associate director at the nih rocky mountains laboratories on the labs current and previous infectious diseases. "washington journal" is next. host: good morning, it is friday, may 29. we begin in minneapolis where a state of emergency was declared. yesterday, minnesota's governor activated the national guard and late last night, president trump said he was ready to assume control of the situation after angry demonstrators overran and set fire to a police station during the third straight night of protest of the death of george floyd, an unarmed black man, who died at the hands of a white police officer. if you live in the eastern or central time zones, (202)

748-8000. if you live in the mountain or pacific time zones, it is (202) 748-8001. a special line this morning for minneapolis and st. paul residents. that number is (202) 748-8002. you can also send us a text. that number is (202) 748-8003. if you do, please include your name and where you are from. otherwise, catch up with us on social media. on twitter it is @cspanwj. on facebook it is facebook.com/cspan. you can start calling and now as we show this headline from the minneapolis tribune overnight. many as police station set on fire, protesters marched downtown. thousands gathered downtown yesterday to express anger with restraint at a peaceful gathering but later, the third precinct station became a target. you can see many of those pictures this morning of the violence in minnesota and

protest overnight. we want to show you tweets from governor tim walz of minnesota when he announced the national guard was being deployed to handle some of the violence. a series of tweets saying it is time to rebuild the city, the justice system, and the relationship between law enforcement and those they are charged to protect. george floyd's death should lead to justice and systemic change, not more death and destruction. the governor goes on to say, as george floyd's family said, he would not want people to get hurt. come together to rebuild, remember, and seek justice for george floyd. as governor, i will defend the right to protest, but it is how we express pain, process tragedy, and create change. answering theam request to protect peaceful demonstrations -- answering our

local leaders request for minnesota national guard assistance. this was late last night before 1:00 a.m. eastern that the president weighed in on the situation amid some of the pictures on cable news throughout the night last night about the violence in the streets of minneapolis. the president says on twitter, " i can't stand back and watch this happen to a great american city, minneapolis. a total lack of leadership. either the very weak radical mayor get his act together and bring the city under control or i will send in the national guard and get the job done. and a second tweet, twitter flagged it for violating their speech.es on violence the president saying these thugs are dishonoring the memory of george floyd, and i won't let that happen. just spoke to the governor and

told him the military is with him all of the way. any difficulty and we will assume control. the president says when the looting starts, the shooting starts. ending the tweet by saying thank you. the mayor of minneapolis, responding specifically to the president's tweets and comments about him and his city in a late-night news conference. this is jacob fry. >> i want to say this. weaknesses refusing to take responsibility for your own actions. weakness is pointing your finger at someone else during crisis. donald trump knows nothing about the crisis of minneapolis. this is a difficult time period but you better be damp sure -- damn sure we will get through this. host: here is the front page of

the star tribune, the newspaper, minneapolis, state of agony. hear --es are open to to talk about what you are feeling this morning. (202) 748-8000 if you're in the eastern or central time zones. (202) 748-8001 if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones. the special line for minneapolis and st. paul residents, (202) 748-8002. gabe is up first out of beverly hills, california. good morning. student ater indiana university, and i'm shocked by what has taken place in minneapolis. rhetoric and social movement course, we talked about what took place in ferguson, we talked a lot about what has

taken place with regard to police fatality. being from los angeles, this rings back memories growing up or we talked a lot about the rodney king incident -- brings back memories growing up where we talked about the rodney king incident. -- taking thist position to teach for indianapolis, we as the next generation have an obligation to remember the past, lest we forget about it. it is something we need to incorporate into our curriculum. i think there is a lot more to be done with regard to how we perceive race and society. host: what is something that could be done today amid the images we see, the anger and violence? caller: hmm.

i think the most important thing i would say is come together as a nation. i feel there has been a great deal of divisiveness, particularly with regard to the current epidemic. i know there are a lot of different police about that. ofs just fans the flames partisan politics. i think the best thing we can do right now is come together as a population, understand that each of us are fighting for a fair democracy. we are all fighting for the opportunity to be heard. room toto allow more speak up because it has been too long. . host: herbert is next out of george or -- out of georgia. good morning. caller: good morning. it could have been condemned a

long time ago. violence, when those marchers protested the capital with their assault weapons, that was a active violence. they should have been condemned instead appraised. the president says the government needs to sit down with those people. now, you have the black and white who is protesting violence. if you are going to condemn violence, the active violence, you have to condemn the act as well. when they went to the capital with their assault weapons, they called the state police immediately. that is what you should have done from the beginning. if people come to you right now with a military weapon, the active violence. now, you're going to sit there and prays that?

you need to condemn it. you need to do what president trump should have did, condemn it from the beginning. when the people get an understanding that it is prohibited, the active violence or violence, is not allowed in the united states of america. you can't praise and call them find people. herbert out of georgia. this morning, processed and violence -- protests and violence spreading to st. paul as well. the mayor of st. paul saying the situation in our city is heartbreaking and rapidly devolving. this was the mayor yesterday afternoon on twitter. the mayor saying i'm angry and sad for anyone -- angry and as sad as anyone and pushing for the officers who killed george floyd to be arrested asap. the mayor saying please stay

home, don't come here to protest. please keep the focus on george floyd and advancing our movements and preventing this from ever happening again. we can all be in that fight together. the mayor of st. paul yesterday afternoon on twitter before some of the scenes we saw that broke out overnight, including the precinct, a police the third precinct in minneapolis. you have likely seen those pictures overnight in this morning. we will continue to show you them from some of the reporters from the minneapolis star tribune who have been on the scene at some of the other -- scene and some of the other loca reporters who have shared. from gainesville florida, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. the first thing i want to say is that donald trump is not the solution. he is the problem.

it, who tookan fix credit for the economy, and demonize president obama is not the solution but the problem. book i according to a found out through c-span by dr. , the crisis of the black intellectual, he says is seeing someone as a nonhuman or a subhuman. that is the reason this is happening. instead of talking about the thugs, president trump should be talking about the nazi-like behavior. the deplorables hillary clinton spoke about was a small percentage of trump supporters. the smallest percentage of trump supporters that would condone this kind of behavior. my relativeom marched with, he said what you sow is what you reap. today, i think he would be saying, not god bless america

but god help america. thank you. host: in gainesville, florida, talking about president trump. president trump yesterday at his press conference in the white house in which he was announcing his new effort on social media policies when it comes to websites like twitter and facebook was asked if he had been in contact with george floyd's family. this is what the president had to say. >> have you spoken to the family of george floyd yet? pres. trump: i haven't, but i feel very badly. it is a very shocking site. bill and i were talking about it. it's one of the reasons bill is here right now, because we are very much involved. andked the attorney general the fbi to take a strong look and see what went on, because that was a very bad thing i saw. i saw it last night and did not like it. >> do you think the police officers should be prosecuted? pres. trump: i'm not going to make any comments right now.

what i saw was not good, very bad. host: that was president trump yesterday. president trump weighing in overnight in a series of tweets. the second of which was flagged by twitter for violation of twitter rules about "glorifying violence." twitter allowed viewers to click link that allowed viewers to eventually see the president's tweet, but you had to take that two step process to see the tweet. this was the second tweet twitter flagged for its users. the president saying "these thugs are dishonoring the memory of george floyd and i will not let that happen. just spoke to the governor and told him the military is with him all the way. any difficulty and we will assume the control. thewhen the looting starts, shooting starts, the president -- saidore twitter on before on twitter. twitter mark another

one of his tweets talking about mail-in ballots and efforts to apply for mail-in ballots as misleading. tweet up minutes ago, twitter is doing nothing about the lies put out by china or the radical left party. they have targeted conservatives and the president of the united states. section 230 should be revoked by congress. until then, it will be regulated. president trump is talking about his executive order when it comes to social media. this is the story on the front page of the washington times about that effort. that was the press conference he was holding yesterday at the white house when he was asked about reaching out to george floyd's family. the washington times noting the executive order requires the federal communications commission to craft a regulation that could exempt social media companies from protections under section two 30's of the decency

act which shields companies from legal liability from material posted by their users if they censor or edit content. the president was long criticizing the social media giants for the anti-conservative bias and his order will ensure any platforms that engage in censoring or political conduct will lose their liability protections. more on that later in our program today. for this first hour of the "washington journal," asking you to weigh in after another night of protests and violence in minneapolis. we have the special line for minneapolis and saint paul residence, (202) 748-8002. jeff is an devils like, north dakota. you are next -- devils like -- lake, north dakota. you are next. caller: we are supposed to trust in our police officers. to see a video like that, and

purposely put a knee on his neck , i mean how much more wrong is that? i just don't get it. town to loot the whole get a message across? i think that is overdoing it for the peoples concerned -- for the peoples concerned. every life does matter. there is no doubt about it. no matter what color it is. get you know, president trump, what he says and does sometimes could be taken one way or the other. it is hard to take him because personore or less a -- like me and a politician, so he has a way of putting things in a different perspective.

host: that was jeff in north dakota. caller: please bear with me. this is my second time calling. my comments concerning the violence in the city of minnesota. this is what we need to do as americans from all races, from all denominational backgrounds, because it brings a sadness to my heart to cim a 57-year-old ing allnd i am see these racial tensions. a has not -- to see 57-year-old woman -- and the national guard cannot solve the problem. i am a born again christian. we need to pray, perform for these police departments.

in second chronicles 714, it states if my people, we say this is a christian country from all racial backgrounds and denominations. if my people would call on my name and humble themselves. you need to pray and get a plan from god for these reforms to be laws in thee fraternal order of the police. those officers need to be locked up. we are human beings of african-american dissent. my great nieces and nephews are from different central and south american countries, the islands, the african countries, and my mother told us racism brings the violence going on. i made the statement yesterday so please bear with me. martin luther king jr., susan b

anthony, and the other civil rights activists and socialists all over this world. if god would resurrect them, they would be ashamed. aboutthis conversation race relation in this country, we had it yesterday on this program. we will be talking about it again today to discuss on the house floor this week in the wake of the death of george floyd. another member took to the house floor yesterday to talk about it. a democrat out of new york and this is what he had to say. >> madame speaker, i respect those police officers in every community that are there to protect and serve. and those who have fallen in the line of duty. but, we cannot tolerate police violence, and we cannot tolerate police brutality. by an floyd was murdered out-of-control police officer. when will it end?

