bloomberg's suzanne woolley talks about retirement planning and financial literacy. then you talk republican senator mike lee on his new book "written out of history." ♪ [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] host: the trump administration plans to enact new tariffs against the european union as early as friday. the administration citing concerns over national security and the justification for putting in the new tariffs. canada and mexico could end up with new tariffs as well. this is may 31 and this is the "washington journal." we want to get your thoughts on the daily -- value of the daily press briefing held by the white house. some of the press corps have questioned the length of time of the briefings and the quality of

the information that comes from them. others, including previous press secretaries. they have a live televised format of the briefing -- is it more of a distraction or a help? we want to get your thoughts on this daily press briefing and the information from the white house and if you think they are worthwhile. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. .nd independents, 202-748-8002 if you want to post on our .witter feed it is at @cspanwj you can also comment on facebook at facebook.com/cspan. -- writesll rights back on may 30. what is the hurry, sarah huckabee sanders? is the headline. when the white house press secretary holds an official press briefing, time is a

precious commodity. may 7, sorry i am going to keep moving because we are going to get real tight on time and it goes on from there and it includes a link you can look at it. "if it stands to reason, sanders may be watching the clock, her briefing saturday knack of ending 20 minutes or a tick before or after that mark." averaged 20 minutes at the podium for her press briefings and gaggles. according to the calculations, sanders' briefings are 22 minutes or less at least 28 times over the last 6 months. according to the national journal white house correspondent, the senior wire reporter in the room has thanked the rest secretary after an a session. &

before she would say thank you, she would glance around to see if there were hands still up because she did not want to cut it off. if you go to the hill, a piece published last year could -- took a look at two former press secretary's, giving their thoughts on the press briefing as well. this is the hill's right up saying two former press secretary step bush -- george w. bush and clinton said they should prevent the video from being broadcast live. -- issued identical statements on twitter. one saying we support no live tv coverage of the white house briefing. let it be used, but not as live tv. an almost identical statement coming from mike mccurry.

you can see them when the white house does hold a press briefing, you can see that on c-span. we are interested in the quality of information and the length of time, if you think it should be longer or shorter, and what you get from them. maybe it is time to change the format or drop the format, whatever. you can give your thoughts on the lines. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. independents, 202-748-8002. formerpresident trump's press secretary, sean spicer, who was on this program recently and was asked about the press briefings and if they should be considered and stay relevant in the currt day. former white house press secretary sean spicer says "the daily briefing is not worth it." you can find the full interview on c-span.

here is sean spicer from a recent episode of this program. [video clip] think the press office should be available as they are to give the press responses and updates as to what is going on in the white house. i think the daily briefing is sort of worth re-examining. the defense and others do not always have a daily briefing and i think a morning gaggle and selected days where you do an on camera one is worth it, but the briefing has become more about a show than an outlet of information and i think we should provide the media on a daily basis answers to the questions they have, updates to issues that are ongoing. i think the time and effort it takes to get that briefing going and what you get in return is not worth it anymore. host: that full interview is at c-span.org on our website with sean spicer talking about the daily press briefing and other things.

we will turn to you now. dave in rhetoric, maryland, democrats line. -- frederick, maryland. >> i find the press briefings to be disappointing. huckabee sanders doesn't really answer any questions. it is always we will get back to you and look into it. i think it is all a bunch of bs and an extension of the president. host: should there still be a daily briefing by the white house? caller: i think it could be beneficial to the citizens, but the way it is being done now, it is like an insult because she basically doesn't answer the tough questions and i find it to be kind of irrelevant, the whole thing, right now. host: what about the element of live television? some of the other press secretaries made the argument it should be taped and broadcast late in the day. caller: i think it should be live. why not?

host: texas is next. this is bill on the republican line. caller: i think the agenda ought pere one question representative because there are 30 representatives there and they ought to have respect for the process and their colleagues and not be argumentative. host: so it should be a straight back and forth question answer limited to one question? caller: exactly. host: why do you think that would work better? think when everybody asks more than one question, they disrespect their colleagues and the attendants and they become argumentative, that is why. says whenn on twitter it comes to the daily press briefing it should say -- stay, but not in its current format, citing the former press secretary for president obama

gave reporters typically an hour. yesterday, sarah sanders gave 10 minutes, "what a joke" he adds. roman saying it is the journalism that made it that way, they want soundbites and "i got you" moments. on our facebook page, you can post. by the way, every time there is a daily press briefing, c-span will air it life and archive it on our website. the video library, you will find briefings from this administration, and previous ones as much as we have archived and that is available to you. in new york on the independent line talking about these press briefings. what do you think? caller: my feelings are that the questions the media asks are sometimes ridiculous. they are questions about like the stormy daniels situation

they know she is not going to be able to answer and it is a waste of time. why waste time when you can do some real work? host: do you think there's a better way to go about getting this information out to the press? let's go to tom in west lafayette, indiana, independent line. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. most definitely, i think the white house press briefings should remain live and should be broadcast. it serves a dual purpose as someone who watches it on -- cnon, we can see here hear the answers coming directly from the white house straight from the source, but also, to the previous color's mention, -- caller's mention, you can hold the press accountable.

if they are not asking the questions you want them to ask, you can reach out to the media outlets and push them in those directions. i think that went away and as you pointed out, c-span archives all those. it is important for all the media journalists to hear the questions and the responses live in real-time as opposed to maybe the new york times asked to this, usa today asked this. i don't know how much proactive disclosure they would actually be in regards to those briefings or those questions that would be posed. host: how often do you watch? caller: i would say i catch something once a week if not try to oneh or listen listening to lunch or something.

if something interesting happened, i definitely jump in and watch that clip or i try to watch the whole thing. host: one person off of twitter says press briefings should go on as they become no more than grandstanding for personal benefit. -- scoreboard and the pursuit of hating president trump and mike says the press briefings are merely entertainment. sarah sanders the flex and argues with a reporter that wants the fact. at least sean spicer was entertaining. it comes to that sean spicer interview, you can see mr. spicer's interview he did on this program and all of his activity and work as president trump's first spokesperson on our website at c-span.org. idaho is up next on our independent line, lisa. good morning. caller: good morning.

i agree with some of the callers that have called already and i think sarah sanders is doing a great job for what all she has to put up with because trump changing his mind every other minute and. ort: how much information how worthwhile do you see these press briefings when you see them? caller: i think they are ok. i don't think they should be on live tv because maybe there is something said that shouldn't go live. host: you would prefer to see them taped and rebroadcast? .aller: i would i know the reporters and all those people would not want it that way, but it is ok the way it is. host: from fayetteville, north carolina, we will hear from ray on the democrats line. caller: good morning, sir.

i think they should shut it down because all they do is lie all the time just like he lied about the size of his inauguration .ried -- crowd they need to just shut it down. host: what is an example of a lie you would say is said specifically from one of these briefings? caller: spygate. republicans don't want to hear the truth, they just listen to fox and rush limbaugh and they don't want to hear the truth, they believe what comes out of donald trump's mouth. check it out. check your facts out. in northt is ray carolina. you can give your thoughts to 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. .nd independents, 202-748-8002 it was the previous white house press secretary of the clinton

administration, mike mccurry, one of the ones responsible for bringing cameras to the white house briefing and talked about how that changed the nature of the white house press briefing. here he is in a previous interview. [video clip] >> i wish i had put in place a rule that we had at the state department, which is, you do not live broadcast these things because they are raw material for journalists who are trying to gather information about the white house. they are not news events. -- now have to go out and as antreated now entertainment product on cable television and that is not what the white house briefing was supposed to be, it is a briefing. you get this information and the white house puts out what it wants to think. as reporters, you go check that

against other sources and then you report and give us, the american people, a more valid report. when it becomes a live tv production every day, it becomes something else than what a briefing is supposed to be. i very much regret that i did not put some restrictions on how that briefing what happen every day, which simply said, i would .ay it is -- until it is over then it is not live, you cannot put it on live, you kind of have to go and report. you can report live, but it would have been a different kind of event if it had not been sort of a theater production every day and i regret that mistake and the cat is out of the barn on that. it will not change, you will have to go live every day. whitewe are asking if the

house press briefings that are done daily, but not always, are worthwhile to you. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8002 for independents. iowa, independent line, kim is next. caller: i believe it is worthwhile of keeping. it is the people, why should we change the model that has not been a problem in the past so they are making it a problem. now it's the person that is reporting it. we do the white house correspondent telling us what is going on with the president. it is worthwhile and it is the people coming to the podium and telling lies. that is not right. host: from maine, it is bill,

democrats line. go ahead, bill. caller: thank you. i believe they are very important for the american people to keep up on what this administration is doing compared it showsst one because how much this administration that is in the white house in power now disrespects the american people because i have encountered a lot of times calling on the comment line and there is nobody home, apparently, so you never get to speak to anyone, which i had no problem on the last administration. host: when it comes to this administration, give an example of the thing you said as far as the respect or treatment of the people. what did you learn from that? when you am learning keep up and know the facts, you can tell what is actually lies

and what is not. we do not live in an alternative reality and go by alternative news. you have to stick with the facts and this hasn't been done with this administration. host: david is from millersville, maryland, republican line. good morning. .aller: good morning, pedro good morning, america. i find the press briefings very helpful, very important. . started watching in my 20's i just find them a good exchange and it is a good, telltale sign for the american information consumer as well when you look at the gentleman from cnn with his type attitude, you know where he is coming from as opposed to walter cronkite back

in the day, not that he was in the press board, but you did not know where he was coming from so when you read your information as a consumer, you have an idea of what is biased and what is not, even if the attitudes are bad, you have an opportunity to form an exchange. host: what do you think about the quality of information that comes out of these briefings? caller: if there is not much going on at the time, you still have to have them and get through the periods because it is about principle. if you have a significant activity like 9/11 or like during the bush administration, the iraq war, i would hate to see the opportunity go away for us to put pressure and/or inquire about the activities of the white house. host: should these be televised and should they be live? caller: yes. i don't think we should change a like the obama

administration, it is nice and fine. with the republicans, they get a little more pressure, but you just take the pressure. texas,rom san antonio, on the democrats line. joseph, hello. caller: hello, pedro. i have been watching c-span when susan was there. i actually watched the briefings every day and what i've noticed is sarah doesn't answer any questions and first of all, she news firstrom fox and looks like she has the -- whoin line of hugh she is going to call and if we are lucky, we might get people from cnn or msnbc. normally, she does not have an answer for nothing. i don't know why she has these briefings because i don't want

to get ahead of my skis or i will have to refer you to some lawyer or we are in talks now, we cannot answer that. my point is, i don't understand why we even have the briefings anymore because sarah doesn't do any answering, whatsoever. even more, they are having less and less briefings because always have, they to do something and go out and sarah is never there. on a bad day, they will send in -- when is sarah is in trouble or some really important questions are answered. even when she answered a question, if you look at her eyes, she is quickly turning pages because she already has a fixed answer for any question they will be -- i don't think it

