>> tuesday on the c-span networks, the house convenes at 10:00 a.m. eastern. at noon they will take up a number of bills under suspension of the rules, and making changes to the 2010. frank financial regulation must. on c-span3, federal reserve chairman jerome powell testifies before the senate banking committee about monetary policy and the economy. that is live at 10:00 a.m. eastern. you can find all of it streaming online at >> coming up in about 30 minutes, the republican congressman from arkansas discusses trade and tariff policies. talks abouten bass the u.s. russia summit, and

author and former presidential speechwriter kirk smith, on the relationship between u.s. presidents and baseball. washington journal is live now, join the discussion. ♪ host: good morning, it's tuesday, july 17. at the house and senate are scheduled to reconvene at 10 a.m., until then we are with you with the washington journal, we begin in the wake of president trump's formal summit with vladimir putin. notionse push backs on of moscow election interference and president trump casting doubts on the finding of intelligence agencies and attacking the mueller probe. we want to hear from you. ,or democrats (202) 748-8000 for republicans (202) 748-8001,

for independents (202) 748-8002. you can of course catch up with us on social media on twitter and facebook. good tuesday morning to you, you can start calling and now as we show you some of the headlines that americans are waking up to this morning, the day after that summit between president trump and president putin. here is the front page of usa today, allies get assailed and russia gets respect, and in the washington post, trump helps put with powerful denial. in washington times, trump sides with putin over intel. the new york post going with the , presentsee no evil gives big bear hug to wicked v lad who jobs u.s. intel.

open treasonnews, from the liberal huffington post, forced to choose between putin and his own government, he --putin.lution paul ryan confronts donald trump, russia is not our ally is the headline from breitbart, and town halls headline from katie pavlik story, the press is notce with putin going well with republicans. much of the criticism on the world stage yesterday, even a response to question as to whether he believes his own intelligence agency or president clinton when it came to the note -- or president clinton --president putin. >> my people came to me, dan coats came to me and they said they think it's russia. i have president putin, he just said it is not russia.

i don't see any reason why it would be, and i really do want to see the server. but i have confidence in both parties, i believe that this will probably go on for a while, that i don't think it can go on without finding out what happened to the server? what happened to the server of the pakistani gentleman that worked on the dnc? where were those servers? they are missing, where are they? what happened to hillary clinton's emails, 33,000 emails, gone. would not russia they be gone so easily. i think it's a disgrace that we cannot get hillary clinton's 33,000 emails. i have great confidence in my intelligence people, but i will tell you that president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. what he did is an incredible offer, he offered to have people working on the case come and

work with their investigators, with respect to the 12 people. i think that's an incredible offer. host: the president in that hisement mentioning director of national intelligence, dan coats. who put out a statement yesterday after that summit meeting. he said the goal of the intelligence community is to provide the best information and fact based assessment possible for the president and policymakers. we have been clear in our assessment of russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy. we will continue to provide unvarnished intelligence. many conservative news websites focusing on the republican backlash to the president's comments yesterday, here's the new york times in their wrapup of the statements put up by 15 whocans, counting denounced the president's comments, among them senator bob

corker, senator jeff flake, senator susan collins, lindsey sassm, rob portman, and --ben sasse, figure of the , and paul ryan, ed royce the new york times in their addingnt -- their wrapup another 17 republicans who sidestepped or did not denounce the comments. but they did criticize some commons without naming president trump. one member of congress they have listed as having supported the president's comments, senator rand paul, saying a think it's a good idea to have engagement and i don't understand the people who have gone completely deranged, criticizing the president. we will take you for some of that reaction this morning, but what we mostly want -- but mostly we want to hear from you. the phone lines are open. for democrats (202) 748-8000, for republicans (202) 748-8001,

for independents (202) 748-8002. first on our line for democrats, from new york. go ahead. whyer: i'm astounded by anyone is surprised. is a guy who, in this conversation with him and the leader of north korea, is basically incoherent. i want to know why hasn't the secretary of defense, and the secretary of state resigned? upn is someone going to step and look at what is going on? thank you. host: hal, on the republican line in tennessee. it seems to me that guys little crazy.

we have these democrats would bicker atstart a war, him, and the next thing we will have a few missiles. this is not the way to get cooperation. -- cooperationf is very important to try to get things done. we are worried so much about russian influence on our elections, but the president has denied it. he will not of course say yes, we did it. you're trying to establish a relationship. host: here's the statement yesterday from the senate armed service committee john mccain, here's what he had to say.

today's press conference in helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an american president in memory. the damage inflicted by president trump's night heavily, and use of false equivalence of sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate but the summit in helsinki was a tragic mistake. and that's tougher from there. your thoughts on senator mccain's comments? caller: i think he's a traitor. party. traitor to his john mccain is an idiot so i don't have anything to say about him. host: mike, on the independent line, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i don't know where to start when i get a chance to talk to you. why should we take what the cia says as gospel, when we have struck? why should

we take this as gospel in the heart of investigations, and i don't want to come down on john mccain, a man who is sick, but he has sour rapes against donald. against donald. ,nd everyone else's jumping everyone is trying to remove trump from office, and this whole investigation is destructive, and doesn't hide that hillary ran a lousy campaign. that's my opinion. just leave trump alone. let him make america great again. from muche's concern more than senator mccain on the republican side of the aisle, here's mitch mcconnell and his

statement yesterday. i have set a number of times and i will say it again, the russians are not our friends, and i entirely believe the investment of our intelligence community. the new york time in their wrapped up -- new york times in their wrapup says that there has .een no plan to act and chuck schumer and new york, he called for increased sanctions on russia from mr. transnational security team, to testify before congress for defense of the department of justice and other intelligence agencies. one member of the republican party in the senate is also pushing for specific action, this story from the hill newspaper on a jeff flake's upcoming potential resolution countering president trump's russia stomach rhetoric -- summit rhetoric.

senator flake sang he is working on a resolution to counter the controversial comments made during the press conference with vladimir putin. pass ai think we should resolution on the heels of all this, the resolution he said he would be drafting the support of the fbi and special counsel robert mueller. and do not question friday's indictment by the -- it would not question friday's indictment . julian is up next on the democrat line. i did not believe after listening to the speech yesterday. the president doesn't stand up for the country and he is not actually representing the country. the truth is supposed to be out there but i hear people talking about it is this and that. the president needs to stand up for the country. and people need to start listening to the truth and stop ignoring it. host: mike, in ohio on the independent line. for for that last guy, he

better pull his head out of his ass, let's talk about the fact. act i, hillary clinton's certain -- server -- fact one, who are clinton server was hacked. when they came to check out the dnc server they refused to turn it over, and they kicked the fbi out of the dnc office. what did the democrats have to hide? we are in trouble we have three branches in the government -- if anyone can read likenderstand the facts, velazquez like velazquez said, we better wakeup, because we are in trouble, and they are trying to cover up -- like the last guy said, we better wake up. because we are in trouble. here is the response about meddling in the 2016 election. >> president trump mention the issue of the so-called interference of russia, and i

had to reiterate things i said , the russian state has never interfered and is not going to interfere into internal american affairs, including the election. material arises, we are ready to analyze it together. thean analyze them through joint working group on cyber security, the establishment of which we discussed. host: that was president clinton -- president putin during that summit. you can watch that on c-span.org. about thistalking for most of our program today, getting your calls in response, on the line for republicans, go ahead. caller: good morning. , theple of quick facts

only collusion we know for a dnc and theween the ,ews organization called cnn where they took bernie sanders out. nothing is ever said about that. all the hypocrite democrats up there, i would like to know how many russians hijacked planes include them into buildings in new york, or kill people at a christmas party in san bernardino, or a marine at a recruitment base in chattanooga. we are called racist if we say anything about muslims, but the white hating democrats this country have to attacked white people because russia's majority white. let's just remember that america , who are the real enemy in this country? .he deep state in washington and i agree with the one guy about john mccain, he might have been a war hero, but he's become a traitor to this country. denise is in texas, on the

democrat line. everyone.od morning thinking, and going over some of the footage and the soundbites that i have heard on c-span.n frenzy because a his intelligence folks said that they think involved in meddling with our involved in meddling with our elections. but this is nothing new. i'm a democrat, but i voted for donald trump because there is no way -- i told my husband the

year and a half before donald , thatdecided to run hillary clinton would be president over my dead body. i was that passionate about her not being president. so i listened to everything during the campaign. nominated, he was told everyone what -- that he is not sure he believes in intelligence on collusion. he said it several times. the fact that he said yesterday in that press conference to newn, did not do anything , because i have heard him say it so many times before. that's what i wanted to say about that.

you mentioned hillary clinton, she tweeted before the summit, a present for president trump, do you know which team you played for? after the summit she tweeted again saying, now we know. reactions from other notable democrats, elizabeth warren pleading yesterday once again he takes to the international stage to embarrass america, we can our alliances, and embrace a dictator. russia interfered in our elections and attacked our democracy, he must be held accountable, not rewarded. saying thatrs americans have risked their lives to defend our democracy, what would they think if they saw president trump's pathetic performance today? had plenty of concern about the president's statements yesterday, here he is yesterday. >> on friday, rob rosenstein and

bob mueller handed president trump the evidence that president putin had requested. a 29 page indictment, a document of unparalleled work, and is exactly what the president needed to stand up to mr. bruton. he -- to mr. putin, he should've marched and come up with the indictment on the table and demanded justice. rather than taking the opportunity to confront, rather than taking the opportunity to -- to that he hand over confront him, rather than taking the opportunity to man he hand cited -- hets, he took the word of the kgb over the men and women of the cia. rather than placing blame for

what happened in 2016 on russia, where it belongs, the president goal to blame both countries for the troubled security and well-being of the united states. , what, ifon now looms anything, will congress to response?o in where are our republican colleagues? where are they who report -- who roared approval when reagan told gorbachev to tear down the wall? where are those who demanded a strong response when putin annexed crimea? time for our republican colleagues to join

us, bipartisan, and standup. if we wait much longer, our global alliances will fracture, the institutions that america will created in the wake of world war ii will crumble. our allies will consider abandoning us, possibly for china and others, and russia will emerge stronger for it. and thathat he wants is what president trump is inexplicably helping him do. host: we are getting a response is morning after the summit in helsinki yesterday. , yourhoughts and comments lines as usual. john on the line for independents. caller: i was reflecting on my mentor starting in 1948, mike mansfield, marine, world war i. say ifuld he want me to i was to open my mouth today? thank you, that's all.

