artificial intelligence is in the cloud. like a model t. they are commercial and viable and useful. modeled these were open to the air. they were uncomfortable. the forecast for the future of the car was that it would be fully enclosed and weatherproof. the model t was not that great but is started the car age. that is where we are with artificial intelligence. we are at the beginning. c-3po, aomes to general purpose computer, we are back in the 1890's. >> watch the communicators tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span two. >> a roundtable discussion on the 2018 political landscape with democratic consultant liz chadderdon and republican consultant phillip stutts.

later, greta goodwin from the government accountability office on the cost of incarcerating immigrants. as always, we take your calls and you can join the conversation on this book and twitter. ♪ host: good morning. it is monday, august 27th. the senate is back in senate and flags remain at half staff following the death of senator john mccain. the late senator scheduled to lie in state in the capitol rotunda friday and will the -- and will become the 13th former senator to receive that honor. we begin today focusing on the justice department and attorney general jeff sessions after a weekend in which president trump continued to vent criticism of the top law enforcement officer and even republicans and even

democratic lawmakers rally around the attorney general, we are putting the question to you. should jeff sessions remain attorney general? republicans can call in at 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. you can catch up with us on social media as well and a special line for law enforcement in this segment. 202-748-8003. on social media. on facebook it is facebook.com/cspan. on twitter it is @cspanwj. morning to monday you. you can start calling in now. that special line for members of law enforcement joining us this morning. it is 202-748-8003. otherwise, lines as usual. we want to hear your thoughts on attorney general jeff sessions. here are the president's thoughts from saturday morning, continuing his criticism saying "jeff sessions said he wouldn't allow politics to influence him

only because he doesn't understand what is happening under his command position. bob mueller and his band of angry dems are having a field day as real corruption knows -- goes untouched." he followed that up with a tweet quoting senator lindsey graham saying "every president deserves and attorney general they have confidence in. these are not lifetime appointments, you serve at the pleasure of the president. " these tweets followed a series of tweets last week with the president venting concern about the attorney general. the last time we heard from attorney general jeff sessions was via a statement thursday in which he responded to a few of earlier tweets pre-to the president saying "while i am attorney general, the department of the justice will not be improperly influenced by -- where they are not met, i take higher action.

i am proud to serve with them and proud of the work we have done and -- in successfully advancing the role of law." i was the statement from thursday in the afternoon from the attorney general's office. some republican lawmakers and even some democratic lawmakers rallying around the attorney general. here is one of those members of the senate. jeff blake from -- jeff flake from arizona yesterday on "meet the press." [video clip] >> there may be isolated voices the president saying he is about the fire. as a body, we are saying please don't. he serves at the pleasure of the president, we know that. i think it would be a mistake for the president to fire him now. >> what kind of repercussions do you think there should be if he does this? >> the concern is that that

would be the first domino to fall than what happens with rod rosenstein and bob mueller. i think firing jeff sessions would concern us all that that is the first domino. i frankly think the president will hold off. ofhas made these kind statements before and then pulled back. host: here is a few more tweets concerning this issue from members over recent days. senator thom tillis from north carolina. "i worked with jeff sessions for two years and he is one of the most decent and honorable people i know. he has led the doj with integrity and is committed to defending the rule of law without a little bias or partiality." "it seemshris murphy, to be two storylines emerging, trump getting more serious about firing sessions and mueller and turning the doj into the law

enforcement arm for his political grudges and congressional republicans getting more serious about letting him get away with it." and more from jackie spear of california saying "the president doesn't get it, the attorney general works for the american people, he is not the president's attorney. the ag's allegiance and authority -- loyalty is to the constitution. i never thought i would be defending jeff sessions, but i am." we will show you more reactions from members of congress as this issue has emerged in the spotlight. should jeff sessions remain attorney general? it is 202-748-8001 if you are a republican. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. and that special line for members of law enforcement, 202-748-8003. we will get right to it. david is in springfield, missouri, a democrat. go ahead. caller: yes, i want to say thanks to c-span all of these

years. you are one of the few moderate voices out of washington. i want to support jeff sessions and i commend him for being able to stand up to this. i want to try to be as nice as i can be. this president that has no idea what he is doing. i think the best thing that could happen is a couple two or three prominent republicans would do with him exactly what barry goldwater and different once did as far as richard nixon . i think everything that has been disrupted so much by this president is shown exactly how he treats jeff sessions. i feel for the guy. i don't want to say i feel sorry for him. i just think he is a good human being in his heart and that is what i wanted to say. host: did you support jeff

sessions to be attorney general when that pic was announced -- pick was announced? caller: i really didn't think about it. i think he has a more moderate tone in the way he has handled things may be than being quite as much on the right as he was as a senator. he is old school, trying to do the right thing almost in the spirit of what john mccain was isjust trying to say, this getting out of hand, i am the head of law enforcement in this country and the president needs to slow down some of this rhetoric and i think he feels like he is cornered, and he is. host: that is david in missouri. sandra is a republican in alabama. go ahead. i wished he would please

step down right now and let the president get someone in there who can uncover this about the top fbi and what they have done, what the democratic party has done. i watch this all the time and get them mixed up. they were over there at computers. there is so much going on and they try to cover up by blaming our president. support jeff sessions when he was appointed attorney general? how do you feel about him as someone from alabama? always voted for jeff sessions free to is what i mean, he has so disappointed me. the man that is in charge now is part of the problem. they need to listen to fox news sometimes, i guess. there are two reporters who have been recovering it for the last

6 months. if they would just listen to that and not just hillary, but the whole admiral -- the whole of obama administration. when it is uncovered, everyone will owe our president a big apology. host: to darrell in new jersey, and democrat. caller: i found that last call frightening, especially the part about the government needs to listen more to fox news to determine what the fate of jeff sessions should be. and is actually frightening it says a lot about what is happening in this country. i do not agree with jeff sessions on most things politically, but i think the only reason he is catching fire from donald trump right now is because of this russia investigation and because the investigation is getting too close to the president.

if it weren't for this investigation, he would be singing jeff sessions' praises to the heavens. this berating and threats to get rid of jeff sessions and rosenstein and the rest is all about obstruction of justice and abuse of power. this president is only concerned with protecting his own neck and he wants jeff sessions to serve as his attorney general -- attorney and that is not his job. i prefer the attorney general have this streak of independence regardless of who is in power. host: to mary in virginia. an independent. go ahead. caller: yes, i was calling to say i love c-span. i was born in dca grew up. and thank you for your objectives and balanced viewpoints and everything. it is not a personal thing about jeff sessions, it is a question

about the prosecutorial discretion and how i feel like who gets brought to trial is really a question as much as once the trial begins and that is why i think americans -- what i think americans are having so much difficulty with. host: who would you like to see brought to trial? caller: there are all kinds of people that -- for instance, manafort was brought to trial on things for i feel a lot of think a lot of people feel other people may have done. tax evasion has nothing to do with the whole purpose of the mueller investigation. i know of people that clients are now calling their tax attorney saying are we now in trouble. do you know what i mean? host: who should jeff sessions be focusing his attention on or what issues would you like to see him focus more attention on?

caller: well, i would like him and the justice apartment in general. i don't think it is him, but maybe he will hear this. not just friends of trump. i agree trump and his to corum and his role model is not a good example for a lot of people, but i feel like friends of trump are under a microscope so much more than others. all should be brought to justice. with this prosecutorial discretion, there's a lot of liberal decisions being made. there used to be friends of bill and now there is friends of trump and it's kind of like an opposite thing. i know we are all thinking -- working and i am more positive than most, i don't think we have such a polarized country. i think we are still expressing all of our views and because of living in washington, there are so many good people working and i hope we can remember that. host: mary, appreciate the call

from virginia. we showed you jeff sessions' statement he put out thursday afternoon and you probably saw president trump's tweets responding to the statement. quoting jeff sessions saying the department of justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations. he wrote "of this is great, look into all corruption from the other side including deleted leaks, comey lies and the phony and corrupt dossier, illegal surveillance of trump campaign, russian collusion, and so much more. open up papers and documents without redaction. you can do it, the country is waiting." the president ray tweeting that criticism over the weekend, originally with those tweets after jeff sessions' original statements. we noted the president quoting lindsey graham's interview on fox news about jeff sessions.

here is what lindsey graham had to say amid mounting concern about whether president trump would fire jeff sessions. [video clip] >> that the president and the attorney do not have a great relationship. every president deserves an attorney general they have confidence in. i think he has been a good attorney general, but this is not working. i hope the relationship gets better. if it doesn't, i would imagine the president is going to look for a new attorney general. what is going on is unsustainable. i am not blaming anybody, i love jeff sessions. the country is not being well served. >> you said there would be "holy hell" to pay if jeff sessions was fired. >> when jeff recused himself, which i think he should have, any lawyer would have done what jeff sessions did.

he was part of the campaign. you cannot oversee an investigation for a campaign you were a part of. >> why doesn't the president get that? >> i don't know. president is not a lawyer and he thinks this is a witchhunt. jeff did the right thing legally, but mueller is deep into the investigation and the conflict is well beyond mueller and recusal. there is not a good, healthy working relationship from what i can tell and for the good of the nation, i think we need an attorney general that has the confidence of the president and i am not blaming jeff sessions. there is no finer man. at that yet be of the day, there are plenty of conservative judges and lawyers that i think can do this job and get somebody confirmed. if he does confirm jeff sessions, the burden will be on the president to pick a highly qualified somebody who believes in the rule of law, give mueller the space to finish his investigation. i say this with a heavy heart

because i was a proponent of jeff sessions, it seems the relationship is unsustainable. host: taking your calls on the "washington journal" should jeff sessions remain as attorney general? republicans, democrats, and independents phone lines as usual and a special phone line for members of law enforcement. we would like to hear your thoughts. is that number. we will be having this conversation for this first hour of the washington journal -- of the "washington journal" today. we mentioned the schedule be released for memorial services to honor the late senator john mccain. he just wanted to run through that schedule and show you some of the attributes in the papers today continuing on the editorial pages and several stories talking about the life of the late senator john mccain. on wednesday, senator mccain will lie in state in the arizona state capitol.

on thursday, a memorial service will be held at the north phoenix baptist church in arizona. on friday, senator mccain will lie in state at the u.s. capitol in a ceremony honoring his life on friday as well. on saturday, a memorial service --the national water national washington cathedral and on sunday, a private memorial service for senator mccain will take place at the u.s. naval academy in the chapel in annapolis. there will be a private burial ceremony at the naval academy same -- cemetery. stay tuned for all our coverage of the events and memorial tributes for senator mccain. you can see the tribute this morning. at flag of the united states half staff over the u.s. capitol . it came down on saturday after the death of late senator mccain . some stories about what happens to senator mccain's senate seat.

this from the washington -- the "washington times," governor ducey will make the appointment. replacements must be of the same party and mr. mccain, republican, will be followed by a republican in that office. the vacancy happened amid a 6 -year term, so the replacement will serve through the end of 2020. the seat will be on the ballot in november of that year and a winner what is served the final two years of senator mccain's term, what would have been his 6th term. the winner what it serve until 2022. back to your phone calls this morning. the question we asked, should jeff sessions remain as attorney general. taking your calls throughout this first hour.

