10:00 a.m. eastern for general speeches and at noon, the house takes up a resolution on the whistleblower complaint against the president. it would require the complaint to be reported to the appropriate committees and the whistleblower to be given protection. on c-span two, the senate votes on a resolution of disapproval against the president's emergency declaration for boardwalk funding. on c-span three, our live coverage from the united nations general assembly continues with a speech from the president of iran. at 10:00, the house judiciary committee looks at military and and theirpe weapons use in recent mass shootings in el paso and dayton. coming up, virginia congressman ben klein on speaker pelosi's announcement that the house will begin a former impeachment -- a formal impeachment inquiry on

president trump. vincent gonzalez, a member of the committee. [video clip] >> the actions of the trump presidency reveal dishonorable facts of the president's the oath of betrayal of his office and the integrity of our elections. the houses moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. ♪ speaker nancy pelosi on capitol hill yesterday setting up a constitutional showdown with president trump and starting the clock on a presidential impeachment vote that has only taken place two previous times in u.s. history. we are getting your reaction to it all on phone lines split by party. democrats, it is 202-748-8000.

republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. you can also send us a text message. if you do, please include your name and where you are from. that number, 202-748-8003. catch up with us on social media. on twitter it is @cspanwj. on facebook it is facebook.com/cspan. a very good wednesday morning, you can start calling now. if you thought yesterday was a fast-paced newsday, get ready for more of the same. here is what is on tap. the house floor starting at noon. house democrats will look to move a resolution calling on the national director of intelligence to send the full whistleblower complaint about the president's phone call from july 2 the new ukrainian president to intelligence committees. we are expecting the release of the full unredacted transcript of that july phone call in new

york today at the united nations a 2:30, we are expecting bilateral conference between president trump and the ukrainian president. that taking place at two: 30 ahead of 4:00 p.m. where president trump will hold a full breasts briefing. what the president will say to the press, we don't know. this is what the president had to say yesterday about the impeachment inquiry. [video clip] >> i think it is ridiculous. it is a witchhunt. i am leading in the polls. they have no way how to stop me. the only way they can is impeachment. there has never been a thing this before. when you see the readout of the call, which i assume you will see at some point, you will understand. that call was perfect. it could not have been nicer. even the ukrainian president put out a statement. there was pressure put on with

respect to joe biden. what joe biden did for his son, that is something they should be looking at. [indiscernible] important, very important, i want other companies to put up funding. i think it is unfair we put up the money. people called me and said let it go. very important leak, germany, other countries should put up money and that has been my complaint from the beginning. host: that was president trump in new york attending meetings at the united nations general assembly. on capitol hill, inside the beltway, here is how some of the headlines are playing in national papers. from usa today, pelosi, no one is above the law. pelosi opens the door on impeachment.

from the wall street journal today, the impeachment inquiry begins. nancy pelosi directing 6 house committees to continue their probes under the umbrella of an impeachment inquiry. the story noting their chosen -- each of the three previous times the house launched impeachment proceedings against the president. we want to get to your phone calls. getting your reaction to a busy day of news. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. of laurel,rst out maryland, a democrat. caller: good morning. i believe if the president violated the national interest and put them at

risk in terms of what he has done, i think an impeachment inquiry should be done. in reference to him saying europeans have not assisted in they put in just as much as we host: do. host:how do you think this all ends? the impeachment inquiry, the expected floor vote on articles of impeachment. how do you think it ends? caller: i don't think it will end very well. i think we will have people defending, providing this information and a lot of people are going to ignore it. host: republican out of pennsylvania, good morning. caller: good morning. i remember 20 years ago watching all of this and i was not for it then. i did not vote for president

whaton, but i was not sure went down. it was a big waste of time, that is what it turned out to be and since the day after president trump got elected, i have seen elected members of congress that are senior members saying he needs impeached. we are going to start impeaching him. when you cry wolf for three years and the one paper you lifted up, it was a perfect timing, you were showing headlines. here is the headline, trump might be guilty. all of those words were never allowed in journalism. right next to it was a big headline, china reneges on fentanyl crackdown. that is killing thousands of americans. no one is getting pills from doctors, it is all street dope and that is a serious issue.

instead, we are going to waste 12 months. you know as well as i do, this is not going to be three or four months. anybody that has serious issues, you really need to call your congressman and say you need to look at the rest of the headlines in the newspaper. host: we will let viewers see those headlines. that was the washington times. there is the lead story on nancy pelosi opening the door to impeachment. next to it, chinese renege on fentanyl crackdown. pledge tourges after trump is the headline there. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, james. caller: when are we going to wake up and smell the roses? sometimes we can't see the forest through the trees.

we never thought there would be hitler or like mussolini. quit worrying about your menial jobs and people having to work two or three jobs. seele had best wake up and exactly what is going on. all you have to look -- do is look to see what is going on. for the life of me, i cannot understand why the people cannot see this thing. for me to see he done this and that, all you have to do is look. host: nancy pelosi has several committees looking into the president and specifically this issue of this phone call with the president of ukraine in july. here is more from nancy pelosi yesterday talking to camera about what led to this impeachment inquiry. [video clip] >> on thursday, the inspector

general testified before the house intelligence committee stating that the acting director of national intelligence blocked him from disclosing the whistleblower complaint. this is a violation of law. the law is unequivocal. it says the director of national intelligence shall provide congress the full whistleblower complaint. for more than 25 years, i have served on the intelligence committee as the ranking member as part of the gang of 4 even before i was in leadership. i was there when we created the office of the director of national intelligence. that did not exist before 2004. i was there in the 90's when we wrote the whistleblower laws and continue to write them to improve them and ensure the integrity of our intelligence and safety of whistleblowers.

i know what their purpose was and we proceeded with balance and caution as we wrote the laws . i can say with authority the trump administration's actions undermine both our national security and our intelligence and protections of whistleblowers. this thursday, the acting dni will appear before the house intelligence committee. at that time, we must -- he must turn over the full complaint to the committee. he will choose to break the law or honor his responsibility to the constitution. host: that was nancy pelosi yesterday. president trump on twitter and the trump administration confirming they will release an unredacted version of the transcript of the phone call with the president from ukraine. that expected to come sometime today. you heard nancy pelosi talk about the hearing with the acting director of national

intelligence taking place today and we are hearing reporting from politico and other outlets that the trump administration is planning to release the whistleblower complaint later this week after some redactions for intelligence issues, but they are planning to release that whistleblower report, that is the latest on that. we may see that by the end of the week. here is the latest from the president. i am currently at the united nations representing our country, but authorized the release of the fully complete unclassified version of the conversation. he said you will see it was friendly and appropriate, no pressure and unlike joe biden and his son, no quid pro quo. this is nothing more than a continuation of the greatest and most destructive witchhunt of all time. we are looking to see when he

starts tweeting this morning. we will bring you any further comments the president makes on twitter and that press conference he is holding today will take place at 4:00 p.m. stick with us today as well for live coverage of the house in which there will be a house vote today on a resolution on the floor about the whistleblower complaint and getting that to the intelligence committees and tomorrow we are covering the select intelligence committee hearing with the director of national intelligence at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow and we will be showing on c-span 3, c-span.org, and you can watch on the radio app. a lot of moving parts. give us a call, we want to hear your comments on everything that has happened over the past 24 hours and what we are expecting the coming days and weeks. jim in new york, a republican.

go ahead. caller: all i can say is here we go again. the democrats started a soft to with the intelligence agency starting to undercut the president. the aig said the guy who was a whistleblower was a biased source. it is clearly the intelligence agency trying to stir up trouble and before we even get one word of the transcripts of the thing everybody is dumping at impeachment. can't they wait one day to hear what is going on? the call and the transcripts before they start throwing out this impeachment thing. the other thing is how come nobody is talking about biden? he should get equal time for threatening ukraine $1 billion -- took tons of money

-- that is something clearly proven. he talked about it, yet you want to spend time talking about trump, we don't even have the transcripts of the call yet. i don't even understand -- on one side you have a proven thing , but you are spending more time on the might thing. host: we will spend some time on what you said at the beginning of your statement, some of that reporting about the accusation from president trump. lateficial told fox news last night the administration will release that document showing the intelligence community inspector general found the whistleblower who leveled that accusation had political biased. the official did not identify the name of the rival and a senior administration official told fox news the white house has been working as quickly as it can to release that whistleblower complaint, as we

already talked about. that reporting from fox news yesterday. shirley is next out of ohio, a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you so much for c-span. i would not know a lot without c-span. this has been a long time coming. i feel like president trump has pushed everyone's hand for the last 2.5 years. it don't forget, he told a story in church about the snake and he keeps telling that same story. if a snake tells you he will bite you, he will bite you. this has been going on for so long and this man has told the truth all along. andn do whatever i want to no one is going to hold me accountable because he has republican protection and i have

a lot of respect for a lot of republican senators. i always thought they would be the upstanding men and women they are supposed to be. do these people realize after donald trump is gone, they still have a life, they have a reputation. they have family, friends, what are they going to do after this man is gone away from the white house? he is not a dictator and he cannot stay in there forever. host: the caller before you brought up a question. he said why not wait until after the transcript of that phone conversation comes out? why not wait until after the whistleblower complaint comes out before moving to an impeachment inquiry? hand.: they forced the if nancy pelosi did not announce

what she did, he was not going to release that transcript. if you be bad, you will not get a cookie. i pushed her hand to the limit where i think i can do what i want to do and i see my mom is serious and i straighten myself up. this is what this man does and i do not believe there will be an unredacted statement from the whistleblower because bill barr is in there and giuliani, they are going to go over that statement and take out what they want to. this is going to go on for a long time before congress, the senators, anybody ever sees the real statement from this whistleblower. host: the attorneys for that whistleblower put out a couple statements yesterday, want to show them to you, the first having to do with the reporting about the whistleblower complaint eventually being released saying they applaud that decision to release the

whistleblower complaint as it establishes ultimately the lawful whistleblower disclosure process can work and they also put out a statement earlier in the day talking about efforts to try to get the whistleblower to actually meet with members of the congressional intelligence committees in order to ensure maximum legal protections for our clients, we can confirm press reports we wrote to the acting director of national intelligence to request guidance as to the specific security practices to permit a meeting if needed with the members of the intelligence oversight committees and it was adam schiff, the chairman of the house intelligence committee who expressed interest in trying to get that whistleblower in and trying to make that happen perhaps within the coming days. a lot of moving parts, we are trying to keep you on top of all of them and we want to hear your thoughts as we do. duke in maine, you are next. caller: hi, c-span.

thank you for having me. it is about time nancy pelosi did this inquiry on the impeachment thing. i agree with the lady from ohio. she said pretty much what i would say. it needs to be done, he has gotten away with so much and there is, for this conversation he had there on the phone with that president from the ukraine, he says it is unredacted. how in the world could you really believe it is unredacted? when they get into it, i think they will find stuff that has omitted and iand think you are going to find a lot more stuff going on. he has covered up so much, i don't believe a word he says. he lies and i can tell you one thing, when i lay down at night and put my head on the pillow, i can sleep soundly knowing i never voted to put him in the

white house. host: the new york times digging into who has access to the president's phone calls with foreign leaders and how transcripts are developed. while president trump is on one of these calls with a foreign leader, his national security advisor is typically in the room or listening from the west wing headypically joined by the of that state's regions and creates rough transcripts immediately after the conclusion. the secretary of state can listen and if he requests. vice president mike pence will frequently join president trump on a call often at the request of president trump. rough transcripts of the calls, there is no recordings from which they are based and they can vary in their level of detail. they were at the beginning of the trump administration, widely shared documents that could be

shared by the chief of staff and people working in the region at the state department or the proppant of defense, but that changed after the full transcripts of mr. trump's conversations with the president of mexico and prime minister of australia were leaked in 2017. the trump administration took what one official called extreme steps to limit who can listen in. the leaks fed the fear the deep state embedded in the government was seeking to undermine him from within. that from the new york times today. morris is next, republican. good morning. caller: hi, john. the answer to the question as to why the democrats don't want to wait until after the transcript or whatever is going to be released today is released is because they are stupid. in addition to being stupid, they are so out of their minds, they can almost taste

impeachment. anyway, that is beside the point i wanted to make. nancy pelosi did say no one is above the law. how do you define hillary clinton and her many violations of the law she was never held accountable for? i think it is going to be egg in the face of the democrats once again. i don't know what they will try next, but they know democrats are not going to win the white elizabethuse if warren is the nominee, her plans are so extensive that our country and five other countries with the highest gdp is around the world would not be able to .fford what she wants to do senator warren, i am rooting for her to be the nominee. whoever the nominee is, donald trump is going to stomp them in 2020. i cannot wait until that happens. i think he is the best president

we have ever had and what happens later today, it will be one more notch in his belt that some but -- nobody can seem to touch him because he does not break the law. host: elizabeth warren one of many presidential candidates on the democratic side in that top tier with joe biden. joe biden the subject reportedly of at least several references in that phone call between president trump and the new president of the ukraine in july. joe biden making comments yesterday as well in light of the impeachment inquiry. [video clip] >> i can take the political attacks. they will come and go and in time, they will soon be forgotten. if we allow a president to get away with shredding the united states constitution, that will last forever. too many people. too many good, decent people

have taken and of to this nation and given their lives over 243 years to let that happen. too many people are serving this nation right now and honoring the oath they have taken to let that happen. this isn't a democratic issue or republican issue, it is a national issue and a security issue. it is time for this administration to stop stonewalling and provide congress with all the facts it needs, including a copy of the formal complaint made by the whistleblower and it is time for congress to fully investigate the conduct of this president. the president should stop stonewalling this investigation and all other investigations into his alleged wrong going. using his full constitutional authority, congress should demand of the information it has a legal right to receive. the president does not comply

with such a request to congress. he continues to obstruct congress and flout the law. donald trump will leave congress no choice with initiating impeachment. that would be a tragedy, but a tragedy of his own making. host: former vice president joe biden yesterday. taking your calls, getting your reaction to it all. dave, in florida. connecticut --democrat. good morning. caller: in a high public office, if nothing else, the bottom line is character counts, especially for a president. it is such a highly complex job that the colossal and confounding and byzantine responsibilities of the office absolutely require an essential sense of simple right and wrong. sometimes it can be the only determining factor behind the decision making process.

let's forget about the character of the current occupant of the white house, he will be gone someday. even if he somehow manages to eliminate republican primaries and even a future presidential election, which, make no mistake, he and his henchmen and fixers are already trying to do. rudolph giuliani has been conducting his shadow foreign policy political bribery operation behind closed doors. anyone paying attention knows he will eagerly do whatever he thinks he can get away with no matter how corrupt or treasonous. the troubling factor is the character of someone so lacking in any basic sense of right or wrong that they will step into a voting booth and pull the lever for a liar, sociopath, kana artist, fraud, and dental case who is so unfit he is a character -- caricature of

himself. what about the character of someone who will hand america over to that? manipulate ane election with the help of the kremlin, for three years, he has been stealing credit for the economy and stock market, which have been in an upward trend for the past decade. he picked up the ball on the 98 yard line and claimed credit for the game. he lies every time he opens his mouth, like the lies he told at the u.n. yesterday about europe not contributive to the defense of the ukraine. it is not because he has to lie, he likes to live. host: do you plan on watching the president today in his press conference? caller: i will watch it because it is a historic event. even though he will lie like a rug, he has told over 12,000 proven lies since he took office. host: cheryl next out of california.

republican, go ahead. caller: hi, there. , there. i love c-span. listening to all of your callers, i want to bring one thing up because they want to impeach our president and it is very timely, ic see. all the people running on the democratic side, those people kavanaugh that when -- had him on the hot seat and all of those people that stood all, theymatized it are running for president. i know everybody knows that. the democrats, but they will probably say no. they will somehow find a way to get out of that one. i will say this about impeachment.

remembernt, the one i is bill clinton in the oval office and when they deposed him, everything he said, i can't remember, but i remember this. they asked him a question that "is" in it and he goes "it depends on what is 'is .'" let's look at nancy pelosi's background, i am sure there are skeletons in her closet. let's go after them and see what we can find because i know we can find a lot. host: that is cheryl in california. a few text messages from folks as we have been having this conversation.

maggie saying she could not be happier about the beginning of the impeachment inquiry. george from chesapeake beach saying i find it sad no one is surprised a leader like nancy pelosi can be manipulated by extremist and her party. how credible can the house process be when the evidence has not been seen and the opposition is screaming again off with its head. the democrat party closing ranks to protect former vice president biden and former vice -- former president obama. decisions that may have violated the constitution and the security -- sovereignty -- security of our sovereign nation. those are a few of the texts we have gotten. you can keep sending texts and calling in as well. we will be talking about this topic all morning long including congressman ben cline, republican of virginia.

a member of the house judiciary committee and later today, we will be joined by vincente gonzales of the house foreign affairs committee. we will be right back. ♪ announcer: this weekend on american history tv saturday at 2:00 p.m. eastern, historians talk about the lessons learned from the reconstruction period after the civil war. washe concept of whiteness a barrier of inclusion when states said only white men can vote. whiteness was used to exclude others. in the civil rights act, whiteness becomes a baseline. if white people enjoy certain rights, everybody else has to enjoy those rights also. announcer: at 8:00, our lectures in history.

deindustrialization of the .nited states sunday at 2:00 p.m., the psychological impact of flying on world war i pilots. at 7:00, women in the apollo program and challenges they faced. >> there were cameras all over the place. it.d not say anything about we did not even know the term sexual harassment or hostile work force and there are two different ways to think about that. one is it is a little voyeuristic on the part of the dudes watching you and it is sort of harassing and uncomfortable. the other way to think of it is let them look and let them all know. let everybody who is not in this room know that there is a woman here, i am here, get used to it. announcer: explore our nation's past on american history tv every weekend on c-span 3.

" continued --er "> "washington journal continues. host: your thoughts this morning after nancy pelosi's statement yesterday. guest: essentially the follow-up to star wars was the empire strikes back and the follow-up to the mueller report is the swamp strikes back. what we have today is more of the same where this embarrassing show that has been in the judiciary committee for several months now has a new supporter and that is nancy pelosi. she is supporting what is going on, she is on board. people pulling her strings are actually the squad, the four liberal members of the house and there caucus. she is getting on board with liberal members to push impeachment and you will see a new round in judiciary hearings

grown tired of because we have very important issues facing our country, our -- a border to secure, immigration reform to pass, a lot of bills piling up because we are chasing ghosts in the form of the mueller report. host: we found out yesterday nancy pelosi directing the 6 house committees already investigating president trump to continue their probes under the umbrella of an impeachment inquiry. what does that mean? what does that change? guest: it changes nothing. you are going to get evidence forwarded to judiciary, but the house has not passed the resolution of impeachment yet. we have to authorize as a full body an impeachment process. that is what happened under clinton. that is what happened under nixon. the house has tried. congressman greene put up a

special resolution earlier this year to pursue impeachment. it failed. they know the house cannot pass impeachment. they need to find a way to do impeachment without actually having a vote on impeachment. host: you don't think democrats could get a majority to proceed if that was the specific vote on the floor? guest: no, they tried already. they are trying to find evidence to bring over more of their majority to vote. that is why you have this new story about an unverified whistleblower account, based on hearsay. the transcript of a call which hasn't been released yet. it is very disturbing to see the speaker get on board and impeachment process based on such flimsy evidence. i am alloy her, i wait to see the evidence. i waited to read the mueller

report before i made decisions on that. i am going to wait to see what is in this whistleblower account before i make conclusions on that as well. vote you say they try to on impeachment and could not do it before. that was before this ukraine story. 30 lawmakers announced their vote for impeachment, many of them called front liners in vulnerable districts, freshman members, including some of your colleagues in the commonwealth. guest: i am surprised at that because my colleagues are serious people, some of whom have backgrounds in the intelligence community and for them to jump aboard impeachment hearsay is not very responsible, in my view. host: robert up first out of kentucky, independent. you are on with congressman ben cline of virginia.

am an independent and i have been observing donald trump's actions since he has been in office and i don't understand how the gop, who claim to be so in-line, sit down and watch this man conduct himself in such an irresponsible, gross, and the manner. i don't know any human being that has never sinned. according to him, he is that one. we cannot have any faith this transcript will be released because bill barr is donald trump's personal attorney. the gop are so afraid of their , they willareers follow donald trump. guest: i came up here to

represent my condition -- constituents in the 6th district of virginia and on the judiciary committee, i represent their views. i am an attorney by trade, so i will wait to see the evidence, but this president has done a great job keeping the economy churning in the right direction, adopted a lot of pro-life, pro- constitution policies i support that my constituents support. i think that he has done a good job, his attorney general is a solid, upstanding individual who has done a good job and we will continue to see where the evidence leads, but i continue to support our president. host: some reports the white house will be releasing by the end of the week. is there anything that could

persuade you? guest: i don't operate on hypotheticals, but similar to what was in the mueller report, everyone was breathless about what was going to be in the mueller report and when it came out that there was no collusion and no recommended charges of obstruction, that ultimately it ended up being a flop and when mr. mueller came in to testify, he did not even know what fusion gps was. it became clear someone else had written the mueller report, had done a lot of the heavy lifting on the mueller report and i think we are seeing a lot of hype and spin right now and it is important to wait to see what the transcript will reveal. who this whistleblower was and what his report was. host: some of your republican colleagues called for an investigation into joe biden, his son, would you support that

investigation? guest: absolutely. in this town, there is a lot of talk about the biden's family exploits in eastern europe and the ukraine and i think there is no surprise there that that has been going on and i think a lot of people would be interested in finding out more. host: the president up and tweeting this morning. there has been no president in the history of our country who has been treated so badly as i have. democrats are frozen with hatred and fear. they get nothing done. this should never be allowed to happen to another president. which hunt -- which hunt -- witch hunt. guest: i missed -- caller: i missed out on the first segment, whomy concern is people prejudge ahead of time is not good.

people who change information which you may not know, like saying that problem we have -- the transcript. can they change certain things and then when the guy -- the whistleblower gets up, he says this here and the government says this here -- how can you match up the two with who is telling the truth? another thing is if they do impeach him. if they do impeach president, president pence would become president. he will get him off the hook, release all charges and everybody will have to follow suit. they would get rid of all their courts and everything, free them all. everybody will get away free. that way it won't go on the book

record what he done. host: your thoughts. guest: part of the caller's point was what is the end game? what is this all about? trump derangement syndrome is something we talk about, but there are a lot of people obsessed with removing this president. at the end of the day, is the house going to pass impeachment and impeach him and is the senate going to remove him? is it all just positioning for next year? i think it is too much politics thetoo little pursuing issues that are important to the american people. the american people care about the economy, they care about jobs, they care about securing the border and they want us to care about those things, too. that is what i have been fighting about here in the judiciary and labor committee. i will keep fighting for the

people in my district and not get bogged down in the political back and forth. host: what happens to the legislative agenda over the course of the next 14 months? guest: this wipes it all aside. it is ridiculous with so many important issues facing the country the speaker of the house decided based on a phone call she hasn't seen the transcript of, a whistleblower reported she has not read, she is going to jump on board impeachment and the ongoing ridiculous spectacle in the judiciary committee. inquiry.impeachment last week when we had corey lewandowski in, it was a spectacle then. you had eric swalwell, other members of the committee saying this is an impeachment inquiry. it has been going on and only recently -- pelosi jumping on yesterday. the news is not that there is one starting, it is that pelosi

is on board now. host: the house passed that continuing resolution last week to fund the government for another 6 weeks. the senate expected to vote on it later this week. any concern that gets derailed in the coming days amid this impeachment inquiry? guest: no. i think a lot of those conversations behind the scenes about ironing out differences in the funding have happened. i think that is probably likely to pass. i think it is too bloated, too alreadyt i think it is speeding its way to the president's desk and after that, we will continue to have policy discussions and committees. i would love to reauthorize the higher education act. i don't see bobby scott, chairman of the labor committee being able to move that bill in light of all this chaos loading up on the hill with impeachment.