host: what do you think you would want you to say? caller: when he would go on meet , they would give these long and involved questions, on and on, and the reporters on meet the press would sit there and listen. then he would answer, yup, .ope, then he asked another that's about it. host: on the line for republicans, good morning. i can't believe some of the comments i have heard, we are all americans, i don't care what party we support. russia has never been a friend of the united states. trump, i'd am him president, he doesn't deserve the office -- i

do not call him president, he doesn't deserve the office. i believe there is some conspiracy, and i believe putin has something on trump. possibly on money laundering. the law has found those 12 indictments, they did the crime in the united states to conspire with his people. should have been talking to him about those indictments, and putin should have given them back to the states. if they are not guilty, then they would not face charges. it does not matter if we are republicans, democrats, or independents, we are all

americans. do they want trump to be a dictator? to tell you how many children you can house, when you eat and when you don't? it looks like we will be heading for that because people have their heads in the sand. host: nikki, on the democrats line. caller: thank you to the lady who just spoke. if i could listen to putin lecture the united states during that press conference on how democracy works, and the president couldn't-up and say excuse me? that we share our intelligence gathering mechanisms with the soviet intelligence people is just apology just appalling. -- appalling. to go on foreign an silent attack american agencies and institutions, the way that president trump seems to do, that's treason is in my book.

if the fbi and cia intelligence community had wanted to trump to lose, they had the tools on hand before the election to spill the intelligence they have then and there. i don't see how anybody could they are colluding to -- to get trump nonelected not elected. that's nonsense. thank you. host: donald, on the independent line. caller: i am worried about the don andwhat can had on the neocons. hillary clinton's emails were leaked, by they were leaked wikileaks. and talking about muslims, what about the white christians who ran into churches and in schools to deal with that. plenty of news

organizations trying to dig into the president's preparation at of that summit, and the reaction within the administration. the washington post noting that ahead of that meeting, staffers provided trump with a hundred pages of briefing material aimed at laying out a top posture -- a tough posture, but the president trump'smost of it, remarks were very much counter to the plan a person said, everyone around trump was urging him to take a firm stance with putin. the second person said advisers matters of russia's annexation with crime era and interference in the u.s. election, and trump made a thetime decision to handle summit his way.

and quoting a former senior white house official who worked with trump, texting one of staffers, saying they need a shower after that performance. another saying that this is a disgrace, the president had lost his mind. and margaret brennan was in the audience, messaging u.s. officials during the speeches said they were turning off their television. if is in today's axius, you want to read more on that. markey, on the republican line. i have a question, you should have a program about the man whout donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the democrats, find out what that is about. i have not had a chance to replay that. two,is number one, number

flake has nothing we should listen to. john mccain is still singing bomb iran. as far, flake has nothing we should listen as i'm concerned, i'm so proud of our president, the whole weekend, and milani a was gorgeous. i think she's the most beautiful woman in the world. host: the new york times in their fact check column focused onpresident putin's comments the router of a london-based financier who had an international campaign against russian international human rights abuses. putin estimated the amount of money that was contributed to the campaign by the organization, he said 400 million is overstated. they write it is improbable that the three brothers were associated with mr.browder and

invested with him were responsible for half of that hall. the brothers behind that firm, daniel dirk and his brother donated nearly $500,000, according to the federal election committee. 35,000cludes about dollars to mrs. clinton's various committees and $1.1 million to the democratic national committee. you want to read the fact check column in the new york times. john is on the democrat line, in milwaukee. caller: thank you for taking my call. comment for c-span risk lose -- listeners to chew on. the international stage witnessed comment -- what the international stage witnessed could not have been work if trump -- worse if trump had got down on one knee and kissed put

in san -- putin's hand. that is what, thank happened behind closed doors. host: mike, on the independent line, go ahead. caller: i wish the reporter would not have even asked what that person said. host: could you turn on your television? what you wish you had not asked? caller: the question about asking trump to disavow putin on stage. what did he want them to do? punch him in the face and say you suck? and democrats would have loved him for it? no, they would not have. otheras russia ever done

than they had a bunch of nukes, we had a bunch of nukes, and it all can't down. --calmed down. they were in ally when they thought the nazis. host: you think it's unfair to -- to asksident to 2 -- to ask the president's to not an knowledge the intelligent agencies? caller: he's been answering that question time and again, he wanted to see if he had the nerve to say it in front of putin, and he did and he does. host: do think president trump believes his intelligence agencies? caller: i don't believe he believes them. i don't know if i believe them after all the things that have been coming up. they keep hiding things. things keep popping up out of nowhere. it we release this, it's a -- ifal security problem

we release this, and it's a national security problem. but it's another -- host: the president took to twitter after that press discussce, to further his opinion of the intelligence agencies. here is what he tweeted at 3:40 p.m. yesterday. today and many times before i have confidence in my intelligence people, but i recognize in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past as the world's two largest nuclear powers, we must get along. the firstdo it for half-hour of washington journal, we will continue this conversation about today's him throughout-- summit our program. as well as other policies on the table. but first, republican congressman french hill will , an us, and later karen bass

congresswoman who was a member of the foreign affairs committee. we will be right back. ♪ >> tonight, it is my honor and privilege to announce that i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. >> mr. president i'm grateful to you, and i'm humbled by our confidence in me. kavanaugh of the united states court of appeal with the district of columbia, is president trump's nominee for the supreme court. nomineeleased with the the president has chosen, after talking to him yesterday morning, i look forward to supporting his nomination and do whatever i can to ensure

bipartisan confirmation. confirmed,vanagh is he will make decisions about reforms to health care quest -- have care system, the quality of air and water, and more will be addressed. frankly i cannot think of anybody -- >> friendly i cannot think of anybody more qualified to serve as next associate justice. >> follow the confirmation process on c-span as judge kavanagh meets with c counters. the senate confirmation hearings -- with senators, the confirmation hearings, you can watch on c-span.org or listen with the free radio app. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television company. today we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme

court, and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span's brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. washington journal continues. host: congressman french hill is , a republican from arkansas. he is here to address trade issues, i want to get your reaction to that summit yesterday with press putin -- press putin -- president putin. think the president missed an opportunity to outline all of the challenges we have with the russian relationship, --assad, electionssod -- their meddling of elections in europe and the united states.

i think this was a missed opportunity to make those concrete points in front of the president of russia. --assad, their illegal invasion of crimea, their meddlingand then t things we need to do together and focus on together, such as how do we reduce nuclear war and stockpiles. mantraresident trump's has been america first, did you come away from that press conference thinking he put america first? caller: -- guest: there is no moral equivalence with the united states and russia, zero. russia is a kleptocracy, and authoritarian state disguised as a tomorrow -- and authoritarian --an authoritarian state, disguised as a democracy. i wish he had gone over the point i had suggested, that the russians should resolve the issues created in syria, having them out of ukraine, supporting a democracy in the ukraine.

we want them to back off of , and to stops meddling in the elections like we have seen them do in the our security apparatus in this country has said, on a bipartisan basis, as they attempted during the 2016 elections. host: what is your level of confidence in the u.s. intelligence community? guest: a tie. -- it is high. i think our intelligence community has a long-standing record of public service and they work very hard on behalf of our country. i believe as american citizens, and you have seen in some of our calls, are severely disappointed in what they had seen during the 2016 investigative work. i think we have to get to the bottom of it and clear out any stain on the fbi's outstanding record. that presse we leave

conference, president trump prides himself on being a deal maker and top negotiator, do you think he was tougher behind closed doors in those two hours with president putin? guest: he takes pride in his negotiating capability, and we were not there to know. but i hope you raised all of the issues that i touched on. and let me say, actions speak louder than words. we have, working with the executive branch in the congress, increased defense spending, encouraged nato nations to increase their commitments, increase the intelligence budget, and we have the toughest sanctions on any outsideoutside iran, of north korea, on russia. because of their meddling in ukraine and their illegal taking of crimea. and their coddling of assad.

government,american should have been quite tough on russia, and i'm sure the president made that clear in his private meeting. host: you have been very much focused, i want to get your sense on how president trump dealt with the issue of trade in europe before the summit. guest: we had the nato meeting last week, the principal issue there was to help reinforce that nato has made a commitment to 2% of gdp per nation as a percentage of military spending. -- onout 20% on reference weapons. i thought the president did a good job of questioning the nato nations for that. i think he left stronger than when he entered the meeting. we have gone from three countries that do that to eight, and we are accelerating the time frame, including the commitment from germany. i think the nato meeting was

left in the right way. he also talked about the e.u. and are trading relationships there, there is a lot of work to be done. as a partner of the united states and we need them in our trade disputes and trade pressure on china, it's a very delicate balance to criticize the e.u. on how they can improve market access for american goods, and yet also have them as a partner in a much bigger trade issue in china. host: is president trump striking the right balance? guest: not in my mind. i think we should, if i look at trade, i look at nafta. it's our biggest trading relationship between canada, mexico, and the united states. he wants to modernize nafta and he is doing hard work and i hope it brings to fruition soon. tradingsas, our largest

partners are mexico and canada for agricultural and nonagricultural goods and services. ofwant to get at the heart the problem in trade in this country, that's china. we need the e.u.'s support. i would not have done steel and --tarriffsrrace across the board. we are invite -- host: we are inviting viewers to join in the discussion. for democrats (202) 748-8000, for republicans (202) 748-8001, for independents (202) 748-8002. he will be with us for the next 20 minutes, we are talking trade do you see it as a national had --y issue that he that president trump had proposed these across-the-board tariffs under the trade act, which allows them to do it for national security reasons, is that plausible?

guest: i think using section 32 is plausible selectively, but he didn't across-the-board with all categories and all countries, steelhe idea that are industry and aluminum industry our national security important, they are, but we also have supplies from allies like canada . i would say doing it across-the-board is creating more problems than it is solving i would have selectively used to steel and aluminum tariffs. the principal dumper of steel and aluminum is china, not the e.u.. host: if you're concerned about the bow is not being correct, what can congress do? what -- the balance not being correct, what can congress do? guest: we have been meeting with administration officials.

