you are watching c-span, your unfiltered view of government. c-span was created by american televisio cable companies in 1979. today, we are brought to you by these telogen companies to viewa public service. when the house comes in today, they plan to introduce an article of impeachment against president trump, a censure resolution, and other measures related to last week's assault on the u.s. capitol. later today, house democrats pulled a conference call on how to proceed with impeachment. today on "washington journal," ethics and public policy center senior fellow and washington post columnist henry olsen on the future of the republican party.

then we hear from brookings institutions william galston about the possible ways to curb president trump's power in the final days of his administration. we take your calls, texts, and social media comments. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning. it is monday, january 11, 2021. house speaker nancy pelosi said the house will move to impeach president trump this week if vice president mike pence in the cabinet do not invoke the 25th amendment first. the democrats hope republicans are ready to split from president trump after last week's attack on the capital. we are hearing from just republican viewers only. do you think president trump should be removed from office?

republicans in the eastern or central time zones can call in at (202) 748-8000. republicans in the mountain or pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. you can send us a text this morning. that number (202) 748-8003. if you do, please include your name and where you are from. catch up with us on social media, on twitter, and on facebook. good monday morning to you. you can start calling in now, just republicans only on this first hour of "washington journal." outlining what will happen on the house for today in a letter to her colleagues. resolutionwith a that calls on the vice president to convene the cabinet to activate the 25th amendment and declare the president incapable of executing the duties of the office. if we do not receive unanimous

consent, she writes, this plan would be brought up on the following day, tuesday. we are calling on the vice president to respond within 24 hours. we will proceed with bringing impeachment legislation to the floor. we will act with urgency because this president represents an imminent threat. as the days go by, the horror of democracyt on our perpetrated by this president is intensified. when that impeachment resolution comes to the floor, expected later this week, here is one of the lead sponsors of that resolution, maryland democrat jamie wet can. leading to the armed and violent storming of the u.s. capitol, this is an intolerable crime

against our constitution, he writes on twitter. only a majority needed for impeachment in the house. two thirds needed to convict in the senate. this is the headline from this morning's usa today. ublicans join cries for trump impeachment." pat toomey, pennsylvania senator, republican, he has called for president trump to resign in the wake of the attack on the capitol. this is pat toomey from meet the press yesterday. [video clip] forhere are calls impeachment, removal by the 25th amendment. you have said he has committed impeachable offenses. what is the most appropriate way for donald trump to exit office? >> i think the best way for our country is for the president to resign and go away as soon as

possible. i acknowledge that may not be likely, but i think that will be best. it does not look as though there is the will or consensus to exercise the 20 for the amendment, and i do not think -- and i do notdment, think there is time to do impeachment. ont: republican pat toomey meet the press. among the president's defenders on the sunday shows, ohio representative jim jordan. [video clip] >> what happened wednesday is a tragedy. everybody knows that. it is wrong. i hope the democrats do not go down this road. we do not know if they are going to. let's hope they do not do that. 75 million americans who supported the president have been called deplorable to eat at the olive garden.

smellstrzok said he could the trump supporters. now the democrats are going to try to remove the president from office just seven days before he is set to leave anyway. i do not see how that unifies the country. i hope what happens is what senator graham said when he asked president-elect joe biden to give a speech to the country and saying we should not be pursuing impeachment and this 25th amendment. let's bring the country together and move forward and return to being america, the greatest nation ever. host: jim jordan yesterday on fox. calls, just phone republicans only, asking you whether president trump should be removed from office. one other headline focusing on overlicans, the gop split donald trump.

chuck is up first out of new york. go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my call. really an independent, but voting independent over the years -- republican over the years. the way we are able to vote is not right because having just two parties does not give you a lot of choice. host: did you vote for donald trump? not.r: i did i did not this year. i felt like he never was a republican, never should have been elected. the only reason he got through the primary is because a number of other republicans, there were too many on the ballot, no different than joe biden. host: what do you think it means to be a republican? caller: i think you would stand

for the principles of what the party stands for, fiscal groupint, being part of a the basically stays with general principles of the party. the fact of the matter is most when heisenfranchised never was a republican. host: do you think he should be removed? caller: i guess he should be, but it might create more violence. readyif people are truly or religious or not? do they believe in god or not? if christ was still on this earth today, he would walk away. he would say this is not what we want. this is not what we want. there have been a lot of elected officials who do not do the

right thing. they are bought by the corporate entities of the world. that is not the way it should be. host: judith is next, republican from anchorage, alaska. good morning. caller: good morning. i do not think he should be removed. host: what do you think should happen? caller: i think he should be allowed -- he was elected to be the president. he should be allowed to be the president. what they call this fear of what he might do is hysterical. the biggest problem is likely to be pushed back. to take away the right of people to speak when you take away the right to be on social media or the right of many people to be on social media. host: do you think he bears any

responsibility for what happened in that building over my shoulder last wednesday? bears: i don't think he nearly the responsibility that seems to be accorded. i think most of his words were peaceful.ought to be honestly, i think if he cared cancer, there are -- cured cancer, there are people in this country -- there is like a mass hysteria going on in this country. it terrifies me. host: it was your senator, lisa murkowski, last week, who made the statement to the anchorage daily news. "i tell you if the republican party has become nothing more than the party of trump, i question whether this is the party for me." caller: i think she is probably

speaking accurately. maybe she does not want to be a republican. host: did you vote for lisa murkowski? caller: i did not. host: that is judith. of massachusetts, you are next. caller: good morning. i like your haircut and pinstripe. host: let's get to the question. do you think the president should be removed? caller: of course not. joke,ing is it is like a the 25th, impeaching. if there is going to be a third-party party, president trump is going to be at the head of that. we all need to respect each other, just like the two-party system. do we want to keep killing each other in the streets? host: do you think there is going to be a viable third party in this country?

competeparty that will on the same level as democrats and republicans? caller: if donald trump, if our to decide to were do that, then god bless america. host: and would you go with him to that third-party? caller: of course, i would, sir. of course. host: this is beverly out of wyoming. good morning. caller: good morning. god bless america. i am hearing all of these people that care about one man -- b icker about one man and his actions. they are not focusing on saying anything about what i have seen is a lot of fathers out there that should have been nurturing their families, and they are nurturing this one man that is

corrupted. i think he needs to pay for what , and people need to start realizing we need good men in this world to nurture their families. that is what i think of the whole situation. host: what price should be pay? caller: he needs to stop. hes man that is a bad man, needs to pay for his consequences, you know. host: in what way? should he stay in office? caller: to be removed and led all of his followers go to mar-a-lago with him, whatever. letants all that riffraff, them go over there.

host: have you voted for donald trump in 2016 or 2020? caller: no, no. not the way he was being so disrespectful. i cannot vote for a man like that. host: who did you support? caller: i supported joe biden. foras morals and sympathy people. host: you still consider yourself a republican? caller: i was a republican, but i did not even know what they stood for. if it is for hate and all of this other stuff, i cannot. that is why i changed democrat because they are always blaming the democrats for everything, together foro join these kids. host: that is beverly out of wyoming.

we are trying to talk to republicans only, current republicans. onwant to hear your thoughts the calls this week for president trump to be removed for office. we understand there will be a resolution that will go to the house today calling on the vice president to invoke the 25th amendment. nancy pelosi will hope to move that by unanimous consent. if she does not, we'll try to move it tomorrow, and then we are expecting the house to move to impeachment proceedings this week with nine days left in the trump presidency and in the wake of the attack on the capitol last week. we are getting some polling on the public response on americans' feelings on the attack on capitol hill. the majority of the country feel president trump should be removed before joe biden is

sworn in on january 20. two thirds hold him accountable for the violence on capitol hill. the new survey broken down by the feeling ist split along partisan lines. 94% of democrats think the president should be ousted. just 34% of republicans support that. 58% back removing him from office. talking to republicans only. this is tim out of north carolina. good morning. caller: good morning. i think republicans these days are not conservative. they claim the name that they are conservatives, but they are really not. host: are you a conservative republican? i am a true

conservative. i am a fiscal conservative. makes you abortion conservative. that is not a conservative. a conservative is someone that conserves the constitution. you should not let people get the name if they are not true conservatives. what happens is you have people who have infiltrated the conservative party, the boogaloo boys and all those guys. this is really important for the american people to hear. both of these demonstrations was people out there demonstrating. all these people that went to the white house, they had the right to go there. theseas infiltrated by boogaloo boys and whatever. they did the same thing in black lives matter. you notice the way they was breaking the windows in the white house? you got people really thinking black people went out there and did that. a lot of the kids went in the

stores and stuff because people broke the windows. kids wanted sneakers. of course, they are going to grab stuff. they infiltrated. they did it to both parties. host: law-enforcement enforcement bracing for more violence in the coming days. that is the headline from the wall street journal. group saidtelligence saturday that a day of armed far-right protests is scheduled for january 17 and has been in the works for weeks with trump supporters and antigovernment activists promoting marches in state capitals around the country. a million militia march on january 20, the date joe biden will be sworn in. banning president trump's accounts on friday.

mr. biden's inauguration has been designated as a national security event and given a threat rating that the wednesday events did not receive. the secret service is leading federal law enforcement response to coverage of inauguration. in the days since that attack on capitol hill, we are seeing more via online videos and the damage caused by the attack on capitol hill. it was on 60 minutes last night the 60ncy pelosi led minutes group on a tour of her office in the wake of that attack to show what happened in her office that day. [video clip] >> the mob was free to roam the halls, one group making it right offices.aker pelosi's >> the store, they broke in. they broke that down. >> they broke the door. >> they smashed it in.

>> and went through to another door behind which her staff coward, terrorized. >> they turned out the lights and were silent in the dark under the tables for two and a half hours. >> during which time they listened to the invaders banging on that door, as you can hear from a recording on one of the staff are's -- staffer's phones. across the hall, a group broke into the speaker's private office. >> you see what they did to the mirror. the glasses all over the place. took the computer and all that stuff. laptop. the desks that they actually were at his right there that they defamed in that way.

>> that man was arrested on friday. the fbi is investigating whether any of the agitators, some seen in ballistic vests with zip ties, intended to kidnap or kill legislators or their staffers. they were coming to find you, maybe to hurt you. >> the evidence is that it was a well, organized group with leadership and guidance and direction. the direction was to go get people. host: nancy pelosi last night on 60 minutes. taking your phone calls, talking to republicans only come asking you whether you think president trump should be removed from office. taking your comments on social media. ans is a net thompson --

nette thompson, he is not guilty. this is sue in new jersey, we all know trump has no filter. it seems like he felt backed into a corner. no excuses for what happened at the capitol. he has to own up to it. getting your phone calls, republicans only. this is sergio out of connecticut. caller: good morning. how are you? host: doing well. what do you think? caller: what i think is what happened on wednesday is a compilation of four years of torment. they have tormented this president since the first day he was in office. i can't still here maxine waters impeach 45 the day he was inaugurated. you see nancy pelosi.

she turned her cheek while cities were burning, businesses were being looted. that was ok. justice kavanaugh was called a serial rapist in front of his young daughters. this is just the tip of the iceberg. i do not condemn what happened on wednesday. it should not have happened. you can understand why it happened. host: do you think president trump bears any responsibility? caller: i saw the speech. he did not tell these people to go there and kill anybody. i think it was antifa. host: you say you saw the speech. this is the part of that speech that many are pointing to on this concern about incitement. the new york times today with excerpts from that speech. this is part of what the president had to say before what happened wednesday.

