congressman brad sherman talks about the fallout from president trump's meeting with russian president vladimir putin and the ongoing muller probe. after that, new york republican congresswoman claudia tenney on the helsinki summit and u.s.-russia relations. ♪ host: good morning, it is wednesday, july 18. president trump yesterday called him reporters to a meeting with lawmakers to read a prepared the common today before in helsinki. the president said he misspoke while standing next to russian president vladimir putin and has full faith in the u.s. intelligence communities. we will begin with your reaction to the president clarification -- presidents clarification this morning. .emocrats, (202) 748-8000 republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002.

you can also go to facebook.com/cspan or @cspanwj. you can start styling and now. the president issued a correction, saying he said wouldn't, but should have said would. [video clip] need for some clarification. i thought it would be obvious, but i would like to clarify just in case it wasn't. in a key sentence in my remarks, i said the word would instead of what it's. it should have -- wouldn't. said it wouldn't be rushed. host: the president tweeted out that some any people at the higher end of the telogen's love my press conference -- of intelligence loves my press conference in helsinki. we got along well, which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match.

big results will come, said the president. minority leader chuck schumer went to the floor yesterday after those clarifying remarks. here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> amazingly, after reading a statement that he accepted the intelligence community's conclusion that can metals, added in his own words -- it could be not of people -- a lot of people also. just like charlottesville. he made a horrible statement, tried to back off, but could not even bring himself to back off. it shows, mr. president, the weakness of this president. it shows the weakness of president trump that he is afraid to confront mr. putin directly, and, like a coward, tried to squeal away from it when he is several thousand miles away. ont: senator chuck schumer

the floor yesterday, and before the president made those remarks at the white house about his helsinki summit, speaker of the house paul ryan held a news conference with gop leaders, and was asked several times about the president's remarks when he was standing next to the russian president. speaker of the house had this to say about the next steps republicans could take. [video clip] >> here is what we have already done and could continue to do, which is put sanctions on russia. you saw the indictments from the special counsel. i have spoken to intelligence, they were the people who conducted the cyberattack on our elections. we have already put in place tensions. -- sanctions. if the financial affairs committee or the foreign affairs committee and the senate banking committee think there are other sanctions we have not yet placed on russia, i am more than happy to consider those. host: the speaker of the house yesterday. we turn to all of you. what do you think about the presidents clarification yesterday? did he do enough or you happy

with what he had to say at the summit in helsinki. nate, a democrat in michigan. good morning. morning.ood i don't think donald trump did enough. once again, donald trump shows the only people shows the only people he will attack our time more veterans like john mccain, women, and it is just disgraceful the way he shows no backbone when he gets next to it was with -- i cannot think of her name. waters, low iq, the senator from massachusetts, pocahontas, john mccain, talk disgraceful people on the right want to sit up here and back the president when he gets appear next to putin. host: nate, before you go, what should he have said yesterday?

caller: he sued have said putin, we know you interfered in our election and we will not put up with it. we will sanction you and we will stand strong with our allies and let russia know we are not having this. to stop all these replicants talking about it is a witch hunt because nobody, sat up here have and said that all of these wasacts with the russians for the trump campaign to learn how to run a campaign here in america. host: ok. david in watertown, a republican. you're on the air. caller: yeah, i graduated in 1962 in a class of seven and went into the military. that did not work out. i was not in very long, but the friends of mine who waited to drafted, a lot of them got killed, hurt, and a lot of them

ended up prisoners of war. to a guy overn there, a navy pilot that was shot down. some said he was a collaborator. when you see his track record for the past 50 years, the way he kicked his wife to the curb and married a rich woman after withife stayed and prayed him for six years, and you see what he has done in the senate, where he backstabbed the president every chance he gets, i think it is time that our president get somebody who is willing to stand up for him. 73 years old. i cannot march, but i can still take orders and i still know how to fight. ifi am really to re-up president trump wants somebody watching his back, because it is high time people quit looking for every single excuse.

chuck schumer yesterday blamed crimea,the invasion in which happened there in the middle of the obama administration. when are they going to give this guy some slack? host: take a look at vanity fair's headline on their website. wing revolt west after trump embarrasses -- embraces putin. --,rump grapples with his chief of staff john kelly went into overdrive to get trump to walk it back. his pressing conference with vladimir putin on air force one, donald trump surprise- reacted with to the disruption in much of the political world. by the time he landed, the surprise had turned to anger. he was enraged that there was a lack of people out there defending him, one republican close to the white house told me. nightmare scenario,

another republican in frequent theract -- contact with minister nation said. trump had weathered crises of his own making before, from the access hollywood tape to charlottesville to "shithole countries." each time he's arrived by with doubling down and counterattacking, but as he woke up tuesday morning, trump had to recognize that his abrasive putin on the world stage with a crisis of a different magnitude. -- and all security advisor john bolton thought trump's remarks were it was buys, but chief of staff john kelly was erased. according to a source, he told trump it would make things worse for him with robert mueller. he also exerted pressure to try to get the president to walk back his marks. according to three sources familiar with the situation, the chief of staff called around to republicans on capitol hill and gave them the go-ahead to speak out against the president. rosa in newton, georgia,

democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. this has been such a nightmare and an outrageous thing. i don't even have words to describe what happened. it is as if our president has been brainwashed. i am 68 years old and retired. he does not even seem to be conscious of his own actions and the impact they are having on our country and around the world. , and i praycionable somebody will wake up and our country needs to wake up. thank you. host: ok. russell, boston, independent. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you? host: doing well.

going: i'm amazed, i was to say. i'm surprised and disappointed by the language the people used, like amazed, astonishing, and remarkable. solicitous of the biggest, most transparent, most disgusting life -- live this president hasng said. they have been counting his lies, and there are four or more a day. he is just outrageously shameless. so why aren't people saying that all along, all along donald junior said we are getting our money from russia. for him to behave this way, he has to owe putin or his gang of thugs serious money to behave like this. so contrary to our history and our record and our values.

the outrage -- i do not think it can be loud enough. this is treasonous and everyone is dancing around it with remarkable, astonishing, and if we look at the record, it is so clear. are we in denial? are we afraid of saying our president is ava hammett liar, t liar, anda vehemen why you so i hope this pressure will cause them to confront his own shameless lying. host: and some more headlines from the washington times, trump goes into damage control. reaffirms faith in u.s. intelligence against russian meddling, and the new york times, their besieged -- their headline, a besieged trump say he misspoke on russian meddling, and they say it was under unrelenting pressure from congressional republicans, his advisors, and his own allies on fox news that he reversed course on tuesday.

coral, massachusetts, democrat. good morning. and thankod morning, you for c-span. i might sound crazy, but i am interested to hear what other people might think. trump is not the most articulate person, but i think that press conference in helsinki was ok. a lot of afraid of is democrats and republicans are trying to get rid of trump, whether they will impeach him or declare him in thompson -- incompetent -- i do not wish harm on anybody, but they are trying to remove him from office. and a lot of trump's supporters are armed. they will try to start a civil war, and that will give both the ancons and the neoliberals excuse to bring in federal troops and declare martial law. we will lose all our freedoms, and that is my opinion.

i know it sounds crazy, but i am really afraid -- host: what evidence do you have that this is the direction the country is headed? all of the -- even his republicans who used to back him, a lot of them are going against him, and -- i think there is something wrong with him, whether he just doesn't care, and they are using him, they are using him. he is just a front man for all of these people, all the warmongers and the corporate people. host: ok. well the washington post says the president was particularly rattled by a legal tweet monday from nook gingrich -- newt gingrich. he urged the president on social media to clarify his helsinki statement, saying they were the most mysterious mistakes -- series mistakes of his presidency and needed to be

corrected. john kelly, the chief of staff, also called them republican senators tuesday, according to withe the milieu these conversations, and did what was described as "damage control." other republicans describe the calls as checking in and listening to their views. ,his is newt gingrich's tweet in case you missed it. this is the most serious mistake this presidency and must be corrected immediately. issaid that on -- that according to bloomberg. christopher in florida, republican. hi, christopher. caller: oh, hello. good morning. i just had a couple of quick comments. first, i am surprised but very happy the president went out of ay to restate his statement and make himself clear , because that shows a little bit of humility and willing to

change, or say you made a mistake or misspoke. we have not heard that. a lot of people say he will not say he makes a mistake, but he did there. my next point was this. i tried to look at things with different points of view or perspectives, and i was just thinking this. , vladimir putin went ahead and have that interview with the fox reporter -- and i really appreciate c-span always being neutral and showing the news as it is -- but when putin had that interview, he was talking about the evidence that they did release, which they did hack and release, that it was true. i was just thinking this -- putin must have been really scared of hillary and the democrat party or something if they were going to get into office for him to release something like this. so i guess that is why he released information, maybe

because he was really scared. i wonder why. but thank you for what you guys do and have a wonderful day. u2, christopher. critics of the president and what he tried to do yesterday are saying he did not go far enough. the new york times points out this, that while he focused on the words "would" and said he should have said "wouldn't," he did not mention the far number -- the far greater number of occasions on which he has sown doubt that russia metals. he also did not his withering attack on the fbi and the justice department for investigating the ties to russia. hisid not withdraw assertions standing next to mr. putin that the russian leader had offered an extremely strong and powerful denial of involvement during their two an half hour meeting. and he did not amend his answer to a question about whether he believed mr. putin or officials like dan coats, his director of national intelligence. mary in maryland, independent.

good morning to you. caller: hello, and thank you for letting me comment. frightening and ridiculous about this whole thing is how from the very beginning in the campaign, if you just watch the actions taken by trump and putin and where it they say,at is what with their actions. putin is our president, not trump. trump is an agent working under putin, and it was obvious on their interview that we watched. it is just unbelievable. host: which interview did you watch? are you talking about the fox interview? caller: yes, yes. it is just -- i cannot believe how it keeps slipping and changing and slipping and also lookand it is

and mirrors and trying to get you to look in another place and not focus on this mistake or action that was just blatantly bad. this is someone who is a businessman. he is not someone who has a history of doing things of other people -- for other people. he has a history of taking care of himself, and i think putin has some big pressure on him doingnow, where he is every bidding that putin asks, and this will become the united states according to putin. talking about chris wallace's exclusive interview with the russian newsdent after that conference. forbes reports it drew 3.2 million viewers. sean hannity's exclusive with president trump had a total audience of nearly 4 million viewers.

jim in riverdale, georgia, democrat. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. to me, it seems like president to forward the russian agenda. when you see how he performed with the leaders from the eu, and it is troubling what i am seeing. he gets up in front of a journalist and cannot answer a question and give us a straight answer. he is speaking in double negatives. for the leader of the free world, it is very troubling. -- it isems to me that hard to say, but i think our president has been compromised. that is the take i am getting from the whole thing. in riverdale, georgia.