we need to work together on this , if we collaborate we are able -- we were able to get tax reform, we were able to roll .ack regulatory burdens when it came's to china's predatory investment we collaborated -- when it came to china's predatory investment in the u.s., we collaborated, and we need to collaborate on the trade strategy. trade is a power in the united -- in the constitution, we need to step back and collaborate on how best to improve our trade strategy with china. host: should the white house get approval from congress before imposing tariffs? guest: i don't think they have to do that, but we essentially allowed the executive branch to have that trade negotiation capacity. important to

oversight and it should be consulted on the strategy. some in congress want tariffs to be approved before they take affect and i'm not sure that's absolutely necessary. but the consultation process and designing that trade approach is essential. hill, angressman french first is natalie on the independent line. caller: yes, the gentleman evilg as our president is incarnate. every action he takes is just a key people angry. -- is just to keep people angry. that is what we are dealing with. , thanks forie calling in on c-span. i think what president trump is trying to do in his nato meeting and in the meeting with russia or north korea, or this trade

discussion we are having is reset american policy after of difficulty and no progress, the obama administration made no progress in resetting relations with russia. of strategiclicy , andnce with north korea the obama administration did not change the mercantile trade approach of china. so president trump is being aggressive in trying to change direction of the federal policy and these key foreign-policy areas, and i think we should change that policy, but it's a sequence of strategy of how. host: should he have taken that summit meeting? guest: i think it's fine for heads of state to meet and get to know each other, i think it's constructive. and the preparation for the

meeting, setting expectations for the meeting, is the responsibility of both parties. to say they should not need and have dialogue when they are the largest superpowers when it comes to nuclear arsenals, and have many things in conflict that we just discussed, is not right. host: was the president prepared? guest: i'm sure he was, he has excellent staffers at the dod and the state department to prepare him. host: frank, on the independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. , i really believe in what winston churchill said, i think i have the quote here. war.better to jowl, than i'm glad our president did talk to the leader of russia, not the soviet union, but russia. this, it to say remember weapons of mass

destruction in iraq. the american people were told saddam hussein had those, and everything i could see, that is why we went to war and it was a false assumption. i never saw any proof after our invasion, that there were any weapons of mass destruction. as far as free-trade, i'm for fair trade. we were told by the globalists if we got free markets into china and did this, china would free-trade. and maybe two political parties. now, so thetator globalists have told us wrong there. wes all very well that if could just get in their economically and show them capitalism that they would have a two party system and a free

press and more human rights, and i just see where it's happened. i think you make a good point on intelligence, it's a human endeavor and not infallible. we have to be conscious when we understand -- we have to because shifts -- be cautious. about fair trade, of course, president trump campaigned on fair and reciprocal trade, that is what he is trying to do when he talks about opening new markets in europe and changing the mercantile a stick -- mercantilistic policies about china. and when china joined the wto, i think europe and american policymakers were hopeful that that would work out, just as you described. and it has not. in fact, it has gotten worse.

a china has become more authoritarian and assertive .ilitarily in the asia region we should be very conscious about it. that's why it's important to talk about how we change china's trade policy. host: we talked about trade and the macro sense, can you focus on little rock, and what the steel and aluminum tariffs impacts have been in your hometown? tariffs haveatory been cut across the country, which is why this is important to consumers and american citizens. we make steel belts, and steel tires, and the steel rod that is fun into --spun into the steel belt is made outside the u.s.. that will raise the price of steel belted radio tires. that will make those companies in fort smith, uncompetitive,

they could lose business and layoff jobs. cannot apply for an exclusion at the congress department, but there are 20,000 companies asking for an exclusion and only six employees working on it. that's why we have to work together between the branches. is the role of congressman and those applications for exclusions? are you over there chatting with those folks? guest: no, we cannot do that but we are advocating on behalf of of our constituents in a broad on behalf of our constituents in a broad sense. issue, there are also farmers in arkansas, soybean farmers. 30% of our soybeans are in the export market for china, the largest buyer. they have retaliated with a ,ariff and cut back orders

which is hurting american agriculture. what are we talking about for potential job losses, just in little rock and other places in your district? sustained you could have several hundred jobs lost in arkansas -- if sustained you could have several hundred jobs lost in arkansas for manufacturing products that are made in america or are sold and we exported. this is the challenge and why i think terrorists are too blunt when used across the board. they have to be used selectively. we have 10 minutes left with congressman french hill. sandy is in north carolina, on the independent line. caller: i'm actually a harley rider, and i have been for years . i want to let you know, that china is taking advantage of us,

everyone knows harleys have been made in america for years. i go to buy me a helmet, and the prices they charge for everything, i buy a helmet and i pay $200 for the helmet. made in china. harley has been taking advantage of us by charging outrageous ,rices for their merchandise which was not even made in our country. everyone needs to know that. , it's notley rider what i do, it's what i am, and they need to think of us americans, because we have been buying their bikes and products for years. , youo in and buy a t-shirt pay over 25, sometimes $5,200 for a shirt -- you pay over $25,

sometimes 50, $200, for a shirt. host: before you go, how many bikes do you own? caller: my husband has the auto classic, he passed away from cancer, so my son has it, a donna, and i have a donna. host: where are you writing this end?end --riding this week caller: i can't this weekend because we have a grandchild. that's another thing, we had to look out for the future of our children, if other countries are taking advantage of us, what will our kids have when they grow up. host: thank you for your call, congratulations to your family. congratulations on your new grandbaby, and you are right. that is why the historic tax cuts and tax reform act will encourage people to bring manufacturing operations and corporate headquarters to the united states and earn those

profits here in the u.s., and employ americans. that is one of the key reasons we wanted to do tax reforms. this is why the president is so focused on fair and reciprocal grade -- trade with a focus on china. sot we have fair trade america can export to china and have more good and services done in a fair way, because we want to grow the economy faster and give more opportunities to your grandchild. i think that's what the president is so tough on trying to change direction on these foreign policies. host: on the republican line, go ahead. caller: hello, i lived in arkansas for years, i know it's a deep red christian conservative state. i'm wondering if, from the 30,000 foot perspective did hoursand putin in the two

talk about the biggest of big pictures, the ruling class managerial elite that has all of our lives and replacing it with a new ruling class managerial elite that is more christian-based from the united states to deeply christian russia, to china which is experiencing a large christian revival. , to thefrican nations latin american nations, where we are seeing a fantastic evangelical explosion like never before. it's almost like there's a decentralization of possibility i know yourld order have a lot of friends in high places, i would love to hear your comments. comment,u make a great

i would hope that president putin and president trump talk about how they can work together in some verye troubled regions, including what can russia do constructively to help rebuild villages destroyed during the isis rampage across the labonte -- across the labonte --levant. but putin has been a bad actor in the arena you're talking about. there are many christians in orthodox believers in russia, putin has used his power to destroy religious minorities and areas in syria, where the obama administration and the putin administration created a humanitarian crisis with 5 million refugees and 500,000 people killed, many christian villages in syria wiped out and

people in prison. i hope they had tough conversations about how we ,rotect religious minorities and the spread of the christian faith in those areas. but i'm fearful that assad has not been a constructive force for good in any way, shape, or form when it comes to expanding christianity. democrats,e line for lindsay. hill, irepresentative might have a couple of questions. while this tariff is going on, where are the farmers going to ind their goods right now? keep seeing programs, like the cranberries, they say we have all these plans, where will we see -- these plants, where we

send me stuff? they are losing money from what is going on. that's one of my questions, and one of the ladies called earlier and said we need to take care of people, it does not seem like this administration is wanting to take care of the american people. we need help, we don't make very much money, we try to do the best we can. at my daughter just had a baby her husbandworking, is waiting to get money and he is not getting any help. they are struggling with three children already. why isn't all republican party helping? for your question. i will take the last one first, in my view, the changes in the regulatory policy of this

government and reduction in the tax burden for american families and doubling the child tax credit and a lowering the withholding rate so that more people have more pay every month has led to one of the best job markets around our country, low unemployment and people moving back in the workforce. we are trying to get the economy growing faster than the 1.8% under the previous administration. , a faster growing economy with more opportunities. on your point about farmers, i agree with you. in the short run this back-and-forth tit-for-tat tariff exclamation -- tariff escalation -- tariff hurts our farmers. that's why want them to come to the negotiating table and start talking and get a constructive outcome so we don't have these short run penalties on the american consumer or american farm.

host: what is the biggest crop around little rock? guest: where the number one rice grower in the country and number one exporter of rice in the united states. soybean, corn,t and cotton crop. host: we have chris, on the republican line. thank you for waiting. trump: when president took the 35% tax down to 20 percent, that was just the start of things. these businesses are in business to make money, it's sad that our politicians allowed all these countries to go across the pond to make money. i went into best buy to try to buy a computer from hewlett-packard, not one computer was made in america.

everything was china. now the president trump has addressed this issue on business practices, -- our business practices have to change. going out to these foreign countries. just china, but europe. none of them are buying our products, but we are buying all of theirs. host: last 30 seconds. regulatory reform, tax reform you referenced, help make companies in america grow faster, recruits capital from abroad that to the u.s. that is what we want. we want to that. president trump's trade agenda of fair and reciprocal trade will do the same thing. we have to make sure that is done in the most constructive way possible and get the best outcome for his objectives. that is what we should work on

together with the legislative branch and executive branch. if we do that we will have more jobs, more opportunities for our kids and grandkids. your time.preciate member of the financial services committee, republican from arkansas. a top member of the house democrat, karen bass will join us and we will talk about the meeting between president trump and president putin. ♪ >> tonight, it is my honor and privilege to announce i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh

to the united states supreme court. >> mr. president, i am grateful to you, and i am humbled by your confidence in me. >> brett kavanaugh of the united states court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit is president trump's nominee for the supreme court. after talking to him yesterday morning, i look forward to supporting his whatever i canng to ensure his bipartisan confirmation. confirmed,vanagh is reforms to our health care systems, the quality of our area and water, and much more will be asterisk. >> frankly, i cannot think of qualified to more serve as the next supreme justice for our supreme court. .> follow the confirmation

watch live on c-span, anytime on c-span.org, or listen with the free c-span radio app. c-span, we are history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television company. we continue to bring unfiltered coverage of congress, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. "washington journal" continues. host: california democrat karen bass is a member of the foreign affairs committee. what is your reaction to yesterday's summit? guest: i was watching live and was shocked, as i think many

people were around the world. it made me sad end and embarrassed to see our president on the world stage standing next to the man responsible for attacking our democracy and to essentially see him wilt on the world stage was a moment in history i will always remember. host: what was a moment that shocked you? from: it was shocking beginning to and. when he was directly asked whether or not he would confront putin, acknowledge the fact that the russians attacked our democracy, he essentially held the united states at equal responsibility. the thing that made me sad is that he sees things strictly through his lens. he talks about america first. first.ay we saw trump when he is asked questions about the election, he only referenced

his campaign, the fact that he won, hillary's emails. that was not even the issue. the indictments given a few days before to russians directly involved that went through exactly how they were involved, and he made no acknowledgment at all. that.rld is watching i think for all of us, it was an embarrassment. it was a sad day in u.s. history. host: this is one of the moments that concerned even republicans, the president being asked if he believed his own intelligence communities or president putin when it came to 2016 election interference. [video clip] is askrump: all i can do the question. dan coats came to me and others and they said they think it is russia. i have president putin, he just said it is not russia. i will say this, i don't see any reason why it would be, but i really do want to see the server

, but i have confidence in both parties. believe this will probably go on for a while, but i don't think it can go on without finding out what happened to the server. what happened to the servers of the pakistani gentleman that worked on the dnc. where are those servers? they are missing. where are they? what happened to hillary clinton's emails, 33,000 emails, gone. i think in russia they wouldn't be gone so easily. i think it is a disgrace we could not get hillary clinton's 33,000 emails. i have great confidence in my intelligence people. i will tell you president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial. he offered to have the people look in on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people.