"we will never give up. we will never concede. our country has had enough. we will not take it anymore. that is what this is all about. to use a favorite term that all of you people came up with, we will stop this deal. we will have an illegitimate president. you cannot let that happen. these are the facts that you will not hear from fake news media. they do not want to talk about it. they do not want to talk about it. we fight like hell. if you do not fight like hell, you are not good to have a country anymore." caller: when he says fight like hell, he does not mean go in there and kill people. i do not think that is what he meant. host: do you think some of his supporters might have taken it that way? caller: i don't think so. you saw so many speeches he gave for months. there was never any riots, disturbances. nothing like that. i was shocked.

you don't think nt fit in these antifa ande -- think these other people were involved in this? you sow happened over the summer. it was the same thing. oft: this is arthur out ohio. good morning. [indiscernible] russia and china. he made them attack us. host: you are a republican? caller: yes. host: did you vote for president trump in 2016 or november? caller: what? host: what does it mean to be a republican? it can change. thing becausea they act like mafia. host: would you ever vote republican again?

caller: nope. never. host: this is steve in columbia. good morning. i have advice for all of the progressives. a little history. years ago,bout 2020 they did the same thing to a man, and we are still talking about him today. good bye. host: good morning. caller: no, i do not think president trump should be removed. first, anybody that has been supporting president trump is heartbroken over what we saw wednesday. it is certainly taking a very big movement that a lot of us feel strongly about and painting

the whole movement as some sort of extreme violent movement. we probably had infiltrators that were both extreme come extremes on both sides. and proud boys were probably part of the whole mess happened at the capital. i do not think he should be removed. this push to impeach him in the last 10 days. host: what is fishy about it? caller: i think that mike pompeo will be athere peaceful transition of power to president trump. nancy pelosi, president-elect joe biden, and a lot of republicans as well have been compromised by the communist party of china. they are just afraid that

president trump is going to prove this in these last few days, and they are going to be in big trouble. it is kind of one of those flip the script kind of things, saying that there was insurrection by trump supporters. i think there has been treason and insurrection by corrupt politicians. i think what you are seeing is people are fed up with it that trump has become our voice. you see what is happening on social media. does it get any more communist party than banning all conservatives from social media, who we are all dumping amazon. these companies want to just turn their backs on all of us and pretend that there was not election fraud? anybody with half a brain knows there was election fraud. we are supposed to say did not happen.

we know it happened. host: how do you know? caller: did you watch any of the hearings that anybody keeps saying there is no evidence. there was all kinds of evidence. right now in italy, we have a judge, i cannot believe we are not hearing about it yet on mainstream social media, that is just had -- i cannot think of leonardo,ight now -- he has gone before a judge and said he was changing votes over in italy. they were changing votes and other countries. the people that are trying to take over our country are not stupid. the messron mentioned on capitol hill, one way to put it. we are learning more about it in hearing from the now former

capitol police chief from an interview, his first interview oters stormed the u.s. capitol last week. this is steven sund. he said his supervisors were reluctant to take formal steps to put the national guard on call even as police intelligence suggested that the crowd president trump had invited to washington, d.c., to protest probably would be much larger than earlier demonstrations. the story noted that house sergeant at arm's paul irving said he was not comfortable with formallys of declaring an emergency ahead of the protest. his guardreach out to contacts come asking them to lean forward and be on alert in

case capitol police needed their help. forcesesday lastly, the already in the midst of crisis, he says he pleaded for help five more times as a scene far more dire than he predicted unfolded on capitol grounds. of washington. good morning. caller: good morning. yes, i voted for trump twice. no, he should not be impeached. the thing i did watch when he had his speech, and the thing is ask them to have your voice heard. he did not say invade the capitol. the so sorry for washington, d.c., police and

what they are going through. alsowe are hearing antifa was involved with that, just like they were involved with the problems in seattle. they are calling this a siege, but seattle was overtaken, firebombing, people being killed, and they are just calling it a protest. that is all i have got to say. have a good day. host: debbie talking about the capitol police. another loss yesterday by the capitol police in the wake of what happened wednesday. the death of off-duty officer lawe li bin good, enforcement officials told reporters he died by suicide.

according to a statement yesterday, he was an example of the selfless service that was the hallmark of the u.s. capitol police. orderedpresident trump flags lowered to half staff to honor the capitol police officer who died wednesday and officer liebengood. the front page of the washington post with that moment of the carrying brian sicknick on capitol hill. of maryland. good morning. you are next. we are talking to republicans only, asking whether you think president trump should be removed from office?? caller: no. people have amnesia. congressman chris swalwell got

caught having sex with a chinese spy. nothing. the house foreign affairs committee, the house homeland security mitty, nothing. -- securityduals committee, nothing. --they wereduals paid. host: what do you mean they were invited in? caller: they were either invited in by the senators and congressmen because they were in the house chamber and senate chamber. oft: we have seen videos police officers desperately trying to hold the doors of those chambers. we sell videos of members being hustled out of the chambers. where have you seen they wanted to invite them in? caller: take that and smoke that. host: this is helen out of south

carolina. caller: good morning. i have a message i want to give to the american people. every supposed to impeach january any republican president? is that the way we go forward? january becomes impeachment time? this is getting repetitive. it is also scary. if there is one person in america i would never, ever in my worst, i would never give the nuclear codes to, that is nancy pelosi. whoncur with the general decided not to give her those codes. host: do you think president trump bears any responsibility for what happened, the scenes that we are showing part of? trump bear any

responsibility? caller: absolutely not. not one scintilla of responsibility. that man is the best president this nation has ever had since lincoln. thank god we had him because if we did not have him for four years even with everything his supporters took, if we did not have him, we would be in much worse shape. this is john out of greenville, texas. you are next. caller: good morning. host: do you think president trump should be removed from office? caller: absolutely not. an ex-democrat out of southern california. i am hispanic. i am gay.

what i have seen is the most egregious thing that has ever been done to this country. i don't think he should be impeached. they tried that once already. they failed. t is a last-ditch attempt to keep him from letting out any information that may be out there about pelosi and all of them. i do not think he should be impeached. host: fort lauderdale, florida, you are next. caller: good morning. i think trump should be impeached. i think if there is intelligence that people are coming back with weapons on the 17th, there should be 30,000 jail cells identified and enough police protection to put all these people away. they are insurrectionists. they need to go. it was congressman adding

kinzingerr -- adam who was one of the first to come out seeking president trump's removal after what happened wednesday. he was on abc this week this weekend. [video clip] amendmentd the 25th should be invoked. you encouraged the vice president to lead that effort. will you vote for an impeachment resolution? way will vote the right when whatever is put in front of me. there is a lot of negotiation going on. i do not think impeachment is the smart move. i think it victimizes donald trump. we are in a moment where donald -- he stirredng up a crowd. it was an executive branch attack on the legislative branch , one of the worst days in

american history. ifill vote the right way i'm presented with that. i think the best thing for the country to heal would be for him to resign. the next best thing is the 25th amendment. that is why i call on vice president pence. this gets it out of the debate in congress. it does not victimizes donald trump. we have asked young men and women to give their lives for this country every day. giveve to be willing to our careers to do the right thing when it is something so egregious like we have been facing. kinzingerressman adam . getting your phone calls from republicans only. if you are in the central or eastern time zones, (202) 748-8000. if you are a republican in the

mountain or pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. missourioy blunt from was on face the nation yesterday , what he had to say about a vote to remove the present. [video clip] republican senators have called for the president to resign. should he? >> it would be up to him. i think the president should finish his last 10 days. >> so no. >> no. >> your fellow republicans have called this an interaction and said the president was directly involved. hasice department affidavits from individuals saying they came here because the president told them to. is the president a danger to the country? >> i think his decisions and actions on that date and leading up to that date on this topic

were reckless. i said that early in the evening wednesday that this was a tragic day for the country, and the president had involvement in that. >> are republican leaders going to hold him accountable in any way? >> i think the country is the right way to hold presidents accountable. the president should be very careful over the next 10 days that his behavior is what you would expect from the leader of the greatest country in the world. my personal belief is the president touched the hot stove wednesday and is unlikely to touch it again. we hear from republicans only, do you think president trump should be removed from office? lester out of indiana. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. for four years i sat here and stuff down, tearing

burning stuff down. nobody ever does nothing. people thatls the your election was stolen from you, which most of us believe it was. told people to go stand up for yourself. i think what they have done is they have woken a sleeping giant. i think this is going to end up in a civil war in our country. you watch the stock market. you are going to see the stock market drop. you are going to see black people on unemployment. they just used those black people so they can get their agenda across. country, such a racist how did a black man become president before trump did? he was a billionaire. he did not need this job. he did not want this job. he took this job because he was worried about saving america so his grandchildren could spend

all that money he made. vice president pence is going to be one of the people of focus this week. from indiana, what do you think of his actions? if i was him, i would have told people to stand up for your rights. they stole the election. host: what do you think of vice president mike pence? caller: what? host: what do you think of mike pence? caller: i think mike pence put his tail between his legs. let's watch their bank account. let's see who gets richer. have $200ancy pelosi million in the bank? host: this is richie from new york. caller: good morning. absolutely not. listen to that speech. there is nothing wrong.

if you look at all these riots we have had all summer long and all the language used by democrats during that time that incited those riots. nancy pelosi saying why aren't there uprisings in the streets? maxine waters saying cause a crowd. it is a double standard in this country that is dividing us. host: some excerpts from that speech, the president saying to his supporters wednesday, we fight like hell, if you do not fight like hell, we are not going to have a country anymore. we are going to the capitol. the democrats are hopeless. they never voted for anything. give theing to try to republicans, the week once, try

to give them the kind of pride and boldness they need to take back our country. did say we will go there, our voices will be heard peacefully. what about that part of the speech? ,o try to impeach a president people using their first amendment rights. you have democrats inciting riots. people being killed. that is the problem in this country. that is the problem in this country. that willow is be the problem. until the media -- will always be the problem. until the media stop using double standards, there will be a civil war in this country. host: good morning. you are next. caller: your last caller was right. he specifically said peaceful and let's walk down to the capitol. the fight was a political fight.

