talks about the mueller investigation and the trump investigation -- and the trump administration national security policy. as always, we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on a spoken twitter as well. "washington journal the white house has declared this wednesday, december 5, as a national day of mourning in honor of the late president george h w bush who died friday night in texas area executive departments and federal agencies will be close on wednesday and flags on all public buildings will be at half staff for a month as a mark of respect. stateent bush will lie in in state inside the capitol rotunda starting tomorrow evening. funeral services set for wednesday at the washington national cathedral. for this first hour of this edition of the washington journal, we thought we would get

more of your thoughts on the life and legacy of president george h w bush. here's how to take part in the conversation. republicans call (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independent, (202) 748-8002. if not by phone, you are welcome to check in by social media. again, on the life and legacy of former president george h w of your call. here's the front page of the new york times. it's a portrait of george bush, the late president, on this photo says in 1990, james a baker the third, who was his personal friend and secretary of state describes and is the best one term president the country ever had. peter baker reports on the final

moments of the president's life and interaction with his family. mr. baker writes that george bush had been fading in the last few days, he had not gotten out of bed. wasad stopped eating and he mostly sleeping. freeman who had defied death multiple times over the years, it seemed like the moment might finally be arriving. friend and former secretary of state james a baker the third arrived at his houston home on friday morning to check on him. mr. bush suddenly grew alert, his eyes wide open. where are we going to come he asked? we are going to heaven, said mr. baker. that's where i want to go said mr. bush. later, mr. bush was dead. the former president died in his home in a gated community in houston surrounded by several runs, members of his family, doctors, and a minister. at the end neared on friday night, his son george w. bush, the president was put on the

speakerphone to say goodbye and told them he had been a wonderful dad and that he loved him. i love you too, mr. bush told his son. and those were his final words. that's from mr. baker in the new york times. we didwe get to calls, learn quite a bit of information yesterday about the plans for this national day of mourning and for the funeral in washington. he will lie in state at the u.s. capitol. given the american public an opportunity to bid farewell to the 41st president and then will be honored with a state funeral wednesday morning at washington national cathedral before being returned to houston for burial. for more details, his remains will be flown monday morning from ellington hilton houston to the joint base andrews military facility in maryland area that was according to a statement released last night. will be able to get

respect from 7:30 monday to 7:00 wednesday at the u.s. capitol rotunda in washington. the state funeral will be held at the cathedral starting at 11:00 a.m. wednesday. we will be there for all of this on c-span. you can see the arrival ceremony at 5 p.m. tomorrow and then lying in state through wednesday morning and then wednesday is the funeral, and then thursday, he will be buried in houston at saint martins of visible church at 10 a.m. local time. lots of coverage this week on as the funeral for president george h w bush. we have a call from michael, our first call from washington. republican. caller: yes, how are you doing today? well, i think bush was a very good example of an independent president. very similar to trump in many

ways but at the same time, very much different. host: how is he similar -- sorry, keep going. caller: especially in foreign policy, bush was a very independent president, especially in the middle east and what he did in the middle east and now he basically executed policy in the middle east with the first gulf war. and he executed greatly what he .id from, on the other hand, is independent but reckless independently. bush was methodically independent and he had a very .trategic and tactical purpose set his agenda, went in and executed it and came out. for yourhael, thanks thoughts, did not mean to cut you off but you said exactly what i was going to ask you about your opinions comparing the two presidents.

lifeof your called on the and legacy of former president george w. bush. a couple of tweaks we saw last night, this one from the u.s. navy. navy uses,that the fair winds and following seas. sir, we have the watch. that's the u.s. navy and the u.s. secret service has left a tweet as well and they used the his secretis what service codename was. you can read the whole passage. they actually left several of those from the navy and the secret service. here's the washington post as washington prepares for the pageantry of a state funeral, they write here that in 1969, a joint task force of nearly 4000 military and civilian personnel on the capital region coordinated the apparatus involved in several days of carefully observe traditions, called, and ceremonies. the public memorial to an american head of state. "we the men and women of the

department of defense are honored and proud to support the bush family and salute with the utmost respect. " this from the national capital region. in a statement, "the state funeral is a culmination of years of planning and personal to ensure the support the military blunders president bush is nothing less than a first-class tribute. funeral occurred 11 years ago when gerald ford, the 38th president at the capital in 2007. and they point out again that members of congress will pay their respects in that arrival ceremony that's coming up at 5:00 tomorrow. again, something we will have live before the line begins for the general public to pay their respects. eastern north carolina, republican. sayer: i would like to thank you for taking my call and god bless c-span for the service

it does for this nation, for an open phone, for real people making statements and opinions about things and opinions that are not done by pundits and people in the media, but we hearken back to a time when there was actual reaching across the aisle and working together, when democrats and republicans, and it's very heartwarming to see the things that were done between mr. bush and mr. bill clinton after their office, and we should hearken back and look at this for unity in this world, because as jesus said in the bible, e-house divided against itself will fall. under thisnation nation and god was america and hopefully we will move forward and use this as an example for things that we look forward to for a better interest and are better natures. thank you very much. host: rob gould continue to take your calls for the rest of his first hour of the program on the

life and legacy of former president george h.w. bush. and a lot of pictures in the papers today, including this one in the new york times. they spread it over two pages. died -- president who who guided the nation at the end of the cold war, this family photo would've been in 1988 and you can see the former president , his son's who, of course later became president and jeb bush on the end here, who was the governor of florida. a candidate himself for president. right in the headline, mr. bush with his family accepting the republican presidential nomination that year. seesid "i am a man who life in terms of missions to find and missions completed. president donald trump in argentina yesterday, the remarks of what we heard about the former president. he was sitting here with the chancellor of germany, angela

merkel who speaks at the very end of this short clip, but here's a look. >> yes i am, and i express deepest sympathies. we were just talking about it he is a wonderful man. and you might want to just explain your little meeting with them, i found it very interesting. >> visiting george bush and he's one of the fathers -- and we will never forget that. >> i found that very interesting. wishesxtended our best and he was a very fine man. numerous occasions, just a high-quality man who truly loved his family. familyvery proud of his and very much loved his family. it will be missed and he led a

full life. a host: longer piece on the president and the washington post that is getting a lot of attention yesterday, she said they were working on this for quite some time. in part, she wrote "although mr. bush served as president of the three decades ago, his values and ethics seem centuries removed from today's acrid political culture. as currency of personal connection was a handwritten letter, not the social media blast. 's we will read more of that of the jury as time goes on, let's get a call from patrick on the republican line from new jersey. tank for taking part in the program. caller: good morning. good to be here. thank you for taking my call. host: you that. caller: -- host: you bet. caller: my memories of bush 41, as we refer to them, the cia guy back in the 60's, real shadow

government kind of deal. i, in 1991, we had world war where the united states invaded another country but during world war ii when we invaded france to get to germany, so you are looking at a guy who has really set the tone for what we see today in a world where the united states just runs over any country it wants to without any code of decency, i'm glad he's gone and i don't have any respect for the man. he made hundreds of thousands of people suffer with his needless wars. host: let's go to chris in minneapolis. public in color, good morning. caller: high, is dr. goraka there? host: the doctor will be a guest on this program a little bit later. chris? we lost chris.

we will go to more of your calls, but here's a little bit reachedm -- mr. bush the oval office to be sharply defined shadow of ronald reagan, a one-time rival who served as vice president. no president before had arrived with his breadth of experience, decorated navy pilots, successful oil executives, congressman, you when a delegate, republican majority to beijing,voy director of central intelligence. over the course of a single term that began in 1989, mr. bush found himself at the helm of the world's only remaining superpower. the berlin wall fell, the soviet union ceased to exist. the communist walk in eastern europe and the cold war ended. his firm, restrained diplomatic sense health insurance the harmony of peace with which these world shaking events played out one after the other. far as, mr. bush went so to proclaim a new world order that would be free from the dread of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice, and more

secure in the question is peace. and world in which nations recognized that shared responsibility for freedom and justice, a world with a strong respect for the right of the week. calling in from riverton, wyoming. exporting of early. caller: good morning. i would like to say god bless the bush family and everyone who worked with president bush. he was a fine man, a fine president, and we thank him and his family. thank you very much, have a nice day. host: things for calling in. notbush's presidency was all sorts to plowshares. he ordered an attack on panama after iraqi dictator saddam hussein invaded kuwait in the summer of 1990, as the bush put together a 30 nation coalition

backed by a u.n. mandate and including soviet union and several arab countries that route of the iraqi forces with unexpected ease and a ground war that lasted only 100 hours. however, mr. bush started to leave hussein in power setting worst section of his sons presidency a dozen years later. that 1991e of victory, mr. bush's approval at home approached 90%. the country had finally received a catharsis needed after vietnam one year and a half later. we 29% of those polled gave mr. bush a favorable rating. just 16% felt the country was headed in the right direction. the conservative wing of his party would not forgive him for breaking and advised and cocky which cost new taxes him among boaters at large. however, with his inability to express a connection to an

engagement with struggles of ordinary americans. finally, perceived as lacking in grit was another irony in the life of mr. bush. his was a character that had been forged by trial. his was an exemplary story of a generation cut short by the great depression and by world war ii. again, that's an obituary in the washington post. photosphere in the post this morning. the last campaign the right here, president george h w bush showered with confetti at a rally in cleveland during his unsuccessful 1992 reelection campaign. just below and to the left, the young pilot, navy lieutenant george h.w. bush at the center with joe riker during world war ii. u.s.o the right of that,

congressman george h.w. bush in 1970 with his sons from left, neil, jeb, george and marvin. senate andhe ran for lost, but soon he was appointed ambassador to the united nations. again, that's in the washington post this sunday morning. we continue to take your calls here again on the life and legacy of george h w bush, (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8002 for independents. we will keep those numbers on the bottom of the screen so that we can get a good number of calls to come in. we did here last night from the white house that president trump has ordered air force one to carry the body of former president george h.w. bush back to washington. here's what he had to say yesterday. trump: air force one will be , myself and a group of our people back to

washington, people that were preset and it will be sent to and then be put back to washington. that will be done. most of you know the process and procedures that will be sending air force one, which is a special tribute that he deserves honor.ch and it's my he will be greatly missed. a terrific person, a terrific man. that with the president in argentina. massachusetts, carl, the life and legacy of president bush, what would you like to say? caller: thank you for c-span. course, i offer my sympathies to the bush family, i know what it is to lose parents. as i go on, it's hard for me to have any sympathy for any government in any country. imean, george bush did --

agree with the caller from i think it was minneapolis. mean, when he spoke about the incubator babies, he had to know that was a lie. i mean, he was a cia guy, he was in on everything. war which was an unnecessary war, and unnecessary invasion. it set the stage for a lot of our problems now. i mean, i sympathize with the family and all, he did present himself in a very dignified manner, but so did obama, i voted for obama and he was a big disappointment. just because people present them and i like the person we have in the white house now who doesn't know how to act, but that doesn't mean that they are good people and that they always do the right thing.