the wall street journal, a little bit more on the background of how the president came to clarifying his marks. on tuesday morning, after the president had seen the news coverage and looked at a transcript of the helsinki remarks, he called a meeting at the white house to discuss how to respond. in attendance were vice president mike pence, john bill shine, and others. at the meeting, mr. trump agreed he would make a public statement in the afternoon saying he would say he misspoke, and look and started dropping talking points. administration officials also pushed the president to change his stance. in the wall street journal this morning. john in baltimore, republican. share your thoughts with us. good morning. caller: good morning. so what i am seeing a lot of and going through the response, i really do not think trump believed that statement he made yesterday. he is very obviously

just reading from a script. what i think this comes from his he did not think his statements were really that bad. my comment going out to viewers is i listen in the mornings and in the afternoon to your show, and i have heard the response from chuck schumer about a dozen times, but i have not heard his actual two or three minute blurb where his supposedly street -- treasonous statements played on the radio much at all, and i want to know for the statements were really so controversial. host: the statements from in helsinki? caller: in helsinki, not the response. i have heard the response from schumer by so many times it has really gotten old, but i wonder how many people have actually heard the statements. yeah, they are not great, but they are not treasonous. i think too many people still don't understand that trump talks with a lot of openness to what he says, and i think it is his bias toward the intelligence

community with the whole investigation going on. earlierements he made yesterday, that was just him doing his -- doing what he was forced to do. i really do not think he believes it. i think he still has a lot of bias. he probably knows deep down that russia did a lot of stuff. publicly, he says he will do nothing for them, and everyone, me included, we are only commenting on what we see. there are private thoughts going on and moving gears that we do not know anything about, and he play ae trying to power play with russia and the eu. he said everyone is a foe, adversary, competitor, so no one knows what trump is thinking. host: and if anyone is inspired to hear and listen to what the president had to say in its entirety from that news conference in helsinki, you can of course go to our website, c-span.org, and watch it for

yourself and see what the president had to say. you can also go and listen to all of our coverage if you get the free c-span radio app as well if you are not near a television or computer. the washington times has this story below the headline about the president doing damage control. it reads trump's charm offensive allies hard line on russia. hundreds of russian businesses, powerbrokers, and influential oligarchs remain under top u.s. sanctions, and the ministries and is considering even harsher penalties against russian officials of moscow moves ahead with its natural gas pipeline, which would funnel russian gas through the baltic see to germany. with calls from reporters about the day, rank-and-file republicans seems to be casting about for something, anything to do. among the idea was legislation written by marco rubio of florida and chris van hollen sanctions create new

to punish russia for interference in the midterm -- in the presidential election. johns, including senator cornyn, spoken in more general terms. bipartisanous majorities passed tough new sanctions in part to punish russia for its election interference last year. mr. trump only reluctantly signed them. senator cory gardner, republican saidtter auto -- colorado, he would push his own legislation that required the state department to designate russia a state sponsor of terrorism. it is clear they have met the qualifications. senators jeff flake of arizona werehris coons of delaware preparing a nonbinding resolution that would officially intelligence community's finding that russia did interfere in the election. a republican from wyoming said he would introduce a measure on wednesday intended to move

europe from russian to american natural gas, questionable effort given the challenge of exporting large quantities of liquefied natural gas. here is senator lindsey graham of south carolina on the floor, on the idea of moving forward with senator rubio and senator van hollen's bill. [video clip] >> senators van hollen and rubio have a very good piece of legislation. this certifies that foreign powers like rush are continuing to interfere in our election -- russia are continuing to interfere in our elections and will up sanctions, make it harder, not easier on that foreign power. it could be russia today, itebody else tomorrow, and probably already is. rather than taking a moment and presidents about what trump said or didn't say, why don't we use this as an opportunity to listen to the professionals? not the politicians.

on the rubio is intelligence committee. i am very proud of the work they have accomplished. they made eye bipartisan finding -- a bipartisan finding that russia did meddle in the 2016 election with the view of trying to help trump over clinton, but there is no evidence that changed the outcome. the bottom line for me is that if we don't come together now, this is the end of july, the 17th of july, we have precious days left to take action that could protect the 2018 election cycle. host: an house democrats on the floor yesterday attempted to pass a resolution condemning mr. trump for his helsinki remarks, according to the washington times. they said the republican house -- republican-led house ruled the measure out of order. the president had a message yesterday, clarifying his remarks on the intelligence community and russia's role in the campaign. frank in georgia, republican. good morning. caller: how are you doing?

doing fine. hello? host: yes, frank. go ahead. caller: i do not think trump owes anybody an apology. he is exposing the deep state and they are both democratic and oweblican's, and we don't europe anything. they need to pay what they need to pay for their defense that we have provided them for the past 50 or 60 years. since 1917, after woodrow wilson and his league of nations, this into a has been evolving one world, one government. that is what has been going on. at -- it isook really speeding up now on account of the internet. if you look at george herbert bush, who was head of the cia when he came in, you have to break america first.

the fact that we spent all of that money in the middle east, $20 trillion to put us in a whole and redistributed the wealth around the globe, it is time that people woke up to see what these globalists are doing and what their agenda is. don't give 1 -- i don't care about the european union. we are not going to go by that. we are a sovereign nation. host: frank in georgia. and a quarter from twitter, this will look in congress has proven incapable of the filling the founders design that ambition must combat ambition -- must counteract ambition. all those who believe in these countries values must vote for democrats this fall. policy differences don't matter right now. history has its eyes on us. and senator maggie hassan saying there is no doubt that

president trump meant it when he said i hold both countries responsible for russia attacking our democracy. if you think otherwise, i have a bridge to sell you in moscow. and mark warner, i do not buy the president's comments today. if you wanted to stand -- if he wantea on russian election interference, he should have had the strength to do it in front of vladimir putin. another tweet, when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time, quoting maya angelou there. woulda, coulda, shoulda. mr. president, yesterday the world watched you praised an adversarial dictator, slander our intelligence community, and leave our democracy even more vulnerable. you didn't miss seek, you betrayed your office. nancy pelosi, nice try, but seriously, no one believes you.

jim, independence, new york. good morning. how should i put this? i think trouble and needs to stop talking about the russians, because [inaudible] ms 13,e the center of -- unscrupulous immigrant areas here, i think we have to worry about illegal immigration because i am not pushing -- for russian. people in my schools that are russian, i see them in spanish. they seem to have more rights than i do. the democrats are tripping over each other to help them and not help the american people. that is the way i see it. thanks to c-span, the by. host: ok, jim. the president with another tweet this morning, some people hate the fact that i got along well with vladimir putin of russia. -- rather godder

to war can see this. it is called trump derangement syndrome. good morning, jeff. caller: i just want to say that all the military that we have in this country is both democrat and republicans. it really makes me wonder why, when you see a democrat russia, andreaten then he did not do anything when they crossed his redline. did notmocrat president open up the oil. oil and energy is the main revenue for russia. so when you keep our oil low, you help russia. today looks the german representative in the face in front of the world and told them that russia and germany are going in a behind the back deal. if that man was in trump posy , heet -- trump's pocket

would not have done those things. those were three actions trump took, and the actions the woodsat president took tends to favor the russian side of the global struggle. so the actions should be analyzed. and democrat and republican people should understand that the military has to deal with russia, iran, all the people that are against america. so when this president is over revealing them for what they are, cheating us on trade deals, things that we never knew america,ump would tell this president is actually one of us. really one ofis the democrat mouthpieces. i hope america realizes the actions of donald trump definitely reflect the interest ofamerica, and the interest the previous democrat president -- i do not even like saying his name -- really reveal that his

interests lay in a global view. america was not number one to the democrat president, or to the democrats right now. thank you. host: ok, jeff. he international section of the financial times that of london -- u.s. reactions threaten to rain on russian parade. u.s. market, which had risen over two weeks, partly in expectation of reconciliation, reflected some disappointment on the summit yesterday. ask as benchmark was down 2.1% early in the afternoon as -- 2.1%w's benchmark was down early in the afternoon as investors digested a lack of tangible progress in the talks and the threat of a backlash from a hawkish congress. oligarch blamed mr. putin for the task. if he aims to improve the situation for russia, he made it worse. that is what a former oligarch

had to write on twitter. susan in florida, democrat. hi, susan. caller: hello. i him stunned that i am stunned about how many people are still supporting mr. trump. why did he have to go to russia -- go to helsinki -- to speak inh putin for two hours total privacy. neither one of those translators will ever say anything. you know they will be poisoned if they do. and no other president has done that. he can do whatever he wants and no one pulls a check on him. congress does not question him that seriously, and says oh, i .hould have said wouldn't

why is he surrounded all of these russians? paul manafort was working for the russians for 10 years. working against the ukraine for the russians, and he pulls paul manafort into the top position. russian after russian after russian after russian. people, and it is clear to me, clear as a bell that he owes them something. otherwise, why is he giving into them on all of this. host: in the new york times editorial, they write time for republicans to grow a spine. they have 10 things that republicans in congress should do in reaction to that summit in helsinki. one, fully implement the broad russia sank and -- sentence passed last year with a special focus on mr. putin and the oligarchs in his inner circle.

from the hearings national security team that accompany the president to helsinki and demand details of any pledges made in the trump-prudent private session. three, stop parroting the president's line that federal law-enforcement and intelligence agencies are politically motivated, in a, and generally corrupt. : mr. trump to demand the extradition of the russians who were indicted last week. take additional steps to protect the upcoming elections from further russian metal and -- meddling. more money and incentives are needed for state and local election agencies to identify weak spots. number six, passed legislation protecting robert mueller's investigation. number seven, pass legislation to prevent mr. trump from unilaterally pulling out of nato, and number eight, they should remove devin nunes as the head of the intelligence committee. nine, punish the president --

-- censure the president for his helsinki display. let mr. putin know that not every a politician -- every american politician is eager to his dancing bear. number 10, refused to confirm even one nor nominee, judicial or executive until you get -- our next caller, good morning. caller: i think president trump did a good job. i agree with the caller from california yesterday, priscilla, who said president trump was using reverse psychology. i think give peace a chance, you know? give peace dialogue, a chance. where was the that uranium oneutrage played out, selling 20% of our uranium to them.

that looks like weakness to me. bill and crowley, louise -- gil and crowley, louisiana. so i just don't get trump. trump has the opportunity to bring this country together. we need those european allies. without our european allies, we cannot stand alone. who'll will we stand with? russia? all of these people talking about trump using reverse psychology. all of the stupid things that he are not going to hold his feet to the fire. he continues to disrupt, and debased people. when will we stand up together? i used to love the republicans. now i am a democrat.