the continuing resolution, the budget bloated right now? guest: we need to send more back to the states. we need to break this bubble that is bureaucracy and send more agencies out across the country as we are doing with bag department agencies sending to st. louis. only by doing that can we truly break through this bubble of beltway bureaucracy and return power to the states and the people. host: congressman ben cline with us for about 15 more minutes, taking your phone calls. this is larry out of north carolina. independent, good morning. caller: good morning. the way i see it, we don't really need the whistleblower's statement because the president and his lawyer, rudy giuliani, whatever, both of them admitted getting trying to get dirt on joe biden from the ukraine president. it did they not learn nothing

from the russia probe? the mueller report? this is the same thing. host: ben cline. guest: the caller is right, there have been public statements out there, and i think it is important to listen to what the president has to say. he is meeting with the ukrainian president today at the u.n.. these meetings and conversations continue to go on, but what was the point is that the story did not begin with president trump and the ukrainian president having a conversation. it began with joe biden, when he was vice president, when his son was being paid $50,000 a month companynian oil and gas for what, we don't know yet. those questions need to be answered as well. i think it is important to look

back -- just as it is important to look back before russia to what was going on with the clinton campaign, the dnc, fusion gps, the steele dossier, all of those investigations. the conversation did not just start with trump in russia. it was going on before that. host: several callers have pointed to the former vice president's statements from last year before the council on foreign relations. i want to play that for viewers and come back and get your thoughts. [video clip] >> i remember going over, convincing our team to convince the united nations we should be providing for loan guarantees. i went over the 12th, 13th time tokiev and i was supposed announce there was another billion-dollar loan guarantee. that gotten a commitment

they would take action against the state prosecutor and they did not. notid, i am not -- we are going to give you the billion dollars. they said, you are not the president. i said, call him. you are not getting a billion dollars. i will be leaving here. i think it was 6 hours. if the prosecutor is not fired, you are not getting the money. son of a bitch. he got fired and they put someone in place who was solid at the time. host: congressman ben cline. atst: that quote jumps out you. if the prosecutor is not fired, you are not getting the money. that is remarkable. the fact that we have not been looking into that is an abrogation of duty on the part of speaker pelosi. the swamp is deep and it runs -- it is old. for biden to be making comments

like that, it does not surprise me. i think we need to be looking far back into the past about what has been going on. host: eastpointe, michigan, sandra is a democrat. good morning. caller: joe biden wanted that guy fired because instead of finding corruption, he was taking money not to find corruption. i will tell you what, i am still angry at donald trump for two years ago when he went to court for his fake college that he ran . five years he stole $75 million away from people. he gave a $25 million fine and still walked away with $50 million. if any other president would have done that, he would have been impeached right then and there. what do you think of that? guest: i don't know much about the college issue, but i do know what we are doing right now in judiciary is just a bunch of

drama pulling up talking heads from news stations to testify on what they think might be in the mueller report. i am sure now we will have a transcript of a call that -- and a whistleblower report. apparently the whistleblower was not present for the call, for what i have read. we will have to see what the whistleblower report says and what is in that. the judiciary committee will continue to operate. there are professionals in the committee, attorneys who recognize that we have been down the road of impeachment before waythis is not the proper -- we do not have support for impeachment. the only way -- place you have it is on the highly partisan judiciary committee majority. they are going to try and cobble this together anyway they can.

we will continue to point out what they are doing is just a we willarce, and continue to point that out if the judiciary committee continues to pursue this process. host: you talked about what you read about the was a blower and that phone call. do members have any more access than press reports or are you referring to press reports? what: no, in fact, that is is being talked about right now. because the president is not in the chain of command in the intelligence system, he is not subject to whistleblower act and therefore does not have to turn over the account to congress. congress is saying they deserve to get a copy of the whistleblower report and i tend to agree congress should see what is going on. they are demanding it and i think the white house is preparing to share that because

the senate voted yesterday by unanimous consent to ask the administration for the whistleblower report. host: don, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to talk about something about the inquiry. it is part of the circus. in the circus, there are two rings. in between the rings are what is called the conscience. host: what is the conscience, don? caller: the conscience is man's ability to know right from wrong. okay? host: go ahead and finish her statement and stop listening through your tv. talk through your phone. caller: can you hear me now? host: yes, sir. the conscience is somebody that everybody has from the beginning from the time they were born.

it is the ability to know right from wrong, that is the definition of the conscience and the problem is one side is going by their conscience and one side isn't. i am got -- not going to mention either side, i just want to talk about common sense and the rule of law and the constitution. that, i think, is right. host: don in iowa. guest: ultimately, we have to govern based on what we think is best for this country, what is best for our constituents. we are raised with certain morals and yes, a conscience. i will continue to work for my constituents based on the lessons i learned growing up in the shenandoah valley, working hard as an attorney and prosecutor in harrisonburg and i will continue to try and represent my constituents the best i can. host: elizabeth, a democrat from

california. five minutes left with congressman ben cline. caller: congressman, there is another c-word called the constitution. the legislative branch of our government is a coequal branch with the president and the democrats, by launching impeachment, have, at least they had to do it because the president had already admitted he "robbed the bank." blatantly there saying he had tried to investigate a private, united states citizen, joe biden, for past acts. that is something that is illegal. holding out funds that congress , the president had

already admitted to illegal acts and i am so glad democrats did what they did because otherwise, trump would have just thumbed his nose at all law. he has done it already. he is self-dealing. his cabinet, talk about corruption, it is full of swamp creatures and conflicts of interest. i wanted to comment on the president's speech yesterday at the u.n. it was pitiful. he looked like he was asleep. the most horrible thing he did was here is a world body dedicated to nations getting together and acting in the best interest of the planet to move forward as one body and he gives a speech about every country for themselves is the way to go and then he turns around and insults

a young woman who is trying to alert the world to the dangers of climate change. he is so unpresidential. host: any thoughts on the president at the u.n. yesterday? guest: i did not see the speech, but the president looks out for the people of the united states and all too often, the u.n. is at odds with the goals of the united states. for him to stand up rather than take the side of the global agenda is to take the side of the united states, more power to him. i am glad he spoke truth to power and i look forward to him continuing to do that. host: one global issue he talked -- your thoughts on that. host: absolutely, all over the world you see religious freedom

being quashed by oppressive, authoritarian governments. i was in israel last month and you saw essentially the jewish people under attack from their neighbors. has below --ng zbollah. we need to be that shining beacon of hope and liberty for people across the globe when it comes to our constitutional freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion and i will continue to fight to defend that constitution every single day. int: charles is a republican tennessee. caller: i wanted to voice my opinion about the animosity

between democrats and republicans. it is a shame we have our government -- we cannot get along. taking it out of schools -- growing up, if we all could just get along and do things for each other and our country, it is just these people talking about he said, she said, all these bad words coming from republicans and democrats. i am shamed to come home and afraid to turn on the tv because i will say something about trump or somebody in the government that has done something wrong. and getke a little bit along, that is what we need to do in this country. and our government,

it is the most powerful country in the world. we have to do what is right. it is a shame adults can lash out at each other during all these hearings. give congressman kline, you the final minute. guest: washington has gotten too big, too bureaucratic, it needs to be scaled back and there are those here who are protecting the swamp and trying to prevent those of us who want to give power back to the we are in a fight and those people realize their livelihoods are at stake, so they are fighting tooth and nail for the swamp. i will keep fighting. host: thank you, republican of virginia. we will keep taking your calls on what happened yesterday on

capitol hill and what is expected to happen today, another busy day with respect to this ukraine story. yesterday on capitol hill, this was the topic when it came to mitch mcconnell's weekly press conference. >> what we have here is an allegation related to ukrainian aid, by a whistleblower. that is all we know. the way to handle it in the senate at this point is the up to the is coming committee on thursday. the intelligence committee in the senate has a reputation of dealing with things in a responsible and bipartisan way, and that is where it all starts in the senate. address theseg to

various hypotheticals that have been aired out about what may or may not happen in the house. i think all of that is quite premature. what rationale did the administration give for holding up military aid to ukraine? was mentioned yesterday, i involved in advocating the aid. talk to the secretary of defense twice, the secretary of state wants. the good news is, it finally happened. i have no idea what precipitated the delay, but i was among those advocating we needed to stick with our ukrainian friends. i was not given an explanation. fortunately, it has happened and i am happy about that. the previous administration continued to pull back from

ukraine and this administration has done a better job of standing behind the you grew ukrainian's. -- behind the ukrainian. appropriate for any candidate to reach out to a foreign leader asking for help digging up dirt on political rivals? >> we will find out what happened in the senate through a process, preestablished by the intelligence committee, behind closed doors initially with the acting director of dni. that is the responsible, rather a political and bipartisan way -- apolitical and bipartisan way to proceed. host: it is just after 8:00 a.m. on the east coast, spending our morning talking about the impeachment inquiries announced yesterday by nancy pelosi. another busy day on this topic.

it starts at noon on the house floor. democrats calling on the acting director -- republicans calling on the acting director to send the white house -- whistleblower -- we are looking for an unredacted version of the transcript of the phone call. ,he president in new york today expected to meet with the ukrainian president at 2:30 p.m. in a bilateral meeting. then, the white house announcing the president will hold a formal press briefing at 4:00 p.m. we are covering that on c-span3. we will cover all the action on the house floor on c-span, on the senate on c-span two. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001.

independents, (202) 748-8002. kevin in fort lauderdale, florida, an independent. caller: thank you for having me. i am sorry the congressman is not on because i wanted to hear his answer. i have been an independent since probably 1990. i am an educator and ordained minister. i would like to see nancy pelosi step down after doing this, not because she is bringing up impeachment charges, but because on how late she is doing it. not because i side with democrats. it is because of the process. the congressman turned around and said there was no support, the public support is not there for impeachment. there was no support for impeachment on president nixon. that is not the point.

