power to stop this court from swinging against our rights and freedoms, and every senator needs to know they will be held accountable for their vote. thank you, mr. president. i yi announcer: brett kavanaugh is president trump's nominee for the supreme court. watch live on c-span, watch anytime live on c-span. or gore listen with the free c-span radio app. >> coming up in one hour, the former counsel for the senate

judiciary committee goes to the process of nominating in the nominee in the senate. then, former fbi agents testimony before to house committees. president trump arriving at nato headquarters in brussels in the last few minutes, and one of the early headlines already coming out of the meeting, president trump saying germany as a captain of the russians and preparing to meet individually with the heads of the nato countries. we will ask you this morning, what is america's role in the world? here are the numbers to call. democrats, (202) 748-8000. .epublicans, (202) 748-8001 and independents, (202) 748-8002 . we also have a phone line for

international callers, (202) 748-8003. you can also comments on twitter at @cspanwj, or on facebook at facebook.com/cspan. the official day for president trump started about four hours ago with something called a bilateral breakfast, where he met recently with the nato secretary-general. here is how it played out. [video clip] at think it is: very sad when germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with russia when you are supposed to be guarding against russia and germany goes out to pay billions and billions of dollars a year to russia. are protecting germany, we are protecting friends, we are protecting all of these , and these numerous countries go out and make pipeline deals with russia. they want to protect you against russia, but they are paying

billions of dollars to russia and i think that is very inappropriate. and the former chair of germany is -- the former -- of germans me -- you tell me, is that appropriate? this should have never been allowed to have happen, but germany is totally controlled by russia, because they were getting 60% to 70% of their energy from russia and a new pipeline. you tell me if that's appropriate, because i think it is not. the immediate opening today at the nato summit, the president meeting with the nato secretary-general there. the guardian reports that nato officials have been nervously awaiting this meaning as an indicator of how trump would behave over the next two days. within minutes, they had their answer. the summit is turning into one of the most divisive in

nato's 69 year history. trump's first words signaled this one was not going to be fixed in advance and proceed in an orderly faction. he complained a german onitician -- stulberg looked , and wetably throughout berg, tweet by mr. stolten the secretary general of nato, that came out after all of this. it came from terry schultz of npr, who posted it. asked for by his breakfast -- ask for about his breakfast, paid for by the united states and nato, he defended the u.s. commitment to nato despite trump's comments. my main task is to keep 29 allies together, he explained. stot ardian wrote that ltenberg seems to pride -- surprised by the presidents

words. angela merkel will get a chance to respond when she and president trump have a one-on-one meeting schedule later on wednesday. there had already been expectations it would be a testy encounter, and this appears even more likely after trump's opening remarks. sam and florida, democrat line. caller: good morning. host: good morning, sam. what is america's role in the world? caller: it does not seem to be a very good role in the world. i woke up early and saw this meeting that he had, yelling at all of these people from europe. i do not understand why they didn't just walk out on him, because he think's it is his money. it is not his money, ok? he is ruining our country. many other things that i am assuming our team in -- are too numerous to mention. make of theo you presidents continued contention that many of the nato's countries are not coming up with

the 2% they all agreed to on defense spending to be part of the group? caller: he doesn't seem to understand that they are contributing and many other ways. they pay for their militaries and everything. this man does not know anything, and neither does most of his cabinet. so this man must go. that is all i have to say. thank you for c-span. host: bob in minnesota, democrat. what do you think the role of america is and should be in the world? americawell, i think should take a role in leading paramount too is the free world to get along. bob, what is the definition of leading the world? what does that look like? caller: well, if you're going to lead the world, what you have to

do is set an example. right now, trap is not setting that kind of example -- trump is not setting that kind of example. right now, he is trying to dismantle nato. if you want to know what putin would really like to see, that would be it. host: thank you, bob. we will have continuing coverage of the president's visit to nato meeting today and tomorrow, and coverage of his meeting in the u.k., and on the finland early next week, where he will meet with the russian president vladimir putin. washington times front-page sets this up in the headline, trump meets u.s. friends, many critics at the nato summit. the president got a chilly reception tuesday when he arrived from anxious and angry european leaders, but you can count on a few friendly faces. dear america, appreciate your allies, donald tusk said.

after all, you do not have that many, the former prime minister said in a rebuke of mr. trump's criticism. the washington times goes on to say that the u.k. is most likely decide with president trump during this visit, that according to michael desh. if the government is radically of theing its nature commitments in europe, the british closest to the trump administration on those issues. and italy's new populist government lines of squarely with mr. trump on a range of issues, and he also looks toward , includingnato poland, romania, and the baltic states to count on them for support when leaders get down to business today in brussels. caroline in annapolis. welcome to the program. caroline, i'mm calling from annapolis, maryland. trump is dangerous, he is devious, and he has got to be

the dumbest man on the planet. host: you are calling on the republican line, correct? caller: absolutely. host: did you vote for him? caller: i would not vote for him if he was the last person standing. host: so what is america's role in the world? what should it be? caller: it's what it was under all previous presidents since world war ii. not what donald trump is espousing. host: is there anything else you want to add? caller: i want the republicans to get off their hind legs, if each this guy, put him in jail and throw away the key. host: ryan in texas, republican line. caller: good morning, how are you doing? i appreciate you all. i support trump. i find it strange that we have the liberaln on side speaking of such issues. they are the ones that got us into this mess. how did they understand

technical issues like this one? they have set the standard so negotiations on the liberal side, so they don't understand it. it is not very diverse -- it is the world's first and it should be fair. so yes, i support donald trump, and it is a shame that the democrats are flooding the republican lines. host: well, let's not say flooding just yet. worker, democrat. good morning. i'm concerned -- it is getting a little hard on our allies because they are not paying the 2%. a lot of these places have bases in their countries, and they a very low rent for all of that space. those countries, i would double the rent and pay the 2%. start ae are going to

large confrontation are a war, it will be the united states and the soviet union, or russia. i think these people understand if they do not have a base in the country, there would not be a primary strike in their area. so i think the president should also try to understand that a lot of these countries are our friends. not russia. these people our our friends, and they need to be led by somebody sensible, not someone who is a jerk like the president. host: parker mentioning the 2% as well. the washington post has this -- thee -- residents 2% president's 2% of session worries the allies. disagreeymakers would that europe needs to spend radically more on its own security, and many diplomats bashfully admit they have relied owerlong on american firep to protect them. but many are wondering if

president trump's focus on the bottom line is doing more to hurt the alliance than help it. today here is german chancellor angela merkel on the u.s. and criticism of european countries and their defense spending. [video clip] >> the united states has been particularly critical of germany not spending enough in the defense area. i am grateful that our budget to -- budget provides increases in the defense area, developmentthe area. but this is by far insufficient. we are committed to sending 1.5% any 25 -- 2025. i don't want to repeat this. let me just say one more time the -- isny as a reliable partner in nato. it will continue to be a reliable partner in nato. with the president meets

the german chancellor today. we will see what comes out of that. also this hour, the official greeting in brussels, also the formal welcoming ceremony, and coming up in a little less than 90 minutes, the president takes part in the first broader meeting of the north atlantic council as part of the nato meeting. you can see him arriving in the last 15, 20 minutes or so in brussels. video, we at this will take a call from phil in maryland, democrat line area -- democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning, and thank you for c-span. america has always been a leader in nato. i do not understand why the president has decided to pick fights with our allies. i really don't understand it. we all need to open our eyes and take a look and try to figure out why this is happening. nobody knows or nobody seems to know or want to know, but all

allies, including the female leaders of the country's, are just catching it. and to me, it does not make any sense. i do not understand it. host: jacqui in fairbanks, alaska, early, early, early there. you are on the republican line. what is america's role in the world? -- ir: i don't think we think it is a good thing that we have nato, but i think all the other countries need to pay that 2%. we can't just support the whole world and be the world police. half the world doesn't like us. so in a lot of this is if could do trump

something with the legislature, but everything is resist from the democrats. so he can't hardly get anything done, but the stuff he has done is great. the jobs, getting the bonuses from the companies in the first of the year, their taxes, a lot of things have improved. i have to say, alaska could use some help. alaska is struggling. and i am not too proud of senator murkowski. geez, i wish she would just vote along with the republicans. i do not know what her deal is. but i think america is on the right track with trump. he is a businessman. he is a dealmaker. and he can do it. host: ok, thank you for calling, jackie.

,ut of germany reaction from angela merkel. she responded to trump's comments that germany was totally controlled by the russians. she said "i experienced firsthand that a part of germany was occupied by the soviet union. it is good that we can now make our own decisions." that is from the german chancellor. we have bill from louisville, kentucky, independent caller. caller: let me preface what i'm about to say by saying the first time i ever called this show was reagan debate years ago. let me explain to the people who do not understand why the president is asked thing -- acting the way he is acting. when the person got off the boat and said lafayette, we are here. we went through two world wars. we have americans very from one end of europe to the other. take a walk at normandy and take a look at the american graves. we fought twice to free europe

from aggression, ok? twice from germany, all right? and then we won the cold war. we had a president who went around apologizing or america. this president goes around standing up for america. we spilled a large amount of on european soil. and and we had something called the marshall plan. i'm sure a lot of the people growing up do not even know what the marshall plan was money that we put out to rebuild europe after the destruction of world war ii. now how much more do we have to pay? we go around apologizing all the time for americans instead of standing up for it, we look like a bunch of dam fools, -- we deserve it. how many people have relatives like me buried in arlington? thispresident defends

country and america's interests, and it is about time some of the people visiting to this show got their ears open and realize what we have given up for europe. we have given aplenty and enough is enough. host: bill from low it all. on the twitter. buddies with obama, therefore merkel is targeted by trump. it is stupid, but it is really that simple, says this viewer. another rights what is an trump simply give less to nato? let the other countries pick up the tap. more talk, no action. box news writes about how trump could blow up the nato summit. toy write that he could the meetings early or simply not attend the myth he feels nato is not -- attend them if he feels dramatically increasing its defense spending. like much,not seem

they write, it is actually a huge deal. that leaders of nearly 30 countries will be traveling to belgium to spend two full days to speak directly with trump about meetings of international security. if president trump trace the -- treats them as insignificant or walks out, that would be a slap in the face to many of america's allies, many of whom have sacrificed their men and women to fight for america and places like afghanistan. that is from vox news this morning. our next caller, patrick, what do you think america's role is in the world? caller: that is a broad question. if we see what america traditionally has been, it has been a second europe. i live in new jersey, which is just below the new england states. often of new jersey, we fondly refer to our state as new germany.