giuliani, not so much. that was not quite so recognized as being a political fight type speech. was that trumpe did not get millions more votes. they had an opportunity to take care of the issue. gave himointed judges that. they did not bring anything in. me,he end, what tore it for trump is the present. the capitol was attacked. he made no effort to pick up the phone and say what can i do for you down there? that is what a president should have done. he did not do it. i think he should resign. the house should pass a

nsure resolution and send it to the senate. if you go impeachment, it is not going to work. the 25th amendment is not going to work. president, if you were interested in the country, for the good of the country, resign. do a censure resolution, it is cleaner and easier. if there are criminal activities that they find later on, they can charge him. to go through this impeachment process is stupid. host: what does centura do besides putting congress on the record? caller: it does not do anything. it is less complicated, and it would work. they made the same mistake with clinton. if they would have censured clinton for his activities instead of trying impeachment,

impeachment is starting to look like a normal political process. it should not. it actually could work. you do not have the time to do it. afterward, it is kind of weird. prevent him from serving again. that turns him into a martyr. i don't think it is good for anybody to do that. let's find a way. if he broke the law, then you have the court system after he leaves. host: on the issue of censure, david kendall, former lawyer for the clintons in today's washington post, there is no time to impeach. censure instead. sure resolution, while it

is symbolic, it is what is needed on this moment, an immediate bipartisan decision that is strong and indelible. different courses of action toward this goal are available, but only censure holds any real chance of success. mark out of maine, go ahead. caller: how are you doing? host: doing well. go ahead. caller: i do not think you should be impeached or removed. hadonly thing i can say is all the lawmakers in that ismber done their job, which something they don't seem to do convinced or well and the american people that this was a fair election, none of this would have happened. we know there was fraud.

host: how can people have been convinced? there were 50 court cases that were dismissed in courts around this country. what more evidence did you need? they should do a real investigation, not just waving their arms and saying it is baseless, which is all they do. host: this is gary in california. you are next. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i am doing well. caller: me, too. i think he should be impeached. toldat all the lies he has over the last four years and all the misrepresentations of the truth. i think he ought to be impeached. did you vote for him? caller: no, i would never vote

for that creep. host: who did you vote for in the republican primaries? caller: maybe i pushed the wrong button. i am a democrat. host: we are talking to republicans only. we want to get their thoughts because republicans are going to be a big focus this week. the house can impeach on a majority vote, but conviction in the senate takes two-thirds. for conviction to happen, republicans in the senate would have to join. nancy pelosi putting on the floor a resolution that she hopes will pass by unanimous consent calling on mike pence to invoke the 25th amendment. all eyes on republicans this week and republican reaction to the attack on the capital. joy. good morning. caller: we already saw for the

previous five years nancy pelosi's regime trying to take out our president. they failed. how are they going to be successful in the next five days? we are tired of it. they stole the election. you can see what you want, that all the court cases were thrown out. they never heard the case. they never heard the evidence. all they said was there was no process. pennsylvania's governor changed the laws. he had no authority to do that. our country has been hijacked by these, you could call them communists. americans are taking our country back. president trump will stay in office. biden can go screw himself. host: should anybody be held responsible for what happened on capitol hill last wednesday?

caller: no. president trump people who voted -- they call them supporters. people were there to take back their election, to take back their country, and they were not there to cause chaos. it was very peaceful. it was all a set up. host: do you think any of those people from all those videos, arrests around the country from people connected to the destruction of property and the attacks on police officers, do you think any of those people should be held responsible? caller: yes, the people who have been causing chaos for the last nine months since this pandemic started in portland, seattle, should we run down the list? philadelphia, recently there were riots. all of this stuff has been contrived. black lives matter is a

terrorist organization. they say antifa. i don't know who those people are or where they came from. what happened at the capitol, it is a disgrace that one of our veterans died. i believe pelosi has blood on our hands -- her hands. host: this is mike from wisconsin. caller: good morning. i do not believe he should be impeached. 10 days. i think it is a disgrace if they bring that up. they are just going to throw more fuel on the fire to people that voted for trump instead of letting the 10 days time out. said, hisve what he people he did not tell to go and attack the capitol.

done, like people say, why don't we ask for maxine waters to step down and nancy pelosi for what everybody done throughout the summer? if you see trump supporters coming get in their face. -- trump supporters, get in their face. about five minutes left in this first segment of "washington journal." we are talking to republicans only in this first hour. some other news out there, from david ignatius at the washington post with national security connections, breaking the story that president-elect joe biden plans to nominate william burns, former career diplomat, respected at home and abroad, to run cia.

personnellast major decision. thatghlights the quality characterizes biden's foreign policy team. is an inside player, brainy, reserved, collegial. though a diplomat, burns is a classic gray man, like those who populate the intelligence world. the title of his memoir, the back channel, refers in part to his role as a covert intermediary in the initial contacts with iran that led to the 2015 nuclear agreement. mark in new hampshire, you are next. caller: good morning. just so divisive, it is ridiculous. the last caller asking why

maxine waters was not censored or asked to step down? what a deep state of nonsense we brought ourselves into. five years, nancy pelosi has rallied against donald trump. why? why does she hate the man so much? because he wants to take the country back for the rest of us? this is totally ridiculous. host: what should be done about what happened last wednesday on capitol hill, the floor of the house and the senate? arrestedveryone who is should be charged with their crimes. my problem is i do not believe it was republicans. i have been a republican my whole life. if you work for a living, if you work for a living to raise a family, how can you think that everything should be given to

you for free? whose money is being handed out to free? this $2000 that they want to give to us, where are we getting that money from? does my grandson have to pay that back? are we borrowing that from china? i hear forward is shutting down a plant in kentucky because of a lack of a computer chip. a computer chip is going to put 4000 people out of work? where do these computer chips come from? host: what does it mean to be a republican today, and who do you think will lead the party once trump is out of the office? caller: i do not think we need a leader of the party. i think the people should be the leaders of the party. not these highfalutin, overpaid, overfed politicians who have been in office for decades.

joe biden has been in public office since he was 29 years old , 50 years. what does he have hang his hat on as an accomplishment? show me something that he has done. show me something that obama did that was fruitful for our country. host: do you think president trump will continue to lead the republican after he leaves office? caller: something was said earlier on your show about a third party and trump pushing for a third party. people might dislike him because of his arrogance and attitude, but when he left the democratic party and announced he was running as a republican, i could not wait to vote for the man. been crying we have out we need somebody who runs a business to be president, not be a lifelong politician who is

only interested in his own po wer. how much money is nancy pelosi worth? how much money is jeanne shaheen worth? how do these people become multimillionaires after only two or three years in the government? host: crystal, longview, texas. good morning. caller: i agree with mark. frankly, i think pull oc should osi should havel gone a long time ago. she has been on trump for one thing or the other, always just irritating, irritating things. she is upset about her office? let me tell you something, if she left trump alone, he could have done a lot more than he did. the man is one of the first presidents that has done

anything in a long time. i tell you one thing, i doubt that biden is going to change. he has not done anything, as the man said, in his wholedrawing p. no one has mentioned this, president trump did not take a salary. greedy --le are so you don't see any of them with their millions of dollars giving up their salary. crystal -- host: roy in woodstock, georgia. good morning. caller: i believe removing president trump -- people like ifblame the devil, but what it is god that wanted consequences to come? deuteronomy chapter 28,

god told us about the blessings --ilable to us through a endorseother thing to the sinner that lives among us. joe biden and democratic leadership represent -- host: with what happened -- was what happened on capitol hill yesterday bad? caller: that is a shaking of the country. not recognizing this entity of marriage and life, the media serving its false witness against the president, these people will be held accountable. held should anybody be accountable for not just the destruction on capitol hill but the deaths of a police officer, four others died wednesday >> -- wednesday >> caller: i think about portland, minnesota, people that lost their lives, the property that

was damaged. the democrats said nothing for six months. the people that went into washington, those are patriots. most of those people went peacefully. probably members instigated some things. police officers opening the gates to allow people in the building. what happened to those people? in thise last caller segment, but stick around. we will continue to talk about the republican party. we will be joined by henry olson of the ethics and public policy center on the future of the party. later, we will be joined by brookings institution's -- to examine efforts no way to remove the president, legal avenues available. we will be right back. ♪

tonight, outgoing chair of the federal communications commission ajit pai on the future of the fcc under a biden presidency. >> >> -- >> back in 2014, said it is time to put on the printed page open internet protections that all of us can agree on. no blocking no throttling. these are basic principles we can agree on, but it is up to elected officials in the next congress to make that determination. i hope that we will not be reprised of what we saw in 2017 and 2018. announcer: ajit pai commit tonight at 8:00 on "the communicators." announcer: go to c-span.org for the latest video, live and on demand, to follow the transition of power. president trump, president-elect

biden, news conferences and event coverage at c-span.org. announcer: you're watching c-span, your unfiltered view of government. c-span was created by america's cable television companies in 1979. we are brought to you by these television companies who provide c-span to as a public service. henry olson is a senior fellow at the ethics and public policy center. he has written books about conservatism, the republican party. mr. olson, how will last week's events and the final days of the trump presidency shape where the republican party goes from here? affect thes going to republican party very much. there has been a simmering civil war within the party over

multiple issues. president trump took those pre-existing differences and moved them in the particularly personal direction. there is going to be a vigorous debate and battle within the party, culminating in the 2022 midterms, where there will be challenges from both sides. i suspect there are many more republicans who are troubled by the turn that elements in the party have taken. even at the end of the trump presidency, nearly as many republicans said they were as supportive of the republican party as they were president trump. it is going to be a battle within the party. the 2022 midterms are likely to be fierce. the primaries in 2022. --t: we had two collars is ars say they hope there

third-party, the republican party splits and they follow president trump into a third-party. is that a possibility? guest: it is entirely possible. the question is always leadership. will somebody like president trump do that? is there going to be financial backing that a party like that needs, as opposed to an independent or presidential party? really a rossas perot personality vehicle, and not a party that could run candidates up and down ballots. end up givingely democrats super majorities because there is not a majority of people who would follow that. large, but nota majority party and not win many

elections. it is plausible that people would be angry enough for one election cycle. again --ld he win could he run again? caller: if he is impeached, he can't. willie? this will he? time het for a long would keep that as an option and see where he stood at the end of 2022. as we can see, this is a man who does not like to lose. if you were to run again and understand there was a substantial possibility of a genuine loss, i think he would spare himself that embarrassment and personal pain. i do think you will hold that as an option through 2022, then reassess. host: do you think he should be impeached or removed? guest: yes. host: you wrote in a column that

the effort of removing him could make him a martyr. guest: it could make him a martyr for many of the reasons you have heard from callers. the democrats are not blameless. there are far from blameless in the situation we find ourselves in. they turned up the temperature for four years, made baseless allegations, and have consequently driven many people into a corner where they feel they have no choice but to oppose them with all of their might. officeg trump from allows those people not to see what trump actually did, and to say he was driven from office. which is to say, he was removed from office because he was an effective champion for them. [indiscernible]

terrible for america if that were to happen. happens.see what the president is large enough for problem he should be barred from office. i think it is worth the risk of turning him into a martyr and a temporary period of democratic dominance. ecp.org, that is where -- nine if you want to join the conversation, phone lines are open. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. henry olson with us. what do are calling in, you make of the political futures of ted cruz and josh hawley? guest: their political futures

will be dependent on the overall battle within the republican party. nevertheless, achieving dominance over a minority party is a precious small prize to win. was vocallyne who and forcefully involved in the certify theefuse to electoral college votes will not win the presidency in 2024. already, joe biden did win legitimately. the election was not fraudulent. millions of republicans voted nottrap -- trump who will support anyone who engaged in the rights or the efforts today legitimized the election.