impeachment is not about whether or not there is public support, it is whether there is evidence to proceed. we talk about possible obstruction because of the democrats using the word "collusion" which does not make a difference. when talking about trying to find out if a president consciously collaborated with a foreign power to win, manipulate, or otherwise a presidential election or any election in the united states, and there is evidence to support such accusations of obstruction, how would that report have turned out had there been no obstruction? how much of that possible obstruction could have hidden deeper facts? we are living in an age now where the congressman came on and said he has been a former lawyer, and i will say because i

have family who are prosecutors, defenders, and judges, they will say the same thing -- a prosecutor and offender, their job is to win the argument, spin. that is what i'm hearing from the congressman and the same from what i would hear from a democratic attorney. i want to know what is going on. this is the highest office in the united states. this is about defending our constitution and the people and the responsibility of the senate. host: will we have a better idea about what is going on by the end of this week? we are waiting for the unredacted transcript of the phone call to come today, and the white house, according to the reporting, preparing to release the whistleblower complaint possibly by the end of this week. caller: i would like to think so, but again, we are talking

about both sides working, one side adamantly opposed to any information getting out while the other side wants everything to get out and try to draw fire -- ire against the president. there is more than enough evidence and solidarity to proceed with an impeachment process to investigate all last sex -- aspects of the mueller report and collaboration with foreign powers that violate the oath of office, the position, and the constitution. host: on the release of the whistleblower complaint, "the wall street journal" noting that according to a person familiar with the matter, the complaint must first be declassified before it can be released. the white house preparing to do that and turn it over to

congress by the end of the week. we will see what happens. --orrow, we are looking for the director of national mcguire,nce, joseph will testify on capitol hill before the house intelligence committee. c-span3be carrying that at 9:00 a.m. the story we are just looking at, focusing on him getting ready to face the glare on capitol hill. backgroundnoting his as a navy seal, 36 as a navy seal, eventually commanding the naval special warfare command and became the acting director of national intelligence, not the first pick, but the president was forced to pull his nomination of john ratcliffe

after concerned that he would politicize it. maguirep settled on mr. who is viewed as a principled patriot. the director of national intelligence putting out is sent -- statement yesterday about the handling of the whistleblower complaint, from the dni. of website. -- dni.gov website. responsibilityy to obey the law. the men and women of the intelligence community have a what is right,do look includes -- i.e. forward to continuing to work with the administration and congress regarding a resolution on this matter. dorothy is in dover,

arkansas, a republican. and i: i am a republican believe that the democrats are clinton because hillary didn't get to be president. i am so sorry they are doing this to trump. he is one of the best presidents we have ever had. can't tell him what to do and that is what is making him mad. the democrats have done so many dirty things. i was a democrat and i turned republican because they have done so many dirty things, and bill clinton started it all. i hate that worse than anyone in the world that he has done all that to the united states. host: when did you make that change, and what was the tipping point? caller: i went to take my father

in law to vote and he could not read and write. i was going to read it to him and market off what he said -- said,t off and what he and they said i could not do it and i knew i could. i called the courthouse to tell them. i called the republican and all the people i could to tell them what they done. they done wrong. host: what year was that? ,aller: it has been years ago because my father-in-law has been gone 10 years. it is just bad that the democrats try to tell you what to do. that is wrong. int: this is danette hinesville, georgia. caller: i just wanted to remind everybody that the threshold for

impeachment is not a crime. it is something like what happened nixon, abuse of power. that says the opinion a president cannot be indicted, we are not looking at whether he is going to jail. we are looking at whether he is fit for office, and him using his power as president to uphold funds that were already appropriated and deemed necessary by congress to forward his political agenda, or an order to win an election so he could get dirt on his opponent, which sounds really familiar and was part of the whole thing going on with mueller, this is a pattern. he is not allowing oversight of any of the agencies. he is refusing to have people testify. this is a bigger issue than just this one thing. i agree with the independent caller that nancy pelosi has

dragged her feet on this. the republicans would not have allowed this. they held eric holder in contempt for not providing documents and now they are up in arms and it is the same thing, except it is the president doing this. he is not representing us and he is not doing his job. he has violated his oath of office and that is what this is about. it is not about, we need evidence to impeach. congress can decide whatever they want about impeachment and it does not have to be the threshold of a crime with evidence. that is the difference between the mueller report and an impeachment process. i wanted people to be aware of all,because there is democrats will have egg on their face when there is no evidence. we cannot trust the president. he could change the transcript so the democrats look bad that

is not the point. he is doing something that goes against our country in forwarding his own political ambition and that is an impeachable offense. host: george in woodbridge, virginia, independent. caller: i just want to say that nancy pelosi is not like other people think. trump already said it, that he was trying to get some dirt for biden's son. we don't need any conversation script or anything or any other proof. that is why nancy pelosi did that. i am independent. people, please, go ahead and read news from the right wing or left wing, but just read.

sometimes people create all these ideas. as anthe congressman invited guest, he knows that. he knows the evidence is there and that is why nancy pelosi jumped the gun and said, this is impeachable. there is no abuse of power. he wanted to get some dirt from to get some dirt from biden. all i have to say is that, let's just not be party like. let's look out for our country. host: plenty of speeches on capitol hill, plenty of comments to the press. one of those speeches you might've heard about was by congressman john lewis, democrat of georgia. here is when he went to the floor of the house to talk about impeachment. >> every term, this administration -- turn, this

administration demonstrates disregard for the law and the constitution. they have lied under oath. they have refused to account for their action and appear before legislation bodies -- legislative bodies who have a constitutional right to inquire about their activities. the people have a right to inquire. they have a right to know. the people have a right to know whether they can put their faith and trust in the outcome of our election. they have a right to know whether the cornerstone of our democracy was undermined by people sitting in the white house today. they have a right to know whether a foreign power was asked to intervene in the 2020 election. they have the right to know whether the president is using his office to line his pockets. mr. speaker, the people of this nation relies if they had

committed even half of the possible violation, the pratt -- the federal government would be swift to seek justice. we cannot delay. we must not wait. now is the time to act. when weeen patient tried every other path and never find the truth. we will never find the truth unless we use the power given to the house of representatives -- to protect and preserve the integrity of our nation. i believe, i truly believe the time to begin impeachment proceedings against this president has come.

woulday or do otherwise betray the foundation of our democracy. lewis,ongressman john one of the key players who was around and in congress during the last impeachment proceedings that took place in the house and senate, when it came to president clinton's impeachment. archivesg through the and found some comments from 1999lewis in october during those impeachment proceedings. speaker, we should be standing here debating the future of social security. we should be standing here debating health care. we should be standing here debating education of our children and how to protect the environment. instead, we are participating in a political charade.

republicans want to do what they could not do an election, defeat until clinton. i have news for you. the american people are watching. beware the wrath of the american people, mr. speaker, beware. host: john lewis from 1999. howard martin, a great follow -- morton,morton -- howard a great follow from c-span. 18, 1998,om december nancy pelosi on the floor of the house. >> the republican majority is not judging the president with fairness, but impeaching him with a vengeance. in the investigation of the --sident, fundamental americans hold dear have been seriously violated and why, --

why? we are here today because republicans in the house are paralyzed with hatred of president clinton, and until they free themselves of this hatred, our country will suffer. i rise to oppose these unfair motions which call for the removal of the president of the united states from office, and wish to point out some differences. host: one more from the c-span archives from january 2008, a little over 11 years ago, nancy pelosi talking about the impeachment proceedings against bill clinton and her thoughts from back in the late 1990's. >> they said an impeachment of the vice president or the president of the united states would be very divisive in our country. that is what i believed then. i said it during the campaign.

it should have come as no surprise when i became speaker, and i continue to quote my view. think if not mean to there is reason the president or vice president or anyone should be subjected to scrutiny that that would not happen i did not encourage the initiation of impeachment proceedings. even if you wanted to do so, the prospect for success is so minimal, but the damage is so consequential, that is the course i chose. you are right, i am criticized for it, not only in my caucus but across the country. and peopleh airports knew i was coming. [laughter] ofany event, there is a lot unhappiness in the country about a war in iraq, how it was

initiated, how it has been conducted, and where we go from here. i understand the frustration of the american people. i think the unity of our country is something that we all value, and that would not be in furtherance of promoting that unity. thank you all very much. nancy pelosi from 2008 talking about her views on impeachment over the years, offered her views again yesterday. this is the front page of "usa today" -- nobody is at the law. law.ove the this is raymond in lexington, south carolina, republican. caller: good morning, sir. thank you for taking my call. i am very scared for the country.

we are here talking about, they care about the constitution and everything else. my biggest fear is that the democratic party is going to implode so much to the point, even if i am a republican, the democrats will implode so much that the republicans will have too much power, and any party with that much power is no good. the democrats are on the floor indicating that they want to go for the constitution and do it for the country, but they want to hold all these investigations of mr. trump, who has nothing to gain by being president. he is already a very wealthy man. there is nothing in it for him. it has been proven that the intelligence community has tried to overthrow our government and they don't want to hold those investigations. those investigations should be and the forefront of congress.

they tried to overthrow our government. whether you are a democrat or republican or independent, that should be terrifying. host: when you talk about your concerns about the intelligence committee and president trump, do you think the whistleblower plays into those concerns, the so-called deep state we have heard so much about? caller: absolutely. this is another stormy daniels kind of thing and nothing comes of it. the person did not have firsthand knowledge of the conversation. this is another thing the democrats are throwing out there and they want to bring the president down. the democrats at the street level are starting to see it, but in order for them to save our country, the democrats will getting the right candidates to fight for the country.

this is a bad thing going on. you have the intelligence community trying to overthrow the government. host: carol out of rochester, new york, democrat. caller: my name is carol. thank you for taking my call. i am a democrat. i have been a democrat ever since i could vote. right now, i am ashamed of the democrats. is tryhave done so far and get anything we can that is down and dirty on president trump, and i think it is disgraceful. how can our government work how can our government work together, democrats and republicans, when all the democrats do is chase their tails to get president trump out of office? i am definitely switching from democrat to republican, and it

is a choice that i gladly make. host: have you made that choice in the past? did you vote for hillary clinton or president trump, if you don't mind saying? you know what? this is the first time i crossed my party and voted for president trump, and i would do it again. i will vote for him again in 2020. i would like to tell you, he can't be bought. is he a little bit crude in his language? yes, he is. he doesn't say anything somebody else tells him to say. he expresses his own opinions. you can take him or leave him, but stop trying to push him out of office. this is rachel, fort lauderdale, florida, independent. caller: good morning.

thank you for taking my call. i enjoyed the last caller. i am recently retired, college-educated. i don't know what has happened to our politics. i have always known that there are some scoundrels in the arena, but when did it get so ugly? i will tell you, i voted for obama. i liked him, liked the idea of hope and change. i voted for him the first time but not the second time. i voted for trump, even though i did not like trump as a person. i do not like his personality, but i like what he is doing for the country. all the name-calling going on between the parties is disturbing.

what i see on tv, what i read, i just wish it would stop. i think it is a horrible thing to have this happening in this wonderful country that we live in. i do have a question. i am wondering about this word "impeachment." can we impeach somebody because we don't like him or her? is that the criteria? i am confused, because i hear the word every day nonstop, impeach. i guess that is all i have to say. host: we will find out eventually at the end of this process what will be in the articles of impeachment. those would have to be marked up in committee after this investigation process is completed. it is unclear exactly how that will unfold.