is truly from the heart. i think everything is prepared. joseph from san antonio, texas. all these press briefings that take place are archived at our website. it was yesterday as the press briefing according to the washington times and others, one of the themes that came out was this idea from the cancellation of the roseanne show and the president sending a tweet asking for an apology of his own. this is the washington times website, "white house still waiting for abc apology." sarah sanders was asked about the comments and why the president did not address the comments. that was asked by a reporter and here is the response. simply callingt to the media bias three president is the president of all americans and he is focused on doing what is best for our country and you can see that in the actions he has taken. you can see where he is focused

on employment being at the since 2000 and opioid initiatives to combat a crisis that impacts all americans and today, the president signed legislation to give patients the right to try medication that can save their lives. that the president signed legislation and addressed america, two networks chose not to cover it and chose something , a massive piece of legislation that had bipartisan support that was life-changing, literally life-changing for millions of americans, two networks chose not to cover the remarks.'s imax -- he is pointing to the hypocrisy in the media saying the most horrible things about this president and nobody addresses it. -- to christians around the world for joy bear calling --

joy behar calling christianity a mental illness. -- showed her showing -- holding president trump's decapitated head and where was the apology -- tiring --ng after his tweets attacking the president as a nazi and expanding his role after that attack on the president's family. if this is a double standard the president is speaking about. the white house briefings worthwhile? that is what we are asking you to give your response to. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. .ndependents, 202-748-8002 if you go to our twitter feed, there is a poll you can participate in and give your answer, a simple yes or no response and this is a tweet from jerry saying i think seeing the press briefing live helps news recipients judge of the

news they are getting from different media outlets. i would be sad if the format changed. you can give your thoughts on twitter @cspanwj. mitchell from pennsylvania, republican line, hi. caller: yes, how are you doing? good morning. host: fine, thank you. caller: i like the briefings, i just wish they would stick to policy. soapu want to hear about opera stuff, stormy daniels and roseanne barr, come on. i want to hear what is going on syria, iran. i want to hear what the tax policies are going to be. are they going to continue, etc., etc. i will tell you, the white house should have somebody separately for any of those legal, stupid questions and just have it off camera somewhere and they can report it.

if you want to catch up on all the soap opera stuff, go to any of those nonlocal stations and you can pick any channel. host: if those things involve the president, why not put them into a daily briefing from the white house? caller: because the briefings are supposed to be about policies, not about stormy daniels and whatever -- who cares what he tweets. he does that to mess with the media. they should know that, my god. host: john in pennsylvania, democrats line. hello. caller: hello. good morning. thank you for c-span. my concern is i like the briefings, i like the fact that it is live and unrehearsed and you get what you get good and bad. a couple of caveats, years ago i remember reading a book called

marshal monk -- by marshall mcclellan and i think the title was "the reading is that -- media is the message."in addition to it " as the"briefing clinton press said, it is really not that anymore. the event itself is the message. to some extent, it is propaganda. this,e extent, you get you get that. becomes aitself message and it detracts from what it ought to be. i would not want to not have it and i would not want to change the format, but i agree with an earlier caller they would stick to policy and stay off all the mediand he said, she said stuff, i think it would be better. could come discourse out of a higher level and i think that is --

host: apologies, you are breaking up, so we will gone -- go on to howie on the republican line. caller: thank you. i think it is worthwhile. i don't see anything wrong with it. the only problem i see is maybe the person themselves should pick people we do not know, we have never seen on television to ask the questions, not the people in the front. the people in the front have the privilege of sitting in the front, that is fine. this was started by president coolidge -- i don't know what is going on now, it seems like everybody is a a bunch of communicative engineers. , mediaide representation government, these people are supposed to bump heads because we do not think alike. host: are you saying they should hear from more media sources

other than those in the front row that represent the major networks? caller: yes. anybody that has some kind of charismatic seen on television -- i want people to ask questions i do not know, that i haven't seen, that i can put in new information about that person together, research and their information. host: how regularly do you watch these briefings? caller: i am very busy, but i dvr it. it is very exciting, to me. it is ok, i think it is pretty fair. ant: forbes magazine, article from back in february talks about the news conference held by the president in a pc put out. "since president kennedy took questions and front of a live audience, the presidential news

conference has been a tough, but necessary part of the hardest job on earth. according to the presidency project, barack obama held 11 solo news conferences in his first year of office, george w. bush held five, bill clinton held 12. president trump has held one. this president prefers to fire off one-way messages before campaign style rallies packed with supportive and enthusiastic fans. when reporters asked why the president didn't come out and speak to them, sarah sanders dismissed the question as ridiculous since he just read the journalist a presidential statement. reporters continue to take their seats asking when the president might make his debut. president trump prefers watching the press secretary take the heat, sending along written statements as needed and on one ridiculous occasion the president sent a message by video.

he wanted to say something to the reporters, he just did not want them to be able to speak back and sarah sanders introduced a "special guest" and played a video of -- set up on a monitor." we have our video library and the daily briefings are archived there for this administration and past ones. from georgia, independent line, fred, your next. go ahead. caller: i do not think they are that valuable because i am an elected official here in georgia and i tell my people all the time, does it affect you where you live? forill be very difficult anything to occur at the federal level unless it is some kind of funding mechanism that goes from federal down to the state to the local level. if it does not affect you and your family on a day to day basis, if you want to consume it for gossip purposes and things

of that nature, fine. don't make your lifelong decisions that is going to affect your family based on what you hear at some press conference at a federal level. insimply will get you trouble. it causes more problems than it helps an avid -- as a local representative, make up your own mind through your own study, do your own research and when you do that, then you make your decisions. all these other things are just extemporaneous. host: is there a way the daily briefing could be changed to make it more consumer friendly and addressing those issues you bring up? caller: probably because usually if it is something, say for instance the tax cut. if that is something that sarah sanders can say, here is what happened at this particular you?, how does it affect

they will say it created a lot of jobs, but don't tell you what the jobs are. they say they put more money in your pocket, but don't tell you how that happened. it doesn't tell you why gas prices continue to go up. here is what you can do at the local level that will help alleviate some of that stress you feel every single day. all of this other stuff means practically nothing. host: that is fred in georgia. for ouron the line social media outlets. you can post your thoughts there. one of the things you heard sarah sanders address was this right to try bill the president signed, the washington times highlighting it saying he signed a law that gives terminally ill patients the right to try experimental medicines that lack fda.approval of the scored a rare bipartisan win

with legislation in congress where he did banded -- demanded they come together. access to experimental treatment is a fundamental freedom and we will be sending a tremendous .umber of lives the current fda approval process can take many years and for countless patients, time is not what they have. we will have a discussion on the legislation signed, the impact will be on saturday's "washington journal" program. watch for details on that. michael, democrats line from new york. caller: hi. discuss how can you topics like that when our country has been disgraced by president trump. he just pulled the u.s. out of another deal the previous administration made before by declaring the u.s. -- at the end, it is the u.s. nobody will trump again, not trump. we should talk about this

instead of the -- nobody will trust again, not trump. we should be talking about this. indiana.'s go to caller: what our country needs is less talk and more action. thank you. host: how does that apply to the press briefing, then? caller: they have too much of it. host: they have tomb -- what do you mean by that? about: they talk so much stuff that is not really necessary. host: such as what? caller: let's move on. host: such as what if they talk about something that's not necessary? caller: i don't have anything specific in mind, it is just talk, talk, talk. they need action, action, action. that is all i have to say. thank you, sir. host: is there enough information about policy and things that happen in the

administration, do you think that is coming in a proper manner? caller: i really don't know about that. i really have no comment on that. thank you, sir. host: ok. marty, madison, wisconsin. republican, hi. go ahead. what happens overseas like with the war, foreign relations, stuff like that. we don't have a lot of reporters go over there and in today's society, it is a global play. host: you are saying that is an argument to keep the briefings, or no? ifler: the average citizen, they don't see that on tv, they will not be informed what is happening on tv. host: do you think you get that kind of information currently from these briefings? caller: i used to watch it every

day. and trump and his fake news stuff like that, it is hard to watch it because you never know when he is making things up. host: if that is the case, for finding out information that you want to find out about, where do you turn if you don't go to the daily briefings themselves? caller: if it is not from the morning briefing, the national news, newspapers, they have a section where i am from. marty in wisconsin giving his thoughts this morning. donald is next in san antonio, democrats line. caller: good morning. i don't think they are worthwhile. briefing this was a and they are supposed to be briefing us on things happening in the country around the world. anything you ask her, she avoids the question or i don't know

this, i will get back to you. i wait for some people to ask her a good question and when they do, she avoids it or looks up or down in front of her. i don't see where they are worthwhile. when i was younger, my mother used to whoop us and make us listen to it because these people are telling you what is going on in the country. now she walks out a few minutes and reads the scripts and goes about her business and i did not learn anything from the briefing. you think that happened in the previous administration, a message is delivered and a certain statement is read about a policy and it goes on from there? caller: in the obama administration, we did get more

from the person who was doing the briefing them what we are getting now. i am not going to say it is the truth, or anything, but we did get more than what we are getting now. she just comes out there and read a script and asks them to hurry up. anything they asked, she just avoids it. she is going to keep reading that same script and that is it. host: that is donald in san antonio, texas. the mercury news in california is reporting on a meeting that took place at the white house yesterday. the president meeting with kim kardashian west saying she paid a visit to the white house yesterday to make a star power case to the president on behalf of a woman serving a life sentence for drug offenses. she has been urging the a woman who pardon spent more than two decades behind bars and is not eligible for parole. it is unclear whether the

socialite would have been given the opportunity to sit down with the president when she was in washington. is next,- maryland that is where mark is. republican line. caller: good morning, how are you? host: fine, thank you. caller: the press briefings would be more valuable, i think, stuck toanders sort of what i would consider to be her responsibility just to provide information on policy. that clip you did earlier is an example of why it is not as effective under her as it was under spicer. she was responding to a question barr the comments by mrs. and sort of angrily pointed out

she did not understand why the media wasn't covering the discerning of the information. -- consider that as providing information about the legislation. --t is different than if she as part of her presentation, she talked about the legislation and a significant of it and any additional information reporters needed. is waitingt like she for an opportunity to criticize the press instead of providing information. host: this is from usa today this morning. the headline is "press secretary sarah sanders gets choked up after a child asks about a senseless school shooting." it goes on to say "benji caught everyone's attention when he asked her about the shootings. he is a student at marion county

day school in california and asked about the shootings." we have that on video and you can see that again at c-span.org . here's the question and here is the response from sarah sanders. [video clip] >> the young colleague in the back. >> thank you for the compliment. >> at my school we had a lockdown. one thing that affects mine and other students mental health is the worry about the fact that all of our friends could be shot at school. can you tell me what the administration has done and can do to prevent these senseless strategies? >> i think as a kid and a parent, there can be nothing more terrifying for a kid to go to school and not feel safe. i am sorry you feel that way. this administration takes it seriously and the school safety -- is meeting this week to discuss the best ways forward

and how we can do every single thing within our power to protect kids in our schools and make them feel safe and make their parents feel good about dropping them off. the: again, that is from briefing yesterday that took place at the white house. you can see that whole briefing at c-span.org. the new york times this morning taking a look at andrew mccabe in connection with the attorney general and the larger issues of investigations at the white house, saying it was the former acting at the director that wrote a confidential memo recounting a conversation that offered behind-the-scenes details on the firing of his james komi. in the document, whose contents had not been previously recorded, mccabe described the conversation at the justice department with rob rosenstein and the chaotic date last may after mr. komi's abrupt -- mr. firing.abrupt

in a meeting at the justice department, mr. rosenstein added the president had originally asked him to reference russia in his memo and people familiar with the conversation said mr. rosenstein did not elaborate on what mr. trump wanted him to say . it goes on to say one person who was briefed on the conversation with the president that mr. trump simply wanted is to rosenstein to mention he was not personally under investigation in the personal inquiry. mr. rosenstein said it was not necessary. mr. trump ultimately said it himself when announcing the firing." in north carolina, democrats line. caller: good morning, how are you? host: i am well, how about yourself? caller: i am doing pretty good. i wanted to make a call in for a statement regarding these news briefs sarah comes out and do every day.

