court, and public policy events in washington, d.c., and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> thursday on the c-span networks, the house of representatives returns to debate a nonbinding resolution opposing the carbon tax. that is live at 9:00 eastern. on c-span two, the senate continues consideration of a circuit judge for the ninth circuit. on c-span3, the senate banking committee holds a confirmation hearing for the senate specs for continuesthe exports bank. you can also find that streaming online at c-span.org and streaming on the free c-span radio app. coming up in one hour, utah republican congressman chris stewart on the fallout from president trump's meeting with

russia president vladimir putin. and democratic florida congresswoman talks about russia's meddling in the 2016 election and the potential threat to the 2018 midterm elections. c-span's "washington journal" is live ♪ good morning. , 2018.hursday, july 19 the senate will reconvene at 10:00 a.m. that schedule means we will be with you for two hours on the "washington journal." thanse it is shorter usual, we will begin by letting you drive the conversation. it is open phones for the first hour. any public policy issue you want to talk about, it is yours to do it. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001.

.ndependents, (202) 748-8002 you can catch up with us on social media. , and oner, @cspanwj facebook. you can start calling in now as we give you a look at some of the stories we have been tracking over the past 24 hours in washington. from capitol hill yesterday the house appropriations committee unveiling a new fiscal 2019 spending bill released by house republicans would give $5 billion for barriers along the u.s.-mexico border. also yesterday on the house floor, republicans pushing for resolution backing the immigration and customs agency. "the washington post" noting republican leaders sought to highlight liberal attacks on

ice. a handful of democrats embracing calls from activists to abolish the agency. from the other end of pennsylvania avenue, continued focus on russia as brief comments from president trump yesterday sparked confusion as to whether president trump. russia was still targeting the united states in the upcoming election. here is a headline from the front page of "the new york times." we will talk more about that later in the program. one story out of the white house, the white house, according to "the wall street journal," reviewing a request by vladimir putin to allow russian question americans implicated in criminal activity, including a former u.s. ambassador, according to sarah huckabee sanders. rather than dismiss theambassadl outright. and halfarah sanders

--e men of the h -- .averman . [video clip] >> they name several americans they wanted question that were involved in "crimes." including the former ambassador russia. this president trump support that idea? >> the president will meet with his team and we will let you know when we have an announcement. there was some conversation, but there was not a commitment made on behalf of the united states. the president will work with his team and we will let you know if there is an announcement on that front. host: after that, continued questions at the state

department press briefing. her response to questions about this issue. [video clip] ofi can't answer on behalf the white house, but the overall assertions that have come out of the russian government are absurd. to fact that they want question 11 american citizens and the assertions the russian government is making about those american citizens, we don't stand by those assertions the russian government makes. the prosecutor general in russia is aware that the united states has rejected russian assertions in this regard. instead, we continue to urge russian authorities to work with u.s. department of justice to pursue those in russia that perpetrated the fraudulent game that russia refers to. those are a few of the

stories we could talk about in the first hour of "washington journal." any public policy you want to talk about, the phone lines are yours. the president is tweeting quite a bit this morning already. russia is one of the issues he brings up. minutes ago, four "the fake news media want so badly to see a major confrontation with russia, even a confrontation that could lead to war. they are pushing so hard and hate the fact i will probably have a good relationship with putin. we are doing much better than any other country." the votetory on whether to support the immigrations customs and enforcement agency, the democrats have a death wish, the president wrote, in more ways than one. they want to abolish ice, this in thecost them heavily midterms. we will keep you updated with

the president's tweets as he continues to tweet more. in the meantime, your comments. philip in orlando, florida. you are up first. caller: good morning. you are the one. so much to talk about. let me try to focus on what i have been inking about listening to c-span for a while. what gave trump all of the fanfare? he said something about illegal immigration. ,s a progressive-minded person i think if the democrats or an independent group wants to tackle donald trump and stop him in the path he is in and whether you believe it is treason or get , that will judge if america will change direction.

we need to focus on the reality that most americans are concerned about that, whatever party they belong to. it makes sense for the democrats to come up with a solution. -- come up with a solution to the illegal immigration so we can put the other issues on the plate. we need to move towards a democratic capitalist program rather than the elitist capitalist program we have been for a while, and even going further into the future. the solutions for illegal immigration, we showed you the story, $5 billion for the border wall between the united states and mexico. is that something you support? i would support a high-tech wall. i would not go back to the level of building a wall such as what china, rack in times of

the development of its civilizations wall. i believe that the border should be maintained. we don't know what is coming through the borders. it is unnecessary for our country. i think any politician on the progressive side needs to address that realistically so they can compete with donald trump. that is the only thing that put him there. he has no other levels of leadership. he is not a really great businessman. all of the things that happened to him with bankruptcies and he has never served time in the military. what they love is the illegal immigration policy. host: thanks for the call. john in grand forks, north dakota. caller:military. what they love is the illegal immigration policy. think it is a trojan horse.

that we let in the country with these russians. i think it is a bad deal all the way around. i would like to know what people think of. is probably going to take a big hit on this because of that. dan in bloomfield, new jersey. forindependents -- line independents. caller: i see congress is wrangling about how much money to put into the budget for the border wall. my question is this, why are we even talking about this in our payinggress is mexico is for it? why aren't we negotiating to get the money directly from them right now? host: thanks for the call. for more on the border wall and that house appropriations bill

that was released yesterday, we turn to the reporter with "the hill" newspaper. for trump's border wall. how many miles of border wall does that buy? is the house appropriations committee saying where that while would go? caller: that is for 200 miles of border.ng the it lays out areas where that would be built, which is different from the bill in the senate or last year when they areas about reinforcing of fencing and wall that already existed. it is more than any bill has put forth up until this point. it is still far less than donald trump wants, which is on the order of $25 billion.

that has been floated in the compromised immigration proposals that have been voted down. that would have given democratic priorities on issues like daca and also funded the wall on the magnitude of $25 billion. it is only a down payment, but significantly more than in the past. host: the president seemed satisfied with the $5 billion yesterday. he tweeted thank you to kevin yoder, the president of the subcommittee that came up with that proposal. saying now we need congress to support, saying kevin has been strong on crime, the border come oursecond amendment, loves military. it would need to go through the senate. talk about this appropriations bill and its path from here.

caller: this is a funny topic. request is made for the department of homeland security bill, they requested one point 6 billion dollars. the senate said here you go, $1.6 billion for the wall. the reinforcing of areas that have already been built, a way to compromise and make it look like something was being put forward. when trump saw that, he was upset and reamed up the appropriators when he met with them. that is why he is happy to see the house say $5 billion. these things have to be evened out between the house and senate before they become law. the senate has been working in a focused, bipartisan way to put down a bill that they think can likeassed, to look more

the finished product than in the house, which tends to be partisan at first. if you want what a final bill could look like, it is probably closer to the senate, which already has a partisan support. $5 billion will go along party lines. you cannot pass an appropriations bill without bipartisan support in the senate because you need 60 votes. host: we want to pick through to homelandparts of this security bill. it includes along with $5 billion for the wall, one hundred $20 million for border technology. what does that mean? caller: looking at things that will detect if someone is coming across the border. instead of a physical barrier, high-tech way of

protecting the border. this is what democrats say, why build an expensive wall that isn't going to be that effective, when you can utilize technology, sensors, and things like that to find when someone is crossing the border and send a patrol to pick them up, which is a more efficient way to do it. us throughy, walk the budget for immigrations, customs enforcement. houseillion in the appropriations bill. that is an increase from 2018. what does that include? caller: on the house side, they are talking about 400 new hires when it comes to ice, a $200 million difference between what they are including for ice in .he senate and in the house they are talking about more law enforcement, more investigations programs, more detention beds, things like that, in order to

plus up with ice is able to do this year compared to last year. point 4 billion dollar budget overall for the department of homeland security. as part ofacking it his work for "the hill." you can go to thehill.com to follow his work. open phones. you wantc policy issue to talk about? frank in louisiana on the line for republicans. are you doing? if they are going to build a wall they might as well build it from florida to connecticut to florida. host: do you think that would solve things? caller: if they want a wall that bad. if they are worried about security. host: do you want a wall that bad? caller: no.