i think that is an incredible offer. [laughter] guest: the offer that he said your made, you can bring fbi over and check it out, but we want to check you out. this is the man who attacked our election process. that is aally thinks good offer. this is the president that is the dealmaker? mostnk that was one of the embarrassing moments. i think it took everything out of putin not to laugh. he essentially agreed that was to for the former kgb agent send his agents over here to examine us, when we were the ones that were attacks. "the new york times" book to republicans tracking over 30 republicans who have either denounced the president's comments or expressed concern

without mentioning the president by name. what you expect from republicans in the coming days? guest: i don't expect a lot. they should absolutely to announce that. absolutely did announce that. i want to know the translators, why did he have a meeting alone ?ith putin 2.5 hours? what went on? no one knows how he has been compromised. after you heard the ap reporter and other reporter, everyone walked away and said what does this man have on our president? asking you to join the conversation. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. i want to focus on the two hours

behind closed doors with vladimir putin. the president has touted himself as a great dealmaker. do you think he was tougher behind closed doors? guest: i don't think he was at all. president putin gave a very detailed report of their discussion. he had notes, he was reading from those. unfortunately trump talked off the top of his head like he typically does. one thing that putin said that was interesting is he criticized trump for pulling out of the iran deal. that wasn't mentioned. i think trump missed it because he talked off the top of his head, but i thought it was interesting and sad. host: one thing the president asught up was peter part of his concerns about the mueller campaign. you are able to question him.

how did you find him? i found him to be defiant , very responsive in terms of the republicans because they were ridiculous in their questioning of him. the fact that the president said, did you see this hearing? he was watching it. of all of the things, this is what he was doing. trump showing it is first, not america first. he didn't even defend our country. joe is in eastpointe, michigan. caller: i would like to ask the representative if she thinks, do, that the country is at a point where if congress won't act, the thecrats can't act, if american people came to the

streets, literally, in their millions, marched to the white house, demanded a resignation -- i'm sick of these politicians not calling it like it is. the only parallel i can think of with this so-called president is hitler. their past is exactly the same. i watched a little thing this morning on hitler when he turned over the republic, make germany great again. he made a great again to the tune of 60 million lives. the united states will no longer be the country of, by, and for the people. i'm quoting the only republican i will ever quote, that is lincoln. are we at that point? guest: i don't think all is lost. when you talk about the democrats not acting, i hope we will be able to change things in november. theocus is on us getting

23 seats to take back the house of representatives. it will be more difficult in the senate, but i believe it's possible. . taking to the streets, i assume you mean peaceful protests, and i think that is important. i think we saw that the day after the inauguration, people protest on every continent on the planet. protests lastse of the last year and a half. i think people should protest, i think it should be peaceful, but what counts more than anything masse to going ien the polls in november and voting. host: what do you think of your former california congresswom an's suggestion if you see anyone from the cabinet, create a crowd and push back and tell

them they are not welcome anymore anywhere. guest: not my words, not my style. the idea of peacefully protesting members of the administration is something that has happened for years. i think that is important. i would defend her right to uphold the first amendment any day of the week. i could go back to president nixon, whenever he came around, members of the cabinet came around, it was common there were protests. host: did her suggestion go too far? toot: i don't think it goes far. people protesting when they see members of the administration's people exercising their first right.nt what i think is wrong is people saying what she said was a call to violence. if you want a call to violence you can see 8 times when trump was running for office when he called for violence and violence

happened at the rallies and he said he would pay the legal expenses. even after he was president, he called for people to be roughed up when the police would put you in the car make sure you don't hold their head down if you bought their head -- if you bump their head, that is ok. coming from the mouth of a presidential candidate and president, i don't think there is a comparison at all. host: go ahead. caller: i wanted to talk about these alleged 17 intelligence agencies that has all this information. is this the same intelligence agencies that routinely lie to the american people, collecting mega data of? same 17 intelligence agencies that did nothing while 19 hijackers got on planes and use them as missiles?

the same intelligence agencies that knew about the orlando shooter, tracked him for a year, and approved a background check for him to purchase ammunition for him to gun down a nightclub? the same ones who knew about fort hood, about san bernardino? guest: there are many examples where our intelligence agency has made mistakes. i don't think many people believe there is not a ton of evidence that shows the russians interfered with our election. may makeigence agency a mistake. i don't think you did this time. if you read the indictments of the russians issued a few days ago, you will see there's plenty of proof. host: what stuck out in those indictments? guest: the way they methodically went after our process. i think it is important, given

, andlections coming up they were able to intervene and penetrate local election commissions. that i thought was troubling. what is scarier than any of that is that as congress we have not done anything to protect the process now. there should be lots of resources and attention paid to protecting our electoral process today. host: how much money has been devoted to upgrading those election systems, the integrity of the elections? guest: i don't know. it ising on the state, also up to a state to put resources in. investedrnia, we have a lot of time and resources from our secretary of state. i might feel confident in my state, by i think in terms of a federal response, there has been little to none.

with karennutes left bass from california. for republicans, go ahead -- line for republicans, go ahead. caller: high pleased intelligence agencies, the whole fbi cia unit, they have been advising presidents for the last three decades in foreign decades, andhree foreign policies are still in the toilet. if we are going to fudge things up, we are going to fudge them out my way. i don't blame trump one bit if he only looks at 50% of our intelligence agencies. what we saw yesterday on the world stage was the president of the united states defend himself, focus on his own election, the fact that he is so insecure that his election will not be viewed as valid, and

sitting next to the person who led the intervention was troubling. the number one role of the president, of us as elected defend ouris to country. i work on the foreign affairs committee, i focus on africa. it is difficult for me to travel internationally or receive international delegations and tell them they should uphold democracy, that they should stand by their constitution. they look at us and say we are not democratic, what is going on in your own country? when he does things like he did yesterday, the ramifications are wide and deep. host: the caller mentioned john the former cia director, getting a lot of attention for comments that he made on twitter using the word

when discussing the president's performance yesterday. trump's press conference performance in helsinki rises and exceeds the threshold of high crimes and misdemeanors." calling the president's behavior treasonous. don't know if his performance was treasonous. he did not defend our country. the fact that he defended putin over the united states, the fact he made both sides equal, i think he also described it as an imbecilic. i would agree with that. caller: i don't understand why he would turn his back on us as far as the american people. i feel like he is detecting against us as far as the american people, because if you

look at his stand -- his approach answering the questions, i feel like he is in and he is taking advantage of the president. i don't see why the president doesn't see he is using him for his own purpose. i just don't understand. guest: you don't understand. i don't understand, either. one thing that was raised by that incredible performance was what does putin have on him that has him completely shrink? if you look at his body language standing next to putin and his body language at the nato conference, it is different. he went into nato like he was a bully. he insulted our allies. he stands next to putin, he is much taller than him, but at the same time he completely shrinks. i'm sure at the white house they are scrambling, trying to figure

out how they clean up this mess. i think what -- the damage he did yesterday, i'm not sure he can recover. host: 10 minutes left this morning. a bill you recently introduced, the family unity rights and protection act, what is that? guest: i am very concerned about the 2000 children separated at the border. i believe that unless something is done many of these children will never see their parents again. the reason i say that is because we have seen now the government didn't put anything in place in terms of tracking these children. so many federal agencies involved that the u.s. government is not responsible for the reunification. the parents are responsible for finding their children. there are cases surfacing of parents that have been deported who cannot find their children. there is the case of a woman who foundo honduras

her child. she has to pay $1500 to get her child back because she has to pay for the transportation and the caretaker. the other children might wind up which foster care system, is overburdened. we don't have enough foster homes now, especially in the face of the opioid crisis. you can't stay in foster care forever will stop if these parents can't find their children, parental rights might be terminated and they might be put up for adoption even though they have loving homes. my legislation calls for there to be tracking of all of the u.s.ren, for the government to be responsible for the reunification, for parental rights not to be terminated. i think we need to be very aggressive. we are talking about not separating any more children parents.r

i am worried about the children that were already separated. many parents have been released, but they don't know where their children are. host: how much support do you have for the legislation? will it get a hearing? guest: we will see. i hope i can get the support of some republican colleagues. this is a problem that will go on for a while. i hope democrats will take over the house of representatives. i really hope these children are reunited before the next congress, but if not, i will reintroduce the legislation. host: on twitter, why don't we have the congresswoman discussed the democratic abolish ice movement? guest: i wouldn't call it the democratic abolish ice movement. there is a grassroots movement. i don't think that would solve any problems. i think what we need is immigration reform. until then, changing the name of ice for abolishing ice is not

the solution. what is going on in our country in regard to immigration, what is happening at the border, if you combine those things, taking children away and what happened yesterday, we are in a very bad history. u.s. i can only imagine 10 to 15 years from now, watergate looks like child's play compared to what is going on now. host: donnie in columbia, kentucky. i don't know what is wrong with trump. that man has lost his sense. when he was talking, he looked like a little whipped kid. putin has something on him. i don't care what he says, putin has something on that man. he knows it and trump knows it. that man looked like he had been whipped. trump, you are no good.

you need to go to russia and stay in russia. rand paul, you are a sorry as trump is for backing trump. guest: i agree with the caller. our president looked foolish yesterday. the other thing we need to look at in terms of the president, talking about russia, the press conference yesterday, but i worry about the general corruption in this administration. the president has made so much money from being president over this last year and a half. if you take his trip to scotland, he stayed at his golf resort. they did reports talking about how that resort is not making a lot of money now. lastt an infusion over the week if you think of the secret service, security, press at that resort. this is been a consistent pattern. you add the number of days during the weekends when he is gone to his own facilities,

there are so many problems with this administration. whether we are talking on the foreign policy level, domestic policy, or corruption that we see on a daily basis. host: the caller mentioned rand paul his statement after the summit. good to have engagement, and i don't understand the people that have gone completely deranged, criticizing the president. guest: surrendering and not defending our own country is a bad thing. i'm surprised rand paul would say that. usually he positions himself as somewhat of a critic. he is kind of independent sometimes. the i have noticed of senator is even now he is not sure he will confirm the supreme court nominee. he will say that, and in the end we will see a few votes.

sometimes he is independent, sometimes he is critical. yesterday, when even the people that are staunch defenders of the president could not defend that performance yesterday. host: did any of the criticism from your republican colleagues surprise you? guest: no, i don't think so. i actually would expect more criticism. my republican colleagues need to step up, because what you have seen of them -- last week was a perfect example. instead of doubling down and saying our democracy was attacked, our election was attacked, we have to make sure this never happens again, we have hearings going after emails.clinton's it is one thing for the president not to get over the fact that he won the election, and he is still debating it, but my republican colleagues, there is no excuse for them to continue this charade.

host: line for republicans. caller: good morning. ma'am, i have a lot of respect bass, ands. democrats and republicans, but if you would go on the floor and released theying emails, release the server in thatack room of restaurant, i bet you would have a lot of answers to what happened. all of this has been going on 2015. do you remember obama said there would be no hacking, and mr. told democrats and republicans to be careful because russians were trying to hack? it has been going on since 2014. obama had kids in cages, let kids go back. this is ridiculous. you guys got to get along, get answers, take care of everything