usually, these things get marked up by the judiciary committee and go to the floor of the house. there is a vote in the house on impeachment and if a majority vote in favor, it would go to the senate. it takes two thirds of the senate to convict for impeachment. that is the process. that would be a long way down the road. we are taking your calls from viewers around the country, martin in vail, arizona, republican. caller: thank you for taking my call and thanks for c-span. am arepublican, i republican trying to reclaim his party. regret, ih great think there is evidence to ensue -- pursue an impeachment inquiry. he has admitted himself that he was soliciting the help of a foreign power in order to find

damaging information for a political opponent. number two was that the mueller report made it clear he was soliciting the committing of obstruction of justice by one of his personnel, and only by either the fear of the common of his personnel, that did not occur. there is some question whether he has been profiting in his office. talked toould have representative klein. i have been a republican probably longer than he has been alive, and the statements he was making, the misrepresentations ,f the biden affair in ukraine made me sad to think about this is what republicanism has come to. , birmingham, dion

alabama, independent. caller: good morning. trumpopinion, president needs to be impeached. he must be impeached, because if he is not impeached, the history books will record that we allowed an individual to be president of our country and just behave anyway he wants to. i watched him every day during the 2016 campaign and still watch the news on a regular by howbut i am floored often he lies. he willple, even now, say in has been saying for a he has already started building a wall, when he knows the wall they are working on are repairs that were

approved by the previous administration. he is getting ready to start building, but he has been telling us that that wall is already started and it is simply not true. he lies about, it just seems like everything. just a few months ago, he lied up inhis father growing europe. i don't get that. his father grew up in queens. it is just, to me -- and the way he carries himself as if he is the only person that knows what is best, and everyone listening to my voice i know knows a person like that. ago,ber just a few weeks when we had the conference, meeting with george stephanopoulos, george

stephanopoulos asked him, if in the future and the next campaign a foreign government wants to give you information, do you inform the fbi? his statement was no, you take the call. about hearingired about the russian investigation. it,ook two years to finish tens of millions of my taxpayer dollars, and it did not have to take all that. people who were actually, it is on record, up to 20 people on his campaign was communicating with russia, over 100 contacts. how is that ok? host: taking your phone calls from around the country. i want to show the front pages

of newspapers around the country, "the new york post," "impeaching with the choir." isn't that what they have already been doing? the front page of "the daily news," "it's on." will probe and rattled perez decries witchhunt. toosi and parties push impeach trump is a risky move, they write. "thee front page of chicago sun-times," "no one is above the law." pressed by democrats, pelosi initiates inquiry into the use of power. them the front page of " daytona news journal," "dems

call for the impeachment of the awaiting theare release of the transcript later today. the president is expected to hold a press conference in new york at 4:00. we are covering it on c-span3. we would expect that transcript to be released before that press conference, but we will see how the news goes today. john in elizabeth phil, pennsylvania, democrat. caller: there is a lot of talk of information and in this day and age, we have a lot of avenues to get that information. this impeachment inquiry is about getting that information, getting the facts, getting things on record. as we have seen from this white house administration, they will deflect and distract anything coming out that is truthful and

any type of facts. it all started back in the day with alternative facts. i think this impeachment is necessary. it is something the white house administration has brought upon themselves, how they act and try to bully and have a very authoritarian type of leadership, which in this democracy, is not going to work. we have the legal campaign -- illegalns campaign contributions for president trump's former sexual affairs, and we can impeach him on that. there is a lot that needs to be in covered. there is a lot of information that we need to get to the bottom of. host: we are a long way from articles of impeachment, but you think they should be wide ranging and not just focus on this story that has unfolded

within less than a week or so without ukrainian phone call? caller: i think this is the tipping point here. when you gather articles for impeachment, you are going to be able to get a lot. it will not just be this one incident. it will be the way the white house doesn't let the free press do their job. i think you can indict him just on that alone. there is a lot of constitutional norms that this president is completely ignoring for his own personal gain. host: out of jupiter, florida, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, jeannie. caller: i would just like to say , evers far as impeachment trump got innt office, that is all i have heard

, impeachment, impeachment. jerrold nadler has done nothing but preach impeachment. presidentledge, the hasn't been found guilty of anything to be impeached on. i realize now they are investigating the ukraine, but they have already judged him. said pelosi has already that she is going to impeach him. the transcript hasn't even been released yet. i really don't understand how can make- how people such narrowminded decisions. they are not worried about the governmental issues anymore. it is whether they like president trump or they don't. i have you the truth,

been an independent all my life and i have never voted for a party before. i have always voted for the person, always looks at the platform, always went by what i felt was best for our country. but after the way the democrats never,sponded, i would ever vote democrat again. burke on twitter saying to chill on the talk about articles of impeachment, saying it is just a formal inquiry now. the house is not drawing up the articles of impeachment. jackie saying, i can't stand another second of seeing his face in the media and hearing him repeat the same thing over and over again. let's not forget him patting his own shoulder telling everyone what an awesome guy he is. should beratic voters

asking is exactly what the democrats have done for the people in the last two years. some of the social media comments from our followers as we have been having this conversation, here are some of the comments from members of congress yesterday amid what eventually became the , --uncement i nancy pelosi by nancy pelosi. this is david cicilline of rhode island, talking about thedam against impeachment, saying it is not breaking, it is broken. proud so many of my carrot legs are standing up dust colleagues are standing up to president trump's wanton abuse of power today. debbie dingell wrote -- this country is divided and we cannot -- after recent revelations i support and impeachment inquiry because we must follow the facts and hold the president

accountable. it was about 30 democrats who have come out for impeachment who have not come out previously. this is justin amash saying, it is not about the transcript of a call. don't let president trump or republican officials distract you with a straw man. it's about his continuing abuse of the office of the presidency. we will show you a few more jordan, a close ally of president trump, republican from ohio. democrats have been trying to impeach the president since the beginning of this congress. michael collins testimony was a bust. john dean's testimony was a waste of time. the mueller report did not live up to the hype. showsous allegations only the speaker has succumbed to the unrelenting pressure from the

socialist wing of the democratic party. this was never about russian collusion or ukrainian prosecution, it is about undoing the 2016 election and the will of the american people. they will likely be tweeting again, another busy day on this topic. we are hearing from you. luis, salisbury, north carolina, democrat. that you readlad something a republican also stated about the president's attitude toward the constitution. it shows that there are some that knows out there our country is in dire need. my flag is still upside down because i know our country is in distress. you could be a blind man like myself and still see the truth of what is going on in america

with this president. about the impeachment thing, i look at it like this. i don't know if your viewers or listeners are boxers, but what i saw nancy pelosi did the other day is what we call the rope a dope. a lot of people could not the george foreman because he was a powerful man, knocked them out on the first round. ali came with the strategy, i am going to let him punch himself out and then i will knock him out. that is what nancy pelosi did. they did not jump on him after the case of russia collusion. they said, the american people spoke, we don't want to impeach this man. they let him get away with that. he came right back the next day and is going to try his best to send a hit biden and man his attorney out of new york.

if the american people, the republicans cannot see that this man is corrupt, it is going to show you through these impeachment inquiries and what they find on this man that will show america he was not for america in the first place. host: you said your flag is upside down. when did you turn it upside down? 2017r: that was back in where he took all the gaze out of the military. -- gays out of the military. i knew he was going to take more money out of the military, and treasonous come of the things they don't know that they redacted in the mueller case, once those things are shown, americans will see this man committed treason. host: pat in jackson, tennessee, independent. caller: i was wondering, or

maybe c-span can bring it up, when did that clause come in that a president cannot be committed for a crime while he is in office? i cannot understand that. host: you are talking about the justice department opinion on not indicting a sitting president? caller: right. is that a rule or law or something where they can't actually charge a president of a crime when he is in office? that is why we have a vice president. ok, the other thing i want to say is the president has committed some laws. you have new york now investigating his income tax evasion. the president is obstructing justice with repealing to the

court to not show his income tax. what is he hiding? and then, of course, you say nancy pelosi, the guy from pennsylvania talked about nancy pelosi dragged her feet. i agree with that. they should have gone right after the mueller report. all that information they came involvedhow russia was in the 2018 election, i don't see how people can say this is the hoax. look at the people serving time. what do they think about that? otherwise, these people need to be let go from the prison. and the obstruction of justice, you have the committees, committees that our forefathers put in place so everyone can be on check.

allowed people to even come up there to testify before them. what is he hiding? aboutyour first question the justice department policy on indicting a sitting president, this from reuters from earlier this year. it came out as we were awaiting the results of the mueller investigation. thatoffer some background perhaps answers some of your questions. in 1973 in the midst of the watergate scandal, the department of justice adopted an internal memo that the position a sitting president cannot be indicted. 19 74, withed in the house of representatives moving toward impeaching him. the diff art meant -- department reaffirmed the policy in a 2000 --o, saying court decisions

it concluded that criminal charges against a president would violate the constitutional separation of powers delineating the authority of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the u.s. government. year,s from january this jan wolf the author. eric from maryland next, a republican. caller: i just wanted to comment , very much appreciate the usage of the archive footage. it does not really matter if you are republican or democrat. lewissten back to john get up on his high horse in the 1990's during the clinton impeachment investigation and talk about policy matters and everything else and how it is a attackingand it is

the integrity of the clinton campaign and winning that about,n, and basically pelosi, the republicans are being hateful. it is the same buzzwords being used. it is the same situation in reverse. it is not wanting to accept the results of the election and spending time and energy -- wasting time and energy and taxpayer money chasing an investigation. what is going to come out of this likely is no impeachment, but enough potential messaging damage that bleeds into the election campaign. it is tough times. it is hard to see, regardless of what side you said on, people are digging their heels in, not willing to accept viable data

from either side. people have chosen their sides and the fight continues and it is getting ugly. host: you talk about the c-span archives. they are open to everyone at c-span.org. vastan check out the c-span archives, some of those videos from the clinton impeachment and nancy pelosi in 2007 talking about the impeachment. n, a great follow of one of our coworkers at c-span. james is next in washington, d.c., democrat. caller: i am so upset. just keep listening to these over and over saying we are overreaching. we should have impeached -- that is fine we didn't. let him do it to himself.

likedon't remember, it is they don't remember the bill clinton impeachment. where did this start and where did it end? they won't even tell you what happened. this man got impeached for cheating on his wife. hello. he got impeached for far less than what this man trump is doing every single day in our face. this is sad because if you look at it back then, they set the bar this low to impeach for something as minor as cheating on your wife, because it was in the oval office. this man did plenty in the oval office, committed treason. we are still talking. it is time to keep it moving, moveon, and do what we need to do. i am so tired of these republicans. i don't understand. do they not say what is going on? i guess because they are party

to the lying, they are ok with it. host: christine in richmond, virginia, independent. caller: i read the mueller report and the level of corruption is so extreme, and now it continues. the release of a transcript will not be sufficient. i do not trust it, quite frankly , and i feel the complaint should be released immediately to the house and intelligence. it really concerns me as president is getting away with a lot more, a lot more that we don't know about. host: karen out of leesburg, virginia, republican. caller: can you hear me? host: yes. caller: listen, i am over it. this is where i am at. believe andnestly

was supporting donald trump for a long time and i did see the vision, but it this time -- and i'm talking to my republican family and friends -- we need to do something else. i consider us a intelligent party of integrity and character, and that is not what it has been. i cannot deny, no matter what i think i want to believe, the mueller probe, the wall, the debt, we are not even talking about the national debt, and now ukraine. it is exhausting. i would love to see another candidate step up and represent the republican party. this is an embarrassment to the party. i cannot blame the democrats are doing their job. if that was my ceo or deputy and saw this behavior, i would expect them to be turned away. it is a joke that we said around and enable the situation and mcconnell does nothing, and sit

and act like we are proud to be republicans. either put somebody else on the platform or i am switching parties. my flag is upside down. it is unbelievable how we buried our heads in the sand. for the woman who called and said president trump doesn't have anything to lose, you are right, he doesn't. that is why he is making a mockery, because he has nothing to lose. i am sick of seeing it and i'm embarrassed for this country and embarrassed for what i thought was to be a prior representative of the party. i think we need to own up to what is happening, pay attention to what is happening in front of us, find another candidate, and move on. i support the democrats. whatever comes out of it, comes out of it, but we have nothing to lose and this is ridiculous. host: we will jump across the

potomac to germantown, maryland, john, a democrat. caller: i am glad to hear that last woman speak. i am a democrat but i was a republican. i believe the impeachment hearings are the best template. i am hopeful that a lot can be done to present as much bipartisanship as possible. the chairman of the judiciary did that well. doerred an attorney, john , a man of great integrity, who organized and led much of the hearings. i think it is also important to recognize that extortion of a foreign prosecutor involved what exactly happened here. you do not have to have a quid pro quo, but when you deny the aid and tell the president to do

certain things, it is quite clear what is happening. you will not get the aid unless you do something. it is part of what makes this an unconstitutional act. last thing i would mention, rudy giuliani needs to be called. it is inconceivable that he would attempt ridiculously to claim attorney-client privilege. when any lawyer dissipates and a crime or a conspiracy -- participates in a crime or conspiracy, he has no privilege. host: did you work for the republican congressman in the 1970's? caller: i worked a little bit before that. richardsonr elliott when he was massachusetts attorney general, and i hope the republican can be revived because even though i am a strong democrat, we have got to have strong parties, a real give and take.