dissident republicans if they lose the 24 primaries, i do not think either man can be president in 2024. how far into the future? american policies is notable for its ability to forgive. i do not want to predict beyond 2024, but neither man will be president in 2024. host: sean in north carolina, for democrats. good morning. things ine of the think needs to happen is every journalist across the country needs to start telling the truth. no more of these lies, misleading the people. -- dr. needs to be reinstalled. there is too much media not holding anybody accountable. hear the hoax of the russian

thing, it is not a hoax. they actually had a meeting in trump tower with russian spies. host: where do you go for your news? caller: who's going to take over the republican party? , we will does anything be at a place where you can't go back no more because you've got one group believing lies, and one people believing truth and science and things that actually work. these people won't even acknowledge that trump caused this. guest: there is a lot there to unpack. has explainedller why 75 million republican voters are fearful. aree described it, we liars, his site is truth tellers. the fairness doctrine would be a fight against us, not the ludicrous statements put across

msnbc and cnn. ad that would be basically legal means to suppress center-right viewpoints. not beequentially should put forward in a democracy, with respect to the meat -- the meeting in trump tower, i believe that was a rogue operation by paul manafort, who is particularly venal character. allegations that have been spewed against president trump is that he is a willing and russia new test dupe of and there is no evidence to support that. ist was a lie, and it something the mueller investigation failed to prove any support for. anyone who believes that at this point is simply ignoring with the facts show. host: north miami beach, florida. republican. caller: good morning.

very sad times for my country. born and raised here, i am in my 60's. allink i took for granted that the constitution and the bill of rights gave me. anyone who forced their way into the capital were destroyed property should be arrested and criminally charged. i have been a democrat my whole life. for the first time, i joined the republican party as a small business owner and saw the best economy of my career. i want you to consider the difference in how this event was covered by the mainstream media and how the media cover the riots over the summer. rationalizeught to and defined obstructive behavior during the summer riots that burned cities and left citizens injured and dying in the streets. as a necessary movement -- in fact, kamala harris echoed the statement in july by stating

they are not going to stop. this is a movement, they are not going to let up, they should not let up to sanction violence is wrong. no matter what side. i fear the worst is to come if we continue to erode the first amendment of free speech and freedom of the press. this is not a good idea to impeach or censor this president. this is a mistake. roade being taken down a of revolution between the left radicals and the right radicals who want to own the middle. host: mr. olson? guest: my great fear for years has been that we are facing exactly what the caller talked about, a battle between left radicals and right radicals, leaving the middle

underrepresented or tyrannized. that is the great danger america faces. both sides, both parties need to combat that. both party leaderships have winked at, or turned a blind eye to the existence of radicals and people who are not committed to american ideals, whether that is democrats who were slow to condemn or did not condemn the riots in the cities of america during the summer, or today. , -- republicans who want to turn a blind eye to what happened last week. as long as our freedoms remain intact, the american people will be -- in the long term. we have a neighbor to the north that has a party on the right and parties on the left and are governed largely by a canadian liberal party.

there is nothing the united states that precludes that from happening if people choose to bring that together. that would be a fruitful option if either of the two parties cannot contain the extremists within their midst. stops themthing that from creating a majority center party. host: from milwaukee, johnny. caller: thank you for this opportunity to speak. you are always a great host and give people a great -- because i am independent, i want to make this point clear. what happened in washington, uprising against to the government of the united states and the will of the people. those are important keys in maintaining democracy and an orderly way of life. when people compare the black lives matter movement and try to equate those two is a great tragedy.

i am a 70-year-old black man. one of the things i have seen over the years is that generally black people do not attack the seat of government in order to overthrow. let's make that clear. don't --ery people -- black people would never do that. what we have been fighting for for 400 years, we have been captive people, we were brought here as slaves and worked hard to help build america. with all this chaos, what we want to do is work with the system so we can get full citizenship, full respect for jobs, opportunity, housing and equal justice. we have been fighting for that. we have been trying to work with america we have been trying to work with the government to see

if we can be accounted as full human beings. to be5 of a man, we want counted as full human beings with the ability to pursue the right of freedom and justice. don't do this unfair comparison. the people who were looting and rioting, the majority of those people were crazy people. i don't believe in burning nobody's business down, on either side. host: mr. olson. guest: i think almost everybody in america now wants what the caller wants. --e blackley poop -- we need to continue to make progress on that goal. i commend his condemnation of the riots that are carried out

in the name of that goal. i agree with him that what happened last week was not the equal to what happened in the summertime. all that sincerely, what happened in the summertime was bad. what happened in the summertime cannot repeat itself. when we come into the summer of 2021, given the moral stance of the -- party, it will be their position as to how to deal with that if it does come. if it does not come, that is something that should be commended as well. we saw in the 1960's how one summer of rights begat another. that would be -- one summer of riots begat another. that would be destructive to any attempt at american unity. theok forward to a time in not-too-distant future where we don't have to worry about that and where we can debate about how to elevate black people in

america to the level of human citizenship they rightly reserve -- rightly deserve. trump touted the republican party as the party of law & order. after last week, what happened to the mantle of law and order? guest: americans want law and order whether there democrats, independent or republican. what we need to do within the republican party as we need to show we are as committed to law as to order. that is the great problem with president trump. when he uses those words, the emphasis is on "order." when we use those words, and democrats that say they too are the mantle of law and order, you have to be equally supportive of law and order. there is a lot of emphasis placed on the republican party. in a democracy, people form

parties according to their -- gs andsaw with the whi federalists, when one party can't represent those people they will find another vehicle. fallshe republican party apart, there are millions of centrist voters who can be called upon to support a new political organization that will be short of the toxic activities of this present and would be able to talk about law and order simultaneously. what is important is that center-right and centerleft and people across the order speak in favor of law & order, and mean law is a democratic process, not as a tictac process. when that happens, we will have law and order. host: back to milwaukee, this is michelle am a democrat.

caller: i am happy you allowed me -- the republicans to call in first because it has shown how insane they have gotten. it is remarkable and amazing to see how naive adults are 2it iso see how naive adults are 2 -- [no audio] remorseful to coronavirus, he is not -- that hador the been launched at the capital. he only cares about his followers praising him. as soon as he is done with them,

he is going to kick them to the curb. host: mr. olson. dangeroushink it is to ascribe intent to people. helpful to sayot that people on the other of the political aisle for ordinary citizens are insane, crazed, people. oft is the language suppression of equal citizenship. i think what happened is awful. there are too many lies that have been spread to people who believed them because people they trust have been spreading them, and that is the battle. -- within the right. that has been happening within the democratic party as well. at somesomething that

point democratic party leadership will have to address, whether it will continue to wink at forces within it. whether they will have the courage to stand up for that. now is not the time to focus on that. republicans and the right have their own problems and faults that have to be dealt with. about-ism is not a defense to make sure that truth in american ideals of freedom, tolerance and dignity become the uniform on the right and not people use to advance political combat with the other side. host: the caller ended by talking about mike pence. what is his future in the party? guest: i always have had difficult times seeing how mike pence becomes president.

different forces at work within the party and his particular skills as a campaigner. future ande pence's the party rests on him being on andside of being a vocal active leader, repudiating the toxic legacy of the man whose ticket he served on. he can be a unique leader on that. i believe for the last four years, he and many other patriots have been waging a silent internal battle within the administration to set the guardrail up on this man who was the legitimately elected president the united states. i think he needs to cast off his reticence and be somebody who is a leader in the fight for a sane and humane right. if he were to do so, i think he would have a strong future. otherwise, i think he is somebody who is too compromised by association with trump and

too compromised by what he did, thetfully, in upholding election on january 6, defying support within the republican party. ,ost: we talked about your book the four faces of the republican party and the fight for 2016. what are the four faces? are there still just four? guest: the four faces were the pre-trump division in the party and moderates, religious, small government secular conservatives. what i showed conclusively was that the strong majority of the republican party was in the somewhat conservative majority camp. why those candidates did not win.

what happened in 2016 was a conduct -- was a consolidation. won the nomination, not because he was the choice of the right, but he was the choice of the centerleft. strongest among moderates and somewhat conservatives and weakest among very conservatives. i think what is happening is going to confound that because there are those divisions based on old questions. we have new questions coming to the floor. when we have new questions, we find new facts. up to january 6, those four faces still existed, with the addition of a fifth face, a trump faction that is populist. prior to january 6, the battle for the republican party was going to be what it always was, a battle among the factions for dominance and alliances among voters within different factions once the presidential race came

down to a one-on-one battle. we will see whether or not the new questions create new factions. host: 15 minutes left with henry olson. orc but if you want to check out his work. -- eppc.org. we will head to the lone star state. this is david, a republican. caller: i want to thank both of you for taking my call. i want to unpack a couple of was talkingler about. a lot of people have been comparing what happened last week to the 68 months of rioting and looting that place from plm and nt five. -- antifa. the first thing we have to acknowledge is, you said these are people that anti-five people

are saying -- these are black-and-white people saying they want to work within the system to change it. i do not know what defending the police and the hatred for our country and the values our country has, the president has given many of these people opportunities already, i do not know how dismantling the apparatus that gave them the opportunities they have today is working within the system. completely, as they say. both sides had elements within them that were destructive, both on january 6 and the six to eight months the writing took place. i think it is fair to compare those two. if we ignore that, we are continuing the alienation of conservatives that has been taking place that gave us trump in the first place.

