then shawn spicer taubs about his new book. you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" is next. ♪ defense secretary james mattis will spend time in south america visiting counterparts in brazil, argentina, chile, and colombia. the washington post reports among the 88,000 pages of documents released about brett kavanaugh when he was in the george w. bush administration, there were conversations about presidential war powers and ethics advice related to gets -- presidential travel. a forthcoming book makes several claims, including the claim

president trump used a racial aur during his time as reality tv star. she added she "was complicit with this white house deceiving this nation." we want to get your thoughts about these claims that omarosa is making, whether you agree with them or not and you can let us know on the phone lines. for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. independents 202-748-8002. if you want to tweet us, you can do so @cspanwj and post on our facebook page at facebook.com/cspan. the book that is coming out on tuesday is called "unhinged" by omarosa medical newman -- omarosa manic ultimate -- marissa manigault newman.

she believes the president is "racist, bigoted, and misogynist." his personality flaw is a lack shempathy for others and believes the president is in "mental decline and physically unwell." president mikece pence are biding their time until president trump is impeached or reside and she is adding she is deeply unhappy for first lady melania trump, recounting every minute until her husband is out of office and she can divorce him. it was a conversation on msc -- nbc's "meet the press," that the host asked her about these claims. [video clip] >> let me start with what you described in your book as a year-long effort to move -- learn the truth about a rumor donald trump had been caught on tape using the n-word and here

is you confirming with a source the tape does exist. "i was told exactly what president trump said, yes, the n-word in a classic trump goes nuclear rant. for over a year i have been so afraid appearing the specifics from someone in the room, hearing the truth freed me from that fear." did you hear the tape or did you hear a description of the tape? >> first of all, thank you for having me on and in this book i describe this long journey of hearing these rumors over and over again and when i had an opportunity to meet up with three different sources, they described the same exact statement. after i closed the book, i had an opportunity to go in los angeles and sit down with the person who has a copy of the tape and i heard his voice as clear -- >> you have heard the tape since

publication of this book? >> absolutely. >> so you know it exists. knowknow it exists and i these people are probably trying to leverage it. i don't want to be a part of that, but i heard for two years it existed and it was confirmed what i feared the most, that donald trump is a con and has been masquerading as someone who is open to engaging with divers communities and when he talks that way, the way he did on this tape, it is confirmed he is truly a racist. host: just one of the claims from the book that comes out tuesday, just one of the other storylines is this from a highlight in the washington times about her recorder and her firing by john kelly, the chief of staff saying the white house -- spreading lies to drum up sales and her book and it was the white house pushing back on those claims on sunday quoting kellyanne conway and then adding that it -- the very idea a staff

member would sneak a recording device in the white house situation room shows a blatant disregard for national security and then to brag about it proves a lack of character and integrity of this disgruntled former white house employee. there are the claims, some of them laid out in this forthcoming book. we want to get your thinking on them. we start with brad in london, kentucky, independent line. caller: good morning. it is obvious it is a lousy publicity stunt by ms. m anigault. the claims are on par with mr. wolf's book "fire and fear he." fury."- "fire and depths,ps treasonous sneaking a recording device

where she was fired by john kelly, the situation room. host: as far as she referencing a tape of existence of this statement by the president, you don't think that tape exists or you don't think she is telling the truth about that? caller: well, if it does exist, i don't think it is relevant as far as the way she went about doing things. it would not matter what she by, she discredited herself her function. it doesn't matter what the form is. host: when you say it is not relevant, is this because if it indeed was said, this is before -- he becameng president of the united states and during his days as a reality show star? caller: i don't know. i feel to parse it at that level is out in the woods. i don't think it has anything to do with any of that.

host: let's go to gary in north carolina, independent line. caller: good morning. hi, pedro. fan and ility show really believe in these shows and i think these people are real. they are very truthful and i think they don't have to make their stories up to enhance the programs they are producing. i don't think they lie to make a better program. i think it is all natural. i think this woman is a saint. toon't think she has any ax grind. people love to get fired and i think that is part of the game. i think president trump made a mistake. i don't think she is into it for a money. why would she do such a thing?

host: width of the book coming out tuesday, you don't think that affects the statements she is making at all? guest: on a reality show you have to spice things up a little bit. if you want to sell a book, you have to spice things up a little bit. let's be real. you have to choose the best comments out of a hole speech just to intrigue people to want to buy the book. what is more important right now than race issues? host: that is gary in north carolina. let's hear from robert, democrats line from clearwater, florida. caller: i don't think he is a racist. blacks use the n-word all the time. i think it is freedom of speech. i don't even like that word myself.

i don't even like when black people say that word. you cannot just keep talking about something and try to make a book about it. she worked for the guy for 13 years and all of a sudden now he said the n-word. i never heard it from the other people who work for him. host: so you are saying you are doubtful about these claims because of the book or are you saying you are doubtful for other reasons? >> i am doubtful about the book and other reasons because they worked for the guy for years and all of a sudden you say something like that. robert, you are breaking up so we will leave it there. these are some of the claims by omarosa manacled -- omarosa manigault. we are asking your thoughts. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats.

independents, 202-748-8002. a couple of other claims set to be released with this book on tuesday saying she claimed "foodtsmart" president is and sped talking points about legislation he doesn't read and has only a surface level understanding of the content he is signing into law. she believes his health habits have caught up with him. she says he is obese and has a junk food only diet. claims shee of the makes in this book. bill from astoria, new york caller:, go ahead. hi. as a new yorker and someone who has seen donald trump and been following him for years, none of the things in this book, as a surprise. he got in trouble in the 1970's and 1980's for discriminating

against people of color in his housing he had. he had to pay fines and give money back. with the central park 5, he took out a full-page ad calling for the death penalty for him. host: back to the book. on face value you take the claims she is making? caller: they are true. this is not unknown. people know this. many people have written books about donald trump and more will come out. this is who he is. this is not a surprise for anyone like me raised in new york city and knows his history. i knew this about him. host: that is bill in new york. it was kellyanne conway on fox news taking defense for the president over claims by omarosa marigold. -- omarosa manigault. [video clip] >> she is speaking out, as you well know. she said she was fired because

she knew too much about a tape on which the president used the n-word and also said she heard him call your husband derogatory names as well. did the president do either of those two things? >> i have never heard the president of the united states use a racial slur about anyone. martha, today is two years to the day he asked me to be his campaign manager. i have never once heard him say that about anyone and i never heard omarosa complained that she had heard the president say it about anyone either when she was there. she has contradicted her own accounts. she told abc news the day after she fired her she is now saying she was fired. she told abc news the day after she fired that donald trump is not a racist and she would not have been there. paul says on what

facebook saying she is incriminating herself and wants to be the subject of an intense federal prosecution and linda says they are both narcissists and provocateurs. neither of them are good people. that is some of the comments on our facebook page. says she has a book coming out so we take her claims with a grain of salt. if you want to make statements on twitter, that is @cspanwj. tennessee, independent line. chris, hello. caller: hello, pedro. this is my 19th call into c-span and it may be my last because this is nothing more than a tabloid issue. there are many serious issues that face this country and i am truly disgusted c-span would stoop to this tabloid ready. -- this tabloid level. host: what do you make about the statements she makes?

i see: even -- every time this woman on the news, i change the channel because this is tabloid junk and it is really disgusting to me that c-span would either have this issue on. host: let's go to new york, independent line. what i want to say is i understand everybody's thoughts on how this should not be on c-span right now, but the thing is it is about our president. maybe not everybody likes him, but i have come to an understanding that basically, ,ith what he is doing right now i know he is trying to sign this new legislation. i don't think this woman creating this racist bigotry over him, i understand he made a lot of claims between making fun of journalists and making racist remarks, but it is like the last

person said, it is tabloid stuff , but it does need to be covered because we cannot have our president acting like this. host: when you say that, how much do you believe her? caller: i think with a grain of salt, like anybody says because you have to decide kind of which side you are being manipulated by. you have to discern which area you want to believe and i am on trump's side saying he may have maybe used a word, but nothing is nobody knows in what context he was using it. the exacte been using version of the word meaning "ignorant." host: a viewer on twitter says nothing new ever came about from president trump -- about president trump from omarosa

until he fired her. if he was so bad, why did she stay with him for so long. here is another claim by the book about the author herself. this is donovan in usa today saying the former reality tv star humming out with the book in which she calls the president a racist. adding "i was complicit with this white house deceiving the nation. they continue to deceive this nation by how mentally -- iwas complicit and for that, part."that you can make your comments, 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. independents, 202-748-8002. robert, next up from lafayette, louisiana. caller: good morning.

i am looking at your show and you are doing a fine job. i believe everything the lady is saying about the president. he is a con artist and he is doing all this stuff and all these people are calling in. she is telling the truth. host: what do you base that on? caller: i believe because she was in office, she was sitting in all the meetings and she heard everything that was going on and they heard it, too, the people in there with her. she is not lying, she was trying to protect her job. she done right getting those tapes on them and recording that where she could come out and have some proof because just like nobody believes her or not about the tapes are going to prove she is right and everybody knows you are a racist and everybody knows he is a con artist. host: the claims of tapes, just

to clarify. a portland, oregon, democrats line, dorothy, hello. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am noticing. i tried to remove myself from the situation and observe what is going on and what is going on, the opinions on omarosa same.now seem to be the mostly you find people who have been brought up in white cultures, white people who cannot see a person's color the way they can see another white person. this is the truth. i don't think it is something people ask for, but it is what happens when you isolate yourself and you have given privilege left to run rampant, you lose grip. host: about the claims she makes, the fundamental claims, what do you think about them and do you believe them or not? caller: i believe what she says and i believe the reason her

perception is off is because now some of the so-called white democrats who have problems with race issues within themselves feel they can criticize her. host: aside from that, why do you believe her? give me a specific. caller: i believe her because everything she is saying, it is nothing new. we have seen it all. why would we believe anything donald trump says in the first place? host: ok. let's go to franklin in washington, d.c., republican line. caller: i am calling specifically to talk about this omarosa situation. followingwho has been american politics, popular culture, reality tv knows omarosa. she has been benefiting from associating with the republicans for over a decade.

she has known that the president racist -- going on. she has known this and now that she is fired, she is trying to come out. i think the american people should forget everything. forget of the book, forget the claims, which might be true, but forget it. i am not a trump supporter, but i think it is a load of crap. host: as far as the claims themselves, believe them or not? i think they are the truth, sir. based on the campaign, based on what the president has chosen, based on the sentiment which he upheld in his rally. that is why i think she might be right. twitter, sandy says

", rosa, like the president, are opportunists, willing to do anything for media exposure." democrats line, donna. you are next up. caller: good morning, pedro. whatd to agree with omarosa is saying in her book. i believe that donald trump is racist. con man.eve he is a i thought he was from the get-go. i always thought he was like bernie rate off -- bernie made off resurrected. i feel he is such a divider, the way he talked about lebron james, there is proof. host: why do you believe her? caller: because she was in his company and she was working for him on the apprentice for so

long and she had access to him and was in the white house and she just -- you know, it is also things that donald trump has said it the years, he has made fun of goldstar parents, the way he spoke of john mccain, the way reporter whot the had that affliction where he mimicked his movements. host: that is donna in connecticut. if you go to our website, c-span.org, we have a tape interview with omarosa manigault . steve scully taping several of those inside the white house. a perspective on donald trump, if you want to see that interview, go to our website c-span.org at c-span.org. it was taped on march 7, 2017.

the communications public liaison and talked about a lot of things. her faith, her role as an ordained minister, you can see that perspective of an interview if you go to our website. ryan is next. ryan from new york, hello. caller: good morning, pedro. how are you? host: fine, thank you. caller: thank you for this very important issue. i think it is no surprise to me given the lack of factionalism in this white house. we have to be reminded that no one in this white house ever worked in a white house before. ask anything about the way things are supposed to done -- to be done when you know everything? john kelly is no exception. he has been showing us his lack of professionalism and his business as well.