basically that's all i wanted to say. host: thank you for the call. in michigan, good morning. caller: yes, the former president was a good man. things, het of good made mistakes like anyone would. but i really admired him. realize,now if people but he was the last republican legitimately elected president for the first term. last to really represent the will of the people. he will be missed. onto angela, from newport virginia. hello, angela. yes, just wanted to give a shout out to the whole family, leadership is sometimes hard and sometimes we have to cross, and we thank you for the military service, making sure

military got what it needs so that it can continue to fight in the big war, the legacy called freedom, peace and opportunity. so thanks for your service. host: thanks for calling. we have sean on the line from battleground, washington. ,aller: we all know the names el torito with the neighborhood in panama city. hundreds of civilians were killed in our illegal invasion of panama. george h.w. bush squandered our victory in the cold war, had there been no desert storm, there would have been no 9/11. i can't think of a much worse president the george h.w. bush. host: sean, from the state of washington. one of the last of the republicans who walked the walk, served as country in both wars and intrigue. he was a recurring figure in my dreams.

though i disagree with most of his policies i most admired how he would handwrite letters to fellow heads of state. here is the editorial today on the death of president bush. like all the public and presence, bush 41's robert moore flatly by media in retrospect than he was at the time. him for never forgive mr. to caucus, they are talking about the election of 1988. bush failed to see the change in america toward deeper partisan divisions. george h.w. bush was by temperament a man of the middle in an age of increasing ideological polarization. he was a gentleman and a culture growing cruder by the year. above also the wall street journal, he was a man of private and public character, believed in government service for the good of the country and not merely for power. -- which makess them a better president than his critic admitted. least -- that last piece you read stall my honor.

he was in a gunslinger. times of really changed. when he served, it was a gentler time. listen, these folks are talking about invading a country, i assume you are talking about when we invaded kuwait? host: to guard. -- keep going. caller: we're talking about the liberation. the u.s. led a coalition of several countries and saw the need to push iraq back out of kuwait. we were liberating a country. we didn't invade a country. yes, there were maybe some things going on that maybe should not have gone on, but i don't know if you remember a man , i don't know if your callers do, i'm 71. he served a number of presidents and advised the number of presidents. george h.w. bush was open to advice. he would sit back and let people

tell him maybe what needs to be done. and i will never forget this. i have it saved on my computer somewhere, the whole thing. iraq, ito not go into will set the tone and we will be paying the price in manpower and money forever. and of course in contrast, his son did that. and we have been paying the price forever but the point was, he said you are never going to get things satisfied there. it he told the guy, he said took 400 years for france to warm up to democracy. you are not going to go out there and put a government in place overnight and make it last. and he listened, he said ok, i'm not going in there. and i appreciate that. say, in conscience, his son decided we needed to bush 41 wereq and exactly right, we have been paying the price ever since and

we may pay the price for eternity. i did like a man, i really did. host: lebanon, new jersey, hello kathy. caller: hello, good morning. .irst-time caller host: we are glad you're here. go ahead. i did votest of all, most ofident bush, and it is democratic but mostly republican and anyway, i'm real .orry i'm actually learning more about him, mr. bush. now, than i did then. time,pretty young at the -- but yesterday in andmorning i was watching

somebody said, a woman said skull and bones, and barbara bush, that's just awful. everybody,nd bad in kindly a gentle nation. say read my lips, and he wasn't going to raise taxes, but he thought he had to. but at the same time, he decreased government spending, so there was a balance there. there's always tough decisions and government, and everywhere. i just wanted to say god bless everybody and that's about it for now. host: thanks for calling.

on twitter, something a couple of other callers have said. he said that so far this morning, you have had to callers calling and falsely stating that former president bush iraq. this is incorrect. and aftered kuwait much diplomacy, the president had no option but to deliberate kuwait from iraqi invaders. let's hear from san antonio. caller: good morning. i wanted to reinforce something for the family. die, i hatepeople when people call and let people rest. you know, stop calling in and saying how he's dead man, they are going to make mistakes. you can't please everyone. and i really don't like putting those topics up there, worrying about the life and legacy. who cares about what other people think about someone's

else? it just really upsets me when people die, people go stomping all over these people when they did. i just don't really like it. and i didn't vote no republican, and i still respect this man, no matter what he did in office. whether i liked it or not, he was a president. and i make mistakes, really -- when you put these things about people's lives and legacies, like the president like they did with john mccain. it hurts me when people call in doing that to this man. this man is dead, let this man rest. host: thank you for your precipitation -- participation and this program. mark, what are your thoughts this morning? toler: yeah, i just wanted say in regards to middle east policy, george bush actually showed a lot of courage there.

anyone can find this very easily on the internet. president tost one aid to israel contingent curbing their settlement policies. to talk at a time when he was regarded especially as a terrorist. and he was, in general, he was ofy willing to be critical israel's excessive use of force. so, i just hope we can see that kind of courage again in the white house. in the future. host: ok. mark from pennsylvania. michael writes g h w bush was the last president from the great news generation and it

showed in his government. he was the right person to be president, to handle the issues of the time. here is a look at the houston chronicle this morning, say goodbye to hometown hero george h.w. bush. there is a shot of a woman leaving arayer after flower bouquet at the gate outside of former president inrge h.w. bush's residence houston. a sun rose saturday morning on the bronze sculpture of a younger president bush looking across buffalo bayou and for the downtown skyline. at his feet were six bouquets of flowers of yellow and red roses and carnations and a version of guadalupe a candle partially burned. a studded red heart ornament hung from his hand and a note was taped on it. well done, good and faithful servant. that's in the houston chronicle this morning. jerry is on the line, calling from savannah, georgia. caller: high, how are you.

host: doing fine, how are you? caller: good, i just want to say in 1963 when george bush ran for the senate, he opposed the civil rights act. i mean, this guy actually supported segregation, so i don't see how any african-americans can actually mourn his death. you know, i don't wish anybody death, but we need to call a spade a spade. he also oversaw the creation of cia programs that would flood the inner-city communities with crack cocaine. -- i mean, i don't wish death upon anyone, but let's not make these guys angels once they die. host: marvin is calling from alabama. hello, marvin.

caller: i had been on here listening and it's wrong, it's absolutely wrong. i'm a democrat and i think it's absolutely wrong for people to get on here this morning and bashing a dead man, it don't make any sense. i wonder what the legacy of president -- host: marvin, you still there? i think we lost them. we will do this for about 35 more minutes, take your calls on the life and legacy of former president george h.w. bush, and then we will go to a couple of guest segments where this morning, we'll talk about the future of nancy pelosi. she is presumed to be the new speaker of the house come january. and sebastian will be on this program as well and will do that later. here is the boston globe, george h.w. bush, remembering the famous resident that marks a chapter close with a shot of the

american flag at half staff yesterday. writesh family compound that after his grandfather, former president george h.w. she died friday night, considered postponing plans to attend a saturday afternoon event promoting the book she has co-authored about his grandparents romance. for rent parents most special place, she decided to press ahead. "people here love my grandparents and they know my grandparents, so it felt like the right thing to do. story, american love sort of a flavor of what was happening yesterday. colin is on the line from new york. good morning. caller: yes. that say we should remember and respect the memory of these presidents after they

pass away, but we also have to remember the good as well as the bad. --rge w. bush was involved and we should keep that in mind and he should be held accountable as well as reagan. my comment, thank you. host:. fred is on the line from reynoldsburg, ohio. to file theuld like other person's comment. he accomplished a lot and it -- it doesn't take courage to pile on the smallest country in the world and one of his weaknesses was elitism. several people in villages and towns were starting to work together and he thought he knew what was best, he thought he treated choose as an inferior people. where you are led to live, how many have to die. since his involvement there, thousands of people have died, tens of thousands of people have been injured. , thee he got involved

death rate, there is less than 100 people who died from violence. the death rate prior to his -- it wast in what much lower than in our big cities. i just want to say that we shouldn't use his death in order to support a policy which was very unfair and cost summary lives. posts: here is the editorial in the washington post, the one term president skillfully handled historic crises. the right it was odd that the term was applied to george h.w. bush, a man who enlisted in the navy. in person it or dana carvey mr. bush later befriended said wouldn't be prudent he eased to say and that impersonation. officeow mr. bush left

especially in the past few years, a political posturing. nonnegotiable demand and unashamed demagoguery. princess come to look awfully attractive. that's how they finish the editorial. kevin is on the line from windsor, connecticut. caller: good morning. bush, he was from a great generation. and you hear these people calling in, and you know, he's from world war ii. all it wanted say is thank you for your service and he will be missed. host: from south carolina, good morning. caller: first of all, my condolences to the bush family and much respect for the whole family. just a couple of points i want to make.

when bush ran, it really heartened the racial undertones that did not sit well with me. and also when his son came to south carolina and made something out of that, it was just like child -- that was kind of racial, too. with katrina, barbara bush made some statements about the katrina victims and meds when kanye made a statement, kanye west, that george bush didn't like black people. but other than that, i have much respect for him. in the end, hen and clinton became friends and i just love to see when missus obama and george w get-together at different events and funerals and whatever and they have such fun together. for him andrespect just like the caller said,

nobody is perfect. no president is perfect. mistakes,ody makes but i think in the end, they are a wonderful family. host: missouri, good morning tim. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to thank c-span this morning for this program. it has been very interesting to see, to get an actual perspective from area callers, and i like to reflect on how our view of the presidency as americans is what we see changing through the years. nixon, wee-richard never heard this from the populace one way or another for the presidency. it's interesting to see how history is judging george h.w. bush in two different ways. see him as ane american president and on the other side, we see him as a party. it's just very interesting and i

would just like a thank you for this program. host: later calling. brian is from woodward, oklahoma. hello there. caller: -- host: brian, you with us? one more chance. let's try cheryl in fitzgerald, georgia. caller: yes. first of all, my sympathies to the bush family. all sinnedwe have and fallen short of the glory of god, but i'm kind of sick of people calling in and talking about the little mistakes that presidents have made. blown, there were bombs and follow children's full of women and children. and babies, and the highway of death. killing fish in a barrel, burying iraqis alive in the desert. i mean, i feel for his family, but i can't forget all of that murder that they caused collateral damage. host: anything else?