i really appreciate the work your guest has done understanding the republican party. i don't believe trump is the type of person -- i do not think he is too different than what conservatives and republicans have been speaking about since the decade of reagan. i think he just pushes a lot of suppressed issues that our representatives ignore, people on the others thinking everyone , and if you are not in for immigration, you're racist, he pushes a lot of those elements to the top and says we are tired of being called names. we want to have a reasonable debate and discuss these things. host: let's let henry olson jump in. guest: i am also a daily columnist for the washington post. if people want to read my thinking, they can be posed subscribers. today through friday i have a column that talks about this on

an ongoing basis. there is a lot there. when i want to concentrate on is something that the left either ,illfully or blindly ignores that most anger rank-and-file republicans have is being labeled as being outside the pails of polite discussion. when you infer racism from nonracist motives, your dehumanizing the people who patriotic views on the basis of policy disagreement. that is something that has continued over the past couple of weeks. it is something that many on the left want to continue. robert reich, former cabinet secretary continually refers to fascists without defining them.

the 99% majority or more of people who vote republican have no sympathy with anything akin to authoritarianism. what they are tired of his being inferred that they are beneath contempt. that is something that donald and highlyartfully brought to the surface. that is the focal point of future conservative, center-right, whatever you want to name it statesman show to give a positive assessment to the deep longing of people on ed asight to be respect well as providing a framework which will allow people across the spectrum to also feel respected so we can restore the idea of disagreement without disparagement. opposition,loyal with whom you disagree but share

a bond of citizenship is central to a liberal democracy. that is a concept that is being discarded. once we discard the concept of loyal opposition, we cannot have a free republic. host: this is david out of georgia. caller: good morning. good morning mr. olson. to geton, i would like philosophical. what is going on in america is easily described as "we the and the we people. wee -- they have used slavery to divide us. they are still using that same card today. what we saw on january 6, which , anll never forget insurrection.

it is the same thing fidel castro did in cuba with his people when he marched in and took over. i don't want that to happen to us. many of those people kept saying, this is not us. what we saw was the radical people that they have been dividing us with. the we people. the we people are the richest ones in the country who said we are just going to -- they have used it against us ever since. i appreciate your opinions on that, but john, i've got a bone to pick for just a second. i saw you photobombing at the capital in the rotunda. about a year and a half ago. i'd be careful who i photobomb behind. have a wonderful day. please p2 the difference of the we people and the people. the we people have been saying

that the union is a socialist organization. preamble isd in the the word "union." host: mr. olson. i don't want to put myself inside a taxonomy the gentleman just presented without thinking about -- i don't want to use the terms he used because that is not the terms i think in. -- the american republic it is based on continued to bait about the meanings of the prince of the deck relation of independence and the constitution. is essential that we remain committed to those ideals and work on their interpretation, not their overthrow. the extremists on the left who want a socialist america are people who do not interpret those ideals.

for the people on the right to -- isome sort of purified am not sure what term to use -- racially pure america, they too are not people who are genuinely ls.erpreting the idea we need to treat one another as people engaged in a dialogue and debate. debate can be fierce and emotional, that is what political debate is. at the end of the day, we have to see it as people. people with equal dignity, even if we have different opinions, we have to maintain the idea of loyal opposition. if we do that, there can be no we the people versus the we people, to use his terms. host: karl from twitter

wrightson, many in both parties have been complicit in blocking third-party candidates and independents, trump may not have happened. guest: we have an odd system. it is unique in that we have mass voter primaries. other countries have primaries, but they are limited to members of the party. the fact that we have mass primaries means that people who in other countries who would be third parties instead become factions within the two parties. there are barriers and difficulties to forming third parties, but it is more cost efficient for people who disagree with the consensus to try and seize control of one of the parties through the primary process than to form a third party. that is why we don't have third parties in the united states. not conspiracies or ballot access, it is because the people

themselves who in other countries form third parties and sets -- instead try to take a dominant position in one of the parties using primaries. it should be an open question whether it is healthy for us to do that, or whether it would be healthier for us to have restrictions on who can fight for a party's nomination command thereby forced disagreement within party elites. a couple more calls. this is drawn out of new york. caller: good morning. my two cents put in. they weretrump, when negotiating to run, trump called his wife ugly, stupid, called his father a killer.

now today, he is fighting for him? he is a two faced person. they should get rid of him immediately. host: back to ted cruz. guest: senator cruz has a well-deserved reputation for somebody who is too clever by half in pursuit of his own political advancement. his election after to the senate dividing republicans against republicans, which is why the republican establishment and not rally behind him against donald trump. they have been attacked for 3.5 years. they didn't really think they could trust that man. attempthat again in his to jump on the bandwagon with objectwley's decision to to the electoral college votes

with this, i am for commission with has legal standing -- it was an attempt to trying to lay different ways and the senator is reaping what he sewed and will receive his just desserts in the not-too-distant future. host: somewhat lost in the events of last week, the results of the runoff in georgia. what lessons to republican states to take from the results of the runoff? the results in georgia, which were a free and non-corrupt election, show what has been clear for many years. the future of the republican as a party that unites conservatives and moderates in a common bond of citizenship and nationalism -- genuine nationalism, not racial or religious, but the idea of a

nationalism that is committed to a government that works on behalf of its people, whether it means getting out of the way, or building their guardrails that make opportunity possible for many. donald trump show the republican party that it could expand amongst people in the working class and minorities. 201020 -- 2020 received higher shares of black and minority votes than any republican in decades. away educated suburbanites who could have been united with an open, tolerant division the president was unable to provide. becomeshat and georgia a republican state again. a 55%, 65ou build percent republican majority throughout the country that

would place the republican party and dominant position of american life. host: margaret in delray beach, florida. caller: there has been so many statements since my original idea to call. i had tamika quick comment. mr. olson, after hearing you have a column in the washington post, you went down a few points. the fact that you used toxicity when referring to donald trump, which we all know he has a mouth , i find the washington post is maybe only second to the new york times for spreading toxic misinformation and bias. democrat, than i was republican, now i'm independent. it is redundant what i am saying, but it is disappointing and convenient that we have a new word called whatabout is him. should notnient that

be used in a conversation because i watched my country all summer long, as things were quantified, and everything was excused. i am from new york originally, you pile on what happened all summer with the riots and looting, and it reminded me of the naked gun were leslie nielsen was standing in front of a fireworks factory saying, nothing to see here. it was shoved down american throats that it was just a few people. the fact that they were fighting for equal rights for minorities -- i watched a woman beaten almost to death in front of her husband. i watched a man received brain injuries and was kicked in the middle of the street. the people who follow donald trump were told you get rid you deserved, and this is your fault. they were held to be complicit. donald trump was simply a result. donald trump is one of those people who says what a lot of

people are thinking. rip up a nancy pelosi document, get donald trump is a man of toxicity? there is so much toxicity in government. host: we want to give henry olson a chance. myst: do not hold association with the post against me. i was calling out democrats or their toxicity for years. that doesn't excuse what donald trump does. donald trump was artful and terribly divisive, all at the same time. what happened over the summer was shameful. it was mob rule. it was violence. andas not uniformly forcefully condemned by the people in the other party to the degree it should have been. what happened in the summertime was not the equal of what happened on january 6, for the simple reason that destroying a city is not the same as trying

to seize lawmakers in the heart of the capital. but, mob rule, violence and opposition to trying to achieve by force would you could not achieve by votes, as lincoln said, bullets not ballots, is wrong. it must be condemned forcefully. by all responsible members. the failure to do that in the summertime is a black stain on the people who refuse to recognize the threat to mob rule. host: you can check out henry olson's columns at washingtonpost.com. .org.ther works at eppc guest: thanks for having me on. host: up next, back to your phone calls asking the same question we asked earlier. should president trump be removed from office? democrats, republicans and

independents can call in now. we will be right back. ♪ announcer: use our website to follow the federal response to coronavirus. watch our searchable video anytime on-demand and track the spread with interactive maps. c-span.org/coronavirus. announcer: now, more than 60 new members of congress, including first-generation immigrants, state representatives, television reporters, and former athletes. watch our conversation with new members all this week at 8:00 p.m. tonight, meet lauren boebert, marjorie taylor greene, madison cawthorn, michelle fishbach, diana harshbarger, and stephanie

bice. major members of congress this week at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org, or listen on the c-span radio app. [video clip] >> the votes for president of the united states are as follows. jessa biden has received 306 votes. donald j. trump from florida has received 232 votes. theuncer: with the votes in 2020 presidential election counted and confirmed by congress, attention turns to the inauguration of the 46th president on january 20, joe biden and kamala harris take the oath of office as president and vice president of the usp -- u.s.. c-span, streaming on c-span.org, or listen with the free c-span radio app.

♪ host: here is where we are. nancy pelosi announcing in a letter to lawmakers last night that she will put a bell on the floor today demanding that vice president pence invoke the 25th amendment when it comes to president trump. giving him 24 hours to take action on that. if not, nancy pelosi saying she will move toward impeachment. this week on capitol hill, when it comes to those efforts to remove president trump from office, we are asking whether you think either should happen. phone lines as usual, democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. , (202) 748-8002. derek in randall's town, maryland. a democrat. caller: good morning.

absolutely, pelosi should go ahead. this guy needs to be impeached. the guy is mentally ill. we know that. he doesn't care about anybody but himself. i can guarantee within a week you will be pardoning everybody. another sign of guilt. he needs to be impeached. they need to go ahead with it to send a message. thank you very much. host: when you say pardoning everybody, do you mean pardoning folks who attacked capitol hill? caller: now, he is going to ,ardon his sons, his daughter he is going to try to pardon himself. we know all of this is getting ready to happen because he knows he is in big trouble after january 20th -- after 20. oft: this is harold out flowery branch, georgia.

republican. should president trump be removed? caller: no. ais country has gotten into real bad situation where the communist party is taking over. it is straight out of the communist book, divide and conquer. cause enough trouble, use natural disasters to benefit from, not do anything about, benefit. to be intry is going bad shape if this continues. host: do you think president trump bears responsibility for what happened on capitol hill? caller: i think everybody does. commissionerelosi -- mr. schumer, maybe not mr. pentz.

pence. this takeover of our government should not stand. host: that is harold in georgia. from usa today, "republicans join cries for trump impeachment." , christhe photos christie. he was on abc's newsweek. [video clip] >> they are going to have to vote their conscious. what we had was incitement to riot at the united states capital. we had people killed. to me, there is not a lot of question here. >> you think it was an impeachable offense? >> sure. yeah. >> you will vote to that she would vote to impeach? >> that is exactly what i would do. i am not in there, but that is

my opinion. isn't,ting insurrection i do not know what is. host: chris christie from the sunday shows yesterday. for impeachment. housees a majority of the to impeach, conviction with two thirds support in the senate. a lot of steps between now and then. what democrats are focusing on today is there effort to get the vice president to invoke the 25th amendment to remove the president from office. we are asking euros, should the president be removed? this is mike from ashburn, virginia. caller: how are you. i think he should be impeached. just take a look at what happened and think about it. he riled up the crowd to go in

and murder people. think about it. if it would have gotten out of hand, if they could have got a hold of any of those lawmakers, most of those people went in couldn't tell a democrat from a republican. they would have murdered lawmakers. that would have been donald trump's presidency for life. and getsdy insinuates people riled up to do something, that is heinous. there are some good people in the republican party. but, you can't embrace the racist side of those people because those people really don't care about america. they just care about tearing it down. the good people in the republican party, we need them to be the party they were before. host: this is from tony via ,witter about what happened tony is saying "i haven't heard anyone defend the violence in d.c. last week.