, but don't blame each other. say in terms just of the children during the obama administration, it was a different situation. what you had was thousands of young people who were traveling through mexico from central america and arriving at the border alone. minors.e unaccompanied what has gone on in the trump administration, and this is the first time mrs. happened in u.s. history, that you would try to send a message to other parents in central america not to come up i taking children away. children as young as a few months old. then saying they were unaccompanied. we made them unaccompanied minors. one thing shown by research for years is when you remove a child from a parent, even when it is necessary, even when there is abuse or neglect, you traumatize that child.

here we have a situation where you have children with loving parents, and the u.s. government is taking them away as a form of punishment. in my opinion, the u.s. government is for dissipating in the abuse of children, and that needs to stop -- is participating in the abuse of children, and that needs to stop. caller: i think trumps performance was excellent. let me say, we did vietnam, iran, iraq, this is the same us wmd's.ce that gave us the same intelligence agency that saw nikolas cruz and he was still able to kill 19 people. the intelligence all these people are talking about now. in terms of separating kids,

america the land that gave us slavery and genocide, what about the opioid epidemic? that is separating kids. host: what about the press conference was excellent? talking about intelligence, he is right. to my tax dollars contributing to this farce of an investigation. russia has been meddling in our election since the cold war. what about that? host: congresswoman? guest: when it comes to what happened in our election, the most important thing we need to do now, we have elections happening almost every other week. we have primaries going on and a general election in november. the most important thing we need to do a secure our systems around the country. in terms of children being taken

away at the border, that is something that has to stop will -- something that has to stop. we will have a massive turnout in november so we can change what is happening. karen bass, and congresswoman from california's 37th district. guest: thank you for having me on. your we will continue with phone calls, your reaction to the summit between president trump and president putin. it is the money 18 major league all-star game in washington dc. we will talk with author curt smith later on "the washington journal."

>> sunday night on q&a, daughter of american diplomat discusses the memoir daughter of the cold war. when he wasin deputy mayor. i was running my consulting firm. i had a meeting with the mayor. he was called away, so they substituted the deputy mayor, putin. i was annoyed because i was not meeting with the mayor. i knew putin had been kgb and is negative about it all. he was equally negative, he did not want to meet with an american woman who claimed to run a business. i think he was very suspicious of women. he had no gallantry. -- he had thedest

coldest eyes i've ever seen. very big, blue, cold eyes. all i could think was i wonder what would happen if he was interrogating me. me. >> on c-span's q and a. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979 c-span was created as a public service. we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events aroundington, d.c. and the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. "washington journal" continues. host: phone lines are open to get your response to the summit between president trump and

president putin. you can call in, (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002 for independents. showing you the front pages of newspapers around the country. here is the editorial and opinion pages. from "the washington post," mr. trump has colluded with russia and in the process trashed his own country's justice system. journal"all street putin respects strength, but trump showed weakness. the opinion page in today's new parrotmes, mr. trump russia's leader.

the easiest thing politically would be to avoid russia, the president did not have to attend the summit, especially with the midterm election months away and report looming. but trump did not become president by doing the easy are expected thing. the summit is the way to say to his frantic critics that he couldn't care less what they think. will go through reaction, especially from capitol hill. we also want to hear from you. will put lines, we them on the screen as we hear from nancy in big bear city, california, republican. am i there? host: yes, ma'am. caller: i think president trump did great yesterday. from the previous person you had

about the unaccompanied children 2 adults tore were one child and rooms full of 13 workingteen -- ms age men with the tattoos. americang children, children were separated from their parents in jail. much.mocrats protest too have read that voter fraud, with hispanics voting. $100 million100 to expedite for those people. they didn't have to speak english, say the pledge, or pay the fee. the democrats are the most

corrupt. host: staying in california, priscilla in west hills, a republican. your thoughts on yesterday's summit? caller: [video clip] i was mesmerized. i understand what president trump dead. he was never against the u.s. he used reverse psychology on putin. the whole country, i don't understand why people don't understand what he did and why he said what he did. if he wants to get along, if he wants russia to help us with thatrent things going on only russia can do, like syria and iran, he had to use reverse psychology. host: explain that to me. an example when he used reverse psychology yesterday. 's game.he played putin he made putin feel good. what would feel good

to him, sound good to him, to get the deal done with putin. we know trump is not a traitor. he loves this country, he is day.g it great again every i am 72 years old. i've never seen a president to as much as he is done as fast as he has done it. i know god has his back. he is protecting him, taking care of them. everything he said has come to pass, so he has the spirit of discernment. i don't understand why anybody don't get it. very simple. host: if you tweet says we had this conversation. one noting that nothing has changed. those of us who don't trust trump expected what happened and are not surprised. those who support him don't remember what it is like to feel shame. i've been saying our republican friends will snap out of it and take meddling seriously when

they lose. trumpers will applaud him and make excuses while they tear down others. even fox news was critical. my opinion, i smell blackmail. you can join the conversation @cspanwj. did a goodhink trump job. you don't go into a meeting when you are trying to draw people in with a closed fist. you try to be nice. people toay you get want to join you is to be nice. so, i think he'd done a really, really good job. host: what you make of the criticism of the president from speaker ryan, john mccain, chuck

grassley, lindsey graham, others? caller: they criticized him right off the dot before, until he won the election. out, ine still in and and out, in and out. they never stayed fast to the republicans. "the new york times" tracking criticism from republicans to the president's joint press conference yesterday. nced announced -- 15 denou the criticism. jeff flake is one saying i never thought i would see the day when our american president would stand on the stage and put blame on the united states. shameful was the statement from jeff flake. here are comments from republicans from outside of congress. romney is running for the senate

in utah. president trump's decision to over america's intelligence agencies is disgraceful and detrimental. russia remains our number one geopolitical adversary. equivalenceal undermines our national integrity and impairs our global credibility. one more from the former speaker of the house newt gingrich, president trump must clarify his statements in helsinki on our intelligence agencies. it is the most serious mistake of his presidency and must be corrected immediately. democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. like i have heard a few people becauseet frustrated there are so many people that can't see.

yesterday proved that he is a , and he has never had a bad word to say about putin no matter what putin did. the whole time, running for president or since he has been president. he has put down all of our allies, and making enemies of that -- of them. i hope the investigation on him shows exactly that he is 'sen putin -- he is in putin pocket and he sold us out before he was ever elected. he sold us out to the russians. he is going to be a dictator before it is over with, and we

won't have elections anymore. maybe by 2020 we won't have elections anymore because between what the russians can do with our computers and everything, and what trump and and the people he is firing and replacing them with people who will do what he says, it is just a total mess. host: as we noted, you can watch the entire press conference and moments from the summit in their entirety at c-span.org. one of the moments that the caller referenced was the president's response when it came to the issue of whether russia was involved in hacking 2016 elections. here's the president yesterday. [video clip] hold bothp: i

countries responsible. i think the united states has been foolish. i think we have all been foolish. we should have had this dialogue a long time ago, a long time, frankly, before i got to office. i think we are all to blame. the united states has stepped forward, along with russia, and we have a chance to do great things. whether it is nuclear proliferation, that is probably the most important thing we could be working on, but i do we have both made some mistakes. is a disasterobe for our country. i think it has kept us apart, kept us separated. there was no collusion, at all. everybody knows it. people are being brought out to the floor. far, none of it related to the campaign. they have to try really hard to find somebody that did relate to

the campaign.that was a clean campaign . i beat hillary clinton easily. and frankly, we beat her -- and i'm not even saying from the standpoint, we won that race. there is a shame they can even be a little bit of a cloud over it. people understand. there is zero collusion. and it has had a negative impact upon the relationship of the two largest nuclear powers in the world. we have 90% of nuclear power between the two countries. it's ridiculous. it's ridiculous what is going on with the probe. host: taking your calls this morning. independents. if you're listening to the president's comments, he spoke blaminge mueller probe, it for some tensions between the united states and russia.

what is interesting, you think about these people that want to call trump a dictator. adolf hitler, if you were against him you were murdered in your bed or disappeared the next day. people.s of you wouldn't be hearing from any democrats or republicans if they word.ne negative the problem people have is they don't see you are not from yale, princeton, or harvard, so you don't qualify to be the president. the other is when hillary "whatn had her book happened" apparently people still don't think god controls the universe. he decides who will be in charge. all of the nations that have the power, the scriptures talk about a great tribulation coming.

from my perspective as an independent, the democrats and republicans don't realize we are headed towards nuclear war. that war will be such a magnitude that you can't visualize what will happen to our world, because that's where we are headed. host: how far are we away from that? it.er: think about you saw the chinese, 1962 the chinese were in the rice patties with little paddles to irrigate their rice fields. today they have beautiful aircraft. they steal it from us, that you don't want to talk about the fact the united states of america, we have a bunch of people here that will give away information for $2.50 if they think they can make $2.50. people are in the death penalty zone and will be put to

death because there is an appeal, the appeal goes to the lawyers, and look at the judges in california, proposition 8. said thee with a robe ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. and where are we at today? host: go ahead. caller: yeah. the way we can stop this election fraud is we go back to the ballot box and get off of computers. simple as that. the electorate is taking over the electors. should do something about it now, because as these people are

saying, we are on a dead-end road. we are almost at the end. if we don't do something as american citizens to go back to we are going to have these problems with all the elections from here forward. host: what kind of voting system are you on in tucson, arizona? do you trust it? caller: no. i worked elections when george bush came into office. i stopped working the elections then. i used to work every year. host: why did you stop then? inler: when his cousin disenfranchised a great then the voters, and

electoral college come in and out, and he left us with three wars. and here is trump, voted trump in, and he is up there acting actually strange for and american to me. host: north carolina, democrats. sides, trying to bring the country together. [indiscernible]

from more responses republicans and other conservatives. this from speaker paul ryan. there is no question that russia interfered in our election and continues attempts to undermine democracy here and around the world. that is not just the finding of the intelligence committee, but the house committee on intelligence. russia is not our ally. there is no moral equivalence between the united states and russia, which means hostile to our most basic ideals and values. nebraska noting that the president said on twitter that our relationship with russia has never been worse thanks to many years of u.s. foolishness and stupidity and now the witchhunt. saying a better thing

to declare, russia is the enemy of america and our allies and we will expose and respond to their continued cyberattack's against our nation. in breitbart, and coulter's statements about it. andbest selling author populist columnist. and coulter said the establishment media have a republican party, and democrat'' reaction is exactly like the hysteria that followed the president's call for a travel ban from a handful of muslim-majority countries. reachinger said it is a level of outrage that has not been seen since trump's announcement in 2015 when he would implement an immigration ban from a handful of countries with islamic-terrorist ties. that in breitbart. caller: good morning.

