2020 legal advisor talks about the reelection strategy. we will also take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. washington journal is next. ♪ host: good morning, it is monday june 22, 2020. abc news secure the first interview with john bolton about his new book chronicling his 17 months as president trump's top security expert. that interview aired last night ahead of the release tomorrow and we are spending the first half hour of our program getting your reaction to the interview with many details of the book already reported. give us a call this morning. .epublicans, (202) 748-8001 .emocrats, (202) 748-8000

(202) 748-8002. catch up with us on social media and twitter on facebook.com/c-span. a very good monday morning to you. did you watch the john bolton interview? we want to hear what you thought about it. you can go ahead and start calling now. it aired on abc last night. during the interview, john bolton talked about why he wrote his book and why he did not take part in the impeachment inquiry against president trump. you could have told the stories when you were in the white house or when the impeachment trial was going on and you chose instead to do it in a book. mr. bolton: i did not think the democrats had the political understanding or the reach to

change what for them was an exercise in arousing their own base so that they could say we impeached donald trump. they can pursue any policy they want. they do not dictate to me how best to bring this to the attention of the american people. >> but you can certainly understand why your critics say, why did he come forward before. -- why didn't he come forward before. >> it has nothing to do with making a profit. it has everything to do with making sure that the constitutional responsibilities are carried out the right way. host: john bolton on abc news last night about his forthcoming book. it is being released tomorrow. john bolton on a tour this week expected to be on good morning america this morning and other interviews throughout the week. here is another one of the interviews posted last night at 10:00 eastern just after that abc news interview.

this is from usa today, it is their lead story. bolton describes pinball machine white house and former trump aid is unapologetic about his time inside and outside the circle. just a lead of story. this is what it says, "if he had been a senator during the impeachment trial, john bolton says he probably would have voted for a conviction." one other headline from the new york times, "trump poses a danger for the republic if reelected." when the of headlines about it. plenty of chatter on the cable television shows throughout the evening and this morning. we want to hear what you think. (202)republicans, 748-8001. democrats (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. james is up this morning. what do you think about the interview? caller: i think it was

unbelievable and shocking at the same time. now that he has done it, let's ride with it. bar, i think he is totally wrong about everything that he said. trump is unbelievable. he does not know countries, he does not understand anything about our country, it sounds like. another thing that is annoying is why can't he just do the right thing for the american people. host: you say he should have done it before and why can't he do the right thing. are you saying he should have testified during the impeachment trial? john bolton saying during the interview that he does not want president trump to have a second term. he does not think that he is capable of the job of being president of the united states, but doing it in this form, putting it out in public in the book, that is the more effective way of ensuring that that second term does not happen. what do you think of that argument? caller: i think is a good

argument, and at the same time i also think that if he had spoken sooner, the american people would have a much better idea of what this president is doing in our white house. we deserve better. host: that is jane in new york this morning. more from john bolton about president trump's fitness for office. [video clip] >> i think he was so focused on the reelection that longer-term considerations filled by the wayside. there was little or no focus on what meetings did for the bargaining position of the united states. >> are you saying that all decisions the president made were for reelection? pres. trump: thank, el paso. >> i did not see anything where that was the major factor. a lot of people say he has a short attention span and does not focus. when it comes to reelection, his

attention span is infinite. it is just too bad that there was no more that when it came to national security. >> you described the president as erratic, foolish, behavior rationally, you cannot leave him alone for a minute, he could not tell the difference between his personal interests and the country's interests. >> i don't think he is fit for office. i don't think he has the confidence to carry out the job. host: from abc news last night. john bolton became the 27th u.s. security advisor on april 9, 2010. he says he resigned. president trump says he was fired. the book about that time as the national comes out tomorrow, getting your thoughts this morning. florida, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. the reason why i'm calling is i morningo the news every

and i like the news i get from you. the news you listen to of fox. it seems like they are all for trump. the second is, why can't they eliminate the electoral vote. host: the ground, we will beat talking about voting in this country -- be talking. kimberly wehle will be joining us to talk about her new book, "what you need to know about voting and why." emily wehle, a professor out of baltimore. -- kimberly wehle. session, talking about john bolton, that interview last night getting a lot of attention. we want to focus on that just for this first hour this morning. mark is next out of tennessee.

a republican. good morning. caller: yes, good morning. host: go ahead, sir. caller: i think the president has been treated unfairly. i watched the entire suite and i thought it was pretty good. -- the entire speech. i'm a republican and i just think he is being treated unfairly by the press. that is just my opinion. host: did you watch the interview with john bolton on abc news last night? caller: yes i did. isn bolton, i think he 7-years-old her and he is probably washed up. he does not have to worry about his future career because he does not have a future career. to make money off of conversations that he might've had with the president and confidential conversations. aboutwhat did you think

john bolton's appointment when he became national security advisor to president trump? did you like him at the time? caller: i did. i actually liked his appointment. i thought he was the right man for the job. it eventually became clear to me that john bolton had a different agenda than the president did. job, you serve the president. host: what is john bolton's agenda? caller: he is a warmonger. he wanted to go to war with iran. he did not want to pull troops out of iraq. he wanted troops in syria. he seemed to be a person -- and president trump ran on pulling troops out of foreign countries. john bolton did not really like that very much. host: should he not have been picked for that job?

should the president have known his positions on that issue going back years? presidentthink the should have researched that a little more. as it turns out, john bolton was a person who does like war. he likes building rockets and missiles and all that. he is part of the military-industrial system. to me, he disagreed with what the president ran on. the president ran on pulling troops out of these wars and conflicts that we continue to get into. host: that is marked in tennessee. this is tyrone out of new york city, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. the man is not a politician. he does not know what he is doing. and you accept something better out of him question mark it is

like getting a mechanic to do open-heart surgery. he is not a surgeon. bolton is telling what we already know about donald trump. he is a liar, he does not believe in the rule of law. now this is complete the up to the american people. we are either going to vote him back in or we are not. they use these tactics of suppressing the votes and we see what is happening in georgia and kentucky and all over this country where they are stopping people from voting and making long lines. it is up to us as the american people to get this man out of office. we already know he is not qualified to be president. us when he asked russia to help him on national tv. so now we are surprised that he did all of this, that he was impeached, and that he should have been taken out of office

back then. we can stop lying to ourselves and know that this man is not qualified. thei understand that if devil and jesus christ was eligible to run for president, the devil would get votes. people would vote for the devil. but we as the people that understand that it is not in the best interest of all of us. melville, is republican, houston, texas. good morning. -- melva. caller: good morning, america. john bolton is totally discredited. he is an old war horse. he just wants to stay in the mix. he needs to let it go and let trump do what you need to do to take care of america. we want trump and we are going to vote him in again. thanks. host: one other headline for you from the front page of the washington times. book revelation

rile democrats." some reaction from democrats on capitol hill, first from the man who led the impeachment inquiry in the house, adam schiff, the chairman of the house intelligence committee. tonight he said after the bold interview, bolton was pressed on why he did not come forward and testify instead of saving it for a book. he insisted it was not about the cash. to quote during a different impeachment, when you hear somebody say this is not about money, it is about money. reportedly some $2 million pay for john bolton to write this book. maxine waters, a democratic congresswoman from california, or tweet from earlier in the week, one must understand that if bolton had turned against trump in his revealing conversations he heard of the , that he isting worse than you ever thought. a deplorable undermine her of

our democracy and a traitor. hakeeme reaction from jeffries, one of the impeachment investigators appointed in the house. he was on abc this week. he was asked in hindsight whether they should have done when it came to john bolton during the impeachment inquiry. this is part of that interview. [video clip] >> not at all. john bolton is a political opportunist and a profiteer. he had the opportunity to step forward and participate in the house impeachment inquiry and share any information that he had about wrongdoing by president trump and other members of the administration and he declined. he also could have stepped forward in the midst of the senate impeachment trial, but he ran and hid. that is unfortunate. at the end of the day, house impeachment managers proved with clear and convincing evidence that donald trump abused his

power by pressuring a foreign government, ukraine, to target joe biden, an american citizen, solely for political gain as part of his corrupt scheme to interfere in the 2020 election. we established that. the senate committed malpractice in terms of acquitting donald trump and now it is in the hands of american people. host: hakeem jeffries of new york on abc this week. president trump has not tweeted about colton since the interview last night on abc news. -- bolton. he has tweeted quite a bit about john bolton in the past couple days on the details of his book. here is one of them from late last week. bolton's book which is getting terrible reviews is accomplished in of lies and made up stories all intended to make me look back. the president saying last week, "any of the statements were never made. pure fiction, trying to get even

for firing him like the sick puppy he is." that is the president in one of about 10 tweets about john bolton last week and other republican reaction. this from yesterday evening, if book,n bolton says in his rand paul convinced president trump not to make john bolton his secretary of state, then rand paul deserves the nobel peace prize and a thank you from the president. that is the republican congress men from kentucky. one more from congressman doug collins of georgia, focusing on that $2 million payment number saying, "verily that is all it took for john bolton to sell off what little credibility he had left." getting your reaction this morning. phone lines split up by clinical party. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000.

independents, (202) 748-8002. sophia out of the bronx. good morning. did you watch. caller: yes i did. thank you for letting me say something. first i want to say, you don't sound like pedro, you don't look like pedro. so jealous of c-span broke the american news. you have been handling it perfect. back to bolton. i will not buy bolton's book for 9.95. he warned the conservative party. not aent trump is conservative or republican or democrat. i don't know what he is. he had his chance to do something about it.

, he could have saved us. the only one saved us a little bit was mitt romney. thank you for listening to my opinion. host: this is glenn out of detroit. democrat. good morning. caller: can you hear me? host: yes ma'am. caller: it is good to see you, john. host: good to hear you, go ahead. bolton i think that john -- he did not talk before congress during the impeachment because he already knew that no , ther what his book said senate was going to confiscate and everything and it still would have been the same results. they just were not going to do anything.

host: do you think it makes more of a difference now this book, just months from election day in this country with everything that it has an in -- has in it? caller: i do. i think it is more proof. the people -- we already know. we have seen, we have heard. we know what the president has done. and we know that he is unfit for the office. and i think that the best way to get trump out of their -- there is to have this conversation that he needs to resign. there needs to be pressure on trump to resign because he is held up hiss not responsibility of being a president. he has divided the country. our allies, he has torn down our relationship.

all the people he said that were elected that are great people, they have said that he is not fit. host: do think that there is a lot of people in america still waiting to be convinced on whether to -- whether president trump is fit or unfit for office? do you think there is a lot of people left that this book will convince to the unfit category? caller: it is not the book, but the book adds to the conversation. even trump's people, they know he is unfit. they know that. but they like him, they like the entertainment, they like that he is supposed to be whatever he is and he disrupts the system. they know he is unfit. they know that they are hurting and everything, but the people who want to make a change like the protesters out there -- people need to call their congressman. they need to push this conversation.

there need to be signs out there with protesters. trump needs to resign. people need to rise up and , send congressmen letters, and push for him to resign. this conversation needs to be out there because nothing else is going to get rid of him because the tenant will not do it. host: that is gwen out of detroit. we will be joined by one of the president' is people in our 9:00 hour. jenna ellis, 2020 campaign senior legal advisor will be joining us for a conversation and a conversation with our viewers as well so stick around for that at 9:00. this one half hour left in segment of the washington journal to get your thoughts about the john bolton interview last night. phone lines split up. republicans, democrats, and independents. we also have the line for text, (202) 748-8003.

allen, a washington republican. you are next. caller: yes, thank you. it is no mystery why he did not testify before congress. he would have been under oath. and when his lies come out and they have challenged him, he could have been charged with poetry -- perjury. he is not going to go to jail. all these people who do not figure that out, that is the dumbest thing i've ever heard. host: i have a question for you. the move to block the release of this book, claiming that there was classified information in here and a judge saying that the book could go forward said that john bolton may well have released classified information and could be held responsible. what do you think the justice department was concerned about if you think it was all lies that john bolton put in this book? caller: he did not want to be under oath.

you can write a book and you never have to prove it. talk all you have got his about trump being unfit. wet about that unfit boot had a mark on their eight years before? sending guns to mexico? letting the oil go on the beaches in florida? what about that? host: that is allen in washington. more from that interview with abc news. john bolton asked if he fears prosecution. this is what he has to say. [video clip] nounder donald trump, regular rules apply. but i am confident that there is no national security information, no classified information in the book. i did not intend to write anything that revealed classified information.

>> because you a traitor. what would you call him? >> i have made my case about the president not being a conservative and not being competent to serve in the book. >> i am assuming you have not seen donald trump since you resign. >> i have not spoken to him. >> do you think you will ever speak to him again? >> i doubt it. i am not going to vote for him in november. i am not going to vote for joe biden either. >> how do you think history will remember donald trump? >> i hope it will remember him as a one term president who did not plunge the country and retrievable he into a downward into a-- irretrievably downward spiral. the decisions were made on a scattershot fashion, especially in the mortal field of national security policy. this is a danger for the republic. host: that was how that interview with john bolton ended

last night. it was an hour long program highly touted by the network and we expect to see john bolton a lot more this week on morning america this morning and headed to the view later this week and an exclusive interview with usa today that has been published on their front page. we are getting reaction to all of it this morning. this is joan out of new jersey. a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning, john. how are you? host: i'm doing well. caller: i did not watch the interview last night. i believe what he is saying, but it is too bad that he did not come forward and tell all the new while the impeachment was going on -- all he knew. host: do you think it would have made a difference?

caller: maybe not. people are too rigid in the belief in their party. it should not matter whether you are a democrat or republican. the truth is the truth. i think this president is over his head. i don't think he is fit for office. host: you think more senators could have been swayed to vote for impeachment if john bolton had testified? do you think that there was more flexibility or more ability of senators or republican senators during the impeachment vote to be swayed? caller: i think so. like pompeole testifyave gone down to . it just john bolton alone, think other people should have gone down and testified and it

would have made a lot of difference. host: that is joan out of new jersey this morning. this is jim out of west virginia. democrat. go ahead. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: i watched the interview. i don't think it would have made a difference if john bolton would have testified before the senate. republicans and the senate need to be voted out. it is a must. you can get rid of trump. -- there is so much bad. almost place.h the guy was talking about trump saying he was going to bring the troops back. some troops back. he put them on the border. they fired tear gas at peaceful

protesters. just vote blue. thanks for your time. host: do you think democrats have a chance of taking the senate this cycle? caller: i do. i honestly think -- and you can mark this down, i think they will gain nine deeds in the senate. host: right now they need four for the majority. three if they control the white house. where do you get the nine seats from? probably notink is being talked about as being horrible right now but would have to switch to get to that number? well, this pandemic has been awful. trump's speech in oklahoma, he 122,000?tioned the under 120,000 i think

was the last number i saw. caller: this pandemic has kept people home and they got to finally see what has been going on with donald trump and what has been going on with the .enate there will be so many people believe,is year that i , the democrats will keep their congress and joe they will be president and will gain at least nine seats. nine seats is what i predict. host: that is jim in west virginia. if you want predictions on the election, a good place to go to understand the state of play right now inside elections --

insideelections.com. there senate map has a good idea of where they rank the various senate seats. there is a total of 35 senate seats this cycle. here is the four that democrats are most focused on. make sally in arizona. susan collins. races -- theyp are ranked as tossup ray says races.d -- toss up have to dig deeper to see other targets that democrats might have this cycle. they would have to dig into the lanes republican -- leans republican category where they are favored according to the metrics that they use for their race ratings. joni ernst falls into that category. the open seat in kansas falls into that category.

and then to get to that nine number that the caller was talking about, democrats would have to pick up two more beyond that digging into the likely republican category. that is the breakdown. insideelections.com is a good place to go for that. the political report has their race ratings. this is mavis out of fort lauderdale, florida. did you watch the interview? caller: good morning. i saw it. what i wanted to say in , whennce to mr. bolton mr. obama was in office, bolton was not republican. now in reference to being a republican, he has no friends at all.

now hannity and all of others who love him when he was missed -- with mr. bush, now they have thrown him to the wolves. they allow mr. trump to do whatever he wants. republicans need to go. we need to vote them out of the senate. i agree with the gentleman just now. they have no loyalty. they are letting the country go to the dogs. host: that is mavis out of florida. we mentioned the various ways to connect with us via text message and social media. here are comments from those mediums. don'ts john saying, "i support bolton and i will not buy his book. he failed to testify when america needed him, making him a reason this might bear trump

continues." ais is ed on facebook, he is deep state input of the military industrial complex with no ability -- credibility. this is bill out of new jersey saying, additions use sleight-of-hand and john bolton uses five words. a complete fraud. -- slight of words words. i republican senators made it clear they did not want to hear evidence before acquitting these -- our republican senators made it clear they did not want to hear evidence before acquitting this president. this is susan out of monroe township, new jersey. you are next. caller: good morning. i watched some of the interview last night and book or notebook book, we have all seen donald trump, what he has done. look at all of the members he

has fired out of his cabinet. we all know right from wrong. the senate needs to be voted out. a lot of those members of the senate need to be voted out. we all know donald trump. years ago, it took three psychiatrists to declare someone insane. i have heard at least three on television on different networks declare that he is totally insane. he has dementia of some sort. they need to do something about it. they have the power to do it, they let him go on because it is all about money and power. money and power. so the book is probably true. but we all know right from wrong. that is what it all boils down to. host: the book we are talking about comes out tomorrow. we are talking about the john bolton interview last night on abc news. it is the subject for the first

hour of the washington journal this morning. sharing with you a few clips, getting a lot of attention. john bolton talking about president trump's relationship with the leader of north korea. here is more from john bolton. [video clip] >> every president has a style. but the idea of this layer of complement to this brutal dictator -- layer of compliments, i find it naive and dangerous. he told kim jong-un we would give up on the wargames on the korean peninsula. the president did not seem to understand that the wargames as he called them were critical to american and south korean ability to be ready to withstand pressure from north korea. and to pull down these engagements, these exercises, because they displeased kim

jong-un, i just felt was an act of folly. >> before that summit, you praised the president's skill. and he has thep outstanding ability to do that. did you believe that when you said it? >> not particularly. one of the functions is to defend the demonstration. >> the romance was in full bloom. >> trump's nickname for kim jong-un was rocket man. >> he gave him an elton john cd. ♪ to try to an calling him rocket man was a compliment. i don't think we have heard from kim jong-un and what he thought of elton john's song. this is the kind of focus that leads you to wonder whether there is an ability to discern what cosmetic -- what is cosmetic from what is truly serious. >> and what -- you think what he

did is dangerous? >> i think when you are dealing with the power of nuclear weapons in the hands of an irrational regime, not taking that as serious as you should have was a big mistake. donald trump got a lot. the u.s. got nothing. host: john bolton last night in the interview with abc news. this is steve, did you watch? caller: no i did not watch. [indiscernible] it lets the people know how donald trump operates.

host: i think we got your point. you are a little tough to hear. we will go to frank out of connecticut. an independent. go ahead. caller: good morning. i like hearing the show. sometimes i am troubled by people who are so democrat or republican. at the racepset relations in this country, then you are going to go vote your senator or your mayor just because they are a democrat or republican. you are part of the problem you are not part of the solution. donald trump did not create all problems in this country. has he exaggerated them? is the offensive? yes. but you cannot tell me that he

made north korea dangerous. get nuclearrea weapons on donald trump's watch? no, they got them on bill clinton's watch. killed civilians and most of them are what we would call people of color, even americans. we have always acknowledged that when we go to war, disproportionate poor and minorities die. lost 2000k obama we people in afghanistan, more than george bush lost. disproportionately minority. how many people have we lost under 12? he tried to pull us out of afghanistan as democrats and republican railed, how dear you glee that financial boondog we call a war off the table. we have not lost troops under donald trump. george bush was a danger. obama was a danger.

we have not lost under trump. what do think happens this week? congress back in session this week. police reform is a key issue on the table. what you think is going to happen this week? do you think the two sides can come together and pass some sort of police reform legislation in this country? caller: i think they will. think anything valuable as far as police reform is going to come out of washington. it is going to be more money than reform. there are simple, smart reforms we could do. more citizens, less police.

you drive home, you see a crime, you call my 11. i don't want someone who has had -- i need you to get out of the mindset that you are this 24 hour-day warrior. you are not. that, i just like don't think that that is going to fix it. this,ing to close with -- and if real reform, don't care about confederate statues. like theke -- it is victories for the african americans will be getting statues down. that is not fixing schools or police. it is these false victories at every election cycle african americans settle for. and it is sad -- it saddens me because in my lifetime i wanted

to see racial equality and unity and it is just not going to happen. it bothers me. we have to stop settling for these false victories. vote your politician out and demand better from the next guy. host: that is frank out of connecticut this morning on the issue of police reform. the opinion page of usa today, a piece by a republican of south carolina, his peace on the justice act. the lead sponsor of that legislation that says republicans are putting forward when it comes to police reform, just a few parts of the justice act. the bill expands the department grant better training for whom it offices. defunding the police is the wrong answer. he says this bill provides for training and de-escalation tactics and the duty to intervene when observing

excessive use of force. there is funding available in the bill for new body cameras and prevents disgraced officers from bouncing on department to department without their record following behind him or her. it creates enhanced penalties for officers who falsify their incident reports when it comes to excessive use of force. just a few parts of the justice act that tim scott highlights in his peace today. piece. back to john bolton and the interview. frank in georgia, did you watch that last night? caller: i missed the interview. bolton, i like your show, john bolton is nothing but a war hawk military-industrial context person. eisenhower warned us about these people. the fact that it is -- since the end of world war i and world war

ii, we have been the world's policeman. we have been involved in skirmishes in korea, that was not a skirmish, and vietnam, that was not a skirmish. but these low intensive conflict wars in the middle east all thanks to the military-industrial complex. it is time to bring our troops home. we keep our military strong. even make it stronger if we have to. and if you mess with us, it'll be the last person you ever mess with. you understand that? americans thet courage to come together. this president has been theculed by the media and democratic party and those are the dividers. the media and the democratic party. i am sick and tired of hearing just about donald trump is a racist, he has divided this country. he has tried to bring us

together because the election was not what they wanted for the past four years. and now they are talking about another possible impeachment. guy and pelosi, schumer, they have got to go. we have to come together and make a decision. here is another issue. people think america won world war ii. russia won world war ii and world war i. they lost 10 million people in world war i. they lost 20 million people in world war ii. host: about 15 minutes left in this segment of the washington journal. just to let you know the schedule of today on capitol hill, the house in at 11:00 eastern time. the senate at 3:00 p.m. and we are expecting decisions from the supreme court today. that is expected at 10:00 a.m. orders and opinions coming out in some very high-profile cases

still on the docket waiting for the opinion from the supreme court cnn -- supreme court. twowith the wrap up of other cases still outstanding on the court's docket. the one about louisiana abortion law. cnn writes it is a major opinion on abortion when it remarks on the constitutionality. opponents argue that it unduly tricks access to abortion noting that it would leave only one doctor in the entire state licensed to provide abortions. opponents counter that the license -- law provokes safety concerns. returns,dent's tax that issue before the supreme court. seeking president trump of phosphorus tax returns. trump's taxresident returns.

the court is excited to determine the scope of congressional power to issue subpoenas in furtherance of its legislative function and whether the president has absolute immunity from even being investigated criminally while in office. two of the key cases still outstanding. back to phone calls. rosetta, thank you for waiting, democratic. go ahead. caller: yes, good morning. i did not watch the interview with john bolton last night but i picked up on different -- bits and pieces of what he was saying. i never liked bolton from the beginning for a number of reasons. but i do believe what he is saying now is true. he has no reason to live. john is always talking about he is writing this one -- draining the swamp. he is part of that swamp. 3 needs to be out on november .

that he is to say always saying he only hires the best people. but they don't stick around very long and when they do, they wind up getting fired or resigning or whatever, then there seems to be a problem. what about the best people that you hire which says a lot about you, mr. trump? on november 3, please vote blue. thank you. host: rebecca, a republican out of burlington, vermont. did you watch? caller: no, i actually missed it. but schumer and pelosi, i see them as employ by the state. they make me sick just looking at them. i want to talk about the prejudice in the united states. a vamp up against our

jewish brothers and sisters. mr. trop -- mr. trump supports them. ever since he has been in office, we have been hearing more about the anti-semitic comments about our jewish brothers and sisters. from what i understand, they no longer even teach about the holocaust in school systems. they are pretending it is a bunch of fables. over 6 million shoes were murdered in this short window period. we did not -- over 6 million jews. let's try telling this to those who are still surviving because i support my survivors and i love the jewish people. i do not think we should harbor hate in our heart for anybody. but let's not forget about the jewish people and stop pretending that this never happened. host: about 10 minutes left to have this conversation about the john bolton interview last night

with abc news. the book coming out tomorrow the room where it happened." john bolton on a media tour this week. you will be hearing a lot more about it throughout the week. what do youtexas, think? you know how congress go rightack, john can ahead but our congress needs to get involved and that is what i wanted to say. the president has a job description and he is out of that. veteran.a i fought for this country.

fornnot really understand our government have the congress take over this country. that is how i feel. host: talking about investigations by congress. theweekend shakeup in seven district in new york. the attorney's office there has some members of congress calling for more investigations. the ouster of geoffrey berman who was u.s. attorney for the seventh district of new york has sparked a lot of interest by members of congress. less than 48 hours after the bow to for the justice department' is most prestigious office ended with resident ordering berman's dismissal. the actions have yet to be fully explained. lawmakers continue to raise questions about the removal of the prosecutor who oversaw the prosecution of trump's personal

lawyer who is also managing investigations into the president's current lawyer, rudy giuliani. we will see what habits on the s this-- what happene week. donald is next. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for c-span. i take issue with bolton's statement about how trop in a second term may destroy america -- trump. i think he first began doing whichhen he invaded iraq sunk a whole lot of money into the more perceived of america. of america.stige

he nearly destroyed the lives of 80 million egyptians. then he went on to attack libya and destroy that country and those people's lives and that country at that time had the highest human development index. most of south america and central america. not satisfied with just doing that, he said the sudanese -- set the sudanese against the in syria. and jews all this times building trillions-- spending while china was growing in prestige. and now trump is coming to tppice and he got out of the which took us out of being essential trees for trade in the

treaties-- essential trade.e -- for china continued to develop resources and influence throughout asia, africa, europe -- host: with all of your concerns about these national security issues, who do you trust to advise the question on this -- advise the president on this? caller: absolutely nobody. , the american out public's interest in foreign affairs is 3% compared to everything else that they are concerned about. nowleadership in the world -- i don't see any way that we will regain moral or military

leadership in the world at this point. the country is past its peak. thank you. host: that is donald out of virginia. donald, perhaps talking about that polling question that often comes up. one of the polling organizations, the most important problem facing the united states, the most important problem being economic problems according to their poll of americans. no surprise there from june 2020. it comes to non-economic problems, the government's poor leadership is a key concern by 20% of americans. coronavirus is not far behind. race relations at 19%. the issue of foreign policy, pretty far down on that list. of even ranking at 1% american's focus when it comes

to the most important problems in that polling. up.com, a monthly tracking poll, something we often go back to me talk about something americans are interested in. john is next out of north carolina, repubilcan, good morning. i would like to make a suggestion to c-span if i made. after each segment, it would be fair if you put up a chart in writing to show on camera to the american people how many democrat collars you allowed to call and how many republican callers.nd independent to call allow everybody and we rotate through the phone lines as they come in on my screen. on my screen right now i have a

republican call followed by a democratic call. we do not split up the phone lines by the political party, sometimes we split it by age or income levels, regional lines is something we often have. it is not always by political party. but you are concerned that too many of one side calling in? caller: i have counted four democrat callers in a row and then you had an independent and then you may have a republican and then you have two more democrats. that is where your bias comes in, c-span. it is clear if the average person just looks. why don't you have a chart showing how many democrat callers that you allowed to call. host: let me do it for you. my producer in my ear, so far this morning, 10 callers on the democratic line. you are the eighth caller on the republican line. six independents.

is that we have done so far. not everybody sticks to what you may see as the right way for republicans or democrats to talk. people can expect their opinions. people take a line and call. have fource you have four -- why democrat callers in a row --?tion mark host: we know viewers are watching and that is why we try to rotate through. we do the best we can to get voices from all sides but we do appreciate the feedback. elizabeth is next out of maryland, an independent. go ahead. there. hi, i don't love john bolton but i think he had a good long look at trump and he knows what he's talking about. his comets are consistent with

many others who left the white house -- his comments. i think the bottom line is that trump is incompetent and corrupt. i think bolton should have told congress what he knew and it is kind of thin to go back and say congress should have found that on their own. that is really not fair. i think the content of what bolton is saying rings true. caller in this first segment of the washington journal. the ground, went two more to talk about today including university of baltimore law professor kimberly wehle to discuss her new book about the history and future of voting in the united states. later, we will hear from trump 2020 in your legal >> the president's room public

affairs, available in paper -- paperback. president, of every organized by their ranking from best to worst. it features perceptions of the chief executives and leadership styles. visit our website c-span.org to learn more about each president. order your copy today wherever books and e-books are sold. >> tonight on the communicators, ceo michael powell. >> we shouldn't make the mistake that because something is are thinking those of the same thing. i don't think it's a luxury.

it's an essential service for most americans. >> watch the communicators c-span 2. 8:00 on during the summer months, reach out to your elected officials with the congressional directory. it contains all the contact information need to stay in touch with members of congress, federal agencies, state governors. or your copy online today. -- order your copy online today. >> washington journal continues. host: our first of two guests is kimberly wehle, a law professor and cbs news legal analyst. she is author of the book what you need to know about voting. this is a user's manual for voting in america. why did you think americans needed that in 2020? guest: only one third of s can name all three

branches of government. i wrote a book about the constitution. by the time i finished that book, i realized that for myself the importance of voting as the means by which people self govern. it's a little but assumed in this country that not enough people vote. that's consistent with what people want, the numbers are low. next stepthis was the in my quest to expand civic literary -- literacy. november ist important for a lot of reasons, not just who gets what jobs from a political standpoint. what is the future of the kind of government we are going to have. that's on the ballot in november. population's age cast a vote in 2016.

host: what do you say to the people who think their vote doesn't matter? guest: than the russians wouldn't be trying to try so hard and other countries to interfere in the process. that speaks for itself with all the trauma we've seen. that's ongoing. it was just demonstrated. foreign policy is important. bush won the presidency by 500 votes in the state of florida. you could probably name 537 people. piece is about the privilege and honor and respect for american democracy. there are so many places in the world where people, even if there is a pretense of democracy, there is no rule of law. if you have money and access.

in america, that's not the case. people have legitimate complaints. we do have something approaching liberty and it's a way to preserve that at the ballot box. i encourage people to treat voting like rushing your teeth or having your cup of coffee or giving your kids the flu shot. anything that matters in your life, it is that vital. think americans could take back democracy and drawn out the special interests, the dark money that is distorting the electoral process. -- it's like taking your vitamins in the morning. voting is that important. host: if you have a question about voting, whether it's the mechanics of voting, voter

suppression, voter fraud, now would be a good time to call in and asked those questions. the book is what you need to know about voting. republicans, (202) 748-8000. democrats, (202) 748-8001. independent voters, (202) --8-8002 we are keeping haveonstitution does not anything about voting. it can be protected and enhanced. i was surprised by a

number of things. the supreme court has recognized a constitutional right to vote. it is pivotal on all of the rights. we talk about good judging and bad judging and if there is something expressed in the constitution or statute or judges are making thing up. the right to vote shows there is a lot of ambiguity in the constitution. otherwise, we wouldn't have a representative democracy. there are six different amendments that mention it. originally, the only people who could vote or white male landowners. wealthy white males were the only ones who were allowed to vote. int tent of who could come was expanded to lower income white males, then to formally enslaved people.

it wasn't until the early 20's when women were added to the tent. in it you are not have to demonstrate your a systemto vote versus where you are born in and you get your id card in your registered to vote. you have to decide to get out. we have this constant tension about who is sitting at the table for voting. we had the voting rights act of the 1960's. african-americans were legally allowed to vote, there were things done to keep them from the polls. there were poll taxes or literacy tests. this debate is still happening in america. my wish is to take one thing off the table for americans to be divided about. this is really government by the people, not democrats or

republicans. neighbors, our friends, our colleagues, this is how we keep government small enough that tyranny doesn't take over. this is what the framers were worried about. i would like to one day doing edit to the book where i don't need to have that. we understand that by allowing each other access to the ballot, we minimize fraud which is virtually nonexistent. access, citizens decide the government rather than some other force like corporate money. it's not as interested in our children and our concerns as the others are. do you think it should be an opt out system question mark

should voting be mandatory? should there be mandatory voting? like inandatory voting the numbers are in the 90's in terms of participation. votingople know they are every cycle, one of the critiques in my argument is people are informed. we don't want people going to the polls and just winging it. meansr participation greater engagement. in us trillion, it's a party. it's a saturday. it becomes a celebration of the country, i like to see that. spirit ofarian america is not penalized by participation. out of the cursed be a national penalty for not voting.

power toess has the pass national legislation. why not give people a tax credit for participating? $50 off your tax bill if you go to the polls. energy,reate positive it's just a precious thing. when i wrote my first book, the constitution is a piece of paper. enforcement -- enforce it, it loses power. that's a dark day for america. host: president trump helped us out with this section, he was talking about voting issues on his twitter page. storyked to a bright part where thert story attorney general said this opens the flood -- floodgate for

fraud. we followed up on the link to that story. i wonder your reaction. guest: that's not consistent with evident. -- evidence. voting as a see political issue. this is not political. , one billionne ballots were looked at. 31 had examples of voter fraud. five states including republican useing utah exclusively mail elections. there is not widespread voter fraud. it increased participation on both sides of the aisle.

it did not benefit democrats or republicans. , that are more shot in could be all duly -- elderly, and expanded and strengthened that voice in government as much as it does the other side of the political spectrum. it's unfortunate that the notionnt is touting this that people should stay home from the polls. that is anti-democratic. , the problem is without the political energy and focus, states to have the funding they need. states handle voting. it hinges on your state and where you live. how easy it is to register, how easy it is to vote, how well

trained your poll workers are, states are struggling now financially because of covid. they have to slice up a pipe. the federal government should make elections go smoothly. the amount of money should before elections. the federal government should support it. every american should be able to it in a way that is secure. scientists andch experts in this country that know how to do things in a way that are secure. there's no reason that can't be brought to bear. the answer isn't to stay home or make it harder for people. the answer is used to restore's is -- resources to make sure every american votes and that is

free of fraud. our guest is the author of what you need to know about voting and why. is that a puppy in the background? guest: yes. usually my kids keep her quiet. plenty of viewers want to join the conversation. judy is in kentucky. good morning. caller: good morning. host: you are on with kimberly wehle. caller: like i was telling my president trump is doing whatever it takes to win the election. he is going to divide the country. he doesn't have any experience.

around andhe turns what keeps him going and shows person is, it's like fourth grade level. host: that was jimmy in kentucky. we saw his tweet already this morning. i wonder if you might explain what you were looking at when you wrote it. this is what to watch for. ways thatre are keeping people from the polls could hurt candidates that are struggling. .resident trump is losing dead due tole are covid.

rallies, the scientists tell us how to stay on top of the virus. elections,y to win circumstance would be to have few people turn out. i want to point to highlight another thing the color mentioned. -- caller mentioned. thehe feels about legitimacy of the presidential election. it's not just president trump on the ballot in the fall. there are a lot of people in the town ballot. it goes all the way down to your local officials. the country has had multiple traumas in the past few months. amendmentthe first protests. sheriff's ons, the

the ballot. sheriff is on the ballot. if you want to see police reform, vote. you can vote have a different person with a different approach to policing. maybe that is one way to see voting is less divisive. schools,mmunities, our we have to look at each other. aside,sidential campaign you care about your community. vote down ballot. websites, get a ballot produced, the website will give you the names. it's very easy with technology to register. i encourage everybody to register right now.

some people have to show up at the polls. enlargings of gone to voting because of covid. you need to register soon to vote by mail. aboutint is if you care your community and your everyday lives, do this for yourself. find out about the people on your ballot in your community and your state. do the research and participate in democracy. take your democracy back. polarized, we can unify around that central concept. the revolutionaries fought and died for that. we can elect our own officials. host: john is up early in california. caller: good morning. i would like to agree with you

on the $50. i think that's a great idea. more people would fill a their tax returns. that's a dear. i disagree with you on the mail-in ballots. invited to as party where we were going to , specifically in the latino community. there were union people there. there were a lot of people there. forms, we weren organized. people for absentee ballots. we only have about 10,000 voters. a couple hundred would vote absentee. vote absentee. what happened to me was we went out and registered people. wen the ballots came out,

gave them sheets for people to fill out. they were uninformed voters. the people that didn't want to fill out the ballots, we took them back from them. , wee were three candidates had the one candidate we like and we would only vote for one. to me, there is extreme possibility of huge fraud with the mail-in ballot. i don't trust the vote in my town. the vote is 3000 absentee ballots. i don't know where they are coming from. we are electing some really bad councilmen. i think you are incorrect on the absentee ballots. there will be huge fraud. john forwant to thank

only inicipation, not the democracy, but asking people to get registered. there are a number of things he said. registering and filling in voting are two different things. you have to register and you have to vote. there are registered voters who don't bother filling up ballots read -- ballots. it's very piece is important. i can't speak to the election he is talking about. there are 50 different state systems, or are thousands precinct by precinct. they could streamline some of these things. confirmingds were that there is no fraud. includingr study,

worked on by both the trump they havetion and come up short. empirically, people look for it and have not found. that's different from negligence, lack of training, not enough people on the ground. some stuff falls through the cracks because there isn't the resources and the training. most coworkers are seasonal. a lot of them are elderly. the voting system changes depending on where you are. they can change from one election to another. there needs to be a lot of experience to do this well. i want to thank our people who are contributing. they're just isn't the support there. the other two points i want to reportt is important to

confirmed signatures. there are handwriting experts and certification processes that need to happen. with absentee ballots, they are encoded. we are in a pandemic. given that there is an infinitesimal evidence of fraud, there is very little evidence of voter fraud. timeline should be allowing americans to participate in their democracy. means alternative disenfranchising americans, moving forward with something that is not democracy. government is much more important than allowing others to decide our democracy in the fall. the alternative will not be what we've enjoyed her 230 years.

that worries me. we have had democracies like turkey go to authoritarianism. there is nothing that preserves democracy in stone. it is vulnerable. the only way to protect it is to vote. if we have to do it through the mail, i think there is support .or that effort need to be resources and volunteers to make sure there are as little mistakes as possible. on 8:30.are coming up we have half an hour left with our guest kimberly wehle. reason behind allowing each state to come up with their own or registration standards, voting systems?

would you support a national standard? guest: it's hard to remember. when the constitution was ratified, there was concern about the federal government gobbling up states. people were americans. they were virginians and new yorkers. about largerried states becoming more important in the national government. allowing the states to handle the process was a compromise. to do we get the government preserve our autonomy? protecting and keeping government small enough that people still decide their own government. it's important to protect that. as far as what the federal on, i thinkinges the federal government should do

more. moneyshould be financial to the states. issue, climate change, immigration, this is irrelevant if we don't have free and fair elections. the federal government can streamline the ballot. in canada, every person sees the same ballot format over and over. it's a black background with a white circle. in our country, the ballots are different wherever you go. it's very confusing. people get disenfranchised because the ballots are made out a certain way. what americans will see every time they vote. something as basic as that can make it easier for people to vote, it's that is confusing.

take one thing off the table for americans to be divided over. this is not something we should be divided over. leads to more divisions among each other and they corrode democracy from the inside. .ongress could do more message.o from a text what about ranked choice voting's? -- voting? erest: i'm glad your text breath that a. this can be fixed without trashing the system. choosechoice voting, we democrat or republican. a lot of scholars and politicians will say part of the problem is the two choice

system. y.s either x or ranked choice puts a bunch of people on the ballot and you get to write the ones you want. votes,er 4 gets no number 5 goes up. votes andbipartisan allows people to vote for their favorite candidates. it brings more people into the process. people feel less disenfranchised. the problem is it's a complicated process. some places have tried to roll it out successfully. it's been successful in other parts of the world in terms of how the votes are tallied. will andes political money. i want to make a point about the electoral college.

host: we had a color in the first segment bring that up. question brings up how you tack -- cap votes. imagine -- count votes. let's say you send 10 delegates to the electoral college. it's not a popular vote. to this. their votes in most states, if 40% of the vote goes to candidate a and 60% all 10 candidate b, electors are required to vote for candidate b. for candidate a get cap. professionalld be -- proportional voting by the

electoral's. college, electoral reflects the popular vote without getting rid of the electoral college. disenfranchising people who voted for the other candidate. that needs to be changed. at the state level. that needs to be something you can vote state legislators and to make that change at the federal level. ballot voting really matters. all of this is laid out in the book. anyone from an eight grader on to someone 80 years old with an advanced degree, this lays out the basics. having the education about how

our elections and the system and government works is step one in taking back democracy. host: we have some helpful discussion questions at the end of each chapter. you can read them with a friend. john is in jupiter, florida. caller: good morning from beautiful jupiter, four. i remember a couple of years ago when you were here. it's nice to see you on c-span. portugal voting. -- promotional -- proportional voting. person should be a verified voter with a picture id. i would like to comment on a call from north carolina. the discrepancy between democrats and republican

views. he is on the mark. there are many more democrat calls aloud through. host: it's not a process of allowing through. it's about the phone lines. people call in and we take the calls as they come. is what of photo ids john was talking about. guest: it makes logical sense. you should show proof of who you are and you go to the polls. part of the issue with that is we don't have a national system where people automatically get ids. if that's going to be required, it should be easy to get ids. is more ids of that does not address these problems at the other end in terms of not

having support to make sure the election goes in a way that run smoothly. get an id oftentimes, you have to get your birth certificate and other documents. some people don't have the funds or the bandwidth or the space to gather all of that documentation. that's the critique. they book, i late out what id requirements are. there is no empirical evidence that if the entire country went to a stricter id that we would have a better system. i would be in favor of that if that argument was made by the data. idse are going to require like places like texas where a gun registration works but a student id does not, that is problematic.

congress could have a uniform id requirement. fund that requirement, make it easy for every eligible voter to have the documentation that some people believe is important. i'm not a proponent of fraud. i'm not so sure that's the battleground. i don't think us the battleground or the top priority right now in terms of whatsit run with voting. -- what's wrong with voting. we haven't had money from the federal government to fund state in terms of the actual equipment on election day since 2002. soul, this heart and is our right as americans to participate in our own democracy. we are the bosses of the politicians. the only way we can be the boss is to go to the polls and decide who stays and who goes. politicians toon

make sure we have funding and people work hard at the state of local level to pull off these elections and have the resources they need. it's not fair to ask them to do this job without supporting them financially and in terms of the headcount. host: this is brian out of illinois. good morning. caller: when you talk about i think it's the people that handle the ballots, i can woman in florida who tossed away ballots. changed the who ballots. he got arrested. he was bribed. college, ilectoral

sayingrefer what you are if everybody voted. , that takesities everything. chicago wipes out all of our votes in the small town. it's a hard one for me to wrap my head around. i don't want another city from another state taking my vote. that's what these big cities do. that's why the electoral college exists. guest: electoral college exists back to 1787 in part to make sure that the states were not drowned out. i hear the concern about feeling like their vote is outweighed by other votes. this happens in lots of places. take the senate. everyamers decided that

state would get to senators. if you live in a sparsely populated state, your senator cares more about your vote that if you live in california that is heavily populated. by contrast, the house of representatives has representatives based on the census. state,e populated your the more members of the house of representatives you get. termners might hear the gerrymandering. there are ways of skewing that to make votes not count. his finger ons something that is important. and we seeh ways people in big cities who feel disenfranchised because they don't have the representation in the senate. the senate is very crucial. the senate approves judges. it has powers that the house of representatives does not. that would require an amendment.

what the caller puts a finger on his how complicated the electoral processes. it's very complicated. there are a lot of nuances to it. it tries to simplify things without sacrificing the complexity, without the accuracy. convey and back to the colors concerned about democrats getting more airtime on the show, voting is not about politics. ande is no republicans democrats in the constitution. area,k it racing the gray this is not an us versus them proposition. in this tojoin hands make the process work better for everyone. that's a light we can gather around as americans. thatramers understood dividing internally what

corrodes democracy. we have to get around this. i encourage everyone to register. if your state allows registration my mail, register by mail. you might not want to exposure self. you don't know what will be happening with the virus in november. you might be uncomfortable and want to show up. that's fine. the postal service is going to run out of money in september. the president has bowed to veto any legislation that bails out the post office. if that's the case, you should have a backup plan. plan to go to the polls. some states allow early voting. go early, ring your mask, bring a friend. votersan 50% of a little vote in non-presidential election years. if everybody grabbed one person

who is not used to voting, the numbers would change. aisle ares across the going to have to pay attention to the people again. every personfor who calls in to the show. host: it's not a president -- just a presidential election year. 35 seats in the senate. what are your thoughts on term limits for members of congress? guest: some people don't think this is an election issue. in a way it is apparent with gerrymandering. whenmandering is politicians pick the voters. , whateverslatures party dominates that state, they will carve up the state to make the districts elect an individual to the house of representatives. these districts are made in ways that solidify the people in

power. it's called packing and cracking. you create this tortured district that only votes democrats or republicans. even if the rest of the state once a different person, because the district is gerrymandered in a way to keep it red or blue, the voice is knocked out. limits should be on the table. what happens is incumbents can stay in office for their entire professional lives. there is no limit on how many times they can stay in a seat. you couple that with gerrymandering, the voice of the people become smaller. we want to have our elected officials saying i'd better listen to my constituents or i will get fired at the polls. , need to listen to the people the regular people that are

going to the polls, not the people who are lining my checkbook or flooding the airwaves with ads. people can only donate $2700 to a campaign to avoid purchasing an election. billionaires can put as much money as they want into ads. if our elected officials said they only have x number of know i'mthe job, i going to be shown the exit some point, i'm going to do the work of the people. it's that mindset that all of these policies need to be adjusted around to make our politicians care about what we think and not these other forces. host: we've got about 15 minutes left with kimberly wehle.

the book is what you need to know about voting and why. in like jesus did. edith did. caller: i think she's very optimistic and fair-minded. of -- hints of democrats. a naturalized u.s. citizen in 1994. i was very intimidated to go to my precinct. people look at you and how long you take. an absentee be ballot recipient. it's getting very complicated. it's confusing. you need a masters degree to read the measures, thousands of

measures to be voted on. there are pages and pages to your ballot. the table andat sit down and do this. i have two sons and they were eager to vote. they said i don't want to read all this. now it's a booklet. sometimes, i voted -- am i saying yes to this measure or no to it? it's crazy. i'm a tax practitioner. i have customers come to me and say i just got my residency. vote. not eligible to

this is crazy. i never heard anything like that. host: you bring up a lot of different issues. love -- thank you for calling in. i love her anecdote. at they how she felt polls, a sense of intimidation. i think that's unfortunate for a lot of people and the confusion that she needs an advanced degree to understand the process. that's a problem. that's not a partisan problem. that's a bipartisan problem across the board. i just want to make one point about fraud. this is a legal thing. i'm a law professor. i'm a practicing lawyer. i don't take a in that regard politically. i work for ken starr during the whitewater investigation. i worked in the department of

justice. is concept of fraud knowingly pretending you were someone you are not at the ballot box. impostercally being an at the ballot box. that is really rare because it carries a five year prison sentence. there's a $5,000 penalty. won't affect the election and they will make themselves potentially a felon. it just doesn't happen that way. that's different from what edith mentioned. it's a complicated thing to pull off. if anyone has managed something complicated, like training or third-party vendors, it's hard to do. mistakes happen. mistakes will happen in the fall.

i'm not saying it's easy. i don't mean to suggest that everything is roses and it's a comb by jan moment. a moment. it's all we have. the structure isn't working. congress isn't working anymore in the way it's designed. it's not functioning to pass legislation. a check functioning as on the office of the presidency. this includes joe biden. if he is in office, he gets a much bigger blank check the donald trump had because of the way congress is not overseen the presidency. the belt and suspenders is bigger for anybody who sits in that office. this is toy to fix go to the outbox.

it's the best we have. i'm willing to hold my nose and deal with some of these problems if the upside is americans actually self govern again. even if there are mistakes. the current system, keeping people home and intimidating them, that will not fix it. do nothing, nothing will happen. 100%. that's for sure. we can try more voting. i debate the experts on this. we bank electronically. the experts say we don't have the technology to vote electronically yet. there are issues with you believeon and the software is accurate. technology is unbelievable. i saw people go out into outer space. we focus on this and we care

about this, we could create a system where the problems go away and people feel like it's worth participating because they trust the system. for every american. host: robert is in pompano beach, florida. caller: good morning. about listening to this. i'm excited about the book. can you hear me? host: go ahead. caller: it was interesting looking at the core of the matter. have to register and you have to vote. if you're not doing that, you have nothing to complain about. they have made their point. now they need to take those people walking the street and teach them how to vote.

they have.the power they can change the system by registering to vote. it's possible to type voter registration to getting drivers license renewal. it's something people need to do every time. there's no reason why they can't be put together. there's no reason why the database can't be set up where you can vote using your driver's license. you take three things and put them into one thing. that's the idea i think would help with regards to voting. guest: robert is thinking like congress. congress did pass a statute that is mostly -- loosely known as the motor voter bill. dmv, by go to the federal law they have to allow you to register to vote at the dmv.

you can change or registration when you renew your license. , yousure that if you move change registration. your secretary of state website is the most accurate place for information about registration. maybe september, get online and make sure that you are registered. some of the problems in this registration was up over 2016. those numbers limited in march in part because of what robert mentions. tmz's were closed. people aren't registering at the dmv, which was an answer congress propose to make it easier to register. that's not the same as voting. that's a great point. register andpened, update your registration.

that everybody has a drivers license, not everybody drives. we have people with disabilities and elderly people or don't have an income. be broader.tent to the statute requires that social placesuller -- welfare people are registered to vote. have it on college campuses. have more places where people can register. that is something congress could do. the opportunity costs are low. , i wanted to come back to something she talked about, her concern about noncitizens voting. you take that on in the book. when noncitizens can participate, can you talk to that? citizen.u have to be a at the state level, that's not the case. in certain states, maryland has

expanded voting to include people who were noncitizens. generally, the answer is no. the framers left that to the states. people who believe in small government believe in state power as a mechanism to distribute power over many sources. they are worried about that. citizens voting at the state level is possible. it's not a basis for widespread voter fraud as far as the evidence shows. people have this sense. we've got to go back to the studies and the facts. when it comes to widespread forefront, there been efforts to find it and it doesn't exist. there are anecdotal pieces. datais just looking at the . somebody else did the research and i have no reason to doubt it.

if that changes, my point of view may change based on different data. host: carol is in michigan. good morning. caller: i love it when you were on it. what i would like to know is to illegals are not permitted to vote. correct? guest: as far as the terminology, noncitizens at the federal level cannot vote. in my state, we have motor voter. once to prevent an illegal from voting in november? he's got a picture id. he fills out that paper with your name and address. you -- how can we stop illegals from having a say in our voting? host: are you talking about provisional ballots? caller: when they get that

drivers license, which michigan gives you, and illegal can get a driver's license here, that's it. again, all i have to say, i'm not expert on every states process because it's overwhelming and shifts costly. nobody has that working knowledge because there are so me different systems. as problems far with non-citizens voting and voter fraud, there is no evidence of that. donald trump commissioned a panel to find it. they disbanded with no information. they didn't find any. i agree that if that were appening, that would be problem. there just isn't evidence of that. i understand it's a concern.

to --ergy should not go when you think about issues in your life, you have priorities. needm is chopped off and i to get the hospital to do with the bleeding before they look at my inner infection. the id issue is not the bleeding. that's not the problem. the problem is lack of participation, from legal people who are eligible to vote. they are not registering and they are not voting. that's the cancer on our system. that's the problem. it's not people taking votes from eligible voters. it's eligible voters saying i don't care enough to show up and do that. duty, it'sst a civic for your kids and your grandchildren, to protect the system itself. my kids can't vote.

obligation to protect and preserve the system for them. i understand issues with voter fraud. this is not the number one problem. america,ig problems in big problems internationally. in a lothemorrhaging of places in our society, in our economy and government. noncitizens voting is not the big issue. the way to address the bigger issue is to go the polls, deal with this and put people in place that will take away some of the red tape so the next time it will be easier. the message has to be take control of your own government. that's the message of the book. it's not a blue and red thing. it's about we the people of the united states of america

self-governing. host: we have time for one or call. caller: i am appreciating your effort. acknowledge the problem before you can remedy the problem. beginning, you mentioned the founding of this place was by the founding fathers who were landowners. only white men could vote. is i'm one of those groups where voter suppression is still an effort against my people. the franchise of voting is working the way it was set up to

work. to suppress the vote. you talk about dark money. if we get to the truth of the problem, as to why the system is difficult, it's difficult by design. i understand your solution. i think unless you can deal with it, if you don't know what the problem is, it's going to continuously keep us fighting these battles over and over again. host: thanks for the call. guest: i'm glad you brought up voter suppression. it's real. how do we know this? congress passed one of the most successful pieces of legislation called the voting rights act that stopped maneuvers to keep people from voting. the supreme court in 2013 gutted

that i partisan statute on technical legal reasons. more obstacles to voting, closed polling places, not enough machinery. these things can be done deliberately. it's hard toincluding people thn traditionally cap from the polls -- kept from the polls. it requires work as an earlier caller said. i am saying it is worth it and we need to fight together for the right to vote in america. i don't think it should be that way. we shouldn't have to fight. toshould be the right vote is the right to vote. in order to change the system, people need to go to the polls first. if the numbers are at 70, 80, 90%, then we can address the systemic issues david legitimately raises. the supreme court said congress, we will let you go back and fix this again. they just have not done it. that was 2013, the supreme court

gutted the voting rights act and said congress, go back and do it. they have not done it. you go to the polls in the fall and elect members of congress that are going to care about this issue. that is step one. well, step one is educate yourself. step two is participate in the democracy in the fall, even though it is a pain. host: the book is what you need to know about voting and why. kimberly whaley. always appreciate your time. thanks so much and come back again. guest: thank you. host: up next, we will discuss the president's reelection strategy. we will be joined by jenna ellis. stick around. we will be right back. ♪ >> c-span has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and

public policy events. you can watch all of c-span's public affairs programming on television, online, or visit on our free radio app. and be part of the national conversation through c-span's daily washington journal program , or through our social media feeds. c-span, created by americans people television company as a public service and brought to you today by your television providers. >> tonight on the communicators, in cta president and ceo michael powell. >> we should not make the becauseof thinking something is important it is a utility. i think infrastructure is extraordinarily important. i don't think it is a luxury. i think it is essential for most americans. >> watch the communicators tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span two.

what do you think we can do about that? , --ith police perform reform, protests and the coronavirus continuing to affect the country, watch our life unfiltered coverage of the government's response. governors and mayors across the country updating the situation. and from the campaign 2020 trail, join the conversation every day on our live call-in program, washington journal. if you missed any of our live coverage, watch any time on demand at c-span.org or listen on the go with the free c-span radio app. washington journal continues. host: jenna ellis joins us now. she is a senior legal advisor to the trump 2020 campaign and attorney to the president. your reaction to last night's john bolton interview on abc news, the network has been promoting him as the man

president trump did not want the american public to hear from. what was your reaction after the hour-long special? guest: thanks for having me. i watched the entire hour-long interview and my reaction as an view thewas to credibility of john bolton and to look at it more from the standpoint of whether or not he could prove his claims and what evidence he provided to support those claims. what i found from a perspective of looking at fact and evidence sherry support and those types ary support was, what i thought john bolton was doing was putting out bold assertions. conversationof elements that say i think or my perception was. he did not provide any sort of fact or proof other than this was my perception. obviously, he and the president

have had a lot of very different perspectives on foreign policy. that was the substance of their differences and why he was ultimately fired. i did not find it persuasive that this was some sort of bombshell that it was promoted to be. i found from a credibility standpoint, of course john bolton has had a lot of credibility issues in the past. he was not able to be confirmed by the senate. but also the fact that he went against his nondisclosure agreement. he did not go through the process for vetting his book and was willing to put national security at risk just to self promote and publish his book. i think it is a serious credibility issue. the president comes out looking really well compared to the gossip interview last night. host: the president himself weighed in on john bolton the first time since the interview aired last night. this was him about a half an hour ago on twitter. i gave john bolton who was incapable of being senate confirmed because he was considered a wacko, a chance.

i always liked hearing different points of view. he turned out to be incompetent and a liar. see the judge's opinion, classified information. you mentioned lots of credibility issues in the past, should he not have been brought into this job in the first place? guest: the president has every .pportunity who he chooses as his advisers is his prerogative. he gave john bolton the opportunity to come in. he ultimately saw that that personnel decision did not work out and fired him. i think that it was wise of the president to look at someone who had a different view but then ultimately said it did not work out. i worked directly with the president as one of his personal attorneys. and he does absolutely want viewpoints from a lot of different perspectives. he takes that into consideration and he takes a lot of advice from a lot of different voices.

that is one of the things i sincerely respect about him. he is willing to listen to people who disagree with his first impression or first instinct. i think he was absolutely right withy it did not work out john bolton. bolton came across last night as a disgruntled ex-employee who was self-serving. host: do you think john bolton should be concerned about legal action from the justice department or from the president? guest: i will not get ahead of the president on that. i think the judge, in his although all of the books were already distributed and so that harm had been incurred, he was very clear that certainly civil and potential criminal penalties for the violation of the nondisclosure agreement as well as national security interests is on the table. host: jenna ellis, our guest. campaign senior advisor.

.epublicans, (202) 748-8001 democrats (202) 748-8000. , (202) 748-8002. one of the headlines coming out of the rally in oklahoma, were you at that rally in oklahoma? guest: i was not. i was doing a lot of media in d.c.. i got to watch it on television, like the now over 10 million viewers that have watched it, not only live but on our cap plane campaign platforms. -- campaign platforms. host: your thoughts about the crowd size? of a 12,000s more person crowd and roughly 15,000 or more that showed up. thousands were turned away because of some of the complications of getting them through the gates. size,k that the crowd

considering all of the obstacles was fantastic for the president. especially compared to the events joe biden has held, where he gets even more than 1000 in a room, that would be a red letter day for him. i think the crowd size is something the democrats are trying to pivot to to make it is not this -- there is not this wonderful momentum for the president. that is simply not true. you can see it with the crowd. i have been too many rallies with the president. my favorite moment is when he takes the stage to proud to be an american and we all come together and he says with one nation and one voice, we can accomplish anything together as americans. i think it was a wonderful kickoff to his reelection campaign. host: the washington post said blame brad pascal for setting up high expectations ahead of the rally. his republicans mused about future. have you heard any thing --

anything about possible changes to the campaign? guest: no. i thought brad pascal did a great job. there are some people who have fraudulent tickets and they tried to inflate -- this inflate the numbers. that happens all the time. he has done a really great job. i think that it is trying to stir up drama. everyone wants to say that any of the senior advisors that works with the president wants to stir up injury. that is not something that is going on. host: another supreme court decision day. your expectations for the remaining cases after what you saw from some of the high-profile cases last week? guest: last week, i am glad you brought that up. i was very surprised and, frankly, appalled by chief justice roberts with the daca decision and binding future administrations on an illegal act of a prior administration. the daca decision should not

have gone the way that it did. it reinforces the fact we need to elect president trump for another four years. that is the entire point of an independent judiciary, is to say that they will look at the constitution, the law and apply it fairly. that is not what happened last week in either of the two key decisions that were rendered. my hope is that the supreme court will actually do its job and will hand down the remaining cases in a fair and constitutionally accurate way. host: charlie eastman, a writer in texas and columnist for the washington times said not the court that conservatives had in mind. the celebration of supreme court appointment was premature, specifically looking to neil gorsuch in the lgbtq workplace rights case last week and justice kavanaugh on a plan to parenthood -- planned parenthood

decision to review whether .tates can block abortion specifically pointing to those two decisions with the concerns he has with the justices president donald trump picked. do you think he picked the right man for the job? guest: neil gorsuch comes from my home state of colorado. i was proud of that judicial pic . i supported both of the confirmations of justice gorsuch and justice kavanaugh. both of them have had a wide record of a really good opinion rendering. so i think that to say that it was the wrong pic just for 1 -- pick for one or two decisions is unfair. president trump took into has advisement -- his advisement going into 2016, which is the first time a president revealed who he might pick and had put together that list. that was with the input of

conservative organizations like the federal society. what the president has committed himself to his creating a new list and issuing that before september 1. he tweeted that out after the title vii decision. i think that he is going to hear from other groups and other interested parties that will get together a really good list. this is why we need a conservative court, so that when one or two justices who are otherwise excellent get a decision wrong and are on the wrong side of the constitution, then they will always be in the minority. , that wasvii decision a completely inappropriate expansion of the definition of .ex in title vii congressest is only purview to expand that definition to include sexual

orientation and gender identity within title vii. you cannot redefine the term sex as congress originally contemplated it. i think that is hopefully something that will arrive back into the supreme court. once we have another four years of donald trump and a much stronger conservative majority. host: jenna ellis, a trump senior advisor with the trump 2020 campaign. time to let me step back and let you chat with the viewers. alexander is a first from virginia. independent, good morning. guest: good morning. caller: thank you for c-span, first off. , yourst question, now being the senior legal advisor for the trump campaign, is why is there a sudden change of viewpointth trump's on john bolton? and theauded by you all gop as a whole. he has been a member, a pretty hawkish member of the gop for quite some time.

i am just really interested in out,after this book comes the change of opinion comes very swiftly. it seems to me and a lot of other people who have been paying attention to this whole dumpster fire that the trumpstration has been, re people thathighe he dragged through the mud -- alf after aligns get line gets crossed. guest: if i can jump in and answer your question, i would disagree with your characterization of the administration and also that this is something that was quick or swift or just, after bolton's book release. certainly, again, the president of the united states, whoever holds that office has the legal and constitutional prerogative to a and then dismiss anyone that he prefers.

president trump gave him -- gave john bolton the opportunity to serve in his ministration and it did not work out. he dismissed him and preferred to put someone else in that capacity. that was over a year ago. to say that this was suddenly swift is definitely a mischaracterization. maybe it isn't true that you have been paying that close petition -- attention if you have been calling this swift. host: leo, republican, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. miss alice, i am going to speaks lis, i ams el going to speak specifically to california. i have been here for 50 years. the problem with california is we have more undocumented voters that have signed up for motor voter. we have more noncitizens than germany, france and england.

9 million people. they have signed up, they have drivers licenses. created what i think is the super majority in california. at the end of the last election, seven or eight republicans were ahead in the polls, substantially. by the time they got done collecting ballots, all of them lost their election. the other thing i want to point out, i think this is very important. this ballot harvesting is a fraud. clinton, andill george soros have combined to put in $75 million. the state of california put in $50 million to hire 100,000 ballot collectors. these ballot collectors are going door-to-door, collecting

ballots for democrats. as far as the electoral colony -- host: we will let jenna ellis respond. guest: i appreciate the opportunity to address election integrity. joined a campaign has correlated effort you can find on election integrity called protect the boat.com. see where we are fighting. california is one of the states where gavin newsom is trying to unilaterally expand and implement mail-in voting under the pretext of covid. certainly, he does not have the authority to do that through executive orders. -- we mean democrats are harvesting more power than is provided to them in their executive capacity, trying to undermine the election integrity and the sanctity of the ballot, moving forward into november. certainly we are fighting that. this is not a partisan issue. everyone said beacon's show and

-- everyone should be concerned people who are ineligible are voting. anyone who can vote should vote but vote once. things like ballot harvesting, certainly we are fighting for these issues. president trump tweeted on that just this morning. bill barr addressed that yesterday on fox news, as well. talking about from his perspective and the department of justice, talking about how ballot integrity is right for fraud because of what the democrats are doing. is important that every concerned citizen get involved and make sure that your local precinct, you are volunteering on election day. you are making sure to get out and vote. go to protect the vote.com to see where the trump campaign is fighting these important issues. host: you say right for fraud.

our last guest was talking about voting and ballot issues. and brought up repeatedly that there is no evidence that ,assive fraud has taken place in a study of one billion ballots cast over years, something like 30 or 31 instances of ballot fraud were found. campaign .2he trump for that actually happening? guest: first, i think it depends on your definition of massive. it does not have to be millions and millions of ballots. it only has to be enough to tip the scales. any instance of ballot fraud is concerning. what is so significant about this and why we say it is right for fraud is because if there is for fraud is because if there is any -- inthat they can wiggle

illegitimate and fraudulent votes, that is undermining the sanctity of election integrity. this is a nonpartisan issue that we should not allow those things to happen. we need to protect the ballot box. we need to have more protections. likestics shows things voter identification or signature matching or making sure any of those types of identification and security measures prevents anyone who is legally eligible to vote from gaining access to the ballot, while the inverse is true that if you take away those protections, those are where those instances that we do have and do see that are on record and are currently being prosecuted, and also in the past, those instances up to roger let -- fraudulent balance to happen. certainly, mail-in ballots under the pretext of covid are one of the most important issues of the 2020 election. that is the presidential election all the way down to tickets in the states. those are important elections. host: this is isaac, a democrat.

good morning. caller: i wanted to ask you a question. why did you only allow republicans and independents to comment in the last segment? host: people have complained that too many democrats have called in. people have complained that too many republicans have called in. i think that means we are doing something right. what we do is try to rotate the calls as they come. do you have a question for jenna ellis? caller: i want to know why bill barr is carrying the water for donald trump. can you find out why they are carrying the water for donald trump? guest: we are certainly not carrying the water for donald trump. i was a supporter well before i worked on the campaign. i was a proud woman -- proud woman who supported donald trump in 2016. i was clear then, in colorado, where i was located during the 2016 election, that i have probably been a supporter of

donald trump. i am working for him and the campaign because i absolutely believe he is the breast -- best present we have had in -- president we have had in modern history. making sure that he is keeping america great in terms of protecting and preserving our union, our american way of life and all the things he has done for minority communities. everything he has done to build jobs and moving ahead into 2021, he has built such a great economy and he is going to do it again. if you look at the differences between what he has accomplished will accomplishing and accomplish compared to joe biden, who has his own staff members who are supporting things like defunding the police and democrats who are allowing anarchists to run wild, that goes against our american constitution and american way of life. if you look at the differences honestly and fairly, rather than

just believing the mainstream media, i think you will be convinced as well that donald trump is the best choice for america. host: in terms of what the president will do, a story coming out of the president's comments. this is from reuters. reston trump said he would announce new restrictions on visas within a couple of days to block the entry of certain foreign workers to protect americans struggling with the job market. you have any information on what that will be? what those restrictions will be and what -- when we will see them? guest: i think he will be forthcoming in the next couple of days. i will not get ahead of the white house on announcing those policies. host: dan is next out of louisiana. an independent. guest: good morning. caller: how are you doing? i heard you say donald trump takes a lot of advice from different people when he makes his decisions. i would like to hear an example when things moment

worked out well and a moment where he took advice from a lot of people and he -- it did not work out well. my conversations with the president our attorney-client privilege. i cannot get into specific examples. i can tell you that it is public record that the president has said himself that he does take advice from a wide variety of advisors. i think his track record in terms of who he has put into the white house clearly shows this. again, while i would love to get into some of those explanations, i will not be the next john bolton that talks about things ahead of time. i will tell you that i am really looking forward to, in future years, being able to hopefully talk about the specific examples. i have so much respect for president trump and how he does seek advice from so many different people and ultimately

is a strong leader, who takes all of the information and then makes a decision. that is when a commander-in-chief does. host: are you saying you might write a book one day? guest: we will see. host: south bend, indiana. this is deborah, a republican. caller: good morning. how are you? guest: great. good to hear you. caller: now, i won't say that i am a republican. i am a voter. i vote. i vote in the local election school board and everything. me to a has gotten now, where i am like this tired -- thatm so -- you are caused me

trying to take my courage away, dealing with diseases, politics or anything else that is going on in life. you are trying to make me afraid of my neighbor. i don't want to do that. remember, i am a voter. i'm not sure there was a question in that. i would say that i am not sure specifically what you are referring to. of course we value all voters and voices across the country. hopefully your vote will remain republican with president trump in 2020. host: linda in minnesota, democrat, good morning. i appreciate you taking calls from everybody today and every day. host: thanks. caller: to this lady here, i can close my eyes, honestly, and we could actually hear kayleigh

mcenany. they must be like twin sisters. they must have -- guest: i don't think it is fair for you to have personal character attacks. i highly respect the press secretary. we both went to loss will. we have straight, informed legal appearing ins. to come on and simply -- opinions. her on and simply attack character, that is inappropriate. caller: the majority of the american people don't think that bolton or trump has zero credibility. that hehese fine people has hired, all of these great people. the only person he has hired that is qualified is stormy daniels. guest: [laughter] again, that is absolutely

uninformed. i think you should go back and read the constitution, which supports the idea of a citizen president. and someone who is our commander-in-chief that does not have to have any prior government experience, military experience. wisdom founders in their anticipated and contemplated someone like president trump, who comes from the private sector and was successful in business and has a true heart for america and the american way of life to then come into the capacity of the commander in make thoseat he can decisions on behalf of we the people. i think that is a strong reason why we the people elected him in 2016 and i am confident we will do so again in 2020. host: scott in connecticut, independent. you are next. am an independent but i love donald trump. he is the best thing that has happened to this country.

even better than ronald reagan. i want to say john bolton is like a little kid in a candy store that cannot have any candy. and he is lashing out like a little child. another thing i had to say is connecticut, in connecticut, they are giving drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. i know this because i work with a lot of them in a landscaping situation. and they are laughing about it, that they can vote even though they are not legal here. and they vote democrat. they all vote democrat. governorship. all of the illegals are voting in connecticut with their drivers license. it is a big joke. with the whole hispanic population that is here, illegally. what do you have to say to that? i tried to contact donald trump

but nobody seems to want to do anything about it. guest: that is a great question. we certainly are aware. i can tell you i have had multiple conversations with the thisdent, personally and is an issue he cares very deeply about. it is embedded in at least three different places in our constitution about why that fundamental participation in our republic is so important. vote.com tot the see where the rnc and trump campaign is fighting. we are fighting on the ground in multiple states, challenging all of these democrat policies and things they are trying to force through to remove sections from the ballot box. i can tell you confidently that this is a really important issue to the president. host: you said a minute ago that the president will ring reelection -- win reelection. i am wondering your thoughts on the state of the race right now. fox news has joe biden 12 points ahead of the president,

nationally. the other from portapique act -- biden eightas joe points ahead, nationally. guest: i addressed this with john scott on the fox report. it is amazing that democrats are putting so much weight in the polls yet again. i think that they are not learning from their history of 2016, where so many polls had hillary clinton so far ahead and she would win in a landslide and that did not happen. we are looking forward to another term and four more years with donald trump. if you look at the difference from tulsa, oklahoma, and seeing how many people love and support the president and how much momentum is behind him, how much fun the campaign has been able to provide. he was the first president in american history to announce his reelection campaign the day after he was sworn into office. we have been campaigning since then. and i think that there is so much momentum that we see all across the country. that motivation and momentum is

not there for joe biden. said fromresident tulsa is he is putting joe biden on notice. today is the 81st day that joe biden has not held a press conference. i don't know why he won't. he won't submit to questions that are from the press. even if he wants to virtually campaign, why he won't do that. he is definitely hiding in his basement. i think the american people see that. they see that donald trump has so much motivation behind him. i think the trump campaign is confident heading into the last three-month of the election. host: are you saying people should disregard polls for the rest of the election? what if there is a pull down the line that has president trump ahead? guest: there have been a lot of poles that show president trump ahead per die don't put a lot of stock in that because they are so easily manipulated. if you look at the cross-section and cross, they can be easily manipulated in terms of

representation and who they are pulling. where it shows trump ahead versus joe biden, i think we can look confidently at how many people show up at president trump's events, how money people are donating to his campaign and how many people are voicing support for him. that support is not behind joe biden. we will see that also reflect at the only poll that really metals -- matters, which is the ballot box. host: time for just a couple more calls with jenna ellis, joining us from our studio downstairs on the bottom floor of our building at c-span. at some point, someday, we would love to have you at the desk when we are able to do it. bradenton, republican. caller: hello. guest: good morning. caller: i am a republican and i have strong criticisms of this president. the way he speaks and acts is embarrassing for the country, i think. i want to ask about his rally in

tulsa, oklahoma. that he ishis speech in favor of people owing to jail for one year for burning the american flag. is the president aware that the supreme court already ruled that is unconstitutional? as the legal advisor, do you know that? second question, i know you sued cnn for a pole. guest: let me stop you. we did not sue cnn. that was misinformation perpetuated on twitter. we sent a cease and desist letter. what we sued them for was a false and defamatory statement that was false and with actual malice that was cast in an opinion piece. ago piece was filed months and well before the poll came out. so, get your facts straight, please. of course, president trump is aware of the first amendment. i think what he was saying to his crowd of supporters who cheered him on is that he is so proud to be an american and he

absolutely hates, like i do, i hate to see people burn the flight. flag.disrespectful -- it is disrespect. it is desecrating a symbol of freedom. i support his statement. that would have to be something that would have to go through congress and the legislature. he perfectly understands that. i think the point he was making is that he is proud to be an american and all of us should be proud to be an american. ,ost: this is mary, richland washington. caller: good morning. i really liked c-span. my question to you is how much does it cost the american people , when president trump goes out and have these things, with the security people, and all of the different people that have , nobodytching his back

hardly showed up? guest: that's not true. over 12,000 people showed up according to the united states secret service. i would encourage you to get your facts straight and not just read the mainstream media. they are not really journalists. they are activists and they have an anti-from bias and they are trying to misinform you. the campaign paid to put on these events. that is not taxpayer dollars. --kets are will have to pay to come to a president trump rally. that is something where he has kept his promise. i have every confidence he will keep every promise heading into his next term. host: jenna ellis, a senior legal advisor from the trump 2020 campaign. her toward her is that jenna -- at jenna ellis esquire. for the last 20 minutes of our program today, time for your phone calls, asking for your top

public policy issues. phone lines spit up -- split up as usual. republicans, democrats and independents, the lines are on the screen. ♪ >> c-span has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, supreme court and public policy events. you can watch all of c-span's public programming on television, online or visit on our free radio app and be part of the national conversation through c-span's daily washington journal programs or through our social media feed. c-span, created by americans people television companies as a public service and brought to you today by your television provider. >> tonight on the communicators.

ncta president and ceo, michael powell. >> we should not make the mistake of thinking because something is important, it is a utility. is extortfrastructure narrowly important. i don't think it is a luxury. i think it is an essential service for most americans. >> watch the communicators tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span two. what do you think we can do about that? >> with police reform, protests in the coronavirus continuing to affect the country, watch our live, unfiltered coverage of the government's response with briefings from the white house, congress, governors and mayors from across the country, updating the situation. trail,m a campaign 2020 join the conversation on our live program, washington journal.

if you miss any of our coverage, watch any time on demand at c-span.org or listen on the go with the free c-span radio app. >> washington journal continues. host: time for your phone calls for the last 20 minutes of our program today, asking for your top public policy issue. phone lines, republicans. (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. .ndependents, (202) 748-8002 on capitol hill, the house is in at 11:00 a.m. eastern. the senate is in at three 5 p.m. eastern today. we are expecting -- 3 p.m. eastern today. we are expecting supreme court decisions to be released in 20 minutes. orders and opinions coming down today. some of the orders already being released. those usually come at 9:30 eastern. to take you through where the supreme court is, reuters supreme court lawrence hurley

noted that the supreme court has its rulings of the cases argued before lockdown. including a case on abortion, state funding of religious schools, a challenge to the consumer financial protection bureau structure. lawrence hurley says 15 cases are left in total, including the 10 argued in may. it is unclear how quickly the court is going to get to them. they will not be getting to all of them today. among the cases that were argued today are the two over president trump's attempt to shield his financial records from scrutiny. lawrence hurley says it is maybe a little early to get to those cases today. a lot of discussion right now. a lot of folks on capitol hill wondering which cases will be handed down today. when it came to the orders this morning that came out and 9:30, the supreme court chose not to take up any new cases today, rejecting a challenge to president trump's fuel tariff and two more qualified immunity related cases. that happened about 10 minutes ago from the court, just across

capitol hill, from warehouse studio is. time for your phone calls asking what the top public policy issue is. caller: good morning. rights.ssue is voting i think that voting is really important. specific as all. i think that because we have a history of not knowing our history, in terms of the barriers to voting, maybe if that was more widely available in the media, it could be agreed upon that everyone should have the right to vote. guestso, the previous astioned mailing in ballots a pretext for using covid, it is not a pretext. we have over 2 million cases.

we are in the middle of a pandemic. obviously, we need to change access to the way that we vote. host: that is christy out of west palm beach, florida. president trump this morning, tweeting about voting rights and mail-in ballots, tweeting a link his breitbart story about attorney general, expressing his concerns about voter fraud when it comes to mail-in ballots. the president saying this will be the election disaster of our time. mail-in ballots will lead to a rigged election. one of the president's about mail-in ballots. rhonda is next. -- ron is next. caller: good morning, c-span. i have actually two things i want to ask a question about. i believe that actually there should be one debate per month before this election takes place and the questions cannot be

handed out to any of the candidates beforehand. they should do it live on television. the other thing is we are allowed to be pulling down statues of francis scott key, washington, jefferson? are we going to start pulling statuestin luther king because one of his parents was white? this has got to stop. your first back to comment, when it comes to debates, if you could ask a question at a presidential debate, what would you ask? caller: you are bound to repeat it. thank you very much. next, andica is independent out of california. caller: good morning. i have two quick comments i want to make. one is i live in northern california. i live in a district that has mail-in voting only.

there is no live precinct. it has been like this for 15 years or longer. it has worked out extremely well. i am calling in to speak to what the previous caller has said about the lgbt rights when it comes to protections. and she had mentioned that the protection that was sought and wrongly sought in her opinion was the protection of a person's choice. was pointed out during the arguments for the supreme court that it wasn't the person's choice, it was actually the person's individual sexuality that was being discriminated against. that is done, very simply, if you have a lovely woman who is deciding to get married and pursue her and follow her pursuit of happiness, which is a guaranteed right in this country. she has found a lovely young man and she is planning on getting married and her family and church and society is completely happy with it.

her brother, in his pursuit of happiness happens to be attracted to somebody slightly different. the church, the family and perhaps wells is saying that is wrong. -- who else is saying that is wrong. he can't do that. if he was a woman, it would be perfectly acceptable. he is being discriminated against because he personally is a male. not because he chooses to pursue happiness that may not coincide with other people's definitions of it. but simply because he is choosing his god-given right. of pursuit of happiness. you byow surprised were the ruling last week? caller: i was actually surprised. i did not expect it coming out of the court. i feel it was very much a true ruling. host: what is your thoughts on rulings going forward? do you think that the court is moving in the right direction?

is it moving in a different direction than you thought it would be? court, it is hard to say. thatays felt with politics the court and americans could rise above and work better. through all of the confusion, normally there would be some sane voices coming out of it. when i was a child, i am in my late 60's now, we were always taught that government would have an election, there would be different of opinions but as soon as the election was over, we would come together and be one country. we are not coming together to be that one country anymore with our divisive politics. but out of it, there are still some individuals who can think for themselves and can decide and can make rulings. and i absolutely pray to god that there is enough of that to keep america intact and i was very, very glad to hear the

court rulings that came out. but also very surprised. host: that is jessica out of california. an article by eastern. not the court conservatives had in mind. charlie eastman writing about the questionable supreme court decisions suggesting the celebration among conservatives may have been premature. he ended his column by saying it certainly appears as though justices gorsuch and cavanaugh, liked justice kavanaugh, stewart, warren, powell and blackman before them, are just the latest in a long line of republican appointed judges who republican voters cannot count on. angela is next out of maryland, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. my top public policy issue would be health insurance. but, in conjunction with that and the supreme court, i believe

they are about ready to rule again on returning the aca. protectinghe is for pre-existing conditions. if they overturn it, there is no protections. my house member voted against a democratic bill in the house called protecting americans with pre-existing conditions. he voted against it. host: who is your house member? caller: andy harris. host: a republican from maryland, got it. caller: senator mcconnell, he wants nothing to do with bringing any sort of health insurance bill very trump is only -- bill. trump is only worried about getting reelected. he does not worry about the cost of health insurance. joe biden is offering a public option by in to compete with private insurance, which is three times the cost. it will get everyone's prices lower if private insurance has

to compete with a public policy. host: a couple of folks on twitter and via our text service are interested in health issues as we talk about the top public policy issue. bill in connecticut says health is his top issue. not disease or fear of disease but promotion of health through regulation and guidance on food water -- food, water and air. the collective immune system needs serious repair and fewer masks. this is alexis out of new york, a republican. what is your top issue? caller: yes. first of all, i am a little more of a libertarian. this is more toward my public policy issue. i am a much younger voter than a lot of other people, i am in the millennial age group. i think that i speak for a lot of people, also in gen z.

first of all, i am in support of the lgbtq rights ruling. i believe marriage equality is essential for everyone. i am pleased with what my governor said about that. and trans rights as well. the thing that i wanted to discuss is, with this 2020 election, i feel like i am almost being, you know, forced. i think that the problem here is that people my age, we don't really see a difference in opinion, we don't even really see much of a difference in policy except on some things. i just want to know, is this really the best we can do? is this really the best we can do? politician,re any that does not necessarily have to be in leadership or one of the parties, that you think speaks to the issues you have? is there a millennial voice? caller: i have started to see more of a difference, especially

since the killing of george floyd. i have been seeing a lot of mayors, especially, i believe the mayor of st. paul it was who really came out and started saying some things that were very intelligent. i felt that they were very poignant. i have been agreeing with a lot inyounger people that are -- favor of defunding certain law enforcement. i don't think there has been much of a difference in opinion yet because there is this cognitive distance with people through generations. especially, especially in voting, but also i think in government as well. that, you know, there just seems to be this idea that everyone can point fingers. but there is no forced through the trees. you get what i mean? democrat orbecome republican, which is why i think there needs to be more

representation of a third party or at least there needs to be a representation of independence. host: this is eric out of midlothian, texas. independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i totally agree with the last woman. i would like to point out that gerrymandering needs to be criminalized on both parties. and also marijuana needs to be decriminalized. oft: to sandra out burlington. caller: good morning. i am calling to let the people know that here in alabama, you have to have your mail-in ballot notarized. you have to show your drivers signature,have your knowing that it is you. there is no way you can cheat mail-in voting. it is official.

thank you for the call. host: nico out of illinois, a democrat. you are next. caller: hi. thank you for having me. more with how to keep your policy. we hear a lot of promises during the campaign trail. i feel like there is very little follow-through. i think we need to somehow institute away to hold these candidates responsible to enforce the policies that they are campaigning on. host: how would you do that besides having another election down the road? with itst comes hurdles because with two parties, you have a jackson's -- objections. furnace --e will willfulness to put forth the effort. i know in history's past, you hear people say they want this, they want this, they want this. when it comes time to vote for it, you see that they either

repeal their vote or they went the opposite way of what they were campaigning on. with that, i think there needs to be more public, i guess more -- i am at a loss for words. i think there needs to be a little more checks and balances. as far as how we can accomplish it, i think there is a long road to that. -- it is a long road to that. i think there is a way to do it, solution,an actual i am kind of liking. want elections every year instead of every two years? caller: i think shorter terms is something that needs to be done and definitely term limits. i think that week, it has almost turned -- we, it has almost turned into a family thing.

you look at the bush dynasty. you had his father in the cia and two presidents. you see power houses like this. i feel like if there were term limits, you would not be able to see that as much. tonya, as is republican out of oklahoma. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i am doing well. how far is that from tulsa? caller: no. i really did want to. we are probably one point five hours away. i watched it on television. it was a wonderful rally. host: what did you like about it? caller: i liked the momentum. and i am am supporter. i think he has been great for this country. i don't think that the news and the media give him a fair chance with everything that he has done well for this country. host: what is the best thing he has done? caller: with our trade, he is

bringing a lot of money and creating a lot of jobs. he does not get credit for that. i know it is the covid and things going on right now, our economy did take a hit. but, there is evidence that it is going to bounce back. years ofnother four his leadership will help that to bounce back a lot quicker than it would under biden. the previous caller had mentioned something about -- i'm sorry -- about the term limits. i totally agree with him. our president has a term limit. four years and they have to get reelected and they are only allowed to hold two terms. for a total of eight years. why in the world can congress, why in the world can they get in beir and devoted in once -- voted in once and they are in for a lifetime? that isn't right. host: what limit would you put

on house members and members of the senate? a four yearing over term as well. if our president has to change and get reelected every four years, i feel like they need to as well. in oklahoma, our last caller in today's washington journal, the house is coming in at 11:00 a.m. eastern this morning. the senate at 3:00 p.m. eastern. we are expecting decisions out of the supreme court just a few minutes from now and we will likely be talking about them tomorrow morning on the washington journal. we hope you join us at 7:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow and 4:00 a.m. specific -- 4:00 a.m. pacific. in the meantime, have a great monday. ♪

>> c-span has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house and public policy events. you can watch all of c-span programming on television, online, or listen on our free radio at and be part of the national conversation through c-span's daily washington journal program board social media feeds. america'seated by cable television company as a public service and brought to you today by your television provider. ♪ coming up on c-span, highlights from the copenhagen democracy summit on friday. we will hear from john kerry and then madeleine albright. investigatesl racial disparities in coronavirus health outcomes live

at noon. week, watch votes on policing reform and statehood legislation. thursday, live on c-span the house will vote on the democrat's policing reform bill. c-span,riday, live on the house will vote on legislation to designate the district of columbia as a state. watch this week live thursday and friday on c-span, online, or listen on the free c-span radio app. former secretary of state john kerry is part of a discussion on covid-19, the november elections, and climate change. the copenhagen democracy summit hosted this event.