politics reporter previous two nights massachusetts senate debate between the incumbent democrat and the republican state representative. and jeff neil. ♪ host: our 2018- campaign coverage continues. the nevada senate debate live on c-span also at 9:00. go to c-span.org for more information on those and other debates we have taken in this 2018 campaign season. president trump acknowledged the -- journalist is dead and mike pompeo urged for a few more days to investigate on the matter and there are calls from republicans and democrats for more information on the situation.

on the handling of the united states -- the trump administration of the appearance -- disappearance of the -- jamal --let us know on the phone lines. 202-748-8000 for those in eastern and central time zones. 202-748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zones. if you want to post thoughts on our social media channel, you can do so @cspanwj and you can also post on our facebook page at facebook.com/c-span. it was yesterday after the brief -- after briefing the president that mike pompeo went before cameras at the white house to give an update on what the positioning and what it is doing on the death of jamal khashoggi. >> we made clear we take this matter very seriously.

they made clear to me they understand the serious nature of the disappearance of mr. khashoggi. they assured me they will conduct a complete and thorough investigation of all the facts in a timely fashion and this report will be transparent for everyone to see, to ask questions about, and i told president trump this morning we ought to give them a few more days to complete that so we have a complete understanding of the facts surrounding. at which point, we can make decisions about how or if the united states should respond to the incident. i think it is important for us long, remember we have a strategic relationship with the kingdom of saudi arabia and they continue to be an important counterterrorism partner. they are an important strategic alliance of the united states

and we need to be mindful of that as well. when i traveled and met with president erdogan, he talked to me about the incident and told me they were conducting their own investigation. we had a chance to meet with the team involved. he assured me they would share their results with the saudi's as well. believe between these two efforts, a complete picture will emerge for what happened here. we are looking forward to that wrapping up quickly and we expect it will be done in that way. secretary ofs the state yesterday and the president also addressing these issues. your thoughts on the handling of the death of jamal khashoggi and also the united states' response to it. 202-748-8000 for eastern and central time zones. 202-748-8001 in mountain and pacific time zones and you can tweet us and post on our

facebook page as well. joining us on the phone is the washington post's stumble -- post istanbul bureau chief. guest: thank you for having me. host: in light of the secretary of state's statements about the next few days, can you explain the role the saudi government and the turkish government is doing to provide answers to these questions that have been asked? guest: a couple of things are happening in turkey at the moment. police are continuing their investigation in their search what they believed would be jamal's remains somewhere in the city. they expanded their search to the council did -- consul general's residence and they

have been searching areas in and around istanbul. here in turkey, we have had this rips in theeady d media with new revelations about the case. some evidence focuses on this team of saudi nationals that the investigators say were dispatched from the saudi capital soon before jamal and were disappeared involved in his killing. on the saudi side, as you say, secretary of state pompeo mentioned the possibility of giving them a few more days to conduct their investigation. what we are waiting for is to comingther they end up

investigationible the would satisfy revelations about what they are learning -- put quite a lot of pressure on saudi leadership to come up with some sort of credible explanation for what happened inside the consulate of that day. we are seeing what appear to be trial balloons floated by saudi officials and the leadership whot what they might say, they might blame for this. the thing we are looking for is endsenior -- whether they up blaming senior officials for what happened to mr. khashoggi. host: given the nature between the relationship -- of the relationship between the united

states and saudi arabia, what will be a three answer and result of this investigation -- satisfactory answer and result of the investigation on the saudi side? guest: it is difficult to say. these trial balloons have named one fairly senior saudi official, but it is not clear whether that is the story they will go with. obviously president trump has a close relationship with saudi leadership. there have been indications of -- inclined toys believe the crown prince knew nothing about what happened inside the consulate. that tone has changed over the last week or two, probably because of the information coming out of turkey. it remains to busy -- to be seen

whether or not the inventor -- information remains credible by these two governments. conference supposed to take place. how effective is that pressure to seek cancellations from -- see cancellations from the conference? guest: i am not sure how it is being interpreted by saudi leadership. it seems to create a real pressure. the crown prince mohammad bin salman states his reputation on being a reformer -- saudi reformer and somebody whose principal objective is to shake up the economy, to make it less dependent on oil and attract foreign investments. this is a pillar of his legitimacy. when you have global leaders at aning appearances investment conference, it imperi

ls his plans and threatens his other initiatives. they have talked about admitting tourists sometime soon and generally opening up the kingdom to the world. over the last two weeks, we have seen those plans are in doubt now. host: what is the effective timeline as far as an answer coming out of the kingdom? only they know, unfortunately. to saudi leadership tends move very much at its own pace and there had been very strong rumors days ago that some sort of an explanation for what happened in the consulate was a minute. that hasn't happened yet. now the secretary of state mentioned a few more days for them to complete their investigation. intense.ure on them is

think they need to move sooner rather than later. do you look for personally over the next few days as you -- tell our viewers what they should be paying attention to as some type of resolve and answers come from this? guest: a lot of the questions at the moment have censored on what evidence turkey has. there has been quite a lot of discussion over the last day or two about this audio evidence that they possess. they said they have not shared the audio with anyone. there have been all sorts of conflicting accounts of what it shows. one of the questions is what exactly happened inside the consulate and does any of the

role playednt to a by somebody very senior in saudi leadership? the turkish evidence is a key question. is how theuestion organizationng about how this matter gets resolved unfold over the coming days. turkey holds quite a lot of cards and is pressuring saudi's to come up with a credible explanation and they will decide amongst themselves what sort of explanation -- fahim joining us on the phone with the latest on the disappearance of jamal khashoggi . thank you for your time this morning. guest: thank you. host: that is what we will look

at in this first hour, the u.s. response and what you have seen coming from the white house and the secretary of state and your own responses. 202-748-8000 for eastern and central time zones and 202-748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zones. here is president trump's response on the matter. >> do you believe jamal khashoggi is dead? >> it certainly looks that way to me. it is very sad. >> can you comment on the shouting match between general kelly and -- in the white house? >> have you heard anything new from secretary pompeo in your meetings? >> we are waiting from investigation and the results and we will have those soon and i think we will make a strong statement. we are waiting for the results of three different

investigations and we should be able to get to the bottom very soon and i will see you on the plane. >> what are you considering for possible consequences for saudi? >> it will have to be very severe. it is bad, bad stuff. we will see what happens. host: our first call comes from mark in massachusetts. you are on. caller: good morning, pedro. thank you. i just wanted to say -- i just read the russians are filling up vacant spots at the economic , thisence in saudi arabia is absolutely ridiculou. full's.e us for the saudi's -- fools. conducting their own investigation for a murder they are accused of. is involved in these

guys and it is a damn shame. i hope things clear up quickly and people start being held accountable. host: what do you think the appropriate response should be at this time? he is gone. you can give us a call. this is kevin on twitter saying the question is what did the cia and trump know about the murder plot beforehand? -- why is there more concern over this incident then there was over the four heroes we lost in benghazi who were citizens of the united states? twitter and facebook are both available to you. rob, go ahead. caller: i am trying to wrap my head around this situation. a saudi citizen was in turkey and is supposedly killed by foreign nationals and the united