i thank you for allowing me on. -- my solution is to watch trump. we allowed him to get away with not showing his taxes. on his taxes we will know what putin has on him. if we could only see trump's taxes. congress allowed him to get away with it. we are on a road to a dictatorship. this country is becoming a dictatorship. we allow trump to do any and everything he wants to do. congress sits back. as a result of being loyal to the republicans, the democrats, we are allowing things to happen that will in a few years show us what his true colors are. that is why he and mr. putin act

like they did yesterday. we should never have allowed -- congress should never have allowed -- we as taxpayers should never have allowed trump to sit with that dictator alone. we don't know what kind of agreement they made. everything that was said yesterday, they had made an arrangement. they made a pact on how we would approach it. we sit back like ticks on a allow this country to dictatorship. i would say in the next four to five years. i would love to give the guy, the young man who spoke about the christianity of this whole thing a kudos. if you look at what the word says, god's word, we are on our

way to a dictatorship. london, kentucky. line four republicans. caller: thanks for taking my call. i am an old hillbilly in kentucky and i have a couple of questions. i was wondering if after rosenstein briefed the president, if the president requested they not make it public until after this meeting or if they stabbed him in the back again. areuld like to know if you producers could pull up a detailed history on john brennan. that is something i would like to know, because he is very outspoken, and kind of questionable in my book. thank you, sir. host: stay with me, tell me about your thoughts on john brennan's tweet. caller: i don't know where he is coming from. if anything, that seems for whatever he was to say stuff such as that.

i don't see what the high crimes or misdemeanors, where that comes from. i was be honest, disappointed in the president's reaction yesterday, but i don't know what he knows. so, i have to give him a little pass on that. host: randy in london, kentucky. howard, line for independents. yes.r: i'm listening to everyone talk about the president, and a few comments about the supreme court. most people don't realize we are supposed to be a nation of two parties. but if you have a majority on the supreme court, which is the same in the senate, we don't have a two-party system. we have a one party system that has been picked by trump.

i would like to see someone address that. thank you. host: the caller asking about john brennan's background, here is his bio and resume on politico's website. 1955, bachelors political science fordham university in 1970 seven, masters in government from the university of texas at austin, cia executive deputy director from 2001-two thousand three, eventually became the cia director during the obama administration. assistance to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism in 2009, president and ceo of the analysis corporation in mclean, 2009-2008, interim director of the counterterrorism center, and director of the

threat integration center. jersey. new line four republicans. i am a little disappointed, but not surprised that the democrats want to peddle this false narrative that russia has something on trump. it is much more likely they want to keep track from putin because of snowden. has ak snowden probably lot on the prior administration and they are running scared. that is why the fbi, that was partially under the prior administration, wants to hide something that is out there that putin knows. it is not something putin has on trump, probably something putin has on the prior administration.

that is just my belief, but i think what trump did was nothing that he hasn't said before. i don't know why people are running scared. i do not think he the friended russia. i think he is just saying what he always does, and he didn't treat russia any better than he treated china, then he treated the eu. his last public conference with theresa may was also something that i found unusual, that that happened just before the russian meeting. the only person, foreign national, that clearly affected this election, or try to affect the election itself, was michael steele, who was english. steele, who is english. that is the only national that is obviously, and no charges have been put against him.

i guess because there is no special investigation. the that is really the biggest foreign national that try to affect our election and something should be done about that. host: that is in need in new jersey. just economic clock on these ghost. -- justthe east coast after 9:00 on the east coast. we will have a discussion on as the major-league all-star game gets set for .onight until then, continue with your calls. lines for democrats, republicans .nd independents one moment you might remember from the summit was towards the end when resident putin gave president trump a soccer ball from the world cup which

finished wrapping up on sunday and was hosted by russia. there is the moment. some reaction on twitter to that moment and president trump accepting a gift from president putin. senator lindsey graham saying if it were me i would check the ball for listening devices and never allow it in the white house. one more tweet from reporter bill neely with nbc saying he just saw u.s. secret service agent but the soccer ball couldn't give trump through a security scanner outside the presidential palace in helsinki. he said the secret service agent did not smile when i joked about it. good morning. by there missed out was a meeting between putin and trump. that is israel. , trump and israel have been the

three powers. .uclear war we will get hit in this country with nuclear weapons because people in this government are israelis. this is an israeli government that we have here. host: why do you say that? caller: i'm from jerusalem palestine. i listened very closely to couldn't and netanyahu who are close allies. israel is a russian state. people don't understand that. they're ignorant because of the media that his own -- donald things thatng some are really right. talking to people for the first time the way no other presidents do. what he failed to do, he should have made jerusalem the capital

of america. no one else but america. america is the one that finance and created the state of israel for russia. host: got your point. speaking about the president, the president just tweeted a few .inutes ago talking about some of the crib is the republican side of the aisle. he received support from senator rand paul. the president now saying on twitter, thank you rand paul, you get it. the president has gone through a year and a half of total partisan investigations, what's he supposed to thank. the president quoting i'm assuming rand paul in one of his statement. mel the, go ahead. caller: yes i'm a black woman, republican all my life and i stand with the president. i think he knows things we don't know. as americans we should not be criticizeevaluate him

him based on kitchen table politics. host: how should we evaluate them? caller: we should look at the long game and not just the short circumstance of where we are now . we need to decide where we want to be at the end of all of our efforts and take steps to get there. if we hamstring the president when we stay on him and don't let him do his job. host: where do you want to be at the end of our efforts when it comes to the united states relationship with russia? people i want to see coexistence. that does not mean we are in love or that we trust each other only. it just means we recognize those ourgs we share as far as common concerns are. not just be so quick to nitpick to keep trouble knowing. a lot of the problems we face now are because we've had such

wrongheaded thinking for so long. in our a brush lines of policymakers. i think we would do well to look at things from another point of view within ourselves. host: another story in today's paper about the united states russian relationship in the ongoing investigation into russian agents in the united states. to aussian woman with ties senior russian government official was charged in washington yesterday with conspiracy to act as an agent of the russian federation including by building ties to leadership of the national rifle association and other conservative political associations. arrested sunday the district of columbia and made her first appearance in district court before a magistrate judge and was ordered held without bail.

cultivate trying to relationships with american politicians to establish back channel of communication and seeking to infiltrate groups including an unnamed gun rights organization to advance russia's agenda. descriptions in court papers .ass published reports several other papers as well as the washington post. ron, go ahead. caller: the second to last caller the israeli who called, it made me laugh but that it made me think, he's correct. about thed the book program in 1998 in russia which opened up immigration for the first time jewish people, because russia held the highest -- the place where they emigrated to was the united states. also palestine.

host: bring us to yesterday and that summit. caller: some of the most despicable actions of the u.s. president. trader, looking the boots of the russians. i agree with foreign policy of russia but as far as tampering with our elections and supporters -- republican supporters of that act, the most despicable acts we have in this country. a genuine wave of fascists who are ready to rise. you rise in you will be met. we are living in dangerous times. poe to go back to the 1908 leadership today are in a mindset that is together. we are in dangerous times and we have to be aware in be ready.

thank you very much. caller: in that research i stumbled across some articles about trump's son and where he to talking about trying initiate business in russia and how you degrees palms. even then i wrote we are to be concerned about russia and trump . after watching what was going on in helsinki in the question answer section and the private meeting i can't help but think he's a businessman and wanted to do business in russia. with putin if you have to grease palms i don't believe him at all as far as we don't have any information on trump. it is my concern that above everything trump is a businessman and wants to make money and is it about his future and that is something we should be concerned with.

host: reaction from capitol hill throughout the program. as more from senator marco rubio , who was at an atlanta council event on kremlin interference in 2016 election. he talked about president vladimir putin's motivations and views toward the united states. >> what the president said today is not accurate. the intelligence community has assembled probably an unparalleled amount of evidence in regards to the russian ongoing efforts to interfere in american society not limited to the territory of the united states. these are efforts they undertake in many parts of the world. represented here today by elected officials in those jurisdictions. i'm only going to comment on the press conference. none of us were in the meeting. we don't know what was raised. all i can speculate is there is an effort underway to figure out

if by being nice to vitamin there is a way we can establish a better working relationship which in a perfect world would not be a bad thing between two nations that possess 90% of the world's nuclear weapons. is that in that vladimir putin is not interested in a better working relationship with the united states because he views the geopolitics of the world is a battle between the strong in the week. he believes the last that was strong took advantage of a week russia. he intends to reestablish russia as a global world power and does not believe in win-win scenarios. he believes in zero sums. you think the only way to make russia stronger is to make america weaker. you have to understand that any policies not built on that reality in any rhetoric not built on that reality is destined to be counterproductive and will certainly fail.

-- this is not a partisan interference. this is an effort to have happen what has happened. and america two years after the election still having this issue dominated and divide us. this was the primary objective of vladimir putin this a permanent instability in society and political culture. we don't have time to take him on as a threat. host: we might have saw sitting next to senator marco rubio was in the products senator mark warner. the top democrat on the senate intelligence committee. he spoke about his views on the president's comments. his denial of russian interference in the u.s. election. here's what senator warner had to say. >> i think president trump's actions today were outrageous.

the president of the united states sided with vladimir putin over the unanimous assessment of the american intelligence community, the bipartisan conclusion of the senate intelligence committee, over the knology rent of facebook, , youtube, social media platforms that russia manipulated their plant -- their platforms, and sided with putin over our allies who came from canada and across europe to share how we can prevent this kind of interference on a going forward basis. i think in the coming days it will be time for all of us to stand up and say which side are we on. i'm hopeful and confident that in the senate we will continue , continuethis threat our investigation and make sure the american public gets the whole truth.

it was a pretty remarkable thing. host: some of the congressional reaction to yesterday's event in helsinki. mark is in seattle washington, independent. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. after seeing my unduly elected who i haveding with entirely no-confidence in him. spain just performed a no-confidence vote of the prime minister and leader stepped down. i think congress should perform a no-confidence of president trump vote in the house and senate. --confidence does this man does he give us. host: mary in fort washington, maryland. the line for democrats.

caller: i have to quit my heart back in. he disproved -- and i did not watch it but i saw the news and the criticism and everything in the main part i watched him become a buffoon. he's just proved to the world he's unfit. he's improving that for the whole year but if this does not -- this is not a democrat or republican time. this is a people time. he is unfit to be in. i don't understand the republican people who support him. at what do they see in him? he's a mess. i want to thank him for the gift he's giving the democrats right now. lord knows they need it. i want to send a message out to the democrats. you will not insert hillary clinton. that is not what we need. we're going to make sure this never happens again for someone being our president and this is the time to look at the electoral election and he got in

office from gerrymandering. he is standing next to a thug. putin is extremely rich and you want to know how he got rich? he takes everything from his adversaries. he took an oil company from somebody who was running against him politically. that person had to flee for their lives. they are over here in the united states. you know who he is. you host: talk about democrats and who they should be backing going into the next election. who do you support? caller: ben jealous over here in maryland i voted for him in the primary. he is progressive. host: what about on a national level in 2020? caller: people like nina turner, keith ellison, elizabeth warren, people with ideas like that. i don't care what their religion is or race as long as they are progressive and are going to

move this country back in the direction barack obama was taking it. host: here was elizabeth warren's response yesterday. she said president trump takes to the international stage embarrass america undermine our institutions we can our alliances and embrace a dictator. russia interfered in our attacked our democracy. putin must be held accountable. not rewarded. disgraceful. we mentioned the 2020 election. here's some news on that front, the republican side of the aisle . the city of charlotte north carolina says reluctantly it would host the 2020 convention. the newly deciliters of north carolina's largest city found on monday they and their constituents were divided on whether charlotte auto host this convention which will presumably decide whether to nominate president trump for reelection.

