on c-span3, the treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial times will take questions on u.s. sanctions against russia from members of the senate banking committee starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern. in the evening on american history tv, a look at the presidency and legacy of andrew jackson. c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme policy eventslic in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. on coming up on "washington journal" a look at the rise of populism in europe.

danielle pletka and vikram singh will discuss their joint report. then, sebastian gorka will talk about the paul manafort trial and trump administration's national security policy. ♪ host: it is "washington journal" for august 21st. president trump's nominee for supreme court meets with senators on capitol hill. a bloomberg is reporting that susan collins of maine plans to question brett kavanaugh about his praise for william of roe v.s dissent wade. can hear today. one will deal with sanctions against russia and the other on relations with russia. go to c-span.org for more information. president trump gave praise for

the customs and immigration imports meant -- enforcement calling them heroes and took aim at democrats who have called for the abolishment of i.c.e. your thoughts this morning on the president's praise for these two agencies. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. independents.or if you live along the southern border and want to give your thoughts, 202-748-8003. you can post at our twitter feed @cspanwj and on our facebook page at facebook.com/cspan. julie hirschfield davis for the new york times this morning about the event that took place at the white house honoring the men and women of both customs and border protection and immigrations and customs enforcement and you can see the event on c-span. a little bit from "the new york

times" saying the stated purpose was to honor immigration offers and agents, but mr. trump turned it into a political attack on democrats and argued a democratic takeover of congress would usher in chaos and crime. he says those who have called to "openh i.c.e. are borders extremists." he said his administration had chatter on immigration -- shattered on immigration enforcement. "incredibly brave patriots." here is a little bit from president trump at that event at the white house. [video clip] >> leading members of the democrat party have launched a campaign to abolish i.c.e. they want to abolish america's borders and when you think about it, i am working on it all the time.

we are protecting borders of other countries, but we don't protect our own borders. spending billions of dollars in other countries and in some cases, places we should not be to protect their borders, but we .on't protect our own border we condemn these attacks on our great law enforcement. any politician who puts criminal aliens before american citizens should find a new line of work because it is not going to work. host: that is just some of what the president said of the work of customs and border patrol and immigration and customs enforcement. if you want to break down what these agencies do, here is a breakdown. when it comes to cbp, they protect the nation's borders, terrorist andvent terrorist weapons from entering the united dates and facilitate flow of legitimate trade and travel, administers naturalization adjudication functions and when it comes to the work of immigration and

customs enforcement, what they do, the investigative arm identifies and shuts down vulnerabilities at the border and issues with -- deals with issues of infrastructure security. it was the customs and border protection and i.c.e. the president praised yesterday. we will show you that event at c-span.org. we want to get your thoughts on these agencies when it comes to immigration enforcement, particularly in light of what the president said. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. .ndependents, 202-748-8002 if you live along a border state and want to give your perspective, it is 202-748-8003. texas starts us off. democrats line, this is romney. what do you think about the work -- this is ronnie.

what do you think about the work of these agencies? caller: they have to do work within the perimeter guidelines. like anything else, they go overboard. my comment is -- host: when you say they go overboard, what do you mean by that? enforcesometimes they two aggressively without following due process, but that is just reflective of the culture trump has created. point thatmaking the the border agent spoke english almost exclamation point i just found highly offensive, but like anything else, trump has to focus on dividing and all that. anyway, that is my comment. thank you very much. tot: that was a reference

the quote "speaks perfect american a hispanic border patrol agent. he recently arrested a smuggler in laredo. at of that event available c-span.org if you want to see it. jim is next from new york. hello. love this president. he is doing a great job. i don't know what this country or my town would look like if this guy wasn't in office. with -- iis over one don't know if they are illegal immigrants or not, but i would love to know where all of these liberal, hard bleeding democrats are living because they are not

here in this town. host: when you hear the president praised these agencie, what goes -- praise these agencies, what goes through your mind? caller: can you repeat the beginning of that question? host: what about the work of these agency the president highlighted yesterday -- these agencies the president highlighted yesterday? caller: i wish they would send over here. i wish i had their phone number because this place is a disaster. every weekend for the last 12 years, they started coming in here. i don't know if they are illegal or not. they blast these parties that are so loud. you probably have people in the audience like this guy is complaining about parties. host: how does that deal with immigration policy? caller: because they are coming in here and you've got 22 people in a house and sometimes you

cannot park in front of your own house because they have so many people. host: let's go to bob in clover, wisconsin. republican line, hi. caller: good morning. again, i am a veteran and very proud of our country. i like the idea of what president trump is doing, promoting those people in i.c.e. who are putting themselves out there to protect us from illegal immigrants and i support i..c.e -- i.c.e. 100% and i like that president trump said spoke perfect english. when my family came here from germany, they spoke english because they came to america. we speak english. host: specifically his comments .c.e., what is it about the agency you appreciate? caller: i am a veteran, they are doing their job. i appreciate the police.

they are doing their job support us. that is why i support i.c.e., they are going after the illegals. i support them 100%. get rid of all the illegals and we get back america. host: we set aside a line for those who live along border states. it is 202-748-8003. when it comes to the breakdown of activity and specifics and immigration and customs enforcement created in 2003, that was from a merger of the customs service and naturalization service and there are three main directives. investigation,ty enforcement, removal operations and the office of the principal legal advisor. about 20,000 employees and more than 400 officers and when it comes to budget, it is about ickes billion-- dollars. , for those along the border state on our

republican line, charlotte. go ahead. caller: yes, you live on the border state, you know what we are going through. this illegal immigration has got to be stopped. when you hear more spanish than english in your own country, it is pretty damn sad. host: what do you think about bp think that ice and c about this? caller: it's not enough. you can say look at all the poor parents -- it is working on people's emotions. this enforcement should have been done a long time ago and now it is radical. it has to be radical because of the fact nobody has done anything in the last 30 years. keep on not enforcing the law and now that trump is enforcing it, all of a sudden people are going crazy about it. is a rule.aw, this

if they cannot follow this rule, what in god's name are they going to file --follow when they get into this country? host: an opinion piece from the "los angeles times," the author writes when a national security panic swept washington after the september 11 attacks, it was bored -- george w. bush that gave border protection a new name and kick off the growth of the agency's power and rank that continues today." today, they spent more than $13 billion yearly approaching 20 times what it spent in 1990. like an iceberg, this is only the tip. the ranks have swelled to nearly 20000 and customs and border protection's has 60,000 employees.

that is just two of the agencies the president praised yesterday. that is customs and border protection and i.c.e. we are getting your thoughts on what they do and the president's praise of it. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. independents, 202-748-8002. if you live on a border state, it is 202-748-8003. some reaction from this event yesterday, which you can see on c-span. this is luis gutierrez saying the president celebrated family separation policy despite more than 560 children still not reunited with parents. don't party, return the children.

ken calvert saying i appreciate the work of the men and women of i.c.e. that do with they do every day to keep drugs out of our country. dewey is next in colorado, republican line. caller: illegal means illegal. the whole thing is if you let somebody in this country don't we have the protect in our country keeporders and basically everybody out? "dateline" theon other night where our own country, we cannot even support or how was the people born in born-- or house the people in this country. shame on the people who say we should have the people come in

the country illegally. host: are you saying these agencies are necessary that the agent -- the president highlighted yesterday? caller: you know what? lock the doors. let the people come in legally. host: let's hear from james in herndon, virginia. go ahead. caller: hi, yes. even though i lean more democrat, i have pretty strong views on i.c.e. i think i.c.e. should be in place in our country. host: why so? i think james dropped. that is james from herndon. paris off of twitter -- marie off of twitter says i.c.e. and border patrol our heroes, we should support these brave men and women. daniel potter says democrats did not this ban i.c.e. -- disban

i.c.e. before, why would they now? more from the president yesterday about the work of i.c.e. and the larger issue of their role in immigration policy. [video clip] >> sadly, in recent months, incredibly, i have to say. incredibly. a coalition of open borders extremists and to me, that means crime. people that don't mind crime. they mind it when it happens to them. they don't mind it when they have to watch it on television. they waged an unprecedented assault on our law enforcement, our greatest evil, threatening i.c.e. and porter patrol -- our greatest people, threatening i.c.e. and border patrol protecting our country from horrible people and horrible events and crimes. in major cities across the nation, these open border radicals have blocked access to i.c.e. buildings and threatened

public safety. and what you hear in the newspapers and on the news is nothing compared to the way it really is and we are stopping it very strongly. you have to go through what you are going through and few having to be demeaned by people who is iso idea what strength really very sad and we fight it very hard. all of these people right here and all the people in this room, we will never let you down. host: we will hear next from mike in illinois, independent line. caller: i am not eating what they are serving. we have been invited -- invaded by 20 million and they want to take the same guys that were protecting our borders that come into our cities and clean them up? we have local police, state police that have never done their job except for coming after us for seatbelts and

talking on our phone. they should be enforcing our laws instead of letting people come into our country and letting those people, and invade our factories like meatpacking plants, our farmers. if you look at the big picture, it is not pretty. host: when it comes to the role of ice and -- i.c.e. and customs border patrol, what do you think needs to be done? caller: i sat through the hearings on c-span and they are talking about two walls and neither one is on the border. one is 40 to 50 miles north of the border and in other ones out. there will be a gap of 100 miles to 80 miles in between the two fences and nobody is talking about it. host: let's hear from bob in pennsylvania, republican line. caller: good morning. host: morning. caller: it amazes me, i just can't get over all the people

who are against what donald trump is doing. he hasn't done everything wrong -- anything wrong. he has done everything to help our nation. all these people to come up with these ideas about what should be done and what should not be done, i cannot get over it. nobody has yet to explain to me on the democratic side -- democrat side, what is so wrong with donald trump? what has he done wrong? host: when it comes to what he said yesterday about the agencies, explain your thinking on that. caller: i think they are doing a fantastic. i was a police officer for 10 years. that was a long time ago. i.c.e. wasn't involved yet because we had -- 2001 hadn't happened yet. there are so many things i.c.e. does. god bless these guys. i love them.

