>> today on c-span, "washington journal" is next with your phone calls and tweets then jim kenney joins education and 20 liters for a discussion at 10:00 a.m. eastern. at noon, legals dollars review the nomination of brett kavanaugh. in about an hour, bloomberg news campaign finance reporter bill ofison on rules for members trading for investors. also the new frontline

documentary. as part of our 2018 campaign coverage come reporters talk about primaries including connecticut, minnesota, and wisconsin. ispan's "washington journal" live now, join the discussion. now. join the discussion. ♪ host: good morning. it is tuesday, august 14th. a3-hour "washington journal" is a head this morning. stock ownership and trading rules for members of congress and primaries taking place today in four states. with just over 80 days to go until the midterms, we begin with a question about a democratic leader playing a key role in shaping party strategy and serving as a focus for republican attacks. we want to hear from republicans and independents only about your view -- democrats and

independents only. about nancy pelosi. give us a call. for democrats, 202-748-8000. independents can call at 202-748-8001. you can catch up with us on social media. on twitter is @cspanwj. facebook is facebook.com/cspan. a very good tuesday morning to you after last week's special election in ohio's 12th district democrats over performed, but still trailed republicans. president trump wrote " democrats, do not distance yourself from nancy pelosi. if she is a wonderful person whose ideas and policies may be bad, but should definitely begin a fourth chance. she is trying very hard and has every right to take down the democratic party if she has veered too far to the left. we thought we would give

democrat -- veer too far to the left." we ask your view of nancy pelosi. "'s special election -- speaking of ohio's special election, still too close to call. troy balderson leading by 1500 votes over danny o'connor. here is the story in "the washington post" last week in the wake of the results of the special election. pelosi is the star of republican .ttack ads worrying democrats noting some democrats fear anti-pelosi attacks aimed at the democratic candidate in the special election helped push republicans to a narrow lead. it creates a conundrum for democrats, many of whom rely on prowess anddraising admire her political savvy and status as one of the country's most influential leaders. speak out about

allowing pelosi to remain in charge of the caucus and it could reduce the size of the democratic wave in november or worse, their ability to win the majority. from thene of the ads ohio 12th district special election from the congressional leadership fund. a pack aligned with house republicans, tying nancy pelosi with the democratic candidate. [video clip] >> after lying the whole campaign, danny o'connor admits he vote for nancy pelosi. danny lied about pelosi and now he is lying about social security and medicare. he supports a pelosi-backed plan that cuts spending by 800 billion. troy balderson will protect ohio seniors. int: nancy pelosi showing up

an ad in a congressional race is not unique to the ohio special election. here's another ad from claudia tenney in new york tying her opponent in her race to nancy pelosi. [video clip] >> nancy pelosi bankrolled his campaign because they support -- he will support their radical agenda. a, washington liberties, and anthony are dangerously wrong on immigration. claudia tenney is working with president trump to ban sanctuary, secure our borders, and end taxpayer benefits. putting america first. claudia tenney and president trump. sake, nancy pelosi is not unaware of the attack ads or the criticism. she responded over the weekend in an interview on msnbc. [video clip] >> i have not asked one person for a vote. i have not asked at candidate or

incumbent for a vote. it is important for us to win this election because i see up close and personal what the republicans and this president are doing. i don't think our opponents should select the leaders of our party. republicans are spending tens of millions dollars against me because they are afraid of me because i out raise them in the political arena and i outsmarted them at the negotiating table and because i am a woman who is going to have a seat at the table. that is very important. if hillary clinton had won and sat at the head of that table, it would be different. i am not yielding that. i do believe none of us is indispensable, but i think i'm the best person for the job and i won't let republican ads, which are just flooding these districts. i say to the candidates, do whatever you have to do, just win. one in five children lived -- in america lives in poverty.

we must win this. after the election will i ask people for their support. host: one more response from nancy pelosi from over the weekend, responding on president trump's favorite forum saying "the president is afraid of congresswoman maxine waters, and he is afraid of me. he is afraid of women and minorities being in the lead in congress." president trump addressing that tweet from late last week to democrats. we figured we would give democrats and independents a chance to respond, asking your view of nancy pelosi and her leadership. should she be in charge of the house democrats after the midterm elections? . democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8001. walt is up first in pittsburgh, an independent. go ahead. caller: i love nancy pelosi.

, chuck schumer, they are going to roll in the big red wave in november, brother. this is good stuff as far as i am concerned. host: you are on our phone line for independents. have you ever voted democratic? caller: absolutely. i will never vote democrat again. host: why is that? caller: let me count the ways. how about the fake news? i don't even know how you folks are on tv. bend, youtely have a lean one way. maybe i offend you by saying that, but it is obvious to freethinking people. ey, look in a mirror

sometime, but. vincent, a it, a -- democrat. your opinion of nancy pelosi? thank: can i first say you, c-span, for being on the air that i can watch a trump rally or trump speech that .riorly showed fox news cuts it off. thank you for being there. as for nancy pelosi, i think she is going to bring down the democrat party where we are going to see maybe four more years of donald trump and after that, maybe 8 years of ivanka t rump running the country. that is just a scenario. they should find somebody else that is less controversial that

-- houseng in house democrats in the lead and take over. with is something wrong nancy pelosi and san francisco needs to find some but he else to represent them. -- somebody else to represent them. host: who do you think would be less controversial? caller: maybe bob menendez. that is a start. i grew up living in the same state with bob menendez a long time ago. he is a senator. i cannot think of anybody right now. the democrat from south carolina, clyburn. host: jim clyburn. clyburn, heressman seems to be pretty good here in

south carolina, holding his own in the midst of all the republican congressman elected. host: barbara is a democrat in baton rouge, louisiana. your thoughts of paint -- nancy pelosi as house minority leader? caller: i love nancy pelosi. this woman has worked the whole time she has been in service to help people think about their security,e, social helping them the best way she knows how and for someone to work so hard and to be a demagogue for years, i think she is a wonderful person and i would not care if democrats lost every race, as long as you keep the wind at your back and do what is right. we are all going to go over the

cliff because people are lying to us and we have the worst .resident ever there is nothing we can do about that. i am just going to pray about it and those people at these rallies for trump, what are they doing? they are screaming about we don't want health care, we don't want social security, we don't want medicaid. there is nothing we can do about it. thank you. host: matt, waldorf, maryland, independent. caller: my comment is it is time nancyonestly, not just pelosi, but the whole guard to stand down. i am independent and i never registered republican or democrat because i have a bad taste in my mouth about the two party system to begin with. who should step up and lead in congress than? -- then? caller: there is not a name and

that is what the old guard does not understand. they are so entrenched holding onto their power because they have been in for decades and this is partly due to the fact that there is no such thing as term limits right now. they stay there for decades and decades and they are entrenched in their power and they don't see the millennials and other generations moving up that are starting to vote have seen how they have amassed this power and abuse their position for gaining wealth or whatever and they are ready to vote for somebody else new this cortez out of york. they are ready to vote for somebody that will bring about change and that is why donald trump came in and the republican old guard did not see that coming. host: how long do you think somebody -- should a member of congress be able to serve. ? ,aller: to be honest with you

political office never was supposed to be a career. maybe 12 years. what is that, 6 terms for a representative? 2 terms for a senator. i think that is fair. maybe 3 terms for a senator. i don't think -- the constitution was ever set up so that politicians could make a career and become millionaires off of their career. host: that is matt in waldorf, maryland. there's a reason article in the aboutic standard" talking this issue of nancy pelosi and he said there are a few points that democrats white -- might want to consider before urging her to retire. regardless of her public image, she is an effective leader. barack obama's first two years in office saw more progress for the president's party than almost any other session in the past half-century and poulos --

pelosi is the -- a lot of the reason why. pelosi'sno guarantee replacement would be so effective and imagine pelosi announced next week she would step down. do democrats suppose republicans will cease criticizing their potty or will republicans mock the democratic leadership as will in -- their party or republicans mock the democratic leadership as being in disarray? the cost of dropping pelosi is the headline on this story. we are talking to democrats and independents, getting your view of nancy pelosi. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8001. in new york, a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for just reading that

part of that article you just read. also, in the new york times yesterday, paul krugman, i think that is how you pronounce his last name, also had a wonderful article comparing the speakers we have had in the house. andblicans and nancy pelosi nancy pelosi came out much better than the rest as far as getting things done. republicanstand why demagogue nancy pelosi. that is what they do to strong women. democrats, my fellow democrats, have a spine. stand up for people who are good people. nancy pelosi has never had -- what said about her is the word i want? all of the stuff that has been happening in the trunk area of

-- trump area the last couple of days, she has never had any scandal. she works for us, for people, for our health. look what she did with the health act. achieve.hard to stand up, democrats, please. host: the article you referenced "who is afraid of nancy pelosi" "newe opinion pages of the york times" yesterday making some of the same points you brought up in your comments right now. he says it is probably worth noting -- it is quite a record and whenever you hear republicans claim pelosi is a wild eyed leftist, ask yourself what is so radical about protecting retirement income, expanding health care, and reining in runaway bankers? pelosi has been untouched by allegations of personal scandal.

if you want to read more on that from yesterday "new york times." jerry in ohio, and independent. your thoughts on nancy pelosi. morning, john. good morning, america. i love all of you. are you going to play that clip today about nancy pelosi saying nbc was undermining her? i wish you would. remember, let's pass this bill so we can find out what is in it. that doesn't show a whole lot of responsibility to me. we should have read that bill before we ever passed it. there are several things about her that -- we are going to have armageddon after this tax bill passed. that did not happen yet. maybe it will, but i don't think so. there is a lot of baggage there with nancy and i agreed with that guy who said there ought to

be term limits. 6 years, you cannot campaign for reelection in the first 6 years you are there. put them out of office for 6 years and let them do their campaigning. another 6 years and they can come back in. that is the way it ought to work. these people making all these billions of dollars while they are in office. this one guy got caught -- was charged with insider trading. you ought to check all these guys out. host: at 8:00 we will actually have a full half-hour conversation about the rules that apply to members' stock trading and service boards. that is coming up at 8:00. before you go, what could democrats do? who could they elect to bring you into the fold and get you to vote democratic? that is a hard question.

you are going to have to get some younger minds in there. some people who are not socialism, but younger minds and think back about how mr. kennedy was president. how about bill clinton. he had some scandals, but still, the way they governed was a whole lot better than what we are seeing coming up, i think. host: that is jerry in ohio. kent is a democrat in princeton, new jersey. caller: good morning, john. -- i even said something to my representatives. for a long time, i felt like nancy pelosi is bad for the party. demagogued anden that can be negative in these ads we see, but more importantly, nancy pelosi sounds

completely the attached from mainstream america. the ancient word we get all the way down from the roman empire .s patrician that is how she sounds. i would love for her to be behind-the-scenes help to the rest of the democratic turning up but never on a sunday morning talk show or any other television program or anything because she makes the democratic party seem distance from the everyday person. host: who doesn't do that? who is somebody you think can bring the party closer to the everyday person? caller: it is hard to say that about the house of representatives than it is about the senate because there is so many more and i can't think of a woman. it would not -- it would be nice to have a woman in leadership. -- isenough, i think

exactly what we need in people feeling like here is a guy we can connect to. host: what is different about steny hoyer? i believe he might even be a year older than nancy pelosi and they came into congress around the same time. hest: he has been -- caller: has been right behind her. he was the minority leader when she was the speaker. it's about his way of speaking. his mandolin -- mannerism, the vocabulary he uses when he is out in public. he is speaking to people on a level they can relate to. host: that is kent in new jersey. taking your calls and asking your view of nancy pelosi. more of your calls in just a moment. if you are watching -- were watching before we came on air, we were showing you president

trump's statements before signing the national defense authorization act. it is the john mccain national defense authorization act for the fiscal year of 2019. president trump did not mention john mccain yesterday when he officially signed that legislation. standing in front of soldiers and senior military leaders, president trump made no mention of mr. mccain, who has when -- been one of the president's fiercest critics. avoided greeting the name of the politician during the speech he gave. it was a 716 billion-dollar military spending authorization bill the president signed yesterday. if you missed it, you can go back and watch it in its entirety. the president is up and tweeting

this morning, three different tweets, the president quoting john stanton of "judicial watch." some recent comments he made about now former fbi agent peter struck. the news yesterday about peter, the fbi fired the agent whose disparaging texts about president trump cast a cloud over investigator's work. friday aftersed on a top official overruled the recommendations of staff that he be given a two-month suspension, but be allowed to keep his job. dismissalnews of his was reported, president trump posted and approving message on twitter. players in thed fbi and doj gets longer and longer." as the front page of "the wall street journal." and to your phone calls your thoughts on nancy as house democratic minority leader.

your thoughts on whether she should stay as the head of house democrats after the midterm elections. alex is a democrat in new york city. good morning. caller: hello. i think we should support the -- supportions of those who are not afraid of corporations and powerful lobbies. for example, 50 children killed in yemen and none of those democrats talked about that. unfortunately, you don't talk about that either. please go vote in today's primary in minnesota. statesinnesota one of 4 holding primaries today. also wisconsin, for not -- lamont, and connecticut. we will spend the last part of our program today talking to some of the last

primaries taking place this month. just a few in september. we are getting toward the end of primary season. glen bernie, maryland, independent. good morning. caller: hi. i am sorry, i have been waiting. collegethe electoral should be stopped for at least 10 years and that will give us an opportunity to see the changes and get things back to the way they should be. ims are a, i have to get off the line and go into work -- i am sorry, i have to get off the line and go into work. good morning. i watched pelosi on julie read's program this weekend, how are -- her news program and jonathan was in for joy and while i respect pelosi's intellect, her work for the larger group of

american people with health care, and many other issues, she said to jonathan in regard to alledge itrump's interference and collusion with russian agents -- she said she would follow the facts and the evidence to legal consequences. however, in 2006 many of us fill outr butts off to congress with democrats, many of us thought pelosi would push for accountability with regard to the push administration --bush administration's wmd's falls intelligence and the media's collusion with the bush administration and she took impeachment off the table or even deep investigation into all the lies told to the american public. many of us did not believe it.

we had got redder and others telling us the intelligence was questionable. ritter andcott others telling is the intelligence was questionable. -- willing to go after trump and the potential collusion -- she is a hypocrite on many issues. appreciate her work on health care, but her hypocrisy with regard to that issue was right in our faces and i really disrespect her on that one. host: you mentioned that msnbc interview. we played a little bit of it on this program. nancy pelosi saying just win right now. we will have the conversations after we figure out what happens after the midterm elections. she is telling candidates just win. do you think that is a

conversation that can be put off until after the midterms in terms of where she stands in party leadership? iller: that is tough because know she knows how to work as a ofe and raise huge amounts funds. however, she has to decide and the party has to decide whether awayosition and role takes from a candidate and puts them in potential losses because of the focus being on her. i think that is for the party elites, the ones in control, as well as pelosi and whether she has to put her own ego aside and step aside and i think barbara lee should step into that position, frankly. host: why do you like barbara lee? caller: i am not into my country invading other countries like under bush and cheney with iraq under obama and clinton with libya and syria. i hope you people do numbers with the number of people who

have died with invasions. a barbara lee on foreign policy, i deeply respect her stance on not invading afghanistan. special forces i understand, but iraq, sheng and on stood firm on both issues. also on domestic issues, barbara lee is -- generally stand in the correct spot with working for the american public. vulnerablenk she is like pelosi where she pays to corporate interest and wall street. i think she is a person of great integrity. host: that is kathleen in ohio. nbc news in their reporting tracking the 51 democratic candidate incumbents who will not support nancy pelosi for i nor the leader, tracking comments throughout the primary season from those candidates that are running. when it comes to incumbents, there are 9 incumbents they list

on their tracking. kathleen rice, linda sanchez, bill pascrell, conor lamb, seth , timon, brian higgins ryan, jim cooper, kurt schrader, who theyumbent members have listed on that tracking of the democrats opposing nancy pelosi to continue in her leadership role. some democratic candidates are actually running ads criticizing nancy pelosi as well. here is one of them. kathleen williams who is running for the at large seat in montana. [video clip] congressans deserve a that can get things done. this congress is stuck in dysfunction and gridlock. both parties are responsible. paul ryan is retiring, so republicans will have a new leader.

that is why i won't be voting for nancy pelosi for leader. i will push to find a new leadership team that ensure congress works for all of us. i am kathleen williams and i approve this message. host: taking your calls for the next half-hour, lines for just democrats and independents. we want to hear your thoughts and views of nancy pelosi and looking for tweets as well. thoughtful process is writes "any democratic leader the republicans hate should be firmly retained by democrats." "i like nancy pelosi, i wonder if she will stand up for the american public when needed to defend america." david is a democrat in phoenix. good morning. caller: good morning. i just have to to remind everyone that on her vote for , she said, if you want to know what is in the bill, you have to vote for it.

aat is a fascist value, not democratic value. i have to agree with the earlier caller that hypocrisy and a double standard is her standard operating procedures. i would be happy with almost any other speaker because let's be woman, she was the first that high in the line of succession and we need to be proud of that and thank her for that, but that was a decade ago and now we need to do something different. thank you. host: in missouri, a democrat. good morning. caller: hello. thank you for taking my call. think, first of all, as i have said before, we will not solve any of these problems until the money is taken out of politics in this country.

i also want to suggest -- i know the corporate interests do not want americans thinking about the big picture, but i would like to suggest two articles i have found that fit in the category of more true now than they were then. issue of harper's magazine, the article "making a and the by ted fishman issue byebruary 2015 rebecca -- "the easy chair essay." new book iparently a

have not read, but i intend to, by a person whose last name is graft and it is called "squeezed." it still distresses me there is no talk of doing anything really that will change the lives of the ordinary american. we have seen no changes in our local area. more jobs are gone. we have had a distribution center close. we have had businesses close. it is true, we lost 1000 jobs planthe local aluminum closed and half of those may have been brought back and we are supposed to be eternally grateful for that. i am not seeing much i doess made although

believe the democrats will offer a better version of the lesser of two evils. host: matthew is in new york city, and independent. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to say, you allow people to talk on air and allow them to talk about other places like yemen. here in the usa and nobody is ever allowed to say anything else. americans come to power and we have to remove all other from our country. black, hispanic, -- matthew, bring it to the topic we are talking about today. --ler: those calls on c-span host: all right, that is matthew

in new york. we will get to primary day in minnesota coming up in our 9:00 hour. in this segment, we are talking to democrats and independents only, getting your view of nancy pelosi. democrats, 202-748-8000. .ndependents, 202-748-8001 i think nancy pelosi is pretty good, but i also heard of a person that is really good if he runs for president and that would be deval patrick from massachusetts. he stood by his wife when she had dental illness problems and stuff like -- mental illness problems and stuff like that. he dropped out to take care of his family. he is a family man and i think he is great.

a lot of people from hasachusetts -- he kindness, he understands, and i believe you have a man to go forward and the democrats should back came. i don't see why not. thank you, very much. host: andrew in massachusetts. -- andrea in massachusetts breed christopher is in florida. good morning. caller: good morning. my only message really about nancy pelosi was -- i just really did not like it when she keeps misspeaking and calling trump, bush and the thing i -- severalt like is years ago when they took that affordable health care act and put it on a plane overnight and flew it to washington. they passed it in the middle of

the night and they did not really give the american people that much chance to look through it. that is the only thing i am really upset about with nancy pelosi and president obama. they called it the affordable health care act and it did nothing to lower the cost of precondition drugs or cancer drugs and i really wish nancy pelosi and president obama -- president obama, he always told us. he was like, if you have a precondition, they cannot discriminate against you and nancy pelosi said that as well. i think that was a lie because i have had crohn's since i was 19 years old and my insurance has gone up every single year. it goes up a little bit more and i cannot afford it. they did not put it in the affordable health care act that if the insurance rate raises on you so high even -- that you can't afford it. that is not discrimination.

i know you are busy. thank you for taking my time this morning and thank you for doing c-span. there is a lot that will come out on a lot of things. blessings. host: that is christopher in florida. coming up at 7:40 on the east coast, more of your calls in just a second. across the river, in alexandria, virginia, prosecutors rested the case monday in the trial of former trump campaign chairman paul manafort. the strategy of mr. manafort's unknown.remains defense attorneys have not indicated whether they will present any evidence or call any witnesses pray the washington times noting questions remain on whether mr. manafort will take the stand to counter the accusations he committed bank and tax fraud. askjudge said he intends to the defendant that exact question today before arresting

-- before arresting. the prosecution called -- before resting. that is the news from the trial. this is from the president's former campaign manager. here is some more news on a former member of the president's white house staff. here are some of the stories aoday on amoroso -- omaros manigault newman. this tweet a few minutes ago from the president saying "when you give a crazed, crying low a break and give her a job at the white house, i guess it did not work out. by general kelly for quickly firing that dog." rosa --ident blasting, omarosa yesterday on twitter saying she is nasty to people and would constantly miss meetings and work.

here is a story from the front page of "the washington post" on the president noting in a tweet she signed a disk -- a nondisclosure agreement. the first -- the white house noting dozens of white house aides have signed nda's in response for working with president trump who long relied on agreements and his business career. have not been widely used by past administrations outside the transition time between presidents because legal experts agree they are not enforceable for public employees. also a story in "the new york times" on the same issue, the acknowledgment some of his aides side nondisclosure agreements. here is michelle goldberg in today's "new york times."

"welcome to the resistance, omarosa." you don't have to trust her sincerity to see her new book "unhinged" as a indictment of president trump. the man who gave her a top ranking job had less. about 15 minutes less in this segment, getting your thoughts on nancy pelosi, her leadership of house democrats and your thoughts on whether she should remain leader of house democrats. lines for democrats and independents. the numbers on your screen. california. a democrat, go ahead. wanted toe thing i say was nancy pelosi at least she backs the working people. we don't decide who elects her.

the politicians. we can only tell politicians what we want and if you are a democrat, the republicans don't listen and if you are a republican, democrats don't listen. get a decent is the house, then senate, i mean and that can count numbers. oure got somebody in presidency, you can see what we are going to have in the near future. it is not going to be there. he got what he wanted passed and he is going to do other things like the taxes. when you get your taxes, watch

how fast your taxes are used up. the ones that he wanted was to double that to $24 billion for his kids. he got bad. he don't care about you. he could point his finger at you when he goes for his speeches, but he don't even know you are there. wake up, people. anyway, thank you for letting me talk on your show and you republicans, wake up to what you have got elected. ohio.jacob is in also a democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you. i don't understand why the democrats don't make a more robust defense of her. and i am sure most people who

anti-pelosiicy -- don't even know why. the previous caller insulted -- only because she came to this .ountry from somalia thank you. in texas, a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. such a bad doing job, why do the republicans want her out of there? she has worked very hard for us and i feel like a lot -- especially of the guys, you seem to want the women to go in and clean up the mess and walk away and be quiet a it doesn't seem to matter whether it is pelosi or clinton or warren. if you get a woman who speaks

out and does a good job, then you want to slam her for it. she has got the republicans on the run. otherwise, why would they want her out of there so badly? let her do her job. let's get some new blood in there, but let nancy do her job. c-span, i appreciate the job you do. letting us have a voice is very important. especially these days when our votes don't seem to matter much. start voting in your local elections, democrats, if you want to take back the power. it will start local and go up to federal. host: following up on your comments, this is paul waldman in his piece in "the washington post" from last week, august 10th. he says we all know what is going on here when referring to the attacks on nancy pelosi. the republican attack is about conservative identity politics. it is partly the same kind of

ugly misogyny that has driven conservatives for years and it comes out after the prospect of a woman wielding power rears its head. women are judged harshly, particularly by conservatives. it's no accident bernie sanders inspires nothing like the venomous loathing on the right than pelosi and hillary clinton do. jeremy and massachusetts. a democrat, good morning. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. nancy has got to go. she has to go. hillary had her moment with the deplorable and i am telling you right now, nancy pelosi will have her comments. it is going to come back and bite you in the butt. just because she is a powerful woman and because people may

disagree with her and some say some nasty things, be careful, democrats. it is going to come back and bite you in the butt. thank you for taking my call. host: casey in maryland, good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: doing well. caller: a couple things. about nancyk pelosi, you read the article about donald trump and omarosa and i am wondering when donald trump will be held accountable for the people he hired. he hires people later on he calls scumbags and incompetent and stupid, but he hired them. that is a different topic. think nancyy, i pelosi is the best the democrats have right now. people don't give her credit

because of the misogyny that is in the media being pumped by republicans. people who hate her don't really know why they hate her. i think term limits are important, but because it she has been there that long, she is very effective. she probably compromised a little too much to really benefit the people. i think the health care has been a major accomplishment, but i think there was way too much compromise. all the medicare for all the talk that was in it, they are --ming them for republicans things republicans made them add to get the votes. host: finish your thought, casey. caller: i think she is a very she isve speaker and good at what she does and people that hate her i guarantee they

or reasons any facts they hate her. they are spewing what they heard on fox news saying "signed the bill before you read the bill." the bill was there for -- and debated for 6 -- for 6 months. where were all these people when these hearings were happening? host: got your point, casey. that is casey from maryland. one more tweet rum the president, calling the incident outside the house of parliament in london a "terrorist attack." the president saying these animals are crazy and must be dealt with through toughness and strength. the crash outside the house of parliament happening earlier today. london police say the incident in which the car was driven into a barrier appears to be a deliberate act. says thee commissioner

motorist who slammed into pedestrians and cyclists was arrested on suspicion of terrorist offenses. the suspect is not cooperating and the commissioner says no other suspects are identified and there is no intelligence of further danger to london. we will keep you updated on that incident and any more responses from the president. jerry is in new jersey. a democrat. good morning. your thoughts on nancy pelosi as the leader of your party. caller: good morning, everybody. i think everybody should listen more to nancy pelosi. i heard a caller call earlier and say she was upset because she is dropping the impeachment thing against trump. i think what democrats are not listening to because they watch cnn, nbc -- msnbc is there will be more coming out about the collusion, but it will not be with trump.

if you listen carefully, you will see it is hillary clinton and from britain. ihn brennan is a disaster and am telling you people, you are going to hear a lot. beenit in because you have for two years talking about collusion with trump. i see are the -- all the articles you read. beatingis accused of his girlfriend. i haven't heard one word about that and yet. please, it is like a disaster if somebody else does something. the today -- production for hysterical.ats is a lot of people, i feel bad for them because they don't know what is going on. be takenll going to aback and i feel sorry for you. here is an article on one

of the topics you brought up. ahead of the primaries, keith ellison denied allegations he emotionally and physically abused a former girlfriend, including ones trying to pull her off a bed while yelling insanities at her. the allegation surfaced saturday night in a facebook post published by the son of the ex-girlfriend. referred to a two minute video that the sun claimed showed mr. ellison bed byng my mama off the her feet." we wrap up primary day in four different states and we will get an update on what impact that story had on the race. in daytona beach, florida, democrat. is the onlyy pelosi member of congress that knows how to be a speaker of the house. hopee democrats win, and i we do, we are sure to collect

her. she does not -- to elect her. she does not need on the job training, she knows the job. it behooves me to listen to democrats who do not understand that republicans do not want a woman in power, close to power. women are people too. my mama is a woman. i love my mama. why shouldn't she the in charge of something sometime because she is very qualified? and it makes me feel so bad that of all things, a woman from the democratic party ran for president of the united states of america and she has to defeat russia, too. why are we punishing the women of america? rebecca writes on twitter

"i don't care who the democrats pick for speaker, i guarantee the gop will hate him or her." we did want to note one other story you may have heard about pertaining to a member of congress, the body that works in the building behind me. chairmanf the retiring of a committee turned heads when he used twitter saying he is unwilling to bear the sins of his father. bobby good lot, the son of representative robert good lot -- announced he donated the maximum out to an a for lewis, the democrat running a longshot campaign to take his father's .pen seat in rural, virginia he added 2018 is the year to flip districts, let's do this. the younger mr. goodlatte stepped up his messaging after rzok had that peter st

been fired. the judiciary committee is the committee has father is the chairman of. that story in "the new york times." plenty of attention given to those tweets by the son of a congressman. -- fairfax,irginia virginia, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. ok. that last caller talking about women in office, that is not the issue anymore with the democrats. she has done a great job. the leadership of the democratic party has done a great job except it is time for them to move on. have put -- we should and affordable care act with a public option. plan rather than

worry about what republicans are doing, we should have put up our own plan. we should have had a plan -- middle-class tax plan that was paid for. put it up. why not put the democratic plan up there and let the people see and hear it for themselves and judge what plan works best for the american people? host: do you think there has been too much focus on opposing president trump by democratic leaders in congress as a poster showing what the democratic plan is? caller: yes. yes, although donald trump needs to be ridiculed. yes, we spent too much time going back-and-forth and not so much the president, but the republican party in general. the american people are tired of hearing this back and forth. put together our plans and what

we need to do to move the country forward. let the republicans put their plans together. you saw what happened to their health care plan. it did not work. ours works, it needs to be fixed. they should have not wasted time worried about the republican plan. put together their own plan. finally, a comprehensive immigration bill. put it together. it together,t, put put it before the american people and let us judge. host: patrick is in d.c., independent, go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. how are you? host: i am doing well. caller: i don't support nancy pelosi. on crime ands weak borders and the second amendment. each and every -- they owe each

and every american an apology. when democrats talk and they get airtime, sit back and listen very carefully. when republicans call in, you play with your papers. it seems like you want to ignore us. are you ignoring us, john? host: i am not ignoring you, republicans, or when they call in. we are creating a forum when they call in. we are just talking to democrats and republicans on the leadership of the democratic party. steve is in ohio. a democrat. go ahead. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: i have a suggestion for c-span. i would like to see c-span ofemble a panel

how does the publick about react to what the presidency is doing nowadays? personpeople cope with a such as trump? .ost: appreciate the suggestion any thoughts on nancy pelosi? caller: i think she is doing a good job. thank you very much. host: steve in ohio our last call on this first segment. up next, in the wake of indictment of new york congressman chris collins, bloomberg finance reporter bill allison will join us to discuss the rules members of congress have to abide by when trading stocks or serving on the boards

of major corporations. later, new york times tehran joins chief thomas erdman us to talk about his extensive travels throughout that country. we will be right back. >> saturday morning, book tv is live at the mississippi book annuall for their fourth literary lawn party at the state capitol in jackson with discussions on race and identity, southern history, u.s. politics, and leadership. authors include the author of davis with his book the gulf, the making of an american city.

and the great revolt, inside the populist coalition reshaping politics and author frank williams with lincoln as hero. join us saturday beginning at 10:00 eastern for the mississippi book festival on c-span2. historiesnday on oral , we continue our series on women in congress with former democratic congresswoman could -- -- with former democratic congresswoman good -- with former democratic congresswoman. >> finally their acceptance of me. they did. i was not on that drafting committee because i was a ranking member. i was on there because i made a contribution. also, the acceptance of me as an equal and many of them except to

me as their superior allowed me to know that i can negotiate with the best of them. >> in the weeks ahead we will hear from helen bentley, nancy johnson, and lynn woolsey. watch oral histories sunday at 10:00 eastern on american history tv on c-span3. host: bloomberg news campaign finance reporter bill allison joins us for a discussion on stock trading rules the week after republican congressman chris collins was indicted. remind us what he has been accused of. guest: he has been accused of using nonpublic insider information. he was the director of an australian company trying to develop a drug to treat multiple sclerosis and it had failed a drug trial, something the

company knew and the public did not know. there was about a four day window where he informed his son and his son told others the drug had not proven to be effective. through a number of individuals who ended up selling their stock -- the company became aware of the news but the public was not so they avoided huge losses when the company announced the drug had failed. the stock price tanked, it lost 92% of its value, so they saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by getting out earlier. that is a violation of federal securities laws. the charges are he used this nonpublic information to benefit insiders. representative collins did not sell his shares, but others close to him did. host: you wrote the case members of how

congress face few restrictions and how they handle their own stocks and their own trades. what are the rules? guest: it is just disclosure. members of congress can buy and sell securities like any other person. they cannot take part in initial public offerings when a new .ompany comes on the market sometimes it can be lucrative when a company goes public, the share prices will shoot up. no longer be cut in on those kinds of deals. for u.s. companies. otherwise they can trade the same way any other american can. ofre -- if you are the head the house armed services committee, you can still buy and sell defense company stocks. host: you ever have to abstain from voting that you have a direct financial interest in the company might affect?