caller: that's all, thank you. former president bush died at 94, political world history. he loved america with all his heart. he served as fully and completely as anyone ever has. that's at breitbart this morning. here's a shot of president bush in the new york times with bill clinton. this would have been 2005. iniewing recovery efforts southern thailand after a tsunami because you know they got together on a lot of these relief engines over the years. the two men, opponents of the 1992 election, formed a close on later in life. we bring up bill clinton because he wrote in the washington post today that the heart of george h 20ush, he began in january 93. he entered the oval office come up did, for the first time as a

tradition, with a note from george herbert walker bush. read "your bill, what i want into this office right now i felt the same sense of wonder and respect but it felt for years ago. i know you will feel that, too. i wish you great happiness year. i never felt the loneliness some have described. there will be very tough times, made more difficult by criticism you may not think is fair. good want to give advice, but don't let the critics discourage you or put you off course. " he wrote "you will be this president when you read our note. i wish you and your family well. your success is our country's success. i am rooting hard for you, good luck." he wrote that letter to bill clinton who looked at it upon assuming office and mr. clinton today thate post given what politics looks like in america and around the world to decide that he

belonged to an era that is gone and never coming back. our opponents are not our ideas forifferent changing our minds, or facts matter and where our devotion to our children's future leads to honest compromise and shared progress. i know what he would say, nonsense. it's your duty to get that america back. bill clinton rights, which in august things for george w. bush's long, good life and searching -- honor it by searching as he always did the most american way forward. he writes that today. a national day of mourning said for this coming wednesday, december 5, that includes the president lying in state from monday night, tomorrow evening until wednesday morning at the u.s. capital. we will be there to show you pictures from that life. we are waiting to find out what will happen with the congressional schedule this week. our expectation is a lot of change and there was one story we read this morning that said they may quietly passing

government extension for funding. funding runs out this coming friday night and there's a lot of talk about a potential government shutdown, but that may not happen after all. there's some talk that they may sign a short-term agreement in respect to the situation in washington and then deal with budget matters later this month. north is calling from carolina. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you? host: sandra, you there? caller: hello? host: go ahead, please. caller: i kind of have a little mixed feelings about president bush. i have much more respect for him than i do for trump, but at the same time, he was the one the world -- that voted against, as that young lady called before, the civil rights act and

it just bothers me to think that he would vote against something like that. but i will have to say on the other hand, he went away to the war and came back having seen black soldiers fighting alongside white soldiers and he came back and voted for the fair housing act and when he came back because the constituents were upset, writing and letters 50-2 against him voting for the voting rights act. he ended up giving them a speech and telling them morally that he felt that it was wrong and ended up getting a standing ovation at the end of his speech so i do and i wishdoing that the best for his family as they go through this grieving time. host: daytona beach, florida, hello melissa. caller: good morning. comment and it's

no disrespect, it's just looking back in history. books, i know people aren't into books that much anymore, it's called house of bush, is written in 2004. theya documentary of how were very well-connected with the saudi's going way back. forged -- george w. bush bailed out before he was even governor of texas. and then, let's see. another very good book about the reagan-bush administration. he attacked iraq unnecessarily. kuwaitis, across their land into his border, he even said to the united states, i have a reason to do this. we won'tsaid go ahead,

interfere. and then we went right in after them. lying.finished by blew up our economy and blow up the middle east. for all of the unnecessary deaths caused by the bush family, -- host: the caller mentioning the house of bush, the book i'm pretty sure we'd covered several moments on what it cannot years ago. you can go to our website and type in that title and you will see some events coming up. morning, itshis history being too kind to george h.w. bush? the 41st president put self-interest over principle time and again. this is from david greenberg and ,olitico and as we look down there's some critique of

president bush. in his case, the balancing act, they talk about means technology not only his positive policies , but alsoeatments what may have been a defining political hallmark of cynicism of his opportunistic criticism of the 1964 civil rights act and and1980 election system antiabortion politics. his last act of president, itsing many of the crew -- was a recurring tendency to play short-term gains above long-standing values. as we can read the whole thing, good morning, what you like to say this morning about president bush? caller: good morning and thank you for the show. my condolences to the family and over the years, i've heard

looking at books and things, people have accused him of things such as the involvement in the kennedy assassination, covering up supposedly 9/11 and coursethings that i of have no proof one way or the other of any of these rings. say, ing i would like to was at a customer's house and i saw a letter. -- i'm an antiwar person, i thought he was this evil men connected to the novelties and so forth. again, we have no proof of anything like that. but i saw a letter he wrote to somebody and it was like, congratulations on the birth of your beautiful daughter. i wish her well, just the most beautiful letter. it actually said something in their like buy low, sell high. it was business advice. i'm thinking that, this doesn't sound like the words of a terribly evil man. be obviously, there must things that we don't know that forced these people to be

involved in certain things and we don't have the information. again, my condolences and i don't know if any of these things are true or not, but i assume that if he did any of these supposedly evil things, it was done for reasons that we don't have the information for. again, i just -- that letter just struck me as another side of these people that we don't know. i guess he must have a personal side and then they have their government-business side. again, i have no proof either like ier the years, said, his involvement in supposedly 9/11 and the kennedy assassination and all these rings, i was just surprised at the difference between that beautiful, warm letter and -- which was written to somebody named bush but spelled differently. again, very nice people, i'm sure. it's just confusing.

i just wanted to say again, my condolences to the family. host: thank you for calling. we covered an event when a speechwriter to president george h w bush read from a letter that his wife,o barbara, this would have been in the late 1950's, about the death of their daughter. here's a look at a clip from that event. house, ais about our need. running, pulsating, restlessness of the four boys as they struggle to learn and grow. the world embraces them, all this wonder needs a counterpart. we need some starch, chris to go bluejeans andorm helmets. we need some soft blonde hair to offset those crew cuts. we need a dollhouse to stand firm against our forts and rackets and thousand baseball cards. we need a legitimate christmas

angel. one who doesn't have cops need the dress. we need someone who's afraid of frauds. we need someone to cry when i get mad, not argue. --need a little one who can we need a girl. we had one, once. and cry andght play, and make her way just like the rest. but there was about her, a certain softness. she was patient. her hugs were just a little less wiggly. would climb into sleep with me, but somehow she would fit. she did not flip and wake me up with pug nose and mischievous eyes and a challenging quarter and for my sleeping face. no, she was then beside her bed until i filter their, silently and comfortable, she puts her precious, fragrant locks against her chest and fall asleep.

her piece made me feel strong and so very important. she is still with us. we need her, and yet we have are. this is already making me cry. we can't touch her, and get we can feel her. we hope she will stay in her house for a long, long time. host: more of the front pages of this sunday morning, the central main newspaper enriched my service, george h.w. bush to 2018 at the front page. a shot of the president and first lady barbara bush. telegramhe main sunday , war hero, statesman. george h.w. bush, the maine sunday telegram, houston chronicle. service it says on the front page. out of collegele station, texas. george h.w. bush, 41. aggie land mourns for the former telegram, his

courage and vision. a shot of the president greeting troops in saudi arabia. some of the front pages this morning, here is a new york times editorial this morning. george h.w. bush public service. they write historical measure the presidency by how well or poorly managed the major domestic international challenges of the time. leadership qualities, the moral and social legacies he left for future generations. yet, at the moment of his passing, it is difficult not to take note of the profound differences between the 41st president and the current ,ccupant of the white house trump. beyond a desire to be president, mr. bush was more competitive and ambitious than the suggested. there's almost nothing in common. one gracious and modern, the other rude in vain. one prudent, one brash, one steady and the other on more. that's how they began today. oklahoma, good morning. caller: --

host: are you with us? one more chance? mr. bush was at, good man, a good warrior and a gold soldier. thank you. host: steve is on the line from north carolina. hello. caller: yes. i don't remember the reagan and ash era with as much gratitude as everyone else seems to. i do remember times of conflict as really one of terrible economics and i don't think the legacy that people are applauding is quite what most

people think they are. host: tell us more. caller: i mean, you know. i went through the vietnam era and after that, i remember reagan gassing his own people with your desk in berkeley. and i remember reagan is really a terrible president, and bush pretty much going along with everything. and then, one of the earlier callers talk about how he got into the kuwait war after hussein, and i really don't understand -- i know you're not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but he really was, i feel, a terrible president during the time. and the economy really suffer. we were lucky to have clinton bring it back. letter from robert, our

last couple of calls from tennessee. good morning. caller: morning. bushked for vice president a couple times. and he was a good man. and one of the reasons he was a he addedis because consequences to settlement expansion in palestine. i think he was also a good man because he was trying to be honest about the economy. he was punished because he raised taxes but the deficit is out of control. he had some bad people around him, which got through to george w. and they talked him into going to erect, -- going into iraq,

which was an overreach, a cowboy move. and the consequences were not good. so, his good man status is gravely diminished because he didn't help his son when his son was president. examiner, restn in peace george h.w. bush. a conservative at heart, a conservative of heart. this is the washington examiner. no conservative's favorite republican president, but, in fact, when he ran for president in 1980, his fly there for the law. brought thereagan ticket that year, it was partly to win over that wing of the party. president bush famously wrote and promised not to raise taxes. one of the greatest goals and modern judicial history, chuck -- or this and other reasons, he had a primary challenge from his

right. again, when it comes to our politicians, conservative policy and politics might be the first consideration of conservative voters, but they aren't the only consideration rifle washington examiner. character and comportment are part of conservatism. on those scores, bush was a role model for the right. again, washington examiner.com the place to go to read more about that. hour, otherp this bits of news we wanted to point out. we have been tracking the president in argentina before he came home. early today, the wall street journal points out some of the news that was made there, trump said to terminate nafta, creating a deadline for lawmakers. the president said he will soon terminate the north american free trade agreement to pave the way for congressional consideration of a reworked agreement. and there were pictures of the president signing that agreement

with the incoming leader of mexico and the canadian prime minister, congress has six months to ratify this new arrangement. the wall street journal also talked about a u.s.-china truce on trade, so this development last evening, china and the u.s. agreed to a cease-fire and trade battle. local markets with the u.s. postponing plans to increase tariffs on $200 billion in chinese goods and the two sides with negotiations on other contentious issues. necking a point that they will spend 90 more days talking about the contentious issues there. it's a bit of praise for the president a lot of criticism as well over what happened in argentina with the chinese leader yesterday. at our first hour. thank you for calling. we have two more hours in this sunday edition of the washington journal. when we come back, it's john morris, who is nancy pelosi's former chief of staff. he will join us in taking calls to talk about the future of the

democratic leadership along with the future legislative and investigative strategies of the upcoming 116th congress. a little bit later, the former white house adviser will talk to us about the trump administration's national -- and other items. first, this weekend. tv and traveled the riverside california. featuring history and literary life. coming up at 2:00 eastern, american history tv. all of our programs will air and one-time blood. riverside much appalled and museum director shares a history of the family and the landmark case the represented the issues of civil rights, immigration. >> the california land law of 1913 stated no one who was

ineligible for citizenship that owned agricultural land. land, not agricultural but it did not prevent the state of california from bringing suit against him for the purchase of the house. minor children all toddlers at the time were american-born and american citizens. it was the first challenge to that alien land law and its visionary clause. conflict, court battles, the family prevailed. the superior court decision in riverside that affirmed the 14th amendment rights. names of then the american-born children until the last one passed away.