this is critical why this is such an urgent matter. host: when did you make the jump from working for a republican to being a strong democrat? caller: the man i worked for, silvio conti was a good friend of tip o'neill and was a liberal. i decided to run for district attorney and that is when i was baptized a democrat. i easily worked for conti because he was a bipartisan credit to his party. that is the reason for that. host: thanks for the call. massachusetts,om just looking up the dates, from 1959 until the early 1990's. also history, and ducted in the rollcall congressional baseball hall of fame a few years back, the annual baseball game we

occasionally talk about during the send -- summertime. david, a republican, good morning. caller: i would like to ask, is president trump the head of the justice department? if he is the head of the justice department, why don't he have the right to ask if an american citizen committed a crime? shouldn't he have that right? shouldn't it be revealed to us? why didn't the democrats ask this question. why did they offer up joe biden as a nominee for president knowing that he had so much slimy corruption on his hands? come on, a billion and a half dollars from china. come on, now. host: would you be ok with it if the parties were reversed, a democratic president was asking that question of a foreign head of state and was running against

a republican in an upcoming election? caller: no, i wouldn't, because i think some questions should have been asked about george bush and dick cheney. i believe they probably both should be in jail. c-span, you need to ask people when they call in, you can tell they are very one sided, and ask them what makes them one-sided. right is right and wrong is wrong. host: this is rob in the tar heel state, and defendant. caller: thank you for taking -- independent. caller: thank you for taking my call. from65 years old and come a family steeped in public service. i was raised in chris -- christian. up. but it looks like to me is politics in washington has devolved to a wwe wrestling

match and the democrats and republicans cannot even pass a budget. they have to have continuing resolutions. findhey want to do is something else bad about mr. trump because they are still sore about the 2016 election and for god sake, we had a secretary , bopping mrs. clinton around the world with her husband with millions of dollars from her foundation when she was overseas as secretary of state. we had mr. biden whose son got a billion and a half dollars from a big chinese conglomerate investing in his family and was ukraine for an position he had no expertise in. there is no question about that. and theuld fire pelosi gentleman from georgia and mr. nadler.

they've been in there for 30 years. and if anyp there citizen of the united states wants to walk around, and you can see they are spending other people's money which is called our tax dollars, it is the wealthiest shiniest looking place on the face of the earth. they have hundreds of bureaucrats in and out of buildings. people making mega fortunes and they never want to leave. it's like the hypocrites in the their they want to have piety proclaimed on the news and they want the best eat -- the best seats in the synagogue and the salutations in the bigetplace and they put burdens on people's shoulders that they won't touch. host: we got your point. just after 9:00 on the east coast after a very busy day yesterday. we are looking ahead to another fast-paced newsday. a reminder of what is on tap today.

at noon on the floor of the house, democrats expected to calling on theon acting director of national intelligence to send that whistleblower complaint about the president's phone call with the president of ukraine in july to the congressional intelligence committees. from the white house we are expecting the release of what is being touted as an unredacted transcript of that july phone call. in new york today according to the white house, the president is expected to meet with ukrainian president for a bilateral meeting at the u.n. and then the president is also holding a press briefing today happening at 4:00. we are covering that on c-span3 at 4:00. you can also watch it at c-span.org and listen to it on the free c-span radio app. that is what is on tap today and we are getting your phone calls today after the house opening their impeachment inquiry

yesterday. speaker of the house nancy pelosi making that announcement yesterday and democrats are calling in about it. (202)-748-8000. republicans, (202)-748-8001. independents, (202)-748-8002. you can text us at (202)-748-8003. text, do send us a include your name and where you are from. on twitter as always -- twitter as always. continue to call in, earlier nancy pelosi made that impeachment inquiry announcement from capitol hill. earlier she was at atlantic magazine, the atlantic festival, speaking with jeffrey goldberg. she was asked about that transcript that the white house has promised to be released today, asking what would -- what it would mean if that transcript is benign, if there is not much in that transcript that points a smoking gun at the issues.

here was her response. [video clip] >> if you see that transcript and it is more benign than we have been led to believe, do you think your caucus might stand down a little bit or do you think the caucus is at a boil right now? >> this is about the constitution of the united , shall we many other say impeachable offenses. this one is the most understandable by the public. it is really important to note requirementis no there be a quid pro quo in the conversation. up he president brings wants them to investigate something, his political self-evidentt is that it is not right. you don't ask foreign

governments to help in our election. about how you make decisions about foreign policy and our global security. it's about undermining the integrity of our election. think there is a grasp on the part of this administration that a quick pro quote is not essential to an impeachable offense but if you have sequencing like a couple days before, the president withdrew bipartisan support for ukraine. bipartisan enthusiastic support, a few days earlier and then makes the statement. tons.ents' words weigh just bringing up the election is bad enough, that there would be a quid pro quo is not necessarily in the conversation

but in the sequencing. thing for ourgood democracy, for the leader of the free world in talking like that. i don't even know if there are any scribbles involved. they think lawlessness is a virtue and they are going to export it to another country. host: nancy pelosi at the atlantic magazine atlantic festival yesterday. here is how the process works as far as we know so far, nancy pelosi announcing yesterday that she is directing the six house committees that are already investigating president trump to continue their probes quote, under the umbrella of an impeachment inquiry. her chosen route avoids a full house floor vote on opening an impeachment probe, a step that has occurred each of the three previous times the house has launched impeachment proceedings against the president. this is the house minority leader yesterday in the wake of

nancy pelosi's announcement. [video clip] >> i just listened to the speaker of the house. speaker pelosi happens to be the speaker of this house but she does not speak for america when it comes to this issue. she cannot decide unilaterally what happens here. they have been investigating this president before he even got elected. they have voted three times on impeachment on this floor. word they voted before one of the mueller report came back. our job here is a serious job. our job is to focus on the american public. our job is to make tomorrow better than today. , not tois to legislate continue to investigate when you cannot find any reason to impeach this president. this election is over. i realize 2016 did not turn out the way speaker pelosi wanted it to happen, but she cannot change the laws of this congress.

she cannot unilaterally decide to do an impeachment inquiry. what she said today made no difference of what has been going on. --is no different than what has been trying to do. it is time to put the public before politics. thank you. host: kevin mccarthy yesterday from capitol hill. getting your thoughts this morning on phone lines. democrats, republicans and independents as usual. our first caller is from shreveport, louisiana, democrat. theer: why can't them -- it, have --ks like we haven't passed could not let the obama election

go. [indiscernible] host: that was homer in louisiana. our next caller in pennsylvania, republican. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to say after a great day at the u.n., this is so bad for our country. aside, theynd left have to realize that other countries are perceiving this as weakening to us. what is going on is just stopping all the legislation that is pending on mitch

mcconnell's desk from getting passed. my husband and i are senior citizens in pennsylvania. we are looking forward to the prescription cost reduction as we are both disabled and struggling to make ends meet. as far as i can tell, there has been so many numerous so-called crises, every time our president has a win like he did with prime and the modi in houston australian prime minister, then the french and germans get on board, that is when another so-called crisis comes up and i am very confident that this is going to be once again, nothing about nothing. meantime, us citizens are spending taxpayer money, they are doing nothing in congress. i am a republican but if the

republicans were acting like this, i would be thinking about , i amote my conscience not just a republican regardless. if i see wrongdoing on either side, i address that. host: that is karen in pennsylvania. comments from facebook and text messages. linda saying thanks for guaranteeing four more years, the campaign reels will be amazing. kathy says the entire membership of the house of representatives is up for reelection in 2020. it may be time for cleaning house. from our text message line, this is anthony in maryland, we will find out the gop knew more info on trump in real time on his corruption. from new hampshire, this is mark, if this impeachment brings down this economy, the american voters can thank the democrats in 2020. missouri,rom

republicans, democrats have a right to know what our president is doing in the white house and uphold the constitution. trump is not a dictator that cannot be challenged. wake up. you can also call in. bob is in indiana, independent. by how i am stunned uninformed people are about what is going on and what has already happened. they accused trump of doing what they are doing. i don't understand how people don't see this. the perfect example is the russian collusion case. hillary clinton purchased -- paid for a dossier that was put together by a foreign agent that supposedly stated that he was colluding with the russian government. so basically in order to influence an election -- so basically she did exactly what she was accusing him of doing. withctually conspired

christopher steele on the dossier. dossier together this that was full of salacious unverified facts and that was put on trump. the same thing is happening in ukraine. biden's son was being pursued by a prosecutor. joe biden is on the record as saying he went on and said he was going to withhold a loan to the ukraine if the prosecutor was not fired. he was on a plane. he stops by ukraine and says i've been here for six hours and you have six hours to get that prosecutor fired who was doing the investigation on the -- on his son who sits on the board of directors of a gas company. it is absolutely stunning to me that people have no idea what is going on. that is the truth. the truth is that biden did something illegal. who is supposed to investigate him? technically speaking president trump is in charge of the executive branch. host: this is rick in west

virginia, democrat. caller: good morning. thanks for c-span. i watch it just about every morning. i have been a democrat for 49 years. i am very disappointed in the democratic party right now for not doing their job. we have lottery -- we have water lines that need to be taking care of -- taken care of. other infrastructure. i think the democratic house ought to be working on that instead of all of this malarkey right now. host: that is rick in west virginia. tennessee,ller is in republican. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am really sick and tired of hearing the democrats saying no one is above the law.

that is common with them. what about clinton? democrats that have done things that should be investigated and brought charges on. they seem to be above the law. it is just with president trump .ow of the editorial cartoons today focusing on impeachment. this is from the op-ed pages of usa today. the impeachment train with its whistleblowing bearing down on president trump in a golf cart. president trump thinking about whistleblowers in that editorial cartoon. the lead editorial from today's usa today, focusing on president

trump's promised new gun laws, asking where are they? we focused on that story a lot over the past several weeks. this is from stephen of the free beacon, firearms policy reporter there. c-span viewers will know him from coming on and taking your phone calls several times. he tweets this morning that a senate staffer has told him that gun legislation is dead at least for the time being because of this impeachment inquiry. back to your phone calls. our next caller is in maryland, democrat. caller: good morning and thank you so much for having me. so confident about this transcript that is supposed to be released. i wish i knew the form it was going to be released in, audio or a -- or an actual transcript. because of the lies that have come from this administration

like insignificant lies like the crown size of the inauguration to the supposed celebration he saw after the 9/11 attacks and even the birth certificate. he supposedly had special investigators in hawaii and you won't believe what they found. i guess we still won't believe it because we never saw any result of his special investigators in hawaii. mentioned, iallers think it was rachel in florida that it's not about not liking this president or whatever but at this point, national security is at risk. if it is an act of terrorism or war, it does not seek out specific party affiliations, it does not matter if you are a democrat or republican. if national security is at risk, it involves the entire country and everyone should be concerned about this. host: at the beginning of your comment, you talked about the transcript. what is more important to you, seeing the transcript of the phone call, we are being told is

unredacted or seeing the whistleblower complaint about that phone call? is one of those more credible or important to you? caller: i am more looking forward to the whistleblower complaint because -- that is the other thing. would it be firsthand knowledge from the whistleblower or is it still secondhand knowledge? that is what i want everyone to take a look at. host: certainly some reporting the housee latter but is looking today at noon on a resolution calling the acting director of national intelligence to send that complaint to the congressional intelligence committees and then the acting director of national intelligence will be on capitol hill on thursday. that's at 9:00 eastern. we are covering that hearing on c-span3 before the select intelligence committee to talk about the process and handling of that whistleblower complaint.

reporting this morning that the white house is expected to release that whistleblower complaint in some form later this week. on the transcript itself of the phone call you were asking about, the new york times reporting that rough transcripts of calls, at the beginning of the trump administration, widely shared documents, officials of the national security council and people working in the region at the state department and defense department but that changed after the full transcripts of mr. trump's conversations with the president of mexico and prime minister of australia were leaked in 2017. there are no recordings from which those transcript are based and those transcript can vary in the details in them. that was in the new york times today. brian is next out of michigan,

independent. caller: good morning. this boils down, but it rings hollow for me. you think way back here, as soon barack obama in 2008 got the democratic nomination for president, off to european went. help me, help me and give me foreign policy experience because i have none. here you go, speak at the berlin wall. he got all kinds of things of value. it was ridiculous. problem of that as a foreign interference? that is exactly what he went over there for. now 10 years later we look and we see the same people he went to ask these favors of, they are who signed onto the aranda deal and claimed this

prosecutor in ukraine was corrupt. it seems like a little cabal that was created right then and there 11 years ago and continues to this day. host: susan is next in georgia, republican. caller: good morning. i would just like to say that if we were to all stop for one moment and look at where all of this mess started from, from the democrat side, they wanted to impeach him because beloved hillary did not make it. stop to look at what our president has done. even yesterday when he was giving the address at the u.n. in new york, he had the candor and the strength to call out china. i have never seen a president with so much strength. maybe his words aren't always politically correct. maybe his actions aren't. why not investigate joe biden son? -- joe biden's son?

why not see if our country is underhanded in other areas? why not strengthen other areas? give him a chance. all the democrats have wanted to do is impeach him before he ever got elected. and that so-called speaker of the house like they like to refer to president trump as so-called, she smirks every time she speaks of him. they need to learn to have respect for the united states president. respect for our country. focus on the american people. thank you for your call and thank you for the archives. it shows that democrats never change. host: our caller -- our next caller out of vancouver, washington, democrat. caller: good morning. i'm calling because i have been looking at a lot of the callers and i have seen things online. thety much downing all

democrats for this impeachment inquiry. people have to remember, this isn't just impeachment, this is an inquiry. they have been stonewalling this for the past two something years. stonewalling everything. don'ts because -- if you have something to hide, show it, like the taxes. show the taxes. report reportstleblower going to attorney general barr? because they've got something to hide. it is the same thing they have been doing this whole time. i think that this impeachment inquiry is long overdue. i'm glad they are doing it and it's about time because i was getting frustrated with the democrats for not doing it a lot sooner. that is my statement. trump playing up what is in the transcript of that phone call with the president of the ukraine in a tweet just a few minutes ago.

he asks will the democrats apologize after seeing what was said on that call with the ukrainian president mark they should. a perfect call. got them by surprise is what the president just tweeted. that unredacted transcript today, the president holding a press conference at 4:00 today. we are covering on c-span and c-span.org. in north carolina, independent, our next caller. caller: i am a young boater and i just want to say that we see what trump is doing. i want to clear up to things before i get to my point. saying somebody call in all the blame should be on clinton because clinton totally conspired with the russians to make yourself lose when vladimir said himself he wants trump to be in office. that makes sense.

the second point i wanted to make is the inspector general is a trump appointee and he said it was urgent? if it is urgent, it needs to go to congress. it is in the law. for my next point, let's set the tone. we have people in america who think that it's ok for us to have a president who admitted to wanting to grab people, women, by their genitals. then he came out and issued an apology. that is the only apology he has given this country since he has taken office. let's get down to it. who is going to jail? nobody on the democrat side. who do you have right now? you have michael flynn going to jail for rushing contacts. roger stone about to go to jail. who is going to jail?

everybody on his side. he lied about everything. he lied about mexico paying for the wall. topressured mexico's payment say they were going to pay for the wall. he is doing the same thing with the ukraine leader. is massachusetts, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i just have a comment about the democrats. from day one they don't want trump in. they want trump out. this is nothing new. they put in jail the republicans because they take the democrat side and the democrats don't go to jail because they cover it up for everything. theyr, pelosi, schumer, are a bunch of crazy people, crazy crazy people. i can't watch them on tv.

so happy because they are going to impeach trump. there are a bunch of crooks and they blame everything on trump. trump do everything wrong. democrats do everything right. republicans have the bad ones. this has got to stop. stop blaming trump all the time. host: just a few minutes left in this segment of the washington journal. we will be joined by democratic congressman vicente gonzalez of texas in a couple minutes. we did want to show you a few more front pages of newspapers from around the country and how this story is playing out. impeachment inquiries starts, there is the photo of pelosi on capitol hill making the announcement. the san francisco chronicle this morning, closer to impeachment, pelosi directing officials to open the inquiry into trump's friend's.

in the grand rapids press, pelosi launches house impeachment inquiry. we want to hear from you about it. our next caller is in chicago, democrat. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. this is my opinion. it is not about political parties, democrats nor republicans. it's about upholding the constitution and thus far mr. trump has not done that. everything he has done indicates to me he is not for this country. when he went to helsinki, what did he say and the whole world saw it when he was in the oval and he met with -- of the russian oligarch's. what did he say about his own cia investigators? trump did a lot of business but you cannot

govern a country how you run a business. you cannot. now he is playing that out with real people and it is not working for him. that no doubt in my mind he tried to manipulate the president of ukraine. that is what he do. he manipulates. it is unfortunate that this country has to go through that. i'm happy that it is happening in nancy pelosi did not want to call for impeachment. she did not. pushingpretty much towards this ink -- pushed towards this inquiry. whatever happens, it happens. host: do you think that is to nancy pelosi's credit that you view her as having to be pushed towards this? that she wasn't for this for now? caller: yes.

because when it was coming up, she said she did not want to do it. she didn't. caucus,, her party, the they gave her on -- they gave her no other choice. donald trump even said that he did it. host: one more call in this segment from the keystone state, john in pennsylvania, republican. caller: good morning. i wanted to thank you for showing the video of joe biden bragging at an interview of what he did over in ukraine because it is basically what they are accusing trump of now. the other point i would like to make is also that the same news outlet that released everything about the russian probe are the same news outlets that got this information. people got to start waking up and not believing everything they read in the media because they are lying to us. they are all involved with the democrats to try and take this

man down. this is going to be one of the greatest presidencies we have ever seen in this country. as far as the economy and everything this gentleman has gone in and done. let him do his job. thank you. host: our last caller in this segment. if you have not gotten the chance to get your comment in, stay on the line. we will stay on this topic until the end of our program when the house comes in but until then we are joined by democratic congressman vicente gonzalez of texas, a member of the house foreign affairs committee. we will be right back. ♪ >> the student is really valuable to me -- the studentcam experience is really valuable to

me. >> it has really helped us grow as people. >> for past winners of c-span's studentcam video documentary competition, the experience spark their interest in documentary production. >> i am in a university in iowa and the fun part is i get to be right in the middle of caucus season and i got to meet 70 different candidates and because of c-span, i had the experience and the equipment and knowledge to be able to film some of them. >> this year we are asking middle school and high school students to create a short video documentary answering the question what issue do you most want presidential candidates to address during the campaign? include c-span video and reflect differing points of view. inare awarding $100,000 total cash prizes including a $5,000 grand prize. >> be passionate about what you are discussing, to express your view no matter how large or small you think the audience is.

that in the greatest country in history, your view does matter. >> for more information, go to our website, studentcam.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we welcome texas democrat vicente gonzalez to our desk. congressman, you are one democrat who held back on calling for president trump's impeachment. where do you stand on impeachment today? guest: certainly a lot closer than a week ago. we've got new facts on a completely new issue that the president is kind of dancing around. i think we will start seeing some bipartisan support if we are able to see factual evidence where president trump was trying to cut a deal with the president of the ukraine.

i don't see any way out of this. host: do you think your foreagues who are full bird -- full burn for impeachment are jumping the gun ahead of what we will get as an unredacted transcript and the whistleblower complaint? guest: my colleagues who were for impeachment prior to this are still for impeachment, mostly from everything that developed in the 2016 campaign. host: the washington post today, speaker pelosi's declaration unleashes a flood of questions about the pending probe. here are some that they asked. how sweeping will the probe be, how long will it last, who will conduct it and will pelosi's unilateral pronouncement do anything to change the course of existing investigations? do you know the answer to any of these? guest: that is tough. and it be sweeping certainly disturbs the process

of government on an everyday basis when you are going through an impeachment process. we haven't been through it in more than two decades. it has only been a handful of times in the country's histories -- history. it has been brutal every time. host: what we know about the role of the house foreign affairs committee, the committee you sit on? where do you fit into this process, this umbrella of impeachment inquiries? guest: most of that will be taking place in the judiciary clearly the issue of the ukraine -- the issue of ukraine and their potential in communication with the president. host: congressman vicente gonzalez with us until the top of the hour. the house coming in at 10:00. taking your phone calls as usual. democrats, (202)-748-8000. republicans, (202)-748-8001.

independents, (202)-748-8002. ellen has been waiting since the last segment. you are on with congressman gonzales. caller: hey congressman how are you today? guest: i am good. caller: i am ecstatic that the impeachment probe is beginning. not because i think it is a good thing that we have a president that is so corrupt but because it is patriotic. it is not a partisan issue. president look into a who is using his presidency to get richer by having diplomats and defense employees staying at his hotels, who is inciting violence against minorities and is caging immigrant children. i am a former government employee. we were encouraged to tell when somebody was violating the law which is what the president has been doing in ukraine among many other middle acts that he has done. mccarthy,that kevin

the minority leader in the house , had nothing to defend the president against when he spoke yesterday. thank you very much for taking my call. i would be interested to see what you have to say. point, it's tough to contradict an intelligence asicer who is as patriotic can be who has been vetted by the federal government thoroughly. it is as credible as a witness as you will ever have and certainly i think people are dying to hear from them and what they have to say and what exactly his report entails. host: will it be just members of the select intelligence committee who are able to ask questions if that person comes up to appear? is there a way for other members of the foreign affairs committee who are interested in the topic as well, will you get to question this person? guest: we are not sure at this point. i do understand that

chairmanship has been in communication with his counsel and i know there seems to be a will by this person to come in and talk to us. if he comes to our committee, we will be happy to talk to him and have some questions for him but it looks like intelligence committees will speak to him. host: you talk about the willingness of that whistleblower. this is the statement from the attorneys for that whistleblower. in order to ensure maximum legal protections, we can confirm press reports that yesterday, they wrote to the acting director of national intelligence to request guidance as to the appropriate security practices to permit a meeting if needed with members of the intelligence oversight committees. we will see how that plays out in the coming days. in college park, maryland, our next caller is independent. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call and thank you for c-span. i have a question for the host that i do want to say to

congressman gonzalez i want to thank you for not forgetting about the border. your staff has been great on getting resources to them. my comment and question is more to the host. many of us out here, consumers of c-span rely on you up -- rely upon you to be great brokers of original source material. it troubles me greatly when you described the transcript that will be made available as unredacted but you are essentially describing it as notes of a call, maybe it is not the full complement of things that were discussed. we go to your website to get transcripts of hearings, briefings, meetings. i would just like you to take a more measured approach to what is going on, like the congressman is. you see the transcript, you take

it for what it is, you see the whistleblower report but you are contributing to working all of us up into a frenzy about these proceedings and we need to take a much more measured approach. host: the term the president used in his tweet yesterday describing what will be released about it. we have not obviously seen the transcripts yet so we don't know what they will look like or what form they will be in. that is the description coming from the white house who is currently in possession of the transcripts. iller: yes indeed but what have heard you allude to is that maybe it is a transcript that is different from a transcript, notes or something like that. what is your definition of a transcript? it is either an unredacted transcript or it is notes but the president has said it will be an unredacted transcript and we should consume it as such and not begin to hedge. host: the story you are referring to is that some of the reporting on that about how notes are kept about phone calls