what i am seeing is a guilt by association strategy, and a policy of collective guilt, both have proven destructive." caller: if you look at the crowd, their world ladies they're just trying to express themselves and be part of the crowd. they had nothing to do with the fringe element. it is not just a fringe element, those are dangerous people for the whole country. you can't embrace a racist group of people who don't like jews, blacks or anybody else, and say come be a part of our party. donald trump used that to our fullest. -- to the fullest. he set those people into murder lawmakers. if they would have found you, there was an of guns in that building. host: that is mike and virginia. this is james in fort worth.

democrat. -- white supremacists caused the -- but direction from the republican party. the election of barack obama gave us donald trump. i am not saying that every trump voter is racist, but i am saying every racist is a trump voter. the proof is the people who attacked the capital, the extreme right neofascists, the proud boys were in there, the militia movements were there, white supremacists were in there. we can't ignore that. donald trump has pandered to the white supremacists since the day he called barack obama a kenyan born muslim. i am a 70 five-year-old vietnam veteran who has voted every time

, and i voted mostly for democrats. we cannot allow white supremacist neofascists, which has media support in some places, we cannot allow those people to turn america into a neofascist country. thank you for taking my call. host: from the wall street journal, "law enforcement bracing for more violence. the intelligence group which tracks extremist threats online said the weekend that they have armed far-right protests scheduled for january 17." others telling the million militia march in washington january 20, the day president-elect biden would be inaugurated. bidens said the inauguration has been designated a national security event, and given a threat rating that the wednesday events last week did not receive.

today if youll were to walk around you would notice of fencing, seven feet tall, placed around the capital and is expected to remain for at least 30 days. daniel and stanford, texas. caller: hello. host: go ahead. not think trump should be impeached. bottom line, he got our embassy moved. they had been talking about it for 50 years, and he did it in his first year in office. in three years, we had the best economy in the world. is, hillary clinton. host: to see bear responsibility for what happened last week?

caller: north korea is not our ally. 250 thousand social security funds major president. anyhow. bear does president trump responsibility for what happened on capitol hill? caller: what you mean? he didn't invite them there. if that's what you're saying. the country has been stirred up for the last four years. elected, theyeven try to impeach him. host: that is daniel in texas. we go to north carolina, independent. caller: think you for taking my call. i have questions. as to what happened in our capital, it was unheard of. speech, inald trump's

sons and speech andis it started with giuliani. then his son got up there. you do not fight, i will be in your backyard. it won't be pretty." if that isn't inciting a riot, i do not know what is. the 60's, i heard of inciting a riot being against the law. isn't it against the law for donald trump? his lawyer is going to defend him. why isn't he brought up on charges? why isn't his son brought up on charges? i do not know if i should do off or if you might cut me

if i try, but i have been watching fox news for a little bit. i have never seen a more prejudiced news station in my life. it donald trump in 2016 when he was running for president said there onan walk out the street, shoot and kill somebody and they will still vote me in. he has proved to the world he actually believes that. guess he should be impeached, yes he should be convicted and and he needs to go to a hard-core prison. host: to your questions about incitement, i would point due to to a column in the wall street journal on the opinion pages by jeffrey scott schapiro. he served as assistant attorney general of the district of columbia from 2007 to 2009. he takes up this issue of

incitement pertaining to district law. the headline of the column by the way -- president trump is not guilty of incitement but this is what he writes -- " the district law defines a riot as a public disturbance which by tumultuous and violent conduct or the threat thereof creates grave danger of damage or injury to property or persons." there wasrump spoke no public disturbance, only a rally. the disturbance came later at the u.s. capitol by a small minority who entered the perimeter and broke the law. they should be prosecuted. the president's critics want him charged for inflaming the emotions of angry americans. that alone does not satisfy the elements of any criminal offense and therefore his speech is

protected by the constitution." caller: thank you for taking my call. do not hang up on me. thestice sawyer article, guy in the wall street journal saw your article, the guy in the wall street journal. the speech is limited until point where you incite or cause people to commit crimes. have the president of the united states of america that incites people to go to the capital. .hose people had bombs those people had zip ties. they were going to arrest

people. they went in there to do bodily harm. they killed one of the capitol police. they murdered him. what organization can you tell me where someone can do what he did and people will still give him all the keys to come in and do whatever he wants to do? he should have been gone on the seventh of january. host: in florida this morning. 10 minutes left in this segment of washington journal. do you think president trump should be removed from office? trump's staunchest defenders headed to the morning shows yesterday including jim jordan. he was on fox's sunday morning futures. >> what happened wednesday is a tragedy. it is as wrong as wrong could be but i hope the democrats do not

go down this road. we do not know if they are going to. let's hope they do not do that. 75 million americans have been called deplorable to eat at the olive garden. peter strzok said he could smell the trump supporters in a walmart. now the democrats are going to try to remove the president from office seven days before he is set to leave anyway. i do not see how that unites the country. senator graham asked vice president -- president-elect joe biden to give a speech to the country and say we should not be pursuing the 25th. we should bring the country together, move forward and return to being america the greatest nation ever. host: congressman jim jordan on fox yesterday. , the questionext

of should trump be removed from office out of oklahoma city. caller: first time i have ever called. 52ave been a republican for years. right before the election i switched to independent. in 2016.or trump i have never voted for anyone other than a republican. i am very distressed. i see hypocrisy. i see people who allow their party to do one thing and the other party not. yes, he needs to be held accountable. that is the problem. he has not been held accountable. done so much damage to our country, to our party so for the first time i voted for a democrat. i am 73 years old.

my heart is broken to see all this. when i see republicans like jim jordan and all these others -- if president trump had been a democrat, they would be on this in a hot minute. terriblerisy is because they want to get away with it but they do not want the other party to get away with it. he needs to be held responsible. host: what was it before the election that was the breaking point for you? listen, i read trump's biography in the 90's and he did not have very much character in my opinion. we came down to the election i was shocked he became the candidate.you know we had so many good people in so i came in with

my fingers crossed hoping and praying -- i am a minister's hoping andl -- praying that he had changed. i was trying to believe he was untilto do great -- right he went into all the lies, the deception, the way he has hooked up with prudent -- with putin. my husband is a world traveler. you want to hear what people say around the world about america now. it is the saddest thing. i have cried my eyes out over it. host: oklahoma city this morning. this is diane out of slidell, louisiana, republican. i am certainly not in favor of president trump being impeached again. it is bad.

he has given unselfishly over ensure ourain to safety. -- as us in position position we have never been in before and i have the utmost respect for all his efforts. certainly there are things that have gone wrong along the way on if we do notut find things in common instant of -- instead of finding our differences -- it is my prayer them to lord will cause say where will we find our similarities? we all love america? well let's love america. it would be tragic to impeach a man that has given as sacrificially as he has over

these last four years in office. host: diane out of louisiana. at some news from capitol hill when it comes to the capitol police so much attention focused on the capitol police in the last week. attack a new acting cheese -- chief of police after the resignation of the prior chief of police. yoganandapendent -- be the interim chief of police after the resignation of steven sund. the washington post talks about his efforts trying to get help sooner and capitol efforts to ask members of the capitol police board to a let that happen. he said in his interview that

paul irving said before the attacks that he was not confident -- comfortable with the optics of declaring an emergency ahead of the demonstration. suggestednt of arms lean forwardext to and be on alert in case something happens. it was the sixth time sund's request for help was denied. amidst to the cross -- crisis help five more times. , another tragic story we found out involving the capitol police, the agency took another hit with the death of off duty -- and off-duty officer two law-enforcement officials

said that li bin good died by suicide after being at the scene of the capital violence on iebengood died by suicide after being at the scene itol violence on wednesday. trump ordered flags flown at half mast. this is theck, picture of the hearse carrying his body passed to the u.s. capitol and salutes from his fellow capitol police officers. democrat, your next. -- you are next. caller: should trump be impeached? yes. is it practical? no. should he be removed from office?

yes. is it practical? no. after hearing from your republican callers, i am humbled. so many people believe so many things that are not true. where are these republican people getting this amiss -- this misinformation? they are being fed it, probably from fox news. they were focusing on the riots in the summer. if you did turn to fox news during that time, all you saw was conflagration. you did not see discussion of the underlying matters at hand, which was black lives matter, people trying to draw attention to the fact that they cannot even walk down the street -- they cannot be in their own homes without getting murdered. out,g on, i want to point peaceful protest is a gift of our founders to the people of

america. these were not peaceful protests. underlying all that smoke and mace and such is what donald trump had been asking the people of this country to do for two months, which is overturn a fairly conducted election and what the legislators were doing was enforcingng the law. come toe only going to the certified electors from the various states as is the law -- certified electors from the various states as is law. listen to lindsey graham's speech. that was what donald trump did not want them to do. he called people to the capital riot and to=

disrupt that lawful process. i want biden to be a peacemaker. i think he needs to bring the country together. on a positive note, the last time i called in, we were discussing the confederate flag. nascar that week pull down the flag. the people of mississippi --thank you, mississippi -- they got rid of the confederate flag and then voted in the most beautiful flag in the union. it has a magnolia blossom in the middle, the only state i know with flour on it. that is something -- flower on it. that is something we can look towards. we need to put our differences

aside and move forward together. host: elizabeth out of san diego, our last caller in this segment of the washington journal. still 45 minutes left in our program. up next we will be joined by the working institution's -- williaminstitution's galston. ♪ tonight on the communicators outgoing chair of the federal communications commission ajit pai on the future of the fcc under a biden presidency. position, iook this wanted them to put on the page -- these are very basic principles we can all agree on but it is up

to elected officials in the next congress to make that determination. i hope as they engage in that debate we will not see a reprise of 2017 and 2018. pai tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on the communicators on c-span2. >> go to c-span.org for the latest video live and on demand to follow the transfer of power. donald trump, joe biden, and event coverage at c-span.org. you are watching c-span your unfiltered view of government. by cables created television companies in 1979. today we are brought to you by these television companies who provide c-span as a public

