live tuesday on c-span, the u.s. house returns that's 2:00 p.m. eastern for general speeches. at 2:00 p.m., the house picks up child safety bills and agislative business and motion to instruct negotiators for talks with the senate on defense authorization. the u.s. senate returns at 10:00 a.m. eastern for more work on executive nominations. later, at 7:15 p.m., the national dress club hosts a spelling bee between the press and politicians. 10:00 a.m., a c-span forum on u.s.-hong kong relations. at 1:00 p.m., the house judiciary committee considers obstruction charges against the president for attempting influence on robert mueller's investigation. the committee has subpoenaed former trump campaign official

corey lewandowski and rick dearborn and former white house effort rob porter -- staffer rob porter. morning, robert costa is a political reporter and moderator of pbs's washington weekly. let's start with the news that happened over the weekend. -- been a loomings question over the 2020 campaign. how will the supreme court as an issue factor in to the campaign? trump,in 2016, president then candidate trump was able to use the issue of the judiciary as a motivating force for republican voters. he said you may not like me as a candidate, but if you want to make sure conservatives are on

the bench, you want me in the white house. democrats have yet to make a forceful case on top of all the other arguments they are having on health care and policy about the future of the court in these new issues about justice cavanaugh -- justice kavanaugh could bring issues about the supreme court into the fore. host: what do you think the state of play is right now? many who are running, where do they stand right now? guest: it is hard to see how president trump does not win the republican nomination. he has some rivals like mark and joeand bill weld walsh. a group of low-profile candidates to say the least who are trying to get traction in states like new hampshire. almost every poll shows

president trump with 80% approval among republicans. he is almost certainly going to be the nominee. on the democratic side, it is a real race. can vice president biden hold on to the polling lead he's has -- pulling lead he has held? senator warren is rising. she has strength across the on buildingampaign infrastructure in many key states. the field is so big. i don't like to predict anything. at this stage in the race, things happened in politics and you have candidates like senator harris, senator booker, mayor buttigieg who could get traction this fall but for now, you really see the centerleft of the party in some respects coalesce around vice president biden but not totally with him on all levels. the left energy in this democratic party is with senator

warren and senator sanders. senator sanders was the runner-up for the democrat nomination last time around and while senator warren has gained a lot of support on the left, sanders still has much support. host: we want our viewers to join us for this conversation. your church -- your take on campaign 2020. who is your candidate and why? what do you want these candidates to be talking about? . democrats, (202)-748-8000. republicans, (202)-748-8001. independents, (202)-748-8002. you can also text us at (202)-748-8003. robert costa here to take your questions and comments. about 538?500 -- one trump's cabinet write is slipping. 53.7% disapprove. approvals

rating is slipping. 53.7% disapprove. guest: we saw house democrats do trump campaign advisers are concerned about the suburbs. trendingvoters are toward the democrats in many areas of this country. when you look at that status, the approval rating, what it tols them is that they need turnout among the re-help -- republican base and they can't count on having general approval among rank and file suburban voters, need to make sure that new voters and core trump voters come out in 2020 and that is why the president is going to be in new mexico on monday night, having a rally, trying to get people on that sunbelt. how do they get those trump voters excited again?

part of it is rallies, part of .t is the focus on immigration dosaw the trump campaign well in places like new mexico, unusual states for republicans. he did expand the map for republicans in states like wisconsin. he did it by turning out voters who are more independent or populist and may not always participate. new mexico would be a reach, especially after 2018. this is part of the trump campaign strategy. how did they build this coalition? most campaigns when they see the race in wisconsin or ohio, it would focus entirely on the upper midwest but the trump campaign is really a national movement on the right to try and get all of these people who voted for president trump in the past to do so again. host: and the president will be holding a rally in rio rancho,

new mexico this evening, 9:00 p.m. eastern time. you can watch that by tuning into c-span or logging onto c-span.org or downloading the free c-span radio app. presidency -- the president sees his rating go down. based on my reporting he is trying to rally his own voters. host: make sure they show up. guest: the question about expanding comes on the decision he estimates on -- decision he has to make on gun control. he is going to make a choice about expanding his coalition, does he put political capital on gun control? he has a limited time before the campaign season heats up. is the new version of nafta going to pass? is the president going to put his whole political weight into doing gun control or not? host: what do his base voters

