 years ago. cal, formerarvin cbs and nbc journalist, and founding director of the center on media, politics, and public policy. and a pulitzer prize-winning photographer who covered presidential campaigns -- the presidential campaign of john f. kennedy. "1968 -- america in turmoil" sunday on c-span's "washington journal." "afterwords,"t on -- y thomas interviews

>> he is like a boxer. bobbing and weaving. it is all an act. she knew him better than anyone on the business and social side. she said there are two donald trumps. one is the one you see on tv who makes these outrageous comments to get attention for his brand, and even if it creates negative publicity, he still becomes the center of attention every day in conversation and for the media, but then there is the other donald trump that insiders know who is the opposite -- he is thoughtful, listens, is very careful about making decisions. >> watch something that it not :00 p.m. eastern -- sunday night at 9:00 eastern on c-span2's

booktv. host: congressman don bacon is a republican from nebraska, with us for the next half hour. within the past five or 10 minutes or so, breaking news, white house dr. ronny jackson withdrawing as the a secretary nominee. the ap reporting he is calling the allegations against him false and fabricated. your reaction? guest: the main reaction is many people in charge of these organizations, so it is a setback. we need leadership. we need people in charge of these organizations because without it there is a void, and we are not providing the services that are necessary. host: is it congress blocking the ability of the trump administration to have leadership, or president trump vetting the people

he sends to capitol hill? more thethink it is latter. the senate slows it down. it is intently done by chuck schumer and his side of the house there, and the filibusters. it has slow the process down. having said that, there should be better vetting because we had a few people that should not have been nominated, so a little bit of both. host: we have seen a couple of nominees, mike pompeo, ronnie jackson -- now we have the news from ronnie jackson. have the spokesman treated fairly? guest: in some cases not. i listen to some of the questions mike pompeo was asked and some of them were overtopped. we are in a super-partisan atmosphere. mike pompeo was a great nominee. he ran a great cia.

i think he proved himself. i think he would be a great secretary of state. to slow down the nomination doesn't make sense. if you have a concern, that is what the senate is therefore, but they are doing 30 hours of debate on almost every nominee, and it is impossible to get through the throughput in a timely manner. partisan mentioned the abbotsford -- did you hear yesterday in the joint meeting with president macron? guest: he went on about climate change and our role in the world, but i think democracies thrive when we have differences of opinion and this kind of debate. i welcome his opinion. i once had totally agreed with everything he said, but that is all right. by and large he was well received. i think his main message is right on. if america does not stand up for his values and be leaders in the worldly will get russian values or chinese values.

we want rule of law, democracy, human rights. we standnd france -- for those things are die embrace the majority of what he had to say. host: one of the messages was to open the door for a nuclear deal with iran that builds on the current deal. is affecting you could get behind? guest: his four pillars are right. i did not support the agreement president obama did because it says you cannot have nuclear weapons for 10 years. we will give you 150 billion dollars to do this, but in 10 years you can have nuclear weapons. that is an accessible. president macron laid out more than the one pillar. the one pillar today is no nuclear weapons now. the other three would be no nuclear weapons ever, we need to work on the missile program, and also iran's interference with other countries. his agenda was right. host: would you call the current

nuclear deal with iran a failure? guest: i think it will be, because in seven years they will have a legitimate nuclear program. that is a recipe for war and failure. do you think israel is going to stand on the sidelines with iran developing a nuclear weapon in seven years? i think it is a recipe for a preemptive strike and a larger war to follow. we need to have an agreement that disbanded the news the program forever. host: here is president macron at the joint meeting yesterday talking about these issues. [video clip] president macron: there is an existing framework to control the nuclear activity of iran. at the initiative of the net -- signed it at the initiative of the united states. both the united states and france. that is why we cannot say we

should get rid of it like that. [applause] but it is true to say that this agreement may not address all concerns -- very important concerns. this is true. but we should not abandon it without having something substantial and more substantial instead. that is my position. [applause] host: commerce mendon make it -- don bacon of nebraska. what you think president trump will take from that? do you think he will join that call? guest: i think he will largely. there is pressure to walk away from it because the agreement allows iran to have nuclear weapons after 10 years. we are already three years into it. the president of france had a great point.

we pushed france and england to get on this agreement -- president obama did. i understand there was reluctant by france to do so because they saw the flaws. and they signed on with president obama. now we have a new president. the same concerns france had earlier, now president trump and i have, though same concerns, we push them to get on board three or four years ago. i understand the president of france's concerns that we push them to sign on and now we want to back out. we have to move forward, find a way to prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon because it will lead to war if they do. speaking of work, here is someone that has been involved in the debate. explain where it is right now, what you debate goes in congress? host: well, -- guest: well, there is a lot of resistance, but there is a lot of support.

i think there is a 50/50 chance we get a vote in the house. we have a constitutional duty to vote on whether we go to work. that is article one responsibility. we have been in afghanistan since 2001, then we voted for iraq. we're gone 16, 17 years in the middle east on these two authorizations to use force and now we're in a different country, isis versus al qaeda. congress is not voted on the authorization. i think there is something wrong. we are walking away from our sponsor abilities and handing it over to the executive branch. i think it is wrong. guest: remind viewers -- host: remind viewers of what limitations you would set. anst: congress has obligation to debate should we be in syria, being in iraq and vote on it. i support the operation. i would vote yes. our bill says the president has

to come back every five years to get a reauthorization so we don't have what happened here, we go 17 years and the congress has never voted on it, and every 90 days the president has to give us a report on the effectiveness of those operations. host: congress don bacon with us --il eight: 30 this morning 8:30 this morning taking your calls. host: plenty of other things to discuss. mark is in nebraska. independent. yes, i am about 80 miles west of the consistently -- hestituency of the area represents. i know nothing about the man. ,opefully is not from insurance

hopefully is a farmer like all of us. i served 29 years in the military. i was a retired brigadier general. i commanded brands time airbase. i did missile defense for israel. primarilyund was reconnaissance, intelligence, cyber activity. i did that until 2014. i retired. i decided i did not like the direction of where our country was going. i thought we needed a stronger national security policy. i decided to get involved and ran for district two to put those values in place. i ended up being the only republican to defeat an incumbent democrat in the last cycle in the house or senate, never ran for anything, well overspent by $1 million and when up against someone who had three or four years of political history. it shows in the country if you

dream big, work hard, you can achieve your dreams and goals. are you concerned about 2018 in the political winds right now? history, you go by when the president wins the election, they should lose about 36. if we go by history, republicans could lose up to 30 seats on average, but we have some talent helping us out. the economy will be moving for. we will be around 3% gdp growth. unemployment is the lowest it has been in 17 years. growing faster than inflation for the first time in almost two decades because of the policies we have put in place. there is heightened optimism. small business owners and businesses on the future. i think that will help us out. i think we've made great gains on national security. we will see how this works out with north korea and the president, that there is potential with voters will see there has been positive change

and if they see that, we will be those odds we have seen over the past 100 years. host: two south glen falls, new york. kyle, go ahead. caller: yes, i just want to point out on the iranian deal there were a lot of concessions iran did make. they cut centrifuges, cut the amount of enriched uranium that they had. developingurrently missiles at the time and we put that on hold, basically. when he mentions the money, the money was not given to them. that is money that was frozen that was their money that was frozen. ze theirdid was unfro assets and give it back to them. the whole armenian deal was nothing more than a talking point at first -- anything against president obama at the time, and it was followed by fox. now we have a president who called in to fox for 2, 3 years

every morning on "fox and friends," saying obama was not born in the country, giving opinions and every item there was, and i don't think he understood the deal. any deal is better than no deal at all when we stopped the deal. of fox, theng president was scheduled to call into "fox and friends" this morning. guest: i think there is some truth to what was said here. it does put the program on hold for seven years, but my concern is what happens after seven years? it is successful to delay the program, but in the end if it just delays it, and iran starts its nuclear program and it is recognized and legitimized by the international community and the notices, we should be gravely concerned because i don't think israel will stand on the sideline while iran develops

a nuclear weapon seven years from now and i think it will largely lead to a war. it was frozen assets, but why was it frozen? it is because they take our embassy personnel hostage for almost a year. i cannot remember the exact number. moneyy, they lost that when you treat american diplomats and citizens that way. we also have to remember one out of every fivein iraq were killen trade militias, trained, funded, gc forces. by the ir missingympathy for iran out on $150 billion. their enemy to israel, our ally. i have no 70 when it comes to iran -- no sympathy when it comes to iran. host: steve.

