we will have more about impeachment and the funding deadline at 8:30 a.m. with representative henry cuellar, af the house appropriations committee. ♪ host: president trump and first lady lonnie a trump participating -- first lady melania trump lighting the christmas tree. announcementi's committees would be drafting articles of impeachment. welcome to "washington journal." a shorter program this morning, the house is coming in at 9:00 a.m. eastern and we will talk impeachment with you and a couple members of congress. republicans use 202-748-8001. democrats, it is 202-748-8000.

independents and others, that is 202-748-8003. if you send us a text would like. that is 202-748-8003. on twitter, we are @cspanwj. and on facebook, post your thoughts, facebook.com/cspan. we will get to some of the comments of speaker pelosi, use cnnannouncement on a townhall. -- and also hear from the response from president trump. ll.com. rollca members prepare to work over the weekend. judiciary democrats have been stay in washington over the weekend for impeachment

strategy sessions. as well as a presentation for its own counsel, members were not clear what the judiciary counsel would be presenting. we will have that hearing for you live on c-span monday morning at 9:00 a.m. eastern. live coverage on c-span and .-span radio we will hear from speaker pelosi on cnn's townhall last night asked by jake tapper a number of questions about impeachment and her decision to move forward with articles of impeachment. here is one of them. [video clip] >> you wake up and exit polls show impeaching president trump helped him get reelected, would you have any regrets?

>> no. this is an about politics at all. it is not about patriotism or partisanship -- it is about honoring our oath of office. has committed -- this president has committed all of these things as the constitutional experts said no president has come first -- has come close. politics is not even a consideration in this. this is about protect and defend -- constitution

what do we have, mr. franklin a monarchy or a republic? he said a republic if you can keep it. thisis a challenge to republic because left to his own devices, this president is taking us away from a system of checks and balances. article 2, he said, can i ken's -- i can do whatever i want. that is not what the constitution said. for him to ignore the oversight take moneystions -- appropriated by the house and forte in a bipartisan way military assistance to ukraine, a country under assault from russia, then it was 11,000 probably 13,000 people killed by russian aggression and he is

withholding the funds that could help them defend themselves. it is a wrong thing to do. in the course of doing it, the president has violated his oath. nightspeaker pelosi last on cnn. the reporting of politico's congressional team with the headline pelosi goes it alone on impeachment. are saying on facebook, sylvia says the house is doing the right thing even when the senate will probably not. dave says democrats, be careful what you wish for. republicans can call fact witnesses. laughable, house will impeach, senate will acquit, it will be over in a few months and trump will be president. pelosi has committed the biggest political blunder in history. if they move forward and it is stopped in the senate, will they ever stop?

what if your loved one was put up in court on charges of hearsay, how would you fight back on the trial? republican1 the line. democrats, it is 202-748-8000. for all others, 202-748-8002. scottsdale,to arizona. hello to alan. republican line. caller: good morning, everybody, and thank you to c-span. when i hear nancy pelosi talk and say the words she just said, i always go back on how many times can she contradict herself in everything they say? gavebama administration blankets to croatia. they did not give military assistance, they held everything back. the thing that really is so

striking is this newest revelation with schiff and the phone numbers with devin nunes andsullivan as a reporter giuliani of getting at&t to give them the phone numbers -- as far as i am concerned, that is a threat to the country. the thing i get -- i keep getting back to -- you get to a point that you just want to say everything that had gone on in the obama administration -- where was nancy pelosi? when you look at everything she is saying about from is everything obama did. the thing that always -- the visual i always get is nancy coming outside the house of representatives with the biggest gavel in the world saying to

everybody you need to vote for obama care before you read it. the amount of lies coming out of the democratic party is endless. .here is no facts there has never been any facts. it has always been a propaganda game on democratic party, nonstop propaganda. host: we will go to our democrat line, florida. betty, hello. caller: hello, c-span. i am so happy you are taking my call. i am an 87-year-old woman. i cannot believe this impeachment about how to yale andall went -- --hey are good schools

i cannot believe president -- anybodyident bush could kill all those people at 911 -- all of them from those foreign countries. the saudi's are the one that did it. they are all going on about impeachment when she is trying --let us know cut youry something, tongue out. . am 87 when the constitution was passed, what i don't understand about the united states --

host: betty in florida talked about the attorneys testifying. one of those was jonathan turley and he is an opinion contributor in addition to a law professor. his piece in the hill yesterday talks about the blowback after that. the headline, democrats offer passion over proof. the most dangerous place for an academic is often between the house and impeachment of the american president. i knew that going into the first hearing on the impeachment of donald trump. alexander hamilton -- after all, alexander hamilton that impeachment would occur in an environment of aggravated passions, yet i remained naive hoping an academic discussion on the history and standards of it might offer a brief hiatus from hateful rhetoric. in my testimony wednesday, i lamented as in the impeachment of president clinton, there is

an intense rancor and rage and intolerance that blinds people to opposing views. my call for civility may have been the least successful argument. before i finish my testimony, my home and office were inundated with threatening messages and demands i be fired from george washington university for arguing that while case for impeachment has been made, it has not been made on this record . in michigan, we hear from sue on the independent line. good morning. surer: mike, is i am not impeaching him is the right thing to do. i am wondering about censoring him would probably be the best thing. my other comment is republicans are ignoring all of the facts. you love president trump, i understand that, but look at the facts. the facts are there, he did something wrong and further, he

is obstructing, refusing to let witnesses testify, bolton and mulvaney. they can tell you right to the fact exactly what happens, but he refuses to let them testify. if we let him get away with this, what is not to say the next president will not do the same thing or he will do it again? impeaching him, i am not sure it is the right thing. maybe censoring him. host: elaine in new hampshire. caller: good morning. my tv and why are the people calling in way ahead of what is on tv? host: don't worry about that, listen to your phone and go ahead with the comment. caller: okay. host: that is just the way it works out, it is technology. it hasn't been said on tv that i

heard, but what the big picture need toat the democrats get president trump out of office because of the investigations attorney general barr is doing and durham is doing. democrats are going to file like dominoes because of the wrongdoings they did leading up to his running for president and spying on his campaign and the dossier made up by the russians that we paid for -- that was paid for by the clintons. president trump did nothing wrong with that phone call because -- the quid pro quo is -- biden and his son. he threatened to hold back the billion dollars in aid. this is the truth of what is going on. host: that is a lane in new

hampshire. front page from the new york times, the headline pelosi declares house will begin to draw up impeachment charges, vote on front could come by christmas. the announcement came as the laid judiciary committee out next steps for formal impeachment proceedings. the committee said it would convene on monday to allow lawyers and those in the intelligence committee to formerly present. it may touch on one of the few remaining internal disputes in an impeachment inquiry that has largely united them. democrats must decide whether to limit their case to dealings with ukraine or include earlier allegations he obstructed justice trying to thwart the russia investigation. after the announcement yesterday, we heard from republican leader kevin mccarthy. [video clip] 7 i listened to -- >> i listen

to speaker pelosi give us historical references. the one she skipped was alexander hamilton when he wrote there will always be the greatest danger -- that the decision to use the impeachment power would be driven by partisan animosity instead of real demonstrations of innocence or guilt. today is the day hamilton warned us. today, with -- with the speaker announcement, she has weakened this nation. it was not new news, they always had this prewritten timeline from the day they got sworn in. let's go through their timeline. after winning the majority, they had to decide who would become the chairs of their committees. impeachment committee who does year he had a campaign for it. nadler campaigned that he would be the best for impeachment and he won the position.

on the first day of swearing in by their new freshmen, they got the majority after holding their hand and swearing to the constitution. congresswoman tlaib said we are going to impeach the mother. that was their goal from the beginning. host: kevin mccarthy headlined in the hill. democrats could introduce articles of impeachment next week. a trio of sources signal the accelerated timeline is part of an effort to wrap up the historic inquiry into trump dealings with ukraine before christmas. in doing so, democrats do not want impeachment to be the last vote before the religious holidays, preferring to end on a bipartisan note like funding the government. on twitter, we are @cspanwj. when the speaker of the house incorrectly spews the date of

ratification of the constitution, you have got to wonder. lizzie says what you saw is a woman losing touch with reality, she is doing something she does not believe in, she is under pressure and she is going to break. janice in new york, thanks for waiting. good morning. caller: good morning. i think he should be impeached. i would like to refer to the last caller talking about the lies democrats are making and this president has lied over 17,000 times. the last caller referred to the investigation barr is making and they already said there was -- no one interfered in his election and i believe he should be impeached because even though he has given up his salary, the millions paid over $400 staying at mar-a-lago. he is saying mar-a-lago will be his official residence since he

could not make it the place where he can hold the summit, so if he isleaders come, reelected, we will probably be paying him over a billion dollars to stay there. he is using taxpayer money to fund personal businesses and when they always refer to this thescript, that is not official transcript of his calls, he provided a summary and you had republicans on the call -- on your show the other day and they kept saying they wanted to get back to the business of funding the wall and the military. what happened to infrastructure? what happened to health care? wet happened to making sure have jobs? making sure there is no more children dying that are being held in tent city coming over from immigration?

they are not doing the bidding of the government. when you have someone calm on whether it is republican or democrat, ask them --what happened to infrastructure? what happened to this country and why are they letting this president -- why are we paying him millions and millions of dollars? -- to go to florida. caller: on the independent line -- host: on the independent line. caller: thanks for taking my phone call. it's hard to believe when i watch these impeachment hearings because both democrats and republicans are good salesman. what to believe. i think our public servants are poor examples to the american

people as a whole in many different ways. the way they speak to each other, the way they carry themselves before the public. i really think they are very poor examples. in america's finances and the -- i don'tfinances know what is going to happen. that is my viewpoint. thanks for taking my call. host: vincent next up in oklahoma on the republican line. caller: this is vincent and i i was going toay vote for him this time around and if he doesn't win, i will have to switch over to biden. host: we lost vincent. we will hear from timothy in

illinois, democrats line. caller: hi. i just had a couple comments about the biden story. he called a constituent in iowa a liar because of the story about burisma and his son. i find it concerning republicans issuecapegoating this when it is the issue of the president we are talking about and joe biden no office at this time. i wonder if the trump administration finds joe biden such a big threat they think this investigation giuliani still continues -- he has actually gone back to ukraine and everything, if they feel this is something they are doing because they are try to stop corruption or because they got caught for what the democrats are trying to say that he had

abused the powers of his office. host: we will give you a chance to see that video in a minute, joe biden in iowa, campaigning with what he calls his know malarkey for -- no malarkey otur. a check back to capitol hill, gop senators seek information on burisma. iceman -- senators are probing a consulting firm over name dropping of hunter biden while working for the ukrainian energy mentionedurisma, and in connection to the impeachment inquiry. ron johnson of wisconsin, chuck grassley have asked the chief executive and officer at bluestone strategies for information after a report suggests the consulting firm used his position on the board

to obtain meetings with obama administration officials. our caller referring to that back and forth between the former vice president and now presidential candidate and member of the audience. we thought we would give you perspective on how that looks like. old retired an farmer and i am kind of unique because i am not a republican. okay. i have two problems with you. near as oldre damn as i am. you are too old for the job. i am 83 and i know i do not have the mental faculties i had 30 years ago. forget that stuff. you toa question i want

answer. while trump has been messing around in ukraine over there withholding foreign aid for him to come up and say they will investigate you, we know all of that. he has no backbone, we know that. you come on the other hand, sent your son over there to get a job and work for a gas company that he had no experience with gas or in order to get access for the president. you are selling access to the president. >> you are a liar, man. that is not true. no one has ever said that. -- see it on the tv

peoplemore than those now. you want to check my shape, let's do push-ups together. whatever you want to do. said my son has done anything wrong and i did not come on any occasion -- >> i did not say you were doing anything wrong. >> you said i set up my son to work in another company. isn't that what you said? msnbc. is what i hear on >> you did not hear that on msnbc. you did not hear that at all. i am not going to get into an argument with you. >> i don't want to, either. >> yeah, you do. here is the deal -- >> it looks like you don't have

any more backbone then trump does. >> any other questions? i am not voting for you. >> i know that, man. iowa coverage on the c-span networks this weekend. one take on that, howard kurtz, pelosi, biden lose their cool as impeachment battle intensifies. steve is next in missouri, independent line. caller: good morning, bill. thanks for taking my call. what i see is history repeating itself. let's go back to the first impeachment. abraham lincoln got him in there to bring the country together and he was a confederate. he ended up siding with the confederates and that is why he

was impeached back then. if it wasn't for lincoln being a president, the whole bunch would have been hung. that is what we have going on right now, it is pretty well known in the intelligence community trump is working for putin. they say he owes him a poppel hundred-- a couple thousand dollars and that is why they will not -- he will not release his taxes. the whole republican party, they have been falling this since bushss and reagan and junior and the real witchhunt is what they did to reagan junior. they started -- they were hounding him so much, he lied under oath. host: political reporting on the president's attorney's move. trump asks them to block the

subpoena. congress cane exercise dominion and control over the office of the president. politico.comyou to if you want to read that article. kentucky, jd on the republican line. caller: can you hear me? host: we can. nancy pelosi,eve she is a hypocritical person. how can she stand in front of the united states citizens and say and the accusations she is saying toward president trump when she is guilty of the same stuff she is charging him with? withnly thing different this president than all the other presidents we had different before president trump is president trump has brought out the truth about what the

politicians have been doing for the last 50 years in washington, d.c. they have been going to work to get a paycheck and not doing their job. when that happens over a period of time, it doesn't matter what business you have got, what office you hold, and who you are apartg for, it gets tore from side to side, up and down. if we cannot live together on earth without fighting, how are we going to live together -- if we believe in god, when we get to heaven? host: mark, hello. caller: good morning. thanks for having my call. i would like to say the impeachment hearings in my opinion have got to move forward regardless of whether the republicans continue to say this

is partisan. it appears the only partisan comments are being made on the republican side. in history andk think about what our constitution means, you will see what president trump has been doing does meet the description of high crimes and misdemeanors. growing up as a kid, i used to listen to my dad tell me stories about fighting in world war ii and i often wondered how somebody like hitler could transform a whole nation and brainwashed a whole nation and take over nearly the entire world. host: much more "washington continue ourd, conversation on impeachment and more. we will talk to members of congress. coming, scott perry of pennsylvania. he is a member of the house for affairs committee.

texason, henry cuellar of . ♪ americans are coming out and getting engaged and politics is feeling less like a spectator sport for people on the left. a lot of the same social issues the book covers are the ones relevant today. people were outraged by issues like family separation and sexual assault of women and the etc.uation of lack lives, this period provides a crucial precursor to our moment. >> holly jackson talks about her book, "american radicals." watch sunday night at 8:00 p.m.

eastern on please stand by. -- on q&a. 2020n's studentcam competition is in full swing. students are hard at work creating documentaries on the issues they would like the candidates to address and we would love to see your progress. it take us behind the scenes and share your photos for a chance to win additional cash prizes. still working on an idea? we have resources to help out. our getting started page has information to guide you through the process on making a documentary. c-span will award $100,000 in cash prizes including a $1000 grand prize. all entries must be received midnight on january 20, 2020. >> the best advice i can give is to not be afraid to take your issue seriously.

let your voice be heard now. >> for more information, go to our website, studentcam.org. "washington journal" continues. host: we are joined by scott perry, member of the house foreign affairs committee. your committee was part of the lead up to the impeachment inquiry. what is your understanding of the drafting of additional articles of impeachment and will foreign affairs be involved in that? guest: thank you for the opportunity to be here. i was involved in every one except i think one of the proceedings with the intelligence committee and oversight committee proceeding the public portion and so my understanding is that they will be drafted by the judiciary committee and the other committees that have been involved to this point will not

be involved and that is my current understanding. i suppose that could change because i also understand investigations may continue and i don't know that that would be the purview of the judiciary committee or the three committees that initially had been involved and that will be determined, i suspect, by the speaker and the leadership on the democrat side. host: were you surprised at all about -- by the speaker's announcement? guest: no, quite honestly. i am not sub -- surprised and nobody in the town is and maybe nobody in america. the rhetoric has been present since the president was elected, maybe even before not even before -- not just from citizens and pundits, but members of congress to some effect they wanted to impeach the president. it has been increasing steadily over time, so i am not surprised at all.

has changed,strict redistricting in pennsylvania. went foryour district the president, but it is fairly evenly split. guest: it is much more even, so i hear from both sides. host: what did you hear when you were back for thanksgiving? gettysburg is not far away. guest: i am out often shopping and buying gas, so i hear from both sides. it seems to be more in support of the president, but maybe people who do not support the president would not approach me, it is highly anecdotal. i do hear from both sides, generally more supportive so far. host: let me ask you about a piece on fox news with your colleague from kentucky, andy biggs, representative biggs and perry impeachment inquiry shows deep state continues to undermine trump. you say if we have learned anything from the last two

weeks, it is the reality of the deep state or swamp democrats have been relentlessly attacking president trump since the election and they have been joined by the washington establishment. havere of career diplomats come to the intelligence committee to testify against president trump in the impeachment inquiry. tell us a little bit more what you mean by this deep state. guest: what i saw firsthand, especially in the skiff and the testimony of the inter--- inter-agency members -- that was a term hereto for not used, inter--- these folks seem to be -- this is my characterization, my opinion. i think many people. it -- got it and seemed affronted that the president was badly in what they

saw as their purview. we write the talking points, we set the policy and make decisions and all of a sudden the president has been interjected or interdicted himself. i wrote it down in my notes, one of these individuals said i suppose the president makes policy. this is the executive branch and whether you agree or like the president, the president makes policy all the time by virtue of ,hings he says, where he goes and the president makes policy, he is the chief policymaker. host: i want to make sure i correct myself, andy biggs is from arizona. you said 40 years or so in uniform with the pennsylvania national guard. as a member of the military, dated you see this insider mentality -- did you see this insider mentality? in terms of areas of military affairs and foreign affairs, do you see that deep state in the

military thwarting of some of what president trump wants to do? guest: i am concerned about it ever since i was a private and moving through the ranks, you had differences with your command, your leadership and your duty was to state your differences and make the case. as soon the command says you have made your case, this is what you are doing, your job is to salute and move out and do the best of your ability to complete the mission the commander has given you whether you agree or not and if you are so vehement in your disagreement, you need to depart and be critical of it, but you are jeopardizing the entire mission if you are seeking to stay inside in the organization and undermine it from the inside, that is unacceptable, especially for members of uniformed services. host: you are seeing that more broadly across the government and in terms of "jeopardizing the mission" in terms of policies.

guest: we elect the president, he is the commander in chief is accountable and that is the most important part of this equation. while you might not like the policy or the mission, the president is accountable for that and voters might not like it either and they have an opportunity to vote on that. by you taking it in your own hands, there is no accountability and you jeopardize potentially the mission and the command structure. it is unacceptable. int: democrats could argue terms of affecting change and legislation -- they argue we passed all these bills -- democratic bills in the house and they are held up in the senate. is it a fair comparison? guest: it could be. as long as we are talking about uniform things, the defense authorization act, it doesn't

mean we agree everything, but we understand defense of the nation is important, so we have found a way to be bipartisan. they loaded it up with a bunch of things that made it so no republicans voted for it and all democrats did vote for it. it became partisan. it seems as though they want to be partisan for a reason. host: what is your sense of that getting done? we will talk other issues as well. guest: we have to be focused on it and i think they are making headway, but the partisanship and the messaging -- doing things in the legislature just nexte it for an ad in the election has to end. host: calls for congressman scott perry. the lines are 202-748-8001 for republicans. independents, -- democrats, 202-748-8000. and independents, 202-748-8002.

we will go to the independent line and hear from chattanooga. this is juliet. caller: good morning. -- icalling this morning am calling for the first part of the conversation, but we are here now. my question is to us as americans, what are we going to do when we end up losing our republic and end up being a -- it is already clear to me with what i hear the president say in his speeches monarchyould prefer a over a republic. when we wake up one day and find ourselves in such a state, how are we going to work with that? guest: i certainly hope that is

not the case and i would hope every member works diligently to make sure that does not happen. as a member who has had the honor of serving in this administration and the previous one, it is interesting i heard crash i let people know i did not see it in that regard. i understand the executive branch was looking to flex -- the loot -- the judicial and legislative branch was looking to flex its muscles. it keeps everything in check. it does not mean it is often times pleasant or simple or clean, so to speak, but it does have a very important function and i see it working right now. host: your sense is the president would find areas of agreement with the house democratic leadership were it

not for the impeachment effort? guest: without a doubt. i am honored to serve on the transportation and infrastructure committee, the president is very interested in doing infrastructure upgrades and robust -- even more robust than republicans would be interested and he has signaled again.er and over we are not even moving a bill out of the house, that is frustrating because there is an area of opportunities for --ocrats and republicans liberals and conservatives to get a win for people, not that we will agree on everything, but historically, it has been bipartisan. look at the current policy and say is what we are offering better and it is not perfect, but is it better? and you move forward and there is an opportunity being lost. host: william in florida. caller: hi, scott.

how are you? guest: i am well, sir. good to talk to you. caller: good. good. my question is what do you think trump thinks about going forward when you have the democrats he is to impeach and building a great economy for america? that -- how does a president navigate that? guest: i think it is a great question not only for the president, but all of us. i think this has strained relationships. i have seen it personally and in other members across the aisle and i think it exists across the branches. once this is over, no matter how it turns out, it will be incumbent on each of us to put that aside, put the personal

feelings aside and move forward for the country. i am not saying it will be difficult, but we have to acknowledge those personal feelings are present and the american people expect us to put them aside and try to get something accomplished. i think it will take an effort on everybody's part. host: democrats line is next. willie in fort lauderdale, florida. caller: how are you doing today? guest: i am well. caller: thank you for your station. i wake up and watch every morning because you are a neutral station. the situation with trump in ukraine, whatever he went over there to do, he did. the situation came out whatever he was doing. so now they would like we got caught, so we will stick together anyway. i don't understand this situation with intelligent people working over there.

host: i don't think the president has actually been to ukraine. guest: not that i understand. i would say this, we have watched this, as you know, over the course of a couple months mind a let's keep in couple things we know for sure. under president obama, there were concerned about the biden's relationship with this company, burisma. when ambassador give ottovich was being -- prepared, they coached answers because there were concerns. this president rightly or wrongly has concerns about what happened in 2016 and ukraine's involvement and if you listen to the transcript, 2016 was referenced directly. of all the things we have heard, that is one of the facts that cannot be disputed. whether that is right or not or whether the president should look into the past, that is open

to conjecture. if it was important for the obama administration to look into ukraine, i don't understand why it is so problematic for this president to do this. some of my colleagues on the others of the aisle would like to move that concerned with what 2020.ed in 2016 to there is nothing in the call and zero factual basis. that is all rhetoric, all conjecture, all circular reporting, there is no fact to support and substantiate that claim. host: picking up on the ukraine aid, let me ask you about a story in the new york times, opponents fear zelensky might capitulate to russia. domestic political opponents are concerned having no clear american diplomatic backing may be too willing to make concessions to moscow. they are meeting next week,

early in talks. any widespread perception he has done so could weaken him politically, hampering his ability to follow through on anticorruption efforts. host: the president of ukraine is in a tenuous situation because of the corruption issues that have plagued that country and i will say this as well, these proceedings in washington, d.c. and the public notoriety of them, the release of the call transcripts and the conversations are very damaging and counterproductive, and my opinion, to what we are trying to affect with ukraine and their relationship with russia, national security and international security and these proceedings and the focus on them makes it more difficult, but it should also encourage us to redouble our efforts and our relationship with a healthy ukraine. host: bill on the line in

missouri. since this started seems likewon, it the democratic party just wants to run the whole show. pick somebody, they win, that is who you go against in the next election. president trump is doing what president trump should do, he has the right to look into other nations before we give them military assistance, that is all that is going on, he did not say anything about joe biden or anything else. people need to wait for the next election and think for themselves and not listen. you watch one channel or the other, it is totally opposite, they flip-flop. use your own judgment, listen, be open-minded and be nice, that is all i have got to say.

ist: that is -- guest: that a great point and i love that he ended with be nice. while we disagree on a lot of things, even with our spouses and family members, we are all in this together, so the be nice thing is a great point to make. this is what we have elections for. the president can be a polarizing individual. some people really like him, some people don't. if we disagree with how you are comported yourself, should we look at ukraine's long-standing corruption issues before we send tax 400 million hard earned dollars? i think that is appropriate. how you use the terminology and would you look at 2016 -- should he have done it that way, maybe that is a different discussion, but these are things we choose to elect or choose not to elect the president for, these are not

things we mired the country in impeachment over because it has long-lasting effects and near term effects like you talked about, the relationship with ukraine and russia is being affected. host: you are running for reelection in 2020. is president trump an asset or a liability. comes to a rally in new york, will scott perry be on the state? guest: york county credits itself or bringing the president across the top in 2016 and he will be well received. every two years, we are close to the people and it is their opportunity to say you have done a good job or not, that is the way the founders designed this and some other parts of pennsylvania, maybe not so much. wherever this president goes, if you look at the size of the rallies, he is well received. host: margaret on the republican

line. caller: hi. i have been listening to all of these television insults to the president and i don't understand -- i was brought up to believe america is the greatest country in the world. i don't understand how they can talk about him, about his beautiful family -- it is all hatred, i know that. the worst part of hatred against mr. trump was when the senator who died last year told him not to come to his funeral, that should be an example of hatred that is going on in this country . it breaks my heart to see it. guest: this is the thing where every citizen and certainly every leader, every public official has a duty to dial down, tone down the temperature and the rhetoric and rhetoric of hatred whether it is in public

officials, citizens, or the press. i don't think it helps things picking on the president on family, juvenile son, and even the first lady seemed to be low blows to me and counterproductive to what we are all trying to accomplish as citizens and i would say this as well when you talk about seeing different things on different channels, it is important all citizens multisource their information because unfortunately, media outlets on too many occasions have their own viewpoints and it is hard to know what the truth is unlike one of the other callers said, you have to look around and make your own judgment, but it should be based on all the different information you can get because it is very different depending on where you get it. host: kathy in michigan on the democrats line. guest: hi, kathy.

caller: my first point, you talked about following orders. there are unethical orders that should never be followed, that is when you walk away and report. guest: without a doubt. caller: i feel the country i ise in, i am 62, almost 63, moving more towards a communism-type government and i will always oppose that, always, never change. i feel like this president, he is selling out our country. if i engaged in any of the jobs i had and the behaviors of you gave me this and i will give you this, i would be fired. i want to wrap up about the impeachment hearing, the situation in iowa with joe biden, the gentleman questioning him had every right to question him about his son's involvement

in this recent situation and you don't shut people down and then name call them and taught them as mr. biden did and that is why i believe he will not be the right candidate for the democratic party. we have to act civil to each other and not act as if we do not have our freedom of speech and if you do not like it, you need to shut up and go away. guest: i do agree with you that we all have our opinions. i saw the news clip of the gentleman with vice president biden, i don't think he was opposed to vice president biden, i think he wanted to ask serious questions that are relevant and that is appropriate. if you put yourself out there as a candidate, you need to be willing to do that. i agree with kathy completely on her concerns about communism and always being opposed to it and i

feel exactly the same way. i get frustrated when communism is conflated with the right side of the political spectrum. that might be seen differently as totalitarianism, which takes on different forms, communism has nothing to do with the right size of the political spectrum. host: you followed orders and gave orders in the military -- 2009, missions in iraq in 2010. journal reported the administration is considering 14,000 troops for the middle east after the president withdrawing many of our troops from syria. the president said that is wrong and tweeted do not believe any article or story that uses anonymous sources having to do with trade or any other subject, only accept information if it

has a living name on it, the fake news media makes up many sources and stories. what is your sense of this ask? $15,000.have heard as americans, we want to have this information, especially when it involves members in uniform, there is also a tactical advantage to making don't telegraph and report the exact numbers of where they will be. iran is becoming more and more unstable. this has been going on since late last spring and having troops in the area in case because you are preparing for eventualities is important. it would be seen as irresponsible if we were not compared -- repaired -- prepared for some sort of necessary defensive action for american interest in the middle east and i think that is what the

president is preparing for. host: your hometown paper says perry breaks with freedom caucus over vote to condemn that syria withdrawal. why did you vote in favor of that resolution? guest: there was another part in turkey and i wanted to condemn turkey for their actions, which i think were unnecessary and politically motivated. i am not a fan of president erdogan. i like to make sure people understand i am a fan of the people of turkey. i think their leadership is not doing a great job for them and not in keeping with the values pin thatst and i directly on erdogan. host: eddie on the independent line. caller: hello, represented of. . i have three questions given that you have voted to reelect -- safeguard us.

with regard to the president, do you think the president should follow up on his promise to divest from all of his businesses? the second question is do you think his business entanglements and interests around the world to present a national security threat? and the third question is is the president in violation of the emoluments clause and are you willing to support the constitution? caller: those are great -- guest: those are great questions. divest, theto president has to and i don't think anybody would support anything other than following the law completely regarding your business entanglements as aey relate to electedeach one t financial disclosure which enumerates all those potential conflict of interest, and everyone has to abide by that. and if you don't, you will be afoul of the law and that should

be dealt with accordingly. his businesses, as a national security issue, once again, if they are in national security issue, then that needs to be determined, and the appropriate actions taken. whether there is a penalty for that, or whether the president and his family can just be divested of that. and if there are particular instances, i am happy to listen to them, but i think it is important we don't just make a blanket statement and make the accusation, that because he has a business interest, there is a national security problem. i am not sure there is, i am not sure there isn't, but i think we have to have an open mind about that. about the emoluments clause, we have regular hearings in multiple committees on the house of representatives. being concerned about it is one thing, but having faxed approve prove it before we destroy someone's reputation or their personal interest, financial or otherwise, it is important that

every person is treated equally in this country, whether you are the president or whether you are joe citizen. while the president certainly has a higher standard, i don't think there's a different law that he has to abide by that unduly persecutes him because we don't agree with him or we don't like him. following the law is important for every single person. everybody has to have an open mind about it, and we all are bound by the same provisions. host: scott perry, congressman from the fourth district of pennsylvania was again, we average it you coming here. more ahead on washington journal. we will continue our conversation with you about how the house is moving forward on impeachment. the lines are the same, republicans, 202-748-8001, democrats, 202-748-8000, independents,

202-748-8000. coming up, we speak with representative henry cuellar of texas about impeachment, in the fast impending government funding deadline. ♪ announcer: american history tv on c-span3 looks at the impeachment of president nixon and clinton, sunday starting at 6:00 p.m. on oral histories. former u.s. representatives trent lott and elizabeth holden remark on serving on the judiciary committee during the impeachment of president nixon and president clinton. >> here is a guy who had a part in my decision to run for office and was helpful in my winning president,d up to as and i want up having to sit in judgment of him and eventually having to say that i would vote for an article of impeachment. announcer: then at 8:00, we look at the impeachment of president clinton, with a portion of the 1988 house judiciary committee debate. >> i think you have done a great

role of the senate which had ha the important -- which has the important judiciary role to agree or disagree, then our founding fathers made it extraordinarily difficult to eliminate the president from office by requiring a two thirds vote. that is why i have always said, unless this is done bipartisanly, and tragically, there is no bipartisanship here, but i am hopeful that if it gets to the senate there would be bipartisanship, but absent that, there will be no -- the gentleman yields. announcer: explore our nation's past. america's history tv. this weekend, the impeachments of president nixon and bill clinton. washington journal continues. host: back to your calls and comments on impeachment. republicans, 202-748-8001. 202-748-8000, and

for independents and all others, 202-748-8002. you can send us a text and include your name and where you are texting from. this is a question that the comment from mark in massachusetts -- a comment from oscar in virginia. he says, for millions of americans like me, trump isn't an imposter, there isn't anything impeachable. he released the aid within the timeline. a tweet says that the american people can see right through the democrats and what this is really about. they think everybody is stupid. the american people are not stupid. we go back to your phone calls. stephen in youngstown, ohio on the republican line, welcome. caller: how can we believe that any of this is legitimate when the democrats were looking to impeach trump before he even took the oath of office?

it went from one thing to another. they said he would not accept mueller report, they are the ones who did not accept the mueller report. they said he wanted to make deals with the russians, it was obama who said to the russians, i'll give you a better deal after the elections. he didn't want anybody to know what he was doing before the election. he told them he would give them a better deal after the election. it was the bidens who were wrapped up in corruption in the ukraine, and anytime you ask him about it, he gets all angry and brushes it off. how can anybody believe that this is legitimate? of democrats put a bunch highly partisan people, under up. to rip them the one person, gordon sondland, who was the star witness, he is the one person who actually talked to the president, and the president told him to do the right thing. i mean, if you can't beat them

at the polls, try to dirty them up at the next election and this is exactly what,'s going on. host: mike is next come from missouri on the independent life. caller: good morning. host: good morning. thatr: i would like to say i believe that trump is guilty, and the last person you had caller, wasast saying that the democrats have been after trump since he took office, which is true, because gettingt get started on rid of people who have no morals quick enough. even before the democrats republicans come they paid to start the steele

dossier. everyone of the republicans was talking about how bad donald trump is, he had no morals, blah, blah, blah, all that kind of thing, and they paid to start a dossier. then after he got elected, all of a sudden, all the bad things they said about him went away, well, they didn't really go away. the other day in one of the hearings, micah johnson from louisiana said, the people are tired of this. we sure are tired of this. we are tired of donald trump bringing up things to cause these kind of problems. i think that if witnesses were made to testify by the we would findhat out the truth. biden and that guy

the other day, joe biden, he definitely has the right to call thatman a liar, because definitely was nothing to do with joe that his son took a job. host: do you think, mike that the former vice president tried to shut them down? caller: now, i think the vice president defendant himself just like the republicans say trump is defending himself. joe biden defended himself and his son. what really makes this really deal. that ukraine involving joe biden is a russian talking point, and the republicans are carrying out russian talking points. it was definitely russia that interfered. all our agencies say so. host: ok, we will let you go. you go to judy in ohio on the

republican line. good morning, judy. caller: good morning. i have a question about the integrity of the u.s. election process. i read somewhere that a --artisan legislation host: judith, listen to your phone, not the tv, we hear you loud and clear. caller: ok. i have a question about the integrity of the united states election process, and whether any bipartisan bills have been passed to protect the elections. host: that's real good question. in the current 160th congress, i can't name one off the top of my 116th- in the current congress, can't name one off the top of my head. speaker pelosi yesterday asked committee chairs to proceed with

articles of impeachment. they write the house speaker said the state of trump's wrongdoing strikes at the heart of the constitution and asked house committee chairs to proceed with articles of impeachment saying, they have no choice but to act. later at the news conference she was asked with a reporter if there were an aha moment for her. ha moment fore a the country was the action taken appointee,t trump's the inspector general of the intelligence committee, who said there was a credible report from a whistleblower of great concern, than that congress should be aware of that. ukrainethe facts of the situation. it just changed everything. opposeds went from 59 to impeachment, 34 in favor, to

about even. this isn't saying that the ukraine was the vehicle of the president's action, asking a president of another country to make an announcement that he was investigating the president's political opponent, and withholding military assistance that was voted by the congress of the united states, unless and until he did so. the president did so. this isn't about ukraine it is about russia,. who benefits by withholding that military assistance? russia. it is about russia. russia is invading eastern ukraine over a 10,000 people died -- over 10,000 people died now, maybe some of them in the absence of conveying the military assistance that was voted on in a bipartisan way by the congress of the united states. sometimes people say, i do know about ukraine, i don't know much

about ukraine, well, all roads lead to putin. host: part of the news conference yesterday from nancy pelosi. on the washington post writing -- this moment was made from a dust for nancy pelosi. he writes, he told me she didn't like the assignment his editors gave him thursday morning, so he waited dust so he said, as we awaited the house because ms. conference, he decided to come up to the capitol, and as he put it, make his own news. he proceeded to do just that. pelosi has been the very definition of deliberate thursday, first in a televised statement announcing that lawmakers would draw up articles of impeachment, then in a news conference defending that decision.king" but as she strode off the stage, rosen stopped her in her tracks

, "do you haterds to the president, madam speaker ?" she said "i don't hate anybody, nobody in the world."the president reacting to that on twitter saying that "nancy pelosi just had a nervous fit, she hates that we will soon have 182 great judges and much more, stock market and employment records. she says she prays for the president, i don't believe her, not even close. help the homeless in your district, nancy. u.s.m.c.a.?" we go to new york on the republican line. go ahead. caller: listen, i just have a quick question. i do know how the democrats could fake that the rest of the country is so stupid that we can't see a con job and a railroad job. holdingot biden on tape back $1 billion from these

people unless they get his son off the hook. then you got his son getting 1.5 billion from the chinese, our worst enemy, forget the russians, the chinese got that covered. the are after us. the russians can't do it. the chinese could if we let them. we've got a big problem. if anybody wants. come wert the president if anybody that wants to support the president, we should send a $20 bill for president trump's election in 2020. 20.or host: on the democrats line in tennessee, this is the lloyd. caller: good morning. i have some quick comments. number 1 come they said -- number one, they fed on pres. trump's call, everybody's name. about about women, talked

-- [indiscernible] another thing co when he invited russia to give him information on clinton's emails, he opened the can of worms. these people out there in the , they are looking at this wrongdoing. they are going to let this man continue to get up there and lie to us. he has said it out of his own mouth. he can do whatever he wants to. be even asked china to come and help. and saidgot up there it was a quid pro quo. in other words, they need to let folks know it is wrongdoing, what he is doing, obstruction, what trump is doing. host: now to kathy in oklahoma on the independent line. caller: good morning. i hope you will let me say what have to say and i will do it as

quickly as i can. people need to look at the big picture. the biggest redistribution of wealth during our time was while obama and the republicans both served. our whole government has become a pay for play. to decide trump is guilty, you would have to read his mind, you would have to know whether his motive was to get biden, which i seriously doubt because i don't think, biden was a threat to him. i don't think he felt threatened by biden. or was it corruption? how can we honestly think that someone didn't -- when biden's son got millions of dollars, for nothing, for no experience. why would a higher someone with no experience -- where would they hire someone with no experience and pay him millions of dollars? i hope we look at the big picture. i think trump was elected to change our country. i don't think he is presidential. i have been a democrat all my

life, but i am not anymore, because we need to straighten out our country. host: thanks, kathy. we will hear from bill in pennsylvania on the republican line. caller: how are you? host: thanks. caller: i have been in this years. 625 years best 65 all my family are in europe and the are starving, they are dying. now i want to tell you about donald trump. donald trump is one of the best residents america best best presidents -- one of the best residents america ever had. what he is doing him he's a businessman. man who is 35g a years in public, and criticize the beautiful way he wants to fix america. he wants to make america great for his family and for the american people. he loves his country.

i am just going to tell you something for the american people, wake up and see what the man is trying to do, he is trying to do the best for this country. but the moment he got in there they want to destroy his life, they want to destroy his family, these democrats. they should be ashamed of themselves. she is a billionaire and she is talking about donald trump. america, i appreciate you. i love you so. i have been here 65 years. i love this country more than anything in the world. please wake up. wake up and see what is going on here. host: ok, we will go to our democrat line next. richard in pikesville, maryland. caller: hello, thank you for taking my call. host: sure. caller: i wanted to make a few comments real quick.

thet, the way that republican talking point is about the professor, using trump's son, barron's name during the deposition, i think that was wrong because, look at this, michael jensen named his son -- michael jackson named his done prince jackson. prince.n't make him a just because trump named his son barron doesn't make him a baron, unless he hopes to become king. see what i mean? no president in history ever got elected by losing the popular vote by 3 million votes. he wasn't going to be a way to govern in the first place. he really did not win the elections, he cheated. that is why the countries where it is. his supporters still don't represent the majority of the country. so he is going to always have problems. whether or not he is impeached now or later doesn't matter,

because he will eventually be out of office. either by election or -- he will get impeached and get out of office, because the first time he got into office was the wrong way. one more thing. keep coming up in saying that trump is a great president, no, he's not a great president. when you make statements like that, what has he done, they can't list off anything he has done. the only thing trump has done this being in office's benefit himself and vladimir putin. host: thanks, richard in maryland. other news this morning, in the business section of the "wall street journal." uber technologies received 5981 reports of sexual assault involving u.s. passengers or drivers in 2017 and 2018, underscoring the risk that has

achieved criticism of the right healing companies around the world. you can read more at wsj.com. your comments on the impeachment process available on text, we welcome them on text at 202-748-8003. this is linda in orange, connecticut -- the g.o.p. callers are asking us to believe every career professional, every political appointee ever appointed by the president, in every military officer that testified under old are lying and the president is on the person telling the truth. and they call us crazy. the house republican leader kevin mccarthy held a news conference yesterday and was asked by reporters after nancy pelosi was asked this in her news conference, if kevin mccarthy thought that the speaker hated president trump. [video clip]. >> are gathered you were watching the speaker denied that there is any personal animus on her part that is motivating impeachment. representative comments had

suggested as much at the hearing yesterday when he intimated that democrats are simply beaching president trump because they don't like the guy. you probably also heard her invoke her catholicism. are you take the speaker at her that thisou believe is not what this is about? her mccarthy: i will take at their word, what laib whenoman tt she said, when she refer to the president that she was going to impeach him. when adam schiff continued to lie to the public only to get to the point where they are today. when he said he was going to send them back to the golden throne. reporter: i asked about the speaker. rep. mccarthy: i'll take the speaker at her word, but if she paused for a moment, she looked at just the facts, she would not have made that determination. if she paused and she actually did send to the hearing

yesterday, on what a democrat who did not vote for the president, who has studied the constitution, who most at any time has been a witness for democrats or republicans based upon his own ability as a scholar that this is the weakest, the thinnest impeachment in history of america, that there is no bribery, no extortion, no extraction of justice -- obstruction of justice and no abuse of power. reporter: you don't agree with what she said? rep. mccarthy: i don't believe that. host: next we hear from the independent line. caller: good morning. i can't understand why the republicans don't -- can't seem to understand the difference andeen a private favor something that is being asked on behalf of our country, and apparently, the i.m.f. and a few others. don't they understand the

difference come republicans, if there's one thing trump loves himself more than the countries himself. a little nervous here. i will just listen to the offline. host: from mississippi on the republican line, go ahead. caller: i would like to respond to the last color. our government is not run by assumption and what they think is in somebody's heart and somebody's mind. nobody knows what is in donald trump's mind, and what he thinks or plans to do. also, i would like to ask the democrats, when they got so moral, and when they started caring about morals and the government, after what bill clinton did in the oval office, i mean, let's get real, you people are hypocrites. this has turned into a joke. host: new reporting this morning from alexander bolton of "the

hill with the headline on his story -- both sides have reason to want speedy impeachment trial. he writes that senators in both parties say there is incentive in the political spectrum to keep the impeachment trial as short as possible, especially since his acquittal is a foregone conclusion. g.o.p. senators say they want to give trump ample time to present his defense and call witnesses, if necessary, but they wanted to avoid burning up too much floor time, and risking the awkward possibility of an impeachment trial overlapping with next year's state of the union address. some democrats worry about the public getting impeachment fatigue with the trial butting up against the iowa caucuses. dawn on the democrats line, sacramento, california. caller: hello. i am calling regarding this -- if, you know what, i wonder

these congressmen have taken any money or signed any papers for trump as far as going against him. have they taken any money from him? that's the number one question. next, i would like to comment about brainwashed republicans. what's wrong with these people, man? if i told you that i would give stop1 million if you would thesedemocrats from: -- republicans calling on the democrats line, if i actually give you a million dollars, would you stop them from doing that, that would be a quid pro quo, if you agree. stopu said, hey, i'm gonna these guys from calling if you give me the money. so, i don't know why these people are so confused about quid pro quo.

if this was any other president he would have been gone. elections are concerned, he stole the election. that is why he is so upset, because you don't want anybody to know that he ain't no real president. he is just an imposter, a worker for the russians. host: on the independent line next, like water, virginia, greg. welcome. caller: yes, i would just like to report -- i've got any seven friends and everyone of them actually are republicans some of them in heavily republican area. host: where is blackwater located? caller: southwest. themof those 27, 25 of realizee around to

everything that is going on is true, and they are not going to vote for trump again, except for two of them. most of them are vets like myself. i am a vet, 13 years. what i'm seeing this guy doing makes me sick to my stomach. that i fought for this country that is being torn apart by this lowlife individual. way.are feeling the same one of them had found out from people, over these past three years, talking with them, that, unfortunately, they used to always just watch fox news. kind of anthem agreement, i said, i'll tell you what, i'll watch fox and the other news, if you will promise to do the same thing.

and, then we'll get together and talk about it when we meet at the v.a. they have slowly come around to realizing, they said, actually, it is kind of comical, you can kind of see these -- you can kind of see through these fox guys now. i think some of the republicans problems, they are not scanning the channels and then trying to put the pieces together. host: thanks for that, greg. another republican member retiring from the house, tom of georgia. the hill reporting this story. he said after some reflection he decided to pass the baton. he will serve out the rest of the term. on our republican line, steve, hi, there. caller: hi,. thank you for taking my call. it is about the impeachment proceedings. in the proceedings, using the

bank robbery as an example for intention, if somebody robs a bank and the are intending to rob a bank, well, you are committing a crime. in government, when government does it sting operation on a criminal, a person or a drug dealer, and they offer them a bribe, that would be an intention and it would be a , doingrom the government crime as far as the government is concerned, even though the drug dealer didn't go through. it would still be the intention that would be the crime, from what i understand. so the government is practicing the same thing. so i just want to make sure that, my point of view is that we have to be careful about what kind of intention is it being used in this impeachment process. steve.key-doke

more of your calls and comments coming up after the break. we will be joined by democrat congressman henry clay or of texas,- henry cuellar of a member of the appropriations committee. we should see the jobs numbers coming in shortly. we will have that for you as well. the house is coming in at 9:00 eastern, so a bit of a shorter program for you. ♪ >> this weekend, book tv features three new nonfiction books. friday, scott adams, creator of the comic strip dilbert, and author of "loserthink." >> we are elevated in our opinions because the news model is forcing us towards more provocative stuff. before they would have said, [snores] --news -- now it is replaced by

entertainment. >> retired forma n.a.t.o. supreme allied commander discusses his book "same true north." going to combat in afghanistan all tricked out in my bulletproof everything, in my helmet, guys on my right and left with big guns, i was pretty safe. next to me would be someone like richard engel, from nbc news, just standing there in an ill fitting bullet-proof vest, and i assure you, it wouldn't stop a bullet. he's got a little tinpot helmet on. he is risking his life to tell us what is happening. you think he is serving us? i do. >> then, sunday at 9:00 p.m. eastern on after words, "new york times" contributing writer talks about the metoo movement. she is interviewed by "new york magazine" writer at large and author rebecca trester. >> people are asking me, what is

the path? what is the path to redemption? we have to have something. i have been trying to come up with an answer because people keep asking me, and i realized the answer is, have about,, i don't know, it is not my responsibility to figure it out. how about you troubleshoot, keep trying stuff until people forgive you? i don't know, how about you figure it out? >> watch book tv every weekend on c-span2. announcer: washington journal continues. host: henry cuellar congressman from texas democrat representing cities like laredo and rio grande city in congress, and has been for a number of years, in the 28th district of texas. thanks for being here this morning. guest: it is a pleasure to be here with you again. host: we have spent the morning on impeachment. we will start their and your reaction from what you heard that we will start their -- we

will start there, and your reaction from what you heard from speaker pelosi. guest: you know, it is a process. the process is to look at what the evidence is, then if you think there's enough evidence, you start moving through the process. you start off with the intelligence committee, now with the judiciary committee, then, eventually, it will hit the floor. there will be a vote there, then it will go to the senate and they will have their hearing also. then we will see what happens at that time. the reactions are either impeach, do not impeach, you could even look at a censure. right now people are just looking at impeach or not impeach, weather is always a third option. host: where do you stand on that? guest: i am an attorney by profession, and i've been taught that what you do is, you listen to the evidence, to both sides, and at the end, when people finish, close, like they say in the court, then you go ahead and make a decision.

so i am just looking at what has come up so far. but i think we need to finish the process before we move forward to the decision us to where we are going to go. host: three of the house committees are getting the focus with impeachment. but the appropriations committee is funny in a government. your work is largely done in terms of the spending bills, correct? guest: we worked on it very hard during the year. by july, we had done all the appropriations bills. the senate started a little later, i think they started in september, but we are now in a process that we extended it to december 20. my understanding, what is going on right now is that we are trying to get both sides to agree. there are some bills, as you know, that are a lot easier to pass, but once you get to the border, do you want a wall, the e.u. not put a wall, do you put money for -- do you not put a

wall, you put money for i.c.e. -- it gets complicated. my hope is that we do all of them together and not have any cr's, the continued resolutions. host: let's talk about the u.s.m.c.a. trade agreement. there have been reports back-and-forth that it is very close to passing. you come from a district where trade is very important, cross-border trade between mexico and laredo has increased over the years. what is your stance on u.s.m.c.a.? guest: i support it, because i live it and i breathe it down in my district. really from the northern part of the rural areas, to the border areas of my district. every day, there is more than $1.7 billion in trade to the u.s. and mexico. that is over $1 million every single minute. there are jobs that are being created here because of the trade that we have with mexico, jobs being created because of

the trade we have with canada, and i look at this as a region. as we see other areas like china and other places that are being very competitive across the world, i think we need to look at north america, with mexico, canada, and the u.s. as a region, because of the global competition we are facing. you know, i look at this as something that has to be done, because the options are three -- either we can go rejected and go rules, we cano keep the status quo which is the current n.a.f.t.a. on, but a lotgo of things have changed since the 1990's. the digital age is upon us, e-commerce. finally, the third option, which is the one i approve, is get the original n.a.f.t.a., make it better, make changes. that is where we are right now. host: so you don't call that

n.a.f.t.a. 2? .0.st: i call it n.a.f.t.a. 2 you look at it, 95% of it is the same. 95% of it is the same, except the 5% is the modernization that we need to add, in certain protections for labor enforcement, that in my opinion, mexico has worked on. host: congressman henry cuellar with us up to the top of the hour as the house rebels in for -- as thebbles in work.gavels in for the numbers to call or on your screen. the jobs numbers are out from the bureau of labor statistics for the month of november. 3.5%.employment rate at number of jobs added, 266,000. on the independent line, we hear from pablo in low, colorado. good morning. caller: i would like to --

sorry, congressman cuellar but i would like to ask your opinion on something not exigent to what you're talking about. commissar trump sold outri nunes have the republicans to the russian in.ty, russia, to put tin.roads lead to pu i believe that. it is a desperate attempt to get power, i think, that they want to maintain power. republicans want to grasp power and they don't care how they do it. i want to know what you think about that. you agree with me that the republicans have become the party of moscow, and that democrats, well, here in

colorado, they are building prisons and stuff like that at the behest of democrats, but --re are best alternative they are our best alternative to the republicans. i want to know what you think about that. guest: thank you, pablo, for that question. the republican party is not monolithic, the democratic party is not monolithic. there are some republicans that with agree with what you are saying, except they won't say it that way, and there are some republicans i have talked to that certainly disagree. we have to go back to the founding fathers. when that constitution was drafted over 200 years ago. one of the things the founding fathers, the biggest fears they had was they wanted to make sure there was no foreign government interference. why we one of the things are at this particular time, because we don't want to have any government interference, whether it be in elections, or any other way. we don't want to have foreign

government interference, test the bottom line -- that's the bottom line. what we say down there the border is, we are looking at the trade, and the president wanted to get rid of trade, and was calling the mexicans rapists and murderers and all of that, what we used to say at the border, the world is turned upside down when we see mexico as an enemy, and russia as a friend. we just got to make sure that we conduct our business here in the united states without any sort of foreign interference, the matter where it may be from. host: democrats line next, jeffrey from ohio, go ahead. caller: congressman, you are part of the problem. things are going on that are quite obvious to the last caller , and you are trying to minimize what he said. you know, these republicans, i was in there,--

they said, we don't want to compromise with you. they wanted their way or no other way. they are turning to the russians because they can see what everybody else can see, the country is changing. and they want to maintain power. and if you are not willing to fight, maybe you need to be replaced. because some things are quite obvious to most voters out here. yetp lost 3 million votes, he is president. host: will get a response, jeffrey. guest: he is right. the president lost by over 3.5 million votes, but he won the electoral college, that's what the constitution says. i understand that there are folks out there that will have very extreme positions on the left and the right. i am one of those democrats. ateel that we need to look what is important for the country. i am a democrat, but i am not going to put my party forced. iput my best put my party --

am a democrat, but i will not put my party first. i do understand there are problems, of course i do. my way is to look at the evidence then take it from there. certainly, one of the things i ,elieve very strongly on is even though we are democrats and republicans, we still have to find a way to work together. in this particular situation, the impeachment, i think it is going to go down pretty much party lines, to the way it is looking like right now. but i still believe in civility, in talking to people. even if i disagree with people, i still want to continue talking to people. host: to that end, congressman cuellar is recognized as the fifth most bipartisan member of the house of representatives for congress.

on the line now richard, in albuquerque. caller: check this out. i am a spanish guy from out here in new mexico. i see what you guys are doing over here. you guys are letting all these americans, wee run a red light, we get arrested. our families get taken from us. but you guys want to protect a third world country, and not even paying attention here to the united states. you should be in jail to begin with, man. all you guys are our nothing but baby killers. you guys accept abortion even when the babies are nine months old. host: we will let you go there. the story on the "washington times" today on what a trump administration has done on reducing the crossings. their headline -- mexico fixed what congress couldn't. president trump turned to mexico with a combination of negotiations, controls, threats, even an explicit repro crow, do something -- explicit quid pro

quo, do something to stop the crossings each day or face crippling tariffs. guest: i am on the border. idriss the water, i breathe the air there, my family lives there. i understand that first of all, we are a country of laws. i don't believe in open borders. sometimes my more extreme part of my party has taxed to me because there are a lot of folks who believe everybody should come in. i disagree without. no open borders for me. what i want to see is a way that stop anybody that is trying to come in without the right way. my father was born in tamaulipas. he became a legal resident, then in naturalized citizen. he followed the rules. i see what the gentleman was talking about, "you guys," i assume he was talking about democrats, and again, just like i said, with the republican or the democrat party, it is not

monolithic. there are people who think differently. i am one of those democrats that believe in law and order, i believe in making sure that we patrol our borders. i disagree with the way that some of the president does that, i disagree with some of the things he proposes, but as the member of the appropriations on homeland and defense, there are ways that we can secure the border without going overboard. host: on that the president has been very insistent on border wall funding and including it in the 2020 funding. democrats have been pretty insistent, that it is not going to be there. with you think will happen? guest: the wall is a 20th century solution. anybody who feels it is a magical solution doesn't really understand what we are facing at the border. you can either dig a tunnel, you can either climate. i have seen those videos are they just cut and go through. host: even the new walls. that: even the new wall

the president is spending over $26 million per mile. our brother half technology -- i would rather have technology. there are so many things, drones, military technology that have been very successful. a couple of years ago, a congressman and myself were there in afghanistan, we saw were coming back into the united states as surplus military, and we suggested they use those balloons to provide 24 hours a day solution that works. at the same time, why are we playing defense on the one yard line called the u.s.-mexico border? let's work with mexico and central america so we can stop them before. if you look at it, at one time, mexico was stopping thousands of people, 250,000 before they even got to the u.s. that is why i would say, play defense of the 20 yard line, instead of our one yard line. i believe in security but i want to look at what works. support the men and women at the

border. i emphasize this -- border those arep, i.c.e. men and women who are trying to do their job. if we have a problem with the policy, let's change the policy, but i support them in and women from all those agencies, in the have their backs. host: what do you think of the administration's order of naming drug cartels as terrorist organizations? guest: president bush and president obama all looked at this and after a while they said what does it bring to the table? if you look at it, there are enough laws on the books to make sure that we go after them. look at the high target value andons that we brought over have been extradited and are now in prisons, and he will stay there the rest of their lives. with the -- what we need to do is work with mexico and make sure we go after those drug cartels. do what we need to do and stop that violence over there. host: back to calls. gene, next in water very,

connecticut. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to apologize to representative cuellar, i don't have any questions for him. i have one or two statements to make then i will hang up, and hopefully it will cause some nice discussion. it is my belief that members of both houses of congress, their way it has been acting for the last three-plus years, if that is not a glowing call, testimonial to term limits, i really don't know what is. hateo believe that they do -- not just that they hate donald j. trump and they do i believe they hate the very idea of donald j. trump. i remember my civics lessons. several they started, of those teachers walked around the room,, obviously to get our attention.

they would say, gene, you can grow up to be president. joe, you can grow up to be president. well, here's a man that did and it scares them. that everybody can just walk in and accept what i believe to be there apple cart. congressman? guest: certainly. what of the things we have to look at, we have a constitution, we have checks and balances. we have free elections. somebody runs, they will get a number of votes, but what counts here is what is in the constitution, and that is the electoral college. wisconsin,nt won pennsylvania, there were three states -- michigan, by i think it was about 60,000 votes total. i think he won wisconsin by 10,000 votes. didn't matter, even though he

lost by over 3 million votes, but he won those three states by a small amount. so he is president. my position is, whoever the president is, democrat, republican, i want to go ahead and try to work with that individual, sometimes we disagree with president obama. i disagreed with some of the things he was doing at the border, just like i disagree with this president on some of the things he is doing at this border. but we keep that civility and we keep working with each other, because he still has the congress and the president trying to work together. the problem we have with washington, and i will say this about democrats and republicans, is that people come up here and put the party first. they will ask the first question, what does my party want me to do? that's wrong. we have to look at what lbj said many years ago, he said i am an american, i am a texan, then i am a democrat, in that particular order. what we need to do is make sure that no matter what party we are, that we don't put hardy

-- thattate that party we don't put party first. we have got to work together, because back home, people are just tired of two parties fighting each other. what they want to do is, how do you get to work? they want to see infrastructure, highways, the trade agreement done. they want to see the basic things. money for education. what do we do for money for health care, how do we bring ascription drugs? that is what i am trying to focus on. in washington, there is about four different tracks, in no particular order. you have an impeachment track, you have the appropriations track, which i am very interested in, you have the n.a.f.t.a. trade track, and everything else that has to be done by the end of this year. host: it's a tall order. guest: it is a tall order we all only two more weeks after today so that is what i am focused on

because people are frustrated. you can hear it. . listen to the questions that come in on both sides, they are frustrated. that.rstand that is why i am trying to focus on what is important to people, education, health care and jobs. host: to robert from virginia on our democrats line go ahead. caller: good morning. i have got a question for you. you are on the appropriations. i want us to find out where the money is going to come from to appropriate all this investigating from the impeachment, and how can something that is appropriated, say, for the wall, the million dollars this year for the wall, how can that money that is appropriate for the wall, say it is not enough, and he can go right into something that has been appropriated for something weapons, theying manufacturing of weapons for our troops. host: we will let you go there, robert. guest: look.

$4.4 trillion budget every year. two thirds of that money is what i call an automatic -- medicare, medicaid, social security, all the mandatory entitlement moneys, whatever term you want to use. two-thirds of it. we only deal with one-third, about 1.3, $1.4 trillion. half of that goes into the military, which is on the defense. half of that. the other half goes into everything else that he is referring to that we have to look at. when the appropriate, for example on defense, we don't want any president to be able to come in and take out 3.6 billion. host: which is what president trump did in the 2019 budget? guest: he did. he is trying to take this money that we appropriated for the men and women of the military. that's the way the appropriation

works. the department of defense comes theyifferent agencies, come in and tell us how much money they need down to the penny, we appropriate that money. say, for the president to i am not happy because the house and the senate on the appropriated $1.375 billion of wall funding, i am going to go ahead and do an emergency. the emergency he is talking about, for us that live at the border, there is no emergency. there is no emergency. i would venture to say, if you look at the latest f.b.i. stats, look at the border crime rate, murders, for example, in laredo, three or four murders for 100,000. you come to washington, what is it, 24 murders per 100,000. people ask me what is the most dangerous thing about the border, you know what it is, when i come on the plane to washington, d.c., that is the most interesting.

not talking about politics. the numbers are there. what i want to make sure is that when we appropriate money for other areas, and not have a president on his own, come and take money from the military for this wall. host: quick question on twitter about your district -- congressman, you are being challenged by jessica cisneros has a right of center democrat in a left-of-center district who has voted with trump much of the time. how are you sure -- how can you assure the voters of your district that you can better represent their interests than cisneros? guest: they are socialist number one. number two, the numbers they put out there is false. they are referring to one where i am at 47%. host: in terms of voting? guest: voting. about 47%. the numbers they are using, this person is lying, just like the lyings.t have been i represent a district i have represented for many years.

i understand the district. for them to think that new york values, with all due respect to new york, are going to translate to border values, they are in fairyland right now, they really are. the numbers he is saying, they are a lie. check it out. it is about foot is 7%. that goes to best it is about 47%. that goes to the point where i am bipartisan. if you look at other numbers, they show me that i both democrat 90% of the time. it is all a matter of what numbers, those people, the justice socialists they are socialists, believe is wrong. they believe in the green new deal. in my area, it would kill thousands of jobs. the new medicare they want to do, it will first of all, that insurance, i have talked to people in my district, they want to ban private insurance, of

course not. what these people want to do is attack, and they don't provide any real solutions to the real problems -- education, health care, jobs in the community. host: the house is coming in in just a couple of minutes. paul on our republican line, go ahead. caller: thanks for the call. i have got a question, i am a struggling war vet just trying to make it one day at a time. i see a lot of finger-pointing on both sides. it reminds me of recess, on the playground in grade school, both sides have valid points as far as impeachment. the dems already said even if the president gets reelected, we will continue to impeach. i saw a publication claiming pelosi just doesn't have time to work on the trade deal. is this the new norm? if so, what can we, the people, do to get back to priorities, instead of focusing on our guy or our gal, or our party? guest: this is what i have been

saying people are frustrated with both sides. i focus on trying to get the job done. by trying to work with most democrats and republicans, this is where we have certain people on the left that will attack me, and certain people on the right that will attack me. i am just trying to find solutions to the problems that we have. that's what people want to see. they want their member of congress or the senator to find solutions on health care, education, transportation, or just jobs generally. that's what i have been focusing on. one of the things you said is, finger-pointing. that's one thing we really need to stop. you don't hear me blaming one side or the other. this is why i reach out to my republican friends to try to work this out. for example, senator cornyn, he and i have worked on issues together, whether it is on trade. and we are very close on getting

this thing on trade. working on issues on trade or other issues. that's what it is, democrats and republicans working together. but if you want somebody that is an extreme, you need to find it somewhere else. . host: you will not find it here. host: speaking of working, the congress getting back to work. congressman henry cuellar from texas, thanks for joining us this morning. my mistake. we appreciate it. the house is coming back in. washington journal will be back tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. thanks for being with us here this morning. signed, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. loving god, thank you for giving us another day. we thank you on this day for the example of st.