online for republicans, democrats, independents, and a special line for law enforcement. john in virginia. i don't think jeff sessions should be able to return attorney general because and amitted treason president who committed treason should not be able to put an attorney general in position like that. host: what about the rest of president trump's cabinet? caller: everyone should be removed. this is literally what they like to call a constitutional crisis. we have a president who committed treason to obtain the white house and we have never faced anything like this before. and what to say we do from here, i don't know. maybe a recall election, but something needs to be done to remove everything about somebody

who committed treason in the white house. we need to have him removed and anybody who is sworn to uphold the constitution that is in elected office or any position of power needs to ask themselves why they are not acting. host: to diane in pennsylvania, republican. go -- good morning. caller: in response to that last caller. all the democrats have to do if they want to replace trump is when an election. on jeff sessions, i feel like the obama administration corrupted our government at the highest levels of the intel, justice, state departments and if jeff sessions doesn't feel they need to investigate those things, i think trump has the right to expect someone who does. these people serve at his pleasure. as far as i am concerned, whoever he chooses, it is his right to pick. thank you very much. host: racial in -- rachel in

north carolina, go ahead. caller: i think it is really table how donald trump -- terrible how donald trump has treated jeff sessions. the problem is him being greatly influenced by someone like whoosa, the negro woman pushed her way into the white house. -- it is a long subject, but i feel sorry for jeff sessions having to be attorney general for donald trump. host: before you go, explain your point about omarosa a little bit more. i don't quite understand. we lost rachel. keith in massachusetts, republican. go ahead. caller: good morning. with all the millions of spending on this investigation, --re hasn't been one word of

yet. manafort did not even justified. if it was hillary, they would lawyer'sbreached her doors and they took over attorney-client thing and all that. go right into the lawyers offices. sessions is too weak. -- listen, you are doing a russia investigation, update something. they have to finish this up because they could go up to 1000 people that could testify against trump. it is frustrating. sessions can go. host: a few tweets as we have been having this conversation. "jeff sessions had no choice but to recuse himself. he was part of the campaign being investigated. "

this the same jeff sessions every democrat on the timeline hated and called a racist, the one they are praising now?" helen writes "jeff sessions should either step down or step up to do the job." "of the attorney general was appointed by trump because the -- the president believes the ag is there to protect him. sessions knows his job is to work for the american people." you can follow the conversation every morning at @cspanwj. linda, a democrat. go ahead. think graham said it sessionsainable having , the unsustainable act is that we have a president who cannot retain. cabinet he can everyone has a problem. i think the problem is with him and i think the problem is the .ead needs to be cut off

that is the way, the tale follows the head and the head is wrong here. host: nancy, farmington, michigan. a democrat. good morning. caller: hello? host: go ahead, nancy. caller: hi. i wanted to speak kind of a sidebar about sessions and the republican -- i hate to call it the trump administration. it is a republican administration. own it, you guys, you bought him. law enforcement and how they are knocking down and politicizing the men and women who work for them. , their primary function and motivation is to find the bad guys. that is all they want to do is find bad guys. they are not political at all. since they are five years old they learned cops and robbers

and they want to catch that guy and they don't care who that guy is. it is nothing political about this, you people. they have a goal in like -- in life to catch bad guys. , florida, independent. go ahead. caller: good morning, john. some of the callers. i don't know what country they are living in, but law enforcement is supposed to be equal for everybody. sessions should go. i am going to write president a letter today. i think he ought to upright -- a point greg gerrit. he wrote the book about who the real criminals and corruption is in the government. we can't get over the election, trump is bad, without a shred of evidence they are calling

treasonous. if you want to look at treason, look at that stuff all these people in the doj and the fbi and everything that has been exposed in the news. the next attorney general needs to get a second prosecutor and do the other half of this investigation. that is what is making everybody so angry. they don't give a whit about anything going on with all the thecratic operatives and people have to remember, it is not republicans and democrats fighting an ideological battle. this is the establishment versus the people and we need somebody like greg jarrett, somebody smart on the facts who will get in there and do his job. host: have you ever ridden the president a letter before and why this time? we lost the caller. steve in michigan, republican, go ahead. steve, are you with us this morning? we will go to frank in new york, independent. good morning. caller: good morning.

it is ironic how lindsey graham he should out and say fire jeff sessions. it makes me wonder if lindsey graham is connected to any corruption, too. when people speak out against -- and order and take the word of criminals that are running up and down the white house. we all know they are criminals. even the white house -- president talks like a mob boss. oil toss my ring, speak me. ,hese republican people, man they just have no loyalty in .his country at all

get their toys and trinkets so they can wallow in the mud. host: frank, got your point in new york. you were talking about lindsey graham's comments. certainly not the only senator who has weighed in. se spokes -- ben sas about this issue in a came up last week amid the twitter comments president trump was making. [video clip] >> the attorney general is a man who win he served in his body, would have policy disputes with all 99 of us. there are a bunch of issues where i agree with jeff sessions on policy and there are issues where i just -- where i disagree with jeff sessions on policy. i think everybody in this body knows that jeff sessions has

been executing his job in a way of office, his oath to the constitution, and defending the rule of law. i think his statement today that the u.s. department of justice is filled with honorable, dispassionate, career prosecutors who execute their jobs in ways the american people should be proud of is indisputably true. what he said is something that basically everybody in this body knows and agrees with and yet, bazaar lee, there are people -- bizarrely, there are people talking like the attorney general should be fired. i am not sure how to interpret these comments. as a member of the judiciary committee and a member of this body, i find it really difficult to envision any circumstance where i would vote to confirm a successor to jeff sessions if he is fired because he is executing his job rather than choosing to act as a partisan hack.

i think everybody in this body doing his sessions is job honorably and the attorney general of the united states should not be fired for acting honorably and for being faithful to the rule of law. host: that was senator ben sasse last week from the floor of the senate. should jeff sessions remain as attorney general? phone lines, republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents. 202-748-8002. we have that special line for members of law enforcement, 202-748-8003. as you continue to call in in this first segment of the washington journal, a few other stories to keep you updated on including the latest mass shooting taking place in jacksonville, florida. a story from the washington times. a madden videogame tournament erupted into a mess shooting.

shooting. two were injured in the gaming room -- sheriff mike willimas said there were individuals at the scene and -- three deceased individuals at the scene. the gunman was identified as david katz of baltimore. eyewitnesses told news outlets the shooter was disgruntled about his defeat at the tournament taking place in jacksonville. one other story to let you know about in political news, a topic we have been following for a while now, democrats resolved one of the thorniest internal rifts of the 2016 campaign by using the cloud of party insiders and elected officials in picking the next presidential nominee. the democratic national committee voted to strip from superdelegates the right to vote

on the first presidential ballot at the party's national convention. the issue of superdelegates was an issue for bernie sanders during his 2016 presidential campaign. the wall street journal quoting bernie sanders on saturday calling it an important step forward in making the democratic party more open. democratic and responsive to the input of ordinary americans. the story noting if the first presidential ballot doesn't produce a nominee under these new rules, superdelegates would then the allowed to vote on subsequent ballots. that story happening over the weekend. wanted to make sure you knew the outcome of that vote. margie has been waiting in philly, line for democrats. your thoughts on jeff sessions and whether he should remain attorney general? caller: yes, he should remain attorney general. he lied to three

times to the senate when he did not know anything about the russian -- people meeting with the trump administration. if trump fires him, i hope mueller calls him into testify and i hope sessions would go to -- tell the truth. i have one other question, if you could look into -- i saw it on france 24 news the other day, that trump went to court to try to get the court to give him -- fire anyo file workers he chooses to fire and the court said no. could you look into that? host: i believe i do have a story on that in this pile of papers. i will pull that out for you. peggy in washington, go ahead. caller: i don't think he should fire jeff sessions. i think it is a political move so he can get rid of mueller host:. host:how do you think this plays out? caller: well, i don't know.

we are going to see. as far as i can see, jeff sessions is doing his job except with a connection to mueller and i think he should be left alone. he picked him, so he should let him finish up his term. host: frank is in washington, a democrat. go ahead. inler: my father was born montgomery, alabama, the age of jeff sessions. my name is frank russell and as i live in washington, whose governor shares the same initial as the ag, i think he should remain is office so as not to and there's the governor of the evergreen state -- not to embarrass the governor of the evergreen state. infather was born

montgomery, alabama is not as bad as they associate jeff sessions. associate human character with one person, i don't think. thank you, john, good morning. turn a reminder to please down your televisions when you call in. it is easier to hear you that way. you can just talk through the phone. let's go to alabama, a republican in alabama. your thoughts on that last call or on jeff sessions? caller: it is political because anything that president wants, the democrats are against. even firing jeff sessions. last year he was a racist. democrats it did not like jeff sessions and now all of a sudden he is the greatest guy in the world.

whatever the president wants, the democrats are against. that is my thoughts. host: i did want to show you that story about federal union workers. this is a story from the "washington post" over the weekend. unions representing several workers over the weekend declared victory in what they have described as an assault by the trump administration. after the federal drudge struck down -- federal judge struck -- they provisions ruling by the district judge was a setback for the white house's unions.to rein in even private sector unions are in decline. the general counsel for the american federation of government employees called it a big win. the afg and the other plaintiffs new rules issued

before memorial day and had begun to take effect in several agencies. more reporting on that in the "washington post." tommy is in tennessee. a democrat. go ahead. caller: i like -- think jeff sessions should stay in office. jobsd one of trump's dirty i think if he gets rid of sessions, you have to get rid of everybody else in the white house. thank you. host: henry is in new york city. an independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to say i despise jeff sessions for his racist background and the way in which he conducted himself in the senate and on the campaign trail and for his lies before the committees and looking into the russia thing. i don't think he should be fired

theuse in handling rosenstein situation and the mueller situation, he has acted .onorably and within the law -- ihat, i gave him praise give him praise and i think he should remain and i want mr. trump to keep his hands off the attorney general's office. host: if the president doesn't keep his hands off that office and does fire jeff sessions in the next several weeks or months before the election, what do you think happens? like to see that anin the process of impeachment for behavior on the part of the president which is clearly on his own behalf, not on our behalf. not on behalf of the american people. not on behalf of justice and the rule of law, but in his

continuing ways to protect himself, his cohorts, his co-conspirators, and his betrayal of the trust the american people put in him by electing him. i feel this president is incompetent to a point that attorney general at this self andpoint and also grand eyes in -- aggrandizing, not in the interest of us. some of a column in the "washington post" put out last week. he stated in part this idea of firing jeff sessions. if president trump had an attorney general that did what suggest what he should do -- the faith in the doj would be shattered and if trump would ever stop and think,

he would realize he will need a credible justice department to possibly vindicate him and save his presidency. at rogers from last week in the "washington post." stewart in st. petersburg, florida, republican. go ahead. caller: good morning. i think everyone who thinks sessions should go should realize the attorney general is not a yes-man for the president to do what he wants to do. we already had that under the obama administration with our last attorney general. people should wake up, let this man do his job. if trump gets rid of him, i agree this should start the ground for impeachment. i don't want to see that. host: what do you like that he is doing? what do you think he is doing well? caller: he is standing up for law enforcement in the way he is conducting the rules of law for our government. there is not just one, there are

several things he has done. say, not a yes man to trump, we will do it your way. we have to follow the rule of law. we cannot say the president wants this done, we should do it. , an opinioncom piece, the headline on that inttorney general sessions' s of being the president's fixer." greg is in connecticut, independent. go ahead. caller: how are you doing? i am not really an independent, partyted my own political . i just want to make a comment on a few things like the commercial about where there was another mass shooting. there should be a federal law that anyone who does a mass

shooting should be killed. they should be shot and killed because they are being terrorists. jeff sessionsto and the conversation we are having at this hour. caller: i wrote him twice without any response. i wrote the president a few times, too. they want to have all the power that they muster up. that is fine, but the main thing is all police officers and troopers in the whole country of the united states should be andomly drug tested and only handful of police stations are being manned. police should be readily drug tested to make sure they are operating under the proper state of mind while on duty. i appreciate your time. thank you very much. host: what is the common sense party about? common sense.

common sense like in connecticut. ,f you are not a u.s. citizen they are still able to get a license. that is not common sense. giving someone a federal id when they are not even a citizen, that doesn't make too much sense. host: how many people have signed up for your common sense party? caller: non. i had 100 60. votes my first run out there. host: what did you run for? caller: iran for town council. -- i ran for town council. host: are you going to vote again? caller: yes, i think this time i will go for state representatives. beyers should not representatives. you can have lawyers make laws,

that seems like a conflict of interest. everyone in the senate or any political parties, 80% of them are lawyers. i don't think that is correct because that is a conflict of interest. host: what is your day job? caller: i landscape. host: i appreciate the call from connecticut. ken is in montana, a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i disagree with jeff sessions on almost everything. i think he is a despicable cody toady for trump. it trump should be aware that two things could happen. i think that sessions, if you to replacesions, him, it would be difficult to get through the senate and

secondly, you better be careful of what you wish for when you remove one of the toadies of your government. that is about the end of my comment. host: kevin in indiana, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say when sessions first got in there, the democrats wanted him out and now they are saying trump wants him out. it doesn't matter what this president does, the mainstream media and anybody that is against him is going to make him look bad. he can fire him or not fire him, it is not going to matter. , 1, they are not going to impeach him. good luck with that. ok? i don't think you guys realize in the big cities in the midwest what we are capable of and willing to do if you get rid of

our president. host: what do you mean by that, kevin? caller: it means we won't just watch you guys in the city march. you will have marches in cornfields, the heart of the country. that is what i mean. the media is totally missing the whole point of impeachment. a revolution, right? sometimes the government has to cause the revolution. it doesn't matter if jeff theions gets fired or not, core a reality for the world is america is always great and freedom, right? the news never talks about the freedoms of other countries, you know? you don't hear about it. the internet, social media,

people are aware of what is going on around the world, you know? president that this that we have today is everybody's problem. everybody wants to blame him for everyone that has -- everything that has already been going on for 30 years, you know? -- howot like it is a can i say it? if you get rid of the people's president, the average joe's president, we are not lawyers, not doctors, not the smartest people on the planet, but we like our freedoms and our constitution, and if you want to take that away from us, we voted trump in for that, not because he was a good person. we voted him in for believing in the constitution. that is why jeff sessions is attorney general. attorney got this

general meeting on the tarmac of an airplane to tell them, make sure this gets slipped under the rug so my wife can run for president. host: that is kevin in indiana. michael in north carolina, democrat. good morning. we will work on that line for you while we go to bill in michigan. republican. go ahead. caller: good morning, america. i would like to say jeff sessions has to go. i believe the man is a coward. i have been called racist since i was eight years old. host: why have you been called racist? caller: just being white in detroit. you grow up there and you know what you are, you are called every name in the book and you are the evil of the world. we just keep working.

when you do your phone numbers, we need to know are you a working man, working for the government or collecting welfare, that is what the phone lines should tell us. this is the first time i get a monday off to listen to you guys. my wife tells me a lot about you. now i see it. you need to go for the working man working for the government and the welfare. then we will know what people are talking about host:. what kind of work do you do and when is your next shift? caller: i retired from general motors in 2008 when the government bought them, i had 32 years and i thought, i better get out because i could see the illegal -- how they stole people's money to invest in the company and i am working in construction in detroit every day where i have been working every day, the city of detroit.

good people, but there are those that want to say you are white, you are racist. host: what do you say to those comments when you he or them? i have been doing it a long time so i kind of laugh at them and say, my wife calls me worse names, you will have to do better than that. host: that is bill in the detroit area. glenn is in tallahassee, a republican. good morning. caller: hey, john. thanks for the opportunity to talk on c-span and let me mute this. i agree with the last couple of callers. i worked for the government for theears and i have been in swamp and i can see it. asfar as the rule of law democrats keep spouting off about -- let me tell you, is it

the rule of law that when you investigate you pick 15 or 16 democrats who have contributed to the democrat liberal party? do you pick that -- is that equal treatment under the law? and you think they are going to be fair-minded and not politically inclined? is primeto me that witchhunthat it is a to a great extent and it is about time the people of the got rid ofe up and the people that had been in isrge like jeff sessions part of the swamp himself, in my opinion because he is nothing but a politician and he has got so many buddies now in the

swamp. host: were you disappointed when jeff sessions was appointed to attorney general? caller: no, i had hopes he would .e a fair-minded person the swamp leaders are in the department of justice and the fbi -- to do what they want to do and they are democrats. they are republicans. apparently most of them have been democrats from the way they have been prosecuting republicans and investigating republicans. they are certainly not investigating hillary, are they? -- iy of the democrats can't name them all because there are so many of them. host: that is glenn in florida. just a few minutes left on this -- in this segment, getting your

thoughts on attorney general jeff sessions. whether you think he should stay at that post or whether president trump should fire him. today, something to watch out for, the potential announcement of at least a bilateral between the united states and mexico when it comes customization of the north american free trade agreement. ise wall street journal" reporting disagreements have posed a major hurdle to the renegotiation of the agreement, which was a campaign promise of president trump. some officials say negotiators may need a week of talks with canada, who has not been included in recent i lateral discussions, before a full agreement can be completed. one other story getting a lot of attention on the front page of the "washington post" today

stemming from president trump's tweets in the wake of the death of senator john mccain. president trump issuing a statement "praise the life and heroism of senator mccain, telling aides he preferred to post a tweet the 4 -- " test -- press secretary sarah huckabee sanders and chief of staff john kelly and others advocated for an official statement. that original statement, according to the "washington post" was drafted for mccain died and sanders and others edited a final by this weekend, but trump told aides he wanted

to tweet a brief statement instead. mike in ashburn, virginia. independent, good morning. caller: good morning. first, i want to say mccain was man, did not great like everything he did, but he loved this country more than most. that all want to say these calls about what we are going to do when donald trump is impeached. i am in the military and i would love to put a riot or whatever and it will not take long. before some old people get out of the way, this country will continue to divide. the guy that said he has always been called a racist, there must be something he is doing or said or it will not be called a racist just because you are a white -- you are white. said they always

called him a racist, i think it is probably something he said or something he has done. host: why are you more hopeful about the next generation than the current generation of leadership? caller: if you look at the generation we are currently in now, the older folks, they are easy to track and easy to fool and they will tell you they are christian and got hired. hiald trump, god doesn't re devils. he told us he will pick the best people. he is the king of the swamp and he is going to be one of the richest men in the country when he leaves office and we will be trillions of dollars in debt because of the old people that continue supporting and talking about they are christians. their kids would not even follow

them to church. host: to mark, independent, jackson, tennessee. good morning. caller: hey, hello? host: go ahead. caller: i am a veteran of the marine corps, 10 year veteran of the marine corps and ex-law officer and i am going to make a comment about the caller from montana who talked about despicable. these people are despicable. donald trump is despicable. swamp people is the right term. look here. donald trump should not have gotten elected based on the comments he made on john mccain being captured alone before the election. what donald trump wanted was a yes man and jeff sessions was willing to be that yes man. the only thing is, he did not know donald trump was going to drag him through the swamp.

donald trump, because that is who he is. he wanted to hire all the best people for him. that is what he wanted. now jeff sessions is in there and the reason he has not gotten fired is because he has the backing of the senate. he should remain. he should remain right now because he is actually helping this country right now. that is all i have to say. in california, democrat. good morning. thank you. first and foremost, my thoughts and prayers go out to john mccain and his wife and their family. i think the last 10 or 12 male callers, with the exception of one, failed to mention the man's name. i have grown tired of primarily

white people making excuses for other white people's crimes and behaviors. jeff sessions has nothing to say about every white terrorist who commits mass and they are primarily white. i cannot think caller: i knew right off the bat, it was a white boy. a white man, what person. nobody speaks that. there always thinking of black and brown people who are still the minority at this point or it they never look in the mirror at themselves. nothing about all of the black men, primarily black men, that have been shot unarmed, mining -- minding their business. there have been too -- at of a hundred last three years, shooting by law enforcement. host: the want of the jeff sessions go question mark and if

so, what happens with his replacement? caller: none of them care what happened to black and brown people. president trump appointed all of these people. -- it is notat put like the democrats put sessions in there. he appointed all of these people. our last caller on this first segment of the washington journal, up next, we will be joined by democratic consultant liz chatterton and republican consultant -- bird for a roundtable consult -- discussion . 70 days to go until election 2018. later in our weekly segment, we talked to greta goodwin at the government accountability office at the cost of incarceration immigrants. we will be right back.

>> tonight, the impact of robots and artificial intelligence on society and business. with manhattan institute senior fellow, mark mills. >> our current artificial intelligence is in the cloud. kind of like a model t's. they are pretty good third they are viable. they are useful. they are open to the air. 1918, they publish a future of the car. one of the forecasters believed they could be fully enclosed and weatherproof. the model t is not so great. but it started the car age. that is where we are with artificial intelligence. we're in the beginning. robott comes to c-3po, a --a general computer, >> watch the communicators at

eight eastern. us for book tv's less coverage of the 18th annual library of congress national book festival. saturday, starting at 10 a.m. eastern third our coverage includes collins from our set of the washington convention center with pulitzer prize winning biographer, the soul of america, the battle for better angels. pulitzer prize winning historian -- leadership in turbulent times. book, grand. fox news news post brian to meet with his book andrew jackson. the battle that shaped americans destiny. wash the 18th annual library of congress national book festival, lives on c-span2 tv, saturday at 10 a.m. eastern.

on tuesday, and wednesday, a special edition of american history tv on c-span3. with live coverage of the white house historical association presidential site summit, left courage may well at hertel and washington, d.c. starts at 9 a.m. eastern both days. eastern,t 9 a.m. jeffrey engel, richard norton smith, jeffrey rosen, and -- roberts. at 12:30 p.m. eastern, former white house executive pastry chef. wednesday at 9 a.m. eastern, mike mccurry. richard benedetto, kenneth walsh heard susan page, and john meacham. presidential storytelling. l 12:30 p.m., historian and author william seale. the white house historical association presidential site summit, live coverage tuesday and wednesday on c-span3. >> washington journal continues.

host: the next are on the washington journal, we'll take a look at the 2018 midterm elections. how they are shaping up in the sprint to election 2018. we are 70 days away at this point. we joined by liz chatterton. and better and republican consultant, philip --. we are glad to have you both with us. before return to election 2018, i want to focus for a minute on john mccain. your thoughts on the legacy that he will have on that building behind us and your thoughts on the days ahead. a enormousmccain has legacy in the sense that hold onto what he believes in principle, everything that every voter is frustrated with, and government, is what mccain was the opposite of. he helped the principles even though it was not popular. caller: he ruffled a lot of

feathers on both sets of the aisle. guest: his legacy is huge. i remember in 2000, i worked on dan coats presidential campaign. mccain's presidential campaign, it was to block away from arizona. it is to present a campaigns in arizona. no one gave either one of us a chance. we have a chance on his campaign of the time. eventually, i was moved to the bush campaign. i had to see making -- mccain's campaign. it was fascinating bird from a campaign perspective, one of the most unbelievable time -- primary elections. host: heavier work on a campaign against john mccain? guest: i saw them in a grocery store a couple years ago here in the d.c. area. i recognized him. he is a very humble man. i thought that john mccain. i want up to him and i said sir thank you for your service. he cannot have been a kinder, nicer person. i was just a stranger in a grocery store.

he really struck me as someone who is genuinely humbled. with a who really served sense of service as opposed to what this will do for me. he was very dedicated to this country, regardless of partisanship. he will be missed. in the u.s. senate. i know i logical people that worked for him and they all said that he always took everybody's advice. position, heto spent months, sometimes years, studying a certain position and asking everyone that was smart what they thought of that particular position. he was open to learning, open to figure not for himself. what he did, he stuck on his principle. host: that someone that you find enough of? guest: now. guest: not even close. your who want to learn thoughts 70 days ahead of election 2018. we are about to enter the post

labor day sprint heard do democrats have a went to their backs? or is there a way that president trump has promised starting to form? guest: i am certain there is a strong went at the democrats back to there is a big blue wave coming. what do i know? i do not have a crystal ball that have been looking at a lot pulling read i do a lot of work in the state of virginia and -- in their state elections. was first. i think we will see a lot of congressional picked up on the democratic side. the senate is a lot more comic it. i believe will take the house back. i think the question is, do win by five feet or 25 seats. we are 70 days out. the october surprise is always a thing. who knows? i will tell you in my 20 years of political consulting, i have never seen it numbers like i am seeing right now on the

democratic side. i am here to predict a good night for us in november. host: when numbers are you looking at? a pull out from the wall street journal says that job approval rating remains stable amid the criminal conviction and guilty pleas. his performance office was approved by 45% the last in the wall street journal did that it was 46%. not much changed their after a political week there in washington. what number should we be looking at? guest: trump approval is crucial to understand how turnout will be on the democratic republic inside. that is a national number at 44. is the respect to the wall street journal. the real key is to look at it by congressional district. anywhere the president is under 40, that is bad news in my opinion for any republican in that state are in that district. as you go around the country and you are looking at, for

instance, california. 5, 6, congressional seats. he is way under 40 in those districts. that is really hard for a republican incumbent, whether the distant themselves from trump himself, to overcome. two other numbers from polling. said democrats. 42% said republicans. democrats also have an edge in voter level interest. interestss in high compared to just 52% for pelican. -- republican. guest: when you look at these polls, they are pulling at registered voters and educating people who want to understand how this works. we are pulling in these districts, likely voters heard in the congressional races now, we are seeking high motivation on the democratic side. more motivated than we are seeing the republican side. paradigm shift in politics. anything to change. days,e last 60 or 70

there, we are planning a lot of defense. on most every -- is on the republican side with the congressional. on the senate side, there are six races that republicans are on offense and to take over seats. in the senate races, there are four democratic races that are on offense. we have more of an advantage on the senate side which means that we keep the senate. the houses of in the air. i would say, the overwhelming evidence now, will lose the majority. can dig into any of those races that the viewers might be interested in. as a look ahead at the election (202)republicans, 748-8001. democrats (202) 748-8000 independence (202) 748-8002 -- the crater group in

washington. that group,under of also the author of the book fire that now, the seven lies digital marketers sell. we could talk about that book as well, taking your calls, you can start calling now. president trump has said that he'll be on the campaign trail as much as he possibly can, heading into november. is that good news for democrats? guest: it depends on where he is. when you look at states like california, oregon, even in arizona, although arizona will now be an interesting question, looking over on the east coast, you'll get at virginia, certainly new jersey, places i would send president trump. data and the south, in the midwest, places like iowa. so fascinating.

2016, he doespet not look so good. so, i think it depends. it is hard to call in all honesty for the republicans. do they send trump to wisconsin, where he increases democratic turnout? but held the paul ryan with congressional --. it will be slicing with a scalpel for the republicans. you're putting together his travel schedule, where are you sending him? guest: qqq many south. districts were his approval is high. state-by-state, ever but is going to differ. the bige if you go to senate races were republicans held bycan take seats democrats. i will look at indiana.

certain pockets of florida. and also into indiana. you mentioned florida, what you -- what we be watching? host: i am a florida resident. as far as the congressional race is, the governor race is the most fascinating third or happens between -- and adam putnam, and the democratic governors races is just as fascinating. win theeavy favorite to general election but tangible out of the primary. host: will you be watching for it for afford and arizona? guest: arizona has gotten super interesting. we all mourn the passing of senator mccain, over the next two days, will start to see a shift from morning and praise into the next phase. frankly, politics, who gets appointed to that seat as we face a huge supreme court

nomination. every republican senator will be important to that. i think, all of a sudden, things get more interesting. i don't think it will affect the primary tomorrow, i am curious what governor -- is going to do as you move forward in the next week or so in terms of a appointment to senator mccain's open seat. what am i looking for? increased impact turnout because that is will you seen all over the country. michigan, 93% turnout increase from 2016. unbelievable democratic turnout in his primaries. that is while the cute my eyes out. is this trend going to continue? host: frank is in alabama, a democrat. caller: i am not truly a democrats. to 2020 andskip talk to -- issue because november, itens in

will be significant in 2020. sustenance dass -- sessions as leaving. person thatof the will run, had he you look at that. be 12 main dollars talking about how -- voted for jones alabama, but it was taxed towards a million. then possibly be exposed as a pledge -- the whole 60 c. going from the upcoming election. could you speak a little to that? guest: established he knows more about alabama than i do. it is interesting to see jeff sessions, he is one of the most interesting people in washington now. will he leave after the 18 midterm? i am surprised he is there as of now.

could you go back to alabama and run? yes. could he win? possibly. the time that we live in, i am not going to predict anything past november 6. not in his current environment. guest: i grew up in alabama and i was having lunch with a former sessions eight. he said sessions really wants to see his full term served out. he preferred to go for years. i don't know it says is on the table after the election. i really believe doug jones was dead on arrival. kobach two sessions, what happened if trumpet moves to fire jeff sessions. he will honorably step down, and i believe he will retire. host: how will the senate react? guest: i just appeared there are so many variables.

there is nobody that supports the president more than sessions did in the campaign. when he went up to his hearing for confirmation, he was riddled by democrats as being the devil. now that there is conflict that they have his back, it will be interesting to see how it plays out. sessions will either be gone after the midterms or he will start for four years. host: democrat, good morning. a pro-life, what frustrates me tragic swing to my -- whyn white it is ok it is ok for the president to get away with things, what frustrates me is how friends and neighbors in the bush era -- for the christian values. today they say it is the case payout pawn stars.

i think a lot of people are concerned with christian conservative values, they will ,tay home this november because -- forot ok for them trump to all of those things and vote for him. guest: that contradicts their values. 20 years ago, we are in the midst of a huge impeachment fight and republicans -- character matters. and the roles are sort of reverse now. side, --lly democratic on the side of donald trump. we are all about would jersey we are wearing right now. whether if it is the home team or a waiting period we cheer for jerseys not players. we are in a disruptive moment in

history. i think the voters, whether it is left or right, are saying maybe, with the old paradigm in the old way we used to believe and fight, and fight for the issues, that is changing. people have been becoming more libertarian, whether it is on the left are on the right. they're doing the same thing they have always done. run ono advise them to the issue of impeachment? that they would impeach president trump? guest: the truth is, and i think it is -- on c-span, no. i would not tell them to talk about impeachment. number one, we have not one yet. number two, we are way for a way from deciding whether or not we want to do as a nation. i cannot believe, you are right. 20 years ago, we are a similar impeachment fight. truthfully, if you are going to pull that trigger, you have to

have absolute proof. just be able to go in as a body of government and be able to say this president did wrong. clinton, 20 years ago, there was a lot of he said she said. americans and are pelicans paid a price. i as a democrat and as an american do not want to win the majority back because of impeachment. byn actually, bolster him not having the proof to show that he should be impeached. it is too soon, we do not want to be talking about that. spring,ted about next if we have the bounce back or it and when mueller has completed his investigation. what should candidates be talking about in the election? caller: i appreciate c-span's objectivity and its role in as a news

organization. secondly, i'm disappointed in the news media because i see the assault on our president as a constant disinformation campaign. as independent, i had a gut feeling about trump. i think he has had filled his promises and he could be a great president. but this assault on him is constant barrage of misinformation. it is designed to blacken him. that they doisting not to impeach and is a total lie. democrat in the past but i see this as so disappointing and if they succeed, they are going to tear the country apart. personally, i'm going to vote again where i normally would not go in the midterm. i am now motivated to vote. -- votingople do not this november is our last stand. if the democrats win, they will take this country apart. host: we can back to the issue of turnout and motivation.

guest: if every time supporter is that motivated, republicans will be fine. is, other more of those motivations and there are on the left? his poor onck to the reporters. i think he has a valid point. the reporters in d.c., especially, are part of the outrage machine. the network are making tons of money on trumped now. if you watch was happening on a daily basis, it is a breaking news every minute of every day. it is going to be reported on. there is very little investigation. if reporters investigators every breaking news, they should report it. becomes a five-hour story on any network or it that does not move the dialogue on,

you could save the chicken or the egg. -- should be reported. they should be investigating. if there are allegations or charges with what the president is saying, then look into this. rp on those, instead of every five minutes, there is some outrage. summing up the chief of staff said, some meeting that they had where there is gossiping, they are gossip reporters, not investigative reporters. host: is it networks or newspapers? guest: is social media platforms. we do a lawn the digital media front. tv networks are driving those in trump knows that is driving chaos. he knows it will drive new stories. they double down on it. into theseoney businesses. the fact is is that the campaign is with this president once.

guest: it is fascinating. any president who governs by tweet is probably going to get report news coverage. if the man would have a press conference once in a while it's between media instead of pushing himself back speaking only through social media, you might get fair treatment. i think the press does not know how to cover this president. they get very little information him directly. they get frankly, nothing but obstruction. where they supposed to do? i would not be a reporter in this time. obama's office, bush's office was like that. they're always trying to keep information bird that is why you report and investigate. that is what you dig deeper instead of, hair on fire, respond to the tweets. host: did you feel that way in previous administrations?

guest: no. there is a bias. i do not believe -- do not believe there is a bias? guest: i think there is now. but i never believed in the inherent liberal bias. friendly, i think fox news is incredibly biased on the other side. day, there isthe a inherent, liberal bias in the media. inherentow, there is a anti-trump truck bias in the media. i would agree with you that there is a lot of and had come bias in this current media, but i believe it is because they have no idea what to report on. the never releases tax reports. they never talk to the press, he never has a press conference. we have had many more presidential press conferences in the past with republicans and democrats there we had in the first 18 months of trump. isst: everything you said right.

from a partisan perspective, i can agree with that. my point is, the president came in, a cocktail politics. -- build a bridge the 21st century. we heard obama say not black and white the red white and blue. say, we areush united not a divided. trump came in and said i am throwing bombs everywhere. the american people said show these people. the reporters do not know what to do. this is a totally different dynamic. host: coming up on 8:30 a.m. on we are joined by a republican to credit consultant, look at 70 days until election 2018. trying to bring in as many calls as you can. democrat, go ahead. caller: first i want to shout at to john mccain and his family. god speed to them.

was really committed to his beliefs. secondly, this gentleman that you have they're talking about trump and the media is biased about him, donald trump, i live in new york city, i know this been loyal tover, anybody but himself and all he does is lie. how do you, we cannot dig into his life because he lives every five seconds. how do you dig into that? guest: you report. that is a reporters do. that is their job. that is what they came into this business to do. if you tell me i was to run a campaign and i was just to talk and not dig and research a campaign or run a campaign, and take research and polling and when, thatcandidates would be not what i am paid to do. reporters are paid to investigate and report. win an election,

democrats have to have an agenda. going from one call to another, the blue wave in each state. guest: i would argue that we have an agenda. it is very broad, and i will absolute say ill-defined. in many ways, it is simply an anti-trump agenda. when i am in polling, it does not matter whether or not i have a specific issue, as long as my candidate say i disagree with the president, every democrat in the poll says i am with you. what is interesting right now, the plethora of issues coming up. something i have had discussions --., feather -- fellow i have never's new voters as spread out on issues. he is absolutely right. usually there is 1, 2, 3 issues you run on. this year, no fewer than 10 issues. every time i get into what people want to talk about, it is

not so much that we don't have an agenda, it is that voters are everywhere from immigration to women's rights, all the way to health care. they are so spread out, it is interesting. host: list on one of those issues. the supreme court heard that there from her public and rick scott criticizing -- over history of brett kavanaugh. >> i am rick scott and i approve this message. >> supreme court justice kennedy resigns. july 2, senator bill nelson pledges to vote against the new supreme court justice matter who it is. july 9, brett kavanaugh nominated to the supreme court. august 3, u.s. central command both parties schedule meetings with judge kavanaugh. a -- herefuses to give is not representing florida, he is not even doing his job. host: that is one of the as about brett kavanaugh. their ads going after democrat claire mccaskill.

>> the clock is ticking for claire mccaskill. president trump nominated judge kavanaugh for supreme court. he won't say -- but when obama was president, he supported his liberal -- and both within hours. gorsuch, aith qualified respected judge was trump's president. not politics. of --ranks in terms turner wrote out. guest: is pretty far down. i think it has potential that has we keep that and learn more about cabin on and it starts coming onto a vote, it may increase in terms of -- amongst democrats. now, it is not a priority.

are as sure if those as effective as pumpkins want them to be. they are convoluted and hard to explain. at the end of the day, their bases interested in it. people who end up deciding elections, do not make up everyday worried about kavanaugh's appointment to the supreme court. being run in the moment. these are a hot topic when these ads -- the the democratic and here is what either democrats or republicans say about the issue of brett kavanaugh. they may be foreign -- for him or against him. they say fair hearing. or they be confirmed don't know is that both of these

states, give him a --. you are trying to give a hundred different notches. when they go to the wrong polling booth, this is one of those. it is not reasonable enough to even have a meeting with him or hold a hearing with him. that is the point of the ad. host: an independent, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to bring up at this time, the cannabis industry which is often -- up to a billion dollars. here in colorado, the cost of processing the cannabis before it reaches the market for pesticides is being passed back to the producers. which could destroy the industry. this is ridiculous. the 21st amendment have spun out with different results. alcohol can only be produced in certain states. always being an overabundance.

a second attachment problem that goes with it. the one thing this president did in the cycle, i supported bernie sanders. is that he said that we should move a way from the federal restrictions on cannabis. right, ising he got that bernie sanders, what are jump up with this legislation. at that moment, did not. host: lives on the cannabis issue in 2018. guest: it is interesting. it is state-by-state. believe, at ahey know if it was medical marijuana ,r actual pill sale marijuana that applications for over 12,000 licenses after their first day of opening that. is, i do think that 10 years ago, no one was talking

about this. now we are seeing the spread across the country. in the federalte government are going to have to come to some type of agreement. that aheadascinating of the justice department, that i want to crack down. has aa busy man and he lot of different focuses. but, the bottom line is this. the feds to get in line with what trump is doing. here the associated press store on the application, it getting 1600 submissions. guest: i agree to the number. host: you have terry in fort lauderdale, democrats. guys,: i have to tell you as a democrat, i cannot be happier the trumpets president. in two years, has done more for democrats than hillary could have done in eight.

if hillary were president, first off, we never would have won all the special elections. we would be losing season the house instead of gaining seats. years beforebe 10 we had a chance -- knowledge to get the house in two months, but the 2020 election. we get the presidency, we have the senate, we can start working on health care for all. it we can actually make this country great again because trump has ruined it. i want to get your guy's opinion. guest: i cannot agree more. i will say, when i am on polling calls and strategic calls throughout the country, someone will say, what are our plans and usually, i say we didn't -- don't need any --. i'm going to agree with your call wholeheartedly.

going back to my point about, the spectrum of issues that democrats are focused on from immigration to women's issues to health care. two jobs. at the end of the day, it all comes back to, i stand against luttrell has done on insert name of issue. point, we have to say we are for, for instance, immigration reform. we are for access to affordable health care. and trump is not, everyone cheers, we ride that wave. i don't want to make some simple but i will say that the wind is at our back. it is being given by anti-trump cinema. guest: the best thing ever happened was trump and if he thinks that tax cuts, which we are happy with, and the impact the judicial system with -- to supreme court nominees will be confirmed.

before the midterms, if you are looking at deregulation across the board, and if you're looking at the economy like has not been a long time, i am on board on that as well. trump has done some really good things. i agree, i was the rhetoric would die down. again, he came in as a chaos president. people knew he would be a chaos president and he delivered. so, we will see. on the midterms, how it plays out. at fact is, if you look presidents into thousand 10, that is the same congressmen that was going on republicans. obama was the best thing that ever happened. they dominate state legislature. they dominate governor offices. they dominate the house. they did not get by to the senate. the not get back to what we say would happen this time around.

the play this hand in the two years from the reelection of the president. the most fascinating part of what we're talking about, if they get the house and they decide to conduct hundreds of investigations on everything and anything, then, there is that overplayed help reelect this. host: republican, good morning. caller: praise be for c-span. about some of us republicans calling us the moose herders. i want to, on this idea of writing can support to get moose heard it republicans, democrats, who will help make mike pence be successful in 2019. you can work to make mike pence be successful. parable -- hasn't become in the barn and eating corn. we have to talk the talk.

that fox can talk and we have to say to not come in our barn. we're't want to kill you, going to cut your tail off if you come in the barn. that means, i want mike pence to work with john huntsman. with a cyberome up war rules of engagement with russia. and cut the it fox's tail off. then, i want democrats to join .e in support mike pence guest: i will say that, we do need to have a stronger -- going into 2018 and 2020. frankly, what are the things he said was getting democrats. the president is in the approval range of 44% to 46%. he doesfact is that

pull independence and democrats. republican president has. can he pull enough question mark are there enough issues. if he's not message or to do that in future. host: resort his conversation talk about senator mccain over the weekend. i did want to show you, a live shot from the white house. the flag back it. at the white house. cbs news, white house reporter noting that the flag is back up. president trump noted did not issue a proclamation on the death of senator mccain, he sent out a tweet. proclamations use the call for flags to remain a half-mast through his internment. any thoughts? guest: i was they would be the flag at half staff. if you are sople, concerned about everything the president does, you're going to

be spain encircles 20 47. live your life, turn off the news. go be a productive person and don't worry about that. look at what happened to the bottom-line of this president. if you are so enamored by all the chaos, you'll never sleep. you'll be checking your twitter or your news all day long. is, therehing to do are things i'm not going to agree with, but i say, i'm going to live my life, run my business, think about other things, and not worry about every little thing that could drive me up the wall. guest: i am blown away. i am right behind you at the u.s. capitol, the flag of the half-mast. i think it is disgraceful. i am hoping they correct this throughout the day. the flag should be a half-mast for it i am genuinely pretty surprised and shocked heard while i agree, i think we shall

live our lives more and spend less time on social media and less time on television and the president, at the same time, i think that this is something that i hope americans will take to social media about. deftly voice their opinions that halley's flag should be a half-mast. host: 15 minutes left in our conversation. bob is from springfield, virginia. republican. caller: thanks for give me a chance to call in. this question is for both of the people, i wanted to mention, what i call to ironies. democratsis that the -- about russian influence. i don't think they have the self-awareness to campaign personal attacks we president. one of things they are doing that destroys propaganda, is actually helping the russians

more than ever imagined. there is an irony in that because if the public is seeking to get information from, is tainted from political -- towards the president. that is not irony i think is real. the second is, what the press covers and doesn't cover. the press does not seem to want to cover what is happening in south africa, tend to cover the palestinians issue -- the bias of the palestinians. it doesn't cover the murders in chicago. it doesn't cover issues involving criminal activity by certain illegal aliens. -- ofhere is a nonstop the president have a message. is, that -- they think you are smarter than their audience. dietcontinue to see that and their turning the -- off. that is harmful to the united

states. it is harmful to freedom of the press. guest: i think it is an interesting commentary. i do think that every american citizen should be a where of the cyber attacks that are coming from russia, looking like they may become in iran, from other places. i think as he prepared to go in the midterm election, many to be a where that, when the walk-in ballot,ash -- cash that will be transferred where we need to go and be counted properly. i just not know if that is part of the issue. i like the democrats are pelicans working together in congress now and in the future. to figure how to strengthen -- and had to prevent intruders, whoever they may be, for their will in the elections. there will be insidious to think and they are outside actors

place you want to harm our democracy. kevin into a fundamental believe that --. i think many to work together to fix it. guest: the republicans and democrats have worked across the aisle to try to stop us. they have tried to come together on the russian -- they are building our elections. the president may not be as strong on that. host: we talked about motivation will drive voters to the polls. in other issue on to talk about tax cuts. being run in the pub and tax cut, this is dana full search in new york, running against congressman john catskill. here is a we have from her. ad?ave you seen this you have increase in taxes. it is complete out of context. i support tax cuts for working families. john -- worked for tax cut that

gives benefits to the wealthy. where i sit, will pay more. now, they want to cut social security and medicare to pay for it. i and in the boulder and i approve this message because john cam: is wrong. we need tax cuts for working families. host: plenty of ads like this. here is one more from the democrats super pac run by nancy pelosi. against david young. >> david young paints a picture of working for islands, truth is, that is a load of you know what. hundreds of thousands from insurance companies and wall street, voted for a tax bill to get them huge tax cuts. even though the plan ultimately raises taxes and middle-class -- and saddle them with a huge national debt. turns out, david young is serving his donors, not you. house majority is responsible

for the majority of advertising. host: those as what they will accomplish. guest: the first ad was far more effective in the second ad. i think, not only have we seen in recent years, a greater need for a candidate of either party to be able to authentically speak to camera, by speaking to voters, with each invoice, that's a you begin to impart a relationship between yourself and the voter. in the the second ad campaign finance laws, understanding how they'll make that. i don't think it is nearly as effective. it is cartoonish. with all the respect, i do make it was that great of an act. the first ad was effective in being able to showed genuine and authentic response. that is at the american record is craving from both parties. art leaders, candidates, people who can say to them, one on one. this is who i am in this life stand for. a huge part of why donald trump

ran in 2016, he was better than that and hillary clinton. theg more can a student in future. most of our democratic candidates now are putting them to cameras for that very reason. here's the interesting part about the tax loving tax cut, high tax states of california and new york won't see much of the benefit of the tax cut. morere seeing a lot competitive races now in california. races, thatessional particular race, is more likely going to go republican. district, hillary one. has -- his opponent. the i would races a different one. this is more popular, this district is in des moines. thosey, this is one of

crazy, interesting district that obama won twice and trump one. ,he young, republican incumbent last court hearing out raised. there were nannies ads now because they have the money. lucy is running out in your district, the polling says who is in trouble. that is one of the reasons they put that together. host: you work at a digital media format. do ads? matter as much host: absolutely. guest: is older than the election tv. that is a fact. we see an increase in the digital media advertising front year after year. after election cycle. absolutely. television and mail are still having components. talking about mail because he worked on direct mail. guest: i appreciate philip same as.

i want to echo his view on television. is stilldo i think it a very dominant media because of the older electorate, direct mail and digital, we are limited media. so many pictures you can put on before this person is gone. at least television is moving picture. you can do more storytelling, which is why i think regardless of the age of the electorate, you're going to the people engaged in television. i'm sure you see it with video on digital. ability to connect with your audience when you are talking. there is a way to make a more engaging. i have tried hard to make my direct mailing gauging, i do -- they toss into the recycling bin. we do our best pictures, big headlines grabbing attention. that could help

congressional republicans. guest: is a congressional and,rship, a super pac, they are putting actual people and opening offices as a super pac there it every super pac that has ever existed runs ads or drops mail. the leadership fund on the republican side, in fact by the speaker. offices allting over the country and they are hiring people to go door to door to build personal relationships. that is never happen on a super pac said. if one area that republicans should feel encouraged by, it is not the we're running the same ads the same way that sometimes work and sometimes don't. your people on the ground into these congressional districts going door-to-door in building relationships. host: you should check out the media work you but the been involved with third.

put on the will screen for viewers. democrat, good morning. caller: thank you retaken my call. a very interesting segment. it folks are going on about the senate. i have a scenario i like to talk about. i think -- a nice shot for the democrats. three candidates that can do it. if you can talk about at least one of them, i think the democrats can -- democrats can win with jacky rosen. the most exciting out there is christian cinema and arizona, who is bipartisan, who has solutions and immigration, to promote -- embracing and will not support schumer. fresh type ofnd person. all three of those states -- the

democrats in the senate's lose. guest: figure for calling. i completely agree. there is a path to the senate. am,ver, as optimistic as i i am still pragmatic about the fact that is absolutely the wind is in our faith on the senate side. i'm going to lay out my own scenario. of all the income but though he had to project, i only think two of them are truly in trouble. i do think -- in indiana are going to be -- i think they can both win. if the fullest to sit here and say they will be easy wins. however, -- in arizona and nevada are going to win. i'm going to call it right here. -- is fascinating but it will be a heck of a blue ways. i'm going to give your collar one more race to watch. i am a native texan.

this is a longshot race. i'm also doing a lot of work in texas. we are seeing crazy numbers particular, new large urban center. those hearings turn on massive numbers all potentially texas dies down, you might actually the a real upset in texas. that could end up being -- in the senate. i agree with your collar. i think we have a shot. host: arizona, nevada, tennessee. all in separate columns. cruz, he's ind the lead republican column. yet alice in louisiana. i want to say this to the public, i used to be a democrat.

in virginia. i found out the truth about the democrats. my point.y, changing martin luther king was not a democrat. evenly fought for civil rights, he was not a democrat. democrats -- the election by come up with great ideas. you, all of these young people going to university, have not been taught how to think. they have been taught what to think. all of them, believe that the problem with the policy, they get everything for free.

if the democrats ever get the house, the senate, they are going to clash at the starter. they're going to throw the border wide open. they going to try to get everybody legal in the u.s. to come to vote. they don't care if they vote legal or illegal. guest: i will say, the democrats get the house, there will be a lot of chaos worried they will be hundreds of investigations it. has been has prepared a lot more than they are right now for all of the investigations that will be coming. the question is, if they take the health, do they play the upper hand. host: ed is an independent. quote, i do not need to be offensive, only the rich and ignorant vote republican. for example, this is quoted from warren buffett, corporate taxes

were 4% of gdp. now they're only 2% of gdp. health care in 1960 was around 5% gdp, now it is almost 18% gdp. we spend 3 trillion a year on health care. , asit trillion is wasted you to know, we are the only industrialized nation that does not have a single health care. to quote warm buffet again, the tax system is not jerking our business around the world. , ais the health care system tax in another way. again, the only country in which republicans hold up on global climate change. i do know why the democrats in the as, where was nash where we get this money? $.33 of every dollar is wasted in our health care. we spent 3 trillion a year. that confirms that

government cannot solve all the problems. i'm more of a free market solution kind of person. host: the issue health care is quite fascinating. there are many people who fell 10 years ago, when barack obama was elected an obamacare was born in 2009, that we had --. nothing could be further from the truth. we all recognize that. we have all been going back and forth in the last 10 years. what is interesting is that so many candidates are after on the democratic side, running on health care for all. i written those words a thousand times last 18 months. on the democratic side, it is resonating. i can agree with the college. it is a huge problem. i'm not sure either side, i'm not sure anybody understands how to tackle this problem. the i think both sides recognize that it is a problem in this

country. i am hopeful that when the democratic house back, it's their punk and have the majority in the senate, maybe that is an opportunity to come to my son how we get affordable access to health care. host: temper one recall. -- time for one more call. caller: there was an earlier comment about from the republican consultant about paying attention to major issues , this has the tweets been true all the way through the campaign. --ia kept pain attention to giving trap more time. is, bad press is better than no press. we kept seeing this. think this takes responsibility and looking at climate change and looking at health issues. not on at poverty, and the side.

it is like magic. smoke and mirrors. thewhile, putting it on desk and not what is happening in his department. host: figure for the call. a great jobress did a the presd investigating scott pruitt. this is the point i'm trying to make. gothere's wrongdoing investigated. whether that's in the administration or anywhere else. investigated as a reporter. if your job is every day reporting on the tweets i think you are adding to the negative dynamic of the environment right now. guest: i think it's really interesting that there hasn't been a major piece of legislation to come out of congress that the press has covered probably since the tax cut. the question becomes has they're really not been any legislation or has the press not covered it? are they too consumed by the chaos in the daily tweets? there's an argument to be made that while i have a huge supporter of the press i do not believe there is an inherent

liberal bias. i do think they have become a little caught up in this vortex. i want to see them step away and moved back to genuine reporting on what's happening here in washington and how it affects the lives of daily people. and phillipadderdon stutts. appreciate your time this morning. up next, we will talk with gretta goodwin of the government accountability office on a new report on the cost of incarcerating immigrants. we will be right back. >> tonight on the communicators.

the impact of robots and artificial intelligence on society and business with manhattan institute senior fellow mark mills. >> our artificial intelligence that in the cloud is kind of like model t's. they're pretty good. commercial, viable, useless. model t's are open to the air. pretty uncomfortable. 1918 the forecast of the future of the car was that they believed it would be fully enclosed and weatherproof. obviously multi-is not so great -- model t is not so great but if start of the car age. that's where we are with artificial intelligence. c-3po and theto anthropomorphic robot can the general-purpose robot we are essentially in the 1890's. >> watch the communicators tonight at 8:00 eastern on his been to -- on c-span2. , 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 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. on tuesday and wednesday a special edition of american history tv on c-span3 with live coverage of the white house historical associations presidential site summit. our live coverage from the willard hotel in washington, d.c. starts at 9:00 eastern on both days. former perry, jeffrey engel, richard norton smith. -- jeffrey roberson and cokie roberts. executivete house

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someone who is not a citizen or a national of the u.s. who has been arrested and/or convicted of the crime. we use the term alien because that is a term that is defined in statute to its part of the immigration and naturalization act. these could be immigrants legal or illegal. guest: correct. host: how many aliens are currently in the criminal justice system right now? guest: for the purposes of our report we actually studied two populations. the first are criminal aliens who are incarcerated in federal prison. the second population are in, serrated -- incarcerated in federal and local. was 190,000.n the study population we did a subset that was about 500,000.

when you look at the numbers in terms of the changes. i will talk about what our objectives were. the first objective was to look at the numbers and nationalities of the criminal aliens incarcerated. was to look at the arrest and convictions of criminal aliens. the third was to look at the cost of incarcerating the criminal aliens. the fourth had us look at the experiences of criminal aliens after their term of incarceration. majority the vast illegal versus legal? guest: most of those are illegal. i misspoke earlier. the criminal alien is someone who is not a citizen of the country. it's that individual who has been arrested or convicted of a crime.

ist: the number we are using 2.5 billion. the cost of incarcerating criminal aliens. how do we come up with that number? guest: when you look at the federal population that number has actually declined over time. 2011 and 2010 that number was 1.56 billion. in 2015 that number was about 1.4 2 billion at the federal level. level the number in 1702011 was about one point and then decreased to about 1.11. does it cost so much more to incarcerate criminal aliens on the federal level versus the state level? there's a whole lot more criminal aliens incarcerated on the state level. the costs are roughly equal. guest: what's interesting about our numbers at the state level

there's no database that will give you all the numbers at the state level. in order for us to look at numbers at the state level we use the state criminal alien assistance program. program thatral will reimburse state and local jails for the cost of incarcerating criminal aliens. we are looking at correctional officer salaries. medical care. not every state participates in the program. it is likely that the numbers for the state level do not represent the full cost of the state level. these are the data we were able to have access to. host: we are talking about the cost of incarcerating criminal aliens with gretta goodwin of the gao. to join the conversation, republicans (202) 748-8000,

democrats (202) 748-8001, independents (202) 748-8002. what is the government weountability office? guest: are part of the legislative branch. we are kind of the investigative body of the congress. we evaluate and investigate all federal programs. if your agency is receiving money from any of the federal we will audit or evaluate or investigate. the purpose of what we're doing is to ensure that federal moneys are being spent in the most efficient and effective way possible. host: is not happening when it comes to criminal alien incarceration? guest: that depends on how you look at it.

we don't have a complete picture of what that looks like. also the reimbursements for the program are relatively low. we don't haveon the full picture is because not all states are participating. the second reason is because the reimbursement rates are pretty low. federallates to the level we have a pretty good idea because those numbers tend to be. host: why did you decide to do this report? asked by three congress persons. senator chuck grassley, representative steve king and examine this to information. gao has done this report a few times. about every five to seven years we will of take the review. part of what we were doing this time is to examine the change over time. when i talk about the federal

population in our study we were looking at from 2011 to 2016. when i talk about the state population we are looking at 2010 to 2015. those pickup from the last report. report we issued was in 2011. host: what happens to criminal aliens after they serve their time in u.s. prisons? are they deported? guest: some of them can be. not all. that's the fourth objective in whateport where we look at the experiences are for the criminal alien after incarceration. some may be removable. some may be in immigration proceedings. the likelihood that you would be removed right away we couldn't get a full sense for that because of the way the immigration process works. host: do any go on to become citizens? guest: yes. 16 of the people in our

population ended up being naturalized. host: out of how many? guest: a few hundred thousand. it's a very small percentage. host: gretta goodwin with us taking your calls and questions. dale is in chesapeake beach, maryland. republican. go ahead. caller: i wanted to make a couple quick comments. all of 2017 especially or even during the election there was a lot of backlash about the border wall effort and how much it was going to cost and how it was a big waste of money. to $20 anywhere from 10 billion. obviously it wouldn't stop all illegal immigration but if we are talking three to $4 billion a year that it's costing our government state local and of theseo put all people through our justice system it sounds like that would pay for that while over five to 10 years. studytion about the

regarding what's criminal or not. isn't crossing the border illegally itself still a violation of the law and does that not get counted as to whether someone is classified as a criminal illegal alien? the bordersing illegally is considered a crime. we list some of the types of crimes for which they are incarcerated. one of the largest percentages of those is immigration. when we talk about immigration illegal entry is a part of that. host: the other question was on the border wall. does gao have an official estimate of what they think of border wall will cost? guest: we have ongoing work on that. my colleagues in another part of my department is working on that. host: who requested it and when is that study coming out? guest: i will have to get back to you.

i don't quite remember. host: laura is waiting in michigan. independent. caller: good morning. i see on the screen that says 2.5 billion dollars for the immigrant incarceration. i wonder how much it costs the taxpayers for the president to fly to mar-a-lago in the winter. i think it's several million dollars every time he flies. that is an expense that we could do without he cuts he could stay in the white house that we prepare for our presidents. it's a small 123 room building. with full service. and these poor people are being treated so shabbily. mine whoseiend of distant relative is among those people that are incarcerated at the present time.

they were planning on coming up to michigan. they went through enormous trouble to get here. to get to texas. i think it's appalling how we spend our money. and iteople need help should be primary to take care of it. i'm so embarrassed with what's going on in my country and the lack of respect that we have for humans. only the people and i include congress that go to mar-a-lago to golf or up to bedminster. question on where these criminal aliens are coming from. can you talk through the nationalities of the folks that come through? guest: absolutely. the majority of the criminal aliens are coming from mexico. the other countries of the federal level are honduras, guatemala, columbia. it's relates to the state

very similar. at the state level the majority is from mexico. also el salvador and germany. host: how many of these folks end up free incarcerated and come through the justice system several times after they are released and not deported? guest: when we talk about arrest and convictions we are talking about over the period of time we estimate it has been about one million transfers arrests and convictions. we put those together because it's really difficult to track. this is an issue with the database. how the data are collected and tracked. we use arrest and transfers together. host: explain what a transfer is. guest: from one law enforcement body to another.

in the are arrested bureau of prisons and then you move over to border patrol. or if the u.s. marshals have you in custody and then you move over to border patrol. it's a transfer from one agency to another. we use arrest and transfers together. we estimate that about 1.4 4 haveon times individuals been arrested or transferred over the course of the review session. in ladysmith,s virginia. republican. go ahead. caller: hi. as a layperson who has a vague idea of what's going on in the federal government or local government it appears to us that many of these studies are done and then our elected officials say, i did something. what is done with this benefit do iwhat

get from all the information that the federal government gathers and never do anything? guest: a part of what gao does as we produce these reports and to do these investigations to help congress make policy decisions. asked to provide basic general information about the state of criminal aliens in the u.s.. andcongress will take that possibly make policy decisions or choices about it. what's also really good and informative about this report is the information we provide at the state level. because there is no one database that holds all this information together the information that we provide gives some insight into what's happening at the state level. the's really where most of public is having these experiences with this population at the state level. host: at the end of a report like this is there a segment

that says this is what you should do? guest: we typically will make recommendations. there are no recommendations in this report. one of the key takeaways is that the numbers have decreased over time. and in terms of the countries that we talk about from the 2011 report the countries are also pretty similar. additionally we are providing information about what's happening at this level. which can sometimes be difficult to figure out. what's an example of rp you have worked on where you have given specific recommendations of what congress should do? guest: i work for gao. i'm in the homeland security and justice team. my portfolio covers justice and law enforcement issues. i work on issues related to the federal judiciary, the federal firearms policy, federal law enforcement.

as well as vulnerable populations and overall justice issues. recently i did a report looking at human trafficking of native americans. whether that was happening on native american soil or native americans across the country. one of the recommendations we made had to do with the data. the department of justice didn't have as much information or weren't tracking whether human trafficking victims, the race of that victim. one of the recommendations we made was to do better tracking. host: cheryl is in washington, d.c., democrat and caller: good morning. thank you for being on this morning representing the homeland security. that the interesting data is talking about aliens. it is supporting just what the president has been talking about. whether you are a nonresident or a resident the mentality that we

have for people now coming to america has gotten very disturbing to everyone. are asked take the data and put it back to the congresspeople who asked for it. i'm hoping that the data would support the fact that we can do better in how we treat each other. goodwin, anything you want to pick up on that lack of guest: we did make a recommendation where we are tasked with providing basic information. what gao does is provide the information so that congress can make policy decisions that are the best for this country. host: spring valley, california. line for democrats. good morning. caller: my name is earnestine simmons. i'm sitting here watching gretta goodwin. inc. you for your service.

was wondering why you keep referring to immigrants as aliens. that sounds so inhumane and like they are from outer space somewhere. not comfortable with that terminology. is there any reason why you keep saying illegal alien? on are we only focusing mexico when there are so many other borders that have immigrants that come across like canada, honduras. sweden. all these other places. guest: the reason we use the term alien in the immigration and naturalization act that's how it's defined. i do hear and understand the concern about referring to another human being as alien. when gao does the work we have to focus on what the statute and the laws are. that we refer to the individual as a criminal alien. that's the first question. the second question -- i forgot.

host: i apologize. michelle is in michigan. republican. go ahead. >> i find this fascinating. 2.5 billion on incarceration? the first thing i would suggest is that you take all of the immigrants we've got here from say iran or one of those places and get a million of them. drop them in the middle of mexico and see how they like it. at that point they will do something about this quarter as well. we are not the only ones that have the problem. secondly this kind of money being spent for incarceration. why are we incarcerating them? why don't we send them back? spend thatzes me tosecondly amount of money to keep them in jail. guest: the first part of her

previouss what the caller asked. it's about the border. it isn't just mexico. in our report mexico is the largest percentage of criminal aliens who are incarcerated in the u.s. but as this caller guatemala,hunter s, columbia. el salvador and even germany are included both in state and federal population. the second question about why don't we just send them back. once you break the law in the u.s., there are procedures. the justice system will take you through a number of different procedures. the first objective we have in our report is to look at what finisheshen someone their time of incarceration. some of the criminal aliens are removable and indeed are removed. some of them might be going through the immigration process

and aren't removed as quickly. some of them actually become naturalized citizens. that's a really small number. but that's how it happens. the justiceave system once you enter this country and you end up in the justice system then you have to go through the appropriate processes. host: how long to criminal stay insually incarceration? is it longer in federal incarceration versus state incarceration? guest: we didn't really go into detail with that. in order for the states to get reimbursed from the state criminal alien assistance program the individual has to be housed within the state facility for a particular period of time. as it relates to the federal prisons we did not really look at that.

host: on the state criminal justice program? guest: alien assistance program. host: is there legislation to overhaul that program yet the concerns about the data and how that is administered right now. guest: there has been legislation to either eliminate the program or decrease the funding even further. another takeaway from this report as you look at what's happening at the state, the program is really the only one that gives us any kind of data for us to look at how the states are experiencing a criminal aliens in their location. more callsfor a few with gretta goodwin of the gao. larry is waiting in petersburg, illinois. independent. go ahead. i had a question. i come in a little late on this.

my question is i thought you said not all states are participating in i was just wondering if like my state of illinois is participating in this program or california and new york are also participating. also you have mentioned this was written busted by three republicans. are there any democrats that requested any information on this? thank you. i don't remember offhand whether illinois is one of the dates that participates in the criminal aliens since program. new york and california do indeed participate. in the report and we talk about those are the new york, california, arizona, texas and there is a fit state. those are the states that have of criminalnumbers

aliens incarcerated in their state facilities. we do look at those. i don't remember offhand if illinois participates. something tells me it does. i don't remember right offhand. gao report is available online if he was want to check it out. about whethert any of the democrats requested this study, no. the three compass group of requested the study are all republicans. the three congressman who requested the study are all republicans. in terms of this particular work it was requested by three republicans. host: king george, virginia is next. democrat. good morning. how many illegal aliens are here that overstated or visas and how many of those are

incarcerated and what countries are most of them from? guest: as it relates to overstays gao has done a report on lisa overstays. to that.irect you i don't have that information in front of me. we do have a report. if you go to our website and you type in the search engine visa overstays you should be able to get that report to that came out about two or three years ago. and then the second question. host: countries where the folks come from. guest: the countries we have talked about. at federal and state the countries with the largest population of criminal aliens incarcerated in the u.s. is mexico. other countries are el salvador, honduras, guatemala, germany. and columbia.

host: a question that has come up that wasn't addressed in your particular report but come up last week especially in the death of the iowa student mollie tibbetts. questions about crime rates. whether illegal immigrants create -- commit crimes at higher rates than american citizens. does gao have an answer to that question? guest: we don't have an answer to that question. whatwas a terrible tragedy happened. for the purposes of this report we didn't do a comparison between whether criminal aliens committed more crimes than u.s. citizens. we do have some information on convictions. particularly as it relates to homicide. and of course the numbers are just larger because the u.s. population of incarceration is larger. haven't done any work on that.

host: dana is in l.a.. republican. good morning. caller: i'm a trump supporter and i was born in south l.a.. and i'm white. i appreciate how you come at relative type of way. not emotional. you stick to the numbers and you stick to the facts and i appreciate how you do your job. but i will tell you in l.a. if you look down the street you can see the way it is set up down the streets. you can see for 30 blocks down the street. on any street in l.a. from first-rate all the way to 160 for miles. was bornhe day when i here are used to see these the streets empty. mostly the black community where sees born at your you would how cars are parked on the street. normal houses and all of that stuff. now today or is not one parking

spot anywhere down the streets and they are parked all over the front yard. host: we are running out of time. what's your question for gretta goodwin? my question is this. incarcerating these people is one thing. , itou don't build this wall is insane. it's absolutely insane to wear when i was a kid going to high school here in jordan high in l.a. now it is like a third world. it is insane how many -- host: more of a comment that question. what did we leave out? what else should we know about? guest: another thing that we look that is whether any of the criminal aliens appeared on the terrorism list. it's a small percentage. we didn't have that many. we did have some who actually appeared on the terrorism list. the justiceduals system ran its course but it was something we were a bit surprised by.

with thosehappened individuals? guest: some of them have been removed from the country and some are in jail and host: gretta goodwin is with the government accountability office. thank you for your time. guest: thank you. host: up next, open phones until the program ends at 10:00. any public policy issue you want to talk about. your screen.n you can start calling in now. we will be right back. >> tonight on the communicators. the impact of robots and artificial intelligence on society and business with manhattan institute senior fellow mark mills. >> our current artificial intelligence is kind of like the model two.

they are pretty good. but model t's were open to the air. they were pretty uncomfortable. 1918 there was a forecast of the future of the car and one of the forecast was they believed it would be fully enclosed them what you budget started the car age. that's where we are right now. generalcomes to the purpose robot we are in the 1890's. the communicators tonight at 8:00 east among c-span2. >> on tuesday and wednesday a special edition of american history tv on c-span3 with live coverage of the white house historical associations presidential site summit. coverage from the willard hotel in washington, d.c. starts at 9:00 a.m. eastern

both days. tuesday barbara perry, jeffrey engel, richard norton smith. former white house executive pastry chef roland missoni a. mike mccurry. richard benedetto. kenneth walsh. susan page and jon meacham. 11:00, presidential storytelling. and author william seale. the white house historical associations presidential site summit. live coverage tuesday and wednesday on c-span3. >> washington journal continues. phones on then washington journal. any public policy issue you want to talk about. republicans can call in at (202) 748-8000.

democrats (202) 748-8000. independents (202) 748-8002. releasedule has been for memorial services to honor senator john mccain. will lie in state in the arizona state capitol on wednesday. that is the same day as the senator's birthday. on thursday a memorial service for senator mccain will be held in north phoenix baptist church. on friday he will lie in state at the u.s. capitol. a ceremony honoring his life will take place on friday morning in the capitol rotunda. you can see the flag at half staff over the u.s. capital. there will be a national memorial for senator mccain at the national cathedral and the district of columbia. on sunday a private memorial service will be held for senator

mccain at the u.s. naval academy chapel in annapolis. there will be a private burial ceremony in the u.s. naval academy cemetery. the picture of the flag over the u.s. capitol at half mast. the flag has returned to full mast at the white house. by several of those folks who cover the white house. it had been lowered after the death of john mccain. it is now back at full mast. barbara is up first in ohio. independent. go ahead. caller: good morning. i'm an independent who leans toward the right. but i think it is sad that our president put the flag back up to full mast. i don't understand why he to john be respectful mccain keep it at half staff. is that customary for when a senator dies? thank you.

host: according to white house , the flagark noller is back at full staff atop the white house. he notes that proclamations after the death of somebody like senator john mccain usually call for the flag to remain at half staff throughout the day of internment. being interned on sunday. tony is in houston, texas. a republican. go ahead. caller: thank you. i will be very brief. i'm calling on the republican line because for all my adult i voted democratic. i no longer vote democratic. i will be voting republican from now on until the last day i live -- die. the democrats are trying to open borders and practice ethnic to americans because

they want third world democratic voters. and that's exactly what's occurring. i hope that america appreciates what is going to get because it's already there. the next 60 years this country will be a third world country. you no longer will enjoy any of the freedoms that you enjoy today and i hope that's exactly what you want. has far as the flag goes, he's a businessman. he's not a veteran. he never served. businessmen don't care about whether a flag is at staff no matter who dies. thank you. host: democrat in virginia. good morning. caller: i'm very sad at the gentle men who just called. i want to say that jeff sessions , i think he used to ask a question about would you defend the president if he breaks the law. that's the question he used to ask every time he confirmed any judge or anybody.

and they used to say, we don't operate that way. justice department they don't work for the president. to understand that this is not about donald trump. it's about what's right. sessions, i disagree a lot of things. sometimes you have to stand the right thing. that's what he's doing right now. he has to protect under the law. and if this president is breaking every lock possible and he thinks that if you put someone in justice department and they will protect you, he's wrong. one more thing. this president, he must leave the media alone. because you don't mess with the media. they are our boys. they will investigate what's going on. they're not democrat or republican. they tell us exactly what's going on. host: mickey is in fayetteville, arkansas. line for republicans. go ahead. caller: i just want to see that

the $2.5 billion we are spending incarcerating all these illegals. we could have had the wall built. that would have taken care of the wall. if the democrats get in there i think there's going to be a little revolution going to happen. go theys journalists need to be the first to be eliminated. and then the senators and everybody else. host: what do you mean by that mickey? caller: i think there will be a revolution. host: you are talking about violence. caller: i'm talking about whatever happens happens. host: richard in mississippi. an independent. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i really wanted to talk to greta. has there been any studies

lately on how much money social security sends to mexico? the reason i ask is those three in my church.es very nice people. every one of their parents as soon as they turn 65 and is old enough to have medicare and social security left and went back to mexico. i just think that if they want to really be good american citizens they ought to stay in the country that's paying their social security. that's all i have to say. thank you. host: gao.gov is a good place to go to see if they have a report talking about the issues. lots of different reports. we have featured quite a few. the washington journal. rob is in new york city. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for c-span.

spurs that got trump out of serving in vietnam five times. five times he got himself out of serving this country. and mccain who was the ultimate war hero. the ultimate soldier. the disgraceful way that this president talked about mccain. that should be in and of itself used in the midterm elections in arizona. what i called to ask you about was the democrats need to use the debt and the deficit as points in the next midterm election. we have $21 trillion in debt. we are soon going to be at $1 trillion a year. that we are adding to the debt. the tax cuts mostly benefit the wealthy. the rest of us get the crumbs. the crumbs expire in five years. no one's talking about the money.

the money is all going to the wealthy. the rich are getting richer. the poor are getting poorer. democrats, this is the most important point. we are not going to be able to afford future conflicts around the world. we need to focus on the problem that we have with the debt and the deficit. the mccain trump-khan feud as it is described by the new york times today lives on in the battle for his seat. talking about what happens next for senator john mccain's seat in the united states senate. here's a story on it from the washington times as well noting that doug ducey will make the appointment that will fill that after mr. mccain is laid to rest on sunday according to the governor's office. under state law the replacement must be of the same party. john mccain a republican. because the vacancy happened so

late in the year his replacement will serve through the end of 2020. the winner would then serve out the final two years of the term that john mccain had won in 2016. it was his sixth term. jerry is in pittsburgh, texas. republican. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i read the new york times almanac to keep up with presidential looks -- election results. since 1980 according to new york times almanac there was 14.5 million hispanics in texas. it is up to 54 million in 2013. there has been a 40 million increase in hispanic population in u.s. in 33 years.

the census gives the increase and the different races. in 110 year span hispanics increased 60%. for the lady that was on previously. code 1324 that is a defense for anyone who encourages or induces an alien to reside in the u.s. knowingly are reckless disregard of the that -- a violation of the law. a termfine or imprisonment of up to 10 years. host: alicia is an maryland. independent. caller: please let me express my

condolences to the john mccain family. we are deeply moved by the work he has done and we appreciate him. for all that he has done to protect our country. that it's all these illegal people are coming in and they are all just climbing in from everywhere. i would hope that they all want a job. this isway we can fix just have topeople be stopped from hiring anyone who is illegal. they should only hire the citizens of this country. and that would stop people from coming in.

thank you very much. host: to your first point on the life of senator john mccain. andinued stories condolences being expressed on the opinion pages of today's papers. stories about his life. here's a few of the photos from today's paper. this from the washington times. they're showing john mccain as a navy lieutenant commander after he was injured in north vietnam. john mccain from 1992 and the senate select committee on pow mia affairs. and from his 2008 republican national convention appearance. plenty more photos and headlines. here's the front page of the financial times. politicians unite and morning john mccain to the new york times with a few banner headlines. mccain 81.

bachelor in war and politics dies. a naval aviator who rose to the heights of power. springfield, massachusetts. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning and thanks for taking my call. soldier and and old brother to navy veterans from i offer my sympathy and condolences to john mccain's family. i'm a democrat. but i still offer my and for those people that think the democrats cannot without some all too rare motive i want to pick the difference. i want to refer back to the flag that was not flying at half mast. at the white house earlier today that you had shown. it's unfortunate but at least it shows us the measure of the man

who lives in the white house. wasmember when barack obama elected president of the united states. he kept the secretary of defense. he was a republican as a cabinet member. fbi whothe head of the was a republican. he appointed three other republicans to his cabinet at various times and offered another seat to the senator from new hampshire who is a republican. the point. refused to accept the appointment. oft was done in the spirit cooperation in an effort to reach across the aisle. and show some concern for the other party at the time. and show that he was willing to work with the republicans.

as american citizens. this president has not reached across the aisle. he has made no attempt. problem dealing with the people that he has appointed. the republicans that he has appointed. that leads to the battle he has now with jeff sessions. i do want to i guess speak negatively about the fact that the flag, our national flag today happens to be flying at full staff instead of half. honor john mccain for the work and service that he gave to our nation. host: flag over the u.s. capitol. you can see it over my shoulder behind me till at half staff. it was lowered on saturday after the death of john mccain. john is in sherman oaks

california. republican. go ahead. caller: just a quick correction to you and several of the callers. the flight we are looking at is not at half mast. it is at half half. a flag is only on full mast or half-mast if it is on a ship. host: appreciate that. james in san diego. republican. go ahead. c-span ifwould like they can have a program devoted to illegal and fraudulent voting in the united states. the state of california has the largest number of illegal aliens or immigrant in the country. other than texas. and they are voting and there's no way to track them because there's no way to make sure who is voting and who is legally eligible to vote and who is not in this state. that's number one. host: on that first point, why do you think there are large numbers of illegal aliens voting

in the united states? what caller: have you seen? i have not seen evidence because there is no way to track anything or anybody that comes up to vote. everybody gets a registration. i have homes in two states. i get voter registration and information in both of those states. therefore i can vote illegally in both of those states international election simply by going from texas to california or by submitting my vote by mail. there's no way in the state of california for anyone to be noted as to who is legal and who is not legal. arms very. had's the fact host: you another point you wanted to make. caller: i hear a lot of accolades by politician john mccain. lieutenant commander that served the po w camp in hanoi hilton. i have not heard anyone from the

hanoi hilton coming on and giving any accolades about john mccain. cold draftilm out day. as to why the number one choice was not selected. why has no income on and said anything that served with him in the pow camps and if there is one how many of them are there out of all of those that have spoken up and everybody knows that john mccain has expired? host: that james in california. ine's the lead editorial today's usa today. mccain's passing personifies old gop's demise. his death write serves as an almost perfect metaphor for the demise of the old republican party. the one personified in the past hundred plus year history by the likes of theodore roosevelt, dwight eisenhower, ronald reagan. and remarkably short order that party has been turned into a

donald trump cheering section. it has adopted his previously on republican positions on trade, federal finances, immigration and authoritarianism while enabling his childish outbursts and ethical outrages. many in today's gop are woefully lacking in character, pragmatism and political courage. the very mccain hallmarks that made him such an invaluable senator and statesman. gretchen in new york. democrat. good morning. caller: enqueue for taking my call. i just wanted to say i was never that big of a fan of john mccain. the more i'm learning about him and his life and in comparison nowho is in the white house . i just see the difference between being a man like john mccain and a male like trump. i hope this week without trump on the tv all the time americans

take the time to see the difference and really remember what america could be. thank you. in our few minutes left program today. we will be taking you to live coverage of the u.s. senate debate in nebraska taking place this morning between republican senator deb fischer and democratic challenger jane reinbold. councilman in lincoln. that's going to be happening in just a few minutes. time for a few more calls before we go there. alicia is in redford, michigan. democrat. good morning. everybody wants to know why the republicans and democrats are not saying anything about the behavior of the white house at this point. i feel like it's their payoff. the tax bill that donald trump past protects all of those people in congress and in the senate with all of the money and it's their payoff.

the other statement i would like to make his that i do believe that donald trump knew about the emails before they came out and i'm going to tell you why. the last week of the debate they had a big dinner and donald trump was the first speaker. and he made a statement saying hillary does appear acting like she likes catholics. well the emails that relate that herend was involved in conversation with podesta about all the catholics in the house and the senate. how would he know about that that thursday when they wasn't released until that saturday. that's why i think he knew about the hacking in advance. and that's all i have to say. have a good day. host: sherry in wisconsin, independent. you're next. i have two comments i would like to make. the first regarding senator mccain. i think it is so sad that a

president who so seems to be proud of the fact that he is commander in chief of this great armed forces that we have cannot find it in himself to get over his personal animosity and pay respectful tribute to one of our greatest persons who served in the army. it behooves us to really look into personalities of our presidential candidates and all candidates from now on. recall nixon was much younger and didn't listen to a lot of politics at that time. it seems that when a president is to be egocentric or too involved in his own personal feelings about things and seems to take everything that is done andaid personally read looking at it objectively.

decisions some poor on their part. thank you for taking my call. host: sherry in wisconsin. our last caller in today's washington journal. we will of course be back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern 4:00 a.m. pacific. you should continue to check in with c-span throughout the week to know and coverage of senator john mccain's memorial services. placee going to be taking throughout the week here in washington, d.c. and in arizona as well. now as promised we will take you to live coverage of the u.s. senate debates in nebraska between senator deb fischer who is running for a second term and democratic challenger jane labeled, a city councilwoman in lincoln.