booker. friday, more from the net roots conference. in primetime on c-span, c-span.org, and with the free c-span radio app. as sure primary source for campaign 2018, a look at the senate race in virginia where tim kaine is facing a challenge by corey stewart. this was hosted by the virginia bar association. it is just over an hour and a half. >> let's move to this morning's event, which features two individuals running to serve as one of virginia's two senators. first to join us is senator tim

kaine, a democrat. he obtained his degree from the university of missouri at harvard law school. after law school, he moved to richmond. for 17 years he served as a civil rights attorney. he was elected to the richmond council in 1994, and then mayor of richmond. he was elected as lieutenants governor and subsequently served as governor in 2006. he has represented virginia in the u.s. senate cents 2012. please welcome senator tim kaine to the stage. [applause]

>> next on stage is mr. corey stewart, a republican. he obtained his degree from the school of foreign service and the william mitchell school of law and minnesota. he works as an international trade attorney at his own firm. atcurrently serves as the large chairman of the board of county supervisors in prince william county. tenure, prince william was ranked number one in job growth and virginia, and number three in the nation. please welcome mr. corey stewart. ]cheers and applause

we are pleased this debate will be monitored by miss judy woodruff who has monitored previous debates. she is managing editor of the pbs news hour. she has covered news for more nbc,four decades at cnn, yet pbs. she is the recipient of more , most5 honorary degrees acently the radcliffe metal, medal for lifetime achievement in journalism, a freedom of press award, and the cronkite award for excellence in journalism. she is graduated from duke university where she is an emeritus. these welcome her to the stage.

-- please welcome her to the stage. [applause] >> thank you very much. i appreciate the welcome. it is great to be back. it is great to be back in how -- hope springs as the homestead. i am pleased to moderate another debate. i agree that hearing from the candidates on the issues, on their records, civil discussion is vital to our democracy. let's get underway with the questions. i want to point out the order of questions was decided throughout the debate by a series of coin tosses. the first opening statement, which is part of the plan, will go to mr. stewart.

stewart: good morning. i would like to begin by thanking everyone for this debate. i would like to think my wife and my two years boys, who are on a well-deserved fishing trip right now. for the last 12 years i've governed one of the largest, most dimon a, and one of the most diverse localities in virginia. during that time, as others have talked i have delivered. money on roadways, schools, parkways, new please, into new firefighters. sense also led a common program with illegal aliens. i have lowered crime. with the lowest tax bills and some of the highest economic growth rates in the country. that is what we needed

washington, we don't have it right now. senator tim kaine is a nice guy, but he is too liberal and too weak and he has done too little for the citizens of the commonwealth of virginia. u.s. senatorong who will stand strong with president trump as we grow the economy, rebuild our military, protect our constitutional rights, and forth the immigration laws and protect our families. that is what i will do as your u.s. senator and that is what we will do as virginians together. thank you very much. >> i want to thank the virginia bar association. my campaign for the senate is based on my life's work in virginia. i want to build a virginia that works for us.

it is about three things. first and foremost it is about virginia. ofwill talk about a lot issues. what i do is listen to virginians and either solve with problems or get help them. when a family came to me and told me their daughter died of cancer at age 11 and told me we spend less than 1% of research money on pediatric conditions, i passed a bill and we have put more than $50 million to the cause of pediatric research. stood in a county yesterday with stakeholders who had worked diligently to try to preserve 6000 acres of the george forest.on national i introduced a bill to take

advantage of their work last october. it passed as part of the farm bill. work., it it is about when virginia veterans tom in their unemployment rate was higher than the national average i worked on my first bill. form a career in education bill that would force shipbuilders to grow our navy to 365 ships. two words oflast the pledge of allegiance, it has to work for all. thelanguage you speak, religion you practice, who love, that should not matter at all. we're in a time when it is too divisive. is picking fights. we need a later two pillars together. together. us virginia does not want to go

back. we want to have people who work for us. judy: thank you senator mccain. i want to remind everybody there were applause takes time away. it takes time away from opportunities to speak. question goes to senator kaine, let's start with the economy. year and a half, the country has added over 3 million jobs. unemployment has fallen to 4%. corporate profits are soaring. the virginia economy is booming. what would you do differently? >> the virginia economy was strong before president trump came into office. .he virginia economy was strong yes, the economy has continued to be strong but there are

warning signs. i would not engage in foolish trade wars like this president is engaging in, which is ultimately a war against workers and farmers. i traveled around virginia. these tariffs are leading to retaliation. it will gain 30,000 jobs in certain sectors, but it will cost amerco 430,000 jobs in other sectors. ones at the farmers market week ago and farmers were campaigning -- complaining about the cost of soybeans. the auto plant in dublin that makes trucks was talking about higher costs of steel and aluminum hurting their this is. the poultry office was complaining this week about trade tariffs. we need to stop this. it is hurting american workers.

finally, cases against china, that is good. i think the president is right to focus on china as an issue but using trade sanctions against canada, europe? using national security waivers against nations whose troops are fighting side-by-side with ours all over the world? the economy would be better without this trade war against american workers and american farmers. judy: could you address how this is going into profit and stock buybacks instead of higher wages. >> i see a different virginia. i was indian villain saw boarded up shops. i see young people who have left. i see the people who remain struggling to stay afloat. i see out of control opiate addiction. i see a place where the suicide up. has jumped

? why? because we had so little economic growth under president obama. million jobs back to this country under the trade -- we've lost all those jobs. they are not coming back unless we open foreign markets to goods.n made i'm in international trade attorney, double even free trade. but free trade must be free in both directions. for too many years it has meant products are coming in and flooding our market. -- we would want president trump is doing the right thing to pry open foreign markets. this has been a full seven growth due toomic this tax cut senator kaine voted against and which he wants to

cut short this economic growth by repealing it and taking away your tax cut. that is not what we need. here is what we need to do. we need to of hearings and do bipartisan tax reform. here is what americans got. for, permanent tax cuts corporations. tiny, temporary, expiring tax cuts for people. the priorities were wrong. thatould have a tax cut prioritize it for regular people. don't cut the tax rate of corporations, cut it to 25, make the individual tax cuts. with a few other moves you can the individuals and reduce deficit. we wanted to do tax reform. but the president was more interested and permanent and

temporary cuts. people first. we are not going to repeal the tax cut but we have worked to do to make sure that tax cut is going to the people. judy: the second question goes to mr. stewart. federal deficit today after the obama years is exploding again. it is expected to exceed one trillion dollars by 2020. the national debt, more than -- $3 trillion in a decade. if elected, what would you do, what cuts would you make in entitlements which are the biggest expenditures and what revenues would you raise. i've it is kind of interesting

because senator kaine has been too much time talking to nancy pelosi and other elites. the average virginia family, according to the irs, will receive annually $2617 in tax cuts. that is for a couple without children. when you couple that with the fact that you are doubling the standardized deduction and the child tax credit, that means more money in the pockets of virginia families. reliefs for tax andinia citizens businesses. the only way we will solve our problems and pay down our deficit which he jacked up over his six years in the united trillionnate with a dollars worth of deficit spending that gave us almost nothing.

