part of our 50 capitals tour with the help of art cable partners gci. the bus continues across alaska by ferry to the city of haynes, instead of our stop and -- ahead of our stop in fairbanks. we will feature our visit to alaska. watch alaska weekend on c-span, c-span.org, or listen on the c-span radio app. here on c-span, newsmakers is next with republican senator chuck grassley of iowa. that is followed by an oral argument for supreme court cases decided this week 11 states to collect sales tax of online retailers. on q&a, a conversation with university of pennsylvania law school professor amy wax, who talks about the limits of free expression on college campuses in the u.s. susan: senator charles grassley of iowa, the chairman of the

very important senate judiciary committee. he is our guest this week. joining me is bob kusak. the editor in chief of the hill. we will be joined in a bid by alana shore of politico. as we get started, the house is still in progress with migration legislation. with your many years watching this town, what is your view of what this city and country went through over the past couple of days regarding immigration policy? where do you think we are going to end up? sen. grassley it proves a lot of phone calls and journals covering issues like that, it can turn things around very quickly. not only in congress but in the presidency as we have seen. there is a very good chance at , least in the senate, we are -- i know senators on the bipartisan basis are going to start to work next week to see how we can compromise to get a bill passed. nobody wants children separated from their parents.

there is some court settlement things that demand after 20 days you can't hold children in housing -- in detention with their parents. we have to at least change that law but there is more needs to be done to make sure we can process these asylum cases faster. make sure we have adequate housing for them given i think there is a good chance. committee there was a very bipartisan discussion of this. some differences of opinion. but certainty we ought to get some legislation passed. we approve of what the president did but i would call that a short-term solution. the solution has to be a legislative one. we should not be pointing our finger at the president because

we are elected to legislate. you bring certainty with legislative action. ,usan: a point of leverage capitol hill has been trying to work on immigration legislation for months unsuccessfully. for those in the administration who saw this policy as a means of moving capitol hill, do you think it was an effective one? sen. grassley: you mean the president doing what he did? think there is a lot of things that maybe people think congressman are supposed to know. exec a laws are enforced, you don't know that right away. i think the public's attention was brought to it. for instance, it has been 3 or 4 months since i got the phone calls from iowans, outraged about anything the federal government is doing. iowans have been on top of this.

maybe people back at the grassroots of america or even iowa do not think they can make an impact on congress, but the publicity and people understanding the problem, the fact at least every senator i know does not think kids should be separated, bringing things to a head. bob: on the immigration issue did you contact the white house , to lobby president trump to move forward with the executive order? the press coverage was extremely negative for the white house. sen. grassley: no i did not. , there were 12 people who signed a letter. i have been looking at the case we talked about. decided the only way you are going to keep these children with their parents and do it with certainty is to change the law. then when i saw the house moving in that direction, the president endorsing one of those bills,

it was similar to what we were trying to do in the senate, i thought there was a good chance it might bring congressional action. i still hope that is possible. because, you know the president , can issue executive orders. tomorrow he can change it. or a new president can come along. on an issue like keeping kids with their parents, it ought to be law, not the whim of a president. bob: are you optimistic it will pass the senate? some democrats have raised concerns, even with a narrow legislation they have concerns about indefinite keeping the kids and families together. sen. grassley: the best thing to do is to consider the legislation and hope next week when people like cruz and feinstein sit-down that is a , broad range of opinion. if they can get together, we will pass legislation.

susan: to move on to a different topic, criminal justice reform. it is one you worked very closely on. right now there is a bit of a stalemate. the majority leader has said he is not interested in bringing up the prison built for more comprehensive package. have you reached out to anyone with any offer to break this? sen. grassley: always reaching out to the white house through his special assistant, mr. kushner. that goes back to the first month that the president was president of the united states. my very first meeting with the president included a short conversation with mr. kushner. can we work together? he feels the best way to work together is with prison reform. that is 100% of a loaf of bread. that is probably one fourth of the loaf. i think we have to think we bring about social justice and

compassion for people that are unfairly treated under mandatory minimums is our sentencing reform, and particular because it is so bipartisan. senator lee on one end, senator durbin on the other, i think that is the best hope of moving. i think the opportunity to do that is when we do prison reform and sentencing reform together. elana: you have been freaking out constantly and we have not seen any movement. are you at all optimistic for this congress? sen. grassley: the thing that makes the optimistic is we have high-level people in the white house that think some of it needs to be passed. think as legal support we are building support , almost every day, when the

white house sees that i better say instead of the white house, when president trump finally comes to the understanding that this is very bipartisan and this can be a win for him, he needs to show bipartisanship, that is the key to getting it up on the floor of the united states senate. bob: there was a big inspector general report. a hearing before your committee. you expressed displeasure james comey did not show up. that he had time for media appearances but not congress. are you going to ask him or perhaps subpoena him to come back to the committee to respond to these findings from the inspector general? sen. grassley: i will want to subpoena him but in the senate rules, you have to have both senator feinstein and i agree to it. i cannot tell you she would agree to it. but if she will, we will subpoena. bob: loretta lynch as well?