i don't know what our country would do without them. host: let's go to tom in frederick, maryland, democrats line. caller: good morning. about 30 years ago i had some friends that had a business in montgomery county outside of the and they probably had 12 women from el salvador working there. i would stop by a couple weeks ago and one day i stopped in and all the people were gone. i said, where did all your people go? -- if you had someone illegal working for you, you would get hit with a fine. somewhere along the line, that disappeared. you don't need to build a wall, just start fining people that are hiring illegal people and

make it a big payment because a lot of people that are hiring illegal because they can get them cheap. toy moved the business pocomoke city, where there was a factory and they could get all the people they want down there. start have a business, big amounts that are hiring illegals and all of a sudden, illegals would no longer be in the country because they could not get jobs. tom in maryland. a morning consulate poll taking a look at the agencies the president highlighted yesterday. saying according to that poll, the chair of democrats who trust the federal bureau of investigation is 21 point higher than republican voters who trust the agency. in contrast, immigration and

customs enforcement and customs and border protection, two agencies central to the anti-immigration policy -- zero-tolerance immigration policy get high marks among republicans. 27 point higher than the view of democrats. it goes on to quote david lewis of vanderbilt university saying "what is happening is agencies are getting caught up in the political debate because immigration is the most important political issue along with the russia investigation. those agencies get a signed views based on what is happening in current politics. " it was the work of those two agencies highlighted by the president yesterday, calling them heroes at some point. that is available on our website if you want to see that for yourself. a graph shows support for i.c.e. and cbp compared to the f the i.

as you look at that, brian is next from illinois, republican line. pedro. good morning, just a follow-up on the last caller, yes, we have to look at american businesspeople who hire the illegal immigrants. they are the problem, they are criminals that nobody focuses on american business. the big problem is if all americans are working and making good money, immigration would not be an issue, but most americans are not because we had this huge flood of the legal and illegal immigrants over the last three decades and they are holding down american wage levels in this country. because we from that are focusing on the agencies, what do you think about those agencies and the work they do on immigration policy? guest: that is one of the --caller: that is one of the few things i like about president trump. we have these agencies to

enforce the law. it seems like democrats find ways not to enforce the law. it is just like chicago. we've got this huge shooting problem in chicago. if the cops arrest the bad boys, the locals yell about racism. it is a double-edged sword. you have to enforce the law. that's why we have them. host: let's go to charles in georgia, independent line. hi. caller: hi, pedro and thank you for taking my call. i can't find anything bad about i.c.e. i support i.c.e. and everything they do. i am from miami. i was born there and grew up there in the 1950's and i went back to my neighborhood and the entire place is full of legals or illegals. mostly cubans. when i grew up, some of our neighbors were from russia or hungary.

fromf our neighbors rose -- was from cuba who left when castro came in and the whole neighborhood now is one group of people. host: back to the work of i.c.e., what do you base your support of the agency on? just all they have been trying to do to keep illegals from coming into the country and trying to return people from out of the country who are here mainly asked criminals, but everybody who came here illegally broke the law. it is ironic we moved to georgia and i married a girl from columbia. i guess, technically, my daughter is hispanic and we don't understand each other half , mytime, she is latina wife. tiredickene and

hearing about the children at the border. what about the parents and children separated being cared of in social security centers? why don't the democrats focus on that? host: it was immigration and customs enforcement and customs and border protection the president highlighted yesterday. your thoughts on their work. from staten island, joe, republican line. go ahead. caller: that's a dangerous job. and they make a lot of money, the i.c.e. people. it is a dangerous job to build a wall and it would be cheaper and more cost-effective. host: you are saying if the wall came up, the work of i.c.e. and customs border protection would go down? that is what you think? caller: yes. host: what draws you to that conclusion? caller: i don't want to arrest a bunch of mexicans.

physical labor and they have weapons, dangerous. just physical. they just have to look through the wall. host: we have set aside a line for those of you who live in border states and if you want to get a comment, it is 202-748-8003. is terry in-- this arizona, democrats line and lives along the border. caller: i moved out here mexicoy 15 years ago and -- mexicans actually lived in this state before we took over. i appreciate i.c.e., but i think i.c.e. is wasting their time. they should be in nebraska in the meatpacking plants checking ids. i don't know how they get away

from importing all the labor without themnd run being e-verified. agentzona, we have an atf that was busted for selling arms to the mexicans. host: why not focus the efforts on the border, then? caller: i think the border patrol is more than efficient down here with the amount of people we have. plus, we have the army down here. host: from where you live in arizona, do you see the active work of these agencies? do you see them directly? caller: sheriff hills -- the sheriff is from fountain hills. bust a lot ofm the worst places. host: let's go to new jersey, independent line.

caller: thank you and good morning. our president also praised our law enforcement officers, which the question should say, who are keeping our country safe and our families safe. it is really sad that the fake, corrupt media along with democrats want to abolish i.c.e., which will increase crime. in their hatred and anger for our president, they would rather see our country fail that have our president succeed. and also, for each crime committed, there is an american big, which is not talked about. thank god for our president. host: what do you think specifically of the work of i.c.e.? what do you base your praise on? caller: just take one example.

, which, by the3 way, commit crimes and prey on the spanish community more than the general population. they hurt the spanish community because a lot of them may hesitate to speak out because of fear they will be targeted for retribution by these gangs of criminals, ok? host: ok. that is matthew in new jersey. for this first half hour, your thoughts on customs and border protection and immigration and customs enforcement, two organizations praised by the president at the white house yesterday. 202-748-8001 for republicans. democrats, 202-748-8000. .nd independents, 202-748-8002 a couple of other stories as we continue with that topic.

you can do so on the phones and our social media accounts. change is coming when it comes to power plant rules. this is timothy writing andrew wheeler, the acting administrator on the environmental protection agency on monday signed a proposal to scrap environmental proposals on -- regulations on power plants. the move is the first under the president to detail how it will regulate the power sector of carbon emissions that contribute .o climate change in the plan recommends a menu of updated designs to let coal fire plants -- mandate costly technological overhaul that coal plants. the clean power plant was designed to produce greenhouse gas in the fight of climate change. "the entire obama administration plan was centered around doing

away with coal." you can read more of that in "the wall street journal." to the president's praise of i.c.e and customs and border patrol, independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i tend to agree with your last .aller completely i think i.c.e. and border patrol are essential to our country in it would be insane to disband that. i don't even understand that. i just think it would create more lawlessness. i think they need to build the wall. i think they need to watch how these illegals come in and work and corporations or whatever benefit off of them. it is nothing against the illegals personally, i am sure they are wonderful people, it is not the problem.

it is the criminal element and that is the main focus that should be really focused on. countryt to do this harm and they certainly will. that makes no sense to disband them. host: republican line from florida, joe is next. caller: good morning. how are you doing today? host: i am fine, thanks. caller: i think i.c.e. is doing a great job and the president did a great job praising them yesterday. can you imagine, in this country, if i.c.e. and all the border agents just took a week off? could you imagine how many people would come into this country, not knowing who they are and where they are? it is a lot bigger than just one organization. if everything depended on one organization, we would be in a world of hurt if they would do the e-verify.

if they would build the wall. if you built of the wall and stopped everybody from coming in a month from now, then you could probably talk about amnesty and would not have much of a problem, but you have to stop the people from coming in because if you give everybody amnesty today, how about the one to come in next week? what do you do with them? the phone is joe on lines break off facebook, this is glenn who said i would not make the president -- that the president make me choose sides. robin ricker saying i.c.e. does a fabulous job under unforgiving circumstances. they try to prevent smugglers from bringing in people who have been paid huge sums of money to come to this country illegally. if they can pay smugglers, they can pay to come here legally. about 500 people commenting on the president's praise of i.c.e. and customs and border protection. you can add yours to our

facebook page and send thoughts through twitter @cspanwj and our phone lines as well. this is from south lake texas, republican line who lives on the border state. caller: hello. i live in south lake and we are a border state. i support everything we are doing for -- to support i.c.e. and border patrol. we have a tremendous number -- i know the national average is 11 million illegals in the country. i think texas has 11 millions all by themselves. viewers pay if your taxes, they should be outraged because we are paying these people to work under the table so if they have children, we them housing, food stamps, cash money, training, their kids

go to school and mess up our skills -- schools because it over crowds them. something has got to be done. if anybody is going to get it done, it will be i.c.e. and border patrol. host: sandy in north carolina, independent line, go ahead. caller: yes, i just think they are crazy if they think they are going to get rid of i.c.e. because i had cubans that was living next to me and they stole from me. i had to call officers because they stole right out of my building. it is not only mexico where these people are coming from and we don't know who they are and stuff. .hey was selling heroin a girl died because of it and stuff and they brought it over from mexico and i think the democrats. i was a democrat and he voted for -- i voted for obama the first time and he did not do what he said he was going to do.

i did not vote for him the second time. president trump loves all people. for them to think he is racial and everything, they are crazy. host: specifically, what is it about i.c.e. and border protection that garners your praise? what do you think they do? caller: for one, they are keeping these illegals out of that are killing us like somebody said earlier, they are killing the spanish people and stuff and i live in a trailer park and most of it is illegals. i would love for i.c.e. to come through here because some of these people are selling heroin. there is a mafia in this park from mexico. i would love to see i.c.e. come to huntersville, north carolina, and raid this park. that would be awesome because -- host: that is sandy.

in other news, it reuters reporting it was -- they were plotting their attack in the buildup to the election. the software giant reported attacks by taking control of the site hikers -- hackers designed that ic the pages of the no immediate comment from russian authorities, but the kremlin was expected to address the report. it regularly dismisses accusations they used hackers. your thoughts on customs and border patrol and i.c.e. this is from new jersey, democrats line. anthony, go ahead. caller: first thing is i lived in phoenix and fountain hills is 125 miles from the nearest border. i believe that we should take .pproximately 20% of the d.e.a

and homeland security budget and transfer those people and the budget to i.c.e. and i believe that would better serve the border instead of having people look for illegals and problems while they are in america. i would rather have things thwarted at the border and have more security back in there. host: when you were in arizona, were you exposed directly to the work of i.c.e. or customs and border protection and the work they did? caller: no, i lived there prior to 9/11. it was very loose, border was very loose back then. as long as you said you were american and you got in. i have never even -- i was never even asked to show my drivers license. you walk to a little building and they asked you how much did you spend. you told them and they said, ok. most of the times they did not even go through the bags you

were bringing back. it did tighten up substantially after 9/11. host: brian is next in the, park, independent line -- tacoma park, independent line. caller: i definitely agree with what i.c.e. is doing, but i wanted to know why this government does not prosecute the companies and corporations that hire these people? why aren't they being locked up? why isn't something being done and why aren't they being fined? host: the work of i.c.e. specifically, where does your support lie with that organization? layhere does your support with that organization? caller: i understand what they are doing and why they are doing it. lesswould have to do much if the government went after the people who hired these illegal

immigrants. and nobody even talking about it. nobody seems to care these --ple are getting away host: that is brian in new york. you can continue and talk about it for the remaining 20 minutes. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. .ndependents, 202-748-8002 a couple of stories in the paper about endorsements, particularly leading up to november. this is "the new york times," with two republicans getting endorsements from gabrielle giffords. she was a democratic congresswoman shot and wounded in 2011. it was on friday her group, giffords courage to fight gun violence -- surprised democrats and get a boost to esther lantz -- mr. lance.