at the table, john lawrence, former chief of staff to nancy pelosi until 2013. good morning. john: pleasure to be with you. about nancyto speak pelosi who they say is likely to become the next speaker. and your take on his legacy. john: i wrote a column yesterday about it. mr. bush, and there are controversies around any president. anyone who has been in public we have a debt of gratitude to him. as a historian you like to look at the balance presentation.

quality of understanding the complexities of the country. understanding the complexities of working with congress. as president and vice president, he would come down to palpable gym and play with members of congress because he understood the importance of maintaining personal relationships for the relationships that serve you well. he did, like any other president. he had the balance view. in an eramber him where people could talk more easily with each other in washington. president will be judged -- clarence thomas to the

supreme court which turned out to be a divisive action. there will be some accountability by historians for the 1988 campaign. part of the that campaign. that comes and goes with the turf. politicians will make tough decisions and will be held accountable. >> let us talk about nancy pelosi. you will with here for a long time, a decade. it should become speaker as is expected at this point, what will she bring to the table having been speaker before? what has she learned that she will apply? she: her strengths are that was one of the most successful speakers in american history.

whichritics of the way in congress operates. able to play different roles. she is not like the president. she is not supposed to be. her job is to manage the democratic caucus and she does that in parallel fashion. it is like trying to herd chickens. it has many factions in it. together --et them she says if he did not have 218 votes do not have a conversation. she is to figure out how to make that caucus a coherent and productive unit. she was able to do that. she was able to do that under republican president when we pass financial rescue

legislation area we passed stimulus registered -- legislation. as well as a democratic president, under obama. she has to represent the house of representatives and congress, that is her role. that means standing up to the president, using the court necessary to challenge the president. she did over the question of rights. her role is to make sure congress sirs is constitutional -- serves its constitutional role. >> let me get the numbers on the screen, with john lawrence who served with nancy losey. ,epublicans, (202) 748-8001 democrats, (202) 748-8000, .ndependents, (202) 748-8002

there are 32 democrats. who voted no. and the caucus meeting to put her forward as speaker. how does she get those 32? suggest i'mt me to familiar with what she is doing at the moment. but i watched her over years. work with members who had problems with legislation, strategy, making sure factions in the caucus were represented and formulation of legislation. the way she does it is retail politics. she sits and talks to people and different groups within the caucus. she brought in some of those negative people who said there were been are problems voting for her and she turned them around. the problem solvers caucus.

she said you want reform, we can do that. part of her job is to have everyone understand the nature of politics, of coalition politics is give-and-take. we campaign and poetry but govern in rpose --prose. what she had to say in the halls of congress -- that is what we need. it was a conversation. -- we knew should get the majority of the votes. would we have been saying all along. she has ability to get votes on the floor.

none of us want to see a fight. voters have to be heard. we have to protect new members. i hope we will have conversations in the future. [indiscernible] people need to know when this leadership plans on turning the reins over. we just selected the most diverse group of members ever elected to the house. know whenve to leadership will change. lawrence, let me jump off that last statement, a lot of folks want to know how long the leadership on the democratic side -- that has been in place for a long time, will stay in place. we've heard her maybe being a transitional speaker. what do you see happening? think is mostg i important is parties are prepared to go to work on

january 3. what you want to have in place is a leadership team that is experience. experience and what it means to go up against the president who was antagonistic. potentially republican leadership in the senate that is the same way. is not a job you learn on the job. you want to have experience. the issues congresswoman rice raises is where his next generation of leadership. and the democratic caucus meeting, a whole new team of leaders was elected from caucus chair, two vice chair, to campaign chair. a whole new group of people. that is your next generation of leadership. they will move into leadership when the caucus wants into.

the speaker does not select the next leader. that is up to the caucus. they say why did she not set up succession? it is important to note political leaders of parties, they do not pick this successor any more than the president does. legitimate a criticism. the caucus makes that decision. people.group of diverse >> as far as the future of the party, we have a call from florida. , democrat. caller: good morning. could the jenna metellus if's -- could the gentleman tell us if the democratic caucus supports shank you wary cities? -- sanctuary cities?

and on worked with her the hill for 38 years. i would never speak for my boss. i would say there are differences of opinion in the democratic party. a number of cities, i believe san francisco, that have chosen to be sanctuary cities. debt is the decision made at the local level not by federal officials. i would respectfully refer those inquiries to the appropriate offices. >> clinton, pennsylvania. caller: good morning. i just finished looking at a video of nancy pelosi, on c-span. the person said you better view this before someone yanks it.

it is her addressing the media. was, she telling them the art of lying about the opponent she pointed at the media in said you point the story in the validates them and it becomes true. she said this is one of the ways we operate. it is her speaking in her own words. i understand this gentleman will say he is not aware of it. but it is on c-span. i did not have a chance to research it. i said this is cool once a dental -- coincidental. it is amazing these people would resort to lying about your opponent and then have a validated as the truth. they say the media has recorded this or that. whatever. paul: d want to speak to this?

-- do you want to speak to this? john: i have never seen mrs. pelosi lying are advocating lying as a mechanism in campaigning or negotiation. she is a tough negotiator and i would point out i have been in the room she has been tough with george w. bush when she was tough with barack obama, she caucus, her house is the institution she defends and she is very tough in doing that. i never heard her advocate the idea of lying or promoting lying. contextwant to see that . our guest john lawrence is the author of the book read what

are you writing and compare it to present-day situations were smart --? john: it is at the end of watergate, president and has resigned. team of progressive democrats are elected and they come to washington with a significant group of performers who have been in washington but never had the numbers to overcome the seniority system and coalition of conservative democrats and republicans who had run most of congress for decades. they are able to affect significant change in the way congress operates, to disseminate power to make leadership more responsible to the caucus. to give copper -- powered not

just to the caucus chair, but make the chairman responsive to the caucus. because your members choose to have you represent them. because it wasnt able to facilitate the movement of legislation. -- they allowed a much greater participation, more amendments and more open process. that reform inadvertently partisan to highly develop and find a way into legislative process. -- after speaker

pelosi winning the caucus vote talked about the importance of the house democratic freshmen. we will be back with john lawrence heard -- john lawrence. >> we have new members coming in. this was so different than ever before. fresh new historic class. their experience, and diversity, gender, it is something special. that we area moment in the majority. majority, majority, majority. members.eral dozen new she will take a few of the young congress members including those that ran under no pelosi, and gain experience. connectingsee her

with the new folks, especially those that are youngest in age -- youngestk -- nh in age? john: she created a freshman breakfast. lety week the freshman were -- invited to come. now there's such a large number it may be a bigger event. toy were invited every week meet with the leadership and ask tough questions and they did. and meet with the chairman of legislation. towas an unprecedented act come and meet with leadership. criticisms people have raised and the freshman meet with the leadership at least once a month. they have been meeting once a week for the past decade and more.

relishesancy pelosi that opportunity. she enjoys having the infusion of people. she likes to shake things up. having new people come in for her is exhilarating. she will find ways to engage them. particularly in the election committees. that is a major role of the speaker. paul: democratic caller. caller: thank you. c-span sohaven't for we can voice -- heaven for c-span so we can voice our opinions. democracy is slowly dying in that's contrary. there has been nothing conservative about the republican party but they claim they are.

actually get money and emotions of the government? are you familiar with chris and his predictions of the demise of the usa? i think most of us see more good than bad but we need to learn from our mistakes. trump does not seem to think he makes mistakes so he does not learn. john: my understanding is the first piece of legislation the democrats intend to bring is a major reform bill that addresses the issue of campaign finance and ethics. that is my understanding. a prodigiouss been fundraiser, she says you cannot go into battle unarmed. but there are variety of ways of restricting money in politics. that is her piece of

legislation. rights, and the voting rights act. get tougher because citizens united -- i saw an interview this week with a retired justice who wrote the citizens united case and talking about the importance of disclosure legislation. which the house passed under pelosi, that will be a high priority. role,ot disagree with the the role of money can be the most disturbing aspect of what is happening. mention she talked about reestablishing in the house rules, changing the rules that would restrict deficit spending.

--was so successful in 1990 unfortunately the republicans rescinded it when they took power. using the deficit skyrocket since. paul: democratic line, hello. caller: i wanted to comment on the man from pennsylvania. whatid he did not research nancy pelosi said. that a few months ago and i said i have to check this out. it was taken out of context. he was talking about making her a villain. you cannot believe anything you see the first time. let us move on to george in maryland. republican line. comment, wanted to

regardingsi saying the affordable care act. they were preparing to next -- nix some things. she said you have to make sure you have to see the impact before you pass this new legislation. that is one thing. hearing onhe c-span the gentleman from connecticut or massachusetts to bring the affordable care act. they knew if you like your doctor you can keep it, if you like your insurance company you could keep it and it was alive. .- a lie they created a second mortgage for me.

thank you. paul: anything on those points? john: on the last point the affordable care act, like any complex piece of legislation will be reviewed and amended. congress should have been doing that. it is happened -- i have been involved in hundreds of bills, and you always review legislation after it is implemented. unfortunately all we have seen from the republicans his efforts to repeal it not try to dress the problems. they have an effort to undermine it by not setting up exchanges by not expanding medicaid which is a critical feature. even conservative states have started to do that on their own. we have to look at that.

i don't think ms. pelosi or the democrats have any problem looking at it and trying to make it work. republicans have done over the years. i do want to address the promise the color made and said we cannot -- call it made and said we cannot tell what is in it. it is one of those things that has been thrown around for years. legislation was going back-and-forth between the house and senate. there were two different bills, to negotiations going on. the point she was making was you never know what is in the piece of legislation until it is passed because it goes through an amendment process and revision process. anyone that believes those were working for months and writing and rewriting and tweaking the

legislation did not know what was in that bill is misrepresenting the case. lasts saying until that version is passed, of course you do not know how it will read. think, like all of us, there was a lot going on, it could've been said better. paul: as we go deeper into policy, let us get your take on the dynamic, a lot of folks in the democratic caucus want investigation of the president. how do speaker pelosi balance those wants from the new members and putting forth an agenda at the same time? john: one of the reasons you need a skilled person who has worked with men in women will be the chairman of these committees and help them prioritize and schedule what they are doing.