rules and there federal ethics laws that you cannot benefit financially from your position but the way they are interpreted is if you hold stocks that will benefit from a particular bill -- this is one of the allegations against representative collins that have been made prior to the insider trading indictment -- if you -- if you hold stocks in a particular company but introduce a bill that broadly affects the industry in which the company is involved, that is ok. it is only if you wrote a bill -- like if i were a member of congress and i had allison, incorporated and i wrote a bill to benefit, alice incorporated, i cannot write that bill or vote on it. you are not benefiting something that

clearly benefits your personal financial interest you are ok. host: what about the crux of the case against collins? say can members of congress or inform others about when they come across this sort of information, whether it is information and classified briefings or otherwise? guest: right now members of congress -- it is called the stock act, which stands for stock trading on congressional knowledge. for officialsegal to trade on information they learned in the course of their public service. if you know a regulatory action is going to benefit an industry or harm and industry, you cannot all your broker lets by hundred thousand shares or lets short a hundred thousand shares of this particular stock. of representative collins, what he did was something any corporate insider

theoretically could do if they got a piece of insider information and traded on it. this was in the course of him being the director of the company. host: a director of the company. service on corporate boards and how close members of congress can beat outside businesses. ethicsthere are federal laws, there are also rules of both the house and senate have adopted that prevent members from having second jobs. if you're athat member of congress you are a full-time job and that is what your focus should be. there are provisions that allow -- you can join a board of directors provided you're not compensated and generally speaking this rule was put in place so if you want to be part of a hospital or a charitable organization or a family foundation and you are not paid for it, you can do it. can havebeing you different kinds of public service beyond being a member of

congress and hopefully this board of directors ships does not take up too much time. because this board did not compensate collins he was allowed to continue to serve on the board. host: we are talking with bill allison, bloomberg news finance reporter, talking about the rules members of congress have when it comes to stocks and trading. if you have questions, call in, republicans (202) 748-8001, democrats (202) 748-8000, independents, (202) 748-8002. we should read the statement congressman collins attorneys put out. we will answer the charges in court and we will mount a campaign to clear his good name. even the government did not accuse congressman collins traded a single share of the stock. we are confident he will be exonerated. read into that. the x -- the defense you are

expected? guest: the indictment does not allege he traded any stock. he alsohe questions is misled investigating officials from the fbi when he was asked about this, which is also problematic. his son or deny had sold shares of the company before it was publicly announced. the indictment lays out their phone records. there were times the recalls made, there were text messages and so on back and forth about whether these folks have gotten out of the stock. the defense that he did not sell the stock himself is not alleged in the indictment and the indictment says -- in australia,

which is where he bought his shares -- that stock was locked down. it cannot be sold on that exchange. the indictment alleges he was unable to sell his shares because of where he held them. in the over-the-counter in new york you were able to sell the shares and that's were the others were able to dispose of theirs. taking yourllison calls and questions. phone lines, republicans (202) 748-8001, democrats (202) 748-8000, independents (202) 748-8002. how long have you been covering campaign-finance issues? guest: probably 1995 when i was at the philadelphia inquirer. host: remind people what the sunlight foundation is? guest: it was a group in favor of government transparency. now it's focus is a little bit

more on policy but when i was there we had a division that did journalism, we had a division that did tech and tried to make these financial disclosure forms more accessible to the public. it is a great organization. it is still doing good stuff. joinedill allison bloomberg news at the beginning of 2016. he is with us for about the next 20 minutes to answer your question. nancy is up first in nebraska. a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i am calling to thank the panel and c-span for educating me about the connection of our congressional representatives and their memberships on boards and how those loopholes allow them -- my area is a developing area -- to participate in economic development and exploit

a volunteer base which degrades ethics, our ability to have jobs and create jobs that actually benefit rural people. host: thanks for the thank you. loopholes.n, other nancy is talking about loopholes for members of congress. what are some of the major ones people should know about? guest: one of the biggest concerns is spouses of members of congress. the rules do not quite apply the same way. there been spouses who have served on corporate boards, there are spouses who have become registered lobbyist, federal ethics rules prevent a spouse from lobbying the office of the person they are married to. there been a few instances -- there was a case with a member

of kansas representative whose wife was lobby for a branch of the humane society -- host: of kentucky. guest: of kentucky, yes, first district of kentucky. his wife was a lobbyist for the humane society. his office arranged meetings to push legislation that organization was interested in and he ended up resigning from congress after an ethics investigation found there was violations of that law. other instances over years with spouses becoming lobby -- there have been other instances over the years with spouses becoming lobbyists. host: what are the rules for members of congress and other executive branch employees -- high-level members of different agencies? are they the same rules? guest: they are very different rules.

as applies to executive branch ,ppointees, a cabinet secretary somebody who is a political appointee will have to divest their assets. they are limited in what kind of assets they can purchase in office. generally speaking it is only broadly-based mutual funds or treasury bills and the idea is to remove the potential for conflicts of interest. occasions where officials are allowed to hold onto different kinds of assets because they are not allowed to pose a conflict, but generally speaking, and we have seen this with a number of trump administration officials. for example, wilbur ross held onto shipping companies. he got admonished by the federal ethics office for the way he disposed of some assets and for not consulting with ethics officials before he made some trades. he took positions to get rid of

a stock that was linked to a russian company, a shipping company that he owned. he was allowed to keep that under his ethics committee, he decided to sell it and to get rid of it he used a short sale which raised the concerns of the ethics department for why was he doing this complicated transaction if his main mechanism is to divest? generally speaking, these rules do not apply to elected officials. recusal is one of the ways in which you avoid an ethics entanglement, which means if you are closely involved in a company, even after you become government official you have to recuse from matters that affect that company and you do not want your elected officials not able to vote on things or take decisions. the same rules apply to the president, which is why president donald trump do not have to divest his assets, which raised questions about what his business is about.

host: i want to talk more about that in a second. linda is waiting in dallas, texas. an independent. caller: my question is, you just explain to me how they are allowed to have these different tongs and still be eligible receive. i am a senior citizen and i found out that in the state of year it is only $4000 a can earn to get the snaps program. signed and a relative saying, i cannot borrow . i am disqualified from medicaid many seniors-- cannot work any longer, we have illness, it is hard for us to get any type of system because everything we earn goes against us getting help.

i do not understand why those rules are set where they can get anything they want and still receive all the money and all the help. can you explain to me why they haven't where the working poor -- itople not so well off is so hard to get the help, especially senior citizens. we have to sell our homes just to get into the nursing home. guest: there are very different rules for people who are in federal benefits programs that restrict what they can do. i am not an expert in all of them. one thing -- if you are having difficulties, your members of congress represent you, you can contact them. write your representative if you're having a problem with the federal benefits program. if it is a state program right to your state legislators because they are all there to -- they are there to help you. thoses one of the things

representatives do for those constituents. subject ofe benefits, what to members of congress get when they retire from congress? guest: there is a federal pension system. it used to be a defined-benefit. it has now become more analogous open --(k) and it is your benefits is based on your service, the amount of time you were in congress. they also get health care benefits and other additional perks after they leave the office. host: bill allison with us taking your calls. if you have questions about campaign finance issues, a good person to ask. republicans (202) 748-8001, democrats (202) 748-8000, independents (202) 748-8002.

don is in california, a republican. to me congressional ethics is an oxymoron. harry reid got filthy rich because he happened to own way and that the government was going to use to make highways or he would own stock in companies that were going to get government contracts. funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars through her daughter. even here in the bay area, nancy had a congressman put in legislation for the government to buy land that she owned. call in's isth the selective person -- this thing with collins is a selective persecution of a trump supporter. feeding at thegs

trough as far as i am concerned. guest: that is an issue that led to the passage of the act in the first place. there are members of congress who come in with modest assets. there are also members who come in with a great deal of assets. i cannot sale members come in poor and go out rich, but there are members who come in and spend a few decades in washington with a salary of about $170,000 per year and leave much better off than they came into washington. this is one of the big questions as to how that happens and how to members -- one of the rationales behind the stock act was that there been studies that show the members do better on their portfolios, about 12% then , beating the market by a large percentage which does

not happen unless there is insider information. there are other studies that suggest that is not quite the case and they underperform on the market. theproblem with that as financial disclosure forms do not give you as much information as you would like to make those determinations. one of the reasons we have these ethics laws and one of the reasons they are designed the way they are is to try to prevent the kind of things you are talking about. there have been a number of instances on both sides of the aisle -- there was dennis pastored who had the prairie parkway who bought land right where he had earmarked a highway. he sold the land to a developer who is going to sell houses with advertising by the future site of the prairie parkway. i think you made about $1 million profit on it. that is one of the things the stock act is intended to stop although it is harder.

it is really aimed at securities trading. host: the act passed in 2012. was that case concerning dennis hayes dirt -- dennis hastert the move -- the story that pushed the act forward? what was the straw that broke the camels back? guest: there was a big piece on 60 minutes that looked at trades by number of members of congress. -- nancyles they cited pelosi husband engaged in a number of transactions with visa corporation was having an initial public offering. the house of representatives was considering a bill that would crack down on credit cards that ended up not passing, the stock appreciated in value, they made a nice profit. inresentative john boehner 2009 was trading in various health stocks around the time the public option was being

considered which could have hurt rugged insurers and was not being adopted. these were allegations based on timing. nobody had a smoking gun. ,ith representative collins there are text messages, emails, indictment that show there was some kind of communication back-and-forth about this. we do not have that in these other examples. they are all based on timing and suspicious circumstances. that is what led to a lot of public clamor for the stock act. host: to illinois. line for democrats. caller: the question i have is related. i was informed that congress who receive two terms automatically receive pension for life. i'm a combat veteran disabled from vietnam and it took me 10 years to apply for a pension and

get it through the v.a.. i do not understand why congressman get it automatically and why veterans do not get it automatically since they serve their country. thank you for your time. guest: thank you for your call and for your service. i think part of it is the difference in how these things are administered. a member of congress retiring probably has much better access to benefits officials and veterans do. this has been a problem with the veterans administration. i would recommend that if you are having problems -- are having problems like that, your member of congress is there to help you out. host: a few minutes left with bill allison of bloomberg news. ,epublicans, (202) 748-8001 democrats (202) 748-8000, independents (202) 748-8002. marlene is in north carolina. an independent. good morning.

