>> wednesday, at 10:00 a.m. eastern, william barr well before the senate judiciary committee. and on thursday, at 9:00 a.m. eastern, he will testify before the house judiciary committee. live on c-span3. and listen on our radio app. host: our guest is ralph reed. he has been working to mobilize christian voters. the group posts 1.8 million members nationwide. but he not know this, has a phd in american history from emory university.

take you for coming back to c-span today. let me introduce the two reporters asking questions. reporter: i wanted to get your thoughts on joe biden's candidacy. their people in the white house to say he will not make it to the democratic primary. i wonder if you think he would be a formidable general election opponent against president trump. a couple of obvious observations, the first is that joe biden, while he has had a distinguished career of public service in the senate and is

experienced, has been around a long time, has been in public life for almost a half-century, as a presidential candidate is -- he has not had a lot of luck. his 1988 campaign, he had to get out of the race after allegations of plagiarism and falsifying aspects of his resume. in 2008, he had not only a rocky emerged as aeally strong candidate. today is a different situation. nominally, in terms of pulling, the front runner. i think the challenge will be to fall. number one, the party he is running in now is totally different than the party he ran in 2008.

it is ideologically shifted much further to the left. that hee donor bundling would rely on has changed to more of an online and small donor universe. interesting to see how he is able to adapt to that. view onreally have a how it will turn out. after 2016, after what happened not only in the republican primaries went donald trump, to the spreads of many, emerge not in the general election but one the evangelical vote in the primaries, i was never in the production business and even less so now. i think biden will be a formidable, strong candidate.

reporter: you mentioned the president a little bit here. i want to get into his reelection of a bit. where do you see him standing right now as far as his reelection chances? there has been talk about the primary challenger. there is larry hogan, a two-term maryland governor. on theo you come down primary challenger? my read of it is there is no market out there at all for a primary opponent to the president. it is a free country, and if somebody wants to run, they are certainly able to do so.

another others are looking at it. was a recent survey that showed the president with a 93% job approval rate among republicans. that is one of the higher numbers. some of the other media polls have his job approval among republicans as 83% or 80%. those are historically very high numbers. some of them are unprecedented numbers. to the reagan campaigns of the 80's. i worked for george dubya bush orgiginal's campaign. he was getting reelected, he had a job approval among republicans in the low 80's. we were ecstatic. there was no market for a primary opponent to george bush.

there is even less so for donald trump. he has delivered on tax cuts. on systematically dismantling the unattractive aspects of obamacare. and his nominations to the supreme court. he has dismantled isis in the middle east. the economy is strong. unemployment is at a near low. gdp is growing. we never had that and a single year under barack obama. all of those are things, along with his pro-life stance. his pro-israel stance. his support for religious freedom. his support for religious freedom. these are things that at the grassroots of the republican party, there may be some who would be skeptical as a donor to democratic candidates in the past, whether or not he really

meant it if you would do those things. but he has delivered on those promises. there is a tremendous reservoir of appreciation and gratitude .nd respect and deep support for this president at the grassroots among conservatives, among voters of faith. and among rank-and-file republicans. i would like to ask you about what you just said. the support for president trump among evangelical voters. heading into 2020, he obviously still has a great deal of strength and support and enthusiasm. but there has been a lot of policies that have garnered criticism among those religious conservatives. one of them being the family separation policy. as the president and his aid to push through these changes at the helm and security department, there has been renewed chatter about this idea of a binary choice option that

would essentially bring back these family separations. your organization was pretty vocal last summer criticizing the zero pollan's -- zero-tolerance policy. i want your thoughts on this approach and how it might harm president support among evangelicals. we believe that the and principles we stand for our biblical principles. they are not partisan. they apply to every area of life. that's people think we are only concerned about things like abortion and religious liberty.

but we think the bible speaks to every aspect of life. we believe foreigners should be treated with respect and dignity. we should uphold the rule of law. stepn't think the first that someone takes on the journey to be coming and american should be by violating a flaw. aliens were supposed to be treated with dignity and respect but they were also supposed to respect the laws where they resided. we feel very strongly like that.

we don't want to see family separated. but we have called upon congress to act and to provide the courtsnal immigration and judges and provide the funding for the additional they don't have to be separated. sadly, because of partisan politics, the congress has not acted on those things on the level they should have. the other point i want to make is, as tragic as the separation of the families that are currently arriving at the southern borderthe other point e is, as we have pointed out, the even larger tragedy is the millions right now, right now over one million, immediate family members, either a spouse or a minor child, that are waiting in lines sometimes 10 years long trying to enter this country legally to join their loved ones. changes inled for

the legal immigration system to give them priority. there is no reason for a legal resident of the united states who is here legally with a green laws, to beg our waiting for an 11 or 12-year-old child to join them for 10 or 11 years. that is not only inefficient, it is immoral and wrong. we have called on congress to act on a bipartisan basis. when it comes to politics, i think the faith community understands that donald trump has been handed a humanitarian crisis. i would argue it could be a security crisis. he is doing everything he can to fix it. but in order to fix it, he has to have a willing partner at the other end of pennsylvania avenue. congress, under both parties, has shown an inability to act.

i don't think they unfairly blame him. if you look at the most recent on thes poll taken thursday or friday before easter, so it is very recent, president trumps job approval amongst evangelicals is 77%. i think that is a pretty good reflection on how they feel about the job he is doing. jared kushner is expected to present a new immigration plan to the president either next week or this way. and then that will be presented to congress. there are a bunch of tweaks expected in that presentation that will address some of the legal immigration problems you spoke of. the you have confidence like -- that's what he liked jared kushner, he was never really been involved in immigration policy and really has only pushed criminal justice reform successfully on capitol hill, that he may be able to bridge the gap between the white house

and congress and actually get conference of immigration reform accomplished? mr. reed: i do and i certainly hope so. i have been privileged to work with jared and his team in the white house. on criminal justice reform. i have also worked with them on immigration issues when he and vice president pence went up to the held her in the government shutdown to try to find a bipartisan solution. i think there is an opportunity ,ere, unique to president trump for a sort of nixon goes to china type moment. i don't want to speak for the white house. but i think there is an opportunity here. , because hent trump has been so firm on illegal immigration, and so tough on , that if heity could put together a deal on the resolution on the status of the dreamers, that we have supported

, we have not necessarily advocated a path to citizenship, but we have called for them to be granted legal residents. we think that them they brought into the country was not their fault. you don't punish them for something their parents did. if you could have a solution to the dreamers,'s combined with border security and funding for the wall and some of the legal and some of the job skill base needs that are needed. that is a deal that 80% of the american people would be a pharaoh. i would encourage the white to do everything they can to put something together like that. .nd propose it if congress were to pass a, we have a solution.

if we don't, at least the president did everything he could. i have talked to the president about this issue. have a solution for the dreamers. he would be willing to make a deal that included border security for some of these other things. that he wants and others want. we ought to get this done or die trying. we have touched a little bit on the president support with evangelical christians. i think in 2016 he won 80% of them. does the president have any work you need to even? community at this point. mr. reed: i don't think so. he justly to keep standing with the values he has.

the court appointments are good. he is defunding planned parenthood. restoration of the so-called mexico city policy because back to the reagan years that prevents u.s. tax dollars from being used to perform abortions overseas through united nations and other family-planning programs. advanceg he has done to religious freedom. he issued an executive order in his first year as president directing every federal agency and every cabinet department to undertake a review of all of the policies and regulations and do not violatey religious freedom. the things he has done to stand for the state of israel, including but not limited to moving the embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem.

this has been an administration that has been firmly and unapologetically pro-life, profamily, pro-israel, pro-religious freedom. president the continues to talk about those things and speak to those things, particularly when you have the democrats going way out on a limb on the left on things , evenate-term abortion infants born alive legislation they have a post that said when a child is born alive during an abortion procedure, attempts ought to be made to save the life of a child. they have voted against that. they have in favor of late-term abortion. or advocated it. that contrasts is going to be very sharp and 2020. one major part of the trump coalition in 2016 was non-college-educated whites.

he really did well with them. the president's victory is -- lane to victory is narrow. think hisare do you path is in that reelection? mr. reed: it is interesting. there has been a pretty significant change and evolution in the republican party. when i was working on the bush campaign's, 55 to 60% of self

identified republicans were college educated. now that number has shifted to 60 present the other way. i think increased turnout among those voters, increased turnout voters, closing the cap by which we are suffering in the suburbs, especially among hitting at orn the historic average for a republican presidential candidate and especially an incumbent president among hispanics and african-americans is critical. i think donald trump one 31% of the hispanic vote. 2016. i think if he can stay at that number or get up to 35%, it vote help take his 100,000

margin of to 200,000. and begin to put that state out of reach. i think it is all those things. i want to go back to the 2020 democratic field. outside of joe biden, i had a question for you about elizabeth warren. she has made a lot of news recently because she is one of the only candidates who is putting very detailed policy descriptions out there as part of her campaign. she talked a lot about maternity mortality rates. policies that benefit women, children, mothers, families. you just said that this administration has been very profamily. as a christian conservative, are there any policies that someone like elizabeth warren has put forward that you would actually embrace or support if they were coming from her or a republican candidate?

mr. reed: i would say i would have to look more closely at what she is proposing. we have worked with the trump administration. i have had the pleasure of working with the ivanka trump. she spearheaded this effort. 9 million people have been lifted out of poverty because of the child tax credit. we also increased its refund ability. that will help people. provide for the children and their families. believe the intact family is the most successful department of health, education, and welfare ever conceived. we have also been working with the trump white house and the ivanka trump on paid family leave.

we have worked with senator marco rubio, mitt romney on this bill in the senate. as well as senator joni ernst and others. it would allow people to get an advance payment on their social security benefits in order to allow them to stay home for a. of two months to be there with a child at the beginning of the development. these are biblical principles. they are time-honored principles. and they're not partisan. let's go back to the democratic field. am curious about is mayor pete buttigieg. where do you come down on his candidacy as far as the impact he could have. get there to nomination, he has pitched

himself as a christian. he has, under fire from some conservatives. where do you come down on his candidacy? mr. reed: i am certainly intrigued by his candidacy. i don't see how you could not be. when i was coming up politically, the idea of having run for state treasurer in years they'd and losing and running for dnc chair and losing and you are a mayor of a pretty small town of about 100,000 people and have never been elected statewide and you want to be president, not just did not happen when i was coming up. but then again, things like donald trump didn't happen. so maybe all of the laws of gravity have been repealed. he has certainly caught fire. i think what he is attempting to do is rescue a lost lexicon of progressive and liberal faith that harkens back to the antiwar movement and the civil rights movement. i think that is a worthy and

ambitious project. i think where he has made a mistake is in attacking the faith of others. the vice president. he has been critical of anybody who believes and biblical or traditional marriage. and he accused mike pence no longerly of believing and scripture when he decided to believe in donald trump. that is an attack on somebody else's faith. i think that goes too far. in terms of franklin graham, i have not been able to speak to him about his comments. i saw it. i think we have a long and storied and cherished tradition in american religious history of prophetic voices. the largeruth to culture. i think that is what he is trying to do. talk about what he believes the bible says on the subject of

marriage. my organization is different. we are not a church. we are not a public policy organization. when it comes to these issues, we will stick to the public policy. but i have a very optimistic and healthy regard for the american in thes ability to, course of this discourse, arrive at a good decision and be fair-minded to everybody sharing their views on their own faith. buttigieg or pete franklin graham. >> in the coming week, the attorney general will be on capitol hill. what do you have to say to democratic committee chairman who are vowing to investigate more? mr. reed: i would not presume to give them advice on how to do their jobs. but i can tell you as somebody who was there, i was part of the speaker advisory group when we went through the impeachment of

bill clinton, if you want to fire up the other side, the best way to do it is try to impeach the president. i lived through it, i saw it, and i think we started, clinton's job approval rating was in the mid-50's. i think of the day he was impeached, it was 73%. if i were them, i would proceed with caution. my own view is this , $30 million, 2500 subpoenas, 500 witnesses, the president waived executive privilege, the conclusion was that russia did try to influence the election but nobody in the white house or the trump campaign cooperated or colluded or conspired with the russian government or any agent of the government in that intervention in our election.