during a meeting in austin, texas the only other contender appears to be las vegas whose bid was put forward without the support of the local government. charlotte city councils meeting was held to vote on certain contracts connected with it did and intended to signal to the republicans that they would be welcome in north carolina. . party may never see assurance the vote in favor was just 6-5. york.s in the bronx, new for republicans. caller: i wanted to bring up the point that trump, he knew he was being wiretapped by the nsa let's say. he knew there are putting spies into his organization at the cia , fbi denied it. there proven liars. it is common sense that trump with distrust them.

we then try to isolate russia since 1991. when the ussr broke up. to weaken them we went after them in georgia to .eaken them, in chechnya in ukraine for over 10 years trying to weaken the russian influence and isolate them further. acountry you can walk to and .alf hour elements of stupidity the anti-conference keep provoking russia. what are they look for? are they looking for nuclear war or looking to hope that russia just dissolves? host: a few more tweets. kathleen says if hillary can

reset relations with russia why can't trump? double standards is the media. mansi says i see nothing wrong with the president meeting with putin however the adulation of pugin was over the top and truck looked like a chump best trump looked like a chump. his game is a week compared to xp gb putin. caller: i'm just getting fed up with the term tried to meddle with our 2016. they did not try. they did. he did interfere in our election and that is why donald trump got the presidency. from that moment on, when we first found out there was suspicion that this was happening, that there have been interference, but people in the trump campaign colluded, those are not made up stories. those are facts.

but donald trump goes on every day to tell supporters you can't believe anything the media tells you. .ll things news just once the for a reporter to respond and say, the news is real. you are the fate. .e has committed treason the republican party needs to start acting like a party as opposed to just wanting the power they've chosen their party over the country. we are going to pay a very high price if they don't start doing their job. this man is a menace and dangerous. host: that is kate in illinois. this story in the new york times talking about the indignation from the intelligence officials in the wake of the president's comments. it notes michael hayden saying

president trump must departure point -- thought it was not objective reality. the story does not president trump tried to walk back his comments saying i have great confidence in my intelligence. to build a brighter future we cannot exclusively focus on the past as the world's two largest nuclear powers we must get along. the story notes the tweet did little to mollify intelligence .fficials past and present john is in illinois, line for republicans. caller: thanks for allowing me to stay here. i heard the comments made by marco rubio. he is a talking head for the oligarchy. anything he's told the site. we will not be run by a one-person royalty type family.

we will be run by the oligarchs. it will tell us what they want us to do. as they are doing now. i thank you for the opportunity to speak. host: cheryl, line for republicans. caller: thank you for me to speak. withnt stood on stage and prudencemp says it nothing to do with the, the election. , here's our people saying that they went through servers and that no american collusion was done with president trump

selection. i'm hearing different stuff from democrats. here's the way i look at it. trump said show me the proof. he wants to see the servers. he was to see the computers. he wants to see for himself constitution. show the proof because i have a lot of reason not to believe the fbi myself. he should not be in there because he worked with all the democrats before. that is the way i have it. should quietbody down and say get the proof. and then we can make a decision. host: scottsdale arizona, line for republicans. morning.

caller: president obama was talking to dmitry medvedev saying he would have more flexibility after the election. trialot seen any proof at . i know that all the people i say things. i heard a lot of the coverage of the press conference. everyone seemed to be upset on the news. i watched the press conference for myself and it was nothing. i thought from did a good job. he was firm and brought up everything he said he was going to bring up. i would like to see evidence of what these people are saying. i think it's a political thing. host: what do you think was president trump's best moment in that press conference? caller: when he was explaining we needed to have a good relationship with russia. .olitics aside nuclear power.

we will either have peace with them or warmer. crimea,stood firm with took the stance that it was illegal. they were able to agree to disagree. but showed a healthy sign of a good relationship. can you imagine marco rubio up there? you look like a whiny teenager. host: in arizona this morning. about four or five minutes left of phones. the house and the senate scheduled come in at 10:00 today . we will take you live to the house on c-span when they do. speaking of what's happening on the house side, a story in today's wall street journal talking about congress getting two days of testimony on the economy and a visit to capitol hill from jerome powell, the wall street journal notes is investing considerable time and energy on capitol hill.

he has met with 18 lawmakers, 10 republicans eight democrats during his first four months has federal reserve chairman. by contrast former fed chairman janet yellen that with just three lawmakers during her first four months as the central bank leader the story talks about what's going to be happening this week on capitol hill as that testimony gets underway today and expected to continue tomorrow as well. in a couple minutes on the washington journal we will talk baseball. the major-league all-star game taking place in washington dc today and we will be having conversation about the connection between presidents and based over the years for that discussion. until then, your phone calls. and he is in madisonville, kentucky. good morning. i feel like -- i'm a democrat

and everything. i feel like yesterday i think .rump gone wrong have theke russia overhand and i know a long time ago russia said they would take over the world and do it through the mind of the young people without firing a shot. they're doing that through the drugs. i think russia was involved with 2016 election. to me i think we need to be praying for president and country because our country is divided right now. i think trump handle the wrong. he made a very bad mistake. host: bill in mississippi, line for independents. last call in this segment. caller: i've watched c-span for many years now. since this thing yesterday with we've heardsinki

from paul ryan, lindsey graham, bunch of the other top republicans. where is mitch mcconnell? why isn't mitch mcconnell saying anything. .e got to hear from mitch thank you very much. host: mitch mcconnell did put out a statement yesterday included in the wrapup by the in their rundown of what various republicans had to say. mitch mcconnell saying in part in his statement, i set a number of times russians are not our friends and i believe the assessment of our intelligence community. the last call in this segment of the washington journal. tonight is the 2018 major-league baseball all-star game. we will talk with the love affair between u.s. presidents and the game of baseball with author kurt smith. stick around for that discussion.

♪ >> sunday night on q and a grace can you wanted to discusses her memoir daughter of the cold war. >> was he deputy mayor than? >> he was deputy mayor i was running my business. i had a client who wanted something to do with the court of st. petersburg. a meeting with the real mayor. he was called away so they substituted the deputy mayor, putin. and i was annoyed because i was not meeting with the mayor. i knew putin had been kgb. i was negative about it all. he came in and he was equally

negative. he did not want to meet with .ome american woman it was very suspicious of women. he had no gallon tree -- no gallantry. very big blue cold eyes and all i could think of is i wonder what would happen if he was interrogating me. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q and a. >> c-span, were history unfolds daily. in 1979 c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court and public policy events in washington dc and around the country. c-span's brought to you by your cable or satellite provider.

host: on the day major-league baseball's all-star game is being played three miles from the white house and nationals park we are joined for the remainder of our program by kurt smith, former speech writer for the george h w bush administration. he is with us until the house comes in at 10:00 this morning. mr. smith, good morning. take us back to the beginning. how far does this love affair between the occupants of the white house and occupants of the basic assignment go back? guest: about as far as far to go when you talk about america. before the was a republic, presidency, back to george washington before it became , there is general washington he can't go anywhere because the brits hasn't cornered so he's playing by the hour the british game of

rounders, the facsimile of baseball, mentally strategizing about what comes next. then we become a country and development presidency in washington. the next president i talk about in depth is abraham lincoln. he's playing tomball, the name outside the come white house. play one game after another. what i would think belief on the solemnity of the civil war. lincoln take inside using the corridors of the white house as base paths. i imagine he covered the distance between home plate in first base rather quickly. so he loved the game and with one or two exceptions every president since has had an affection liking or loving the national game host:. why so much affection where does that come from? guest: we are a nation of

individuals case anyone has not noticed and we like to do things our way. we like to do things unencumbered and i think i spoke is the definition of the. you're out there in the open. .owhere to hide no excuses when you drop of powerball ball and known to show your glory when you go do is price harper did in the home run derby in washington. about the only highlight of the season thus far. it is essentially american. host: the front page of the sports section of usa today focusing on the all-star game in the home run derby. harper a big star attraction. nationals park is the game is being polite. we are talking about the president's love affair with ripball over the years currents meant is the author of the book the president in the and times -- the president

the past time. if you want to join in the conversation phone lines are original. eastern or central united states . (202) 748-8000 memoir pacific region, (202) 748-8001. a specific mission in mind and you wrote this. what was it? guest: no one had ever done this. ever since i was little growing up in a small town of upstate new york, i call it may very without the accent. the encyclopedia on the front porch and consume biographical entries of the baseball stars, ted williams and babe ruth and i became fixated at an early age and i think i got a lot of company. tens of millions of americans have become enamored at the same pursuits. question now is not why

i wrote the book provides a grace alone. trace this extraordinary twinning of the heart between these great american institutions both born here. the national game and the national office. they belonged to us. no other nation can lay claim to them. when you look at the american fabric i can't think of any to institutions to better define who we are and how we got here. host: it was not always a love affair. one or two did not exactly love the game. guest: one comes to mind in you got them right there. host: tell us about teddy roosevelt. .uest: he hated the game low the game because it could not given what he loved in a sport, violence, possibly even death. he used his favorite adjective. the kicker theodore roosevelt, he cannot say so because

baseball is so popular he stared inc. thrown out of office if he expressed his loathing for baseball. this man who was defeated by nothing else who sailed the great american wifely, climbed up san juan hill, and forged his militaristic american foreign policy, baseball alone defeated tr. host: you are a former speech writer for the george h.w. bush administration. talk about former president bush and his specific love affair. guest: i once asked him when he knew it was the love baseball. he said when i swung a bat. age five. he is 94. that is 89 years of loving the game. after lower to you came back and became a baseball player and captain of his baseball team. so sterling a fielder i'm told

by big-league scout, had there been the position of designated fielder in the late 19 result of the war he could have become a major leaguer. there was no position of designated fielder and he like millions of other americans including myself could not hit side not make the biggs. host: i want to come back to a picture which is put up for bushrs of former president and former first lady barbara bush that wheelchair international uniform. guest: i assume this is the world series game five last year. he went there and he has been suffering from parkinson i does 28th.the early the thing that stopped them to cheer on his favorite team, the houston astros. houston has embraced him as he is embrace texas.