service. >> washington journal continues. host: c-span viewers know bill billston as senior -- galston for his work in the wall street journal. toare expecting nancy pelosi lunch each member see to -- laun ch impeachment proceedings in the house. how does that work in the last nine days of the trump presidency? guest: where not sure it can work in the last nine days of the trump presidency, which is the problem. the house is free not only to write its own impeachment articles but to create own procedures, and there has been some discussion that the procedures would allow for a very quick about on articles, whatever they turn out to be and

that requires only a simple majority. that is the easy part. at the point and this is discretion of the house, the articles of impeachment are transmitted to the senate, which itnot begin work until after receives the articles. that may sound like a technical or mechanical point, but it is anything but. one of the most senior leaders of the house democrats, james clyburn, has said that the house could invoke articles of impeachment then hold onto those articles for an extended period totime, perhaps 100 days allow the biden administration to get off to a strong start, to confirm its nominees for cabinet and sub cabinet positions, to get its initial plans for

covid-19 indy economic -- and economic recovery in place. only then with the articles of impeachment to be transmitted to the senate. that i believe is legally possible. if articles are voted by the house of representatives then transmitted to the senate, the senate must then establish or restate impeachment protocol, how proceedings will be handled. ago, the senate went through that process and agreement was reached on how to proceed. the proceedings took quite a long time to unfold on the floor recall.allte as you of that is hanging in the door -- the air. to convict in the senate requires a two thirds vote,

which under current 17cumstances means republicans out of 50 would have to agree with the democrats, assuming all the democrats are united on this point, which is not obvious, in order to reach the required 67 votes. that in a nutshell is how things would per seed -- proceed. host: amy raskin one of the lead sponsors of this, this was last night after 10:00 p.m. eastern, he is noting that they almost , 210the number required members are on the resolution i co-authored with ted lieu to president for his actions and statements leading to the armed and violent storming of the u.s. capitol by

an insurrectionist mob. this is an intolerable crime against our constitution." believe it is legal to hold an impeachment trial against a president after he has left office? guest: many constitutional scholars believe that it is. some disagree. fore is one precedent holding an impeachment trial after someone has already left office. it is a precedent that is more than 150 years old. it has not been tested in the courts to my best knowledge. i regard this as a disputed question. it is certain that it would be disputed if the issue arises. if the democrats vote articles of impeachment, which now appears probable although it is

not inevitable, the senate majority leader, or soon to be minority leader mitch mcconnell, circulated a memo last week laying out the steps the senate would have to go through to take up the articles of impeachment reaching the conclusion that it would be technically impossible to get the job done before the inauguration of the new president. strictlyhat is speaking true, i do not know. suggests even if the articles of impeachment very,ow that it would be very difficult to get the job done in the remaining eight days. host: in that memo mitch mcconnell circulated he did not take a position on whether he would support or oppose such an impeachment.

he was just laying out the mechanics of that. we are working through the mechanics this morning of some of the different options to remove president trump from office that are being discussed on capitol hill today. william galston is our guest of the brookings institution. we want you to join the conversation. democrats can call in at (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. as folks are culling and i would point them to your article -- calling in i would point them to your article. what are the other legal channels? the president could simply choose to resign. suggestedlicans have that he should do just that. chatters even been some

that he might choose to do so, having reached an agreement with vice president pence who would become president, if mr. trump resigns to issue a comprehensive pardon. be anot sure that would terrific way to go, but it is possible and it would not necessarily be inconsistent with the president's own interests. obviously he would have to be the judge of that. the other process for involuntary removal of the president goes through the 25th amendment, which has been much discussed over the past week or so. most people are familiar with namely that you would need the vice president

lust a majority of the president's cabinet -- plus a majority of the president's cabinet. if the president denies that he is unable to discharge the duties of his office, there would then have to be a vote in congress. i willry serves, and consult the text of the 25th amendment, which i happen to have with me, it would require vote in-a two thirds toh the house and senate sustain the vice president into the cabinet over the president's objections. that is wrinkle number one. here is wrinkle number two, which has not been much noted except by congressman raskin. congressman raskin taught constitutional law before joining congress.

section four of the 25th amendment reads, and i quote, orenever the vice president other such bodies as congress may by law provide --" what does that mean? that means congress could pass a law designating a body other than the cabinet that would have to agree with the vice president by a majority vote in order to initiate the removal process under the 25th amendment, and i believe that congressman raskin has introduced a resolution that would in fact create such an alternative body. approvedesolution were by both the house and senate,

vice president pence would then have the option of stating that he favored the temporary removal of the president, which is technically speaking what it and his stepping in as acting president. of that newly created body would then have to agree. has one or more forks in it, which makes the analysis of the options in this situation even more complicated than it would otherwise be. host: as you write it at the end of your column we are referencing, the final option is to do nothing, to stay vigilant and hope president trump does nothing more to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. bill galston our guest this morning.

we have plenty of colors waiting to talk to you. gregory is out of many -- caller s waiting to talk to you. --gory is out of minnesota minneapolis. caller: all of this is overwhelming. i do believe the wealth of andld trump and pence everyone in between has nothing to do with politics or money. it is all about power. black people do not have power in this country. white people are drunk on power. donald trump is drunk on power. to dows money has nothing with it. host: what do you think happens in the next nine days here? caller: a lot of job jacking more than anything else. jacking more than

anything else. donald trump will walk away and we will be more frustrated than ever. guest: the caller may well be right. donald trump may well just walk but here is a cautionary if president trump is not impeached and convicted or removed via some version of he 25th amendment obstacle, will still face potential legal liability after he leaves office. some legal scholars believe that the president in the course of rallying his troops to march on numberitol did break a of established and well

understood laws and there is no guarantee other than a complete pardon from somebody that the president could escape legal scrutiny after he is -- he leaves office, which leads to one more question. would it be constitutional for the president to pardon himself before he leaves office? he says yes, some legal scholars agree, i would say the majority disagree. that is just one more wrinkle to look out for. jim, oneuestion from of our viewers on twitter who about the option of the 25th amendment " do acting secretaries have the authority to vote on removal, noting we have several acting cabinet members at this moment. guest: the answer is yes they do. host: when it comes to the body

-- you were talking about jamie raskin proposing and creating, this would be a body that would be built on by the house, passed by the house, passed by the thete, and signed by president unless the president vetoed it than the house in the senate would have to override that veto for this body to be created, correct? guest: i'm not sure about that. the's a good question, but 25th amendment says a body that congress creates. language suggests, although it does improve, that this could be in the nature of a joint resolution that does not require the president's signature. it would be a little bit odd if the president was allowed to prevent the congress from

putting the 25th amendment into operation. good, but iof many think uncertain questions that would be tested in court. ost: more of the what if -- plenty of those being discussed. republican,rk, good morning. caller: how are you gentlemen doing today? host: i'm well. that was jason in new york. an independent. caller: i was wondering on the question of whether trump should not, a quick don'ton, yes or no --

you think the american public would be better served if congress just goes back to work and started passing the laws we need or the changes we need to have made that we know about and have been struggling with for a long time? and just said these distractions aside? that would show some real responsibility. pete -- do you at the brookings institute agree with that? favor ofam strongly in a congress that is once again functional and going about the business of selling the people's problems. i am a member of a number -- solving the people's problems. i am a member of a number of organizations. i agree with the underlying the

rest of your point, which is in the absence of a functional congress, the rest of the constitution doesn't work well because the president and judiciary are tempted to employ powers that the constitution probably does not give them, but politics like nature abhors a vacuum. if congress is not doing its job, other parts of government will face an irresistible temptation to step in and do it themselves. congress should get back to work. host: when was the last time you think we had a functional congress? lifetime and my i'm going to be 75 next week. the one or two things congress can do to get on track and move towards

that. ? face: president biden will a very full plate -- more like a smorgasbord -- and he will have to deal with the two obvious national emergencies, we face a very dark winter with rising unemployment as the number of new cases into deaths from covid-19 sores into the into theere -- soars stratosphere. the economy cannot reopen until we have that under control. of -- we areons going to have millions of billions of new unemployment claims, we will have businesses down-- inof shutting

danger of shutting down. ere. have to start th i suggest they tried to demonstrate to the american people that they legislate. that may mean focusing on parts of the problem rather than the whole problem. i am convinced whatever the possibilities are for comprehensive immigration simply if they built status ofng the those eligible for the daca program, i think that would pass with substantial majorities in both houses. is another examplei do-

not know whether republicans will be able to back a large-infrastructure bill -- another example, i do not know whether republicans will be able to back a large infrastructure if -- it would pass with overwhelming majorities in the house and senate. i don't know whether a major expansion of the affordable care act can pass the house and stronglyut i suspect that if meaningful legislation on prescription drug prices were put on the table in the house and senate, that too would be passed with strong majorities. in my view, it is important that congress send a clear signal over the next 12 months that it is capable of legislating in the public interest to solve problems that people have

identified as important. if they can do that, we may begin to reverse this vicious mistrustspiral of generating gridlock, increasing mistrust cycle we have been locked in for much too long. host: you mentioned you work with several good governance groups. if people want to check them out, where would you point them to? guest: the one i think is doing the most important work is called no labels. it is a national citizens organization made up of , republicans, and independents. doris thet asked proposition that the -- not asked to put their party affiliations aside, but they are required to endorse the that cannotthat --

happen without agreement across party lines. nolabels.org. that thefind out organization created a few years ago what is the largest independent bipartisan caucus in the house of representatives called the problem solvers caucus, which has recently been joined by senators of both political parties. this was the group, this alliance across party lines that broke the gridlock over the covid-19 relief bill that finally passed in the waning days of december of last year. that i think is the most betterng hope for a

future for congress and the country. host: 20 minutes left with bill galston of the brookings institution. you can check out his weekly column with the wall street journal. in 20 minutes we will take viewers on c-span live to d.c. city hall expecting a press conference with d.c. mayor muriel bowser, which we will take you to and watch live. stick with us until then with bill galston. huntington, pennsylvania, republican, tina. .aller: hi, mr. galston i would like to ask a question. is division in this country sickening. how in the world can we have a congress that has such a verbal hate for the president try to

25th amendment for enticement when the very people asking for this stood in the streets and the vice president-elect took to the streets and told the people to stay in the streets and push us and the silence us riots, the burning of the cities , how are we going to get past, if i am a republican, it is ok for them to attack me. when is this going to stop? the only way for this to stop is for nancy pelosi put americans first. was held up. the majority of that money didn't come back to american families. we are paying for gender identity overseas. to investngress going

in the very people who make this nation what it is? , i think i have some agreement and some disagreement. the covid bill that was just of good things for millions of people. 37% of people who are now unemployed have been unemployed long-term. without that bill that was passed in december they would have nowhere to turn. know, caller made hundreds of thousands of small businesses are still in business because of the ppp program

passed last year, but that program had expired into those small businesses would have nowhere else to turn without that covid bill passed in late december. every compromise bill that goes through congress is going to include items at the people who vote for the bill do not like -- that the people who vote for the bill do not like, that americans do not like, but that is what compromise means. we can have a robust argument about appropriations to art institutions like the kennedy center, but i would defend the proposition that the majority of the money, the overwhelming majority of the money in that bill went to americans who need it and would suffer unnecessarily without it.