states must take action on this situation. previous administration, we had american citizens on sovereign property, a u.s. embassy under attack and refused help and they itd and the response was doesn't matter. wednesday, thursday, friday. host: wednesday, thursday, friday referring to what? caller: the letters, wtf. host: you are saying there is no u.s. response needed? caller: i think they remind -- united states needs to focus on what affects the united states. until we can handle our own problems, we need to not place as much emphasis on foreign affairs. host: do you think part of that is the relationship the u.s. has with saudi arabia? iest: i think -- caller: think that should be addressed, but i don't know it needs to be

the number one headline. host: marta from indiana, bloomington. caller: thank you for taking my call. just to follow up on the first caller about emboldening. and his our president whole focus on hating the media, of get ahe world kind sense he is behind closed doors kind of happy like we got rid of one of them? i know that is horrible to think of. host: how do you make that connection? caller: because he is constantly -- these are enemies of his. it is the same thing with the other sort of dictators who have enemies, let's get rid of them. it is mafia mentality. that is what i feel like we are at. if you call them out on it, they will say something and go behind closed doors and laugh it off. host: that is marta in indiana.

available to you. there are opinion pieces looking at this issue. from the new york times, mr. trump, don't back down now. this was a crime against america. khashoggi was a columnist for the washington post. -- undermined the image of benevolent -- reformer. that should be more than enough for an american president to be furious. mr. trump is right to be concerned with the future -- about the future of relations with saudi arabia. a powerhouse in global oil politics. that does not necessarily mean the kingdom will take its petro dollars elsewhere. it is in the american interest to keep pressure on saudi arabia to reform and rethink the current alliance, including a

yemen.ous war in connecticut is next and we will hear from bob, hello. caller: good morning. why is it that america always has to pay a large price for the things that happen in the world? the journalists signed a billion dollar deal with russia after putin poison to those people. how about when obama drew the red line in the sand and children were gassed to death? host: in this case, what is the large price? caller: i am sorry? host: why do we have to pay a large price. is there a large price in your mind? caller: the liberals want to see jobsop that military deal, for people and all of a sudden there will be a battle with a saudi.

they control the oil and we will pay more for oil. we will pay the price. this is a saudi journalist. not an american journalist. what about when isis was chopping the heads off of journalists? in america.ided does that, by extension, give us some concern? caller: give it some concern. the way they are talking about it, this is a disaster -- for of man, when thousands americans died to free iraq. host: robert in baltimore, you are next. i can barely hear you, you will have to adjust where you are. caller: can you hear me now? i have more of a rhetorical question. why are we concerned about the unfortunate and tragic death of

this journalist when -- for years, saudi arabia has been committing genocidal practices against the people of yemen backed by the cia and israel to wipe out the people of yemen because yemen does not want to take on the central bank? why are we concerned about this death when we have people being ?urdered every day host: clarence in tennessee in nashville. hi. caller: good morning, pedro. thanks for washington journal. my comment is this. this press coverage of this reporter being a resident of the started outs -- citizen and then resident and columnist for the washington

post -- i would challenge the washington post or anyone else resident status -- it is my understanding he has a to be in the united states. i don't think there is probably a lease of an apartment or anything else. i don't think the number of columns he as a contributor rather than a columnist and it pressbs me how close the wants to make us think he is as pearl,journalist as mr. who was killed in that region. in my opinion, this is all anti-trump propaganda. the: you have heard secretary of state speak out and

the president speak out. don't you think it is a concern of the united states to address the issue? caller: it needs to be addressed. and theg to the post new york times, you would think we should declare war on saudi arabia or something. that country has many problems and some that disturb us, but we are not the world's policeman of incidents such as this one. host: ok. that is clarence in tennessee. the wall street journal talks about the ties between the united states and saudi arabia, particularly when it comes to spending. saudi arabia is the third-largest defense market after the united states and china. biggest signed deal is a $10

billion purchase agreement of armored vehicles by a canadian subsidiary of general dynamics, which is continuing to make shipments. they also bought rescission the use inissiles -- yemen resulted in thousands of civilian casualties. chart providede in the wall street journal story, talking about some of these sales, which -- potential sales to saudi arabia. a missile defense system from lockheed martin. billion armored vehicles, missile bombs, and helicopters on that list all that available at the wall street journal. diane in austin, texas. say i: i am calling to

think there is a really big difference in how the press is covering what happened in benghazi and what is happening here and it is anti-trump, definitely -- a democrat thing they can blow up to get votes. we need their money. we are in debt. are a poor country. i don't know how we will ever get rid of the massive trillions of dollars of debt. host: are you saying despite what is going on and the thationship with the -- the relationship between saudi arabia and the united states economically has to exist? it off either we cut altogether. i don't think we can because we need their money right now. weare so much in debt -- need money. host: let's hear from dick in little rock, arkansas.

caller: thanks. i am confused why there is such a difference in coverage. during president obama's second term when he was using drones everywhere, we had a u.s. citizen accused of being a terrorist and without having a trial or anything, a drone tracked him down and killed him in yemen. his 16-year-old son and his friend were looking for his father and they got killed by drones sent by the past president. did that gets why little coverage and this is getting coverage wall to wall when we had a u.s. citizen at trial and his son get killed by drones by a u.s. president? host: are you saying because mr. khashoggi was not a u.s. citizen the coverage is not warranted? i am just wondering, this was an obvious murder that should not have happened.

also, killing people without bringing them to trial -- it is the same level and it looks like probably people from their own isntry should be -- murder murder. this would probably be a step higher if this man had been a u.s. citizen besides being a reporter. host: we are asking about the u.s. response to this. what do you think overall? caller: i think we do not yet have all the facts because turkey keeps saying it will turn over its evidence. likely, we know what is going on. just like it should be, everyone .s innocent until proven guilty weneed to just not get so -- did not look into it, but not act like this was a tremendous

plot by a whole country until we know it was. host: from washington state, we will hear from reid, hi. we will go to jim, leesburg, virginia. we are talking about the u.s. response to this disappearance. caller: my condolences to the family of that -- those guys. who doesn't want to reside -- the media needs to focus on our hemisphere and the countries to the south of us. south and central america cannot keep their own citizens safe, so .hey are rushing to the north on this country. all these migrants fleeing north

because they are being killed and raped in countries to the south of us. let's have the media focus on this hemisphere and if they would point to these countries to the south of us, all these want thesocialists government to handle anything -- everything until they don't want them in their life. the washington post, their editorial today highlights some of the practices of saudi arabia. the kingdom has long been an absolute monarchy debt -- that does not tolerate open dissent. -- carried out barbaric punishments hurried the old system allowed limited channels to express opinions and those channels have been choked off .fter the reign of king salman

the editors continue to write this is the backdrop to the october 2 disappearance of jamal the saudi who entered consulate in istanbul and has not been seen since. he described in his post columnists how the crown prince retained and information blacklist. he understood setting people free to think and express themselves would be a far greater source of strength for saudi arabia than imprisoning and killing them. library, to our c-span jamal khashoggi appears several times priti he talked about the difficulty of reporting, especially on corruption matters in saudi arabia. [video clip] >> i think the saudi people are very much supportive of it. euphoriaing through a

that people do not think or question and the media does not discuss. the impact of such decisions. it is this euphoria and for government control. who are callede to sign pledges not to criticize the government and they chose to stay in their homes. --n the rioters are elastic arrested, they are afraid to speak. -- debate and discourse about lively matters. matters that affect us for the future. see that whole appearance and other appearances in the washington, d.c. area at our website, c-span.org. go in and type his name. the washington post talks about members of congress and their interest saying intelligence committee officials have been providing continuous briefings -- theinvestigation

house and senate, lawmakers without clearance including leader -- leading republicans have grown frustrated with what many see as a deliberate attempt by the trump administration to slow walk responses to request of information about khashoggi's disappearance or ignore questions outright. and senatorcorker bob menendez have taken a step of invoking an act to force the president to report -- the congress. stephen in south carolina, go ahead, you are on. caller: yes, good morning. i don't even know where to begin . i don't know. i don't even know why we are selling arms to saudi arabia, other than money.

am tired of money being everything. why would we sell arms to saudi arabia? i do not even get it. host: do you think that is driving the response now from the white house? caller: the responsecaller: i am hearing is maybe they did do it. this last fellow that was on said wait until the facts come out. i believe pompeo informed the president pretty much all what happened and i believe the president said he believes it probably did happen. the response is nothing. my senator -- two senators, lindsey graham and tim scott, no show tim. i don't even know where he has been at in the last 6 months to a year. instagram has been in every has beenlindsey graham in every photo up recently. i am disappointed in the leaders of our country.

south carolina in the primaries, you have to vote republican or democrat. bit. back up a little you referenced your senators. you are disappointed to their response to this situation or overall? caller: overall, not just the saudi arabia situation. from mitch is next delaware. go ahead. caller: good morning. for c-span and thank heaven for taking my call. i understand the journalist that got murdered or executed actually worked for the washington post and i believe bezos owns the washington post and that is probably the reason why this is in the media so much because the washington post has a big voice when it comes to controlling the media. saudi arabia has -- from what i understand, a very big social

safety net because of the oil income and they are able to provide a lot of services to their people free of charge, as it were. the only thing they ask in return from their people is blind obedience. i want everybody in the united states to consider that that is the cost of strong oligarchy and a centralized government. paul a few years ago had to filibuster on the floor of the senate banking the obama administration -- bagging g the obama- beggin to say they would never use drone strikes on american soil. host: our twitter feed talking about yemen saying we authorized a drone strike in yemen, but we

complain about a journalist getting killed. kevin denver -- a team of saudi hijackers took planes in 9/11. president bush attacked the wrong country and it never -- it flipped, i don't know why. -- not one american politician will ever stand up to the sauds. -- can post on our fitter twitter feed @cspanwj. facebook is there as well. rich in ohio. caller: i think the part where --di arabia is dominated by law. in order for the king to function, he contributes significant money to muslims and

we do not know what they do. stay in for him to power, he doesn't get elected, he has to get power from the religious group and from that, we have an odd thing they say it is like they agree with the mafia and say we need the mafia, we have to survive so they get the this weird law in which united states is getting closer and closer to. weird things are coming out from it that they are trying -- they do a lot to hope -- help their own people. host: all of that in connection to this journalist? make that connection. caller: ok. tohas to do with being able do evil things because you have to be under the thumb of the

mafia or the law they have to abide by. they will shut down airlines that come in with any christian -- information, they will shut it down. the power to do wrong and right is there. david is next, flint, michigan. caller: i agree with of the outrage over this guy's murder because of the simple reason that our president hates our press because they tell the truth. this could happen here. his supporters love him because he is a white nationalist and they will go along with everything. what if they kill our journalists? all the supporters calling in this morning will say it did not happen. why: tell me your process, you connect the process in the united states and the president's attitude to the american press?

the guy killeddi was living in the united states. saudi's hated him because he was telling the truth about the crookedness of that kingdom head and they wanted him dead and i think the united states knew that and did not warn this guy before he went over there in that embassy and they say they him screaming. they say the turks have sounds of him screaming as they cut him up alive. because jared is telling the president we need the money. the americans are trying to keep this quiet and let this be swept under the table and i think it is dangerous. host: that is david in michigan. you heard our guest talk about these trial balloons. this is out of his temple and and the newistanbul york times saying they are

considering accusing a top official for the killing of jamal khashoggi. assign blame to a high-ranking advisor to the crown prince would be extraordinary recognition of the magnitude of international backlash to hit the kingdom since the disappearance of jamal khashoggi. he was last seen entering the second.e october the blame the general could provide a plausible explanation for the disappearance. tennessee is next. this is michael. go ahead. me this is allo about money. how much is one life worth? you have got this guy from the washington post. he walks in and doesn't come out

so everybody thinks they know what happened inside. what if it would have been a marine? what if it would have been a tourist? we now know what the cost of life is. when you put money over any life, i think it is disgraceful. trump and his family -- i guarantee you when all is said and done, somebody is going to be connected to somebody in that room. it is terrible. it is just all about money. host: from colorado, jeremy. hello. , pedro.hi i just think when our country -- has always been a country of compassion, of freedom, of doing the right things. when we become a country who is

boosting dictatorships, brutal ones, as in saudi arabia and this example, the 9/11 example, , northxamples, russia korea, we are making a huge mistake and it is taking our status down from the shining country on the hill. perplexing how the religious rights such as pat robertson are saying it's ok, we need their money. correct me if i am wrong, but i thought jesus through the money changers out of the temple and what i am seeing is the worst money changers, the worst everything right now. this is grossly distorted the way that america is and i am just sad. host: yesterday in washington, d.c. we took in an event at the hoover institute.

it featured jamal khashoggi's editor at the washington post speaking about the work he did. [video clip] >> we were always looking for ways, accessibility ways for readers to understand saudi arabia, which is a country he loved. he is extremely patriotic. him to haved pain to see the dark turn he saw in mohammad bin salman. at the same time, in our partnership, we saw a chance to educate americans about a country that is so often opaque to a lot of people who really do not know enough about it. he gave a sense of history and the reforms. a sense of the women who fought for this over the years and his role as a male entered her and the way he tried to push -- as a

tried toor and how he push for this. is still processing, obviously, the news of the last two weeks. frequently, he was extremely passionate about having his work translated into arabic. he tweeted in arabic and wanted to reach arab people. , if you go torg the website, you can see that full event and other events featuring him directly. all of that available to you at c-span.org. don, gois next -- ahead. caller: it seems like some of these callers who would go to their death for the second

amendment do not seem to care about the first amendment and i think we ought to advocate the first amendment in our country and other countries as well. last night, trump, in montana celebrated the body slamming of a reporter, ben jacobs, by a politician in montana. host: when it comes specifically to the response of the united states to the death of this journalist, what do you make of it? caller: i think they are trying downlay and get it calmed so it is not in the news as much. they say we are going to do this, but it is not much. i think we should close our saudi embassy and bring hours home until they take full accountability and make restitution to the family and a full apology. host: if this is a case to delay, to what end? caller: unless congress forces

trump and you can already hear lindsey graham backing off. he says they are handling this in a diligent way or that kind of thing. unless congress pushes him, it will appear to be a sanction, but it will be watered down and they will move onto another story. host: some of the other things happening internationally as we continue to talk about the u.s. response to the disappearance of this journalist. -- assistance with the migrant caravan knocking on its border say international officials must help figure out who deserves asylum or who should be deported. the caravan has grown to 4000 people mostly from honduras. mexican officials were trying to block migrants after the president threatened to cancel his proposed trade deal as punishment for mexico's failure

to control the southern border. he said another option would be to deploy the u.s. military and the tweet from the president read "of the assault of our country on the southern border is a far more important to me as president than trade or the u.s. -mca.hopefully mexico will stop this onslaught ." david in madison heights. caller: thank you very much for taking my call. i think all the american journalists better watch over there so --shoulder because this was trump's test to see if he could get away with killing journalists. yemen did 9/11, saudi arabia did not. look at his hatred toward the press in the united states. i think he saw an opportunity to get away -- see if he could get

away with killing a journalist in saudi arabia. host: how are you convinced of this? caller: because his hatred -- tour the journalists. we all know how much he hates post and i think watche journalists better out. host: in indiana, hello. caller: thank you for taking my call. everybody to realize that everything is happening for a reason. dictate is trying to our country. everybody, wake up. this guy was chopped into pieces. oh my god. this is horrifying. this is horrendous.

our president is going along with this. he already tortured the puerto rican people. he is going along with it. host: when you say going along with it, what examples would you give of that? caller: like the russian with putin getting up there and talking and acting like our people are wrong, our investigators are wrong about things. host: how does that relate to the saudi journalist? caller well -- like the before me, i think trump is seeing if he can get away with it. host: jack in ohio, good morning. caller: thank you very much for taking my call. i think some of the comments about our president is

ridiculous. basically accusing him of having intent to test if he can murder journalists. just because he disagrees with journalists coming after him and he is standing up in his own defense, is absurd. i think america needs to relax. at different countries, i think all of them have blood on their hands. what are we supposed to do? become an isolated country and not deal with anyone? host: what do you make of the current response and is it appropriate? caller: say again. host: is the current u.s. response appropriate? caller: i am one -- i think it was the individual he sent over said let's give them time. i know it is not due process for those countries, but let's see where this leads and make decisions then. host: you are saying no more aggressive nature should be

taken by the united states until then? -- ir: we say aggressive don't know what aggressive means -- i guess you are suggesting sanctions, that kind of thing. i say wait and see, give it a time limit. a week, two weeks, what have you. let's make a decision them. host: it comes to the house directly being worse -- involved, should it be sanctions or more? caller: i definitely think sanctions, but trump made great point about our arms deals and how it will affect the people here in the united states and i chinak to -- look at what did and what russia has done .nder the bolsheviks every country, we can accuse them of this kind of behavior. where do we say enough is enough? host: from the secretary of

asked-- one of the things of him was his personal trust in the saudi government overseeing the investigation. [video clip] >> we are all going to get to see the response the kingdom of saudi arabia takes. we will get a chance to determine with respect to the credibility and the work that went into that. they made a personal commitment to me and the crown prince made a personal commitment to the himident when he spoke to host: the night before last. here is some reactions from members of congress. kristen gillibrand from the york saying reports of saudi arabia's responsibility for the disappearance and murder of jamal khashoggi are very disturbing. our government should hold the saudi government to account and inntain moral leadership respect for the rule of law. senator dick durbin saying tammy

duckworth and i have sent letters to president and the trump organization asking for disclosure of any saudi business ties. the american people deserve to familye extent of trump business ties and whether it constitutes a conflict of interest. of the saudiense government raises questions about the saudi's role in helping trump win the election this iss murphy adding pinned the tail on the donkey foreign policy. decisionu square this -- this with the decision to ago?pompeo over two days bee is next, hello. years old and i don't believe i have ever seen this country in worse shape and it really bothers me we are the policemen of the world.

--se countries have already always been fighting. if you are a journalist or whoever and go to a country like saudi arabia. the man knew what he was doing. that is a dangerous place for him. we start a war just to get -- this does not make sense to me whole cannot take the world over here because we are getting as bad as the other countries. if we quit sending them all money, we might balance the budget and quit taking in more people. host: some senators said there is a moral responsibility for the united states. due you think that -- do you think that? caller: no, i do not. you cannot police the world. you cannot take care of everybody. host: when it comes to the moral responsibility, why not, specifically? caller: i just don't feel like you can do this yourself.

i love all these people. i would love to have enough money to help everybody in the world. i don't even have enough money to help myself. host: marco rubio giving comments via tweets saying we must not accept the strategic alliance with saudi arabia which requires silence when they butcher a potential political critic. we must hold everyone responsible for the murder accountable and be clear on what is expected moving forward if they want to preserve our alliance. the world needs answers about what happened to jamal khashoggi . montana, jim is next. caller: good morning. i want to ask what is it that people want us to do? do theycifically, what want us to do about this?

host: how would you answer your own question? caller: i think we are kind of doing what we should be doing right now and that is waiting and watching. these middleow how eastern cultures treat their people. we have known that for a long time. the thing that motivated me to dangerous to very tor this rhetoric that seems insinuate that our president is doing whatever he is doing or not doing whatever he is doing to test the waters so he can kill journalists here. is that for real? host: when it comes to the response of the united states, what do you think about it specifically? caller: talking around it -- let's do what we are doing right

now. let's let the process play the course -- go through the course of whatever it does in those cultures in the middle east and turkey. host: there are some who question why we are interested in this in the first place. would that be the take you have on it? caller: it is a horrible thing. nobody should condone it and i don't think anybody with any kind of sanity or common sense does condone it. as far as what i would do, i don't know. i do not run for president. i am not in the position to make those kind of decisions. host: we are getting your thoughts on the u.s. response to the disappearance of jamal khashoggi. you have heard people talk on a lot of different tangent on this, giving us calls and tweets and facebook posts. you can do the same.

tony in maryland, district heights, hello. go ahead. caller: can you hear me? host: you are on, go ahead. caller: good morning. nothing is going to be done. i will tell you why. the 19 hijackers were from saudi arabia. that country was not held accountable for the 15 hijackers that supposedly killed 3000 of our american citizens. this ises you think going to happen over the united this is going to happen over the united states resident? he was not even a citizen and nothing would happen even if he was because nothing happened regarding 9/11. this is all about money. saudi arabia is the lead sponsor of state terrorism. since they own so much oil and

we do so much business with them, nothing is going to happen. they still have not been held accountable for what happened on 9/11 and they never will. host: that is tony in district heights maryland. feed, saying we have more responsibility to treat other nations this one more call on topic from clifton, new jersey. we will speak with jeff. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my phone call. was a citizen of saudi arabia. the countries have different laws. kate was the outrage when steinley was killed?

there is so much killing going on in our country. where is the outrage for chicago? we do not hear about it. something that happened in turkey? host: ok. that's jeff. clifton, new jersey. we will continue talking about the topics. joining us is tim chapman from heritage action for america. he will talk about money they spend backing republicans when it comes to the midterms. later on, the naacp's derek johnson will talk about their efforts at voter mobilization. all of that and more coming up on "washington journal." "q&a,"ay on c-span's

talks about his biography of chief justice john marshall. >> marshall's legacy was of scared by a single opinion -- his decision on marbury versus madison. that is what he is known for. john marshall was a soldier in the revolutionary army. served. he was a leading figure in the andinia house of delegates, he persuaded delegates to go along with ratifying the constitution. there wouldinia, have been no constitution.

he was important in the negotiations with france. all of the other contributions he has made get forgotten because of the significance of his one decision in marbury versus madison. night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's "q&a." on c-span3,end the 1968at 10:00 p.m., broadcast "the nixon answer." do not thinki nuclear bombs are necessary to be used in vietnam. i think nuclear weapons should be reserved ultimately for what we hope will never come. there will have to be great diplomacy, and that could involve confrontation with a nuclear power. >> and then, the baseball .mericana exhibit

at 8:00 on "the presidency," ormer president george w. bush and friends reflect on the life of former first lady barbara bush. she had this motto that you are going to be judged about the success of your life, by your relationships with family and friends and coworkers, and even people you meet along the way. >> "washington journal" continues. host: this is tim chapman. he is here to talk about campaign 2018, and particularly what conservatives are doing. give your assessment on how you think the republicans will fare come november.

guest: we're pretty confident about the senate. the house will be a little tougher. 8's recentk at 53 says it is think it likely democrats will win the house. i think it will be skewed more traditionally. but midterms are always tough for the party in power. i think this time around, we're running against the wind and a lot of these local districts. host: what do you think republicans are doing right, and what can they do better? guest: it depends on the individual races, but the that when youm is look at the 60 or so competitive we have a massive disadvantage in terms of enthusiasm. democrats in those districts had

between 8-12 points. where therestricts are more registered republicans than there are registered democrats, so we should be more competitive. over the last month that gap has significantly evened out, and so as that evens out we have a much better chance. that gives you the ability to go into the district and make your case on policies. of thatw much enthusiasm is attributable to brett kavanaugh's confirmation or other factors? i think the kavanaugh confirmation kind of grabbed the attention of the republican base voter in a way that nothing else has up to this point. and so after the kavanaugh confirmation, and specifically after the kind of fireworks we he in the committee hearing,

saw the enthusiasm gap evaporator. e. not just the kavanaugh confirmation, though. republican base voters were so animated by what they viewed as hardball tactics from democrats, and they started to think, well, two years of this may be tough if we lose the house. we will be empowering this party to do this, all the way up until 2020. op-edyou wrote in your that republican base voters are waking up. but, the dangerous rhetoric from the left has done damage to moderate voters. can you expand on that? guest: sure. but is not all democrats, think the base of the democratic

party is very, very aggressive. and so when you see activists kind of, you know, railroad senators when they're out for dinner with their wives or grab people in the halls, that is making people think this is no longer -- there is no civility here. that has made republican base voters push back. so that is what i think you are seeing. it is not just what senate democrats did during the kavanaugh hearing. that was aggressive and did anger people. but it is what is going on with activists at the local level. executivechapman, director for heritage action for america. if you want to ask him a , most of our viewers will know the name, but what is

heritage action? it is a sister organization of the heritage foundation. the heritage foundation is a 501(c)(3) that produces fantastic policy analysis, some of the best in the country. lack thec)(3) they ability to get involved in politics, and lack the ability to lobby capitol hill. sisterwe created a organization that is a 501(c) (4). there getting involved in midterm elections and trying to push policies we care about into these individual races. we are at 13e, races this midterm. they were all focused exclusively on policy.

when we endorse a candidate, we think he or she will be the right leader. we are spending $2.5 million. host: and how does that work? over 300,000e pieces of direct mail in these districts. we seek to educate voters on what policy issues are. and then we spend digitally as well. host: if i have it correctly, one of the people you represent had a debate this week. one of the things that came up was the idea of spending and economics. i want to show you a little bit about that exchange and talk to you about it. hypocriticallutely that we would have someone stand talk about fiscal responsibility after adding $1.9 trillion to the deficit. against hurricane relief. after voting against the on the this bill. after voting against budget

after budget. however, and it came time to give $42 billion in tax breaks, there he was. to hear unbelievable someone who said we need more government spending for every single program here asking me about deficits and debt. the republicans passed tax cuts that cost $150 billion a year. they are all paid for. by contrast, we had nine senate by $400s up the budget billion. everybody knows where the spending problem is, and it is on the failed pelosi agenda on the other side of the aisle. host: what do you think about those arguments? guest: i have to agree with the congressman there. he has voted in a fiscally responsible manner every single time he gets the chance.

much to his party leadership's chagrin, he voted against all of the budgets. e voted against the on the omnibus. he voted against hurricane relief, as he mentioned, and -- host: but he supported the tax cut? guest: i think there is a principle at stake here. the principle he is standing on is that that money -- when we cut those taxes that go back into individuals pockets, individual filers receive money back from the tax bill. when you look at a family of four, they get over $2000 back this year. that is real money.

the principle he is fighting on is that that money is the people's first. so yes, congress has to get fiscally responsible. we are encouraging them to. we are working with the white house to try and get better spending cuts. but the people should not be deprived of their spending money. we need the economy to grow. host: does that make it harder with these announcements this week? guest: look, it is a tough case to sell. democrats can rightly criticize the republican party for being fiscally irresponsible. i don't think they can responsibly criticize dave bratt, but the party on the whole has not led in the issue of fiscal responsibility. if we are able to hold the house

this fall, we want in 2019 to take serious steps on curtailing spending on the appropriations side when it comes to discretionary spending, but even more importantly, we want to take a look at major drivers of the debt. chapman.s is tim glenn from new york is up first on the democrats line. good morning. there should be someone else on the democratic side sitting there to counter all of the lies. but let me try and get a couple in before you cut me off. he says the republicans are going to be running on issues, but there are reports that all republicans are lying about voting to retain pre-existing conditions on health insurance

average, they voted to repeal obamacare. apart from that, we have this guy talking about the tax on republicans. we have a country of 330 million , and when six people shout down a senator and don't let him swallow his food while starve,tting others that is representative of the entire democratic party. the problem we have is that this guy works for heritage. heritage is the one that came up with romneycare -- host: quickly make your point, we have to move on. are you there? caller: yes.

i am saying this guy works for the heritage foundation. he is the one who came up with the plane, which was that created pre-existing conditions as part of an overall requirement. guest: thank you for the call. i am confused. tensed where it pre-existing conditions -- we are against pre-existing conditions. i would say a couple of things. i do thinkshback is, there is a stability problem in this country. while there are merits to some of your points, you yourself are talking about a senator who is letting people start. that is not -- letting people starve. i don't think that is a healthy approach. if they these senators, are against obamacare, they are against it for legitimate reasons. we will see premiums go through

the roof. we have a massive problem in health care market. the regulations that obamacare is put in place is strangling the market. way to to figure out a get a plan in place that drives premiums down, that gives people more choices. on the issue of pre-existing conditions, look, i myself may not agree with that. problems if you mandate for pre-existing conditions in terms of regulations in the market. but the party is not against pre-existing conditions. a tweet went out yesterday talking about how every republican in the party is on board with maintaining pre-existing conditions, but i think that is misleading. i think we have to do better to try and understand each other. host: if it does become an aggressive move, will the heritage foundation back some

sort of curtailing of pre-existing conditions? guest: if the policy is something that allows states to opt out of a lot of the regulatory framework, that is what we want/ we. if the states can compete against each other, if new york once pre-existing conditions but texas does not, i think that is a healthy thing because five years down the line we will have a model in new york and a model in texas. we will be able to have a real conversation about what works better. host: on the independent line, mike in misery. souri. i think the conservative campaign for 2018 is a bunch of lies. i would like to start with josh hawley right here in

missouri. he says he is all for pre-existing conditions. he signed onto a lawsuit to keep that from happening. th and the republican liars are spending a lot of big money against claire mccaskill, who is definitely for andexisting conditions fighting the cost of pharmaceuticals. thear as civility goes, conservatives with donald trump and his taxpayer-funded dog and pony show all over the country is calling for violence every day. ae is bragging about congressman body slamming a reporter. they shouted down a cnn

reporter, they wouldn't even let him do his report. host: thanks for the call. guest: thank you. i would refer you to the president's tweet yesterday. i think that is pretty locked in. in spite of the policy differences i may have with that tweet, i think the party has moved into a position where they are in favor of that. it is disingenuous to suggest otherwise. host: tony in tampa, florida. republican line. i wish heritage action would put more pressure on republican party -- on the republican party. we have to replace mitch mcconnell. they are going to go from paul ryan to this mccarthy guy. poor leadership. billion tond $710 the military, $28 billion of

that should have been earmarked to secure the border. there have been more people crossing over since trump has been an office ban when obama was, for god's sake. these are moderate judges, too. jeb bush ore kind a a rubio would. i am and disappointed in trump, too. he should never have signed that $1.2 trillion stimulus bill. is he kidding? $1.6 billion for his wall? our leadership is awful. mcconnell is a joke. guest: thank you for the call. i think heritage action has a thorn inny ways, the leadership's side and has pushed very hard.

we have had very high profile disagreements, particularly during the boehner years. optimistic that the trend in the party is going in the right direction. not think the party will -- if we hold the midterms -- i do not think they will be able to get away with not addressing the physical issue or finding a way to implement border funding. course,lem we have, of is that we do not have 60 votes in the senate. that is a significant hurdle for us. ways welieve there are can do this without 60 votes, and we will be there to make sure it happens. host: what did you interpret of senate majority leader mcconnell's statements about entitlement programs recently? i think you are

referring to him going back and taking a look about obamacare. host: he spoke specifically about the difficulty of changing medicare. critics connect that with helping to pay with the tax cuts. guest: right. so here is what i have to say about that. the problem we have on entitlements specifically is that we as a party have not sufficiently galvanized the american people the hind the idea of entitlements. i think we need to do a better job on that, to make sure there is political will behind what we are doing before we can ram it through the senate. we need to work towards that. if you are able to hold the house and the senate, i think there is some low hanging fruit on these entitlement reforms that we can begin to work towards. will reawakenat the legislative memory of many of these republicans as to how

we are supposed to be fiscally responsible. take welfare reform. if you can put a work we'veement in place -- not done significant reform on that since 1996. when we did, it was overwhelmingly successful. getting people off of welfare in look,nto jobs in society, we can do that again. if you can prove your self adept at doing that, you can gain the confidence of the american people to do bigger things. host: you called it low hanging fruit. some people will call it the third rail. yeah, well look, i think medicare and social security are more like third rail than welfare reform. if you can do it and demonstrate significant success, and then he year later look back and say that you actually help improve people's lives, you can begin to gain the trust of the people and

make social security and medicare less of a third rail. host: would you rather see a kevin mccarthy become leader or jim jordan? guest: i am a huge jim jordan fan. we have worked very well with kevin mccarthy over the years. focusk we put too much spok on the speaker, personally. this is not a unified party in the house of representatives. it is a coalition government. you have appropriators, you have moderates, you have the house freedom caucus, you have republican study committee members, you have the chairman, you have your leadership want to -to-bes. whoever becomes speaker of the house needs to recognize that

they are leading coalition efforts and give representation to various factions in the party. and so i would like to see, especially with for sport to jim , those numbers we work with most closely that are more represented in the leadership team and on committees and the decision-making process. host: tim chapman joining us. jerry, hello. my question is about the emails that were least from the bush administration that suggest that judge kavanaugh lied during his confirmation hearings. mitch mcconnell said he could not get kavanaugh pushed through because of the paper trail, and so instead, they covered up the paper trail. and senatorspeople

do not have the right to see those papers and see if he lied to commit impeachable offenses. host: thanks, jerry. guest: i am not familiar with the issue. i think what you're seeing with a lot of these judges, particularly judge kavanaugh, was way more paper coming to the senate judiciary committee than has ever come from any judge before. i think there has been a lot of good faith effort to make sure that documents that are needed to be sent through are able to be done in the senate judiciary committee. this was an unprecedented process. host: independent line from florida. the care, hello -- victor, ella. hello. paying 2.5 times

more than any other country in the world for health care, and yet we cannot cover all of our people. that is the fault of the republican congress. they have had two years under trump to do that. inple are dying every day this country because they cannot afford high cost prescription drugs. fix thatnted to problem, you could advocate for a law that says once you pay 10% of your income for prescription drugs to drug companies, they have to give it to you for free. they are making plenty of money. the congress is bought and paid for. they are taking large campaign contributions because of citizens united. but thed be repealed, roberts court is terrible. mitch mcconnell is a jerk -- is a joke. he is trying to cut medicare and

medicaid. they are not going to vote for republicans unless they are stupid. guest: thank you for the call. i would say a couple of things. i share your frustration on the health care issue. greatest disappointment over these two years is that the republican party was not able to mount a significant repeal and replace. the law in place is still obamacare. the administration now has been able to unilaterally have away aebb away at it. i think we have to do something about that, which is why i was happy to see yesterday that mcconnell was saying we need to go after it again after the midterms, we need to make sure

we go after it. the key is earlier, allowing states to innovate and work. towant states and localities be more involved in how we set up the markets. i think that will allow for greater choice and lower premiums. host: on the inability, do you blame the coalition aspect? right. so 2017 was a disaster. i don't think the bill was effectively rolled out. there wasn't enough work done to bring various factions of the party together on this, and so i think when the bill came out they kept saying there would be a vote. and that was because they did not have consensus in the party. all of us have to do a better job to build consensus on what is next. we have been doing that on our end for the past year.

our colleagues at the heritage foundation have been working at therious stakeholders state government level to craft what could be a replacement bill for 2019. but it is hard work. it is hard work getting susan collins to agree with ted cruz, but that is the hard work that has to be done and we are trying to bridge this gap's so that if we do get the opportunity to go forward in 2019, we do not have a repeat of 2017. host: michael on the democrats line. i am a veteran. i am also a medicaid recipient. about cuts andk entitlements. will that be the v.a., medicaid, social security?

i have a friend who is 77. they cut his benefits down to 60%. he has to beg for food right now. you say you are for veterans. cut. will be a thank you for the call. thank you for your service. guest: here is my take on it. -- ok, theret now is not a lot of talk on tightening medicaid or cutting medicare. like i said earlier, the party has to demonstrate a fiscal responsibility first before they move towards that. but i personally believe that something has to be done in all of these programs to ensure they are shored up for future generations. it is the fault of both parties. we are on a trajectory where

these programs will not be in generation.e next and that is unfair, because we owe it to people who paid into to make sure they are there when they reach retirement age. host: so is that a good fiscal decision? guest: i would say that all that has to be looked at again. it could be a good decision if you have a plan over the long term to shore it up. it is not a good fiscal decision when you do not have a long-term plan. host: independent line from connecticut, william. go ahead. caller: yes. i find it very interesting, nobody ever mentions that social security -- i do not consider it entitlement. it pays for itself year after raisedven when reagan

social security. billion out to us evil old people. the 800 billion is paid in. -- the $800 billion is paid in. 150 militarye need bases around the world for? we can even when the war in a afghanistan for god's sake. robert e lee and teddy roosevelt are rolling over in their graves because of all these girly men running the country. my niece moved to france. i thought she was an idiot. $200 a yearthere is for everyone. costs $1000 a year to go to med school. it is about time that people

started telling the truth, instead of listening to all of these bony talking heads. guest: thanks. i would say two things. one, there is an element of theft going on with these entitlement programs. it is happening on a bipartisan basis because congress and the now --nt for decades washington has not been able to get control of fiscal spending. so yes, they are moving money around. but there is a fundamental problem with entitlement programs. the fundamental program -- the we hadntal problem is, around 16-1 in terms of workers for every retiree 10 years ago. right now, we have three workers for every retiree. the demographics are changing. people are living longer.

you cannotitive, but do 3-1. it is not going to be sustainable. we have to figure out a way to get this on a sustainable trajectory. host: how on the independent line. -- al on the independent line. go ahead. he is not looking at the things they did. everybody.s for 45% of the senate retiring at some point. they voted for the tax cut. this young man sitting in that and tell your grandmother you are not fort social security or medicaid. and that's all i have to say. i won't go home until my

grandmother that because that is certainly not my position, but i will tell you i don't expect it to be there for me when i retire. that is wrong. we need to address that. host: when it comes to the races, what others are you confident about? guest: we in 13 races right now. if you look at the 13 we are involved in, they are all a long a razor thin margin. ithink in terms of results, depends upon the bigger environment of what is happening across the country.

look at just the polling right now. we running these races in individual districts across the country. midterms, you really have two midterms going on. one is the local race-by-race war of attrition between candidates. is the big,re massive, national narrative going on. the race-by-race issue, you look at the different ones and they all have different issues. big picture, i refer to what i said earlier. what is changing now is massive engagement at the base level from the republican party. it is likely that you will seat red districts get more red.

districts that lean blue will become blue. fors not necessarily great the country, because it is an increased polarization occurring. the reason republicans are in good shape in the senate is thanse the map is redder in the senate where the big races are. is someouse the map red, some blue, some purple. it is more complicated. those are the ones that help to support the candidates with money. what do you think about how they are performing? well, there are two ways to look at it. one, they have raised more money than they ever have in previous elections. two, they have been significantly outraised by democrats. that has been an indicator that the democrats are far more energized. or, they have been. e to see the next round of fund raising come in.

you will see people are doing a lot better. but, there is no doubt that the democratic party is spending significantly more on these midterms. the last figure i saw it close to $1 billion. and so it is a massive fundraising advantage. pricea $5 billion tag being floated. guest: astonishing. ually skeptical that money matters as much as people think it does. indicator very good of intensity, and a good indicator of enthusiasm. when i hear a number like that, it is what we all know in our bones, which is that people are very animated. go and youwhen you spend money on the air -- which we're doing -- it does not

matter as much as it used to. i think you need to do it in the way we did it. you need to pair it with authentic grassroots activity at the local level. spending on the ads needs to be consistent with what people in the district who have lived there their whole lives and are more likely to be trusted by their neighbors, it has to be consistent with what they are doing. and so we are trying to inject it into grassroots activity. host: valda has, illinois. go. caller: good morning. i would like to focus on the health care issue. i am ato tell you retired state police officer from california. i am also an army veteran. at 65, i have never had any debt of any kind of my life. as i sit here being retired for almost 15 years, i never look back. you are usingis,

cliches like we need to have conversations, we need to figure out a way. those are not answers. those are slogans. what i am going to say next is, look around. i don't know if you get on the ground and look at all of these red states that talk about independence and being good americans, but they are so unbelievably unhealthy. they lead the red states and every negative category, whether recipients of medicaid, health, obesity, smoking, morality, divorces. who are we trying to kid? this is not how the country was supposed to be but this is how we made it. so if you think we're going to solve these problems, you're kidding yourself. answer that. guest: look, they are not cliches. this has to be addressed. at least aave given

framework for a way to address the health care issue. the framework is one where we devolve the power out of washington. you can sets that up your health care system the way you see fit. we say to new york and california that you can set it up as you see fit. block grants, money to the states. if you do that, you'll see that texas in five years will have a much more robust and healthy market than new york and california. want laboratories of democracy around this country. observeople can go and how markets are working. host: from south bend, indiana,

democrats line. donald, you're are the last call. go ahead. caller: you answered one of my questions. but explain to me the calculus behind tax revenues as related to growth. is this going to be done by more businesses, thereby having them pay taxes? will the workers pay taxes? please explain this to me. i don't quite understand that. guest: here's the way it works. if you are able to grow the , then there is a larger taxable base for the government. and so, tax revenues will increase as the economy grows. there is just more activity to tax. talked congressman brat

about revenues from 4% growth ultimately paying for the price tag of tax reform. brat is an economics professor who understands economics. that is the way we view this. i do not believe that in and of itself is significant. it also, aside from growth, have to cut federal spending. you have to have both if you are going to have a healthy economy and balance sheet for the country. but growing the revenue base through tax reform is a very real phenomenon that works. host: we have a viewer off of twitter asking what other candidates heritage action is supporting. walk you would love to through that on our website. you can see the candidates that are being supported. barr in kentucky, weber up in new jersey, harrison north carolina.

chabot in ohio. i could go to bliss. host: tim chapman, thank you. the house comes in at 9:00 for a pro forma session. we will take that when it comes. "until then. we will be right back. ♪ >> sunday night on "afterwards," journalist and offer that macy with her book "don't sick." -- "dope sick." hear fromed to policeman and other sources that so much of the drug crimes, so much of the crime in their communities was drug fueled, mostly by methamphetamines and heroine.