grew while he was together with barack obama running this country. now we have a growth expansion. we will see even more revenue for the government. with that, we could reduce the other problems we have in this country. we could address education and transportation and rebuild our military. sen. kaine: corey stewart supported the biggest tax bill. $120 trillion of additional debt in the next 10 years. i put a proposal on the table to reduce that but he and others were against it. we can bring our debt under control but not write a massive giveaway. corey stewart talks about benefits, but they were

temporary. they were small. they are expiring. why would we let corporations completely deduct taxes but eliminate the ability of individuals to completely deduct that? the way to deal with the deficit ando grapple with expenses try to manage our money the right way. i'm on the armed services committee. the pentagon was the only area auditing.quired now for the first time we will have audited statements so we can manage those expenditures. we need to shore up programs like medicaid, medicare, and social security. repealtewart wants to medicaid. we should not do that. we should do meaningful things like an adjustment of the

payroll tax under social security that would help us maintain the solvency of programs going forward. stewart:: senator, you have a selective memory. when you are governor, when you thought,ame governor i well, here is somebody with some background to will try to fix our campaign problem. you know with the first thing he did was when he became governor? he proposed a $4 billion tax increase. increase.n dollar tax since that, he proposed to additional tax increases. the last tax increase he imposed was so radically left and liberal that he did not even get a single democrat to vote for this tax proposal increase.

that. never fixed all we got was increased taxes. judy: mr. stewart:, again, social security and medicare, what is your position? the end of the day, it is not a welfare benefit. about to retire have paid into social security and medicaid for their entire cannot cut those benefits. i think we need to cut medicaid but no change whatsoever to medicare. senatoris is turning to cain. drugcketing prescription prices are problem, you favor

medicare being able to negotiate. would you go forward and engage? kaine: i supported the expansion. i supported medicaid expansion and virginia. my opponent of post the affordable care act. did not want to do medicaid expansion. we are very different on health care. what we do about prescription drug prices? i think our government should negotiate. we should negotiate for prescription drug pricing under medicare part d. congress eighth a huge gift to the pharmaceutical agency with that was passed. we can use the same free-market commercial tools to negotiate as

anybody else. of course we should negotiate prices.cription drug here's another tool we should use. we should try to get best prices . i drank that treats leukemia had -- ane call in and said, drug that treats leukemia had someone: about pricing. i asked our secretary, and you know what a best prices? what it you look at it and say, we will pay you the best price you give any other nation. he said he would taken under advisement. we should be using normal commercial pollster negotiate just like anybody else. judy: mr. stewart. mr. stewart: senator kaine is hanging out with the washington elites too much. what i see out there, who here

can honestly say the quality and price of their health care has improved since obamacare was put into place? in the real world, we had skyrocketing premiums. skyrocketing deductibles. the quality has gone down. people are waiting longer to get health care they deserve. in california, liberal california, the state of california has estimated by 2021 the cumulative increase in premiums for all americans undee will have increased by 90%. 90%. and yes, it is about to get worse. every single health insurance company here in the commonwealth has already announced that with the exception of one, they are going to be increasing premiums on virginia's for health care by up to 64%. senator kaine thinks that is a victory.

all that he has done for american health care is to make it worst. to increase the cost. the only way we will fix the problem is to stop protecting the insurance companies and make them compete across state lines. that means making pharmaceutical companies accountable. through his buddy. that is why he supports it. sen. kaine: i tell you who has benefited by the affordable care health act. it is by those who were getting charged different premiums because of gender. it is for kids who could not stay on family policies until age 26 as they do now, before was passed. over and over again, those that did not have insurance. the uninsured has fallen to the lowest level in 50 years. of course that means nothing to my opponent.

he wants to eliminate the affordable care act. he is for the repeal of medicaid at the national level. he wants to defund planned parenthood which is a health care safety net for millions of americans. in the board of supervisors, he slashed public health spending by 35% as other diseases were going up. we don't need a destructive working crew on health care in the senate. we need someone to make health care better and drug costs cheaper. . judy, the next question is on the affordable care act. do you support -- judy: the next question is on the affordable care act. new --agree with the been aacare has

disaster. but there are some good things. i support being able to keep your children under the age of 26 on your health care plan. i also support covering pre-existing conditions. that is common sense. has ledlem is obamacare to vast increases in the cost of health care. for every person that is now covered under a obamacare that did not have insurance before, the vast majority has seen premiums skyrocket so much that so many small business people in the state and country and regular individuals can no longer afford health care insurance. clear.make this this cadillac plan of the u.s. senate, he is on that and is completely out of touch with what is going on. there is a difference between having health care insurance and having access to health care. oh, obamacare does not work. deductible.cketed

it is about to get worse and he is not about to do anything about it. sen. kaine: i'm talking to virginians every day health care. about a year ago the republicans culminated their nine-month effort to repeal. corey supported that. the estimates were between $20 million -- 20 million and 39 americans that would've been taken away from. you should have seen the virginians who came to my office. mothers with disabled children. children who would been victimized forever by pre-existing conditions, victimized forever by lifetime tax. -- they put in massive cuts to medicaid. medicaid provides wheelchairs to these kids. supplies iep's if they

need extra help at school. a lot of this is critical to the health of virginia's. it is for juniors who are telling me, don't destroy what we have. -- it is virginians were telling me not to destroy what we have. this would direct the senate centers for medicare and put in on the exchange so in the individual could bite. medicare does not have to cover a margin. they don't have to run a marketing campaign. they don't have to pay salaries are one big advertising campaigns. the medicare act will be the next step forward. let people if they so choose by a medicare-like policy can't pay for it. it won't increase the deficit, won't touch the medicare trust fund. judy: mr. stewart. mr. stewart: senator kaine seems

to think all of the solutions belong in washington. he thinks washington bureaucrats tow better than you do how run our state, our government, and our health care system. medicare has been a place since 1965, virtually unchanged. it is vastly inefficient. it does not work for the people on it. it is bad for tax payers. it is bad for all of you. the fact of the matter is as they doubled the number of people on medicaid, what they did not do is double the number of physicians serving medicaid patients. that is what i am saying. he does not understand, it is not the same thing as actually providing access to health care. medicaid is failing. it needs to be brought back. be brought back to

the citizens. judy: it is now time for the candidates to ask one another questions. mr. stewart has a question for senator kaine. ran forart: before you vice president you support a drilling off the coast, you supported restrictions on late-term abortions. you supported a lot of things. you supported the transpacific partnership. then, is in a true when you joined the hillary clinton campaign after hillary told you to change your positions, you changed all of those positions and others. sen. kaine: no. not at all. corey, when he got into the race said it would be nasty and fishes. make a personal, make it nasty, is an example.s with drilling, we did an offshore energy plan that said

let's explore offshore drilling. not do it, but see if it is worthwhile. remember the bp oil spill? massive? people changed their positions. local governments changed their positions to oppose it. now, all of the communities in many of these are against offshore drilling. the dod came out against it. the biggest killer came out against it. when the dod came out against it, i had the pentagon officials in my office and met with them. when they said they were against it i said we should not do it. there is no reason to risk the economic health or the military security of hampton roads for a speculative adventure that poses environmental risk. judy: the next question to mr. stewart.