this is new europe. it is a place for why people from europe to emigrate, and that is what the battle is taking place now. we see trump as a strong white male, and most of the callers who call in against president trump disagree with the idea of having a strong white male in authority. what my concern is with the president, a lot of other people in new jersey probably feel the same way, it is leaning zionism and israel first. we don't like that. thank you. host: andy, new york. good morning. caller: good morning, i'm on the democrat line. host: ok, thank you for correcting us. go ahead. caller: i work for the state department. iam not proud of america, and put my hands up and i swore to

protect america. i am an african american scientist, and i'm ashamed of this president. calling from illinois on the democrat line. good morning to you. caller: good morning. what is wrong with the world now is that we have lost all of our morals and our value. did you hear those people talking to you? that sound like a trip to nazi country. i do not understand what the world needs to do. we need to get back to basics. this man is coming into this office and has turned everything upside down. he has made the racial issue come back up, women's issues -- it is terrible. don't these people recognize this man for what he is? he wants to be putin, he wants to be kim, and you know america needs to pray.

if we don't watch out, we are ship.to have a dictator a dictatorship. one good thing about me is that i am older now. maybe i will not see it when it turns all around, but i will pray for my kids and grandkids, because this is terrible. thank you. host: gladys from illinois. be peeking in on some of the live shows from brussels this morning. in about 10 minutes, they will have the official welcoming ceremonies. we will get you some of the early shots and continue to take your calls. later, the meeting of the north atlantic council happens and we will continue with our live looks through the morning. we have george on the line, in california. hey, george. caller: good morning, pleasure to talk to you again. i would like to say that i appreciate c-span because i get to actually see news as it is

happening as opposed to listening to somebody else's interpretation. my comment is to your previous caller, who spoke about -- one of these people who seems to speak about the history of our country -- we did so up much for europe, we did so much for europe. if you would pick up a book, he might find that it was without the french helping us in the beginning, we would not be here. that was not just the revolutionary war, but the war of 1812. they don't owe us, we owe them that dead. the second thing i would like some of your republican callers to explain to me -- the republican party i grew up within my house valued honor, dignity, and integrity. it seems that today's -- anger, power, and bigotry. i think you for taking my call,

and you have a great day. you, george, from california. steve responding to one of the earlier tweeters, right the u.s. over spends on defense. europe should not be held to the same irrational standard. the hill reminds us that lawmakers on tuesday will overwhelmingly voted in favor of a motion supporting nato. this is a story in the hill this morning as president trump to -- continues to criticize the alliance. it was a non-writing motion that , andd 97-2 in the senate reconciles its version of the annual defense policy bill in the house and also expresses the senate support for nato and to reaffirmotiators the u.s. commitment to it. 97-2 in a nonbinding vote. standingove on to leo, by in tampa, florida, on the independent line. caller: how are you doing?

my comment is that i feel that [inaudible] agree that you have to follow the commitment of 2%. as a foreign-born american, i agree with that. the problem is how you can may that message, and that is the problem. you have to become more diplomatic, but in general i do oblige or we have to force the other partners to commit themselves to what they have to do, though. broadly speaking, more broadly, what do you think america's role is in the world? what should it be? caller: a beacon of liberty and justice. we should do that, we should follow that, and the way we do it, maybe it is not being taken the right way by the rest of the people, but that is our message. think that should be

the way we hopefully want to do it is conveyed to the other people. host: thank you for calling, leo. onto aubrey in richmond, virginia, democratic line. we continue to look at live pictures from brussels. the officialof welcoming ceremony, as each of the leaders comes up to meet with the heads of nato. we go to aubrey now. hi there. caller: yeah. i have been watching c-span for turn onnd i always washington journal just to see what other people are talking about. and invariably, these trump supporters are calling in, call fox newsi talking points without any actual factual basis to support them. for example, this business of barack obama going on some kind

of apology tour? barack obama was going to places like cairo and technology these people's complaints about how the united states has viewed the middle east and other third world nations. now, they have a white supremacist in the oval office who is willing to align himself with people like vladimir putin. erdogan, the president in the philippines. he admires these people, but denigrates our allies. fallacies of the we have a trade deficit with canada, when we have a trade surplus with canada and all they have to do is go to the website of the trade representative of the united states to find out these facts, but they will just

sit there and listen to the crap on fox news buy into it. they spent more time watching the content of c-span -- i am talking about the committee hearings you all put up. not only do you broadcast them, but you archive them so they can go back and look at them to see what the story is. host: aubrey, thank you for your participation this morning. richfield, minnesota, republican line, cj. these are the leaders of the country's meeting with the nato secretary-general from brussels, live. go ahead, cj. caller: thank you for letting me get in on this. i wanted to begin back on what the gentleman was just saying as well. i was listening to rush limbaugh when he made the statement about obama apologizing to a lot of people, and i was in the navy, and i know for a fact that when the president was in the room ,alking to another country these people who are putting

these stories out, they are not in the room. nobody called him on it. nobody actual called in on him making that statement about obama saying this. moving right along, the congress has more experience at this than the current president does, and the one who just left. they are supposed to know better . they are the ones that are letting them get away with it. so you know, god's law is higher than man's law, and god's law can be compromised. man's law can always be compromised. , in: let's go to dylan gloucester, massachusetts. hey there. caller: hey there, good morning. host: good morning. what is america's role in the world as you watch the nato greetings here? caller: america's role in the world is to promote human equality, to promote the rights that our founders, universal human rights that america is not

currently promoting, those in america. president donald trump, i feel, has failed to live up to those principles, but it is about liberty, the inherent right of self-government. i believe the united states should promote those rights and callout nations that we work with, nations like saudi arabia on their human rights violations. america should be upholding the rights of all humans across the world. what do you hope comes out of this nato meeting in belgium? caller: my hope is that we continue to protect the western alliance, the u.s. led liberal order that was founded after world war ii. i hope that we continue to stop -- we continue to protect our our interestorry, in europe as well as the u.s.

liberal order. so my hope is that we are finally able to protect our allies in eastern europe and to stop russian aggression, because russia continues to expand, expand, expand, and i hope to easternour allies in europe and prevent russian --ression and uphold finally, of standing against the legal annexation of crimea -- the legal annexation of crimea. host: thank you for weighing in this morning. we will continue to watch for president trump. let's go to alan in stanley, virginia. hey there. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. the good work. my call and reference to what is going on about this situation, think about this for a second. the nato countries are all about

being together and working with this country. why can't they come up with their fair share? if they can't do that, how can we believe them in anything? president trump is taking the lead, making an example to say hey, you make a you honoronor a deal, your part and we will honor ours. that has not been going on for the last 8-30 years. we finally have a leader down there who has some common sense, and it is this ring about going along the get along all the time , it is a we have ever done and it is draining the american people, and we are losing our resources. i am all for nato, however, they have a responsibility to pay and i do notare, know why people call in. they have a right to their opinion, but what does not make sense to me is how come all the bills on america all the time. it is some freeloaders involved, that is what is going on. i hope to get it all worked out

and i think it will, but that is what you call leadership, and that is why america has taken the lead in the world. this is the example we need. not giving and taking and playing this political correctness all the time. it is like a procedure going through today, all it is is a big show. it looks good, but they are all talk and do nothing. host: well, that being said, are you still there? caller: yes sir. host: what would your hope be coming out of this meeting? i hope they're able to sit down and negotiate, but i think president trump is being very clear about we want to work with you, we want to be together, but you have a commitment of only 2%. this issue is over 2%. we are paying 71% and we are protecting the whole world almost, and it seems to me that it should not even be an issue for them to pay 2%. you have to go out and make all these other deals with other countries to help them, but nothing about helping the united dates.

-- united states. british prime minister theresa may greeting the nato secretary-general, two dozen countries are coming forth here, and we are waiting for president trump to come out. lori is on the line in california, republican line. what is america's role in the world? caller: i want to make a comment to your previous caller again? host: sure. caller: the one who said republicans are intolerant and racist and bigots? if he reads the news lately, all the republicans have been targeted, and we are supposed to be the intolerant ones? really? that is all i wanted to stay. as far as our stance in the world, we are fine. a think would president trump is doing is -- i think what

president trump is doing is just fine. he is doing a great job. why are we doing the most role of these countries when we could do it for our own people here? host: mike in woodbridge, virginia. caller: -- host: hang on, we want to what president trump here. -- watch president trump here. [cameras clicking] president of the republic of lithuania. host: and more of the greetings there. the president will take part in a meeting of the north atlantic council a little bit later today. we know he meets with the german natoellor, two days of

meetings in brussels. mike, thank you for hanging on. go ahead. caller: [inaudible] the other countries to increase their gdp -- that is their own baggage. [inaudible] you have to explain it. and then health care [inaudible]

soto's we have to find a way to talk to them. we don't have to use force. that is what we are doing. host: mike, thank you for calling from woodbridge. steve writes on twitter that europe before nato had a century of almost nonstop wars. since nato, almost a century of peace, peace is cheaper. that's a benefit, writes steve on twitter this morning. the president started his day about 4.5 hours ago, unofficial day with the bilateral breakfast of the secretary-general, and we showed you an earlier clip where the president laid into germany about dealmaking with russia. it was a presummit breakfast four hours ago, as we mentioned. the president was also asked which countries he wants to pay more as we get to that 2% point is -- point. [video clip] a tremendous a lot of money

for many years back where they are delinquent, as far as i am concerned, because the united states has had to pay for them. if you go back 20 years, you add it all up. has paid liketes nobody, and this has gone on for decades, by the way, under many presidents, but no other president has wrought it up like i have brought it up. to be done and the secretary's are working very, very hard. our last meeting, commitments have been made for over $40 billion more money by other countries. that is a step, but a very small step. it sounds like a lot of money is a smallbut it amount of money compared to what they own and what they should be paying. and it is an unfair burden of the united dates. we are here to talk about that and i am sure it will be resolved. i have great confidence in the secretary-general. he worked very, very hard on this and he knows it is a fact.

i have great confidence in him and his representatives. more from that bilateral breakfast that the president had in brussels. an opinion piece in the usa director of the notre dame international security center. he writes that trump has a point about nato's role, the efforts in nato to remain relevant has not solved new problems, such as spending democracy in those new states. of the 13 new made of -- nato number submitted, 10 have seen a decline in their democracy scores between 1989 and 2017. rather than consolidating democracy, nato has gone from playing an important role in to helping cold war start a new one. none of these are to dismiss concern about putin's bad behavior, but we have to ask how committed our allies really are

when defense spending remains so low. trump's hand handedly doing, maybe it is time to ask whether the you up -- europe and the u.s. might be better served by a different security architecture in europe. from houston, good morning. what is the role of the united states in the world? caller: good morning. i believe the role of the united states and the world is to keep peace. make awould like to remark about is nato -- i read and i saw on another news channel where nato, the other -- let me start again, they had made an agreement to pay the 2% by 2024. is thatis confusing everything now is just about money, money, money, and the man thing previously, on your

particular station, if people ,ould just sit back and look you could actually hear the ,enators and the congressman women as well speaking about these issues. he would not just go picking up information that leads to confusion. ofelieve that the president the united states -- i am just one person in the ocean. i did not believe that this thisdent -- i believe that president comes across very aggressive and does not show much compassion, and i think with mrs. merkel, how he has treated her, i know this because i watch the news a lot. he comes toat when women, he is very aggressive with women. me, i donk that is, to not care if you are a republican or a democrat or independent, what have you. we have to respect one another,

and just looking at overall, the overall picture, this country is very -- it is not the way it used to be. it is very dark, to me. i am just a small little spot in the ocean. but i believe that the president of the united states, and coming wall, i believe there are a lot of things we can do to make the world better place. thest don't believe that president is really making the world a better place. i think the way we are looking though we are mean-spirited, and that is just not necessary because we are americans. if you look around the globe, you see that america is not as huge. there are lots of big countries around the world. chosenehow america was

to be a light, and we are not being a light. we are being darkness. so i just rate for the president , that he would change his ways. because we really, really need a light, not darkness. vicki from houston, texas. plenty of other news in washington, including the --reme work nomination of supreme court nomination of brett kavanaugh. from the new york times, kavanaugh takes step to confirmation. a traditional visit from vice president pence, escorting mr. the capital. here is a wider photo, the judge and the vice president of the capital. here is the new york times headline. it also says fears and costly fight over were nominations commences in capital. it is going to be an uphill battle for senate democrats, writes the subhead in the new york times piece.