, that is from the new york times today. that is what i was reading from earlier when we were trying to find out who has access to these transcripts. few aids have access to trump's phone calls is the headline. our next caller is out of north carolina, publican. caller: good morning -- republican. caller: good morning. i want to make two points. after 60appy that years of not caring about minorities as these white liberals are, thank god for that because -- want toongressman, i say i don't understand the democrats and i am a black republican. poor, i fought in

vietnam and to me, how can you start and impeachment inquiry without knowing what are you impeaching the man for? you don't even have the transcript. you don't even know what you are impeaching him for. this is all political. if anybody's got any common sense, i ask you democrats to think, if you don't like trump, that is your prerogative. that's america. you can vote for whoever you want to but the man won the election. let the elections play out. host: that is clearance in north carolina. guest: that has been my position up to this point -- that is clarance in north carolina. guest: that has been my position up to this point. if we have evidence like the inspector general found in the whistleblower's report to be credible and urgent. you have someone who was

appointed by president trump, an intelligence officer saying something happened, that is greatly concerning, much more than rumors you see or read about in the news leading up to this past election. this is certainly something we need to listen to and pay close attention. if we find that president trump was in communication with the president of ukraine, cutting a deal, a deal to try and get information or try to have anyone investigated for his political benefit, it is a clear abuse of power and we have a constitutional duty to begin impeachment proceedings. more in your mind, is one important to see or more reliable than the other? the transcript or the whistleblower complaint? guest: we need to see them both we cannot see a redacted -- that is more of the same and that has been the president's m.o. since he got here.

we need to be transparent and get it cleared up. if he has done nothing, i don't see any problem with seeing the whistleblower report and listening to the conversation he had. host: our next caller in florida, democrat. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i don't believe this impeachment job is going far enough. i think it should also include mike pence, moscow mitch and brett kavanaugh. i heard the president say on television that the people had no choice but to reelect him. we have had a choice since this country was founded. he also said it would be really bad trouble if he is not reelected, like he is inciting a riot or a revolution. he is a dangerous man and he should never have been -- well the russians put him in office. that is all i have to say. thank you very much. kind ofhat seems to be

a lot of people's position in this country, including many conservative republicans, especially former military, former government employees. i'm sorting to hear this more and more every day. host: a column in the wall street journal, i'm sorry the new york times, a former official in the george w. bush justice department, now a law professor at the university of california berkeley, he talks about his concerns about impeaching trump especially when it comes to this phone call with a foreign leader. as a member who served on the foreign relations committee, he writes that the constitution vests the president with the authority to -- authority to conduct foreign responsibility -- foreign policy and the responsibility to protect the nation security. a president engaging in wrongdoing must have confidence in the confidentiality of his munication's or he will not be able to perform his constitutional duties and our international relations will fall victim to government by committee.

we must avoid hindering the president's ability to conduct foreign policy. guest: i believe the president should have confidence in their confidentiality but if they are using this for personal dealings to commit criminal acts or for governmental abuse, at think you have to draw the line somewhere. host: 15 minutes before the house comes in. we will take you there when they do. until then, your phone calls with congressman gonzalez. our next caller is independent in pennsylvania. caller: thank you for taking my call. congressman, would you consider this a formal impeachment inquiry? guest: this is an impeachment inquiry. that is what we called it yesterday. caller: has there been a vote in the house? guest: there has been no vote. it is an inquiry. caller: it is not a formal inquiry. guest: it is an inquiry. we are not voting on impeachment. caller: i asked is it a formal

inquiry that has been voted on by the house like it says on c-span? guest: we have not voted in the house. caller: so it is not a formal inquiry. guest: if the speaker of the house comes out saying we are beginning an inquiry, it is as formal as it gets. we have not had a vote on the house but you can bet you'll start seeing proceedings begin in at least one committee in the house. host: would you like to see a vote on the house floor to begin -- guest: i don't see anything wrong with that. we should have everyone on the record to see how they feel. especially once we get more information on the whistleblowers report -- whistleblower's report and may be a transcript of this conversation. host: that step of having a vote on the house floor to open an impeachment probe has occurred the last three times the house has proceeded to an impeachment vote. why hasn't that happened here? guest: i think we will see it. host: why the announcement

yesterday before having that vote? guest: i think we might have a vote on it. she came out publicly, she has had a lot of meetings leading up to that announcement and i think she is letting the american people know what is happening and what we are going to do next. is out ofnext caller massachusetts, republican. caller: thank you for taking my call. why nancy pelosi came out without having a vote is because trump had the u.n. speech that i thought was very successful. i watched the whole thing. rather than talking about his speech or what he was planning this controversy with china, ukraine, so many things. north korea, the list goes on and on that he spoke about yesterday. she decided she wanted to come out and throw a blanket over that and come out with this

inquiry which the democrats have already been doing. jerry nadler has been doing it for a month now, so it is no big news there. instead of having trump's u.n. speech and talking about that today on your show, the human speech, you are talking about impeachment and this conversation that the whistleblower was i believe i have heard was secondhand, that he did not even hear the actual conversation. he heard from a second person, which is basically a rumor so i can't even believe you have an inquiry with someone who got information -- host: go ahead. guest: that is what some people are going to say but clearly this has been brewing for a few days and speaker pelosi is under a lot of pressure from members of the congress to push on impeachment proceedings and that is what brought her to this day. she has been imposed -- she has

and opposing impeachment all along saying we will defeat him in this next election and i believe we are, but impeachment proceedings may be in the midst of it all. we will have to see. host: take us inside that caucus meeting. did you get a chance to speak? guest: i was actually at the dentist office, unfortunately. clearly there is a lot of push within membership of my party for impeachment. this administration has been very difficult to deal with. there has been obstruction and lack of transparency since day a complex has been for three years. host: some democratic members still holding off on endorsing full impeachment inquiries. has she struck the right balance? guest: i think she has. i think people will change their minds or make up their minds

depending on what comes out of this transcript, what this whistleblower report says to us. i think people will tilt one way or the other. i have been against impeachment all along but ims curious as everyone else is on to what -- as everyone else is on what we will find. host: our next caller is out of virginia. i ask a question from the congressman, i have two comments. one is that i firmly believe that bernie sanders -- what bernie sanders says, that donald trump is a pathological liar who has no shame in lying. is --her is that he number two is that trump is also a business member he would not spend one dollar without getting

too dollars worth of something in return. in regards to this phone call he wase cranial leader, pulling $250 million worth of money that was sanctioned by congress and he will hold that money until he gets something in return that will benefit him. that is classic quid pro quo. my question to yusor is, how do conversation copy you are getting today is going to be authentic, is going to be 100%? what confidence do you have that it is not redacted? guest: that is a great question. i'm sure that the intelligence committee will have experts assurethis document and that it is in its complete form. to your point, certainly the

wheel ordeal in this president has made him do a lot of things you don't see conventionally from most administration's and if he is doing this for personal gain, it is abuse of power. host: the washington post out with a tweet this morning with a picture of the mad libs fill in the blank impeachment card being congressman steve -- steve scalise of louisiana, a member of the house republican leadership. she says it stands to show that house republicans are salivating over the prospect of using impeachment against the majority of democrats politically. do you think they will be used against you politically in 2020? guest: i can only be used against you if you are doing it for the wrong reasons. if the factual evidence we find does not determine an impeachable offense, then i think that yes, it could be used against you but if we find, if

we get this transcript of the conversation and get this whistleblower report and have them come in and testify and find some culpable evidence, i don't think anybody's going to be bothered by it. administration, the final tape that it takes, as soon as they released those tapes, he lost a lot of support in his party and ended up resigning. host: if there is not a smoking gun there, can the impeachment train be stopped at this point? is there an offramp for democrats? on-rampo me, the personally is depending on what , what in this transcript this whistleblower tells us, what the report he wrote, that the inspector general appointed by president trump said was urgent and critical.

everything that leads us to the point where we are tells us that we certainly need to be paying attention. host: time for a couple more calls. our next in alabama, independent. caller: thank you. i am 67 years of age. i am an african-american. i have never voted for a republican but i want this guy to hear me. i will never in this lifetime vote for another democrat. never. they started all this bullishness they are pulling out there. for people who want to know, go to google and somebody said earlier that you ran a clip of joe biden bragging about him getting rid of that guy in ukraine who was investigating his son. all you have to do is go to google. joe biden has been cleaning up for hunter for years. hunter biden got put out of the military for failing a cocaine test.

hunter biden after his brother died -- host: we got your point. should the bidens be investigated? guest: that has been debunked already by most neutral fact checkers. they found no credible evidence of any wrongdoing on behalf of biden. this is a story that trump is using to defend himself. he clearly sees biden as the front runner and his main competition in the 2020 election. there is no credible evidence for any of this. host: chicago illinois -- chicago, illinois, bruce is a republican. caller: i have a special -- i have a simple question for the congressman. i would -- i wonder which offense he considers more egregious, a phone call that is based on hearsay, or the attempted overthrow of a duly elected president and the corruption that the fbi, justice department and the democratic party and hillary clinton, i

just wondered on his scale which one is more breaches. -- more egregious. guest: i am not going to compare that. it is not hearsay if we have a transcript of his conversation and if there is quid pro quo communication and abuse of power being practiced by our president, it is something the congress needs to do something about. host: in washington, teresa, democrat. caller: thank you so much for the opportunity. three times now you have used the term quid pro quo. , the host they are played a clip this morning of speaker pelosi talking and she said it is not even just all about quid pro quo. stillf that is not found, this is complete wrongdoing to have your potential opponent, and i agree with you, he clearly

thinks joe biden is his competition. how does the quid that in how strong is order for the house, if they don't find that? guest: i don't think u.n. charter -- i don't think you actually have to find quid pro quo, it could be a one-sided offer from the president. if he is applying pressure to a foreign leader for his benefit, that is abuse of power and that is something congress is very concerned about. what began these inquiries we are going to be following up on. host: a minute before the house comes in. we will try to get in one caller from arizona, independent. caller: hi. on kevinto comment mccarthy when he said we need to be thinking about the people, the american people and doing something for the american

this,, and my thought is as far as republican and democrats, thinking about the , ing things because i myself have a social security case and as an american, i feel the people should be focusing and talking about other things like how come i have been fighting my social security case since 2013? host: we are running out of time but we want to give the congressman a chance to talk about kevin mccarthy. guest: he did have a whole lot to say yesterday, it is interesting what he will have to say it in the next few days when this transcript comes out. i want to hear their opinion once this transcript comes out and this whistleblower report comes out. i think regardless of if you are a democrat or republican, you will want to know that you have a loyal president in the white house and that is ultimately what it comes down to. depending on what we hear, i

think you may see some defections on the republican side if in fact we are able to prove any type of abuse of power but certainly if it gets to the extent of quid pro quo. a quid pro quo offer agreement, i think you will see some changes on the republican side of the house. host: congressman vicente gonzalez, democrat from texas, we appreciate your time. we now take our viewers live to the floor of the house for gavel-to-gavel coverage. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c. september 25, 2019. i hereby appoint the honorable joyce beatty to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the ordeof