[indiscernible] host: line for democrats, good morning. i'mer: i want to say beginning to wonder how much more these republicans will keep going in lockstep with this treachery. it is to the point where the president is not hiding what he is doing. said it publicly. and people are outraged he gives a halfhearted explanation of what we already seen. i am beginning to wonder how many republicans are going to be implicated in this mueller probe? that is what people need to start thinking about. the woman charged the other day is the tip of the iceberg of the republicans that will be caught up with these russians. people need to start opening their eyes.

it is not like it is being hid. it arey people hiding trump supporters and republicans. the rest of the world sees it. it is the whole world against trump supporters and republicans. host: oak grove, missouri, mike, go ahead. caller: good morning. helsinki, donald trump said why should it be the ant to say whye wouldn't it be? host: would and wouldn't were the two wordsant to say disput': i am insulted that donald trump thinks i am that stupid. i watched the whole deal going on. all the things he said leading up to that point where against our country.

goes, theyhe wall say that drugs are coming in across that border. last year, 20 tons of drugs were confiscated coming across our land borders. 200 tons were confiscated coming , from our water borders. crazy that we spend all that money on a wall that is not going to do any good. i think we should name the wall after president obama and see how fast trump drops the idea of wall. a one last thing. , watched governor john kasich he was asked if he would run for president against donald trump. he said he wasn't sure. that he wouldn't run a race that he couldn't win.

i want to say i would run to the polls to vote for john kasich. host: on your first point, the message confuse -- message confusion continued yesterday in the wake of a cabinet meeting after some comments that president trump made to a reporter in the moments after the cabinet meeting was over. here's the lead story in "the post."ton suggesting russian no longer targeting the united states. the wordshouse saying were misconstrued. we will let you listen and after that cabinet meeting. here is president trump after ending the meeting. [video clip] pres. trump: thank you, appreciate it. >> is russia still targeting the u.s., mr. president? >> press, let's go. pres. trump: thank you, very

much. by thet was the no president that was a focus for several hours and continues to be a focus in the news media. it was asked. secretary was asked about it in a press conference yesterday afternoon. here is the exchange over the no. [video clip] >> the president said thank you very much. answering no to questions. the president and his administration are working hard to make sure that russia is unable to meddle in our elections as they have in the past, as we have stated. the video that showsespite the president looking at cecilia and answering no in response to the question that russia is targeting the u.s.? despite the president never before saying no, no?

the president said thank you very much. no, i'm not answering any more questions. cecilia didn't realize what the answer was because she asked for clarification and he didn't answer the follow-up. she wasn't sure. i talked to the president. he wasn't answering that question, he was saying he wasn't taking questions. i have stated what our position is. talk aboutchance to that exchange, or any other topic. you are leading the discussion. we will put the lines on the screen as we hear from robert in miami, florida. good morning. i would like to say that i am waiting for the american people to get up, like they did in

london, get on the streets, and make a movement to remove this unfit resident from office. it is unbelievable. if the republican congress doesn't make a move to restrain this gentleman, it is time for the american people to take to the streets as they did in london and stop this nonsense going on for the past year. it is absurd that this man can has been up to. it is absolutely ridiculous. host: woodstock, georgia. line for republicans. caller: people need to understand when the president said jobs, jobs, jobs, he is talking about restoring the working class. when he is talking jobs and closing the border, he needs to find workers. when you find workers in the inner-city, that does 2 things for the inner-city and rural country. it stops the cash crop feeding

into the penal system. may make some much money coming even the drug lords make so much money out of their runners, they call them foot soldiers. these people do not want people from the inner-city and rural areas to replace your legal immigration. they want to maintain the cash crop to the penal system and bring fresh labor from south of the border. in addition, the president is trying to restore america, but so much of this country is based on religious freedom. we had a recent president that said the united states was no longer a christian nation. president trump is trying to restore that. so many people are going to the left. they want to create their own laws so they can do what they want to do. institution was derived from the bible. they don't like this. they are attacking this man,

everything he say they are going to resist. host: the caller before roy asking what republicans are going to do when it comes specifically to the president's actions with russia. jeff flake of arizona teamed up with democrat chris coons and resolution supporting u.s. intelligence agencies' assessment of russian interference and calling for unanimous support. resolutionissuing a statement e resolution would command the justice investigation into russian interference into the 2016 election and indictment of 12 russian officials. "i hope the president will take the word of our intelligence agencies other than the empty words of a dictator," was flake's statement. good morning. caller: we are outside of springdale.

i've got to say you talk about nonsense. it is just russian meddling. of course they did. russia has hackers, china has hackers, britain has hackers, everybody has hackers. they are paid to do with they do. if you're not surprised, were you surprised by the president's comments this week when he was standing next to vladimir putin and was asked if he believed his intelligence agencies? caller: not a bit. our intelligence agencies failed to stop it. now they are running around the country, spending taxpayer taxpayerain milling -- money, blaming everyone on the planet except themselves for something they should've stopped. everyone does this. they do it, we do it, they know it, we know it. big deal. of course they did it.

we didn't stop it. they are blaming everyone they can point the finger at. host: you think it is still going on? caller: of course it is going on. they pay people to do that. we pay people to do it. host: do you think the administration is doing enough to stop it? caller: no. they are spending their money on investigations and blaming people for everything instead of putting the money where it should go. that is to find out how to stop it. host: that is richard in arkansas. here is more from the president from his interview with cbs evening news last night talking about his administration's actions when it comes to russian election interference. [video clip]

pres. trump: very strong on the fact we can't have meddling. we are living in a grown-up world. a strong statement, president obama supposedly made a strong statement, nobody heard it. he did make a statement to putin's close friend. that was not acceptable. it was not accept the full. i let him know we can't have this. we are not going to have it. that's the way it is going to be. >> he denies it. if you believe u.s. intelligence agencies, is putin lying to you? pres. trump: i don't want to get into if he is lying, but i do confidence in our intelligence agencies as currently constituted. i think we have excellent people in the agencies. when they tell me something, it means a lot. director coates says it is ongoing. do you believe that? pres. trump: i have tremendous faith in dan coats. if he says that, i would accept

that. i will tell you, it better not be. it better not be. host: more from the president this morning from his twitter page 13 minutes ago. the president thanking fox and friends and fox news for one of trumppieces noting recognizing russian meddling many times. the president saying the fake news wants no part of that narrative, too bad they don't want to focus on the economic and jobs records being set. caller: trump puts on one face onn he is with putin, and the clip you just showed, he puts on another face when he comes back here to america. bad aboutot on him so behavior, no one expected

him to punch putin in the face on stage, but we did expect him to stand firm and ask him, or say to him, if your people -- even though they may not -- but if your people are meddling, they need to stop. we expect him to stand firm, not act like a full with putin -- in helsinki.in he knows it wasn't favorable, his behavior. last night he had that interview and is trying to look firm. , and heclip with putin had a smirk on his face. andade a reference to jfk insinuated that jfk was assassinated by our own government. it was sickening, it really was. in troy, new york.

independent. would like to make a couple of comments. any american who doesn't want to secure our borders from illegal immigration is not american. secondly, one of the last callers was correct. everyone is hacking. was turningthink andgovernment over in syria iraq? we were a major cause. those countries were turned over. libya. americans were in fault. it is a joke. host: line for democrats, good morning. i spent 25 years in the military. 90% of the time i was one of the handle top-secret

clearances and everything else. i served several times in europe. would found out in europe was going on in czechoslovakia, they were sending beautiful girls out and they would plant them along the routes that they knew the servicemen were driving to and from work. they would target people they knew had drank. -- had rank. when they would catch them, some colnol she was locked onto. they are doing anything they can do to push their cause. they even have people who come here and have children by americans. when they got to the point that they were catching up to them, they would abandon the children. in, to hearling their opinions, which is good, but most of them don't have a

clue. the russians are bringing women purposelye plane load to have babies born u.s. citizens. is what communists have been doing. they will put the kids in a school like they do for gymnastics when they are three or four years old. they will teach them english. when they deployed they are fluent. track of these, exactly how many of these children are born in the united states and go back to russia for the sole purpose of coming back 20 years from now and taking over. the bad thing about it, they are living in trump towers. have a good day. after seven: 30 on the east coast. we are on open phones. the house is coming in earlier than usual at 9:00.

they have votes between 10:30 and 11:30. we will go to the house floor live when they come in. for the next half-hour, phone lines are yours. bringing upers u.s.-russia relations. here is a tweet from 10 minutes ago from "time" magazine showing their cover. trump wanted a summit with putin , he got more than he bargained for. sunnyvale, california, line for independents. i believe what he said. it makes sense, the guy before me. i wanted to say about other people calling in about we thatd stand firm, i think is where they are losing their point.

that was my main concern when i called in. i wanted to say, when our politics -- when our politics going to be more about americans, taking care of us, and not fattening their pockets? why would you expect anyone in the government to really care about what is happening to us? it is not going to make them richer. host: who do you trust? is there any politician or member of congress you think is fighting the right fight? caller: the last one that i actually trusted was gavin newsom. he looks like he is starting to get a little correct himself. it is hard to say. host: define corrupt. caller: corrupt? you are not for the american people anymore, you are about making your pockets fatter. you are about power, control, you are about greed. host: homer, line for democrats.

caller: yes. the president -- thanks for taking my call. in andsident needs to go stop running for office. he is still running for office. are somewhereama fishing and he is talking about them. quit running for office. go ahead and do something. host: mike, line for independents. caller: how are you? host: i'm doing well. caller: i think the wall is ridiculous. money. cost so much the guy from new york was talking about anybody that doesn't feel that illegal immigrants should be stopped isn't american, it's not that we don't want -- of course we don't

want illegal immigrants coming into the country, the immigrants are what built the country. am, and iee tours in n would like to have him take a trip to minnesota and tell me i am not american. host: what are your feelings on ice, u.s. immigration's customs enforcement? caller: i don't think they're talking about abolishing it. i think they're talking about infiltrating other organizations. i don't think that is a bad idea. it has only been how many years since it has been an organization? think they are still rookies. if they infiltrated the other organizations with these guys, i think they would learn something. vote there was that yesterday. republicans pushing through a resolution backing ice. here is the scene on the house floor. this is the house majority whip

just before that vote talking about the resolution to support ice. [video clip] showed up and did their job. we need to stand up for them. we need to stand up for what is important. are we for open borders? absolutely not. unless you don't vote yes on this resolution, there is one choice, one button to hit if you support these men and women keeping our country safe, that is yes. is forer vote then yes open borders and not supporting these men and women. let's look at what is resolved. continued support for the ice agents. we denounce calls to abolish our eyes and support efforts of federal agencies, military parson l -- military personnel, who bring law and order to our nation.

the only boat is yes. host: the final vote, 244 supporting, 35 saying no, 135 .emocrats voting present here is steny hoyer talking and whyat present vote democratic leaders were encouraging their members to vote present. [video clip] >> it is a sham and distraction. the suffering of children behind a partisan attack on democrats. vote thate gotcha alienates americans from our government. it is shameless and inappropriate. inappropriate because republicans are not doing a single thing to address the crisis of children still separated from their parents, even after a court ruled they need to be reunited. democrats refuse to play republicans' game when it comes

to children's well-being and the safety of those seeking asylum. we are not falling for this trap. you can say were not doing it as much as we want. secureds support borders and honor the service of all those whose lives are at risk and protecting our country and people. i take a back seat to no one in this house over the years supporting our law enforcement personnel, but we will neither be silent, nor will we cease fighting to bring an end to the dangers and inhumane policies of the trump administration that are traumatizing emily's and children at our borders. left on opentes phones. mansfield, pennsylvania, line for republicans. think one person

said he shows a different face over there than over here, but sometimes with diplomacy you have to give and take when it comes to that. also, when it comes to the onders, it has been going even before trump took office and they put it on him. investigation,er he automatically has a conflict of interest because you cannot -- cannot be friends with the arrival of someone you are investigating and be completely impartial as required. the diplomacy side, you might be interested in the column in today's washington times. in defense of trump with putin, negotiate andw to

his strategy cannot be assessed in midstream. he writes we have an inpatient media that hates trump and a president a knows more about negotiating with bad guys than any of them. unlike the war mongers, the president is willing to talk to anyone if there is a chance it could result in peace. virginia.andria, caller: if you trace the history of what went on with the mexican we haveit was such that ,een exporting since the 1900s exploiting the labor and -- byces to the extent 1910 there were 41,000 american citizens working on various

american industrial and aquarian developments in mexico. they paid wages similar to the wage scale of the united states of theican labor -- united states. for mexican labor, if paid at lowerere paid on a scale. this continued to the present. how can we as honest american citizens say we are treating mexicans fairly? wall is a scam. we are being taken for the benefit of the corporations. by theasion was paid for , and they want us to pay for the wall to correct the damage of that invasion. host: information on the price

of the wall. this is from the house appropriations committee, the homeland security subcommittee released their proposal for the fiscal 2019 appropriations for the department of homeland security. $5 billion for border security and infrastructure, including the wall. it would build over 200 miles of physical barrier, and include 100 $26 million for border technology. arcadia, louisiana, go ahead. caller: good morning. i would like to make 2 points. other countries metal, but the leader of that country being attacked does not help the attacker, as trump has. says he has been tougher on rusher than any other president, especially obama.