so you don't have investigations stepping on each other and mixing up the message or taking up too much time when they have to be addressing legislation. whether it is infrastructure or campaign-finance reform or immigration reform -- you have to be able to do two things at the same time. she has successfully done that. as speaker it is one of the reasons why it makes sense for her to be in that position on january 3 as opposed to someone who was never played that role. we will get resistance and pushback from the administration with subpoenas and requests. you do not get the subpoenas until you get resistance. paul: oscar in california on the democratic line. caller: good morning.

i want to thank mr. lawrence for his service. and nancy pelosi has a steady hand on the helm of the new congress which is our democracy at work. we are seeing a balance of power where the president is not get to run away with things. problems handful of ahead of her. one thing about her leadership in the new congress, they are not the people -- for example, aorge w. bush who got us into war in iran and iraq, these are steady hand people who think things through. didnt your comment on what diversity on the events of women religious ideology will bring to her congress customer -- her congress? john: she and some of people are inited about this class --

1974 in my book i talk about how people were critical that the freshman did not have electoral experience even though a significant percentage did. that has been said about this group. you look at this and coming group, a lot of minimum and who have served in the military, who asserting congressional staff positions who have served in the white house, national security. you are bringing in a group who have great perspective, experience and understand part of their role is to provide that check on the executive branch. congress over the past eight years has been an adversarial role with respect to president obama or a classic role in respect to trump not doing oversight and asking questions for that will be balanced now

with the proper kind of investigation. abouta bloomberg headline democrats, they have power "can they wielded without screwing it up". john: i did not make a habit of giving advice to ms. pelosi, i would say do what you did. look at the crisis in 2008, just on the eve of the presidential and congressional election. the country was falling apart. she was critical of president george w. bush -- a collapse workred and she is able to with republican administration that she was critical of and

with the senate to produce sweeping legislation that protected the american economy from collapse. thatne who can maneuver kind of legislation under such difficult circumstances understands how to wield power and exercise rights of the institution and you want to get to a product that serves the american people. paul: in new jersey, the republican line. caller: good morning. given that article one of the constitution does not require a speaker to be a member of the house, do you think there will come a time when the bipartisan majority will elect an outsider, someone who calls balls and shrikes and does not function as

a majority leader? as someone from northern new jersey, i'm happy to hear someone from new jersey. the caller is correct, there is no requirement that you be a member of the house. systems, the speaker is part of the majority party. i do not foresee that happening. will have tofforts take into account the speaker comes from the majority party. paul: from chicago,. caller: good morning. a couple of things. that would have been funny. we forget about speaker, the longest-serving speaker in the

history of the republican party. he turns out to be a serial pedophile. partywe got the tea bashing nancy pelosi. get, there is a big lists. since when do americans not value wisdom and leadership? we hear more from the media then we do democrats for the impeachment. 2003 the drugget mandateeniors have a and of lifetime penalty on their plans. as far as republican free-market, there is no free

market when it comes to jobs. the drug plan is you're not allowed to negotiate any free market. collapsedn brothers in 2008, the world almost collapsed. was the one the needed to bring us out. i would like c-span to give us two segments about the republican majority leader kevin get fromand what do we eight years of the republican party. i would like to know what the speaker and jeff were doing in estonia before the tax scam went

through. paul: there was a lot there. you can take any or all of that. out some ofs laid the challenging issues the new congress will face. advice isuation, my to let us move forward and figure out how to constructively address the problems. maybe historians can go back and analyze these past situations and how we got into them. the american people are going to judge democrats and anyone in public office as to how well their responses to contemporary issues. aboutwe began by talking nancy pelosi and her relationship with the president. weekve a clip -- last

about president george w. bush and how he treated her. >> i will say, when i was speaker and president bush was president, he treated me in the office i hold with great respect. he would call me number three. he was one, the vice president was number two, and i was three. he never began unless the speaker was present. we work together on many issues relating to energy, passing the greatest energy bill. issues that related to tax policy. the list goes on and on. i would expect nothing less than that from this president. my power springs from the vote

of the members of house of representative. i think the president will be respectful of that. paul: she goes and president bush to president trump. he is offering republican votes if they need them for speaker. take us to the future and into that room if there's a negotiation going on. nancy pelosi and experience, the skill that she sites. john: meetings can the want for long time. many, bign in meetings and small meetings she stands her ground. this is one of the attributes you want in the speaker who respects the president.

heard her refer to the president as anything except mr. president. job is not toer defer to the president, it is to articulate the viewpoints of the men and women who serve in the house of representatives. and to do that on a collaborative basis. she is farmer interested in trying to reach an agreement on , whether is an infrastructure bill or campaign reform, then she is in partisan points. if you do your job well, you will get the political benefit rate george bush for all the disagreements, and political fights, understood each other and were able to work together. we will have to see how that relationship work separate.

we have a few more calls. melvin. caller: i want to bring the two things. class,spect to the new they need to shut up, get to work and find out what the need to do before they talk about taking over. i keep hearing people talk about the affordable care act and the light that is sold, keeping your doctor and policy. they have not showed me any language in the affordable care act that addresses that situation where they tell insurance companies what they can in cannot do. the company had to follow the new regulation and there was nothing in there about following -- there was nothing about

doctors or the policy. they tried to make a big deal about it. nothing about changing policies or doctors. two quick points, on the this isle care act, exactly why we should be focusing on serious efforts to correct problems that have emerged over the past 10 years. instead of simply reversing or repealing it. there is no alternative piece of legislation in place. freshman always want to stretch their legs, offer their opinions, they are generally welcome. of 1974, there is a that from a congressman,

before you save the world you have to save your seat. they have to keep their eye on the politics as well as the legislation. paul: an iowa, republican caller. i am calling about the freshman class of democrats. peoplene listens to us, we will have -- i have been listening to you for the last 20 or 30 minutes and you had two or three republican callers to how many democrats? what is that about? paul: don't have an exact number, but glad to have you as a republican and we welcome more republicans calling and i'm sure we will have more. thank you for the observation. freshman, there is slow -- some in the far

left and some who are conservative when you win a big definition. paul: stacy from virginia. caller: good morning. thank you for having me. the first comment is about nancy i do not see republicans allowing democrats to take their house speaker, why should they be allowed his pick hours westmark they would -- allowed to pick hours? --ours? that is neither here nor there.

my second comment, to the gentleman in iowa saying c-span does not have enough republicans, we are all americans. this is the united states of america, we are not democrat or republican. we are americans first, please never forget that. your loyalty should be to the united states of america, not to a party or any president. the united states of america sir. i will pray that you embrace your fellow americans as americans. no political party or any wing a party has the solution to any ideas. as americans we are stronger together. let us unite. those tactics are war tactics that the government use to split countries like us that are so diverse. in the name of god and all that is holy i pray you embrace all americans and all americans

opinions. we would all be wearing wakes today -- wigs today. paul: you are on color good morning. -- caller, good morning. caller: i think democrats should do their best for all american people on foreign policy. administration foreign policy is awful. menblicans -- murdering women and children in yemen should not be empowered. thoughts on the

future of the party with the incoming speaker? john: this is one of the reasons it is so important the democrats win in november, you need to have a credible oversight of the second of branch and historically that tends to be parties in thehe house and senate are under different control. whether foreign policy or other executive action, the affordable care act in other actions, they and make them accountable not just the democrats but to the people. serve the intent of the laws on the books. that is one of the reasons why

democrats wanted to show up on january 3 to test the leadership. not something you want to learn as you go, --. paul: john lawrence, 30 years on capitol hill, he is a professor at university of california. thank you for your time. john: thank you for having me. paul: we will take a short timeout did talk with sebastian gorka, former white house adviser. the mueller investigation, the trump administration, national security policy and more of your calls and comments. this is washington journal on the second of december, we will be right back. ♪

announcer: best-selling author will be our guests on in depth, fiction edition. today at noon eastern. in his recent book, the escape artist, debuted at number one on the new york times bestseller list. his other books include the inner circle, interfaith, and the first council plus eight other thrillers. join us for in depth fiction edition with author brad meltezr today at 3:00 on book tv on c-span2. tonight, on q&a. we visit the washington library at mount vernon. featuring historians, douglas brinkley, discussing what it means to be americans. >> one nation indivisible, we

are all together, so that is somehow elemental to what needs to be an american. the american character, what it means to improvise, by that i mean when you look at george 1777 at valley forge, they improvise to be like a fighter to do what we need to do to get the job done. includedl groups were and what an american is. minority groups were not. women were not. they were not considered citizens. that changes over time. over time more people are brought into the american family. announcer: tonight at 87, on c-span q&a.

announcer: washington journal continues. paul: at the table, sebastian gorka the former deputy assistant and national security advisor staff member good morning and thank you for joining us. we want to get your take on the legacy of late president george h.w. bush. example ofhe is an how it should be done. keyidea you can fill in posts as a bureaucrat and civil servant, whether in china or to become a politician not only the vice president but then president and retain the dignity that is so lacking today in terms of bipartisan action. else,le model if nothing and if you go back in time, an amazing pages.

paul: you wrote a book, why we fight. it, italk more about wanted to show it and this photo of president bush in saudi arabia in 1991 greeting the troops. i wanted to connect the two, the title and the fight president bush chose to take to the iraqis with kuwait. explain why that action might have been important. sebastian: i try to make the argument having worked for presidential that even in an administration we don't have an intervention -- trump is not an interventionist -- policy must have a moral content. that you can be an isolationist and pull down the shutters and we will be fine did not work in pearl harbor.

it did not work on 9/11. and the lesson president bush gives us is a bully's will not be tolerated. he hated bullies. whether it was in latin america or middle east. if there's something we can do that is realistic and reasonable we should do it as a most par phonation in the world. there is a moral compass to arm foreign policy and that is a legacy. paul: numbers on the bottom. he we with us in next 40 minutes. republicans (202) 748-8001, democrats (202) 748-8000, independents (202) 748-8002. he is there was some news out of argentina, the u.s. and china according to the wall street journal have reached a truce on trade. for 90 days. there are a lot of details, but a lot of folks think the markets

will view that friendly. photo, of thee american leadership, the chinese leadership natures for 90 days. mean?s it me? -- sebastian: i tell people if you want to understand this president is you read the article. maybe the communist party and china got around to reading a translation of the art of the deal. this is how he bring success to the table. you radel the cage of your adversary and make them uncertain of their future and they will come to the table. this is a clear sign. we sent the message we must buy more american goods we will slap on 25% more, this is their breathing space. , initiated message the investigation on theft of

property on the chinese and we said it is about seeing behavior modification. will china behave. they have 90 days to prove it. paul: the economist who was been on this program says china has slow walked president trump, he is fallen into the same trap as barack obama, president bush and bill clinton. you'll get promises and few results. sebastian: i think that is wishful thinking from someone with the political agenda. look at the economy, weren't we told by obama you will never see gdp growth. it donald trump becomes president the stock market would crash. recover.t would never look at the economy and

unemployment look at the companies like google. dollars of billions of that have been ushered through congress. let us look at the facts not wishful thinking. paul: another foreign policy matter, the ukraine. the president canceling of formal meeting for a brief chat. what do you make of the current situation? what should the president be doing? -- i amn: i am to start disturbed. it is assigned old dog cannot be taught new tricks. and that russia is led by a man who is a formal kgb colonel is the reality and context. it is the lesson of what we did in syria, killing 200 of their so-called contract killers. and they're trying to

re-escalate, get a hold on the region. this is classic soviet kgb tactics and this is not the was theesident -- what past few hours, you cannot trust this man, vladimir putin. paul: let us get a call from raymond in michigan, democratic line. caller: good morning. understand you have a warrant out for your arrest from hungry of a gun violation. what is going on with that that?on debt -- sebastian: you should not believe everything you see on the internet.