a republican. go ahead. caller: nice to hear you guys. guest: thank you, sir. caller: i was thinking about the when,tion we had way back obama, and the transfer of power attrump, and i really got an when obama went on his way and trump came to power. you know, when obama first started, i was like "cool, we president," that type of thing, and i just saw this country get squeezed out rag and i started to get real depressed about it. once donald trump came along, i knew from having a business for 27 years -- i knew exactly where

that guy was coming from, what he wanted to do, and i also knew, as far as where we came that as far as the iran thing that has been it,g on for 2000 years over that once you are evil you are evil. you are not going to change. host: congressman? guest: we have to look at iran for what it is right now. they are undermining iraq with shia trained militias. they are in syria, the primary force propping up a side. -- assad. they are threatening israel, in lebanon, and probably one of our foremost enemies in the world to

undermine our interest in the form of exporter of terror. we have to know what they're all about. president trump does come from a different background, having never run for office before. like i had never run for office before except for the eighth-grade student council, and that was a close victory as well. [laughter] i would say this, he ran as a different platform. i know a lot of the folks that voted for president trump, they know someone who will fight back and speak to the things they are thinking. he brings it on demeanor into the president -- presidency. host: two upper marlboro, maryland, abraham. independent. caller: good morning. hear republicans repeat that president obama gave $150 billion to iran.

was that the money that belong obama went to the treasury to cut the check and give it to iran? the second question is whether america will world with the move or not --will move with the world or not? tpp, whether you love iran, you have to realize there are people in the country. every decision you make affects those people that live in that country. every time you point a picture at iran -- [indiscernible] guest: thank you very much. again, i will restate the money that was given back to iran were frozen iranian assets. i wouldn't cap them frozen. -- i would have kept them frozen.

they have been our adversaries and 1979. they had our diplomats prisoners, and from that time for they were killing american citizens through terrorism. think of beirut under ronald reagan. i have influence in the middle east. my last one was in iraq and baghdad. -- roughly one out of five american soldiers or serviceman killed in iraq were killed by these she a militias that were trained, sometimes ran by iranians. i would surely not have given them the money up front for this agreement. i wouldn't make sure they delivered on their promises, an indian worst-case an, or best case scenario, given the money back at the end. money on daythe one and said we have to follow through -- you have to follow through. we lost the leverage. i would share the caller's point

that the world does go on, so i think whether it is tpp -- if we did not like the agreement where it was at, i would have encouraged the president to get back in there, change what you need to change, but we need to open up the 11 other country's doors and asia to our agriculture exports, for example. you cannot just up up -- step out and get out. the world does go on. we do have american leadership in the world because i want our values reflected, not russia's values or china's values. if we step back, that void will be filled by russia or china. we want to stand for the rule of law. if we back out of that, we know russia and china don't reflect those values. i want us to be a leader. guest: you mentioned -- host: you mentioned u.s. agriculture. bill out for the farm of committee, but it also faces an uncertain future from here on

out. explain why you voted for the bill and where you think it will go. guest: i think it is an important bill for our agriculture. a lot of people don't realize farm prices are 50% of what they were in 2014. imagine being a farmer and living on 50% of the income. of four are out of finance -- farming. -- jobs in nebraska are out of farming. a lot of our economy revolves around agriculture. we needed a farm bill that had affordable crop insurance. farmers cannot take two bad years in a row. we needed the trade provisions. guest: -- host: what are the trade provisions? guest: we have included more funding within the farm bill to give our secretary of

agriculture more means to negotiate trade deals with people overseas. mapave improved the funding, for example, which is part of the firm bill. we need -- farm bill. we need to be beyond that encourage the president to do more bilateral trade deals. no one can outcompete the american farmer and our ranchers. we can make grain products and meat products more effectively and efficiently than anyone else. that is the area where we have a competitive advantage. here was the stumbling point, -- snap program, which money which most folks know as food stamps. our view is if you do not have small kids or a handicap, there should be a requirement that you either have to work 20 hours a week or get 20 hours of training. we want to help people learn electrician skills, welding skills, truck driving skills and help them get the skills they need to compete and get an the workforce.

d by issue was demagogue nancy pelosi and people on those -- on that side. i think american people deserve to know people are trying to get the training needed to compete in the job force and get them back in the workforce. that is what we are doing here. host: a few minutes left with congressman don bacon. billy, marietta georgia. democrat. caller: thank you for your service. you were a general in the military, and i am not sure if you have any further education than high school, you have been a lucky guy, and you just can't take people's money. you have to follow the law. you said you would have kept the iranians money. would you please ask the current president, when he -- when is he going to release his taxes? ask him every day. guest: thank you.

we have had both on this. -- votes on this. he has followed along. the federal disclosure is much more detailed than taxes, actually. i fill out a federal disclosure and it goes through every account i have -- anything from federal income is exempted, but other than that i have to , andde everything i have it has more details. that is what the requirement is and he is living up to the requirement. host: philadelphia. anna is a republican. an opinionould like -- i will cut to the chase. -- the british and french had a secret agreement which only gave them the interior part of syria. i would not look to our

so-called allies, britain and france, to be any kind of example to us. and about to the pentagon, how much foreign aid with the defense programs is not make clear to the public with the black budget? there is yet to be a not at. you talk about cutting entitlements for american citizens. why is israel entitled to anything? host: a lot of questions here. but the congressman jump in. guest: he will talk about israel. it is our best ally in the region. the only democracy in that region. they support human rights, the freedom of religion and we have an obligation to stand by israel . the nice to be a refuge for jewish people all over the world to have a -- there needs to be a refuge for jewish people all over the world to have a homeland. i stand by israel. that is the right thing to do. we have to understand history.

the lines the middle east were drawn by france and great britain a century ago or so, and some of the lines don't make sense. of people that see themselves as one nation and they put boundaries in between them. we had false or fake boundaries put out there. we have some countries that have two or three different nationalities with. with the other heirs were nationalities have split among three different countries. that is a source for a lot of the conflict and friction to see in the middle east. if you look back, the lungs could -- lines could have been .rawn much better is aaller, i can tell, student of history, and when you look at history you can see why we have the problems we have today. mentioned the president on "fox and friends" at the top of the hour making some news this morning -- this from the

associated press. president trump has decided not to be involved in the justice department russia probe, but "may change my mind," after stories this morning about the president's lawyers in discussions about the robert mueller team about a possible interview. it looks like ea shutting the door on that. --it looks like ea shutting the door on that. guest: it is important if you --e an independent counsel in the past they become fishing expeditions and go down palace never intended. -- paths never intended. i think we have to wait to see what happens. there is legitimate concern that russia was trying to undermine our political process, divide us. i think we should learn what the robert mueller team finds there. we've seen nothing that points to illegal collusion by president trump, and we have to

be clear about that. should also be concerned when a lawyer's office gets raided by the justice department. think mueller had better have had serious reasons to do that. fluid will know what those are. that is -- hopefully we will know what those are. -- we have seen that noten with my few elites, the president of the -- mafia leads, not the president of the united states. the senate looking at legislation to protect the program. if you are a member of that panel, would you vote for it? guest: i'm inclined to say yes. i've not sat through all the debates. if you hear the facts, it could steer you one way or another, but in general we do not want to interfere with the special counsel and wait for the to come up with results. expedite ands to come up with this.