as to the broader point, i think the caller is correct that we need to lower the temperature on side.des, not just one that means each side will have andwallow its objections resentments otherwise we will keep going down the same path. what i said is difficult because when you resent something it is because you believe it is unjust and unfair and sometimes that beliefill be correct -- be correct so you may have to accept and injustice -- an injustice to stop this escalating spiral. host: next caller. do not agree on the

25th amendment being invoked was pressured by the republican senators into pardoning trump. what he did should not be pardoned. to expedite all of this, can he be [inaudible] the moderatorsk to repeat that question because the connection was a little fuzzy. host: i didn't catch the end. inwill hear from michael adam rouge, louisiana -- baton rouge, louisiana. caller: as you can tell from my voice i am african-american. years, all the

personal in my viewpoint has been propagated by our press. i think president trump has had a bad deal. the point about the impeachment is all lakefront. front. like -- all a i would like for c-span to get an attorney. wood?ou heard of lynn ood on their possibly. -- on theren theire possibly. a lot of the trusts -- truth has

not been told. guest: with the exception of media isrust in the low. it is regrettable. it is not inevitable. i remember a time when we did not have this kind of contest over the media. the absence of trust is creating a situation in which different groups of americans are either finding or making up their own facts real or alleged. i am not the first commentator and i am not the last that notes political discussion becomes different without an agreement on a common basis of facts. play wheree is people move from their own facts to their own conclusions.

conversation between the parallel players started? i would say, just to add a wrinkle to the conversation, that there is a reason why when we are sworn in in a court of law, we swear not only to tell the truth, but also the whole truth and also nothing but the truth. that aertainly possible particular story can tell some of the truth, but not the whole truth, and by telling only some of the truth, it may distort the bigger picture.

i do think media organizations need to be very careful, to reach out perhaps beyond their ensureomfort zones to that the broadest basis of facts and evidence is going into the stories that are then transmitted to the american people. host: coming back to the previous colors question, the question that -- caller's couldon, the question is president trump be acre act -- a florida law that allows the family to provide temporary detention for people who are impaired because of a mental illness and are unable to determine their needs for treatment. baker act require the

are likely to inflict harm on themselves or others. i do not know how much of an expert you are on the baker act in florida. say it obviously does not apply legally outside the boundaries of florida. ever sinceo say that psychiatrists talked as a group about barry goldwater in 1964, there has been some thing approaching a professional taboo against long distance psychiatric analyses of public figures. obviously there are some members of donald trump's family, including his niece very trump who is trained in the field who

believes that the president might qualify under laws such as the baker act, but previously they -- as i said previously they have no force of law outside of the states where they have been written and enacted. just a few moments before we take viewers to washington dc with muriel bowser. robert is on the line for republicans. caller: hi, mr. bill. regardingn for you trump's final days in office, my first question is if in the next few days donald trump shot somebody on main street and heldd them, could he be responsible because he committed

that act while president of the united states when he said no one is above the law? after hisquestion is final days in office, because i have a family and grandchildren, what is the likelihood we will reactionil war type of going forward? two good questions. there is a legal dispute as to whether a president could be tried for a crime such as murder while in office. in oral argument before the supreme court on a case within the past 12 months, the effectnt's lawyers in

said he could not be end they relied on a justice department memorandum that is -- and they relied on a justice department memorandum that is decades old. if theg is clear -- president were to shoot someone on fifth avenue right in front of trump tower, whatever may be office,, while still in murder charges could be brought against him as soon as he left office. with only eight days to go, it is almost a distinction without a difference. by the time the indictment word hen up -- were drawn up, would no longer be president of the united states. but i havelawyer,

spoken to people who are -- the president will face a wide range of legal jeopardy once he leaves office. alreadythose cases have begun, particularly in new york state. that was the first question. as to the second question, nobody could rule out domestic of the endn the wake of donald trump's presidency and the inauguration of joe biden. the chances of that are hard to assess but they are more than zero. i have been told that president trump's supporters are organizing marches not only on washington but on all 50 state capitals on january 17.

amounted andw what takeover of the michigan state house earlier this year plus plans -- thankfully -- to kidnap and perhaps harm the governor of michigan. high during the period leading up to the end of the trump presidency end of the beginning of the biden presidency. and the beginning of the haydn presidency. biden they -- the residency. presidency.n

the barrier around the u.s. capitol is expected to remain for 30 days. biden's inauguration has been --en a threat rating that the secret service is leading the response. that story about the various threats that are being made online. indiana, this is kathy, a democrat. caller: good morning. kathy.o ahead, world -- w in the [indiscernible] what has been happening over the

years with the police, they just put it in the police. how can you compare the people protesting and what happened on the sixth? haveer thing, why do you people on this showed that are supposed to be asking questions but then they don't know anything? they don't know what the roles and the laws -- rules and the laws is? host: keep watching. perhaps there will be someone who you do agree with. expert from the brookings institution. the distinction between the -- the most obvious

difference is that what happened attack onsday was an the citadel of american capitol building, which houses the american congress, people sent there by the american people to represent the country and do the countries susiness -- country'd business. you do not have to defend violence and destruction of property, which i do not, in order to see that what happened on wednesday was both symbolically and in reality a far greater danger to the country. public trust cannot be restored

unless people on both sides of to apply are willing without fear or favor. there has been a disturbing tendency in recent years to apply laws and criticisms selectively to those who oppose your efforts. whom youo those with are in agreement. is whole point of a rule that it is supposed to say what is permissible and what is not permissible in the pursuit of your ends, whatever they may be. you may want to drive quickly from one side of the city to the

memberecause there is a of your family you desperately want to talk to, but that does not justify violating traffic laws to get to that family member. even if you think that getting there as fast as possible is completely justified, the rules are there for a reason. they should apply to our auctions -- actions regardless of the purposes we are pursuing. host: just a few minutes left as we await that press conference by the d.c. mayor. i want to keep viewers updated on a couple tweets from some members of congress this morning. in michigan, a press conference in flint to discuss the attacks the next steps he will take to hold the president accountable for the riots that killed five people,

including a u.s. police officer. a second officer has died. howard liebengood is his name, the washington post saying that liebengood died by suicide after being at the scene of the capitol violence. this is congressman troy balderson, republican from ohio, saying, i was saddened to learn about the loss of another u.s. capitol police officer. i joined the nation in mourning the passing of howard liebengood and brian sicknick, both of whom served honorably, especially during last week's attacks. senator martin heinrich saying, i could not count the number and directions ahead with officer of interactions i had with officer liebengood. that was officer liebengood's post on the senate side of the capital. time for one or two more phone calls. this is rodney out of connecticut, an independent.

caller: i wondered what is going and thethe voter fraud defense contractor installing software on the computer that changed thousands and thousands of votes from trump to biden. i do not understand. why don't we hear anymore about that? that,let's focus on concerns about voter fraud in 2020. more than 60 court cases were brought alleging fraud. the court sustained none of those complaints. about the voting machines has been investigated. is a total falsehood, complete, propagated to millions of people by people who know better or should know better.

i hope that we can put this kind of lie behind us. out of houston, texas, republican. aller: i wanted to comment on couple things. i have been taken back on the state of events this year, not , trump taking office, but throughout the entire presidency, witnessing a congress that appears to be doing nothing except trying to .et this man out of office we listened to this for years. we listened to impeachment trials. we went through the accusations of russian collusion. they were relit loosely pursuing this individual to no end and it has not stopped.

he has less than 10 days to remain in office and they have already certified the votes for notn and yet they still do let up on this man. i do not understand how a man with the codes to the nuclear missiles cannot be trusted to have a twitter account. new parler that showed up is being taken down by big corporations because they are wanting to silence everybody's voice. host: let you respond in the time we have left. say the caller has articulated a point of view that i am sure tens of millions of americans agree with. and it is a sign of the work we have to do as a country to try,

to quote abraham lincoln, to bind up the nation's wounds. we have a lot of healing to do. -- there is anger on both sides, fears on both sides, some of them justified, some not. if there was ever a time to put the country first and set aside our anger and resentment as best we can, that time is now. words will do nothing, but i would hope that people who are listening to this broadcast and many others would oflize the consequences continuing to focus only on our own grievances and own point of view. i have strong convictions about many of these matters, but i haven't even stronger conviction that if we insist even on -- only on our own point of view

our country will suffer. our democratic experiment could come to an untimely end. galston,l colston -- appreciate your time. a senior fellow with the brookings institution if you want to check out his work. join us again down the road. that is when to do it this morning on the washington journal. the house is in at 11:00 a.m. astern and we are expecting bill demanding that mike pence invoke the 20 for the amendment against president trump. that is set to happen live. you can watch it on c-span and we will be back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern, 4:00 a.m. pacific. have a great monday. ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> you are watching c-span, your unfiltered view of government. c-span was created by america's cable television companies in 1979. today, we are brought to you by these television companies who provide c-span to viewers as a public service. >> washington, d.c. mayor muriel bowser is holding a briefing shortly on city security needs during president-elect biden's inaugurations -- inauguration. we will have live coverage of the briefing when it begins. when the house comes in today, they plan to introduce an article of impeachment against president trump, a censure resolution, and other measures related to last week's assault on the u.s. capitol. we will have that at 11:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. house democrats will hold a

conference call on how to proceed on impeachment. we will look at this morning's washington journal while we wait for the mayor. morning tomonday you. you can start calling in now, republicans only in this first hour of the washington journal today. today,are calling in nancy pelosi outlined will happen on the house for today in a letter to house colleagues. this is what she wrote. it begins with a resolution that calls on the vice president to convene and mobilize the cabinet to activate the 25th amendment and declare the president incapable of executing the duties of his office, after which the vice president would exercise powers as acting president. if we do not receive unanimous consent, she writes, this plan would be brought up on the following day, tuesday. we are calling on the vice president to respond within 24 hours. we will proceed with bringing impeachment legislation to the floor. we will act with urgency because

this president represents an imminent threat. as the days go by, the horror of the assault on our democracy perpetrated by this president is intensified. so is the need for action. when that impeachment resolution comes to the floor, expected later this week, here is one of the lead sponsors of that resolution, maryland democrat jamie raskin. to impeach the president for his actions and statements leading to the armed and violent storming of the u.s. capitol, this is an intolerable crime against our constitution, he writes on twitter. remember, only a majority needed for impeachment in the house. two thirds needed to convict in the senate. a spotlight now on republicans on capitol hill. this is the headline from this morning's usa today.

"republicans join s