but thank you for the call. paul: peter from new york on the republican line. caller: good morning. i spoke to you the last time you were on the show. it was a pleasure to talk to you. said, i did what i not believe the president wanted to prosecute anyone at the fbi or the doj. i saw in the new york post they asked the president about releasing the documents, the classified documents and he said he was going to hold onto them as a type of insurance policy in case the democrats decide they go after him with taxes and everything. do you think the president is going to release the documents? i believe he made an agreement with rod rosenstein that if you

weinstein the investigation, he will not expose the corruption in the doj and fbi and democratic party. take on theverall mall investigation? -- mueller investigation? sebastian: millions of dollars spent, two years of work, and what do we have, we have two baskets of results. prosecutions of people who did things that were legal that have nothing to do with the trump manafort,anager paul wire fraud, and a basket of indictments of russians for spying. spies spying. what we do not have is a connection of the two. nothing robert mueller has put on the table connects russian illegal activity with the trump

campaign. it is a travesty. robert mueller is a man possessed. me they will told find nothing because there is nothing. that is the saturated. wasting money. paul: there was an effort in congress to -- we saw bernie sanders, we will look at the clip in just a moment. but let us take a call from david in fairfax. caller: thank you for c-span. the rise of the terrorist threat against the united states. i wanted to ask if you thought there was a role in the failure of our public diplomacy over the last couple of decades, particularly since the dissolution of the united states information agency. -- we failed to

guest: wonderful question. in my first book and this new one, it is more than public diplomacy. it is active anti-public and measures. during world war ii, we were really good at this. ss out of the u.k. active partwar, the of the group is how you take down totalitarianism. not done active countermeasures to propaganda, whether it is iran, north korea, russia, which has really upped jihadie, or the global movement. i have written my version of how we do this in the book. secondly by his

administration, we will be back in the game of counter propaganda. host: back to the new investigation, here is bernie sanders from earlier this week. [video clip] >> the democrats won close to 40 seats in the house. they will become the dominant party in the house. and, for the first time since trump was elected, there will be some accountability demanded from congress. [applause] so to my mind, it means two things, two separate areas we have to vote on. the senate has to do what it can, we can in the minority, working with our friends in the house. that is, for the first time, holding this irresponsible president accountable. that means, among other things, making it very clear that any interfering -- interference with

the mueller investigation is an obstruction of justice. and, in my view, obstruction of impeachablen offense. i think, and i am absolutely confident, that democrats will do this in the house. emoluments at the clause, and that is to ask governmental's policy decisions are based on the best interest of the united states of america or are based on the financial gains of the trump family. maybe mr. trump likes

authoritarian leaders like mr. salman of saudi arabia. or maybe there is another reason. maybe there are financial aspects to that relationship that we need to know about. host: your reaction to bernie sanders? guest: if you are not a senator, that would be reasonable, a man lecturing us about whether the president likes dictators? you honeymooned in the soviet union. a man who couldn't even keep his own party accountable when the democrats, namely hillary clinton stole the nomination from bernie sanders with her so-called superdelegates. the idea that he is concerned with russian meddling -- so now

the democrats do not like moscow? let's go back to robert durante, the cold war, ted kennedy. this is not a conspiracy theory. colluding to undermine ronald reagan during his reelection campaign. afterly, the democrats, half a century, are concerned with moscow? if this were not a senator, i would think that an "snl" skit. democratic caller for sebastian gorka. hello. caller: hello. good morning. before i get into my main question to you and the reason i called, i just want to say that i am sure history will recall presentrd that this economy that trump is taking credit for was actually rescued by the last legitimate president of the united states, barack

hussein obama. and his policy. and to my question for you, i trump ishat president horribly and is compromised by the same putin that you just castigated. prince, andik people can look this up, because you want people to look things up on the internet, erik prince has contacts the right wing connections and his sister, betsy devos, and he has an international group of mercenaries now training in f manys dan, in yemen, in hotspots -- training in and manyan, in yemen, hotspots around the globe, and they are ready to come here to

the united states because donald trump is getting ready to announce martial law the closer mueller is to announcing his ties to russia. i want to know what congress is this to do to disband right-wing group of mercenaries who trump is trying to privatize the war in afghanistan with. trump has been talking, on the campaign trail, calling democrats mobs, calling the media the enemy of the people. this is not idle talk. no president in history, in the united states, ever talked about his own people, his own media this way. donald trump is going to declare martial law, and erik prince and his mercenary band are going to be used against black lives matter and all of the protest and resistance organizations here in the united states.

host: all right, we get the point. let us get a response from sebastian gorka. gets: i have to say c-span the most interesting callers. that was the democratic version of infowars. prince is training mercenaries to come over and take over america . let's talk about russia, that you say is the friend to the current president. when russia annexed crimea, what did your president, president obama, do? look it up. he sent blankets to kiev. he didn't help. he rolled over on his back. that's what leading from behind meant, letting others, dictators, -- sentwe took over, we

things a nation can defend itself with. sending, instead of hillary clinton with a plastic reset button that was mistranslated to meet with lavrov, we, under secretary than 200illed more russian mercenaries in syria. so much for russian collusion. i find it so disturbing we have americans like yourself that literally live in an alternate universe. with regards to your first point, what we see today is a result of obama -- let's quote mr. obama. he said those jobs will never come back, unless you have a magic wand. we will never again see growth beyond 2%. how is it that when we come into the white house we literally reversed every single policy of the obama administration and then suddenly the economy was unleashed?

president trump must have graduated from hogwarts as well, because he must have a wand that mr. obama said you need to make the economy thrive again. dr. gjoe, you are on with orka. caller: good morning. mr. gorka, you just spouted the republican line about how mr. "wand" made the economy grow. that this whole butomy is based on nothing expectations. believe is going to

happen. it's all speculative. any time you say i am going to restrictions, any kind of regulations, anything i can off of business, hello, well, we'll bring the money back, because i will let you bring it back for nothing, even though you took it when the tax rate 20%.t 15%, let's bring that down to 10%. hand theahead and just public a line of crap, give all this money to the richest people in this country, and then we will do another reagan. trickle down. we find, now,

these companies suddenly decide we will shut us down, shut detroit down again, and we will move to china. or maybe we will not move to china now, let's move to the pacific. let's get a response from our guest. guest: again, you are living in an alternate reality. let's talk about facts -- i listed them in the book, "why we fight." companies offering $25,000 cash signing bonuses for new employees. that does not happen on expectations. it happens because we need workers. we have the lowest unemployment in 50 years. how does this caller not care that we have the lowest unemployment for african-americans and latin since we began

record-keeping? these are the results of what happens when you unleash the market, when you unleash businesses. we came into the white house saying the president is going to rescind two regulations for every new order he signed. by the end of the first year, that ratio was 1 to 22. we got government out of the way. whether you are a company with two people or a large, mega company, we got government out of the way. we now have functional zero unemployment. there are more jobs available in america today than there are people looking for jobs. if you are angry for that, you should look in the mirror and ask yourself why do you want people to be unemployed? host: let's talk about saudi arabia and jamal khashoggi. here is a quick blurb we notice in the local neighborhoods

yesterday. a group voted to rename the street in front of the saudi embassy for jamal khashoggi here in the district of columbia. what do you make of that? vote tohy would you name a street after a man who was best friends with osama bin laden and a member of the muslim brotherhood? yes, he was murdered, but his last article was about the need for theocracy. streetsneed -- rename after the head of al qaeda? it is peculiar, to say the least. host: does that mean your support of the way the president and demonstration -- administration has handled the situation? guest: yes. we have to get to the bottom of it. we have to have some consequences for the saudi regime. this is some form of extra do form that extrajudicial --

execution.icial just as we have iran back in its box. the crown prince of saudi arabia says israel has the right to exist. that is a direct result of the riyadhnt's speech in that called out the muslim and arab world to get their house in order. these are amazing results. we must respond in a way that does not endanger them but sends a signal. host: washington post headline, by the mattis, stand u.s. relationship with saudi arabia. let's move this forward to saudi arabia and yemen. we have a short clip of senator lindsey graham talking about the so --e of gina have

hapsfeld on wednesday. that will be ready in a moment. but let's drop in a call from john, salem, massachusetts. what would you like to say? urge the would like to people out there to google this man, sebastian gorka. are you aware this is a neofascist? why would you have a man like this on? that is all. host: anything you want to respond to? guest: the internet, really, that is the only place you find we? why not read what i said? under fascismed

as children. my father was tortured by members of dictatorship and given a life sentence at the age of 20. used to it. if they are not calling me a fascist, not calling the president a racist, then we are not doing our job. why? these are the metrics of people who do not have an argument. the president's chief advisor is his orthodox son-in-law. this is the first president in 23 years to keep america's promise to move our embassy to jerusalem and recognize that as capital of the internal jewish state. these people need to get out of their bubble. it is disturbing that, in 2018, people are such hostages to propaganda and fake news. read a book. might want to start with "why we fight." host: once again, we want to bounce back to senator lindsey graham. [video clip]