sen. grassley: yes. bob: when you think a decision will be made? sen. grassley: if senator feinstein tells me yesterday, we will do it. elana: does that also go for a compulsory process for injured mccabe? i know he had requested immunity. sen. grassley: that involves a few steps. first of all, feinstein and my agreeing to it. of course i want to do that. we are in some negotiations with her on that point, but then he goes to the justice department to see it is not interfere with their potential prosecution. and then getting before us. i think another step that is not so regular is a think we need -- and we are working through his lawyers on this -- to have a conversation of what he can contribute to our oversight. because if he cannot contribute anything substantial, there is no point in going through it. elana: provided that

conversation results in a positive outcome, you would be recommending immunity? sen. grassley: yes. bob: on trade, we have talked to a fair amount of republican senators and they are frustrated with president trump on trade. they have made the case to him , and i imagine you have two that you are hurting the people you elected with your trade policies. are you frustrated with president trump and his moves on tariffs, possibly pulling out of nafta? what is the latest? it doesn't seem like the arguments republicans are making who are pro-trade are resonating with the president. sen. grassley: they may not resonate with him but i can tell you on the points we have made, particularly from agriculture states and also manufacturing and other things involved, but i did involve more with agriculture because iowa is a big agriculture state. at least three meetings at the white house where these points

of view have been expressed. remember this. it isn't just worried about this president. we know from history, carter, reagan, george w. bush put on tariffs. family no agriculture is the first to be hurt by it. there is already some hurt with the uncertainty of it. with a dramatic drop a soybean prices in the midwest and also corn prices, a terrible drop in soybean prices right now. i think a lot of us related to the uncertainty of this. we have expressed this but not just to the president himself in the white house. but over the course of a year. with people who are close to him lighthizer,, ross, secretary mnuchin. they have heard from agricultural states generally.

but other interests as well that it can be very harmful. nobody is going to be offended if the president can succeed in getting a better deal on trade for all segments of our economy. but it is kind of a big gamble. it seems to me the president is using the usual business tactics of negotiating. start with an extreme position and bring people to the brink. if he goes over the brink, i think it could be catastrophic. if he doesn't go over the brink, it can be a big win for america but i can't predict the outcome. susan: you posted you have had a chance to sit down with your former governor terry branstad it was the ambassador to china. what did you learn about the chinese reaction to the tarrifs? sen. grassley: we agreed we would have a private conversation so i will go into

detail because we did not even allow staff to take notes. it was in a sense confidential. five or six people were in on it besides just the governor. i can tell you what we talked about. i don't want to tell you what was said, although some of the things i trade i have expressed like until you what i expressed. generally, we talked about the russia -- i'm sorry, i should of said china. the leadership of china. china's involvement with north korea and sanctions and things of that nature. fromally getting a feel him being there all the time how we might think that china is going to react to some of these things we are doing. i think it kind of boils down to the united states being the biggest economy. china being the second-biggest.

they have a different political system than we do. one person there maybe can decide whether or not they are going to cave or not cave. a lot of uncertainties is the final line of it. there is a deal with trade. that's the only part i would give you a summation of. you just described the president's negotiating strategy at a time at seems like we need china for our north korean developments. having make sense to be terror issues with them? sen. grassley: i don't know how to answer that. last night the president referred to president xi as a friend of mine. difficult to see through exactly what the president knows that we might not know in these telephone conversations he has with the leader of another country. you get the feeling he feels he

is in the driver's seat. you kind of have to take his word for it. there is a certain amount of uncertainty in doing that. susan: we are at the halfway point. elana: going back to doj for a moment, the president's 2020 campaign manager made some noise this week when he called for the firing of the attorney general. separately there is a lot of conservative discontent with the deputy attorney general. you said in the past, mr. president i do not have time to , confirm new attorneys general. i have a lot of judicial nominees. even a clear you support the ag staying in his job. do you continue to have confidence in the ag and deputy ag? sen. grassley: yes. with senator sessions, now attorney general sessions, deliberate differences i have and i resent his stand as much as i worked on sentencing reform that he does not support my efforts because i told him a year ago in march -- i said you

can be tough on crime, i'm tough on crime, but there is also some unfairness and it. we have to have compassion when there is unfairness. all we are doing in sentencing reform, we are not opening the prison gates. we're just allowing people who have another bite at the apple with the judge. attorney, the prosecutor, and see -- let the judge look at this. maybe these mandatory minimums are unfair to this specific person. maybe his sentence of 20 years ought to be reduced to 15 or 10. nobody is getting out of prison the next day as a result. unlike what everybody is bragging about in the house of representatives. in that passes the senate and signed by the president, 6000 people are going to walk the .ext day, i am led to believe

so when law enforcement people particularly the association of , assistant u.s. attorneys, the main people against my sentencing reform bill, that is the -- that is what they want you to believe. if this bill passes you go , before a judge, you are going to get out right away. what about the bill that passed the house? that guts their argument against my bill. elana: probably speaking the ag , and deputy ag, you have continued have confidence? sen. grassley: yes. bob: you are known for investigations of both administrations for strong oversight. there are some republicans in -- including those on capitol hill who have said, it is time for robert mueller to wrap up this probe. is it time for robert mueller to wrap up his investigation? sen. grassley: i hope the president recently say in the paper about it. i've had the opportunity to tell them over the phone but i'm not sure i said it this way.

i said it seems to me like you , are winning. like they have not found any basis for collusion. that was the charge, that there was collusion between his campaign and russia. just let it play out. the less you say about it, the stronger your presidency is going to be. i've got faith in mueller. let it play it out. i would like to have him speed it up though. bob: do you think it will be better he comes out before the election? should the election timing not matter? obviously it got comey into some trouble. sen. grassley: i believe, i think mueller would be the type of person professionally, he either gets this done by labor day or else it will come december, january. november, i don't think he should do it for sure during the month of october.

elana: the pivot to another high-profile official, scott pruitt, at the pa. -- epa. you have raised concerned about the way he has handled ethanol. beyond that, he faces allegations of misuse of government resources. as someone who has made oversight and spending a key priority, do you concerns beyond ethanol? sen. grassley: it does not sound very good and a lot of questions are being raised. i think i ought to wait to say he should resign based upon ethics until all the investigations are done. but there are things that are very disturbing, particularly when he asked people to help get his wife a franchise. susan: we have just four minutes left. bob: speaking of nominees, there is a process you are familiar with in the senate on blue slips. there are concerns among democrats republicans will do away with that process they get home state senator some power.

sherrod brown got on the news on this issue. what is the future of blue slips? are they going to be done away with? sen. grassley: i think i proved that in four years of my being chairman of the committee. they have not been done away with. they will continue and they ought to continue. i am the 19th chairman of the committee since blue slips started 100 years ago and only two chairman have had absolute blue slips have to be returned. others have had exceptions. i am one of those with an exception. in all but five cases, have i not had blue slips returned. we have had 42 judges through the senate. we have 40 judges on the

calendar of the senate. we have about 40 working their way through my committee. just think of the number of times, very rare, a blue slip is not returned. elana: i'm hoping to use my last question on a fun one. you sometimes have complaints about the history channel. recently history channel reached out and said, would you like to collaborate with us on some covenant episode grassley-themed or some kind of project? have there been any updates? sen. grassley: yes. i think we wanted to do that and we ran into this situation with the senate capital ethics people that he would be promoting a profit-making organization and we could not do it.

i have gone to #realhistorychannel. once a week, you'll find history on my twitter and instagram. bob: how often do you talk to president trump? sen. grassley: well i would say , it would average at least twice a month. sometimes he is initiating a phone call to me. very seldom do i initiate one to him. most of the meetings are small or large group meetings. i'm invited to the white house. things like on a saturday morning, the white house calls. they said, the president wants to talk to. i am getting ready to go out and do something on the farm, take the call. it went on for 24 minutes, as an example. elana: the supreme court is winding down.