the group began talking to mr. lance and mr. smith about endorsements in february. breaking from the republican colleagues on gun control, particularly the no votes on the concealed carry reciprocity act and listed 6 bills mr. lance cofounded. that is "the new york times" reporting. if you go to the "miami herald," an endorsement for the candidate of the house seat saying the editorial board is impressed by a woman named rodriguez aguilera. she told the miami herald she believes in extraterrestrials. she says when she was seven she was taken onto a spaceship and throughout her life, she has

communicated telepathically. this is a non-issue, we agree our next areas as a former elected official and businesswoman are solid and she has a -- is a strong cat it -- she is a strong candidate. she became an activist, volunteering with the cuban-americans national foundation. carolina,north republican line. caller: yes, i keep on hearing people talk about the immigrants that are taking jobs. if they would report, the person up, youks the people can call in the industry and report them and they will get a $10,000 fine that will stop that. another thing is the lady they haveout cubans, 8 -- in florida that allows them to come in that way. she needs to stop saying it is

all the borders. host: we are talking about the organizations that work a good part along the border. what do you think of those? caller: i think i.c.e. needs to theeformed because some of children -- i think it is to be reformatted. i think a lot of the industry's need to be reformed. host: independent line, let's go to mike in georgia. hello. caller: good morning. this is a convoluted mess we have got here. i have been down there after katrina and bush was running the program. they were bringing in 10 buses a day, 60 people each to do the work down there. we shipped a million of our people all over the place that could have used the work. the problem you get into is all of this is privatized.

when you have got all the money being made in these geo-prisons, they have to keep them full. you have a dog on a bunch of law enforcement that has no accountability to anybody and you have the military, which is actrect violation of the -- . it is a slippery slope when you are spending this kind of money scaring people and we will have billions of climate refugees before it is over with. we have got to get into gear and figure out what we are going to do. georgia.t is mike in this is the "washington post," a story looking at wilbur ross facing scrutiny for investments of his, saying that as the secretary of commerce, wilbur ross met with auto executives that are customers of the company he founded. he met with the chief executive of a rail car and whose board he sat on and shares he owns. according to a forbes magazine article even though he owned $10

million of a $50 million stake a invesco, he met with sovereign wealth fund that had given his former firm money to manage. the meeting confirmed the a andlatory disclosures financial holdings that put ross under scrutiny from government ethics watchdogs and lawmakers. he has denied any wrongdoing, only inadvertent errors and his lawyer says the commerce secretary may be able to meet with an industry official to do his job. -- scolded for how he managed his investment after coming to office. there is more of that in "the washington post." if you go to the pages of the "wall street journal," mel watt in a story by data -- natalie andrews saying a federal

employee sued the director of the agency that oversees fannie mae and freddie mac, accusing mel watt of denying her a raise and promotion after he -- she rejected his sexual advances. filed and equal pay lawsuit on monday in a washington-based federal court seeking damages, back pay, and relief from claims of retaliation. the lawsuit alleges mr. watt asked ms. grimes to meet him outside the office to discuss job opportunities. ms. grimes was "disturbed by what was unfolding, especially in put in contact with mr. watt's continued unwelcome and on wanted sexual advances toward her." jeff is next from wisconsin, democrats line. caller: hi.

have we talked about overstaying visa? my understanding is we have more people doing that than coming in over the border. plus, we need to make either mandatory, right now it is voluntary. people come in and say they want -- emma kratz want the illegal immigrants -- democrats want the illegal immigrants. republicans put companies in jail or fire them from hiring illegals, they stopped enforcing it. that is where the money is being made. host: are you saying if you focus on those things the work on the border patrol and i.c.e. would not be as necessary? caller: absolutely. i cannot get a job without a social security number. andou have to verify it make sure you have it and it has not been issued.

if they say i issued this number to a blonde girl in 1982 and here is somebody that is hispanic who is 42 years old, something is wrong. we can say, you cannot have this job. ron is next in virginia, republican line. caller: hey. morning, how are you guys doing? host: fine, thanks. go ahead, please. caller: if you want to abolish border patrol and i.c.e. and customs, you might as well include customs. these people verify and check people and they tried -- at least they try to and then when they catch them, it's almost like -- it is so political now. my thing is if you work to abolish them, do you know what things -- people would do in some of these states? they would probably be out there with weapons and there would probably be mass killings and then what would the democrats

say because it has got to end, it should have stopped years ago. here is another good one. did you know every state in the uniteddates within -- states within their local counties or whatever hire the illegals to clean up our roads and this and that and whatever? it is the truth. host: that is ron in virginia calling in. about 10 more minutes you can call in about these comments about immigrations and customs enforcement and i.c.e. these are both agencies praised by the president yesterday. also making an appearance yesterday, melania trump discussing cyber bullying. she will travel in october so low to africa. when it comes to the yesterday -- the topic yesterday, cyber bullying is a significant issue.

the president has attacked at least 287 people since declaring his candidacy. his targets have ranged from .acy's to robert mueller to from melania trump, you can see the whole event on c-span. here are some of her comments about cyber bullying. [video clip] >> i have been so inspired by the children i have met as my time as first lady. i believe our next generation has unlimited potential to .mpact our world positively as an example, i recently had the privilege of meeting several grad students who are part of microsoft's counsel for digital good. in addition to sharing their beliefs of how to be healthy and safe online, they each showed me individual projects they are

presenting their thoughts and ideas on what responsible behavior means to them. i was impressed by their deep understanding of how important it is to be safe and was inspired by their sincere commitment to reducing peer-to-peer bullying to kindness -- through kindness and open communication. i encourage technology and social media companies, schools, and community groups to establish more opportunities for children such as microsoft counsel for digital good. by listening to children's ideas and concerns, i believe adults will be better able to help them navigate these often difficult topics. let's face it, most children are more aware of the benefits and pitfalls of social media than some adults, but we still need to do all we can to provide them

with information and tools for successful and safe online habits. host: when it comes to activities on the border, the president of the united dates saying "i am sorry to have to reiterate there are serious and unpleasant consequences to crossing the border and into the united states illegally. if there were no serious consequences, our country would be overrun with people trying to get in and our system cannot handle it." we will go to rene in pennsylvania, democrats line. caller: hi. i think i.c.e. does not need to be abolished, but be reformed. it is much needed, but a lot of people calling in are complaining about jobs and the fact that a lot of jobs are taken. how many people are here in this country with working visas? how many people are hiring them over american citizens? that is my comment.

host: when you say i.c.e. needs to be reformed, in what ways? needr: well, we definitely strong at theg -- border and maybe even a courage -- encourage, if someone is applying to america, maybe they need to start their paperwork in those countries and those are the ones that are going to be looked at and permitted. maybe at the border, everybody will be rejected. maybe that is the way they need to do it. project them right at the border -- reject them right at the border and send them back. south coda, republican line. james is up next. caller: i would like to say i support i.c.e. and our border patrol. they are doing a great job even though they had a gigantic task. the problem is, you can take a

flight from mexico city without a passport, land in toronto, take a taxi and drive into vermont. anyway you look at it, building a wall is not going to help. what they need to do, in my opinion, is to enforce the monroe doctrine. that was to keep europeans from trying to establish strong holds in the americas. many going onge that we cannot see, it's either the chinese or the russians or other superpowers trying to get a toehold in the americas and we need to go and establish these countries because why are we going to go over to the other side of the world when our side of the world is right here and we can make it a lot better if we use resources like our military and our educators and

make countries where people come from better so they don't want to come to america, they want to stay there. host: let's go to high point, north carolina, democrats line. caller: yes, i think i.c.e. is doing a wonderful job and border patrol. i think the problem comes when come illegal immigrants over here and if they are pregnant and give earth to their child -- give birth, their child would become an american. if they would pass a law if you are illegal, your children stays illegal, that would stop a lot of these illegals coming over here and giving birth. host: when it comes to i.c.e. and border patrol, what believes you -- leads you to believe they are doing a good job? caller: there doesn't seem to be a lot of -- there is not as many

coming over as there used to be. i understand i.c.e. has to go in and the rest these people if they are -- arrest these people if they are illegal. they need to make sure they are illegal before they arrest them. if these american companies would stop hiring these illegal immigrants, they would no longer have a reason to come over here. -- mar-a-lagop hires a bunch of them, like 80 for the season. host: that is lynn in north carolina. when it comes to china, tariffs responses from businesses. it was the u.s. trade representative's office that began an extraordinary 6 days on public hearings on president trump's plans to tax an additional 200 billion on chinese -- $200 billion on chinese products.

nearly half of everything business this import from china -- businesses import from china would have special taxes is. levies on an additional $16 tolion and products expected take place on thursday. in both countries, the leadership's political imperative seems to supersede for --rt-term cause costs for tariffs. -- the internal politics dynamics in each country could make it difficult to contain and find an exit path from escalating trade hostilities. caller: good morning. what i wanted to say was that i don't think many americans had any problem with i.c.e. until they started to go into

courthouses and hospitals and just sort of going outside the realm of human decency. it does not have to happen and i think it has really offended a lot of people and i think i.c.e. has its place. it does very good things, but it really should not be used as a to criminalize people that are trying to get away from untenable lives and i think that is really it. host: what do you think about this event yesterday? the president calling the folks heroes, in light of what you said? caller: i think the president "heroes" way too often and

i think we need to bring common intocy and morality back to actions, which seems slowly be chipped away because we are america and what makes morala first is we are a nation and we do care in we are not -- i don't know. , wendy.tcha that is wendy from new york. this is the president's tweet about the rally he is participating in tonight saying "big rally tonight in west virginia. patrick is running a great race for the u.s. senate. side, fighter by my making things easier.

clean coal, the rally, 7:00 tonight. the topic -- jobs and the economy. this of the at the charleston civic center in trenton, west virginia. ,ou can see it live on c-span c-span.org, and our c-span radio app. one were called, and -- one more call, florida, independent line. caller: hello? host: go ahead. caller: i would like to comment on the immigration system. cartels received over $1 trillion in drug money. a beer -- every year since then, billion dollars in drug money. over 100,000 people cross our borders with the sus, green cards, whatever. host: what does it mean for ice

and border control? caller: only 10% are caught. they also -- host: do you think more of them are needed? does the policy need to change? what are you trying to say? caller: the policy needs to change. system -- thethe cartels have bribed the border ports. airlines -- there is no stopping drugs. host: that is douglas, florida, last call on the topic. guests join two us. populism in the united states and transatlantic nations with danielle pletka of the american enterprise institute and center for american progress' vikram

singh. gorka.ebastian those coming up on "washington journal." ♪ >> sunday night, national constitution center president and ceo talks about his biography of william howard taft. >> he never learned politics. i will not aide,

play for popularity. if the people want to reject me, that is tiheir -- john marshall, who he considers the greatest american ever. madison and hamilton believe majority should rule, only slowly over time. reason, rather than passion could prevail. taft believes the system is to slow the direction of popular passion so people can be governed in the public interest than true faction. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span q&a. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a

public service by america's cable television companies. and today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington, d.c., and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> join us this evening at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3 for a special call in addition of an american history tv feature, lectures in history. our topic is andrew jackson with jonathan barth leading the conversation and answering your questions. watch lectures in history, tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span three. >> "washington journal" continues. host: a discussion on relations with transatlantic countries.