they stood up for something. now they are a bunch of sellouts. [inaudible] he talked about the republicans like a dog. he talks about marco rubio, jeb bush, talking about ted cruz. i do not know if you saw yesterday house speaker paul ryan in the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell both holding scheduled news conference as before the helsinki summit, and they both pushed back on the president. they both said nato is necessary, they believe the intelligence community, russia meddled. speaker ryan called the russian government menacing, and they are open to more actions. here is senate majority leader mitch mcconnell articulating his views toward our nations european friends. [video clip] >> for myself, let me just say

to our european friends, we .alue the nato treaty it has been the most significant military alliance in world history. we believe the european union andtries are our friends, the russians are not. they have demonstrated that in all of the obvious ways over the last few years. the annexation of crimea, the ukraine, notastern to mention the indisputable evidence that they tried to impact the 2016 election. so make no mistake about it, i would say to our friends in europe we understand the russian that is ad i think widespread view here in the

united states senate among members of both parties. senator mcconnell yesterday also in this news conference warned russia "you better not do it again." the midterm elections are right around the corner. a washington post editorial says therefore, congress should pass a bill requiring the application syndicated and serious sanction if the russians are caught again interfering. it also needs to bolster election security, as many panels have recommended since the 2016 intrusions. ingres should require that mr. trump, immediately, and major presidential candidates in the future disclose their tax returns and other financial records, removing any suspicion that a president could be blackmailed by a foreign power. lawmakers could finally pass a bill protecting the probe of special counsel robert mueller, making it more difficult for the president to fire him. let's hear from david, minnesota , independent. what do you think? caller: i watched the whole

[inaudible]mit, and and i try to stand behind our president as much as possible, but i was never more disgusted after watching president trump. i am so disappointed and ashamed of our president being like that. and i tell you the main reason -- this is honesty. it is lie after lie after lie. putin, months later, i don't know him, i do not know if i have met him or not. constantly lying about things. i'm sorry, but i do not think he is fit for office. he is not a leader and he is certainly not correlating the united states and the people.

there not to serve us, but him. and when he is out of the presidency and moves on, things will be better for him. he probably has friends in russia and once he gets that tax information out, i am sure you will see it. follow the money, it is pretty obvious. host: david, the washington thes editorial board rights fighting side of america. donald trump learns that is not a place to be. the most depressing thing about donald trump's astonishing cuddle up to vladimir putin in helsinki is it reveals how small the president's mastery of history and power politics. worse, he does not hear the minor chords in the music of america. him,barack obama before mr. trump understands only himself and his imagined personal grandeur and the

trajectory of the universe as it spins around his head. learning how the world works when he already knows how the universe response to him. diane in new jersey, republican. caller: hi, good morning. host: good morning. caller: yes, i wanted to [inaudible] ok? -- the same witchhunt about russia and the president, we have to get along with everybody. willrats and independents go on forever fighting russia, even when they have no military set up to fight anybody. this is incompetence. putin can'tt -- take over the president or america.

he can't do it. is runningne that things. that, you know, we have to forget about the press. we have to forget about it to move on. he can't hurt us and he does not even want to. he wants to do good for his country, you know? [inaudible] like they always do. host: ok, i will leave it there. william in texas, democrat. your thoughts? you, c-span, and thank you for all that you do. thank you, america. this is the worst example of leading by example i have ever seen in my life.

you cannot look your child or anyone in the eyes and accept this. this is -- my grandfather told me a long time ago that common sense is not common, and even a dying man can tell. but this is what happens when you hire a bush shopper to fly jet planes. host: former president barack obama was in south africa giving a mandela lecture yesterday. thingss said five obama said. number one, facts are sacred. without facts, there is no basis for four. number two, immigration is a strength. number three, the president said to the audience there, business practices are isolated from ordinary people. number four, the president said using politicians of dutch politics of fear, resentment, and entrenchment are rising at a pace unimaginable a few years

ago. the efficiency of a not a crack is a false promise. five, keep alive is what he said to his audience. amid loud cheers, he called upon young people listening to get fired up. everly in ohio, democrat. caller: hi, i am glad you were talking about obama because i had two points i wanted to make, and one is about obama. ,f i got it correctly, in 2015 trivia and of his term, -- toward the end of his term, i saw on tv obama talking to putin , what is his name? host: vladimir, vladimir putin. caller: what he said, cut it out. could you pull that up and find out what he meant by that, when he said cut it out? [video clip]

-- host: i can't right this instant, but what are you getting at? trump sayspoint is obama did not do anything, so he blames everything on obama, but i think when he told putin to cut it out, it must have had something to do with this election coming up. the other point i want to make, this meeting, this private meeting between the two presidents, it seems to me a slap in the face of our secretary of state whose name i believe is pompeo? host: correct, mike pompeo. caller: yeah. he should have been in that meeting. it should be strange that -- why did they have to have a private and affairst policy

to do with the country, and the secretary of state was not at that meeting? there is something wrong with that. if you could find those two things out about why that man was not in that meeting, no one was in the meeting other than the translators, and if you could find out about his tax returns, you will find a whole lot out about donald trump. ok, beverly. in politics in the midterm elections out of alabama, despite a five candidate primary, which forced her into a --off, mech presented if --resentative marco rubio on tuesday silenced critics with a decisive victory. the associated press called the race less than two hours after polls closed. a seasoned politician whose

first taste of campaigning came at age 26 in a montgomery city council race, roby approached the gop primary and subsequent campaigning in a business as usual manner, but she has been fighting for her political life after weathering accusations of disloyalty. she took the dais at her watch party with a tone of impassioned gratefulness and a clear exhale. donald trump tweeting this morning congratulations to martha roby of the great state of alabama on her gop primary win for congress. my endorsement came appropriately late, but when it came the floodgates oakland -- opened and you had the kind of landslide victory that you deserve. enjoy. martha roby was critical of the president. he did endorse her, as he said, late in the game and took credit for her primary win. barbara in miami, republican. good morning. good morning, thank you for taking my call. i noticed when many of the democrat callers are calling in, they have a breathless quality and seem like they are ready to pass out.

there is nothing that our president does that is good enough. what is particularly frustrating to me is everyone knows the ofsident is a firm supporter the intelligence committee, of the police, of the military. so any question about his doubt in our professionalism is foolish. we know he supports those branches of government and those professionals. and lastly, perhaps in the future, you have someone in the show that talks about our spying on russia. i hope we are, and the only thing i am questioning is why is there spying at her than ours? better thaning ours? i would like to interfere with their politics the same way they have interfered with ours. thank you. will you hold who accountable if the russians interfere in our elections again in 2018? who will you hold accountable? let's figure out who it

was that did the spying. if it is the government, hold them accountable. release our sanctions, probably we should increase the sanctions. but let's find out exactly did -- thatng, because they the spying, because they have not made it clear whether it was the government or individuals that were sabotaging our system. in politico, states slow to prepare for hacking threats. most states are not preparing to use federal funds to make election of grace before november. related to that is a story in the washington post this morning, with headlines agencies to watch for interference in the midterm elections. the head of the nations largest electronic spy agency and the cyber warfare arm has directed the two organizations to coordinate actions to counter potential russian interference in the 2018 midterm elections. this was announced at the national security agency last week as an attempt to maximize

the efforts of two groups and comes as president trump in helsinki on monday said russian president vladimir putin was "extremely strong and powerful" in denying russian involvement in the presidential election two years ago. the latest initiative by national security agencies to push back against russian aggression in the absence of direct guidance from the white house on the issue. the director of national intelligence dan coats issued a new alert on russia, the warning lights are linking right again, he said, likening them to the danger signs that preceded the september 11, 2001 attack. bob in missouri, independent. good morning. yes.r: the only thing i have to say is i don't think mr. trump did anything wrong in helsinki, and i think it was not the trump

administration that sold that uranium to the russians. i backed trump, and i will back him again. i think he is a breath of fresh air for this country. he is putting america first. thank you. host: joanne in michigan, independent. hi, joanne. caller: good morning, it's joanne. that have gotten in messes, and it looks like donald is in a mess, but i still love my kids. i am not happy with the fbi or doj, and i just wonder, what do the russians think when donald trump says i don't think germany should take your gas. isn't that putting pressure on germany and making russia realize a good deal about selling their gas. we talk about interference in

elections. how do bernie and the bernie followers feel about what the doj did for them? donald, though donald. host: joanne in michigan. keith, you are on the line. caller: good morning, how are you today? i will try to finish up in about a minute. it was pretty evident between the last administration between crimea, uranium one and all that, but that is over with. something about now that the democrats are trying to affiliate russia with the nra or something now? trump has every reason not to trust them. -- the intelligence agencies, that is what is going on with this and all of these guys. it is crazy.

worse for the russians to realize that we have all of these intelligence agencies trying to back and take over the country. 2018 vote,win this and he has a lot of supporters in my area. , and the0% for him more they mess with him the more we want him. we will get more people behind us this time. thank you. host: keith is referring to this story in the new york times, ins is a picture of her moscow in 2013. she was charged monday with carrying out a secret russian effort to influence american politics and sought secret back channels for meetings between trump and putin, and was charged as a russian agent. she was also trying to cozy up with conservative outlets like the national rifle association and others. you can read that story in the

new york times. it is in a lot of the papers this morning as well. we have here a few minutes left in our discussion here, so we will take some more phone calls. i want to share this headline with you from the hill. one democratic senator called for the american translator during the president of the one-on-one meeting with russian -- presidents one-on-one meeting said.l congress what he i think we should hold a meeting with that translator to talk about what was to specifically discussed and agreed to on the united states behalf. the hill newspaper. andy in pennsylvania, republican. hi, andy. caller: hello, good morning. i will be quick with this. not only to the president not do anything wrong, the russians did not do anything wrong. what the russians did in the last election was they published

potus does emails, which told us how democrats like to go about cheating in elections -- podesta's emails, which like to told us -- which told us how democrats like to go about cheating in elections. the other thing democrats did in the last election -- and they learned this from barack obama." he mastered social media. they did not have to go to the new york times, they just had to invest facebook and twitter. your average democrat goes to twitter to find out who to vote for. who is trending? i will vote for that person. it is a sad state of america when we talk about russian meddling, we are talking about twitter. host: you are making the point that some republicans have made, theyhe president made that medaled, but it did not make a difference in the outcome of the election. caller: the last administration admitted that. and what did they do? they went on twitter. who goes to twitter to figure out who they are going to vote

for? obviously democrats, because hillary lost. host: but how do you response to the republicans who have said to the president, stop sounding like you are guilty? these are two separate things. this investigation and the allegation that there was collusion is separate from russian meddling caller:. caller:-- meddling. caller: you're right. he made a mistake there. i will agree with you on that. there was no collusion, but that does not agree that russia did not middle. host: i'm sorry? caller: was that meddling? an american president trying to influence an election. to you? to me it was. host: ok. ok. andy in pennsylvania. let me get to larry, guest: good morning.