here is that it minority leader chuck schumer on the floor, talking about the presidents pick. [video clip] do notavanaugh's rulings stop in those places. he has even argued that sitting presidents should not face criminal investigation. no investigation of a president. is there any wonder that president trump joe's kavanaugh from the list of 25 when we know he is obsessed with this investigation? that a president does not have to follow a law if the president deems it, his words, unconstitutional. with this president, who has had so little respect for the rule of law, who has shown that he will roll over democratic norms, it is no wonder he chose judge kavanaugh. views on this issues are

more extreme than just about anyone else on that list. senator mcconnell told the president that there were other nominees who he could confirm far more easily. why did the president stick with kavanaugh? because he is worried. mueller will go to the court and asked that the president be subpoenaed, and ask to do other things necessary to move the investigation forward, and president trump knows that kavanaugh will be a barrier to preventing that investigation from going there. chuck schumer from yesterday. the new york times points out that in a sign of how difficult the path will be, susan collins of maine, a key swing vote, spoke favorably of judge kavanaugh on tuesday, telling reporters, when you look at the credentials that judge kavanaugh brings to the job, it will be

very difficult for anyone to argue that he is not qualified for the job. here is mitch mcconnell discussing the nomination. [video clip] built a long and distinguished record. it paints a clear picture of how he would conduct himself as a member of the nation's highest court. it reflects a firm understanding that judges must interpret laws as they are written. we do not choose them to make policy, to pick favorites, or craft novel legislation from the bench. now, some of our colleagues and others on the left seem to see the role of judges very differently. president obama summed up this alternative view well when he was running for president. he explained he sought to appoint judges who harbored particular empathy for certain parties in certain cases. well, that's great if you happen to be the party in the case? -- the party and the casing the judge likes. -- in the case the judge likes.

not so much if you are the otherwise. -- the other guy. it undermines the understanding of the role our courts play in our democracy. so i would respectfully submit that then and now, some of our democratic colleagues seem to be a little confused. confused. they seem to be confusing the nature of a political office with the nature of a judicial office. this would explain why some of our colleagues are eager to try and turn judicial confirmations into something like political elections. to grill judge kavanaugh on policy outcomes, like voters rightly grill all of us when we are on our seats here in the senate. we will continue to follow judge kavanaugh on the hill as he meets with senator. -- senators.

back to nato, these are pictures of the welcoming ceremony. some leaders are making their way through the hall, and we will continue to watch them as we continue to take your calls. we have taught on the line from california, independent caller. , what is america's role in the world? caller: hi, i do not think we should be the american police. we should leave nato, kick the u.n. off of foreign soil, bring all the troops home and only attack when we are attacked. host: tell us why? for too long, the u.s. has been doing imperialist stuff , and also it is incredibly expensive to -- we have five branches of the military, we only probably need the navy and the air force. it is a huge waste of money, we are not getting rid of isis, it

is not our job to deal with other countries. we had the korean war, that was failed. the non-, we should never have been there, -- vietnam, we should never have been there. i have a more libertarian outlook. for yourd, thank you participation. donald, democrat line. caller: see, that last caller? ,hat is what disturbs me calling in and misunderstanding what our place is in the world. our place in the world is countries like germany, they want democracy and we have aligned ourselves together to help remote those democracies and protect them if this is what they want. caller, [inaudible] do any of these people understand what 2% of the people's gdp is toward their military? in a potputting money

and we are all taking money out of the pot to do these things. when we were attacked, all of these countries did not have the money, but they sent people there to help us fight the wars. duties people really understand? what are we going to become? isolationists? we are going to be separated from the world. i did not vote for him, but i agree with him on this issue -- you in the media, when these people call in, you usually put up an article showing what they are saying. it is not right. because these people do not understand what president trump is pushing about them don't pay up. it is 2% of the gdp. angry right now -- it is toward their military, not a pot they are putting money in. host: thank you for calling, donald. you can see the leaders of

germany and britain there, the canadian prime minister. this is live coverage from brussels, belgium, at the beginning of the two-day nato summit. this is part of the official welcoming ceremony. they are getting down to business fairly shortly with their meetings, and robert is calling now, worcester, , democratic line. what is america's role in the world, or what should it be? caller: america's role in the world, we should be number one. i do not like being number two, but here is a fact. when they talk about the 2%, everybody has to pay the 2% by 2026, ok yeah go everybody has time to get their 2% in. donald trump, when he first started going over to russia, he started messing up the world then with all of that dark money and citizens united.

the corporation needs to be corporate, people need to be people. donald trump could not get a loan in the united states to save his life. he had to break the bank to pay that hotel, and paul ryan and mitch mcconnell, they ought to be ashamed of themselves. have -- paul ryan could gotten rid of noon as the first day he walked into that white house with all that news. the oilmore thing, pipeline coming down through the united states with their dirty, nasty oil. take it to texas, we refine it, and then we ship it to down, ok? our oil is going to be refined in texas, going to china, and china is giving it to north korea. host: robert, thank you for calling. host:president trump chatting

with a few minutes -- with president or to one -- president erdogan, they are setting up for the group photo. a caller from ann arbor, michigan, democrat line. caller: hi, i think america should be a strong progressive force in the world, and we were. in fact, we were the leader of afraide world, but i am that mr. trump is destroying our country. with his tax policy and jobs. his tax policy makes it easier and more attractive for american and buildnvest abroad production facilities abroad. are being perceived

as a threat to the world economy , and the world can, if it has to, get along without us. i am afraid people are reaching a point at which they see no alternative. they will go on communicating, trading, producing without us if they have to, and we are going to be very lonely and increasingly poorer and poorer. host: thank you for calling, joel. we have maybe five to seven more minutes of your calls as we look at the live pictures. a couple tweets. john writes that we borrow billions from china to defend germany from china. as he writes that this nato meeting is, in reality, a trump's summit. it is all about our president and how he will come around.

also, if you haven't heard, the president has stepped up the trade war with china, according to the washington post. he has targeted $200 billion worth of goods in tariffs, including televisions. hi, my comment is basically i do not know why everyone is coming down so hard on trump, you know? he realizes that time, people change over time. if you do not change with time, time will go ahead and change without you and you will be left behind. trump realizes you cannot take a procedure or policy that was invented or created by the world's finest government. you cannot fix something that was invented in 1911 and worknize it and make it nowadays. trump realizes that, and he is trying to take all of the policies and procedures back to square one. our nation, we are supposed to lead others out of darkness,

lead the way for everybody. we are not the only once you are free anymore, you know? host: thank you, francisco. .- francesca nato has 29 members, and since 2019 has had 29 members. 12 were part of the original founding of nato. they set up here for their official portrait in a couple of minutes here. have an calling from jackson, mississippi, independent caller. -- cap and calling -- kevin calling from jackson, mississippi, independent caller. callr: yes, i was going to about the nato. president trump needs to understand that nato was formed after a vicious world war ii to stop the soviet incursion into western europe, which they took eastern europe, and now you are

seeing it in the ukraine and ,rimea, where they just took it where the soviets gave it to 1952. believe in 1953, but it is a deterrent, because if the russians -- well, i say the russians -- anybody, people, terrorists in the middle east it iso be moving in too, there for us to have a buffer. 2001,after september 11, the government of turkey, the military was in charge of our area defense is. -- defenses. a lot of people do not remember that. but he needs to line up on them -- like an up on them -- lighten

up on them, because they are of having financial problems, the whole world is, but they are our allies and they will stand with us. he does not seem to understand, the united states cannot stand alone. 1917 or 1940, you know? no, it cannot work like that. host: we got the point, kevin. fred is on the line in new york. caller: good morning, sir. good morning. what is america's role in the world, as you look at these live pictures from nato? caller: america has a big role, and that is a good thing, because america has been the protector of the world since world war i, world war ii, and all of these wars, we have not only with our money, but look at the lives of our men and the grapes over there -- graves over there.

at this point, we are 20 trillion plus, whatever number you want to pick, into debt. expect us to provide them the military, provide their finances and to go way beyond what we can afford anymore. these people he is dealing with or nations,are not po all of them, especially germany, especially france, especially the people that are far beyond being called a poor nation. they have to cough it up. i would pull some of the military right out of germany and say look, we can't afford to take care of you guys and put up the profession you think -- protection you think you need. as far as russia, they have been making moves -- they were doing this way back in world war ii,

and you have to deal strong. the man knows what is going on. people think he doesn't understand -- you know what he doesn't understand? and what is going on with those people, and he is the only person i have seen deal with them forcefully. this one last call for hour, this is the official portrait of the nato leaders in brussels. randy from wisconsin, independent caller. you get the last word here. caller: thank you, c-span. president trump understands very much what is going on here. he is trying to make the other countries, our allies, stand up and back with a signed many years ago, to support nato -- what they signed many years ago, to support nato. and people are calling -- that guy from louisville, i would like to buy him a beer --

they need to pay their fair share. it is not much. ,very nation is cash-strapped but why should the united states have to dish out all of its money to take care of the rest of the world? president trump is trying to get them to pay. that is all he you were ever going to get a democrat to support this great president you are never going to. host: looking for more coverage of the nato summit, we will show some of the highlights. if you are staying with this program we welcome your participation. up, jeffrey peck will be with us. how the supreme court nomination process is going to work. we will talk about the latest on the pressure probe as peter

struck testifies before the house committee. we'll be right back. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. we continue to bring you congress, coverage of the white house, the supreme court and public policy events in washington dc and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> brett kavanaugh is president trump nominee for the supreme court.

follow the confirmation process on c-span as he meets with key senators on capitol hill. watch live on c-span. listen with the free c-span radio app. >> sunday night on q&a. >> she saw me sitting in the aisle. she physically tossed it at me and said no change. thatided i'm going to get ratified. watson.ry library,in the downtown austin. a book with a chapter devoted to amendments that passed congress but not enough state legislatures approved. this jumped out at me.

varying theaw compensation for the services of these senators and representatives shall take effect until an election of representatives shall have intervened. i can members standing in the aisle holding that book in my lightningt was as if struck. i could feel the pulsating electricity of it all. i thought, instead of writing about the equal rights amendment and the extension in its ratification deadline, why don't i instead write about this amendment that says when members of congress want to adjust their salaries they have to wait until the next election.