. how is that happening in rural areas? sure enough, it was. i did not understand at the time how heroin and oxycontin and other pills were connected. i did not understand that they were chemical cousins, and that if people were initially addicted to prescribed opioids whether oxycontin or percocet or once theyor whatever, are addicted and they get cut off they get dop e sick. once the pills get more drug cartels start bringing heroin in. watch "afterwards" at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span twos book tv. tv, theweekend on book

milford readers and writers festival in milford, pennsylvania. starting saturday at 2:00 eastern. alda with his book, "if i understood you, what i have this look on my face?" fitzgerald discusses writing about war, and jane friedman on the future of book publishing. on sunday at 1:00 eastern, andrew napolitano on his book, "iot is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong." and authors on the power of the written word. andh the milford readers writers festival this weekend on c-span two's book tv.

>> "washington journal" continues. host: also on open phones, you can participate. the british newspaper "the guardian" on their website talks about the president's rally in montana. as the president praised greg assault, the his story says that the president praised him for violently attacking a guardian reporter, adding that the president described in glowing terms what on may 20 4, 2017. ben jacobs asked a question about health care policy. here's a little bit from the president talking about that. pres. trump: so smart.

you are on live television all over the place. we have had people getting up and speaking for 20-25 minutes. greg is smart. and by the way, never wrestle him. do you understand that? any guy who can do a body slam is my kind of guy. [applause] trump: that is nothing to be in barest about. i was in rome with leaders from other countries talking about all sorts of things, and i heard about it. very early, but i heard he body slammed a reporter. and he was way up. all, this is terrible. then i said, wait a minute.

i know montana pretty well. it might help him. it did. host: you can see more of that on our website at www.c-span.org . kathleen from dayton, ohio, democrats line. caller: with every speech he gives, the crowds are totally white. he has one african-american. where is he? my 90-year-old mom who i take care of full-time was in unions growing up. she worked from the age of 16-67. when she heard mitch mcconnell say they are coming after medicare, medicaid and social security, she literally sat up straight and said, "damn that mitch mcconnell. he had better not touch my social security. years on the books."

she worked a little under the table after that, but she started working at 16. i picked theats, really struggling areas. while need to remember, democrats make mistakes we get a better package from them. roosevelt came up with social security. johnson came up with medicare. sherrod brown stood up for health care. for decadesin there working for the working class and those less fortunate. when it comeseen, to fiscal sustainability do you think there is an issue there? how can that be resolved? caller: i get it. i am 66. i wilma collect social security until i am. i made that decision on my own. we are living longer and there will be adjustments, but

traditionally republicans hated roosevelts and johnson's packages since the beginning. mcconnells like mitch blame the deficit on these programs. people paid into these programs. don't give those massive tax cuts to the wealthy. bring it back into the system. host: carl, libby, montana. independent line. caller: i was going to make a comment about social security. paul ryan had a plan to fix social security. if you were 55 years or older, nothing would change. 55, theye younger than would extend the retirement age one or two years and make other adjustments and social security would remain solvent until 2075. but the democrats -- i, just, something is wrong with democrats.

when they signed social security, it was supposed to cost $9 billion the first 10 years. it cost $90 billion the first 10 years. if democrats had listened to paul ryan, they could've fixed this. host: democrats line. gloria. go ahead. caller: good morning, c-span. thats have gotten so crazy i had to call in today. our country is in the very worst of hands. we have a uniquely ignorant and unqualified person in the white house. all of this business of people being up in the air about the journalist who has probably been assassinated by a rogue, dishonest, immoral, totally

illegal -- if there were such a category for the saudi's -- we're supporting that. we alsorting that, support the famine in yemen. we support the genocide going on in yemen. is keeping this discussion alive. host: is that the report coming from the economic interests we have? caller: i believe so. we are taking blood money. we are not going to be that kind of country. i think is those things come out, people will know who to vote for. ocean, is the gem of the not the mafioso of the universe while. they want to fix social security. both parties who have been seething like mad from that fun -- it's evening like

mad from that fund. host: the . go ahead. i am not democrat or republican. i am human. i want to start the human party, because that is what we need. three weeks ago during the kavanaugh hearing, we had a gr eat, wonderful president talking about him. and then he was like, everybody has had a past. even george washington, i believe he said. back to second or third grade. what i learned is that george washington did have a past. notpast was that he could tell alive. he chopped down that cherry tree. now has a major problem with telling the truth and the facts. i think he does have problems with the facts. thought that

because george washington could not tell a lie. this president cannot tell the truth. when you sell your soul to the devil, you go to hell with them and -- host: ok. thank you. democrats line from georgia. caller: ok. i see that social security and medicaid and medicare should not be touched. you're already on. keep going, please. ander: social security medicaid and medicare should not be touched. host: how do you keep those programs sustainable if they are not supposed to be touched? money: because they steal from the program, and they need to put it back. put it back.

money andto take the put it back. they take our money for wars. it is not right. host: thank you. cordle lane, idaho. lane, idaho. go ahead. the money has been borrowed from social security and medicare. i am sure there is a way to determine how much has been , and put it in the budget over the next 5, 10, i don't know, 20 years. are putting all kinds of millions in billions and trillions of dollars for other things, but figure out how much you took from the people who paid in and put it back. host: from the republican line, dave in new albany, ohio. hi. caller: hi. i am calling to talk about saudi

arabia. everyone knows it is an authoritarian regime. if the united states is not choosing to align themselves most closely with russia or china. they are just as authoritarian as saudi arabia. i would like to see us not make the same mistakes we made with the best of intentions when jimmy carter was the man. and that is really all i have to say. host: what is it from then that we can apply now? caller: be very careful. don't expect saudi arabia to change on a dime. it can always get worse. host: that is dave in new albany, ohio. about 9:00 this morning, house will come in for a pro forma session. no official business being done.

they say the pledge of allegiance. maybe offer a prayer. and then they gavel out. just periodically for those keeping track, when that happens, we will take that for as long as it goes. when we come back, we will be joined by derek johnson of the naacp talking about voter mobilization efforts. one of the things stemming out over the past couple of days about immigration policy was a reported blowup at the white house, saying three people sought john kelly and john sparring over an issue that has angered the president and often prompted him to lash out. mr. bolton cited that the blamed ms.who had nielsen for stanching the flow of migrants across the border.

mr. kelly, who is fiercely protective of his protege, defended her. iffered men d over the discouraging of citizens seeking refuge in the united states. maggie haberman also reports this morning that the shouting match exploded not long after mr. trump tweeted on thursday morning that democrats are leading an "assault on the country in el salvador, what a guatemala."de stay close a to our website. if you go there, you will find all of the dates we are taking in on the senate and house side. several take place tonight. all of that information at c-span.org. again, the house of representatives expected to come in for their pro forma session.