i don't understand why she comes out there and read them lies off of that paper. she makes people think one thing when they know something else is different because trump will come out behind her and tweet something after she got up on the stage and said it. it is ridiculous. host: you would say get rid of them all together? caller: i would say get rid of her and him altogether. every day they open their mouth, they lie about something. host: the briefings them selves, would you get rid of them? caller: if you are not going to tell the truth, don't tell anything. host: independent line, warren. florida is where he lives. caller: listen. they are absolutely necessary and you know what? i don't agree with the previous caller. let me are going to lie, see them face-to-face on

television tell me that lie and i want to hear about stormy daniels because it goes to morality and judgment of the president running this country. i want to hear it all. host: how often do you watch them? caller: you know what? i am retired and i try to watch it every day. of whatto stay abreast is going on not just with the news, but i try to watch that briefing. i understand how people can get tired of certain things. sometimes it gets ridiculous. informative -- a lot of times it just seems .ombative that is how sanders is coming off. host: we will go to gerard in georgia, republican line. caller: good morning. the press conferences are

terrible because 25 reporters ask the very same thing no matter if it was answered or not. if these people did not come back with a negative story on trump every day, they would get fired. all this crappy about his morality -- all this crap about his morality. to numberlets you get two, you get to number three. host: aside from that, the briefings themselves, why not ask these questions about the president if they regard the president? caller: it is none of their damn business. i want to hear about tax breaks and other countries. at least you could find out about other countries. the things you keep hearing about his stormy daniels. she was almost a hooker.

who in the world cares -- in newe will go to tom york, democrats line. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. just one thing. have sarah sanders leaves the white house instead of 44 reporters coming to the white house, it seems like courtesy or security. host: what do you mean by that? caller: they have the meeting in the white house just a stones throw from his office. it causes confusion in the white house and a lot of work. have sarah sanders go sit -- go to an outside federal building less than an hour away. host: are you saying she should not be the one delivering the statement, should there be a new person or just change the location altogether? caller: change the location. think thato you makes it different when it comes

to the amount of information or quality of information? caller: it probably won't. here is the big news thing they missed. new asphaltore roads. once you put them in, you have to fix them forever. phil in thes washington post reporting a federal judge wednesday gave attorneys for michael cohen a little more than two weeks to seizedreviewing material from his office. that june 15 deadline was set during a meeting in manhattan that focused on the status of the materials and focused sparring between cohen' attorney and an attorney for stormy daniels and that he thought to join the case, but

withdrew the motion after a district judge warned he would have to end his "publicity tour" if she granted him standing. waco, texas, ed is next, independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call, how are you? host: i am well, go ahead. caller: sure. i think the briefing has become more of a show, part of propaganda, part of the spin the white house set up to put things in their own order. they have become literally pointless. another point about the nuclear war -- topicwe will stick to the at hand. when you say pointless, what do you mean? caller: give me a second. the iran nuclear deal shows how unreliable the united states has become. just like israel. host: there is your statement, back to the briefing. caller: wait a second. host: no, we will keep going.

this is mark in las vegas, democrats line. caller: good morning. i love hearing the briefings. it is kind of like twitter, it is for posterity. in 10, 15, maybe 20 years we will look back at sarah sanders and the rest of those people and -- who come out of that briefing and lie and lie and it is funny to me that we forget the correspondents practically -- however you want to say to obama when obama was not allowing fox to do whatever fox does. for all these people who say they don't want to hear about stormy daniels and all that, they love to hear about how obama was born in kenya and how ben ghazi -- host: do you think everything that came out of the press

briefings in the obama administration was? caller: i doubt it. host: if that is the case, what do you think about the worthwhile this of the press briefings overall? caller: it is for posterity. the press briefings only became an issue when we elected the biggest liar in history. documented proof. host: that is mark in las vegas giving his thoughts on the press briefing. the election of president trump was the focus of a new book, expressing president obama's thoughts on it by peter baker saying "in the weeks after mr. trump's election, mr. obama went through multiple emotional stages. at times he took the longview and at other times he flashed anger and called mr. trump a cartoon character who cared about crowd sizes than any policy and expressed missed out whether he misjudged his

influence on american history." it goes on to say "mr. obama and his team were confident misses clinton would win and most of the country was shocked when she did not, 'i could not shake the feeling i did not see it coming. we would run against hillary clinton years ago with the same message trump had used, she is part of the corrupted establishment and cannot be focused -- trusted.' days later, mr. obama seemed last sanguine -- less sanguine. want, this is what people i have the economy set well up, no consequences, they can just cartoon. we are about to find out how resilient our institutions are at home and around the world.'" from new mexico, john on the

democrats line is in roswell about the value of the press briefings. go ahead. caller: i think they are definitely worthwhile. there and hard to sit watch the lies coming out. answering anynot andtions, being deceitful -- 30% of really backingans seem to be this man, this present occupant of the white house. they don't seem to care, they truly don't. you what il ask asked the previous caller, do you think every bit of information that came out of previous administration's briefings are truthful at its face value? caller: for the most part, yes.

we have an administration that lies constantly every day. previous administrations, i am presssed the white house briefings not as a propaganda and standing up for an illegitimately elected president. host: we will go to maryland, this is jesse, democrats line. good morning. are you there? caller: yes. host: go ahead. caller: i think most of this stuff that comes out of the to feeduse pressing is to the public. the truth is in there somewhere. host: when you watch the briefings themselves, how do you

get at that truth? caller: you have to read between the lines. you have got to pick it out yourself and what you don't get from their, pick up the truth between the channels and what you heard at the briefing. host: what is an example of a lie you heard from one of these briefings? so far as -- i cannot really answer that right now. host: let's go to our independent line, this is brenda, tallahassee, florida. independent line. caller: this is brenda from tallahassee. i just wanted to say that the briefings from the obama administration were full of lies, too. the biggest one being benghazi was caused by an anti-muslim

film. these briefings are just attacks on our president and sarah and it is too bad people are so destructive right now against our president. she offers athink good amount of information. some of the colors set her answers seem short and don't really contain a lot of content. would you agree with that? caller: the reason why she may seem short with people is because the same question is asked over and over again. it is like they just want to pound sand on the wrong questions and they are not really getting the good information out our president is doing. our president has turned this nation around. we were heading in a direction of socialism, that is why so many wanted bernie sanders. thank god we got a president like we do and i am tired of the are bitter, we are

tired of the bitterness of people. they need to open their eyes and see what our wonderful president is doing. host: let's go to the last call on this topic in bethesda, maryland. democrats line. good morning. caller: that was really rich, what i just heard. the press conferences she gives are supposed to give us true information. you just played that clip about the little boy, i don't know if it was a boy or girl that asked the question about school safety. i will show you what the lie is like. the lie is she really did choke up, she really did feel something about children being safe, but she never wants mentioned guns, that is the lie. she knows full well 70% to 80% of this country wants guns taken care of, but does not mention it. it is not she stands there and flat out lies, but she knows she is not telling the truth. host: that is the caller from

maryland, the last call on the topic. coming up, we will talk with the european ambassador to the united states of the european union about the relationship the united states has with european countries, that is david o'sullivan. later in the program, americans are not alone when it comes to being ready for retirement. bloomberg personal-finance writer, suzanne woolley will join us to explain a piece she wrote on that topic and all of those topics coming up when "washington journal" continues. ♪ "afteray night on

words" the book "suicide of the " interviewed by the editor of "commentary magazine." that your book you posit western civilization as we understand it or contemporary western civilization is unnatural. what do you mean by that? >> if you take humans and you clear them up all of our civilization education, and put them in their natural environment, we would not be having conversations about books and doing podcasts. in bandsbe teaming up and troops and setting ourselves .p against other animals that is what our nature is.

"lord of the flies" you have these kids from a boarding school, and almost instantly they go tribal, takes fears, start attacking each other --that is humanity. words" sundayr night at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2's booktv. "reels weekend on america" on american history tv, a summit between ronald reagan and mikael gorbachev. ronald reagan: the way of democracy is sometimes a complicated way and sometimes trying, but it is a good way, and we believe the best way. and once again, mr. general secretary, i want to extend to you and to all of those that have labored so hard for this

moment, my warmest personal thanks. america" sunday at 4:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we want to welcome david o'sullivan, the european ambassador to the show. how would you characterize the relationship the united states has with members of the european union? guest: i think the relationship between the european union and the united states is very deep and very strong. we have deep connections, economical, the most important trading partners, and we share ,he same values as in democracy the rule of law. these are the pillars i would say are very solid. host: would you say there are points of contention? guest: there are one or two issues between us these days.