>> about the briefing, i am glad we had it. i admire both secretaries. but it was inadequate because the cia was not there. the question for me was whether supports thea conclusion, with a high degree of confidence, that the crown prince was complicit in the murder of mr. khashoggi. i get yemen. the strategic relationship between us and saudi arabia. but i will not float past it. is not givening soon, it will be hard for me to vote for any spending bill. >> there was a report that the cia director was prevented from coming here today -- >> they will have a hard time getting me to vote for us to move forward. i am not going to be denied the ability to be briefed by the cia

that we have oversight of about whether or not there assessment supports my belief that this could not have happened without them knowing. if the briefing supports the conclusion that i have already tentatively formed, then there will be no more business as usual with saudi arabia. you talking about the spending bill being what you would -- >> i am talking about any key vote, anything you need me for i'm notut of town, doing it until we hear from the cia. host: lindsey graham once a cia briefing about saudi arabia. your reaction? guest: i love the new lindsey graham, especially post-kavanaugh. but the idea that the defense secretary, a cabinet level

member, and the secretary of state, a cabinet member, cannot brief you adequately on america's or and relations in the middle east is antithetical to common sense. for are gina will appear closed session sooner or later, and there is no business as usual with saudi arabia. the president made it clear there will be ramifications, but not one that our strategic in nature and undermine this country. trying toan is destabilize the whole region. so senator graham, you will get your briefing. host: republican caller for sebastian gorka, jerry. caller: hello, dr. gorka. a pleasure to talk to a conservative intellectual. a factual, historical standpoint, what we know now, what did the obama administration have to do, what

influence did they have, directly or indirectly, with the assassination of qaddafi? host: sebastian gorka? guest: i think it is clear. it was dilettante to some meeting with the highest level of arrogance. destabilizing the region, preferring to support the shia muslims in iran with the jcpoa $140deal that released billion. i do not think you will find a smoking gun. i do not believe the conspiracy theories. but the fact that they thought they could fix the region by helping those who wish to destroy us and destabilize libya led to the death of qaddafi, who was a bad man. but there leading from behind leg to a streak where, by the

end of the obama administration, the world had 65 one million inugees, more refugees than 1940 five, after six years of devastation. more refugees than we have ever had in human history. that is the direct result of president obama retreating from the world and blaming america for the world's ills. the subtitle of my book is not an accident, "why we fight: recovering america's will to win with no apologies." host: let me get your reaction -- more from secretary mattis. arst, he calls vladimir putin slow learner. he is basically pointing to the midterm elections -- spoke yesterday at a big defense forum and again said he tried to muck around in our elections this past month.

what do you make of the administration's response to these charges so far and, moving forward, what is the posture of the president? guest: the secretary is absolutely right. it seems with his actions around ukraine, he has not understood this is a very different commander in chief. in regards to elections, russia has been meddling in other people's election since soon the mentor vicks were defeated by the bolsheviks for over a century. agents soviet undermining american democracy to 1948 and back before. what the administration is doing, i expect to see out of dhs and may the doj, very serious measures in the next few years. but this is not new from moscow. host: and on the slow learner

comment, mr. putin is clearly a slow learner, he says in this politico piece. he is not recognizing what he is doing is creating animosity in the people. he is causing nato to rearm and strengthen the democracies' stance. guest: that is an accurate depiction of what putin is doing. but we also have to talk about what is going on domestically. russia is in a tailspin. 600,000 people are dying and russia every year, more than are being born. with our unleashing of the oil sector, they are primary export is no longer what it used to be in terms of gas and oil. syria, there is a rising resentment inside russia with the way president putin has -- the special

forces guys are deployed to crimea, syria, are killed, then do not receive any kind of recognition for dying on behalf vladimir putin. there is a need for him to paint the devil on the wall to distract his citizens for the lack of support from his international adventurism. , new sophia, in the bronx york. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i am going to try to talk faster, because i have so much to say. but i am going to try my best. 50 years ago, the first word i from russia, most communist countries, was americans are a good heart but stupid. that stayed with me for so long, until our president, president

trump, came into office. i tried to stay and tried to make sense out of it, out of all this year, when the word oru president said, the enemy of the people, the media, the person that hurts me -- listen, c-span is our home, american home. c-span brings us the right right what wase going on in the news. the person you have right in front of you, i watched 5 to 3 minutes, fox news, my stomach hurts. i'm 69-years-old, ok? my stomach hurts. everythign that comes out of his

mouth, everything that comes out of fox news, nothing but negative. i'm a repubican, ok? president obama, hillary clinton, what does that to do with what happened two years ago, three years ago? why are we keep on going back? and for c-span to accept him to come this morning, maybe it's good. i get my feeling go down. i sound very angry, but i'm not. one -- in lifetime, the i hate to say this word -- the enemy of the people is fox news. but you have to watch them. host: go ahead. guest: i really do not know the anger and why the hatred. "enemy of the people"?

said fake news is the enemy of the people, not the media. with regards to fox news being the enemy of the people, i am proud to be national security strategist for fox news. there is a reason the most popular tv shows in america are sean hannity and tuck carlson. we lead all the other cable channels and popularity, 5 million viewers. are you calling 5 million americans your enemy? that is un-american. saying we are the negative news channel, why is it, then, that independent polling companies have found that mainstream, non-fox news coverage of the 93% ofnt, msnbc, cnn, the past three years have seen negative coverage of the president? hardly unbiased reporting. host: what was your take on the jim acosta story, which seems like forever ago now?

the white house printing -- putting out new rules about news conferences. what do you make of that? guest: i really do not know how my former colleague, sarah huckabee sanders, and the president himself, put up with the grandstanding of jim acosta for so long. i would have pulled his past long ago. this is not the jim acosta show. this is the white house press briefing. this is a man who grand stands front of the president of the united states. i know his president -- i know his colleagues in the white house press corps are not happy with him. see the danger of pulling individual passes from reporters? guest: not if they manhandle a microphone from a female government intern. there has to be consequences for lack of professionalism. there are rules of professional decorum. if you negate them again and

again, if there are no consequences, how are you saving the american people? allow another reporter to come in, allow regional reporters to come in. if you want to have news, come watch the white house as briefing, not the jim acosta show. host: willie, st. louis. isler: what i want to say that mueller was a witch hunt. he has indicted 35 people already. he got people spying on him to know what was going on behind closed doors, and at the end of the day, why would he want to know what is going on, why would he want to be interviewed? he did, heing else talks all about himself, his family.

and all of the money we have --ted with hillary clinton we got one guy called in that this is a witch hunt, do not believe what they say. he is not out to hurt anyone. if you wants -- he wants to know what the facts are. do not let people like him sit there and lie to us and say do not believe that witchhunt. if the president did not do this, he would go out and have people -- would he want to hear the things to tell him what is going on? please don't believe this man. if he were the right way, he would say i do not do anything, i would have my interview with mueller, and he would go on and

let it happen. host: thank you. guest: it's "mueller," not "miller," to get this right. robert mueller is marine, a vietnam veteran. i would ask your callers to look up robert mueller in connection with the whitey bulger investigation and of the anthr ax killings in washington, d.c. his 30t that 14 out of -- emost expensive opposition research campaign in american history. the sad thing is it is being done by their federal prosecutor. host: does the president have authority to fire mueller? guest: how is that senators do not understand the constitution?

you have senator flake calling for legislation to protect robert mueller. the president is going to sign a bill undermining himself? bernie sanders needs go back to civics 101. the chief law enforcement officer of the united states is not the director of the fbi, not even the attorney general of the department of justice. the chief law enforcement officer is the president. he can fire any political appointee he wants to in any agency without cause, and there is no obstruction of justice. the president is the head of the executive. @mylandburketer, writes i do not expect sebastian gorka back anytime soon, you can see independent and democratic

call going under his skin. is that right? because commend c-span, you do not shut down people you do not agree -- disagree with. c-span understands that we listen to both sides and allow citizens to decide. i am sorry that your twitter individual disagrees with freedom of speech. host: one other question before we took our last call or two. it has to go with a big budget debate. the government shut down set for friday night unless they figure out funding. but one of the issues involved is the president's request for money for a border wall. would it be a good idea for the president to shut down the president by not signing an appropriations bill if it did not include that money? guest: if you look at what happened last time we had the threat of a shutdown, chuck schumer lost the argument. we went up to the precipice, and

the american people realized that what the democrat party is doing is choosing illegal aliens and sanctuary cities over the american citizens and the armed forces. i think the president has nothing to lose with a shutdown, and i think he should threaten that, because i do not expect a lot of spine to be displayed by the gop in the next few weeks of the lame-duck congress. host: brian in new york, for sebastian gorka. good morning. caller: thank you very much. have you handle it willingly, what comes on. guest: thank you. question is about the mueller investigation. one of the previous investigations handled was the presidention into

clinton, after four years of investigation that started with whitewater -- nothing came from that. ae end result of that was huge thing that ruined the life of a young girl who saw in him and showed howon despicable of a character the president had at that time. four-year investigation into the peccadilloes of this guy, who was not as good of a person we wanted to be president , i guess, with the mueller investigation, i would hope that we would just allow the man to do his job, do his investigation. there have been very few leaks to come out of the mueller investigation. he has done an excellent job of keeping it very tight.

i think he is an honorable person, that he is trying to do it in a verydoing steadfast way. like i said, just leave the man to do his work. he seems to be doing it very well, if by himself. host: thank you. let's take one more call. oklahoma,man, republican. what would you like to say? guest: good morning. -- caller: good morning. guest: i was in california yesterday. i know the republicans are out there. thank you. not long ago, the caller talked about the 30 indictments, none of which had to do with russian collusion.

-- as long as they have homeless veterans and single mothers with their children sleeping in cars and out on the street. veterans commit suicide every day because the government says there is no money for them to get the mental health treatments and surgeries that they need. when old people are trying to get by on $600 a month then turn inand take $135 of debt medicare, i do not think medicaid has any kind of copayment. san francisco, they want -- obama, he had of $10 trillion of deficit, none of it i can tell was any good.

you are in the capital up i see they will cut every christian off that they can from praying at a friday night football game. something is wrong with that, they are discriminating against christians. when we get all the primary american people taking care of, and illegal immigrants, then maybe we can -- and legal immigrants. then maybe we can get illegal immigrants at the democrats want for cheap labor and votes. host: we are out of time. but sebastian gorka, final thought on the state of the world? guest: it's in "why we fight." i talk about great american viewers. i have to address karen. my parents were refugees. i am a legal immigrant. the idea that my parents would

throw rocks and bottles at people they had to live with is an anachronism. gorka, formern deputy assistant to the president and national security adviser staff member, trump administration, and author of "why we fight: recovering america's will to win -- defeating america's enemies with no apologies. phones to round us out in the program. you can talk about any topic you like. here are the phone numbers. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. is our twitter handle. you can also post a comment on our facebook page, facebook.com/cspan. we will be right back with open phones. ♪

"q&a," we visit mount vernon washington library with historians to discuss what it means to be american. >> one nation, indivisible, is a sense of we are all one nation. that is elemental to what it means to be an american. >> the american character, what it means to be american is to improvise. when you look at george washington and the dark days of forge,r, 1777, at valley general washington improvised to almost be like a guerilla fighter, live off the land. >> from the very beginning, not all groups were included in what an american is.