>> washington journal continues. at the supreme court nomination and confirmation process, joining us is jeff peck. good morning. thank you for being here. you assisted senator joe biden in those days. in several separate confirmation processes. tell us what you learn from those experiences on the committee as things progressed and apply that to the current situation. guest: a nominee should be asked answerc questions and those specific questions, with exception of pending cases. everything else is fair game. people look at the bark hearings.

justice answer was kennedy. he answered specific questions and was confirmed 97-0. extraordinary. not a single senator voted against him. host: you write about the right questions, asking the right questions. what are the right questions these days for this nominee? guest: the right questions are similar to what they were in the nominations i work on. the rightur view on to privacy. that is the core of roe v. wade and justice kennedy's great decision in the over fall -- overfill case. the right to travis see is he at the core of many liberties. today asking about presidential power is an important topic

because this nominee comes from a list of the federalist society , very supportive of a broad and expansive view of the president. host: you write the times of , the nominees were not as specific. what happened? host: they are being advised the less they see -- say, the better. casesse this defensive across the -- that made come forward. i think that defense is a canard. host: a nominee he refuses to answer these questions, must be projected. one can only assume the nominee is made up his or her mind.

they should just say no. should just say no. the senators have a constitutional duty under the advice and consent clause to probe the nominee. the president gets to appoint. the senate has an equal role. you can't fulfill that role without getting a window into the nominee thinking. >> let's get the phone numbers on. we have separate lines for democrats. we are trying to get a feel for withrocess of confirmation hearings, preparation for this with our guest to work for a number of years on the senate judiciary. and worked directly in several of these cases. here is one of the photos. washington times. all smiles here. kavanaugh and the vice president. here is sound of brett kavanaugh

visiting with chuck grassley. >> i had a pleasant conversation he and ie kavanaugh have not interacted a lot in our lifetime. getting acquainted with him again is important. jurist on theted court he said so on. outstanding opinions that i think are going to be torn through by every lawyer on our committee. going to have a thorough process. hopefully we get it done quickly. it is going to be thorough and done right. we have to do what we can to accommodate everybody's interests. , his record itself.

this is the most outstanding .hing host: exchanging pleasantries. there are important individual meetings with seven key candidates. how important are these meetings? important. pretty they pale to the hearings. these are get to know you sessions. .ome use them to get a feel other senators would use them to say these are the questions and plan to ask and these are the answers i expect to get from you. host: then the real work begins. explain what it is like to prepare. guest: for the committee we have one million pages of documents between all of his opinions, speeches, so the committee and

staff will be examining one million or more documents to get a sense of his views and provide the basis for questions. courtesyng these visits. he will be preparing as the hearing gets closer to determine , to practice what his opening statement will be to practice answers. host: let's get our first call. caller: good morning. i had a question about your recent op-ed. you gave a short speech at the brookings institute regarding the decisions in citizens united. -- in light of that, such ask the case citizens united and the second amendment holdings are not as

salient in time and unanimity are deserving of important questions? hasou think judge kavanaugh what you would call a functioning brain? he has a functioning brain. he has a distinguished record. i do think those cases are worth asking about. the three you mentioned. they are significant decisions. the decision in citizens united has led to this incredible inflow of dark money into campaigns which has made a significant impact in terms of what our elections are like today. i do think those are worthy subjects to probe and i think you should indeed answer them. not the tipugh is of this beer. he is the spear for the federalist society and others on

the right to have been working since the early 1980's to change the supreme court and move its agenda far to the right. give thes the goal to hard right control of the supreme court. judge kavanaugh is the final speed are in that effort. caller.dependent good morning. caller: good morning. i have a question about the nomination process itself. processenate nomination meant to ferret out and make the public aware of a nominee's perspective, and is there any history of the senate not nominating or confirming a nomination? what happens if that were to occur? guest: sure. one of the nominations i worked bork, he was

nominated to the supreme court. byer extensive hearings led chairman joe biden, he testified for five days. extensive hearings. ultimately he was voted down by the senate 58-42. the president then goes back to the drawing board and nominates someone else. he nominated ginsburg who withdrew and then justice kennedy, more of a moderate. as i mentioned earlier justice kennedy was confirmed 97-0. host: what do you make of the critique of the process so far? guest: it is not rushed at the moment. we have to see what hearings are set and the timing. hearings in the first or second

week of august would be rushed when you have a nominee whose record has more than 90 pages to review. enough time for 100 senators to have a careful review of his record. host: a senate deadline for cavanaugh, saying he intends to have a vote in the fall. this gives judiciary ample time august.hearings in they go on to say 60-70 days is within the norm between nomination and confirmation. ruth bader ginsburg, or the two days. the average wait for these democratic nominees was 65 days. neil gorsuch took 66. barring some major revelation, this is a fair time for

nomination. your reaction? guest: setting a date at this point whether it is october 1 or september 27, that is an artificial just -- deadline. they are the swing vote in key cases involving fundamental rights and protections. , anotherother month six weeks for whatever it is, you have to provide the time for an exhaustive review. if he has not issued any speeches, or articles, there is less to review and you can expedite it. today with the critical fit seat, his voluminous record and a far right agenda attempted to be unlimited here, you take the time you need. the court has had eight justices before. the world is not going to come

to an end. host: back to calls. we have some pictures of the vice president. >> good morning. -- [inaudible] this is why america is the object of indie and hate. because of our government decisions, we want to fill our gas tank. host: we are talking about the supreme court nomination process. you have anything to say about that? caller: this is important. we are a powerful country.

we want to get back on topic. explain something that was said by chuck schumer. all has anand obligation to share personal views. do you agree? guest: i do. on coree his views constitutional principles. that includes settled law. nominees will be asked whether they believe brown versus board of education, a fundamental case , is that settled law? should it be maintained? most will say of course. there is no difference between asking about board and roe v. wade. when senator schumer talks about probing personal views i think he is exactly right and those are the questions the hearings should allow for.

>> we will keep the phone lines on the bottom of the screen. our guest in the studio and washington is jeff peck. in that capacity he helped senator joe biden with preparing and going through these confirmation hearings. reminds usk times washington is no stranger to bitter confirmation fights. the coming battle is likely to be intense and expensive. how much does this cost? guest: i think it is going to be inexpensive campaign in terms of outside groups on the right, spending money to pressure

senate democrats, and moderate republicans. on the left, trying to highlight key issues. how much total, i don't quite know. i'm guessing this nomination will exceed prior nominations. host: how about the committee itself? when one of these comes along how does the work of the committee change? explain how that works. --st: the committee will members and staff will work together and decide in an ideal case who is asking which questions. you don't want to have four senators ask the same questions. there is a divide and conquer strategy both sides will use in terms of preparation. republicans will be prepped to defend judge kavanaugh. democrats will probe the views

and ask the questions we have been talking about. host: what is this like for staff? guest: it is a full-time job. on the nominations i work on, you disappear from your family for three or four months. it is an incredible experience .ut it is hard work particularly when you have this sort of record to go through. nothingwyer, there is better than working on a supreme court nomination. host: was robert bork the most challenging? guest: the most interesting. mostnce thomas was the challenging in light of the allegations at the time. bork had a bloom in this record. -- voluminous record. there was nothing better than doing that as a staffer. host: let's get to jim.

good morning. caller: good morning. is 51-49. with senator mccain not being able to get to the senate, my understanding, he can't vote. that makes it 50-49. what about a situation where -- morelicans republicans could become the majority, it just seems that there should be something where votes could be cast even if you can't make it to the senate floor. saying, now i am losing it. let's get an answer to your first question. guest: sure. in the senate, for votes on the --ate floor, you can vote

can't vote by proxy. senator mccain, if he is not able to vote, then the republicans are down a number. but mike pence gets to break a tie. under the sonora you were talking about where more than one senator in this case is missing my guesses senator mcconnell would postpone the vote until that senator was replaced in a special election were appointed by their state governor and wait for the republicans have a majority again. i know the vice president gets to cast a vote on the legislated issue, i wasn't sure if he gets to cast a vote on a confirmation. you answered that question. host: thank you. george, a republican. good morning. caller: i really disagree. our constitution was written as

a contract. the relationship between our government and its citizens. it is a binding contract. there is no conservative, no liberal on the court. if they are people who believe the constitution should be interpreted the way it was written nor it is a living document that we can interpret any time, any way we want to. times west multiple have changed the document. we have passed multiple amendments. what has happened in the last 60 years is the liberal or left side have decided we don't need to do that anymore. we will go to the courts and have the courts find something in their. the whole privacy, a right to privacy. that is not in the constitution.

if you want it you can pass an amendment. a right to to have abortion you can pass an amendment. that is why we are still having the argument over a lot of these things. we do have an argument over whether alcohol should be legal or not legal. we don't have an argument over who can be a citizen and who can't because we passed it in an amendment. we have done that multiple times. the left is the one that has a court,tive of the left in reality it is the conservatives who want to go by that. before thealking senate, when kagan was asked shet the heller decision said that was precedent and she would follow weight. when it came time to vote on chicago, that would bring that

to the rest of the nation she voted against doing that. misrepresent their position. we know hillary, she said heller was wrongly decided. no one believes she would appoint anyone to the supreme court who would have upheld heller. respectfully sir, i think that you presented a false choice. it is not simply whether the constitution should be , if youted as written the, if you go back to 1770's, there was no question the framers couldn't have thought about unreasonable searches of your cell phone, or a whole host. these are things that didn't

exist then and judges have to apply the principles to a new set of facts. in terms of the rights are talking about, let's talk about the right to privacy. the question i would pose, do you want the government telling in your you can do bedroom? do want the government controlling who you can marry and you're right to marry? those are the sorts of things protected by the right to privacy under the 14th due process clause. i think it is easy to talk about these fake rights that may exist but in reality these are the rights that protect your privacy, privacy and the privacy of all americans. we will hear from chad. caller: i want to say the guests , that was a fantastic response. the constitution has to evolve based on things that we couldn't

see. people needt on and to keep that in mind. to my comment. i don't think it is fair to rush a confirmation vote within 60 days siding that time frame. if there are extensive records we need to take time to learn about that and make an informed decision. this will shape so many decades. i also don't think it is fair mcconnell delayed obama's nomination on a moderate justice like kennedy and here we are, putting things through before the thread of the midterm elections, butte and the republicans don't have -- might not have control of the house. i don't think that is fair.

it is something that i think everybody should be aware of. i think that is well said by the caller. that we are talking about a swing seat on the court, control of the court with a far right agenda based on the federalist society list and their agenda. as i mentioned, setting an artificial deadline is the wrong thing to do. you need to let the process play out. have the hearings take as long hisre necessary to probe views. then you put it to the vote in the said it -- in the senate. setting an deadline is the wrong way to go. host: mark wants to know what is hispurpose of reviewing

emails? guest: there's a lot of opinions expressed in emails and what you do in prior jobs. when you put someone life tenure on the supreme court for the next 35 or 40 years, they are entire record is fair game. whether it is a judicial opinion or the work they did for ken starr or a law firm. you are trying to get a full and complete picture. all of that work in a professional standpoint is a fair game. >> the former general counsel from 1987 to 92, thank you for your time and insight. time.a: 30 eastern people have a couple members -- we will have a couple members of congress coming up.

is comeare going to do back to your calls on the question we ask the what is america's role in the world? this is live coverage from brussels. will be back with more questions and calls.