wanting to -- want him to be talking about? andtalked about expanding doing something on gun legislation and trade. has the president focused enough on those issues? guest: trade is his signature issue. the challenge for president trump is, is there going to be a trade deal with china? it continues to be stalled. , they are negotiating at some level, trying to have further talks but the talks have stalled and when you talk to the president's advisors, they want a china deal to be part of the signature accomplishments they offer voters in 2020, but he what -- that he alone was the person who could get a china deal but it has been complicated with the hong kong protests distracting the chinese government and president trump continues to try and put tariffs

on and pulls them back because he sees the talks could still happen. there is a political and economic cost because some farmers in the midwest don't want to have all of this uncertainty about whether there will be tariffs on soybeans or other agricultural products. this what does he have at point, what can he .2 and how does that message resonate with voters? guest: it depends on who he is trying to appeal to. getting out rank and file republican voters, he points to things they were doing the first two years, and that is the tax you had a pullback of health care provisions pushed by president obama and then you saw with mitch mcconnell, pushing through supreme court justice confirmations across the federal bench. since the divided government started after nancy pelosi took over the house and speaker, you are seeing more limited

accomplishments on the trump campaign part and the white house. it is much more about executive orders and he has not been able to get a comprehensive immigration legislation through that would fund his border wall. he has used executive power to try and get federal projects and money to show his base that he is taking some kind of action. that is a real point of frustration at this white house .nd they wanted to show more host:. -- host: let's get to our calls. matt in pennsylvania, democrat. caller: good morning. costa, like to ask mr. my candidate is kamala harris even though she is not getting any traction. i would like to ask him to comment on north carolina and how democrats again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, thank you. host: that caught -- guest: that

caller is not far from my home town in pennsylvania. i thought he would be asking about pennsylvania suburbs. host: we can talk about that too. guest: in north carolina, democrats have had a tough time. you sought republicans get in trouble with the districts were drawn and this time around they saw president trump come into the district with vice president pence. as i was saying earlier, really rallying republican trump voters. the suburban voters, speaker pelosi saw the turnout, the data. democrats feel pretty good about what happened in north carolina in the sense that suburban voters are trending away from president trump ahead of 2020 and that is a sign to them of a trend moving in their direction, but it wasn't enough. whole don't the take north carolina as an isolated case. they say it is part of some success they had in 2018 and

sometimes they have had some narrow misses and this was a narrow miss. especially in a race this close, especial election that had a lot of nationalization to it, you don't want to read too much into it. host: in new york, democrat caller. caller: we now have a supreme court that has 2.2 percent of its members with credible sexual misconduct as well as lying about it. when mitch mcconnell stole the seat from merrick garland and they pushed through kavanaugh, for me the democrats have no choice but to pack the court when they are back in power. despite robert's best intentions, the court has no could ability. it is part of a corrupt political party. i would just like to say that i have seen -- on this show twice in a very short time and i hate to be one of those callers that calls in and says c-span is

favoring one side over the other, but i have not seen the strong left side presented as well as you do the right. host: do you want to take her comments? guest: if you look at the news today with the new york times story, you already have a wave of democratic presidential candidates coming out with calls for impeaching justice kavanaugh . that seems to at this early stage on a monday morning be becoming a rallying cry for democratic presidential candidates. other candidates like president -- like vice president biden says there needs to be more investigation but this is an issue that is not going away and your reference to court packing, this was a suggestion, candidates in -- candidates like buttigieg have talked about expanding this -- expanding the supreme court and maybe having a rotation. this comes out of a frustration

that your comment underscores about -- not only on the left but also in the center about the dish -- about the judiciary in this country becoming too political. they would like to see it become less political, less politicized. that is an issue for voters to decide when they think about these proposals being floated. host: two kentucky, paul is watching, independent -- to kentucky, paul is watching, independent. caller: you just have the story about brett kavanaugh. mentioned the woman who was accusing him would not even talk about it. but he kept on courting the new york times and washington post which are nothing but democratic toadies. on.continually have them should change your name from

c-span to d-span. host: we will go to jeff in nebraska, republican. i don't know where this country is going to go. they allow people to go through -- the democrats want people to come to the border. we are not stupid. we know they want voters. they want them in california. california is ruined. i used to be stationed out there. that state is dead. it is so dead. there are parts of our country where it is just crazy what we are doing to it. press is told -- is totally against trump. host: let's take your point about immigration. are democrats talking about it and is there a concern within the party that they could lose moderate democrats, independents over this issue?

guest: two straight callers, i need more coffee. some policy questions out there. about the media, people are frustrated. the washington post is not part of the democratic party. it is not part of any party it is an independent news organization that pursues the truth. i would not want to work anywhere that did not do that. put that aside for a second. immigration,on of democrats collectively confronting a president who is so hardline, nationalistic on the immigration issue and that has been his electric issue politically on the right side of american politics. they also see themselves, seeing a lot of energy on the left because president trump has made immigration such a key issue that there is alarm is him on the left -- alarmism on the left and an eagerness to confront

president trump on this issue. should you decriminalize border crossings? should you even work with president trump on immigration or not? these are flashpoints in the democrat party because could there be a deal done on dr., the deferred action for childhood arrivals, the dreamer program that would also give president trump border money? there could be at some point but what when i am on capitol hill talking to lawmakers, they say president trump because of the way he approaches immigration, any kind of congressional deal is very hard to see in the coming year. without any deal appearing on the horizon, both sides are in their political trenches. on the left side of the democratic party, there is a real motive to protect immigrants. they see immigrants under fire from president trump and the language president trump uses about immigrants is incendiary

to say the least, often hostile. that has made democrats quite frustrated, very unhappy and that is what you see on the campaign trail. this desire to protect immigrants, those who are undocumented and those who are here illegally. host: we look into andrew in ohio, independent caller. caller: how are you doing mr. costa? guest: i am doing well, thank you. caller: i want to talk about this $15 minimum wage thing. it is truly absurd to me that the government can mandate a wage on a private business like that. what are your thoughts? guest: the federal minimum wage has been one of the main issues for senator sanders, senator warren and other democratic candidates. they believe in this time of economic unrest that the federal government needs to provide people with some kind of minimal wage that is higher and would give them some kind of substance -- sustenance and protection against the economic turbulence.

there are some new ideas that have appeared in the democratic debate. andrew yang is talking about universal basic income. giving people some kind of money to keep them going, what of the market is up or down. that is going to be -- whether the market is up or down. that is going to be beyond the cultural grievances. when i am on the ground, it is going to come down to issues like minimum wage, the economy, who is fighting for who, whether it is been a mom wage, deferment of debt, a tax cut, who is going to give what americans want as their economic interest? who is going to give the best argument to voters? in so many elections you talk about a thousand issues and it comes down to the economy. that is why the minimum wage is at the forefront of the democratic campaign right now. host: stuart in florida, republican caller. caller: good morning to both of

you. i have been listening to some of your callers. one question is that talk about the supreme court. and asthat the democrats toxic as the talk is, you are guilty, now prove your innocence. the sad part is, we can't go that way. here is a man who went through all of this senate stuff. he was found not guilty from them. the other thing with a minimum wage of $15 per hour, what is going to stop them saying well $15 isn't enough, you have to go $25 because when people make $15 an hour, cost of living goes up. rents becauseaise the cost of everything else. hard,brought up, you work you achieve. if you are not getting it, some

people go to college, go to trade school because trade school, people can go to trade school to make more than they could coming out of college and it costs less. as far as immigration goes, we are talking illegal immigrants, not immigrants who come to this country legally and go through the process because every republican wants legal immigration, not illegal immigration. i wish you guys would stop using and put theigrants cast over everyone. there is a definition between illegal and legal. guest: those are some points you made. i did not hear a question but -- host: the question comes to mind the sending to him and other callers, what issues are resonating with the democratic voters that you are talking to out there? the big debate in the

democratic party talking to these candidates is do they want someone they think is invest position to beat president trump or do they want to canada who's going to be a radical change or overhaul the political system? that is the thing whether you are senator warren or senator sanders or vice president biden, you're making a different case to the democratic voters. vice president biden's core argument is that he is seasoned, he has been with president obama for eight years. he has real depth with voters in places like south carolina, states that democrats see as real bellwethers for their primary process. is have senator warren who not that different politically from vice president biden on most issues. it's about the scope of change she is advocating. on health care, vice president biden is saying we want to tweak obamacare, the affordable care

act and we want to add a public option to it. that has become the moderate democratic position, and then you have medicare for all on the others of that democratic debate and that is an overhaul of the health care system. where does private insurance go? where does private insurance go? does it exist? how much does it cost? these have been some of the debate points in recent months. when i was in south carolina at a historically black church and i was in some other early voting states, you continue to hear democratic voters ruminating about these choices. it is not so much about the candidates themselves. this isn't a battle of personality, it is a battle of strategy for many voters. they want to get rid of president trump in the democratic party, but they are not sure about what it takes and other it is worth the risk in their eyes of putting someone who is more to the left.

is that too risky? is that putting president trump in a better position to be reelected? other democrats say they look at the polling numbers and they say he may lose regardless, so why not have a candidate who really reflects my liberal values? host: george in michigan, independent caller. question or comment? caller: both. i have to ask about the race from brian lamb. host: thanks. not yet. caller: one more aside. before my 90-year-old mother died a few years ago, she used to sit and watch and say how can sit for threey hours tricking all that coffee and never have to use the bathroom. is,to your gentlemen, why why are both parties so extreme

to the right and the left? data and we try to be practical. i can't be a democrat because i don't believe in abortion. i can't be a republican because i am a tree hugger. butlieve you can have guns who needs these ak-47s or whatever? public, unless you have a million dollar check, you can never talk to your representative one-on-one. guest: hopefully that is not the case. caller: in my case it has been for decades, but you get access to these people, both sides. , do you look in their eyes you ever think or can you ever's -- are you allowed to say, you are talking a bunch of trash?

just to be a politician. host: can you call them out? guest: i would not use your phrasing but you do confront them from time to time and you ask about the action, what is motivating that and why isn't anything happening and they andg up some similar points there is polarization in the country and there is polarization on capitol hill and on the campaign trail and part of it is the 24/7 nature of politics today and some of the older lawmakers have given me the insight that when they started in the 70's and 80's and they came to congress, they could have meetings that weren't chronicled on twitter. they could have meetings with their committees and they can have republicans and democrats had earmarks to their state or district. there was much more of a factory of deals and it was done without

a lot of scrutiny and sunlight. there was a cost to that. people became suspicious of government and wondered what really happened in these rooms. you had more accountability which is for the best in almost every respect but the older lawmakers often lament that as good as it is, to have more people aware of the process, politics is messy and you have to be able to scream at each other, to cut deals and float deals in an environment like congress without it being broadcast on cable, minute by minute. that's a change that some people who are older lament but at the same time, americans deserve to know what is going on. the press deserves to know what is going on. it is not an excuse for politicians. host: we will go to joe in alabama, republican. caller: i was calling about this kavanaugh thing. --m writing an article here

reading an article here that says the new york times has including update several friends that allege the victim not recall the reported sexual assault in question at all. the first time she refused to be interviewed and made note, -- made no comment about the episode and this was late sunday night. host: what is your point? deal abouting a big and impeach kavanaugh thing the new york times came out and revised it. host: referring to the question we asked our viewers earlier today. it became public debate after the new york times published an excerpt from the book. what you are referring to is fox

news has this update, new york times updates kavanaugh bombshell. alleged accuser does not recall in reference to this new accusation that was brought forth. we will go to rosetta in new york, democrat line. caller: good morning. because i am so tired of hearing about trump being reelected and all of this kind of stuff. first of all he should be in jail. second of all, all of these things that you talk about on the news and all of this about what he's done, he is guilty. of course he's guilty. the point i would like to hear is one of the going to do something about it? all of these things he has been doing since day one. all of this stuff cannot be legal. it can't be legal. my question is, what are they going to do to get him out of

office? the question when i talk to democratic voters, they asked winner house democrats going to take action on impeachment and you see house democrats struggling as they move forward slowly on impeachment. they are investigating across the board, the trump administration. , covertident's finances -- corruption within his cabinet, the president's conduct. a wide range of issues democrats are pursuing in the house. speaker pelosi is aware she won the house by winning over suburban voters who like the democrats message on health care and the economy. when you watch that most recent democratic debate, they were not asked once about impeachment. sameof them are on the page and believe president trump should be impeached or removed from office after further investigation or should at least be brought under more of a hotspot light but the impeachment issue is not exactly

the galvanizing issue right now for democrats because they believe they want to make a wholesale case against president trump and the republicans as they headed to 2020. in the wake of the mullah report and the russia issue being settled in the eyes of federal investigators, you have congress now saying, house democrats saying what else should we be looking at? russia is a key part of it but they are also looking at -- for example, i was on the road with vice president pence in iowa where he stayed at the president's golf club and you see democrats wondering, should the trump properties in the way the administration interacts with them be part of the impeachment case? you wonder why impeachment is not happening now, it is because democrats are recalibrating in the wake of the mueller report and they are thinking about if