two guests join us --danielle pletka of american enterprise institute. she serves as a senior vice president. also, vikram singh for center for american progress, a senior fellow when it comes to national security issues. thank you for joining us. partnership and peril is the title of the report your organization putout -- put out. why did you come together on such a project? guest: this is not our first joint project. the center for american progress and american enterprise has done quite if you projects together on national security. l liberalll internationalists by orientation. nonpartisanwe are

who do not take political positions, we are perceived as a center-right and centerleft. we have a lot to talk about. host: when it comes to the topic of national security, you start with this idea of affect of populism, not just the united states, transatlantic, nato countries, and the like. inst: something we have common is a belief in american leadership, belief in american'' alliance structures around the world. liberal democracy to thrive for the last 70 years. it is not just donald trump appealing to populists, it is all across europe, you see similar trends. all the seven effect on the transatlantic relationship on

our historical alliances? we found it does. we have leaders across europe and here being hyper of traditional transatlantic partnership's of nato, the european union, and other foundational structures of the first world war ii order. is it a serious threatened? can it be managed by our politics? host: what is the best example of it? guest: the best are many -- the president of the united states being chummy with vladimir putin, highl -- blackfoot and highly critical of nato allies -- of vladimir putin and highly critical of nato allies. taking controls of all levels of powers in his own country and critical of nato, calling the european and transatlantic institutions as a threat to hungary's sovereignty.

you wrote, collectively, the transatlantic community finds itself dysfunctional and an able to respond to challenges. leaders have to think about what to do next. guest: part of the challenge is the way people -- no matter where they sat on the political spectrum -- this is not a right wing or left-wing phenomenon. you see the far right and far left coming together in a place that is orientated toward the five national institutions of the transatlantic. these organizations have a lot of hope. not do come at this, what too many do, stuff the genie back in the bottle.

no, everything is great, terrific. bad guys came along and you are lying. actually, these organizations are in need of renewal. there is need of reform. there is need of transformation. we should have conversations. of stickingerritory our finger in every single -- , the left-wing and right-wing parties in italy have a coalition that exclude all mainstream parties. everybody says, why cant it go back to the way it was? host: when trump highlights the nato nations, is it a wrong thing? what does it do for the nato nations on the other side that have to take a look at their contributions? guest: it is not a wrong thing. it was done by president obama, president bush.

a lot of times, the populist critique is rooted in fundamental truths. why did we have a financial crisis? why are we in these catastrophic wars that do not and? people -- not end? people are concerned the system is not working for them. populist say we have solutions that will break a lot of things. the solutions do not work. reformdevoting energy to who intend on breaking things rather than figuring out what works and how we build a better future for democratic societies. host: our conversation continues , u.s. relationships with nato, transatlantic countries. if you would like to ask questions -- republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002.

the creative reform he was talking about, which countries would you highlight as those working to reform or change nato and how it operates? guest: there is a lot of antipathy toward native structures. represents a threat to russia and this is why russia has to go in and protect russian nationals, wherever they may find them in -- georgia, ukraine. there are those who echo that line. there are people who are interested in positive reforms. we hear a lot of leaders in support.uthing germany -- we are upping our defense spending. you're upping it to close to 2% by what year? 2025.

to challenge is when you say a public that has watched the financial crisis, syrian war, , here is howrisis we are fixing it and we are upping our defense spending by a miniscule amount every year, it is not an answer. the populist answer is the's things are broken. we need to stand up. -- is the things are broken. we need to stand up. it is resident. -- is resonant. too many people want to dismiss these arguments, the populist movement as ignorant bumpkins. you do not know how the european union is good for you, you. . -- you fools.

no, these people have merit. they have rejected the political system as they see it. we need answers for it. host: when it comes to leadership involved in these countries. come -- countries, compare income past -- compare and contrast. how close is it to the president's? is among the more conventional leaders. she is trying to make brexit as an damaging as possible for the united kingdom. it is not resident with her base. it is something she cannot convince people, a soft brexit is a good idea. a hard brexit will be hard on united kingdom. we see a loose coalition of populist leaders rising. with the rise of populist leaders in poland, even austria,

germany with a party in parliament for the first time. marcon -- angela merkel is standing against, let's have a pragmatist alliance. they are having success core knitting, but not success resonating with people. a challenge is does smart policy resonate in a populist moment? let's not burn down everything. let's figure out what works, acknowledge the problems, and come up with constructive solutions. we do not have the type of leadership we need to have a constructive way forward. host: what makes an idea leader in that front? what do they have to bring to the table to make these changes you are advocating? guest: a recognition the grievances articulated by

upstart leaders and political parties are real. people's complaints are genuine. it is hard for us who work in the world to remember structures created in the wake of world war ii are not ones to people born in 2001. mounting platitudes with the world's greatest alliance and post war european peacetime expansion is true. there is no question nato and the european union have delivered to the united states and european people, including the people of eastern europe. is it was 70 years

ago. we need to modernize them and recognize when they make mistakes. host: our first call is from tennessee on the republican line. rachael, go ahead. caller: yes, i wanted to comment populism, theike label, is meant to overtly or subtly discredit anyone who ares toell -- who d questions past policies or the current state of affairs. peace of therder last 70 years -- i do not know how anybody can say that when we have had never-ending wars. nato's is onslaught in the breaking of -- nato is building

saysssian borders and russia is the aggressive -- is the aggressor. it is dangerous. while we are having many problems domestically where 700,000 fellow citizens went bankrupt alone due to health care costs. we need to pump more money into the military. i am highly offended by this. i know you claim to be nonpartisan, but you are -- both of your organizations are funded by the same multinational corporations, defense contractors, and special interests profiting from military buildup. host: ok, we will let our guest response.

guests respond. guest: you hit the nail on the head of using populism as a bad term. we say populism is not necessarily bad. we worry about populism in bad when leaders use -- appeal to emotional problems people are facing to gain political power and they start to damage or dismantle the institution of democracy. we see this in hungary where there is no longer a free press. the idea that there is a viable political opposition is gone. raised, itissues you is a dangerous place where we blame the west for vladimir putin's regional aggression whether it is georgia, ukraine. there is a track record of

russia using military force to invade its neighbors and impose its will on its neighbors. the countries it have not happen to suffer are those in nato -- happened to are those in nato. the evidence is it deters russia from aggression. think thereason why i nato alliance is important. guest: there's another important point to make. with the loose use of populism to denote die i do not like. guy i do not like. we try to address this in the report. i disagree with you on the question of whether there has been nonstop more.

-- nonstop war. between 1914 and 1945, hundreds of millions of people died on european soil. let say tens of millions if you want to be conservative. that has not been the case since 1945. it has not been the case in europe. it has not been the case in the united states. with we face challenges the soviet unions and the collapse of the soviet space from the middle east to asia, 100 years ago, we talked about the threat europe represented. ofen the economic importance europe to united states, given the partnership, we should not be taking this for granted. it is something real. it needs help. it should not be dismissed. host: peter on our independence line.

caller: hello, you guys are doing great. i would like to credit c-span. i would like to shift the conversation down to the dutch. breaking news this morning -- microsoft uncovering another russian attempt to get into the american electoral process. the russians are doing their regional territorial expansion plan and executing on it as we speak, something the dutch has watched with special interest. unlike all other nato countries, the dutch is still focused on the fact dozens of their countrymen were shot out of the sky. was that an attempt by russia send a message to other european countries? was it just an accident?

what was the circumstance that led up to it? all of those things seem to be unresolved. host: peter, thanks. guest: peter is right. the russians -- not just the russians. this is a major russian problem, but it is not just the russians. the story he is referring to, thank you for that, it is an interesting for story. microsoft discovered russian agents were trying to infiltrate the website of think tanks. in this case, it was toward conservatives trying to influence and infiltrate to use the information to spy. this happened to my own organization about 10 years ago. it was the chinese who did the

same thing. is intrinsic to our free society. trying to find the balance between free society and the safeguards necessary to keep the bad guys, north koreans, iranians, chinese, out of it is a big challenge. me is to that troubles o many of those who have risen up in europe on the left and right has taken russia's side on these things, taking the line we heard a moment ago --, it is not the russian's fall. it is we who are provoking the russians and it is they who are worried. take directe le pen

money from a political campaign from russia. we see the same thing across. this is a challenge we face. the right thing to do is not to turn around and call people agent of russia or jump up and down and say the president has been bought. tois to recognize we need build up answers to this to theirt people, safeguards, and our free society. it is under genuine threat in places like hungary. guest: this microsoft revelation it shows how creative and adaptive russia has been at interfering with democracy. this is more worrying than money or threats and bullying. it is hard to see. guest: it is insidious.

guest: yes, it is insidious. it is difficult to get at. it is a threat -- what we need to see our different parties to come together and say whatever it is, we will not stand for foreign meddling inside our system -- the hacking of emails and stealing of personal data of our citizens. we unify around that. the fact we are having trouble doing that is evidence this type of campaign can be successful. host: charlie from new york, republican line. caller: yes, good morning. can you hear me ok? host: you are on, go ahead. caller: three reasons why this discussion is a waste of time. an- turkey, unoriginal -- original member of nato was a muslim country. increasinglyoming

radicalized. happens in a generation from now when muslims the common the majority -- muslims become the majority voting block? muslim.r of london is he has openly hostile to the united states. what happens when the prime minister of great britain is muslim? meantf the nato alliance anything at all, they would have followed america's lead and move the embassy to jerusalem, every single one of them. host: thanks. first, i do not think the religion of the mayor of london should be a topic of concern of democratic society. it is up to the voters in the country who they elect. they chose him.