42 shots, police officers found not guilty. sean bell, 50 shots, police officers found not guilty. choked to death, police officers let go by the grand jury. decades after decades. when will it end? this time must be different. those perpetrators must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and congress must do everything in its power to stop this type of tragedy from ever happening again. i yield back. hakeem jeffries yesterday. he was immediately followed by hank johnson, a democrat from georgia. this is what the congressman had to say. is somethingeathe

i delivered when eric garner got choked out by the police. today, i'm here for george , who, another black man begged for his life for eight minutes. black people are caught between suffocated to death by the coronavirus or being choked to death by unconcerned police officers. like folks in america are caught up in three pandemics when you add the reality our is this is our getting choked out of ppp. when just 12% of black and latino business owners who apply for ppp report receiving what they asked for, something is wrong. when we make up 13% of the population but 60% of covid deaths, something is wrong. when we have armed vigilantes and rogue police officers killing us on the streets, something is terribly wrong.

the american dream should not be a nightmare for any of her people. it is time to bring an end to open season on black people in america. we can't breathe. host: that was hank johnson on the floor of the house yesterday. taking your phone calls and looking for your tweets, your facebook posts, your text so well -- as well. here are a few of those. from harry in pennsylvania with regard to minneapolis. protesting the wanton distraction of human life by the wanton distraction of property. how child this and pointless -- childish and pointless. why i don't understand -- the officer had control and should put him in the car. there was no need for this. this is from jane out of michigan. what does targeting the target or autozone have to do with this tragedy? shame on those riders.

this is what democratic-socialist think is a way to make change. they also don't do things like watch c-span, right congress, or vote. that is how we make -- write congress or vote. that is how we change, not violence. this is mark out of massachusetts. good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes, sir. think the minneapolis situation and the race situation is unprecedented. college inuated from 2000 one, originally from massachusetts, i got a job in new orleans, marketing manager, pre-9/11. i was a minority down there. i didn't grow up on a white town or anything like that, so i was lucky enough, growing up, to have diversity.

i was working on a quarterly in idaho in the panhandle and i did not know much about the place. to make a long story short, is unearthed -- has unearthed and given all of these races carte blanche to go out and do what they want. i retweeted that. five hours ago, the president of the united states is about 2:00 in the morning, telling people to shoot people? this is absolutely -- i can't believe no republicans can say anything against this guy. thank you guys at c-span, john, honestly. this is absolutely nonsense. host: this is the editorial board of the wall street journal today. this is the point they make about what is happening and what has happened the last three days as the protests get more

violence. they say there people have the right -- the people have the right to protest, even to angry --tests, but should not the path forward is clear. let the investigation establish the fact that if criminal charges are warranted, the prosecutor -- the officers should be prosecuted, but the same must go for those using george floyd's death to turn the streets of minneapolis into a battlefield. caller: that's from the wall street journal? host: yes, sir. caller: people have seen this happen over and over again. eric garner, systematic abuse. i've been to minneapolis before, .p there for work we have a white -- there are so many races around. i'm a white guy and i see this

all the time. -- there the diesels diesels and exhaust. there is no other way -- their diesels and exhaust. there is no other way to ask press themselves. i have to say, white america, and i'm not playing the race card, but there are a lot of problems everyone likes to brush over. care.y, neglect, health everything we are doing amongst this covid thing, everyone is livid. i feel bad for everyone involved. host: mark out of massachusetts. this is rob out of greenfield, kentucky. your next. caller: good morning, everyone. that those to say police officers should face the crimes. that in and so -- that in and of itself does not give the people the right to destroy stores and cities. people are demanding justice for mr. floyd. what about the justice for the

their you just took away money to where their jobs, for the business owners? what about their justice? this is your town you are destroying. how does that help anything? host: that's robert in kentucky. this is bonnie out of st. paul, minnesota. what are you seeing this morning? how close are you to some of the protests that have now bled out of minneapolis into st. paul? caller: i used to live in south minneapolis for like 12 years, near was down the street the furniture store and everything. it is frustration. i'm not advocating violence. that's what happens when people are frustrated.

and clearly discriminated against and feel like they will not get a fair chance. a black journalist just got arrested by police within the last hour. no one knows why. , and it showed them. the white journalist did not get arrested for the same thing. host: if you and i were having this conversation last week, do you think minneapolis -- would you be surprised if i told you it was going to become the center of a conversation about discrimination and race in this country? caller: would i be surprised you ask? no. host: do you recognize it as an issue in the city before what happened on monday? caller: definitely. i have been stopped by

minneapolis police and light upon as well. too.ed upon, arrested, charges dropped, so i understand. those police lie. of -- it is like a gang. the police are like a gang, here to protect us, but the few that rogues, they are making things bad. host: would you consider going out, marching, and participating in the protests? caller: i have considered it, but i won't be in the violent protests. not at all. host: thanks for the call.

stay safe in st. paul this morning. bonnie talking about the history of the police department, what she has seen there. the wall street journal and their story today, focusing on the protests, digging a little more into the background of the two now former officers who were at the center of the facebook video that touched off this story after the death of george floyd. eachare former officers, having multiple complaints on their official records according to the police department. one of them has 18 complaints on his official police record, two of which ended in discipline from the department including official letters of reprimand. the other has six incidents in his record. one is still officially open on his record. they declined to comment on the details of the complaint.

sued in 2017 for excessive use of force. terms were sealed as terms of the settlement. uvan notrney for mr. cha responding, saying mr. thao could not be reached as well. at several stories digging into those records. aaron is next out of baltimore, maryland. good morning to you. caller: good morning, john and c-span. theomment is, thinking over past few years, eric garner, crutcher,, terence oscar grant, these are all african-american gentlemen who were killed by law enforcement for just doing everyday things white america does. if you guysrstand

understand there is a big it in in thete house -- bigot white house. thisve every need to stop violence. they do not want it to stop. they are part of the problem. america comes to realize this, we will continue to deal with this. host: president trump from the white house is calling to an end the violence last night around 1:00 a.m. eastern as we sent out -- he sent out those two tweets. it was after reports started coming out after the third police precinct in minneapolis being overrun. protesters, getting inside, setting fires inside as well. at his late-night press conference, mayor jacob frey talked about the decision made to evacuate that police precinct , and eventually it being turned over to the protesters, getting

in after that evacuation. here is the mayor last night at the beginning of his press conference. >> earlier this evening, after receiving real-time information from our chief, and after having numerous phone calls with him regarding the evolving situation at the third precinct, it became were threats to both officers and public. danger became necessary, so i made the decision to evacuate the precinct. the symbolism of a building cannot outweigh the importance of the lives of our officers or

the public. we cannot risk serious injury to anyone -- could not risk serious injury to anyone. we will continue to patrol the third precinct entirely. we will continue to do our jobs in that area. and brick-and-mortar is not as important as life. host: mayor jacob frey last night actually early this morning at a press conference. should note the good work of the local reporters on the scene, posting these videos. a lot of these images you see on their social media pages, many of them from the minneapolis star tribune, sharing the images this morning. this is the front page of the star tribune. a state of agony is the headline across their front page. ,his is the pioneer press

rioting and the aftermath of the writing. a few headlines from other papers. this is another one from of --ota, we can run from minnesota, and we can run from the few others as we go through your phone call. this is steve from minnesota. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i think there is a major story or issue being overlooked, and that is the mental state of the sadistic police killers of this gentleman that was murdered. this -- there may be racism involved, certainly, but these are sadistic killers who are mentally sick and should never have been allowed to continue on the police department.

i think the mayor of minneapolis and police chief of minneapolis have a lot of explaining to do as to why these two police officers were not fired years ago. that is the major story about this that, apparently, few people want to talk about. , tom in texas takes up this issue, saying there are far more honorable men and women in law enforcement and the bad apples we see far too often. their jobs are hard enough without having to deal with the aftermath of the actions of those that are no more than a terrorist with a badge. stephen, your thoughts on what an incident like this means for other police officers out there going about their jobs today, whether it is in minnesota, minneapolis, or another american city today? caller: i think there are sick

individuals working for the police departments of many cities throughout this country, and there needs to be a regular mental wellness test given to a police officer, especially those who have had complaints .egistered against them it's unbelievable to me that these complaints have been ignored by the chief of police of minneapolis and mayor of minneapolis. opinion, people, in my are totally incompetent and should be relieved of their responsibilities. host: stephen in california. this is david out of grand rapids, michigan. good morning. caller: good morning. so i was talking with a friend of mine yesterday about how you are growing up as kids. that, aw someone like

person with their knee on their neck, we would run and push them off of them. here, we had three other officers watching that happen and there is no sin sin that could have done that. that is what should have been done. some citizen should have ran out there and pushed that officer -- i can't even call him and officer. host: he is now a former officer. caller: pardon? host: he is now a former officer. caller: thank goodness for that. i'm 56 years old, a white guy, and i've come to understand, and i'm going way back to christopher columbus, s white suck.uck -- white people we have robbed, raped, and pillaged stuff that is not ours. in my opinion, we need to give this land back to the native americans and we need to start over and we need to be gracious

to them for everything they have allowed. i can't even say they allowed us to do. we just raped and pillaged and white people suck. host: david in michigan. this is murray out of columbus, ohio. good morning. -- marie out of columbus, ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm a 70-year-old woman who has a long memory. the ku klux klan has already infiltrated the police department and other high authority departments. during the late 1960's, when i was a little girl looking at the huntley brinley news, there was a grand klansman who stated that the klan would not be demonstrating out in the street like they were at the time, where they were putting their

dolls on watcher luther king and beating black folks ups the -- up the side of the head with their clubs. they said we will be in positions where we won't have to do that anymore. that time is now. someone needs to look that up. it was during the late 60 -- 1960's. it was stated by the grand klansman. host: murray in ohio this morning. in ohio thise morning. as we said, race relations with african americans in the country. topics have been discussed in the house floor in the wake of the death of george floyd. here is another from yesterday afternoon, newly elected congressman in foo may of maryland. >> i rise today because i want to call the name of george floyd. george floyd, who lost his life this week because of a

minneapolis police officer. george floyd, who died for no known reason he was not armed. he was not intoxicated, he was not aggressive, and he was nonthreatening. he pleaded for his life. he cried out for help. he groaned in pain and then he died with his face pressed against the ground and the knee of a police officer in his neck this was not an arrest, this was murder. it is the murder of george floyd. it ought to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. god help us as a nation if we choose to be silent at this sad and tragic time. this is carol out of sicklerville, new jersey. good morning, you are next. caller: good morning. what i have to say is, what do

we have to lose? we have our lives to lose. you can to bird watch or drive .our car, sit in your car the other thing i have to say, that press conference, the dog and pony show was a disgrace. answersaited to hear and they got no answers. all they did was fuel the fire. our president is a klansman. host: carol, which press conference are you talking about? caller: yesterday afternoon, when they declared there might be evidence to prove there was no crime. host: you are talking about the federal officials investigating the death? caller: yes. host: gotcha. caller: yes, that is what i'm saying. i want people to know that women are not safe, children are not safe. if you are black, you have a

serious problem in this country. people attack you all of the time, just like the young woman in central park. she knew she could get away with saying a black man was attacking her. thank god that man left, because he could be dead today. host: that is carol in new jersey. at that news conference thursday evening, it was erica mcdonald who pledged a robust and meticulous investigation into the death of george floyd. she stopped short of announcing criminal charges to the four officers of whom who were fired after mr. floyd's death. the next caller is next. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to mention the fact that this has been going on for well over 400 years now. in 400 years, we have been about the police in

this country for a very long time. this takes us back to the rodney -- even alsock to -- let me make a comment on what the woman also mentioned about the caucasian woman that made false allegations towards the young man filming her about the dog situation about putting the dog on the lease. this has been the kind of thing that has been going on in this because white people, and i'm not speaking for all white people, but most -- majority of white people, not all white people, but the majority no the system does not work for us -- know the system does not work for us. white do tell someone not break laws because they think the law is only made for us. once we break the laws, we get punished and they get away with it. this has got to stop.

i was listening to what gail was saying when she said it is a lot. she almost cried on tv when she said it seemed like a season of black men being killed for hundreds of years. this is a generation right here that we are in. the 1930's,back in 1940's, 19 50's. it's not like that anymore. this is a generation of kids, men, and children that not only disrespect their parents and don't listen to authority, but these people are also aware of history. we have all of the entities mixed together and it will be straight chaos. in northt is michael carolina this morning. phone lines are split up regionally in this first hour of the "washington journal." if you are in the eastern or central time zones, (202) 748-8000. if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001.

setting aside a special line for residents of minneapolis and st. paul, (202) 748-8002. you can call us or send us a text or tweet. here is a few of those. this text from elizabeth city, north carolina. the tragic death in minnesota did not have to happen. i support the demonstration and there should be calm, stability, and no violence. when voices go unheard, riots follow. paraphrasing mlk, property can be rebuilt, human lives taken cannot be ignored. bill saying in connecticut that looters take advantage of a political moment. they are jackals and parasites and compromise the power of any political protest. it more from joan in minnesota. this is appalling. destroying doesn't help anyone. it only destroys the neighborhood and jobs. david is next.

good morning. caller: good morning. everybody can see a police officer killing a man live on tv. it is disappointing to see so many white folk in these societies. what we have seen so far, the guy was not resisting or fighting the officers. everybody could see that. i was watching dr. king last that, and they were saying violence is the only way we will walk. in 1968, juneeech 1968. no violence doesn't work anymore. the only thing the white complex understands is violence. host: can i ask you, why don't you think nonviolence works anymore? caller: we've been doing that

since 1963. .r. king started the movement [inaudible] black men are still getting killed on the tv. , andte guy will walk away a black man is getting killed for that. this violence is getting us nowhere. i would make a prediction to you today. if they don't charge these officers with a crime, i can promise you that there will not be many police you will see fired. you will see fire in almost every city in america. the president of the united states is a racist and we cannot do anything about it. host: that's david in texas this morning, the topic of george floyd's death coming up at the top of the press conference held at the white house yesterday by

the white house press secretary. this is what she had to say at the top of her remarks. >> i want to start by analogy the horrific tragedy in minnesota george floyd, the death of george floyd. it is absolutely tragic. the video i saw and my staff saw, that the president saw. the president put out a statement last night that's, at his request, the fbi and department of justice are well into an investigation to the very sad and tragic death in minnesota george floyd. i have asked for this investigation to be expedited, and greatly appreciate the work done by law enforcement. my heart goes out to george's family and friends. justice will be served. as i am briefing you at this moment, the president is receiving a briefing from the attorney general, bill barr, and the deputy director of the fbi. that is ongoing as i begin this briefing. housefrom the white

yesterday. this morning on the "washington journal," we leave our phones open to hear your thoughts on the protests and violence we have been seeing in the past three nights. that violence, getting worse over the course of those three nights. this is mary alto potomac, maryland. go ahead -- out of potomac, maryland. go ahead. caller: thank you for letting me speak. this is reminiscent to what was happening in the 1960's. it is because trump and his created an environment of hostilities and diverse of nest. the republicans have allowed him to go on doing this. i am a white woman who lived through the 70's, and i don't agree that violence is necessary, but what have they done? they have tried to shut the voices of the minorities in this country, and that is what is causing a lot of this reaction, and i don't believe the guidance

that we need to have aydin's -- the guy that says we need to have violence. we don't need violence. all that will do is turn the divisiveness up even more. is havedo need to do our lawmakers, our congressmen, and people stand up for what is is trump'sot what of -- i can't even go on i'm so upset about it. have arrested that police officer right away and charged him with murder. that is the only thing i think should calm this whole situation down is if they do that. [gasps] host: next is gene out of orange, texas. good morning -- jeannie out of orange, texas. good morning. are you with us? you very well. give us a call back and we will try again. white is in fairfield,

california. dwight isd and -- in fairfield california. caller: good morning. i'm 67 years old, an american african. i am 67 years old and i have seen this evolve. this is all systematic. i'm listening to everybody, hearing people talk of the , thetion of ku klux klan injustice in our criminal etc.ce system, etc., etc., , poverty. what we are losing sight of is why cap are nick kneeled. nick kneeled. protesters are not all black. it is not only becoming a racial thing, it is becoming a social

economic thing as well. until these people in washington dc decide to change the criminal justice system and decide to look at why poor people, not black people, why poor people are being the ones being locked up, being killed, can't walk outside, can't barbecue. this will continue and it is not president trump's fault. it is not president trump's fault. this is way before president trump. it is coming to a head because these young kids, not black kids, these young kids are fed up because they don't the a future in this. i'm looking at my children and grandchildren, and i'm shaking my head saying is this what it comes down to? i love my country. i'm a veteran. i'm a vietnam war veteran. i love this country to death, but to see it fall down like this. host: what are your children and

grandchildren saying to you about this? what are you hearing from them? caller: my children know because i came up during the black panther party days, so i taught my children a lot about our history and the positive side of our history, because our history is not taught in school. our history is being taught by the colonizers and the oppressors are never going to teach the oppressed the truth. my grandchildren, who are by rachel, they are like, pop, why apap, why aret -- p they fighting? all i can say is that they are bad people in the world. the good people in blue have to start stepping up and weeding out their own. the good people in blue, they know who the bad apples in blue are. until the good people in blue say something and come out against this, it will continue.

it is a culture there. if the good people in blue say something, they will be weeded out and ostracized, but they have to step up to the plate to help us resolve this situation. i just want to say lastly, god bless america because we have to do better than this. thank you for taking my call. host: an image from michael in portland, oregon. last night, in our town, there were protests at city hall. we live two miles south of the city center and could hear the orbiting helicopters late at night. simultaneously in the sky, to the north, the international space station goes from northwest to northeast, a bright light. a strange juxtaposition in a dark night. our next color is out of michigan. good morning. caller is out of michigan. good morning. caller: i want to strengthen the remarks from the general -- gentlemen in the military.

i was five miles away from where this took place in minneapolis -- i was born five miles away from where this took place in minneapolis. i live in michigan now. i was an eagle scout, strong with my parents bringing me up in a church family. i see two things here. i think respect for the law is something i always had. my dad was a navy officer, and we were taught right away we could go to policeman or any teachers and so forth. that has to be improved. people, like the gentleman said, those doing the right things in the military and in schools and the police. how do we get to this? i think it is a question of the golden rule, something i was taught, and i don't hear it very much. you respect other people and you

expect them to do to you what you would do to them. in other words, mutual respect and mutual support. those are my points, and i think christ is right by the teachings. more people should spend time in church and doing civic duties. thank you very much. int: an interesting story, the pages of the new york times today, about the police technique used on george floyd. the story noting that the manual of the minneapolis police department states the neck restraint and chokehold are reserved for when an officer feels caught in a life or death situation. the manual for the department because a chokehold a deadly force option and neck restraint a nondeadly option. neck restraint involve compressing one person's neck

with an arm or -- that is what the manual says. it further explains the conscious neck restraint may be used against the subject to is actively resisting while rendering the person unconscious to be limited to someone who is aggressive or for lifesaving purposes. a spokesman for the minneapolis police department did not respond to the new york times request about whether the knee restraint used by the officer in the video corresponded to those guidelines from the manual. we have a special line for minneapolis and st. paul residents. jennifer called in on that line. jennifer, how close are you to the protests and what are you seeing this morning in your city? caller: it is quiet. this is happening on the in the cities. overjust a little

one hour away from it in st. cloud and you would never know anything was happening except for what you see on the media. truthfully, i see this as nothing but police brutality. it has nothing to do with racism. as far as -- goes, there is no call for it best as far as a -- as far as rioting goes, there is no call for it. you have bad apples in every organization anywhere. these people, the police officers were just stupid and it is just plain old police brutality, nothing to do with race. and i am just really tired of where they are congregated. it seems like it is a democratic party. arele who are liberal congregated in the cities and they will do anything to protest , burned on buildings and cause reason. any

you never hear about it if it is a white person that a policeman is doing it to. the media concentrates if it is a black person. it is strictly just police brutality. it is absolutely quiet everywhere i am. strictly just police brutality, what should be done? those men were right to have been fired. i believe the one who is kneeling on the neck of that poor gentleman, he needs to go to jail. i am sure president trump is doing a fabulous job. he is not the least bit racist. i am an independent. i do not like either party, but i see president trump -- i don't understand when people say he is racist. he stepped in immediately, putting bill barr to check out what is going on, which he should. i think all police departments everywhere should have a new -- they should be trained on what they should do.

they should never use any type of neck restraint, something that would cut off the carotid outer he or the windpipe -- carotid artery or the windpipe, it should never be used. the man had handcuffs on. i don't understand why he was even on the ground. he did not resisting anyway. but i don't look at that as a racism. they were right to be fired and the need to face their day in court. host: jennifer in minnesota. lynn in one last call, columbus, ohio. thanks for waiting. caller: thank you for taking my call. those people, it is being said that they are being violent, and i am not for violence, but people need to get into the history books, the history of this country. this country was based on violence. violence is what caused people to come here and kill the indigenous people. violence is what caused people to take africans and bring them

here to bring this country, to separate families, to take children from mothers and to sell them. what happened to the japanese when they were put in internment? the whole country is based on violence, than when you see violence, you are surprised. we need to get into the history and what this country was based on. to me, it was based on a bunch of people who decided they wanted to use violence to obtain what they wanted to obtain, and once they got it, they started instituting laws and regulations to keep other people from doing what they did in order to get the country under control. host: our last color in this first segment of "washington journal."stick around, a lot more to talk about today . we will be joined by a house foreign affairs committee member, representative ted yoho of florida to discuss u.s.-china relations. and tensions regarding hong kong. and later, the afl-cio's richard

trumka joins us to talk about protection for workers impacted by the pandemic. we will be right back.♪ ♪ >> american history tv on c-span3, exploring the people and events that tell the american story every weekend. coming up this weekend on saturday at noon eastern on "the presidency," the former white house curator on the 1962 white house tour with jacqueline kennedy and the white house collections. at 6:00 p.m. eastern, american civil war interpretation specialist on outlaws. sunday at 4:00 p.m. eastern, the 36 film about two massive dam projects in tennessee and alabama. exploring the american story.

watch american history tv this weekend on c-span3. ♪ "washington journal" continues. representative ted yoho of florida joins us. a week ofn fast-moving events when it comes to hong kong. walk us through what happened there this weekend and what it means for the future of u.s. relations with china. guest: sure. this is something all the world needs to pay attention to. what you are seeing going on in hong kong is an extension of what happened in the summer of last year when carrie lam in beijing introduced the extradition law that overrode the judicial system in hong kong . population, of that

over 2 million people, coming out and protesting the heavy hand of beijing because they saw what was coming. it was autonomous rule by the communist party. they protested all year long. the pandemic came out and things calmed down. but china, with their legislative body, went ahead and put more forcible laws on hong kong. they are going to strip them of all autonomy. the people over there are letting them know that it is not acceptable. host: and what should the u.s. due to let china know it's feelings on this? the president has talked about action coming out today from the white house. guest: two things you have to look at. one is the u.s. response. there was an agreement between the u.s. and china forged in 1992 and implemented in a 1997. the agreement was for 50 years of self ruling autonomy while

part of china. an agreement made between the communist party of china and great britain. but xi jinping and the communist party today have overstepped. xi jinping said, as far as he is concerned, the contract is null and void. the response should be -- you today.e that brad sherman and, brad is a democrat out of california, we have a bill putting tougher sanctions on the people involved ghursis, along with the uy in china. the u.k. and other western democracies need to stand up. hong kong has been known as one of the freest areas in the planet. they have the longest life expectancies, ease of business. one of the highest work incomes in the world. china is going to kill that and

hard to match us to the hong kong economy, it will be detrimental to the economy of china, and they will find this out. host: if hong kong loses the one country-two systems but has been in place there, what does that withfor other areas tensions in the region? i am speaking specifically of taiwan, which china has claimed as its own. guest: we have a good editorial coming out that talks about this. when china originally agreed, the sino-britain agreement to to china, itg back was a 50-year autonomy will. the heavy-handed communist party of xi jinping cannot be trusted. it will be shame on the chinese people. the next step is taiwan. china will focus on them and try

the reunification of china. difference.ig hong kong is a province of china, no doubt about that. taiwan is not. taiwan is an independent nation that needs to be recognized, and we have legislation going in to ask for both diplomatic relations with taiwan. this is why. they have a sovereign border, their own military and economy, their own form of government, their own flag and a national anthem. the other thing is, if you poll the people of taiwan, they view themselves as taiwanese and not chinese. they have never been part of the people's republic of china. they are the republic of china but i have never been part of the prc, which is a communist do.nization how willing host: you think president trump is to take that step to get tougher on xi jinping that he has already? guest: i think you will see president trump follow the outline president reagan said in

the last communique, where they said that we will allow taiwan to purchase weapons for self-defense. i think he will see not just the united states, that western democracies around the world shore up the defense of taiwan. john,don't do it today, is it going to be possible to do nowwo or three years from when china has a stronger economy and stronger military? hands off of taiwan. it is not acceptable. host: we are talking with congressman ted yoho this morning, a senior member of the house foreign relations committee, joining us from zoom.a via if you would like to join the conversation, the phone lines are as usual, 202-748-8000 for democrats, 202-748-8001 for 202-748-8002to g

for independence. we have plenty of folks calls coming in for you, sir. when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic and how much responsibility the united states should put on china for the pandemic and what they should be asking china for. guest: pandemics are going to happen. they happened in the past and they will happen in the future. the theme we can fault china for his the first case was traced back in november of 2019. december, it was becoming evident they had a problem and they suppressed the evidence. they did not share information on a timely basis and they allowed over 5 million people to leave the wuhan area. that contaminated the rest of the world very rapidly. they should be held accountable on that. but the secrecy they have gone on and the way the w.h.o.,

secretary tedros of the w.h.o., the way he placated china and said they are doing a good job to contain this, did not call it a pandemic for two weeks when he should have, those are the types of things china needs to be held accountable for, and i think you will see that happen in several different ways. it is very evident that the supply chain, not just with the united states being dependent on ofna, that a large portion the world, especially when you look at the active pharmaceutical ingredients in the medicines that everybody takes, eddie percent -- 80% come directly from china. that has been a wake-up call, and the p.p.e. i don't just think, i know that you will see a rapid switch of the supply chain on so many things china is producing that their economy is dependent on. you will see them go to trusted allies. askinge a policy paper

people to manufacture anywhere but china. because anytime you purchase a product from china, it is empowering their economy and their military. to understand what china does, you need to read the book "the 100 year marathon," their goal is to be the superpower of the world. host: congressman ted yoho, taking your calls this morning. gary is first, a republican from newport, kentucky. good morning. caller: good morning. , it is just a say whole bunch of crab about this. it is always trump's fault. they never want to go back to china and that is exactly where it started. i think trumpeted everything that he could do, thus trump did

everything he could do and -- i think trump did everything he could do. it goes back to china. i want to see what the representative thinks about immigration, and how trumpeted so much to us -- and how trump halted immigration and did so much to slow things down. guest: i appreciate your question. there are people who will fault donald trump regardless of what he does. what they can't fault him on is what he has done with china. this is a situation that through neglect, ignorance or dereliction of duty over the last 40-50 years, has risen to the level it is now. donald trump is the only president that has taken china head-on. i am glad he is at the helm, because what he is doing is exactly what needs to be done. they need to be called to task. when you understand what china has done, they have cornered the

market on vitamins and minerals that going to our animal feed and livestock feed. even the trace elements that go into our fertilizers for our farm products, on hundred percent from china. their goal is to take over the world. they are buying aircraft carriers. president trump is the only one that has woken up the rest of the world on this end a are finally starting to see that we have to pivot from china. that is why it is so important when you byproducts. it is going to be hard, you will find them. buy products anywhere than china. if we can do that, the economic engine keeps china -- they will have to rethink what they want do. we don't want it conflict, we just want them to participate as a peaceful nation. host: when you talk about the administration, can you

explain of action the administration took when it came to students studying in america who have ties to the chinese communist party and military? guest: before i do that, i need to answer gary's last question. host: sure. guest: his ban on the travel and blocking people from coming in was needed to be done and needed sooner. i am glad he did what he did. students, a third of the foreign students in the united states of america come from china. that in itself is ok. the problem is they are indebted to the chinese government. they have social monitoring scores. u.s., they have people who are loyal to the communist party that are reporting on students that don't follow the communist party lines here in america. that is a big problem. the other thing is china has what they call the 1000 -- program where they are paying students to spy on professors.

as you have seen with too many professors like the one from harvard, which is a big mark on the harvard institution. whatdent trump -- i think you're are going to see is a rollback of these visas to where there is not as many chinese here.ts coming they will be closely monitored and they will be limited in the engineering programs that he so desperately want. jersey,ghland park, new good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my phone call. i am going to take this situation in another direction, if i may. , andieve, i firmly believe thate the world community is the united nations and all

the countries that comprise the u.n. will take this issue seriously concerning china, and expel them from the un security ,ouncil and reinstate taiwan who was one of the original members of the un security council, reinstate them on the un security council. maybe just maybe, the u.n. could expel china altogether from the united nations. guest: that is music to my ears. you are so right about that. it should all back to when the sanctions were put on north are six permanent members of the security council, 15 members altogether. all 15 members voted unanimously

to put sanctions on north korea for proliferation of nuclear weapons. are you know who the biggest breakers of that sanction are, it is china and russia. the u.n. has no policing authority, no way to hold a member accountable. i think your point is exactly what needs to happen. if the members of the security council don't follow through on their commitment, they don't need to be members of the security council. this is what we have talked do with secretary pompeo, the state department, the administration and with the u.n. they need to be held accountable. they are not working to create a peaceful world, they are creating a world favorable to china, and it is not helping anybody. host: on twitter with a question for you -- what authority has the u.s. to dictate china's relationship with taiwan and hong kong? what other nations would go along with sanctions on china? guest: it is not dictating what

their relationship is? the problem is when you have a country like china that is forcing other countries to break diplomatic ties with taiwan, i have a problem with the that. talk about bullying. they go around the world giving money to these dictators or these week-economy countries. they say, if you break ties with taiwan -- taiwan is a country of 23 million. they are a western democracy. there is an agreement that was made under president reagan that we are going to honor the so-called one country-two systems. it was a fallacy under the jimmy carter administration. but there was never any consensus on the one-country-two systems that came out in 1982 in that meeting between the people of taiwan and china. there is an agreement that there was a meeting and an agreement that there was one china but it

deferred on the definition of that on the chinese side and on the taiwanese side. we are just trying to get china to follow through on the commitment and not take over a sovereign nation. that is something the whole world should be involved in. aat is at stake here is western democracy that is our 11th-largest trading partner. we have such a strong taiwanese diaspora in america. keep in mind that the president, who just got the elected, has the largest ever electoral victory in taiwan and it was on a pro-taiwanese platform. the people of taiwan wanted nothing to do with china. they identify as taiwanese. the chinese are trying to rewrite history. host: from texas, alex a republican. good morning. caller: i have commentary and

then a question. the u.s. should improve relations with taiwan. they should also speak with the chinese government -- the taiwanese government to see if they are receiving threatening commentary from china. the u.s. should also hold americans accountable who demonstrate support for china. communism can spread this virus. i also wanted to ask representative yoho, is that house working on anything to contract communist influence in the united states? guest: there is all kinds of stuff going on on that. you bring up a good point. an auto glass company in a date on ohio that was bought by a chinese entity. understand need to -- i would have all of your listeners, john, to look at the documentary president obama put out on netflix.

it is called "american factory." it is exactly what is going on all over america. a chinese person comes here and buys a factory. everybody thinks he is just a wealthy chinese person. what they don't understand is that the person would not be allowed to come to this country without the blessing of the chinese communist party. on his board of directors -- he is a member of the communist party, his management team after they got rid of the american management team, are all communist party members. they are doing this all over the country. it is like a trojan horse. it needs to be stopped. you brought up another good point, if you look at the agriculture sector of america, china has bought the largest pork producer in america and controls a processing plant, smithfield spork. something that is detrimental to our food security. you are's watch-on on taiwan

spot-on on you are taiwan. myself, we are calling for bold somatic relationships with taiwan and -- bold diplomatic relationships with taiwan and not hiding under this one country, two systems, which is a fallacy. host: are we allowed to sell taiwan weapons right now? guest: yes. they have to be defensive weapons. president trump just signed $10 billion agreement for it. one of the things china is scared to death of is our system. i recommended that and i hope -- of the defense ministers i told one of the defense ministers from china, if you keep up the aggression -- think of what they are doing in the south china sea. they are going around the world miniaturizing bases in foreign countries -- militarizing bases

in foreign countries. their encroachment in the south china sea, i told them, i think it is time we sell taiwan our system. there was a very violent reaction he had. it is something that tells me they understand that we are not playing around, and they need to find a way diplomatically to be inclusive of taiwan, not to take them over. host: this is a net out of albany, new york, a democrat. -- good morning. caller: how are you doing? host: all right. caller: i would like to ask the representative, the republican representative, why are they delaying funds for us? start? they letting us you can sit on tv and talk all of this stuff, but we are starting out here. people are getting evicted from their home. people are getting their lives

destroyed and we're sitting here talking about some other countries. and i heard it didn't even come from china. why are people talking about this disease and where it came from, and why we can't get nobody to give us help? yoho, the nextan coronavirus response legislation? nette, i am sorry about situation. you need to look at your state and local representatives. they should be taking care of you. nobody in america should be starving. we put so much money into our food, social and reeducation programs. it is not acceptable for anybody to be that were in america. if you have representatives who are not providing for you, fire them in the next election. china.us originated in we know first-hand it came out from the wuhan province in a supposedly fish market or a

fresh market, and it is just a coincidence that their most advanced biotech research lab is within about four miles from their. there is no doubt it came from china. what we need to do is find out why china allowed 5 million people to leave uninfected area to go around the world -- to leave an infected area to go around the world. host: can you talk about a recent op-ed you wrote about the ,easles, mumps, rubella vaccine and what you are seeing. what the government could be studying from the vaccine? guest: i appreciate you bringing that up. this was research that was brought to me by dr. larry keeley, one of the most respected veterinarians, world renowned. they wanted to know why certain populations were being infected, why would people were affected than the younger population.

why females had less infection rates and death rates than the males. the research brought them across if you vote point where there was a group of about 50 years of thatnd above and more -- had more morbidity and mortality. from that point and below, it was less. they found out that in 1971-1978 vaccines were starting to be given on a massive scale around the world. from 79 forward, they got two vaccines. so what they were seeing. they came across a cambridge study, university of cambridge, and found that there is a 30% identical dna -- 29% identical dna in the protein structures of the coronavirus and the rubella virus. the thought is that maybe there is some cross activity in protection. the research can be validated

quickly. if so, if this is true, can you imagine what millions of doses r vaccines, readily available, if they could lessen the severity of the disease or prevent people from going to the hospital, would that not be a smart thing to follow up on what we are trying to get a coronavirus a vaccine that could be six months to a year from now? we talked to the administration about it and we note they are looking into this. the facts come out and verify the research, this would be something we could start lessening the severity of the disease and keep people out of hospital. if it is true. host: time for one or two more calls. melvin from north carolina, an independent. caller: good morning. idea thato share the trump being the president of the u.s., pushed the idea of

operating in a -- spirit. pushed of idea that the virus came out of china. and even if it did come out of china, they frightened the thatse to make a statement it did not come from there, oftead of openin -- instead owning up to the idea. is frightened them, the negativity trump is putting out there to the chinese. so it makes it very difficult for them to accept the idea that theyme out of china, and wouldn't put it out there is in such a way that -- host: melvin from north carolina. did you want to follow up on that? guest: the facts tha are that it came from china. no question, if you go to the w.h.o., to the c.d.c., not just our country's but countries

around the world, there is no question. china tried to pivot. this was before president trump -- gamechina on top of on china about this. there is no way we would do that. this is something china is trying to pivot. you need to look at the history of china, of what they have been doing very systematically. there are goal is to be the number one superpower economically and in the military. they are giving people an option of western democracies or chinese socialism, with chinese characteristics, which is coming is a in a normally in society, where they control their people. if you walk across the street, you jaywalk, you get a bad score and it affects you. people have a choice. though you want to live like the chinese or live in a free

society? we are not perfect, by any means. host: last call for you from allen in chicago, indiana. caller: thank you for the "washington journal," love you, big-time. one point, i think the coronavirus has shown how dependent we are on china. we had an american businessman who willingly and happily relocated in china to increase their profits, looking for cheap labor. china builds up the factories, give them the equipment. they just turn over the intellectual property. you had companies from the u.s. who only wanted products made in china because they knew they were cheap. they could charge the same but make huge profits. i think most of our consumers,

refund that we could not get masks because they were coming from china. host: thanks for the call. congressman. guest: thank you. the coronavirus has shown how dependent we are on the supply chain coming out of china. the second point you made, our manufacturers went to the most communist country on the planet to get products made because their tax structure and regulations treated them better than the u.s. government. we changed it back with the american tax cuts and jobs act that president trump signed into law. that a lot of these companies to come back. and i have met with a lot of these companies from china from the asia-pacific area, they have also suited themselves out -- they have prostituted themselves out for cheap labor and profits. this comes from the ceos of these companies. within five years in china, the chinese government has copied their product, they are

producing a knockoff of it, cheap and no good. it taints their brand and they are out of business. these companies need to wake up and get out of china, produce quality products. we as consumers can help them by demanding that and stop buying cheap stuff coming out of china, you. host: thank you, congressman. we always appreciate your time with us. come back again as soon as you can. guest: appreciate it, have a wonderful day. host: back to your phone calls this next half-hour. we are asking you your top public policy issue. you can give us a call on the phone lines. the numbers are on your screen. you can start calling in now. we will be right back. ♪ >> having lived through a loss of confidence in no institutions, it wave of cynicism that has left us unable

to trust what we are told by anyone who calls themselves an expert, it becomes very difficult to rise to a challenge like this. our first reaction is to say, no, they are lying, they are only in it for themselves, and a lot of our national institutions have to take on the challenge of persuading people again that they are here for the country. >> sunday on june 7 at noon conversationive with an author and american enterprise institute scholar. his most recent book is "a time to build." -- his most recent book is "a time to build." join us with your phone calls, tweets, and messages on book tv on c-span two. >> "washington journal today's. for: about 25 minutes here a bit of open phones, asking about your top public policy

issues. 202-748-8000 if you are a democrat and want to call in, 202-748-8001 for republicans, independents.or as you are calling in, a bit of housekeeping about legislation we have been tracking this week, privacyg the bill on provisions and f.i.s.a. authorizations. house democratic leaders yesterday withdrew legislation that would have revived expired f.b.i. tools to investigate espionage. they objected to where tapping for national security purposes after a fragile bipartisan compromise collapsed following an abrupt repudiation by president trump. this is the story from the "new the retreat left uncertain efforts to overhaul surveillance,ity

while extending three partially expired tools that law enforcement officials use in such cases. days ago, the bill appeared poised to become law but support for the measure among republicans cratered after president trump intervened and it.d them to reject yesterday, house speaker nancy pelosi talked out a weekly news conference about the decision to what is known as the f.i.s.a. reauthorization bill from the house floor. this is the speaker. [video clip] rep. pelosi: we will not be taking up the bill sent over by the senate, the f.i.s.a. bill. yesterday in the morning, the committee of jurisdiction, mr. jordan testified in favor of the bill. sometime after that, the president said he would be to the bill, so all of the republicans then abandoned their anditment to security said they would vote against the bill.

this has always been bipartisan. mr. jordan said in the committee yesterday, i would like to thank the senators for bill.commitment to the this is in his testimony in support of the bill yesterday, until the president spoke. then all of a sudden, the commitment to national security disappeared by a tweet. a twinkle of a tweet, as they say. disappeared. i don't have any intention of departing from the fact that we are always great to have to go a bipartisan way. if republicans are abandoning their commitment to that because of the president, that means we could not override his veto. host: speaker nancy pelosi yesterday at her weekly press conference. phone calls now asking what your top public policy issue is.

bruce is in middle river, maryland, the line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. is that iicy issue don't understand how -- our president is at the top making all of the decisions, and there are probably crisis, and every republican is trying to make him sound like a genius. he started with bailing the airlines out. we don't need to fly right now. he is bailing everyone else out. there is a health crisis for black people and minorities. he is not trying to bail out of them out. just sitting around throwing all these other ideas in the air. that is all i have to say. host: to hawaii, george on the line for republicans. good morning. caller: i called three or four times. i appreciate c-span. police brutality -- i am pretty

sickened by seeing all the things in minneapolis. it is horrible. i really think congress and the president should sign a new law to have police protect and serve , with the exception of maybe an active shooter instance. any other time, a policeman has to kill somebody to arrest him, or somebody dies or gets killed by a policeman, they need to be charged with police brutality. and they need to be locked up. they need to have between six months and one year prison sentence for that. did you hear what i said? host: yes, sir. caller: that is what should happen. i think president trump cooked his goose tonight with his tweet about looters and how there would be shooters.

that made me sick as well. i did not want to vote for biden, and i won't, but i think president trump pretty well lost all the votes of anybody that is black or colored. he deserves that for those kinds guy.eets, the poor i think he is a decent fella, but he really has got to watch himself. he has a good heart and he is trying to be a good president, but this is a messed up world. i think with president signing it into law, a police brutality law, there is no reason why a policeman to arrest somebody or investigate somebody or question somebody has to end up with that person dead. host: that is george in hawaii. you mentioned the president's tweet, two tweaks around 1:00 a.m. eastern last night, the second of which twitter flagged for violating their rules about "glorifying violence." this is what the president said

talking about violence in minneapolis, saying "these thoughts are dishonoring the memory of george floyd and i will not let that have an. just look to the governor and told him the military is with him all the way. any difficulty and we will assume control. but when the looting starts, the shooting starts. ."ank you for more on twitter flagging the president's tweets, we turn to the hill newspaper to talk about the president's executive order on social media. chris mills, good morning to you. joining us by phone. guest: [indiscernible]

ats action has been growing trump's term. that siliconon valley companies have been conspiring against the president. weeknk it escalated this after twitter labeled the president's tweets about mailing voting claiming that it would -- fraud. after the labels were applied, the president and his voters pounced on the labels, accusing the company of suppressing his position. that ultimately escalated into the executive order signed yesterday. it is important that this anti-conservative bias that his supporters allege has not been substantiated. he has 80 million followers on

twitter, 27 million on his facebook page, it is hard to say that his voice is being suppressed. the order itself is broken into four sections. the first one is about section 230 of the communications decency act which is considered a fundamental building block of the internet. the law does two things. first, the shield, it blocks large platforms from being considered speakers of content hosted by third-party users. for example if someone posts a comment on "the hill" that is slanderous, the newspaper cannot be sued for that. the second part of section 230 gives immunity from liability for good state efforts to moderate platforms. at for example, if facebook takes down a comment in setting violence, or if twitter places a label on president trump street, a person cannot sue twitter. what this executive order does is that it direct an agency

within the department of important,ot super to file a petition with the federal communications commission to clarify the scope of section 230. that section in the eyes the platform should be considered publishers content if they can be shown to have restricted online content in a way that -- their terms of service, which would threaten the existence of companies like twitter, facebook and youtube that rely on third ready content for their platforms. this portion of the executive order which i think is the most important, has gotten backlash from several democratic lawmakers and legal experts. host: chris, just pointing out,

you are joining us on the phone to talk about this, the president's executive order. i did want to note the president 's response by the latest efforts by twitter to flag one of his tweets from last night. this is what the president wrote just after 7:00 a.m. abouter is doing nothing all the lies and propaganda by china or by the radical left party.tic they have targeted republicans, conservatives, and the president of the united states. section 230 should be revoked by congress. until then, it will be regulated." i wonder what the response has been from the social media companies themselves, facebook and twitter. because facebook, taking a different approach here. guest: both twitter and facebook released statements thursday night after the order was

signed, underscoring the importance of section 232 their operation. i think twitter in particular, since flagging the tweets from president trump about mail-in voting, has applied labels to hundreds of tweets from actors around the spectrum, including many chinese politicians spreading misinformation about the coronavirus. i think the argument from the industry that we are getting now is that while there is legitimate concerns behind some misinformation on the platforms, section 230 gives them the authority to regulate and deal misleadingpieces of content without being liable for the actions they take. host: when it comes to the finalization of these regulations, how long before we actually see the language here and what about the likelihood of legal action by twitter and social media companies to try to block it? guest: it seems likely that there will be some sort of

lawsuit against the executive order. trump won asked yesterday said, so what am everything gets sued. i think what is more likely to happen here given the unlikely food the executive order it sells affecting section 230 is some kind of legislation by the white house and attorney general barr. both of them suggested yesterday they would be interested in working to develop some law through congress to change section 230's authority. this has already been tried by lawmakers. in march, a bipartisan coalition of 10 senators submitted legislation that would strip 230 protection from companies that failed to adopt best practices for adopting child expedition on their platforms. that legislation is still in committee, which suggests there is some difficulty in developing rules on that so far.

host: chris mills rodrigo, a tech policy reporter with "the hill" newspaper. appreciate your time and your explanation this morning. guest: thank you so much. host: back to your phone calls, asking you what your top public policy issue is. the phone lines are as usual. carlos out of chicago, and independent. good morning. guest: doing a beautiful job. you have been doing a beautiful job in commentating. i think c-span. want to lot of people get their comments in. i would like to start with the -- part. start with international as well as national. we have a leader currently who has disposed the united states

-- goinginternational with china for example. first you start with the disease that came from china. was told about the disease that came from china, and want to blame china for that. by united states still owes money type stuff. there goes international boundaries right there. then now here goes the -- part. you put everything that you have into a part and you don't stir , what do you think is going to happen? host: that was carlos out of illinois. from new york, a democrat. good morning. eight uaw worker from upstate new york. my top legislative role for the

labor movement is h r 2474. it passed the u.s. house. it has a higher hill to climb in the senate, with republicans controlling the senate labor committee. for one thing, it would pretty much eliminate all state right to work laws for workers who don't join the union. at least you have to pay a fair share. it will really boost the middle-class if it is passed. wait, we will have to until the election to get more democrats in the u.s. senate for the bill to have a chance. h.r. ralph, you said it is 2470 four, congressman bobby scott out of virginia introduced it last may. as you pointed out, passed by the house. i wonder, when it comes to union issues in this country, we are actually going to be talking with richard trumka of the

afl-cio in about 10 minutes here. is there a question you would have for him? the president of the afl-cio? what his would ask him strategy is to try to get it out of the senate labor committee, the pro-act? host: i will be sure to ask that question. thanks for calling. jim is next out of new york them an independent. good morning. caller: we are talking about policies? host: yes, sir. every day since the coronavirus, they cover the amount of cases each town has. brentwood is one of the highest cases, in the thousands. the town north of me has just a few hundred. and brentwood

have the most cases because the counties have the immigrants packed in them like sardines. the town is doing nothing about it. these are single-family houses that are just packed to the brim with people. should the tone be doing about it question mark you want more zoning regulations or limiting the number of people who live in the houses? caller: good for you. good question. i go to the town hall meetings and i mention, for instance, like my neighbors house or something like that might have a -- on it. they put a basement entrance and finish the basement. all the garages around here have been turned into apartments. then you go into the assessor's office and they are paying the same tax as i am. i bring that up but nothing has been done. and it is a republican board. it is like i voted democrat by proxy, you know?

do i have time for one more point that is really important, that is beyond the coronavirus question mark it has nothing to do with immigration? host: sure. caller: i know that there was a bill in congress or the senate about it a while back about electromagnetic pulse. a mass injection from the sun and you get an electromagnetic poles. in the 1980's, it knocked out a large swath of canada, i think it was 1984. the 1880's,as in maybe, i am not sure. one of them knocked out all of the telegraph lines. we have no protection and now for that. we are getting their electromagnetic pulse. host: if you are interested in emp it issin

actually a topic we have before, you can just search our website for emps, electromagnetic pulses. you will find the segment and listen in on that discussion. a few more calls. kathleen, out of mississippi, a democrat. caller: good morning. in mississippi nothing has changed. minimum wage is still seven dollars to five cents an hour. hour.25 an everything was shut down. drive-through, curbside. there is so many people that are dying. our government leaders said he is not for obamacare and he is not for medicaid expansion. do you realize over 100,000

people have died already? he told, we will do the a.m. from 10 p.m. to 5 that was two weeks. two weeks later, from 5 p.m. to a.m. now we are sheltering in place, now we are safer in place, and be disabled people cannot around people without masks. but we did not have masks. i think they said trump knew about this. we couldn't find no masks nowhere. didn't know betty have masks. 500doctor said, i ordered

masks and i haven't got it yet. so i think that everybody is putting everything on us. nothing have changed. host: kathleen out of mississippi. this is hollis out of illinois, a democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. maketatement i wanted to about what happened in minnesota, the policeman kneeling on the black person -- my question is, why didn't the other police officers say anything? that is the thing. you have bad people doing all kinds of jobs. there should be some human people that are working there that see the wrong being done and speak up. more police officers need to speak up. host: the bystanders were speaking up. did you watch the video? caller: i am talking about the police officers who see him doing something wrong. host: i understand, we had a caller this morning who said things should be changed when

-- that allow bystanders to intervene when they see something like that in the future. is that something you would agree with? bystanders intervening would create another problem police. police officers are trained to protect in citizen from anybody doing any violence, even the police. that is the problem. the police need to be retrained. they are human beings. they have children, relatives. wrong. knows right from it is ridiculous that these police officers don't stand up and speak up. thank you, sir. host: thanks for the call. joann out of nevada, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks god for the last color. now i get to remember what -- thank god for the last caller. i was thinking, do you think maybe the police unions that protect these cops, they keep

them in the same positions? some of these cops have been reported like 19 times for their indiscretions. but you have union attorneys protecting their butts and keeping them in the same jobs. what is going on? i am a right to worker. i had the call after the gentleman passing the union bills. you know mama i just got a , i havewith -- you know a problem with the police officers being protected. maybe the unions have to be addressed, thank you. host: previous complaints on the officer's record. several news organizations digging into the officer, specifically the two in the facebook video. each with multiple complaints. journal" noting that one of them has 18 complaints, two of which ended

with discipline from the department including official letters of reprimand. had six incidents including a 2017 lawsuits settled by the city, which is still officially open in his record. sued in 2017 for excessive force. the case was field as part of the settlement. a few comments from our twitter pages and our text messaging priority.n your top this is john from ohio, saying --his top irt is to defund your tea is to defund planned parenthood and the w.h.o. for starters. heidi from brooklyn says, the u.s. continues to make mistakes over and over again. corporations and politicians are profiting so much from the system of financial donations to campaigns but nothing will ever

change. health care, climate change, gun violence and racism will continue to be ignored is. one more from pamela in michigan. my issue has been the leftist control of the social media, which has been censoring free thought and speech. the big tech community is a disgrace, says pamela, and a danger to liberty. a few other comments on twitter and text messaging. it is just after 9:00 a.m. on the east coast. stick around for another hour. , we are joined by richard trumka to discuss his organization's efforts to improve protections for workers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. from, dr. marshall bloom the national institute of health rocky mount laboratories will discuss his work investigating infectious diseases. we will be right back. ♪

>> saturday morning at 11:00 a.m. eastern, c-span has live coverage of the rescheduled launch of the spacex crew dragon. lift off is scheduled for 3:22 p.m. eastern as nasa astronauts launch to the international space station. watch live on c-span, online at c-span.org, or listen on the free c-span radio app. >> "washington journal" continues. host: viewers are familiar with richard trumka, president of the afl-cio. he first -- we found out another 2.1 million americans filed for unemployment insurance last week. can you start by giving us a sense of the impact coronavirus has had on union jobs in the country. guest: it is not just union jobs. it is worker jobs in general.

there are two aspects to that. one, the members still working, the people still working, we are concerned about their health and safety. the ones that have been unemployed, you are looking at more than 50 million people right now. june, the onay and employment rate will be about 30% in america. rate will bent about 30% in america. 58%anics have had experiencing a loss of income. %.ian american, 48 whites, 42%. it's had a devastating effect up and down the ladder. unlike past recessions, this one hit the people at the bottom first. people in hospitality, leisure, and other areas like that. it did not come from manufacturing and construction

down. they came from the bottom strand all the way up. it has been devastating for a lot of people. 13 million americans have lost their health care already. more are about to lose their health care. i can't imagine losing health care in the middle of a pandemic like this. host: for the workers still working and those going back to filed ae afl-cio lawsuit seeking to get osha to create emergency standards for protections for workers amid the pandemic. those sections look like? guest: let me give you a background of the lawsuit, how it came about. pushing for a contagious disease standard for a long time. the obama administration had it ready to issue. after all the studies, all the

delays, he was ready to be issued. the trump administration scrapped that standard. that left us naked. during this pandemic, osha, the agency charged with protecting the health and safety of america's workers has been literally absent. i will give you a few examples. before the pandemic or the emergency was declared, osha and state related osha was doing about 217 inspections a day. after the pandemic or the emergency was declared, they did about 60 a day. the number of citations they have had has dropped 70%. weree middle of a pandemic literally thousands of workers are being exposed and becoming sick and dying, osha has been absent.

we filed the lawsuit to say you have to have a standard that says what the plan is depict workers, two, it educates the workers so they know the plan, and has adequate personal protection equipment for them so they don't get the disease or die. because notrtant only to protect the workers on the job, but you will have 50 some million people coming back to work. the shortages we are seeing for ppe will get magnified. we don't have the proper testing out there to test workers. we need fast, reliable testing so we can isolate workers that test positive and trace where they came to. all that comes together. osha was not doing anything. we filed the suit last monday. it is like an injunction.

it says you are obligated to do something and you have not done it so we will force you to do it. we believe they are obligated to have a standard to protect workers. they have not done it so we sued them to get it done. host: richard trumka with us until the bottom of the hour, 9:30 eastern. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independent, (202) 748-8002. a special line for union members if you want to talk to richard trumka. (202) 748-8003. , as folks areka coming back to osha's role in the pandemic, you watch capitol hill and is on capitol hill. i want to show you congressman bradley byrne's from a recent hearing on osha's role during the pandemic, questioning the need for emergency standards for

workers. [video] >> how did osha handle complex safety and health issues in the past? from sars in the 2000 during the bush administration, to[video] >> how did osha mers, h1n1 influenza, and ebola during the obama administration, osha did not issue a new standard. instead they enforced existing standards and issued guidance, which in turn can be the basis for action against an employer under the general duty clause of the osha statute. let me say that again. during the obama administration, under three separate diseases, osha did not issue a standard. they issued guidelines and relied on those guidelines for enforcing the general duty clause. trumka, yournt thoughts? 2009, we have been trying to get that standard because we said it was

necessary. -- i'm not others specifically, but republicans in general have been trying to stop that standard from going forward. they filed all kind of objections. it took a long time to get that standard ready to issue. the obama administration had it in position to issue. when this administration came in they scrapped it. that leaves workers with nothing out there. says we don'tha need a standard to enforce guidelines. there guidelines. -- the guidelines. no, we areyer says left with nothing. take the issue of the slaughterhouses. the president ordered those people to go back to work. ordered them to. he did not say you have to go back to work to a place with a healthy and safe place, he said

go to work, even after it had been unhealthy and infected literally hundreds of people. without that standard we can't enforce it. here is the importance of that. if we have a standard, if osha does not enforce it, we can do it individually. we can protect ourselves. the second thing that needs to be done is to protect those workers who refuse to work in unsafe conditions when they remove themselves from conditions they are not protecting their health and safety. right now they can be retaliated against. that should never happen. no worker should have to choose between a safe place to work and their paycheck. host: we have a special line this morning for union members. a couple of callers on that land already. bradley is up first from west virginia. good morning. worked richard, i have on a construction -- on

construction for 20 when years. you busted the umwa up. it is scattered all over the place. i don't know why afl-cio put the president. you destroy the uswa. all this foreign stuff coming in here. now you have all these scab m ines and you are the cause of it. i don't understand how afl-cio can put u.s. president. it is just -- can put you as the president. it is just sad. host: bradley in west virginia. the united mine workers? guest: yes, it is. i was president from 1982 to 1995. bradley, i was not even around. i was presidenthe said he has br 20 years that i have been out. i left the mine workers in good

shape. they were a strong fighting union that gave health care, from birthday grave. -- birth to grave. we took care of retirees and widows. they got health care and pensions for life. wages had gone up. the level of safety was increasing. i am very proud of that record. imports, ill the agree with him. they have had a significant impact on america. they have been bad trade deals, bad tax policies that have encouraged outsourcing and rewarded people for sending jobs offshore. all that had an impact. they are bad. i would have liked to see this changed as well. host: we had a caller in the last segment, a union member. 2474, interested in hr the protecting the right to

organize act from congressman bobby scott. it has passed the house. he wanted to know what your strategy is for getting it out of the republican-controlled senate. guest: it is twofold. we have been educating people about how they are sending -- how theirave -- about senators have blocked that bill. let me say this. in america we talk about inequality. when people talk about inequality they generally talk about inequality of wages. there are actually three inequalities in our economy. here's the inequality of wages. the inequality of opportunity. and the inequality of power. until you address the inequality of power, you will never be able to address the other two inequalities. workers -- corporations are too strong. workers are not strong enough. again,e balance that out you will never be able to change

inequality of wages and the inequality of opportunity that keeps people of color, women and whites down quite frankly. the act would rebalance that power. give workers more say. 60 million workers right now say they would join the unions tomorrow if given the chance to do that. they are not going to because of antiquated laws we have. the proactive change the laws to would give people a better share of the wealth they help produce. strategyd part of that is education and forcing people to do what is right. there is an election coming. people that stand with us, we will support and urge our members to support. people that don't stand with us, we will urge them to vote against it. we will see what happens. right now you have mitch

-- is al becoming graveyard. there are hundreds of bills passed in the house they get to the senate. he just does not take them out. act, a classices example. there is a pension crisis going on an in this country. those plans are in danger. in the last cares bill everybody wanted to fix that, except one person. that one person was mitch mcconnell. fortopped pension relief helping 35 million people get their retirement benefits from the pension plan. he stop that from happening. that should never be allowed to stand. we will educate on that. on june 3, we will have a workers first caravan coming to town that caravan is going to put pressure on people.

it will protest the lack of action on the heroes act. there will be a lot of people coming to town in cars, observing every cdc standard out there so we don't violate anything, but we are going to protest that. the lack of action. same thing with the pro act. people don't do anything. workers should know who was on their side and who isn't. we will make those facts no. -- known. host: stephen in connecticut, you are on with richard trumka. i work in the aerospace industry. i don't know how the unions cross. i love it. is the best thing that ever happened to me. we want to see people fly again. we want workers safe in the aerospace industry. my company has been excellent that way.

we are probably the leading edge of safety in our particular industry. how do we get people flying again where it is safe and we can get -- our business was 95% down in april or march. we want people flying again safely. host: i will let richard trumka jump in. you said joining the union was the best thing that ever happened to you. why do you say that? caller: the wages are significantly better. they got rid of the pension plan. been having, i have a 401(k) my whole life. it is not very good because who has the time to study economics? you have to be a financial genius.

it is pretty unfair to put that type of pressure on anybody. host: thank you for that call from connecticut. president trumka, getting america flying again in the airline industry? about someve talked employers not doing such a good job. employersa lot of they really are trying to do what is right. a lot of those employers are asking for the same standards we are. they want to know what to do. they want to say, we want to do what is right by our employees but if we don't have some kind of standard what we do, -- standard, what do we do? they are asking for the same standards we are. the way people will come back as when they feel safe. when they feel safe getting on an airplane. the airlines have to do certain things, whether it is distancing, masks, and other

things of that sort. whatever it is, when people feel comfortable that he will keep them safe, they will start flying again. i think they will not come back to restaurants until they feel safe. they will not go back to leisure activities until they feel safe. obviously, a vaccine would help tremendously with that. until that happens we have to have enforceable, reliable, understandable standards that are significant enough to keep people safe. that is not to say they will eliminate 100% of the risk. that is a tough challenge to get to. but it will have to be more than it is right now. just saying we will issue these guidelines and you can either comply with them or not comply with them, the public does not know who does and doesn't. so they don't fly because they feel unsafe. we want them to get back to the place where they feel

comfortable in flying. because of the safety record of the airline industry. tremendous safety records on things like that. host: the last call i was glad to be in a union. how concerned are you about union numbers in this country? -- ais the lead from a story from the wall street journal. the share of american workers and labor unions fell to a record low last year in 2019 despite the uptick in the ranks of unionized state government employees. the number of union members fell by 170,000 in 2019, a year when u.s. employers added more than 2.1 million jobs. guest: it is a -- two years before that, we increased members. the numbers affiliated with the afl-cio actually grew. that is not good enough. that tells you this. unions have the highest approval

rating we have had in over 50 years. 60 million people say they would join the union today if given the chance. the question is why can't they? it's because of antiquated laws we have. the laws that govern us, the labor laws, were formulated in the 1940's. another one was modified in the 1950's. things have changed so dramatically since then. every other lout there has been updated, but not labor laws. not labor laws. why is that? you know there is a growing inequality in this country. the three inequalities i talked about. i can tell you this, john. if that continues to grow, at some point it will threaten the system itself. the system, unless it provides for a rising standard of living for a growing percentage of its

population, the system will get questioned and challenged. here is the study that was done by harvard. harvard asked millennials how important it is to live in a democracy. 30% of millennials said it's important to live in a democracy. 70% said it is not important to live in a democracy. 24% said it is bad to live in a democracy. that is frightening. until you think about the context it comes in. the millennials are the first generation that has lived their entire lives under the rules of globalization. they have seen their parents wages cut, health care cut, pensions cut. they have probably seen someone in their family or a friend lose a home. they were told, don't worry. you go to school and everything will be better. so they went to school. they came up with a mountain of debt. they can't find a decent job.

they have to work for three or four or five different people in the same week. that system is not working. we need to change the rules to eliminate first the inequality of power, and then the inequality of opportunity and the inequality of wages so the country can grow together again like it did after world war ii. host: less than 10 minutes left with richard trumka of the afl-cio joining us via zoom. we will take a call from cleveland, ohio. mary, democrat. -- a democrat. caller: i am wondering when you think the u.s. might finally create its own true labour party everything toave the democrats and republicans? both parties have failed over the last 60 years. i think you touched upon it but i am wondering what your thoughts are as to why real

wages when adjusted for inflation have not risen since the 1970's. that, combined with unregulated health care costs is really hurting people. most new jobs that were created are extremely low wage jobs. i have seen in my lifetime both republicans and democrats supporting globalization. when you think we might get a real labour party like some other countries have? thank you so much. guest: i really appreciate the caller's sentiment. particularly when it comes to the strain put on workers. she is right. wages have been flat. health care costs have been going up. is --s one of that defined having a pension plan putting the risk on the employer, they are going to 401(k)s where the risk is all on the worker. everything seems to be falling

on them and everything goes to the top 1%. that is why we need to change the rules of the economy to work for everybody. act is soy the pro important so we can balance powers and get the wages going up. our economy is 74% driven by consumer spending. if consumers don't have money in their pockets to spend, they can't create the demand. if they don't create demand, jobs don't get created. the more money they have in their pocket to spend, the more demand and the more jobs. that is important. itting back to the party, have seen very little indication that people are looking for a third party or it would have a chance of getting formed and take off running. i would say this.

over the last several years the democratic party really has changed what it is doing and where it is looking at. it is looking at the economy. look at the hero act just passed by this, craddick house of representatives. -- democratic house of representatives. we have five economic essentials we talk about. met in that heroes act. it takes care of workers. this. over the last several years the democraticit extends health car. 100% cobra payments for nine months. it extends unappointed benefits to $600. it helps give money to local governments and state --ernments for the services so the services we need don't get taken away. they have been looking more and more to workers. here is why. are running is we union members for office. over 1000 elected in the

last election. low offices, medium offices and higher offices. from a workers perspective, it is always there, no matter who was in power. we do thatwe do that so our vois always heard in every corridor of power. the more working people we elect to office, i think the more representative the government is. about who we are and what we stand for. host: the afl-cio endorsed joe biden for president. what is your pitch to the 38% of union workers who voted for donald trump in 2016? guest: he made a good pitch and did not live up to that. he hurt us in a multitude of ways. one, he has changed tell and safety standards. he has taken them away.

taken over time away from 2 million people. he has attacked unions in the federal government. he has done a number of things. how hegest issue is considered us expendable in this pandemic. he created a pandemic task force. there was not a single representative of working people on his task force. the department of labor, that has osha, the agency supposed to be in charge of our health and safety was not on that task force. by the way, osha has the fewest number of inspectors it has had in its history right now. the fewest number. 165 years to osha inspect every work place in this country just one time. he has depleted osha. it.as depleted

he ordered people to go back to slaughter industry for that a single health and safety pledge or rule in place. he considered us expendable. in his bum's rush to get the economy moving he was willing to use us as cannon fodder. that, norilling to do accept anybody who considers working people cannon fodder. host: mary is waiting in palm coast, florida. good morning. caller: good morning. my question is that my daughter has worked for a trucking firm for over 30 years. she would like to retire but she has heard there will be no pension after 2025. you did mention something about mitch mcconnell stopped it and you are meeting somewhere on june 1? guest: on june 3, we are having

events about the country. there will be a car caravan coming into town to let people know workers want the heroes act passed. we went unemployment insurance extended. we want help for state and local governments. we want help for the postal service. we will be in on june 3. caller: thank you. host: richard trumka, we think he was always for your time for talking with our viewers. president of the afl-cio. you can follow him on twitter. thank you, sir. guest: let me say thank you and let me say this. c-span, keep up the good work because you are informative and you allow the local people, the little guy to have his say. thank you. host: up next on "washington journal," dr. marshall bloom, associate director for scientific management at the national institutes of health's rocky mount laboratories is

because of his work investigating infectious diseases. we will be right back. ♪ presidents, from public affairs. available now in paperback and e-book. if present biographies of every president, organized by the ranking by noted historians from best to worst. and it features perspectives into the lives of our presiden -- nation's chief executives and their leadership styles. c-span.org to learn more about "the presidents" and to order your copy today. book "talking to strangers," novel gladwell details what he think people make inaccurate judgments about people they don't know. -- malcolm gladwell. >> i will drag you out of here. >> you will drag me out of your

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>> "washington journal" continues. host: a discussion on the history and science behind infectious disease research. dr. marshall bloom joins us from the national institutes of health rocky mount laboratories in hammonton -- hamilton, montana. dr. bloom, can you give the viewers an overview of what your scientist to in hamilton and what the lab's role is within the nih? thet: we are part of division of intramural research of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases. which means tony fauci is our boss. he comes out and visits us whenever he can. usually about once every two years. the lab has been involved in what is called emerging infectious disease research for well over 100 years, tracing back to the early 20th century

with the identification of rocky mountain spotted fever, an important tech-born infectious disease -- tick-born infectious disease. the lab has focused on infectious diseases. in addition to working on the ones which we know about, folks have been looking to see what is the next big infectious disease coming down the pipe we can look at. i think that sort of preparedness has really served the scientific stature of rocky mount lab very well. we were able to jump on the coronavirus quickly. i should say that working on pandemics is not new for the scientific staff at rocky mount labs or the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases in bethesda. our lab was in the forefront on

working online disease back in the night -- on lyme disease in the 1980's. a lot of work on prion diseases like chronic wasting disease and mad cow disease starting back in the 1950's. in about 2009, we opened up a facility here which contains one of the few biosafety level 4 laboratories in the united states. that is the kind of lab you would use when you have to work on something like ebola virus. coronavirus isrs not rated quite as high as ebola virus, the scientists are very used working on what we would call high consequence viral pathogens. that -- onemake is point i like to make is the ability of our scientist to do that work on an extended basis with insured funding which has

poised us so well to be able to make so many of the significant advances in the coronavirus pandemic so far. host: an article from "the new york times" profiling the lab. is the cure for covid in the rocky mountains? a rural lab with a 120-year of fighting infectious diseases. when did it first come on your radar and what does that research look like today? how many people are there working on it today? guest: that is a terrific question. many of the sciences here have international colleagues because of working on other serious infectious diseases like the first stars that popped up in that popped- sars up in about 2003. the middle east respiratory syndrome that showed up in 2013. unsterwitt and dr. m

were looking for new coronaviruses. i don't think it came as a surprise to anyone here or in h that another pandemic was on the horizon. i think some people might have put their money on a new influenza instead of a coronavirus. that re -- we heard about initially with reports around the very end of december 2019. ter anditt and dr. muns their colleagues could see it was a big deal. they presented an outline for research studies in the early part of january to dr. steve holland, our immediate supervisor back in bethesda. as soon as they were able to get a sample of the virus from the centers for disease control and characterize that virus,

confirming it was a coronavirus, they were all ready to start giving experiments. several studies have come out of that which have had amazingly high prominence considering hamilton is a town of 5000 people. on threerch is focused or four different areas. one is the development of a reliable animal model for this infection. that is the cornerstone for the gateway for all the other subsequent work in therapeutics, diagnostics, and vaccine development, as well as understanding infectious diseases. the sciences here at rocky mount lab in a short time, largely informs because of the work they had done on the middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus asablished nonhuman primates

a reasonable model for the sars covid-19 coronavirus, sars coronavirus type 2. it in some ways is it representing -- ways it represents what you see in people. not every animal they get infected dies. they have a relatively moderate course of the disease. if you do the studies to look at the levels of virus in blood and other parts of the animal, as well as the response -- the immune response against the virus, it looks like it is a pretty good model. defining atep was reliable animal model. then using that, they were able to show remdesivir was the drug you are viewers have probably read about or heard about so much over the last couple of weeks or so. did showed treating these

nonhuman primates with that antiviral medication was able to immediately erase the course of the infection. that has been mirrored in clinical trials in people in several different locations around the world. that is very, very encouraging. our investigators are also in collaborating with a number of groups around the to figure outg what is going to be the best and most useful vaccine platform to use against this virus. vaccine, nzee oxford intox, that has gone clinical trials in the united kingdom and elsewhere. that was developed by our scientist in collaboration with

colleagues at the jenner institute at oxford university. that is the animal model right there. another important part, which dr. munster and his group focused on, was how long the virus lasts under various -- on various kind of services. the results in the laboratory are probably not exactly applicable to a real-world situation, but it seems that the virus is able to survive on certain kinds of inanimate objects, including crew ships, for a while -- cruise ships, for a while. this is something people need to be aware of. one of the most important contributions of the group has really been looking at the reusability of n95 respirators. these are devices which looked kind of like a surgical mask,

but they are really not. they have a specific purpose and to function properly they have to be fit tested to the face of the person using them. you can go buy them in various stores. what they showed was there were a number of ways you could effectively decontaminate or disinfect these n95 respirators and reuse them. usingst one seemed to be vaporized hydrogen peroxide. using that method of disinfection of the masks -- they can be effectively reused through at least three cycles of disinfectant -- disinfection and maintain the purifying function of the filter and still maintain -- this is a very important feature -- still maintain the fit of the mask on a person's

face. if the mask -- when we wear those masks to study infectious agents we have to be fit tested annually to make sure the mask seals to our face and it functions properly. it's important for people to understand these respirators are not just fancy bandanas. they are a specific device which was designed for a single person to use one time. because of the unanticipated supply demands, it became important to come up with strategies to disinfect them and try to use them. the vaporized hydrogen peroxide system has been deployed by a company. somethingcome up with about the size of a fedex truck. you can use that to disinfect in the neighborhood of about 80,000

of these respirators a day. that has been very helpful since those respirators and the other forms of personal protective equipment are absolutely key to protecting the health care workers. in the coronavirus pandemic, just like in the abode of virus pandemic in west africa -- ebola virus pandemic in west africa, health care workers get disproportionally impacted by these pandemic infections. those are two of the main areas we focused on. there are others. you may want to move onto a different topic. host: we want to invite the callers to join us in this segment as we look inside one of the nih labs on the front lines of this pandemic fight. we are joined by dr. marshall bloom of the rocky mountain laboratory. joining us from hamilton, montana. if you're in the eastern or

central time zones, it is (202) 748-8000. if you want to call in the mountain or pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. , why hamilton, montana? why not close to the nih headquarters in washington? guest: you know, that is historical. the first infectious disease that the ancestors of rocky mount labs worked on was rocky mount spotted fever. the first cases of that were identified in a location about three miles from where rocky mount labs sits today. after characterizing rocky mountain spotted fever and showing it was an infectious disease and it could be by dr.tted by ticks howard ricketts, it would unfortunately died in 2010, but

the entire class of bacteria is named for him. orn infectious diseases continued here. in world war ii, all the yellow fever vaccine given to allied -- american armed forces was produced here at rocky mount labs. after that our scientist worked on a variety of bacterial, viral and transmissible spongiform --elf luckily diseases encephalopathy diseases. i can't take credit for any of this work but i take great pride in talking about it. we have one of the highest concentrations of investigators working on emerging infectious diseases anywhere in united states. people working on tularemia, bubonic plague,

coronavirus. another thing that is absolutely important for the viewers of the shows like yours to understand is these infectious diseases, they have not gone away. they are not on the front page but they have not gone away. a lot of our scientists are itching to get back to work, to get started on things like lyme disease. another impact of this pandemic has been the vaccination rates in the country and around the world have dropped dramatically. we might be looking at a very big resurgence of infectious diseases like measles and whooping cough pertussis next year if kids are not getting the vaccine they are supposed to get. rocky mount labs -- we had people working on pertussis here for a number of years. i think it is fair to say rocky mount labs has cemented itself

as a focal point for research on emerging infectious diseases, whether it is viruses, bacteria or other more offbeat agents. host: about 10 minutes left in the segment and plenty of calls for you. we started your part of the country in eagle, idaho. joel. caller: good morning. there is a book called "spillover." he chronicles a horst koehler of disease in easton -- horse cholera disease back in 1994. what is the status of that virus? could you tell me the mutation rate on these rna viruses? guest: the first part of your question is easy. i can't tell you anything about that virus, the horse virus. i know nothing about it. the second part of your question is really a very important one. the results of which -- the

answer which is easy to misinterpret. acid, dna of ne nucleic and rna, and there are viruses that are both dna viruses and rna viruses. the sequence of dna is very, very stable because of mechanisms that in science -- enzymes have to correct errors. rna is more susceptible to mutation rate. -- every are in a virus undergoes a mutation at a virusn -- every rna undergoes a mutation at a certain schedule. sometimes those mutations can lead to a major change in the way a virus behaves. other times they lead to

changes, which although they might look important, really aren't. in the case of the sars coronavirus sochanges, which aly might look far, the mutations that have been observed, and there have been mutations that have been observed, so far those mutations have not been demonstrated to have had any significant effect on how bad this virus infection is if people get it. that is an important one. i am not saying we might not find that to be true at some point in the future, but the critical research demonstrating that has not yet been accomplished. that is one point. the other interesting thing about the mutation, and this may be a longer answer than you are looking for, the other interesting thing about the mutation rate is because those mutations occur at a relatively predictable frequency of time, it is able to look at a collection of viruses like trevor bedford in seattle, and

by going back say these viruses separated or diverged at this particular point in time. that is way more technical information then i can easily explain. i hope that answers your question. host: as michael points out in a tweet to us, 30 minutes is not enough time to scratch the surface on this topic. we will do our best. andrea is up out of connecticut. good morning. caller: hello, good morning. i have two very important questions. the first being, if you were to get the virus in february, would you show antibodies today? the second question is, if they do come up with a vaccine, i'm assuming it's going to be bio instead of synthetic. what other diseases in those

vaccines that you could possibly get like the heps, the hiv unfortunately? should somebody be concerned about that? guest: let me answer your second question first. mechanisme production -- as your readers may be aware, there is like a whole telephone book worth of potential vaccine candidates being examined. applied by the food and drug administration, of which i am not a part, as well as the scientists and the vaccine companies can pretty much guarantee by using sophisticated molecular techniques of nucleic acid sequencing that any vaccine which makes it to the point where you or i might get it can be absolutely certain that there

is no other infectious disease lurking in that vaccine preparation. thatda requirements for are amazingly stringent. if the vaccine comes from what i think you described as biological sources, i would say the opportunity for there to be infection is other about as close to zero as you can imagine. the other point you raised in your second question was, is it going to be a synthetic vaccine --derived from by biologically? both vaccinepes, types are being tested. ,here is one called moderna which is actually not a virus at all. it is a piece of nucleic acid of

which expresses just that single spike protein from the sars coronavirus type 2. the rna molecule is injected into the muscle. it tricks that muscle cell into synthesizing the virus's spike protein, thus creating a very effective immune response. that, the initial work on is very promising. the people that have received that type of vaccine have developed a very substantial antibody response. although you have to remember although the vaccine production program is being called warp speed, we still have to be extremely careful. horace, one of his most famous quotes means to make haste slowly.

that means you want to move with all deliberate speed but you need to be very careful as you do it so you don't create some unexpected side effect which was not anticipated. that is why and our country when the food and drug administration goes through approval of a vaccine there are three different phases. for the first part of your question briefly, i am almost 75 result. if i had gotten the coronavirus, i'm not sure i would be giving this interview. i think the evidence is mounting that people who do get infected with this virus mount and antibody response which can be detected by a variety of different methods. the methods available from looking for antibody responses, some of them are not yet very good. that is an area which is an active area of investigation. the feeling is yes, people who

become infected with the virus develop antibodies. a really alarming aspect is that those serology tests -- that means looking for antibodies against different viruses -- a lot of those tests are identifying the fact that people antibodies to the virus who have never been sick with it. those are called a symptomatic infections. that will be a big issue in the next few months, defining those a thematic infections. thematicat --a matictions -- asympto infections. a briefingll have before the spacex launch tomorrow which we are covering on c-span this weekend as part of our coverage of the launch. until then, more questions with dr. bloom.

dee in silver spring, maryland. caller: good morning. if you do get the covid, can you catch it again? you if you have antibodies have created against it? is there certain levels of or doty that protects you you need a lot of antibodies or you can just get it again? i think you get my gist. guest: that is the $64 million question. --hink the answers to that there are a lot of people looking at that exact scientific question. answer is in the on that yet. it will be extremely important, especially when we start talking about vaccine development. major --n one of the

silver spring, maryland is about two miles from the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases and the rest of the national institutes of health is located. the scientist they are looking at that exact same question. our animal models that have been developed will be used to examine that question. they will be used to examine the older,n of, if you are are you definitely going to get worse? if not, why? the animal models will look at what are called obesity and diabetes. there are going to be in the next probably three or four months effective small animal models like hamsters and certain kinds of fancy experimental mice that will allow scientists here and around the world to look at those questions. that is a terrific question.

maybe if john invites me back in six months we can talk about that. host: we would love to have you back sooner than that. in the couple of minutes we have left, how do you answer the question when people ask you when will there be a vaccine? if i knew thew, answer to that, you and i could probably go to a lottery somewhere and make a lot of money. projectthe vaccine which has been mounted is called operation warp speed by the president. our institute director, dr. fauci, endorses that program. as areirly conservative, a number of the other vaccine experts around the world. vaccineif we have a which has gone through the phase i, phase ii and phase three trials effectively, if we have

that by the end of this year, i think that would be a wonderful know, we have to make haste slowly, and be careful. there have been several vaccines in the past, 50 or 60 years, which did not work as well as people had anticipated. so, we have to temper -- and there have been a number of articles in the public press as well as scientific literature talking about how we have to temper our expectations being as effective as we all hope it will be. the worst thing that could happen would be a vaccine that did not perform as well as we had hoped. back i do mean it, come and chat with our viewers again. associate director for scientific management at the rocky mountain laboratories. we appreciate your time this morning. guest: