have cracked the glass ceiling at the agency. you're poised to break it. it may be impossible to measure the importance of that breakthrough, but i know that your confirmation will send a signal to the current work force and the work force of the future that a lifetime of commitment to the agency and its mission can still and will be rewarded. i want to thank you for your willingness to go through this treacherous process. i'm not sure if i was in your position that i would expose myself to it. but i thank you for your willingness to lead. i thank you for your willingness to serve. this hearing's now adjourned. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

>> there you see the numbers on your screen. you saw some or all of this hearing before the senate intelligence committee, and we would like to know what you think. should gina haspel be the next director of the c.i.a. or not? if so, why so? if not, why not? let's start with mayor any los angeles. hi there, mary. you're on span span. what do you think? kevin: i'm very proud of her. i used to be a democrat until i voted for donald trump, and i don't know yet what i am. but i think she should be nominated. and i see no reason why we can't make history with a woman

as director of the c.i.a. i can't -- i mean, she did nothing different than anybody else with the water boarding or whatever, and they're holding her to a standard that is probably not -- would never apply to a man. only because she's, you know, she's not a democrat. i hope she gets it. i really do. >> all right. appreciate your call. let's move on to michigan, our line for democrats. go ahead, you're on the air. what do you think? go ahead. you're on the line. aller: yes, i'm watching the presentation here. i'm opposed to this confirmation for three main reasons that are illegal. how can members of congress vote for this kind of a thing o get this person accepted

when these three things are illegal? that means they themselves are advocating to do something illegal. >> appreciate your call. we're getting your reaction to the hearing that you just saw, the confirmation hearing for gina haspel to be the new c.i.a. director. still no vote for a time set in the senate intelligence committee, let alone any floor action should the nomination move out from the committee. let's go over to miami, florida. it's fred on our line for republicans. fred, what do you think? caller: i think she's the most qualified to be the director. she has experience. there's no learning curve. and there's nobody else that can do a better job. >> all right. appreciate your call. let me share with you what former joint chiefs chair admiral michael mullen said today on fox news sunday. politico quotes the former chairman as saying gina haspel

should be "held responsible" for her role in the george w. bush administration's use of brutal interrogation. he said that he's aligned himself, mr. admiral mullen, said he's aligned himself with senator john mccain's view on torture and what the standard is. here's a quote, "he is the gold tender there, so i'm very supportive of the position that he's taken in that regard, and i recognize lots of intelligence professionals i talked to think gina is an extraordinary person with a great background." that, again, from admiral michael mullen, former joint chiefs chair. let's go to virginia, it's michelle, our line for others. you're on span span. what do you think, michelle? caller: thanks for taking my call. i'm a gold star wife, and i want to say, i will volunteer to be water boarded for every american life that i can keep from being beheaded by the enemy. just saying. being water boarded, you cannot even compare to people being,

losing their head on the internet by the enemy. so the fact that they even tried to compare the two is ludicrous to me. >> all right, appreciate the call. let's go over to indianapolis. it's marcia, also on our line for republicans. marcia, what do you think, a different view or do you support ms. haspel? caller: i support ms. haspel. i think she has said all the right things, and i think that she has answered very well everything that she was asked. i think some of the -- you think, i think she really sounds like she is a good person and follows the rules. and i think sometimes people have done things that maybe later on they thought they wouldn't have, but at the time, when everything all worked up and so forth and so forth, like that was then after 9/11, and she followed president bush. secondly, i think the democrats have been horrible, especially that miss harris or whatever

her name is. talking to her like she's like a first grader. >> you're talking about senator harris of california? caller: yes, the way she was treating her, asking her that question. i think anybody with a first fwrade education would have known what she's saying. and the way some of the democrats have handled themselves has done more than burnt me up. and i just hate to think this is what our country has come to and what the democrat party has come to. it's pathetic and it's very, very sad. >> thanks a lot, indianapolis. speaking of democrats, "the washington post" reporting today a second democrat has supported haspel's nomination for c.i.a. director. the senator from indiana, senator joe donnelly, becoming the second democrat to support president trump's choice, the article says. he joins his colleague, senator joe manchin, from west virginia. "the post" points out both