>> sunday night, cnn political commentator amanda carpenter discusses her book, gas lighting america. she is interviewed. >> he creates suspense. all the time. i have investigators going to hawaii. he suggested there was a video coming. that generates more interest. let's see what he has to say. it never comes out. drug tractorts the to attack. >> yes. people start to say we think donald trump is lying. other people are just talking about this. i'm looking into it. up is a loser,ps crazy. if he can find a target to scapegoat that is when it

creates that dynamic. >> finally he declares victory. everyone, in mom going to have a major announcement. look at my hotel if you want. he eventually said barack obama is a citizen. hillary clinton started it. i finished it. victory. >> watch afterwords on c-span numeral twos book tv. >> brett kavanaugh for the district of columbia's president's nominee for the supreme court. aslow the process on c-span he meets with key senators this week followed by senate confirmation hearings and the vote. watch live on c-span. .

>> washington journal continues. >> looking at more live pictures from brussels. the start of the nato meeting. the north atlantic council. that is the principal decision-making body within nato that oversees the process relating to security issues affecting the entire alliance. pictures.st watch we do want to take more of your phone calls on this question. what it -- what is america's role in the world? here of the numbers to call. will put a fourth line on the screen. anyone outside the u.s.. we would love to hear your thoughts.

these are live pictures from the nato summit. five and trump arrived a half hours ago. he had a bilateral breakfast. arrived at the nato headquarters around 7:00. this is the north atlantic council meeting now. you can see several u.s. cabinet officials. to susan in tampa. what do you think america's role in the world should be? >> i don't think america has a with this guy who runs the white house. basically, all due respect, i

taught public school for 35 years, i think a fourth grader to run this country better. is, there's 12 characteristics to a sociopath, people who can't read, people who can read, look it up. matches every single one. thank you for taking my call. host: over the president's right shoulder, kay bailey hutchison. the former senator from texas who is now the 22nd u.s. permanent representative to know. hank is calling from said -- from patrick. good morning. i wanted to chime in here talking about nato. pay. countries agree to to have not been doing it for

years. they have been freeloading. of united states has a bunch graves in europe with americans that have sacrificed lives. to about the marshall plan rebuild europe? has europe ever offered to rebuild anything that happened in the united states and we had hurricanes or fires? say webody contribute in will help you rebuild? forget about the berliner air lift. the hundreds of lives of airmen lost, getting food to west berlin. some of these countries have been freeloading too long. it is time for them to pay up. thank you. allen is in indiana.

were a nation, that has pursued life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. the best person c-span could have on some time is david at our who has looked country's founding statements to my collected it all and shows talking about the supreme court, at one point there was an argument about whether america was a christian country. they did all this research. everyone on the supreme court ended up saying yes, america was created as a christian country. god bless america. god bless c-span.

what is america's role in the world you think? , iler: as it stands now theeve the president is on right path. i think the nato nation bill to pay their fair share. i think he has an outlet as to who we are as a sovereign nation. we have borders. i wish they would put a wall south of the border. america is a great nation. i believe donald trump is the right leader at this point in time. i support the man 100%. this is coming from a black man. at a tightre looking travel pool. they took some early pictures of the meeting.

perhaps we will see some more later. we have seen a lot from the meeting. at 3:00 a.m. eastern time the president started his official day with a bilateral breakfast meeting with the secretary general. here is how it started. makesis sad when germany a massive oil and gas deal with russia, where you are supposed to be carting against russia and germany pays billions of dollars a year to russia. we are protecting germany, france, all of these countries and numerous other countries make a pipeline deal with russia where they are paying billions of dollars into the coffers of russia. we are supposed to protect you against russia?

i think that is an appropriate. ultimately germany will have almost 70% of their country controlled by russia with natural gas. is that appropriate? i've been complaining about this from the time i got in. it should never have been allowed to happen. germany is totally controlled by russia. ofy were getting 60-70% their energy from russia. i think it is not appropriate. host: that is how the day started in brussels. this headline, and merkel hits back at donald trump at the nato summit. they say angela merkel has pushed back against the extraordinary tirade against germany on the first day of the summit.

she made the point she needed no lessons in dealing with authoritarian regimes, recalling that she had been brought up in east germany. she also hit back at the criticism germany contributed to little european defense. germany does a lot for nato, she said. sandra from alabama. go ahead. caller: thank you. the lady before me talked about barton. i want to say that i am so with the president. i think he is the greatest president since ronald reagan. children, theyhe need to look at children in america. they cry when they are

separated. they go put in jail for not putting -- paying a parking ticket. as the president said, germany should take a lot of the other countries. this is the greatest president since ronald reagan. i think him for bringing christianity back to this country. they asked about this breakfast we just showed you a portion of paid by the u.s. government. this is the breakfast between donald trump and the secretary general.

clayton, north carolina. democratic caller. caller: good morning. i would like to say nato was set up by the usa. after world war ii, it is .mportant to us president trump is ignorant and arrogant. he does not know what nato means. senate and the house got to put a check on him. he should have never been a personn a time -- running for president can get up and say i can shoot somebody in the street and nothing will be kidsabout it, all these out of their money. he should not be there. he does not know what he is doing. in check.o be

the senate and house need to check him. ost: it was considered a nonbinding vote. this is the senate decision out of the hill. this is yesterday. reconciled theey annual defense policy bill with the house. a 97-to vote. rand paul and mike lee voted against the measure. gary is calling. i would like to comment on nato. the president is our main guy talking for the united states and nato. thesemaking points where

guys are not standing up. german leaders are on the payroll of russia. the oil company and stuff. i think we ought to give him a little break. -- the america first policy. thanks. host: vanessa is on the line. caller: good morning. now, our role is, we are nothing but a playbook. doing,ing he is everything vladimir putin. that is what he wanted donald trump and office. he wanted to separate from nato. i'm ashamed of america for not knowing their own history.

i'm a christian. everyone talking about this is a christian nation, the whole of revolutionizing ourselves is because we didn't want to be told what religion we had to have. it is ridiculous. of peoplend tired speaking out of the sides of our mouth. read a history book. fast.untry is going down just because people are afraid of change. host: thank you for calling. calling. good morning. >> good morning c-span. two points. longer training ,merican troops to fight wars

our president claims he is saving money not training. are they planning on paying the money back they have received from the united states? i'm calling because i'm watching tear our allies apart from us and make us fight among each other. when he declares martial law to and stopelections investigations, americans are not going to fight against the americans. he is going to bring the new world order. to suppress the american human beings. americans are going to kill each other. he knows that.

everybody, watch this guy. you are drinking the cool lead -- thee laid -- the coo koolaid. host: soybean cell 50%. other trade barriers have been destroying businesses. i will open things up better than before. it can't go to quickly. up thesident has stepped trade war. he escalated the trade war.

it went into effect friday and would place half of all chinese imports under tariffs. forcing people to stop stealing international property. that is in the washington post. flake ofead jeff arizona told reporters the senate will vote today on a resolution. you can watch live coverage. cincinnati democrat, good morning. i have three comments i would like to make.

the first one is about korea. he is 86 years old. he was in the air force for three years. we talked to him. how this believe president is about what started the world -- started the war. secondly, he made a good point. when the first 13 colonies performed only one returned from england. that was maryland. massachusetts, the pilgrims. it was to get away from having to belong to anything. when it comes to nato, nato ofin was formed in the ashes world war ii.

all the major wars were done by democratic presidents. have a good day. mary on the line. independent caller. how are you? >> good morning. thank you for c-span. the clutter ofm the world, this is the only channel i can bear these days. i am so ashamed of our presidents bad manners at a breakfast table. it is beyond imagining. i tried to honor any president we have ever had. . i can't get past his incivility and meanness toward people.

they're so many things going on that he approaches with a negative attitude. i can't seem to get myself to try to understand what he is this because of strangeness he presents to us. host: that was mary. this is a tape from earlier today. speaking of that breakfast, the president was asked which countries he wants to pay more as far as nato is concerned. >> countries was a tremendous money.of

,f you go back 10 or 20 years the noted states has paid and stepped up like nobody. something has to be done. this year commitments have been made for $40 million more money by other countries. it is a small step. it seems like a lot of money relative to what they will and what they should be paying. it is an unfair burden on the united states. i'm sure it will be resolved. i have confidence in the secretary-general. him.e great confidence in

host: two days of meetings. the president then goes on to the u.k. preparing for the meeting in helsinki that he will have with vladimir putin. hello. >> good morning. thank you for taking my call. i'm looking at it as we're trying to get -- everybody complains about our deficits. we can't keep giving money away. trump is on the right track that is what i have to say. >> independent caller. good morning. i'm sick of hearing people like the last guy say we are giving our money away and we shouldn't

defend our allies. are you there? if we don't defend our allies, i don't care if they didn't pay a dime. would you rather see them on the side of russia? that is what donald trump is doing. he is trying to break down our nation. i can't believe donald is going to be meeting with vladimir putin in secret again. he did it in france. you can't believe what donald trump says. have been non-ending. we know what happened when he took the russians in the white house. he gave away classified information that we got from our allies. then we go to the supreme court pick.

we have a criminal under the peopleon taking who were going to judge him when mueller's investigation comes .own he's going to have a stacked jury. recuse?se judges or will they set trump free? that is all i have to say. i am sick of the way our country is going. minutes forle more calls. trump pardons ranchers. a rancher in 2016. convicted of starting to fires that damage federal lands. the evidence against him he said was conflicting and the jury acquitted them on most of the charges. that is in usa today.

mexicans are rising as they share a border case. up a largere made share of the immigrants prosecuted since president trump found an executive order to end family separation. it shows a shift away from prosecutions. the administration associates ms 13.e violent gang nearly half were mexican according to usa today. tony, newport, tennessee. caller: good morning. i have a couple things. there was another russian president -- he came here and took issue off and pounded it on the table and said communism is

going to take over the united an arm.ithout raising i look at where we're at. 1960's,happened in the i would already be gone. what do you think? close on gop deal is deal toe, finalizing a bring the convention to charlotte. is expected ap nomination for a second term. mr. bossi. it looks like charlotte but not quite there yet. we have bob on the line. caller: i love c-span.