i cannot believe these must nedaigned -- mushed brai republicans. you heard his statement he said they met old. the president tried to say it was the russians and other people. he doesn't believe his own. thank you. have a nice day. we are -- host: we are going to return to this topic in half an hour. we are going to focus on the economy and federal reserve chairman, jerome powell on -- capitol hill.

also member of the house withgn affairs committee his take on the meeting legislation. >> the memoir daughter of the cold war. >> i met putin in 91. he was deputy mayor. i was running my business consulting firm. a client wanted something to do with the port at st. petersburg. i had a meeting with the real mayor. they substituted the deputy putin. i was annoyed because i wasn't meeting with the mayor. i knew putin had been kgb. he came in. negative.ally he did not want to meet with an

american woman who claimed to run a business. -- he wasystem suspicious of women. he had the coldest eyes i had ever seen. big, blue cold eyes. all i could think of, i wonder what would happen if he was interrogating me? >> tonight it is my honor and privilege to announce i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. what's mr. president, i am grateful to you and humbled by your confidence in me. is presidentnaugh trump's nominee for the supreme war. i am pleased by the nominee.

after talking to him yesterday, i look for to supporting his nomination and doing whatever i can to ensure his bipartisan bipartisansion -- confirmation. >> frankly i cannot think of anybody with more all of five to serve as the next associate justice of the supreme court. the process. it's senate confirmation hearings, and the vote. .atch live on c-span listen with the free c-span radio app. washington journal continues. host: back with chris condon, federal reserve reporter to talk

about jerome powell, the federal reserve chair. his testimony on the house side yesterday, he will be before the senate banking committee today. we will have coverage on c-span3 , or c-span.org. chris condon, what did the chairman tell the house lawmakers yesterday? guest: a pretty straightforward message as is powell's style. it is in pretty good shape unemployment is low, one of the last 20 years. inflation is under control. that is a good place for the fed and economy to be. they feel the current path of monetary policy, where they have projected the fed funds rate to be going, is a good path. he added it interesting line in the prepared testimony.

he said that seems to be the right path for now, which is a new shading. there is a debate now -- this is typical fed tea leaf reading -- over what exactly they are trying to signal with that. on the one hand folks are saying boilerplatesame old . we are not on autopilot. we might speed up if conditions change the pace of rate hikes because the tax cut to have more stimulative effect on the economy. on the other hand may be the trade situation will cause the economy to slow down and that will make slow down the pace of rate hikes. on the other side there is this issue of how art can be fed -- how far can the fed continue raising rates? this may be the way of

acknowledging the debate in the fed about how far they should bring the fed funds rate before they start to look around? it has to do with the neutral rate. where is the interest rate when it is neither providing stimulus to the economy nor restricting the economy? neither hitting the gas nor the break. they are getting closer to that and trying to figure out where it is. this may be powell's way of saying we are on this path of hiking. we are starting to think of when we should stop. host: the neutral rate. does that mean it that stops doing what they are doing for a long time? guest: it depends what they decide to do. the first problem with the neutral rate is nobody knows for sure where it is. it is a theoretical well-founded theoretical concept in

macroeconomics. you don't know. it is not like you can look it up in data. some of the estimates range from a little bit below 2.5% to maybe a little bit above 3%. there is a lot of debate among economists and even within the fed where is it. there is the question of they agree where it is. do they stop when they get to of theint? some policymakers to make these decisions say we should stop at that point. something because unemployment is so low they should inch higher than that, to tap the brakes a little bit and that will help them prevent degeneration of unwanted inflation. 5 the fed chair was before the senate inking committee yesterday. today he is before the house

financial services committee. , c-span3, or the -- listen on the free c-span radio app. we did cover yesterday. if you miss that you will want to hear what he had to say, go to our website. why is the economy doing well? where and for what does the fed give credit to? shouldfirst of all, we put this into context. historically it is doing ok. in the longer run, you look at the picture, growth is not that great. is productivity growth has been low holding the economy back. in the last 10 years it has been getting better and better. we have this financial crisis. the deepest recession since the great depression. the economy has slowly been

pulled out of that hole. the fed deserves quite a lot of credit for being patient, not raising interest rates too fast. people forget that they have been under pressure to raise interest rates sooner and faster . we are trying to be patient. goy allowed unemployment to quite low. it hasn't generated the inflation some thought it would. of very lowrs poured a lotes have of money into the economy along with the bond purchasing. that has kept borrowing rates low for household. people who want to buy a house, or people who want to start a new business, expand their current business. that makes it easier for that to happen. over time slowly it helps

generate momentum. we want to hear from our viewers. what is the economy like where you live? do you feel the economy is doing well or not? chris, the fed says the economy is doing ok. is it heating up? could we face another recession? we are 10 years out from the last one. guest: there is very little sign of overheating in the economy. it is pretty amazing, if you look at 3.8% unemployment. that ticked up to 4% in june. astoundingly low. it is not generating more

inflation. subdued.m to the overall inflation, the measure the fed looks at ticked up 2.3% in may. what they call the core measure would's -- which takes up the more volatile measures. 2%. that is the fed's target. that could come down a little bit. there is not a lot of alarm or urgency over inflation. those people who are worried about inflation point to the fact that when unemployment drops this low historically it tends to generate excess inflation. you have to get ahead of that as a policy maker. that doesn't really work its way into the economy for another 6, 18 months or longer. you can't afford to necessarily wait to see the whites of

inflation's eyes. the hence they look for don't seem to be signaling any red flags. it is remarkable point in time. host: let's hear from our viewers. randy. you are up first. ask, ain't ated to lot of churches saying we shouldn't have a federal reserve? guest: this does come up. there are still corners of the political spectrum, rand paul, kentucky, they do not like the fact there is a federal reserve. i have to say this is a very small minority view. central banks have been around in developed economies for hundreds of years. not so long in the u.s. i would add. the fed is only just over 100 years. which is quite young.

it fulfills -- it is widely recognized -- crucial functions in the economy. it helps regulate the flow of credit. if there is not that regulation the economy during good times can easily overheat as we were talking about. sometimes the low of credit is too little. it is difficult for the economy to climb out of the recession and say -- without someone adjusting the knob on credit. the fed serves as a financial regulator. a job that it did not do very well in the run-up to the financial crisis, it has to be said. they have worked pretty hard to better keep an eye on the big banks since then. the fed is the lender of last resort.

before there was a federal reserve we had a history of periodic banking crises in the united states. a lot more frequently than during the 20th century. when banks in these periods get into trouble because they are sitting on the load of bad that's but because they lose their deposits. evenlose liquidity area though they are in a good situation they don't have the you've ever seen it's a wonderful life, they take depositors money and put it into houses and business is. the central bank can step in with reserves to provide what is the and help make these crises less frequent and severe. host: the president tweeting out this this morning. 3.4 million jobs created. far greater than anticipated. as tradeing better

deals start coming to fruition. does he deserve credit? guest: he hasn't messed it up. there has been this long recovery happening. unemployment has been falling. it hit 10% during the crisis, during the recession, and has been coming down ever since then. it is not a new phenomenon. since president trump took office he passed these tax changes which in the short term seem to be contributing to economic activity. it certainly has boosted sentiment among business people. that is helping encourage them to invest. unemployment has continued to drop. you can't point the finger at him and say he is messed it up. aboutare series worries trade. on the tax cut's my should add

it is not really clear how persistently this is going to benefit the economy. the fed opinion is that this is going to boost demand for two years. what happens after that? some people like to refer to this as a sugar high that will fall off and we will be left drop in demand. taking away from growth in the economy. that will complicate things that happens for the fed, managing where they want to put rates. the jury is still out. it could be that these tax changes help encourage longer-term investment. there are some specific portions of the changes that encourage companies to make longer-term investments.

that could be a more persistent benefit to the economy. the jury is out on that area this is a more serious concern. -- the jury is out on that. this is a more serious concern. historically said countries that lower trade barriers do better economically. -- for as. is going to impose higherod tariffs that limit trade that is going to be bad for the economy. that is a clear risk. that is showing up in the reports that the fed gathers. it shows up in the information that we and other reporters gathered from companies out there. people who run businesses are starting to change the decisions they are making the investments

and hiring because they are worried about this trade dispute. host: let's listen to the chairman react. >> south carolina is built on trade. you name it we make it. we grow it and ship it very cars, jet, peaches, solar panels. the list goes on and on. what has generally happened in the past to economic growth when we have raised tariffs? >> i am really really committed to staying in our lane, our lane is the economy. trade is really the business of congress and congress has delegated that. it has effects on the economy. when our long run effects we should talk about it. in general countries that have remained open to trade that haven't erected barriers have grown faster, had higher

productivity. countries that have a more protectionist direction have done worse. that was the chair of the federal reserve on capitol hill with the senate banking committee. he will be back on capitol hill today. you can look for coverage on c-span three, c-span.org, or get the free c-span radio app. let's hear from alex. how is the economy where you live? caller: yes. on the fed,comment and returning to a gold and silver standard. host: gold standard? caller: yes. standard, the constitution says we should have very -- we should have. guest: this is another outdated

way of looking at monetary policy and regulating the economy. the chief problem with the gulf -- gold standard is the supply of money is tied to the production of gold. inflation is literally dependent on how much gold we can dig out of the ground. exactly soundoved way of helping to guide an economy. not to say that modern central bank make mistakes. they certainly do. all the options considered, the gold standard is widely considered not the best structure for an economy to be tied to. host: you were on the air. go ahead. caller: i want to -- if you could describe what the fed is

doing, how they are unwinding quantitative easing. there were a lot of debts they bought from banks. i wonder how much success are they having in reselling them. it takes uphow much of their portfolio? guest: good question. we have to separate -- there are two things you mentioned that need to be separated. quantitative easing refers to the fed madehases during and after the financial crisis to stabilize the economy. the fed purchased trillions of dollars of u.s. treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. the -- i will forget exactly

what the level is right now, around $3.5 trillion. they have begun letting that rolloff. when one of these bonds matures they do not reinvest. very slowly as these bonds mature, the total amount on the fed balance sheet is falling. why did they do this? they hit zero with interest rates. counter not enough to the severe recession. downhey wanted to push longer run interest rates in the way -- and the way to do that is to go out as a purchaser and by long-term bonds. and lowers the price the interest rates, and makes it cheaper for households, businesses to borrow. quite controversial at the time. it certainly worked in

stabilizing the credit market, for starters. a lot of research showing it was quite effective helping to reduce long-term borrowing rates. how long did that work, was it really worth it, still some debate about that. the returns are generally positive. they want to reduce this, not to bring it down to the level where it was before, but to a more -- much more lower level. they are letting that rollout. badcaller mentioned the debts. that is a separate issue in bailing out some banks, the fed of take as collateral a lot lousy debts from some of these banks including aig, the big insurer. those him as far as i know, much

of that is still held by the fed. the fed balance sheet is not on the hook are those. a technical area i haven't paid attention to for a long time. it is not something that threatens the balance sheet of the fed. but it is something that certainly will come up in a reasonable discussion on if the fed should be involved again in rescuing banks. host: let's hear from charlotte. you were on the air. caller: yes. you answered a lot of my questions. i have been listening to your comments to the other callers. you mentioned the unemployment rate. we know the unemployment rate is low, but as the republicans used

to say, when george bush was in office, how many of those people are not just looking anymore? how many of those people have two or three low-paying jobs? is it actual? is that we were trying to say? that the jobs are taken, or not are the people that are not looking anymore, or are these minimum wages we are talking about. i live in the seventh pores to stay in the nation, next to the first poor state -- poorest stay in the nation. i don't see a lot going on here. everything seems to be climbing. but the wages are not going up. walmart with a higher these

people. they hire these people at part-time. they don't give them benefits. most everyone hired at walmart is part-time. they rarely hire full-time. host: i'm going to leave it there so chris can take your questions. question.at series of it gets at the unemployment rate , how much it tells us. the unemployment rate is the number of people that are looking for a job i'm actively, that number plus the people who are working. it leaves out the folks who are not looking for a job at all. what we call the participation rate, the total number of working age people who are either employed or looking actively is low, compared to

where was 20 or 30 years ago. yes. absolutely to your collar's, this is a concern -- your caller's point, this is a concern. a lot of people have been pulled back into the work force who were entirely out side, discouraged workers, people not looking at all, caring for parents or children, didn't see incentive. a lot of those people have been pulled back in the last five years or so. there are tremendous numbers out there that are not looking. they don't get recorded. and the idea of wages. absolutely a big issue. a lot of the jobs being created or at the lower end of the skills spectrum and don't come with great pay or benefits area part of the reason we see wages not moving up, part of the

reason, a lot of people moving out of the workforce, those , at the baby boomers end of their careers, making a bit more money at the higher end of the income spectrum, they are moving out and being replaced by kids out of school, people who've been out of work for a long time, people getting lower skilled lower paying jobs. that transfer of higher paid people going out and lower paid people coming in shows up in these wage figures. we can talk all we want about how great it is unemployment is low, but there are other issues underneath that. i would add, another thing i encounter, the idea of insecurity. people who have jobs not feel great about how secure their benefits are.

what happens if they lose their job? it is things that way on a lot of people even if they are employed. host: let's hear from a republican. caller: what is more important as far as you are concerned, monetary policy or fiscal policy? they often seem to be at loggerheads with each other. what takes precedent? questions are made by the senators and congressmen -- they go back to saying that is your problem mr. congressman. that is something the congress has to do. could you elaborate on that? guest: i am not sure i can tell you which is more or in. the best short answer is they work best when they work together. that as you say does not always happen. after we had some physical stimulus to help get out of the

early stages of the crisis and recession congress did not do a lot to help with fiscal policy during the obama years, to lift up the economy. there is a separate political debate be had about that but you are right area they often work at loggerheads. at the moment, with what could be the higher once in the business cycle, we are getting fiscal stimulus. i'm not sure that is the best timing for that. in bernanke, the former fed chair said that is the worst timing. about -- heuestion referred to if you watch yesterday's testimony jay powell did say i'm sorry but this is it really in our toolkit, this is not our job. to be fair to him, the fed has a specific set of tasks set out

why congress. the fed was created by congress. it is accountable to congress. congress can change the rules for the fed. congress can change the rules for the fed. it tells it what it should and shouldn't do. so when they come to jay powell shortfalls inbout education and skills training, inequality in wages -- there's only so much the fed can do with interest rates and financial regulation to address these things. legitimately in congress's ballpark to deal with area i don't want to be repeating his answers. host: we might hear those answers again this morning when he is before the house financial services committee, getting questioned by house lawmakers. c-span3, c-span.org, or the free

c-span radio app. i'm going to squeeze and bob. you are a last call. caller: hello. two simple questions. declined?e dollar what is the current backing of the federal reserve note? guest: i'm not sure i understood the first question. -- the second, we are backed the dollar -- it is merely backed by the confidence of everyday people in the idea that when they take that dollar to the store they are going to be able to exchange it for goods or services. nothing more. there is no precious metal behind it. you can't take it to the fed and get silver or gold for it read

those days are gone. modern currencies exist on the confidence in everyday people that when you bring it somewhere you will be able to exchange it for another currency or some good or service. that is it. host: chris condon with bloomberg news, we thank you for the conversation. guest: happy to be here. host: we will take a short rate. people come back with a question -- president trump clarifies his comments at the helsinki summit. what did you make of his clarification. we want more of your reaction to from two did we heard members of congress with the meeting with the russian , we will, brad sherman be right.

>> join us saturday and sunday for alaska weekend. we will explore alaska's natural beauty, history, culture and public policy issues facing the state. saturday morning on washington journal, amy carter on the affect of climate change in alaska eerie sunday morning, these a good director of national congress american indians discusses native american and native alaskan issues. communicators the general counsel for alaskan cable provider gci talks about how the company makes broadband possible for small villages across tundra, glaciers and mountains. ,hen the incoming president christopher dietrich on providing health care through telemedicine to remote

immunities in alaska. then saturday, the c-span cities tour explores alaska's literary and historical scene with german to call -- with dermitt cole. and the book on alaskan natives, celebration. on the 1989 exxon valdez oil spill. sunday at 9:00 eastern on afterwords, mark adams talks that his book, tip of the iceberg, retracing in 1899 expedition of scientist, artists and writers of the alaskan coast. on american history tv sunday at 2:00 eastern the c-span cities tour visits the alaska state cap will. the alaska native heritage center and we look at preparing seafood for market.

watch0, on real america, 4 documentaries on alaska. .n 1949 film, eskimo hunters the 1967 film, alaska centennial. in the 1944 film alaska highway. watch alaska weekend saturday sunday.day -- and listen on the free c-span radio app. >> washington journal continues. host: we are back wednesday morning. thank you for watching. we are back to our nation we begin with. president clarifying his remarks on the u.s. intelligence community and whether or not russia was behind the meddling in the 2016 presidential election. the president focusing on the word would.

need forize there is a clarification. it should have been obvious. i thought it would be obvious. i would like to clarify in case it wasn't. in my remarks i said the word would instead of wouldn't area the sentence should have and i don't see any reason why i wouldn't, why it wouldn't be russia. host: before the president made those remarks that were i artist and criticism from republicans and democrats saying the president should have not said what he did, and should have said more about backing the u.s. intelligence community and russia's role in the 2016 campaign. the president made those remarks were clarifying his statement from helsinki, chuck schumer with them that in the senate democratic leader from your into the floor and said this. trump himly president

after reading his statement that he accepted the intelligence community's conclusion who medaled, added in his own words, could be other people also. a lot of people out there. this is just like charlotte built. he made a horrible statement, tried to back off but could not bring himself to back off. it shows mr. president the weakness of this president. it shows the week as a president trump. -- the weakness of president trump. he is afraid of putin. he tries to squeal away from it when he is several thousand miles away. host: we turn to you. what is your take on the president clarifying the comments? did the president do enough? did he need to clarify? caller: i think he blew it when he clarified.

it was a mistake. with guys like schumer talking about his own president the way he did, calling him a coward, who needs enemies. 1200 nuclear weapons are pointed at this country by russian area did -- russia. do democrats really want us to go over there and keep poking knows the everybody russians have been doing the same thing for us for a hundred years. we medaled in the israeli election. they medaled in the brexit vote. everybody is meddling in everything. andge bush went over there killed a president. they went to libya and killed that president. we are not mr. perfect over here. host: getting back to the

summit. should the president have stood up to putin when he was standing right to him? should he have said you medaled. guest: he blew it. what he is doing, he is listening to other politicians and he is blowing it. i don't think he is not going to get reelected. -- from supporters are not going to back off. they despise politicians like schumer. even the republicans. we don't like them either. .'m a republican i'm registered republican. i can't stand republicans. they are spineless. host: what do you make of john kelly, giving the republicans on capitol hill, the leadership the go-ahead to speak out against the president? guest: politics. i think trump should stay away

from that stuff. he is not the one who won the election. everybody has good advice. this is all politics. everybody is out there writing and rioting to say that trump is evil. trump is just a street guy who made a lot of money. he is a hustler. if he ever did anything illegal would have been in jail. host: do you want to see his taxes? would that session of what the russians have on him democrats often say, do you want to see his taxes? guest: i don't know if it is going to do much. he is audited every year and has been for 15 years. i think if there was something there the irs would have nailed him. especially during obama.

i bet the taxes are going to pull up a lot of warms. 500 companies. there has to be some snake oil stuff in there. there's people all over the world doing this kind of stuff. at least he cares about the country. he is america first. country is not even from this country. they are all whining. host: how do you respond to critics who say at the summit the president put america last? guest: he didn't put america last. pointed out ases per you can't poke the bear. you can't do that. ,e is trying to be mr. nice guy mr. cordial. good't think you did a job. host: i want to share with you and others, the president put america last.

americans elected a president to , this is a safe surmise, new he had more to hear from making his tax returns public thank you thing them secret, that for decades he has dependent on american weakness, wouldtibility that evaporate when his tax returns revealed he has are ways lied about his wealth. ominous explanation might be that his redundantly demonstrated incompetence as a businessman tumbled him into unsavory financial dependencies on russians worried more sinister explanation might be the russians have something else to keep him compliant. the explanation is in doubt. what needs to be explained, his compliance is not. mueller might infer and then find still hidden sources of the behavior of this sad

embarrassing record of a man -- wreck of a man. good morning to you. caller: thank you for taking my call. i think it is sad and pitiful has to readsident an apology rather than look into the camera and talk to the american public from the heart. every time he talks off script he really says things there it -- that are embarrassing. individual -- independent. caller: hello america. it was a private meeting with trump and putin. i do not know what they said. i am hoping even before trump -- thected he could leader of china, that these two guys got a thing going, they could lead the world.

trump needs to him -- insert himself into that group to convince these guys he knows what he is doing to get things done worldwide that will make america great again. that trump is a smart did, i thinkhe hopefully it is quite influence these two powerful guys. ok.: steve. caller: good morning. and all of this i'm trying to get some reasons input so rather than listening to politicians. i'm trying to pay attention to russian experts. stephen collins, the formal nyu professor is terrified by the political nonsense that is going

on as mi. he described our relations with mosta currently as the dangerous in history, and he included the cuban missile crisis in this. this is not a guy that voted for trump or supported trump. he is a russian scholar. all trump did was what every president since fdr did. they have all met the soviet union to try and keep tensions low. coverage byibed the the media and reaction of many politicians as mob violence. and pornographic. i would employ close asking a question he has asked. do we really prefer impeaching trump to war with russia? if we

keep going down this road, that is where we are headed. our politicians in washington are unhinged. i study the soviet union in college. is all theyknow really care about is chaos. they didn't really care who got elected. they wanted to divide the country. mission accomplished. they have done it. the democrats have been their greatest ally in this. the politicians are just disgusting at his point. craven and corrupt. host: do you think that lawmakers on capitol hill, if they push for censoring the president's remarks at the summit, and more sanctions against russia, that will

continue to provoke vladmir putin? guest: i think it will free him up and norma sleep. up are talking -- free him in. under the constitution he is the leader of foreign policy. in the senate and congress are not supposed to be taking lead on this stuff. that is not the way the constitution is written. you have them accredit congresspeople calling for a military coup to remove trump. forhad philip mudd calling a shadow government. what i'm hearing in that is they .ant to get around an election they are looking for a way to get around the fact that trump was elected. that is the political stuff. what i'm worried about, this

game we are playing with russia is dangerous. it is nuclear. host: we will listen to the speaker of the house, paul ryan. before the president made his clarifying remarks, when he was asked about the president's comments at the summit in helsinki with the russian president, here is what he had to say. >> let me be as clear as i can. , andand by our nato allies those countries facing russia aggression. how many times have i stood up here and said what i think about vladmir putin? he does not share our interests. we just conducted a year-long investigation into russia's interference in our elections. they did interfere. there should be no doubt. it didn't have a material effect on our elections. but as result we passed tough

sanctions on russia so we can hold them accountable. i understand the desire and need to have relations. that is reasonable. russia is a menacing government that does not share our interest and values and that should be made clear. host: the new york times this morning. inundated with calls from constituents throughout the day, rank-and-file republicans casting about for some income anything to do. among the ideas come legislation written by marco rubio and chris van hollen that would create new sanctions authorities to punish russia should interfere in the midterm elections. billboth signaled the could get consideration. a near unanimous bipartisan punish russiato russian interference last year. president trump reluctantly

signed them. he would push his own legislation to require doesn't atting russia a state sponsor -- requiring designation of russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. less endorsedor the intelligence committee findings russia did interfere in the election. senator brosseau said he would introduce a measure on wednesday to move america from russian to european gas. that is what congress is considering on capitol hill. lauren, a republican. what do you think of the president yesterday saying that he misspoke when he was standing next to the russian president? yes.: -- caller: yes.

my feeling is i think there's too much meddling, too much getting into this man's face. he has done a lot of good for this country. is he perfect? we never expected him to be. i resent the idea he is supposed to go up there and start acting , to theine waters president of russia. they are not friends. they are not enemies. luckily, so far anyway. they are not interested in friendship worried we all have to live on this earth. running around, cutting -- undermining our president. he is a duly elected president. host: terry what do you think? guest: good morning. i have been watching you over the years.

i am anxious. listening. i turned it up loud so i could hear an eye through the water down and came in. thank you for taking my call. i am really concerned with -- i have a challenge for the people that support trump. the challenge is to be able to make a comment, to reply about the topic, the situation at hand without mentioning obama, hillary from any other stuff, the soundbites that president trump has been feeding this 2015 -- since his candidacy, when he started running. it is constant soundbites. if they want to defend trump, let them defend him. but the constant ringing up of other people, what about? it doesn't give them credibility. sometimes i am hungry to learn

what these people see in him to support him. childget is a petulant saying why did you do this? well, so in so did it. it doesn't get us anywhere. your smile is lovely. much for letting me make a comment. i love my country. i'm grateful. i wish they would resend citizens united. i think that is when this started coming in. not been able to track money. hello, 10. -- tim. guest: good morning. thank you for taking my call. that's ok. derangementp syndrome.

this is the definition of it. i'm sorry to the previous lady. previousn you bring up people who did similar things that were in office come you have to have two. you have to have perspective. president trump didn't do. he did not give them a little red button that was spelled wrong. billiont hand over $150 ama-nazis. he didn't vote for the communist ,arty like john brennan did that only was revealed during a lie detector test. fares --nducting a affairs of state and made a misquote. people like lying sack of

, they never had trouble with the communist party in the past when reagan was calling them the evil empire. they fight against reagan and tried to get him -- you can't say stuff like that. only because it is trump, having bolsteringl summit, nato, getting more money into it. .rying to make progress russia doesn't have our best interests. they are not our biggest enemy. they are small compared to china , who is half hour size and going to overtake us soon. we need to keep perspective. that is why you have to chart history. that is what you bring up these things and remind people when democrats had their chance, they

hid the fact that the russians were trying to interfere. the only way we know it is because a lottery winner late -- lottery winner leaked. needed a side.ns whose aside are they are on # american democracy or trump and putin's russia? james comey yesterday on twitter saying this republican congress is incapable of the filling the founders designed that ambition must direct ambition. policy differences don't matter right now. history has its eyes on us. the president tweeting that so many people at the higher inns of intelligence love my press conference.

we discussed many important meetings. we got along well. it bothered many haters. big results will come. what do you think? caller: good morning. thank you. -- allou for the c-span that c-span does. george will was quoted earlier. he is in the news for having commented on the helsinki republicans, as he put it. i have been following george will for several decades, reading this column. i have always had a great deal of respect for him until recent years. mr. will has lost it. charles --est with the gentleman who passed on with a dinner at president obama after he took office. maybe he was the host.

my point about the helsinki republicans. mr. will urged the public to trump.r president i don't think he came out and said vote for hillary. it was a binary choice. public did not follow mr. will suggestion. from bill kristol, to many of them. to being alty helsinki republican. my wife and i decided still vote for him again yesterday before his comment from the roosevelt room. the never trump are -- never trumpers have to get over it. host: do you think he made mistakes in helsinki? as senator kennedy

explained that great length to the impatient john berman on cnn this morning to, he was off of his game. does that mean we ought to resign his office or be impeached? i do not think so. he would not be the first president off of his game for one day. putin is not our friend, there is no question. mr. trump is very aware. pelosi and the democrats are going to have to get used to it that mr. trump won the election and he is going to win again. take ae are going to break and when we come back, we will talk to brad sherman, democrat of california and member of the foreign affairs committee and then later on, republican congresswoman claudia tenney. we will be right back. ♪

>> sunday night on cue and this woman discusses her memoir, "daughter of the cold war." >> i met putin. i was running my business consultant firm, i had a client that wanted something to do with the st. petersburg firm.

they substituted the deputy mayor. was annoyed that i was not meeting with the mayor, but i knew that putin had been kgb and i was negative. he came in, he was equally negative and did not want to meet with some american woman who ran a business. he was very suspicious. he had no gallantry and he was the coldest -- he had the coldest eyes i've ever seen. very big, blue cold eyes. all i can think of was, i wonder what would happen if he was interrogating to me. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span. washington journal continues. host: back at our table this morning, democrat of california.

congressman, the president said he was clarifying his remarks from helsinki. your reaction to what he had to say? guest: how stupid does he think we are? he said what he said and now he goes back with 24 hours and says, no i said the exact opposite. if you believe that, you believe he has been faithful to all three of his wives. we are not that stupid. the fact is he has been forced to vacillate. he wanted to be as close to possible to putin and the country will not let him be that close. host: why not though? when president barack obama served, he sent his secretary of state to russia and proposed a reset. why not try to have relations? guest: of course we have relations with russia but it starts by sanctioning them for

what they have done in the past and it starts by drawing a very sharp redline for what they might do in the future. they are even better at hacking in, even better at putting phony ads designed to create discord in our country, they are even better at making illegal campaign contributions using russian state money to try to push the election one way or another. illegale all interferences and they are even better at stealing files, whether it be from this station or congress or the political parties. host: what did congress due to sanction russia for meddling in the 2016 election? guest: nothing. host: what was passed? guest: we had sanctions against the terrible human rights abuses in russia, we have had some sanctions on russia for invading ukraine and seizing crimea.

explicitot had any sanction for the 2016 election. they've gotten off scot-free so far. host: right now, what did the sanctions that are in place do and what more would you like to see done? most sanctions we have are about individuals in russia. mueller'st indictment of 12 russians is a sanction on russia. they cannot to be at the real disneyland in california. -- they cannot be at the real disneyland in california. we have other individuals identified. there are assets that if we could prove were held by certain oligarchs could be seized and frozen, but very little against

our overall russian economy. sanctionsw in severe is a we did against iran and that is what we are going to have to do against russia if they interfere again. when i say interfere, i mean illegally interfere. they're up people here in washington listening to us on c-span, if you push another button, you also have sputnik radio. legal.- that is they are registered foreign agents. boeing they started stealing files in order to embarrass one political party or another, that has got to be with the most severe kind of sanctions and sanctions on the entire economy. host: what are democrats planning to do if anything about what the president said in helsinki? said, as to what he

though country has revolted against that and forced him to change. has to knowledge that russia did in fact interfere in our election and he cannot to be dictator some russian into saying the exact opposite of the truth. then telling us he did not say it when it is on tape. but getting trump to admit what everybody heard he knows -- already knows is not enough. we should have some sanctions directly because of what they did in 2016. the most severe if they do anything thereafter. host: there was an attempt to condemn what the president said on the house floor in a resolution. do you think that is something that you would like to see proposed and passed? guest: i would very much like to

see that proposed and passed. it will be interesting to see whether or paul ryan and the republican leadership allow us to vote on something like that in the house. i think the entire country has to repudiate this idea that p utin did not interfere because after all, he said he did not interfere. host: where is united states working with russia if at all and where is their conflict around the world? guest: first, the arms control agreements from the cold war are still enforced. when you have two nations with the largest nuclear arsenals, you want to make sure that that is kept under wraps. agreements with regard to nonproliferation. you do not see rush hour united states saying we need a couple billion dollars, let's sell

nuclear weapons. tactical level cooperation in syria where the goal is to make sure we do not have the destabilizing effect of killing some of their soldiers are they killing some of ours. we have killed some of their mercenaries, but those are not official russian soldiers, they are russian citizens that decided assad was paying well. that's got to learn stealing files from either political party in an effort to influence the election is not the one of the things he can do you have tol, ignore it because we have to quite bring in other areas. host: we are talking with congressman brad sherman and we want to have your comments. ,emocrats, (202) 748-8000 republicans (202) 748-8001, an

andpendents (202) 748-8002 you can also join us on facebook and twitter @cspanwj. what are you looking at on this front? guest: on this front, sanctions for what putin has done in the past and extreme sanctions if he has done something in our elections in the future. there are a host of other issues that wind to deal with, the foreign affairs committee. the trade deficits with china which is only increased over the last year and a few months and the north korea situation. we've got a lot to keep us busy. host: would you go as far as the former cia director john brennan did and call it the president said on monday "treasonous. -- treasonous? guest: i am reluctant to use

that word. the president has committed high crimes and misdemeanors, but i have put forward that in articles of impeachment. it is not like i am reluctant, but i'm reluctant to use the word treasonous. host: proposal a year ago, for what? guest: that was for instruction of justice -- obstruction of justice for trying to end the investigation of flynn and collusion. wasobstruction unsuccessful, but the laws on effort ison, even a a felony. any criticismave of nancy pelosi who has said, moving forward with articles of impeachment would be a gift to republicans in the midterm election? guest: i did not do it for

political reasons. from an far away election as we can get in this town. when you have elections every two years, every year is either an election year or the year before. what i did was a matter of legal analysis done for nonpolitical reasons. think the american people want to talk about health care, want to talk about wage growth, and it would be a mistake for democrats to focus on our campaigns on issues that do not affect people's lives now. int: we will go to augusta south berry, south carolina. caller: good morning. i would like to say thank you for taking my call. as far as the putin-trump

summits, i think president trump did just fine. i would like to ask of the gentleman, why would the democrats always like to say that trump is in the pocket of putin with her minor that snowden now resides in russia? what are democrats afraid of? are they afraid that the stuff that snowden might have on y'all and the dirty deeds? congressman? guest: i do not know where to begin. snowden stole information of the pentagon and the u.s. government and work that was being done on our behalf and that congress in

both parties authorized. i am sure if there is anything in there that can embarrass democrats, it would've been released during the 2016 campaign. after all, putin said he wanted trump to win. if he had anything to help achieve that and snowden resides in russia at his sufferance, i am sure it would come out. summit, atverall least compared it to nuclear war, this administration is doing well. snowden does not have anything that putin thinks could embarrass democrats or that could have been harmfull to hillary. inde dorothy an -- an

pendent. of the as a citizen united states, i am embarrassed by president trump. his oath ofeping office, this is what you want to be -- a dictatorship. we are a democracy and we are praising and going against our own intelligence. as a citizen of america, i am embarrassed by the president. i am thinking he has already broken his oath of office. the president embarrasses from hisfrequently comments about charlottesville to the efforts by the administration which was initially deliberate to separate children from their parents at the border as a mechanism to deter immigration.

embarrassing but our institutions in this country are strong. trump iss i fear that undermining those institutions, i think they survive. host: charlie, windsor, ohio. democrat. caller: good morning. host: morning. caller: i am no fan of trump but i'm probably going to say some things you do not like. -- a lot ofa this, i put that at obama's feet. rush limbaugh says come i want him to fail. 2010 comes, he does nothing. he loses it. mitch mcconnell says come i am not giving you a judge. now, you think if something m,mes up, mueller gets hi

what other republicans going to do? mitch mcconnell showed you what he is going to do. and what can you guys do? right now, you can do nothing. you can stomp your feet, you can cry, but there is nothing you can do. housetter hope putin democrats in the midterms because if they do not turn out, you are really screwed. there'll be nothing you can do. if we are not powerful in washington, is because we do not control the white house, the senate, or the house. if the caller wants to do something about it, turning to people who serve in the minority and saying why are you not on the majority, begs the question doing anything to put us in the majority in just a few months? where is that caller from again? host: i think, california.

in most ofyone california lives within driving distance in a congressional race that is a very close one and to say that it is the responsibility of those of us ao got elected that democrat was not elected in some other district in california, yes, it is our responsibility. it is the caller's response ability. he can walk a precinct in fresno, he can walk a precinct in orange county. and maybe while a congressman knocking on your door he has your attention, the time to walk to precincts. hard to see what obama could have done differently except in the last few months of the 2016 election. there were two decisions that were made there.

one decision was not to publicize and do a national speech on the interference. the reason for that was a belief that, hillary is going to win. why do some that could shake things up. to know how a country would have responded to a democratic president claiming that a republican was benefiting from putin's activities. the other problem was on the tpp held a conference was widely publicized in washington with obama and kasich of how they would pass the trade deal. even hillary clinton had come down against durin g the lame duck session, and i think that it undermined. you want to know why we lost,

look where we lost. we lost the three states that most hated the trade policies this countryately has adopted over the last 20 years. host: did russia become emboldened due to president obama saying, here is my redline, do not cross it, and the not doing anything when it was crossed in syria? guest: i do not think so. they were engaged in these types of activities in european assad waslong before proven to have used chemical weapons. while there was some bass elation with regard to syri we were 8 -- some vas with regard to syria, we were able to extract some of the most terrible chemical weapons. if we had not done that, thought

would have been able to kill -- assad would've been able to kill a many more syrians. it was a very large quantity. host: going to moses in west haven, connecticut. democrats. caller: good morning, am i on the air? host: yes. caller: very good. i'm a veteran and i served eight years in the military. vetting.ing about is the president of the united -- does he go through the process of getting vetting? n -- he has the

information of the whole top-secret information that he is opposed -- supposed to be governing. if he is governing this cohortsion and then with a foreign government in our election, i do not know the vetting process for the president, but i do not think he got vetted or his staff correctly? guest: there is no vetting process for a president. receive top-secret information? guest: there is no qualification that the cia director declares you eligible. the one hand, there is the president and there are those who think that trump is a security risk, so you would say, we want to vet the presidents.

on the other hand, the idea that someone in washington with a clear who is and who is not eligible to run for president, that raises real questions and is against the constitution created the constitution says you have to be a natural born citizen, 35 years old, period. it does not say the cia director declar.he -- to none of those around the president, if they are going to have secret information, they need me to go through the vetting process. have had substantial questions about others the president wanted to beginning national security information but did not at the time had a security clearance. host: baltimore, john is an independent. caller: hi, it is john. host: we are listening.

caller: two points. there is a book called "48 laws of power." onstates, pretty much play people's needs to create a colts following.ke so many of trump's followers act like they are in a cult. yet people just trying to get of that you have people you trying to get rid of -- have people just trying to get rid of the russians. lion king, scar killed his brother and he was in cahoots with the hyenas that were arch

enemies of the lions. r took over the kingdom, he let the hyenas come in and pretty much the whole kingdom got destroyed. i believe that is what is going on now with trump and putin. you can putin as the hyenas and trump is like scr. -- like scar. congressman? guest: putin has been called many things. hyenas. menacing by called the speaker of the house yesterday. guest: so a menacing hyena. i do not think that gowdy caller is -- that the

right about goudy. the russians have concluded that trump will do whatever we tell him to do. he is constrained by the rest of the u.s. government and washington, and the american people. has never had a more friendly u.s. president, he has never had a more aroused u.s. people, so it is no more clear whatputin will get more of he wants today than he would teddy not interfered in our election. host: jerry, pittsburgh. republican. caller: yes, good morning. i had a question for the congressman. junkie.nn c-span after the weather. 2014, i watched the

democratic convention. take a -- god out of the platform and they had to have a vote to put god back in. they had the vote three times and it was consistent each time of the nays and yays. in a typical democratic election, the announcer walked up the stage. when i turned to c-span in 2014, ofaught the last 40 minutes the u.s. commerce convention at the university of illinois in chicago. are they going to have the 100th

year anniversary next year? host: what is your question for the congressman? was a 50-50 each time? host: i think he meant a 2016, 20 12 -- he said 2014. 2016 convention, i do not remember a fight about the platform dealing with religion or god. on the one hand, we are one nation under god. on the other hand, we separate ch each -- church and state

and we welcome citizens of every faith and no faith. i do not know the particular provision and i do not think god is a democrat or republican. host: l.a. times with the headline this morning, california representative linda rise with joeo crowley losing his primary last month, the position of caucus chair opens up. she is letting you enter other colleagues know she would like to take over. do you support her? guest: i have to see who else is running. host: [laughter] guest: there are a number of all their positions -- of other positions. seat of joehe

every time we have had a vice chair of the caucus, that person has run for a chair as soon as the position became open. i do not think this is uprising -- is a surprising announcements, but before we decide, we have got to run this race. if we are successful, and our entire coaching staff is spectacular. if we are not successful, we will take a look at it then. you do not change coaches going into the playoffs. ot successful, should house minority leader nancy pelosi step down? guest: you would want to see the game. that is why use the -- you unite behind your coaching staff, you going to your playoffs, and after yea your playoffs are over, you decide.

-- theriage of , after of the astros they won, they did not fire their manager. we will take a look at it then. there are so many different ways to win and lose. if you win, you have one. host: congressman brad sherman, always appreciate the conversation. guest: thank you. host: we will continue our conversation about monday's with republican congresswoman claudia tenney.

graceday night on q&a, "nnon discusses her memoir, daughter of the cold war." 1991.et putin in he was deputy mayor and i was running my business consultant firm. i had a client that wanted something to do with st. petersburg. i had a meeting with the real mayor, he was called away, and they substituted the deputy mayor, putin.

i was annoyed because i was not meeting with the mayor. i was negative about it at all. equallyin and he was negative. he did not want to meet with some american woman who claimed to run a business. he was very suspicious of women. he had no gallantry, and he had the coldest eyes i have ever seen. very big, blue, cold eyes. all i could think of was, i wonder what would happen if he was interrogating me. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. washington journal continues. host: we want to welcome back freshman congresswoman claudia tenney. that the president need to clarify his statements from helsinki yesterday and if so, why? guest: i think he did.

we wanted him to be tough on putin, but he has been. icluding the sanctions that voted for also, and i think you want to clarify and i think he is a shoot from the hip type of guy and he admitted without really admitting it that maybe he did not choose the right words on putin in helsinki. you not think any think would have said would have made certain members of the media or the left wing happy anyway because they were critical for him meeting with kim jong-un, and putin in the first place and they were also critical of him calling out our nato allies and saying they need to live up to their 2% and stop dealing with russia line, particularly germany. think anybody is going to particularly happy with him but i would've liked to see him

maybe when he first came out more demanding of putin. i understand it is a diplomatic situation, but i do not think it has been described with a lot of histrionics. i lived in former yugoslavia in 1980's when the former president of yugoslavia very ingeniously kept yugoslavia out of the soviet bloc countries. in the altraconference, our president franklin delano roosevelt handed over eastern who hado stalin murdered millions of people, so i do not think it is unusual for presidents to meet with foreign adversaries. it is important that he starts the dialogue, but i also think it is important underscore there are important things happening.

when you talk about iran and syria and the aggression that russia has engaged in and that the president acknowledged yesterday. yes, we know that the russians meddled in our election, but we certainly want to make sure it does not happen again. we meddle in foreign elections. president obama famously interfered with the election of israeli president of netanyahu, -- president netanyahu, and money was spent that actively advocate for someone else. rt of interesting that so much is being made of this. the president to go far enough yesterday in clarifying his comments? guest: yeah. i do not see the press conference live, i have only

seen clips. yeah, i think he did clarify it. how much more can he say? in the beginning of discussions with kim jong-un, we are just this so thereh are plenty of other occasions and times working get together and put pressure on putin. in terms of sanctions, in terms of standing up against iran, the president has been tough on russia. host: the new york times says the president did not do the following. farid not mention the greater numbers of occasions on which he has sown doubt on , heher russia has meddled did not withdraw his assertion standing next to mr. putin that the russian leader had offered a

"extremely strong and powerful" denial of involvement during their meeting, and he did not amend his answer to a question about whether he believed mr. our officials like dan coats. how do you know? host: yesterday when he was clarifying -- guest: i do not think the president has to regurgitate every bit of meeting that he had with putin all because the new york times is demanding get. at some point, all of these things should happen, but for the new york times to give a laundry list, i would like to see the laundry list of all the things that president obama and many others it should have done in their meetings. i think it is startling and i have not seen the new york times, maybe they have, i was not paying attention when andident obama leaned in

said when i gets reelected, i will have more flexibility. make sure that vladimir knows that. what do you think the two, president obama said and what president trump helsinki was equal? host: i think we're talking about words and what president obama said was worse. the russianswhen came into crimea and have been aggressive across the world, what did president obama do about the election meddling in 2016 when he was president? why are we melting down over that right now? i think we are. what happened with this meddling and we have an 12 russian of nationals, new one coming on the heels of friday, so how are we

getting personal jurisdiction over these russian nationals and at what good does it do the united states? we know they were meddling. the president was pretty clear about that. host: do you support more sanctions against russia? guest: we should try to outmaneuver them on cyber security. i support giving more resources to our military, especially superior installation that i have in my own district which does groundbreaking work on cyber security and foreign militaries. --need to the working harder we need to be working harder on that. as we move into the cyber world, we need to be much more agile and protective of all institutions. i think it is really an important issue. host: let's go to calls, john in virginia. greta. hi,

i am flabbergasted by this congresswoman. when we believe our fbi are our intelligence i'mever they tell us, asking you, to russians interfere with our elections? yes or no. that we haveeason to accept what the president did. it is not only your president that you are defending and you think he did nothing wrong. very serious matter, stop talking about barack obama and hillary clinton. congresswoman, you have the white house, you have the senate, we know what is going on, and we need to get to the bottom of this. tosia loves people like you go off at subject and talk about the issue. american comes first. host: -- guest: thank you, john.

we know that russia interfered with the election. the second part of your question, i think it is important that we deal with this issue and i think we are. we also have greater issues. a nationalave presidential election going on in 2018, but we will have one in 2020 which is what i hope we have some cyber security precautions in place to make sure that they have not interfered in our election, but we are working on that. it is something unfortunate for , our prior president did not do anything to protect us from that. let's have the president the classify all of his information that is now being held up by the department of justice and the fbi so the american people can see what meddling went on. if you look at the indictment that the mueller handed down on friday, from what i understand, it looks very much like something similar that

congressman nunes put out in march dealing with the intel committee on exactly what we knew was going on with the russians. es came to my district and was really well-received and we have a problem with the russians. they identified that in 2016. to get bogged down about on that isn an electi already over, and we determined -- let's try to fix it. host: in illinois, independent. caller: yes, hello. host: go head. haser: president trump stated over and over and over that russia meddled in our elect ion. that was terrifying. james comey testified under oath the doj cia, fbi, and

out with russia and found he had no ties to russia. heey then stated in fact, had zero ties to russia. they are so great, then why do not people believe them? as far as the children separated at the border, when president of theas in office, one border patrol said two children were brought in and they were brought in by someone that was not their parents. parate and they were given out to pedophiles.

this is why children are checked out, to see if they belong to the parent that is bringing them across the border. i am not sure what that question is, but we have talked endlessly about meddling. the president has admitted it, we have admitted it. that is why we are working so hard. i'm hoping some of the solutions can come from our own district where we are working on cyber security and making sure these things do not happen in the future. in terms of the children at the border, this is a real serious issue and we do know that unfortunately, the scorch of human trafficking and drugs, and the opioid addiction and the that iss fentanyl being brought across our border. judd dealers are definitely there which is why i support dealers aredrug

definitely there which is why support securing the border. we have had less border security, may be less focus on it, although, president obama certainly was known for deporting a large number a be illegal number of immigrants. imm need to protect igrants that are seeking asylum. the flores decision said that children have to be separated from their parents to determine that they are in fact asylum-seekers or people who are crossing the border illegally. what we have found is there a amber of human traffickers, number of ice officials have actually helped rescue some of these people from dangerous human traffickers, so the caller is right on a number of issues.

we are trying to deal with the children at the border in a humane way. we are trying to give the resources to our border security so they can help those children. we want to be sure that we treat everyone in a humane manner. i joined onto the ted cruz -david bragg bill that would expedite that so it could have the solutions quickly. it is not an easy issue. unfortunately, politics make them worse. i appreciate the caller, and i think we are trying to tackle them. was not to bill and a take some time to put this back together. american people and lawmakers on capitol hill have access to the transcript of that private one-on-one meeting that the president had with

putin?ent aest: i am not sure it is transcript. typically do, not have access, but i think it is interesting. if that is the case, we should look at every other private state meeting that is happening. the mostsure that is productive, but there is a reason we have security and private meetings so we can resolve. i trust the president on these issues. think he has the best interest for the american people. he is unusual president, i do not agree with him on every but i- on everything, tried to disagree with him but i think the

president is standing up for the american people. trying, that is probably why he got elected. he came in as someone who is not a politician, he is a business person an trying to negotiate a little different. in the end, results are what you have to look at and the president has the best interest out there though he makes mistakes. basically by correcting or modifying his statement yesterday from the summit on monday, i give him a lot of credit are having the ability to come and do that. correcting a statement from monday was definitely something that he is learning on the job. it is a tough job. it is not an easy job. host: we will go to richard in montreal, canada. republican. caller: good morning, congresswoman. host: good morning -- guest: good morning.

caller: last month, donald testifiedcurity chief that russian meddling was in the election and he was told to stand down. can you tell president trump and make this public for the midterms because it is not fair. susan rice told the security chief to stand down when he said that russia was meddling in the election. am -- guest: i am not aware of that. if that is the case, the american public should know that . this is another issue that is critically important and one that i tend to agree the president on. i used to run a newspaper and we tried to create an alternative voice. as a publisher and one of

the editors, i went to a lot of the committee meetings and the city council meetings and the town board meetings and went all around the district and tried to report and give another view of what was happening in the media. my ownnally, for experience, feel the greatest problem in our country is that the lack of media that is neutral. it is hard to be neutral. is we have social media and the internet which now people have alternatives. it is very, very hard to decipher who is telling the truth. mainstream media, particularly, is not really interested in informing the public and that is the biggest problem we have. when i was a republican in a republicans, and i criticize republicans much more because we were in power. i found it was more difficult to get news out and in facts out, is at -- and if this

fact, the news media should get it out. region like in a mine where the local newspaper has monopoly, there is no one challenging them with the kind of circulation or power they just ahey are literally page shilled for one side. --y do not doing guest they are not doing investigative journalism. governningare a self constitutional republic. is if weways the goal can really be self-governing. if the public does not know what is going on in their government and they cannot get access to the information, they are going to have a hard time voting and being self-governing.

as a member of politics, i voice by myrossly outspent opponents, but i try to tell the truth. i do not take one side or another because i am a partisan. i've had more republicans working against me than democrats in my own district, but i do tell the truth about what is going on and i tried to call it like i see it. that is one of the reasons i identify with the president although i do not agree with him. i do try to work in a bipartisan way in congress because of the importance of working together. i do not know the issue with susan rice, happened. i will look into it. host: middle river, maryland. wendy, a democrat. caller: hi. i have some comments and questions. we have to limit to one

question, one comment. caller: okay. basically, i just wanted to say that it is difficult for us to trust what is going on with the president when he goes in a closed-door meeting, he does not take any other security experts with them, he comes out of the meeting, and he basically says interfere,he did not so i believe him. then he expects as the following day to believe him when he says, i did not believe putin. that is a convenient excuse for him. the corruption in his own administration, the way that he spends our money like there is no bottom to it. my question for the senator actually is, why do we need to deal with russia at all? if they have a gdp equal to people in that

country have no free press, the people who speak out against find themselves murdered, why do we deal with them at all? and the sanctions that you all -- onto impose onrush russia been imposed? guest: we have to deal with putin and russia. i've heard the president say that putin has geopolitical motives. i think he is very astute, he knows how to maneuver. this is aectly cited, country without the strength of the united states but how does he have so much power? he is ruthless. i would call him diabolical. he has made himself president for life. he has maneuvered his way into

taking the wealth of the russian people for himself. he is a player who is threatening across our world. playing in the middle east against some of our enemies and with our enemies against some of our allies, he is putting pressure in the baltics. in on ourmoving allies all across the world with very little economic power, but with ruthless intentions. host: and nuclear weapons. guest: and nuclear weapons, exactly. those are things we have to be careful of and we have to deal with him whether we want to are not. does he propose the greatest threat to the united states? mattis said long-term, it is probably china because of the economic issues and aggressions it has exhibited around the world whether it is the south china sea regions.

host: the sanctions, have they been implemented? guest: they hurt, but i think the president needs to put more pressure. i think this is the beginning that i think he is going to continue to put pressure and as long as we continue to put pressure economically and push him to a point where he's going to lose his status on the geopolitical floor, i think you might have gained some status on monday with the people in russia who think of him because they do not have a choice to think of him, they have to think he is great or they disappear. i did we have to continue to put the pressure on in a way that we russian people but we forced him to the table to stop interfering in elections, and around the world. he even losing the places like totenegro, trying manipulate the people in montenegro.

we want to make sure that is not happening did we have to deal with him unfortunately. host: the washington market fell yesterday after the summit on monday. it had been rising in anticipation with some sort of reconciliation and then dropped after the summit. what do you think the impact is? guest: obviously, it did not help their market too much but we need to put the pressure on in a way that we do not hurt our allies who do trade with russia. we trade around the world. a chessn hs -- in game everywhere and it is going to be interesting. you move one direction and the game changes. host: let's here from christie. we only have another minute and a half, maybe less. if you can make it quick. caller: ok. my comment is earlier you had said that our previous

administration had not provided cybersecurity so that this administration having to deal with that. then he backed up and said, maybe they had, we do not know. we can all see our president outg this, you are throwing facts that you are not sure of, and now our president, so that is my comments. beingstion, we see peter heavily under fire with his bias of trump. is that affecting his job? maybe he was doing something to undermine our government and rsv well, here wei, have trump who has shown a hatred for the left, is a showing of bias? host: i've got to go, i apologize.

i am not throwing out facts, i am throwing out assertions that are being made so when she is saying i am countering my statements. first of all, they are alleging there is meddling in the election. we think there is. evidence is evidence. was it a fact, i do not know. did obama do anything, i do not know. assify the information. i do not think that trump has shown i do for the left. host: will got to leave it there, thank you for watching. we'll bring you for the house floor where they are gaveled into their live session. house of january 8, 2018, the chair will now recognize er