i you anticipating any resignations? sen. grassley: all i can say is the usual rumors are still out there. there may be a resignation. i have not had any confirmation whatsoever. i want to tell you i'm trying to get some sort of confirmation and i can't get it. susan: this week canada legalized marijuana. do you anticipate the u.s. following suit at any point? sen. grassley: not during my lifetime. susan: thank you for being our guest on newsmakers. sen. grassley: thank you. susan: newsmakers is back after our conversation with senator chuck grassley who chairs the judiciary committee. we covered a lot of territory. you asked questions about blue slips. probably means nothing to people watching. what is that process all about? bob: that is a process where the home state senator has the ability to send an objection letter, a blue slip.

judicial nominations are such a polarizing fight. senator grassley was defending his use of it. recognizing that other senators should have some power but there has been some concern that is been expressed by a number of democrats that the power to use their blue slip has been lessened. it could be completely eliminated. just like other rules of the senate where we have seen nominations you do not need 60 , votes, this could be the next one. president trump asked for the filibuster to end. that is not going to happen anytime soon. susan: to be clear about the answer, he wasn't wrong when he was saying he has protected the blue slip. where he has drawn the line is on circuit court nominees. federal judges of represent multiple states. if one state from that circuit submits a blue slip, senator grassley does not recognize it. when is it is from one state, he still recognizes it.

there is historical precedent for that. susan: we did some follow-up on the hearing with the inspector general's report. what you learn from senator grassley's remarks and what he thinks is next in the process? elana: it seems to me his openness to a subpoena of james comey and loretta lynch in the community request from into mccain is a step ahead. so far, all we have seen he wanted comey and lynch in there. and he was considering mccain's e's request.ccab he gave more definitive stances than we have seen. bob: he has a good relationship with diane feinstein. they have worked together on a number of issues. he is saying, it is up to her. he wants to move forward but the rules of the committee, it has to be a bipartisan request. i would imagine because republicans and democrats have been upset with james comey that i would think she would

agree but clearly she has not yet. elana: a major portion of the ig report was that james comey used personal email during his investigation of hillary clinton. i would be surprised if feinstein does not agree to that. susan: on his advice of the president on the mueller investigation the president , continues to call it a witch hunt. that doesn't sound like his counsel is going very far. elana: no, it does not. however, it is important to remember that the president can't necessarily just fire robert mueller. he would have to do so through rosenstein -- rob who are guessed that he had confidence in. with rosenstein the link between the mueller probe in the firing from the president, there is a slim chance that happens. there is a point that mueller

living after labor day is a big one. bob: it is a big one. it is interesting it would look political matter what. some say he should end it when it should end. they shouldn't take politics into account. he is basically saying either before labor day or after the midterm election. otherwise, it would look quite political. i think that is one to watch. if we don't see anything by labor day, maybe we will not see anything until after the midterm. elana: if we do something in that period, we may see all that skill off and calling for mueller's job. susan: why were you interested in how often they talk? bob: i'm just fascinated by how often numbers get calls by him. sometimes it's random. sometimes they contact the white house. that is the exception to the role. trump likes to talk to people. likes to engage. certainly whether it is bad press, good press, he wants to talk about it with members and mostly republicans. he has a bit of a friendship with senator manchin, who has been at the white house.

trump is going to campaign against mansion west virginia -- manchin in west virginia where he is popular. grassley is in the middle of these fights. he's making recommendations on mueller. he's expressing concerns about trade policies. not getting very far on either one but grassley would be one i figure trump would talk to a fair amount. twice a month, that's a decent amount. susan: the senator has been working the trade issue hard for quite a long time. senatorsence of state or the president is popular on the trade policy and your observations where that's going? elana: i think we could see an effort to check the president's use of a particular type of tariff. 232, related to national security. plan a standoff over there would be an actual vote. i think republicans stepped back

because they want to discuss a consensus position. tariff are totally separate. there is fairly strong support within the gop. susan: we are out of time. thank you for your questions. differentiates -- appreciate your efforts being here. bob: thank you. elana: thank you. language of attack, of harm, of damage. by expressing an opinion that people don't like you have inflicted an injury. i found that very striking and frankly rather frightening if the truth be told, and quite emblematic of the way the left is now responding to any sort of dissent, and especially one that

trenches on identity grievance politics, which of course is everywhere and has infected everything. >> university of pennsylvania possible professor amy wax c-span's q&a. the supreme court issued a decision allowing state to collect sales tax on purchases. presidenturns a 1972 -- precedent. here's oral arguments from a in the case south dakota where fair. it is an hour. in case 17 494 south dakota versus wayfair.