he was so delighted when the astros won their first world title last year it really was an enormous boost to him particularly in what has been a difficult last year. host: were you ever able to host: were you ever able to insert a baseball reference to speech you look for the president?

the president and the past time. curt smith is the author. taking a calls on regional phone lines this morning. kevin is a first, whiteville virginia. good morning. caller: good morning. i've been reading a baseball book called the hall of shame. on president reagan. through the wildest pitch in major-league history on april 7 1986 in baltimore. it went over the catchers head

and he asked for a second try and threw a strike. he is afraid he was going to hit one of the reporters and the catcher said go ahead no loss. reagan needs all the hopes he can get. tot's about all i wanted say. a pretty good book. i must've bought the book a long time ago in the 80's or sometime. guest: president reagan probably thought it was the second take and use back at warner bros. when he threw the second pitch. he was born with baseball. he re-created games in the 1930's. great creation is when you're hundreds of miles away from the actual name but you get more code data from the actual ballpark. 20.you get is be it means call to outside or s-1 asked, strike one swinging.

that's all you get and you reinvent. you re-create the action 15 to 20 seconds after it occurs. reagan became a master of it until monday his wire went dead. three other outlets in des moines where he was broadcasting the game live so reagan knew we're going back to the studio because our wire have broken his was would turn to the other three stations. what is the one thing that does not get in the baseball box for the next morning? it was foul balls. after two strikes you could hit 2 million fell balls and you still have two strikes so for ae next seven minutes he said world record for foul balls until the wire was restored came back to reagan who started laughing on the air because the wire red batter popped out on first ball pitched. host: the caller talked about the instance of throwing

strikes. the series between the new york yankees and arizona diamondbacks october 30, 2001 and the strike that was thrown. guest: the heroic feat by george w. bush. 9/11 happened exactly seven weeks before. 2000 americans killed. here we are at yankee stadium first time an american president had visited yankee stadium for world series game. amazing to how many series the yankees at the heart of. of.ad been a part withcans have been wracked anguish and grief over what had occurred. so bush is talking to their cheater of the yankees and peter says i think you should cross from the pitching mound rather than in front of the mound otherwise you will be booed.

fromgets a roaring ovation this democratic city even though he's a republican because that night america is one. the pitch he throws is as perfect a strike as you and i will ever see. he could not have been on a more perfect pitch had he walked the 60 feet six inches from the pitching mound to the catchers mitt. the noise of the crowd that emanated must have been heard in jersey city 15 miles away. it was a stunning moment and he was never more a hero, bush 43 and then it was that night. i'm asked about that incident wherever i go wherever i talk and how around this country people never forgot and have not this day. host: about 15 minutes before the house comes in. we're talking baseball. we will go live to the house they do come in. eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8000.

mountain at pacific, (202) 748-8001. kurt smith is the author of the book the president in the past time. theodore is in jamestown, kentucky. good morning. caller: good morning. retired baptist minister. and i wasmission work for 2.5and, new york years. in binghamton i was there seven years. i tell you one thing, i am a new york yankee fan. i love baseball and i love the yankees and they are my favorite team and i pray for them and i root for them. host: you remember the night president george w. bush throughout that pitch on october

30, 2001? caller: i don't remember it. was in maryland and we did not have good tv reception. guest: you can be a nike's family television. i'm a boston red sox fan. i have great respect for the yankees. they won 27 world series. far and away the most count in age of the -- major-league baseball. to say yankees is to mean baseball around the world. the good minister is preaching his word and the yankees were mean . books,ne of your other websites centennial told the radio and tv. john is up next in latham, good desolate, new york.

taft started the seventh inning stretch. when howard taft was attending the first gain in washington he got up to the code to the bathroom in the seventh inning and all the fans started cheering. is that a true story? to tell theleased plain truth in the sense. william howard taft did in fact originate one of the great baseball.major-league incommenced the first pitch baseball history. something donald trump has not been able to do in the first two years of the washington national season. i hope he will see the light or feel the heat and go out and see the errors of his ways and throb the first pitch next year. when howard tax, in 1910, did throughout the first pitch and

he did so because he loved the game. he was a frustrated amateur baseball pitcher in the 80's. wanted to be a vaguely amateur. eight want to bash you to be a big league -- he wanted to be a big league pitcher. out had to take two seats to accommodate him. perfect stadium was the beloved home of the washington senators from 1911 through 1961. a shrine second to none in the hearts and minds of most washingtonians to this day. taft loved the game. the first and only american president to have seen a game from the national and american .eaks the same day two games in one city, st. louis. he did that in 1910. number one fan in

poll among chief executives. today i have a recount and taft would be her fourth. that he was number one back them. -- he was not responsible and should not receive credit for any other right in this sense, the seventh inning stretch. that happened to be a local custom in cincinnati, ohio. host: patrick calling in from chicago. caller: this is patrick in chicago. i am a white sox fan. my question to mr. smith is how many games would you estimate president barack obama watched in the white house of the white sox? guest: he went to one opening game in 1910 when he inaugurated the nationals -- 2010, i'm sorry. that would've been quite a trip.

in terms of white sox games, i don't know. he showed great fidelity to the white sox to the extent that when he did inaugurate the 2010 season of the nationals, the nationals expected him to wear a nationals cap and he did as he was leaving the dugout. he crossed the baseline that he put something in his glove before he did and it was a white sox cap. he gets to the mound and whips out his white sox cap, puts it on, face the mound and of course he loves the pitch in toward the plate. nationals brass was astonished. he showed an admirable trait. he understood most chicago south -- he was notfor -- i think this is what the caller was alluding to, a

scholar of the game like richard nixon or a fan of the game like my former boss, but he did so -- he did show great fidelity to the chicago white sox. host: talk about the current active of the white house and his experience with a small. guest: it's the darndest thing. donald trump grew up in new york in the suburbs in queens, not a suburb actually. was weaned on the new york yankees. murders road maintenance of one and other yankee teams. he became an extraordinarily of the new york military academy. he had no speed which will not surprise reviewers, but he was very powerful and strong and hit from the right-handed plate to such an extent the philadelphia phillies and my boston red sox wanted to sign him. they came up and wanted to sign him. host: to a minor-league

contract? guest: they thought he would become a major league ballplayer. the red sox especially had visions of him tattooing the left-field monster and clearing it and going into what then was the left-field screen. he would've fit the red sox mold in terms of slow but powerful. trump did not want to do it and he said prophetically i did not want to make a spine money. i wanted to make real money and real money to him that going into development and the coming a zillionaire. first ofn to throb the before becoming president at fenway park. also wrigley field. he tattooed talk radio in the early part of this decade by talking about major-league baseball. he comes president. .e's been mia why hasn't he thrown out the first call at either one of the first opening days? why hasn't he is why won't he throw it out tonight?

. why hasn't hehe was not too tirn the first opening days some say he's been scanned and weary about being booed by the democratic proud which would be at opening day. that i the supposition have. i can't prove it but what else would be the reason? president should be there. host: a few more calls with curt smith. the president in the past time on the day that many of the baseball all-star game being played. but does come miles from here on capitol hill three miles from the white house in southeast the senior waterfront and national stadium. columbia.nd caller: i was wondering is it possible to set up a croquet set on the white house lawn? .'m just kidding guest: the answer is yes.

it's a lovely lawn. caller: anyway. i was thinking as of the 1980's more types of sportscaller: havn introduced to the american public. x games and stuff like that. you think there will ever be a point where president is going to even acknowledge or be involved with more sports other than baseball and football? guest: it possible. i think it would be lamentable. there are two great american sports. baseball and football. i say that having playing basketball and liking hockey.

i don't think you overnight replace them. i think baseball challenges why with pay john f. kennedy in 1963 gave a great speech when he said our problems are made by man therefore can be solved by man. baseball's problems are created by baseball and can be solved by baseball. it's too slow speed the game up. not marketed correctly, not on national television, you would see baseball instantly or almost instantly restored to full we willhat occurs become anybody crisis of the spirit or crisis among our young and major-league baseball confronts. if that occurs the synergy between the american president and american game will be just as strong as it's ever been. host: about three or four minutes for the house comes in. which president had the biggest impact on the game of baseball? guest: franklin roosevelt which is why his on the cover of

presidents and the past time. after the japanese attacked pearl harbor, baseball did not know whether to close up shop or stated in a diminished because so many of the ballplayers they knew would be drafted and go abroad. wrote a letter to fdr, meklin roosevelt asking guidance and the next day january 15, 1942, roosevelt held press conference and read aloud the entirety of to the commissioner of baseball. -- heelt said in essence insisted baseball be played to elevate the morale of the home .ront wiseman workers at home and children but moreover the morale of troops abroad in the atlantic and european theater. he was right because surveys

later showed nothing except for letters from loved ones at home and receiving boxscores from newspapers they got on the front. roosevelt knew his name at his country which is why i suggest in his book the president and the halftime that print -- that franklin roosevelt inducted posthumously by the national baseball hall of fame museum in cooperstown, new york. 317 plaques honoring players and managers and executives. none include the phrase saved baseball. franklin roosevelt saved baseball. host: are any other politicians included? guest: no but no other politician say baseball. california. is in good morning. caller: i had a little trouble getting through. your screener did not think -- i

was going to go off-topic. host: we got about two minutes left. what is your baseball question? caller: it is not a question. a reflection on today. a topic thisto morning because i think after what happened yesterday this country is going to have time to be paying attention to the baseball. the greatest season ever and the world series will be out of sight. you don't know what i'm referring to i'm just saying i'm a transplant from new york. 40 years ago, santa barbara is reagan country. etc. etc.. i could go on. i'm excited to be able to get through to you. this is my first time calling. happy wanted to say baseball america because we will have a good baseball season

because we don't have to concentrate on this horrible mess in washington and the divided country this country has become. host: i hope you call him again. curt smith, the final minute or two. guest: i hope that is a salt of going processing and i hope america could become united again in this that term. i love to predict a red sox nationals world series and i hope christmas comes over the senior. but no, this is a book that reflects the history of wonderful country. there is no countries like it. they scroll was and is extraordinarily important to the fabric of the country. the institutions -- one of the topics -- imagine living in a country without baseball he said wanting to imagine live in that country. that more or less embodies the

way i thought in the way i think in the way i felt writing this book. host: curt smith, appreciate your time this morning. host: i appreciate you inviting me. we take you live to the house floor as they begin their proceedings for the day. thspeak propoe the chairays behe house omnication from the spker. e chair: saker's rooms, thclerk: ther, waingt, d.c. july 17, 2018 iereb appntradl bn to act as shen this y signed, paud. ryanspeake ofhe hou o rresentativ. t speak po tempor rsuant to therderf the hoofnuary 8,8, the members fm lists submittedy the rity an minri leers for morning ho debate the ch at rniti btween the ies. l time sha b e ated between the parties in