they are really going to make an impeachment case, it has to be about more than russia and should encompass all the things you are probably concerned about including the trump properties take a look at house democrat activities. three committees opened an investigation into ukraine to assist president trump's reelection. regarding money spent at president trump's scotland golf resort. judiciary committee votes to formalize procedures for impeachment investigations. judiciary committee hearing on obstruction of justice is scheduled this week with rob porter and rick dearborn subpoenaed to testify. guest: that paints the whole picture. this is a multifaceted investigation from house democrats. the real tension among democrats is is it too much? should they vote on articles of

impeachment now or not? belief,pelosi has the when you talk to her lieutenants, that this is a process that has to play out. the committee needs to have full investigations and reports and it cannot be rushed because they want to be seen by the american people as a party that is moving forward in a judicious manner, not an apolitical way. host: a text from one of our viewers, greg in california, how much do you think millenials and independence will impact the 2020 election? guest: as a millennial myself, they have a significant influence. older voters are always the most reliable but the millenials in the democratic race are going to have an effect because they need to make a choice themselves. do they want a new generation of leadership if they are a democrat or not and you have people like mayor buttigieg and younger candidates like senator booker and harris who are saying

they are different than vice president biden and senator sanders and respectfully they say they are a younger generation. you millenials want to see that or not? not as closen is in age to senator booker and mayor buttigieg as she is to vice president biden and senator sanders, but she is trying to win -- is trying to win people over. thatare making a case their version of change would be most appealing to millennial voters. the question from millennial voters is often as much as a rally on social media and they get interested in different candidates. will they come out and vote? in iowa it is a caucus system. we saw in 2008 they were there with obama and we have

seen them be active before but when you look at a state like new hampshire, south carolina, it is the older voters who most democratic candidates are the target voter. clay in go to louisiana. republican. hi, clay. >> it is very apropos for this gentleman's last comment. when you speak of the millennials and the suburban voters, i am not only a senior, i am a super senior. when i look at the democratic person,es as a retired it is kind of looney tunes. if they wante changes they want incremental changes. they do not want radical changes. they speak about health care for all? i can tell you as a retired person i have medicaid and medi-cal. a lot of doctors will not accept medicare.

you have an increasingly difficult time getting a medical appointment. when they talk about medicare for all i think, will i ever be able to get an appointment? >> important points. >> on the democratic side when they speak of republicans like -- all oh, white men the leading candidates are in their 70's. and joe biden is a nice a guy, like a guy you might share a beer with, but he has never impressed me as being too bright. he is a nice guy. elizabeth warren comes across as the wicked witch of the west. the point about vice president biden, that is a personal slight, unnecessary. the point about senator warren, unnecessary. your points about aging in older populations are important

points. you think about, where is this country going? so many millennial voters and older voters say we have a baby boomer generation and the older generation will be around a longer time than many expected rid a few decades ago because of developments in health care, and the cost of keeping people eating, living, on medicine, on health care, is going to only grow in the eyes of republicans and democrats. in confronting this change of people living into their 90's will00s in years to come be a dominant issue in politics. that is why the health-care care debate is critical. you are raising concerns for your republican voters. other people look at medicare for all and say they want the security of medicare and health care coverage being there, but older voters say they want to make sure social security and their version is protected.

these are the debates. more than any kind of twitter war or personal shot that really matters, because this country has cost issues about long-term federal spending that are not going to go away and health care issues about coverage people care about. that is what politics seems to be moving towards, the debate about who will pay for it and how will we deal with an aging population. host: we will ask the viewers to react to the president saying the u.s. is locked and loaded in reaction to the attack on the saudi oil plants. what are you hearing on this? what are the next moves by the administration? mr. costa: there are a lot of different points to understand. facinghu and israel, reelection the president has been very supportive of netanyahu.

had a call with him in recent days to offer him real solidarity. the president has been pretty tight with saudi arabia despite murderedashoggi being by the saudi government. and the president was looking for a deal to meet with rouhani. now iranians are saying they will not meet with president trump. that was from iranian state media. a president who has so often had his eyes on china -- jared a peaces working on plan yet to be released to the public at a lot of issues at the present. i believe the president will meet with the leader of iran in washington. can: robert costa, you watch him on pbs, washington week. he is the moderator. thank you for your time. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

president trump is in rio rancho, new mexico for a campaign rally. the president is speaking to supporters at the santa ana center. live coverage on c-span. ♪

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gentlemen j -- ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the president of the united states, donald j. trump. [applause]