i think to argue that the president has an obstruction issue when there is no underlying crime and when nobody the special counsel or removed from rosen saying, i think it is a specious charge. i don't think it goes anywhere legally or politically. >> ralph reed joining us from atlanta. your annual convention will be here in washington dc at the end of jan. thank you for being our guest this week. he talked about the past of victory in this election. he talked about the importance of bringing in minority voters. if you book talk to me about what is happening to those voters from what we learned about pulling right now? start on i will suburban women. i was at the trump campaign headquarters a couple of weeks ago. one of the questions i asked him was what is the path forward for the president to build his

coalition among women? amongproval numbers college educated and noncollege it could women has dripped dramatically. and they were never really great to begin with. their answer is look at the economy. look at unemployment. they're pretty confident that the president, as long as he talks those things up, we'll be able to draw in some new female voters. way theou look at the president has framed his approach to reelection in the past couple of months. he is focusing on everything but the economy. he is tweeting up a storm about the special counsel report. every now and then he will talk about the market. but not to the extent his advisers wish he would. if they want to get back on track with women and have any hope of ringing in more female voters to support him, he will have to do a better job staying on message.

you cited the narrow path to victory. if you look at the demographics, that is very different than the evolving demographics of the u.s.. when you look at the president's activities, it always seems like he is going after his base. he is eyes petrified he will lose his base. he is only targeting about 40% of the electorate. i think you're seeing that a lot. areollege educated whites the reason he won the election. in the last election, he forgot about women in the suburbs. they pay dealer for that.

before the midterms, everyone on capitol hill cap telling the president, talk about the economy. talk about the economy. instead he is out there talking about the caravan. immigration. every other issue under the sun. if he wants to win, the economy has to be the message. but he is talking about everything else right now. host: we didn't really talk about congress. retaining the majority in the senate is an important goal for the republican party. the christian conservative groups really managed to get out the vote. and they claim a lot of credit for retaining the majority in the last election. how much are the democrats changing their playbook on the get out the vote effort to be able to counteract the effectiveness that the conservative christian groups have had to the churches? they have been very effective at doing that the last couple of years. it interesting

point we talked about pete buttigieg. democrats have forgotten to talk about faith a little bit. it is not of the band done over the last 10 or 20 years. i'm interested to see what they end up doing in this cycle. biden does it to a certain degree. faith really isn't an issue on the left. reporter: i think they have really realized over the last couple of years when they have had to supreme court justices and president trump, he has remade the judiciary with all of the appellate and circuit court nominations that have gone through in his and ministration. they are starting to realize that this is the they guest legacies that will carry on after he is out of office. and it is a very effective tool to take to the democratic base. to take to their activists and voters and say, this is something that we ignored leading up to president trump's victory. but it is not something we can

ignore. at the counteract that, we have to get a democrat in office. we have to get more democratic congress. i expect that as a message they will lean heavily on in 2020 as they did in 2018. host: the importance of the federal judiciary will be not only in the future but during this next year with the health care case making its way to the lower federal courts. theust learned this week supreme court will be taking on a huge transgender case. the efforts for the judiciary are important again. how mobilizing is that promoters? for voters? reporter: i think it is a big messaging point this year. caredon't have the same out there that you used to.

continuedconnell has to make that point. he will be up for reelection. he will be out there making this point even more. the judiciary is still a big issue for republican voters. it is still an issue people care about. reporter: and it is consistently one of the things that keep trump space attached them. if you go out there and ask his voters at they like his tweets and the chaos that has gone on, they will concede that no, it has been frustrating. but he is getting these judges through. not just for democrats as a scare tactic in 2020, but for say, regardless of all that has transpired in the last two years, at least we have stacked the judiciary with judges who will be committed to their principles and ideas you voters want. reporter: we saw this with democrats talking about expanding the supreme court. helps republican

voters to the polls. >> thank you to both of you. ♪ once, tv was simply three giant networks and a government supported service called pbs. then in 1979, a small network with an unusual name rolled out a big idea, let viewers decide all on their own what was important to them. c-span opened the doors to washington policymaking for all to see, bringing you unfiltered congress -- unfiltered content from congress and beyond. in the 40 years since, the landscape has clearly changed, there is no monolithic media, broadcasting has given way to narrowcasting, youtube stars are a thing. but c-span's big idea is more relevant today than ever. no government money supports c-span. it's nonpartisan coverage is funded. as a public service by your cabl