you want to respond? sen. kaine: i thought that was the rule. mr. stewart: we all want to play by the rules. we all want to play by the truth. in 2008, you appeared on "the charlie rose show" and said it was a moral imperative there be restrictions on late-term abortions. those abortions occurring through the ninth month. and then -- and then -- and then -- this is my time -- in january of this year, you voted against a bill, opposing restrictions on abortion, even up to the moment of her -- of birth. you won't even impose restrictions up to the moment of birth in the ninth month of the pregnancy when, just 10 years ago, in 2008, you told charlie

rose that you supported those restrictions. haven't you effectively abandoned your morals? sen. kaine: make it nasty, make it personal or make it up. i support many of the virginia reasonable rules on abortion. the bill recently would have restricted any abortion after 20 weeks because it is unconstitutional. i took a note to uphold the an oath to uphold the constitution. numerous courts have held that it is unconstitutional. you want to repeal roe versus wade, that is fine. you want to go back to the day where a woman would be subject to be an arrested, prosecuted, and jailed. we would use criminal law against women for making their own reproductive health care decisions. i live by my churches teachings -- my church's teaches, but my job is not criminalizing women for exercising their own reproductive choices. that is where i stand. that has not changed. [applause]

judy: continuing somewhat on the topic, the next question does go to mr. stewart. on the supreme court, president trump's nomination of judge kavanagh, you have said use support judge kavanagh. you said you would like to see roe versus wade overturned. you said you would not vote for any nominee that did not pledge to overturn roe. what other specific litmus test would you have for a supreme in -- for a supreme court nominee? mr. stewart: first of all, judge kavanagh is eminently qualified, as stated by the dean of yale university law school. he is also supported by many of those at harvard university law school, where he teaches. but you can bet your bottom dollar that senator kaine, who is an ultraliberal, who takes his orders from chuck schumer and nancy pelosi and hillary clinton, that he will be voting against judge kavanagh. he will be coy about it and say that he is considering it.

at least the other senator from warner, has been very open that he is opposed to it. but senator kaine will vote against him. why? because he is against any ring that president trump does. he will automatically vote against anything the president does. he will automatically vote against anything that president does to revive the economy, against even the most eminent judge in the united states for the supreme court. he will do that because he is and also liberal who is controlled by the ultra liberal left-wing of his party. there's only one real qualification. you need to interpret the constitution as amended, as written. that is the only qualification. that is what i will do when i confirm judges to the supreme court. [applause] judy: senator kaine.

sen. kaine: make it nasty, make it personal, make it up. [booing] kaine: i have voted for so many of president trump's nominees and i work with them everyday. i have voted for many of his judicial remedies. president trump and i have worked together to make a commitment for this nation that we would grow from a 270-ship navy to a-355 ship navy. front row, ivanka trump was in the front row. president trump had a bill that i wrote with rob portman for his infrastructure plan. this guy is a 100% for president

trump your family separation, that's ok. the horrible helsinki summit with vladimir putin, he's fine. he is a 100% pro-trumper. i'm independent. when the president is right, i back him up. when he is wrong for the commonwealth, i stand up against it. on judge kavanagh, i am reading his opinions, scheduling a meeting with him and meet with him. personally,with him something republicans refused to do when judge garland was nominated. after i have the opportunity to personally ask him about things that are important, i will wait for the hearing and make up my mind. i put people on the virginia supreme court did i know how important this is. judy: would you push the supreme court to ban all abortions? would it worry you that women with no financial means would

have struggle to have access? mr. stewart: roe versus wade was wrongly decided. it goes back to the states. don't be fooled, folks. he opposes everything president trump does. he has done a lot of great things and i support those things. but he opposes everything automatically. he voted against judge gorsuch, didn't even have a good reason . why? because he opposes everything president trump does. he even voted against giving more money to our men and women in the military service and housing allowance. why? because he opposes everything that president trump proposes. sen. kaine: as a proud member of the armed services committee, i

support the armed services with my own flesh and blood. my boy is an infantry commander in the marine corps. we did a fantastic deal for the military this year, a great budget deal in march that i worked on as a member of the armed services committee. the men and the women in the military that i visited around the world know that i have their back. they know i am battling to reduce the veterans and employment rate, to reduce the military spouse unemployment rate. the great thing for virginia, the bill that we wrote to expand the navy to 355 ships will mean thousands and thousands of jobs for virginia workers in the hampton roads area and communities all over this commonwealth. mr. stewart: so why did you vote against it? he voted against it. he voted against it. he continues to vote against everything that president trump

-- this year, he voted a dance the 355-ship navy. he voted against the $7.1 billion for the v.a. sen. kaine: look at -- mr. stewart: i'm not done. he voted against the salary increases for our military men and women who are serving in harm's way. he voted against the housing allowance. he voted against all these things, not just because he is a left wing, radical liberal. but because he opposes everything that president trump does. it is an automatic no. whether it is good for virginia or bad for virginia, he opposes everything that president trump does. sen. kaine: make it nasty, make it personal, make it up. [booing] sorry, the truth hurts. i voted for the appropriations

bill that i helped work on in march that funded all of the things that we needed to find to -- to fund to back up our military. i am very proud of that vote because it is not only right for the security of the nation but right for virginia. judy: on special counsel robert mueller's investigation into russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election, from what you know, do you think it is likely there was collusion with americans, including the trump campaign, to assist a very sophisticated operation? sen. kaine: i do not want to judge the investigation before it is done. --view on the mueller nation investigation is it is looking into some of the most serious charges that can be alleged. it has to be protected. i am talking to an audience that includes many lawyers. the virginia bar association believes in the rule of law. the virginia bar association does not believe me in d meaning judges, attacking prosecutors, and in deep meaning our intelligence and security

professionals. we have to let the mueller investigation get to its end point. there have already been 30 indictments and five guilty pleas. these are not minor functionaries. president trump's campaign manager is sitting and virginia based on charges connected to investigation. what we need to do as congress, all of us, democratic and republican, is commit that the investigation be protected and that we get to the bottom of it. at the end of the day, it is not just criminal culpability of people who do things wrong. it is about knowing the whole story so we can protect our election systems, so that the mayors and board chairs and governors to run elections can protect themselves against the proven cyber attack by russians against our democracy in 2016. so judy, what i say to this is the investigation. i know my colleague says he wants to deep six it.