true. not president obama and congress put sanctions on russia and expelled diplomats in 2014. in 2017, congress, not the president, put more sanctions on russia and expelled diplomats. trump did not agree. he had no choice. he didn't want this to be done, but he had no choice. is in collusion with russia and has been for some time. host: you mentioned the president saying he had been tougher than any other president. these are the president's exact words after the cabinet meeting. [video clip] are doing well, probably as well as anybody has ever done with russia, and there has been no president ever as tough as i have been on russia. all you have to do is look at the numbers, look at what we

have done, look at sanctions, look at ambassador is not there, look at unfortunately what happened in syria recently. i think president putin knows that more than anyone. certainly, more than the media. he is not happy about it. he shouldn't be happy about it, because there has never been a president as tough on russia as i have been. host: if you would like to watch that, you can do that at c-span.org. as always, check out our video library. , thanks independents for waiting. caller: trump goes to the summit to meet with putin. he has been under siege from the democrats and mainstream media since he took office. the mainstream media and democrats expect him to tell their line, they're talking are trumped up

charges of collusion. hillary clinton lost a rigged election. she rigged the election and still lost. they invented this thing to divert attention away from the emails released by wikileaks. us see exactly what is going on. this is not true. this is invented. this is a red herring. i think the biggest problem the united states has might be mined cnn isrol, the way controlling people's opinions. instead of despising the democrats, i should feel sorry for them because they don't seem to be able to rank on their own without brian stelter telling them what to think. i have a question, where is the server? why doesn't law enforcement get to look at the server?

ask me a question like you asked the california kid who said he doesn't trust the government. host: what would you say the callers that call-in and make the same points about mind control or not trusting about fox news as you just made about cnn? caller: i am not a fox news -- i'm not a big fox news -- i don't believe the other side. fox is not telling all the truth either. don't report on anything else except for president trump now. host: who do you trust? theer: i trust constitutional system that was invented and put in place. i trust the system. why do i need -- i like your question and i don't at the same time. work.t systems that

the problem is, the system that is used is like trump is being tried in the press. host: when it comes to the press, is there a news organization that you trust? caller: i use the web. i like drudge, but he is not a news source, he is an aggregator of news. host: did you have one more point? caller: no, just a lot on my mind, but i have said enough. area, pennsylvania, 10 minutes left in open phones. in timeat what point are we going to start criticizing trump? he cannot even govern. saying hillary clinton got more votes, hillary clinton

should be the president. then mental stability, questioning if he had alzheimer's. then it was stormy daniels. then the dossier paid for by the hillary clinton campaign. now it is russian collusion, two years of investigation. nothing has been stated or collusion,t trump but the democrats colluded with them. the media -- they are not even criticizing what obama did. me -- heif you give told the president of russia if you give me more time after the election i have more flexibility. he drew a redline, did nothing red line. at least as president his actions are speaking louder than his words and the news media doesn't give him a chance the guys there was stormy daniels and every other concoction you can come up with.

you cannot give this guy a chance to govern. russian the investigation and how long that has been going on, here's a story on the front page of "the new york times" getting attention, noting two weeks before his inauguration donald trump was shown highly classified intelligence indicating vladimir putin had overseen the cyber attacks to sway the 2016 collection. information gleamed from a top-secret source close to mr. putin described to the cia how the kremlin designed to execute andcampaign of hacking disinformation. noting that mr. trump seemed begrudgingly convinced. ever since, mr. trump had tried to cloud the clear findings you received. if you want to read more on that today's "new york

times." one more call, line for democrats. oh, man. i thought bush and cheney was a mess. look at the stock market. don't pay attention to what trump is talking about and read an article in golf magazine. care,about your health see if you have enough. morgan is getting sued already. google has been sued in europe for $1 billion. by 2022 -- i didn't think i would ever miss bush.

have a good one. host: one other story to show you, the european union hitting alphabet inc.. -- with an antitrust fine, undermining the biggest growth engine, mobile phone's. s. abuse the google dominance of its android operating system, which runs more than 80% of the world smartphones, to entrench the cash cow search engine. the wall street journal noting that the fine, the largest so is 20% of google's 2017 net $12.62 billion. we will end open phones a little early because our next guest is here and has to leave to get to a meeting later today.

we will get him on. later, we will talk to democratic congresswoman val demings of florida. stick around, we will be right back. ♪ announcer: join us for alaska weekend with feature programming booktv, and american history tv. laska's explore a natural beauty and policies facing the state. climate change on alaska. sunday morning, the executive director of the national congress of american indians discusses native american and native alaskan issues. the general counsel for alaskan cable provider talks about how

the company makes broadband possible for small villages hunter, glaciers, and mountains. the incoming president of the alaska collaborative for and telehealth on providing health care to remote communities in alaska. , the c-span cities tour explores the alaska literary and historical theme with the author of "amazing pipeline stories." of the sea alaska with her book on alaska natives. and a former investigative reporter on the 1980 nine exxon valdez oil spill. sunday on afterwords, his ray "tip of the iceberg" tracing an expedition of scientists, artists, and excavation us of the alaskan coast.

tour visitsities the alaskan state capitol, the alaska native heritage center, and preparing seafood for market from alaska glacier seafood incorporated. america, for documentaries on alaska. , a1946 film, a 1949 film 1967 film, and a 1944 film. alaska weekend saturday and sunday on july 21 and 22nd on the c-span networks at c-span.org, or listen with the c-span radio app. "washington journal" continues. host: chris stewart is at our the housember of select intelligence committee joining us ahead of the hearing

you have to get to at 8:30. what is that about? china and china's interference. it is actually not about the election. this is about china's interference in our business community and how they steal and the theft of intellectual property. throughl come in business entities, and some cases very important national entities, and take that information back home. host: the house select intelligence committee, many of your meetings are behind closed doors. this one is not. why? guest: this is an open hearing. the second one we have done this year. by intention, we did not bring in an essay or cia -- did not br ing in nsa or cia. we wanted to inform the american people. host: you have to leave to get

to that meeting. but we want to ask about one of the stories that prop -- cropped up. the white house reviewing the --uest allowing here is the headline from the wall street journal about it. i want to get your thoughts on whether that is something we should be doing. guest: i am skeptical this will be helpful. we have this dialogue of may be maybe inviting mr. mueller to talk. it is unlikely we will learn anything from that. there is no way in the world mr. around him will allow these investigators to learn anything meaningful. russia is not our ally. they are not a friend.

they are not someone who wants to help the united states p they love the fact this mueller investigation is going forward. they love the fact we have this divisive issue in front of us. i do not think it is a good faith effort on the russians' part. host: president putin particularly interested in the former ambassador to russia. there was a tweet about this issue yesterday about the idea that the white house is even considering this. he says we are not turning over michael mc fuller or any other american to be prosecuted for nonexistent crimes. the white house should make that clear immediately. do you believe the white house should make that clear immediately? guest: that will ultimately be there decision. if there is an offer, to be fair, we need to look about offer and consider it. but in this case, there is no benefit to doing it.

present no way we will u.s. officials to russian investigators to be investigated, including mr. mcfaul. thatnk this is something is more about the image then it is about the reality. around himnd those would love to have the opportunity to have this come into play in our media and keep this issue alive. but i think it is unlikely to happen. host: i want to get your thoughts on why there seems to be message confusion, especially this week, over the u.s.-russia relationship coming from the president. on monday and tuesday, it was the difference between would and wouldn't. yesterday, there was confusion over whether "no" was the answer to a question. why is that the president seems to stumble in two these issues?

guest: it was not a good week for the president in communication. the president speaks extemporaneously. that is one of the reasons the american people are endeared to him. thaneaks more openly presidential candidates or presidents of our time. people appreciate that. but if you're not careful when you speak like that, it can lead to confusion. the second extra nation is sometimes there is miscommunication. it may well be that he was answering no more questions and it came across in the conversation, with half a dozen people yelling things to him and him trying to respond to some questions and not another that it really was not his intention. the third thing is you have a hyper aggressive media that does not give this president any quarter on anything. that is clear.

to hypereads dissecting everything he says. you take those three things together, and it leads to what we saw this week. host: congressman chris stewart with us the next 20 or 25 minutes. democrats, (202) 748-8000 if you want to join the conversation. republicans, (202) 748-8001. s, independent (202) 748-8002. you tweeted that -- independents, (202) 748-8002. you tweeted that russia must be held accountable. how? guest: i was in moscow before the election and met mostly with intelligence conservatives over there. when i came home, i spoke to many people and said they will mess with our election. that was not based on any specific piece of intelligence.

it was just common sense. by the way, this is not particularly surprising. they have been doing it around the world for years. you could argue for 100 years. the creation of the communist party in the united states was facilitated by soviets, or russians, at the time. they have a long history. this is not shocking. but they were very successful 2016 against it in a presidential election that many of us recognize as the truth. what can we do? number one is the mueller investigation is important. if you lay the new investigation next to the house intelligence findings we released two months ago, they nearly mirror each other perfectly. the problem is we can not release at to the american people easily because much of it is redacted. mr. mueller did not have that problem. it is important for the american people to know.

sanctions are a tool we can implement. mr. mueller's indictments give us tools and targets that we can then you sanctions to hopefully influence their -- that we can then use sanctions to hopefully influence their actions. at the end of the day, we cannot stop them from doing this. i do not think there is a powerful enough sanction we can use to get mr. putin to say well, we cannot do that. on informing the public, would you sign on to that resolution yesterday supporting u.s. intelligence communities, is that -- agencies, is that is that you would take? i am not familiar with it. i do not think it is necessary. in my conversations with the president, there is no question that he supports the united states and the intelligence

community. i have never felt like he did not. i a member of that community, protect my work, i protect a lot of the things that we spend our time on and invest our best work on. host: why not take that step? guest: i do not think it would hurt. we would be happy to look at it. i am just not sure it would be necessary. and the new investigation i have been clear on. let him finish his work. i hope he finishes it as quickly as possible. onlyne one reason, not with the russians and others attempt to interfere in 2018 and 2020, but we had something like 43 recommendations that we want to work on. better to do that now than in a year or two years. thing toay the same mr. mueller. do your work, but as quickly as possible. we look forward to seeing what his conclusions are. host: connie is in new jersey,

line for democrats. you are on with congressman chris stewart. caller: i would like to ask the congressman a few weeks ago that republican senators were in russia. now, our president -- to question our diplomats and people from here. this that's a very slippery sets a verys slippery slope. it is safe to say the republican party came to a point where they sell our country to russia. i speak from experience. i am a child who grew up in a fascist country. so i know what i am talking about -- host: where did you grow up? caller: spain.

under franco, best friends with hitler and mussolini. guest: i think somewhere in there was the, that republicans have sold out to russia. i think that is contrary to the facts. why was the president talking to nader the way he was? -- to nato the way he was? toause nato needs to comply their agreements to supply to their defense. they have not done that today, but why do we want them to adequately fund their defense? so they can confront russia. the additional sanctions that have been posted on russia -- this president, contrary to their previous administration, sent weapons to ukraine so they

can defend them says against an insurgency operated by russia. an energy policy meant to keep energy prices low worldwide. that is the most important sanction we can put on russia. this president has clearly been willing to confront russia. host: what did you make of the president's comments that defending an aggressive montenegro could cause world war iii? guest: that is unlikely. but montenegro is a member of nato. we have a set of rules and promises that need to be in conjunction with those rules. if you can be a member of nato -- you will be a member. there are not major or minor members. if you are a member of nato, you are a member of nato. host: senator john mccain

tweeting that the people of montenegro boldly -- by attacking montenegro and questioning our obligations under nato, the president is falling into putin's hands. guest: there is not much i would disagree about with that. i would disagree that the president is playing into putin 's hands. in the baltic states and others, it is unlikely there would be a war that is only over montenegro. they would be the tip of the spear, but that would not be something contained only within montenegro. we have made commitments to all of the nato countries. an attack against one is an attack against all. it would spread. it would not be contained to one small geographical area. host: shelley is a republican.

caller: good morning. finally, the republicans have taken a stance and are not as scared of fighting back against the democrats. to say that the president is with russia is insane. he was not president during the 2016 election, at which time it was known that russia was interfering in the election. president obama did nothing. we all know why. he thought hillary was going to win. when we sit back and say donald trump this, donald trump that, what about what happened before that? what about the times we have been involved in other country -- countries' elections? instead of getting rid of this

ridiculous probe into donald trump and any effect he had with russia, which is showing nothing, why don't we get in the business of saying why we continue to have problems? we are putting our resources in the wrong places. guest: i agree except with one thing, and that is over the probe. but you are right. it is nuts for anyone to say the republicans or this president has made life easier for vladimir putin or the russians. i went to a long list of things. ofwill be more capable confronting russia and putin's expansionist -- about how he to expand the warsaw pact. the president says things

sometimes are in eloquent. uneloquent. at the end of the day, look at the actions. there are other examples we can compare and contrast. to --resident obama said he said we until after the election, and we will have more flexibly. you did not have the same uproar in the media as the last few days. -- there is a hyper aggressive press that really dissects everything he says and in a very disparaging way. it is reality. he will have to deal with that and probably be more careful because of that. host: the first caller, when talking about russian

interference, pointing out to the u.s. having interfered in other elections. as a member of the intelligence community, how do you feel about those connections? radio free at europe, look at some of the information we cast into the soviet union, at the time, and other nations around the world. the purpose of that is to influence people. to influence public thinking. and, by extension, influence the leadership of those nations. of course i support that. i think that is appropriate. we should continue to do that. we should support leaders who support democracy, support human rights. we want those people to be put forward in their nation. somewhere on the other extreme of that gray area, you have what the russians did here. which was in a covert and malicious way tried to influence the election.

us arelity is all of trying to influence public perception in various ways. i think we should do that. we should try to support the good guys, tried to support leaders who will support democracy. nate is a democrat. good morning. --ler: i would like to know trump knew. his supporters did not know, but trump knew, through trumpigence, as far as did, that russia interviewed with the election. out andl, he comes continues to tell supporters it is fake news. is what our intelligence findings are fake news? most: i think what happens

often with this president is he does not separate two issues. that are related, but are entirely separate issues. one of them is did the russians attempt to interfere with our election? there is no question they did. and that should not surprise us, as i said. when i came back from moscow before the election, i said they are trying to do that. there is this issue of are they trying to interfere? the second issue is was there collusion between president trump in his campaign? there is no evidence of that at this point. if you look at them you are indictments, they indicate the same thing. there are no u.s. persons alleged to have colluded with russia, including the president and anyone around his campaign. president sometimes put those in the same bin. host: why can he not separate those issues?