the voters in the united states chose donald trump. there is no fundamental principle that we have to have religious tolerance. that part worried as of a sinister plot. if he's absurd -- if he subverts democracy, they should address it. on turkey, it is not so much it is religious or not. it is authoritarian. erdogon -- and i want -- an's -- whatever the justification, whatever is the ofng -- religion, fear immigration, race, ethnicity, if a leads to the dismantling of democratic institution, it is when you have a problem. it turkey is no longer a viable democracy, think -- democracy,

thanks to erdogan. a major problem in western democracies. we see it more openly across europe in the united states. i would lump it together with anti-islam, racism in general. it is important not to pick your favorite prejudice. people arethe fact feeling it is ok to vilify groups based on race, religion is a problem across all liberal the markers these. guest: we -- liberal democracies. guest: we agree on that. turkey is an important one. in this report, authored by vikram singh and my colleague at american enterprise institute. i put forwards in and got my name on the cover -- put four words and got my name on the cover.

we had a piece together -- where was it? "the washington post." sorry, the washington post." i should every member that. what are we doing about turkey? nato --oads trust in this the roads trust in nato -- rodes -- this erodes trust in nato. what we said in the article for ate is it is time move in both ways. it is a great price to become a -- great prize to become a nato or the european union. there should be mechanisms to

set countries back when they do not adhere to the norms that exist within these groupings. that is something i think will cause a crisis in nato, perhaps greater than the one we see in brexit with the eu. oft: danielle pletka american enterprise institute and vikram singh of center for american progress. you can go on the website of the respective organizations and read it for yourself. how does migration policies fit into this? particularly, relations with the countries? guest: it is a hugely resident political issue. it is a touchstone. u.k., we arein the not talking about the same migration issues that drove some of the populace changes on the european continent. in the u.k., what you have was campaigns against polish

plumbers coming within the eu good plumbing jobs away from lovely brits. this is not a thing. there were not courts of syrians and iraqi's and afghans, although there were challenges at the border of france in the u.k. europe, the- in european union is not capable of figuring out how to address these refugee flows, coming out of libya, and bringing african -- out of syria, iraq, and turkey into the european union. this has driven anti- immigration sentiment because eu is incapable of bringing any answer satisfying to citizens.

what is satisfying? someone who stands up and says i am going to do something about that. the italian interior minister said i am going to do something about it. you cannot go in here. go somewhere else. people need places to go. host: mr. singh? guest: it is one of the harder issues. the failure to address it -- in the failuretext, for comprehensive immigration reform leaves the issue open. it is inadequate and unsatisfying. we do not have a system that works. we do not have a system that anks to give people out of undocumented status. we do not have a system for people seeking violence from central america -- seeking protection from violence from central america.

it provides a wide open door for people to take radical stances. that is what you see in italy. this leads us nowhere. this leads to migration crises with children separated with their parents at the border. are shunted from place to place in europe. none of that addresses the problem. there is a limit to what you can achieve with building walls. what we need is to update our systems and policies. our medical systems have been unable to handle. system isolitical unable to deal with a challenge, it undermines people's trust. guest: an additional piece to hear is we spend

money overseas and we have challenges here at home. the answer is that is right, we spend money overseas. when you do not address syria, iraq, libya, those people come and find you. they will come and find you like they did from afghanistan in 9/11 or in refugee hordes that come in that concealed terrorists, danger. it is a manageable as a domestic battle -- is unmanageable as a domestic matter. we need answers over there as well. otherwise, they keep coming. host: let's go to larry and washington, d.c., democrats line. caller: good morning. the mantra is america first.

it seems america alone is happening now. see howour guests america can navigate its way and what the world do without america's leadership? guest: this is a great question. i think the caller. --i thank the caller. not a slogan -- i understand what it resonates with people. americans who perceive they have been getting the short end of the stick whether it is nato, , there are real grievances . these are not made a complaint -- made up complaints.

neither donald trump or any of the others who bring this up are wrong when they bring them up. it is those who have not worked to solve these problems over the years that have given him and others the opportunity. the truth is the united states does carry more of a load on nato. this is money well spent because it is good for america. the notion the europeans should be free riders is one that is objectionable. the truth is they have not been spending what they had should have and pledged to spend of their gdp on defense. they do look to us. a proper grievance. notchallenge is if you do address him, you end up with someone who wants to address them in a different way. we are shocked and horrified by that. we should not be shocked and horrified by that.

american leadership is important. we need partners who step up to the plate and ensure americans are not being taken advantage of in the international trading system by the theft of by china.al property it is good to have this conversation. guest: it is a great question. , especially when the narrative becomes they are not , weding as much as we are did this on purpose. we are 4% of the world's population, but the world's most powerful. we got people to sign onto our agenda. a few want a nato in which everybody is paying their own way and are not dependent on you, one of the things you get from having countries need you

is they work with you. the united states spent a lot of time investing in structures after world war ii that would get other countries to do things that would preserve peace and for american's priorities. warid not emerge from and helped -- we were able to prevail in the cold war with the soviet union and, on top. it served america well. what happens when it does not? building china will be a great market for the u.s. and help everything grow. we found it led to stagnant wages for decades for american workers. what do we do about that? that is important critique. it needs real solutions, not just slogans, not what we are seeing right now -- potentially

massive trade wars hurting everyone equally. host: from maryland, democrats line, joanna. caller: good morning. here are my concerns with populism. the natural companions are nationalism, ethnocentrism the, and isolationism. ofse always lead to the rise deficits and major wars. if we look around the world now, the rise of these dictators -- the philippines, china, where a president for life, where our president said wish they could do that here, turkey, hungry, and various places in europe. it is concerning to me. if we look at history, world war

i, world war ii -- two wars major in the 20th century, these played into the beginnings of war. the next war, if we have a war, will be devastating. i would like your comments on this. host: thank you. get tooou try to not worked up or hysterical. we are not being irrational or hysterical. ethnic who turn to andonalism or isolation aggression against neighbors are the leaders who have caused the ofatest local catastrophes anybody's lifetimes. the systems we build were --

we -- this is the logic of tierney leads to war eventually. if you start out populist and you turn authoritarian and the only way to stay in power is to oppress and you have to seek outside,ies the prospect of war goes up. i do not want to be an alarmist, a reason we decided to come together is we see a real potential danger on the horizon. if populists who turn authoritarian really get a larger foothold and they keep going down the path you would expect, it increases the chance of conflict. guest: it is fascinating. the caller has thought about this a lot.

there is no question these isms she brought up -- nationalism, isolationism, are dangerous tendencies. the problem is how we respond to them. why is that appealing for like aei and cap? we saw this between andrew cuomo and the president of the united states. the response is america was never great. that is not the answer. that is not our problem. the problem is not the rhetoric of american greatness. the question is american leadership and what we should do. at the when we look responses of our established

political parties -- we looked at this in another report done as a part of this series on your -- on europe. what we see is people are disappointed in what their political parties have to offer. sanders,ow the bernie pensd trumps, marine le rise up. -- needs to be temperate, why it is important to have frank, open, and productive conversations about the shared challenges we face. if we do not, we open the door to this -- well, america was never great. we should not be an nafta or the transpacific partnership and nato is worthless. these are not good answers to the challenges. we need to have better answers. host: one of the lines --

splendid isolation will not solve the issue driven vertical support to america's -- it will leave the united states more confrontingften in international threats. absolutely, if you were to lift up the hood and look at plotsmber of terrorist foiled, what do they get foiled by? law enforcement, fbi, going out, aided by intelligence by our partners around the world. if you have situations where from a nations are uncomfortable sharing intelligence with the united states because they do not know what will be done with it, that is a truly dangerous situation. it gets bigger than that. how do you deal with transnational crime? how do you deal with

international drug trafficking? how do you deal with climate change? all of these things require cooperation. the only way to get it is for america not to only have a seat at the table, but the the discussions. thinking when we start in zero-sum, if america -- it is not investing home. of ais not the reality country 4% of the global population. we need the rest of the world. we need to lead the rest of the world. we need to make sure the developments of a globalized world are working for americans. host: independent line from virginia, richard. go ahead. caller: i have a few points that need to come up that half to do with history. eu and nato -- neither could exist without the other. if we collapse nato, eu would be

gone. it is globalist anyway. the globalists keep it alive. russia being a constant enemy keeps me alive. -- keeps nato alive. our state department spend $5 billion to dissolve the ukrainian government led to that problem. then, the issue of the crimea. -- until -- gave it away in a poker game. 95% of people voted to go back to russia. we blame russia for that. russia is only being treated cut a because putin

central bank. host: the larger issue when it comes to russia and nato, talk about expansion. which country should be expanded -- which countries should be expanded to nato? guest: it was a controversial idea. there are people on both sides who think it was the right thing to do. people thought we will encroach on russia's sphere of influence and they will be angry. expansion, nato-russia cooperation, russia in the g8 and be a great global power were nato-russia all fully compatible with nato's expansion. nato was open to countries that nato. to join

it was not marching across anywhere. it was not pushing. we thought was a competition -- hey, who was to be with his club? -- with this club? putin has made a lot of choices for the direction of the country . it is not good for his country. facing a demographic crisis. it is dependent on the oil industry. stealing from the people and enriching themselves, that is not the fault of nato. hear the effectiveness of russian propaganda on how people are addressing these things.

nato did not shoot down a civilian airliner in the ukraine. nader did not create these little green men that go in and agitate and drive separatist movements -- nato did not stray to these little green men that go in and agitate and drive separatist movements. the idea of nato expansion provoking this response is backwards. putin has these nato as a foil for his own vision of how to make russia a great again in a way that is detrimental for russians and stability. everythingree with andam just said about putin russia. and not on on putin nato. the evidence is clear. there is an important underlying

discussion, when the caller alluded to with the question of crimea. crimea may have been given away in a poker game by -- and had a russian history. our world works on a set of rules. you do not get to go in and fight off an oligarchy and tell them why it was the right thing to do. even though we can rationalize doing this -- there are those who will rationalize russia for doing this. the threat is the roles of the road. the danger of not speaking frankly about what is happening the danger of not

talking about the eternal threats to the european union, the danger of not talking about why nato is not being supported by two minute -- by too many nato allies is people viewed the rules of the road not working for them. it may be we do not give a damn about crimea. not too many people, from my standpoint, not enough people care about crimea. what about love via? what up -- what about latvia -- what about latvia? what about lithuania? would if china invades taiwan tomorrow? would that be ok? where do we draw the line? this is where we see the challenges spiral out of control. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002.