that would be grievous for our country. mr. stewart: senator mccain seems to be surprised that russians are behaving like russians. they have been spying for years. he was noticeably silent when russians shot down a malaysian airline when obama was in office. he was notably silent when russians invaded crimea when president obama was in office. we have a president who is standing up to the russians. and now, senator kaine -- [laughter] mr. stewart: now we have senator kaine -- now we have senator kaine who wants to declare the russians our enemies. he wants to imperil that relationship, jeopardize one of the most important bilateral relationships this country has, and that is frightening given that he is in the foreign relations committee. it is important, we have a geopolitical issues we have to work out with the russians, containment of weapons of mass

destruction, fixing the north korean issue and security on the korean peninsula and battling international terrorism, those are all things were we have things in common with russia. we need to continue to work with them. i think the president is right. we have to acknowledge the russians are always going to be up to their meddling, spying, etc., but you do not deep-sixed that relationship and all of those important national security interests we have where we have to cooperate with the russians based upon that a alledge ed meddling -- based upon that allegedly meddling. mccain, as you respond, i want to ask you what your view is efforts by some

republican members of congress including representative bob goodlatte who represents the district where we are to focus instead on alleged fbi abuse. senator mccain: -- i will begin an answer and say he did not say a word about it. when he is not in this room he says it should he terminated. he is a president trump act alike and takes the president trump line in calling for the termination of the investigation. that would be a disaster. if there's anything that illustrates the difference between us, it is corey stewart saying that president trump is standing up to the russians area president trump is caving to the russians. president trump went over and picked a fight with allies, canada, the u.k., germany but then when he was on a stage and next to vladimir putin, the --

who it was concluded attacked our elections, he went all soft and he believed vladimir putin who has -- over americans who have concluded russia was attacking our elections. your statement that the president is standing up to vladimir putin is an example of you being a 100% trump first guy. virginia-first guy. judy: mr. stewart, when you respond, do you believe it is a witch, the mueller investigation? look, i think it is. i think that everything the president does is an automatic no. he and chuck schumer who he takes orders from, you can tell, take a look at c-span some time, he is always looking to chuck schumer. what should i do? what should i do? he is not answering to virginians, he is answering to chuck schumer and all they are trying to do is undermine the president who has been incredibly successful, at reviving this economy, a 4% growth rate where we are rebuilding our military and bringing pride back to our country. we are supporting our veterans.

he opposes it every step of the way. he voted against the navy and against the military pay increase and against the military holiday allowance. he voted against the tax cut that has led to this economic growth, and he wants to undo it, we cannot let that happen, we cannot let the senator from virginia go up to washington and repeal your tax cut. [applause] judy: and now we have another candidate, the other candidate question and that is senator kaine for mr. stewart. corey, in december the board of supervisors had a meeting and there were important topics on the agenda, zoning matters that were important. a discussion about opioid funding, opioids affect every

part of virginia. you skipped that to campaign for roy moore. at the time you skip the meeting to campaign for roy moore, he had been outed as someone who had a long history of preying on teenage girls. why was it so important to skip your job in prince william county and go campaign for someone who was such a bad apple? mr. stewart: well, let me ask you this question? why is it that you skipped your entire four years when your governor of virginia? four years. [cheers and applause] mr. stewart: tim kaine gets elected in 2005 on what promise? that he was going to fix the roadways in virginia. he proposed tax increases three times, one of those times i was declared unconstitutional. talk about things that were unconstitutional, he was a lawyer, it is unanimous, his proposed fix was unconstitutional. he did not fix the road. that is why we had $40 one-way tolls and i-66 today because he could not fix the roads. all he does is increase taxes, he gets nothing done, folks.

think back. ask the question, when he was four years as governor, what did he get done? six years in the u.s. senate, what did he get done? we cannot afford to have a u.s. senator gets nothing done. kaine: i knew you could not look this audience in the face and say the word roy moore. it was disgraceful. you knew who he was and you did that. what did i do? i was governor for four years, every year, forbes magazine named virginia the best state to do business with and cnbc did the same. we were aaa bond rated. education week named us the best child to be raised in america. and the best managed state. in the worst recession since the 1930's, we had one of the 10 lowest unemployment rates and one of the 10 highest median incomes. you say i have done nothing in the senate, that says you think things are not important.

for the parents who depend on pediatric research, you think -- they think that is important and you do not. for people who want a 355 ship navy you do not think that is much, i do. for eight tribes who have tried for generations to be recognized by the federal government and you do not think that is much that virginians think those are accomplishments that really matter. judy: question now for mr. stewart. values and beliefs, both of you. you have had public appearances or been endorsed by in the past richard hinds and jason kessler, all of whom have espoused white supremacy or anti-semitism. you said you disavowed both.

but the national republican senatorial committee has refused to support you and other republicans who ask why this pattern of associating at all with people who promote hate? my question is why did not more republicans associate themselves with these men at the time you did? mr. stewart: i grew up to believe all people are equal, all people are born equal, my father was a line sherman, i grew up in a working-class family. there is not a racist bone in my body. i'm an eagle scout, i believe in a equal opportunity for all. someone came out, i did not know at the time, i meet hundreds of people. you should know that. i disavowed them. everyone of them. every single time we have come across someone like that but you know what? he has not. the same standard has not been held, you in the media have failed, you have not held them accountable for the people who

are anti-semitic and bigoted. he has someone in the city of charlottesville who is an open racist. congressmen, a democratic nominee for congress in the fifth district, leslie cockburn, who wrote a book where she actually believes, she stated that somehow jewish people in this country of taken over america's foreign policy. she said that jewish people were a menace, israelis were a menace, she congratulated saddam hussein for attacking israel with scud missiles and killing israeli children. and yet, not only has he endorsed her, not only does he continue to appear with her but he shares an office with her where i presume the share views as well in charlottesville. .udy: senator kaine

sen. kaine: i would never attack people for people who support him but when corey chooses to associate himself with someone else. that is on corey. jason kessler, it was obvious that people knew who he was and corey went to jason's events. the architect of that horrible tragedy in charlottesville that led to the death of a paralegal two state troopers, it was corey who sought out jason kessler, not the other way around. corey sought out paul neyland. you have to search to find him. he is a notorious anti-semite, anti-islamic, violent language and corey did not just seek him out, corey went and appeared with him and called him one of his personal heroes.