regarding america's role, jefferson, whenever government becomes destructive to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness it is the right of the people, those who voted for trump to alter that government. and relay its foundation on the principles most likely to affect their safety and happiness. we have to get back to our principles and not our tribalism. host: you had the last word. we have one hour left in this wednesday edition of the washington journal. the house comes in at 10:00. we would hear from a couple of members of congress. the democrat from the virgin islands. member of the oversight and reform committee. also, francis rooney, republican

from southwest florida on meetings with nato leaders. ♪ sunday night on q&a. >> she came back a few days later, she saw me sitting in the aisle and physically tossed it me and said "no change," i decided right then and there, going to get that amendment ratified. > gregory watson, the man responsible for getting the 25th amendment to the constitution ratified. it, i wasnever forget in the library, downtown austin,

book and i came across a that had in it a chapter, entire amendments ted to that had passed congress, but not enough state legislators had approved. this one just jumped right out at me. at this time said, no law varying the compensation for the services of the senators and take entatives, shall effect until an election of representatives shall have intervened. and i can remember standing in holding that book in my hand and it was as if had struck. i could feel the pulsating all.tricity of it and i thought, you know what, nstead of writing about the equal rights amendment and this disputed extension in its deadline, why don't i instead write about this

when ent that says, members of congress want to adjust their salary, they have the next election. >> sunday night, 8 eastern on c-span's q&a. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. was created as a public service by america's able television companies and today we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, house, the supreme court and public policy events around ngton, d.c. and the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> "washington journal" continues. delegatening us now is stacey plaskett, member of versight and government reform committee. thank you for joining us. your committee, the judiciary called e in the house,

peter strzok to testify. the big hearing tomorrow, live 10 a.m. on c-span3. us of who peter strzok is, why you've called him and for.you're looking guest: well, peter strzok, as you may recall, was involved in of secretary ion hillary clinton's e-mails. agent, nother f.b.i. lisa page, had been involved in the ationship and in investigation of that investigation, it was discovered number of ad quite a text messages using government phones between them, which talks dislike of president -- then candidate, now the dent trump, as well as investigation. host: so what are you looking to hear? actually not 'm clear what we're going to be looking to hear from him specifically. we conducted two weeks ago, an of our hearing, deposition peter strzok by members of the ouse judiciary and oversight

committee, in which time he really expounded on and you can hours, expanded on everything. think the purpose that chairman trey gowdy and to bring to the public what happened in that deposition. context with s in the investigation, how important is tomorrow's event? clear how not really important this is going to be, it's optically important to the to have ns to be able this hearing, but in terms of just moving the ball forward, i to do hink we're going this. paul, right now what we're doing is having an investigation of investigation of the investigation. and i think that we have what it is we're going to have, if you recall, several hearingo, we also had a inspectorel horowitz, general, who testified under

findings about investigating peter strzok. the republicans were not atisfied with the testimony of michael horowitz, who has been i..gstanding i.g. at the justice department. bottom ofe numbers on the screen, democrats virgin ca and independents call. our guest is member of the reform committee and house of representatives. lso serves transportation infrastructure. guest: and agriculture. host: agriculture. galling me, what is and frankly i'm a little this sed at trey gowdy in in terms of the chairman of oversight and government reform, positiont had been his in the past he would rather door t behind closed

interview because he told me specifically he believes more out when you mes conduct interviews behind closed doors than when you do them in hearings, which he has said and rely members posture they act outside of themselves of what they would really be doing if you were having a deposition. both of us have been prosecutors in the past. 've worked at the justice department, he's been a federal prosecutor. you know that the depositions ou are going to get the information you need. he republicans, while warranting the special counsel investigation to be over, now we had the benghazi hearing, nothing found with that. ow they are extending that hearing in itself by having this hearing of peter strzok to talk e-mails to try and still drum up additional from this. host: couple other items, we had read peter strzok's attorney is

transcript from last week's closed-door testimony be released. have you seen the transcript? you know if and when it will be released? how important is it? think it is very important. i, as witness, and had a client disclose rney, they things and answered numerous questions and to keep those in transcript, ing the he can refer back to it when he's answering the questions to told individuals there. i know that lisa page, as well, testify. asked to she said that she would like to get the transcript, as well, she would like to know what the interview questions are going, be. questions are going to and i suspect that they'll move to subpoena or possibly even in context. host: might be news for you, it was news for us this morning. appear for this house hearing. senate former anti-trump lawyer, special counsel, robert mueller's team, said last night she won't attend the

hearing. any idea why? guest: i think it is very short notice, she was just told they her to testify yesterday. she has asked for information to able to review that before testifying and the republicans that d to give her information. so my, you know, in terms of the rocedures under the committee rules, the committee chair now he wants to if issue a subpoena, has to do so by informing the ranking member democrat of that and allow two days for the individual to come and testify. we'll see if that happens and what lisa page does after that. host: let's get to the calls. the peter strzok hearing is dem allow two days for the individual to come and testify. e'll see if that tomorrow, 10:00 a.m., we'll have it live on c-span, watch it at c-span.org, as well, listen on yap yapt chltee radio

/* /- app. barbara, you are up first. caller: thank you. on, ippalled what is going can't understand how anyone can f.b.i. do anything like this. on't they decide what the judicial system and it seems like they're not, that he's putting all of watching the border, the border, his wife came here illegally, she's a good person. putting her not down, she came here and worked s a nude model illegally, he always keeps saying we can't do border, he ut this keeps doing this to the f.b.i., where everything is on the f.b.i. isn't there someone that can say, no, i don't have to do that, i don't have to give you information. host: independent caller there. barbara, go ahead, please. yes.: what we've noticed is that director from f.b.i.

now wray, special counsel, they continue their work. they're operating in a professional manner. the house, as well as the senate does have jurisdiction over these agencies to be able to ask them to come and explain what have done. the travesty happening is that much of the work that the people of america brought us to is not getting done. we still don't have a transportation or infrastructure bill. the president, that was one of he first things he said he wanted to get done. we have not been able to engage in that. nott of other areas we have been able to engage in because our ve put so much of energy on investigating investigations that were already done. trey gowdy said in the last room, talking with michael special counsel investigation, which lasted now a little over a year is tearing apart and to close it down. you have to remember, he has to bring 20 e

indictments against individuals nd had five guilty pleas from this investigation already, whereas the benghazi hearing, hich lasted two years ended up with none. host: our guest is graduate of georgetown university and law degree from american university washington, the college of law there. tacey plaskett, born in croy.lyn, parents from st. worked at doj for attorney he took arry thompson, over when james comey took over, you stayed on, make sure i have that right. foxboro, ng from massachusetts. caller: good morning. egarding lisa page, do you think that she's sort of not doing this because of peter and them not releasing the the fact it nd looks like a dog-and-pony show? -- thatsomething that's shouldn't be happening when the president is biassed against

comey, biassed against everybody else, using the same argument against other people. a comment on article 2 of nato and see if hat could be decided about economic and why aren't we educating people about article 2? very much. guest: yeah, you know, the president is over in europe we speak, meeting with our allies over there. most americans are concerned -- nato has worked and we put it together, to ica put it together ensure there wouldn't be a world war again. it has done what it set out to do. we have worked together to keep peace in europe and really support each other in fight terrorism and fight in other areas, as well, i'm hopeful despite some of the are made, cooler heads and diplomats, clear do omats there are able to their work and were able to continue with great work of economic ace, but

prosperity, in the democratic world. host: as member of the agriculture committee, want to tariffs out there. the president tweeting about them. short of ries are current commitment of 2%, delinquent in membership payments not been made, will reimburse the u.s.? he tweeted earlier today, what i out, tweets about the tariffs and how thipgs are not fair for the u.s. he's made that point repeatedly. in terms of agriculture, what concerned about guest: i'm concerned for cattle owners, livestock, pork and as well as turkey, chicken, so much is consumed here in the united states, but a portion of that is sent overseas, particularly to asian for pork and beef to other countries. and beef farmers need to be able export these goods, that has been a main stay for them and

e're concerned the tariffs are going to negatively impact what is in the heartland of america. agriculture, which has been quite a bit of backbone. host: the president tweeted, i'm in brussels, thinking about the farmers, soybeans until my election came along, farmers poorly for 15 years, other countrys and tariffs destroying things es, i will open up better than ever before, but it can't go too quickly. fighting for a level playing field for farmers and we will win. any reaction there? guest: i don't know if that is the reason some prices have gone down, competition has been stiff. the farm bill we've been trying to do, trying to put incentives to be able to grow businesses and to expand the exports theyeas and may be able to do, restricting it i don't think is necessarily to grow our economy. host: mike from glendale,

arizona. hello, mike. caller: hello. about whether or not peter strzok is going to testify. i believe that he will not. will plead the fifth, just like page, because he will be he speaks. on the issue of that, i'd like about what you think that. guest: i think that he will testify. spent 11 hours testifying behind closed doors, which is much more difficult and probably more revealing than the unclassified questions that you to be receiving. listen, i think we're swallowing gnat, and trying -- and letting a horse go through us in instance. peter strzok, while his comments very eplorable and not -- unprofessional, was not the ltimate decision-maker in the investigation of secretary clinton. there were others involved in

that. s to his involvement in the special counsel, once it was found out that he -- his messages nd the text that were sent on government phones, he was removed and reassigned and the work has continued. i think we're trying, we've been shiny object, which is peter strzok, and americans need andake their focus off that put their focus on the larger issues affecting us. what is the special counsel to find? what is the taxes going to do to next e americans in the year? not the immediate tax relief they have gotten, but over time. is an infrastructure bill going to be taken care of? virgin islands and puerto rico ready if another hurricane comes to the areas? think those are things americans are concerned about. met, re their needs being not the shiny object of peter strzok. kathy, republican, welcome to the program. caller: good morning both of

you. i just heard the lady say that there was nothing to the benghazi investigation. found the how we e-mails at the risk of beating a dead horse, did nothing ma about nato, nothing about north i ea or russia, nothing, so am appalled at the democrats is cating that donald trump on the wrong track, he is most leader of the free world and he's showing it. my call. for taking host: thank you. guest: thank you. you know, i think what you're out about the e-mails, but was there riminality involved, carelessness? yes, that is what the investigation showed. criminality? no. you look at special counsel mueller investigation, you have 20 indictments and already five

pleas. i think when you're weighing in the balance, there really is not much there. as what is happened in north korea, we don't have a deal as of yet. of talk, until the deal comes through, there is disarmorment and even the c.i.a. director has said that has not happened. secretary of state said that has not happened, we're a long way off. what do you make of supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh? guest: smart move on his part to pick someone who is a steady has stellar but h ground in terms of jurisprudence. interesting to see him talk articles he'sview written, as well as the report he wrote when he worked for ken starr in the investigation when it comes to whether or not a sitting president can be charged or can be indicted or impeached or lying or obstructing

justice. those are the things people will focus on. a good pick this is for president pick as republicans pick. someone who will be difficult or those republicans pick. someone who will be difficult for those in purple states, democrats in purple states to oppose and puts everyone in the cross-hairs here. what i find also interesting is that this does show us how the supreme court is.court how important our third branch of government, the judiciary, is, and also the issues that are potentially moving here. we've had a lot of focus on roe issues of voting rights, there are issues of affirmative action, there are same sex that people should be focused on, as well. host: jane, lawrence, democratic s, caller. hi there. good morning.