multiple your fishing expeditions -- multiple-year fishing additions could do damage to our country. we should let this run its course, but he will be held accountable. he needs to back up why he rated the president's lawyers office. debate set to begin at 10:00 this money. , don bacon, republican, nebraska. appreciate your time. guest: thank you. host: we will be joined by democrats gerry connolly during a very busy newsday. stick what -- stick with us. we will be right back. ♪

saturday, our live coverage of the annapolis festival starts at 10:00 a.m. eastern and includes chris matthews with his book "bobby kennedy -- a region spirit," and the book "the president in black-and-white -- an up close look at four president and race in america." "the sensing machine, the coming age of artificial intelligence." weeklist" a week by reckoning of trump's first year. rock -- the u.s. government secret plan to save itself all the rest of us died." watch live coverage star tribune at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span2 saturday atrage 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span2's

booktv. >> the program guide is a daily mail with the most updated schedule. word for word gives you the most interesting in the video highlighting in their own words with no commentary. the booktv newsletter sent weekly is an insider look at upcoming authors and books festival. the american history tv newsletter gives you the upcoming programming exploring our nation's test. visit c-span.org/connect and sign up today. "washington journal" continues. host: we welcome back to our desk, virginia democrat jerry conley, a member of the house foreign affairs --gerry connolly , a member of the house foreign affairs committee. i want to start with news that white house dr. ronny jackson is withdrawing from consideration. your reaction? guest: i think this was inevitable. it is sort of the proper didn't

oumout for this. it was a man that was good for his job, but certainly not qualified to be the head of the agency -- we're talking about a $186 billion budget. he is never overseen more than a few dozen people, and all in one small area of medical care. he simply did not have the credentials. he was way in over his head. he allowed trump to flatter him into the job. decision bykless the president, and dr. jackson is paying the price for that. host: one of the headlines from "usa today," -- are you comfortable with him resuming the post as white house physician? guest: if i were the president,

i would be nervous. there seems to be a bond because this doctor went way beyond the call of duty and flattering the president and his health, and suggested that his bodily composition could allow him to live for 200 years. extraordinary of, moment, and did not sound like exactly a professional medical opinion, but trump loved it, and it led to this, and at the end of the day it seriously damaged dr. jackson's reputation. host: we mentioned your work on the foreign affairs committee. the president is having his upcoming meeting with north nuclearizatscuss de ion. you are concerned about the comments he has made about kim jong-un -- that he has been open and honorable. guest: there is no way anyone

observing or knowledgeable about north korea and kim jong-un and self could ever use the adjective "honorable" to describe him and his behavior. this is a man who had his uncle executed in a horrible fashion. this is a man who had his stepbrother assassinated with a nerve agent at a foreign airport in asia. abused tens ofho thousands of north korea's -- north koreans all over the country and he runs a stalin regime, like a family-run empire, and to call that honorable is unsettling and raises questions about whether the president is mentally prepared to deal with kim jong-un in any kind of summit on behalf of the united states and the west. host: should he be meeting with him? guest: meetings need to be

vetted and prepared, and i worry about that because president trump has failed to put into place 18 that can do that. we don't have an ambassador in so, south korea -- seoul, south korea. the north korea coordinator quit and has not been replaced. we still do not have a secretary of state because he fired a secretary of state and he fired his national security advisor. we have a brand-new national security adviser who, ironically, until the day he got the job, was actually saying diplomacy does not work with north korea. we need to look at military options. how? does that all work? goal in thebe the meeting? guest: the ultimate goal needs nuclearization, but why would kim jong-un do that? capacity is what

protects him. it guarantees the longevity of the regime, guarantees outside fear, and itt of increases as leverage. those are things he sought and his father sought for decades. the idea he will turn around and give that up for some economic loosening of sanctions -- i just think is a will-o'-the-wisp kind of idea. goals on theg of global stage, what should be the president's goal in this upcoming meeting with angela merkel? guest: listen to her. we heard president macron given speech., maybe historic i think angela merkel will echo that. don't allow with the iran nuclear agreement. it is working. there are huge consequences if the united states walks away from its own agreement and it is working. by the way, consequences that

affect north korea, because why would another country signed an agreement if you are ripping up the one you signed with iran that is working? listen to her about climate change, trade. she was -- brings a lot of common sense, experience, maybe the longest-serving leader in the west. she brings a perspective that is to be respected. i hope the president will. host: president macron's call to build on the iranian nuclear agreement. do you think it should not be built on? guest: i did not say that. i said do not rip it up. i think it is working on enriched uranium, inspections, it is used -- working. the metrics -- they have not cheated. it is also an historic agreement. we got russia, china, iran, and the europeans as well as ourselves to the table.

unprecedented. if you walk away from that, you will not only do damage from keeping iran from developing nuclear weapons, you will, in fact, make it almost impossible to have similar agreements with other countries such as north agree in the future. who would ever trust the united states? you should a tweet from the meetdent saying i might with robert mueller, but i might change my mind. apparently that is a caveat for this president. it is not a right that healthy place to be. with usrry connolly until the top of the hour taking your calls. brad is up first in iowa. line for independents. caller: john, just give me a minute.

since 2008, congressman, i can day on the television every and listen to a democrat call me a rapist. i lost my health insurance. my doctor and my premium have tripled. i have seen no process that progress from any president -- progress from any president on north korea until we got the president we have now. family, president trump is doing a spectacular job. host: congressman? guest: i respect your opinion. i don't share it. i think this president has proven to be erratic, volatile, at times reckless. i think he has done enormous damage to our relationship with our allies. wn great uncertainty

about the value of our word and leadership. he has created a void in asia that china most certainly welcomes. making america great again. that is making america retreat again. in terms of domestic policy, whether it be immigration or a reckless tax cut bill that will lead to trillion dollars to the national debt in one fell swoop, to a cabinet that is, across the board, ethically challenged -- mr. pruitt from epa, for example, will be testifying before congress today, we'll go through hard grilling, and deservedly so. so, i beg to differ. host: dennis. independent -- indiana. line four republican. caller: i had other comments until i heard the congressman's

comments about the cabinet. we had people like hillary clinton working for barack hussein obama. john kerry, a dishonorable piece of trash came back from vietnam and threw his medals at the wall at the white house and lied about watching soldiers commit atrocities. 50 people, i have had tell me that mr. -- from montana , would youessman like to respond? guest: i like to believe that kind of smear does not classify republican viewers and listeners of the program. host: steve. shelbyville, indiana. caller: i would like to apologize for that, sir. you did not deserve that. that is not a real american. has president acts like he

accomplished something already in korea, and i don't see it. i'm just shook up from the last call. i'm sorry. guest: we're all americans and we certainly hope that if the president does meet with kim jong-un that it goes successfully. i do. i am raising skepticism because of a lack of preparation, a lack of an expert team to help the president. the company -- the fact that he says i will meet with him -- the idea was not even hours, it was something talked about by a south korean delegation at the time. you have to ask yourself in these situations, without careful that in an preparation, andn the stakes -- vetting preparation, what could go wrong given the stakes? host: what is the worst-case scenario in your mind? guest: the worst-case scenario, the summit breaks up, it does hasgo well, and kim jong-un

been elevated in stature because he met with the president of the united states. no other north korean -- north korean leader has had that and president trump comes back with nothing to show for it. we are diminished, and the nuclear program accelerates its pace. that is the worst-case in her. is kimt case scenario jong-un says i don't know what i was thinking, i will give up my new capacity in exchange for the lessening of sanctions. highly unlikely. host: to the old dominion. scott. independent. caller: thank you. i appreciate the service and thank you for the call. guest: thank you. you are in virginia? caller: yes, sir. guest: god bless you. caller: got bless you too, sir. i wanted to ask what constitutional norms are being sale in by the iranian the blank, because it is not a treaty -- thanks again. you take care. agreement wasnian

carefully vetted over a number of years. it has the support of our allies and our adversaries, russia and china, and if you've the metrics set out in the agreement, they are being met. -- look at the metrics set out in the agreement they are being met. they have reduced the level of enrichment to below weapons grade, as called for in the treaty and certified by international inspectors. they significantly reduced the number of centrifuges, again, meaning they cannot really create nuclear weapons at the current level. coreput concrete in the reactor of the plutonium production reactor that could have produced plutonium for weapons, as the agreement called for, and they have allowed, you know, inspections of nuclear facilities as called for in the agreement. i call that compliance, full compliance, and i agree with president macron.