-- spiral out of control. host:republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. caller: i was interested to hear on your take how president trump pointed out the cyber activities of nato were lacking and i want to applaud the president for saying those things. i would like to hear what you have to say about how bad nato defenses and cyber where that is going now. i wish i could say it is with cyberhat is bad defenses. the collar highlight a challenge that none of us have faced. i would include the united states in that. we were talking with cyber defenses. about the discovery.

what did the united states do in response to the chinese attack? our data is in the hands of the people's liberation army. by theraft was stolen chinese. what do we do about this? we have not set out the rules of the road on cyber. it is not simply the united states, nato. it is the civilized world that has not quite figured out how to balance the protection of our freedoms, the openness we treasure, and at the same time, keep out those who choose to exploit us. host: from rhode island,

republican line, jack. caller: good morning, sir. concerningg u.s.-nato relations. they have improved. nato is putting more money into the kitty. by ancestry german nation. they have not put in more. they really played the united states well. if you look at the german economy, it is strong. normally, it is strong all the time. is in aan economy surplus. they should be putting in more money, along with some of the other countries to carry the load. the lady is right concerning china. our number one should

she get adversary -- one strategic adversary. they are to replace the united states as the number one power in the world. host: gotcha. mr. singh? guest: i do not have much to disagree with you, jack. i would think germany should and could spend more on defense. defense spending is a controversial topic in germany. the nation has put the money in other priorities. it is a problem as the message as burdenacross nato sharing. the 2% threshold is an imperfect -- you want something based on capabilities and analysis of who does what. you want to budget against that.

you want to have a sensible program. is a numberwith 2% because we cannot figure out a better way to do it. it is a shortcoming. the alliance, one of the elements of modernization is for numbers of the alliance focusing on areas with particular expertise in. what we are seeing is a front end, even if everybody got to 2%. the alliance needs to modernize. host: from illinois on the democrats line, john. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. a lot of people do not think costs ofgarding the warorting nato, is when the -- theit is going to be

most people who will suffer are the europeans. consider the damage and losses that occurred after world war ii. europeans areays not spending enough to support nato, they are going to have to do a massive rebuild of their country if the next workers. ist they are spending now adequate. let's face it. if they spend too much, then we will have to go back to support to rebuild the country, assuming we survive. i will listen. host: thank you. guest: i have to respectfully

disagree with you. in the aftermath of world war ii, it was not europe that pay for european reconstruction. it was american and american taxpayers who paid with the marshall plan. and build itwe did into something. the argument they will suffer on shoulderritory and they not spend on their own defense does not seem to make a lot of sense to me. is the europeans -- our compatriots within nato have become too complacent about america coming to the alliances' rescue. the challenges we face are not simple he on european soil. what we can question happened in libya. we can agree on the ill wisdom

of failing to deal with the aftermath with a vision of libya. i would remind everybody that gaddafidecide to oust -- two thirds of all missions. our allies in france ran out of ammunition. tenable position for an important economic power in europe to be in. these countries on to be investing in their own defense sharer collective defense. this is something we forget to often -- nato is not about winning a war. nato, like the u.s. military, is about keeping of peace. every penny you spend on defense

is money that is if there is no if there is no war, incredibly well spent. host: with all of the issues and concerns you laid out, as far as a roadmap to resolve these things, what is the chief priority for all parties involved? guest: it is a different a set of priorities. upig part of this is manning and saying, these are problems. we were talking about this after the recent nato summit. the president got a lot of flack for beating on our nato allies for their failure to spend on defense. we agreed. if president trump had used a language that he had use which privately, we all would have said, it is about time somebody talk to them that way because we have been talking conversations about

this for a quarter century. andeed first to man up admit, nato has problems. we have issues within the alliance whether it is turkey, the spending, european bulwark has problems. the people are not full. they have complaints -- are not fooled. they have complaints. these are all beginnings of isversations and this only because the existing political parties have become so complacent about themselves that upstarts have and been able to gather energy and push back. the first step is actually to stand up and admit there are issues.

guest: you have to be actively working to fix problems, not just saying that there is no problem and complaining about the people who are focusing on its saying they are going to fix the problems. this is a real challenge because it is going to require, is to me, at -- a sense of what these institutions are about. what they mean? it is going to require, is to me, atwhat does the europeann mean? europe tour itself apart not only in the world wars but for centuries before that, you had a series of massive conflicts all across europe. it has been at peace for three generations, that is what this is about. what weto modernize have an fix it, but we do not want to throw it away because the alternative, it was centuries of brutal bloodshed.

the same goes for the nato alliance. a needs to be something that makes sense in the 21st century. it is not a rational to say -- say, not irrational to why are we spending money on this? but it does not go away. it always pops back up and democracies have to be really strong about defending themselves. that is why in democracy, we disagree. we are almost always disagreeing on specifics, but we agree the system lets us do that. it is supposed to let us work together on the bigger picture issues. beinge see journalists criticized or whatever it may be happening, people who believe in democracy should be standing up and shouting about it.

they do change so they can keep doing what they have done which is keep democracy safe. us,: two guests joining vikram singh and danielle pletka who serves as the foreign and defense studies for the senior vice president -- studies as the senior vice president. thank you both for discussion. coming up, we will speak with an author. he joins us next on "washington journal." ♪ [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. 2017] 9:00in us this evening at

p.m. on c-span3 for a special call in addition of an american history feature, "lectures and 9:00 p.m. onhistory." our topic is andrew jackson with jonathan barth leading the conversation. watch lectures and history tonight at 9:00 p.m. on c-span3. ,> sunday nights on q&a national constitution center president and ceo talks about his biography "wham! at our his biography on william howard taft. politics.r learned partid, i will not play a

for popularity. he has this madisonian view. hamilton believe the majority should rule but only and thoughtfully over time so that reason rather than passion should prevail. believes the entire system is set up to slow passions so that the people can be governed in the public interest rather than true fractions. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. c-span where history unfolds daily. in 1970 nine, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. and today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington dc and

around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. "washington journal" continues. joining us, the form your deputy assistant for the president and the national security advisor to the trump administration. also the author of an upcoming book. good morning. guest: good morning. host: tell us about the book and argument you are making. guest: the book was written before i came into the administration, it is a grand overview to the threats we face and what should be done about those threats including china, russia, and others. is vignette'sed of great american heroes, some unfortunately that we have forgotten about. we talk about stephen decatur, naval officer, led the assault against the barbary pirates, and

goes through an amazing story of marine corps, and captain mcdaniel who spent six years in the vietnam war. and i talk about whittaker chambers and what these people did to stand up for the values of the republic. in a strategic overview dangerous ainge. host: used the term, was no apology. what is suggested with apologies given? guest: that is reference for .resident obama's apology tour it is what you have seen from the president in the last 18 months whether it is the revitalization of syria or nato. the policies the administration has to deal with is afghanistan. the story today about the taliban and the role in that. of what'sassessment going on there particularly with

the taliban and what does that say about u.s. policy today? president'se the approach. my time in the white house, he had a very pragmatic approach to afghanistan. capacity ofd the and it has control been proven in the last six months. the majority of the territory in afghanistan is actually under the control of the government of kabul and it has been proven in the last six months. . i'm queasy about the idea of negotiating with the taliban. these are not your average political actor. they are fundamentally fueled religious actors. they want to see the destruction state, and what is really going on but does not give enough coverage, we may have crushed isis, but they have a foothold in afghanistan. there have been leaders that go

over to isis that are training facilities of isis in that area and we need to go back to what did and understand that afghanistan has one real priority for americans, to make sure that its territories not used to launch mass casualty attacks on u.s. soil. how do you take care of the presence of taliban or isis if that is your assessment of what needs to be done? guest: you ratchet back the objectives to try to create a sate. -- estates. the presid -- create a state. use a small footprint, especially special forces that are able to go in and target the to makegh-value targets sure that what they cannot do is foreign operations. that would be my prioritization of afghanistan. is joiningtian gorka

us for the hour up until 10:00. him questions about policy. to call in, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, (202) 748-8000 for democrats, independents (202) 748-8002. if you wanted to beat us thought you can do so at @cspanwj and post at our website at facebook.com/c-span. one of the discussions over at security is security clearances. what is your positioning on formers like yourself and if they should possess them? guest: it is simple. as an individual who leads government service, the only reason you have a security clearances if you are involved in government contracts that require that clearance. .ohn brennan is not second, if your counsel is required by the next administration given the insane

statements that john brennan has pompeo do not think mike are the current director of the cia or john bolton or the president to want to john brennan's counsel, so it is not a right, it is a privilege. the argument that this is somehow affecting freedom of do not see john brennan not talking in the last 48 hours. it is a fallacious arguments because as an individual who had a clearance, when you sign certain documents, your freedom of speech is limited. it is curtailed to a certain extent. you cannot publish without having the government clear that publication before going to press. it is not a first amendment issue, it is not all right. john brennan by his statement is made himself ineligible. and it is a prerogative by the presidents. the clearance system belongs to the president. today"he editors of "usa

write about security clearances and they say, does it matter no toger if you lose access information. vice president mike pence regularly consults with dick cheney and joe biden. host: it is counter to common sense. if we remove john brennan's clearance or dick cheney's clearance, does that mean that they cannot advise anybody? that the institution they have in their head suddenly fall out of their ears? of course it does not. whether they wish to advise you are not is another question. should know, security clearance is incredibly expensive. when you come on board, if you get a top secret clearance, the average cost of the clearance is u.s. taxpayer.

the idea that when you leave cabinet positions you get to keep that until you die, it has to be renewed every five years. that is a massive burden on the taxpayer. it is not justified. host: you do not see this act by the president as retaliatory? guest: no, not at all. he does not need to have a clearance. the statements he is making against the president also could be a threat to national security. when a former director -- he is not a private citizen, he is a former director of the cia -- when he goes on a national news network and says the president is in the thrall of an enemy nation and potentially an asset, is being blackmailed, and he provides zero evidence to date, it demonstrates an instability. securityeny people

clearance because they are emotionally unstable. by his behavior, he has shown himself to be ineligible for his clearance. our guests previously served in the trump administration and the author of an upcoming book. sebastian gorka joining us. our first our guests previously served in the trump administration and the call comm bradley from atlanta, georgia, democrat line. caller: i want to thank c-span ka, i really look forward to when you and corey lewandowski, jared kushner, don jr. are exposed for the treasonous bitches that you are. host: apologies for that. guest: why is that man on the democrat line? why is there such hatred out there? it is such hatered out there. i worked for him, yes.

, it iss level of hatred not good for the health of the republic. i love c-span, pedro. that is un-american. host: republican line from new york, peter. gorka, thank you for your service to this country. the main question i want to ask on as, i saw the president show at the host asked him why he is not declassifying the documents on the pfizer acquisition and he said he did not want to get involved. i am hoping the president is waiting until october to release these things to help the republicans with the elections in november. in addition, i do not believe the president wants to have anyone prosecuted. ray to cleannts

out -- wray to clean out the fbi and all these people in the doj, i do not think you want to see anybody get prosecuted. ray to clean out -- wrayhe said during a rale did not want to hurt the clintons. i do not think he wants sisi see anyone prosecuted, so what is to seemment -- wants anyone get prosecuted so what is your comment, sir? the president has demonstrated an admirable hands-off approach to all of whether it is the mueller whether it is the mueller probe, the doj, or the fbi. he tweets but he does not reach in and say i am going to shut this down. that is admirable. i've always said that he should not end the whole thing should collapse which it is doing. we have not had one charge brought that connects the trump campaign to russia, so i hope it before the midterm because you would see a judicial process occurring very close to a

political line for you -- olitical one. james comey in regards to hillary which he then backtracked days before the election, these things should be a firewall but the days of the mueller investigations longevity are sure. host: you said that he does not to reach and by the tweets, they are meant to sway public opinion, you agree? guest: yes. his capacities is communicating through social media. host: independent line from virginia, bill. think i jumped and on this thinking something different but i'm going to ask anyway. afghanistan, democrats and republicans as far as i am concerned, all the way for the beginning to where we are at today -- i heard on a show the

, and i did not check my facts, but it said 80% of the cocaine that comes into this country's growing in afghanistan and that is where it comes from. has this president given any thought to shutting this down one final time? it is not like flicking a switch. oids created are part of an international drug trade but also some systems crossed for the people in afghanistan. if it was a matter of deciding in one day, it would have been done. but i go back to what we did not to over 2001, we did not go there to stop the drug trade. the territorya on of afghanistan, taliban was giving them support, and we wanted to make sure there was no coming from that

country, and we sent into militaries to take down those capacities. that is still the strategic objective. this is the nation that has stymied alexander the great, the british empire, the soviet union -- this president is not interested in going to end their and changing afghanistan with a cookie cutter approach. host: there was a headline when you left the white house, sebastian gorka left, did you see differences when you left? guest: absolutely, h.r. mcmaster wanted a large footprint. he repeatedly tried to pitch the president on doubling down he is an officer and that is his background, and the president was not interested in doubling down so with john bolton on board, that doubling down with a physical presence is not going to be what we see coming out. host: none of the things that came out of the recent interview

on sunday and then eric prince, this idea of privatizing and afghanistan. how much would you support that? guest: i know eric and i consider him a friend. i am not a fan. i served in the british military reserves. when it comes to issues of national security that are strategic, i do not want civilians and the train of command. it is -- if it is about steel on target, i want people that are in a uniform that are under the strictures of our military train of command. contractorsusing has been very popular but in many cases, together around congressionally mandated figures, i do not think that is the answer. he is a patriot, former seal, but if it is a military problem, i want the u.s. military as part of the solution. host: this is albert, chicago, illinois. had a question for

you, you stated that the justification for john brennan's tionrity clearance revoca was because of his conduct and the comments he made. last spring, is reported that president trump was considering revoking president obama's access to classified material to the only prior president that would have been done too. trump's donald justification for wanting to pull obama's clearance, was it his behavior or his comments? guest: neither. that is a prime example of "fake ews." there was no such decision being countenanced by the white house 's clearance

was never an issue in this administration. host: maine, republican line. caller: honor to speak with you, i have a fan for a long time. about russia today because of the political spin that is going on but i believe economically, and more importantly, militarily speaking, china is the biggest threats with them building military outposts. it is almost like they are taking a play out of world war ii japan's playbook. how do you believe we stack up against militarily and how we -- do we tamp down aggressiveness? guest: great question. toame in to the white house defeat isis and so forth but once you have the clearances and you read the report, within a matter of a few months, i came around and realized we will deal with isis, iran, russia, and the

other threats that are out there. but the one strategic threat this nation faces is china. one of your previous callers mentioned, they have a plan, it is not classified. looking to displace america as the global power by the 100th anniversary of the chinese revolution. they are aggressively realizing that strategy. search and rescue bases, they are military bases. they are intimidating their neighbors, trying to control the seas aroundthe china. what is their military like? it is light years behind ours, focusing ony are generation-skipping capacities. they long-range missiles,

are using irregular warfare techniques to try to attack our achilles' heel. we cannot allow them to do that propertiessident's are a signal. ,nd the president's asia tour when he went around to assure them that america is back and we will not allow china to become a regional global hegemonic. we have served a 100 billion dollar increase that will make us far more capable of taking on china. host: does terrorist -- tariff policy against china exacerbate their efforts? tariff policies misunderstood. it is not about a trade war. that is not the motivation for the president. to talk about trade

wars, others have instituted that long ago. if you look at canada on dairy isducts in the u.s. -- this about the resetting of the global economic environment. the president is an incredibly successful businessman and he believes on free trade. it has got to be fair and equitable. we need to wake up to what china is doing to undermine the global commons. the idea that in assisting regimes and censoring information, i am not sure that is what free trade means from an smith perspective, that you are helping a dictatorship maintained or a capacity to be a dictatorship. host: but smith ultimately, is a sound policy? guest: anything retaliatory will be temporary.

the president is a pragmatist and a patriot. he is asking, why should we outsource everything? this idea that even the "wall we have sonal" says, few still manufacturing jobs, this is irrelevant. but why do we have so few and is it a good thing that we have so few? i was in youngstown with the president a year ago. few? as we drove from the airbase to the stadium, we closed by close down -- we drove by closed millmill after closed down . rejoicingers were shouting, usa, usa, drain the swamp. the current economic system is hurt americans and the idea that we do not produce here, why is that a good thing? na from california,

republican line. my name is dana. how did the obama administration keep their security clearances to -- they are the ones who let the russian involvement to the elections happen, and plus, they let the russians invade crimea. mentioned, ifady there had been russian collusion with regards to the trump on, how is it the cia never briefed that the senate while this was happening? it was not included in the classified version of his annual report to congress. it is clear the whole russia delusion needed an

excuse for why hillary clinton lost the election. charging paul manafort with wire fraud 12 years ago in the works with the ukrainian government, that is not to russian collusion. these have nothing to do with the charges and i think it is very telling, he is the most vocal proponent of the , john brennanory himself, who voted for the communist party in 1976. trumpot think donald voted for the communist party. host: how do you prove that? guest: he admitted it on cnn. he was polygraph on his interview and he was worried because they asked him how he voted for -- host: a presidential candidate to was -- guest: he was worried that his voting for the communists would make his polygraph -- this allow him cia interest.

host: you make the argument -- guest: there is more evidence about john brennan's connection to moscow than donald trump. the is the irony free at individual who was been most vocal about the conspiracy theory has provided zero evidence at all. it is a joke. we need to get on with making america great again. host: on the manafort front, the liberations -- that the suggesttions anything for you? guest: the longer they deliberate, the more questions. four questions they asked the usge, can you redefine for what's reasonable doubts means? that means someone in the jury is uncertain. case, he is also in legal

., but this d.c case looks like it's leaving forward to the defendant. host: (202) 748-8001 to republicans, (202) 748-8000 for forcrats, (202) 748-8002 independents. katie, texas. caller: i have a question about some of the conspiracy threes that are being touted online about our own government. the illegitimacy of our government because of various wesons from everything from colony of the united kingdom to some people calling themselves sovereign citizens and they talk about their person to -- their birth certificates,

collateral for the federal reserve, and so on. can you talk about how some of those theories might affect our national security? guest: i could've any of them were real or true. ilove conspiracy theories, like them is entertainment. there is a reason they are noted 'theories' and facts. i have no comments. host: a couple of weeks ago with qanon. guest: to have cnn, chris cuomo, actually give a itment to those followers, tells you that we are in a sorry state. when cnn is giving them exposure, that is not good for reporting on anybody. host: republican line, we'll

hear from colorado. i have heard rumors that muslim extremists might be entering the country illegally through the mexican border. so far, we have not heard about any terrorist attacks being linked to people who have done that, but i suppose my concern is that people who wish to harm or exploit the lack of security at our borders to enter the country illegally and possibly set up training compounds like just found near taos, new mexico thattly -- do you think is legitimate concern? guest: i think the new mexico story is the horrific story. the idea that you hold 11 or a

children hostage to train them to do a tax against the schools and police officers, that is a real wake-up call. this is why the president wrote his executive order that was upheld by the footprint court with regards to the travel band and this is why his on build thebuilt wall. the wall is a front door of this country. house, it isour not because you hit everybody outside, it is because you want to protect everybody inside your house. it will be exploited by and evens, smugglers if your primary issue is not that -- you should want to have the wall built.

the children being separated, of the 12,000 children in dhs facilities being looked after, think about this one think. of the 12,000, 10,000 were sent here without their parents. the parents gave them to coyotes to make the dangerous journey. up to three quarters of the girls or the young women are being trafficked by coyotes were raped on their way to the united states. if your priority is humanitarian, do not put these young women at the hands of predators such as human traffickers. it iscommon sense whether national security or the rights of these children. the wall has to be built and the president will build it. how does itr mind, look like? guest: we have such a variety

topographically across our southern border. the prototypes have been chosen from a half a dozen day just tested. inll be a robust defense some areas and other areas, it'll be electronic surveillance measures, so it will depend on the given terrain. in some areas, the actual physical terrain will be the barrier itself but not everywhere. independent line, robert from greenville, north carolina. mr.er: i would like to ask gorka about draining the swamp zinke.uitt, price, and only the news" is they do not agree with and fox is good, but everything else that is giving another opinion beside yours is fake. guest: "fake news" is real.

it is out there. if you look at our ports that came out of cnn that -- at the reports that came out of cnn that james comey was going to testify on the hill in a way that would bring down the president, cnn reported for 72 hours that this is what c -- comey would do, it never happened. when your report that this man is a racist, a bigots, and an anti-semite, when his grandchildren are orthodox jews, when he is the first president to keep our promise to israel, when this is a mandatory pardoned and african-american heavyweight boxer who was prosecuted on purely racial

spite, as an african-american grandmother who was on a drug spite, as an african-american grandmother who was on a drug charge, fake news is real. the idea that this man has a dy ised bone in his bo absurd, but every day there is a constant drumbeat that is a tissue of lies. so any reporting on this administration that is negative is "fake news" on its face? judge -- yout the on its judge news credibility and track record. so what is supposed to be an esteemed broadsheet and we have the emails in which the clinton campaign says she is trustworthy, go to maggie, and then she is promoted, that is your metric of "fake news". of course, not everybody, but at the end of the day, it is your behavior over time that matters and these individuals have proven themselves to be unreliable.