the decision of the administration to withdraw from the paris climate deal, the decision on iran, and issues over trade -- yes, there are divergences between us, but you have to set this always in the context of the depth, breadth, and strength of the relationship. host: it is the trade issues that play out on the front pages of "wall street journal" this morning -- potential new tariffs. can you explain what might happen? guest: distant ministration has --eatened to impose tariffs this administration has threatened to impose tariffs on steele and aluminum. we share concerns. we think china in particular has been responsible for over-investment and flooding the international market. our workers have been victims of that in europe, as has been here

in the notices. we are working with china, but we do not believe european exports are part of the problem and we don't see why it would be useful or justified to impose tariffs on european exports. host: why does this rise to the national security level? guest: you can ask that question -- you would have to ask the american authorities. .e do not believe it is we believe it is a safeguard measure and we think in the case of european exports experts are -- exports are high-value, niche products that are inputs to the american processor would be to make in the economy -- the american economy stronger. host: you do not know why this is a security issue? guest: the documents we have seen make the case that heal and

aluminum are important to nationals -- steal and aluminum are important to national security. are inf the tariffs place, what is the response from the eu? guest: we have said clearly we would preserve our right to impose rebalancing terrorists on an equivalent amount of american exports. of course we wait to see what the final position is, but our position has been if tariffs are imposed we would impose rebalancing tariffs on american exports. host: on what type of product? guest: it is a long list of products, stretching from agricultural products to whiskey, bourbon, motorcycles, clothing -- a long list of products, but the idea is to put rebalancing caps on an equivalent -- tariffs on an equivalent amount of trade. i want to emphasize this is not really want to be. we have said to the united states instead of doing this we

could have a positive agenda on how to cooperate on trade, extending -- expanding trade between us, and we would have that conversation rather than about steel tariffs. we believe if we want to have a positive agenda it is not a good way to start by imposing what we consider unjustified tariffs on steel and aluminum exports. if they are placed, this will make the idea of launching a constructive agenda much more difficult. host: our guest is with us until 8:30 a.m. if you want to ask questions on these issues and others about the european union, it is

host: as this administration deals with north korea and particularly whether the negotiation will take place between the two countries, where does the eu stand on the potential it talks taking place in what role does the eu have if any? ofst: we are supportive efforts to support the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. we said fully with the administration's decision to engage with north korea and find a solution that leads to the end of the nuclear armaments program. we are supportive of the efforts of this administration and the entire in international community. the nuclear'ss age and look like, not only for north korea, but does that mean they noticed a test to take steps on its own? guest: that is the part of the negotiation to discuss, but the main issue is the ending of the nuclear armaments program from north korea, the single most important threat to peace in the

region and that should be the focus of the talks. of course one could look at other confidence-building measures around that in the way one often does a nonproliferation issues, but getting rid of north korea's nuclear capabilities is a top priority for all of us. host: many mention china has a role in this. russia as well. is there an eu country that stands out as an influencer on this topic? guest: the eu has been fully supportive of this and we are engaged with the chinese, the russians, the rest of the international community in supporting these efforts to take forward the need to ensure that north korea fully dismantles its armaments program and capabilities. host: our first call comes from angie in washington, here in the district. democrats line. angie, you are on with the ambassador david o'sullivan. caller: good morning. i had a question about what the eu has been doing for women's

rights. i have seen a lot on the news and a lot that is not made the news regarding violence against women in sweden and germany. can you elaborate at all? i will take my question off the air. guest: women's rights are, of course, a fundamental principle of the european union and there is european legislation that guarantees equality of treatment in the area of work, and some of these measures are domestic violence as such an issue addressed by national authority of the national level, but the european union stands fully for fully equal treatment you know spears of life, and it is -- spheres of life and it is opposed to any abuse of women. ,(202) 628-0205

democrats. understandortant to with this nuclear deal? guest: clinical do with the ram is a vital part of national security. acquire iran could nuclear weapons would trigger a proliferation race, destabilize the middle east and have consequences for digitally for europe because it is our neighborhood. that is why we are supportive of this deal because we feel it is indispensable to prevent iran from acquiring or developing nuclear weapons. it does not solve all the problems with iran and we share concerns with other iranian activities, so we deeply regret the administration's decision to

withdraw. we are committed to keeping the deal alive and making sure iran lives up to commitments, which makes sure it cannot acquire or develop nuclear weapons. host: of those activities by iran, what is top on the list that concerns you most? guest: we're very concerned about iran's behavior in the region, particularly in yemen and syria, concern about iran's ballistic missile program, and concerned about the human rights situation in the country itself. with are issues we share the countries, but we think they are best addressed by keeping intact the nuclear deal and we think withdrawing admitted more complicated. host: so, should the deal stand as it is or should the recast in some way that should it be recast in some way? -- should it be recast in some way? years, and it 12 does what it can to prevent iran

forever acquiring or developing nuclear weapons. that should -- our view is that should be kept intact will. -- intact. unfortunately, a lot of energy is going into trying to make sure the nuclear deal continues an host: 1 -- continues. . host: one of the conference was -- thatection process they were not widespread enough. do you share those concerns and can they be improved? guest: we do not believe there are immediate problems. it has been confirmed 10 times they have1 been given full access and found no problems. of course we need to be vigilant . if there are issues of sites or places that need to be invested -- investigated, the deal sees that additional inspections could take place. this is one of the most intrusive regimes of any nonproliferation treaty, and we

think it is vital to keep that impact. it is through that -- intact. the -- a firm finger on on iran on the ability to deviate from the deal. guest: you are on with the ambassador. -- host: marianne, you are on with the ambassador. caller: yes, i would like to ask -- if the eu will continue to impose sanctions. of tearingn favor up. guest: we are fully committed to this deal and as long as iran keeps it set of the bargain, to do nothing to develop or acquire nuclear weapons and to allow us to check and verify that commitment, we will maintain our side of the bargain, which was to lift sanctions link to the

nuclear issue and give iran the benefit of improved economic and commercial activity, which is why i think they came to the table in the first place and we were able to conclude this landmark deal. host: alabama is next. roger on our independent line. yes.r: i was just curious since you -- two of thems were on shoes and motorcycles. , from china, and our motorcycles are japanese-based, so how bad of a tariff do you think that would be? thank you. guest: any tariffs we place our products exported from the united states. the list that i gave in a

summary fashion, which is quite detailed and goes into specific tariff codes, and these are products exported from the united states. host: one of the highlights of the potential new tariffs reported in "washington post" saying the $150 billion trade deficit the united states has with the eu was a concern and the president himself calling it unacceptable. guest: that is the deficit in good straight. services, that deficit comes down by 50 billion. they are i don't think the result of unfair trading practices in europe. they are part of the macro economic and united states. you are a country that saves very little, consumes a lot, and trade deficit. i think you have to be able to distinguish the causes of a trade deficit, and in the cases of europe, we are one of the

most open, low-tariff rules of law-based economies -- very open trading. there are few restrictions on american trade with europe, as there are few restrictions on european trade with the u.s.. i think the deficit needs to be looked at through its real causes. that is not a european export. one of the strategies that might happen as a result of all of this might be coming on luxury german cars -- a total ban on those. what is the impact should that take place? guest: the administration has launched another national security investigation into whether imports of autos and auto parts might be a threat to international security. we think it will be a hard case to prove. i think it will be a lively domestic discussion in the united states. many consumers, even the u.s. auto industry, will have strong views on this.

the announcement of the investigation is only the beginning of a process. i will be tested to see how that debate plays out in the notices because i think many people would feel imposing tariffs on autos would be totally counterproductive, and never forget that many european producers have substantial factories and outputs here. bmw is the largest exporter of cars in the united states, and indeed exports cars back to europe manufactured here in south carolina. host: have you had a chance to talk to the commerce secretary directly about these issues? guest: i have been present in meetings with him and his interlocutor. we have made these points. i don't think he has been totally convinced, as you know, but we'll continue to make these points because we believe the facts are on our side on this issue. host: why you think he is not convinced? guest: i think he has strong views, as those the president, about the deficit, about differential tariffs on autos.

, we have a 10%. comparing one tariff with another does not get us very far. we would be more than willing to sit down and talk about trade negotiations which would aim to eliminate much of those tariffs on trade and industrial products, and that is the agenda we would really like to be pursuing and not having this argument about specific sectors which we think doesn't really address the wider issue. host: let's hear from james in richmond, virginia. democrats line. yes, sir, i would like to know where you stand on the dispute with china and the u.s. because i recently heard that thea might be asking like eu to sign on the trade dispute. guest: china is an important trading partner for both the eu

and the u.s., even if we are each other's most important trading partner. than chinaimportant for the u.s., and the u.s. is more important than china for us, but we share many concerns, as this administration has, about the way china conducts its business, about the theft of international property, -- intellectual property, the ability to purchase and invest chinese copies while they are free to purchase and invest in our companies. we have serious concerns and we are not shy about addressing those issues with china. there will be occasions when we may have a similar view in the wto on whether wto rules are being respected by the united states or other parties, but cooperating on some areas where we think the wto rules need to be defended does not mean we don't share the very real concerns of this administration about the way china conducts its trade and administration policy.

edna. caller: yes, number one i wish to apologize to the ambassador for the stupidity of some of the comments of my fellow citizens. attendant,ed flight and at one time i used to fly both your and asia -- europe and asia. number one, flying to china, i would take planeloads of american businessman -- knows to the tail of businesses taking our business to china to give it to the chinese. it was a systematic discussion -- destruction of american industry, a systematic destruction of american unions, is at some point folks thought unions were not to be kept in

this country. and then i would also fly europe, where i would see buying --s of chinese takeg huge suitcases to goods back home. i find our attitudes towards trade to be reprehensible. i find european goods to be wonderful, and if we impose the tariffs i am sorry about the effects. thank you. guest: thank you for your comments about the quality of european goods. i fully share that. i think we all benefit from trade. we all get excellent products from the united states and value that. with regard to china, i think we have both profited from good trade with china, but i think it is very clear that china is not opening up its market or giving

us the level playing field that both the united states and the eu would wish for and that is something where we could make some common cause. host: orlando, florida. independent line. jean. caller: good morning. my comment for mr. o'sullivan is he made the remark that we use more goods. yes, we do, but the reason we he, iporting more, which guess, is not totally knowledgeable to the situation, is that all of our manufacturers are overseas. that is why we are having to now by more from overseas. that is why our present president is trying to get business to come back here through the incentives he is offering. it is really ingenuous it is because we use more when all of our businesses have gone away. thank you. guest: my point is i think there

is nothing wrong with the administration wanting to encourage more american investment or encouraging american companies to bring production facilities back to the united states. i am merely making the observation that the existence of a surplus or a deficit with a trading partner is not necessarily an indication of an unlevel playing field or unfair trading practices. it may be. i think in the case of china, the deficit is in part due to the unfair trading practices we have with china. in the case of the european union, that case is not made kid we are an open and fair trading partner, as is the united states. if there is a deficit between us it is for other reasons, namely linked to macroeconomic problems or the services they buy. host: it was george cerro saying the eu has an extension crisis. he says everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.

figure ofonger a speech that europe is an existential danger. host: would you agree with those? guest: no, i would not. i have a lot of respect for mr. soros, a clever man who makes insightful observations, but the european union is a solid institution and we have survived many crisis. we have 28 member states, 20 national democracies that go through their own cycles at we face challenges, but if you look at the way we have come through the financial crisis, the euro crisis, the migration crisis, the refugee crisis, i think the european union is a more solid and resistant institution that people give it credit for and rumors of its demise are greatly exaggerated, as mark twain might have said. host: how much of that is can she be by the u.k.'s decision on

brexit? guest: we regret deeply the u.k. decision. it is their democratic right. abilityity foresees the for a country to leave, unlike yours that does not allow a state to secede. the rest of us will move on. we have our own agenda. we will try to have the best good friendship and working relationship with the u.k. out 27the eu, but they -- the eu will continue on with the integration process. support has never been higher across our member states than the last year or so. host: one of the things that might alleviate this is a clause in the eu constitution that requires a single currency. you think there is a value in separating the eu from that? guest: this single currency has been a huge success for most countries, and if you look at popular opinion you will see huge support for the euro.