let's build on that. what we would like to do is take the sunset provision and make them permanent. if we have a record of collaboration i think there is a fighting chance to do that. however, with trump threatening every other day to rip up the treaty and walk away from it, what incentive does iran have to do more, and what incentive do allies and adversaries have to come back to the table and forge that kind of agreement? presidentans, led by macron of france and angela merkel of germany have desperately been trying to keep the agreement intact and start, create a framework for building on it and moving beyond it. that is the correct approach. host: what is beyond it? guest: well, getting live the sunset provisions. allowing inspections of non-nuclear, the military facilities in iran to make sure nothing else is going on, and to

try to start to circumscribe other iranian behavior in support of groups like hezbollah or some of the insurgent groups in syria and the assad regime in syria. those are serious issues for us. developed a technology. we want to make sure we are circumscribing iran's ability to deliver any weapons capacity with short-term or intermediate missiles. there is plenty more work to be done, but we have a good, solid building block in the current agreement that needs to be adhered to and forced, overseen. but endorsed. stillwater -- guest: stillwater, good morning. caller: i hate to say it is really true that you are that -headed that you

honest to god believe what you are saying. you know for a fact that no one is going in and inspecting these sites. you also know that nobody actually is putting forth any effort. took, kind of, like assad out -- syria took out all these gas cylinders, or whatever, and gave them to russia like they said they were going to do. he know that did not happen, like they agreed to do. you know that is not happening in iran. well, you are entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts. i will point out what i asserted in terms of the iranians meeting the metrics of the agreement has been certified by the international atomic energy association and the united

nations inspectors. it was actually certified by president trump. he had it certified and did at the beginning of his term that the iranians were in compliance. these are not naive facts of mine. they are objective facts of mine. we can have our own opinions of iranian behavior. i, like you, decry iran's behavior in the region that is called a lot of grief, but that is different than the nuclear agreement and we have to acknowledge the nuclear agreement at this time is working. that is very important. if you give up on that, i guarantee what is going to happen is you will have a nuclear iran, and that is exactly what we are trying to avoid. the agreement is a very critical tool in making sure that does not happen. you mentioned the presidential certification. what happens if it is not certified the next time it comes up?

guest: the president did not certify last time not because they did not comply, but because he does not like the agreement. now he is threatening to denounce the agreement on or around may 12. that was a key point of president macron's visit here. you heard him say that before the joint session of congress. i believe president macron is right. i believe angela merkel, when she visits with the president will reiterate and reinforce that, and they are both correct -- huge damage will be done both to the united states and to the mission here, which is to keep iran from becoming a nuclear state. host: is work, virginia, in your district? guest: yes, it is. host: donald. guest: god bless you. caller: hello. my name is don. .a. talked about the v

there are no problems that i hospital. the v.a. i have been through surgery, flu shots because -- and there are skilled professionals. that is because they are skilled professionals in all areas of the v.a. just because some guy died in a parking lot, i don't think the whole hospital is screwed up. i don't think that is fair. what you think, connolly? you, don.nk i am glad you are a happy customer. there are millions of veterans that have been served. we are worried, however, about the backlog for people getting the care they need. that needs to be addressed. we are worried about the choice program that was created to, sort of, provide a fast and around while the backlog was being whittled away. that created the backlog.

there are a lot of management a., becauset the v. it is a huge, sprawling bureaucracy. we want to get that right because our veterans serve their country and the caveat is we now serve them. we have to serve them with high-quality care and eliminate the duplication, the inefficiencies, the long waiting times. they deserve better. that is really what we care about. that is why the president's nomination of dr. jackson was so unfortunate because there was nothing in his background as suggested he had the qualifications for managing that kind of enormous enterprise. we need the very best at the top as well as at the hospital you go to. host: tulsa, oklahoma. a republican. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. first of all, i would like to say i am a registered nurse, and

i am very disappointed when -- we hear gossip and rumors and mr. teeter -- whatever state he was from, andt dr. ronny jackson, nothing to back it up. glowing, youll the --w, he evaluations given by evaluations given by president obama, and probably all the presidents he has been treating, and i am he has treated other people on the staff there. i think that unless you, personally, have met him, talked with him, and i think, unless mr. teeter had met him and

talked with him, i don't think he should have come out and said that because it sounds to me like gossip. host: i think the caller is referring to montana senator jon tester -- it was his office with a two-page summary of dr. ronny jackson came from. i find the, observation coming from some republicans that all of a sudden president obama is an authoritative force -- many of the same people who questioned whether he was born in america -- is a little bit ironic for many of us who witnessed that. the idea -- let me deal with what the caller said. i have not talked about the testimony from or statements from 23 people who worked with dr. jackson and claimed he had an abusive management style, a

tracking problem. he handed out prescriptions like they were candy. i've not talked about that on the program. i talked about his fitness, experience, and whether he had the credentials to manage an enormous and vital agency of the united states government. i think he lacked those credentials, obviously. i think even the president, president trump admitted at the white house the other day that, yeah, and he did not have the expense, but how important is experience? well, it is pretty important to the red -- veterans. it is not just a political fight in washington. ,his is about people like don who just called, a veteran, getting the care and the services they have earned. that is my bottom line. it is not about gossip, rumors. it is really about qualifications, the commitment, and the ability to manage the services our veterans desperately need. host: carol is in ashton, west virginia.

line four republicans. go ahead. . caller: i would like to know if anybody no matter what department would be qualified for any of the jobs of their because just sitting back -- i don't listen to one news channel. i listen to it all, i read newspapers, i jump around on the tv because i don't want to just get stuck in that one view. guest: good for you. caller: mentality -- but i don't think anyone out there is qualified for any of the jobs because they all are acting like a bunch of little, spoiled kids. guest: well, i don't know what i should say to that. that is your point of view, and i am sure sometimes it looks that way. 40ave been in washington for years now and i have seen good managers, and i have seen not so good managers, and i can assure

you there are lots of people throughout the federal government to do their job every day and do it very well. when we get to the head of a cabinet agency, those are very political appointments, and we want to make sure they are all a fight, and that they bring skills, commitments, and dedication to that job because millions of americans depend on them. so, politics matter, but credentials matter even more. host: the caller talking about her media viewing habits. we started the program talking about the report from "reporters without borders," the 2018 index of press freedom around the world showing growing animosity toward journalists worldwide here to the united states falling behind again in those rankings. i wonder what your thoughts are. guest: i don't think that is helped by having a president of the united states call the press the enemy. i have been in public life for

24 years. i have never seen the press as my enemy. orre are times we can clash i may -- i might not like the quality of coverage, but that goes with the territory. i will take my chances with that as long as i have a free, functioning press. frankly, i think our president has conceded to the climate, that it is, kind of, open season on the press. i think that has got to stop. he does it because it fires up his base and "yeah, right on." we saw it the campaign where the press were caged in and became objects of division and worse in rallies for president trump when he was candidate trump. i thought that was a really shameful moment in american political life, and i hope it is not repeated. free press in this country, and for good reason. always have.