the fact that this is all part of a book that is released on tuesday, does that change your thinking as far as her claims she is making? that, caneaking about i ask you something? i have been watching c-span. host: answer the question, when youask about the book, do think it makes any difference in your thinking that a book is coming out? caller: just look at this issue. has ever come close to him has -- pedro, what are you doing? -- host: we will leave it there and

let's go to matthew in new york, democrats line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to ask you why president ismp -- my question complaining about airtime allocation. you are not doing fair with respect to the yemen conflict. host: not the topic today, we are sticking to what we're talking about as far as these claims. caller: let me say something. host: matthew, go ahead. what do you think about the claims made in this book? caller: you tv channel has no coverage about this very important and ruthless issue. host: matthew, i am going to give you one more chance. the books that we are talking about, these claims, that is why we assume you call in this morning. go ahead. caller: i know that.

these bombs are made in the usa host: ok, we will go on. these claims made by amoroso manigault -- omarosa manigault newman. republicans, 202-748-8001. 202-748-8000 for democrats. independents, 202-748-8002. you can post on twitter@for our orth -- on twitter @cspanwj our facebook page. paul is next from maine, go ahead. believeyes, i tend to thatust due to the fact the way this man has carried himself all his life, that i have seen in nothing surprises me because there have been a lot of things happened that when i

hear somebody say something, it sounds right. it is just aht and feeling that i have and, you know, it is very sad that we have a president such as donald trump that people -- it is a shame, yes, that people have to say all these bad things about but you cannot help it. host: other than the reference this is all part of the fact this is a book coming out, does that change the validity of what she is saying? caller: it doesn't matter what she is saying, i just believe what she is saying. host: let's go to freddie in indianapolis, indiana, democrats line. caller: i believe omarosa. i truly believe what she said.

she is nothing more than a snake who is now feeding off of another snake and that snake is donald trump. host: if you believe that about her, why do you believe her statements? caller: because she and donald trump are two of a kind. come on, man. we all know donald trump. the only one that don't know donald trump are his base who he is blowing smoke up 24/7. host: that is freddie in indiana. we will continue with this topic. you can make your claims or questions or comments. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats and independent, 202-748-8002. you can post on the social media sites as well. senate roll call, the coming back for a work session

during several weeks in august to take care of other business. this is neil writing saying when it comes to the senate's work, it will start on a wednesday evening vote. confirmation of federal appeals court judges for south carolina based seats on the circuit court of appeals. there will be two people up for consideration. given the shortened week, it seems possible senators will accomplish little other than confirming those two on the floor before the weekend and i will leave a debate on a massive spending bill. four bill passed a spending package august 1. in roll call if you want to see that. let's go to washburn, -- ashburn, virginia. caller: good morning.

i decided to call because of one caller who said he changed the channel and -- when he sees omarosa. i agree with him to a certain extent. , don't really like omarosa that it is because of different reasons. lowlife andosa is a she has a lot in common with the president. who withask yourself, common sense would think omarosa deserves to be in the white house? for what reason? this is a president who thinks omarosa is treating this country like a reality show. host: you are saying a lot of things. are you saying you believe her, though? caller: i believe some of the things she is saying. does it really matter? because the thing is trump

deserves everything he is getting from her. he keeps such people around him and this is what he gets. you cannot treat a country like this and think that everything is going to go find for you. this is what you get. is next from fairfax, virginia, republican line. is ar: i think omarosa turncoat, a trader, and she has absolutely no loyalty and the question is, can you believe a person with those kind of character flaws? there may be some truth to what she says, but she is a real snake in the grass and i hope she spent some time in hell for it. host: in kentucky, steve from fair dale, kentucky, republican. pablo, howd morning, are you doing this morning? caller: go ahead. -- host: go ahead. caller: if you think about it, that is a form of treason and to

be honest with you, it is treason because when you are secretly recording someone in the white house, you cannot be doing that. host: what do you think about the claims she is making? caller: i think she is just trying to make another dollar, is what she is trying to make and she better be holding onto that money she is making because she will need that for her defense when she goes to -- for espionage, spying in the white house. host: nbc news reporting she was on "the today show," talking about the recording she made of her firing by the chief of staff, john kelly. that is one of the things that came out yesterday when it comes to the book, other claims being made in the papers today and that book coming out tuesday and we are getting your thoughts. robert, hello. caller: hello, how are you

doing? host: fine, thank you. caller: first of all, it is not treason. it is more of a whistleblower. everybody is commenting on her character. this is america, everybody loves and opportunities. -- opportunist. yes, i believe her aunt the third thing. -- believe her and the third thing. host: why do you believe her? caller: because she is an insider. she was there. she might be a little upset. think about mohammed -- malcolm x read -- malcolm x. judas worked with -- worked with jesus and he betrayed him. people find out eventually in time what people's real character is and she found out and now she is upset and she

went to l.a. to find out the truth and finally hear this tape for herself. she did not want to admit it or see it. everybody wants to get up high and make money. she found out the truth and now she is saying it and people don't like it. host: that is robert in california. a couple stories related to the supreme court nominee for president trump, brett kavanaugh from papers released during his time in the bush administration. today, more than 103,000 pages of materials from the supreme court nominee' past work have been made public. -- investigated president bill clinton. the number of documents is at least five times more than the past two nominees of the high court to be confirmed. chuck grassley said it is more than any high court nominee in history.

senators reviewed about 182,000 pages of documents on neil gorsuch. about 170,000 pages on elena kagan. if you go to the washington post, a little bit more about emails during his time in the bush white house saying in one series of emails, kavanaugh is grappling with the issue of presidential war powers seeking sehe best common law treati --on the subject." -- creating a tribunal for september 11 suspects rather than putting them through the court system. kavanaugh advised womack to say the administration was not discussing legal options adding "even talking about this issue compose -- can pose problems down the road." other emails show kavanaugh being called on for ethics related advice about gifts and presidential travel. at one point, kavanaugh polled

-- explaining he had been asked to gather information "for possible press purposes." if you want to see some of the details of that document dump on brett kavanaugh that came out. let's go to duane in new york, independent line. caller: good morning, pedro. not that i believe her or don't believe her. it does not matter if she brings this book out or not because if you listen to the callers on trump supporters, they could not care less if he called a person of color the and word. what do they care? thingsme up with these as she is treasonous and this and that and it does not matter to trump supporters. she can make her book and get millions and move on. host: how much faith you put in the claims? because she is saying it and from her perspective as an

insider? anler: let's say she is insider, but she was an insider and ignored it for these 14 years she has been around him, so why now? does it really matter at this point? whattter what we say or omarosa says, trump supporters will still support him 100%. joshuae will hear from tree, california, independent line. caller: yes, you know trump was going to talk this morning but there was an outcry on so much publicity on it. it's the worst thing that happened our planet because now the guys fighting warming are causing unheard of climate change, searing heat in the summer. host: i am sorry to interrupt only because we are talking about another topic. what do you think about these claims by omarosa manigault? >> i don't know anything about

it, but i do know you don't hear anything. host: we have to move on. wisconsin, republican line. caller: deja vu. all over again. host: what do you mean by that, eric? is gone.ric just to show you a couple other stories, this is the front page of the washington times from these two rallies that took place in d.c. yesterday. the headline "white nationalist protesters kept apart. " "a small group of white nationalists and many more stagedism protesters dueling rallies as a group of police officers cap the two camps separated to prevent a repeat of the deadly violence lastcorrupted -- erupted year. police officers surrounded the 30 or so attenders, escorted

them to metro stations along the main avenue and to and from lafayette square. werehite nationalists vastly outnumbered by counterprotesters. both of those rallies available at our website if you want to view them for yourself. this is david thurston, the co-organizer of d.c. united against tate and the closing remarks made yesterday. here is part of the -- against hate and the closing remarks made yesterday. [video clip] >> think for a moment about the diversity of the president and the views expressed and think about all the folks who are not here because let's be honest, this plaza doesn't look like what d.c. used to look like and if we want to build movement to activate people working two and sellingbs ends meet or crack cocaine to make ends meet,

we have to pay organizers and that means people with privilege leveraging their privilege to get resources to communities because we have the organizers. we have people who know from their own experience what the system looks like and what it means to change it. we need to activate the latest potential -- there are liberationists here. there are people who are raging, angry, liberals. there are people who want to show what they are going to vote for. we need everybody and everything . to change everything, we need everyone. i am glad you are here, this is the first step of a multiphase mobilization. please be safe moving forward and thank you all for coming out. thank everyone who performs and everyone who put this together.

let's give a big round of applause for all of us. host: that rally is available at our website at c-span.org if you want to see all the comments made yesterday. let's go to ruben in florida. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you doing, pedro? host: fine, thank you. caller: omarosa doesn't have a reason for lying about that man. everyone knows trump is a thug. host: so you believe her because of that? caller: not all of that. it is past. the man is a big liar. he is the president. host: does it matter she is coming out with a book, in your opinion? , butr: that is about money she might do some wrong things. money, dot is about you think that calls into

question the statements she is making? caller: not really. host: why not? caller: i believe her, i really do. why should she put her life on the line like that? host: let's go to michael in oakland, california, democrats line. caller: how are you doing this morning? host: fine, thank you. caller: i would like to say she has had a good 15 minutes turned into an hour of that. host: expand on that, what do you mean? caller: i mean she took the trump thing and ran with it for the last 15 to 20 years and then since she got fired, then she has to think of something else to come in the limelight and then she has this book coming out and i cannot wait to see what other tape she is going to have, that she has been taping the people in this white house. i am waiting for that. i know she has another one of her sleeve.

host: with all that said, do you believe what she said? is really close because she is trying to make money, we all know that. at the same time, she is in the process of hollywood, so she might want to put a little cheese on top of something. if she has a tape, this will be a whirlwind for donald trump. -- like theprobably guy said earlier, she is a snake. i am not going to misrepresent her like that, she knows how to make money. she turned that 15 minutes into an hour and we are all riding on it. host: richard is in denver, colorado. caller: good morning, sir. host: go ahead. bookr: i would like to say

,r no book with the recording it makes the allegation under disputable -- it is hard to argue a reporting and now donald trump is calling her a low life. the white house spokesperson is saying she snuck in a recording. i want to say i believe her, sir, and it will be hard for them to spin this like he knows how. host: that is richard in colorado. we showed you a portion about that d.c. united against hate rally. that other rally, the unite the alley took place in washington, d.c. and you can see the whole thing on our website. these are some of the comments of jason kessler, the organizer of that rally. i am talking about it and the

anniversary of that rally in charlottesville, virginia. >> what happened last year in charlottesville is i organized the unite the right event and the purpose was to say that white people deserve to be able to stand up for their rights like other people are able to do. i think the tearing down of that robert e. lee statue was symbolic of a replacement going on in the united states where dhite people are being guilte for slavery and war and all these things that every racial group on the planet has engaged in and they are saying tear down robert e. lee and thomas jefferson, not saying tear down the great wall of china, which was built with slave labor. they are not saying tear down the mayan and aztec pyramid sprayed it is only white people and it is only our countries with have to be flooded with too many people to the point where the host populations don't exist anymore.

i am not a white nationalist and i have never claimed to be a white nationalist, but i am ok with sharing this country from people around the world. if you bring in too many people at once, it is not the same country anymore and that is what they are doing and that is why a lot of white people agree because they feel like the country they are waking up in in 2018 is a very different country than the one they woke up in 1960, 1970, 1980. host: that whole rally took place, available at our website, c-span.org. host: republican line, edith, go ahead. caller: i am calling about these omarosa.lling in about why do these people -- they try everything in the world to -- this president and talk about him as a racist. what is racist about it?

host: what do you think about the claims she made herself? caller: the claim she made his false -- is false. i don't believe nothing she is saying. host: why not? caller: i don't believe nothing she is saying because she got fired and she is thinking of a way to make money. she is no good. if she knew all of this. i am not going to have anything to do with them. i don't care how high up and they are, i would not have anything to do with them. host: independent line from rich from illinois. caller: thank you for taking my call. my thing about -- i have seen -- nbc thisd on mbc tape recording in the situation security kelly and the breaches that pop into my mind about this kind of stuff and the integrity of the presidency and this white house and staff.