host: in terms of what you think of nondisclosure agreements, did you sign one? thet: i signed one with trump organization because i came on in 2015 and like steve bannon, omarosa, anyone who assisted him, i did, too. in the administration, it is not called nda. i signed all the documents that are required of the u.s. government employee when it comes to the handling of classified information in remission that is sensitive. out prococess of essing, i signed in numerous documents that pertained to government information as a private citizen. host: are you still under that? guest: absolutely. host: when it comes homero -- omarosa taping? guest: absolutely, reprehen

sible. there is a reason that she was fired. i spent to many hours in the situation room underneath the west wing. when you enter that -- you have to be buzzed in by the person who runs it, you have a whole yourge of lockers to put personal phone and you are required because that is the most search your meeting room in the united states outside of air force one. this woman, not only did she not her personal electronics, but she should be locked up on federal charges. host: does that change a white house policy that this took place in the first place? guest: look, how would you

change the policy? the only way i see them getting around it is if you wanded everybody that goes in. myself, we are signedally commissioned by the president. that is a position of ultimate trust and the idea that you need to be handed -- walked through a medical -- a metal the detector, it is shocking. commercial -- what i signed up the white house, it is purely to do with classified documents. i cannot discuss the meetings i had in the situation room. i went to the meetings on , i wouldsis, on china

be in legal jeopardy if i started discussing the content of those meetings of the documents i read. omarosa seems to think the regulations do not apply to her. from arlington, texas. a started offork his speeches saying he would not give any more apologies, and he believed the trump to be a tough guy, which i find funny. trump'sg to donald interview with bill o'reilly, he puts america on the same morally equivalent to with russia and terms of murdering people and assembly in the streets of the united states. you think our country so great, we have murderers and killers here, too. if you look at his performance in helsinki, he shrunk down.

donald trump is no savior to america. of straight1 months job growth before he came into office. his growth at 4.1% would have been obama's fitfth best. this guy you have is part of the enabling of the country, the dumbing down of america. we have someone in the white house that is a neofascist. again, can i remind this individual that this is the president to finally after 23 years of broken promises from president obama, president bush, president clinton, recognized capital ofs the israel? you need to get out of your bubble.

he idea that he is soft on russia or turkey -- do not open "the washington post," look at the sanctions regimes this administration opened already. i will give you an example. russia broke a 65-year-old taboo. time, russia invaded a neighboring states and stole its territory with crimea. what did obama do that was lauded by your caller? night vision goggles and blankets to the ukraine. blankets, this is not a monty python skit, that is the obama administration's response to the invasion of the country. in addition to killing 200 syria, we gave uk

raine the capacity to stop another russian invasion. it is not my opinion, is a matter of fact. with regards to the economy, we have got 15 minutes left. i could rell off -- real off the metrics. the lowest unemployment for minorities in america since record-keeping began, african-americans, hispanics, the lowest ever. so how exactly is this man a racist? we have big companies, thanks to the tax reform the president repatriatingare $300 billion to america. to buy a ceo's nice mansions but to build and provided new jobs. that is the kind of growth we have not seen for the last eight years. indiana on the

republican line. is, theyy question have mueller investigating the russian interference or manafort, he puts $50 million somewhere and did not pay taxes on it. find out, someone can about hillary clinton, what about bill clinton getting on an airplane, that is not even talked about. they are hiding in the corner. they both need to go to prison, they broke the law, loretta lynch broke the law. now, let's get somebody on top of them. they caused this whole thing and almost caused the united states to fall apart. completely against this president. guest: there is an underlying theme for that call, i am not a

fan of special counsel in general. whether thee president is a democrat, republican, or independent. special counsels are unguided missiles. you launch them and they end up doing something that was not the original mandate. the caller is right. all of could look into these crimes and their a lot of crimes to look into with the clinton cartel. they are all documented superbly. there is a massive problem with robert miller's -- robert mueller's integrity and being fit. he was appointed special counsel the day after he failed in his job interview to be the director of the fbi again. the day before rod rosenstein escorted him, rod to the white house to be interviewed by donald trump to

be the next fbi director, a job he had already had but once comey was fired, he wanted his job back. the president took the interview and decided we need someone new. he failed the interview. next day, rod makes him special prosecutor to investigate the man. he has no capacity to be an sed investigator of the man in front of home he failed his interview. robert mueller, not a credible special counsel. host: carl for massachusetts, democrat line. gorka, i asked this question about a half a year ago on c-span. i do not get an answer. would haveeve putin

gone into crimea if the united states had not removed [indiscernible] ? a bad the question is question because the american did not remove anybody. that is another tinfoil in spirit see theory. -- if we had actually said that we were actually going to go through if thoughtia would have twice about the asian. it in bold it -- twice about the invasion. it facilitated bad actors, those days are thankfully over. host: what is your assessment of the current relations between the united date and turkey and what problems going forward with that relationship. the future, anybody who

tells you they can predict the future of turkey is a liar. that is a nation that is no longer behaving as a nato ally. it was perhaps one of our most important nato allies during the cold war, had the biggest band in garmin the european nato, protected the southern flank, , he is getting in bed with some of the worst actors in the world. when his markets fell a week ago, who did he call first? vladimir putin. that tells you what you need to know about the regime. turkey 30ing visited years ago, having been there recently and seeing the changes, turkey needs to return to its roots. turkey was one of the most excess full muslim nations in the world because of

westernized nation of the culture. today, it is a basket case. host: what is the best message the administration can send on this? messagehe very clear that certain behavior will not be accepted, there will be consequences, economic, diplomatic, and otherwise if you walk down this road of fundamentally changing the nature of this nation and the getting in bed with bad guys. will lockdent countenance of destabilization of that part of the world. he is not an interventionist, but he wishes to see our friends secure. that region is unstable. host: michael, republican line from the plane you. -- republican line, from pennsylvania. caller: thank you for your

unwavering support of our presidents. what do you think the motives are to some of these so-called republican leaders, the paul ,yan's, john mccain's, etc. whenever our president says something they disagree with, they publicly criticize them when on the other hand, on the other daily basis that democratic politicians say the most outlandish, distasteful things, and they are strangely silent. what do you think their motive is -- is it envy because our president is actually getting things done? guest: great question. in the last year and a half, can you tell me who has had the president's back among the gpl -- amongst the gop? devin nunes, matt gaetz, jim handful -- just a

that is out of hundreds of people. what is the motivation of the rest of them? i had lunch in the members dining room of congress with a few members of the freedom caucus. i asked them a simple question, from the outside, it looks that the gop is not supporting their own president, but i am an outsider, is it really that bad? responded, it is worse then you think because for the majority of the people who are here who say they are conservatives, their priority is to get the job that provides them with the suv and the driver. office withand the the fireplace. if the founding fathers had known that this would be the end result of politics, i think we would all be talking english the way i do and still be a part of the british empire. they would not have risked

sacred honor to have professional politicians who want the office with the fireplace. i think they have to wake up to one thing. the gop has to understand that donald trump became the 45th president of the united states the spite the republican party. their publican party and november will be the second litmus test of whether they understand that. host: what do you think will be the result? guest: and politics, we have 80 days left? that is a lifetime in politics. if the president keeps performing the way he keeps inding rallies -- when i was the white house, they were saying they want to have at -- if he keepsk pumping this up, the gop may come around. but i cannot predict if they are happy in their cushy jobs as swat brothers, we shall see.

-- swamp brothers, we shall see. host: with the last time you spoke to president trump? guest: when i was in singapore. host: what was the nation of your conversations, advice, information? very loyal to those who are loyal to him. very loyal to those who are loyal to him and so first it is just checking in and personal chat. there is always some requests are some advice that he wants. host: on economics or foreign affairs? from michigan, independent line. ron, go ahead. for youi've a question for a money -- for romania's protest. do you think anything is going to be done about that from the u.s.?

and how come most european communities have open borders of them and there are five countries that do not have open borders and romania is one of them? guest: most countries do not have open borders. as a result of a treaty, the external border is defended and a controlled. it is part of regulations with one exception right at the beginning, the uk's said we will always maintain border controls which i think was a wise move. then your freedom of movement and this has been exploited by terrorists. you have seen the paris attack, the arrests in brussel and germany, these have been linked to two individuals who are refugees. romania, i doo not think there is a role for america in romania. this is an anticorruption demonstration in romania.

i went back to the land of my parents, and 40 years of communism have destroyed the political culture and the soul of a nation. republic destruction so it is striking that we are 30 years down the line and they are still struggling with these issues but that is what socialism and communism have done to a country and they still have some serious troubles. host: michael in florida, democrats. i would like to make a comment. he talked about the mueller investigation. i think that investigation should finish with russia. i think the american public deserves answers and they deserve to hear from our president and stand on counsel under oath, no taking the fifth, it is a cheap way out -- but answer the questions and it needs to be done. tied with the

russian mob and has been for many, many years. many years. and i as i've said before will say again, and the president had any substantial ties to russia, there be trumped -- there'll be trump towers in russia. there are none. i would like to have a real investigation on russian collusion. i would like to see somebody investigate the fact that a foreign intelligence officer retired christopher steele running around with a dossier of russian propaganda, hates donald trump, running around with a dossier from putin and receives $12 million from hillary clinton and that dossier was used illegally to spy without a warrant.

i would love to have a deep dive investigation on the russia collusion on the dnc and the hillary's side. host: do you think anyone in the white house is pushing for president trump to sit down with the investigation? guest: it is clear that somebody inside the counc -- counsel's office is. dojmpletely agree, the precedented this, you cannot and orht -- you cannot indict subpoena a sitting president spree he should not be interviewed. myself, can be caught and a perjury trap. when you are talking about the of human beings versions

what happened, any disagreements between two witnesses can lead to a charge of perjury. concernsyou have any time?on has spent guest: he doesn't have 30 hours to waste on accusations. as the president told me last year, he was frustrated with everything that was going on and said they will find nothing because there is nothing. tom mcgann has to know that as well as his trusted counsel. muellersit down with for an hour and a half, but 30 hours?

how long did hillary clinton sit-down? it is disproportionate. host: this is james from wisconsin. we are running short on time. caller: thank you for taking my call. i was wondering why he states why we fight when he really means they. very few sons and daughters are sons and daughters of someone else, not the politicians. we needed him to fight in vietnam. we had bone spurs. it seems like these politicians only get tough when they don't have any skin in the game. i will take the answer off air. question.at i don't believe in identity politics and i look at all of us as americans together. whether we are immigrants or not, we are a nation together. this is what the president believes. it is what i believe. also because the book talks

about people who fought for this nation in uniform and outside of uniform. it is all about america together. st: the former deputy assistant to the president and national security advisory staff member for the trump administration. thank you very much. we are taking you right now to the senate foreign relations committee. i hear he taking a look at u.s.-russia relations. that hearing set to take place momentarily.