he paid paul to get his supporter list because he thought those are my kind of people, i want to reach out to them. corey went and campaigned for roy moore who had been outed as a predator on teenage girls, it was not moore coming to corey's events, it was corey going to roy moore's events. he knows who these people are. this is an individual who is a lawyer and georgetown grad. he knows what they stand for. and he has decided to try to use whatever it is about them he finds attractive to gain support. that is not what we need representing virginia in the u.s. senate or anywhere. judy: mr. stewart. mr. stewart: i have disavowed people. why have you not yet disavowed thesewhy have you not yet disavowed leslie cockburn? an open anti-semi, someone who claims that somehow jewish people in this country have taken over the foreign-policy establishment in the united

states? the one who congratulated saddam hussein for attacking israel with scud missiles, why have you not disavowed yourself from her? i disavowed myself from everybody who has been identified as an anti-semite or a bigot or racist but the press has not held you accountable. you still have not disavowed yourself from these people, a double standard. every time you find a conservative, anyone who supports president trump or wants to protect our monuments, find someone who [indiscernible] that is why president trump defeated you and hillary. sen. kaine: make it nasty, make it personal, make it up. booing] kaine: i know the truth

hurts. you can look through the record, i have not called you a racist, i do not call people racists unless they are white supremacists. and you did not disavow yourself. you knew they were when you went and hung out with them, when you paid them for their fundraising list, when you said they were your personal hero. only when you were caught and it got hot for you, you knew who they were. only when you got caught did you disavow. you have not disavowed roy moore's name yet. you would not say his name when i brought him up and ask why you skipped prince william business to support someone who praise on -- preys on teenage girls. there are thing about the israeli foreign-policy i like and dislike. i am the chief democrat on the foreign relations committee, i i have been to israel more times i have been to any other country, but you can be critical of someone's foreign policy.

mr. stewart: so you do not think what she said in that book was anti-semitic? i think it was critical of foreign policy. opposed toink it was jews. i do not think it was unfair. mr. stewart: how come you have not disavowed her? sen. kaine: i disavowed every bigot and anti-semitic. judy: let's have one response. we will move onto the next question. sen. kaine: i do not have to agree with all of her foreign-policy views. there are not necessarily mine but to say her views make her an anti-semi, it is a scurrilous charge and not true. sen. kaine: you said you would disavow all these individuals, does that include roy moore?

--ator kaine stewart: we have 40-year-old allegations, what bothered me about that was that everyone assumed, we are presumed innocent until proven guilty and what happened is the left-wing and media present he was guilty. imagine if someone went back to you and 40 years later said you did this and they said you need to prove that you are innocent 40 years later. i think that is wrong. judy: next question. i have been incorporating questions from virginia bar association members throughout, there were a number of suggested questions on immigration. your critical of the president's immigration policies, your opponent says what you are for is open borders which would unleash more terrorism from gangs like ms 13. sen. kaine: again making it up. he recently got fact checked for saying that and it was pants on fire, lie.

pants on fire for what he is saying. i'm leave our nation's rate because immigration, proud woman certainly breakfast and said she had become a u.s. citizen from jamaica and the staff letterhead -- and my staff member here in the audience had read a letter. farmers tell me this, oyster men on the eastern shore tell me this so coming to the senate i believe incompetence of immigrationhensive reform. one of the first bills we worked on past the senate with bipartisan support. comprehensive reform. billions of dollars for border security, helping employers determine immigration and bona fides for employees. along again arduous path. these are reforms for our workforce.

that is what i support. over and over again, i voted for border security. i voted for increases in border security. i crafted a bipartisan bill with 16 senators to put on the president's desk, let's trade protecting dreamers with $25 billion in border security and every penny you asked for, can you take yes for an answer? and he turned it down. he turned it down. what we need is comprehensive immigration reform. mr. stewart: earlier this year president trump and republicans proposed legislation foray 355-ship navy, including another in veterans care and legislation $7.1 billion that would have increased the salaries for military personnel and an increase in the housing allowance. he voted against all of it. why? because he wanted amnesty for illegal aliens. liberal democrats like to talk about the dreams of people come here legally but what about the

, dreams of people who are here legally, what about the dreams of people who came here legally like my wife? [applause] what about the dreams of u.s. citizens who because of illegal immigration are forced to take wages lower than they otherwise would be? what about the dreams of u.s. citizens have had their lives taken by illegal aliens? and three weeks ago, he attends and participates in and cheers on an abolish isa rally. you know when ice does? ice works with local law enforcement jurisdictions to root out criminal illegal aliens including ms 13 gang members who , are preying on our young people in this country, who are working to root out those who are doing sex trafficking coming across the border and you want , to eliminate that agency that is doing all that important law enforcement work to keep our families safe all in the name of , political correctness because you are too weak to stand up to nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. [applause] ms. woodruff: senator kaine.

sen. kaine: please notice the answer was all about getting immigrants against citizens. we are a nation of immigrants, we are a nation of immigrants, there is no need to do that. we are a nation of immigrants, it was in the declaration of independence. we need comprehensive immigration reform. the president is undertaking activities not only against folks who are here undocumented, he wants to eliminate or reduce family migration which is legal , immigration. he is slowing down these approvals which is hurting our , businesses. he is making it hard for students to come here, for investor oars and innovate oars to come here, for tourists to come here. so he's just against immigration. that is just wrong. we have to have competence of policy. he says i went to an abolish ice rally. that is a lie. i went to a rally that was against president trump's heartless policies of taking kids out of their families' arms

at the border. it was a family unification rally, and overwhelmingly, americans, even republicans, even those who supported president trump when they saw president trump do that, it hit their moral gag reflex. that is not who we are. ms. woodruff: do you want to respond? mr. stewart: absolutely. it is on the record. he goes to an abolish i.c.e. rally. democrats stood up for the middle class. they stood up for the little man. they stood up for common people but not anymore. . but not anymore. they have been taken over by the radical left that he supports and he takes attention, he takes orders from the radical left. that is why he went there. he went there with an abolish ice rally, and now he is trying

to portray it as some church meeting. you have not been accountable for the fact that you want to remove the protections from american citizens all in the , name of putting illegal aliens even if they have criminal first, backgrounds. ms. woodruff: i want to ask each one of you a very brief follow-up to this. senator kaine, there was an times"al in "the roanoke a few days ago asking why , shouldn't role parts of virginia have a policy of some parts of rural canada where they are losing population but where they are pushing their federal government to send immigrants their way to make up for the loss. the needs of virginia are important. my wife's family is from rona. that is why i fought so hard when president trump wanted to eliminate funding for the

appalachian commission. we have to maintain these tools to help all parts of the state. trade wars are hitting ag hard in rural virginia. i do not know if the canadian policy or why they might want to direct people to certain areas, so i could not support it without knowing more. but go to rural virginia and eu are going to find a lot of immigrants. go into hospitals and look who the health care providers are. talk to farmers, i was talking to dairy farmers and i thought they would talk about taxes and regulation and they wanted to talk about immigration reform. they have a hard time getting the worst -- getting the workforce they need and they want to talk about visa reforms. that is part of the immigration reform bill that we did in 2013. the votes are still there in the senate. we could put a bill on the president desk. ms. woodruff: a quick follow up on the question of family separation.

one of my colleagues at "the news hour" reported not to exceed go a 14 month old had been separated at the border from his mother, held for 85 days, and when he was returned he had not been based and was and wasot been bathed i covered with lice. a lot of people say we need to monitor the borders, but is that sort of treatment worth holding a tough line on immigration? mr. stewart: everybody's hearts are torn out by seeing children separated from their families, no one wants to see that. tim kaine would like to believe that because we do not agree with his ultraliberal policy of letting everybody into this country, even if they have criminal backgrounds, that we do not have hearts. it is not true. the fact is, that this started underneath the obama administration, not under president trump. in fact president trump is the , one who ended that policy. of 12,000 children who are in federal custody, 10,000 were voluntarily separated by their parents. you know why? because the democrats in congress, the ultraleft who do not want any border security

, gave the impression together with president obama that if you came here with your children or children across the border without you, that eventually your family could come over. you know what happened? crisis, because people did. many millions of poor people tried to get into this country, trying to look for a better living and what they were met with was chaos and a humanitarian crisis. what president trump is trying to do is bring order to our border to make sure if we have , immigration, but it must be legal and based upon merit and you cannot have a criminal act -- criminal background and you , have to be able to support yourself and your family and you , have to make america a better place, not an unsafe place. that is the kind of immigration i am for. ms. woodruff: next question for mr. stewart. turning to energy, mr. stewart

at the price of gasoline has , been rising steadily in the country, the average was $2.88 a gallon. the expectation is that it will rise a lot more. what should the trump administration and congress do? mr. stewart: what we have to do is not to do what tim kaine and the ultraleft have done, to try to restrict the pipeline, the keystone pipeline, and try to restrict the energy resources here in our country. we are now, get this, the united states is now the largest combined supplier of oil and gas resources on the planet. by 2022, the united states will become a net exporter of oil and gas. that is what needs to be our policy. when you do that and we're happy to have these oil resources coming out, not just from texas but from north dakota and elsewhere is that we are , bringing down not only the price of gasoline for consumers, but it is important to our national security. we no longer need to be reliant because upon oil from the

mideast which has caused so many , of these unnecessary wars we have been involved in. so i strongly support the president's policy of continuing to explore for oil and natural gas resources here in the u.s. ms. woodruff: senator kaine? sen. kaine: i support many aspects of the president energy -- of the president's energy policy as well but not all of , them. i joined with democrats and republicans to and the moratorium on the export of petroleum. that had been put in place in in the 1970's, and it was no longer necessary because of the tremendous american domestic production which i support. , i supported ending that and on soi supported ending that and on -- that band on exporting and , that has been good for energy exploration, for energy jobs in the u.s., and has helped our allies. but i will tell you what i do not support. i do not support offshore drilling. this is off virginia.

this is an area where we differ. was open to the exploration of it in but after the bp oil spill 2007, and hampton roads, 1.6 barrels, the center of naval operations in the u.s., the affected population, they second-most affected population, they switched their position and now that region is rocksolid opposed to offshore drilling, it would hurt military, tourism, nasa operations, it would hurt the chesapeake bay. a critical difference between co rey and me is offshore drilling. another area, i promote low carbon energy. the president made a huge mistake by pulling out of the terrace climate accord. the good news is innovation will , continue to raise forward future. low-carbon it is not that the u.s. will be in the lead position we should

be an and we would have been an had we stayed in that accord. mr. stewart: he says one thing and he does another. he wants greater oil and gas production but he voted against , every attempt to do so. it was under president trump that we are becoming the largest producer of oil and gas resources. it is critical to our economy, it is critical to national security. if you truly believe and you keep doing this, he says he is for these things but then he votes against them, just like when he said he was for the military, and for the 355-ship navy, and then voted against it or it just like he votes against a pay increase for our military servicemen and servicewomen. he says he is for the military but votes against their housing allowance. he says one thing but does another. he has accomplished nothing, nothing in six years of his u.s. senate, not a single major accomplishment in the entire time has represented virginia and the u.s. senate. sen. kaine: you do not think pediatric research matters,

tribal recognition matters, you do not think a 355-ship navy matters. increasinghink career and technical education matters. that is you. it matters to virginians. kaine,druff: senator staying on energy. earlier this year, the commonwealth bought back a limited version of a tax credit to help some of the state's coal producers. the governor said part of the reason was to boost southwest virginia's economy. but critics have seized on a report that suggests that a previous version of this tax credit failed to stem the virginia coal industry's decline. senator is it better federal , policy to prop up, to keep alive an industry that is declining, or to work to retrain and retool workers and companies? sen. kaine: i think you have to do a little bit of both, judy. i think you always need to be focused on training and new skills, but i do think that there is research that we should be doing at the federal level to

determine whether there is a way to make the existing coal plants we have cleaner every day. my attitude about coal is cleaner tomorrow than today. , i was proud to work to get the permit and open the coal city plant. the virginia city coal plant, it is one of the most innovative coal plants in the united states. it reduces water usage and reduces mercury. it is build in a way that if we ever can develop carbon capture sequestration, it can be done on-site. i am very proud of my role in that as governor, and it created a lot of jobs. i would support and have supported federal research to continue to look at ways to make coal cleaner. but i also believe that we are moving dramatically to a new energy economy. coalne almost as much as in virginia as we did 50 years ago, but we do it with 1/10 the workers.

it is heavily automated. even if coal comes roaring back, a lot of it will be done by machines, not people. so we have to be focusing on training. as a member of the education and labor committee i have been , focused on career and technical education, and lifting up the training and education programs that lift up high school and college kids, even folks who dropped out of school. mr. stewart: he will not stand up for you, he is too weak. what is disgusting is in 2005 , he went down to southwest virginia, and he told the people of southwest virginia, good people, that he was going to support them. and then when he gets into office as governor and as u.s. senator, he votes against their interests. he goes along with chuck schumer and president obama when they inundated the coal industry with all these unnecessary regulations regulations which , shut down the coal industry, regulations that put so many families out of work, regulations that caused so many

people to leave southwest virginia, senator. and that is all because of you, it is all because of you and chuck schumer and president obama and anybody else who you take orders from among the washington elites. you betrayed the very people from whom you ask their support. and now we have a president of the united states who has promised to do something about it, and he has, by relieving the unnecessary coal regulations and , what we have seen is an increase in the price of metallurgical coal. i was where the business is booming once again, jobs are coming back, hope is coming back to southwest virginia and to the coal industry. we have a president who is willing to keep his promises and stand up for the people who are hurting instead of taking orders , from nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. you also betrayed the people in danville. you said you would support the textile industry and then you agreed with these agreements that hurt them, and then you lectured them, just like you are

lecturing the people of west virginia on coal. make it nasty make , it up. go visit the ikea plant. go visit other advanced manufacturing facilities that i worked on. i know that you have not. go see the virginia city coal plant in wise county on the border down there between wise and russell that is employing people and doing it in a way , that is state-of-the-art. go see that. you clearly haven't gotten around very much. when you talk about me and because southwest virginia, you do not know that much about southwest virginia or you would not make those claims. and let me go on to the other, how about this, how about a president who wants to eliminate the appalachian regional commission. he got elected with heavy votes from southwest virginia but in the first budget he sent in april, just three months after he got elected, in southwest virginia they put these in the newspaper alphabetically, what are the agencies that are proposed to be eliminated the