guest: i think he is sensitive -- he has been accused for two years now of very serious crime. he and others around him have been accused of treason. when you read some of the suspicious -- suspicions from the department of justice and the language they use, it is very aggressive. it is calling them enemies of the state. accused publicly every single day of treason, i would be very sensitive about that and what to push back on that, if it were not true. i think the president feels the same way. but there is a separation. those are two issues. there was one and evidence of the other. i think the president should be more clear in distinguishing the two. is a in wyoming, bonita republican. caller: good morning. glad to speak with you this

morning. i would like to ask the senator what he thinks about trump going over to russia and asking about the uranium that hillary clinton from the wyoming people and sold it to russia? guest: that is a bit of a sticky issue. i do not think we know enough about that yet. there was an initial investigation. it seems to have been cut short under the obama administration. i think there are some of us would like to look at that deeper than we have in the past. host: do you think a second special counsel might the -- guest: i do not think it requires a special counsel. i am kind of skeptical about special counsels. if there is evidence of a crime, for one thing, and has to be the beginning of a special counsel. they should focus on that one area. too often, special counsels go

on this incredible ride on some any other areas of the law. i think there should be an investigation. my understanding is the current department of justice is looking about one more time. host: out to l.a., david is an independent. caller: good morning. this is interesting to listen and watch. itking about partisanship, is like neon blinking partisanship in his attempts to defend the obvious. and he keeps saying that there is no evidence of collusion. but then he throws in another word -- "yet." guest: let me ask you on that. what evidence -- caller: let me finish my point. you have all the time you need to to rebut.

so to go to the question of this thatsion, and i do believe you can. of the people some of the time, -- you can fool some of the people some of the time with your republican talking points. my question is not so much a question but to point out the obvious. what he is saying is to give cover and comfort to what appears to be a collusion or conspiracy by the trump and republican party -- host: we got your point. guest: you said i was partisan. let me ask you this? what have i said in this conversation that is not true? caller: is that a question for me? guest: what have i said that is not true? question, answer that what have you said that is not true, various -- there is such thing as omission. guest: what would you have me add? caller: i would have you to deal

with this matter with russia like you're getting ready to deal with china. to have open hearings and have people come in and testify. that is something you are willing to do, but you are not willing to blame this thing with what is going on with the president -- guest: this is important. he said i have only done this for partisan purposes. you said i have not said anything that is not true. i am asking what would you want me to say now that you think i have omitted intentionally for partisan purposes? caller: i would like for you to go back to just a press conference with putin. we talk about the nfl people taking any -- i think trump took two knees in that press conference with putin. your attempt to justify and give explanation and cover for him is

obvious -- guest: quite the opposite. when he said those things, the same day, i criticized him for that. what he said was wrong. i have said it since. he was not right when he said the intelligence community did not support, or he did not support the intelligence community and their findings of russian interference. i have said that i do not know how many times the last few days. we can go back and forth on this. layingone is waiting -- awake at night and thinking this president will be up each because of collusion, they will lose a lot of sleep tonight. it is not just me. dianne feinstein said the same thing. general clapper has said the same thing. there is no evidence of collusion. to be fair about this. perhaps we will find something. i think it is unlikely. is not much new we

will learn after two years of looking at this. i have been very fair to this. when this president says things i do not agree with, i am happy to point it out. when i think some others have made accusations against him that are not supported by the evidence, it is fair to point that out as well. host: on the investigations into russian interference, you talk about the house intelligence committee investigations. i want you to compare to the senate intelligence committee that thetions and house one was a more partisan investigation, that the senate one seems to be more bipartisan. how do you feel about that? guest: there is may be some truth to that. one of the things i love about the intel work we have done is we did not do it in front of the cameras. we did it behind closed doors. it was very serious work. we used to be bipartisan on that committee.

the day we became partisan was the day this president was elected. and then we seemed to lose our bipartisanship. presidenty been since trump has been elected that we have been partisan. who walked away from the bipartisanship? guest: i think there is a number of people who did. is wecond thing as -- have been viewed as more partisan because we are more aggressive, more active, in this investigation. some of the findings we were very concerned about, we wanted to tell the meghan people. but when we did that, it was viewed as a partisan effort. russ, illinois, line for republicans. go ahead. caller: yes. the concerned that putin and

estonia and the go around the last few days, the democrats almost wanted the president to slap putin. if you really stop and think, the president needs putin. he has so many irons in the fire. north korea, iran, syria, ukraine. hires north korea, putin hundreds, if not thousands, of north koreans. he could throw that whole north korean deal off in one morning. so why should the president rub salt in putin's eyes? guest: we need to have a good relationship with russia. the second most

powerful nuclear force in the world. the second most powerful nuclear force in the world. they have been an international leader for generations. we want to have as positive relationship with vladimir putin as we have with any nation. but we need to do it on this foundation -- they are not our allies. they would destroy democracy around the world if they could. and they seek to weaken the u.s. as long as we see the problem through that prism, that is good. but when we lose sight of that, it becomes not nearly so helpful. host: last call. sean from florida, democrat. caller: thanks for taking my call. just talking about the russian probe, everybody keeps saying this russian probe should end. you hear so many people on the republican side, independent side, and even on the democrat side. we want this to end, but we want the truth. after watching what the president did in front of the -- in his words.

he threw away our intelligence agencies. and now i hear everybody want to say we disagree with this -- i am sitting here watching a man who works for the mac and people right now who should be acting -- who works for the american people right now who should be acting. you should call him in front of the house, the senate, and he should be answering trivia questions for what he did. questions for what he did. guest: i agree we all want the truth. but once again, i disagreed with the president's comments. i said the very first day he should clarify them. he should be very specific and redefine this for the american people. host: we will let you get to your house intelligence committee meeting. we appreciate you stopping by.

congressman chris stewart, republican from utah. up next, we will be joined by florida democratic congresswoman russianngs to discuss meddling in the 2016 election and the potential threat for the 2018 election. ♪ >> this weekend on american, saturday at 6:00 em eastern on the civil war, will leave him -- a book thatstern, drove many poor people to volunteer. and in lectures in history on from u.s.m war, military escalation to the fall of saigon 10 years later.

sunday at 11:00 a.m., patrick o'donnell and hit " -- and his book "the unknowns." p.m. eastern on reel america, as part of our alaska weekend, four films about alaska. the 1936 film alaska's silver millions. the eskimo hunters and northwestern alaska. the 1967 film of alaska centennial. and the 1944 film of alaska highway. watch american history tv this weekend on c-span 3. sunday night on "q&a," the daughter of american diplomat george kennan. >> i had a client who wanted to

do something with the port of st. petersburg. -- hehad the real mayor was called away until they substituted the deputy mayor. putin. and i was annoyed, because i was not meeting with the mayor. kgb.w putin has been i was negative about it. he came in and was equally negative. he did not want to meet with american woman who claimed to be running a business. i think he was very suspicious of women. .e had no gallantry i havethe coldest eyes ever seen. very big, blue, cold eyes. i wondered what happened if you was interrogating me. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on "q&a." >> "washington journal"

continues. florida democrat val demings joins us now. she says on the democratic task force for election security. have we learned the lessons of 2016 when it comes to election security? are we ready for 2018? , good morning. it is good to be back. protecting our elections is going to be an everyday process. the work we did on the task force was timely. we certainly identified some vulnerabilities. we know russia definitely tried to undermine our 2016 election. with the task force, we were able to look at systems around the country, look at some best practices of states we think are doing it well. we also look at some of the vendors, the machines. many of them are outdated and antiquated.

we learned that paper ballots -- while most people think we are moving into a digital age, we learned that paper ballots are still the most reliable. we also looked at vulnerability assessments and trying to make grants available so different thees that were targeted, 21 states that were targeted or other states that need to improve their systems can actually have someone come in and do a vulnerability assessment. will we be ready in 2018? we will do everything in our power to make sure we are. host: we want to show your sarah sanders yesterday at the press briefing to show what the trap administration has done. [video clip] >> from the beginning of his administration, president trump has taken action to defend our election system. in may of 2017, the president signed an executive order to strengthen and review the cyber security of our nation and its critical infrastructure.

the department of and security has taken the lead in working with altered the states, local governments, and private companies to improve election security. dhs has increased coordination among all of election partners. dhs has received plans for on-site risk and vulnerability assessments to all states that have requested it. a new pilot program was launched to increase rapidly spot is. in 2017, on-site cyber security support was provided. in march of 2018, congress provided the election assistance with $183 million in election grants.ce these are steps we have taken because we see there is a threat. host: does that list impress you? guest: i think from the very beginning, the president of the u.s. has really been in denial

about russia's interference and our 2016 election. while the list is certainly -- as i said earlier, we need to take every step we can. but there is so much more to do. when we talk about cyber security, i believe the president removed the cyber security czar who has been in charge of looking at all of our systems to make sure electric rates and other internet systems that are vital to our nation. -- it is ae list is decent list. there is so much we need to do. host: in robert mueller's indictment of russian agents hacking into the election, the one that came out last week, they identified states -- believed to be illinois, but that was not in the indictment -- as a state that russia had

targeted and actually got into their election website tear what were they trying to do, and d you think that is the only state they got into that far into the website? guest: i certainly think that russia tried to hack several systems in several states. we know that they were able to obtain voter information involving almost half a million individuals. i think they will continue to look at vulnerabilities throughout our nation. particularly those states that we have always looked to on election night. i represent florida. we know florida is a state that keeps us all up on election night. while they are in florida, while there was no evidence that showed that russia was actually able to penetrate our system, we have to continue to be vigilant. host: you mentioned the money be

update systems. how does that get divvied up? and how is it being used in your own state? guest: we were hoping the $380 million will allow different states who are willing to participate in a vulnerability assessment to be able to do that. thate have also learned the moneys that were going to be for election security grants to do those assessments have been zeroed out. the recommendation is for that money to be zeroed out by my colleagues on the other side recently. so we have to see what happens in the senate. host: explain the path then. is the senate proposing for to be zeroed out, or they have not gone that far yet? guest: we have not gone that far yet. host: congresswoman demings

with us until the house gavels in. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. we will start on the line for democrats in west chesterfield, new hampshire. ron, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you so much, "washington journal." i love this show. wonderful guests. donald trump and all the people he has hired since them keeps taking us back to russia. a lot of the people he has in his white house have been connected to russia. not france or germany, but russia. russia, russia, russia. donald trump is a total embarrassment for this country, for everybody in it. he has no morals.

he has no standards. he has no ethics. i think if we cannot get him impeached, we need to try to get the pope to exercise him from the white house, because he is a demon. host: congresswoman? guest: well, as i said in the beginning of our session, i believe the president has been in denial about russia's interference in our election. , thea few days ago department of justice indicted 12 russians. who interfered in our election. military operatives who were working in their official capacity. i do not know how much more evidence you need to show that, clearly, russia was involved. i really thought the president would have canceled his summit, which was scheduled just a couple of days later. he did not. i watched the president of the united states standing next to

the russian dictator and almost reding their, -- standing the in what looked to be a position of weakness and not a position of strength. we do not know what happened in that almost two-hour meeting they had, but there is no information we have learned since that some of that would lead any of us to believe that the directed that the president directly challenged vladimir toin about his attempts undermine our democracy. he needs to be held accountable. host: the caller brought up impeachment. is anything the president has done since being elected that rises to the level of impeachment? guest: what we need to focus on is allowing the evidence in the special counsel's investigation to take us to the place where we need to be. i have full faith and confidence and robert mueller.

an fbi director, stellar career, served his country in the military. could have done so much else. if i were the president, and this investigation was going on, i would want no one other than robert mueller, because he is a man of integrity. i believe that we should allow the special counsel to complete his work and see where that investigation takes us. host: news on the new investigation -- mueller investigation. the special counsel released an evidencelist of against paul manafort. -- have you gotten a chance to see that list or evidence yet? guest: i have not gone that opportunity, but what i do know is this -- the president's

campaign manager is sitting in jail. right now. let's just let that soak in. five other people associated with either candidate trump or president trump have already pleaded guilty. politics, of our regardless of how much we want to support the president, we what is painfully obvious. those are facts. i just believe, as a former law enforcement officer, a former detective, a former chief of police, that where there is smoke, there is fire. [inaudible] -- host: to marilyn, mark is a republican. caller: thank you for taking my call. you stated that you were a

former detective. feel well knowing that james comey stated they did not have direct access to the dmc server to do their own checks, don't you think there is fire there? guest: thank you for your call. for director,, there is no doubt that the inspector general's report indicated that he violated fbi procedure. but what the i.g. report also indicated -- it was all that was there bias in the investigation of hillary clinton emails? look ata real close every step of that investigation, and the conclusion was that there was no bias. that adversely affected the outcome of the investigation.

i do believe that the inspector general gave us an independent review of what took place in that investigation. detective, as a former law enforcement officer, i took an oath. i took it very seriously. i took the job very seriously. i take this job as a member of congress very seriously. no one is above the law. everybody counts. everybody is accountable. host: do you think james comey looked up to his oath? guest: i think james comey violated department rules and procedures. james comey did not violate any laws. the other thing i think the inspector general report demonstrated for us all is that james comey told the truth. jimmy, avon park, florida,

line for democrats. caller: a national treasure is "washington journal." thank you so much. has i believe that putin tapes. peepee also, follow the money. putin's got trump wrapped around his finger. also, when obama came in, the republicans wanted to make him a one-term president. the separation, bipartisan separation, came from. host: we will take your comments. congresswoman, if you want to

pick up on anything from that? guest: it is good to hear from someone from my home state. host: is avon park your district? guest: it is not my district, but it is florida. you know, everybody -- as i said earlier, i think everybody in this country, who is paying attention, regardless of your party affiliation, has to wonder why the president of the united with a russianet after 12just days ofsians working on behalf that russian dictator were indicted for interfering in our elections, undermining our againsty, conspiring the united states. the list goes on. everybody has to wonder that. james is in georgia, line

for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. stated thattative they had adequate information that russia interfered with certain states. i would want her to give us the name of those states. secondly, she just mentioned trump met with the russian leader just days before the information came out about the indictment of the 12 people. that summit was scheduled way before then. it just appeared to mean that the democrats, number 1 -- and someone was talking about embarrassment. the democrats are embarrassed because they lost. they are constantly keep trying to do stuff to take this man's presidency away. so the investment is the democrats. you lost. me say this -- and i

will go back to my law enforcement career. ashose to serve my community a law enforcement officer because i wanted to make my community better. i wanted to improve the quality of life for the people living in orlando. iran for congress -- i think -- i ran for congress. i thank congress that i won. but i serve the same purpose. serve the people of congressional district 10 in florida and improve their quality of life. yes, i am a registered democrat. but when i took the oath here, a law took the oath of enforcement officer, i swore i would protect and defend the constitution of the united states. i do not make decisions on the floor and i do not make decisions as a member of congress based solely on my political party.

every day i come to work, i worked hard to make decisions that are in the best interest of the people that i represent, regardless of whether those decisions are popular or not. yeah, we lost, and it was painful. but i moved on. that, just like every election i have watched since i have been old enough to win, myhad my candidate candidate lose, but at the end of the day, we dusted ourselves off, and it was like "let'gs tst to work." but this president -- "let's get to work." but this president, there has been one issue after another. the fact that he refuses to hold russia accountable. the fact that he has had discussions to lift sanctions on russia ought to cause concern for everybody paying attention. and i stand by that.

host: less than 15 minutes before the house is scheduled to come in for the day. we will of course go there when the house gaveled in -- gavels in. i want to go back to the election security grants. a vote expected to take place on the floor for that. in today's "washington post," the republican argument, the republican saying on the floor debate saying that states had plenty of money from prior congressional allocations. they cite pete sessions saying -- so is there money right now, or isn't there money right now? guest: what i do know is the

money that has proposed, the recommendation is that it gets zeroed out. host: should they spend all the money before it gets zeroed out? guest: to hear you say that states have plenty of money, that is an interesting statement in and of itself. what members of the intelligence community have said to us about the russia probe is that yes, the interfered, and yes, they will be back. we can anticipate it. but not just russia. other foreign enemies of the united states of america will try. that should scare all of us to death. so i think at this time, on the heels of 12 russian operatives being indicted and the information coming out of the that notnce community

just russia about others, we need to do everything within our power to help states that are secure their systems, purchase new equipment. not just the states. we also need to require that with certainup standards or we help vendors develop certain standards that will also make sure that the voting machines have the technology that they need to improve security. -- weeve we should not should spend the money we have. at the additional resources that can bring our election systems that have been under attack of to speed, i think the time could not be better than right now. cleveland,, tennessee, line for democrats. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i have a couple of questions. are used to live in florida. -- iestion to you is

listen to the news and putin refer to our president as "donald." that is not getting much attention. president trump referred to putin as "the president." that deeply disturbs the american people and that deeply disturbs me. the senators, but that came forward, like corker, jeff flake, all of these senators come forward -- that have only been a handful. they doing their jobs, and why would we not want to impeach? because the president has clearly stated "i can pardon myself." fori do have high respect

mr. mueller and peter strzok. that interview last week, that shows the integrity of our law enforcement. i would like for someone to play the sound bite back where putin referred to the american president as "donald" or "donnie." there is a law in that. thank you for your call. in ag basically grown up paramilitary organization in the law enforcement arena, referring to people by their rank is really a way of showing, i an honor to whom honor is due gives respect.

i did not hear the particular statement the caller referred to. whortainly think everyone has been on an official capacity on an official stage talking to president trump should refer to him as the president. i did not hear that, but if that occurred, i think that was totally inappropriate. terry, apittsburgh, democrat. part-timeam a resident of florida did i have lived there 10 years. my granddaughter lives in your district. i appreciate you represent us. i have a question about the uranium deal that obama and clinton sold our uranium to and that was alright. i know there is something. i believe the russians have meddled in our election, and the russians have been our enemy forever, but we should come from

trying to make peace in the world. we have all of these people coming out of syria, refugees trying to invade the united states. we cannot help everybody. we need to keep them in their own countries and teach them to defend themselves. i believe we should make peace with russia. guest: thank you for that call. i think what makes our country so strong and great is our be as strong as a lion but as gentle as a dove. i believe that we are the best, most powerful, most brilliant country in the world. i am so proud that i have had the honor to represent the united states of america in congress. think -- my mother used to quote scripture about to

whom much is given, much is required. i also think that as the leader of the world -- and i do believe we are -- it comes with certain responsibilities. should leadmerica the way in terms of world peace. i have spent 27 years in law enforcement trying to bring peace and comment to a community. america should lead that way. i also believe that with the strength and power we have comes the responsibility to be involved in humanitarian issues around the world. that is exactly who we are. that is something that makes us the great, wonderful country that we are. what also, with that leadership comes the ability to go into other nations and to help them become stronger and more vibrant and more self-sufficient. i also think that is a major

part of our responsibility. but for those who believe that maybe we do too much around the world, i just leave them with my mother's scripture. to whom much is given, much is required. host: the house is in in less than five minutes. johnny is in dallas, texas, line for independents. caller: good morning. -- those kids coming across the borders that have been separated from their mothers and parents, i am just wondering, i know a lot of going on with russia, but i am wondering why do know people pay that a lot more attention? -- why do not people pay that a lot more attention? i think the congress and how should try to get together and do something about that instead of worrying about this president making a mistake on what he said and all that.

what is your take on that? guest: thank you for the call. let me go back to what is going on with russia. i do believe that an attack on is alection security national security issue. i will put that over here to the side for now. i have the opportunity to go to brownsville and visit a detention center, c and speak with some of the -- see and speak with some of the parents have been separated from their children. i believe that seeing is believing. while it may appear that russia is dominating -- we have a lot of issues we are dealing with. but there is not a day that goes by that we are not, either through committee or discussions on the floor or discussions in

the caucus, talking about the 2000 plus children that have been separated from their parents. as a social worker before i became a law enforcement officer. during my law enforcement career, i served as a sergeant and detected in crimes against children. i have been involved in cases where being abused, and the decisions were being made about whether we would separate those children from their parents. it is extremely traumatic to the kids, even when they come from homes that are not good. it is a decision that no one should take lightly. one of our primary goals in the childis to reunite every that has been separated from their parents. it is something we think about daily. number one, it never should have happened.

it was a self-inflicted wound. it was a solution looking for a problem. yes, we are a nation of laws. i enforced them for 27 years. as a police chief, i had a zero-tolerance policy. but it dealt with murderers, robbers, those who committed violent offenses. to do that, separate families, it should have never happened. host: do you have a sense how long it will take to reunite all of those kids with all of his family members? guest: the courts have had to now intervene. i know deadlines have been imposed. we have already missed one. with thed meet secretary of health and human services just yesterday. , if youy is scrambling

will, to reunite those families. we do not know how long it will take. we are trying to get it done as expeditiously as possible. we will keep working until it is done. host: what did the secretary say to you? guest: he talked about the process. kind of reassuring members of the judiciary committee on both sides. what happens once the children are separated, how that process goes, so we can be reassured. we heard a lot of questions about the care children are receiving, so we can be reassured that the children are being properly cared for. he also talks about some of the parents have been involved in criminal activity. many have not. and just trying to make sure that that system is prioritized. we will keep having those meetings until every child is reunited. ,ost: congresswoman val demings you have been a police chief