caller: i can give you the information on congressional pensions. ryan. when ryan retires next year he will have served in congress 20 years. that is why he is staying for 20 years. after 20 years he will qualify for an $85,000 a year pension he can start collecting at the age of 50. how about someone that started working at 16 and worked 50 years into social security and gets a pittance compared to this kind of stuff? what they pay out of their salaries for their pension is 1.3% of their salaries. ising his highest pay, which $178,000, he would have paid $35,000 a year over 20 years

into that pension. he walks away with 85,000 a year. host: before you go where you go for your info and how are you so up on this topic? caller: why? i'm 70 years -- old. my family came here in the 1600s and i cannot believe how corrupt our government has become on every level. i'm very concerned our country is going to be able to survive what is going on. 20 chili and dollars in debt. how is that ever -- $20 trillion in debt. how is that ever going to be paid. when you are talking about social security, you're talking about a man breaking his back not even being able to collect when he is 67 years old? doneard has paul ryan ever any physical work in his life?

host: bill allison? pensionsngressional and congressional pay are always big issues. there is always the concern that because they control the purse they are voting themselves these salaries and benefits not available in the private sector to the ordinary american. where you have occasionally members running on reform issues about different ways to address this and generally speaking congress takes care of itself. we do have situations where members do get certain benefits that an ordinary worker does not get. host: we have about five minutes left. remind us how president trump has chosen to handle his financial assets as he sits in the office of the presidency. what president trump has decided to do is create a trust, to put his assets in trust and

have managers. one is one of his sons. there is an executive of the trump organization, and they basically manages assets while he is president. he is not supposed to be involved in day-to-day decisions of the business, he is not supposed to be informed and what the business is doing to prevent him from having a conflict of interest. there is a number of ethics experts that complained about this, this is not a void -- a way to avoid complex, -- to avoid conflicts, but rather than sell them, which is the normal way presents -- presidents have acted since the ethics act was passed in 1978, he chose to hold onto them. that arisesuestion from this -- there have been lawsuits saying he is violating the emoluments clause of the constitution because foreign

governments can put people into business, or having we have had foreign government make use of it for a conference. the constitution prohibits officers of the united states of america from receiving a monuments or pay from foreign governments. that issue is like to be result -- is yet to be resolved. it has created difficulties. technically, under the ethics in government act, the president does not have to sell off his assets. the trump legal teams understanding of the law is correct. it does not cover the president and the way it covers his secretary of the treasury, who did have to sell off assets. the one other thing that shows the limits of our ethics laws is that if president trump had divested and started selling off

assets, which would have to be accomplished in a six-month period or nine months, there would have to be some kind of ethics plan to do it, it would create all kinds of opportunities for foreign governments to buy his properties. when you have a billionaire elected president, it creates problems that nobody anticipated when these laws were written. host: all of a sudden we have a bunch of calls. joan is in rochester, minnesota, good morning. caller: i just wanted to applaud the lady that talked about the moneys that the congressman are taking care of themselves instead of the american people and paying themselves big retirements. i have been thinking about this for a long time because this all happens behind closed doors with sessions and he has been doing a lot of things in the background instead of thinking of the people of this country.

they are taking care of themselves and most of them are millionaires and do not need to be taken care of. they are not taking care of us and i applaud her for the courage to speak up because that is how i feel and i hope more people shed light on what is going on in the background of this country that we are not even being made aware of. we just being showed this fancy show where we can get all upset while they are doing things in the background. host: got your point. one question -- are most members of congress millionaires? guest: there is a group called the center for responsible politics that calculate that every year. they have a website called opensecrets.org. the short answer is yes. most members of congress are well-to-do. if you think about campaigning for congress, you have to spent nine years of your life running , youpaign, not working

basically have to have the assets to do that. -- for a member of congress you have to have a residence in washington, d.c. thereof been members living in their offices but this is a expensive real estate market, you have to have a residence year while maintaining a residence in your district. you end up with the well-to-do being the ones who end up in congress. host: the open secrets center for responsive politics released -- this is from last fall on the latest congressional numbers, calculating from the 2015 releases of members of congress. that time the net worth of senate republicans rose 13% over the course of 2015 from $2.9 million to $3 million on average in the house.

the median net worth had increased in that time from $860,000 in 2014 to $875,000 in 2015. those numbers dating back a couple of years. going through the financial disclosures. and is waiting in north carolina, an independent. go ahead. caller: thank you to c-span and washington journal. i want to add to the lady from north carolina about paul ryan. i keep hearing this and i know it is true but i need more people to hear it. paul ryan, when he was a child at 15 his father died. he and his mom got survivors benefits for widow and orphan benefits for being a widow and an orphan. that is how it was set up. he was entitled to get that. this is what they do to government workers.

i'm a retired government worker in my pension started out at about $15,000 a year. after working 21 years at finally got up to about 18,000 theyhen when i turned 62 took $8,000 out of my pension, whether i took social security or not. system -- number 45 is right, it is rate against the ones who work. 43 years i worked. 21.5 with the federal government. that was done during the reagan administration, that is when afterad workers hired december 31, 1984, we paid into social security. somewhere along the line when we were busy working and raising

families and taking care of ,verything, family values congress decided to punish federal workers. that is what they have done a federal workers. ishear that paul ryan -- he going to get $85,000 a year? guest: i'm not an expert on federal pensions. i'm not sure what paul ryan going to get. it is true this has been a contentious issue for folks for a long time. members of congress have created a system where they have these golden parachutes. ,here have been members who even if you had committed a crime is member of congress, you could retire with your pension. changes were made to that provision but it is a problem. -- the idea that

members of congress and other public officials are getting benefits that are not available to the general public. host: a story from cnbc on paul ryan's post congress pension. house speaker paul ryan, after announcing he will retire in january, when he turns 50 he will likely be entitled to a pension plan described as a golden parachute. if using role in the program offered to members of congress, he could receive $84,930 a year assuming he sticks it out through january. that report goes through how that process works. it is a cnbc story from right after paul ryan announced he would be stepping down in april. karen has been waiting in the bronx, a democrat. good morning. caller: i just want to ask your guest a question.

my question is has corruption become so blatant that one can call former members of your family moments after getting inside information? that is what is alleged in the indictment. it was right after he got the information. representative collins -- that is what the record show that he was calling his son right away. there are the phone logs from his cellular service back and forth. i think it is important to remember that every single day there are millions, if not hundreds of millions of pieces of insider information that come across company desks and come -- people withl fiduciary duties to companies where they do not call their sons immediately. situation unusual

because most members of congress are not members of corporate boards. i do think it is somewhat of a neat situation with representative collins. there have been times in the country's history where corruption is a serious issue. if you go back to watergate, if you go back to the 2006 election , corruption was one of the biggest issues people were concerned about. likewas the time of things the bridge to nowhere and earmark scandals and other things. it was an animating thing for voters. i think it is difficult to empirically say whether this period is worse than another one but obviously this has come up. it is something that democrats have been talking about as part of republican culture of corruption, it is something

republicans are saying is an isolated incident and something we will have to see how it plays out in november. host: as it plays out and as you follow other campaign finance issues, a good person to track is bill allison with bloomberg news. bloomberg.com. always appreciate the time. guest: thank you. host: up next, new york times bureau chief thomas erdbrink discusses his documentary our man in tehran about his travels in iran. voterswill talk to headed to the polls today about their thoughts on election 2018, now just over 80 days away. we will be right back. ♪ 8:00, mother jones reporter and author at the brooklyn historical society talking about voting rights. the supremefter

court decision, when john roberts said racial discrimination was a thing of the past, north carolina passed a sweeping relight -- rewrite of its voting laws. it required for id, it eliminated same-day voter registration, it eliminated citizens awareness month, all of this in one bill one month after the supreme court gutted the voting rights act. watch on c-span, c-span.org and listen on the c-span radio app. sunday night at 8:00 on c-span's "q&a," a historian talks about his book apostles of revolution -- jefferson, thomas payne, james monroe, and the struggles against the old order in america and europe. >> if they could see america importantsee the most

play on broadway now and for the past several years is a play hamiltonizes alexander and vilifies jefferson and ignores thomas payne and see the distribution of wealth in the united states and the amount of money that suffuses american politics today they would see, many of these things that are going on in the united states today bore an uncanny resemblance to the england they had revolted against. at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. "washington journal" continues. host: last night's frontline aired its first part of the documentary our man in tehran.

thomas erdbrink is the bureau chief for the new york times in tehran. how did you become one of the first western journalist allowed to work in tehran? >> there used to be a lot of western journalists here but over the years with the budget cuts in several newsrooms, but also the iranian government expelling reporters there are less and less. at this point it is basically me, anp, the financial times, and the others that have western reporters here? host: how long have you worked in iran? guest: a staggering 17 years. i have cover the iraq war, i spent time in lebanon, i cover the war in libya, but tehran has always been my base. in thissee the results documentary of which the second part will air tonight. host: why did you decide to

partner with pbs for this documentary? the first part aired last night. why did you decide to do this and what did you want to show? , ist: first and foremost wanted to show and i ran that you usually do not hear that much about. know the nuclear program, the sanctions, the threat of war, death to america. those are the things we know and they are all true. you you live here 17 years have the experienced also meet ordinary people and see how they live and what their problems are and how they deal with the religious rules and sanctions and forced on them by the united states. i wanted to take people by the hand and guide them through my private ironic -- my private iran. i do not have the objective to

make them feel better or worse but hand them something that ordinary americans do not have access to -- tehran. host: the wall street journal in their review of the documentary called it a determinedly upbeat documentary, compelling hours in which there is no missing the film's determination to portray whose people are misjudged by the world. would you agree with that? guest: they are not only misjudged by the world that also their own leaders. that media has to work with and the lack of access leaders grant to reporters make sure there are a lot of people in the united states and other aretries think all iranians hard-core revolutionaries and spend their days shouting death to america. , aave found one such person

bigmouth who aired last night during the first film. we will also follow people with different stories, people that rallies. attend such a divorced woman, a sports instructor, ordinary people that have to cope with everything like throws at them. livenly do they have to under the sometimes restrictive religious rules that have become state rules, they also have to deal with the sanctions in the past from the entire world and now from the united states. host: we want to invite our viewers to join in on the conversation. thomas erdbrink of the new york times taking your calls as we talk about "our man in tehran" documentary. the second part airs tonight. republicans can call in at (202) 748-8001, democrats (202) 748-8000, independents (202) 748-8002.

as you are calling in, we will put the phone lines up on the screen, i want to give you a sense of the flavor of the documentary. here is an interview thomas friendk conducted with a of his who is conducting a headscarf protest good -- a headscarf protest. [video clip] [speaking host: thomas erdbrink, why tell

that story and did you put her in danger by telling that story? i think thisguest: is an important story because this republic is one of the few countries in the world that tells its people what to wear. we have seen protests by women who go on the streets and take up these headscarves. not an extremely not -- an extremely big numbers but the protests are significant because some of the protesters have gotten prison terms after 20 years of probation. for her to speak out but she really wanted to. we asked her before hand if she was interested and would understand the consequences. she also made another decision in her life which was to leave this country. she is currently not in iran and therefore felt comfortable in airing this. iranian government get involved in any way with the

documentary? did they try to stop you from showing certain aspects? what sort of pushed back to chew and pbs get in doing this? make: i have managed to watch oh hours of film during four years. -- managed to make four hours of film during four years. i had to get permits for my crew to come in. we see the iranian state is promoting isolation. they did not agree on the first film. these films were aired in europe before aired in the united states. when the first film aired three years ago, afterwards, iranian officials sought and they were not pleased with it. at the same time they also said you can make a second one. they have been open and easy going. they did not agree with

everything, but they gave us the freedom to make a second film as well. host: i want to let you chat with a few callers. joining us by skype is thomas erdbrink, new york times tehran bureau chief. john is in massachusetts. caller: good morning. i saw most of the first part last night and i thought it was good journalism. very interesting. done with a sense of humor. i'm so grateful to thomas erdbrink and to pbs for making this available to a viewer like me. i do have a question. how did you learn to speak persian so fluently? guest: thank you very much for those kind words.

it is amazing for someone born know i madeo something that is touched you in massachusetts. thank you for watching. i learned my persian from my wife and my mother in law. my -- when to ironic i came to iran my mother-in-law did not speak any english and i did not speak any farsi. she would say -- and i would write it down. i think my farsi should be better but thank you for the consummate. host: your wife -- for the complement. host: your wife is iranian? guest: yes. she is an international photographer. we both started in journalism when we were around 20 and 22. she works a lot more abroad and she also features in the

documentary but you can see her in the first film in the second film. host: you first met her outside of iran? guest: we met during a solar eclipse. we only fell in love two years after we met. we met in tehran where she was working as a young photographer and i was the young journalist starting out to do international reporting. two years later she came to the netherlands and we fell in love and that was it. host: the documentary "our man in tehran? the first -- the first part aired last night, the second part airs tonight. you can catch both at pbs's website. nicholas is next in pikesville, maryland. republican. i was wondering what the journalist would think about the

use of the word rational or irrational when describing the iranian regime and whether perhaps if it is considered irrational that is why the u.s. is offering a different position as opposed to north korea. i'm referring to the religious zealotry that seems to be the underpinning of the iranian regime. guest: i think that is a valid question and i think the question has a lot of politics in it. i think it is hard to compare north korea and iran. because north korea is ruled by one man in a very opaque clinical system, in iran you have lots of different centers of power. because they're all these anderent centers of power they are ideologically say they do not want to negotiate with the united states makes it harder for the u.s. to negotiate with this country. then at the same time, if you view this from the iranian angle

and look at the current state of affairs, it was the united states that unilaterally decided to withdraw from that multinational nuclear agreement and therefore at this point in time they do not want to talk to the united states because they feel the united states is not a trustable partner. time will tell. i'm a journalist and not someone who can look into the future. if this is rational or irrational it will matter less and less at the point where both parties are ready to talk when theyn 2009 started nuclear talks all the way up to 23rd -- 22015 when they ended those. peoplehat to the iranian think of president trump? guest: a lot of people were shocked by president trump because of his new style of responding in the international

media and international politics. i also think that the iranian sanctions that are now reimposed under the trump administration -- if you view this from an ordinary iranian perspective it is understanding the currency has lost 80% in value. people are worried about the future. at the same time, when mr. trump to have direct negotiations with iranian leadership, i interviewed many iranians who welcomed that offer and urged their leaders to talk to president trump. also looking at the example of north korea. i am sure they have mixed feelings about mr. trump but a lot of ordinary people do seem -- do see him as a man they would like their leaders to talk to. host: the author your -- the

offer you're referring to is the tweet from the president. guest: exactly, when the president tweeted he was open for talks. that was an indication to the iranian leaders to speak without preconditions. host: the president tweeting i will meet or not meet, it doesn't matter. it is up to them. here's the tweet from august 4 grade mike is waiting in columbia heights, minnesota. republican. caller: i just wanted to say, ,or the average everyday person the information we are receiving would be that you are receiving a lot of money for free. taxpayers who are burdened with all the taxes we have to have here. i feel for the iranian people over there. it seems like they are over policing something most citizens here are totally against. i feel that those people are

being over policed. hopefully they are able to work out some kind of deal. trump is mainly looking for what the average person is thinking is looking for fair deals, fair deals and maybe the deal you had before was not seeming fair. there has been economic crisis here is trying to get improvement. thank you for letting me get my thoughts out there and i did see some of the show. i feel personally there is over policing going on there in that country. host: got your point. thomas erdbrink on over policing and sanctions. fort: mike, thank you calling from minnesota and for looking at the show. let's talk about the sanctions and the nuclear deal first. i can imagine that from your perspective it must feel that the iranian government was keeping a lot of money.

if you look at the facts, how much they've gotten, it is far from the $150 billion amount that has been named. a reporter do not have full insight into money flows that took place after the reporter -- after the deal was made. ideal is a deal and you should stick to a deal once you make it. the fact that a new president and disliked it was something if iranians would say america is the most powerful country in the world we would expect empathy from them. you talk about over policing, i would expect an abundance of rules. the iranian system does not have enough police officers to enforce all of those rules as you can see from the example where someone went to the streets and protested against

what she felt was the scarf she did not want to wear, but she was not arrested. officers and intelligence that are strong, but there are a lot of rules that the iranians want to see changed, but not enough police officers to really enforce those like you would see in a country like north korea. remind you -- or mind viewers -- remind viewers is.jason ozion on an he was kept accusation of espionage, and later, he was released. agreement, inlear

a prison exchange between iran is currently jason working in washington. i'm still in touch with him. he is someone who suffered at the hands of people who accused him here. host: what lessons did you take from how he was treated? arrest was very much at random and i would love iranian official a come to me and prove me otherwise. jason has unnecessarily suffered and i think they carry the pain with them and he deserves the utmost respect for you -- respect. caller waiting for you .

i watched your itumentary last night and was very tastefully done and i was astounded at how in ballast you worry -- embellished you were in the country and how burst you were in the language, ease in theand the way you approach the individuals you wanted to gain access to to get information about the culture. the channels you took and the steps you had to go through for approval and information and resources and educate about the dress codes, the wearing of the physical apparel, and what the norm was with regard to how a woman could teach at physical fitness course in her garb

without looking like she was dancing, and then all of the steps he took after that for approval. was really objective, not aggressive or assertive tv,t what you could put on and how you would display this, and you depicted the material of the shoulder, the length of the sleeve, the motion of her body tv.how she could be on ouise, we are running out of time. guest: thank you for watching. is amazing and your words are really kind of heartwarming. it took me a long time to understand this culture but what did not take me long is to be easy-going go with the iranians

and that is not because of me but because of them. i do think the iranian misunderstood in the west. and i understand why that happened with the things they say and do, especially their government, but they are very friendly and funny people. and very open. host: last call, oscar in fairfax, virginia. caller: thank you. iran 34 years ago. thomas, job well done. congratulations. says that people the regime was better even though he was a dictator. they are rtight -- right. what you see with all the young

people, 60% that are highly educated, do you think that the law is willing to change or are likegoing to hold and have saddam hussein. and next time, take mr. trump. guest: thank you very much. if you look at the statistics in iran, very young population, highly educated, in touch with the world, in touch with internet, satellite television, very well knowing what is going on in the world and knowing what some of them would say they are missing. no matter who is in charge in this country, they would have to adjust themselves to the wishes of those people. in dailylready see you life because a lot of things we discussed not are tolerated on a daily basis.

how the future will play out -- i am sure you have been thinking about that for the past 40 years and i am thinking with you. thank you. is thehomas erdbrink coproducer of the pbs documentary "our man in tehran independence, (202) 748-8002.

what to hear what is driving you to the old. polls.- to the it is primary day and four states. voters will be headed to the polls today. here is where some of the front pages are waking up to in those states. primary has plenty of twists in the front page of the green bay press gazette. focusing on the governor race there, saying he may trail on

the new votes after the vote today. he may get a bump in the polls. the greenwich of times in connecticut, "your vote counts." want to hear your thoughts on the midterm elections. republicans, democrats, and independents. bob, are you going out to vote for the primaries today? caller: yes, i am. host: who are you voting for and why? bob, are you with us this morning. vote but we out to will be talking to some of the reporters in this segment and those primary states. reporters on the grounds following those elections, we will be talking with the reporter from minnesota public radio and about 20 minutes this morning.

vermont,to focus on first. bernie sann senator ders who is running for the democratic nomination in vermont but that does not mean that he plans to accept it. today" story noting that the longest-serving independent and congress who ran in the democratic primary for president in 2016, in the past elections has the client of the nomination but accepted the democratic endorsement. his campaign manager shannon jackson says that he plans to do the same thing again and continue running as an independent. they are ok with that considering their close relationship with sanders. states party overwhelmingly passed a resolution in may that effectively deems him a democrat if he wins in the senate.

that is one of the races taking place in vermont today. christina is in pennsylvania. independent, good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to say that the midterm election is about our president and more about his behavior which affects his policies. i would like to say yesterday when people were wondering he is more politicized and scrutinized by media than other presidents. because he does not behave as a .resident host: what do you think is going to happen in pennsylvania in your district this year? -- it: what is happening

is kind of like everywhere else, i would say. host: what is that, the focus on the president? caller: t yes. followher love him, him, or you tolerate him, or you just hate him. host: mountaintop, pennsylvania. president trump with a tweet onterday weighing in scott walker, he has my complete and total endorsement. he brought the amazing foxconn to wisconsin with it to jobs and so much more. vote scott on tuesday in the republican primary. a bit thisnoted primary season, the president choosing to weigh in on his

favorite platform on twitter with his endorsements. we will talk more about his endorsements and their impacts on today's primaries and a little bit. ,epublicans, (202) 748-8001 democrats, (202) 748-8000, independents (202) 748-8002. tell us about the primary season and your thoughts heading into the midterm elections. ray, chicago. republican, go ahead. caller: good morning. what are the democrats going to do when they do not take over enough seats. we might lose up to 10, are they for stealingg votes for influence? that is what they always do.

there was blames the money else. blame somebody else. the republicans have nothing to worry about. in florida, and independent. caller: when you are holding up a newspaper, the greenwich newspaper that newspaper -- i want to talk about the concentration of ownership of media. i want to recommend that people go to a website called cfrmedia. com and they have some really on thereng graphs which showed the concentration of how many people who run various media networks that along to this organization called the council on foreign relations. i think it is interesting.

so many of them belong to this organization. do you go forere your news, who do you trust? caller: i really enjoy going to the internet because there is such a diversity of backgrounds of people and there is not as behind internet sources and i love c-span. host: where on the internet do you go? are there specific sites? caller: i like to surf around and see what people are saying. just a lot of conversational media, i really love tucker carlson because if you go back really far, tucker used to be more of a middle-of-the-road republican but the more i think , he has become

more of a populist. towards vast because there has been such a negative influence on global list politics on the economics of americans. host: one of those states are holding primaries today, mary is in wisconsin. are you voting today? caller: i am going to go out later and vote. be for getonsin to regime out ofnt washington. despite what governor walker nt -- and my friends and family, are against what is going on in washington, with trump. host: what specifically, what concerns you most? the whole thing caps on

kept this all began and -- on since this all began and it is not good for the country and certainly not good for the world. i do not like anything that i have seen or heard that has been on in the last 18 months. i will spread the word as much as possible to vote democratic and get him out of washington. host: that is mary and wish -- in wisconsin. we will show you some of the variouscampaign ads the campaigns are playing. here is governor scott walker and his recent ad. [video clip] a small town doing pretty big

things. >> we have been rethinking cow we teach our kids. >> governor walker has been very helpful to us. >> the extra $200 per year per student to means a lot for small districts like ours. >> we are teaching students to think critically. student years a since the lab opened so i learned the kind of skill that employers are looking for. >> now we are training other school districts. governor's funding has really helped with transportation costs. >> wisconsin is a national leader bringing fablabs to school. government's commitment to funding education has made it stronger. on that ad that scott walker

campaign ad upset the school district where it was filmed. said they did not know that the district was going to be featured in that campaign ad for walker and some are not happy about it. if you want to read that piece, it is by molly beck in the milwaukee journal sentinel. primary day and four states, vermont., connecticut, joining us by the phone this morning, danielle, the democratic governor dan malloy after two terms and the race to replace him is listed as a tossup by the cook political report. a fairlyonsidered reliable vote, why is this such

a tight race in connecticut? guest: a number of reasons. governor malloy is usually the most are one of the most unpopular governors in america. his ratings are terrible. he is not running again. yes, this would seem to be a democratic state except when you look to massachusetts. they have a republican governor who is quite popular and does quite well among independent voters. it is a tossup, it it is an interesting grace on a lot of different levels. host: a crowded democratic primary -- a crowded republican primary, who's going to emerge from that and has president trump weighed in? i know,s far as president trump is not the weighed in, although, the candidates have weighed in on president trump and most of them

support him and would welcome him with a couple of caveats. it is a crowded race on the republican side, five candidates. danbury has been running for governor off and on since 2009 and yet the endorsement of the republican convention. fundingnessmen, both their own campaign. , a former hedge fund a -- hedge fund another one largely funding his own campaign. then you have another local official, the most conservative of the bunch and then there is a technology entrepreneur, so a

five way race on the republican side. host: on the democratic side, why should c-span viewers remember ned? guest: he burst onto the scene, ran against joe lieberman in 2006, did win the primary and the lost when lieberman ran as a candidate. he was the antiwar guy back then. the iraq war is not a huge issue and the connecticut governor's race. he did run in 2010 for governor and he ran a little bit to the right of governor malloy. lefttime, he is tacking and he is clearly the favorite. there is another candidate named joe, who went to federal prison on public corruption charges. he is back, he is the mayor of bridgeport, and he is waging a spirited campaign against

lavant. host: before you start your busy day, tell us about the 5th oftrict race, the seat elizabeth and why she is not running again. guest: she is not running again because she was strongly criticized after the "washington post"and "the connecticut spoke about her mishandling of a sexual assault scandal. it is an open seat. this it is arguably one of the most conservative in connecticut. it is the western part of the state with a lot of small towns plus big cities. it is a very big district, 41 towns. you are seeing the two democrats vying for that seat. one is traditional former first select woman, a well-respected

and then, just shortly before the convention, there was another democrat. for officenever run before, she was the national teacher of the year. she'll most one the endorsement at the convention, but she did almost a win. coming a national profile for the race. bunch ofeen on msnbc a times and has generated a lot of excitement and receiving a lot of money from other parts of the country. she is a teacher, she is also being the first african-american democrat from connecticut to serve in congress. like a tossup, obviously, there are no polls to any of these races so we do not know what is going to happen but certainly been interesting to cover. there are also three republicans running for that seat as well. host: we will see what happens

tonight and connecticut, the statehouse reporter for "the hartford" and thank you for your time. guest: think you for having me. host: -- thank you for having me. host: back to your calls. one state holding its primary today, wisconsin. lloyd, a democrat. are you going to vote today? caller: can you hear me? host: yes, are you heading out to vote today? caller: yes. i will be voting today at our town hall. you ran, we were appalled by governor walker's ad taping of the school district employees. employees that the meeting we went to and went to the school district had an to promotehe ad was

fromducation for children companies throughout the united states that donated equipment. host: you were there when a filming took place? getting to theed meetings and no, i was not there when the filming took place. we found out about it later. everybody thought they were just toming therefore the fablab show that this high school was one of the nation's top schools that received equipment for the education of kids on things of the future. theere appalled by education -- the education community was appalled by that. host: what do you think is going to come of it and has governor walker apologized or dress this with the community in three lakes? caller: i do not know about whether he apologized, but at

the meeting, there were a lot of local people that were upset that it was used as an ad without anybody knowing about it. even the school district director was questioned, and s say that they are not sure whether he knew it was going to be an ad or not. host: go ahead. think it wast wrong for to be used as an ad when it was just being promoted high school had turned into better educate its children and it school district. host: got it. who are you going to support today? i assume you are voting in the democratic primary? caller: yes, i am. host: who are you supporting? caller: i have not made my mind

yet. one other point i would like to when you doan, have somebody calls in and tells you, i saw this on a certain news program and they said this about something, maybe you should have a way of see a newshen they agency, what news agency they are talking about. lloyd, i appreciate that. we try to do that as much as we can. when people cite their sources, it helps the discussion and lets people follow-up. we do appreciate it when viewers do that and we try to follow up and ask. wisconsin, and independence. .aller: i am voting today

for somebody that i have been out door-to-door canvassing and doing as much promotion as possible and this is mike mccabe. he is a true independent. he has never belonged to a party, republican or democrat, but he is one of the eight people in the democratic column that people have a choice to vote for. ent,ecting on lloyd's comm we do not have transparent government and wisconsin like we have prided ourselves on in the past. mike mccabe grew up on a dairy farm in central wisconsin. he knows the rural people. he is interested in being a

uniter, not pitting one group against another. the wisconsin workracy campaign which and still existing as a government watchdog to uncover corruption. after about 15 years, he got a little discouraged with that and the started an organization called the blue gene nation. tion.f it -- blue jean na one of his trademarks, is he will always wear blue jeans. he is trying to promote the idea of the wealthier of the common good and common people. host: thank you for telling us about your candidate. we had west of wisconsin to the state of minnesota. a political reporter joins us

now via skype. general'se attorney race and let viewers know what is going on with the some of these allegations that emerged over the weekend are -- weekend. guest: the attorney general's office, it became open this year when a woman decided to run for governor. five democrats decided to run for that seats. runner had name recognition, but on saturday night, their allegations that a whoer ex-girlfriend's son said in 2017, he shot a video of allison and his mother and a physical altercation. the existence of the video and the video has not surfaced. the woman in question says she does not want to release the video.

att can be where voters are with the information they have heading into the polls which leaves that race more open than it was before. host: has there been any polling in the attorney general's race? just internal polls which you have to take for a grain of salt, but the ones i have heard of really showed ellison far above everyone else. he could still win today. this came out after you can get your ballot back and change your vote. 115,000 people who would already voted. governor mark dayton is retiring, who is likely going to be facing off for the governor's race in the fall? guest: we have three main democrats competing in a primary today. endorsed byho is the democratic party here, the congressman from the first district, and the attorney general lori swanson.

atis really anyone's guess this point. there has been a ton of controversy surrounding swanson. a lot of democrats have turned our backs on her in the last few days. could give the other two candidates a boost, but really nobody knows exactly. polls show a very tight three-way race there. or breakrats, a make year for who the candidate is. on the republican side, you have the former governor who served the two terms and then left to run for president unsuccessfully and then jeff johnson. thepresumed front-runner is first because of the name recognition. turnout is not projected to be incredibly high on the republican side, which helps the

endorse candidates. i think he is a bit more nervous about that and that is one to watch. unusually and a primary states, there is going to be votes for both the senate seats. explain why that is happening in minnesota? senator's of those seats were supposed to be up this year but because of al franken's's sudden resignation, his stepping down in december and the governor mark dayton appointed the lieutenant governor in january. she is running to defend the seat and a special election that coincides with the general election. it is pretty competitive. she is facing a primary challenger today, two individuals. and activists, and a former republicans, bush era ethics cou

ncil who has been a critic of president trump. he is challenging her from the left, because he is a former republican. finance -- she is running hard on things like protecting abortion rights for women and immigration so we will have to see were democrat,. -- we have to see where democrats,. up.emocrats come democrats think they have more chance and one than the other? guest: definitely, tina smith. hockeymarried to a big name in minnesota and we will probably see the most money going into that race. host: there is at least four races that are considered toss up by the cook political report in their ranking of house races

this cycle. why are there so many competitive house races in minnesota? guest: we have a number of rural democrats, which is an increasingly rare phenomenon. and nolan, tim walls, -- by theerson numbers, they should be republicans but they are strong democrat to have managed to hold on. s is running for running asolan is lieutenant governor, and peterson is still there, but that leaves those two seats very competitive and we have two competitive seats on the suburban side. those strange dynamics are coming to head in one election. it is going to mean a ton of

national attention. host: covering it all for minnesota's public radio, appreciate your time this morning. guest: thanks for having me. host: we are taking your calls are the primary days and four states. -- in four states. 202-748-8001. .emocrats, (202) 748-8000 independents, (202) 748-8002. tina smith's ad for filling the seat for al franken. [video clip] >> to me, being a senator is about solving problems.