did in a europe of separate currencies, it was not a advantage. there was no gain for anyone. we trade so much between ourselves -- having a stable, single currency across 19 countries is a huge benefit, and i don't think people are going to give that up. of course, the treaties require that new members join the single currency, but only when they are ready, and only when they have met the criteria of economic convergence. this is not a mechanical exercise that happens automatically. there is wide discretion. the u.k. had an opt out on the single currency. other countries, sweden, denmark, have chosen not to put -- chosen not to join. i think we have a huge amount of flexibility in our system. the success and the value of a single currency for the european union is undisputedly in my view. guest: in terms of economics,

there is reporting in the papers on what is going on in italy with its economic situation. can you describe what is going on and how that might affect the eu as a whole? guest: we had a general election in italy that has delivered a defeat, if you like, for the established parties and two more new,al, new parties -- not parties that have not come to such prominence before, the five-star movement and the northern league, they are trying to see if they can form a government. there are elements in both of those parties that have been the euro,f europe and but they were not elected on a platform of leaving the euro or leaving the eu, so i hope they are able to form a government soon so italy can go forward in the way that we would wish. that will certainly -- there will certainly be some nuances in the approach of italy to european affairs, but i remain convinced that italy's continued presence in the euro currency and the european union is

absolutely not in doubt. and no concerns about sending larger shockwaves over the whole of the eu and the market staying together? host: i don't thinks -- guest: i don't think so. we are seeing some reactions in the market, and that is always a cause for concern, but the sooner a government is put in place and you see the policies they are advocating, many of these concerns will dissipate. eu country has an economic concern, do other eu countries to be to the cause to stabilize it? that: yes, we are based on and we are based on having stable economies. that is why we are geared to help with that. we had the bailout programs for ireland, portugal, the spanish banks, and greece, and we have come through what was a very difficult financial crisis. we now see positive growth

across all that you. unemployment is back down --across all of the eu. unemployment is back down to single digits. host: as far as the future, kind that where we started with a relationship with our country -- what you see the brightpoint? huge: i think we have a amount of economic and commercial operation. we have 80% of foreign direct investment in united states coming from europe. europe is the single most important destination for export destination for 44 of your 50 states. aboute similar concerns security and foreign-policy issues, whether that is in the middle east, russia, where we quite right on counterterrorism, cybercrime. the list of areas where we cooperate and have shared views and values as far longer than the list of things that sometimes divides us. host: let's hear from dennis in virginia.

republican line. good morning, everybody. i have a few comments. first, i want to say to your guest, variety is the spice of life, not convenience. i heard you mention the euro taking over the european union. you know, we are losing our cultures and ethnicities and all the varieties that make life much better with all this monolithic, uniform nonsense that the countries in the european union are trying to go to. i think there is a bigger picture there which i won't talk about here, but it is unfortunate. separate art of, little bit, into our own unique culture so that it makes life more interesting as opposed to this android, sort of, circumstance and accepted system we are creating. there is that. with regards to the european union, a little variety.

guest: i could not disagree with you more, respectfully. your opinion is precisely a model of adversity. denmark, youin know you are in denmark. you don't think you are in latvia. when you are in italy, you do not think you are island. our language, our cuisine, our way of life -- we believe we can reconcile that with cooperation together, having meetings in conference rooms rather than clashes on the battlefield, and in the case of a single currency it makes more economic sense. respectfully, you could have 50at diversity here and have different currencies in the united states, but it would not make sense. having a dog is not undermine the diversity -- having a dollar does not undermine the diversity of this great country. there is no risk of homogenizing the european people, our histories, cultures, languages are far too rooted in many years

of history for that to ever happen and nobody is trying to do that. host: berkeley, california. independent line. david. i had two questions. i understood the ambassador to say the iran deal goes on forever, and that we could inspect anywhere that we want. i have read and heard that the deal expires in about 10, 12 years, and that we can not inspect military sites and perhaps other sites, too. could you cannot find that? guest: on both issues you are not fully correctly informed. the deal last forever. it is in perpetuity. the opening paragraphs of the deal say very clearly that iran definitively and in perpetuity gives up any aspiration to develop or acquire nuclear weapons. it is true there are certain provisions of the deal,

particularly related to enrichment of uranium that expire at different times, some after 15, some after 25 years, but the deal as such and commitment of iran never to acquire and develop nuclear weapons is forever, as long as they abide by the deal. on the issue of access, i repeat what i said before -- the international energy agency says they have full access to all sites they need to visit. there are certain special arrangements if there is a need to visit military says, but the continued willingness of the iranians to submit to all requests for investigations is for us an important part of determining whether iran is compliant with the deal and host: will be very vigilant on that host: point. david o'sullivan serves as the european ambassadors to the analysis. --ambassador to the analysis. guest: thank you so much, and to your listeners.

viewers i should say. host: the viewers will be able to be spent in open phones for the next half hour. host: we will take those calls when we come back. cities weekend, c-span's tour takes you to fort worth, texas. we will explore the literary scene and history. saturday, and author explores the history of democratic party in texas in his book "blue texas, the making of a multiracial democratic coalition in the civil rights era." above all the story i tell is how activists from different groups, african-americans, whites came together to build an alliance and coalition for civil rights, labor rights, and political power. texasn we will visit

christian university special election since the items from the in their shoes exhibit and hear from the journalist known for her most famous work "soul sister." jfkay, we look back at third visit where he gave an impromptu speech to thousands of spectators the morning he was assassinated. the other half of the day was in fort worth where everything seemed possible, where leadership was important. that half of the day is important to remember. >> then a visit to the stock at historic district. watch c-span's cities tour of fort worth, texas, saturday at noon eastern on c-span2's booktv and sunday at 3:00 p.m., working with our cable affiliates as we explore america. c-span, where history unfolds

daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies, and today we continue to bring you unfiltered congress -- coverage congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington, bc, and around the can -- washington, d.c., and around the country. c-span is brought you by your cable and satellite provider. "washington journal" continues. on twitter you can reach us -- and on the phone , host: off of "wall street journal" this morning, they look at efforts of the television

here this is michael phillips writing that since the strategic bombing campaign began in november u.s. airplanes have conducted strikes and that cutting off revenue received host: adding that since the restrictions were loosened, under previous rules, for instance

and then adding in the last column of the piece this morning that this new bombing campaign so far has deprived the television of a total of $44 million, according to the general. you can see that in "the wall street journal" this morning." frank is from delaware, republican line, first up on open phones. good morning, frank. caller: good morning. host: you are on. go ahead. caller: yes, i am calling about the last speaker you had, and like him and all the other people that come on that show, these people are ripping us off. ripping us off. do those people understand that term, ripping off? i mean donald trump is coming in there and trying to correct this problem that we have had for

years and years and years, and politicians would not even touch this issue. host: when you say ripping off, what do you mean? caller: well, they have $100 million, $200 million, we have a deficit with these people -- these people don't want to stop that. we have to do things to make them stop the things they are doing to us eliminating all the jobs and taking all the money and every thing. host: so the potential new tariffs, you are ok with that? caller: yes, i am. we try to work this out and they don't want to work it out because they know they are ripping us off. we have to do something to stop it, and it is the only thing you can do. host: looking aton post" highlights a decision by the commonwealth of virginia, a policy that took place under the obama administration -- they plan to expand medicaid

coverage, saying they voted to make insurance available to residents.-income the decision marks a leftward shift in the legislature and an enormous win for governor northam. virginia will join 32 other states in the district in expanding medicaid coverage. the measure is expected to take effect on january 1. this is not just helping this group of people, said senator frank wagner of virginia host: from pennsylvania. line.ican we will hear from virginia. virginia, good morning. caller: good morning. the way --

the way i think about the fair trade is the products we are getting from china are very inferior. their stele is inferior. their clothing -- you cannot get any cotton from them. everything is polyester and rayon. that is not good for us. cotton is a national -- natural fiber. it briefs. -- breaths. i think the only reason we got the fair trade agreement is so clinton could get his million-dollar speech. comes to whatit the administration should do, tariffs on the right decision. is that what you are saying? caller: yes. host: how do you think that helps in the long run? caller: it will help them to be fairer. host: democrats line. stephanie is next. stephanie is from highland, california. go ahead. caller: good morning, c-span.

i would like to speak on the obstruction case. i would like to thank all the adults in the room that stand out. i feel like we are in fifth grade with the he said, she said type of thing. everything the president has done to obstruct the russia investigation, and he has done it publicly. that is my opinion, and i cannot believe that everything he tweets we run and follow. i feel like i'm in fifth grade all over again. host: when it comes to this idea of obstruction, what do you see as telltale signs of that? caller: the lies. ness of firing everyone that could affect the russia investigation. anytime there is any type of truth that is going to come out in regards to the investigation. host: let's go to rich. rich is in ohio. republican line. caller: yes. guest: you are on. go ahead. caller: it seems like the trade

problems we are running into -- we are not starting anything can we are holding a mirror up to these different countries that have absorbent trade duties -- exorbitant trade duties on our products going in, and know we are saying is if it is so good to put the trade duties on us, maybe we'll put them on you, and when you think about it maybe they will drop them. they started it can we are trying to survive through this, which is costing our country trillions of dollars at i will hang up and listen to your answer. host: news from texas this morning concerning governor greg abbott and a proposal he has when it comes to guns. he said is proposing requiring parents to keep firearms locked away from children under the age of 18, a tightening of current laws that require

host: republican line. from fredericksburg, virginia. caller: thanks for taking my call. i was listening to the gentleman from the european union arena, and i want all people in the us

is to realize there are groups of greatness from the muslim this -- rate thiss -- rate -- rapists from the muslim arena. they call it something else. the individual who was a news man, they told him not to report on it. he continued to report on it, and within a four period period -hour they put him in prison -- four-hour period they put him in prison. the essence is they say free speech is gone now and appear toe americas be following the europe, will this take place in america as well. i would love for c-span2 look at it and do something. host: from st. louis, missouri.

democrats line. yes, yesterday at this meeting he stepped out of line and said democrats are why the kids are missing. like a person when he has the kids separated. i do not understand how you could support this man. he lies about everything. he is going to lie about something else. he makes things up. host: the unaccompanied alien children is the subject of a story on "washington times" front page. writing --

host: it says when it comes to

the price tag, according to the headline, 670 day --six on $70 and days when it costs. republican line. caller: i want to tell you about the big obama lie about how back in 2016 when he came out and said -- you all don't play this for some reason -- i am paraphrasing a little bit -- how any reasonable person, reasonable thinking person wouldn't believe that the russians are trying to tamper with the elections. when trump came out and said it first, and then he is going out making a press conference saying any reasonable thinking person wouldn't believe that the russians are trying to tamper with the elections and that trump needs to stop whining and go out and get votes. why don't you play that clip, pedro? host: it is available at c-span.org.

don. michigan. republican line. caller: am i on? host: yes, you are. caller: the other day there was a fellow on that had written a book about bernie sanders and he said republicans were always anxious to have worked but did not want to pay for it. i did some research. world war ii started under fdr, was a democrat. the start of korea was truman, a democrat. the9 of korea was eisenhower, a republican. the start of vietnam was jfk, a democrat. the end of vietnam was nixon, a republican. carter, a democrat had a little problem in iran and reagan had a little bit of trouble in granada. host: and how all of this applies to what mr. wheeler says -- jeff weaver, the author of the book --how does that apply? caller: it applies because he

accuse republicans of starting work. the republicans did not start any of these wars. he was 100% law --wrong. host: jeff weaver was on our bernie sanders. the interview is available on c-span.org if you want to take a look at it for yourself. byron on our republican line. cleveland, tennessee. you are next. good morning. caller: good morning. i was trying to call into the ambassador, but he is already gone. what president trump is trying to do is bring our manufacturing and aluminum.eel if we had to fight world war ii again today we would lose because we don't have the manufacturing base to sustain our military or anything of that nature. i just wanted to throw that out there. host: how do you think that

tariffs will fix that in balance? balance? caller: i think they will bring the manufacturing of steele, a lumen, other products back into the u.s. so we can sustain aluminum,--steel, other products into the u.s. so we can sustain ourselves. host: "usa today" it's a follow-up look at what resulted in the tweet from roseanne barr. war hit where it hurtss ."

host:host: the president of the united states sending out a bob eiger, head of abc host: lane is next. houston, texas.

republican line. caller: i want to say i feel sorry for president trump in one respect. want to make my comments short, but he is wrong on the insurance thing. host: what insurance thing? caller: people that need insurance. you know he is trying to get rid of obamacare. host: right. caller: you can't just throw people off the insurance rolls. host: ok. and paul from minnesota is our last call. republican line. caller: yes, this is paul. i was wondering -- i heard something last week on the news about the votes and stuff, and they were talking about all the votes that hillary had won, but the electoral is what actually turned trump into the president. i was wondering do the votes really count for the people voting? host: the popular vote was 3

million plus. the electoral college is where the president won the contest between he and hillary clinton. it is the electoral college that determines based on statewide votes. caller: i was wondering how that worked out and stuff like that. host: what you think of that process? caller: i don't like it. i think when the people vote, they should all be counted, no matter who it is, whether we like them or not. host: ok. that is paul from minnesota. republican line. last call on this open phones. coming up, we will be joined by suzanne woolley, with bloomberg, a personal finance writing, -- writer, talking about how people worldwide are not ready for retirement when it comes to their savings. we will have the discussion next. later, republican senator mike lee will be here with his new book "written out of history." those conversations coming up when "washington journal"

continues. >> join us live sunday at noon eastern for our year-long special, "in-depth-fiction edition. i would have to save where talking about creativity, and i know many writers and so on -- people that have a lot to say the worldted by perspective on the world of storytelling. the whole idea there is a storytelling -- that there is a triangle -- that you must learn to do this if you are going to be a fiction writer, it is necessary, but not sufficient. it is not going to make you a great writer, and then you sit down and you discover that actually, they could all do it. there is nothing about learning to do those things that impedes

creativity. >> her books include "typical and the promise ."nd," and "who's irish new andnday live at three cup in eastern on booktv on c-span2. "q&a," "the moralist." psychologicalhuge -- and i read it, but tangles.im to ethical some people have said his stubbornness in later life was a

reaction to his father's strictness and they can point to one story where his father made him revise a little thing that he wrote a whole bunch of times. the suppositions are that wilson resented this, but he was a good boy and put up with it. mention, ind every wilson's letters of his father, they are worshipful. he never had a unkind word to say about his father. >> presbyterian minister. >> presbyterian minister. sundayunday at 8:00 -->> 8:00 p.m. eastern on "q&a." >> "washington journal " continues. host: joining us from new york, suzanne woolley. she writes on retirement and other financial issues. thank you for joining us. guest: my pleasure. show the viewers

the piece, "the world is prepared for retirement." how did you come to the conclusion? guest: there was a large study across 15 countries and it showed that by and large we are way under-saved for retirement, not just here in the u.s., but around the world -- in japan, china, hungary, poland, there is a global dark of savings that will be adequate enough to fund us and what is going to be a long retirement. host: is there a common reason why you are finding those trends not only here in the united states, but worldwide? guest: part of it is tied to longevity. we are living longer, so we will have longer lives in retirement. that means we have a longer anding period, of course, at the same time we are seeing a lot of governments find their pension systems under a lot of pressure, as we in the u.s. know well.

that is one big part of the stool, and also, you know, we have defined contribution and defined pension plans in the u.s., but globally this report found only about one-third of people around the world had a, sort of, defined retirement savings plan with an employer match. with wages being fairly stagnant for a long time now, there has not been a lot of opportunity to save you could phrase it that way. reason why,f the your peace talks about the aspect is due to a quiz. i will read some questions and talk about the wider answer, why this country does to the idea of the world of people that are not saving enough. there is question number one. suppose you had $100 in a savings account and interest rate was 2% per year, after five

years, how much do you think you would have if you left the money to grow? more than $102, less than $102, do not know, refused to answer? the correct answer is more than $102. interest andmpound how much money grows and compounds over time. this is crucial thinking about retirement because we hear you should save early and often. the beauty of saving early is the money compounds. a slowrows upon money, snowball effect. if you grasp that concept, you know even saving a little bit now can add up to a lot later. that is a fundamental finance concept. host: how did people do when they were asked this question?

guest: not very well. graspof people did not the concept. 50%, maybe not that bad. across the board, the answers were a little shocking and they show the financial literacy was a little bit lacking. will have these conversations about retirement, the worldwide goal of seeing how people are doing worldwide in the u.s. (202) 748-8000 if you are over 65. (202) 748-8001 if you're between 35-65. (202) 748-8002 if you are 35 and under. we will be talking to suzanne woolley of bloomberg who writes about retirement and savings. second question is similar, imagine the interest

rates on your savings account was 1% for a year and inflation was two years. after one year of imagine what you could buy with the money in this account? i'm assuming a lot of people did not get this one as well? guest: the answer is less. you are earning 1%, inflation is 2%. that is eating at your buying power. as inflation eats away at your savings at a higher rate than your savings is accruing, you have less dollars. the reason why that is important is because one area that is is health care costs. inflation is so high in health care. people don't always factor that into their retirement plans enough. high enough savings for health care. it is one area where it is a huge expense as we get older,

especially as we live longer and may, unfortunately, have longer, unhealthier lives. you brought up was because of health. there is a chart that cites people's concerns about retirement. on top of that is declining physical health, then running out of money, and not being able to stay active, getting alzheimer's or dementia. guest: alzheimer's is a big concern. 31% of people in the u.s. were concerned about that. in spain it was 53%. to running out of money. the last years of our lives are so expensive if we have to have long-term care, if we need to be in an assisted living facility, so running out of money and being less active and running about alzheimer's, they are

tying into the high cost of health care as we get older. host: because you are here and you report on these, we get a lot of messages about safer retirement. yet, why do you think people don't respond to that constant messaging? guest: financial literacy has proven to be a tough nut to crack. there have been attempts to teach it in elementary school, which i think is great. it is something parents would do well to teach of their kids in terms of an allowance and basic savings and investment principles as they grow older. that theseis just are abstract concepts. until you are in the throes of needing to make a financial decision to get a mortgage or take out an insurance policy, you don't spend a lot of time

prepping for it. it is almost as though we need just in time financial education. with -- when faced with important decisions, we do finance cramming. it is at a time when there might be a lot of emotion and fear when you are choosing between different options. it has proven to be hard to teach people these concepts. for those) 748-8000 over the age of 65. 65,ou fall between 35 and (202) 748-8001. are 35 and002 if you under. is there a rule of film how much money should be saved for retirement? how much moneyb should be saved for retirement? guest: the honest answer you have to give is it depends.

it depends on your age, it depends on where you live, it depends on how healthy you are. thumb, the easiest way to "save money for retirement" is stay healthy. it is not a dollar and cents thing, but you will save money down the line. if you look at hypertension, the person with high blood pressure may spend $2000 more per year than someone with out it year after year. one way to save money is to stay healthy. are to saveof thumb 12% to 15% of your salary. some say to save 20%. that is not realistic for a lot of people.

15% of your salary if possible. if you have an employer with a match, if you can, save up to that match. have you have -- as you have heard a million times, that is free money. florida, over 65, you are on with our guest. i would like to tell you, i'm 70 years old and i did save for retirement. all of theas eaten money i saved and made it virtually worthless impaired to salaries given to public employees, the pension funds they are given. people saving only give banks the opportunity to save their by 40, andiply it create more inflation. the things i paid for in my 20's and 30's are out of reach for me i did save.hough

my house is paid for, my car is paid for. i would tell young people if they want to save for future for should do things themselves that would get them out of the financial system's government has created and get a sustainable lifestyle. by property, grow their own fruits and vegetables, and buy gold and silver that will hold their value throughout the inflationary period created by wall street. guest: fine property is a good point. when i think of younger people, there is a lot of entrepreneurship, the gig economy. if you can take control of your own future and create your own is a wonderful thing. being able to invest in real a steady income stream from that is great. , it is a store

of value, but inflation is a tough issue. it sounds like you did everything right, but the way and healthy is care costs are, especially health care, it is hard to fight against inflation. i guess my advice for younger people would be to try to take more control of your future. constantly improve your skills so you can adapt. we have a rapidly changing labor force. technology is so disruptive. basically, keeping yourself educated as best you can is one way to combat all of these forces that are limning down on us. category of 65he

and older. hello. caller: hello, thanks for c-span. college students in career services, have for many years. as we have seen, i've read the , theon the gig economy students now graduate from atversity and are looking many different options. savings is not one of them. the future is not one of them. they are looking at what job they are getting, what social impact. i would encourage you to look at the population of 20 to 30 years olds how they are saving and how that might be changed because of the freelance economy we are seeing. guest: that is a really good

point. the freelance economy is great that it brings us freedom, but it also means that we don't have employer-provided health care, for example. when you are young, that may not be an issue, but we know how expensive health care is. i think it is great what a lot of you and people are doing. there is focus on socially responsible investing and what impact am i making on the planet? wonderful. socially marry the responsible aspects we want to bring to the world with the creating security for our future and having to focus on that materialistic aspect. young peopleee focused on is experiences now. which i think is great, but at the same time i worry.

just saving early, we've heard it a million times, but it is so important to start saving early for your retirement. it is one of the only ways you will be able to afford retirement. there is a balance people have to work to achieve. host: northwestern mutual concluded 21 percent of those polled save nothing for retirement. eight percent saving between $75,000 and $25,000. 25% have over $200,000. -- and $125,000. 25% have over $200,000. guest: the $200,000 is a little high. studies that the federal reserve has have come out about how people can meet a

financial emergency, like a car breaking down or a health bill, and how would they pay it? could they take it out of savings, or would they have to borrow or sell something? a depressing number of people if they had a $400 expense would have to borrow or sell something to meet that expense. that is dangerous. having to borrow that money, maybe not in the most ideal way, may be on your credit card and the interest starts accruing, it can lead to a slippery slope. not only do people not have enough money saved for retirement, they don't have can help funds that them get over bumps in the road that can send their financial lives on a decline. 35-65, (202)egory 748-8001. hello. caller: i would like to develop

an idea. of course, i am upset how little people save and how so many people don't have enough money to get through the slightest problem. i want to suggest there is a natural rate of savings for your old age. familiar -- for the sake of the audience, there is a natural rate of unemployment you cannot go below. somebody will always be between jobs. that person will not have a job because they are changing jobs. that is why employment cannot go down to zero -- unemployment cannot go down to zero. we don't count the people that cannot work because of a lack of skills or infirmity.

the total number of people working in america is barely half if you counted the total population. children can't work, right? by analogy, how much should people work, how much should people save? , when you think about the problems of old age, there is the natural logic in spending your money while you are healthy. host: thanks, color. -- thanks, caller. guest: there are people that think a lot of baby boomers are not spending enough. that they are living in tighter circumstances than they need to .e out of fear i think that probably is happening to a certain degree. fight this basic fear of running out of money, which

is very strong. your put into a bind. spending while you are healthy and young in theory is great, but there is this trade-off. -- like i said, all about finding a balance. it is a tough issue. spending today versus saving toorrow, you don't want spend your healthiest year's saving every penny you can get and not enjoy experiences because you may get older and be unhealthy. your point is very well made. i don't think there is any hard cut solution our answer. host: from dallas, texas, cynthia is next. caller: i have a question for

the guest. let me explain a little about my situation. my husband and i were financially ignorant. in theed for a long time houston area. he built up retirement. in 2012 there was a medical .mergency where i nearly died trying tohim off work take care of me. he ran out of days off and they ultimately fired him for not coming to work enough. following that, we had a difficult time. he spent three years with three different jobs, working, laid off, working, laid off. we depleted our 401(k) savings trying to make ends meet. now he is working in september. we are doing a 401(k). there is another thing called a

456 we could borrow from the fleet needed to. what should we do to rebuild? my husband is 52. i have been a stay-at-home mom and housewife. we are trying to situate ourselves to the best of our ability with the time we have left. host: thank you. guest: it sounds like you are doing a really good job of bouncing back from very tough circumstances. back to you for getting and getting door -- starting to build up your financial life again. it sounds like you are doing the right thing with the 401(k). i don't know if the employer gives a match, but the first thing i would do is build up the emergency savings fund.

it sounds like you have a vehicle to do that in. i would focus on building that so you don't have to dip into your 401(k) at a later point. there are penalties for dipping into your 401(k). you spent all that time building it up. it is unfortunate you had to dip into it to get by. there is no magic bullet. i would just keep doing what you are doing. when you get the emergency fund to a level where you think it will cover whatever medical expense may come your way or thet knock you off financial path you are on, i would focus on what you are makingng in in a 401(k), sure it is a low-cost index fund in equities and adding to that slowly over time. time thatwe are in a

is nerve-racking, because equities are very high level. i would never say, put all your money in equities. over time, equities do have the best return. you are fairly young, so you do have time for the money to grow. keep on doing what you are doing. all: do you get comments the time, look at the volatility of the stock market, why should i gamble? guest: it is true. i totally understand that position. it makes me nervous. what we talk about in personal finance is not market timing. we think that we can pick the when the market has fallen the most, but research shows if you steadily invest over time and don't freak out and sell at a low and by at a high you can do

well in the long run. you have to have the stomach for it and a long time horizon. you need 20 years or something if you are looking to -- 20 years or something. if you're looking to retire soon, i would not put a lot of money in the stock market today. 35-65 category. caller: this may be one of the onlyimportant, if not the important dialogue. this is not just an issue, it is a crisis. nations, they save 30% of their income and they make less than we do. , i wanted tohat explain what she said, how

staying in the market regardless of what happens, putting in money consistently matters long term. and the purpose for a good quality term life insurance. third, studies show people spend a in their 80's lot of time at assistance living and need long-term care. explain to the listeners and i will get off the line and listen to what you have to say. points.hose are great i was talking about dollar crosstab urging. a 401(k) lets you do because every paycheck it subtracts from your paycheck and throws it in there. over time, you are buying at highs and lows and it averages out.

long-term care insurance is really important. the problem is it is really expensive. a number of companies have gone out of the long-term care market because they didn't price previous policies very well. it waslled back because not as profitable for them as they thought it would the, because people were living longer. finding a long-term care policy is challenging. it is something you should may start looking at in your 50's, 55-60. i would personally go to a family financial planner if i were thinking of getting one. they are complicated and it is wade for anyone to through the insurance document. term life insurance is a good point.

buy. a good protection to host: i will redo the headline. maybe you could do an explainer. america is minting more millionaire retirees than ever. can you give us a synopsis? guest: yes. i think that was from a story i wrote. the gap between the rich and the poor and the rich and the really rich is widening. the stock market is creating a lot of millionaires. is getting close to being the longest ever, which is great for people who have but ain the stock market, lot of americans don't have money in the stock market. they don't even have a retirement plan. it is great for the people that already have money and are in the stock market or have a private business that is doing .ell along with the economy

business owners are in a fitting from the economic prosperity we are seeing in some areas of america today. you know, it is perverse. we are minting more millionaires than ever. we also have a huge problem in lf between vast gu the rich and the poor. it is only getting wider. c.st: washington, d. jeff? caller: our parents generation had a defined-benefit system. amount at aan certain age, then for the rest of your life. we were told that is not as good of the system as the new 401(k) system and we would get better

results from the 401(k) system. did we have these concerns with a defined-benefit system? i will take my answer off the air. thank you. guest: that is a great question. defined benefit plans were great. we didn't have to think about them. we didn't have to manage that money. as defined-benefit dinosaur, we have been asked to become money managers. we don't have training in that. companies do offer some education, but there has been a tremendous shift of responsibility to the individual to manage that money. we all wish we had defined-benefit pension plans. you had a professional managing them.

risks thantake more we could because they had it spread over such a large long timeople and a horizon. risks andable to take over the long-term have a greater return. 401(k)s, i'm glad we have them and i love when they have matching contributions, but they a hugelycreated greater retirement security in america at all. have, but not as good as a defined-benefit plan. host: connecticut. caller: good morning. my husband and i did everything you are supposed to do. we have a modest retirement where we live on our social security check and rarely touch our savings. pay is concerning me is the

go cuts that will be triggered by the deficit and tax cuts that will cut medicare and social security benefits. reluctantly voted for it on the assurances of mitch mcconnell that congress would address passing a waiver to these cuts. that seems to have dropped off causing it a lot of insecurity. how much will my benefits be cut ? how much more will i have to pay? i wish that would be addressed more in the public forum. i will take my answer off air. thank you. are great points. i wish i had an answer, but it is impossible to know what is bubbling around in washington. you are right, there is so much on so many,

fronts. social security is going to run into some financial issues. supposedly it will "run out." out, not really running just at that time if life continues as it is now and there are no changes to social security, it means our benefits will be reduced to 77%. we will have our benefits cut by 1/3. they will no longer be able to pay the full benefits we have worked 35 years to get. there is more talk about this now. stay tuned do what is going on in washington. there will be more talk in the coming months. there is not much that we as citizens can do other than write

our congress people to express our concern about cuts to medicare, medicaid, social security. it is a huge issue. we are sort of grappling with it now. without a lot of clarity, unfortunately. host: her latest piece, "the world is not prepared for retirement" is available on the website. suzanne, thank you for your time. we will hear from republican senator mike lee from utah, here to talk about his book "written out of history." that conversation, next. ♪

>> commencement speeches all this week in prime time. at 8:00 p.m. eastern tim cook, governor kasich, governor brown, and congressman gutierrez. 8:00 p.m., jimmy carter, betsy devos, representative meadows, and mayor bottoms. >> sunday night on "afterwor ds," "suicide of the west" arguing that populism, nationalism, and tribalism is threatening the west. that western

civilization as we understand it, contemporary american western democratic civilization, is unnatural. what do you mean? >> if you took humans and cleared them of civilizational education, we wouldn't have conversations about books or podcasts, we would team up into little troops and defend ourselves against animals and other troops. that is our actual nature. that is the point of "lord of flies." you have kids that are the pinnacle of western civilization, from a british boarding school. the second you put them back into their natural environment tribal, become superstitious, attack each other. that is humanity. booktv.span 2's

"washington journal" continues. lee serves asmike the republican from utah. he is the author of the latest book "written out of history: the forgotten founders that thought big government." the think of washington and jefferson. those aren't who you focus on in this book? peoplethere are more than those whose names leap out of the page at us. i wanted people to connect with some of the lesser-known founders, who most americans don't necessarily know about, but from whom they could learn a lot about our constitutional system. host: what do these people share with the big founders when it comes to the idea of government and how big it should be?

guest: one thing they share is they understand the risks associated with the excessive accumulation of power in the hands of the few. one of my favorite chapters is about an iroquois indian chief who taught ben franklin about federalism. the basic structural protection in the constitution, i call it vertical protection because it keeps most of the power at the state and local level. he taught benjamin franklin about federalism by showing him ow saying you can break one aero easily. you take five or six and bind them together and it is almost to break. tribes came together and were able to operate as distinct tribes and govern at the local level, but they were one nation for purpose of external affairs. that served as the template for our constitutional system as it would develop decades later.

host: luther martin, why is he important to the idea of small government? sometimes referred to as the maryland farmer, he was the longest serving attorney general in maryland history and a delegate to the constitutional convention. him aason i find fascinating is he was drunk throughout the constitutional convention and grew more eloquent as he drank. he was well known for his drinking. as a lawyer he was once hired by client to required him to not drink during the trial. he got around that by soaking bread in brandy and eating the bread from time to time. he said if we are not careful we could end up creating the same centralized power we just fought to throw off. thesewhat do you think not thiss, why is that

day and age when it comes to small government? we have forgotten his name because he didn't fit the founding fathers, white male big landowners. we have forgotten most of the power is supposed to be close to the people. host: if you want to ask about -- book or related topics if you want to post your thoughts on twitter, you can do so. but -- person, mom mom why wish he important? guest: she was a slave in pre-colonial massachusetts.

revolution, after she learned of language included in the constitution and learned that language had been drafted in the home of her master, language that said all human beings are free and equal. she said if all human beings are free and equal under massachusetts state restitution, why should i be owned by another person? she went to a lawyer not far from where she lived who had language.ed in the -- been involved in the drafting of the language. she won her freedom. they doing that she opened the door for every other slave in america to gain their freedom. this took decades to complete the process, but she opened the door. he is a delegate to the state

convention a massachusetts. of the seven individuals who signed the declaration of independence who attended the constitutional convention, he was the only one that refused to sign the document of the group of seven. he wanted a bill of rights. he pushed the idea of the bill of rights 12 days before the convention wrapped up. most of the delegates did not want to include that. he withheld his signature. he continued to advocate for a bill of rights after the constitution was ratified and we'll him a huge debt of gratitude for bringing that about. -- we owe him a huge debt of gratitude for bringing that about. host: how did you find them? throughoutllect them the year. whename interested in gary i think he is a

remarkable human being. host: for those you profiled, what lessons do they teach about small government and practically how could what they learned then the apply to this day and age? guest: in many ways, the challenges are at the same we faced two and a half centuries ago. the context is different, our economy has grown, but it remains that government today, fallible,re run by mortal human beings who are self-interested. as james madison explained in federalist 51, if we were angels we wouldn't have need of government. if we had access to angels to govern over us, and we wouldn't need these rules. we have to have rules around government so we don't harm each other. host: our guest is the author of "written out of history: the for

gotten founders who fought big government." (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independents, it is (202) 748-8002. you can respond on our twitter feed @cspanwj. while we have calls coming in, a couple of related topics. trey gowdy in the news for what he said about the fbi activities when it comes to the tramp campaign. why do you make of his assessment and do you agree? i haven't seen the documents. i will say that the mere prospect that the fbi could have deliberately embedded someone perhapshe campaign, with the possibility of engaging in partisan political manipulation through our nation's flagship law organization is deeply troubling. i have not seen what he has seen or documents that i think are

pertinent. if that were true, it would be deeply troubling. for that reason we have to get to the bottom. he said the american people should be thankful for the fbi's involvement. should bet statement correct if all they were doing was protecting the campaign from interference of foreign governments. if that is all it was, one would not have to question why they didn't go to the candidate and clear it with the campaign and to say this is what we are doing. that is one thing i'm looking forward to finding out. host: what you think of the president's constant comments on spy gate. spies, informants into my campaign, surveillance much? what do you think of those responses from the president? guest: if the president believes

the fbi infiltrated his campaign, he has reason to be concerned. some, including the media, are mocking him for this. before they mock him, they need to get to the bottom of what happened. host: go ahead. caller: yes, i think mr. lee is rewriting history. i believe the founders created the largest and best government the world had ever seen. public education is a prime example. they were very anticorporate. corporations only existed for 35 years and they had to be done away with. i think mr. lee is rewriting history to suit his vision of america, which i disagree with. host: senator lee? guest: i respectfully but

strongly disagree with your assessment i have done anything to rewrite history. generation and individuals i focus on were themselves, through their words and life experiences, larry of over powerful national government. the is one reason why federal government came up with a document that balanced the need for a government that was sufficient to supply the things only a national government could provide, but limited to allow for more autonomy. you point out the benefits of having a public education system . our public education system in the k-12 school systems consist of actions taken by state and local governments. by and large that is not the federal government. it is one example that i can as to how power needs

to be allocated according to its appropriate level. most power should be close to people at the local level. it is not republican or democratic, it is a constitutional issue. most people in for more, -- in vermont, would prefer to have a single-payer government run health care system. let them do it. they would have an easier time with the federal government weren't already occupying so much space. this is a politically agnostic principle. we have to allow more people in america get more of the government they want and less of what they don't want high respecting the federal era allocation of power. host: hi. him,r: i was listening to the conversation about the fbi being involved.

i think putting someone in place was the way to go, because in drugty, it is just like deals and other things they are involved in. they put someone in place. when they put somebody in place, that is their job to find out what is going on on both sides of the fence. guest: i don't disagree with the idea that is what law enforcement agencies do. what i'm saying is we don't know the full story. if they were putting someone in place to collect information on if the campaign was being manipulated from the outside, it begs the question, why didn't they alert the candidate himself? more than that? were they trying to influence the outcome of the election? was our own fbi trying to inject

itself for tinkering with the campaign? those are legitimate questions that need to be asked, and i look forward to finding out the answers. host: independent line. caller: i admire the senator, people have said about our foreign entanglements. intelligence to britain and the commonwealth and singapore observers. commentlike for him to on british military intelligence on a company called datuka. -- even lindsey graham was concerned they were being xchangedated and they e with each other's country so they could say they were not

spying on their own citizens. ofst: you raised a number issues. most of what you're describing fall under categories i know nothing about. suggesting anyce of the individuals you mentioned have been blackmailed or manipulated. as to the issue of foreign thisglements, generally, was of concern to the founding generation and should be of concern to us today. the american people expect us to protect american national security, and we have to be focused on keeping americans safe rather than involving ourselves through tentacles that reach around the world. when we are in a position that have to fight wars that are not our own, not our own making or our own choosing, that was not the purpose of the founding generation. host: another tweet about wishing he had not appointed jeff sessions, why do you think

of attorney general sessions' performance so far? guest: attorney general sessions is a good friend of mine. we were colleagues in the senate for six years. i have enormous respect for him as a former colleague and legal professional. the attorneynt for general and president to have a good relationship. i'm not going to weed out who should do what, but i think that is important and hope they can resolve whatever differences got.ve if they can't, i think the administration will be harmed. it is important for them to have a good relationship of trust between the white house and department of justice. host: the recusal the president keeps bringing up, is that something you supported general sessions in? guest: at the time he made the

decision, i didn't question it. generally speaking that is their choice. i did not dig into it a lot. looking back, i'm not sure it was necessary, but it is a decision he made. host: go ahead. caller: good morning. you have pointed out something that seems to be emerging regarding the media and their lack of coverage of certain things, some of the conservatives might call them being hypocritical about covering something one way and not covering the other thing the other way. specifically, some of the donald trump collusion robert mueller investigations. if we didn't have multiple media outlets, most americans would only get things from one side. i will hang up and listen to your answer.

a fair point. one thing we have seen in connection with the mueller investigation is we had people inerly willing to believe collusion. i have not seen evidence that there was collusion between the russian government and the trump campaign. some of the same figures in media and our political world are willing to say because they haven't seen evidence of partisan political manipulation by the fbi into the trump campaign, it didn't happen. the fact someone hasn't seen evidence doesn't mean it didn't occur. it is difficult to prove the dog did not bark. provingidn't hear it, the negative can be a difficult thing. right, it is good to have c-span. it provides a neutral forum for

people to express alternative viewpoints. democrat's line. do you agree with the fbi director ray that outing informants puts us at a national security risk? they talked about trey gowdy, do you think he is a liar? he said the fbi did it by the book? is trey gowdy a liar? i don't think he is.do you agree with judy only giuliani that this is a pr campaign to cover up trump's crimes? guest: the first one, i think it is important to protect informants. dangerousormants is and puts us at risk as a country, certainly puts our law enforcement agencies like the fbi at risk when they are out. trey gowdy, i do not think he is

a liar. he is a dear friend and someone i greatly respect. all i am saying is i have not seen the documents he is saying, and i don't know he has seen all the documents to make a final herermination as to whet there was improper motive or influence by our law enforcement agencies into the campaign of donald trump. as to the giuliani statement, those were statements i would never have made, words i would have never used. mr. giuliani can speak for himself on that. perhaps what he was trying to say is he thinks the mueller campaign is rushing to judgments. the word to use were substantially stronger than that, and they cause me concern. not words i would have ever used. more mr. giuliani said

disclosure is needed from the fbi before the president would consider talking to robert mueller. purport toll not give the president of the united states advice. that needs to happen between the president and his lawyers. host: in washington, d.c., democrat's line. caller: i would liked to say to c-span i'm glad you put this person on. we do need to see the other sides of our legislators outside what is typical for their party. this book is something that is important -- an important book. e,would like to say to mike le you are the kind of person that would be good to have for a presidential candidate. someone who has illustrated they things people about. party carre

we care about the truth being revealed, our history, other than the majority that participated. guest: thank you for your comment and the kind things you said about my book, "written out of history." i hope you have had a chance to read it. it makes a good father's day gift and a good purchase for anyone interested in learning more about our founding era. some say when a senator looks in the mirror they see a president, that is not what i see, but i appreciate your comments nonetheless. host: governor romney running for the senate, is that something you are supporting? guest: as a matter of policy i do not make an endorsements in utah primaries. i will endorse the winner in the senate race. that primary will be held a month from now. governor romney has been significantly ahead in the po

lls. unless something changes i could working with senator romney, as you referred to him. him,ld love to work with or with dr. mike kennedy his challenger. would you say that you and romney share the same ideals philosophically? guest: yes. there is almost no one in the senate that votes with me every time. everyone has their own viewpoints and are entitled to cast their own views as they see fit. host: california, you are on with senator mike lee. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to bring up the irs. i am one of the few people that would give ith we more money. you talk about limited government. i am in california.

i see a lot of people, friends , people making in the payingve digits and little or no income tax. i paid taxes my whole life. it seems to me that we the people vote to make a bigger and more intrusive, more generous, government, but we vote that somehow the other guy should have to pay for it. i wanted to hear what you ofught about the funding government and the size of government. i would like your views. guest: a system of taxation in government serves a couple of critical roles. one is to pay for government. the other is to communicate to society the cost of government. i think that is important for people to recognize. to the extent you are suggesting that wealthy americans don't pay

their fair share, at least as it relates to regular income, the evidence would suggest otherwise. the tax code itself and progressive tax structure we have would suggest otherwise. there is no system of taxation that will be perfect. why itne of the reasons is important for us to respect these founding-era principles that believe most governing decisions to be made at the state and local level. in california you will make decisions that are different about the role of government in utah,ould make colorado, or wisconsin. any state deserves access to more of the government they want and less of what they don't want. one of the reasons i wrote "written out of history" is to remind people. caller: good morning.

i have a question for senator lee. is, what did trey gowdy actually see on the assistant attorney general ramstein. anon't think he saw unredacted report. i think he was given the information from stain wanted to give him. as far as attorney general jeff sessions, he did not have to recuse himself from the russia investigation. if you go back and look at the nots at the time, there was any conclusion or investigation that he was involved in. lee andke for senator the other senators to let's look into what actually happened if you want to get to the truth. guest: thanks for your questions.

let me answer the second one first. you are probably right. as far as i can tell looking i am hindsight is 2020, not aware of any reasons jeff sessions had to recuse himself. you did so anyway, perhaps out of an abundance of caution. that is why we have redundancies the old into the department of justice. and four in the department of justice are nominated by the president, nominated by the senate, and serve at the pleasure of the president. we have that so if there is a recusal you have someone else in a presidentially appointed, cante-confirmed role that step in. you may be right he did not have to recuse himself. i don't know that there's much more for us to conclude.

this was ultimately his decision. your question about trey gowdy and what he might have seen, that is consistent with the point i was making earlier. we don't know what he saw. he saw only those documents provided to him. it doesn't mean that he saw the sum total of all documents related to the fbi involvement in spying on the observation the trump campaign. that is why i don't think we can judgmentick to rush to on that, not only because we don't know what he saw in our what he didn't see. host: it just happened that the president announced in a tweet that the conservative author and filmmaker charged with campaign finance, getting a pardon from the president. what do you think about that? guest: i saw that moments before he came on the air. i have always had great respect his academicfor

work and what he's done for the american people to educate them about our history and our system of government. hisve always felt like prosecution seemed a little bit odd. i felt like he was treated harshly for what happened. "written out of history, the forgotten founders who for -- fought big government." thank you for your time. guest: thank you. host: we will see you then, tomorrow. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] ♪

>> facebook director of global politics and government outreach, katie hard bath, part on the role ofy democracy. live coverage begins on a website and listen on the c-span radio app. commencement speeches all this week in prime time, tonight at 8 p.m. eastern. the apple ceo, tim cook, j governor john kasich, governor kate brown, and luis gutierrez. betsy devos, representative mark meadows, and the atlanta mayor.

andovering the white house congress during the trump administration this is from the annual political summit in colorado springs earlier this month, with bill kristol and fred barnes. >> thanks, steve, it's great to be with you again here. the weather has been wonderful so far. trump,nel is on donald washington, the swamp, chaos, kind of an easy way into a more weighty of policy matters later on. these are reporters who can give you an idea of what it's like to cover donald trump's washington. steve set up this panel mostly to make fred and me feel old. [laughter]