obscenehis stuff is so that it does not even -- somebody should be going to jail for bringing tape recordings into the situation room into the white house. is this some kind of a scam or a joke? somebody should be investigating theonly integrity, legalities of doing such a thing. host: apart from that, what do you think of the claims she makes? caller: this has all been like some kind of a circus with -- like a reality show. this presidency is a reality show and it is sort of like, is ?t true she is talking about she has to record this because everybody is lying in the white house. it is evident. it is like a reality show. i don't know if it is true.

it certainly seems to me illegal, making a mockery of our white house, our judicial system, the fbi. sickis all some kind of a , twisted -- in illinois. rich the front of the new york times, a story about voting rights by michael. he writes it is under jeff sessions the department filed legal briefs in support of states resisting court orders to rein in voter id requirements, all practicese -- that were opposed under president obama's attorneys general. the sessions' department most prominent voting lawsuit right now forced kentucky state officials to step in from calling the registration rolls of voters who have moved. the fighting is done in courts, state by state overrules that

may seem arcane, but can sway elections. -- an agenda embraced by conservatives who say they want to prevent voter fraud. if you go to the wall street journal this morning, another story taking a look at voting tallying, this is alexa coursey and dustin saying election administrators are rapidly with two kinds of threats. on one hand, they need toward off cyberattack's attacks on targets such as voting machines or registration databases. intelligence officials say there are no evidence both were altered during the 2016 election cycle. officials want to prevent voters from becoming confused with false information such as face instructions on how to vote to distribute it on the internet, particularly after alleged russian interference. officials said the latter threat is harder to identify and block and could undermine the

electoral process in intangible ways by e-voting voter -- faith inoters' elections. that is the wall street journal. if you go to the national ,ection of the new york times sarah stockman with a story about democrats taking in small money donations because they fromshunned off donations packs. they highlight dean phillips. she adds this, saying the issue is now emerging in midterm races across the country with democrats rejecting packs acs -- ed by -- p refusing to take any pac money. these pledges have become selling points for voters and for some of the candidates, small donor donations are adding up. you can read the rest in the new

york times. some, democrats line, go ahead. thomas.this is thented to say trump being trojan horse, this is a big script. the apprentice was a scripted show, so it really does not mean anything. host: as far as omarosa's statements herself? caller: yes. she was a scripted person on his show, so all of her comments don't mean anything. host: louisiana is next, laverne from monroe. caller: hello. i have just listened to your comments about that woman's report i heard yesterday. i do not know her or much about since he is president. i cannot understand why all of this is going on in any newscast because it is nothing about one

side against the other and it is saying -- incists some way it is promoting racism. country, myg up our brother fought in the vietnam war to defend our country. host: as far as the statements themselves, do you believe them or not? caller: i don't know because you hear one thing. if it is true and she knew about it, why didn't she tell in the white house when she was working there? that is what i don't understand. , one creating violence against a the other. it is c-span and all these other networks. the news is not worth listening to anymore and i just don't know if she is right or wrong. if she is, she should have run it up before now. -- brung it up before now. host: we will go to kentucky.

ofler: she was a lady principle -- if she was a lady of principle, she would have quit a long time ago. she told everybody she resigned, she did not resign, she got fired. this so-called tape where trump said the n-word supposedly during the apprentice and its rumored someone has a copy, nobody has produced a copy. the recording they are talking about is when she recorded before she left the white house --trump's national security chief of staff, ok, and that is the recording she has got. if she were a lady of principle, a person that feels deeply about things except herself, she would have left trump a long time ago. this is typical washington. something happens like james

comey. she is going to write a book now that she has left and she is going to milk it for everything she can and get her 15 minutes of fame and then she will be forgotten about. host: that is jack in kentucky. the minneapolis star tribune reporting keith ellison has been approved -- accused of domestic violence and he is denying it. the story saying a former girlfriend of keith ellison accusative -- accused him of domestic violence. the alleged incident came to light saturday night after her son posted it on facebook and she confirmed it on twitter. ellison responded in a statement released by his campaign "karen and i were in a relationship which ended in 2016i care deeply for her well-being." he denied draghi her off her bed and said a video allegedly showing that did -- does not exist because it never happened.

ellison had been viewed as a front runner in tuesday's primary. a fellow candidate called for a criminal investigation and a national women's group said allison should withdraw and resign from congress. democrats line from kentucky, this is tim. caller: yes, i believe this lady is telling a story about this. she had some tapes supposedly from somebody that she knew in her book that actually was just something she heard in her radio conference with public radio station. she says she said it in her book and she said she did not say it. i believe she is just telling stories. host: two stories of international note in the wall street journal saying the rejection ofdent's

u.s. demands to free an american pastor has burnished his reputation at home as a strong-willed leader. abilityrn over turkey's to access vital foreign funding at a time when investors have grown more cautious causing pentagon currently prices where the lira plunged to the lowest level including a 40% drop in the value against the dollar so far this year could force mr. erdogan to fort -- to compromise. the turkish president lane for u.s. for stoking confrontational -- blamed the u.s. for stoking confrontation. american pastor, risking decades of partnership against the allies. if you go to the washington times, defense secretary james mattis is heading to south america for a series of visits. he left yesterday and the chief

will first visit military and national security counterparts before traveling to argentina and chile and ending visits with administration officials of the newly elected colombian president and the youngest president in south america's nation. the visit coincides with the trump administration's efforts to expand cooperation with allies in america's. visit comes weeks after the -- president was the target of an assassination via drone attack. national security officials grapple with groups taking root -- he region and possibly beyond the is next from -- bia nca is next from florida, republican line. caller: i don't believe that

woman. she is just out for money. she wants to get a lot of money from her statements. she is ruining the good faith and i don't understand why negores are celebs -- negroes are so offended to be called -- host: ok, we have to leave it there. caller: i don't believe her. believebelieve -- i her. i don't believe anything that comes out of the white house. i read they try to get her with a nondisclosure agreement and give her a contract like money every month. i think it month. i think it is in the history of trump. considering black renters out of their housing to --

host: that is gary. last call on this topic. joining us for the remainder of our program, two insiders from this administration in the previous one. arne duncan with his book on how schools work. later on in the program sean spicer on his book about his time at the white house and president trump's relationship with the media. those conversations coming up on washington journal. >> tonight on the communicators, a look at 5g, the next generation of wireless technology and infrastructure former us on the program fcc commissioner and president and ceo of the wireless infrastructure association jonathan edelstein. mr. edelstein is interviewed by telecom reporter todd shields. >> i think a lot of people are interested in 5g. , you have benefits

sensors, smart cities where they departyou will know or traffic will be improved. working betterce to the overall society being better connected to the overall economy going faster if we get it right. >> watch the communicators 2.night on c-span this week booktv is in prime time starting tonight at 8:30 p.m. eastern keefe gaddy talks about his -- keith getty talks about his book. michael shermer and daniel peterson from the freedom fest debate is fate compatible with reason. wednesday at 8:00 p.m. michael eric dyson with his book what jamessounds like,

baldwin, rfk and our unfinished conversation about race in america. microsoft president brad smith with the future computed, artificial intelligence and its role in society. and on friday at 8:00, adam publishings about authors from the political right and left. watch booktv this week in prime time on c-span 2. washington journal continues. arne duncan served as the former education secretary of the obama administration from 2009 to 2015 and is the author of the book "how schools work: and inside account on the success and failures -- what was the impetus for the book? guest: a lifetime of working on these issues. feeling proud of the successes. feeling a real sense of urgency that we have to get better faster. nationto challenge the

to thinking about what does it take for us to give every child a great education. host: you open the book with the educate -- with the statement education runs on lies. guest: that is a tough way to start but i always try to be really honest. a couple lies unfortunately her kids, first we say we all care about education. we all say that. go tony of us as voters the voting booths and vote for a mayor, governor, congressman based on their ability to improve education outcomes? we don't vote on education. i think that is a real problem. we say we got you teachers but we don't pay teachers what they are worth, we don't train them as true professionals or had meaningful career ladders. great teachers transform opportunities. we have value teachers on a different level. the toughest lie that is a hard

one to talk about we all say we value children but we allow a level of gun violence in this nation, a generation of kids to grow up with mass shootings, we don't invest in pre-k like other nations do and get babies off to a good start. that other nations value their children more than we do. in the united states i believe we value guns more than we do our kids. host: you talk about the hard things about education policies. ,ne of the things you deal with some of the administrations put forth -- common core, race to the top and the impact that is seen from those. describe those policies and where do you think you are as far as the results. guest: a couple of points that were important to us. one was investing in high quality pre-k. i would argue that is the best investment we can make getting our babies to a good start ready to be successful. we put more than $1 billion

behind that helped hundreds of thousands of children have access. we fought for high standards. we want young people to graduate from high school able to go to college and take college classes . the pfeiffer high standards was controversial at happy to do that. we were able to get graduation rates up to all-time highs of 84%. a long way to go but that progress. we focused on higher education. a big investment in community colleges. 58-year-old going back to retrain. that is important. $40 billion behind programs to make college more affordable. did that without going back to taxpayers for a nickel. we thought that was common sense. host: a couple of criticisms come from valerie strauss about your book and administration saying what you did focus on was onhing systems that relied standardized test scores a method of assessment experts

warned was unreliable. guest: we did ask that a piece of teacher evaluation be based on whether students are learning and we are focused on growth and gain. when evaluating teachers you want to look at multiple measures. principal evaluations. a piece of teacher evaluation should be how much progress students make each year with them. host: would you say any progress has been made since those efforts have been put in? guest: what we've seen across the nation with all the noise is we've seen the vast majority of states raised standards. more states evaluating teachers in part based upon student learning. we have to professionalize the profession. aonomist at harvard did longitudinal study with millions of kids in new york. one great teacher raised the lifetime earnings of that classroom by $250,000.

this is not about test scores, it's about changing young people's lives. less incarceration, less teenage pregnancy, more productive citizens. host: you emphasize charter adopting common core standards spending 360 million -- that you said would be a game changer. i support guest: good charter schools. i don't support bad charter schools. i think these are adult issues. i call it adult dysfunction. the fight for higher standards around the nation unfortunately now we spend between $7 billion to $9 billion every year on remediation and college. people who graduate from high school, pay college tuition, burn through financial aid, to take high school classes again. noncredit bearing. no one wins.