everywhere i go, people talk about health care. whether that is eliminating the protections on pre-existing conditions. >> when i learned that drug companies were exploiting a loophole to keep americans out of them prophets, i took them on. that is why i approve this message. host: one of tina smith's primary challengers is richard painter. or member him from a campaign ad that went viral earlier this summer. [video clip] some people see a dumpster fire and do nothing but watch the spectacle. some are too scared to face the danger or they think a benefit them if they let it keep on burning. shrug and say, this dumpster fire [indiscernible]

there is an inferno raging in washington. here in the land of 10,000 lakes, we would know how to put out a fire. i am richard painter and i approve of this message. taking your calls this morning, sean is in one of those primary states in connecticut. republican, thanks for calling in. caller: i am going out to vote right after "washington journal" is over this morning. i thought it would be poignant to mention instead of voting for for lieutenant governor, the reason i say that, is because earlier in your show your guest was talking about politicians pensions, and part of his platform is he wants to pen pensions for politicians. i think that is very important so that is probably more of the reason i am voting for him than

his son. host: as a republican, how much about who president trump endorses and races around the country? i believe our interviewers says that the president had to wade into the governor's race in the republican primary in connecticut, but if you did, what a change her vote? might find it interesting, i was originally registered to vote as an independent 40 years ago, and i changed to vote for donald trump. it would be important to me if he did endorse somebody, but i still have my pick. host: that is sean in connecticut. in florida. an independent. caller: just wanted to find out why independents are not allowed

to vote for the governor? host: you are talking about a closed primary system in florida? caller: yes. host: who would you vote for a few had the chance to vote? i would vote for republicans. i did not realize that they could not vote as an independent and i changed my vote from republican to independent recently and i do not know if i could change it now. host: why did you change it? caller: i thought i would have a better chance. host: that is patricia in florida. reminder to turn the television volume down when you call in. primaries today and connecticut, minnesota, vermont, wisconsin. residentt need to be a of those four states, we want to

hear your thoughts heading into the midterms, the 2018 election coming up and 80 -- 80 days. ,epublicans, (202) 748-8001 democrats (202) 748-8000, independents (202) 748-8002. former governor tim paul and -- former governor tim palenti looking to regain. [video clip] reportedortant audit that will minnesota is wasting hundreds of millions giving free health care to people who are not eligible. the state now making sure that those who apply for welfare or even supposed to get it. and asm palenti, governor, i will stop this. i will make sure that people who get government benefits will actually qualify for them and that they are hre -- here illegally.

the money we saved, i will lower your health insurance costs. keep one that is trying to pawlenty from regaining the governor's mansion, tim walz. [video clip] >> i was teaching high school lenty cut school funding. and as a teacher and dad, i have seen the difference in education makes. i will fight for affordable three k, and expand technical education. let's give every child a great education. one minnesota for all of us. ant: annamarie is independent in georgia. just listening to your show and a woman called in

confused about her status as an independent and her voting ability, and i wish you would do a segment on that. i think there is a lot of confusion about that. annamarie, i appreciate that. always appreciate suggestions. brandon in milwaukee, wisconsin. host: -- caller: good morning. scott on voting for walker today. i want him to help continue the trump agenda. i cannot speak to a single instance to where i am disappointed to what scott walker has done in wisconsin. furthermore, the democrats have no solutions, no ideas, they only want to replace who is currently in office. hell i coulday in ever support democrats. what is the trump agenda as you would define it?

theer: no more isis, world's a whole lot more safer than it was. lowest black unemployment rates, unemployment rates across the board -- people in jobs, they are there. one area whereto he is not doing what he has been promising. sums up all the way for me. staying in wisconsin, ramona, democrat. caller: i have been a teacher for 36 years. i am retired. i am upset because people do not realize what he did initially, what governor walker did initially in taking the way money from the public schools. they need the money, they need to operate with more money.

it is certainly needed to run schools. walker has suppressed the press. he has been foreclosing public records. he has reduced funding for education. he has been against regulations on the environment and as far as billrevious caller, the that have been passed in wisconsin, the ones that have been initiated by the democratic side have not hit the floor. practically all of the bills that are passed in wisconsin have been passed by republicans. that is on record. host: who are you going to vote for to take on walker? caller: i am leaning towards evers because of the position beforehand. statement.

to the democrats is a vote for democracy. remember that. we do not need trump. ast: to wisconsin, doug is republican. that last comment is, year i look at my property tax i looked it -- back in the history book for our scott walker was governor, i was .aying $2500 a year i am currently paying $1800. $700 is extra money to spend towards my grandchildren. i think scott walker has been doing a great job. i remembered there was an

, and didn't a democrat go hide in illinois? i think that is not what i feelve of and believe. that is my comment. the: doug, i am not sure of situation you are referring to, but maybe somebody who does is craig gilbert. re-listening on that last call? guest: yes. he was referring to a controversial piece of the saga when there was a fight over collective bargaining rights, and democrats -- of the only way they could prevent a vote from to flee towas illinois for a few weeks breed host -- few weeks. go to a crowded

primary there are two see who is going to take the next shot at taking down governor scott walker. with likely to emerge on the democrat side? guest: the favorite in this race is the state school superintendent, tony evers. no one else has broken out of this. field was ais household name before the race has won but evers several statewide elections for school superintendent and even though he was not a prominent political name going into this, he has had a pretty good lead and a field in which many of the candidates have very low name recognition. host: we showed a tweet earlier for the president endorsing governor scott walker. how important is that endorsement heading into the general? republican candidates and politicians in wisconsin like

-- are not very eager to be in conflict with president trump even though scott walker clashed with him during the republican presidential race and was really driven out of a race by donald trump. pretty supportive and kept his criticisms and differences pretty muted with president trump even though they clearly disagree on some issues. it is important to him certainly in the fall that he has a united republican base behind him. host: what are the race rankers putting this governor's race at? how competitive isn't expected to be? guest: throughout much of the election cycle if you look at iew nonpartisan analysts v the race outside of wisconsin, governor walker has been seen as the favorites because he has won three times already and he is an experienced politician. but, the governor himself has

called attention to the fact that this is a very tough race. he has gone around warning to his own republican supporters that he may be behind in the first polls that come out after the primaries. saturdayne audience on in a commentary on how polarized the state is that daffy duck 48% of the out with vote against him if he were running. the burden grows the more you serve in office. he is seeking a third term and that also raises the bar for him. contest inenate wisconsin, is tammy baldwin expected to have a tough race? guest: it is a real race and she is also favored in her race partly or in good part because incumbent senators are extremely

hard to beat when our party is not in power. when they are not in the same president so that climate is a challenge for scott walker but an asset for tammy baldwin. her potential republican challengers are not household names either, so she is definitely the favorite. a tremendous amount of money has been and will continue to be spent in this race including a lot of money spent against her. host: to the house races and wisconsin, where will you be keeping an eye on tonight? guest: two in particular. the one that has gotten the most attention, -- most the district of house speaker paul ryan who is first elected in 1998. it is been a long time since that seat was open. it is a republican seats but it

contains a few democratic cities, so it is not alter a republican. it is a tough seat for democrats to win and it is now an open seat because ryan announced he would be retiring. another race north of milwaukee in the fifth congressional istrict, the incumbent there being composed by a nephew of a name that some may recall -- the former owner of the basque while team of milwaukee and a longtime senator from wisconsin. host: has president trump wade and on any house race or the senate race even? guest: no. he is now weighed in on the biggest republican primary race for the senate between a and businessman, and a longtime state legislator. that is a very competitive race. some cases, that race has

become a battle over who is more supportive of president trump but president trump has not taken sides. host: craig gilbert covers it all for the "milwaukee journal sentinel." thank you for your time today. guest: great to be with you. host: five minutes left in our program. on primaryr thoughts day in four states and midterm elections in general. you do not have to be in those states to call in, but we have had a lot of callers from those states including in minnesota, a democrat. yes, i see one out trying to run for governor and --avoided earlier that earlier debates with republican contenders and because he knows

he should not be running for governor. he does not deserve it. that is the fact. he was governor, we had a $2 billion deficit and we abridged famous highway collapse because he refused to upgrade the situation. about -- he was warned thoroughly and yet, he did nothing. do notponse was, i spend, i veto. on august 1, 2007, that bridge collapsed. host: staying in minneapolis, william, an independent. s, and i want to second what the gentleman before me said. from 2011 wasrnor

probably the worst governor that minnesota ever had. mark baden's governorship will probably go down as one of the greatest governor that minnesota would ever have. i do not know if he is trying to rewrite history, but he left the almost like $6.5 million deficit when baden took over. i'm amazed he has the gumption to try to run for office. definitely bet he is going to lose by major digits. be crazy tould elect a governor like that again. that is my point of view on pawlenty. d.c., auise in

democrat. caller: i am envious of the people who get to vote and have a vote in congress. dc doidents in washington not have a vote in congress even though we pay taxes. outmy fellow democrats there, please take the average and remember us and go out and vote today. host: that is louise in washington dc. have you lived in washington dc your whole life? caller: most of my life, yes, i have. i discovered to program just a couple of years ago and i listen to it all the time. minnesota, in democrat. caller: i just have two comments, thank you for taking my call. daytonou governor mark -- and i would like to give a shout out for people to vote for tina smith. thank you for that. host: vicki in minnesota this

morning. one of four states where primaries are being held today, minnesota, wisconsin, vermont, and connecticut this morning. before we end, some news from our c-span bus on our c-span 50 capitals tour. a tweet a little less than an hour ago from the c-span bus, it made it to oahu, hawaii. we are thrilled to be here thanks to our cable partners. nityt the c-span.org/commu to learn more about the tour and our visit to hawaii on our 50 capitals tour. we have a few minutes before we end and we are taking your calls. phone lines come republicans, (202) 748-8001, democrats, (202) 748-8000, independents (202)

748-8002. we been talking this morning about the about the primaries taking place in four states today. again, here are some of the front pages that viewers and voters in those four states are making up to. the front page today, "your vote counts" is the headline there. insday's primary election the western new greenwich civic center. the front page this morning. as green bay press gazette, the reporter we talked to on the phone, governor walking saying he may be trailing in new polls after the vote comes in tonight that the democratic candidate may get a bump from tonight, and the minnesota primary has plenty of twists in the headline from the dispatch. ralph is in washington, d.c., a

republican. go ahead. caller: yes. would like to comment about the women's call before limiting the d.c. vote. you know we have a city, that is completely democratically run. that is not a bad thing. but they have over four times city workers as any city in size, even if you count for the per capita number of people who are supposed to work in the state and county governments. and then they were talking about making d.c. a state. so the first thing they did, the council members who are overpaid, in their proposal, they gave big raises and then increased the size of the council. you can bet on top of that we will go to five times the city workers. the city is rich. i mean, the city has more money than any city in size by any stretch of the imagination, but

every time they get a chance, they implement another department. now they have a government of trees. if you want a tree on your property, it is a $5,000 fee. this stuff goes on and on so i don't want the city to become a state because it is a third world country. host: that is ralph in washington, d.c., our last color of the day on "washington journal"." but stick around -- on "washington journal." but stick around on c-span. now.ke you there live [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] >> not often i get a chance to introduce an event here and mentioned lebron james and stay entirely on-topic, but today's conversation is a little bit special. earlier this month, as many of you know, lebron james made headlines for the launch of his i promise school in akron that promised everything