certainly, minority groups were not. certain religious groups were not. and women were not really considered citizens, at least. that changes over time. over time, more and more people are brought into the american family. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span's "q&a." our guest onill be "in depth: fiction edition." debuted atbook number one on the new york times bestseller list. his other books include "the inner circle," and "the book fo fate." meltzerwith author brad easternn to 3:00 p.m.

live on put tv on c-span 2. >> "washington journal" continues. misty sunday morning in washington, you can see the u.s. flag at half staff in honor , the formerw. bush president who died last night. the current president declared december 5 a national day of mourning. departments and federal buildings will be closed on the fifth. flags will be at half-staff for a month. there will be a series of events starting tomorrow to honor the former president. tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. eastern time, there will be an arrival ceremony at the u.s. capitol as the casket of the former president arrives. to public can then begin line up to pay their respects

monday at 7:30 p.m. that will continue until wednesday, when the public lying in state will conclude. funeraly itself, the wednesday morning at the washington national cathedral. you will be able to see all of the action here in washington. all of the ceremonies on the c-span networks. thursday, there is a funeral at saint martins church in houston, burial at the bush presidential library. , startinge timeline tomorrow. the "washington times" because as president trump is sending air force one to carry president george h.w. bush to washington. the president spoke about it yesterday. [video clip] >> air force one will be taking myself and a large group of our people back to washington. it will then be reset and sent

to houston to pick up the casket of president bush and then be brought back to washington. in prettybe done rapid order. most of you know the process, procedure, but we will be sending air force one, which is a special tribute that he deserves very much. he will be missed, greatly missed. terrific person. host: and the headline -- washington prepares for the pageantry of a state general. tina on the line from jacksonville, florida, good morning. caller: good morning. first thing is if you can give comment on the a gentleman you had on tv. he wrote the book "why we fight ."

then he talked about his parents or whomever being oppressed. things thatg about do not bring the country together. we need to work on better transportation. we lack energy for our homes, equality between men and women, protecting our forests and rivers and oceans, taking action on climate control. basically, political freedom. that is our given right. but that is basically gone. need too him -- i would have my head examined, because uphold someone -- if you have been oppressed before, you do not believe in oppression. the reason why we fight is we fight for equality.

for folks who cannot fight for themselves. we fight for our children who are not able, at this time, to walk on the streets or in their schools because of people coming in and shooting them with guns. that is a reason why we fight. and if you listen to this individual, and he talks about his parents being oppressed, but talks about oppression, cannot listen to anyone -- i will listen to your opinion, because you have the right to i cannotion -- but stand for what he stands for, because i am an individual that says "for all people." host: comments from tina, speaking about sebastian gorka, who was just on this program. if you give it a little bit of time, that full segment was ran

around 45 or 50 minutes. it will be available on c-span.org. frank is calling from columbia, maryland, on the republican line. caller: good morning. i only caught a few minutes of dr. gorka on your show. i wanted to make a comment and then later on the recent passing of our 41st president. host: please do. caller: everyone mentions his grace and composure around people who are his equals and below. you hear people bashing the media, who is trying to report the news. but it seems like, in the last few years, people have become more opinion commentators than journalists. all of this reporting on the russian investigation, i have yet to hear anybody mention the fact that ted kennedy tried to

work with the kgb against ronald reagan. very few outlets will actually bring that up. and it's documented in the woodrow wilson center. ohn, in st. louis, independent caller. good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes. what would you like to say? caller: someone called about the martial law put in place. inant everyone to know, 2015, it was obama who signed an executive order to call martial law at any time. also, black lives matter, all gangs, whatever you want to call them, was started under obama.

if there were riots, hillary clinton, if she could have won, could have used martial law that obama put in place and allowed the u.n. to come in. this is very important for people to understand what the -- host: anything else? guess john was finished. democratic line, yes. caller: i hear a lot of comments about the environment and the disenchantment with us pulling out of the agreement. what i would like to say to everybody is -- until china, india, russia even do half of what america does, from an environmental standpoint, there is no reason for this country to

make any additional sacrifices. absolutely none. i do not know how these people the fact that china is the biggest polluter on the planet. something,not do what everybody else does is almost meaningless. host: one of the names in the news as mary barra, ceo of general motors. nbc news and other outlets telling us she will meet with lawmakers next week over job cuts. gm has to be the most thoroughly dislike company in washington right now, writes one lawmaker. willdiscussed mary barra and cut upproduction to 15,000 jobs. gm has come under harsh criticism from lawmakers from both political parties and from the president when the number

one u.s. on maker announced the biggest restructuring since its bankruptcy. republican caller, good morning. heard a lot of democrats and republicans, all that stuff. both are bad eggs on sides, whether we like it or not. but my question was about julian assange. if they do arrest him, indict him, are they going to do the rest of the media the same way? or even dianne feinstein for leaking information? they better watch what they are doing, you know what i mean? host: kimberly from belmont, i, kimberly. scott from belmont, michigan. caller: how are you doing? host: doing well. how about you? caller: doing well.

i want to talk about trade policies. we talk about china. how about japan, south korea? we do not seem to talk that much about them. they sell a lot of products over here, south korea and japan, but we are basically excluded from their countries, selling our products they are. this is something i've always been very concerned about. i do not think it will balance itself out. host: checking to see if you heard the news out of argentina last night -- the u.s. and china reached a truce on trade. if you read the fine print, its eyes it is for 90 days, a promise not to raise tariffs from washington and from beijing a promise to buy more products. are you positive, confident about this? caller: i am glad. i am not a big fan of donald trump. i am glad he is getting into this time. but the japanese are one of the most protectionist companies in the world. we see their products all over

our country. the president signed a new trade agreement with mexico and canada, did it in argentina yesterday as well. he said he would cancel the old nafta one, which means chris has six months to approve this one. is it a smart idea to cancel the old nafta? do you think congress can approve the new one in six months? caller: yes. we should go through all our trade policies every six months and revise them every time to make sure they are up to speed. we should do that with all of our policies. go back and look at them. host: iraq, scott, from belmont, michigan. congress and the president are considering postponing a shutdown deadline until after the bush services. they are talking about the funeral and all of the activity that will be happening in washington this week.

but on friday, this friday, they have a government funding deadline. there's a negotiators in the white house are talking about a one week budget bill to delay this government shutdown while washington prepares for this estate funeral. tate of issues -- for this s funeral. this spending.in that would take us down to december 14. watch all of the house and senate coverage as the talks continue or resume here on the c-span networks. sussex, new jersey, independent line. caller: how are you doing? host: fine. caller: i want to wish my condolences to the bush family. basically, it is a different era. basically bashing him, i would hope people who

live longer do not do the same thing to the other presidents. the only other thing i have to say is i thought his foreign-policy was at least decent. trump made everybody more transparent. when you got the saudi arabia guy slapping hands with putina nd you have -- putin and you have macron and these people saying things out right, trump has brought that transparency, whether you like him or hate him. he is showing everybody for who they are. they are showing their true callers. we should go with that -- their true colors. we should go with that. but when presidents die, i hate to see this. you are bashing somebody, but everybody has faults. host: the front page out of college station, texas. -george w. bush.

aggieland mourns the former president. eland" referring to texas a&m university come home to the bush presidential library. the former president spent a lifetime as a public servant. here is the "maine sunday telegram." iner.dent, war hero, ma let's go to jacksonville, florida, republican line. caller: good morning. ka buted to praise gor also talk about why people are so angry now. job. has done an excellent i worked in 12 foreign

countries. everything he said is consistent with what i've found. why people are so angry -- we went through a bio weapons attack in the middle east in 1982. we found there are a number of disease coming with illegal immigrants, legal immigrants, and they should be tested. killed off,se is they gave you something -- and that causes anger. and many of the other sentiments we see in the population. there is equipment to deal with it. i worked in hospital labs as well as in the chemical engineering and oil and gas industry. host: thank you for calling. donald on the line from south bend, indiana. caller: hi. good morning. i want to talk about -- first, my condolences to the bush family on the passing of president bush.

but i was thinking, when bush was running for president against reagan, and the republicans picked reagan, primarily because, i guess, reagan made them "feel good." biography, wars hero -- he was qualified. really qualified. and yet, they picked reagan. i just got to thinking what used tos we americans pick the folks who run for president. need to really look at some things. se need to base our decision less on tangible things and more on intangible things.

is probablysident going to have to tell us things we do not want to hear. included, we are going to have to start people who ran for president who are going to tell us things we do not want to hear and we cannot do what we want to do. it just ties into you having gorka on and everything. bad, just this "everybody me good, so vote for me." we have to pick out the zero-sum politics. host: thank you for calling. a couple other headlines. getting a round of applause when visiting lewiston high school in 1991. the texarkana gazette -- held

across political and global lines as a man of decency. san antonio news, he earned his place in history. stories fromther alaska. you know the capital -- juneau t he capital there. daily news" has this headline and photoperiod damage assessments continue among aftershocks. post" has ahington short blurb about alaska. they write the magnitude seven quake that rattled the largest city in alaska cracked roads and highways, but there were no reports of widespread catastrophic damage, and they write there is a good reason for that. the devastating 1964 alaska quay, the most powerful in the u.s., led to stricter building codes that lead to structures was standing shifting earth friday. so they are saying something morened in 1964 prevented

damage from happening. one dover, delaware republican. i want to thank this president for exposing the things in washington dc. people are supposed to be working for us. they become billionaires and billionaires on our money. and don't work for us. we the people should come first. be accountable for our own mistakes and said the blaming on everyone else. school, you have no goals, join the military. ,ravel, learn other countries and you will respect the united states of america. thank god your feet are on this soil.

thanks to everyone who called. we back tomorrow at 7:00 eastern. ahead with a look .abby of political we will talk about a new report on the working class that has come out. and rbuce reed. enjoy the rest of your sunday. who see you tomorrow for another edition washington journal. ♪ announcer: here is some is what is coming up today on c-span.

next newsmakers and profiles on members of the house of representatives. at 10:30 a.m., testifying about agency efforts to do with the california wildfires in california -- and hurricane response rate -- response rate after that, democratic leaders appointed. that is followed by today's washington journal's interviews. the democrats take control of the house in january. a,ouncer: tonight on q and we visit the washington library at mount vernon for the 2018 founding debates program figuring -- featuring historians. discussing what it means to be american. >> one nation indivisible, we are all together, that is

somehow elemental to what it means to be an american. >> the american character, to improvise, by that i mean when you look at george washington, december, 1777 at valley forge. he improvised to be like a gueri lla fighter to live off the land and do what we needed to do to get the job done. >> in the beginning not all groups were included in being an american, minority groups were not, certain religious groups were not, and women were not considered citizens. that changes over time. over time more people are brought into the american family. announcer: tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q and a. announcer: