senate judiciary chair committee member lindsey graham announced the supreme hearing for amy coney barrett. jim graham says he expects the hearing will take three or four days. you can watch live on c-span or the free c-span radio app. this morning, elizabeth harrington looks at the president's campaign. rickln project co-founder wilson talks about the future of the gop and his group's opposition to president trump's .eelection

we also take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. washington journal is next. ♪ host: good morning and welcome to washington journal. the new york times is reporting that president donald trump paid 750 dollars in federal income taxes year he won the presidency and another $750 the first year of his presidency. the president is still refusing to make his taxes public, as is tradition for those running for the nation's highest office. the president has called the story fake news. we want to know what you think about it. the question of the day is the

new york times story saying $750 int trump paid federal taxes in 2016 and 2017. democrats (202) 748-8000. republicans (202) 748-8001. (202) 748-8002. and you can always text us at (202) 748-8003. and we are always reading on social media on twitter at c-span wj and on facebook at facebook.com/c-span. the story of the day comes from the new york times. the story saying that president trump has paid only 750 dollars in federal income taxes the year before he won the presidency and the first year of the presidency. let's show you that opening paragraph from the new york times story. it says this.

paid 700 $50 in federal income taxes year he won the presidency. and his first year in the white house he paid another $750. he paid no income taxes at all intent of the previous 15 years largely because he reported losing much more money than he made. this is the story coming from the new york times this morning. it brings up the question of how did the new york times find out this information. it says this. obtainedork times has tax return data extending over more than two decades for mr. trump and the hundreds of companies that make up his business organization including detailed information from his first two years in office. his personalnclude returns for 2018 and 2019.

we want to know what you think about this. make sure you call in and let us know. let's see what the president himself had to say about this story. >> it's fake news. totally fake news. made up, fake. totally fake news. paid tax and you will see that. the irs does not treat me well. they treat me like they traded the tea party -- treated the tea party. they treat me very badly. me veryn the irs treat badly. but they are under audit and when they are not i would proud to show, but that's just fake news. times is doing anything they can.

so stories that i read are fake. they are so funny. -- phony. bernardt's start with calling from new york, new york on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. first of all, i believe the president donald trump. he has never lied to me yet so i certainly believe what he says. hello?of all -- host: you are on the air. no head. caller: did you hear what i said already? host: yes. go ahead. caller: i will tell you something about lies. george orwell. and the bible says there will come a day when the lie will become the truth, the truth alive. people who are on the web who believe in the lie think somebody telling the truth is telling the lie.

let me tell you a story nobody's talking about. you know who started black lives matter? barack obama in his second term said, made this statement, when i leave all of this i will have my own private army. no news report or fake news asked him, i almost fell off the chair with that startling statement. nobody asked him what he meant by it. but months later he went to an all-black college and that's where he gave a speech to the college kids and said i want to introduce you to the next great civil rights movement. he then introduced the two marxist trained black lives matter leaders and now you see the result. that's barack obama has let loose the dogs of war. this is an attack on america. is calling from st. louis on the democratic line.

him to they have asked show his taxes and stuff. i'm retired and i pay more taxes than he did. if it's fake news, why don't you show us? he would not do that. the excuse that he can't do it. not paying taxes. he ripped the taxpayers off. i pay $3000 with taxes and i'm retired. pays $750 worth of taxes and this guy is not having the police shooting him in the back. it's a shame for him to use obama. butow you want to use obama forget about it because it's not going to work.

host: from long island on the independent line. caller: from an independent perspective iv the times article as malicious gossip. an article when the brain surgeon told biden he has less than 50% chance of being normal were biden even stated they take a saw and cut off your head. the fact that a mentally impaired candidate is not being covered accurately by the media -- is anyone really dumb enough to believe that world leaders are going to take it easy on a mentally impaired president? host: tom is calling from kernersville on the republican line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. reporting with the new york times says. new york times is nothing but bias and it always has been.

report junk. i'm also getting tired of hearing about trump's taxes. ok? they have been after this man for the last four years. so democrats and new york times and the media, get off him. thank you. host: glenn is calling from madison. caller: if you run that tape back and watched donald trump's he's asked, he turns bright red like a beet. we've got to get him out of there because new york is waiting for him with an orange suit. and i think there is a pair of handcuffs to go with it.

i'm not really sure. we've got to get rid of him. that's all there is to it period. thank you. host: the executive editor of the new york times had a statement in the new york times about the information that they had and why they published it in the new york times. here's what he had to say. some will raise questions about publishing the president personal tax information. but the supreme court has repeatedly ruled that the press is allowed to publish newsworthy information that was legally obtained by reporters even when those in power fight to keep it hidden. that powerful principle of the first amendment applies here. that comes from executive editor of the new york times dean the cat. calling from arkansas

-- larry is calling from arkansas. caller: i'm not concerned about his taxes. the taxes are all put together by -- appropriate by the congress. so if he's going by the law, that's fine. the thing that concerns me the what the democrats have done for the last three or four years. they tried to overthrow an election. thank you. david is calling from atlanta, georgia. caller: good morning. i found it really interesting who mr. trump and mr. cohen didn't pay any taxes at all because he was able to manipulate the system is the same way mr. trump has manipulated the system.

tactics tohese other make sure no one has seen his taxes. happened to look at the story of roy cohn on hbo and it was really incredible because mr. trump was his mentee and he has followed his script to a t and how he does his business and the tactics he used. for the people who don't know hbo had ahn is, special on him. it's just really remarkable the relationship that he and mr. trump had over the decades. it's really interesting to see that mr. trump is playing from that playbook. thing i would like to is like the lady said, she's

80 years old and she paid more taxes in her working life than this man dead. common sense. of ouret's see what some social media followers think. 750 dollarsump paid in taxes. a facebook post says, i don't care about his taxes. if i had the ability to find some loopholes, i would and so would everyone. says, those with a modicum of common sense know that trump is a lying conman. another text that says, i imagine that a successful independent businessman has complicated taxes.

he's a great president that's winning for american taxpayers and the timing of this newspaper revelation the day before the debate is suspicious. another post from facebook says, new york times says it all. how many false premises have they published, mostly unreliable news. the tax cut for working people helped out great. steve is on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say that this , soident donates his salary my taxes aren't as complicated as his but he gives all that money away. taxpayer dollars go, this segment is a waste of my time. scotty is calling on the republican line. good morning. caller: hello?

what i want to say is i'm basically a democrat and it really doesn't bother me about taxes.nt trump's i think it's ludicrous that a man of his stature could only play $750. they are just doing this because of the election. host: do you think it's ludicrous that he paid that little or that the story is being reported? caller: i just don't think a man with his kind of money could only pay $750 in taxes. bottom line with taxes, most americans will try to cheat their ass off because they are

against paying the damn irs. in fort collins, colorado on the independent line. good morning. caller: that morning. i just can't believe americans are buying -- let's start off overtrump university got 3000 lawsuits against collar workers that had to sign nondisclosure's that trump ripped off. let's look at the inauguration money he's in trouble with. deutsche bank and the second district court. michael cohen coming out and saying yes, trump is a tax cheat because he overvalued his .roperties for bank guy is a billionaire, how come he is selling trump winds and ties?

what's going to happen when we find out how much turkey afterfrom he let our brothers in arms the kurds get slaughtered on the border. bei think this is going to deeper than people think and when he's out of office, a lot of stuff is going to come out about trump and what he's done, especially that deutsche bank because deutsche bank is basically controlled by the russians. there are other stories going on in washington today. we want to turn to stephen dennis to tell us what's going on in the senate need good morning. caller: great to be here. host: have we gotten any immediate reaction to the new york times story on president trump? >> i think we are seeing a lot of democrats coming out and saying this explains why president trump has hit his

taxes from the american people, which is something that presidents since richard nixon have been laying out for the people. taxes.e my taxes, i pay they like to brag about how much taxes they have paid so they can say that they aren't hiding things. and now you have democrats saying this guy. $750 in taxes, he said he was going to come in and ask the system and they say this guy has actually cut taxes for people. i think this is something they can try to run on. whether it's going to change anybody's minds is kind of doubtful at this point given that there had already been reporting that there had been a number of years where he had not paid taxes and he responded that made him a good businessman. i don't see it hurting him with his base.

i do think it is something the democrats can talk about and try to say whether they want to take into whether or not they have been trying to get his other business records to see if there's any discrepancy between what he was telling the banks and what he was telling the irs. is other news going on especially with his supreme court nominee, amy coney barrett. what is going on on the hill today for amy coney barrett? >> the senate comes back basically tomorrow. the rest of the week a lot of senators want to meet with her on the republican side. you're starting to see democrats like chuck schumer saying they are not going to do that. they don't believe this is a havingate time to be supreme court hearings. this is the closest to an election that there's ever been an attempt to replace a supreme court justice.

thet of that is due to timing of justice ginsburg's death. it's less than two months before an election. the republican senate judiciary chairman lindsey graham has set up a very aggressive schedule with hearings starting october 12. he wants that nomination through his committee by september 26, which sets up a vote on the senate floor the week before the election. the democrats could try to do thingstempts to delay hours or days, but dick durbin said over the weekend there is really nothing they can do to completely stop it. and there's other things democrats want to talk about. particularly on this case i think they are really focusing on the affordable care act. onreme court hears that case november 10, this trump backed lawsuit that could potentially overturn the affordable care act

depending on what five justices decide. that's what they have been running on and they are doubling down on that. they think it is a lot more popular than it used to be. are going to have to see how that all turns out. host: if democrats don't have the votes to stop amy coney barrett, what's the advantage to even the laying it? -- delaying it? >> i think their side is very upset and motivated by the potential for amy coney barrett to overturn roe v. wade and the affordable care act. there folks want to see them fighting. there are demonstrations outside the supreme court. than 300 million dollars has flowed into democratic political campaigns in the past week. a record number.

they are energized. they want to see those senate democrats fighting. things likee some forcing votes on the senate floor. when you watch c-span you see all these form calls and nobody -- quorum calls and nobody ever shows up. does that really delay things, ultimately it doesn't. if 51 senators really want to confirm her, they can do that almost at any time by just bringing her to the floor. i do think the republicans want to have these hearings. they want to show amy coney barrett with her seven children. they want to show that she is an accomplished judge. course arets of going to show up at those hearings even though a lot of them might not meet with her in advance. they are going to try to pick apart her judicial philosophy and try to get across to their

voters and to swing voters that she is a threat to the affordable care act in particular and also other issues that folks care about like the dreamereamer -- daca case. they are trying to win over hispanic voters in states like arizona. these kind ofhad hearings right for an election and several endangered senate republicans will be on the committee and will be before the eyes of the public one way or the other. it's an opportunity and also a including for lindsey graham, who has money coming in against him. host: how will coronavirus change the upcoming hearings? will we see her walking around capitol hill, visiting senators as we would have seen in the past? and who will be her escort for

any of these upcoming senator visits? who's going toar be walking with her. we have previously had folks like jon kyl being the so-called sherpa. i do think that on capitol hill there has been especially on the to wrangle it's hard 435 house members tall wear masks and practice social distancing. some of them just don't seem to believe in that. the senate side is pretty universal. --are seeing the huge reporters are trying to practice

some safety. it's going to be challenging getting photos and video and the rest. that's going to be a challenge for capitol hill to keep everybody safe. the republicans certainly want those photos and videos going out to the public. it might be a little more controlled than before. host: where should we keep our eyes this week? where should we keep our eyes this week? thing that we haven't mentioned is we've got the end of the fiscal year. the senate is going to vote probably on wednesday just before the deadline to make sure that there is a stopgap funding provision that keeps the government open until after the election. this week might be the last chance in a while for there to be any kind of stimulus package.

the house has been writing a $2.4 trillion stimulus package. airline aid runs out september 30. there could be a lot of layoffs. a lot of the airlines have said they would lay off tens of thousands of workers. a lot of these layoffs could happened in smaller states that might not be as possible -- profitable. senators like susan collins are saying, we need to get this done. so far the sides continue to be far apart. the white house has signaled they are doing -- willing to do more than a trillion dollars. the issue remains state and local a. that is something the white house does not want to give to speaker pelosi and that is something she is insisting on. unless the president changes course on that a little bit, it is hard to see them cutting some kind of deal.

if treasury secretary mnuchin calls up speaker pelosi and says let's cut a deal, we are willing to have a much bigger package, you could see something happen quickly. so far there is not a whole lot of sign of that although they did start talking last week and of course you've got to talk before you can walk. host: we would like to thank limburg senate reporter stephen dennis for coming on this morning. thank you so much. >> great to be here. to yourt's get back phone calls on the new york times story about president trump paying $750 in taxes. tim is calling from oklahoma on the democratic line. good morning. good morning. i just wanted to say that i'm a registered democrat and the democrats have gotten so crazy since president donald trump has been in the office and it's

crazy what they've done to him democratve registered but i'm voting state -- straight republican. it's just crazy what they've done. bob: fromt's go to philadelphia on the republican line. caller: good morning c-span. c-span has always been such a great impartial news reporting agency over the years. think it's questionable to suggest that the new york times is anything but. as left gets.ft what i was hoping was that c-span at some point would have some impartial reporting on the suspiciousness and the timing of and of substantiated -- unsubstantiated new york times report with no evidence other

time int they want to the stretch run of an election along with bernstein's book. suspicious. there should be more commentary operation andy person in this country tries to pay as little taxes as they possibly can. the debate should be not how much taxes he paid but did he cheat. in the end, if a person pays less taxes, the real question is did they cheat. that's where the emphasis should be. of course the new york times didn't do that. it's an unsubstantiated port. -- report. shouldn't the debate be he cheated or he didn't cheat?

if he paid his paramount based on whatever loopholes or whatever was in the law that every individual and every corporation would have taken advantage of. isn't that the real debate? host: president trump was asked specifically on sunday about the report that he paid only $750 and taxes. let's see what he said. >> you have to understand that when america ends read that you may have paid only a few hundred dollars in federal income tax per year, that seems very low for someone who is a billionaire. >> basically, first of all i paid a lot and i paid a lot of state income taxes, too. all be revealed. it's going to come out. >> when? >> i'm being -- they are doing

their assessment. we have been negotiating for a long time. thegs get like in irs but right now when you are under audit, you do not do that. the story is a total fake. we had the same exact questions usually asked to buy the same people and this took place -- asked by the same people and this took place four years ago. i have 108 pages of filings for these companies that do very well and no one talks about that. youwill learn much more if look at those filings. those filings are very complete, they are very big, very powerful, very accurate. those are the filings you will aren much more -- when you

under audit, you just do not release them. >> mr. president -- him.am talking to you should be more respectful of this gentleman. i look forward to releasing that. i look forward to releasing many things. phonelet's go back to the lines and start with jan who is calling from yorktown, virginia on the independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am a retired navy nurse, vietnam and desert storm. he has allegedly $300 million coming due from who in three years? that i believe compromises him unless i know where that money is coming from. is it coming from russia? if it is, i want to know and i

want to know right now and i want all the patriots in this company -- country to stand up and protect our military on the ground right now. jody who istalk to calling from marion, iowa on the democrat line. caller: i want to think jan for her service. -- anye of things journalist reporting on anything --ld thank would in this day i would think would in this day theirme could feel that reputation was in jeopardy based andll of the rhetoric republican criticism, such as the journalist at the new york times. i think we should think twice about that when they report some

of this stuff. this is something they would not have reported on unless they received actual tax documents or some type of glimpse into what he paid. i would also like to say we are of a below average income. this year alone we had to pay $1300 in federal tax. we did not even receive a refund. what trumpraction of claims to have made. as far as the republican who --e the comment as to the whether or not the taxi paid was just too little or whether he was just-- tax he paid too little or whether he cheated , $750 for the kind of money he

makes? i have questions about that. host: the new york times story tried to create a picture of a what president trump's current financial picture is like right now. again quote the picture that -- emerges is ofthat a businessman president in a tightening financial vice. most of mr. trump's core enterprises from his constellation of both courses to his hotel in washington rampart losing millions if not tens -- in washington report losing millions if not tens of millions of dollars year after year. his revenue from the apprentice and from licensing deals is drying up into several years ago he sold nearly all the stocks that now might have helped him

plug holes in his struggling properties." let's go to our social media followers. here is one poster from facebook aat reads " just another in long line of hit pieces. pathetic." here is a post from twitter that won't this tax story change one person's mind. covid 19 is killing americans discuss it. our government refuses to deal with eight sick nation and a sick economy. highest deathe rates in the entire world from covid-19." " what a bigays slap in the face to american

taxpayers. he does not contribute to the betterment of the country." is $750 too much!" "another -- another one says if it is true, good for him for taking advantage of the irs." caller: i was injured in the service unlike that other lady i appreciate our president. he donates his salary every year. how much is his salary that he donates? is it $200,000? it is against the law to publicly release peoples tax returns and it is against new york state law to use that in the furtherance of a prosecutorial malfeasance. did you hear the earlier

statement i read from the executive editor of the new york times that said the first amendment -- ? caller: they stopped a boat from -- of -- the new york times stopped up vote of jews from coming over during world war ii. all of them went to auschwitz. host: let's go to dean on the republican line. caller: i am a republican and a vietnam veteran. disturbed by trump. i never really liked him. these people who have called in, praising him, the man was a draft dodger. i fought for my country and he did not. host: i will read again the

statement from the executive editor of the new york times. "somewhat will raise questions about to publishing the president's personal tax information but the supreme court has repeatedly ruled that thefirst amendment allows press to publish newsworthy information that was legally obtained by reporters even when those in power fight to keep it hidden. here --e applies powerful principle applies here." caller: i want to make this comment -- there are a lot of trump supporters calling in on the independent line and to the democratic line. please pull your disguise off. you are trump supporters. trump, iy this, donald do not know how much that this

man and what he has done since he has been in office, what he did before -- when he was president. how much can be shown to the american people before you believe that this man always has been a fraud? donald trump is a fraud. he is broke. billionaire and will never be a billionaire. the man is a fraud. he owes people money. now you know why he owes people money. he has scammed people out of their money. donald trump supporters, please get up out of that cult and start realizing you are supporting a fraud. i mean, i cannot overemphasize it. i cannot.

it is ridiculous. to lawrence ink st. louis, missouri on the democratic line. caller: we need to isolate us to trump. republicans keep calling talking about everybody else, the paper, this and that. you have to remember the words he is saying. the thing they showed in the last video is he keeps talking about this audit and he cannot show his taxes because of the audit. there isdo your taxes, nothing that says this is a true statement of whatever is in there. there must be something wrong with it if he is not releasing it. let's look at the timeline -- before he was nominated he said he would release his taxes. he did not. said hewas nominated he

was under audit so he could not release them. now this story comes out today. if he hadn't -- released his taxes before, there would be -- if he had released his taxes before, there would be no problem. ownld trump owns his aircraft. we are paying tax dollars for them to fly his plane. you have people working minimum wage paying more taxes than he does and he owns his own plane. we have to think about the comedy. people with -- host: let's go to athens, georgia on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to get a few points out then i will address the topic.

i think washington journal is having a meltdown because of all -- erratic colors culling in callers calling in. you have to tone down your emotional rhetoric. that brings me to my third point. i tried to educate myself. i tried to think rationally and understand things that are going on, which brings me to my fourth point, which is mr. trump's tax returns. you guys do not understand the and what item entails. i admit i do not know. i do not have an informed opinion. s, triedmy fellow caller to be respectful, tried to be

civil and try to enjoy this beautiful platform we have given to us by mr. brian lamb called c-span and washington journal. myra who isgo to calling from salt lake city, utah on the democratic line. caller: can you hear me? i could hear a tone. i would like to say i am in shock. -- that the truth will come out sooner than later because this is an election year. am a news addict. i watch all the news channels. i try to get a variety of viewpoints, including the fox network. there is so much i could say and

i do not have enough time, so allow me to quote something that abraham lincoln said. i do not know how many of you took american history in high school or college, but he did say this and this is it -- he said, you can for some people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot -- excuse me, but you cannot fall all of the people all of the time. host: let's go to lee who is calling from south carolina on the democratic line. caller: good morning. my comment basically is i listened to the republican colors and everyone that calls. i do not quite understand what it takes for them to believe what is true and what is false. isht now the supreme court

-- the trump supporters do not realize anyone in their family who has covid-19, that is a pre-existing condition. as far as his taxes, i believe it is true. for a president to be paying that amount of taxes when the lower class middle-class people are paying more than him, something is wrong. .e said he would show his taxes he had it. he is a lawyer -- meyer and a and a-- he is a liar fraud. host: the new york times also looked at the income the president has coming in from his overseas properties. " the times was able to take the fullest measure to date of the president's income from overseas where he holds ultimate sway over american diplomacy.

when he took office, the trumpent said -- esther said he wed pursuit no neo-foreign deals as president. even so, in his first two years -- in the he took in white house, his revenue abroad $73 million and while much of that money was from his golf properties in scotland and ireland, some came from licensing deals in countries with authoritarian leanings." host: let's start with our calle r from plainview, new york. go ahead. do you thinkuch jeff bezos claims in salary?

-- it $1840 -- 81 $81,840. $840 -- i doubt human -- he pays much in taxes. muchbt mr. bloomberg pays in taxes. as far as the new york times -- am i still on? host: you are. caller: as far as the new york times' could ability, i agree with the other caller, they obtained tax forms fraudulently and they hide behind the first amendment. number two, during the holocaust, the murder of the jews was radon back pages --

buried on deck pages. -- buried on back pages. host: let's go to dave culling from cincinnati, ohio -- calling from cincinnati, ohio. rich people don't pay enough, i agree, bloomberg and all the other rich people in this country don't pay enough taxes. as far as attacking the messenger, i remember when judith miller was writing her stories from cheney that started -- helped started the iraq war. the new york times helped started the iraq war. the iraq war was basically helped by all of those articles that were written in the new york times.

when it is a good day is all about trump ended diplomacy is on the defensive. -- and diplomacy is on the defensive. host: let's talk to mark who is calling from massachusetts. caller: first off, that last caller called in on the democratic line. a up, he is not a democrat -- straight up, he is not a democrat. is this the new talking point? that new york times is anti-holocaust? they come up with some real doozies. it is factual that trump has not paid any taxes. he has a bomb. bum. a -- he is a he is a loser.

host: let's talk to ike culling ingon the democratic -- call in on the democratic line. caller: in regards to journalism on the whole, let me teach you something my dad taught me a long time ago. he said " if you never learn to read between the lines, if you never learn to listen to somebody and hear what they are not saying, you will never be anything other than a fool. you will never understand anything in life so you better develop a way to think things through and research because if you do not, it does not matter who tells you what, you will not believe anything." when it comes to this tax thing, this is about the hedge fund this is-- managers, about the church getting our tax money, this is about all sorts

of people who want to ride the coattails and all these big businesses like walmart and boeing. tum the tope infini 5%, top 2% who pay nothing. leona holmes said years ago taxes are for the little people. , say the american people $400,000 and below, we should not be the ones carrying this burden. and up into these companies who work these workers who have to get food stamps because they do not pay a decent wage -- by the way, why do you think that tax base has not expended? it is because wages have not gone up. storythe new york times says that president trump has paid taxes in other countries. "

taxes andted paying turn on a number of his overseas ventures. in 2017, the president's $750 contribution to the operations of the u.s. government was dwarfed by the 15,005 hundred $15,598 he or-- his companies paid in panama. mr. trump's u.s. payment after factoring in his losses was roughly equivalent in dollars not adjusted for inflation to another residential tax bill revealed nearly a half-century before. --"973,

let's go to terry on the republican line. caller: they are mad that trump about not paying taxes. out thead to figure loopholes and everything, hell, you wouldn't pay taxes either. they sound like they are more ellis than mad, the democrats -- jealous than mad, the democrats. rod. let's talk to debate in 2015 he said he was an audit. it today he is still saying he is an audit. it has been almost four years and he is still in audit? i have never seen the irs wait that long to finish an audit. maybe he did his taxes back in

when he passed these tax breaks where you do your 1040 on the tax card -- postcard. in 2016 andnly $750 2017, i see now why he didn't want his presidential salary, so he could qualify for food stamps. he could be the first president to sit in the white house who qualifies for food stamps. host: let's go to ingrid calling from pensacola, florida on the democrat line. -- yes sir, i, i was afraid of this man from the beginning. i had no idea, i had no -- i knew nothing about the apprentice, but just what i saw on tv scared me and at these

four years, i fear the man is evil. i do not know if enough people know, but on showtime last night and tonight is the comey rule. it is all about comey and the investigation. people need to look at channel 545 on showtime, the second half tonight. it shows all about how trump is trump. lila who isgo to calling from california on the democratic line. caller: good morning. thank you very much for taking my call. i would like to remind people of a lot of the things trump has done in the past. i thought it was humiliating in puerto rico when he was tossing paper towels to people. i thought that was very dehumanizing. in charlottesville he said there

were good people on both sides. when our nazis and white supremacists good people? calls people names, which is an infantile thing to do. people are faced with felony charges and prison sentences. then there is the question of nepotism -- what in the world are his kids doing holding positions in our government? i question their qualifications. he views the presidency to enrich himself and his cronies. host: let's go to greg calling from wisconsin the republican line. caller: a couple quick points here -- number one, the new york times is pretty selective. and a company like donald

trump's, there are so many -- any company like donald trump's, there are so many taxes being paid. stretch750 -- that is a . your last color, on the history channel, there -- your last caller, on the history channel thee has been shows on nazis the last few days. anyone who compares trump and the republicans to the nazis is a loser. -- tess, goodood morning. caller: if we are going to talk about taxes or evading taxes or not paying taxes, many billionaires do not pay much in taxes. that is why they are billionaires. look at warren buffett, tom

steyer, the ceo of apple, amazon, facebook, i could go on. how about joe biden? how about his son hunter? trying to getf everything and turn it around. there is not even -- warren buffett says his secretary pays more in taxes than he does. change the tax code then the billionaires will have to pay their fair share. change the tax code. have a great day. host: let's talk to ruth who is calling from pennsylvania on the democratic line. caller: good morning. i have to say there is so much information out there, it would make your head spin. you have to use your conscience. donald trump smells like a rat

and he looks like a rat so i am thinking he is probably a rat. why does he want to hide his taxes when he is boasting about how much money he has. i think he is connected to russia and that will come out. unfortunately, that is it for this first hour this morning. we would like to thank all of our callers for coming in. next up we will talk to liz harrington who is the spokeswoman for the republican national committee. she is here to discuss campaign 2020 into the supreme court. following that we will talk to rick wilson, cofounder of the lincoln project. he will tell us why his object opposes president trump's reelection. stick with us. we will be right back. ♪ >> tonight on the committee

caters. rebecca slaughter. what advice do you have for parents who are concerned about their kids privacy online in this new world, this online learning? >> we talk a lot and we should talk a lot about digital issues in terms of who has broadband and storesibraries in order to get online for school. but i am also worried about the ways in which the digital divide exacerbates privacy gaps. where better off children from wealthier backgrounds can pay for privacy protected services or more access to things and lower income kids have to pay with their privacy. >> federal trade commissioner rebecca slaughter, tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span2. ♪ >> you are watching c-span, your

unfiltered view of government. created by america's cable television companies as a public service and brought to you today by your television provider. washington journal continues. elizabethre back with harrington, the national spokesperson for the republican national committee. she is here to discuss campaign 2020. liz, good morning. guest: good morning. host: we have to ask about this new york times story that claims president trump paid $750 in income tax, federal income tax in 2016 and 2017. what do you think about that story? guest: first of all, the president said a lot of it -- most of it is inaccurate. a couple of other things to point out, the new york times, all these years later, it is nice to have them say no connection to russia after releasing tens of millions of our hard-earned taxpayer dollars on this complete scam.

more is coming out that we are learning what president obama and vice president did to disrupt the incoming peaceful transition of power in 2016. more importantly, the american people care more about what is in their tax returns. --t it shows that they paid where it shows that they paid less taxes under president trump. they don't care about this issue. this is the 10th time the new york times has tried this. americans care more that we hit an all-time high in immediate household income under president trump in 2019. host: do you think that releasing his tax forms would quell this type of questioning about his taxes for this president and possibly even future presidents or have we set a precedent where we no longer tax returns from presidential candidates? guest: the president has released hundreds and hundreds of pages of financial disclosures. he has been transparent, most and partly about what he is going to do in office.

releasing a list of who he would put on the highest court in the land, that was unprecedented. that is a good new president to set, even though joe biden will not be honest with the american people who -- about who he would put on the supreme court. the issues that actually matter, we know president trump was a successful is in this manner he built an empire. it is amazing to see all of reporters who have never run a business and never employed anyone in their life, try to scrutinize that has -- someone that has had so much success in the business world and then use that success to make that country better. it is really unfortunate because there is so much more we could be focusing on, especially about where the country is and what president trump has accomplished and they will never give him positive coverage. that is too bad. host: all of this comes up right

before the presidential -- first presidential debate. and right as president trump's supreme court nominee, amy coney barrett, is heading to the hill. do you think that this story is going to distract from those important ones? guest: i don't think it is high on the list of american -- of the american people. president trump, for years, has said he has been under audit. they attacked him throughout the obama-biden administration. that was also proven correct. americans care more about what is in their pocketbooks. they care more about president trump delivering the greatest tax cuts we have ever seen and them taking in more of their hard-earned money, not the government. here you have joe biden, we cannot see hunter biden's tax returns. we are just now learning that he got a $3.5 million wire transfer from the wife of a former mayor

in moscow. we would like to see his tax returns. purelys wealth that was gained off the taxpayer, off of corruption in washington. and that is what i think americans care more about. we know president trump build his empire in the private sector. he built an amazing business route he did not have to come to washington and take this job. he did not need it. he wanted to make a difference and make america the bidens have been in the swamp for half a century, joe biden. the media -- immediate household income of the bidens hit an all-time high but it never hit an all-time high for the american people when they were in the white house. host: you will have to admit that hunter biden is not running for public office so he is not required or even expected to release his tax forms, right? guest: he is not but his father is. we know everywhere his father went, including beijing, including when he was running

the so-called anticorruption effort in ukraine, his son ended up on the board of the biggest natural gas company in ukraine. it is funny how democrats are pro-fracking when it comes to foreign countries and they can get paid but they are promising to ban fracking in the united states because it would hurt american workers. these are the big issues here. americans were tired. in 2016, we said enough of the same old lies and politicians telling the same old stories while they got rich. what about our jobs, what about the bad trade deals? president trump said i will come in and get a better deal for americans and it has worked. it has paid off. this is what americans care about. president has been proven right in what he promised to the american people. joe biden, what has he ever done for americans except his family? he has never followed through previous not being transparent now as well. when there are 70 questions -- can you imagine? hunter biden might not be on the

ballot but neither is donald junior but he had to sit through 50 hours under oath of testimony when they were trying to ruin anyone associated with president trump on a complete and total lie. on something that was not even true. i think this is a huge issue going forward, when you see what the swamp does. they smell you and they leak and they lie and they start these investigations. when you have real corruption, flyer transfers in black-and-white, talk about collusion, talk about connections with russia and also the chinese-communist party and the media does not want to touch it. we know what would happen if it was someone with the last name of trump. host: since you brought up the president's son and you brought up joe biden's son, would you be an advocate for the direct family of residential candidates also being forced to release their tax forms as well? gotten thate not question before. i am not sure. who knows? i have heard donald trump, jr.

say he would be happy to debate hunter biden. i think the american people would love to see that. host: lets remind our viewers that they can take part in the conversation as well. we will open up special lines for this segment. of joeare a supporter biden and kamala harris, your number will be (202) 748-8000. if you are a supporter of president trump and vice president mike pence, we want you to call (202) 748-8001. if you are undecided or support another presidential ticket, your number will be (202) 748-8002. keep in mind, you can always text us at (202) 748-8003. and we are always on social jedia on twitter at c-span w and on facebook at facebook.com/c-span2 let's talk about amy coney barrett. with this supreme court pick to the hill, do you think president

trump's selection of amy coney barrett will motivate voters to vote for or even against president trump in the election? guest: it is galvanizing to the supporters. it is a promise president trump ran on in 2016. republicans ran on it again in 2018. it is a direct reason why we expanded our majority in the united states senate. president trump, with the leadership and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has filled over 200 20 judges throughout the federal judiciary. this -- 220 judges throughout the federal judiciary. this is the promise fulfilled. hase kony barrett impeccable qualifications. you could not find a better lawyer. , who is noah feldman one of the democratic impeachment attorneys who clerked with judge barrett when they were clerking for the supreme court in the 90's and said she was qualified then to be on the highest court of the land.

and she is the single best lawyer he had ever seen. not only just her academic credentials and her record on the seventh circuit, she is also a woman of great integrity, great family stories, seven children. she is the first working mom to be seated on the supreme court. we think it is a fabulous nominee. there is no one that could object to her on her record or qualifications and integrity and character. we will continue to fill our promises. the comps to touche and says the president -- constitution says the president gets to appoint and the syndicates to advise and consent. it will galvanize and motivate our voters. konye excited to see judge barrett seated before our election. host: one of the issues that comes up before every supreme court nomination is roe v. wade. gop -- does president

trump want to see roe v. wade under turned -- overturned? guest: the president did not discuss it. we have a judge that will not legislate from the bench but will follow the law and the constitution. she has been clear, transparent like president trump has been transparent about the type of jurists he would appoint. she believes the role of the judge is not to be another politician. to take yourd views out of and look at what the letter of the law says and the constitution says. that is what she will do. our: let's let some of viewers join in the conversation. let's start with terry from illinois. terry supports president trump. good morning. caller: good morning. i am sure glad to see who you have on today. what does religion have to do with anything? that is part of constitutional

rights. another thing on the taxes, why do the democrats always like to use it as a tool? they don't like it, giving corporations tax breaks, change the law. one other thing i would like to ask, do you think it would be good that c-span would have , discussing the mental state of joe and president trump? because what i see is early dementia. and for c-span, it is a shame to paye taxpayers have and fund c-span when you are a lenient group. host: go ahead and respond. guest: i agree with terry's comments about judge barrett. her religion has nothing to do with it. to see senator dianne feinstein and other democrats and members of the media attacking judge barrett's personal faith. it has no place in our country and our politics.

we have religious liberty in this country. it is one of the core issues we were founded upon. looking at a broader aspect of all of this, president trump is a defender of religious liberty. we are seeing a tendency by the democratic party to be intolerant of people for their religious belief. i think that has no place in our politics, especially when you look at what kamala harris has done, grilling other members that were going to be filling the judicial appointment, going after their affiliation with the knights of columbus, which is a very mainstream catholic group. it is the same tactic they tried against judge barrett. i think it will really cost them if they continue down that path. our viewers remind that c-span is not funded by taxpayers. c-span is funded by the cable industry. let's keep going and let's talk

to donald who is coming from michigan. donald supports joe biden. good morning. caller: good morning. good morning c-span and good morning to elizabeth. i will try to stay -- i have three quick things. call't want to cause -- this young lady a liar on national tv. but trump told the american people he would show his taxes. he did not. the russia investigation, robert mueller proved that the trump campaign was willing to work with the russians. they found no evidence that he worked with the russians. his people on the campaign were willing to work with the russian government. that was proven. biden andys that joe his son should show their taxes or their dealings. let's see what the dealings with

the chinese government that trump's daughter has, many patents that were approved during this administration. trump is a liar. this lady is supporting a liar. and the supreme court justice pic, it was ok for mcconnell to use thema's picks and american people as his reason. now that he has another pic in an election year, he says the american people are too stupid to understand this. i will make the decision. host: go ahead and respond, liz. guest: i love that qualifier there. donald.perfectly fine, willingness to accept help, that is interesting terminology. what do you call it when you actually solicit foreign help? when you hire x british spies who then hire russian spies who

make up lies about the president during the election, which then the obama biden justice department used to spy on their political opponents? that is called a dossier, that is called a complete sham and it is also called corruption. country was this put through for over three years . why? all because the democrats lost an election. that was your corruption. there was never any connection with russia and president trump that has been proven time and time again. the connection was the dossier, foreign russian disinformation that has now been confirmed with more and more information coming out. they used these disgusting lies to go after a duly elected president of the united states. you want to talk about the american people and an election?

our votes mattered in 2016. there were 63 million americans who said enough of the swamp and we want president trump. immigrants did not expect that outcome. they did -- democrats did not expect that outcome. they did everything to spy and disrupt the transition before he was sworn in. this was not by the book as susan rice said to herself on inauguration day. that is your disinformation and foreign meddling. it was never anything the republicans were doing. hillary the dnc, clinton paid for a disinformation operation. i think it is terrible that the media was complicit in all of this and still will not report on the truth coming out of the evidence of all of the corruption that was going on in the obama-biden white house and the justice department. host: you brought up transition of power. let's talk about what president trump set about whether he would and participate in a

peaceful transfer of power if he happens to lose in november. senator mcconnell has disagreed with what the president said. what is the position of the are in c on the transition of power the transition of power if the election does not go the president's way? guest: the president was talking about this. if you want to see something that is not he spoke, go to a democratic run city, go to portland. it is unbelievable that democrats are even trying to it ishis red herring when their cities and voters and states that are having mobs outside of their opponents homes , senator lindsey graham's apartment. host: let's answer the question first. guest: it is very important. you have democrats who are literally -- joe biden is saying the rights. if you elect me.

democrats are not being peaceful right now. nobody is saying anything about not having a peaceful transition . what we are saying is there will not be a transition when we win the election. president trump will have another four years. he is ringing the alarm bells, which we have seen time and time and time again. we are not just going to say oh, sure, we will accept result two weeks after election day after democrats ballot harvest the number of votes needed to flip the states. we will not accept that. why would we? democrats are trying to usher in a manipulated process. we have been fighting it all summer. we watched protect the vote.com. you can see the different states where democrats have gone into try to change our election laws, allow ballots to be counted weeks after election day. allow signatures to be on the ballot. allow ballot harvesting, which is illegal in the vast majority of states.

it is only legal in california because they think it is a good idea to have eight campaign operatives trafficking ballots. how is that secure? go back to election integrity and all of those cries for years about russian meddling and here democrats now on a system where you can send out millions more access ballots, using faulty voter registration rolls that you know people have long since moved away or passed away and then to have paid campaign operatives picking them up, count it after election day is certified and that is just fine. that is not election integrity. that is what we have been warning against and that is what president trump is talking about. we have talked about not having a peaceful transition, we are talking about accepting election results that are free and fair and accurate. you will not have accurate results when you have ballots in a ditch and ballots in pennsylvania that are thrown in

a wastebasket and you have corruption and six weeks until they have an election result in new york city prayed that is unacceptable. who will have confidence in that outcome? that is what we are ringing the alarm bells about. this is not -- they are setting up a system that you will not have confidence in our elections. that is what we are concerned about. host: are you saying you don't have confidence in the election apparatus? second, what do you call a free and fair election other than what has happened in the united states now? guest: free and fair election is everyone gets their bow and it is counted. and it is a person who is eligible to vote. it is not a ballot laying around in an apartment complex like they had in clark county, nevada. i don't think many americans, especially in new york city, have a lot of confidence in the congressional race that took six weeks to count the result. you do not have a lot of confidence in those outcomes. we will have confidence as long as we keep winning in court.

there are very many pending cases. we are fighting to make sure that ballots must be counted by election day and received by election day. we are making sure that ballot harvesting remains illegal, which the vast majority of americans, over 80% agree that third parties should not be able to just pick up ballots that are not theirs. it is unbelievable. it is actually a fraud that happened in paterson, new jersey, where they had to redo an election. i don't think many people have confidence in an election result when you have to redo it. four people were indicted for unauthorized possession of another persons ballot. you know what that is called? ballot harvesting. that is what democrats are trying to make legal. it is a mockery of our election. we need to be confident in our outcome of a free and fair election. where people are eligible to vote and ideally showing an id

to prove who you are and making sure the vote is counted. that is another problem with mail-in ballots. you have ballots still missing where you never even received the ballot or someone voting in your name. that happened in paterson, new jersey where they never received their ballot and it showed up that they voted. that is not a free and fair election. that is what we are fighting against. host: let me make sure i clarify something you said. you are saying you would only accept and election result if an unelected judge said it was ok? guest: no. i am saying as long as we keep our rules in place. each state has a system in place. they have an absentee system with safeguards in place. they also have deadlines. what we are seeing democrats do and governors and mayors by executives are changing the law. they are going outside the legislature and they are making these changes that we can confidence in our system. we are fighting in court. we want to make sure that the

safeguards stay in place. that is all that we are fighting for. common safeguards to make sure amount of is as least fraud as possible. what democrats are talking about opens the floodgates for a comp revised system. host: let's go to john who is calling from new york. john supports president trump. john, good morning. caller: good morning. every day the media and the left comes up with a new crisis and a new bombshell and a new gotcha. even when you introduce this issue, you characterized it as truth. you are asking people to comment on something which is not verified. discredit yourself when you are using this as an issue. first of all, asking the question is like asking has trump stopped beating his wife yet? mattertaxes is a private

between citizens and the irs. that is like asking what someone's religion is. thank you. host: you want to respond, liz? guest: no. i totally agree. what no one is mentioning as well is this is illegal. if you are leaking someone's personal tax records, that is a crime. it shows the lengths that democrats and their allies in the media will go to to try to hurt this president. it is really despicable. it is a crime to leak somebody's personal tax returns. again, this issue was litigated in 2016. we elected president trump. americans cared more about what was in their tax returns. what john mentioned about targeting people over this kind itinformation is so true and is actually a track record of what obama and biden did in 2012 with their irs targeting conservative groups. you know why they picked kamala

harris? she did the same thing in california when she was attorney general there. she tried to target americans for prosperity preach she wanted their donor list so she could harass them through the legal system. that is not the way we run things in america. it is not equal justice under the law. it should not matter what letter comes after your name. we have seen democrats, once they get power, they abuse it. host: let's go to bonnie who is calling from buffalo, new york. bonnie supports joe biden. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to explain that i called on the bottom line. i am democrat. i would like to say that i am an american. only paidare that he $750 in taxes. i would also like to say that you keep saying all of these things about democrats and democratic states and we are all americans -- i don't care if you are a democrat or a republican.

you never say anything happens in republican states and i cannot believe that it doesn't, number one. number two, this president has lied so many times and you just keep saying that he doesn't. as far as i can see, where is his health care plan? he keeps saying he has one. where is it? i would like to hear that. also, i would like to say that -- i lost my train of thought -- oh, yes. he was not elected in 2016. it was the electoral college that got him in. maybe you should remember that. because the people did not vote him in. host: go ahead and respond, liz. guest: bonnie is right in line of thery leftward words democratic party, unfortunately, which is throwing out our constitution and packing the supreme court, i am sure she supports that as well because they lost an election. it is a shame. the constitution and the

separation of power, the electoral college, the way the framers put this in place has allowed us to have the most prosperous and most freedom of any nation we have ever seen throughout human history. the argument. president trump held an event last week called the america first health care plan. executive order for americans with pre-existing conditions. under president trump, for the first time in 45 years, we saw a drop in prescription drug prices. this is working. obamacare was a disaster. it did not work. it was not a solution. premiums doubled. millions lost their health insurance after barack obama and joe biden assured us that we could keep our plans. why would we ever trust them on health care again? tosident trump is committed delivering private care

solutions where we have more competition and more choice while protecting americans with pre-existing conditions at the same time. host: one of the things we have not talked about yet, liz, is the upcoming resident shall debate on tuesday. what can we see -- expect to see from president trump on tuesday when he debates former vice president joe biden? guest: i am really excited to the two men,ust the two records and let's compare. i think it will be illuminating to all of americans. president trump has had a history making presidency in less than four years, whether you talk about three-piece deals in the middle east that he signed. whether it is the u.s. in ca, which is the biggest trade agreement we signed. we had medium income hitting the all-time high on record and poverty hitting its all-time low on records.

these are real reserves -- results in less than one term versus joe biden who has had 47 years and has never followed through. this time, we are supposed to believe him. i think it will be very engaging. it will be very illuminating for americans. let's just debate the issues. let's see the contrast. you could not get a bigger contest coming up in this election. especially when you see the democratic party and you want to change -- where they want to change the constitution and hike up our taxes and an all-out assault on energy in our country. these things would have devastating consequences and it is a big choice for the american people. we are confident we will win that argument every time. host: joe biden is 77 years old. if he wins, he would be the oldest president inaugurated. president trump is 74 but he has tried to make an issue out of joe biden's age and mental acuity and tried to turn that into an election issue. do you expect that to come up

during the debate? guest: it might. i think chris wallace already put out a very specific set of topics. some of them will be election integrity, which we spoke at length about her i think it is an incredibly important issue of attorneys that joe biden has hired to try to change these election laws. we will be talking about the coronavirus response, which i am excited to see president trump set the record straight. the media has not given him a fair shake. issues ofct on the taking this country forward, president trump has proven he is up for the job. he has proven that he follows through on his promises. and he is delivering every single day. he is working every single day. joe biden has not proven he can hold events after 10:00 a.m. most days of the week. the question falls on the biden team, why are they so afraid to put him out there? why are they afraid to have him

answering questions from a very friendly media? president trump does not get the types of questions joe biden does. i think it is for voters to decide and see does this man -- is this man capable? is he going to be the one making the decisions? we have seen the platform writing to bernie sanders, a socialist who honeymoons in the associate -- soviet union. they have gone so left with bidens green new deal. this is a very radical campaign. and joe biden, it seems to us, is the figurehead of that. he will not be making any of these decisions. i think the american people deserve to know. biden and his campaign are really hiding everything. they say americans don't deserve to know. they ask would you pack the supreme court even while many democrats and many prominent members of the media are asking the democrats to do that very

thing. joe biden says no, i will not answer that question. should you release the list? no, american people don't deserve to know. why not? you have been in washington for half a century, you are still not willing to be honest? i think americans deserve answers there. who: let's talk to richard is calling from little rock, arkansas. richard supports president trump. good morning. .aller: thank you for the show i appreciate it. i had two comets. one about trump and one about biden. the stigma about trump is that we cannot imagine how terrible the economy would be if it was not as strong as it was when the virus hit. week, only covered for a i don't know why the county court in little rock, arkansas, forced hunter biden to give up a dna sample and it turns out this dancer he had an affair with had

his child. she lives in arkansas. the boy is six years old. we understand that they are -- evidently, this new single mentor -- mother cannot get one cent out of him. she is tried to get medical bills paid. joe biden has a brand-new bloodline ran son out there. host: go ahead and respond. guest: the point on the economy, absolutely. the only reason why we only have -- why we have this v-shaped recovery is because we were so strong going into this. the american people are resilient and at the end of the day, they have adapted. the census figures are incredible. it will not get the attention in the media that it deserves. that was the state of the trump economic boom. the numbers for african americans, hispanic americans, women and asian americans across the board, were historically high wage gains. that is so important.

were living in that. when you artificially have to shut something down, what do we have going forward? it is because of the state of the economy before that move was made. that is why it is possible to have a super v-shaped recovery. the last thing we would want to do right now is raise taxes on anyone. the reason why we had more growth and prosperity and freedom of opportunity was because of the tax cuts and even arguably, more important, because of the regulation cuts which stifled and innovation that the obama-biden administration had prayed they are promising worse if the democrats get back in. theuts more roadblocks in way for americans to go out and live the american dream. we have seen the policies work. we will get back there and

better than where we were, as long as we don't elect these anti-growth, terrible economic policies that would hike everyone's taxes and, even worse, grow the regulatory state like they are doing in california. we have seen what has happened there in the energy sector. host: there is a group out there called the lincoln project that is running ads against president trump rate other republicans have announced that they will not be supporting cash against president trump. other publicans have announced that they will not be supporting president trump. hisridge said he will cast vote for joe biden on november 3. is there a question of president trump losing gop support? guest: not at all. there are several establishment andres, many of them on cnn

msnbc with nice contracts. the rest of the republican party, we are so unified. we have never seen anything like it. we have had democrats come over to our side in huge numbers. the latest rally, 15% were registered democrats that went to see president trump. former saw many democrats at our convention. i think many former democrats, who became disengaged in the process, are coming over to support president trump because they don't like what is happening in their party. they don't like this complete founding,of american an attack on our core institutions that push towards single care health care. the sky high taxes and the belief in the almighty power of government to solve everything. that is not what our country has ever been about. taxpayer-funded abortions, these

are such extreme positions that democrats have tried to put in the mainstream. i think they are turning off a ts and independen members of their own party who do not recognize their party anymore. we are so unified on the republican side because we finally have someone in office that is finally through on what they said they are going to do and supporting our core values and actually governing the way that we have been wanting someone to do for a long time. he follows through on basic fundamental issues like national sovereignty and building the the usmca and holding china accountable, which is our biggest threat. not just for endless war but to they to win and make sure don't take awesome solemani off the sanctions list.

we are getting back to common sense. we are getting to america first policies. that is going to pay off, election day. host: we will have on one of the cofounders of the lincoln project later on on the show. one of their claims is that the republican party has changed under president trump. republicanr the national committee, has the republican party changed under president trump? guest: we have changed for the better. we have gotten more confident, more energy, more enthusiasm. the core issues, where are all of these people? they made a lot of money in the swamp, talking about constitutionalist, original list judges to the bench and talking about pro-life issues and talking about rebuilding our military. now that president trump is following through and doing all of these things, suddenly they are not happy. suddenly they are doing anything they can to try and derail him

and derail the very policies that they themselves got rich off of advocating for. president trump gets it done. he has ushered in the most conservative administration i think we have ever seen, certainly in modern times. he follows through on his promises. republicans are a common sense party. a lot of these issues, the bigger issues i think across party lines because both parties in the swamp got used to a certain way. in reality, americans say i don't want to have twenty-year wars that we never win and we don't know what the objective is anymore. swamp loves that because lots of people get rich off of that. very basic issues like sovereignty at the borders and building the wall and common sense immigration -- a common sense immigration system, that is a middle-of-the-road issue as well. the media tries to paint it one way. we want a system based on merit like every other country has in

the modern world. they all admit people based on merit. they have a system. our system has not been updated since the 1960's. president trump wants to fix that as wealth or he has gotten so much opposition from the so-called elite in washington because they don't like their power being question. president trump likes getting results and he likes delivering to the country and that is exactly what he has done and what he is going to continue to do. host: let's see if we can get a couple more calls in before the end of the segment. karen from leesburg virginia and she supports joe biden. karen, good morning. caller: hi there, elizabeth. i will not call you a liar or tear you down because you are a woman. i feel incredibly sorry for you. you talk about core values and i love that word. in my mind, it is hypocritical. you cannot talk about core values when the man that you support is a liar and a cheat. you cannot talk about corruption and indictment when we went

through months of the robert mueller investigation and half of his staff went to jail or is under investigation. you cannot talk about the great things that president trump has already done when the debt has tripled and quadrupled over the last three years. what i cannot understand and i will tell you why -- why people like me cannot support people like you -- because i consider myself somewhat conservative. what i don't like is the hypocrisy. what i don't like is that you take my vote for granted and think that i am stupid. i don't like that you think i am not smart enough to see what is going on around me. guest: i don't think you're stupid. i don't think any americans are very we want americans to make these important decisions for themselves. the biggest hypocrisy we see is from democrats going in and getting their hair done at a salon when the salon owner is going out of business because of

democratic rules taking away personal freedom. two different sets of rules for different people. the rules never apply to them. this is about power. we have seen it over and over again. especially through this pandemic. democrats, at the first second they get, if they can take away and have government decide who is essential and who is not, it is a dangerous path to go down. what many of us were voting against in 2016 and voting for was for someone to stop this corruption in washington and stop the different sets of rules for depending on what political party you are with. and that is the hypocrisy that i think is so glaring you see someone like nancy pelosi being able to do whatever she wants. same with the way they attack in california. they are going to ban the family car by 2030. i am sure they will get around fine in their private plane, the ruling class. that is not the american way. that is what we are fighting against.

we want more peace and more prosperity and more opportunities for everyone. we live our values. ass is a pro-life -- pro-life and administration as we have ever had. it is pro-choice when it comes to education and school choices. this will be a big issue going into the second term. we see the way democrats play politics during this pandemic and they are keeping schools closed even though we know it is safe. all the science says it is and it is far more detrimental to keep kids out of school. they have been playing politics with schools for far longer than that. they have been blocking kids and parents from sending their kids moree schools with competition and school choice. that is a big issue as well. we live by our values and are fighting for them every single day. i would encourage you to go directly to the source. watch president trump. he talks about his values all the time. go into it with an open mind

read maybe you will be surprised. host: i know a lot of us who follow politics were surprised and saddened by the story we aboutyesterday involuntary commitment in florida in fort lauderdale after his wife reported that he had threatened suicide. do we have any more information on what is going on with brad? guest: i do not. we are praying for brad. we love brad very much. host: we would like to thank liz harrington for coming on with us this morning and talking about the campaign and the presidency. liz, thank you so much. guest: thank you. host: coming up next, rick wilson, the cofounder of the lincoln project, will be here to discuss why his group opposes preston trumps reelection. -- president trump awesome reelection. later we will have more calls from you -- president trump's reelection.

later we will have more calls from you. stick around. ♪ >> with the ongoing global pandemic and many people shifting to online learning, c-span studentcam competition provides a student with a platform to engage in a conversation. we are asking middle and high so students to produce a five to six mitt documentary exploring the issues they most want the president and new congress to address in 2021. [indiscernible] it needs reform. given theuth are opportunity and skills to become informed voters and engaged citizens, they vote. because democracy must be learned. >> from inequity and decade-long to motorist --

tumultuous -- the aggression system has failed many. >> we are awarding $100,000 in total cash prizes this year including a grand prize of $5,000. is deadline to submit video january 20, 2021. for competition rules and more information on how to get started, go to our website, studentcam.org. communicators,he federal trade commission at rebecca slaughter is interviewed by a politico technology and antitrust reported. forhat advice do you have parents concerned about their kids privacy online? >> we talked a lot and we should talk about digital issues and kids who have to sit in parking lots of libraries and stores in order to get online for school.

but i am also worried about the ways in which the digital divide exacerbates privacy gaps. from better off children wealthier backgrounds can pay for privacy protected services or more access to things and lower income kids have to pay with their privacy. >> federal trade commission at rebecca slaughter, tonight at 8:00 eastern on the communicators on c-span2. the first presidential debate between president donald trump and former vice president joe biden is tuesday night at 9:00 eastern from cleveland. watch live on c-span. recklessly: campaigning against the vaccine. all it is is for political reasons. political reasons. deal isis whole catastrophic shutdowns. words,n, in his own recorded by bob woodward, the

president knew back in february that this was an extremely dangerous communicable disease. think about it. -- how manyple empty chairs around those dinner tables because of his negligence and selfishness? >> watch the first presidential debate live from cleveland tuesday. stream live or on demand at c-span.org/debates or listen on the c-span radio app. journal --on continues. host: we are back with rick wilson, the cofounder of the anti-trump group the lincoln project. he is here to discuss with us why his group opposes preston trumps reelection. p'spresident trum reelection.

how are you doing? guest: i am good. host: remind us of the purpose of the lincoln project and for the viewers who want to know, where do you get your funding? guest: are funding comes from the national grassroots with over 500,000 donors. we have a few major donors trade almost all of our fundraising as come through small dollar donations and people who want a voice that is able to attack donald trump and able to go after his campaign in a way that many others cannot. we are a group of former republicans and folks who were driven out of the donald trump iteration of the republican party for a host of reasons. primarily because he has conservative principles. he is governing as more of an authoritative statist. we look at this election as a threat to the future of this

country great it was our moral and political obligation to do something about it. host: you described yourself as a former republican strategist. does that also mean you are a former republican? do you still consider yourself to be part of the republican party? guest: i am a nonparty affiliate in the state of florida. i wanted to vote against trump twice. i cannot be part of a party right now that represents the lavish corruption, the over cruelty and the inherent statism and the other characteristics that donald trump has transformed what was once a party of ideas and ideals into. onceepublican party involved a whole cluster of principles, individual liberty, the rule of law, adhering to the constitution. none of those things are central to trumpism. all of those things -- the rule

of law is a joke to trump. the constitution is a vague guideline to trump. the idea that constitutional liberty is a limit on executive power are immaculate to trump. he believes in the expansive power of the state and government. the old-school conservatism i grew up with was not that. aboutwhat needs to change the republican party? or is your argument just with president trump or is it with the entire republican party right now? if the republican party in anything except donald trump, we could have a conversation. look at the convention. it is not a platform anymore, it is are you loyal to donald trump? that is the definition of the republican party. there is no philosophical underpinning to the party at all. look at any member of the party. any single person in the elected office today, if they said i

believe in x and donald trump said i believe in y, x is stupid, they would abandon x in a millisecond. look at ted cruz, marco rubio. all of these people who were so rigidly inherent to the constitution, every time donald trump chapels over it, it is not how dare you sir, stop. it is yes, may i have some more. ae party itself has taken poison pill with donald trump. they got a sugar high with the camping season of 2016, ever since then the party has been in rapid decline across the board. it has shrunken. over 700 seats have been lost in various levels from congress down. there is great electoral peril this year. there is philosophical and political peril. it does not end. everything trump touches dies.

i mentioned it facetiously. now it has taken on a grim and horrible truth. host: being against president trump does not automatically mean that you are for joe biden. does your group support joe biden's candidacy for president? guest: yes. we have endorsed joe biden. i support joe biden and will vote for joe biden. i will tell you why. it is not because i have to agree with every single one of his political philosophies or policy proposals. not at all. it is because it is the difference between a good man and a bad man. it is between the choice of a man who will manage covid and one will mismanage covid. one who has an adherence to american rinse. someone who has adherence to his own greed. i am voting for joe biden. there particular areas where you disagree with joe biden, even though you said that you know there are areas where

you do not agree with him. are there any particular areas about his platform that concerns you as a former republican? guest: here is the thing that people mistake about what will happen when joe biden becomes president. i think there will be some massive -- they think there will be some massive ideological shifts. they are wrong. in the center. the first two or three or four years of joe biden's term will not involve a green yield deal -- green new deal or something else, they will undo the damage that donald trump has done to this country. we have to get the pandemic under control and face it as a nation. that will require the vast majority of his leadership in the future. donald trump has proven to us that he cannot succeed in managing this pandemic. he has proven he does not care. he will lie. he will deceive. he will delay. he will give deals to his friends and his supporters. this is not a solution for

someone who -- something that has killed 200,000 americans. whatever joe biden's policies end up being, i suspect they will be a lot more in the broad tradition of american governance than donald trump's wild excesses. host: let's get some of the viewers involved in the conversation. we will open up special lines for the segment. our first line will be for republicans, who oppose president trump. if you are a republican who opposes president trump, you want to hear from you at (202) 748-8000. if you are a republican supporting president trump, once again, republicans who support president trump, your line will be (202) 748-8001. everyone else, we want to hear from you as well. your number will be (202) 748-8002. atp in mind, you can text us (202) 748-8003. we are always reading on social media on twitter, at c-span wj

and on facebook at facebook.com/c-span. rick, one of the big conversations during the campaign cycle has been the lincoln project commercials, where they show up -- whether they show up online or in emails or on television. can you tell us how much you campaignpend on advertisement in this election cycle? about 90%have devoted of our resources, maybe a little higher to voter contact. whether it is digital broadcast or other outreach. you will see in the closing 30 days of this campaign, a fairly massive investment in a number of markets both in the presidential site and the senate side. while we do not give out day-to-day tallies, you could probably expect to see $30 million of spending in the next few weeks. host: rick, this is a question that comes up often.

if joe biden wins the presidential election, will you go back to being a republican or have you made a permanent break from the republican party? guest: that is so far in the future right now. there is no republican party to speak of right now, there is the donald trump party. i think that there needs to be a party that focuses on free markets and fair trade, but i do not think that the current republican will shake off trumpism very quickly. it will have to learn lessons about the political costs of abandoning every principle you claim to believe in and moving into this era where you are a personality cult rather than a political party. host: one day i have not asked is about the "new york times" story that says that president trump has paid $750 in taxes in 2016 and 2017, after he became

president. what is your opinion on that story? guest: how is anyone surprised? i wrote in my first book a recollection of a conversation i had in 2015 with a new york billionaire, and he leaned back in his chair, and he goes, he will not spend his own money. he is not a billionaire, he is a clown living on credit. that was a great story because it was revelatory about what people actually knew about donald trump. the fact he has been involved in a multiyear scheme to maximize deductions for things like $70,000 worth of hair cuts should not surprise no one. he does not believe the law applies to him. and he has built a gigantic scheme, i will not say a fraud, because i am not an attorney. i do not know if that is the correct term here, but he has

built a tax avoidance scheme that if any other candidate was doing it, he would be attacking them with hammer and tongs. host: we haven't yet talked about his current supreme court barrett, whoconey will be going to capitol hill this week to start meeting with republican senator's. how does the president making this nomination so close to election day affect the election? guest: i think it will affect ie election in a big way and think it will be bad for cory gardner, susan collins, and probably dan sullivan and alaska, all more or less pro-choice states, except for south carolina, a different chemistry there, but arizona, aine, it has m turned the election in those states to a single or issue. it speaks to the care of these

republicans, who say they are independents, but are not. i think that the nomination will lead to a scramble in the senate. i think it blew up one of the plans they had to turn the fall into their -- where ron johnson was going to have a ukraine palouse a to attack john byron -- palooza to attack joe biden. i think mitch mcconnell will pay a price for this. he may lose his majority because of this. at the lincoln project, the garwin rule, established by the republicans, should have been applied here, and the nomination should have been made by the person who wins the election. at that point, we would've had a different chemistry in the country, one way or another. this race will fundamentally be a referendum on donald trump, not on his nominee. from let's start with kim

tennessee. good morning. caller: can you hear me? host: we can, go ahead. -- was afirst of all, non-politician because our system does know longer represent we the people, it represents the rich. we have gotten distracted with the republicans and democrats again. doesn't anybody know how fast donald trump does anything? artist,n, like a con gone by the time the guy realizes he has been cheated. are tryingn people to get more. and the programs we think protect us in government, like the eta, fta, medicare, fema, they are talking about how expensive it is. they are fighting it.

white-collar criminals do not go get prosecuted and go to prison like we do, when we are just trying to feed her families. in prisons where cca is making a profit off of keeping us there. and criminals lose the right to have hardear arms, time getting employment and housing, and so on. people are distracted by the little tax cut, the minimum wage has not gone up. andknow, he is even went in cleared out the projects of people that, you know, our foreign, the dogs and murderers -- ok, those of the people that help our economy. i am so mad. i'm so mad. host: go ahead and respond. guest: i think a lot of americans ha elected donald trumpve -- lot of americans elected donald trump because they thought he would be this

un-corruptible, wealthy guy. he is ultimately corruptible and corrupted. i think when we are done with this president, one thing that can happen, and once joe biden gets daylight on covid, we need to do ethics reform. we need to do a reform of civil service, a reform of the voting rights act. these are things we can look at on how to empower the country again that are not ideologically driven, but rather are meant to strengthen our small democratic systems and small republican governments. host: let's go to randy, calling from williamsburg, virginia. he is a supporter of president trump. good morning. caller: good morning, america. i have a question, since you say you are a republican against donald trump. that is great for you, not for anybody else. i am glad that you have come to that decision.

but just to compare, in virginia, you know our governor, governor northam, a democrat, had every single democrat in the state legislature, local, politician mark warner, tim kaine, tell our governor to resign for six months. and six months after that, a year later, all those same people were taking his campaign donations. so, you and your group are not unlike that. we that support america, we want change. donald trump is the tip of that spear. you have a great day. aest: the reason you have democratic majority in virginia is because of donald trump, because he is a political poison. the reason there are democrats and majority situations, the virginia legislature right now,

donald trump. the governor's office, donald trump. enjoy the illusion you are at the tip of change, but you are at the tip of an influence that is destroying the ability to govern states. you have bought the ticket, you are taking the ride. host: one of your more recent ads targets lindsey graham of south carolina over scotus nominations. i want the viewers to see that, and then you talk about it. [video clip] >> i am a conservative, i want conservatives on the court. n opening comes in the last year president trump's term, and the primary process is started, we will wait until the next election. i want you to use my words against me. >> you are on the record. >> hold the tape. >> lindsay must go.

the lincoln project is responsible for the content of this ad. host: why did you make that ad? guest: to point out that lindsey graham has always been a political parasite and a flip-flopper, somebody who is not consistent in his word. he is not consistent while holding up his oath of office. and he is not honest. lindsey graham has become a target of the lincoln project and other groups for a big reason. in south carolina, a state that the president should be comfortable ahead in, he is only ahead by four or five points. lindsey graham, who should comfortably hold that seat, is behind in some polling. we believe that he is one of the chief enablers of donald trump, one of the people that has been the most corrosive and destructive to the republican party's ability to hold onto its principles because he has sold out a donald trump. and so, lindsay deserves everything that comes at him. and he deserves the scrutiny

that the lincoln project and other groups are bringing on his character and his positions. promiseshear political alike that all the time, so what is the difference between those in the past and people making political promises now? guest: lindsey graham is a particular flavor of hypocrisy. he is a man who not only ran a vicious campaign against donald trump, but prior to that was the wing man of john mccain for decades. -- betrayal of both that and that relationship he had with john mccain, which created his career, and the scope of lindsey graham's flip-flop on donald trump, in order to become his minion and golf caddie, we think that those things are outliers, even among the normal range of political promises being broken. host: let's go back to the phone

lines to talk with jane from north carolina. jane opposes president trump. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like you to comment on -- i feel like the party has left me, i did not leave the party. i remember when we used to stand for things, like, you know, character. we used to criticize liberals for their situational ethics. then i hear over the weekend, the former secretary of state saying donald trump might be crazy, but at least he is one of us. i think that is why i am not a republican anymore, because we do not stand for anything. anyway, thank you for the work you are doing at the lincoln project. my husband and i are both lincoln voters. you have a good day. guest: i appreciate that. i think that is a point that is often lost on people. we understand how difficult it is to leave the tribal campfire

of your party. we understand it. we have all experienced it. all the folks supporting us. it is difficult, but it also lets you sleep at night, it gives you clarity on the fact you will not have to be a part of owning donald trump's criminality, corruption and cruelty and everything else. host: let's go to michael calling from san diego, california. he opposes president trump. good morning. caller: i would like to thank c-span for giving americans a place to vent our opinions. helpingo thank rick for to form the lincoln project, and everybody else involved with it, because you folks are correct, in my opinion, that this man is the worst president in the history of the u.s., as he would like to say. and it is funny you should mention lindsey graham. i tried to call him and leave a

message to say that every time he says that him and john mccain were good friends, he disgraces the memory of john mccain. i hope that you folks can do your job well and get this man out of office. thank you. guest: we are doing our best every day. and we are going to keep swinging until the very last. host: not every republican is with you. guest: no. host: many folks, one person actually wrote this about the lincoln project. i will have you respond to this. "the lincoln project has no future if it's objective is to remake the post trump american party in its image. american voters did not want what they were selling before donald trump, and they certainly will not want it afterwards. center-right voters are seeking eopulist conservatism and th only purpose of the goodwill be to elected democrats now and

in the future. there is a name for people who want to do that, democrats." guest: that is a fallacious and shallow argument that is not unexpected from people in d.c., like henry, who have basically understood that their donations flow to the hands of donald trump. you can kill off any organization by saying, i do not like this group anymore, they are not nice to me. henry has to learn a lesson about politics. he is a policy guide, not a political guy. the flavor we were selling to help elect officeholders over 20 years, if you look at the arc of how the party was successful in expanding, not contracting. if you become a party of white nationalists grievance, you will contract. the republican party has done exactly that. it has shown in the last several that like a collapsing star, it may be hotter, but it is smaller.

you cannot win the base of only the republican party, you cannot win with a party that is driving its political energy for 55-year-old, non-college-educated white men. you have to be better and bigger. the more you abandon the principles of expensive conservativism and optimistic conservatism, because trumpism is a dark interpretation of america, the less you have the ability to sell that vision. i disagree with henry vehemently. what he does not understand is center-right nationalist populism is not conservatism. if you want to be a white, nationalist populist, go do it, but that is not conservatism, so do not conflate nationalism with conservatism, because they are not the same. host: let's go back to the phone lines. ed is calling from ohio. ed supports president trump. good morning.

caller: i do not believe this guy was ever a republican, republican in name only. this is why he is on msnbc all the time. you are a riley type of guy. others sit out on the supreme court, they should be replaced. i am proud of president trump. i was a company commander in the military. i worked my way through college. i worked three jobs. we have three kids. but i am a conservative. name alone, the lincoln party, is a flop. this is why you despise trump. if he does not win this election, everything will be swept under the mat, from obama to this day, who tried to replace him with a rotten fbi that is all sitting there, they were not even said records over, so everything is a joke.

he took on china for the first time in 30 years on fair trade. you shake your head, i am watching you. how are you and republicans supporting the democrats? the green deal, everything, they want to destroy the country. are notou say the riots peaceful, a little bit? nancy pelosi is holding up the ones that need aid because she wants trillions to bail out california for unpaid pensions. host: go ahead and respond. guest: there is no response to that. that is a person that lives in a bubble of facebook and fox. i get it. it is a phenomenon in politics today. i have to say that i have seen this plenty in this country, and the idea that any of the things he was taking off represents -- ing off represents conservativism, they don't.

they represent white ethics grievance populism. so the idea that you will question someone who has worked in republican politics, a republican for 30 years, who worked for several republican presidents, who won office and who worked mightily for others, even when we were going at uphill odds, is an absurdity. i regret that we have entered this phase of the country where the media silo is so on that side, he was running down the set of talking points that are vomited out every day on facebook, and it is sad. it is an epicenter closure. host: we will go to brian from phoenix. he is a republican that opposes president trump. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for coming on, rick nelson -- rick wilson. i just joined the lincoln project and i actually voted for

donald trump in 2016, and i am disappointed in his performance. the lincoln project has done a great job in letting the republicans who love this country, and our democracy, have a voice. i will be voting for joe biden because we need somebody in the white house who will care about people and not divide us. my hope and expectation is, after four years of joe biden, we will then elect a conservative in office who will be able to bring back those conservative principles that we all care about. keep up the good work with the lincoln project. that is all. guest: thank you for saying that. we really are -- it is a real moment when we hear from republican voters who have reached their limit on donald trump, folks who voted for him in 2016. steve bannon once said of the lincoln party gets 3% or 4% of

republicans, it is over. we are trying to get more than that. we know we will not get the majority, but the support of folks like you is a great honor and i think you for it. it is great hearing your call. host: i know we have been talking a lot about the president, but there is also several republican senators, like you said, that in tough races coming up this fall. where are you falling on people like lindsey graham, susan collins? are you involved in those senate races as well? guest: we are involved in alaska, montana, arizona, colorado, iowa, north carolina, south carolina and maine right now. we may expand out to georgia, we may expand into mississippi, since mike sp has come up so steadily in the polls, even in mississippi. we believe there is a simple rule in politics, pain is the only teacher. and because of that, the people

who enable donald trump need to be held to account. we have a set of tools to do that right now, we are working hard to do that. we will not be decisive in all the races, but we can be in some of them. some are hotly contested. we are just part of the pool, like north carolina. others, we have been a major driver in the funding of the races, like in alaska and south carolina. we will be in this fight. and republicans who enabled donald trump -- at any moment, they need to turn around and say this man is wrong, he is horrible for our country. you know what, we will never come knocking on your door. host: with talk about lindsey graham again and the nomination of amy coney barrett to the supreme court. here is what the senator said is the reason why he changed his mind from that previous statement. i will read it to you. thesey graham says, "after

treatment of justice kavanaugh, i have a different view of the process. compare the treatment of clarence thomas and brett kavanaugh to that of ruth bader ginsburg, sonya sotomayor and elana kagan, and it is clear that there is already one set of rules for a republican president and one for a democratic president. therefore i think it is important that we proceed to process any nomination made by president trump to fill the vacancy." what do you thing about that reasoning? guest: he is donald trump's golf partner, that is what he wants to maintain. he could give a damn about the nomination. he wants to stay in the donald trump good graces,. . host: we have something from a social media follower. you can answer this. "does mr. wilson agree with john kasich that some issues like abortion are dwarfed by the need

to remove donald trump from office? god help us if he does." guest: the need to remove donald trump is driven by a fantastic array of reasons. they include his continued mishandling of a virus that has killed 200,000 americans. they include the mishandling of the office of the president, turning it into a swamp of corruption, banality and nepotism. they include his bowing down to foreign dictators, thugs and immolating them on our streets. they include the fact that donald trump has been the most racially divisive president since woodrow wilson. and that is saying something. there are reasons and issues, and if you want to look at any single issue that you love or hate, to justified voting for donald trump, you are probably already going to vote for him.

host: let's talk to michael, calling from stanford, connecticut. good morning. caller: good morning. good morning, rick. i'm pretty sure in april, i pretty much thought donald trump could end up with about 22% of the vote because of how much he got in the first place. win.obviously not going to he got rid of infectious disease control department right in the wasnning, and that is what going to stop the coronavirus from coming into the country. this is trump's virus, is an orange virus on this country and it is a horrible thing. all these people that want to vote for him, the girl that was on, i wanted to talk to her -- the taste in her mouth is going to be horrible for spouting out all of this constantly. how do people believe anything that this guy has to say? famous ptl, the

barnum adage of one born every minute. [laughter] sandy, callingto from youngstown, ohio. she is a supporter of president trump. good morning. caller: good morning. yeah, i have seen this guy before hanging out with the democrats, making fun of donald trump. i do not believe he is a republican at all, ever. he has -- he is another hater. he spouts the democrat points. is going toays he come knock on republicans who voted for donald trump? he sounds like antifa to me. guest: host: -- am antifa., i moving on. host: david opposes president trump.

good morning. caller: rick wilson, i had the honor of seeing the lincoln project at cooper union this february. so i have a question for you. elders --y democratic what is your feeling about this, how the new supreme court would act? my democratic elders do not really believe that they would automatically nullify a close or even clear biden victory. what is your feeling about how the supreme court would rule? guest: i think it would present an enormous set of risks once it got to the court. up in the it ends supreme court, it will make 2000 look like a warm-up act. it will be a much uglier and divisive process. i am hopeful, that particularly

roberts, who has a view of electoral jurisprudence, from what i can read, would do the right thing, but it will be a dangerous moment. it will be a very dangerous moment. if donald trump is going to rely on a rush nomination to the bear on the bench, it will be even worse, it will absolutely destroy the credibility of the supreme court as a national institution. host: let's go to daniel from conway, south carolina. he is a supporter of president trump. caller: good morning. well, i am -- i hate to say republican and democrat here, because obviously you are neither. if you really believe that donald trump should lose the election and joe biden should win, pal, whatever you are taking, keep taking it, but stay off of the tube. i am a retired new york city

cop. i worked on two of his jobs. he is not racist. i have never seen anything racist about him. they do not hate women, considering most of the women, most of his general contractors that run jobs are women. and believe me, they are tougher than you. they would rip you apart. second, lindsey graham has done more for south carolina and the united states than this guy has ever done in his life. you say you were a republican for 30 years. i i have been a republican for 40 years, ever since jimmy carter lost this country to iran with his bullcrap. i am not saying i am 100% republican, i do not believe in everything republicans believe in, i believe in something things the democrats believe in, but i believe in the right to work, the right to life, and i believe donald trump has done more for this country than any other president in history. host: go ahead. guest: you are entitled to your

opinion. and, you may have met him on a jobsite once or twice, but the ark of donald trump's racial division is quite clear. the things like, those people are coming to your suburbs to destroy them. both sides in charlottesville, i could go on, would speak for themselves. what also speaks for itself is donald trump's views of women have been more than clearly stated by donald trump himself, grab them by the you know what, and the fact he has been accused, credibly, of sexual improprieties 27 or 28 times, that are not frivolous claims. so i am glad that you have something to believe in, but it is a godless leader. host: let's get more calls in. barbara is calling from concorde, california. good morning. caller: mr. wilson, how are you

doing? i am sitting here laughing my at these callers for president trump. i would like to see one of your trump'sh all of donald stuff being made in china. guest: we may get there. we make it there. ivanka'rump's products, s products, are largely made in china. , against about that his views of china. caller: i wanted to say thank you for everything your group is doing because we know how donald trump acts, but it is the republicans, the ones that should know better, they are not doing what they should.

it seems like their fidelity is not to the constitution, it is the donald trump, so i wanted to thank you. guest: i really appreciate you saying that. that is a great honor. you are right, this is the problem with the republican party. they claim to have a set of principles, they claim to swear an oath to the constitution that they will uphold, no matter what. they claim they believe in limited government, personal freedom and the control of the authority in the state, and they do not. they believe in donald trump. it is a tragedy. host: rebecca is calling from youngstown, ohio. she is a supporter of president trump. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to tell mr. wilson that i think he is a disgrace to the republican party, not donald trump. he has done more for this country than any other president has done. so, i do not know what you are doing to the lincoln project except filling your pocket with money. thank you. goodbye. guest: donald trump has filled

his products with money based on using the federal government as a tip. he is the most lavishly corrupt president we have ever had. if you want to talk about things he has done financially for the country, he has racked up $3 trillion of debt in the last six months, a president who is out of control in every way. and he is going to go down in history as the worst president in our history, and as the most absurd. but thank you. host: we would like to say thank you to rick wilson for being with us this morning, answering our questions. rick, thank you so much. guest: i appreciate you having me on. host: we will go back to the phone lines and talk to you and listen to you about the new york times story on president trump paying $750 in federal taxes in 2016 and 2017. the numbers are on the screen. we will be right back. ♪

tonight, federal trade commission rebecca slaughter is interviewed by a politico reporter. >> what advice do you have for parents who have concerns about with kids' privacy online online learning? >> we talk about digital divide issues in terms of broadband access and kids you have to sit in parking lots of libraries and stores in order to get online first goal, but i am also worried about -- for school, but i am also worried about the privacy gap. better of children from wealthy backgrounds can pay for privacy protective services or more access to things, and low income kids have to pay with their privacy. announcer: rebecca slaughter, tonight at 8:00 p.m. on c-span2.

the first presidential debate between president donald trump and former vice president joe biden is on tuesday night at 9:00 p.m., from cleveland. watch on c-span. >> joe biden is recklessly campaigning against the virus. he is really reckless. it's all for political reasons. joe biden, his whole deal is catastrophic shutdown. again,is own words, recorded by bob woodward, the president knew back in february that this was an extremely dangerous communicable disease. think about it. how many people across the nation, how many empty chairs at the dinner tables because of his negligence and selfishness. announcer: watch the first presidential debate, live from

cleveland, tuesday night. stream live or on-demand at c-span.org/debates, or listen live on the c-span radio app. "washington journal" continues. host: we want to know what you think about the new york times story claiming that president $750 in federal taxes in 2016 and 2017. once again, the numbers for democrats, 202-748-8000. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8002 for independents. let's go to the phone lines and talk to bill from massachusetts. he's on the republican line. caller: hi. i'm calling to find out why c-span now is turning completely left, just like all the other

media in america. when are we going to hear a story about the other side of joe biden and company, bought and paid for by china. ? why is it always donald trump that is the bad guy? and the real crook, nothing ever gets said about him? and one last thing, is it this, like, telling somebody's tax n't that illegal to look at their tax returns without permission? i do not think you are supposed to allow permission to check on somebody's tax returns. who: let's go to wilhelm, is calling on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. we if this president that

have in the white house, if he gets elected for four more years, guess what will happen to the disability people? they will lose their disability in one year. after that, for three years. and people who are on social security, they will lose their social security also. and we cannot have this president that we have in the white house right now. we cannot have him in there. paidhis president, he taxes, federal taxes, $750. that's how much he paid. he took that money from the government, i mean, he has taken money from the wealthy of his -- for his own purposes that he has. that's not right. host: here is what the new york

times executive editor said about publishing the president's tax information. ome will raise questions about the information, but the supreme court has ruled that the press can publish newsworthy information that was illegally obtained, even when those in power fight to keep it hidden. the powerful principle of the first amendment applies here." that was from the executive editor on the question of why the times publish the president's tax information. let's talk to maggie, who is calling from ultimate springs, florida on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. first of all, the man who called we said that the -- that wouldn't have any more help for disabled people -- nancy pelosi

took $2.4 billion out of social security to impeach the president. that's a fact. so, the democrats may be ruining social security. i think that mr. trump is a $750 in taxes.ng that's why i will vote for him again. host: let's listen to what president trump himself said on sunday when he was asked about the report on his taxes. here is what he had to say. [video clip] president trump: it is fake news. you could've asked me the same questions of four years ago. totally fake news. actually, i pay tax. you will see that as soon as my tax returns -- it is under order , they have been under audit for a long time.

the irs does not treat me well. they treat me like they treated the tea party. they do not treat me well. they treat me very badly. you have people in the irs, they treat me very badly. but they are under audit. and when they are not, i would be proud to show them. that is fake news. the new york times wants to create a story. that is the least of it. the stories i read are so fake, so funny. let's go back to our phone lines to talk with walter, calling from michigan on the independent line. good morning. caller: thank you. my main concern is not that he paid $750 in income tax, that is atrocious. thanhat he has been less honest across the board and for a long time in not revealing his

taxes to the american public. the worst thing about that is that it is discovered that he owes $400 million and some in debt. we do not know who he owes. a leader is supposed to be above reproach, and his position is an tenable, because it puts not only this country at risk, but the american people. and they should realize that he is so totally corrupt and dishonest, that he is not fit to be a leader. craig, callingto from tallahassee, florida on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. comment, then in question. to theauditor, or i was, state of florida for many years.

multimillion dollar contracts, financial management that came through me. the common -- knowledge around the office was if you knew everything in the federal tax code, you would never pay dime. so, if he has good -- i guess, accountants, that is probably the reason why there is so little tax. one thingll write off against another. they will require a valuation of something, but anyway there are a lot of ways that you can be legal with it and not pay anything at all. particulart know his situation, i do not think anybody does. not beenviously released. it is suspicious that a man that has billions of dollars pays at

$750red $50 to the u.s. -- to the u.s. government. during the pandemic, when tens of thousands of people were working for the airlines, getting ready to be laid off, that congress takes a vacation for a month in august. that doesn't make sense to me. these are people that we elected to represent us. and they are representing themselves. we could give a damn whether we live or die. .ost: we will go to teresa good morning. caller: hello, thank you for taking my call. i would like to know exactly how for president trump pays his property taxes, because that is deductible for his income tax. you cannot say he paid $750 for -- i have a home.

myproperty taxes reduce income tax by large sums of money. and i would like to find out exactly what he pays for his property taxes, because the $750 is very fictitious. thank you, i will wait for my answer. host: i want to read a couple paragraphs from the story in the new york times on president andp paying $750 in 2016 2017 because it includes more than just tax issues. i will read that to you. "as the president wages a reelection campaign, the polls say he is in danger of losing, and his finances are in distress, with millions of dollars in debt coming due.

also hanging over him as a decades long audit battle with of ars over the legitimacy $72.9 million tax refund he claimed and received after declaring huge losses. an adverse ruling could cost him more than $100 million. the tax returns he has long fought to keep private tell a story fundamentally different from the one he has sold to the american public. his reports to the irs are of a businessman that takes millions whilelars a year, avoiding paying taxes. the record shows that he depends one on more on depending businesses that put him in conflict of interest with his job as president." let's go back to the phone lines and talk to sandy, calling from salem, massachusetts on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning.

i want to know more about the law -- wall that he supposedly built. that he ripped off that guy. that's what i want to know about. when these people start complaining about the democrats doing their oversight, if they needed -- they didn't do their oversight they would be doing their job. go joe biden. host: let's talk to a caller from the republican line. alan, good morning. caller: good morning. i have been a republican most of my life. and i have grown up -- i grew up in a democratic area in the midwest, in an industrial area. i do not particularly like president -- i do not like president trump's style. i agree with his policies on

wanting to bring jobs back to this country. and i agree with much of that. i agree with him on immigration. eiven the choice, and i hav never seen a democratic party like this -- to me, these people want to be commissars. they want to bring socialism to this country. and i have never seen such a division. given the choice, i am going to vote for donald trump, because i think that the other or the alternative is an absolute disaster for this country. they want to turn into venezuela. that's my fear. the democratic it, if that was

here, i would not be voting for donald trump. but these people are so extreme. do not believe joe biden is the real candidate. i think that joe biden is beginning to go into senile dementia. i believe that before his term is out, kamala harris will be president. and she is about as far left as you can go. host: let's go to eve on -- yvonne calling from south dakota on the democratic line. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have called several times before and i listen to your program faithfully. and this week, a couple days ago a gentleman got on here and talked about --. we are poor for many years. we have no economy on the reservation in south dakota, but

we still pay taxes every year, faithfully. be for donald trump to paying only $750 in federal taxes is unbelievable. i think that -- i have a college degree, i had a good education in utah. -- i saw anor economic paper. one, we were told because of all the land taken, and this is a matter of the supreme court, we are not to pay taxes because of all the land taken.a and we still have to pay taxes. we have the documents, but we are still ordered to pay federal taxes. so, nobody sits here without trying to work, trying to pay our taxes, yet mr. trump has -- i believe that all of the china,es that moved to

everything coming from china. host: let's go to dennis calling from maine on the independent line. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. yo keep playingu that she keep playing -- you keep saying that statement from the executive director or executive editor of the new york times, you know, how the first amendment protects them. that is legally obtained when it comes to taxes. legally obtained means he would have to have written permission from mr. trump, from president trump. the only other way it could be released is if the irs was involved in a court proceeding, then it could be legally released. outside of that, the guy is

blowing smoke, because obviously it was not legally obtained. host: i do not think they have released publicly the tax documents, so i do not think they have actually released that. caller: you are correct, they have not released his taxes, but they are trying to spin at that he only paid $750. nobody in their right mind gets away with paying $750. i mean, i look at what i make and what i am charged by the irs, and believe me it is 100 times more than $750. host: you are not the only one. let's go to maureen calling from redwood city california -- from redwood city, california on the democratic line. caller: how are you? host: just fine. go ahead. caller: i want to make two points. ne, presently can pay $1900 in

taxes in his first year. i want to point out that the $72 million tax refund donald trump received because of his business losses, number one, make some the worst businessman in the history of america. it also makes some the biggest welfare queen in the history of america. he has gotten more welfare as a single person than any other american in the history of this nation, and in the history of welfare. i would like to say that donald trump has taken much, much more from this country than he will ever give back, even as president. host: let's go to patrick calling from louisville, kentucky on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning to you, sir . and everyone else. there's one or two things i think that your listeners are

missing. i have been waiting for someone to say it, but they never have. wereis, both criminal justice prosecutors, one in california and one in delaware. now, for a prosecutor to make like your son or daughter gets in a car wreck, l ike ted kennedy did. and someone dies. uh, it takes money to get out of that. you might have to hire a social worker, a sociologist, or some or differentialist kinds of expertise -- of

different kinds of expertise. ands prosecutors see that say to themselves, if you have a first-degree murder charge, i can get you out of that with a third-degree manslaughter charge. it will take you money to do that. h $7 that is wort million. $40 million.orth harris is with $6 million. she was raised in the projects. that is how they make their money, using people that have problems, legally. so, of course, joe biden -- another issue with the joe biden -- he is a person that never, he was a draft dodger when he was a young person. host: let's go to linda, calling from new jersey on the

democratic line. caller: hello, thank you very much. the caller before the last caller, hats of to her. i had a question about donald trump's involvement with on thecing the contracts three-mile wall that is now falling -- with the fishers -- that is now falling. and the one pointer boone the 1.3 billion dollars that taxpayers will continue to pay for that. i do not understand how they think that he has cleaned out the swamp, when his wall is falling into it. uh, and as far as donald trump and the contractor from new york, um, i'm a new jersey resident that remembers when he

was backing out of all of the union contracts, filing bankruptcy. carpentry,painting, electric -- he never paid any of them. he bankrupted. he does not care about people. paying $750 for income tax, he probably looks at all of us that pay way more than that and calls us suckers. host: paul on the independent line, calling from maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. i have five kids. and they have been laid off and all that. but this thing talking about donald trump's tax returns come everybody freaking out. let's worry about what is going on with crime, the riots,

let's worry about the relief fund we need to get going for the rest of the country. stop worrying about fighting with everybody. everybody pulled together and work something out. it is getting ridiculous. this country is starting to go up in flames because of what? because one person does not like the other? i do not know. just, i am frustrated and pissed off. taxit just, you know, this thing is not important right now. the american people who are suffering, they have lost their jobs, people have been killed in the riots -- this is not important, that is important. tha younk -- thank you. host: karen is calling on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. i want to say that i agree with

the man from new jersey. d peopleo dusty people not see that our cities are being burned down -- do people not see that our cities are being burned down? it amazes me that people are worried about the president's taxes. i do not know if anybody has read about the bidens and their dealings with all the shady stuff that went on. it is amazing the double standard that exists today. i vote my conscience, and i have to say that i love the president's style. he is direct. and we are sure of what he says. there is no phoniness going on. there are people above the law, but it is not him. host: let's talk to chris who is calling from atlanta on the democratic line. good morning. caller: i called on the

democratic line, by am really not a democrat, or a republican. but i do not care about mr. trump's moral character. he is no better or worse than the rest of them in washington. host: next time,: the independent line. -- call on the independent line. let's go to james who is calling on the independent line. good morning. caller: thank you very much. i'm an independent. i vote both democratic and republican. one thing i have noticed is this issue with the taxes is that donald trump has not filed any of his taxes, as he is required to buy our laws, by the constitution. he seems to say it is not for me. the interesting thing is my wife and i paid more before we retired in income taxes than

donald trump ever paid on the schedule that has been produced by the new york times. but the key thing that i am interested in are the senators. i think they have done n an adequate job, especially on the republican side. there are so many people that are hurting. i have two friends of mine, their children are at home. they are out of work. they cannot make rent payments. one cannot make his mortgage payment. and they are getting social security -- not social security, but they are getting their insurance through work. but that is not enough to cover all of their bills. they need food. and they do not have a program that they can get on a food list here. there are problems with the people that cannot get supplies for their children, clothing. and i think americans should stand up to these senators and vote the democrats in, give them

a chance to replace the terrible ones that will not help these people in america. jack on thee independent line. caller: good morning. i have a couple of comments. one, the release of the tax returns is a week after james go t their hands on his tax returns, which i find that very suspicious. two, corporations with numerous employees pay their federal tax, 941 federal tax that is collected every quarter. i am sure that is in the millions of dollars concerning all of donald trump's employees. release the tax returns, let the public take a look. do not piecemeal what you want to take. it makes the whole thing suspicious. thank you. host: let's talk to linda, calling from akron, ohio on the

democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? i have a couple things to say. one, me that he paid so little in taxes. i mean, i thought it would be a little more than that, but really, it just shows that we irs reform if this is possible for a man with, you know, $250 million. the second thing i have is a bumper sticker sort of thing to say, and that safe and make america sane again and dump trump. velma,et's talk to calling from charlotte, north

carolina, calling on the democratic line. first and foremost, i want to say on my street that there is no violence, so i don't know where that comes from stop host: i think we lost velma. , calling fromann lake city, tennessee, on the republican line. good morning. caller: how many times has the new york times floated these bombshells out and msnbc and c-span jumps right on it and promoted it, and then it just blows away after the stink leaves the air, and you cannot on one hand say trump is making millions of dollars and on the other hand say he is losing millions of dollars. and you have people fleeing new york, california, all these other high-tax states. people try to avoid paying taxes if at all possible, and that's why these states that are so high tax run by democrats are losing population. host: we would like to thank all

of our guests, callers, and viewers for watching c-span "washington journal." we take you to the brookings institution where they are hosting a women are with the media and experts who helped advise past presidential candidates to support the role of debates in previous elections. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] foremost experts on media and politics and also founder of fact-check.org. republicanrienced strategist and media consultant who has worked in messy -- many presidential campaigns, including most recently the campaign of mitt romney in 2012. in our third segment we will take questions from the audience . you can submit questions in the chat function or via twitter. politics2020, or theevent @brookings.edu. t'