strategy going forward. u.s.so cover the presidential race. washington journal is next. ♪ host: after a three week delay by nancy pelosi the house this week is scheduled to turn over two articles of impeachment to the u.s. senate. setting the stage for the next senate in the process and the third time in our history the president has faced a senate trial. week the final democratic presidential debate before the voting begins in iowa. the event and iran expected to make foreign policy a dominant issue in that debate. that is our starting point. the phone line is open for

democrats, republican, and independents. the question is, who do you trust on foreign policy? (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002 if you are an independent. you can join us on social media @cspanwj. we are also taking your text messages at (202) 748-8003. when you text us tell us your first name and where you are texting from. expected to be a busy week in presidential politics and on capitol hill. covering all of it on the c-span networks. the front page of the washington post is a foreign-policy story dealing with senator bernie sanders and how he would alter foreign policy as president.

returning for washington on a closed-door briefing in iran. on thursday he held a news conference. sanders: the war in iraq led to the deaths of thousands of american troops and the wounding, physical and emotional of tens of thousands of others. it led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of iraqis and the displacement of over 5 million people and the increased destabilization of an already unstable region. the war in iraq cost us , money that dollars could have been spent rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, provide quality education for our kids, provide health care for the uninsured and underinsured. , after all ofhat

the pain-and-suffering and death and the expenditure of trillions of dollars, the iraqi parliament to voterlier this week u.s. forces out of their country. now we have a president who abandoned a nuclear agreement with our allies, that turned into a policy of escalation and is walking us towards another disastrous war in the middle east. let's be clear. another war in the middle east cost countless lives and trillions more dollars , more conflict, more displacement, and more misery. as a united states senator i will do everything i can to prevent such a war. were led into vietnam and iraq with lies the trump

administration is misleading us on iran. justified the assassination of an iranian general by claiming he was planning an attack on hundreds of americans in the region. they produced no evidence that would justify this claim. from the vermont senator and one presidential candidate, our phone lines are open and the question in regard to foreign policy, who in this campaign do you trust? (202) 748-8000 our line for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. you can also send us a text message. foxng this story from news, saudi arabian military personnel in the u.s. kicked out. more than a dozen saudi service members undergoing training at that facility are expected to be

expelled from the u.s. following the investigation into last month's deadly shooting at a naval air base in pensacola. are accused of aiding the lieutenant who killed and injured u.s. sailors. they were found to have ties to extremist groups. the justice department expected to conclude that the pensacola attack was an act of terrorism. let's get to your phone calls. in denver, democrats line, good morning. when it comes to foreign policy who do you trust? caller: hello? good morning. i sure don't trust the president, he is a liar. they can't bring or prove any evidence. this president has been lying to us so much -- who hold him accountable for all these lies? host: robert in fayetteville, pennsylvania. republican line. caller: i trust the president.

i'm a registered democrat. i voted for trump for president. i used the republican line today. i will vote for him again. theink what he did with iranian general and taking him was one onehe did of the most brave things i have seen a president do. in my ability to vote for him long before he did this. george from columbia, south carolina. independent line, good morning. caller: good morning. how could anybody vote for this guy? know how to shut his mouth. you could attract more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. he is a vinegar mouth to guy.

-- mouthed guy. he is idiotic. he is supposed to be diplomatic, he is supposed to be the president of the united states of america but he has a filthy mouth. he just shouldn't talk like that. i saw his rally the other day, he does not talk like a leader. he talks like a child. i don't have anything against him. i am not a democrat or a republican. but, jesus. like one a man and act because there are lives at stake. i just don't get it. you ares rally that referring to is in toledo, ohio. it is on our website.

it is on our growing video library with content dating back to the mid-1980's. howard is next in indiana, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i would support anyone other than trump. any of the democratic candidates would be better on foreign policy than trump. trump has no policy. he reacts without thinking. i believe he instituted this strike as a way to distract from all the troubles he has in domestic politics. it is concerning to me that there is any dispute among any of our voters as to trump's honesty and ability to lead on any foreign policy or any other matter on that basis. thank you for the call.

-- host: thank you for the call. "it is the headline time for democrats to demonstrate their foreign policy to voters. lastcrats will hold the debate of the 2020 primary season before voters caucus in iowa, it will be the debate with foreign-policy and national security front and center. historically democrats have not fared well when competing with republicans on the international stage. foreign policy helped ronald reagan when his first term and george w. bush to win his second. byocrats are portrayed opponents as weak on national security. tweets from the hip, he has shunned and insulted our intelligence community then used intelligence he has not shared as the excuse to bring us to the brink of war with iran.

he is the furthest thing from a steady hand and even killed mind that the country needs right now. we need a commander in chief we can trust. trump orc cannot trust his administration especially on matters of foreign policy. that is available online. next up is bob from jacksonville, texas. democrats line. caller: good morning, steve. you are my favorite person on this channel. since 1982.watching i don't trust trump as far as i have seen. i trust bernie sanders. i would trust any of the democrats that are running. i'm going to vote for bernie sanders. he has more sense than all of them put together.

i appreciate you taking my call. thank you for the call from texas. senator sanders leading from a pole. -- leading in this pole. questions as the impeachment heads to the senate: when will the trial begin?" next from mason, massachusetts on the independent line. good morning, how are you today? i trust what president trump did was correct. i am an independent voter. i want to speak from an independent viewpoint. things democrats have done in the past against things president trump has recently done, i agree with the

caller that said they wish he would keep his mouth shut from time to time. what i would like to say is, if i look at past history and what happened i am glad he did what he did. his act was not the cause war with iran. if you look at how the democrats handle the situation. president clinton had information of where bin laden was. he did not act on that and we had 9/11. benghazi, if you look at how they handled the situation when our embassy was getting stormed and bombarded by people in benghazi, look at how that resulted.

when you look at the way president trump handled things, he had imminent information on people wanthether to believe that are not. man that has caused hundreds of deaths to americans. and went into our embassy in iraq. he is trying to protect americans. when you think about the reaction of iran, the missiles they have they could have bombed other places and killed our soldiers. host: thank you for the call from massachusetts. at 40agazine, a look years of relations or lack thereof between the u.s. and iran. the headlines on the brakes.

the democratic candidates with a new series of ads taking aim at the president on iran. this new ad from the biden campaign. >> the last administration was leading the world down the path of war. ♪ we are restoring our world to the path of peace. harshn is threatening retaliation for the killing of its top general by american versus. >> iran announcing that it will continue uranium enrichment with no limitation in an about-face to the iran nuclear agreement. >> showing more than 20 missiles launched from iran. >> they are scrambling around trying to figure out what to do. >> we stand at the most dangerous moment in our lifetimes and there have been plenty of dangerous moments.

>> back to your phone calls, mark is joining us from milwaukee. good morning. caller: i have a hard time trusting anything that comes out of the white house. there was an article today on u.k. andws about the its alliance with trump and the united states. if he divides the united states and weividing the world don't have any respect anymore. timeo have a hard understanding people calling in saying they are registered democrats and they are now republicans voting for trump. it is hard to believe that. host: dorothy next in arkansas. good morning. caller: because you cannot trust

trump, as senator mike lee said it was the worst hearing he had gone to. did not answer many questions and they could not prove there was imminent danger in place. because we cannot trust trump you cannot trust him on world affairs. i am glad the congress voted for him to become no more involved with war unless there is a resolution from congress. democratter to have a like joe biden, somebody who is fierce in foreign relations. trump does not give his reports and he does know the intelligence and since he doesn't know the intelligence he cannot make good decisions. take us intoant to killing this man -- he did not know the imminent danger. there are two or three different

stories about the imminent danger. host: we will go to michael next on the democrats line from atlanta, georgia. if you are just tuning in or listening we are focusing on this question with regards to foreign policy. democrats or republicans, which candidate do you trust? good morning,ler: thank you for taking my call. i am new to politics but three years ago i started paying more attention. to me it is hard to trust what trump says. i look at it from both sides so i can be fair. that the iranian strike , --not have any casualties i know people say he did the right thing and i bounced back and forth on that. we are not safer because of the strike.

that is when i am a bit confused. it seems like he acted out of self-interest rather than the interest of the country. it seems like there is a strategy that -- with pompeo they have been struggling to come up with a reason to prove it was inamed. -- to prove it was imminent. of the democratic candidates, there are others i would trust more. it is sad that when you have an administration that bounces back between the truth people have a hard time believing it. thank you for taking my call. host: a couple of text messages. from massachusetts "i trust joe biden and i think he is the only one who can get us out of this mess. -- this mess. , jonathan sayst "not a democrat." the gop used to be faith-based now they are faith-based.

we need to protect state from church. with this text message, he is in fort collins, colorado. bernie, he voted against the iraq war. -- iraq war." caller: i think the question m do you trust, not who do you trust. secondly, i think most of your callers and most of the other media sources that you cite, you have done this repeatedly, are anti-the president. i wish you would ask some questions, some of the other hosts do. does.hevarria i think it is appropriate to ask the people who are so adamantly and up the president

here to hate him no matter what. cancerd find a cure for and still be accused of being a racist. please ask some of these callers who hate him why they hate him. him? you will vote for caller: i will vote for him. i am a registered independent from 1976. -- i 2012i was 11 from 11 voted for jimmy carter, i voted for president clinton twice. i voted for barack obama when he was running against the guy who was a pow when i was in nam. i am not a racist. the best guys should get your vote, not because you hate somebody. are we the results, better off now than we were in 2016? i think the answer is clearly yes. host: peter baker who joined us

last week and a team of reporters looking at seven days , secret wars, a deadly strife, and a world on edge. "president trump boasted he had taken out an american enemy. the struggle between the two nations is not over. iran may find other ways to take revenge. accomplishing in depth what the general tried to do in life. in the confusion a ukrainian passenger jet was destroyed by an iranian missile killing 176 people. alliessode bravely gave something to cheer, distracting from the coming senate impeachment trial but now he faces questions even among republicans about the shipping justification for the strike that he and his national security team have offered. the immediate march the war has

--ed they expect iran to regroup and find other ways to strike back. on the democrats line, jenny from hawaii. thank you for taking my call. i trust amy klobuchar and andrew wang. i would love to see the two of them together. the story was reported to me by a trump supporter, that iranians have good $80 million on his head for anyone who assassinates him. there is no confirmation of that in the news. i wonder if you could tell me about that one? host: what was your initial reaction when you saw that? upsetting.was i want to see us depose him.

i cannot bear what he has done with taking children away from their families at the border. book, that is a sexual predator we have in the white house. the suppose it christians -- i am a reeled christian -- i am a real christian -- these dreadful men like menzie graham with donald on his face -- i just detest the republicans. magazine, her gamble, why nancy pelosi went all in against donald trump. that is from a reporter who is working on a biography of the speaker do out in may. this is a text message in clayton, new mexico. who do i trust on foreign policy?

the commander-in-chief that draws a redline when our embassy is attacked. this is doug from fort collins, colorado. caller: this is doug in fort collins. policyd back at foreign and what makes in interfered and vietnam to get elected ronald reagan interfered with iran to get elected. not a good track record. george w lied us into a full war, not a good record. as far as the republican party is concerned i think they are warmongers. i would lean towards democrats and i would vote for bernie. i dislike the president. i don't have hate in my heart for trump. i feel sorry for him. he has issues, mother issues. i don't hate him because i am a christian.

"trump is the only candidate who can be trusted to keep americans strong, gop knows it and democrats know it, not one democratic candidate can beat him or go -- beat him. decision process that went into the iranian general shot down by u.s. drones. >> we will tell you that probably it was going to be the embassy in baghdad, you saw that happening and you saw it with veryf the -- circling in strongly and very viciously knocking out windows and trying to get in. when i called out the military they said we will have it there tomorrow. we are going to have another benghazi on our hands. we did a really amazing job but get no credit for it. we never get credit for anything but that is ok. we have the greatest economy we

have ever had. i think we would've had another benghazi what we have not reacted quickly. apaches going there, great helicopters that were dropping flares all over the place. a lot of things were happening. a large-scale attack planned for other embassies and if those were planned why can't we reveal that to the american people? >> i can reveal that i believe it would have been four embassies and i think that probably baghdad already started. they were amazed that we came in with that kind of force. we came in with very powerful force and drove them out. that ended almost immediately. baghdad would have been the lead. it could have been military bases or embassies. it was imminent and then all of a sudden he was gone. host: that was the president on fox news on friday.

how u.s. sanctions are paralyzing the iranian economy. in sarasota springs, new york, republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. a woman was recently calling in -- andrew yang has pragmatic, reality-based approach to foreign policy. host: chris, thanks you for the -- thanks for the call. representative tulsi gabbard is the only candidate that has served in iraq and her campaign is centered around foreign policy. in houston, texas. democrats line. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call.

do i trust a republican? [laughter] let's start with helsinki. how he before the world embraced boudin and discounted our intelligence agencies, let's start here with how humiliating it was for americans. let's move on to saudi arabia. our soldiers over to protect whatever oil or the saudi's -- send our soldiers over there to protect them. they are the ones that bombed us in 9/11. how do the 9/11's families feel? now we have him destroy the agreement that the last real president, obama, god with the iran and worked out as well as with the rest of the world.

the other leaders of the world that agreed to this. because mr. it name upon -- mr. obama's was on it. he killed this general over in iran and we are supposed to trust the republicans? let me leave this with the republicans. i heard this on msnbc the other day. person on the show posed the question "if this was such an imminent threat why weren't the embassies notified?" none of the embassies were notified. thank, america. in the escalating chaos of the middle east this enigmatic prince may soon emerge as the region's most powerful leader. what does he want?

moment. biden or pete buttigieg, i think they would listen and question their advisors and consider the consequences. on our line for independent. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i trust president trump. i wish sometimes we could get positive coverage from your network. way you sit there and looking all somber but i'm pretty sure you refuse to -- [indiscernible] you are a reprehensible ingrate. host: thanks for phoning in.

we are glad to hear from you. bloomberg, ahael democrat running for president. he is expected to spend up to a billion dollars. we will go to columbus, ohio. good morning. how are you doing? that our foreign is basically a wholly-owned subsidiary of the conservative movement. one of the better candidates -- -- the secretary of defense who was a career military guy until he moved into academia. believes in a strong defense.

have seems to be what we in the mainstream foreign policy establishment. vowingichael bloomberg to spend up to $1 billion to defeat president trump and that he would do so even to help finance his rivals if they became the nominee. senator bernie sanders or senator elizabeth warren. "i hear the republican callers say they trust trump, you should lead by example but he continues to lie, that is not the way to lead a nation." more extremee even threats from iran. the situation is still unfolding but in any crisis it is

imperative that the commander-in-chief think through their actions with the help of their top advisers. to not act rashly or recklessly. i hope the president does that but unfortunately that is not in his nature and that is one of the reasons i spoke at the democratic national convention in philadelphia in 2016. i said that he did not have the characteristics that we need as president. at the time when our nation should be unified he has spent three years dividing us by party and race and ethnicity and religion. a few months ago the president was in chicago to give a speech and as he usually does he equated immigrants with criminals. and it hases that become almost normal. it is not normal. we cannot let it become normal.

[applause] the fact is immigration does not threaten america. it strengthens america. you have seen that right here in chicago. i have seen it in new york and you see it around the country. host: part of our campaign 2020 coverage. former new york city mayor michael bloomberg who is staking his claim on getting the nomination and bypassing the february caucuses and primaries. reportedly of 800 people working for the bloomberg campaign. 500 across the country and 300 in new york city. penelope says that she trusts bernie sanders and she will vote for him. he always looks out for the interests of we the people. in seattle, washington, democrats line. who do you trust on foreign policy? caller: absolutely bernie.

i think next to him elizabeth warren has a good handle on it. thati would like to say is i find it incredulous that ander 45 tears down nato then within this past week his begging nato to put in more money, i don't know why they would. .ow he has disrespected them france does not have the money. they are in a huge national strike. increduloussolutely that he would ask them at this time, he goes to russia before he goes to the democratic congress -- congressional body hediscuss this, before discusses it with our own lawmakers on the democratic side.

i don't know, i don't see how that adds up, that does not make sense. he frightens me to death. alwaysis solid and he is sticking with the same plan. voted against a vietnam, he voted against iraq. i don't know what else. i don't know what else you could say about bernie that he does not understand -- that he does understand foreign policy and the inner workings of it. things can be done a desperate he is. that is what we have to get rid of. we have to get this man out of office since he is tearing down this country. one last thing related to foreign policy, immigration status.

he does not allow migrant children that are penned up to get loose shots, that is us sick and evil person and unfortunately he is our president. go bernie. iran's admission on the jets bringing protest -- outrage in ukraine. there were demonstrations and some calling for the supreme leader to step down and resign. seen across parts of iran. from lynchburg, virginia on the republican line. caller: how are you doing today? host: fine thank you. caller: i was in the service for four years. that calling for branches of the service, the top dogs, and president trump to shut down and talk about

bombing that involves they are not going to tell trump to bomb if it is not absolutely necessary. when i was in service you could not make a mistake. really work hard. i cannot tell you what airplanes but a bunch of them. you could not make a mistake. i think service people would be trust worthy to talk over what we are going to do when we go forth here. trump and all of the four major

services and commanders. get all of them together. talk some over before we do something. host: from scranton, pennsylvania. jack has this comment. with foreign policy anyone who does not lie every time their lips move and who thinks america first and not me first. from the house this past week, representative tulsi gabbard of hawaii with these comments. >> president trump has committed an illegal and unconstitutional act of war wishing our nation headlong into a war with iran without any authorization from congress. a war that is so costly and devastating it would make wars in iraq and afghanistan look like a picnic. he has undermined our national security in two ways. compliant wither the nuclear deal and is speeding forward in developing nuclear weapons capabilities and putting

us and the world at greater risk. longerops in iraq are no focusing on preventing a qaeda.nce of isis and al efforts are focused on iranian forces. stopess must act today to further escalation of this war. to uphold the constitution which we all took an oath to support. vote yes to stop trump's war with iran. host: we carry the house every day, the house of representatives is in session here on c-span and the senate on c-span two. the london guardian with this headline. pushing foreign policy to the floor." on the republican line, tom, good morning. caller: i have been listening to some of these callers and the pure hatred they have for this is unhealthy.e

it is unbelievable. i voted. obama i did not agree with. these people need to look in the mirror. i never wished any harm against obama and his family. it is very unhealthy. democrats are calling on the republican line. host: this is from amy klobuchar. a democrat from minnesota. she tweeted "the houseboat to require the president to come to congress to get any authorization for military action against iran is an important step towards congress upholding its constitutional duties.

we must use this moment to de-escalate the senate ramping up the rhetoric towards war. bradley from west virginia. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. i am a vietnam veteran. theres the end of my tour i had guard tutti on the bases. angot so bad that if we had hadinvading our compound we to call back to the main barracks and get permission to fire on them. it is sad when something like that comes up. it shows you how much politics is in this. the gentleman a few moments ago was talking about -- he said he didn't know the difference between democrats and republicans. brenda -- this is the problem with everyone running their mouth. the lady said her name was

brenda and she said when they got that guy in iran -- he was not in iran, he was in iraq. he was getting ready to go into that embassy and kill americans and kill people. you have to get rid of these people instantly right on the spot. you cannot call everybody in washington and get permission to do it. wake up, america and support your president. president trump, biden does not know where he is most of the time and has not done anything in 40 years, why would anyone trust him? tweeduttigieg with this that says the world needs america but not just any america , an america free from entrapment and endless wars and prepared to focus on future threats. an america that does not send

troops into conflict without a clear understanding of what will come afterwards. patricia is joining us from new jersey. good morning. i have a comment to make. not just to the obama administration but it goes further than that. today we have a president that true andevably everything that he is doing. should wake people up and smell the roses. , first of an american all you should not be against the president of the united states. just because the democrats don't like him and they are angry that he won the election fair and beene, this monopoly has going on for too long.

they have to take their heads whatf the sand and believe is going on right now. we have to do what the president did for america. to get rid of all of these scoundrels all over the world that are aiming towards america because they hate us and they don't like us. they want to be like us. the fact remains that president --mp is the american people, even the ones that are calling in, they better get wise and smart. outamerican people speak against an american president

there is something wrong with this picture. andones that are calling in going against the president of the united states, they are not americans. they better wise up and take the fact that we have a president that will continue -- i thank you. patricia, thank you. in baton rouge, louisiana. good morning. caller: good morning, steve. morning, weou every thank you for doing an excellent job. we love to see you in the morning. trump isack to it, nothing more than a meathead. i live in louisiana. we have people living in the --mps eating alligator

we love you, steve. continue the good work. host: we love the people of louisiana. bill is saying, honestly no one. they will all be influenced by oil and i will trust someone who is out our people and only sends them when they are requested and paid for. you can send us a text message or join us on facebook or twitter. janet is joining us from north carolina. independent line, good morning. thank you for taking my call. much this country is divided. that some ofies the callers -- they are just misinformed. maybe not lying but misinformed. they talk about obama.

he built the cages. immigrantsd more than our president now. i cannot believe people are standing up for him. not standing up for him killing a bad person. death toare shouting america. understand how people are so misinformed on what they are saying. that i do not support the socialist bernie sanders were elizabeth warren. people better wake up. i liked the color before saying that people better wake up. you listen to some of the mainstream media they are always doubting him.

they doubted him before he began. i just want to say, wake up america. and youfore you speak will have a great day. thank you, very much. host: this facebook message. "the current administration will be the most up and informed on the happenings of allies and adversaries around the globe. "americans don't know what to think about trump's iran strategy. -- strategy." delivering remarks in the white house after the strike that took place by iranian forces. here is what the president told the country. deal is something that is no good for our country. that means they would be on the path to nuclear weapons. to me it is about nuclear

weapons more than anything else. iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. iran will never have a nuclear weapon. they understand that, we have told them strongly. was is not wealthy like it when president obama handed them $150 billion. they are a different country. we will see if they want to negotiate. wait they want to until after the election and negotiate with someone like joe biden. maybe they want to wait. they are probably well-off doing it now. if you look at the polls and what is going on we are doing very well. they are losing a tremendous amount and getting hurt very badly by the sanctions. as to whether or not they want that that is up to them. they can straighten out their country. iran is a mess. they constrained out the economics of their country very quickly.

that was in the roosevelt room on thursday in the white house. from ohio, tim, republican line. good morning. caller: what i don't understand is the guy goes down to el paso and kills americans, you don't put his picture or his name on television. here is a guy that has killed 600 plus americans, you have him plastered all over the country. more important than the guy that killed all those people in el paso? host: so your point is? caller: why is he on my television? why is he in national news. the media is wagging the dog here at the united states. host: tim, thank you. we will go next to arizona. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call.

i appreciate the time that you give us. these peopletake out when you have a chance and when they are on foreign territory like this guy was, what do these people think? the lady from hawaii, the democrat from hawaii basically is saying that we will tie this man's hands up. they have been after him since day one. all of these democrats that have been never been down to the border and don't see this, i live 30 miles from it. if you don't come down and see what is going on you will never understand this. the foreign policy of president trump, to me is spot on. we need to do this and do it now. thank you to c-span for taking my call.

that is the way it is. , iyou have never been here live 30 miles from there. it is a disaster. host: thank you for the call. jay in virginia says that elsie gabbard is the only one that has been consistent from the start plus she has appeal across party lines. as the airstrike was taking place on tuesday evening senator elizabeth warren was at a campaign rally in brooklyn, new york. seeing the endorsement of fully in castro and what she told the audience. >> for any of you who have not been able to follow it within the last hour, the iranian government has announced that it has sent missiles to attack our military bases in iraq. my three brothers all served in the military and at this moment

my heart and my prayers are with our military and with their families in iraq and around the world. [applause] this is a reminder. why we need to de-escalate .ensions in the middle east the american people do not want a war with iran. host: that is from senator elizabeth warren. inside the new york times this photograph. a vigil that took place yesterday near the site where the plane crash occurred inside of iran. it killed 170 six people including the flight crew and 54 canadian nationals. that flight heading to ukraine and many expected to turn --

this is a tweet from the president. yesterday he wrote the following. "to the long-suffering people of iran i have stood with you since the beginning of my president the and my administration will stand with you and we are following your protests closely and are inspired by your courage. the government of iran must allow human rights groups to monitor and report back on the ongoing protests by the iranian people. massacrenot be another of peaceful protesters for an internet shut down. the world is watching. on the democrats line from new york, good morning. caller: good morning, steve. i want to wish you a happy and healthy new year. whoquestion that you ask is we think would be the best for our country in reference to foreign policy.

tough question to answer. i will say right now that uncle joe is the man. uncle joe is the man. all of the countries that the united states occupies our majority black and brown countries. all majority black and brown countries. they will say he killed 100 of our people. many millions have americans killed when they go to these majority black and brown countries and occupied them? this question has to be asked. you said they killed hundreds but how many millions did they kill from day one. i will vote for joe. uncle joe is the man. he learned his lesson from iran.

ones not going to be the that would ever do this kind of thing. the iraq war that was illegal and lies. host: thank you for the call. we are about three weeks away from the iowa caucuses. a reminder on monday evening we will take you live to the caucuses and give you a front row seat as the process unfolds on the democratic side. we will follow that with the results and speeches and then we are in new hampshire. rhoder is joining us from island, independent line, good morning. caller: good morning, how are you? at what people have not said. trump said obama was not born in this country. the first time i ever heard him say that i knew he knew

absolutely nothing about the constitution. where i went to high school you did not graduate if you did not know about the constitution. he went to the white house and they were having a party for obama. obama teased him about what he said about him not being born here. host: at the white house correspondents dinner. caller: what trump has done is he is getting even with obama. that is why he went to iran. he had absolutely nothing against iran. otherwise he conditioned out. when someone teases him he cannot take it. he has the brain of a seven-year-old. to janice fromo maryland, republican line. thank you for waiting. caller: good morning, steve. i was an independent before i became a republican during the

2015 time because i was scared of trump eating elected. i would like to respond to the nevada caller. and other trump supporters. she made a comment that anybody who does not support the president is not an american. i resent that comment. whether thes not general should have been is,ssinated, the issue should president trump have gotten congressional approval before attacking the general? either before or right after the attack and he did neither. tell senatoro lindsey graham what he was going to do. he could not call mitch mcconnell and tell him, he could not call pelosi and tell her. he could not call the gang of

eight that has the highest security clearance and authorization to know these things. but he could tell senator lindsey graham on the golf course. thank you. host: thank you for the call. you with your calls and comments. democratic representative cheri bustos is joining us live on newsmakers at 10:00 eastern time. she is from new york and is head of the democratic national campaign committee. -- 8:00 in here washington, d.c.. in a moment, elong goldenberg is going to join us. program director for the center for middle east security program. the u.s.ensions with and iran. later, michael rubin with the american enterprise institute. you are watching and listening to "washington journal." we are back in a moment. ♪

>> right now, we are in sort of the twilight zone. part of this is because why don't the constitution is more specific about impeachment than it is about most things, it does not say everything. at least this question as to when will these articles be presented, to whom, how, in the past it has gone pretty quickly. as i mentioned with the clinton trial, it would so quickly that the senate was not even in session when the articles were sent over. this is something for the leaders of the too -- two houses. i do think that it is a tactic that the speaker is using.

announcer: historian emeritus donald ritchie on the history of senate impeachment trials. watch tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's "q and a." announcer: our campaign 2020 coverage continues today live at 3:00 p.m. eastern with michael bennet in bedford, new hampshire. at 450 -- at 4:15, pete buttigieg. eastern on c-span two, president trump's in milwaukee, wisconsin at a keep america great rally. watch our coverage on c-span, c-span2, c-span.org, or listen on the go with our free c-span radio app. announcer: "washington journal" continues. elon we want to welcome goldenberg. good morning.

thank you for being with us. let me begin with the demonstrations resell yesterday unfold inside iran. what is happening? guest: what we now have is a major backlash to the inadvertent downing of an airplane right after the iranians struck the u.s. and the u.s. did not strike back. there was a moment where you had high uncertainty inside of iran. inexplicably, you continue to have iranian airspace open and commercial planes continuing to take off. almost 200 passengers was inadvertently shot down by the islamic revolutionary guard -- they gote of confused and it looked like it was an american attack. this has caused major protests. a lot of these people who were killed, young people, canadians,

well-educated students. for a number of days, the regime denied it was that men then finally acknowledged it yesterday which i thought was surprising in itself. i was expecting the regime to cover it up altogether. this has caused significant backlash. it is a very confusing moment in iran right now because on one hand, there is no love for the united states. there is no view that the united states should have killed qasem soleimani. nobody wants a war. there is no love for donald trump. on the other hand, there is also no love for the regime. host: let me share with you some details from the front page of today's washington post. that, the missile operator had 10 seconds to decide whether the plane was a threat. the decision was made, and the surface to air missile streaked towards the jet. iran admitted that human error

brought down ukrainian airline's flight. western officials concluded that a missile was to blame for yesterday's disaster that left all 176 people on board dead. willcomes next is how iran respond to demands for a full and open investigation and for authorities in tehran to bring the perpetrators to justice. pressure was not just from ukraine and other nations whose citizens were aboard the plane. protests flared in the streets of tehran where student led rallies chanted a rare denunciation against military chiefs to resign, resign, resign. led demands for compensation and accountability which could force iran to appease the international community with a rare public record and go very military action. iran's supreme leader encouraging a thorough inquiry. at home, the tragedy quickly brought protests back in the

streets. there is a lot there. guest: the most shocking thing for me and all of that is how actuallyan military left airspace open. forargument against tesch leaving airspace open was they did not want to tip off the u.s. that they were striking. host: but this was after the strikes had concluded. guest: exactly. they should have shut it down. there is no reason any missile defense operator should have had 10 seconds to make that decision. that decision should never have been an option because there should have been no civilian flights flying out of iran that night. out the president was there publicly saying that this was -- the u.s. was not going to retaliate at the moment, things could have gone back to normal. we are not talking about a massive disruption. one theory out there that i have

that they thought it would reduce the likelihood of an american responsive there were still commercial planes flying. to me, that is highly irresponsible, it is basically using civilian airliners as human shields i think that is not appropriate. host: can we expect further retaliation from iran? guest: yes, i would say so. they had their initial public retaliation, they needed to do something symbolic against the united states but did not want to trigger a war. that sincestoric and 2003 you had any country openly fire missiles at american bases since the arak war. it is a big deal. way tont out of their not kill americans. numerous messages had passed through different channels letting us know that this was coming. they did not want to escalate,

but now they sit back and they plot. they have a lot of different options for what they can do. somenk the most likely is kind of terrorist attack or assassination attempt on a senior american official. maybe through has malala. it is also possible they could just attack softer targets, but they have a long history of being able to do this. one thing i will say is it is not easy. they are in a talented moment. they want to respond, they want to a tout -- retaliate, but at the same time it needs to be spectacular in order to be seen as proportional for killing soleimani. at the same kind -- at the same time, they do not want to trigger an all-out war with us. that is a tough needle trying to thread there. this is not the end of this story. host: i want to ask you about the iran nuclear deal. the president has been critical of the deal, the u.s. pulled out

in 2018. in his speech wednesday from the white house, the president sa id this. pres. trump: arounds -- iran's capabilities increased when the iran deal was foolishly signed in 2013. billion iniven $150 cash. instead of saying thank you to the united states, the chanted death to america. in fact, they chanted death to america the day the agreement was signed. and then iran went on to terror spree funded by the money from the deal. syria,ted hell in yemen, lebanon, afghanistan, and iraq. the missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration. host: your reaction. guest: i just don't think there

is a lot of evidence to back up most of what the president said. disagreements with iran. they have done problematic things in syria and iraq and lebanon, that is all true. support for extremist groups. that was happening before the iran nuclear deal, and that continues to happen now. it is not exactly clear how much changed as a result of the deal itself. the deal was not about those issues. it was about iran's nuclear weapons program -- or i should say, nuclear program. it is not clear if they have a nuclear weapons program but they have been developing the option to build a weapon for a long time. a box,t that option in it put us in a situation where we were confident for your succumb that iran would not have that possibility. from that perspective, i thought it was worth doing. more so, it is clear that the to walkt's decision

away from the agreement in 2018 is what has ultimately set off the cycle of exhalation enough the past year that has got us to the brink of a potential conflict. ,ost: your oath the following "the united states would never have felt compelled against the iranian general if not for the reckless policy the administration has pursued since it came into office. the president leaving the nuclear agreement, adopting a maximum pressure policy of economic sanctions on iran for a year, iran responded with restraint in an effort to isolate the u.s. diplomatically and win economic concessions for other parties to the agreement." guest: basically, in may 2 any 18 the president leaves -- in may 2018, the president leaves the deal. iran says we are going to stay in the deal, we are going to try to use it to isolate the americans and get support from the europeans. it does not work for the

iranians because even though these governments want to find a way to stay engaged with iran economically, none of their companies do. they all fear what would happen to their business in the united states. everyone pulls out economically. to, after the u.s. decides try to drive oil sales from iran down to zero with a new set of sanctions, may of 2019, iran begins to escalate attacks in the persian gulf. missile strikes against saudi oil facilities, it attacks in iraq. we almost had a downing of an american drone that led to a conflict or to all of these things triggered this escalation that gets host of the events of the past weekend i half. it all goes back to that. is inside the washington post pointing out that sanctions are already paralyzing the economy. facing a bigiran hit my question is could this

face even more internal turmoil? guest: there is a lot of internal turmoil in the country. more than anything, it wasn't even the strike, it was the downing of the airliner that is going to cause more turmoil than anything else. the question is, though the regime is good at suppressing dissent, the question is can you theally -- i think that in long run, the islamic republic is not a sustainable model of governance. none of us know when things change, how things change, and it could lead to -- my biggest concern is it could lead to democracy, but it seems like the lowest option, much more likely is the islamic revolutionary move militarily like the egyptian military didn't take over from the clerics. you could have total chaos and civil war in a country whose population is the size of iraq

plus afghanistan plus syria combined. we do not want to necessarily shake that dangerous nest. host: our guest is a veteran of the obama white house serving in a number of different capacities including the ron team chief for the under secretary of defense. let's get to your phone calls. doug in boston, good morning. caller: hi. trump'sersation about middle east policy without talking about the influence of the sugar daddy sheldon adelson. in exchange for $30 million in campaign contributions, sheldon got everyone of his geopolitical wishes on the middle east -- including the irani and deal. guest has an opinion on this relationship thanks a lot, looking forward to your answer. adelson, i don't

think that relationship is entirely appropriate in terms of large donors who are able to influence leadership here in washington. certainly has been influential on things like the israeli-palestinian conflict and whatnot. i am skeptical he had any role whatsoever to do with this decision. all the reporting over the past week has come out has been thorough reporting on what is going on inside the white house. it does not really seem to indicate you had a lot of folks from the outside influencing this decision. all of this has been done around the president's concern about and what is going on in the tit for tat -- tit for tat conflict with iran. caller: what's old is new again.

i talked to my conservative friends. remember what rush limbaugh told you before the 2007 thanks iesco? they're giving you the same advice about the war, so be careful. the captain of it got promoted after that. we were in irani and waters when we shutdown the airline. war,lk about the fog of that's what happens, that's all i can say. be very careful and happy new year. guest: the fog of forest why do not think we should end up in iran. the reality is donald trump does not want to go to war, iran does not want to go to war and yet here we are on the brink of conflict and you have innocent civilians losing their lives in the fog of four.

i agree with that point that it is important for us to pull back from the brink, find new channels of communication with iran and try to get back to some kind of normal policy so we do not and up in this conflict that nobody wants. the human cost would just be terrible for all involved. that lease the question, will iran's response to the soleimani strike lead to war? host: iraq is the theater where the u.s. strike took place, and therefore the most natural place for iran to respond. will we see it again? guest: so far it has been interesting. i would have expected she militia groups in iraq to start targeting american targets. it is murder and more strategic to -- it is smarter and more strategic to show restraint. there has been a big backlash in iraq which the iraqi government

has asked american forces to leave. iranians realize if they escalate inside a rock, they hurt momentum for trying to eject american forces from iraq. that is why they have decided to be more restraint. we will see. there is no love for either iran or the united states inside iraq. i believe most people in iraq just want their country back. host: elong goldenberg. philip in los angeles, republican line. caller: i would like to ask the , how does this organization get funding? is it through george soros? second question is, does he think that the adventurism of irani and governments in terms , do you and has malala think the money they are spending is fairy dust? how much do you think came from

the one and a half billion dollars that came in unmarked bills in a paris airport in the middle of the night? don't tell me it's speculation because i have heard this stuff before from obama supporters. thank you. guest: first -- center for new american security has a diverse -- of funders from across-the-board. i am not worried about that. we are a centrist think tank. money, iran does all kinds of problematic things across the middle east. i don't disagree with that. the thing about these activities is they are relatively cheap. they are not that expensive. they were going on in 2012, 2013, 2014, and continued through 2017. when we had the new claytor, -- when we had the nuclear deal, we

had de-escalation. there were no -- inside iraq between 2015-2019. it was only after the u.s. walked away from the nuclear deal and things started escalating when the first time we had she melissa starting to attack u.s. forces in iraq. i would argue that the deal was having an extra positive effect of de-escalating the conflict and has now gone away. host: is there any evidence from your standpoint that money used to fund this military operation was money that the u.s. returned to iran following the 2050 nuclear deal? guest: no. money is spendable. you could argue that the money that came back as a result of the nuclear deal -- i believe the president used the term 150 billion, i think what i heard is more than around $50 billion. the real number is hard to measure.

they had that muscle capability before the deal. they still have the capability. they always had the missiles. have they built more as a result of having more financial flexibility? probably. does it make that much of a difference? not as much of a strategic difference as getting your arms on a nuclear weapon. host: new jersey, democrats line. caller: good morning. i have a question. gentleman, i thought it set on the bottom he worked for obama between certain dates. i don't know how we think this could be a fair conversation about trump. aresecond thing, when you talking about this money -- i have a question about the $150 billion. fungible my you have to say that yes it is possible they used it for all this stuff and i believe they did.

i am a registered democrat. the other question about that money, because it had to go in the middle of the night. if it wasn't for a reporter with a camera, we would never have known it. why did they feel they had to hide it? release fivelso gitmo terrorists along with that money? obama has a lot to answer for. you're talking about deaths, too. beheading end all of that. years in office cause a lot of problems. verynk you're going to be surprised because last week it was all about war. trump is getting us into war, and now you have iran people going against their own regime and it looks like trump is probably going to win this argument and it is going to kill the democrats. i am watching them, they are losing it.

this is not going to help trump's narrative. they are so worried about trump they don't care about the country. host: thank you for the call. thing come ie think it is important to distinguish between what we had -- a trade at gitmo that had nothing to do with iran. iran is it entirely different operation. on the question of political impact, i would say that thus far all of the polling has shown the american people do not want another war. they have not been supportive and concerned about these escalatory steps by the president. financials,erms of the financial benefits iran got from the deal, a lot of that was iranian money that had been held

up in foreign banks and was part of an agreement. we do not know exactly where that money went. we do not know what went to what. most of the things iran does militarily are not that expensive and they had the capacity long before the nuclear agreement to launch 16 missiles at an american base in iraq, they just chose not to. they also had been interfering lebanon, they have been interfering in lebanon since 1982. the notion that somehow the nuclear deal is what caused all these things -- there is simply no evidence for that. host: is there any chance that u.s. troops will be forced out of iraq? guest: i think there is a reasonable chance. it is unclear. the one thing that about iraq -- first of all, we have a caretaker government in iraq. it is not really capable of on its own kicking out american forces. the american government's

response which has been to threaten iraq and say we are not ready to meet about moving forces is also incredibly heavy-handed. right now, there is pressure inside iraq politically because of these strikes. biggestity is, iraqi's nightmare is being the chess board on which the u.s. and iran play their game. they want the americans out, they want the iranians out, they want to be left alone and have their own country again. that is what true -- that is what we should be focused on. i was in iraq and talking to protesters and their focus was on corruption and sectarianism. this is a whole new young generation that did not grow up with saddam. they were very anti-around the end because there were frustrated and felt that the iranians -- she melissa groups had fired on a rocky protesters -- she militia groups. not happy with iranians

too. it is possible for iraqis to be very frustrated with both iran and the united states. it is not a zero-sum game. host: developing story from the , risk ofet journal losing access to key bank accounts. the trump administration warning iraq that a critical government bake account in baghdad would be closed to the iraqi government if troops are forced out. the statement -- the state department warnings the country could close access to their account. host: that is incredibly heavy-handed and end kind of silly. there was an initial vote in iraqi parliament, there is political pressure they are dealing with, most of them do not necessarily want the u.s. out. they realize a small american force to help kee isis in check is not necessarily a bad

idea, but they have this massive political pressure. andake things worse destabilize iraq and take this country that has suffered so much in 20 years, and say to them, if you kick our forces out we're going to do this to you out of spite. to me, it is an counterproductive strategy. keep a low profile and try to let this blow over instead of trying to escalate. host: leonard from salem, massachusetts. ask if i just want to president trump really cares about civilians, or the military, i wish c-span would play the interview with michael -- he explores how in the

1950's we were antagonizing iran and iraq to fight each other for oil. i don't think trump cares about people's lives. that stems all the way back when he had people working for him that were killed in a helicopter accident and he made some money off that. of money is just a byproduct -- [indiscernible] just want to ask if you think president trump really cares about going to war or not? to pass am not going value judgment on whether the president cares about people's lives. inexperienced erratic leader, this has not been a great week for him. his decision to kill soleimani, itall reporting was done --

surprised advisors, it surprised the pentagon, it was done in a moment of anger after protests against -- attacks against the embassy in baghdad. seems --uld say is he he does not listen to his advisors. he does not go through the type of process other presidents have done. he is not methodical about these things. he does not really understand the consequences of his actions. i really don't think he fully weighed the consequences of killing qasem soleimani before deciding to go in that direction. host: lillian meant this, tennessee -- memphis, tennessee. caller: i want to continue what was said, the call from new jersey who kept saying ok. it just amazes me that she does not listen. i am sure she listens to fox. you need to listen to other channels. it is a poor way to educate yourself about what is going on

when you only listen to one channel. trump woke up at 3:00 in the morning and got us into a war. put our own soldiers in jeopardy . allies.e they just forget it after two or three days. this man every day does something that jeopardizes the safety of the united states. including that little lady saying ok, ok. she had better get her facts straight or she is going to have or one ofnorth korea those dictators goose-stepping down her street. they need to understand, they are not listening to all the facts. that man, every time he opens his mouth, it is a lie. no matter what. they sit on gold toilets. all they care about is taking our tax money and spending it. host: we will leave it there.

we will get a republican voice. larry in indiana. caller: i just ever question. ask him if george soros financed his organization and he did not give an answer. guest: why is that important to you? because george soros finances a lot of things against this country. guest: sure, no. [laughter] host: we will go to dave and northport, new york. host: couple of questions. -- invaded,n iraq when we eventually iraq -- we lost control of the situation and iran was able to move in through majorityious and shia and take over and ultimately had

a strong influence. recently the protests against the incursion. i am asking, is that primarily -- i know the united states, we like to support opposition countries ifrtain we want the government to become pro-west. that,h ngo's, things like funnel money to the opposition. now, is this a situation where we are trying to regain the position we lost in iraq? are we supporting the protests to over the -- to push out the iraqi government supported by iran? host: thank you for the call. guest: that is an interesting question about the protests. the protest movement started in october. it is not about the united states, and i don't -- it has

been entirely indigenous. it was not even about iran in the beginning. it was about two things, we are sick of the sectarian nature of the iraqi state, sick of the corruption of the government. irani supported groups began violently trying to suppress protests and killed a few hundred people. when they did that, these protesters turned on iran. now there is a heavy anti-iranian aspect to these protests. the challenges, what they want is going to be hard to pull off because they want a fundamental change in the nature of government that the government is not capable of addressing. sectarianism and corruption are -- or lend we could have played a constructive role in engaging in the government, trying to negotiate between the two. trying to move the government in the right direction. some other international actors have done some of that.

that itself would have also hurt iran. it is first and foremost about benefiting iraq. i think the attacks on qasem soleimani on the fallout from that is going to make it harder to do any of that. at this point, we are not a major player in this. i think it is still a good thing for the rockies, and it could still be a good thing overall for weakening iranian influence if some of the needs of these protesters are met and if they are able to unify and have some political influence. i think now they are still disorganized, they are young, it is not clear who the leadership manse --ncrete concrete demands that might be doable. is the death of soleimani comparable to president obama's taking out of bin laden? guest: there are comparisons, but in some ways it is more significant in that bin laden did not have a state actor

behind him who could then respond in the way that iran could potentially respond. bin laden really was a nonstate actor. that makes a big difference. there is a reason we do not kill foreign officials, it is because first what it means in terms of exposing our own officials, and also what it means in terms of our vulnerability. coming in many ways killing of soleimani -- when we look back on it historically, will be seen as a more significant event than bin laden. host: elong goldenberg was -- goldenberg is currently with the center for new american security. thank you for being with us. michael rubinent, of the american enterprise institute will be joining us. first, joining us live on the --ne in the hall to see

responded from politico. caller: thanks for having me. host: let me begin with this headline, the president treating his support to the iranian supporters. we will put on the screen that treat in which he said he has been following those demonstrations across tehran. the president saying he supports what they're doing, "to the brave long-suffering people of iran, i have stood with you since the beginning of my presidency and by administration will continue to stand with you. we are following your protests closely and are inspired by your courage." what have you learned >> caller: -- what have you learned >> caller: it is interesting. thought to myself ok, the trump administration is going to try to take advantage of this moment. out -- whatever they can to mobilize support for these protesters.

they have done this several times already in a bid to help the protesters do whatever they can to weaken the regime in iran. far-fetched goal of kind of toppled the regime. you not only saw president trump , a ivanka- treating trump was tweeting about it. the state department was kind of -- was doing all kinds of stuff. this is limited because just a few days ago, the president threatened to bomb iran's cultural sites. there are reports he is going to expand the travel ban which includes banning iranians. a lot of iranians are going to see this and say well, thanks, but we know you have other motives as well. host: as you watch the developments, certainly the demonstrations that took place yesterday, also following the downing of that 737 ukrainian

airliner, do you feel that under the shoe may drop? what is the next step in this back-and-forth? there i deftly think that are still going to be proxy groups in iran and beyond. iranian proxy groups that will find ways to attack the u.s.. i would not be surprised if there is some sort of cyberattack. trying to figure out if these protests continue and if they get bigger, that is possible. at the same time, when there was a lot of protest in november and -- in iran over fuel prices, their romney government shutdown the internet and killed hundreds of people. so, we have to see where this goes. really -- would be not wise to think that because

of the service or tragedy of the plane that it is going to dampen tensions between u.s. and iran. those are going to continue as separate things. is likely down the line, but it may not take the form that we imagine it does. host: we are learning also that switzerland has been playing a role in trying to open up diplomatic channels between the u.s. and iran. what can you tell us about that? apparently, -- basically both sides have been using encrypted fax machines to get messages to one another behind the scenes. for instance, after the u.s. killed qasem soleimani, we reached out through this channel and urge iranians not to escalate. switzerland has for decades been an lead -- intermediary. they do this for other countries

as well. it is kind of their thing on the international stage to be this neutral intermediary. what strikes me about the reporting is that it is saying the messages that are being handed back and forth behind the scenes are much more restrained than what is being said in public. my experience with the middle east is generally, you need to pay way more attention to what people are saying in public than what they say in private. i think that goes both ways now with the u.s. as well. sayingnt trump should be a lot of nice things to the iranians in private, but if he is going out there and saying orsh things on twitter, other means, that is going to affect iranian public opinion, and the ace lawmakers seem's desire to save face. interesting, but i am not sure that at the end of the date is going to bring

peace. host: foreign affairs correspondent for politico. her work is available at politico.com. things are being with us. guest: thank you for having me. back i want to welcome michael rubin with the american enterprise institute serving as red as an scholar. he served in the bush administration as an iran-iraq advisor. let me go back to something we heard from president trump that both president obama and your boss george w. bush had the opportunity to take out soleimani, they did not. can you explain this -- what george w. bush knew or what he could have done? across an administration there is broad bipartisan consensus among the people who follow iran and people who work on national security that cost him soleimani was a malevolent actor. in 2003, there is a diplomatic agreement achieved in switzerland in which the

iranians promised not to interfere in iraq, and qasem soleimani was the man who broke this. -- while there had been plans to -- soleimani who was responsible for the deaths of americans and iraqis, seldom was there an opportunity like this. a few opportunities early on during the bush administration in which actors in iraq betrayed that information. under obama, i can't really talk to that. i don't know the details. when pressed he has an opportunity, i don't think this was done on a whim. basically you have a special airport road that only vips can use. --many ways it is kind of an it is analogous to what we have an washington, d.c. where you have an 11 mile stretch that goes from the beltway to dulles airport that only airport traffic and beyond. you have that special vip road.

qasem soleimani was driving on and -- at a time when there were no other cars around. i think the trump administration, the pentagon and people who follow it say this is a unique opportunity because not only can we get soleimani what we don't have to worry about other callow -- casualties alongside and. host: was at the right move? guest: i believe it was the right move. this is where i would differ with president trump, in the past there have been other high-profile assassinations in the middle east. the iranians killed the former lebanese prime minister in beirut in 2005, but they did not claim responsibility. there is possible diet but -- deniability. mastermind in part responsible for the barracks bombing was killed in damascus, -- probably did it and did not claim credit for it. --hink trump in his tweets

even if behind the scenes most people understood that the americans were responsible. what this did was embarrass our allies in iraq. host: there has been a shifting response by the administration. he explained to congress exactly what the imminent threat was. week, senate republican from utah, very critical of that closed door meeting in a secured area. here's what he told reporters. >> my comments at the moment are not directed toward the attack that occurred friday. we will leave that to another day. i will say that we were brought into this briefing today to talk to us about that attack on friday. toad hoped and expected receive more information outlining the legal, factual and moral justification for the attack. i was left somewhat unsatisfied on that front. the briefing lasted only 75 minutes.

this is not the biggest problem i have with the briefing, which i would add, was probably the worst briefing i have seen -- at least on a military issue -- in the nine years i have served in the senate. what i find so distressing about the briefing was that one of the messages we received from the , doers was, do not debate not discuss the issue of the appropriateness of further military intervention in iran. if you do, you will be emboldening iran. the implication being that we would somehow be making america less safe by having a debate or discussion about the appropriateness of further military involvement against the government of iran. insulting andis demeaning. not personally, but to the office that each of the 100 buildingin this

happens to hold. i found it insulting and demeaning to the constitution to which we all have sworn an oath. it is the prerogative of the -- article one section eight makes that clear. joined by lee was rand paul. two republican senators who have been supportive of the president, now indicating they would support an effort by tim kaine from virginia to implement the war powers resolution. guest: if you issues to parse out. first, when it comes to this notion of imminent threat, i am not sure where the the standard came from the came to qasem soleimani. what was beyond dispute was responsible for the death of hundreds of americans. what was also beyond dispute was that he was applied that she was planning attacks on americans in the future. whether those plans are going to come in the next 24 hours or not, to me is irrelevant. when it comes to the war powers act, i am a strict constitutionalist.

war on ae to declare country, yes, he should go to congress to get authorization for the use of military force and whatnot. there tends to be a political maelstrom, a panic in washington , at taking out soleimani designated terri who was under u.s. sanctions, he was not supposed to be outside the borders of iran must somehow is akin to declaring war on iran. the memory, this is a man who had coordinated the attack on the embassy just a couple days before. i am not sure where we have gotten this notion that somehow killing qasem soleimani it is equivalent to declaring war on iran. host: michael ruben is a resident scholar at the american enterprise institute. let's get your phone calls. from westbrook, maine, jim good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to ask about the money that was transferred over

-- if he agreed with the nuclear deal, and also the cash that was given. i hear so many different numbers. i know billions and billions, biden inice president on those meetings when they allowed a government like iran to get millions, or even billions of dollars? is that possible? wouldn't someone say that it is not a good idea to give a terrorist country cash in the middle of the night? guest: thank you for your question. was anponses, first, i opponent of the nuclear deal. when i look at nuclear disarmament, we had south africa in 1991 come in from the cold and decide to give up its nuclear weapons. even though we had a fully compliant south african government, within a couple years with nelson that -- nelson mandela as president, it still took 19 years for the agency to

-- therefore, i do not understand how with iran not being cooperative, the international atomic energy agency could make the assertions and dilute its standards considerably. cash, theds to the obama administration not only transferred money to iran, but it also gave a great deal of that money in cash. hundreds of millions of dollars in cash, u.s. dollars, euros, swiss francs. what made it more troubling was a lot of that money was transferred onto an islamic revolutionary guard corps owned plane, so who knows where it went. the reason this is troubling to me is when there is an iranian attempt to stage a terrorist attack back in 2010, the way according to open so's reporting , we discovered that this attack was in the works was we had been monitoring bank accounts and transfers of money from bank accounts. if suddenly the iranians are working in cash, that makes it

harder to enter step -- intercept. with regards to joe biden, i was a veteran of the obama administration so i cannot answer that portion of the question. host: what would you say to supporters of the iran deal who say at least -- despite its flaws, at least it was keeping iran in check? guest: first, it is a subject for open debate -- the effectiveness of the nuclear deal with regard to iran's nuclear ambitions. the nuclear deal, as it stood, allowed iran to maintain centrifuges. the expiration dates, with regard to the nuclear deal for also troubling. as was the standards for testing. the fact of the matter is we weren't able to send inspectors into military bases where the military dimensions of the nuclear program would have occurred.

that said, i am also not sure whether i would agree with you that it really kept iran in a box. i would disagree with mr. goldenberg that there simply weren't targeting of americans in iraq and the period immediately after the joint conference was signed. importantly, it restricted development -- it loosen them. previously, iran was not allowed to conduct ballistic middle switch for -- ballistic missiles which were capable of carrying nuclear warheads. resolution wrote -- 3231 change that to designed to. ron said they are building a space program, and if they were carrying nuclear warheads it was not them because they were not designed to do that. we had an increase in iranian actions in syria and iraq. guest: how 40 years of enmity between iran and the u.s. collided.

serpas, new york. tom, you are no -- you are an expert -- you are next. caller: hello? ok. i would like to talk about -- who else was with soleimani when he was killed? it was the head of hamas? he was actually in iraqi government? hamasaced this guy from in the iraqi government? we saw him in the white house in 2011. and then there was a strike at the same time that was the financier from iran. these were all terrorist acts where iran was caught being the state sponsor of terrorism. president trump is doing his job for the american citizens.

god bless him. he is doing more than any other president in the united states. -- for the last 30 years. clean to keep our streets from ms 13 and all lost. we have sanctuary all over the u.s. for foreign-born invaders. the democratic party is not working for the united states of america. they are working for themselves. you can see that. host: i will leave it there. guest: two responses, first, the other person who was killed was abu mohammed us, deputy head of immobilization forces. not all mobilization forces or malicious are under the handasnce of iran, but mo was under the thumb of around.

-- iran. it is not healthy to blame democrats for not believing they have the best interests of the country at heart. the fact is, we have real political differences, but that does not mean that democrats are acting in a malign fashion. let's have these debates civilly, and let's go after ideas rather than people. as anthony scalia said, some very good people have very bad ideas. host: south wales, new york. caller: thank you good morning. i wanted to point out that moments ago, you purposefully left out information regarding the money that was returned to iran. that was their money. all you republicans should understand it was their money, the cash that was returned to them was interest that was decided on and it was the courts , the monetary courts that

directed us to return their money. host: ok. guest: i simply disagree with you when there is actually a house oversight committee hearing on this very question. some of the money was a result iran had14's, which purchased before the islamic resolution but was never delivered. the reason this gets a little confusing is first, the courts did not determine the amount of money, the obama administration did. the way they estimated this was what manycontrast to experts believe. they inflated the amounts of money the iranians got. and then there is the difference between the money that was involved for the release of the hostages. seems to be what we are talking about with the $1.4 billion returned in cash.

then there is the broader issue with regards to some of the money that was released as the result of the joint conference plan of action. dealregards to the nuclear 2015, it still has been very hard to get an exact figure on that. obama administration officials gave all sorts of different figures, but conservatively it was round $80 billion-$100 billion. some of that was the result of unfrozen assets, so it was just an accounting thing. iran did not get that money delivered it was just freed up. other money was delivered to iran, on top of which the apple flying fact was a lot of new investment that poured into iran. a lot of people suspect that around got around $80 billion, and around $1.4 billion of that was in cash. of the money you were talking ,"out that was "iran's money

-- oft: "iran has a history leveraging asymmetric tactics to pursue national interest beyond its capabilities. iran has exercised its increasingly sophisticated capabilities to suppress both social and political perspectives deemed dangerous to iran. iranian cyber threat actors have continuously improved their capabilities. the isaf recommends organizations to increase vigilance, monitor capabilities, and know how to identify any type of behavior, flagged any ofwn iraqi imitators procedures for an immediate response. how real of a threat is this? guest: it is an incredibly real threat. when i first went to iran in 1986, the iranians used to monitor what people would do on the internet essentially by

looking over their shoulders. wasmber, iran after israel the first country in the middle east to get the internet. in 1999, iprotests am talking 10 years before. iranians then realized if they bashed has, it could make things worse. they brought the chinese into work on things like they call -- facial recognition software. they took photos of people in the middle of the night and arrested them. passive99, you have the defense organization which is a special unit of the revolutionary guard. as far as cyber defense, they become more sophisticated. you also had the supreme leader appoint the supreme cyber -- cyberspace counsel. there was also a cyber police organization long story short, they are trying to design a system to completely sever a runoff from the global internet. they talk about this openly, talking about creating a national internet paired they

talk about any company that does business in iran, have their servers in iran -- they say that they have 13 million people in their own equivalent to facebook. the fact is, iranians are asked -- increasingly sophisticated. we do need to root be worried about this. one of the things that iranians do in iraq is create fake social media accounts in order to track people and gather intelligence. i would urge any american official not to take friend requests for many when do not personally know. tweetwith that also, the from the president a moment ago. he is tweeting on impeachment, and iran. following, "to the leaders of iran, do not kill your protesters. thousands have already been killed in the world is watching. more importantly, the usa is watching. turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free. stop the killing of your people." what is happening there this weekend?

guest: the iranians are outraged. in many ways, there is a tale of two tragedies with these airliners. a lot of people forget that in 1990 -- 1988, what brought an end to the war was the tragic accidentally shooting down of an iranian airbus. ayatollah khomeini factored that into his now, with regard to the lives that were perpetrated out by the regime after the tragic shootdown of the ukrainian airliner, the fact of the matter is, it has done a huge damage to whatever shred of legitimacy is left within the regime. and so, if i were in iranian official, i was not say where this goes. regime change is coming to iran but it will not be external. the supreme leader of iran is 83 years old. he has had cancer and has publicly knowledged having

prostate cancer. a lot of the old guard of the islamic revolution has been dying and iranians are talking about secession. for there to be a blow of legitimacy to the ayatollahs at this point in time really does and should create panic within the islamic republic. you also have a generational change where not only among the youthful pro-western population, that,e they're not all but the children of the revolutionary leaders, they are saying enough is enough and that is scaring the iranians. host: shannon, good morning. good morning. i have been listening to these conversations going on. i am curious about the gentleman's stance on taking out a state military official not being a war act with elliott apron heading up our foreign policy. would you have the same up in if a latin american country wanted to do something similar?

i also had a question. was teaming up with the center for american progress. i wonder if you had a comment on that as well? guest: i just published a book with a senior fellow at the center for american progress. the american enterprise institute does not take institutional positions or politicalwith any party. some are liberal, democrats, and republicans. you should judge merrick as an individual rather than try to look for some grander conspiracy there. with regard to the first question and elliott abrams, elliott abrams does not sponsor terrorism,. period. whether you are a democrat or solomonic --eneral

wasral soleimani responsible for deaths and he bragged about it. the elite unit of an islamic revolutionary guard, it should not be a get out of jail free card or terrorism, which he conducted. it is a castigation of the true nature of the islamic republic of iran today that they would openly perpetrate this. violation ofirect an agreement, which was negotiated in 2003 on the and iran'sde ambassador and iran's foreign minister that said the islamic military guard corps would not interfere inside iraq. that was a lie. either mohammed knowingly lied or he negotiated sincerely but did not have the power to implement his decisions over soleimani, in which case you could say soleimani went rogue.

in miami, republican line. on the air with michael rubin. caller: thank you for having me. more of an observation than a question for mr. rubin. i appreciate you identifying yourself as a conservative republican. the american enterprise institute is historically known as a center-right organization in the think tank arena. i want to call out mr. ian goldberg for his denial of the fact that the center for new american security is not funded by george soros. -- a simple check on wikipedia will show you the open ise he -- society foundation considered to be one of the top donors for the center of american security. i think it is important for your guests when they come on the program to identify their organizations and give the viewers a sense of what their , and guestsis

should not categorically deny something that is factually true. thank you. host: something you wrote, this is before the text, last month, iran's military is about to be transformed. should the president be worried? would you explain? guest: when it comes to iran's military, a couple of things to keep in mind. we interact with iran's military all the time. regularlyavy interacts with the islamic republic of iran navy. most of those relations are .uite cordial iran has two militaries. the regular military and then the islamic military guard corps. the regular military is in of territorial defense, and the islamic revolutionary guard corps is in charge of the defense of the revolution, which means enemies can be external or internal. more- tends to be much

aggressive. islamic guard corps has retired after more than a decade. hasd of the iranian navy retired after more than a decade. you have the head of the islamic revolutionary guard corps retire after more than 12 years. worried about was when you have the sort of transition, you have the new guard trying to assert themselves in a more aggressive way to prove their revolutionary metal, and at the same time, even though we did not like interacting with someone who was in charge of harassing our ships and so forth, after 12 years, we understood him and the way he acts. aw what we are facing is blank slate and that makes the situation more dangerous. you take soleimani's death and the promotion of --

a situation inot which we do not know our adversaries and that makes things a little more a certain and tenuous. host: mike in chicago ridge, illinois. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. -- excellently shutting down ukrainian plane. our warship shut down an iranian passenger, we gave up [indiscernible] i think it is shameful. guest: i am sorry. you are factually incorrect. we did apologize at except possibility for the 1988 shootdown of that iranian airbus. -- i was in high school at the time so when i say we, i am saying the united states. not me. andlso did an action report

one of the similarities between what happened then and what happened now is even though the iranians had a channel at the time in 1988, to ward off civilian jetliners that there was a fear of a conflict in 1988, it had happened right after some in the u.s. navy had been attacked by u.s. shipping, the iranians for whatever reason decided not to activate the channel, which led to a confluence of events, truly tragic. not only did we apologize but we pay reparations to the families. host: rick, good morning. just want to congratulate michael for his for thet justification killing of soleimani. he explained how hundreds of aroundhad been killed the world. i also want to say, michael, and listen to me, your family needs you, america needs you.

i want you to make sure you get all of your medical checkups that are needed, because we need you. thanks again and happy new year, sir. you.: thank my wife would add if i did not snore, she would be much happier. host: do you know the caller? guest: i do not. host: kentucky, good morning. good morning. i would like to ask a two-part question. when iraq was invaded by the united states, what is the difference now between iraq and conflict that has been going on for thousands and thousands and thousands of years? we are not going to be able to change their attitude toward

each other. democracy, diplomacy, or the swiss embassy. michael, you are a very smart individual. how can we change this sense of urgency for them to get along? host: thank you. guest: thank you. it is a great question. one thing people do not realize about iraq today is that since 2003, 40% of iraqis have been born. a whole generation of iraqis have no real memory of saddam hussein. 60% of iraqis have been born after the kuwait war in 1991. one reason we have seen iraq is take to the streets is because they say, hey, look, it is one thing to say, if you are a orite party or kurdish party

nationalist party and so forth, that you candace smith's -- dismissed some of the defaults of your government. ,ut after more than 12 years after 17 years, enough is enough. let's have some results. let's talk about what makes you legitimate. of's talk about the lack government services. the iraqis, in the u.s., as much as republicans and democrats like complaining about congress, usually the return rate after every election, the incumbency rate is over 90% for american congressman. around 18% hovers because iraq is actually followed through on that .ttitude to throw the bums out when it comes to democracy, according to the guardian newspaper in london, a very left of center newspaper, they reported in 2002 that one out of every six iraqis have fled the country under saddam hussein. when they settled in the west in

the united states, they had no problem embracing democracy. that suggests to me the issue is is one ofral than it rules law and iraq. when it comes to iran and iraq, all politics is local. if you talk to iraqis in the the iraqis are overwhelmingly arab, the iranians are overwhelmingly persian. the iraqi's biggest complaints about iranians is the cheap dumping of manufactured goods, undermining the iraqi manufacturing base. that is what drives a lot of the annoyance with regard to iraq. a year ago cap -- a year ago in september, there was a massive fish kill in a river. in reality company was probably because of agricultural runoff but what the iraqis believed is that iranians had purposely poisoned the river in order to force the iraqis to boycott, i mean to buy iranian fish, and

therefore the iraqis should boycott iranian products. perception is more important than reality. this shows you an eligible -- an element we do not see in this political discourse. it is not all about us. in the --headlights headlines in the wall street journal. tourists in bulgaria and diplomats in india. what are you worried about in terms of any future iranian response? guest: what i am most worry about is -- worried about is targeting where we put our guard down. i would be much more worried in bangkok, thailand, then i would in beirut, lebanon. when some people say, maybe has pullout would react and launch missiles at israel, i do not think that will happen because it has below were to launch at israel, israel might figure, in for a penny, in for a pound, and there would be less incentive to

target iran's nuclear sites. one thing we need to worry about is with regard to sleeper cells, not only among iranians but also among lebanese shiites. lebanon's's greatest exports have always been her people. we have seen lebanese and hezbollah the involved in 1994 on the attack on the jewish center. hezbollah and iranian activities in western africa. fake manifests covering for arms deals. this is one reason morocco severed relations with the republic of iran. in japan, many manual labor and construction industry are iranian. host: we believe it on that note. michael rubin, veteran of the george w. bush administration, thank you for being with us. campaign 2020. we are three weeks away from the iowa caucuses.

one month away from the new hampshire primary. when we come back, we will talk to reporters on the ground in the early primary caucus states. journal" continues on this sunday morning, january 12. we are back in a moment. ♪ >> monday night on "the communicators," the u.s. achieve security officer on huawei's lawsuit against the fcc over a recent vote to ban u.s. companies from using federal funds to buy huawei equipment. we had to say, fcc, what you have done is beyond the pale. it conflict with the constitutional requirements of due process, with the statute on which your authority is based, with the administrative procedures act, and with your own precedent. and that is wrong. >> monday night at 8:00 eastern

on c-span two. our camp went to 20 coverage continues today live at 3:00 p.m. eastern with senator michael bennet in bedford, new hampshire. at 4:15 eastern, mayor pete buttigieg from las vegas. on tuesday, live at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span two. president donald trump is in milwaukee, wisconsin, at a keep america great rally. andh our coverage on c-span c-span2, on demand at c-span.org, or listen on the go with the free c-span radio app. >> right now, we're in a twilight's own in between, and part of this is because the constitution is actually more specific about impeachment than it is about most things. everything when will these articles of impeachment be presented, all of

that is worked out. in the past come it has gone quickly and as i mentioned with the clinton trial, it went so quickly that the senate was not in session when the articles were sent over. this is something for the toders of the two houses wrangle with each other about. i am not sure i would use the term leverage, but i do think it is a tactic the speaker is using in this case. ritchie onrichie -- the history of senate impeachment trials. -- "q&a."ht on 3 host: part of c-span's road to the white house coverage. we are in iowa, new hampshire, this weekend. coverage onow the the web. we want to check in with reporters in the early primary caucus states and we want to

hear from you, a line set aside for those who live in carolina, iowa, and new hampshire. you can begin dialing. democrats.000 (202) 748-8001 republicans. (202) 748-8002 independents. joining us on the phone is james, political reporter with post and courier. i want to put on the screen new the stateat show you of the race in south carolina. of the a summary of all most recent polls with former vice president joe biden at 32%, senator bernie sanders at 15%, followed by senator elizabeth warren, tom steyer at 8%, and pete buttigieg at 6%. these numbers have been consistent over the last few months. why? former vice president has

had a very durable base of support in south carolina. he is by far the best known of the candidates. he is viewed favorably by black voters of south carolina who of the the majority democratic electorate in south carolina, 61% in 2016. it is partly because of his association with president obama, the vice president, partly because he has been coming to south carolina for many years and has lengthy relationships here. he has been very popular with that group of folks and it has been hard for the other candidates to try and chip away at it. they have all been competing for second so far. his lead has not really diminished. it will be interesting to see whether the results in iowa involves new hampshire -- or new hampshire will have an impact on that. that has been the state of the

race for months. the road to south carolina begins in iowa and then new hampshire. in the first time in south carolina. biden campaign, is south carolina a firewall if he fares orlie in the other two states? -- poorly in the other two states? >> it is preclear that is the case. i have spoken to folks on the campaign and the vice president himself. as far back as last summer in an interview with him, i asked whether he viewed this as a state where, if things did not go as well and i >> he hoped and in new hampshire, that this could be a place to start winning some states. part of the reason with south carolina -- that south carolina been significant is it has historically a bellwether for other southern states.

there are a lot of delegates in the south. it is extraordinarily hard to win the democratic presidential nomination without winning the black vote. nationwide. carolina is the first test of a candidate's strength with the black vote. den certainly sees that as a stronger situation for him than and morehose whiter progressive states early on. host: we're talking with a politico reporter joining us live via skype from charleston, south carolina. when you look at the political demographics of south carolina, it is a solid republican state in a general election, but what about in the primary and where are the democratic votes in your state? guest: the main hotbed of democratic votes is in columbia.

democrats have been growing their numbers, certainly in charleston, where a democratic foridate for congress won the first time last year in 2018, in 48 year -- in 40 years. has historically been viewed as the conservative stronghold, but the city of greenville is also starting to add quite a few democrats. columbiaspread out but and richmond county in the middle of the state has been the for frequent campaign stop a lot of these candidates because it does have the most amount of democratic voters. the candidates are trying to get all over the state and south carolina is a state with a lot of rural areas and we are seeing candidates go to these rural towns to demonstrate that they are going to be a president that will work for not just the folks

in the big cities. i want to ask you about senator lindsey graham. his democratic challenger in one survey statistically tied. how competitive is the senate race going to be this year? guest: it has been hard to read the polls in that race. it is fairly early and senator graham's challenger, the likely by farger who has raised the most money, he is still relatively unknown in south carolina. former south the carolina democratic chairman, but that is not really a well-known person outside of party politics. he now works for the dnc, he ran for the dnc chairman back after the 2016 election. money,raised a ton of

which is certainly the first step to making a competitive election. senator graham also raised a ton of money, even more. they both have studied fund-raising records. imagine we will get national attention because of senator graham's profile. it will be an uphill climb the matter what for harrison. i think he would admit that himself. you never say never in this profession. host: tom steyer, the billionaire, has doubled his support, approach in double digits. he is now in the 8% or 9% attending to the polls in south carolina. why is he moving up? guest: it is impossible to turn on a television, a radio, a computer in south carolina right now, without seeing tom steyer very quickly. he has completely blanketed the state with ads for several

months now. when otherver tv candidates have not been on tv at all or barely on tv. he has got pulled with all over the roads. state really placed the -- blitzed the state and the state of nevada are his top areas. he is still mostly right now competing with senator sanders and senator warren for that second spot. nobody is really encroaching on joe biden at this point. the fact that tom steyer has gone from a candidate who nobody really knew before this campaign is anto that position interesting story to watch. host: a political reporter from the post-courier is joining us from south carolina. we thank you for being with us. we have aligned set aside for

those of you who live in south carolina, iowa, or new hampshire. (202) 748-8003. let's get to your phone calls. patty from new york. we are about three weeks away from iowa. caller: good morning. york andally from new talking about the campaign trail and all of these democratic republicans, what i really hope for and what i pay for for this country is that somebody will step up for the people and not for their party. i think that is really where most americans are concerned. nobody is for the people anymore. they are for the party. on the campaign trail, i have not seen democrats say, ok, this is what i will do. it is all about how they are going to debunk trump and impeach him and the impeachment trail. i think people want to see policy. people want to see what will be done.

what i find very troubling as a new yorker and the wife of a first responder, my husband retired, as -- is well as 3000 people who perished on that day, i want to see somebody who will step up and say, how are we going to protect the people? how are we going to help the people who are on the medicare -- on medicare and how will we help the homeless? s someone from new york, trump is doing that. as somebody who, i will not tell trump but i will say, he is putting the people over the politics. i will leave it there. richard next in missouri. good morning. caller: good morning. i am a burning man. -- bernie man,.

-- man. the people running for president, why don't they come out and tell us who their cabinet will be? i would sure want people to know who would be my running mate and who i will put in charge of different things. it would make more sense than just running on yourself. i think it would help quite a bit. host: who would be your pick for bernie sanders? caller: warren would be practical to run with him because they are real liberals and we want to get health care and makebody we can the world a little better place for everybody and educate people. and help the people get more doctors and nurses and invest in machines and stuff like that.

help the people. host: thank you for your call from them -- from missouri. the pete buttigieg campaign airing in the early primary pop -- caucus states. one of four advertisements he has released this week. >> as a veteran and a mayor, i have seen what we can achieve when we have each other's acts. -- dividedof america, we are at each other's throats. health care costs are soaring and kids are learning active shooter drills before they learn to read. to meet these challenges and if he president, we need real solutions, not polarization. i approve this message because acting together to conquer these challenges is the only way forward. your calls in newark, new jersey, james, good morning. good morning, c-span. good morning to new york city and washington, d.c. i am a moderate. i have been in politics since i was three years old with eisenhower.

ashamed of this country because of the fact that new , the poor are being left behind. the homeless situation in california is insane and nobody really cares. all these trillions of dollars going to new york city wall 12% tax.aying a 0% to i used to work on wall street in 1973. i have experience. me moreeally a damn sha is not being done for the poor.

host: thank you for the call. jim in new york. caller: hi. the lady that from the -- from new york that called, i am from new york also but she left out when she was talking about the people that the democrats seem to be stepping all over themselves to give illegal immigrants all kinds of benefits. it is unbelievable. now they are getting licenses in new york. , the all of these years dmv is hiring more people because the lines are so long. i cannot believe it. down is up and up is down. is else decides trump talking -- besides trump is talking about all the stuff we biased the store is made in china and bringing jobs back? nobody. nafta. all of these jobs people are getting now. i would like to know what people

are doing. bernie sanders wants to give away all kinds of free stuff. really. vote for?u going to if you are voting democrat, i really don't know. i have no idea what your mindset is. you should see how overrun this area is. with illegal immigrants. countrye is a asshole out here. host: thank you for your call. this program is carried live on channel 134 every sunday morning. to our viewers in great written who are live every sunday afternoon british time on the bbc parliament channel. christine is on the phone as we talk about camp in from rhode island. good morning. i was calling because i think people need to listen to yang. my first choice would be elizabeth warren, but i have been listening to yang and

following his policies. i think people need to give him a chance and listen to him, because he makes a lot of good sense. thank you. david is next. albuquerque, new mexico. caller: good morning. i believe that these democrats that are running for president are all fakes. they are not for real. they are putting their show out there. president trump is right. if you do not like america, leave. they did not even mentioned nothing about that contractor that got killed. all they talk about is that dude over there, that terrorist, and mourning for him. love america, why are you here? biden and warrant don't love america.

people lovee america. everybody needs to listen to trump because he is telling it the way it is straight up. call.thanks for the here's what the president told reporters in ohio this past week. have a lotrump: we of support because our country is doing so well. our country is doing so well. [applause] president trump: when we went out, we started and went right to the top of the polls. it was not like these folks today. 2%, 3%, but they are climbing. we went right to the top from day one and never missed centerstage in the debates. remember those great debates? we got high ratings. they don't get good ratings anymore. i am supposed to watch. it is like my job, try and watch the competition. but it is like watching death. [laughter] president trump: those debates are boring.

you have to sit through those things for two or three hours, you have to be really committed to the country to do that all stop -- that. [laughter] you seet trump: pocahontas is slipping badly? [cheering] president trump: and bernie is going up, he is surging. [booing] president trump: crazy bernie is surging. biden does not know the difference between iran and iraq and has gotten it wrong four times. from stockton, california, your thoughts? caller: my one and only president is joe biden. that is who i am voting for and he is the most qualified. host: thank you. let's go to linda in staten island, new york. good morning.

for campaign 2020, i think the the homefront. i have been complaining about this for a long time. that is the first issue for me as an american. having a place to live, permanently. in new york, we have to get to the nitty-gritty of the situation of homelessness. first, let's have someone check the financial budgets here in new york city. if we start following the money, like for instance, on one of my budgets, there was a mortgage that came and has gone out. i don't even have a home. if we start checking where the money is going, perhaps we can get to why so many of us are domiciled. thank you. host: caroline in virginia.

good morning. caller: how are you doing? sanders.te and bernie bernie sanders is really truthful and honest and speaks the truth. [indiscernible] in his office, that is sexual and messing with the women, the women cannot work in peace, and you mean to tell me [indiscernible] doing a mess like that and women have to keep going and they will do nothing about it. not me. no, sir. thank you anyway, bye-bye. in thee is not competing primaries or caucuses but he is competing for super tuesday and delegates there and beyond. michael bloomberg's's campaign admitting he would spend upwards

of $1 billion in this election this year. that story is available on the new -- "the new york times " website. we will try to get that for you in a moment. bob in massachusetts. caller: i just wanted to talk about pete buttigieg. i'm a little dismayed. we have got countries that stone gay people and we are going to a note -- to elect a president to go to these countries and negotiate? host: do you think that will be an issue? he has not been elected for anything yet and we have to wait for the primaries. caller: i know that but how could you possibly consider him? how is he supposed to go to iran, iraq, and saudi arabia, where they throw gay people off the top of buildings and stone them?

it does not make any sense to me and nobody has ever brought it up. none of the media brings it up. host: who is your candidate in this election? caller: trump. no question about it. host: ok. thank you for the call. isning us from new hampshire a political reporter for the concord monitor. good sunday morning. thank you for being with us. guest: great to join you. heading to iowa for the debates. in new hampshire, we are having january fog. winter will return tomorrow. it has been warm and washington, d.c., as well. if you look at the polls from real clear politics, it is showing essentially a three-way or four-way race in new hampshire. let me put the numbers on your screen and get your reaction. senator sanders is leading in new hampshire with 22%. followed closely behind by former vice president joe biden in 19%. people to judge at 18% and senator elizabeth warren at 15%.

what are you seeing on the ground? what --hose polls are reflective of what we think is the lay of the land. four top-tier contenders. the story in iowa, the same four. the four largest and strongest campaign organizations, boots on the ground and grass read -- grassroots outreach. some of them have ads up here. in tv ads.ot gone up all four of them are spending a lot of time in the state as well. off some ofriting the other contenders. andrew yang is spending a lot of time here and getting a lot of energy. amy klobuchar. she is from neighboring minnesota but spends a good bit of time here. cory booker spends a lot of time in this state and seems to have a lot of energy when he holds campaign events. let's talk about tulsi gabbard

from hawaii who basically moved here and is renting a house in new hampshire through primary day. host: if you look at who is moving ahead and who is moving behind, the biden campaign has lost ground based on the polling. the buttigieg and sanders campaign gaining ground. what is happening in the biden campaign and why these two contenders moving up? guest: we have had one recent poll in the last couple of days at monmouth -- that promised to get out here on wednesday. a search for sanders. sanders.e for , hisin iowa and no spare campaign seems to beginning energy. biden's campaign seemed status quo right now. he has firm supporters here. it's is a primary and not a caucus like i was in new hampshire, independents are and 40% of the electorate. they get to vote either democratic or republican primaries. mostly democratic dallas.

this low make this more of a moderate electorate and what you are seeing in those polls. that may help joe biden. host: how fluid is the electorate based on what you are seeing and hearing, talking to voters and the campaign and their staffers? a tradition of late deciders, the polls reflect that. 12% undecided even months ago. larger percentage of voters seem to say, i am backing this or that candidate, but i could change my mind by primary day. let's be honest, i will goes first. -- iowa goes first. there will be an impact. host: why is senator sanders moving up? many felt he may drop out after the heart attack -- the heart attack. i think his rise through

the polls is coming as we see a deterioration for elizabeth warren. both have been battling for the progressive base of the party. some people are little turned as she moderate her stance on medicare for all, and bernie sanders moved from the extreme to the mainstream when he first ran four years ago. i was just with worn on friday and we will sit down with her in a town hall in new hampshire. a large crowd, energetic. it seems like a lot of energy for elizabeth warren. host: a reporter for the concord moniker. his available is on the fox news website. how can they follow you on social media? what do you think the final numbers will reflect? guest: we are seeing a good amount of money.

not as much as iowa. tom steyer. we have seen his numbers, not here but in some other states skyrocket last week. biden has not spent that much. sanders and warren spent a little more than him. the judges the biggest spender other than stier in the state. steyer in the state. he has now his first spots here. michael bennet has digital ads. he is basically running an entirely new hampshire centric campaign. host: he is not on the ballot in new hampshire but what happens in the granite state, michael bloomberg. somebody who has been following this process and talked about this in the past. what is his path, his trajectory, his strategy? guest: that no clear candidate no front runner comes out of the

early voting states. momentums a lot of coming out of early voting states. that is one strategy. he jumps in on super tuesday with a huge amount of delegates in big states like california and texas. thought is if bernie sanders gains momentum in the early voting states, then there is a more moderate centrist democrat who will look to michael bloomberg. i just said last night believe out west, he mentioned the voting states, basically saying it was more about super tuesday. we are seeing his ads appear this week. the super tuesday states. ads daily. a political reporter joining us from new hampshire although it feels like florida on this sunday morning. thank you for being with us.

back to your phone calls. joe is joining us from north charleston, south carolina. good morning. caller: good morning. i am well. i gained a bunch of weight since the holidays. it looked like i was topped out and ready for market, but anyway. i hope you and your family have a prosperous and healthy 2020. i would like to reflect on something jamie said a few minutes ago. we are going through the state of democratic -- demographic change here. a lot of people are coming down here because of our jobs situation. people new england and ohio. our political demographics are changing constantly. you are going to see a lot more democratic candidates getting folks done here. -- votes down here.

won because of his stance on offshore drilling. republicans do not want offshore drilling. we are going through a change. i do not know if your viewers, you probably know this. i do not know if your viewers know this. south carolina, we can vote in either primary we want. we already have a republican primary this year. i can go vote in the democratic primary. so i will. and i will vote for joe biden. the reason is, just in case. i am old. who canike joe is a guy reach across the aisle and work with republicans successfully and get some things done. think south carolina will be read for a while. awhile.or

if a democrat wins, i would be in favor of joe biden. do you think lindsey graham will be elected? caller: yes. once you get tenure and chairmanship of committees, people do not want to lose that, at least at this point. but demographics are changing. we are changing drastically. good to hear from you. thank you for the call. don't be a stranger. happy new year. one of the new campaign ads from the tom steyer campaign is extensively inng new hampshire. here is what voters are seeing. >> donald trump will go down in history for his racism, lies, and impeachable crimes. but he will not go down in 2020 unless we expose them as a front on the economy. no politician, republican or democrat, has been able to do it

yet. i can. i am tom steyer and i approve this message because i have had a successful business record and a plan for economic growth and economic justice. that is how we beat trump on the economy and win in 2020. host: back to your phone calls. matt is joining us in idaho. caller: good morning. i wanted to make a couple of points. first, one thing about the gentleman on stoning gay people. i game and. -- i am a gay man. i understand if you feel homosexuality is a sin. sin is sin and donald trump has committed plenty of that. that aside, as far as who i will vote for, i will vote for joe biden. i hope he picks pete buttigieg as his vice presidential candidate. i believe joe biden will likely only run for four years given his age.

the reason i'm going for joe biden is because i want a restoration in this country of normalcy, decency, and presidential behavior. donald trump represents none of that. evangelicals have sold themselves out so they can get judges appointed into the courts to try to essentially overturn roe v. wade, but donald trump does not represent true republicans values. he has inflated the deficit. he has not represented the moral value or the compass of where the republican party used to be. their position on russia is crazy. but i do truly believe that the country is ready for columnists -- calmness, decency, and presidential behavior. host: from the des moines register as we mentioned earlier, bernie sanders leading in the iowa polls three weeks

before the caucuses in that state. here are some of the details. senator sanders leading the democratic field, narrowly overtaking his closest competitors who remain locked in a tight contest just behind him. here are the numbers. the des moines register and cnn survey showing 20% of likely nameratic caucus goers sanders as their first choice. after a surge of enthusiasm that pushed pete buttigieg to the top of the field in november, the mayor of south bend, indiana, has faded, falling nine percentage points to land behind senator sanders and senator warren, who is at 17%. the buttigieg 16%. joe biden at 18%. from tyler, texas, good morning. caller: my comment revolves one thing, and that is the first page of the entirety of all u.s. law. candidate that complies with

that law, i will vote for. i think we should limit voting to anyone, even illegal aliens, if they can demonstrated knowledge of americas -- demonstrate a knowledge of america's law. it is 35 words. it is the second sentence. it seems like nobody is paying to the reason the constitution was written. it is not the constitution that proceeds that. host: two leonard in colorado. good morning. good morning. i am doing well. confused with this year's election. i claim to be a politically i'mless individual because originally democrat and my family was democratic. the thing is, i did not vote for donald trump mostly because i'm a veteran.

to see what he had said about mr. mccain, who was a prisoner of war, and calling him a coward, that was like spitting on me. i did not have to go through the things mr. mccain did, but i'm a veteran and he was a veteran. the thing is, it is sad, whether you are a republican or democrat, you have to be a millionaire or billionaire to run for president and that is nonsense. every watched everyone -- one of the democratic debates and have scratched my head. they are hitting on some of the points. if they could all come together and get the fine points and find one individual who would support everyone of those points -- every one of those points. there is global warming. we will never fix that. i will stop you there only because we are short on time. thank you for your calls. scheduled fors is

monday, february 3. if you ever wondered what a caucus looks like, c-span will be your one place to show you how that unfolds. prime time on monday, february the third. we are joined on the phone by the bureau chief of lead enterprises. ahead sanders is moving in polling in iowa. why? he has a strong base of support that never left him after democrats look at other and like to hear what they heard from this or that candidate, it kind of ebbs and flows. the steadiness has put him in a good spot where he is not only write in the middle of the pack, but in the latest polls actually leading the pack. the key to iowa is

organization. outside of top-tier candidates, who else could break through on caucus night. ? watching the are organization. cory booker, despite him struggling in the polls, remains popular when you talk to people he has him at events and a good organization. he invested very early in this campaign. people are watching him to see if he could be a breakout. the other is amy klobuchar because of more recent success, she had a couple nice fundraising periods. capitalize on that momentum. that organization could help her as well. those are the two we most interested to see if they can go up to the top tier. from based on the latest the des moines register cnn poll, why is pete buttigieg at the moment fading in iowa? guest: i think it goes to what i

touched on earlier. surge andwarren had a then went to the back of the pack. same with pete buttigieg. i think i would democrats really like a lot of these candidates. iowa democrats really like a lot of these candidates. this has been a long campaign. we have been added for more than a year in iowa. the flavor of the day changes and now some of those voters who haven't made up their minds yet are looking at someone else. to takethe key point away from all of this is it is still wide open and anything could happen. because it is so close and so o -- iowans -- have not made up their mind. dean fared poorly in 2004.

over the next three weeks, what are you looking for and what could shift all of this? we are more or less in closing arguments even. a few weeks sprint to the finish. hear, be interested to what is their message, does it change a little bit, do they try and come at voters a little bit of a different way to try and really reach the democrats who are still undecided? thisther big thing in sprint to the finish is foreign policy. does that change the race in anyway given what is going on in the world right now? it will be interesting to see if that has an impact. host: we will see him again tuesday in the des moines register debate with a smaller field in this race, based on the dnc regulations in terms of who can participate in the debates, what will you be looking for? guest: i will be looking for people and what their message is for this and it will be of theting to see any

cross fighting if any candidates feel they need to have a breakout moment like senator klobuchar. does she go on the attack were try to dominate? candidates try to point out contrasts between themselves and other candidates? with the past field and test group, anything they can do to help their cause and create a message that resonates with democrats in these last few weeks will be critical. it will be interesting to see how aggressive these candidates are. host: murphy, the des moines bureau chief joining us from des moines. thank you for being with us. to be a busy up week in washington as the house those twoard with articles of impeachment. all eyes on what happens in the u.s. senate. to kick things off as we look ahead at the week here in

washington, everyday at 7:00 a.m. eastern time and 4:00 for those of you on the west coast next.op "newsmakers" live thank you for joining me. i hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] ♪ on thursday, president trump held a campaign rally in toledo, ohio. >> c-span unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme policy eventsic from washington dc and around the country so you can make up your mind. in 1970 nineble c-span is brought to you by your local cable or padula --

satellite provider. your unfiltered view of government. c-span,g up on newsmakers is live from the she willc crane -- discuss campaign 2020 and efforts to keep a democratic majority in the house of representatives. at 10: 35 we look back at the senate trial for the impeachment of president bill clinton. >> we are proud to be joined by many great republican leaders. a man who has helped us right from the beginning. representative bill johnson. where is bill? and his friends, jim jordan --

[applause] a lot of your congressmen are in conversation -- stay back and vote, they are voting on some important stuff. great warrior, thank you. [applause] john.ieutenant governor thank you, john. [applause] great job. spring,easurer robert thank you, robert. you have a lot more money in the bank right now as treasurer than you ever did. ohio supreme court justice judy french. great job. president, larry.

[applause] thank you, larry. woman who has become a great friend of mine, she took over this party and we fought like hell. some other people had their mind on taking over the party but they never had a chance. the man who is in charge of my campaign in ohio, i had a choice of five people. i said i like this guy toss name. why do i like his name? are doing.m how we he told me we are going to win big. i kept hearing you cannot win unless you win the great state of ohio.

once i was leading ohio by a lot in the polls they never said that anymore. they were saying it when they thought i was going -- i was not going to win. bob is incredible and does a fantastic job. i called him up and told him that we don't have the governor or the head of the republican party, a minor problem when you are running as a republican. he pumped out on us. said, sir you have the people. [applause] havef curiosity, i don't these people, the leaders are not with us. is that good? he said it is great. don't worry, you will win. up by mored we are than we thought possible. [applause]

the impeachment of president trump. the house will vote on impeachment managers, sending the articles of impeachment to the senate. follow the process live on c-span, on demand on our website and listen on the free c-span radio app. [no audio] york joining us from new is democratic representative cheri bustos, the chair of the democratic congressional campaign committee. we appreciate you being with us. joining us in our studios in washington is josh who covers

politics for the national journal and she covers washington and politics for the washington -- the articles of impeachment will be delivered on tuesday. did you look at the 435 house seats up for grab, from the democratic perspective will impeachment be a factor in democrats keeping the majority in congress? bethe biggest factor will that we right now have 42 freshman in the democratic caucus who were in some of the toughest districts anywhere in the country who have proven themselves to understand what is important back home. before we started airing this we talked about something i do at home called supermarket saturday. you can multiply that by all of these freshmen who go home and do things, whether they call it supermarket saturday, they are using their two ears and one mouth proportionately.