having states set a bar where if students graduate a are actually allowed to take college-level courses i'm happy to have that. the vast majority of states raised standards which i would say i'm proud of. to?: what would you point guest: i would go right to hire high school graduation rates. 84% all-time high. more than one million additional students of color go on to college. this is not mission accomplished . i'm actually very troubled the current administration you see no coherent administration policy. out of to see us fighting to lead the world in access to pre-k. we should try to lead the world in access to college. four-year universities, two-year community colleges. vocational training. unfortunately do your none of that talk out of the current administration. that should be the ultimate

nonpartisan issue. we are fighting to strengthen families, keep middle-class jobs in america, cladding cap pathways out of poverty and the only way i know how to do that is by giving every child regardless of race socioeconomic status, zip code, access to a great education. model model worked well in the past century. that's not enough going forward. we have to get babies to a good start and if you graduate from high school, some form of higher education has to be the goal. duncan joining us for a discussion on education duncar a discussion on education policy . if you want to talk to him we divided the lines differently for educators, (202) 748-8000. for parents and students, (202) 748-8001. (202) 748-8002 for all others. the book is called "how schools work." you write in the opening pages about your experiences interning

with your mother who is an educator and how that shape your view of policy. guest: my mother started working in the inner city on the southside of chicago in 1961. i was born in 1964. she raised us our entire lives as a part of a program -- we tried to follow in her footsteps in various ways. my sister trains principles in chicago. my mother did that work for 52 years. my brother runs the program now. what we saw, kids happen to be all poor coming from tough family situations. many went on to do extraordinary things. seeing the potential every child has and seeing equities and educational opportunities between my friends i went to school with during the day and my friends in my moms program in the afternoon the kids were as

smart, as talented, as committed. my sister and brother and i had opportunities. quo hasing the status been my passion. i tell a story about kerry holly, a young man who taught me for 15 plus years. grew up like many young people in that community never knew his father. when i interviewed him for the book, told his birth story which i'd never heard before. his mother wrapped in newspaper and from him in the garbage. his grandmother saved him. he tried to get in my mother's program a couple times. he was -- he persevered and went on to be an ibm fellow. i went to great schools. he was the best teacher i ever had. that young man came from nothing but had an opportunity, highest dictations, great support and

people who really loved him. host: we have calls lined up for you. our first is from grace, joining us from new hampshire. grace, you are on with the former education secretary arne duncan. caller: on some of the standardized testing they used paraprofessionals who may or may not have education background to administer tests and also to help kids understand how to take tests. some of them don't know how to jump forward on the problem if they don't understand it. another thing we did here in new hampshire we don't let students drop out at 16. they must either finish high school or be 18 years of age. guest: thanks so much for your hard work. where students need additional help or support you should always provide that but the idea of letting young people not graduate today -- not drop out,

that is so important. when young people drop out of high school today they are basically condemned poverty and social failure. eight,s say young kids, nine and 10 years old no one ever says i want to be a high school dropout. when young people drop out of high school it is always a symptom of a problem. something else going wrong at school, at home, in the community and somehow going to school feels overwhelming. they think i can't handle this, i drop out. we as adults have to step into the gap and not let young people fall through the cracks in whatever is going wrong. we have to find a way to keep them in school. i talk a lot in the book about trackusing on freshmen on because the data shows when freshmen do well, go to school, past their classes, they have a higher likelihood of graduating from high school and being really focused on that, focused

on individual students and what their needs are has seen on track rates and graduation rates go up significantly. growing up in chicago if my friends dropped out it was not great but it was not the end of the world and they could get jobs in the stockyards and steel mills and make a good living and support the family. we know those jobs are gone and never coming back. the goal can't be high school graduation. there's got to be some form of education beyond that. trade,ar universities, technical vocational training. if we could do that for every child, we open up a new world of opportunity for them. if we don't, the limits get pretty severe on what they can do. host: dennis, go ahead. duncan, in myary family we have a tradition to go to religious schools. i'm from a family of eight kids.

we went from kindergarten to high school. my three kids went, my sons two kids are going. we don't have 175,000 nuns working nationwide anymore. it costs a lot of money. $110,000 minimum to put a kid in a catholic school from kindergarten through 12th grade and if you look at an opportunity cost, and i want get into what that means from the point of the viewers it's like a quarter of a million dollars the opportunity cost because instead of putting that money somewhere else where it makes money you spend it on tuition. i researched the school thing for about a year. i have tremendous respect for you. i know you are a basketball player to. i've read about this for like a year and i would like to know what is the compelling government interest that should say i can't follow my religious

beliefs which say i must put my kids in catholic schools, what is the compelling government interest that says the government must pick the schools my kids go to? guest: i don't think we have a compelling government interest, not quite sure what that means. there's an important separation between church and state and the goal of local government or state or federal should be to try and provide a great public school option for every child. whether it is traditional public school are fantastic charter school out to be pragmatic and have good schools. where parents would prefer children to go to a faith-based school they have the right to do that i just don't think that is the government's obligation. host: where did you go to school? guest: the chicago laboratory school. therew up on campus, went lucky to get a fantastic education. as a private school connected with the university of chicago. my children went to the

arlington public schools for seven years. public schools in chicago before we left and now my wife works there my kids are starting high school there. host: you are an administrator from 2001 to 2008. one of the things emerging then and now, rapid violence. more situations of mass violence. what do you think that does for someone going to school especially in chicago's case? what would your policy be in reversing that? guest: this is a tough topic. there are many things i focused achievementsademic , budget issues were tough labor-management negotiations. but honestly, all of that was easy compared to the level of gun violence. during my time, though 7.5 years on average we lost one child to gun violence every two weeks.

thank god none of that was in schools. but on the bus going home, in the community. window, one the shot. died. it is beyond heartbreaking. nothing was harder than going to those funerals, going to those children's homes, going to classrooms where there is an empty desk and tried to make sense of the senseless. i kept above my desk in chicago a drawing by young middle school boy that he gave me of him there's a ladder and fireman going to rescue someone and the caption he wrote on his drawing was if i grow up i want to be a fireman and you think about that if i grow up when i was little it was when i grow up. deferred gratification and things long-term but if you are just trying to survive every

single day that is like a foreign language it is hard to think about that when you're just trying to make it so i'm obsessed with this issue. i'm working full-time to reduce violence in chicago. -- we had an amazing day friday really we built a playground for kids in the community wracked by gang violence where two groups have decided to put down the guns. ofin man who -- eight months no violence. they said please told a playground so we have volunteers come out and do that we have a lot of hard work and chicago ahead of us to create a climate where kids can grow up as kids and play and be safe and grew up free of fear and trauma. host: this is victor. itaught school for 26 years taught geography. they came out with this common core test it was the teachers

hated it. it was a disaster. i have grandchildren now that are in public schools. elementary grades. their test scores on reading are not that good. only oneers are saying third of the third graders can pass common core. the test is invalid. does not measure what it purports to measure and they use the test to get rid of the teachers instead of getting good teachers, keeping them and developing them they're using this test to keep the price that they pay the teacher because of the teacher has tenure they get more steps and make more money. that test is a disaster as far as i'm concerned. it does not correlate the iq to the achievement either. it's not an achievement test. guest: i beg to differ with you

on a few different points. states pick how they evaluate students. i think students should be tested each year. i think there are states and districts that test too much. tell the story in chicago public schools we're taking illinois state test but we were also taking the iowa test of basic skills. our kids lived in illinois and not iowa so we eliminated the test. students should be assessed annually. whether they are gifted, average students, students with special needs or learning differences. we help everyone get better. while the lies i talk about in the book is we are historically told children they are on track to be successful because they do me down standards and they were in close. the young man i worked with named calvin who was a junior when i started tutoring him, he is gotten good grades, on the b on a roll, he wanted me to help

them get ready for the ac t and sat and about half hour into working with them figured out he was punctually -- functionally illiterate. played by all the rules, stayed away from the violence, tried to go to college and in his junior year found out he was not even close. one of the most insidious lies we're trying to challenge. host: michael is in minnesota. you are on. caller: good morning gentlemen. i'm a graduate from the west side of chicago. my question was to you guys how about this no child left behind and i had another comment about what do you think of what do you think of the diminishing roles that the pta is not established in the

schools today? guest: no child left behind was the law of the land. this aggregating data did looking at each individual group of students, white students, latino students, asian students, native american students tossing how each group did in a school not just looking at averages and sweeping some of those real caps on to the rug. we have to tell the truth. having said that i had huge problems with the law. i lived on the other side of it when i ran chicago public schools. what i believe as a nation in terms of policy is we should be clear about what our goals are. the goals that we have so that when young people graduate from high school. actually allowed to take college credit bearing courses not having to take remedial courses. we should be clear on goals. we should be loose on letting districts and states achieve those goals and what works well on the west side of chicago may

not work as well in rural montana, may not work as well in california. we should be innovative, we should look at what great educators are doing to help , helpts, help schools districts achieve high standards learn from that but that's what we try to do in fixing what i on the was a broken law role of parents and glad you brought that up it is critically havetant and we as parents to be full and equal partners with our children's teachers we need to be turning out off those tvs and video games and devices at night helping students concentrate work on their homework and when we can partner with teachers and not have cracks great things happen for kids. when we as parents say to schools it your job to educate them we do our teachers and children a great disservice. host: how do you improve a school system, subtracting

money. most administrators would say more money. what are all their alternatives? guest: i will always argue everywhere that education is an investment. the best investment we can make as a nation, not an expense. we need to have results. we need to hold ourselves accountable for getting students through high school. we don't always do a great job of that would invest in high-quality pre-k sure students have a great k-12 education andng sure that colleges opportunity i would argue for free commuter college. a republican governor has done that in tennessee. he's trying to keep good jobs in tennessee knows he wants an educated workforce so education is fundamentally an investment not an expense. i talk about our schools being community centers. so often those nonschool hours and times for anxiety for parents. today.d like them

his if schools could stay open 12 hours a day -- that is not the teacher working 12 hours, let's bring in the churches, .onprofits, the ymcas think about our schools. 100,000 schools all over america. they all have classrooms. they have libraries, jim's, some have swimming pools. i don't belong to me or you or the union or the principal. they belong to the community. are amazing physical assets. we had about 175 schools, community centers. butjust academic enrichment arts and sports and drama and debates for kids. we served often three meals a day. for parents we had esl classes ged classes. counseling, potluck dinners. schools were children and their parents were learning together.

if schools are commuter center's great things will happen for children. that is people pooling resources coming together looking at the school building not as a school but as an asset for the community and how we all over together to make up home for kids and their families. host: on the money side how much does it cost the taxpayer and what do you think it accomplished? guest: race to the top was a $4 billion investment over four to five years which sounds like a lot of money and is a lot of money. we spent its hundred $50 billion each year on k-12 education so a tiny slice of that. race to the top was an incentive for states to race standards to work on turning around underperforming schools to be very clear and honest on data to think differently about how we support and evaluating teachers and it was an opportunity for states to come forward and we had extraordinary interest and controversy from states around the nation.

did ont funding and we the k-12 side and we also did it on an early warning challenge for pregame. i said earlier we were so pleased to put more than $1 billion behind pre-k which our department had never done before. it was not enough. we were not able to get more of our republican colleagues in congress to back the kind of investment in states we would've liked. i tell a tough story that we have 36 states apply for that. we had funding for 18. one of the states we were not able to fund was mississippi. the governor then was governor .ryant, staunch conservative he and i might disagree on many issues but he was devastated that we could not fund mississippi's pre-k expansion program. so was i. if we look at any measure, mississippi is 49th, 50th, no one needed more pre-k the mississippi. while a strong conservative

republican governor wanted access to more federal dollars his congressional leaders from mississippi were fighting us and we were not able to fund it. the disconnect between the dysfunction in d.c. and what i saw traveling talk 50 states visiting mississippi, that dichotomy between what people really wanted and how they were living in the real world and what happens here in d.c., that distance is troubling. host: were there other aspects connected to race to the top? guest: many challenges and pushback from the left and right. we were challenging the status quo. the idea that we had to increase high school graduation rates, the idea that we make sure high school graduates were prepared for some form of higher education beyond that, we got pushback from the left and the right and that was ok. some criticism is more than valid, more than fair. things he would do differently in hindsight. host: arne duncan joining us with his book.

let's go to edward. you are on with our guest. caller: i have so many thoughts i want to share quick. -- mr.duncan, thank you duncan, thank you for serving in the capacity you serve them. it is really important education. i live here in new jersey. is tradent to say, why education not part of our curriculums? we don't have trade education. plumbers, welders, electricians coming up. point, with charter schools are used to watch: was show all the time and will talk about education in the black community and charter schools. i would be upset with charter schools. why are they asking for funding from the public? they are private, not public. i believe the move for charter schools was born out of our --

the public schools failing us so now we are turning to other efforts. certain kits that can get in. i don't know if i believe in the charter effort. if we can support our public schools and go that way charter would not have to exist. host: we will talk on those topics. guest: thanks for calling. let me take your questions in order. on the train of young people we could call it vocational education career and technical education i think we can't do enough of that. i tell the story in my book of a school that historically was a failing school that no one wanted to go to. they did some of the traditional trade, auto body shop, woodworking. a fantastic principal came to the school and she changed the definition of what it meant to

be a vocational school. she kept those traditional a creditt she also put union into the school and young people worked in the credit union so if you wanted to cash a check or whatever the community came to the school. she put a functioning veterinary clinic in the school. had cancer,if you going through chemotherapy and lost her hair, you could come to the school to get awake and to get support. so school that had been shunned by the community became the center of the community by teaching traditional trades but teaching other things as well. that school became high-performing, ultimately -- blueuld written ribbon award winning school. i would argue we need it not just in high school but in six and seventh and eighth grade. the final point i would make on is it more careers or more

college? i think almost always an education that is the wrong question. it is always both and. we need more young people prepared to go to college and be successful and we need more people prepared to go into the trades. if you are paid a plumber recently as i have that is a fantastic living. if you've sent your car to the shop it's a fantastic living to be made. it's never about tracking students saying your college material or not it's about here's the world of higher education, what is your interest and how do we help get you ready for that. is important. on the issue of charter schools, charters are public schools. i am a supporter of high-performing charter schools. we put significant money into learning from them.