, appalachian agency was at the top. we supported him and he is cutting the one economic tool to grow our economies. that is not what we need from this administration or from you. mr. stewart: senator i have been , to danville. i think we are talking about two different places. when you became governor, danville had its issues but today it is boarded up, people have left. the young people have left. completelycrisis is out of control, the murder rate is up, suicides are up, it is sad. i am not done. sen. kaine: what is said is you trashing danville. mr. stewart: pardon me while i am interrupting. the fact is after you voted , against their interests after you voted in support of the partnershipic against all these trade , after you voted agreements,

meaning all these goods coming in but we cannot export our goods to foreign markets because they are keeping them out and you continue to support that and you and the elites think that is fine but it is not to the people in danville, not to the people in southwest virginia, not for the people in the rest of virginia who have been struggling after we blocked 5 million manufacturing jobs in this country. [applause] sen. kaine: when a candidate stands appear in trashes danville, i think we know who the elite is on the stage. you need to go visit and talk to the local leaders there. ms. woodruff: we have two more to it the and mr. next one comes to you. i want to pick up on trade you , have been talking about it. we have talked about the president's policies. the most recent we know the president imposed tariffs on china and they responded with tariffs. and their most recent singled out soybeans which make up a major part of the export's nest, -- major part of the exports $361 million last year.

, we know you support the president's policy but what would you do about virginia farmers affected by this? mr. stewart: you have got to get tough, folks. if you say you are going to do something but you never do it, no one believes you anymore. it is not just democratic presidents, republican as well , who had said to our foreign trade partners, you have to open up your markets. take yourgoing to goods, you have to take our manufacturing goods, but no president up until now has put down the hammer and said we are serious and that has brought , them to the bargaining table. i am an international trade attorney, i can tell you about this. if you want to import of foreign-made automobile into the united states there is a tariff , on that automobile. if you want to export it to the eu, they slap a 10% tariff or export it to china, there is a 25% tariff on the u.s. made automobile. is there any doubt that that is why our manufacturing base has been wiped out under the

so-called leadership of senator kaine and barack obama? american workers are the most efficient in the world, but it needs to be a level playing field, and that goes with regard to agricultural products as well. inside the european union they do everything to protect their farmers, including keeping out american-produced agricultural products. they come up with every possible excuse. what has he done about it? even though the agricultural sector is 350,000 jobs in this state, nothing. he has done nothing to support the president and break open the european market to accept american goods. ms. woodruff: for the soybean are -- for the soybean farmers, your answer is virginia? mr. stewart: the answer is, you have to bust open foreign markets especially the eu to accept our agricultural products including soybeans. you have to be

tough on trade but you cannot be foolish. what you just saw is an answer that the president is 100% right. it is important to go after china. they are stealing our intellectual property. i testified twice in cases before the international trade court when chinese firms dumped tires hurting our workers in , danville or roanoke. you bring trade cases against them, you take tough action but with the president is doing is hurting our farmers and workers. and his notion of you just have to be tough and hope it will work out fine that does not help , the soybean farmer who is losing enormous value every day. that does not help the workers in the plants, at the volvo plant in dublin who are seeing , prices go up. the assessment of what this president is doing just on aluminum and steel, and the retaliation, 30,000 jobs will be created in certain industries and we will lose 430,000 jobs.

the president is waging a trade war against americans, against american workers and farmers. and further the president is , using a national security waiver, not just against china. we used a national security waiver in the past against nations like iran and libya, he is using it against canada, europe, nations that have fought with us side-by-side in every war since the war of 1812. this president is the first and these are nations we are relying on to help us beat isis, nations we are supposed to work with two -- to defeat russian aggression. mr. stewart: what is his answer? do nothing. the only thing he has done is a vote against the president. he is against the president. he does not want to do anything about it. we have these unfair trade agreements that are gutting american manufacturing in danville, gutting the coal industry in southwest virginia, that are gutting our farmers , including our soybean producers, what does he want to do about it?

absolutely nothing. he is weak, he cannot stand up to our foreign trade partners. and by their way, when it comes to nato, it has been there for 69 years, the whole idea was that the u.s. would participate in helping with european security. under article three of the nato charter they are supposed to , take care of their own security. that is part of the agreement. what do the germans do? 1.2% of gdp on their own defense. meanwhile american taxpayers are costs,ng up 70% of nato 70%. we are spending almost 4% of our gdp to protected them, and finally we have a president who is willing to stand up to them. ms. woodruff: we are almost at the end. i will break protocol because we did not get to, you brought up russia but we did not get time for a question. i want to ask each one of you, is vladimir putin a competitor, , or an enemy of the united states and is the eu

, and ally or a foe of the u.s.? states, as thed president said the other day? sen. kaine: russia, the head of the joint chiefs of staff said russia is the rentable adversary -- russia is the main adversary of the u.s. right now. that does not mean we should not have dealings. john f. kennedy and nikita khrushchev talked during the missile crisis. no one should mistake them for a friend. it betrays tremendous weakness for this president to go stand on stage with vladimir and take his side over the american security professionals who work hard to protect this country. europe is an ally. the nations of europe came to our aid, nato, the only time that article five of nato has been triggered is after america was attacked on 9/11 and our european allies came to our aid. i go to afghanistan and i go to

iraq and visit our troops and i see european troops side-by-side with them. my oldest son was deployed on the border of russia during 2016 , in nato exercises side-by-side , with troops from nato. the president is right to challenge nato nations to do more, make no mistake about it. but it is one thing to ask for more, and another thing to say that you are our principal foe and to call them a national security threat when you are talking about trade issues. [applause] mr. stewart: there he goes again. he opposes everything that president trump is trying to do. everything president trump is trying to do, senator kaine opposes it. what do you want to do, absolutely nothing. he thinks that everything is fine, just the way it is. it is interesting that liberals like you like the russians a lot more when they were communists. the fact is that russia is a competitor. it is not our major threat, folks. our major threat, both economically and militarily, is

china. it is china. it is not the russians. we have many common interests with russia today. we have common interests and -- in combating international terrorism and containing weapons of mass distraction. we have common interests with the russians in doing something productive about the north korean peninsula. senator kaine, against all of that. he would submarine that entire relationship, all those national security interests, because he all because he does not like vladimir putin. no one likes vladimir putin but you do not tank the entire relationship because of that. allies,s our european they need to start acting like our allies and pick up and not expecting american taxpayers to pay for their own security. meanwhile, as you have, we have had our manufacturing sector got take by the europeans, by our unfair trading partners. the germans, 1.2%, they have been running a 67 trade surplus

-- a you are picking up the tap. 67-year trade surplus with the united states. meanwhile, ms. woodruff: this is the final question before we go to the closing statements. both of you are transplanted virginians. senator kaine you were born in you were born in st. paul, , minnesota and mr. stewart, you were born in duluth, minnesota. i believe they are only about 150 miles apart but you ended up in the commonwealth. this is a state with an extraordinary heritage. it is the home of george washington, thomas jefferson, james madison. in modern times since world war ii, which one or two virginians have you most admired? mr. stewart. well, i have to tell you something i love the , state. i moved to the state because i wanted to be a virginian. i am no longer a minnesotan. if i were to look for one single

virginian who i love the most and admire the most, i love for -- i love virginians, i love the attitude here, i love the love of history, and the fact they want to stand up for that. i love the fact that virginians are proud to be virginians, that this is the state of george washington, thomas jefferson, and james madison. i love all that and respect all that, but we have on the far left here who are trying to remove our history, to take down historical monuments that have sat there peacefully for 100 years. do you know what? taking down those monuments does not solve a single problem. it does not increase our economic growth, it does not feed children, it does not improve our education, it does not build roads. all it does is give talking points to the far left, liberal democrats like tim kaine. ms. woodruff: is there one

virginian you admire? sen. kaine: not a liberal, that would be my guess. mr. stewart: yes, there is that one. would be my wife. sen. kaine: i do not have a hard time answering the question. my political hero and my moral hero is my father-in-law, my wife's dad, lynwood holden. he was born in the 1920's in big stone gap and came of age during the depression. at that point in virginia, an awful lot of people looked down on people from big stone gap, on people from appalachia, consider ed them hillbillies and said bad things about them. that part of the state was not politically powerful. environment in that and as a young man observing the , fact that some might look down from where he came from, he dedicated himself to never looking down on anyone. he went to the pacific and

fought as a submariner and when , he came back there was a one-party state, franklin was controlled by too few people. it took him 20 plus years since he was elected as the first governor in the history of the commonwealth. the first major thing he did as he integrated the public schools of virginia. he integrated the public schools. they had been kept separate because virginia didn't embrace the equality ideal of thomas jefferson. and it took a guy from appalachia to say we should all be at the table together. we should he for all people, it should not matter where you look like, your race, your religion, -- should not matter what you look like, your race, your religion, whether you have money, whether people respect you are not. my father-in-law who is a 94-year-old and is going strong is my hero because he has lived , out his values that we have to be a nation and a commonwealth for all. [applause]

it is time now, we have come to the conclusion of the debate. it is time for your closing statements. mr. stewart, you are first. mr. stewart: judy, you did a fine job monitoring -- moderating this debate. i would like to think senator kaine for participating in this . and we have met in times past, he wasave always thought a nice guy and he is. , i do believe that. but he is too weak. he is too liberal, he has got nothing done, not only in the senate but as governor. he accomplished nothing. he came in saying he would fix transportation, not a single nickel for transportation. that is why we continue to have these high tolls and problems. we need a senate who will stand with president trump. this tax cut that we passed in 2017 is in its infancy, it has led to the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years, the highest

growth rate for wages in 20 years, and we are at the beginning. he wants to undo it, he voted against it, he wants to take away your tax cut. we need this economic growth to continue. that is what i will do as your united states senator. [applause] the bva,e: to judy and and the guests and corey, thanks , for doing this, thanks for kicking off this season and i think the choice is clear, is it going to be trump first or virginia first in the u.s. senate? i have a record of working with president trump and to his team on all kinds of things but let , there be no mistake. i will stand up against this president when he is wrong for the country. when he said there is good people on both sides of a white supremacy rally in charlottesville, i will stand up against him. when he is hurting our farmers and workers i will stand up , against him.

i an independent check against am this president. my focus is on virginia. it is why we were the best date -- the best state for business, why we were the best managed state and the best state to raise a child, high median income and low unemployment. my focus on virginia is how we have been able to bring down veterans' unemployment, do smart things like allow exports of crude petroleum. i will work with this president when he is right, but i will stand up against him when he is wrong for virginia or wrong for the country. compare that with a 100% trump guy who said president trump was standing up to vladimir putin when everybody who watched that , knew he was bowing down to him. thank you. [applause] ms. woodruff: thank you. we're going to let stuart thomas, the president of the vba , formally say farewell.

>> thank you for participating in this debate. let's give both candidates a round of applause. [applause] weekend,smakers this our guest is democratic senator ben cardin of maryland. as a member of the senate foreign relations committee, he talks about this week's hearing with secretary of state mike pompeo, u.s. policy toward russia and north korea, and president trump's recent meeting in helsinki with russian president vladimir putin. : i don't a lot of confidence that mike pompeo knows what happened in that meeting. president trump does what he wants to do, when he wants to do it, and to the surprise of his own national security team. so we did not get a comfort level as to what happened in the room itself.

we do know that in the public setting after the meeting, in front of mr. putin, president trump raised questions about our own intelligence agencies, and sort of accepted president putin's statement that he was not involved in interfering in our elections in 2016, allowed mr. prudent to make a comment -- make a comment about american former diplomats to be made available to russia, and that was not dismissed out of hand as it should have been. and it went on and on. so there is not a comfort level that mr. pompeo has a deep understanding of what happened in that room. host: we saw lawmakers this week trying to raise issues, we saw resolutions introduced on nato, regarding the intelligence committee findings, we saw some strong statements from the

republican leadership, speaker ryan, leader mcconnell saying president putin would not be welcome on the hill. my broader question is, what is the role of congress here? and what is the ability of the congress to find some answers? cardin: well, it was interesting. when you look at the action of congress since the summit in helsinki, you find democrats and republicans both standing up and saying no to what the president implied in helsinki. did pass a resolution in regards to nato. we did pass a resolution in regards to protecting our former diplomats. we are now looking at legislation that would increase sanctions against russia, we are looking at legislation that would prevent ownership of russian companies here in the united -- ownership by russian companies here in the united states. we are looking to make clear our commitment to nato, and that is bipartisan.

i think the level in congress is that we have to assert ourselves. >> what's the entire interview with senator ben cardin tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. and six clock p.m. eastern, here on c-span. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. and today we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the public-policy and events in washington dc and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable and satellite provider. next, a look at changes to the upcoming miss america , with gretchen carlson, a former miss america chair of thebecame organization. she joined president and ceo regina hopper for a