our founders revered it. we need to protect that freedom and we need to stop the disparagement that is gratuitous. host: time for one more call. allison waiting in warrenton, ohio, line for republicans. aller: quick question and statement. first of all, mr. trump is not talking about free press, he's talking about the truth of what the press is saying and the manipulation of their words. the question is, do you believe in term limits and my statement is, we went down the same road exactly -- even a woman was there. the same way as north korea. ,n 10 years, whatchamacallit going to have nuclear weapons and that is how it is and you have to be naive not to think of that. thank you. well, where was the question in that? host: term limits.

guest: term limits. no, i don't believe in term limits. our founders fought -- thought about that and projected the idea when they wrote the constitution. the ultimate term limit is, you, the voter. if you think someone should not serve eight or 12 years, don't vote for them. i have served in congress now for 9 years and there are almost 300 members who have come and gone since i have been there. that is three quarters of the congress. the turnover is there without term limits because voters have made decisions and they are going to make more this november. serves anynk that purpose. in fact, where it has been used, it has empowered lobbyists who do not have term limits and the core staff that are also there irrespective of the terms of elected members.

i do not know that we want to see that kind of power shift and that is what would happen. i don't think term limits serve a good purpose. they are an answer that sounds good. think -- host: on the press freedom discussion, the caller's view the president is more conservative -- concerned about fairness of coverage. host: that is -- guest: that is a hard one to swallow when you cite president trump as a paragon of virtue trying to sort through the truth. fact checkers estimate that in every day of his presidency so far, he has personally told 6 patentlyhings that are untrue every day. i think president trump -- i hardly think president trump is the arbiter of what is truth.

host: we will let you get to work for the day. always appreciate the time. guest: great being with you, john. host: up next, it is open phones. wantublic policy issue you to talk about some of the next half hour to do so. you can start calling in now and we will be right back. ♪ announcer: c-span, where daily. unfolds in 1979, c-span was created as a 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. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider.

on landmark cases, new the united states, better known as the pentagon papers case. in 1971, the new york times and washington post fought the nixon administration to publish via -- military activity in vietnam. the decision restricted the government's power over the press. our guests are floyd abrams, one of the nation's top first amendment and media litigators. he represented the new york --es and ted olson, a former general under george w. bush. join the conversation. landmarkcases. # we have resources on our website for background on each case, the landmark cases book, a link to

the international -- interactive constitution, and the landmark cases podcast. journal --on "washington journal" continues. host: open phones on "washington journal." any public policy issue you want to talk about, we can do that this morning. democrats, 202-748-8001. republicans, 202-748-8000. adependents, 202-748-8002 busy news story including this story about the president's nominee to head the veterans affairs. romney jackson has withdrawn -- ronny jackson has withdrawn his nomination, amid allegations he drunkenly wrecked a car and maintained poor records while serving in the federal government. a statement from him this

morning, politico reporting "while i will be forever grateful for the confidence president trump placed in me, i am regretfully withdrawing my nomination to be secretary of the department of veterans affairs." craig kaplan noting the statement from johnny isakson on the jackson withdrawal, "i respect his decision and i thank admiral jackson for his service to the country. " jeff bennett of nbc news reporting who might replace jackson, senior white house officials are said to want the a acting secretary want the acting secretarye va acting to serve. thatll continue to watch story for you. phone lines are yours. what do you want to talk about? mark is up first in des moines

on the line for republicans. good morning. caller: i would like to say what the democrats are doing to our president is un-american. i hope the republicans will come and vote out the democrats and take them right from the swamp and bury them 6 foot under. host: before you go, there was a special election in arizona and democrats did a lot better than expected. what do you think that means for the fall? we lost the call, bill is in sebastian, florida. for independents. -- line for independents. caller: good morning. i would like to comment on the nominee. he was not qualified, was not that it and it seems -- was not vetted and it seems to be a theme among the cabinet members

in the trump administration. that along with another comment concerning the 6th district in colorado where the progressive democrat has been undermined, in my opinion. i just saw it on free speech tv with amy goodman. to convince the progressive democrat not even to attempt to run his campaign as a progressive because the status quo is more in line with the democrats these days instead of going along with the progressives, keith ellison. i find this terribly disturbing in a time when we don't have any journalism and we don't have any decent news coverage. thank you very much for your time. host: tell us more about that

6th district race and who you are referring to? that is mike coffman's district. caller: the democrat, his name is crowe, he is a businessman. against -- the es me.name elud he reached out to people in the bernie sanders way and he had bernie sanders' support. -- convince on tape this guy we are going with the way things are, we are going to keep the status quo, the debbie wasserman schultz way of thinking, which is terribly undermining the poor people in this country who cannot get decentwages and

representation from these corporate democrats, wall street, and these damn bankers. host: josip is waiting on the line for democrats, go ahead. caller: good morning. i would like to make a comment regarding an interview i watched about half an hour ago in which president trump called into fox news and extensively spoke. one of the things he spoke about, pretty outspokenly was the electoral college. tomade statements similar statements he made in the past where he believes a national popular vote would be better for the country and, in fact, when polled, 70% of americans believe a movement of the in the united states. anyone interested can google national public vote to see the

movement of it. the new york times endorsed of the move. if we have a national popular vote, we would be less susceptible to the hacking which has been proven the russians did in the 2016 election and the technique was to zero in on swing states. i think it is about time we were a real democracy and had a national popular vote. by the way, the electoral college system actually favors the democrats more and now that so many puerto ricans have come to florida, that would almost make florida and shoe in for the democrats. this is a nonpartisan issue. let's wake up and i hope the president's comments get some attention by media. in houston, texas, line for republicans. go ahead. caller: good morning, c-span. i would like to make a comment about ben carson and how

harveyed i am hurricane -- host: what about hurricane harvey? caller: hurricane harvey devastated the county. i thought maybe ben carson would do something about housing pump him up because he is the one that grew up in it. when hurricane katrina came, i was managing apartments, and all the owners got together and did dummy sales to each other and diver did funds. texas is very crooked and we do not have places to live. habbed andthey be r made -- why can't they be rehabbed and made into affordable housing? i think hud is corrupt and should be dissolved.

i am just so disgusted with the whole thing. thank you very much. host: speaking of secretary story fromhud, this the hill. his secretary ben carson unveiled a plan that would americans onnt for housing assistance and impose work requirements for that program. carson's plan proposes in the form of congressional legislation, a raise from 30% to 35% of the amount of their income that americans on housing assistance would pay toward their housing. it would also require the money be made by at least 15 hours of work at the federal minimum wage whether -- level. risew income families to from an amount not to exceed $50 a month to $150 a month. anthony is in miller place, new york, and independent. go ahead. caller: good morning, c-span. thank you so very much for this

opportunity. i would like to regift this call back to the c-span folks that work behind the scenes and all the wonderful work you do. you are the final frontier in basically what is the best form of education we have in this country. i commend you all so much. i miss susan swain on wednesday and brian lamb on friday. the new crop of producers and moderators are outstanding. the list goes on, pedro. the people behind the scenes, you do a remarkable job bringing this to us and allowing us all to have an opportunity such as this to speak to the american people as well as you, the producers, to perhaps insight change and or coverage of a particular topic or subject matter. host: if you were in one of our production meetings today, what would you propose for a segment coming up on washington journal? the list is far

ranging. you guys do an outstanding job. i would say nuclear power. the gentleman that designed the ge reactor, the mark one -- i think there is over 100 of them throughout the country, they knew it was a flawed design and they actually resigned their positions and they never really got seat at the table although -- if any ofme those guys, if you can have them on the program, that would be outstanding. the nuclear industry is going to undo our environments on this planet and, unfortunately, there is no way to safeguard or store the waste long-term. it is an impossible task and nuclear power is in the forefront of our discussions whether it is iran, france, all

these countries have reactors and we are going to pay a pandora's box price for it all. host: we have a production meeting at 10:30 today after "washington journal." we will talk about that for a potential upcoming segment. thank you for the call. i give for watching. victoria is in ohio, republican. what do you want to talk about? caller: thanks for taking my call. i have been around a long time and i have heard both congressman this morning and this guy from virginia -- the woman was right about term limits. this guy is about as mean-spirited emotionally and divisive. i appreciate the call. thank you. host: joanne, line for independents. caller: good morning. i would like to talk about how people look at the democracy of our country.

foreign student who is now a doctor in europe and i from her about a month back and she said, "i am so disappointed in the country that i love. to be able to be a foreign student in the united states of america. i was so proud of how your government worked and how it was a democracy and everybody could say what they think." shewas a liberal and when called the other day she said, "we are not coming to our usual vacation in america because my parents" -- her father was an immigrant that came from hungary behind the iron curtain -- we don't feel safe with all your sanctuary cities. we no longer feel safe incoming to america -- in coming to

america. she said, we also have pulled the application of our daughter who wanted to go to college in america. we were all for it, but what the liberals and the democrats have done in the past year, they do not want their daughter to learn the manners of what has started to happen in this country. she said, we believe and we have taught our daughter that everyone should have the right to say what they think, even if you don't agree. she said we always believed in the truth of the news and .reedom of the press if she said many people over here no longer listen to the move -- to the press because a lot of -- they feel a lot of it is not truthful.

a lot of it is just opinions, not facts and she said it is so sad to see what is happening to democracy in america. she said it is almost like they are turning into a communist country. they only want to hear what they think. host: that is joann in minnesota. as we noted in our past two segments, the president making plenty of news in his fox and friends interview. the writeups coming out in very is publications. here is one of them, the philadelphia inquirer. newseadline "an angry fox interview." rob tornillo, the staff writer noting it was a meandering interview that termed at times into an angry -- turned at times into an angry phone rant. president trump admitted him.el cohen represented

in a courtnced filing in california yesterday that he will invoke the fifth amendment in the lawsuit filed by daniels over $130,000 payment made days before the election. it trump previously stated he did not know anything about the statement and denied his involvement, but admitted on fox and friends that cohen was indeed representing him on the case. the line for republicans, good morning. my call is regarded attend theusal to saturday, april 28 white house correspondents dinner, which has been professionally attended by all -- traditionally attended by all potuses.

refusing to go to the white house correspondent dinner is not only a verification of trump's cowardice, but it also diversence of dismantling of our constitution. talks to the press that he is in collusion with, whom he can go to that is pre-scripted, such as fox. trump refusing to show up face-to-face, being able to say whatever he wants to say in any manner that he wants to say it at the white house correspondents dinner is cowardice and also is more evidence of his treasonous dismantling of the constitution. host: speaking of president

trump and the press, he comes up in the latest report by reporters without borders. their world press freedom index, which reflects this year, growing animosity toward journalists. the part that mentions the president in their review that goes along with their annual index, their ranking of 180 countries on press freedom, they say more and more democratically elected leaders no longer see the media as part of democracy's central underpinning, but as an advocacy -- adversary. the united states has fallen in the press freedom index, two places to 45th. from has referred to reporters as -- trump has referred to reporters as enemies of the people, a term once used by joseph stalin. there is the map that goes along with this year's report.

they have been doing it every year since 2002. in missouri, a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you, young man? host: i am doing well, sir. caller: i have a suggestion for a topic. you said you are going to have a production meeting after "washington journal." host: we have them every day after the show. caller: i believe you ought to do a little investigating about a place called coldwater creek, st. louis, missouri. that is a toxic landfill dump area that was done after world -- was one of the defendants in it. it was buried back at coldwater creek in the 1940's. this material was used to make the nuclear bombs that went off in japan.

there are people dying in droves . we cannot get anybody to do much of anything. i believe hbo had a special about it a while back. i grew up in this area. we used to hunt rabbits there when i was a kid and play baseball and camp out. there is not a soul that new about it. as it turns out, they buried millions of gallons of toxic waste their that nobody -- waste there that nobody seemed to know about and nobody seemed to care one way or the other. they figure they can hold out until this generation dies they don't have to pay out anything. i come myself, feel like i am a late victim of world war ii, of a war that was fought and finished 11 years after i was born because this stuff has been

out at coldwater creek and they cold waterp from itek and don't did -- dumped elsewhere. this all originated at coldwater creek and i would really like to see you all do a piece on that. host: thank you for the suggestion this morning. eli is in virginia, line for independents. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have been trying to get in touch with you all for the last few years. i want to speak about the declaration. --ee that president trump being a black man in america, i -- back fromhould where he got us from.

then we can feel like we are free. forave been in america now 464 years and we are still getting the same type of treatment we got when we got off the ship. the treatment we are receiving here in america, no other peoples on our planet receive this type of treatment. toould just love for trump send us back where we came from so we can establish a place for ourselves where we don't have to be -- bend,donald is in south indiana, line for democrats. go ahead. caller: hey. i just want to say, real quickly, this is just my opinion. this admiral jackson thing with

the veterans administration, his -- him just dropping out. you have got to admit, trump is really savvy. i did not vote for him, but you have to admit, he is savvy. i wonder if democrats have fallen into a trap by all these accusations and everything. they should at least have given him the chance to come up on capitol hill with the hearing or at least possibly addressing these accusations and letting the process go through. i don't think the way that this was done -- i don't think this is going to be very good for the democrats. it is just my opinion. i don't know. this was really crappy. andp can be really crappy he is media savvy. i think democrats made a big mistake. blaming jonis now

tester for jackson needing to withdraw. "i think this is going to cause him a lot of problems in the state." jon tester's office was the one -page memosed the two about the various allegations against ronny jackson over the past couple of years. speaking of president trump. on saturday, he is scheduled to speak at a rally in macon county, michigan, and that event is scheduled around the same time as the white house correspondents dinner, which another recent -- another caller recently brought up. our live coverage of the white house correspondents dinner will be happening on saturday. you can watch it on c-span, c-span.org, listen to it on the free c-span radio app. norman is in massachusetts, line for republicans. go ahead. caller: i meant to call on the

line for independents. i am sorry. host: that is ok, go on with your comment. caller: it is a suggestion for your meeting at 10:30 on how the formatted, perhaps. i think you should try having at least once a week, allowing colin's from -- call in's from greens and libertarians so the four largest parties are included. you've got the two fairly right-wing corporate parties, the democrats and the republicans, but there is usually not a left wing viewpoint represented and with greens being allowed to call in, we get some left-wing. host: do you feel like they can't call in on the independent line? caller: we can call in on the

independent line. i am just saying, to get more tworsity of viewpoints, the mainlines are the right-wing corporate parties and the reason i call democrats a right-wing party, there -- the president ordered the assassination of bin laden and the democratic president ordered the assassination of bin laden and other muslims were prosecutors. police who killed black people. the democrats unanimously supported the ukraine nazi coup. democrats supported it unanimously in congress. by saying they are the middle of the road, that the anti-fascists are just as bad as fascists is sticking to the right. host: that is norman in massachusetts. anthony is in new york, a republican. good morning. go ahead, anthony. caller: i have something for you.

wait. host: anthony, i can hear you. go ahead. $100 million because i have 138 lawsuits and none of this is in the news. albany is going to put out news of 137 lawsuits, four senators. the first senator tried to leave the country with all our money. office.closed down the host: who is we? caller: acting like lawyers and authors. this weekend is going to be a lot of upset. 149 lawsuits, 75 cards i got. host: that is anthony in new york. our last caller in this open phones segment of "washington journal."