i went to the national charter school convention and said there are charter schools that are terrible and need to be closed down. there's nothing about the name of the school that tells me anything about quality. we as adults, parents, taxpayers, citizens, need to make sure we have great public school options available for every student whatever the form or label might be. host: there's been debate about streamlining government and one of the proposals that came from the comeau laney, an idea -- mike mulvaney, he makes this justification saying we think that makes sense because what are they both doing? they're trying to get people ready for the workforce. sometimes it is vocational .raining guest: i think it's a bad idea but it's the thing the administration puts behind it. host: from our line for

educators, sean is next. go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my call. the first one is regarding how school funding is structured given there are vast discrepancies and how money is spent in the state. how can the federal government play a role in funding inequities? the second is built off the charter question from previous vouchers ando on special education vouchers. when the student takes a special education voucher they forfeit their rights to ide a protections. i was wondering if you could speak to why that is and if there's anything the federal government can do for that. guest: these are really thoughtful questions and you have a great high. i wish a lot more citizens were focused on voting on education.

republican and democrat. is a hugely important issue. for me the hope of public education is that it is the great equalizer. that young people regardless of race and socioeconomic status or zip code if they work hard, if they challenge themselves, if they get a great education it is a new world of opportunity available to them. .oo often that is not the case so much of our funding in public education, it is about 40% to and onlythe state eight to 10% at the federal level. so much of the funding comes from the local level. taxes based upon property what that means is by definition the children of the wealthy who

live in wealthier communities get a lot more spent on them than children who come from poorer communities. 85% of my kids lived below the poverty line and 90% of my children came from the minority community. we received less than half the money each year to educate our kids and districts like wilmette who were just seven miles north of us along lake michigan. we sued the state because of those disparities in funding. we lost that suit but it is fundamentally unfair that the children of the rich get more spent on them than the children of the poor. when we fail to close that divide we in education exacerbate the difference between the wealthy and the poor. we don't close those gaps so we have to challenge at. the goal is to give every single child in the country access to a great education seen as an

investment, not an expense. the second point does not make sense. what wisconsin seems to be doing if what you're saying is accurate. i'm not a fan of vouchers. i want children to have access to great public schools. students are forfeiting their protections under the ide a act that does not make sense to me. maine, you arem up next. caller: thanks for taking my call. two quick statements for mr. duncan i would like him to respond to. first off let me say i have great faith in public schools. one thing i do want to say, i think nowadays parents abdicate too much responsibility to teachers and i don't think that's fair. i don't think take -- i think teachers are supposed to teach or doot discipline them

anything that parents are supposed to be doing. i think parents expect teachers to do what families are supposed to do and that does not leave too much time to teach. the other thing i want to say, i don't think schools are teaching kids to think critically too much anymore. i think that's having a great effect on society. i graduated high school in 1976. i'm old. in high school we touched on controversy all subjects. we talked about the vietnam war and women's rights and civil rights. .e disagreed with each other we learned how to listen to each other respectfully. we learned how to voice our opinions respectfully. we learn how to think critically . nowadays schools don't want talk about anything that's controversial or might hurt someone's feelings. i think that's too bad.

guest: thanks so much for the thoughtful questions. let me say you're not old and i appreciate you thinking about these issues. on the parent piece i could not agree more. the most important thing we as parents can do is to be full and equal partners to our children's teachers. when i say that people often think that makes sense for five-year-olds or seven-year-olds. my wife and i have two children high school which is a little stunning. we can't back off now. we have to be more involved and teenagers may not appear that way, they are looking for structure, guidance and if we're not talking to her children's teachers, not supporting them, not hearing about our children's strengths and weaknesses we are not helping teachers do their job and we have to be partners. we as parents have to continue to step up. let me add there are children in communities like the one i'm working in now on the south and

--t side and we're candidly there are not any parents raising those children. data may be gone or incarcerated. mom might be a drug addict. , nonprofits,ty social service agencies, we have to step into that cap and helped raise those children because if we don't what we are seeing is gangs raise the children. in our comfortable homes and nice jobs are engaged if we are not present if we are not walking with these children someone else is and the consequences for them, for the community, the city are devastating. i want to challenge all of them to think how we step into that cap when there is not an adult in that child's life to steer them in the right direction. critical thinking point that you

raised, we used to spend lots of time in schools and rising fact, this war, this battle. that is what google is here for. our children don't me to memorize too much. they can look things up in a heartbeat. what our students do need to be able to do is what you said, think critically. to ask questions or need to listen respectfully to differences of opinion. to work as a team to solve problems and those are the skills that every employer is looking for, the ability to think critically, to be a productive member of a team. to solve tough problems together . those are precisely the skills we need to provide to young people. i would argue learning to read is important, learning math, algebra, calculus is hugely important. the biggest thing we can teach young people now is to love learning and to be a lifelong learner.

if they do that they will have success forever. the day you or i stopped reading is the day we become obsolete. the book is called how schools work host: written by arne duncan. one of the tasks of betsy devos is on school safety she's traveling around the country talking about the school safety commission. what do you think about the test being given to her by the president. guest: unfortunately i find it disingenuous like so much coming from this administration. if you're going to talk about school safety you have to talk about guns. you have to talk about gun violence and tragically we raised a generation of teens in this nation whose been raised on mass shootings and gun violence. for that "commission" to talk about guns it is dishonest. we as adults have failed to keep shoulder and safe. -- free of fear and trauma. i apologize when talking to young people.

the young people from parkland, florida. young people from the south and west side of chicago and around the country, they are not waiting for us to keep them safe. they are fighting for this. i'm more hopeful on this issue. young people will lead our nation to a safer place. that commission is not honestly concerned with the real issues devastating our children unfortunately around the country. host: secretary devos appeared before senate committee talked with an question by senator patrick leahy. i want to show you a portion and get your response. [video clip] will your >> commission look >> at the role of firearms as it relates to gun violence in our schools? >> that is not part of the commission's charge. .> i see so you're studying gun violence but not considering the role of guns. >> we are studying school safety. >> well you are studying things one how much time is spent

video games and all of that but you can go to a lot of funds are countries where they spend just as much time but have only a tiny fraction of the shootings that we do. the gun of choice for mass shooters is an ar-15. do you believe an 18-year-old high school student should be able to walk into a store and minutes later, with an ar-15 style gun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition? and your this body counterparts on the other side of the capital have addressed a number of these issues and i know you will continue -- >> i'm>> trying to give you questions that could be answered yes or no so let me repeat it in case i wasn't clear. it did you believe and 18 euros high school student should be able to walk into a store and minutes later, with an ar-15 style assault rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition? >> i believe that is a matter for debate and i know that's

been debated within this body and will continue to be. our focus is on raising up andessful proven techniques approaches to ensuring schools are safe for students. host: those are her statements. guest: she answered honestly and said they weren't looking at guns. this administration is bought and owned by the nra and will do their bidding. what troubles me most about this administration is there's no education policy. no goals, no vision. education should be the ultimate bipartisan issue. right now we are 30th in the world in access to pre-k. our goal should be to lead the world in access to high-quality prekindergarten. we talk about high school graduation rates getting to 84%. the current administration's .oal should be given to 90% i would love us to lead the world in access to completion with higher education.

right now we are about 16. if we want to keep high skilled jobs in america in a globally competitive economy in a flat world it's in our best interest to have the best educated workforce in the world. unfortunately you don't hear the administration talking about any of these goals. not one of them. we could have vigorous strategies behind -- to try and achieve these goals. been mounting good ideas. let me add one tougher statement . i'm not convinced this president wants to have the best educated citizenry in the world. we have the kind of authoritative -- authoritarian tendencies president trump has, when you call the press the enemy of the people, when you want to become the source of truth and everything else is fake, when a previous caller linda talked about critical thinking skills and ability to think independently and draw

--clusions i'm not sure this i'm not sure it is in this president's best interest to have citizens who can think critically and are well educated. host: what about approaches such as hardening current school buildings? even to the extent of armed guards in schools? guest: that is the word used by the nra, the word mimicked by the current administrations. a hardened school. recess?ou harden have you harden dismissals? how do you harden a basketball game or a football game? have you harden field trips? the short answer is you can't. we have a gun problem in american society. we don't have a school safety issue we have an american safety issue. areny percent of children killed in schools and we need to do everything we can to keep them safe.

, we have people killed in malls, movie theaters, in concerts, congressman playing baseball here. tragically, in churches. this is a made in america problem. we don't have this level of violence and tragedy and trauma in canada, australia, england, japan, south korea. some issues are hard, putting a man on the moon, curing cancer. this issue is not intellectually hard. we simply lack the political will to keep our kids and our family safe. i think that's a lie that we value our kids and i think we value our guns more than we do our children. host: our guest is currently a managing partner with the emerson collective. guest: the emerson collective is a program led by lorraine jobs was dedicated to trying to make the world better place. emerson focuses on environmental

issues, education, immigration. trying to find cures for cancer that killed her late husband steve jobs. she has been an amazing partner in chicago to try to reduce violence and make community safe for children. host: what is she doing specifically? guest: we have a lot of hard work ahead of us but what we are doing is working directly with the young man most likely to shoot and be shot. i came home and try to figure out how i can help the city, if we wanted to stop shooting we had to work with the shooters. we have a number of men who unfortunately have been shot. many have done their share of shooting that they are tired of the street life. tired of being chased by police, tired of living in fear. we have amazing man transforming their lives. so many have gotten their diplomas.

leaders. community these young men are not the problem. they are the solution. our program is called chicago cred. some of the most humbling, at times heartbreaking extraordinarily inspiring work that i'm so lucky to do today and these men are remarkable. it the event on friday with a community came together to build and whatund for kids had tragically for a long time been a war zone i can't tell you how symbolically important that was. host: from florida, this is michele. caller: i appreciate being on the show. you really got my mind going. i'm going to start out with the charter school thing. as a parent who took voucher and ended up having to homeschool my child while they took the money and our charter schools which take students and pick them back to public school with no funding having put their money in their

bank account, i will little upset about the support for charter schools would seem to be bipartisan. seems to be a convenient way to strip schools of money. we do not have the funding we need to have. dinged onchers being evaluations when they don't have equipment the status post to provide. three laptops in a class of 20 kids in title i schools. guest: be clear i talk about i support good charters not bad charters are kicking kids out or any school is kicking kids out and putting them on the street that's not what good schools do. good schools work with children that are struggling, they wrap their arms around them and find ways to help. i tell a story of the end of the book about an extraordinary school on the west side of chicago working a challenging community. i tell the story of one young man going through horrific things.

the easy thing to do would be to kick the young man out of school . this school is staying with him. that is what every school needs to do. let me talk to you specifically about this issue of funding. that education is an investment, not an expense. too many politicians don't adequately fund education. we are seeing teacher strikes in a number of states. honestly, those were in republican states. oklahoma, you can go down the list. where governors have starved public education. and we do that we cut off our nose to spite our face. when these kinds of things happen, when governors, folks in congress, when the president does not invest in education at , i would love to see

.ore free community colleges when politicians failed to invest in education i don't blame them. i blame us as voters because we don't hold them accountable. if we across the political spectrum demanded politicians invest in education i promise that would happen. as we go to the voting booth in november i hope a piece of what we are voting on it what is this political leaders commitment. ,ot soundbites, not platitudes what is commitment to increasing access to precast, to raising graduation rates. and if they keep those commitments they should have the privilege of keeping their jobs and if they don't keep anditments we as voters citizens need to find other people to step in and do a better job and take their place. host: from south carolina, oriana, hello.

caller: i'm actually an important project invested or trying to improve education in impoverished embryos. education is important to make a society geopolitically stable because then they won't be able to -- they won't be susceptible to being brainwashed by these radical groups and terror organizations. guest: thank you for your leadership we talked about public sector investment nonprofits, philanthropy, governments -- corporations who can step in and fund education helping students think critically, i love that. inron james recently stepped his hometown in akron helped .rovide wraparound services

pay for colleges once young people graduated. where we have public-private partnerships there are never enough resources. thinking differently and holistically. physical needs first before we talk about the academic success, that makes me very hopeful about what we can do as a nation to break the cycles of poverty and having physically engaged stable democracy. host: there is a campaign to replacehost:. -- two replace betty devos with lebron james. guest: i would argue lebron james is a better human being that he is a best ballplayer. host: is are some fallback when one person likes him -- guest: i would love to see a lot more people of means, not just athletes or celebrities or business leaders step in.

helping financially, summer jobs for teens, chances for teachers to go back to school and hone , the skills, career-based community has to be involved in the school and i would love to see a lot more people doing exactly what he's doing. this is a public school funded by public dollars. 20 years ago when i helped run the arial foundation we started a small public school where it was a public school. john rogers helped fund summer programs for kids. he helped do things with parents and put in an investment curriculum where children as young as kindergarten were being taught about the stock market and by the time children were in sixth grade they are stirring to invest real money in the stock market and getting a return. amazing opportunity does -- amazing opportunity that does not normally happen. the lack of minorities having access to that world trying to

break down those barriers, there's actually a young man who went to arial community academy who now works at ariel investments who never had that opportunity without it. i would love to see a lot more individuals of means. a lot more companies and philanthropies stepping up partnering with schools to give every child a chance to receive that great education. host: when the last time you spoke with president obama? guest: i interviewed him in d.c. not too long ago. he's doing well. successes, his failures, a little bit about where things are now. he came out not too long ago, supposed to spend about an hour with our men. it was an extraordinarily emotional day. he talked a lot about growing up with a single mom. he talked a lot about his dad

coming into his life for about a month when he was 10 or 11 and disappearing. not one of the men we are father with it now had a that is alive. on the surface many tough men who were in tears. the sharing and the honesty and the depth of compassion and understanding was a day none of us are going to forget. host: i think i read somewhere when you were secretary and he was president he said you deal with the policy i will deal with the politics. a different experience when it comes to that. guest: i've been so privileged in my life. i know how lucky i was. running chicago public schools with mayor daley, secretary of education for president obama, i worked with and for leaders who were willing to spend political capital, to do hard things if it was the right thing for children. every conversation was is this

the right thing for kids. and if it is we will figure out the politics and take some hits. that is so rare. i tell the story of a couple politicians, including president obama but also governorobama bu, in ohio, where we definitely had some challenges early in our relationship. i came to respect him fought fory and he high standards at a time when his base was yelling at him not to do that. i talk about a governor i have tremendous respect for the idea of free community college may be perceived as a democratic idea -- a republican governor has done that for his entire state. we have to have more politicians on the left and right willing to challenge their own base, willing to challenge the orthodoxy of their party to do the right thing for kids. that is hard to do, it can be a lonely place to be, but i think

the politics of the left and right hurt children and hurt our nation. we need folks like president obama, like those governors, like the governor of delaware, willing to think about what is in the best interest of kids, of their families, and ultimately of our nation. served as the education secretary the obama administration. he is the author of how schools work. thank you for your time, mr. secretary. guest: thank you for the opportunity. i enjoyed it. host: we'll be joined next by sean spicer. he discusses his new book. we will have that conversation when "washington journal" continues. c-span, a at 8:00 on conversation with justice stephen breyer at the aspen institute in colorado. >> let's go through the

pre-civil war days or through the civil war days or years ofction or 80 legal segregation during do you days were pragmatic and adaptive? if they were adaptive i did not see it. we have lived through lots of history in the united states and some of it as turned out well, some of it has not. >> tuesday at 8:00, mother jones author at the brooklyn historical society talking about voting rights. >> a month after the supreme court decision when john roberts and racial discrimination was largely a thing of the past, north carolina passed a sweeping rewrite of its election laws that required strict voter id, a cut early voting, and illuminated voter registration,

and eliminated citizens awareness month, office and one bill a month after the supreme court gutted the voting rights act. c-span, c-span.org and the free c-span radio app. sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's "q&a," a historian talks about his book -- apostles of revolution. andf they could come back see america today and see the most important play on broadway arisesa play that line -- that lionizes alexander hamilton and see the

maldistribution of wealth in the united states and the amount of money that suffuses american thatics, they would fear many of these things that are going on in the united states today bore an uncannily resemblance to the england they had revolted against. sunday night at 8:00 on c-span's "q&a." >> "washington journal" continues. host: our next guest served as this administration's first press secretary. sean spicer. he is also the author of "the briefing." is the perception of a white house press secretary and what is the reality? guest: that is a great question. has administration definitely taken things to a different level in terms of the intensity and scrutiny that position received.

i think a press secretary's job is to convey the information to the media and to the public when the president is unable to do so for themselves. i think the perception sometimes is that the press secretary -- people would say what you think? reality is the press secretary is not supposed to be speaking for themselves but the principles they represent. book whenright in the it comes to president trump's interest in your job and how he engaged with you, he was always full of questions, wanting background where a story comes from and curious what we would say about it. he was never shy about giving us directions. he was insistent about how he wanted the points delivered. the more time i spent with him the more i understood president wanted me to repeat his answers to the press verbatim. could you expand on that? guest: i have been doing this a long time, served a lot of members of congress and

candidates. team comes up with the lines they think are most effective. president trump is much more specific without he wants his voice communicated. it, the job about is to communicate the views and principles and ideas that the president wants communicated. the president recognizes that if that is going to be the case, he wants to make sure those words are conveyed exactly as he's these fit. talk about the engagement you had on a day-to-day basis, especially developing what the statements and comments from the white house would be. guest: in order to get ready for a briefing or major event, we would spend a good chunk of the morning going back and forth trying to develop what the questions and appropriate responses would be. we bring in the subject matter expert from the national security council, maybe someone

from the opposite of management and budget, depending on what the issue was you would bring in the relevant experts and they would give you their cake -- there take as to where the issue was and the appropriate response. then i would go in and start to check in with the president and say these are the questions i believe we are most likely to get. this is what your team recommends and he would give his take and we would go back and forth, sometimes with what he wanted and we might have to check back in with the subject matter experts that say the president wants to convey it this way, do you think that is going to be an issue? depending on the issue and the nature of it, it might be one single interaction or it might be a back-and-forth. host: when the president makes statements about specific members of the press, is that shade how you approach your job? questions, how you

approached engagement with these organizations? guest: he never asked me to call anyone or not call anyone. that was something i did myself and i write about it extensively in the book. i intentionally wanted to broaden the number of reporters called on in the briefing room and try to expand and democratize the press room. i believe that reporters from a variety of backgrounds, whether foreign media, niche publications, local media, conservative talk radio, different ethnic outlets all deserve to question and i tried to very who i called on and the frequency of it to see that there was a variety of voices being heard. host: the book is called "the briefing: politics, the press, and the president." sean spicer is our guest. if you want to ask questions, (202) 748-8001 for republicans,

(202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8002 four independents. you've heard the president's comments about the press. what do you think about those statements? is that appropriate? guest: i think if democracy is -- needspecially ours to have a free and robust press corps. i am not a fan of calling out any industries with a broad brush. i think it is more effective to call out inappropriate behavior or disrespectful behavior or a bad story or a lack of professionalism in a specific case rather than paint an entire history with a broad brush. when you do that you throughout the good with the bad and as i write in the book there are a lot of good reporters in that briefing room. i am not one who believes or advocates you should use any industry and call it one particular thing.

as a conservative and as someone who voted for and supported president trump, i do not like it when people ascribe those qualities to conservative and all conservatives believe this or people who support donald trump are the following. i have not been a big believer in using sweeping comments to pay -- to paint any industry or group as being synonymous with a trait. host: you probably saw this on the late show with stephen colbert. the white house correspondent was talking about reporting of the president. i want you to hear his perspective on his job and get your take on it. [video clip] >> why do you think he dislikes cnn? he seems to dislike you more than any other new service? is it because you talked about the dossier? >> there was a report that cnn had on january 11 -- that was my mission, to going to the press

conference and asked a question about that story. have had tohen, we be fact checkers in real-time, we have had to try to tell the truth in real-time. --n the president said brack barack obama wiretapped me a , when heer -- not true says millions of undocumented people voted in the election, that is why lost the popular vote, that is not true. careerndation of his his was built on a lie, that barack obama was not born in this country. there are tough questions to be asked. we do not do ourselves any good if we shy away from these hard questions. host: mr. spicer, what you think of that assessment? --st: i think it is ironic jim never talks about his own behavior. when was the last time jim broke a story? it is all about him and his antics.

he turned the page from being a reporter to being an activist and at the tractor the president. it is not about reporting. he coaxed himself and this idea of the first amendment, which we all support. his behavior has been .isrespectful at best he posted this photo a couple weeks back of himself about hundred yards back from the president and made it seem as if the president ignored a question he had asked when his own fellow reporters called out and said there was no way the president could have possibly heard him because he was so far back behind hundreds of people in an audience. to him it is about the show. i think the idea that he tries to make it about asking questions and fax is ridiculous. at the end of the day, it is not about the free press, it is not about tough questions, it is not about stories, it is about him

creating a scene in the briefing room, him jumping up and down and shouting stuff out and making himself the story. most reporters will tell you it should never be about them, it is always about the story. it is the inverse with him. host: you sane your book when it comes to white house coverage a focus four things -- on palace intrigue, a desire to break a story, and a partisan mentality. i think all of those are true and i going to detail on each one of them. mentality and i talk about examples were reporters who dare to break out of that and ask questions they because theyortant find it interesting or represented constituency, get mocked and ridiculed by their colleagues if they do not go along with whatever the collective wisdom and thought is for the day. that is a big problem. you have seen this more and more

were reporters have tried to make themselves the story and try to figure out how to get themselves on tv rather than focus on issues and the pursuit of a particular story. i think there is a big problem with the behavior and the professionalism that is exhibited in that room. host: mr. spicer joins us until 10:00. the phone lines are on the screen. our first call comes from minnesota, this is derek on our independent line. you're on with sean spicer, go ahead. caller: good morning, c-span. appreciate your time this morning. i have a couple questions. definiteike a definition of the free press. from what i understand, the emperor has no clothes. becausea has no clothes they have been exposed for help much bias they are toward this president. i've never seen anything like

it. i think every study says that 90% plus are democrats or leftists or whatever. what is the actual free press because there is so much opinion, commentary. i've a daughter going to one of the best journalism schools in the country and i would like your advice to her going into it because i do not understand what the free press is anymore when it is all this conjecture, opinion? host: we will let our guest respond. , i think derek brings up some good points. i do not like to make one sweeping comment about all of them. there are good journalists in that briefing room. i think the washington elite media that is represented by the networks and the cables and the big conglomerate newspapers and toe services tend not understand or take the time to

outside the beltway and understand what is going on. i think a free press means they can write whatever they want and liberal news, we have conservative news, we have business news. the ability to write and express yourself in this country is something we cherish. do your point, we need to recognize that so many of these folks in the establishment media have gone from being objective or trying to appear objective to being activists. expressing an opinion, whether on twitter or cable news, they have stopped reporting and gone on to opining about their beliefs, their ideas, and then as you point out, i think too often there is a degree of stories built entirely on conjecture where it is what we think he is thinking, as opposed to actually reporting stuff. it is all about conjecture about what they think might happen

versus what the facts tell us. host: from minnesota, republican line, brad. caller: good morning. i have not spoken to you people in a while but this is a great topic to talk about. i look at life as past behavior will tell you the near future. it started in 1950, it was called operation mockingbird and it was the cia manipulating the people through the media. step continuing -- another , but it is the media with the fbi this time. we have a big problem with our media today. they want to manipulate the people. host: mr. spicer, what do you think? guest: i write in the book, and pedro, you just mentioned that i try to give people an idea of what was going on behind the scenes in terms of the stories

and what actually happens the on , whatory you read or see is happening in the lead up to that story and the back-and-forth and interaction that occurs. there is no question that a lot have an in media agenda, have an opinion. i do not think that is all of them. there are a lot of good reporters that do a good job. more and more, we are seeing a lot of what you would call establishment media types getting involved in expressing themselves and taking an opinion. host: when you say reporters who do a good job, name one and why that person doing a good job? guest: jen jacobs, bloomberg. you can disagree with us. --re are plenty of stories ,argaret talev, also bloomberg

who was last press association president. they can write top stories, they can be tenacious, but they are professional and fair meaning they tell you this is what we have gathered, what is your side, a reasonable amount of time to respond. a lot of times reporters say we are about to publish, what is your response? it is always not something that can be responded to in five or 10 minutes. too often that is the mentality. we have eight anonymous sources saying the following, you have five minutes to respond. that is not fair. that is an attempt to engage in gotcha journalism. that is where the stories are based. this attempt to be sensational and follow the spirit of tabloid press versus straight journalism. there are a lot of reporters who say i'm working on this story, i would like to hear your side of it.

they truly, the story from an objective place and try to gather the facts versus a lot of these people who figure out the narrative they want to pursue, build a case, and then call you and tell you they are about to publish. or in many cases do not even tell you that. host: what is your thinking when it comes to news sources? do you equate mainstream media with blocks such as breitbart or the daily caller? do you equate those when it comes to news outlets? guest: there is a spectrum. i read all of those. i will also sometimes look at left-wing places like the daily beast or huffington post. i think you need to look at all of it and collectively gather as much as you can. as there is an right, there is a lot of the left. host: review like on the left? which is the main source for

you? guest: it is not a question of like. part of the job is to look at the full spectrum. i might read a story from the huffington post or the daily beast, but when i do i think there is a level of scrutiny and now i want to find out further. when you read a story from one of those sources, it makes you wonder how much of it is activism journalism versus an attempt to write it straight up or something from buzz feed where is all the left-leaning sites and you have to go now i need to further investigate to find out whether this was them pursuing an agenda or how much of it is accurate? host: from minnesota, democrats line, tammy, your next. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am wondering which president, obama or trump, had the biggest inauguration? guest: that is a great question.

you should read the book. i think i have talked about that extensively, about that first date and what my goal was to try to communicate which was to talk about the level of enthusiasm and interest there was in the inauguration. host: republican line, georgia, this is joy. caller: i just want to discuss something about the different dv news people. i try to watch different news programs, especially msnbc and i try to watch cnn and i try my best to watch them but it is nothing but hate. it is pure hate. i want to try to learn something from them but the hatred they spew about our president is unbelievable. i have never learned as much about our country with the president as i have with president trump.

i have learned more in my lifetime, and i'm 74 years old. -- i know when you say fox news that is a trump thing, but they do not spew the hatred like these other tv programs do. it is unbelievable. i used to like msnbc. i used to like joe in the morning but i cannot stand to watch it anymore. host: thank you very much. mr. spicer? guest: we talked about this during the segment. each of these channels has staked out where they stand on the political spectrum. you are seeing it now. you have msnbc and cnn have staked out the left, fox has staked out the right. one of the reasons i love c-span is you guys allow people to talk and the viewers to make up their mind. people can watch a government official take questions, give the response or watch a hearing.

it allows people to see their government, exactly what is said in an unfiltered way. i do think you have now seen a lot of activism journalism, especially on the cable news channels where there is a degree to which they understand their audience and therefore their business model is predicated upon tailoring and focusing on a particular niche of the political spectrum. host: devon in port charlotte, florida, democrat line. caller: thank you for taking my call. a simple question. any regrets? -- inould you change if hindsight? that thisn documented current administration lies consistently, every day. i would like your response to that. thank you. , ist: on the first thing think the reason i wrote the

book is to give people an understanding of what i did and what was going on behind the scenes. there are plenty of things i said i would love to do over. a lot of times it is the tone i would use, a lot of times it is the interaction, at times it is the way i communicated. i write about this, on how i would have liked to be able to do it over. that is not how we get to live life and part of what i explained in the book is what i have tried to do is recognize, whether it is a personal interaction or professional issue or event, that the question it comes down to is do you learn from those? are you a better person or a better professional because how you have looked back on an event and recognize tight you could have done it better? there are plenty of circumstances where i look back and say i could answer that better or interacted that are. i talk about those in the book in a candid way because i want people to understand i'm not

perfect. it was a tough job, it was intense. there are things i wish i could do over again and i want people to understand, not hear an sometimes the context in which i made those decisions and what i would have done differently. host: the book is called "the briefing: politics, the press, and the president." sean spicer joining us. serving as the press secretary in the trump administration. a couple questions about omarosa manacled and what she said to you. gives you some type of money to say nice things about the president. what is your response to that? guest: that is completely false. let's walk through the timeline. i left the white house september 1 of last year. i signed a book here in december of that year. i submitted the book in may of .hat year

thatned a super pac's supports the president's policies in june. i'd not received a penny from anyone connected to trump until june 15 of this year after my book had been submitted. i did not sign a nondisclosure agreement. america first has put out a statement saying that. you have to consider the source. money anding to make hawk a book. i just talked about my own timeline. let's look at her timeline. she left the timeline -- he left the white house at the beginning of the year and continuously praise the president and then within weeks was shopping a book to publishers claiming the opposite. it was clear they were telling her that in order to sell and get an advanced she would have

to say something nasty. my book is very candid talking about my experience, what i would do better, how i could have had some of those instances. i do not think if you read that book you can say i was not candid and some of my shortcomings. her book is completely different. it is an attempt to go after the president of the united states because she got fired. she even lies about that. she said she resigned. now she said she was fired. she bought a personal recording device into the white house to record the chief of chaff of white house in violation of countless security protocols and her own security clearance. there is no question she has a huge credibility issue. host: this is mary. las vegas, nevada. independent line. caller: you are out there trying

to hawk a book. goes, i willrosa wait to hear the tapes. the president does lie a lot and it is coming back at him. there are so many horrible things going on. he stands up there and he calls the press an enemy of the people. right out of the authoritarian playbook. he goes after the nfl for taking a knee and sends a delegation to russia on the fourth of july. then he stands up there at then he stands up there at helsinki -- vladimir putin was smiling. they looked like he just got through eating red meat. if he deserves to be defended, he will be, but the truth does need to come out and i think cnn and msnbc are doing a good job and fox news is going off the charts somewhere. host: we will let our guest respond. .uest: there is no question

i'm on here, i'm talking about the book. i am trying to promote it. there is a difference. you willad my book recognize i talk about my life, my experiences. i think it is a candid understanding of who i am as a person. i do not go out there and act in a disloyal way as one of my former colleagues did. book that selling a goes after the president of the united states, who she praised publicly on the record, both in print and on video within days of leaving the white house. i do not think there's anything inconsistent about my account, that i think there a totally different style between how i am approaching this and how she is approaching it. the tone and the tenor are different. i am proud of what i have written. you have seen the people who read the book will tell you it

is a candid approach to who i am as a person and the experience of the last couple years. especially with respect to the campaign. if you're interested in understanding what was going on during that campaign, the data and the field operation that was used, part of the reason i wanted to write it was so people can understand what was going on during the campaign. host: you have to get approval from the white house for your manuscript? guest: no. host: how is it that you do not sign a nondisclosure agreement? guest: with america first? host: with the white house. charge was omarosa's that i took hush money and signed a nondisclosure agreement. i did not. that is the sign -- that is the charge she made. host: republican line. hello. caller: i was many years of service company commander and sean is right on. i will buy his book.

the media is so biased. 98% negative which fox -- their ratings are better than all of them. i still watch the channels to see the opposite side. they are all the same companies. they are hateful. this, rosa, the media -- this omarosa, the media hated her. wrote -- i hope they prosecute her for those tapings -- now they love her and give her nonstop. 98% fake media. keep it going. i am buying your book today. host: when it comes to recording devices, what is the role within the white house? guest: there are two issues. what is the role within the white house? my understanding is that general kelly has banned the use of personal cell phones in the west

wing because they present a danger to entities that are seeking to gain information. they ban them. is aituation room classified area that no recording devices, no bluetooth enabled technology is allowed in. you are required to check in all recording devices, all wireless capabilities. bringing in any kind of recording device into the situation room or any other classified setting is a security violation. may beaping somebody untrustworthy or disloyal, there is a difference between doing that and bringing a recording inice and willfully using it a classified setting, which is what she did by using it in the situation room. host: from massachusetts, democrats line, james, you're on with our guest. caller: i would like to ask a couple of questions.

everybody is claiming donald trump lies a lot. i'm a democrat. i do have a problem. i like to think a little bit. is they sayia does donald trump said something happened 48 times and they looked it up at an only happened 46 they call him a liar. everything he talks about that exaggerate and twist it. i am getting upset with my own party. they also have fact checked this, fact checked that. -- put a fact is owned by politico. fact check is owned by an organization obama was on the board of. they track the trump says 3000 lies but they do not track that they cover a legitimate story for 20 seconds over three networks.

entire lifeat my and i've never been so frustrated my entire life to try to figure out what the real truth is around here. host: james, thank you very much. guest: one of the things i talk about in the book is that a lot of these fact checkers are opinion checkers. there is an example where vice president pence made a comment that more people in america are working than ever before, which is correct when he made the statement. you have the fact checkers say ofis lacking the context whether or not that is in relationship of the total population as a percentage or he is referring to the exact number. that is an opinion. the reality was he was right when he stated the fact and i put it in their because so often these people are looking to focus on an opinion or a way they want to communicate. the reality is these folks cover what they want and do not cover

certain other things. you talk about the remains of our servicemen coming back from korea. most of these network paid scant coverage do it. it was disgraceful. there's a lot of stuff the refused to cover. every study, the media research harvard haver even talked about how the coverage of this president has been unbelievably negative. when you look at that and contrast that with the results the president is getting on the economy and in semi-other areas, ,- in so many other areas fulfilling his promises, you realize how out of whack that is. whether you are a democrat or republican i thank you for your comments. as a democrat from massachusetts you understand there is a desire for the other side to want the other side not to do well but it is out of whack by any objective standard. host: you mentioned the economy.

in your book you highlight you used to work for the u.s. trade representative. i want to ask you in light of your experiences there, what do you think about the year approaches this administration is taking to trade policy, particularly china, and you worry about the idea of a trade war? guest: sure i worry about the idea of a trade war. through a variety of trade deals time, weack a long have given market access to our country and our consumers and our citizens, usually a very low tariff for non-tariff rate whereas many of our products pay high tariffs and steep barriers to entry and steep barriers to entry into many of our trading partners markets. the president is clearly fulfilling a campaign pledge he made, a belief ps had going back to the 1980's that we need better trade deals. he is fulfilling the promises and the pledges he has made to stand up for american workers

and say if you're going to get access to our countries markets, we need some kind of similar access to your market. i think it is good you standing up and being top. toprry about -- and being -- being tough. many countries are not taken a seriously and now under this president they are. you have seen in europe when the european community president pledged to lower their tariff rates. that is a good thing for our consumers whether you are a service provider, and agricultural brower, or a manufacturer. those are good things for our customers, our consumers, our workers. we have to be careful how long we go at this. there are big countries at stake which can affect the prices are consumers pay. the more the economic team can work as diligently as possible to resolve these issues, the better. host: would you go as far as

saying it is an economic risk using these tariffs the way he is using them? guest: there is a risk for not using them. the question is if we do not do anything, our workers will face stiff tariffs and barriers to entry. if we do nothing there is a risk to their. -- there is a risk there. the question is how much and how long. you have seen in many cases the president's tactics being successful in taking down tariff rates when it comes to our trading partners. the question is what is the risk if you do nothing versus what is the risk if you do something and how long do you want to withstand that level of risk or uncertainty. have said it is a long time coming that this action takes place. the question is how long is it sustainable? i know the team has been working to try to resolve this.

i think the sooner we can resolve this the better for our country. host: this is from richfield, wisconsin, republican line. greg on with sean spicer. caller: glad to have you on this morning. i would like to make a couple things clear to republicans and i think many would agree with me. i did not vote for donald trump because he was a celebrity. i did not vote for him because he had orange fair -- orange hair. i voted for him because he was the gop candidate. who are never trumpers out there and people who seem to forget when he does support the republican party and the conservative viewpoint. as far as omarosa, she better make enough money on this book because no one will ever offer her a job again. guest: i appreciate your comments. i agree with you. at some point the voters of our margin votedrge

for this president as our nominee and he won the general election. i think republicans have to understand we are getting things done. one of the untold pieces of this president's legacy is what he has done on the judiciary. now the second supreme court justice he has put forward and hopefully another one. it is also the appellate court in the circuit court and the number of federal judges he has put forth to be maintainers of our constitution, it is phenomenal and it will be part of his legacy. host: you talk about the calls you have to make, the stories you took issue with, were those calls including to never trumpers, those conservatives who do not support president trump? guest: say that again. host: to those conservatives are republicans who did not support president trump, did you ever have to make calls as press secretary's to the opinions they put out there? .uest: i know some of them

from time to time i would have the opportunity to speak with them. i would echo the sentiments of this previous caller. you may not like some of this president style but he is getting things done many conservatives have fought decades for and trying to make the case why they should support the president's agenda and policies. host: from texas, independent line, robert. caller: thank you, sean, for coming on. it is wonderful outlet and a lot of viewers like to be able to call in with questions. i am wondering if there is not some way, or what your opinion would be on having some kind of ethical standard for reporters that could bar somebody from spreading mistruths. i get the idea of spin and different outlooks taking the same topic. that is the idea of debating an issue.

when something is actually false, totally misleading not meaning what the actual figures are or whatever, you know it is a falsehood, shouldn't there be some kind of ethical standard that bars a reporter from further news reporting if they are putting out false stories? two, the division we have in this country, the bias, what do you feel needs to be done to address this division within the press? thank you. guest: thanks for the call. i think the beauty of our country is we have the first amendment. people can articulate what they want. i do think there are a lot of stories -- the biggest problem, and i write about this in the book, is the press loves to call

out everybody else for their mistakes and the issues they have with the arguments that they are making. themselves, they rarely apologize for what they do or say. they call it an update and change the story and act as if nothing happened. i do not believe in barring reporters. i think you can chastise them. the same first amendment that gives the members of the media the opportunity to write what they want gives us the opportunity to criticize. i think there is a double standard in the way they critique and call out everybody but for concerns they have when they make mistakes themselves they cover it up, they cover for each other, they rarely admit they made a mistake, they never apologize. i think that is a problem. result is issues as a your sing the credibility of a lot of journalists go down. i do not think that is a good thing.

i believe we need a fair and free press. i believe the more we have faith in his institutions it is good for democracy. the problem is i think a lot of these institutions have allowed bad reporting to go on and it undermines the credibility of their own institutions. minutes with0 more our guest. tennessee is next. terry, you are on. go ahead. caller: i appreciate c-span offering this platform. mr. spicer, you are quick to blame the press, as is everybody in the trump administration. who might we begin to blame for treason against this country? guest: you should blame anyone who commits treason against this country. i think part of the point, and pedro mentioned it earlier, i think there are a lot of good reporters. i think we should hold those reporters up and complement them for the job they do and say they are fair and tough.

we should use the good ones as an example. those are the ones that young reporter should look to and say this is someone who does it right, they break stories, they are tenacious and they get it right. they are fair and professional. we should exalt the good ones. i think part of the reason i wrote the book is so people have an understanding of what it is like to deal with a lot of these stories that come out and what the recourse is when you're not treated well or that they perpetrate a false narrative. host: illinois, joanne, go ahead. caller: good morning. mr. spicer, i am calling because i saw where you are saying about disparaging the media, but when you are press secretary you work for the president and you had to put out what he wanted you to put out there, true or not true.

case in point the picture where ,hey show the inauguration comparing it with president obama's inauguration and clearly there were more people at president obama's inauguration. you had to come up there because you work for the president to say what he wanted you to say because if you had told the truth that day you know there were more in the picture -- the pictures do not lie. wherever, msnbc or the media has the right to say what the truth is and they are telling the truth. , andews, i watch fox news i am not a republican, but i watch them to see what they are saying. they have it where they have must take -- president trump has it where everybody must hate the media. host: ok, you made your point.

guest: i do not hate the media. as i have stated i believe we need a free and fair press. i respect a lot of reporters. i do think that in many cases there is false narratives, there are people who are bad actors. i do not hate them by any means. i have a lot of respect for many of them and for the institution and the role he played in our society. i want to make it clear that there is a big difference between calling out issues you -- or beingng complicit. my job is to say there is an area where we have a problem, here's someone's behavior i do not think is respectful and go there. -- i talkbe clear about that first date and the inauguration and what was going on and why as it what i said and what i would've done differently in the book at great length.

i have said it before during this program. if there is a day i would want to have a do over, that is at the top of the list. host: when his last time you spoke with president trump question mark guest: within the last couple of days. host: what you talk about when you speak? , mediastories of the day appearances, things like that. sometimes just to catch up. host: does he still consult you on approaches, a media perspective from his point of view, his press office, things they should be doing? guest: my conversation with the president's and my counsel and advice to him and his comments to me are something i do not comment on. host: regina is from pennsylvania. republican line. go ahead. caller: i give you credit for taking the battleground here. i would like to try to get something into the people and to trump. i do not have a direct line. because id for c-span

watched the hearing on the commerce department with wilbur my own localh tell newspaper, which i do not want to lose, the pittsburgh tribune review, which is already internet but i get a more local. they printed. lost, i am concerned with his concern over subsidized canadian paper that they are being dumped on our country. 30% tariffs. is he paying attention? are his people trained enough to wait for these waivers or is he going to make an excuse? i am not that good on the internet. i do not have the availability for it. everybody else is being paid, obama phones and everything. there is a printout, which i wish everyone would call their senators, it is by pat toomey from pennsylvania. 2835, which is suspend tariffs on important paper -- on

imported paper. host: we will leave it there. guest: anything you want to take from that? guest: i'm not familiar with the legislation. host: pennsylvania, brian, hello. caller: i wanted to comment because everybody talks about fact checking and i had a case in a recent gubernatorial race in pennsylvania. ap, but want to condemn i think it was ap, said that governor wolf, who is the current incumbent, he had a tax plan that is against the constitution of pennsylvania. viablested his plan as -- i forget what their term -- it was a valid tax plan.

i called up ap. i actually got the guy that wrote the story which was troublesome but i did it. pennsylvania.om he was from pennsylvania, also. i said you must know the constitution, you must know that that is illegal. he said no, that is what republicans want to do. i said is it against our constitution. host: thank you. and -- go, go ahead ahead. guest: i'm not familiar with the story he is referring to were the interaction he had so it is difficult to comment but like i said i think you often see these stories where somebody who is reporting tries to insert their personal beliefs as opposed to staying on the record what has been going on. that leads to some of the issues where we are today. ,ost: medford, oregon on democrats line, jim, go ahead.

caller: thank you for putting me on. sean has knowledge addressed the fact that the president does themlies and you convey through the papers and the news never and yet you have admitted those are facts and not some things made up by the media. the media is not at fault when they put facts in. and the truth. you and the president are at fault for making lies and expecting people to accept them. i do not understand your thinking. jim, that is last call, mr. spicer, go ahead. guest: i'm not sure what jim is referring to.

i mentioned things i could've done better. i write about them extensively. i think the intensity and scrutiny of this administration is like nothing we've ever seen before. it is interesting how many things have happened in previous administrations and yet no one seems to have used near the level of intensity and screwed and d. -- and scrutiny. to which this administration has been scrutinized is in a category of its own. host: because messaging is your stock in trade, how do you think -- how effective do you think the white house is in messaging the various positions the white house takes? is a tough question to answer. on some things they do well. you look at the brett kavanaugh nomination they have done a fantastic job of conveying the depth and breadth of support and qualifications and experience that judge kavanaugh has. -- with theme areas

white house there are variety of issues at any given time. some will be where you on offense, some you will be defense, some you will be doing better or worse. there is a wide friday of issues they are doing with. host: the book is called "the briefing: politics, the press, and the president." sean spicer joining us. you talked about the pac you worked with great could you tell us what that is? sean spicer is gone. about five minutes left. (202) 748-8001 four republicans, democrats (202) 748-8000, independents (202) 748-8002. from the richmond dispatch and highlights the city of charlottesville as it remembers the one-year anniversary of the rally there. standing where her

daughter was fatally struck by a car, she said people should not daughter and the other victims were protesting in the street. she was here to support equality, affordable housing, and taking care of people the way you would want to be taken care of. please keep that in mind. the one death that came out of that last year. the one year ago marking of the deadly unite the right rally. the event turned violent last year when white nationalists came to protest the plant removal of the city's robert e. lee statue. other rallies of similar nature took place in washington, d.c. yesterday. we aired those rallies yesterday and if you want to see them you can go to our website at c-span.org. kabulstories out of writing about the influence of the taliban still holding onto parts of a key city.

insurance help -- insurgents held onto part of a key city putting up scattered resistance as afghan forces backed by u.s. or to clear them out. the city was overrun by hundreds of insurgent forces on friday. the sustained onslaught by hundreds of taliban figures is on majoro attacks cities, especially a 2015 and an attack in may on a city in the west great both were taken by government forces after heavy fighting. the near takeovers by the taliban and gave the insurgent group a psychological boost. if you go to the pages of the wall street journal, there is a story about that launch by nasa of a probe to investigate the sun. the role of commercial spacecraft also highlighted in the wall street journal, saying commercialow 10

spaceports in the u.s. from alaska to florida. two other proposed spaceports are under review in georgia and colorado. the global space industry, including government and commercial activities reached $384 billion in 2017 compared to $207 billion in 2007. it could top $1.1 trillion by 2040. the u.s. space industry reached a hundred $58 billion in 2016 according to the faa. if you want to read more about the topic or see more about the topic of commercial spacecraft on her newsmakers program, which aired over the weekend and you can still see online at c-span.org. a conversation with the nasa administrator about this future of spaceflight and the commercial role and manned spaceflight, go to our website at c-span.org to see more of that.

that is it for our program today. another edition of this program comes your way at 7:00 tomorrow morning. we will see you then. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] , atonight at 8:00 on c-span conversation with justice stephen breyer at the aspen institute in colorado. >> let's go through the pre-civil war days or the civil war days or reconstruction or 80 years, just about, of legal segregation. do you think those were days that were pragmatic, adaptive?

if they were adaptive, i did not see it. we have lived through lots of history in the united states and some of it has turned out pretty well, some of it has not. , a mother at 8:00 jones reporter and author at the brooklyn historical society talking about voting rights. >> a month after the supreme court's decision when john roberts said racial discrimination was largely a thing of the past, north carolina past a sweeping relight of its election laws. it required strict voter id, eliminated same-day voter registration, it eliminated citizens awareness, which the state ran to encourage people to register to vote, all of this in one bill after the supreme court got the voting rights act. c-span, c-span.org, and listen on the free c-span radio at. -- app.

network, companion c-span2, book tv is in prime time with authors on the c-span cities tour. starting at 8:30 p.m. eastern, we speak about the book, the rise and fall of the voting rights act. the impact of lynching on black culture and memory. whose book, out, a courageous woman's journey, shares her struggle of hiding sexual orientation for 60 years. all thisn prime time week on c-span two. on c-span3, american history tv. we look at how the vietnam war affected life in america, hearing from pbs documentary filmmaker lynne novick, on student marches and civil disobedience during the war. that starts at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3.

c-span, where history unfolds daily. a publics created as service by america's cable-television company. bring youcontinue to unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme and public policy events in washington, d.c., and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> a gathering of conservatives met in austin, texas, earlier this month. axas governor greg added and georgia congressman were among those speaking in the gathering. >> governor abbott will be appear in a few minutes. we will talk to you brief we about why we are doing this. i know a number of you are familiar with the rest a gallery. one of the