i would like to ask the delegate, she claimed she was a prosecutor. good morning. i would like to ask the delegate, she claimed she was a prosecutor. if she's heard of sequestering witnesses, because i don't believe lisa page should be entitled to know the testimony of strzok and be allowed to it and dictate her answers to that, the whole point abuse osecutor, she must abuse l of the tool of sequestering witnesses, you do that to find out who is lying and who isn't. disingenuous to say she should be allowed transcripts and to allow access the testimony and expect the truth from her. hasn't met right. host: thanks, let's hear from the delegate. the : you're talking about smell test in all of this. i'm not defending lisa page. i think that her attorney is needs to do to defend his client and to support her. get that ng to information? i'm not sure. issues notice, there are of notice and timing, as well, she's been able to raise, which questions. i think she will play this out as much as she can. fact that ed by the

peter strzok gave the both hours of testimony behind closed doors in we're askingd that the democrats are asking that that sified version of transcript be put out for the american people to be able to said.at exactly he host: to the line for democrats, isarizona now, arizona, what your name? genius roberts is my name. this is the age of empire, this the age of labor considered and what made that so, i go back in history all the time. ruling by iat so is guess it was nixon in 1971. richard m. nixon in 1971 took us standard, what that did is it opened up the whole

to take over industries the -- we that time were stronger than the second-ranked economy by 18 times. nixon e press confronted about that item, he just mentioned, we're going to have a lot more customers. yeah, that's true, but all our disappeared because it became more of empire. the pirate ships landed in hemisphere, which was america and the people who were here were consekwently americans were called indians, that is called empire, when you take over something. done is take -- republicans have taken over the whole world f the that we, nsequence is this new president has to deal see, scratch his

head and find out what to do about it. host: thanks for calling. think one know, i thing your last caller brings up age are mportant, what we in and how does america continue to innovate and mick itself great? the virgin islands, we're really seeing the time we have after the hurricanes as as well, to innovate and change ourselves. i've pressed our governor and officials down there to use the funding that the federal government is giving us allows our economy to grow. i know that our governor today s going to be announcing some of the moneys that we've received from hud, we're $243 million from hud for rebuilding of our territory. about puerto rico and utilities they lost, the irgin islands lost a lot in terms of hospitals, our schools, right now completely decimated. going to be used for the rebuilding of the virgin

islands, we've been short stricted over many years in hawe of federal funding receive. the 1990s, we were taken off the transportation and highways and did not receive the same money in terms of medicaid support and other areas, as well. doctrine utilizing utilizing the area to rebuild. host: how are the people there doing, constituents? know, everyone, our v.i.strong.een never seen more resilient people immediately after the storm. others werefema and able to get there, the department of defense, people got themselves out, were helping neighbors, clearing roads, were looking for those that were lost. we lost our internet, phone apacity and people were basically writing on paper veryone they found, getting

that up by satellite or other ways so people outside the people slands can know were safe. so, we have been able to do hings on our own, we're american citizens. we die in greater capacity per capita than others, giving ultimate sacrifice from the to tary and asking america be responsible to us, as well. funding we're receiving, $10 wner reha bbilitation, million, public and affordable housing $32 million, support of sheltering program, $15 million and it goes on, 33 omic revitalization, million. we want the virgin islands to be the lt and that is what people of the virgin islands are asking local officials, as well. over 100,000 people; correct? guest: yes, 105,000. it has been larger, we had 2012, of a refinery in

it was the second largest in the ere, employment skyrocketed to 18%. recently announced reopening and we're trying to rebuild and reopen, not just in tourism, but knowledge-based businesses, etcetera, so age, our economy can boom. ost: to new york city, the bronx.gh of the caller: i couldn't agree with the last caller more. topic of s on the government reform, if we could speak about the benefits, the if we focus more on international development and consumer markets in

developing countries, rather than ruining trade relations we have now? guest: i think that is a great idea and a great question. i know that i'm also a member of the new democratic coalition, which is a group of democrats who are consumer markets in developing countries, rather than ruining trade relations we interested in business and the idea of growing build, not just raising new businesses, growing our infrastructure, it is a way the tide, as well, socially. i think exploring other developing and countries, which has been great innovators and really supporting american investment in that is a great way for us to grow, as well. ost: you mentioned infrastructure couple of times. what were you anticipating in he last year or so and why hasn't a bill come forth? guest: you know, the president, of course, talked about 3 to be extended in transportation. disappointed that money does not really change the equation between how much the andral government is giving how much local municipalities receive. it is an st part, 80/20 mix between federal government and local.

invariably happens, those areas, which already have urplus of funding, are able to utilize the money and are able to continue to build whereas rural , areas, those that have been left behind, do not. of us are hoping to see, is to incentivize or rural areas to come up to where the urban areas are in infrastructure, staying here in washington, d.c., you can't but notice tremendous transportation and infrastructure development here because they have the economy to do that. the places like virgin islands or other rural areas, farming continuing to fall behind and the federal government has got to be able to terms of at in transportation, in our rail, as and also inairports infrastructure and public infrastructure in those areas. james from ast call, collins, mississippi, independent caller. hi, james.

caller: good morning. host: morning. guest: morning. caller: yes, ma'am, i know you virgin u represent islands? guest: yes, sir. aller: i wanted to ask you first one question. i just heard the lady talk about this lady not wanting to testify and you gave a pretty good this , but my point is here. i have another one. but, how is it that the can be so upset with will d anybody else that not go in front of them and be tested, but the president, they him, they protect him and say he's the president of the united states of america, so cannot, shouldn't have to testify, shouldn't be impeached. strange to me f how fox news is continuing to they hese people and say need to testify, we need to have an investigation, but when it the to the president of united states of america and i'm pretty sure people convicted or

guilty on these crimes, hey're just setting it up for them to say there is disagreement and it is fake is fake, but ng with him, you watch fox news and well, you say something is not right, they continue to say it is fake news, fake news, of a sudden, when it benefits them, they say it is also, one more question. what is it about brown and black and people, some poor aucasian people now, this administration and this situation now is becoming more racist. mississippiissippi, is moving forward beyond the like the otherem nations, other states, are old ning to draft in the thing mississippi was going through. it makes me wonder why or blicans and christians evangelicals are giving this man

like the ct and whatever name, secretary of -- the bible, romans something, did not complete the whole chapter of the book and over it. crazy host: james, thank you. want to get one last comment with the wrap up diagonal gat. go ahead, please. uest: i think we live in polarized society right now, ace, gender equality, sexual orientation, it is a conversation america needs to have with itself, it's been avoiding. think what we're seeing now is coming to a head at this point. hopeful for myself, not just for myself, but for my children people, f our young that they're able to really to eflect and do better than what they have seen many of us do, not only in government, but in and elsewhere, we're seeing that throughout this country. when i talk to my colleagues here or when i talk, especially, to young

hope for this s country and there is hope for yesterday, monday, i was at georgetown university at mater speaking with kids from all over this country at associationtatesmen and the amount of energy and the amount of hope and determination they have to make our country great and the passion they have for america really on, as well. so i want to thank them and particularly of course the young people who are representing the virgin islands that were there, that we're counting on them. host: delegate stacey plaskett, member of oversight and reform committee, among other committees, thank you for your time this morning. we'll take a short break and be back with another member of the house, congressman francis ooney, republican of florida, on the foreign affairs committee. plus more calls. be right back.

>> sunday night on q&a. >> she came back a few days she saw me sitting in the aisle and she physically tossed "no change."said, i decided right then and there, that amendment ratified. >> gregory watson, the man responsible for getting the 27th amendment to the constitution ratified. >> i'll never forget it, i was library, downtown austin, across a book me that had in it, a chapter, ntire chapter, devoted to amendments that had passed congress, but not enough state legislators had approved. this one just jumped right out at me. said no law --

[audio difficulty] -- host: the president was making bilateral breakfast, part of nato meeting, he talked about germany and the way it does business. here is a look at the clip. it is very i think sad when germany makes a massive russia, as deal with where you're supposed to be and ing against russia germany pays billions and billions of dollars a year to

ussia, we're protecting germany, we're protecting france countries. these numerous country guess out and make a pipeline deal with billionshey are paying of dollars into the business of russia. protect supposed to you against russia, but they are paying billions to russia i think that is very inappropriate the former chancellor of germany is the head of the pipeline company that is the gas. totally controlled by russia, they are getting from 60 from russia in new pipeline, tell me if you think that is appropriate, i continuing is not. host: what do you think of the

way the president started the in brussels? on the head, -- talked for years, nord stream 2 idea, building a second one is a bad idea, russia.s reliance on chancell shroeder, with cronyism, hopefully will be able germany find energy independence with more lng and things like that. chancellor merkel according to guardian hit back t president's criticism, germany does a lot for nato, as well, that happened today. the question of nato, the on and off questioned whether nato is even necessary relevant, what is your take? guest: i disagree. ato is important strategic alliance, now with eastern european new members. three problems. i think the president is right, europeans aren't paying enough,

former u.k. nato ambassador saying the response was unsophisticated, he was calling on them to pay what they agreed to pay. i come from business, you have to pay what you agree to pay. assets, both any nato and the united states fighting the old war in belgium nd germany instead of new war in eastern europe and ukraine. host: phone number on the screen we'll get to n, your calls when they start coming in. i think that firstly it is very important that america lead, we're still the country willing

to stand on principle, i think that despite the discussion on germany and we need to provide that moral eadership and practical leadership to the world. host: we know the senate voted nonbinding, they put out their support for nato as the president got to brussels. house planning anything similar? guest: i don't know, we'll have befind out, i think it would good idea to do it. nato has problems that mean to with.lt doesn't mean the security architecture of nato part of undermined. what are foreign policy area right now? in t: we have work to do latin america. i personally would rather stop talking about getting out of nafta, rather tweak nafta, where the president exposed number of the products with high duty, higher in canada and mexico than the united states and things like basically i think binding important.is very host: talk about russia, as well, the president will meet in

helsinki with vladamir putin. what is the right posture to take in this meeting? of t: energy independence europe is the main thing with pipeline and am 2 building the pipeline on the impedes that ssia and bring turkey energy forward. we need to deal with cyber ttacks and i think the house passed sanction bills in senate that are willing to sanction they continue to undermine institutions in the united states. present onfront conflict areas. host: speaking about russia, you daily ommentary in the signal, headline how to make utin pay high price for aggression, one important option to apply pressure on the russian energy sector. saying here? guest: exactly right. make him pay a price for doing crimia, ike south and

they are abusing there and is okay to take cremia, they all speak russian, not true. host: congressmen, independent caller, hello there. caller: i was calling about i'm people m veteran, the to pay for using us they don't e and -- pay on their own healthcare and their own people's well being. i think it is a big one-sided deal. half our military spending in asia,country on europe and the defenses for them and they don't benefit us that much. thank you. reaction? guest: i think the point you are raising about how much we spend much what do we

spend, but where are we spending it. of back to the question making nato and our positions in europe forward-leaning and focus is he areas where there future conflict, not based on world war ii. mumuskogee, oklahoma. go ahead. to comment on the is wanting tin apparently in the g-7, be part g-7 and apparently the president would like for him to also. there but the nato alliance would also like president putin to stop interfere in elections with nato countries and etcetera on that. but i wonder if some kind of deal, that word, could be made

on that? i'd like to hear your comment on that, please. guest: first of all, we share muskogee, i'm from oklahoma, too. host: there you go. uest: us and 30,000 other people. i would not be for allowing g-7, and k into the making it back into the g-8 until they deal responsibly with aggression in the ukraine and the conflict areas. allen, nbc, wrote something, i want to get your response, about this in europe. in europe and the oreign policy establishment, president trump might follow through on threat to withdraw orces from germany, and diminish that deterrent to russian aggression. do you think the president would that and what ke would the impact be? guest: he's shown a habit of he says, which is refreshing in politics, quite frankly. he question of how many troops should be deployed, i defer to

military experts, but i think president'sle to the expressing that we have too many ssets deployed in historical locations and are there because of employment needs for the host ofntries and things, instead being put in place to do the most good to protect america, baltics, ern europe, the ukraine. troy, ebbie calling from ohio. good morning, debbie. caller: good morning. just wanted to say i support our president and if the american people were smart, they would follow behind this our dent and give him support. i don't think we should be a russia, llow the money, all this spying came from the ueen elizabeth herself and george soros, they overthrow countries and the queen sucks up all the money. money, we're not even free. we didn't win no revolutionary war, she owns us. guys are all stupid and the american people are stupid. home, do away s with nato and put them at the

border. we're being invaded. social security people might want that money. tired of everybody sucking up tit. support our president. host: let's go there and get a congressman.m the guest: i certainly agree about george soros, been a menace to america's effort to protect their efforts around the world nd what his work in hungary revealed, he's created some divisions in the country that the united ful for states. host: president george w. bush francis our guest, rooney as u.s. ambassador to the holy sea, 2005 to 2008, what did you see and learn in that role? guest: i learned an awful lot, ne of the great thipgs about erving was pope serving was pope benedict and president bush was strong partnership that the pope brought to the effort to conduct global war on ertor. pope benedict is a scholar and

deeply understands the inhibitions of islam relative to the modern world. quick to call out for intellectual construct to in the h bringing islam 21st century, which is helpful in our effort to bring peace in east.ddle host: did you hear and learn a lot about how other countries viewed the united states when were working oversea? guest: oh, yes, i heard a lot felt.how france and italy host: how did they feel? guest: they didn't feel very good. it was an affront to their sovereignty. we felt it was way to get really guys and find out what they knew. host: let's go to rachel, rachel texas, independent caller, republican of florida. good morning. morning.ood i want to talk about this witch unt, they claim it is a witch hunt, with the facebook when ussia was putting ads on our facebook page. and facebook admits to them doing it. business coming out with truth about it. ut everybody seems to think president says they didn't have

anything to do with it, they did. we had people that was around trump, that has lied, so they never met with anyone and they did. they couldn't remember and then they remembered, i met three times.ent iraq, we hadwent to 5000 soldiers die in iraq, when tried saddam hussein, they where we couldn't hear what they were bringing him up for charges for. i think the american people to hear ve been able that trial. they tried saddam hussein before they hung him. in that war.died and i think it is coming down to people don't really care who is president. them, ike a stork with they don't care what their president says, if you are republican or democrat, it is like a game to them. they don't care about the people anymore. come to is sad when we the point where people don't

care who they have in office. want just like they just to be on top, they want to win. they are not going to hear comes out aboutt trump, the things he's done and they don't care. that is upsetting, my grandkids a country like this, where the truth cannot be told that trump is being mistreated. obama was , when -- in this, gave the speech, he was liar, we couldn't even do anything because they were going to pull their kids out of this president wouldn't spoke because they said he was not a national-born citizen. thank you for calling. want to get other voices in. let's hear from the congressman. one thing, you mention facebook, it is taking our laws to the tech tch up revolution and what the social can do mpanies

vis-a-vis, marketing and how share, amazon, facebook have. have called about trust inquiries about them. host: tom in jacksonville, florida, good morning, tom, republican. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: fine. sir.head, aller: for -- a republican, i just don't understand, i'm 83 years old, my oldest brother war ii.n world veteran.rea-era i don't understand why the republicans are so nice compared democrats who left me. i used to be a democrat, but the me.ty left i didn't leave it. nothing, ssives are but a nice word for communists. that they use is just exactly what the communists take over russia and the

soviet union. host: let's get a response cht well, there is a lot in there, you know. many, of us were democrats many years ago when the democratic party was different than it is now. and i agree with you, i feel the party has certainly left a lot of people, including me. became a republican a long time ago, when the democratic lose its core. south, like you, we were all democrats. i think it is important we refocus on republican principles accomplish rying to and have positive agenda for america based upon free enterprise and individual liber liberty. host: foreign affairs committee, our guest, francis rooney, orked on education and workforce committee, serves on joint economic committee. tariffs, the debate on the trade war out there between the u.s. and other countries. your perspective? guest: great article in "wall street journal" today, that to s the point i'm trying make, too.

globalization, while creating and weies here and there have challenge of capital versus labor. othing provided as much to so many people as basically free trade in the last 30 years. underminebe mistake to that and try to pull back from what has become a service the united states by putting in tariffs. that is aside from the security ppp and of things like afta, draw countries together economically creating stable platform for cooperating on security. host: immigration, you mentioned latin america being a focus. what is your take on current and battle debate over policy in washington? guest: very frustrating. most americansat want the borders secure, of all americans want the daca kids protected, most americans really like skill-based immigration, where we get people in here to do jobs be done. to i can't tell you one industry

to do ng for more visas the work that needs to be done in america to drive the growing economy. the white house and congress come together on that? guest: good question. dianne feinstein, the president hammered out a deal to for the wall, to provide solution for the daca kids, to end diversity lottery to go to skill-based migration, i don't know why that done now. be host: our guest and family started rooney holdings big construction group, essentially is what it is. what kind of projects have you worked on? guest: built the c.d.c. and the dallas cowboys stadium and just in shing the buck stadium tampa. we do a lot of hospitals, airports, things like that. my family has been in construction since 1896. other and daughter and son for fifth generation to work in it. center, ital visiting right behind us, probably busy

today. jersey, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. good morning, congressman. a question for you. republican party knowing that trump is going to with russia, vladamir putin, and they're going to have meeting alone, with no one or to hear what they're going to talk about, in the fact we have an this igation against corrupt man and i know he's bankrupt new se he jersey. we knew it. knew n't like hillary, we she was a better choice than trump because everybody knows in trump is crooked, imagine engine a -- new jersey york.ew my question for you, you guys

are the most powerful men in the you guys insist that someone be with him in that with that meeting with putin? scary to ry, very americans, listen to all of us, divided.'re we love each other and we have divided us. the s taken us back to '60s. and you guys are doing nothing about it. the fiscal ut responsible party? this man has spent so much money and he hasn't been here for two years and everyday it is drama. drama, drama with trump. rhonda.hanks, guest: one thing you touched on about the unfortunate rise of artisanship in the last 20 or 30 years, it is not just under trump or obama, goes back before that. of the the polling pe st pechad pergram of

percentage of people who are extremely conservative or no ground anymore to accomplish the things that need to be accomplished in process.ive host: you represent fort myers, coral, why did you run for congress in the first place? guest: good question. been elected to congress, i'm been ambassador, state d in helping the department, i got frustrated by he fact we've had inconsistent representation in our area for sometime. clawson got in and decided he didn't want to run again. he wasn't there long. issues with other preceding congressmen, as a result, we haven't been able to southwest the things florida needs, like getting unding for the herbert hoover dike and the restoration project, going on for 18 years. e have dribbles and drabs of money to build important infrastructure projects and getting ramped up to get some success. host: this is your first term,

running for a second term, southwest florida. being here, you mentioned it is frustrating in terms of your ation, what is experience been like overall? uest: i think the money in politics is a real problem. a lot of people spend too much time raising money as part of requires rather than spending time thinking and providing leadership to the american people. i don't know how you get around citizens united and that kind of tuff, a lot of effort on fundraising. ost: kelsey from bloomington, democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. host: morning. caller: i was just calling to that i know earlier you spoke a little bit about the role of the united states in the world. wondering if the congressman could speak more on the role of it is u.s. should be in providing aid to the world's poor and helping uplift them. host: u.s. aid. guest: as has been said by many people, both in military and service, aid properly

deployed is a way to avoid deploy military. we do great things around the world to help countries that it, to make them more poverty.o alleviate president bush went very far to eliminate aids in africa and malaria, constructive role for america to play. doesn't necessarily mean there mistakes that have been made and you can always find those. effort to combine the enemy development some kind of more cohesive unit to compete better with other the world in nd supplied ow aid is with investments. host: good morning. good morning. i wanted to mention two things, so lady from jersey got me upset. anyways, germany, they need to money to d pay more nato.

we're paying way too much money. what he's p knows doing when it comes to numbers and money. s far as him meeting with putin, he has every right to meet with putin. he's the president of the united he does america and not need someone there in the middle to see what he's saying. their business until after the meeting, trump will tell you what it is. nother thing, about immigration, something has to be done. of thiscongress for all and mostly the senate because they just don't want to work together. schumer is a big problem and nancy pelosi, that is all i have to say. thank you. host: reaction? guest: glad you brought up that last part, especially. senate, democrats with a few republicans, passed package that form included all the things we want to get done now. lottery, ending chain migration, going to skill-based immigration, providing work for skilled workers we

need in our country. for some reason now they act about it don't know and don't want to bring it up. host: one more call. haron from owens burg, kentucky. be brief if you can. caller: thank you. uh-huh. calle -- er: host: sharon, turn the sound down on your set, we will do simply.re caller: thank you. yes, good morning. hello. i'm very concerned about the parents. and their and i wanted to ask what can tive rooney, be done as far as the churches are concerned? is there anything the churches reunite these families? host: thank you, sharon. guest: thank you. that several ongovernmental agencies and churches are helping provide

facilities for the people that being, trying to be reunited. the main thing, president trump aid, we have to stop people coming in illegally, creating humanitarian crisis. illegally,n't come in they would come through legal place and we could process them in a legal manner. congressman rooney, thank you for joining us, thanks to everybody who called us. to get over to the house floor. have a great day. the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's rooms, wa ington, d.c. july 11, 2018. i hereby appoint the honorable roger w. marshall to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, paul d. ryan, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 8, 2018, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair will alternate recognition between parties. all time shall be equally al will he kated between the parties and in no event