we will wrap up our morning with a discussion on scott pruitt's leadership of the epa. robin bravender will join us for that discussion. we will be right back. announcer: sunday on q&a. >> the news starts to spread through more papers in the country and it seems to be swaying voters. if there cartoon with a baby screaming "ma, ma, where is my pa?" >> lillian cunningham's presidential podcast. >> the first few episodes, in my head, they hang around the concept of we, the people. it was an exploration of gender, ,ace, nationality, ancestry

then we sort of move into the and of more perfect union there are a couple episodes itut justice and defense and culmination with a with the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity and what does that mean. >> lillian cunningham, sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. sunday morning on 1968, america in turmoil. we look at the media's role in shaping how americans experience the events of 50 years ago. kalb, foundingin director of harvard university on media, politics, and public policy and david kennerly, pulitzer prize-winning photographer who covered senator robert kennedy's presidential campaign, the vietnam war, and

the white house. turmoil68, america in lie the sunday at 8:30 a.m. eastern on c-span's "washington journal" and on american history tv on c-span 3. >> "washington journal" continues. host: robin bravender joins us about 30 minutes before scott pruitt is set to appear before the house energy and commerce committee for his first of two congressional hearings. you wrote earlier today that even some of president trump's staff think scott pruitt maybe fired soon. how much of his job security depends on his performance at these two hearings today? guest: a lot of scott pruitt watchers think his job is on the line right now. it seems certain president trump will be watching his performance. i have heard it speculated president trump might be deciding what to do about scott pruitt based on what he says today. host: let's talk about what he

will be asked about. what are some of the issues he will have to answer? there are several different things that have come up in the past weeks and months. start with the $50 a night condo. guest: scott pruitt rented a $50 a night," -- condo from a couple of lobbyists on capitol hill. it is pretty swanky. a lot of lawmakers live nearby. he has come under fire from people who do not think it is ethical for him to be renting a cheap room from people with business within his agency. these are budget hearings. these were originally designed as budget hearings to talk about epa's annual appropriations, but ethics allegations continue to come out. he will be asked about all of those, which is pay raises for some of his closest staff members, a $43,000 soundproof booth in his office, some of his

security spending, his 20 47 around-the-clock security detail. pricey flights, a trip to morocco that dealt with something outside of epa's jurisdiction. host: this is the editorial cartoon in usa today talking with a swamp-proof booth the label, scott pruitt at his desk underneath the swamp. why does he need a soundproof booth at the epa? his the justification was epa and other cabinet level officials deal with sensitive information, so he needs a place to do that. epa has had a secure phone line, but it was a ways away from the administrator's office, so he wanted to upgrade it for conversations with the president and other sensitive materials. host: we have a live shot of the hearing room as members start to trickle in for that hearing. that is expected to start at 10:00.

the chairman's greg walden, republican. what has he said ahead of this hearing? guest: republicans on the committee facing scott pruitt today are in a tough spot. some of them want to give scott pruitt coverage to talk about policy issues, the stuff they like that he is doing at epa. others are fiscally conservative and don't like the fact scott pruitt is spending taxpayer money on lavish expenses for himself while trying to cut the epa budget. if you want to join in the conversation this morning, we are talking about it. until then, republicans can call in at 202-748-8000. weocrats, 202-748-8001 -- will show our viewers the testimony that has been cemented to the -- that has been submitted to the hearing of scott pruitt.

it is seven pages and does not mention ethical concerns you and i talked about. what are we expecting from scott pruitt? tost: he will want to stick the script. the testimony does not mention the ethics allegations. he knows the ethics allegations are going to come up and epa has been circulating a document trying to explain their perspective on some of these issues. it is about 20 pages long. -- tries to lay out how other epa administrators have done other things and blames some of his staffers for a lot of the actions he is in trouble for. host: that is what you are expecting today? more of the blame game as the new york times headline puts it s line of-- pruitt' defense, put the blame on others." guest: he has blamed others. jackson has said he is the one that did it. as we saw in an interview, it

doesn't necessarily look good if he is blaming these actions on his staffers. there are questions about if he is in charge, shouldn't he shoulder the blame? guest: what member of -- host: what member of congress are you most interested in watching today? i was on the hill talking to the members who will be talking to him and there are two different camps. there are those saying i think scott pruitt is doing a great job and i will ask him policy questions. the chairman of the environment subcommittee should be interesting. he said yesterday he wants to ask pruitt about policy and ethics allegations. it will be adjusting what line of questioning he goes down. host: if the questions get tough on the ethics side, who will scott pruitt be looking to to be in his corner on the committee? guest: on the republican side, kevin cramer from north dakota has signaled he's a big fan of scott pruitt. it will be interesting to see

what side republicans come down on. host: that hearing starts in about 20 minutes. we will carry it live when it does happen on c-span.org. you can watch it live. we are talking about it now with robin bravender with cimatewire. -- climatewire. line for democrats, linda, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i was calling and -- when are they even going to get to the crooks of how this man can pay all of our taxpayer's dollars? in my neighborhood, i know people that don't even make that kind of money. even ben carson $31,000, they don't even make that in a year. mime got -- my mom goes to a senior program and whatever food she gets, i give it to some of my neighbors. for these people to spend my

money like that and it is ok because you are doing what the president wants you to do and then you are going to take away the regulations? it doesn't make any sense. are democrat, if you are republican, that affects everyone. host: robin bravender. guest: there's a lot of criticism that pruitt is spending well above what he ought to be doing as a cabinet official and that his criticism coming from republicans and democrats and members of congress. guest: -- host: are there any numbers we can put to that? guest: in terms of more than what his predecessors have done? the criticisms are in the millions. he has spent i think about $3 million on security cost and we -- he's got around-the-clock security detail, well more than his predecessors. the agency explains that by saying he has had death threats and he is in danger from some of his critics.

that is how they explain the spending. host: the leader story at eenews now, the west wing is , but willing pruitt not say why. a talk us through what is going on at the white house right now. guest: the white house is among those investigating scott pruitt. the gao is investigating, members of congress. mick mulvaney, the head of the white house budget office is looking into some of pruitt's spending. he wants to know about the and other booth allocations that he is inappropriately spending taxpayer money. on "meet theort press" on sunday saying scott pruitt is doing a great job at epa and we are excited to have him and sarah sanders, this week at the white house briefing saying we are continuing to review a number of reports that

you mentioned and we will let you know if anything changes on that front, when asked about pruitt's job status. guest: that is a pretty tepid endorsement for a member of trump's cabinet. trump came out on twitter a few weeks ago and said basically scott pruitt is doing a great job and i am not worried about some of these allegations. that sort of put the issue to rest, but headlines have continue to come out. there are questions about what about that,nking which is why folks are watching these hearings closely to see how trump comes down after the testimony today. guest: the line for republicans, go ahead. caller: i have one question and a statement. how many of pruitt's aides worked for the previous administration, which may be reason for the soundproof booth although i don't agree with spending all that money. my statement is, the young lady

obviouslyn, she is well-informed as the hall of his -- all of his misgivings. is she working for a climate change work -- group or something like that? host: robin bravender, explain e&e news. guest: we cover climate policy and environmental policy and we come down right in the middle providing the facts. the first question about scott pruitt's epa aides. when a new administration comes in, they can bring in a certain number of political appointees. closer staffers, some of whom he brought in from his previous work in oklahoma. a lot of them come in from senator jim in half -- inho ff's office.

host: how long have you been covering the epa and issues at the epa? guest: i have been covering epa since 2008. host: where else have you done your reporting? for a i worked at e&e while, politico, reuters television for a while and came back to e&e. is scott pruitt going to be testifying before today? guest: he will go to the house appropriations subcommittee on epa. host: is one hearing expected to be tougher than the other? guest: i would expect to the energy and commerce committee hearing this morning to have a few more fireworks. i feel like the appropriations committee might stick to the numbers and less on the ethics allegations. host: members starting to trickle in, you can see the live shot. that hearing expected to begin in about 10 minutes.

al in new york, line for independents. go ahead. who is payinger: for this extravaganza this guy is going on? that is the first thing. i don't understand how he doesn't have -- what do you call it, conglomerate that can say, this is enough. it is like he can do practically whatever he wants. taxpayers are paying this. it's coming out of the epa budget. in terms of oversight, that is the job of white house and congress and a number of investigative bodies. host: the agency has an inspector general? guest: they are conducting several investigations. there's an office inside the agency as with other federal agencies charged with rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse.

host: how far along are those investigations? guest: some of them have been going on for a while. there is an investigation in his travel back home to oklahoma, .hich taxpayers funded there are other investigations, and ongoing investigation into the raises he gave several of his political staffers recently that have done a lot of attention. host: several ig investigations. the white house says they are conducting an investigation. congress has their investigation. when will the first one conclude? guest: the gao has issued a report on the soundproof booth saying it was illegal, that he should not have spent that much money outside of asking congress for additional appropriations. in terms of the others, i don't have time frames. gene inan -- louisville, kentucky. i was raped by female

agents and the government has basically got me where i am a slave and i am coming up with all these dees -- ideas like abc and samsung. host: the solar bins question, if -- is that is something you have heard of? guest: i have not heard of solar bins. host: we are talking about scott pruitt's testimonies today. go ahead. caller: thanks. your screeners have to do a little bit better screening the democrats. the last three i have heard are either not democrats or they are wackos. the young lady -- i have to say you have a very rough job.

dealing with all of this science. and i was very young aerosol cans came out. there was universal agreement on it. everybody just stopped using aerosol deodorant. everybody seemed to accept science. now it appears the republican party is -- has flat out accepted the denial of the global change. when you are interviewing these people, as i assume you do in your work, how does your head keep from exploding? guest: i do an ok job of that. you are right. science is highly polarized right now. subjects that republicans and democrats could agree on even a decade ago are things they don't even talk about because it is to pedal -- too polarizing. host: explain what the transparency rule is.

guest: scott pruitt today, the timing might have coincided. he has been trying to make a lot of policy announcement lately, perhaps in an effort to get headlines away from the ethics scandals. he announced this week the epa will be transforming how epa uses science, which means when they issue regulations, the underlying data have to be transparent, which is an issue because some of the data epa now uses for regulations -- the underlying data aren't transparent due to patient privacy concerns or confidential business concerns. this would exclude some of the data being used when epa issues regulations, which pruitt's critics say means you are not getting the best science and pruitt's proponents and those who want to do this, they will keep people from advancing their agenda using what they call secret science. host: robert is an illinois,

line for republicans. go ahead. caller: yes. i am happy scott pruitt is not worried about climate change because i would rather breeze -- coal fumes than worry about nuclear meltdowns. the radiation giving off and i don't know if our nuclear plants are really that safe. i pray and many people pray all the time that nothing will happen like another meltdown. thank you. , and there are some people who think, in terms of domestic energy policy, they want to see the coal energy expanding. scott pruitt and donald trump have made it clear they want to boost the domestic coal industry. they are looking for ways to help that industry. host: in discussing these

questions around scott pruitt, news has talked about it quite a bit. --s is a statement from wilcox, from advocating the leave the paris accord working to repeal obama's clean power plan and waters of the united states, declaring a war on lead and cleaning up toxic superfund spots, administrator pruitt is focused on advancing president trump's agenda. is that considered to be his list of accomplishments in his little over a year at epa so far? guest: yeah, rolling back big obama rules, cutting spending, they say they are focused on regulatory certainty for industry and those have been epa's talking points. they want to stick to reminding republicans and their supporters the job scott pruitt has been doing on deregulation and trying

to keep him in office that way. host: in the hearing room, the photographers starting to line -- daisont of the deus where members will sit. file intoarting to the energy and commerce committee meeting room where that committee meeting is expected to kick off in seven minutes. paul is in indianapolis. go ahead. tohink we already talked paul, actually. alex is in wisconsin, line for democrats. you are up. alex, are you with us this morning? caller: i would like to say i believe the trump administration and scott pruitt work under the standard of pollution for profits and profits before people. thank you very much. ant: rochelle is in florida,

independent. go ahead. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i watch c-span and listen to the comments. we do need climate control. i don't believe scott pruitt with this spending. i am not surprised. federal employee and i worked under the social security administration where you have a judge that got to for $10 million for breaking rules. he still has a job. i think something needs to be done with all the bureaucrats. follow the money. follow the money. host: robin bravender, is that what you are expecting to hear from democrats on the dais today? guest: yeah. across the aisle there will be concerns about pruitt spending taxpayer money improperly. he is not the big -- first big republican official to come under fire for this. there are a lot of allegations

piling up quickly and his critics want him out in part for his policy agenda and they are using these ethics allegations as fuel to do that. host: scott pruitt hails from oklahoma. enid is waiting in tulsa, line for democrats, go ahead. caller: hi. i am just wondering why, obviously he was put into this by because he was vetted trump only. when scott pruitt was attorney general here in oklahoma, he sued the epa more than anybody in the united states and he also was under investigation for just allowing oil companies to just write the agenda and he would rubberstamp it and put it on his letterhead and somebody has been suing him and trying to get all of these documents and he has

yet to provide them. a --guy is nothing but shield for the oil companies. host: robin bravender, do you want to talk about some of his issues before he became epa administrator? guest: scott pruitt made a name for herself -- himself by suing the obama administration, many of those were epa lawsuits and that is partly why he got the job. republicans thought he was the guy to come reform the agency. host: did he have any problems in his nomination pollack -- --in hisn process he nomination? guest: we have seen a few house t,publicans call for his ous which is unusual right now. host: if he is fired or resigns,

who would take over? guest: recently, andrew wheeler was confirmed as epa deputy administrator. the timing is interesting. his confirmation, which had been held up for a while, came as pruitt came under fire. he can step in temporarily. it is unclear who trump would nominate to take pruitt's spot and they would have a really big confirmation battle for anyone given the political -- politicization of epa. -- are both oklahomans. off has been pruitt's biggest supporter. this week has started questioning and saying he wants investigations into pruitt's behavior which energy insiders and d.c. thought was a watershed moment. host: a few minutes before that hearing is scheduled to start,

the members taking their seats in the energy and commerce hearing room, there is congressman shimkus in the chairman's seat. why is he in the chairman spot today? guest: it is a subcommittee, so he is acting as chairman today. democrataul tonko, the from new york is the ranking member. host: they will be running today? hearing -- they will be running today's hearing? i am mad and -- will wants to get questions in as well. gas -- wants to get questions in as well. airing thisl meeting again this evening on c-span 2. caller: good morning.

think the lady left off a couple of points of interest. an ethics committee approved the lease for that suite. , the science issue, it was not that they had to use -- they had to reveal their base data and they had to be subjected to successful peer-reviewed, which is the gold standard. there is a lot of stuff neithery use that revealed poor data or had been successfully peer-reviewed, such as the studies used for the clean air act --not successfully. viewed. host: robin bravender. guest: on the lease, epa's defense is that ethics officials signed off on the lease.

top epa officials did sign off on the lease after the fact and they have since said they did not have a full information when they did so. there are questions about that. host: we will have to end it there. we appreciate your time this morning. we now take viewers live to the floor of the house of representatives. today's business ready to start right now. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] 26,. he houf ned,a. ryan, speak reprentative tpeak pro tempo suant he oer of the mrsrom lists suitd by e mority andinity lders foornig hour bat thr will alternat pai.ioneeeth tim shl be