comes from state that trump carried by large margins in 2016. from massachusetts, go ahead, richard, you're on c-span. aller: hi, c-span. i support gina haspel. she came out of the trenches. she knows what to do. think she would be a perfect c.i.a. director. thank you. >> thank you much for the call. let's move on to greenville, south carolina. it's alan on our line for republicans. hi there, alan. how are you and welcome to c-span. what's on your mind? caller: thank you. that was a very good presentation of gina haspel. i'm a supporter of her. i think from the information i've seen and research i've done on her, she is more than qualified, more than anyone i've ever heard to be the

c.i.a. director. >> let me ask you this. what do you make of the opposition by former joint chiefs chair admirable mullen and senator mccain, what do you think of the argument those gentlemen make? caller: i still somewhat disagree. i believe there's very strong democratic narrative, and we've seen it impressing times against our president, who's done an exceptional job. >> i don't believe senator mccain is a democrat. so i'm asking, what about that objection? caller: well, true. you can see the recent information and use that even on both sides there's been some difficulty, even on the republican side supporting our president. but, you know, we are talking about gina haspel. and the call was directly for that. and want to say that i support her. i have family in the military who have seen some horrible

things, and this is an opposing force that hasn't been seen in such times, even such as in vietnam. these are different times. it needs some different types of thinking. >> all right, alan, one last question, because you're on the line with us. let me ask you this. would you support the use of enhanced interrogation going forward rather than looking just at what happened? would you want our forces or the c.i.a. to once again use those techniques? caller: as gina pointed out, in the field operations manual for our military people, there is a direct responsibility to people who are skilled in these areas. and they uphold the law, and they believe in the best possible methods attainable. like i mentioned, we are definitely in some trying times in this world. and they're difficult decisions. but gina haspel has answered this question appropriately,

and i stick to what she said. >> thanks for the conversation now. let's move on to georgia, our line for others. no, i'm sorry, we're moving to cleveland, ohio, with evelyn. evelyn, hi there. got you confused with georgia for a minute, but welcome to c-span. go ahead. caller: that's a proud -- hard thing to do, georgia. >> it is. go ahead. you're on tv. caller: my name is evelyn, and i just want to tell you, gina haspel has good points and bad points. i think isn't that if a person is going to do waterboarding or whatever -- whatever type of torture, they should not be to med to publicly show it, video it. that goes for any country, but i feel like our country, the united states of america, should be held to a higher

standard because god has given us more gifts than most people. >> well, thank you very much for the call. now let's find our way down to georgia. welcome to c-span. go ahead. what do you think? caller: well, i believe she is a great candidate, probably one of the best candidates i've ever seen. come up through the ranks. got to give that plus, a woman, got to give that a plus. watched the whole talk about her, and she answered the questions good. only time she had problems with the questions were, sorry, when the democrats were asking kind of stupid questions. and unrelated questions. go ahead about what she did. i'll physically supporter of her and donald trump. face in be a good

that, donald trump would have good respect for her, and i think that would be a great thing. >> all right, appreciate the call. let's move on to fayetteville, north carolina. mark's on our line for democrats. hi there, mark, we have a couple of minutes left. what do you think about gina haspel? caller: well, i feel that, yes, she is a wall find candidate for sure, for sure. but the partisan lines that this is falling on has really nothing to do with her job. as a four-time deployer, i did endure iraqi freedom, and the c.i.a. director is in a whole different -- is bipartisan -- both. once dissecting it, arguing on the party lines, i think in her day-to-day operations, is going to have the effect that people really think.

when i was over there, and i seen what they would do to get their goals accomplished, she needs to be a little bit hard. they need to think that. she's going to make sure our agenda is met. >> let me does you this question if i could, mark. what about the argument that is made that if we, the u.s. does a technique, for sure, waterboarding, whatever you want to call it, we open up our soldiers to being subjected to similar techniques if they're captured? how do you respond to that? caller: well, they are going to do it to our soldiers anyway. if you feel you're not going to do any means necessary, get information out of our guys, that they are going to do that, but we are held to a higher standard i heard previously. we are held to a higher standard, and we are, we should act accordingly.

but as far as them doing it to each other, they're going to do it to us anyway. >> we're going to move on. i got time for maybe one more call. we're going to try to squeeze in one more, and we'll go to florida with jim, our line for republicans. jim, you have about one minute. what's on your mind? caller: ok, i just like to say haspel. 100% for ms. i think she's more than qualified person. and she'll answer what she has to answer, and she'll do the job she needs to do. some of the questions from the democratic side are just, you know, just great. >> well, you wrapped that up. thank you for all your calls here in afternoon. coming up on "news makers" north carolina congressman mark meadows, who chairs the freedom caucus, will talk about the mueller investigation and why he's requesting a audit of that investigation's spendingful he'll also talk about why he's dissatisfied with deputy

attorney general rod rose spend stein and the justice department's information sharing with congress. that's "news makers" today at 6:00 p.m. eastern here on span span. here on c-span. early thursday morning, president trump welcomed home three american prisoners who were held in north korea. he welcomed them at joint base andrews in maryland. this runs about 10 minutes. [applause]

>> here, here.

president trump: it's a great honor. everything worked out at the highest level. we want to thank kim jong un, who really was excellent to

these three incredible people. they are really three incredible people. and the fact that we were able to get them out so soon was really a tribute to a lot of things, including a certain process that's taking place right now. and that process is very important. so we will see what happens. we have a meeting scheduled in a very short period of time. you'll be hearing about it soon. we have the location set, and we will see if we can do something that people did not think was going to happen for many, many years, and a lot of bad things could have happened in between. so i just want to say this is a special night for these three really great people, and congratulations on being in this country. thank you. reporter: how does it feel to be home? president trump: how does it feel to be home?

>> it's like a dream, and we're ery, very happy. president trump: how were you treated? president trump: how are you treated? >> we were treated in many different ways. when i got sick i was also treated.

>> my proud achievement will be this is a part of it. when we denuclearize the entire peninsula. this is what people have been waiting for for a long time. these are great people that have been through a lot. being able to get these three terrific people.

we didn't think this was going to happen and it did. i must pay my warmest respect to the parents who are a great young -- who is a great young man. they are really incredible people. i think our secretary of state, despite the fact that the new york times is missing.

i don't want to comment on whether or not i spoke to them. we started off on a new footing. five years ago, 10 years ago.

i think he wants to do something . i really believe that. it's starting from here. i guess many of you will be with us. great things will happen. congratulations.

>> mime fellow americans -- my fellow americans, today is a special day of the year, mother's day. it is a special opportunity to think all the mothers and grandmothers in our lives. has come fromngth the love and courage and devotion of our mothers. during world war ii america's mothers helped build the gratis arsenal for democracy. her name was mary macleod, she came from scotland. they were married for many years . she was just incredible.

tough if she had to be. done and sohat i'm much of what i've become is because of my mother. i say this to you, happy mother's day and god bless the united states of america. tonight on cue and day, university of california santa on his english professor book inseparable about the life -- times of conjoined twins of the conjoined bunker twins. >> these are two married couples, they cannot be in the same bed. when they set up these two separate households about a mile from each other -- they stick to schedule.

schedule. they went to live with chang's wife for three days. during these three days, chang, and hangr of the house will give up his will. then huge he master the house and chang would give up his free will. >> tonight on c-span. >> monday, regions of the university of california, alan baci, a white male was once rejected today california davis medical school.

he claims he was passed over in favor of less qualified minority applicants and took the university of california system to court. the resulting supreme court decision struck down the admissions program and the constitutionality of a affirmative action area our guest to this -- our guest to this case -- and randy barnett, professor at georgetown law center, a libertarian and originalists constitutional legal scholar and commentator. at eightay night eastern on c-span. and follow us on c-span. we have resources for background on each case. and the landmark cases podcast .t c-span.org

. talks about comey his new book, a higher loyalty. here's a takes questions from the audience. this is in our 25 minutes. -- an hour 25 minutes. >> im benjamin wittes, senior fellow here. because this is a live podcast taping, i will not do the usual giving an introduction. i will do something almost never do which is to read a script associated with the opening of the